Page 68 of The Shadow of Polaris

“Goodnight, Lytos,” I said, pushing the door open.

“Goodnight, Lady Elpis. Nice adjustments today. You are a fine soldier.” He smiled, turning for the hallway that led to his room.

The door hadn’t even clicked shut when I slumped into bed. Overwhelmed with a wave of fatigue, sleep found me quickly. Not a flash of an image or an ember of a thought crossed my mind as I tumbled into a near-death state of unconsciousness.

The morning came abruptly, as if I’d just closed my eyes. Our soldiers met the sunrise, loading cargo onto our war fleet to prepare for tomorrow’s departure. Once the ships were loaded and the stocks full, Altair summoned us into his council chambers for one final debrief.

“If we split the fleet to the eastern and western seas, we can attack from each gate of the Elders’ fortress,” Xenophron stated, sliding wooden model ships across the table before us.

The dark brown hair beneath his golden helmet, tufted with horsehair, was short and neat, the sign of a prestigious soldier.

“Yes, but they’ll be expecting us from both gates. Why not use the total force of our army to penetrate one entrance, then fight the rest within the keep itself?” Balakros countered, standing beside his twin.

“No, no, no.” Xenophron threw his large, scarred hands up, his bushy brows furrowed with frustration. “We’ve discussed this, brother, it’s better to divide and conquer. You act as if this is your first siege.”

Balakros scowled, sliding the wooden fleet back together and pushing them to the model island’s eastern side. “We’re going in blind, brother. We shouldn’t take the risk of splitting our strength between two armies!”

The two men continued to bicker, their wooden boats sliding back and forth across the table. I pinched my forehead. If I had to sit through another meeting that ended in one of the twins flipping the table again, I thought I might implode.

“Enough,” I commanded, stifling the two men’s argument with the slam of my fist against the tabletop. “We will divide the fleets. It makes sense to hit them at both gates. Aryx will command the Western fleet and I’ll command the Eastern.”

“Great idea, My Queen,” Xenophron said, sitting in the vacant seat to my right. Until a few weeks ago, that seat was reserved for one man, and it sure as hell wasn’t Xenophron.

“Rah will lead us through the rough areas of the sea. After that, we’ll split off. Altair, we’ll need your help hiding the fleet. We can’t let their forces see our numbers right off the bat,” I said, looking at the god leaning casually across the table.

He flicked a speck of dust off his gilded breastplate and gave me a bored nod.

“Aryx, once you get a clear shot, give the signal for your archers to take out the fortress’s sentries. Without them, hopefully we’ll maintain some element of surprise.” I glanced at the half-god who stared at his feet in the corner.

“After the sentries are taken care of, we’ll send in our footmen. Balakros, make sure the battering rams are ready to move quickly. We’ll have limited time before they alert Tethys.”

“It will be done, My Queen,” Balakros said, bowing stiffly before returning to his seat.

“Procyon, we’ll need to keep Tethys from teleporting out of there. Altair will be busy with the fog, so I’ll need you to cast the locking ward.”

The god smirked at me and nodded, “It will be done, My Queen.”

I curled my lip in disgust and continued to brief our council on each of their roles. When finally all plans were set in place, a silence fell over the group.

“Let’s pray that this works,” Aryx said, his head still low.

“It will,” I snapped, “There is no other option but succeeding.”

“Well, there’s death,” Xenaphron chimed, swallowing hard at the daggers I glared toward him.

“We’ll set sail at dawn, then.” I rose to my feet, concluding the meeting.

As our council trickled out of the chambers, Procyon knelt down to my ear, his breath hot and damp against my flesh.

“You’re not so bad at this whole leading thing. It’s a shame. Ursae would have thrived under your command,” he whispered.

I threw my hands against his solid chest and pushed him through the entryway. He turned down the hallway with a final wink. When finally the room was empty, I shut the door and let out my breath.

I couldn’t think about the death we’d be sailing into in the morning. I knew they would take some lives from us. Even if we were successful and escaped with our army intact, one life would be taken from me.

“Authority looks good on you, Elpis,” Aryx said behind me. He paced across the hall with heavy boots. “You’ll make a great Northern Queen.”

“I’m just trying my best,” I said, collecting the toy ships in my arms. “In reality, I have no idea what I’m doing.”

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