Page 35 of Their Queen

“Right. Well, it seems that as they go further out, the more the land has seemed to fail. One usually expects little growth in Winter territory, although there’s usually some flora or fauna to be seen, but to find the same in Spring? It’s not normal. It seems the land is dying, ash coating large sections, but it’s not a clear swathe of area either. More like little pockets of devastated land with nothing and no one alive within them.”

“Where?” Arryn asked, his brow furrowed as the soldier held his full attention.

The soldier looked around for a moment before grabbing some markers from the side table, flat pieces of circular wood, and placed them down on the map. “These are the areas we’ve heard about so far.”

“Why would the land be dying in such a way? You’d think that it would be all of it rather than just pieces here and there,” I said, standing and moving toward the map. I knew it had been mentioned before that some of it was due to the imbalance brought about by Titania’s grasping at power that didn’t belong to her, but I hadn’t realized it was so far reaching. That and I had a gut instinct that told me there was more to this that we were missing. We just hadn’t figured it out yet.

Arryn looked at me, following my train of thought. “I’d expect her power to drain from one area as well, starting from further out and making its way in as she pulled more power from the land, but to have it so sporadic? That doesn’t make sense.” Arryn pondered the conundrum. If anyone could find a reason, it would be him. “We need more information. I’ll send Brannoc to those areas tomorrow and have him redirect the scouts to investigate this further.”

“That makes sense. I have a feeling we won’t solve this without knowing more,” I said, working over the problem in my head, trying to see it from a different angle. What really sucked was that I didn’t have the years of history and experience with the land. I didn’t know what was normal for magic and what wasn’t. I was having to learn everything on the fly, and so far, my learning curve had been steep.

The War Room door burst open, slamming into the stone wall as Brannoc strode through out of breath. My heart lifted at the sight of him until I took in the details. His clothes were dusty and wrinkled, his hair mussed and windblown. But what really had me worrying was the bags under his eyes. His exhaustion was evident in every line of his body. He couldn’t keep going like this. We needed to come up with a different solution and soon.

“Brannoc?” Arryn questioned, concern tinging his voice, clearly not expecting his arrival. “What is it?”

“She’s making her move.” Shit. I knew it was coming, but to hear it was so soon had me worried for other reasons now. “She’s moving through Autumn, already having burned the first village to the ground.”

Arryn’s focus snapped fully into place, his training taking over. “Where’s she headed?”

Brannoc eyed the map. “Here.” His finger landed on a spot just over the Autumn border. “This is the village she burned.” Dragging his finger closer to our direction, he continued, “And here’s where she’s heading. She hit the first village at night, demanding everyone fall into line. Those that didn’t were murdered on sight or were burned alive. Even the children. Nothing is left of it but ashes.”

Fuck. Tears watered my eyes at the thought of such cruelty, that my quest for the throne had brought this down on them. Anger quickly replaced that fear and doubt, all of which I could agonize over later. Now, we needed to act.

“How quickly can we get our forces moving to that location?” I asked.

“We can’t pull our full forces out. We need to leave some behind to guard the Keep in case this is a trap or distraction. Those we do have are barely trained, except for a handful of previous soldiers and the guards Charity’s father sent. Fuck. We needed more time,” Arryn cursed, his eyes darting over the map as his mind worked over the best course of action.

“Then we go down and help them. All of us. We can get there first with reinforcements following.” I eyed the map, finding a village, knowing that this decision would leave others in Titania’s path of destruction, but we didn’t have time. “Here. If we get there first, we can set up a defensive position, maybe get the upper hand?” I asked, looking at Arryn.

“I can head out now and warn these villages, but that would only make her arrival to our position faster,” Brannoc said.

“We can’t just leave them in the path,” Arryn said, not liking any of the options. “Fine. If we leave now, we can be there by this afternoon. That’ll hopefully give us a day to get everything sorted before she arrives and provide the villagers with enough time to get out of her way.”

Looking up to Brannoc, he nodded. “Head out now, and we’ll meet you there.” He grasped Brannoc’s forearm in farewell. “Travel safe, brother.”

“Always,” Brannoc said, turning to me.

“Come back to me,” I told him, leaning up on my tiptoes to claim his lips with mine briefly before pulling back. “That’s an order from your Queen.”

He smirked. “One I’ll gladly follow. See you in a few hours,” he said, turning to leave.

Arryn had already turned to bark orders at the others in the room, who also sprinted to carry them out. “Come, let’s go get ready. Someone will send the others to us.”

I nodded, the gravity of the situation finally sinking in. If Titania thought she’d win this without a fight, she was sorely mistaken. Even though we hadn’t had as much time to prepare as we’d like, we were still ready for her. We’d push this force back and prepare to strike back. The waiting for war was over. Now it was time to take that fight to her.

Chapter Twenty Four: Rhowyn

We traveled as quickly as we dared, all of us on horseback with a small contingent of soldiers riding behind us. On the horizon, I could see the village that was our destination coming into view. As we neared, we slowed our pace, instantly on alert as we looked for any threat that could be hidden among the buildings that constituted the main street. Arryn stopped in the middle of it all, signaling for us to do the same. He dismounted gracefully and strode up to the first building that held what looked to be some kind of general store. He entered it, and I turned my gaze to the horizon, keeping my eyes open for any figures that could be concealed from us. My other men were doing the same as we waited for Arryn to come back.

He strode out of the shop door, an elderly couple following him. Turning to them, he asked, “How do we notify the rest of the village quickly?”

The older male brownie pointed a gnarled finger toward a church sitting at the end of the street. “Ring that bell, and everyone will know that there is danger.”

“Good. Go. We’ll get everyone out and make our stand,” he told them before eyeing the church again. “Callum, ring the bell. The rest of us will make sure we direct everyone as they come to investigate.”

The couple finally spotted me on top of my horse, their eyes going wide before they dipped into a shaky bow. “Your Majesty.”

I smiled at them. “Please, get to safety. We’ll handle Titania’s forces,” I told them, hoping I could uphold that promise.

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