Chapter 22
Darrow
We stood before a large map of Zadrya on the table, pushing red metal soldiers across various areas to designate the locations Karganoth had conquered.
It didn’t look good at all. If we left out Hisgar, since no one wanted a frozen territory with ice giants who could stomp on them, then the dark elves had taken about a quarter of the realm.
We estimated that at least two hundred thousand of their soldiers were now in our territory, a figure we could verify with some degree of accuracy based on reports from sebeskas.
Lord Jacthor paced the room. “We must find my son and get him back. It’s already been five days since those vile people took him.”
I regretted that my recovery from the God of Wrath’s punishment had contributed to the delay.
During that time, Jacthor and Lillian had tried to find out more, but Chief Orran had lost contact with his informant in the capital.
He’d even tried sending in one of his people who had natural blending magic, but they didn’t make it to the palace before getting caught.
According to a merchant dwarf who managed to escape two days ago, he reported that the dark elves were using powerful stones to detect any glamour or invisibility spells.
The only reason he made it out was by not using any roads, and a dozen fae with him died from death spells placed at the border.
He happened to have an old family rune stone that gave him immunity to those, leaving him as the lone survivor.
They’d still pursued him until he finally managed to lose them in Veronna, but his way out would not work to get inside.
My father nodded at Jacthor. “As soon as I heard about your son, I dispatched two spies to determine what became of him. Last night, they sent word confirming Zelthor is alive and in the dungeon under the palace, but he is heavily guarded and impossible to reach. That was all they could discover before they had to flee the capital.”
That ruled out sending a sebeska to check on the boy.
My ability to merge my mind with the bird so I could see what it saw could be quite useful at times, but not always.
I hadn’t thought they’d keep him outdoors or near an open window anyway, but I certainly couldn’t get one down to the dungeon.
The bird was too large to go unnoticed, nor could its kind open doors.
Princess Lillian drew in a deep breath, hands trembling. “Impossible or not, we need to find a way. I don’t want to think what they’re doing to him.”
She was right to worry. My mother’s people weren’t known for their kindness, especially to perceived enemies. Though I didn’t dare voice my thoughts aloud, I was almost certain they were beating and starving him, along with mental torture.
“My spies are working to find any weakness we can exploit to get him out of there,” Lord Gannon said, appearing more confident than he probably felt.
I drummed my fingers on the table, mind racing far ahead. “I’ll look into the matter as well. We need to handle this carefully, or we risk losing your son and other lives. Whatever it takes, we will rescue him as soon as we have a viable plan.”
“I know,” she said, tucking a loose strand of chestnut hair behind her ear. “Thank you.”
“What’s next on the agenda?” Lord Gannon asked, diverting the topic. We had far too many issues to cover to linger on any one of them for long, even though the princess’ son was important. Dark elves were attacking everywhere, and people were dying.
My brother pointed at Juvarn on the map—the land just north of us.
“My wife received a missive from her father half an hour ago that Karganoth has taken the western third of their territory, and they’re battling to hold Zangiss as we speak.
” Hagon’s lips thinned at the mention of the large city. “He’s requested our assistance, but…”
“We’ve got a fleet of Karganoth Navy ships headed for Bismag in the opposite direction that will likely arrive near midnight,” my father finished.
Bismag was a remote fishing village along our southwestern coast, with no other towns nearby, so we currently maintained only a handful of soldiers there.
The dark elves could easily get a foothold and expand quickly if we didn’t defend that coastline.
We had to balance protecting Veronna while also helping Juvarn.
Of course, that wasn’t the only part of our land Karganoth targeted.
“Faina has also sent me a message, pleading for help at Radoumar,” I added.
A quarter of our army was there with her, but they’d been taking losses as Karganoth kept sending more soldiers and sailors to attack by land and sea.
Pockets of dark elves had begun hiding along our northwest coastline, conducting surprise raids on the nearest villages to them.
They were taking all the food and supplies to sustain their army.
We’d evacuated the smaller towns and sent reinforcements to others.
“Perhaps I could assist you with Bismag,” Lillian offered. “I’m not much use sitting here, and I need to keep busy and help in some way.”
No doubt worries over her son plagued her, which was understandable.
“You’re not going without me,” Lord Jacthor said, straightening his shoulders and turning to my father. “If she goes, the Frostdar and I go with her.”
“Send Aella with them.” Loden ran his gaze between all of us.
“She’s proven quite adept at thwarting the dark elf navy, and if any slip through, the princess and the Frostdar should be able to take care of those.
That will also free a portal channeler to handle sending reinforcements to other locations. ”
Since Loden didn’t hold a high rank, individuals like him wouldn’t usually be permitted into a meeting such as this, but his past strategies had proven useful. I’d convinced my father to allow him a voice a few years back. He’d been welcome in our planning sessions ever since.
“Will your wife agree to that?” my brother asked, giving me a skeptical look.
I nodded. “Aella won’t allow innocent fae to die, even to annoy you and father. Her actions at Radoumar proved that.”
“You’re right.” He rubbed his face, stress lining his features. “I think it will take us time to get used to her being on our side.”
My father made a murmur of agreement before turning his gaze on me. “She may not have directly killed our people, but she made it possible for many of them to die. While we desperately need her abilities, and I recognize her as your mate, it doesn’t mean trust will come easily.”
I worked my jaw, anger building inside me. “Have you ever been tortured, father?”
“No.” He frowned. “Why?”
“Then you can’t possibly understand what Aella endured every time she disobeyed her uncle.
Lord Morgunn would have her beaten, starved, and mentally and physically tortured while keeping her in iron cuffs so she couldn’t heal for days.
She has deep scars running all across her back.
” I looked at Loden, who nodded his confirmation.
“Maybe before you judge her, you should consider whether you could have handled such punishment every time you said no.”
Prince Armin put up his hands. “Darrow makes excellent points, and I can testify to that with my abilities. I’ve discerned that Aella tries to have the best of intentions in all she does.
The idea of her being treated in such a manner horrifies me, so perhaps we should give her a chance to prove herself. ”
As far as I was concerned, she’d already done that, but I understood that he was trying to be diplomatic. My father and brother seemed to relax at his suggestion, easing the tension in the room.
Hagon gave the prince a nod. “You’re right, Your Highness, thank you. If we can get back on topic, I’d like to head to Juvarn tonight with fifty soldiers from my contingent to help defend the Zangiss city walls.”
As my father’s heir, he had a company of two hundred fae soldiers that answered to him. He’d trained them well, making them excellent warriors. The bulk of them were already manning several of our coastal villages, but he’d kept some here just in case.
“By the nameless ones, there are too many places to protect at once,” my father said, hitting his fist on the table. “Someone also needs to oversee the two regiments we have stationed at Siggaya. The report they sent this morning mentioned Karganoth tested their defenses heavily last night.”
Since the trade city where Aella and I first met face-to-face was located in the northeastern section of Veronna, it was near the capital and most vulnerable to the dark elves’ main army. We’d have to watch that area very closely.
“You should go there,” the prince said to my father. “It’s my job to stay here and coordinate the war. If you’re needed, I’ll send word.”
Relief filled me at that plan. As the next king, we had to keep Armin in the safest location, especially since I couldn’t stay with him all the time without sacrificing other duties.
His powers didn’t lend themselves to large-scale battles anyway, considering his were reading people’s active thoughts and walking through solid objects.
Neither of those would help us fight, but they would make it harder to kill him.
Once we could crown the prince, he’d become the next ruler.
As our top leader, he should direct us. We needed to get used to that now.
Lord Gannon nodded. “Very well. I’ll leave around sunset. Darrow, let your wife know that once she’s finished at Bismag, we may call upon her portal services at any time, and she needs to be ready.”
“Of course,” I agreed and pondered how I’d phrase that order when I went to the garden. Maybe I’d skip that it came from my father. “Also, I’ll have her send me to Radoumar directly after dinner, so our other channelers can concentrate on the rest of you.”
“Excellent idea,” he said, giving rare praise.