Chapter 11 #3
He spooned up some stew. “Some here were of that mind, but with the numbers of soldiers camped down in Illistin’s remains, I feared any action on our part might push them to attack. They’ve been all but ignoring us, as long as we didn’t poke our heads out on their side of the island at night.”
Which once again pointed to the differences between our military thinking and theirs. “Why are you so sure there’s no more bunkers on the rest of the Helvede? It’s a damn big mountain range.”
“And it’s one we know intimately, and that plays to our advantage, despite their greater numbers. There were four bunkers positioned up here—five, if you count the one situated near the entrance, which we left alone—and we were able to destroy each one without any casualties on our side.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t mount a counterattack.”
“So were we.” He paused. “Do you head home in the morn? Or fly over Kinara?”
“The latter. It’s pointless leaving until we’ve done our best to rid—however temporarily—all the islands of the gilded scum.”
“They can’t have unlimited numbers—no raiding force ever has. Given the hole you left in their army today, I’m pretty sure they’ll consolidate what’s left and hit the mainland. That does appear to be their main goal.”
“If we were dealing with a regular invading force, I’d agree, but these bastards aren’t working through any known military rule book I’ve read.”
A smile touched his lips. “And have you actually read that many?”
“More than anyone should, soldier or not. My father was not having his daughter enlisting without a good background behind her.”
“Which explains why you’re such a good leader.”
A good leader wouldn’t have lost a drakkon, I wanted to say, and gulped down my shamoke to hide the welling grief. I might one day be able to get through a day without their threat, but that day was a long way yet in the future.
“Well,” he said into the brief silence, “given you leave in the morn, you should rest here the night.”
“I’d rather?—”
“Rest with your people,” he finished for me. “I get it, but you’ve too much of your father in you, which means you’ll no doubt take the first and longest shift to allow your people to rest.”
Should stay , Kaia said. We hunt. Aarvi and her kin watch.
And the rest of the kin?
Cook whitefin Yara bring.
In other words, they were doing just fine. The vague guilt over me enjoying more “luxurious” accommodations while they camped out eased at little, even if it didn’t entirely go away.
Don’t forget to get some rest yourself. We’ve still Kinara to check tomorrow before we fly home.
Will.
I returned my attention to Katter. “I’d like to deny that accusation but fear I cannot.”
He smiled and squeezed my shoulder lightly. “Letta will escort you around to the officers’ quarters. We’ll wake you before the sun hits the horizon.”
I nodded. “Thanks, Katter.”
I finished the rest of my meal, then obediently followed Letta from the mess tent. The officers’ quarters were on the same side as the mess and were basically another deep tunnel, this time featuring a series of narrow stone chambers that held little more than a bed and a storage shelf.
Letta swept aside the curtain of a chamber about halfway down and motioned me in. “The privies are down the far end, and there’s a washroom there as well, if you want a quick clean-up. Fresh towels and soapweed are kept on the open shelving there.”
I thanked her, then stripped off my weapons and headed down to the washroom facilities.
After using the privy, I stripped off to check my wound—thankfully, while red and puckered, it didn’t look infected—I made my way back to my bunk and, after stripping off my boots, lay down.
It felt like my head had barely hit the pillow when I was being woken again.
I bit back my groan and pushed into a sitting position. To say everything ached would be an understatement, but we had a long day ahead of us yet.
Kaia? Everything okay out there?
Been hunting.
You didn’t hunt enough last night?
Am queen. Need more.
I chuckled softly. Being queen was definitely an excuse that covered all things. Ask everyone to get ready and fly up to the mountain.
Will.
I gathered my weapons and my pack and headed out. Letta was waiting at the entrance and handed me a coat. Obviously, Katter had noticed the absence of mine. Once I’d pulled it on, she said, “Commander, please follow me.”
She led me around the walkway to the stairs, then through the wider tunnel to the antechamber. Katter was waiting, along with several soldiers. “I suspect you need to take your own words about needing to get some sleep to heart, Administrator Reed.”
He chuckled and handed me the hessian boot overlays. “Yes, probably. But this might be my only chance to get close to a drakkon, and I wasn’t going to miss it.”
“I thought all you Jakarrans hated drakkons.” They’d long ago wiped out the one aerie that had been located here—and they were hardly alone in that, of course.
I dared say that erasure both here and on the mainland remained the major reason why more drakkons had not answered Kaia’s call—demand—for help.
Will, she said with a confidence I just didn’t have.
“Many things were done in the past that we regret today,” Katter was saying. “We can’t change that past, but we can change the future.”
“Then spread the word of what they did here last night and what it cost us to save everyone in the cavern.”
“Oh, that word is well and truly out, as demonstrated by that little show of appreciation in the war room.”
“It’s not soldiers we need to convince. It’s the farmers, the fishermen, and the weavers.” The ordinary folk who still saw drakkons as a threat, in other words.
“You can’t expect overnight miracles, Bryn. Changing the minds of the masses always takes time. It will happen; I’m sure of it.”
I hoped he was right. “Did you get a response from Esan about the rider numbers on Kinara?”
“Indeed. Jacklyn said there were two of the birds and a handful of soldiers bunkered into the slopes just above the harbor. They haven’t seen any supply ships, either anchoring in the harbor or sailing past.”
“Confirming the theory that they were using Jakarra and Ezu as their waystations, and the attacks on the other islands were merely a means of minimizing the possibility of counterattacks.”
“Looks like it,” he agreed. “I find it damnably strange that the Mareritt are allowing another hostile nation to use their ports and traverse their lands.”
“They want our lands. I presume they think it worth the risk.”
“Well, let’s all pray that their risk turns around and bites them on the ass.”
“From your lips to Túxn’s ears,” I replied.
By the time we reached the exit, dawn had come and gone, and the day was gray and cold. It wasn’t raining yet, but the smell of it filled the wind. I drew in a deeper breath, then
shaded my eyes against the drizzle and glanced up at the drakkons lazily circling above us. It was an awe-inspiring sight, and a murmur of wonder and appreciation ran through the crowd behind us.
I called Kaia down, then glanced at Katter. “Word of warning—Kaia loves terrifying watchers by puffing smoke from her nostrils and watching them run in fear.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Seriously?”
“Yep. She’s the queen and believes all should bow before her might.”
Truth, she said as she swept in.
“I have no idea whether you’re joking or not,” he replied, his gaze on the incoming Kaia rather than me. “But she is an impressive sight.”
“That she is.” I slung the packs over my shoulder. “Keep wary, Katter. Jakarra might currently be free, but this war is a long way from being over.”
He nodded and gripped my shoulder. “Just promise me you’ll do the same. I’ve lost your parents. I don’t want to lose you, too.”
I nodded, spun on my heel, and strode toward Kaia, my short hair blowing every which way under the force of each wing sweep.
Once I’d clambered up her leg and secured the packs and my weapons, she extended her neck and roared; it was the battle cry of a queen who had not yet finished fighting.
The sound echoed across the mist-shrouded mountains, shocking birds into flight and our watchers into retreat.
Have we finished? I said dryly.
We have , she replied, and launched hard into the air... thereby sending those watchers who remained tumbling.
I shook my head, and as the drakkons fell in to formation behind us, we flew on through the damp morning, reaching Kinara just as the drizzle turned to full-on rain.
I tugged on my hood, ordered everyone to form a line, and then we swept over the island, taking out three bunkers, the two birds, and their riders.
Once we’d done a secondary flyover just to ensure we’d gotten them all, we swooped around again and began the long flight home.
Afternoon had merged into night by the time we arrived at Esan.
I ordered Kaia to keep aloft while the others landed and dismounted and dragged out my long viewer to see what had changed while we were gone.
If the campfires were anything to go by, the numbers of Mareritt out in the wastelands had definitely increased, though they maintained what amounted to a cursory force attacking the walls.
They were definitely waiting for something, and I very much suspected that something lay in whatever was moving down from the Ghost Forest. I extended the viewer as far as it would go, but couldn’t see anything other than vague, distant shadows.
We check tomorrow , Kaia said.
I agree we should, but I’m no longer queen here.
You kin queen. They stop you, I stop them.
I rolled my eyes. You just can’t fly around killing people who disagree with me.
If kill, can’t disagree, we do what want.
As logic went, I couldn’t really fault it, even if it was more than a bit bloody-minded. Taitia—the last of the younger drakkons to land—flew past us, so Kaia swooped down. I unclipped everything and slid down her leg, providing the demanded eye ridge scratch before stepping out of her way.
Once she was safely past the ridge high above us, I turned and headed for the palace steps. As I reached them, a soldier came running down them.
He stopped several steps in front of me and saluted. “Commander Silva, Commander Asli would like to see you as a matter of urgency.”
I raised my eyebrows but nevertheless handed him my pack. “Can you take that to my quarters immediately?”
He nodded, accepted it, then turned and ran up the steps into the palace.
I followed at a far slower pace. My energy levels were seriously low, and my body ached after two long days of flying.
Right now, I wanted nothing more than to see my husband, take a long, hot bath, consume several buckets of shamoke, and then sleep. Most of all, I just wanted sleep.
But I had a really bad feeling that the matter Garran was calling me in on was going to scupper those plans....
I moved quickly through the desks dominating the foyer into the war room.
It showed no sign of impending disaster—everything was calm.
Or as calm as these places ever got. I glanced around, looking for Garran and Neera, and found both along with the Prioress standing around a table to the far right, studying what appeared from here to be old scrolls of some sort.
The fact she was here rather than Damon had me jumping to all sorts of possibly bad conclusions, but I did my best to ignore them and quickly strode over.
“What’s happened?” I said, well before I got anywhere near the three of them. “Where’s Damon?”
Garran’s expression was as grim as I’d ever seen it. “That is the question of the hour, but we’ve a problem even bigger than that.”
I wasn’t sure there was a problem bigger than Damon going missing, but admittedly I was thinking from a purely personal standpoint. “That being?”
“You know how our Rayabar said he had no idea what the riders were doing with the rest of the orbs and how you said you hoped they didn’t plan to rain the things down on us from the birds’ claws?”
“Of course I do, but they obviously haven’t because there’s no sign—” I stopped, horror rising.
“Yeah,” Garran said grimly, “because they never intended their use here. They wanted them for Zephrine. Half the fucking city is on fire.”