Page 153 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

The solution was beautifully simple. And not a single person in this room, including me, would have ever seen it coming.

The demons had to be drawn down into the last place we instinctively wanted them. We had to invite the monster through the door.

I smiled at the waiting coven. “We play Caves.”

40

Ploys were first, of course.

Nothing like a good ploy to lure a demon king in the door. Unlike Fertim or Vero, the demon king wouldn’t be alert to such things in the same way the magus in the coven had come to expect ploys in the day prior to game day and the game day itself.

Wild entered the advisory chamber. “The sense-blocking barriers are down.”

“Good,” I murmured, my gaze inward on the threads.

The first ploy offered by the combined Vero and Fertim members of the previous ploy teams had been to mimic the decay of our defenses against the demons. We wanted to lure the supernaturals in. We needed them on our turf and in our trap. They couldn’t know that was the case.

They had to believe we were weakened and ripe for defeat.

“The apothecaries are working their magic on the sentries to ulcerate their skin now the demons will be able to hear and see us.”

Also good. Our sentries would appear to crumble under the effects of the demon king’s magic until we were forced to leave the outside defenseless and open to their occupation.

The two ploys were one of any number the coven ploy team had come up with. I didn’t need to see a list of the ploys they developed. As they settled on a new one, the threads in my mind changed.

I’d largely been rendered incapacitated by the constant change across the strategy, defense, attack, and ploys teams. All I could do was sit in one spot and study the flow of alterations to our future to catch any that didn’t help our cause, to leave the ones that didn’t hinder us, and to pick up on any ideas that would strengthen our success.

The advisors were now acting as my personal assistants.

“Tell Sage to nix the collapsing cave idea,” I murmured.

A crackle of magic, and then Barrow was repeating the message through the head portal he’d opened. They’d done it so many times, I didn’t need to look anymore.

Sage replied, “Thank you.”

The portal closed.

“The portal in your old quarters is being decayed at a slower rate,” Wild said. “The sense barriers are all still operational.”

And they had to remain so until we were as ready as possible.

The size of the task was impossible to prepare for, really. If we’d had months, then I could have assured success. The two days remaining to us could be counted in hours, however, and that lack of time had the power to collapse our stack of cards.

I tracked the bouncing, weaving, jerking threads as I sensed a sudden shift.

“What is it?” Wild asked.

The threads were withering. Some of them. My brow cleared. “The coven is honing ideas now and focusing on those that will help us.”

It was a good sign, and I rolled my head and shoulders to ease the aching there.

“You need rest,” Wild said, kneading my neck and shoulders.

I did. “I will, but first I need to speak with the supernaturals.”

Without them, we wouldn’t win, and they hadn’t been in contact since Wild’s collapse and witnessing the state of the coven.

“If you’d like to use this as a chance to rest and eat, then please do so,” I told the advisors. “Otherwise, you’re welcome to remain.”

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