Chapter 17 Kieran #2
I took my place near the table opposite Noah.
Ronan stood at my right, fingers tracing the edge of the map as Steele settled across from him, calm radiating from his steady posture.
Gabe joined Noah over an open tome, their focus already locked on strategy, while Bastian lingered behind the chairs, too restless to sit.
Niz remained near the entrance, eyes shifting between the inside of the tent and the camp beyond.
Standing there among them, I felt the same strange mix I always did now—pride of who we’d become tangled with dread of what was to come.
One by one, the others gathered for the meeting, stepping in from the tent’s outskirts toward the table. Each bore a small sigil stitched to their uniform, a symbol of the affinity they represented or a crest denoting the wyvern or Rebellion forces.
Noah and Amelia led the Rebellion’s delegation, Amelia taking the seat beside him while Birdie Summers—the council member who oversaw Rebellion security—stood just behind them.
After them came the wyvern queen and king with their commander, Joshua, one of Niz’s most trusted allies.
I hadn’t known his name before, only remembered him as the friendly presence who’d stood outside Niz’s door when his former fiancée tried to reach my wyvern.
Seeing him here now, standing at their side, reminded me of how deeply the wyverns were committed to saving Alfemir.
It was good to see a friendly face in the middle of so much uncertainty.
Archangel Astor joined next with the Angelic Army’s representative at her side, their white leathers catching the lanternlight inside the tent. The Elementalists’ representative, Mithrie, followed soon after, and Ronan was joined by the Beast Tamer representative, who took position beside us.
Standing a step back from the table, a group of affinity specialists completed the circle: the Caster, Divine Weaponsmith, Potion Master, and Text Keeper representatives—the last already poised with pen and paper to record every word.
For a moment, I just stood there, taking it in: the flicker of lanternlight across their faces, the burn of focus in every pair of eyes. These were the people who would save our world from the upper triads by sheer will.
“I want to address something before we begin.” My voice was steady, cutting through the quiet until the room turned toward me.
“We all know the weight of the past. Things won’t be normal overnight.
Combining forces like this isn’t easy, but if we start breaking apart before the upper triads even arrive, we save them the trouble—and none of us survive that way. ”
“There isn’t room for ego in this,” Steele said, voice low and certain.
I nodded once. “So where do we start?”
The words came out steady, more statement than question. I set my hands on the map, aware of every gaze fixed on me, and let the silence stretch just long enough for the weight of what came next to settle.
“All right,” I said, pulling together the plans my mates and I had brainstormed while traveling throughout the day.
“We organize this in three parts: evacuation, lure, and defeat.” I tapped the inner rings of Alfemir on the map.
“Essentially—after it's cleared out, we draw the triads into the city and finish them there.”
“Evacuation first,” Noah said. “Every non-combatant civilian—anyone who can’t fight—will be moving to the mountain caverns. Queen Nora has offered her city as refuge to those who can’t fight.”
I gave Niz’s mother a quick, thankful smile. I hadn’t realized when she was considering solutions that she would open the doors of their home, especially to angels. I could be nothing but thankful.
“We start that tonight,” Amelia added, ledger in hand.
“Moving after dark will give them better cover and reduce the chance of being detected by the upper triads if they’re watching us.
I’ll handle the route coordination—families were warned to prepare after the Dominion incident, so most are ready to evacuate. ”
We'd even taken precautions, moving what few keepsakes I had from my family’s home to our camp here.
Ronan cut in. “Evacuation lanes will need escorts. Beast Tamers and the Angelic Army Cavalry can aid in that—pegasi and dragons can guide civilians through the mountain passes.”
“It may be safer to follow Alfemir’s walls where children or elderly can land for breaks,” the Beast Tamer representative pointed out. “It provides stable points for those who can’t fly far.”
Ronan nodded in agreement as the Text Keeper recorded the note, pen moving swiftly across the notepad. The plan for evacuation was set—now it was time to turn to the next phase. Relief flickered through me, knowing at least one element was finally in motion.
“Which means we have to turn our attention to how we handle the triads now,” I breathed out as my shoulders tightened.
“Even with civilians moving discreetly at night, we can still assume they’ll still attack the city first, so we will ensure it’s where they will incur the most damage.
Alfemir will draw their ire, so our preparations must be quiet and begin tonight. ”
“Our preparations to destroy them,” Bastian said, a crooked smile flashing. His eyes were bright with possibility. “So, how do we make that happen?”
“First and foremost: we control the air with anything that flies.” Gabe answered. “Niz and I will plan to ensure wyverns, Angelic Cavalry, and Tamers and their beasts don’t collide in battle.”
Niz spoke up, “We can also ensure we deny any enemy air support.”
Astor splayed her hands on the table and spoke candidly. “You’ll need to fight the Dominions on that level as well. Angelic Army Archers will hold the high ground on the castle and along Alfemir’s walls to aid in that.”
Steele jabbed a finger at the map. “For the ground plans we need to be exact—specific funnels, choke points, and trap sites. No vagueness. We channel them into kill zones.”
I nodded in agreement, picturing the absolute chaos that would rain down on Alfemir. The evacuations would save lives, but so much else would still be lost.
Mithrie pressed her lips together in thought. “Those traps can be elemental in nature, but I’m worried the power needed to place and trigger so many will stretch us thin and render us useless in the ground battle.”
“The Caster-based ones can fill the gaps,” the Caster representative cut in. “Elemental triggers are fast—fire and air for strikes at choke points; earth and water to hold or collapse buildings and walls. But a Caster-charged trigger paired with potions can be devastating.”
“We can create bombs easily,” the Potion Master representative said, eyes bright. “Concussive, incendiary, corrosive—small enough to hide, big enough to take down many.”
The cunning and cruelty of it settled over the table. For a beat the room was quiet, everyone picturing the city and our enemies breaking exactly as we planned. A cold wash moved through me—horror at what we were preparing, and a steady, ugly resolve that this bloodshed had to be carried out.
Amelia spoke up then, as if reading my thoughts, already seeing the bloodshed ahead. “Medical teams need to be staged at set points between here and the city. Resupply windows planned and secured. We can’t predict everything, but we can make sure our people have what they need to survive.”
I looked around the table, meeting every gaze in turn. “Is everyone clear?”
When the room answered with nods, I gave a single one of my own. “Then we start now. Break into groups. Every detail gets locked down before we break apart for the evening.”
“Before we move on, there’s one more thing,” Astor said, raising a hand to grab attention.
She nodded toward the Divine Weaponsmith representative, then looked to Niz’s mother.
“As a show of our solidarity, our forge has been repurposing old weapons—those once forged with the rare materials meant to harm your kind, have been smelted into shields instead.”
Niz’s mother blinked, surprise flickering across her face that echoed my own. “Shields?”
Astor inclined her head. “We don’t know if the upper triads still have access to weapons made of the same material. But if they do, we want you to be protected.”
The Divine Weaponsmith stepped forward, setting a large piece of metal on the table. “Light enough for battle,” he said, his voice rough and echoing through the tent. “Sturdy enough to take heavy hits.”
Surprised silence rippled through the tent.
Niz stepped closer to join his parents, accepting the shield with careful hands.
He angled it so the dim light rippled across the surface.
“We hadn’t considered that the upper triads might possess weapons like these,” he admitted, glancing between the Smith and Astor.
“They may not even realize we’re here yet… but, thank you for thinking ahead.”
A soft warmth settled through the room, a collective exhale that loosened something in the air. I felt it echo in my chest as Steele pushed the meeting forward. “Let’s break into planning groups—air operations, ground defenses, and supplies and medical. We move fast and start now.”
By the time the council finally broke apart, night had swallowed the camp.
Orders carried through the dark as evacuation preparations began, runners taking off into the sky to spread word in Alfemir. Beyond them, angels and wyverns alike were already moving and heading out to the first trap sites and reinforcing the city’s walls.
It would be a long night for many, but it meant that, no matter what came, the people of Alfemir would be safe, and the city would be ready to meet the attacks aimed at it.
I stayed seated long after the others had gone, elbows braced against the table, staring at the wreck of maps and ink before me. My stomach reminded me I’d skipped dinner, but exhaustion kept me still. When I finally stepped outside to join my mates, the night air met me like cool water.
Above, the stars’ silver light stretched against the dark, seeming larger somehow, as if they were leaning toward us. For everyone’s sake, I had to hope they weren’t. Steele and I weren’t ready.