Chapter 8 #3
“I…had a thought,” I said, uncertain what had possessed me to speak out.
I’d meant to present this to the Earl in private, alone if possible, so that if it were a fool’s musings I wouldn’t be forced to face my own ridicule at the heart of his fickle court too.
But everyone was looking at me now and I had little choice but to continue.
“We could divert the rivers and undermine the land,” I said, forcing my words to come out clearly and loudly enough for all to hear.
I’d spent weeks researching old siege strategies, studying the ways in which the cities had survived when they’d been surrounded.
Most of what I’d found would be of no help to us but a few breadcrumbs from one piece of history mixed with the flavour of another had sparked an idea in my head.
An idea which I’d run with, plotting in great detail, writing plans and filling countless scrolls and maps with my scrawled plots.
Perhaps it was nothing, but maybe, just maybe, it was the scheme we needed to survive this.
“What land?” August asked, his tone scathing as always.
“All of it,” I said hesitantly before forcing myself to go on with more confidence.
“I took the liberty of planning out how it would work both here and back at Raglith where Stone Castle stands proud. Given time I could do the same for the other Earldoms and the coastlines too. Each and every village in fact if–”
August scoffed loudly and Alestro interrupted.
“My wife forever has her nose in a book, scribbling and muttering all night long while she makes these little plans of hers. It is a hobby which I assure you is as boorish as it sounds. But you know how Sphynxes can be about their books–”
“I know that Lady Septa is one of the most perceptive and insightful Fae I have ever met,” Earl Tarlord growled, every syllable a warning which whipped the amusement from every face and promptly silenced my husband too.
“And I also know, that were she my wife, her nights would be very much occupied with acts quite separate from reading. But perhaps your stamina is no match for hers.”
Alestro’s face burned hotly beneath the boils, his sharp gaze cutting to mine in accusation. But I had never spoken so much as a word of his inadequacies in the bedroom to any other, not even Getta who I confided in about almost all else.
“I…drew out some designs,” I said, wanting to change the subject, the place where my skin still met the Earl’s a raging vortex of sparking energy. I needed to pull away from him but he held me tightly for another moment before finally allowing me to go.
“Let us see them,” he said finally, his green eyes pinning mine before he released me.
I turned towards the litter, realising that I hadn’t in fact grabbed my bag when exiting the underbeast but thankfully it only took a few barked commands from our Earl for a guard to locate our luggage and bring my bag over.
I hastily cast a wooden table into place at the heart of our group, my heart pounding so frantically at the weight of their attention on me that I could do little more than create a solid structure with four legs.
It was nothing on the perfection of the castle whose shadow we stood within but I refused to allow my insecurities to push in on me.
I might have hoped to do this privately to avoid ridicule should my plans be judged poorly but I had no choice in the matter now.
I took several rolled scrolls from my bag and flattened them on the table, casting little stones into place to pin the corners down. Lastly, I placed a map of Cinder Vale right before the Earl, my sketches and scribbles annotating every inch surrounding the space.
“I’m not certain how accurate this map is but ignoring any inconsistencies for now, my plan is this. We dig. Here, here and here first.” I placed a finger on every point of approach that surrounded the city. “Then if we still have time we fill in the gaps between them.”
“Dig what exactly?” August drawled, tugging a sketch from the table and lifting it for his inspection.
Earl Tarlord took it from him and arched a brow as he took in the pit filled with sharpened spears, the jagged cracks which fell away deeply into the earth, countless traps and pitfalls.
“The Void can’t cancel out magic which is already in place.
We surround ourselves with land that has been undermined and cannot be crossed without plunging through its fragile surface into the pitfalls we have waiting for them.
Let’s see them march on us with their Void when the ground collapses beneath their feet and plunges them into a pit filled with spears.
I don’t think it will do them much good to Void anything then,” I said proudly.
“They’re Raincarvers,” August pushed. “They’ll simply form a bridge of ice or a river to carry their ships and–”
“That’s what the chasms are for,” I said quickly, pointing them out.
“Carved so deeply into the ground that any water which is cast there will sink away into them. And we would coax the heat of the earth into channels which encourage the lava to rise and steam to vent meaning any ice would be melted fast. We could build layer upon layer of these traps, so many of them ringing us that the Cascadians can’t cast quickly enough to cross them.
And above that we would place trebuchets and catapults, each triggered with tripwires to bombard them with raining death.
” I couldn’t help but grin as I turned to look up at my Earl, my heart frantic as his green eyes simmered with what I hoped was intrigue.
“This could work,” he said, a smile blooming to match my own, the first I’d ever seen him wear. “If they can’t reach us, then they can’t overrun us. We can defend against the Void and meanwhile plot a way to destroy it.”
“The plan has merit,” August agreed and from him that might as well have been a cry of applause.
“Truly?” I breathed, my eyes locking on my Earl who dropped the map he’d been holding and clasped my face between his hands, the thunder of his pulse rioting through his skin.
“You, Septa, cunning, clever, creature that you are, may just have saved our people,” he said roughly, his eyes dropping to my mouth as I bit down on my lip. “Now let’s go dig some holes.”