Chapter 43
It takes five days. Five days of stressful preparing, wondering, questioning, and trying to prepare hundreds of people for what’s coming.
During the day, we’ve been busy stocking the underground bunkers with enough food, water, and supplies needed for the elderly and the young in the Jaguar Kingdom.
Kaldar and his team have been preparing their soldiers in endless training.
Rysden and his army showed up yesterday.
Unsurprisingly, Farrah was with them. I knew she wouldn’t stay behind.
It's been insane trying to find places for this many people, while continuing training, and also trying to get two different armies to figure out how to work together.
Every morning, afternoon, and evening, Red and I take a flight to check on the guivre army.
We never get close enough for me to see anything, but Redara’s able to use her dragon vision to see from nearly two miles away.
I inform the leaders of both armies every time I get back.
So far, there’s been nothing to report. Tensions are high, and this place feels like it’s a powder keg waiting to blow.
The days are long and stressful, but the nights?
The nights are way worse. The nights are when I can’t stop my thoughts from plaguing me and keeping me from sleep.
While I know in my heart that there’s nothing I could have done differently to convince Rauk to join in our fight, it’s hard for my head to get that.
Most mornings, I wake up more tired than when I went to bed.
On the sixth morning after Rauk left, I wake up, eat something for fuel, and then mount Redara.
We make our usual flight to where the guivre camp is.
But we don’t get as far as usual when she suddenly pulls up short.
I tighten my thighs to keep my seat. Suddenly, she’s banking to the left and then turning around.
What is it? I ask her anxiously.
It’s time. They’ve started to move.
Ice settles in my veins as we fly back to deliver the message.
I dismount as soon as her feet hit the sand and then I’m running.
Thankfully, the leaders of both sides meet every single morning for strategy; and I know exactly where that is.
My feet pound the walkway as I make my way through the trees.
I run past the guards on duty; they don’t stop me because they know I give a report every single morning.
I throw open the door to where the leaders are meeting.
Kaldar and Rysden are on their feet the moment I step into the room.
All the eyes in the room are on me, and I forget the message I’d practiced.
Instead, I steal Redara’s words. “It’s time. They’ve started to move.”
There’s a flurry of movement and voices, but I slip back outside. I need to get to Farrah and Kinsley and warn them too. I make my way across the walkway over the water as quickly as I dare. Reika is on guard outside the house. She takes one look at my face and knows. “They’re coming, aren’t they?”
I nod. She curses, but I don’t wait to hear what else she has to say. I slip into the house. Kinsley turns to me with wide eyes, her fork halfway to her mouth. She puts the fork down and stands to her feet. “It’s time,” I tell her.
“Kaldar?” she asks.
“He’s still in the meeting, or at least he was when I left him.”
“Okay,” she says in a shaky exhale.
“Farrah?” I ask.
She grimaces again. “I think she’s throwing up again.”
“Again?” I ask in distaste. “She’s going to have to stay behind.”
“I’m not staying behind,” Farrah says, coming from the hallway. I spin to look at her. Her face is pale, and she has dark circles under her eyes. But when she hoists her quiver and her bow over her shoulder, she looks every bit the girl she was in the Spirit Trials.
“Okay. We’ve got to move,” I tell them. Neither of them waste a moment arguing.
We each know our position and job. Kinsley will head to the main gathering room with the others.
She fought Kaldar a long time, but finally took on the responsibility of being in charge of those left behind.
Farrah will join Rysden and his soldiers.
She’s a crack shot with her bow, and Rysden knows that.
As much as he wanted her to stay behind, he knows they could use her.
He finally gave up fighting her on it. All three of us hear the alarm and lock eyes.
Kinsley looks the most panicked among us.
“It’s going to be okay,” I tell them. “We’re going to fight and finish this thing and end them, so they are no longer a threat. ”
“Yes, we are,” Farrah echoes. She still looks pale, and I really hope she’s up to this.
“Are you having a tea party in there? Let’s go!” Reika bellows from the door.
“I always did like her; she’s so sweet,” I say in a deadpan voice.
Kinsley grabs her bag that she’s had packed, and we all three head out. “Finally!” Reika says. “Kinsley, you’re with me.”
Kinsley, used to her giving orders, doesn’t argue with her. Farrah and I move ahead of them. When we get to the sand, Redara is waiting for me. “Be safe,” I tell Farrah.
Her solemn eyes meet mine. “You too.” Before I realize it, she’s hugging me so tight it feels like a chokehold. And then she’s off and moving into the trees. Kinsley and Reika step off the wooden walkway and onto the sand.
Kinsley hugs me next and steps back to look into my eyes. “Don’t be a hero out there, Harper. Be safe. Please.” Her last word is almost a whisper.
I just nod, and she and Reika move into the trees as well. I turn around, doing a mental check to make sure I have all my weapons. Then I approach Redara. I put my hand on her leg. You ready for this?
Of course.
I pause a moment trying to think of what to say and then just go for it. I’m sorry Noxlyn’s not here. We haven’t talked about it since they left. As frustrated as I feel, I’m sure that’s nothing to what she feels.
Are we flying or not? She asks, and I get her message loud and clear. There will be no talking about it.
Yes. I’m on her back seconds later. I’ve barely settled before she starts running and then launches into the air.
I don’t bother checking in with Kaldar, Rysden, or any of the leaders of their armies.
I know my job. Stick to the skies and take out as many guivres from above as I can.
They'll take care of the ones on the ground; the skies are ours. We do a sweep over the area. When we don’t see anything, we fly further.
We don’t get too far before Redara turns back.
She lands in an open field, further south of where the homes all lie. I’m going to conserve energy and wait.
I agree with her. It’s a good idea. If we engage now, we’ll be worn out by the time they even get close.
Then we won’t be a help in the sky when they attack our soldiers on the ground.
It doesn’t take long for Kaldar’s and Rysden’s armies to join us.
They spread out, looking fierce and deadly.
The two armies stretch as far as my eye can see, but I wonder if even it will be enough.
We don’t really know how many guivres we’re facing.
From Redara’s reports, we gathered they boast maybe a hundred, maybe two hundred?
We really don’t know. But when it’s fire-breathing guivres against soldiers and spirit animals on the ground, it’s still an unfair fight.
It doesn’t help that it usually takes a team of four to five soldiers to bring one of those things down.
It also changes everything that they can see now.
Before, Redara could take them by surprise and incinerate them with dragon fire.
Now, they’ll know we’re there and be able to defend against it, making it a much harder fight.
I hear Kaldar’s voice and turn to listen in.
“Thank you for standing here today, both my own soldiers and the soldiers from the Wolf Kingdom. I want you to remember something today when you face what’s coming.
They may be in the sky, and they may have dragon fire.
There could even be more of them than us. ”
Wow, he’s super motivating, Redara sends me.
Hush, I send back and continue to listen to Kaldar.
“But they don’t have something that we have.
They don’t have homes. They don’t have mates and children.
They don’t have a life built on love and community and giving.
They only have greed and the desire to destroy.
We will be victorious against them today.
We will stand strong and true, a united front of two kingdoms. We will not let them destroy the lives we have.
Our children and our descendants are counting on us today.
One day, it will be written in our history of the day we stood against the guivres and won and wiped them from the face of the earth.
” Thunderous applause and cheering nearly rocks the ground beneath Redara’s feet.
“Our children’s children won’t even know what a guivre is except from the tales of history.
They won’t know what it’s like to live in fear of them.
They won’t know what it’s like to have their home burned to the ground because of them.
They won’t know the pain of losing someone to a guivre.
They will only know peace and a future of hope because of the stand we took today.
” More applause thunders across the open field.
“Today, we take our stand to rewrite history and write a better one for our children and their children. Down with the guivres!” He roars.
“Not one of them will be left standing after today to terrorize our homes, our children, and our loved ones.” The applause and cheering is so strong, my hair blows back.
“For the Jaguar Kingdom!” Kaldar shouts, and all the people echo him.
“For the Wolf Kingdom!” Rysden roars, and all the people echo.
Redara moves underneath me, and I can feel her muscles tense. Tell them that they’re coming. They’re a little more than two miles out. Redara lifts her head and shoots fire into the air, successfully getting everyone’s attention.
"They’re two miles out!” I yell to Rysden and Kaldar.
I hear the shouts of orders being given as Redara takes to the skies. It’s going to be a different fight, I remind Redara. They’ll be able to see us now.
Yes. You've told me. Repeatedly. I don’t let her words bother me. You need to focus on keeping your seat and taking care of the ones that get too close to my flanks or my back.
So, you’ve told me. Repeatedly. I send back with a half-smile. We’ll do this. Together.
Yes, we will.
Redara hovers over the ground, and I feel my stomach tense with nerves. I keep reminding myself that this is what we’ve prepared for the last five days. Honestly, even longer than that. We’re ready. Today will be the end of the guivres. I tap my fingers against my leg as we wait.
Incoming, Redara warns me. I can’t see anything right away.
And then when I finally do, my breath stalls in my lungs.
Honestly, for as much preparing as we’ve done, nothing could have prepared me for the hoard of guivres approaching.
I realize in that moment that they’ve either never come together before, or they never let themselves be seen in bigger groups because we severely underestimated how many guivres are still alive.
The sky is nearly black with their approach.
Redara, I begin, feeling sick. I can’t even form the words. I look below at the men and women of the Jaguar Kingdom and the Wolf Kingdom and all those beautiful spirit wolves and jags and feel like I’m going to throw up. How many of them will be standing after this?
Focus! Redara demands.
There are so many, I send back.
Then you’d better get busy.
I can’t breathe as crushing panic and terror simultaneously beat down on me. It’s not enough; we don’t have nearly enough. There’s a kind of ringing in my ears. This can’t be happening.
Harper! Redara snaps at me. Pull yourself together!
The first of the guivres get close, and Redara’s fire shoots out of her mouth as she jerks forward.
Muscle memory makes me clamp my thighs together tight, so I can hold my seat.
I watch as three guivres disappear in black ash.
And my adrenaline kicks into overdrive as every thought in my head goes quiet except for right here, right now, and survival.