Page 35 of No Greater Sorrow

“Do they have him in iron chains?” Orla asked with a subtle shudder, as if she too could feel them on her skin.

“It’ll be worse than that. The right weapon can cut through iron chains. Undoubtedly, he will have magical protections as well.”

It took Aleja a moment to realize why her mind had drifted back to Roland’s village, stuck in time and dependent on a half-dead Astraelis to support it. Her sickle had slicedthroughone of his shadows. She’d been too frantic at the time to wonder how, and since then, the blade functioned more like a gardening tool than a magical weapon.

Val continued. “Oh. And if you have no other way of taking care of the Authorities, bringing the Violet girl will be useful as well.”

“What?” Aleja snapped. She wasn’t the only one in the tent who looked shocked by Val’s suggestion.

“She could connect to them with frightening ease. Violet can scry again from some hidden location near the camp, but this time she’ll allow herself to be discovered. It will certainly draw the Authorities away, giving you a chance to find Merit.”

“She’s even less of a trained fighter than I am, and we have a Trial the day after tomorrow,” Aleja told him. The half of her that wasn’t filled with anger noted that no one else had come to Violet’s defense.

“If all goes well, they’ll never actually find her. Your plan is to go unseen, isn’t it?” Val said.

“Taddeas, what do you think?” Nicolas asked.

“It might be doable if what Val says is true. Aleja, hang back with me when the others go. Let’s talk about our strategy.”

“I can’t believe you’re all entertaining this,” she said.

Orla raised an eyebrow, indicating she felt the same.

“Strategy. We’re going to discuss it,” Taddeas repeated. There was an air of finality in his voice she rarely heard, but she caught its undercurrent.Do not argue with one of your commanding officers. Silent advice given for Aleja’s sake.

Nicolas briefly locked eyes with Taddeas and gave a curt nod. “Good. Orla, take Val back to his tent and have him draw an aerial view of the camp as best he can. It would be in his interest to disclose any other useful information he has. Remember, there is a very fine line between a prisoner of war and a war criminal awaiting trial, Val.”

Aleja nearly begged Nicolas to stay as he left with the others, but she couldn’t bring herself to sound so pathetic with Orla in earshot.

“What do you think we should do?” Taddeas began, settling into one of the stiff wooden chairs.

“Ithinkyou should ask pretty much anyone else over the person whose biggest accomplishment in life is half a master’s degree in art history.”

“I’m asking the Dark Saint of Wrath. Look here,” he said, spinning a crude drawing around so that she was aligned with its south. “The Astraelis’ army camps are of a circular design, making them a pain in the ass to infiltrate. Fortunately, Merit is most likely to be stationed at their forge which is usually positioned outside the ring of tents. So, now think. What’s the first step?”

“Violet’s distraction”—fuck, Aleja hated that she was evenconsideringit—“should draw some of the guards out, but others are sure to stay behind. The longer we stay near the camp, the greater the chance we’ll be discovered. We have to figure out where the forge is quickly.”

“Good,” he said, with approval in his voice, though Aleja didn’t think she’d stated anything other than the obvious. “How do we do that?”

“We can’t exactly have an Avisai fly overhead. Maybe we can glamour ourselves to go unnoticed while we circle the camp. Or have Nicolas drop shadows.”

“A solution that is simple, but potentially effective. The Astraelis will have defenses, but some magic comes more innately to our kind than theirs. But let’s say you get there and find your glamours don’t work near their wards. What do you do?”

“We…I don’t know, Tad.”

“Think. The last Lady of Wrath didn’t go to a military academy. She was a hunter from a small village who rose to the ranks of High General because she had talent. The memories might be gone, but that talent is still in you.”

Aleja sat back in her chair, trying not to huff. She was tired. Her thighs burned from dragging her feet through the camp’s mud. But the look on Taddeas’s face stopped her from complaining. It wasn’t an expression of disappointment, but rather one of openness, as if he were back in his college classroom speaking to a student.

“Okay. We watch them from a distance for as long as we can. We identify any places or moments of weakness. Maybe a blind spot or a time when the guards change, leaving the prisoner briefly unattended. Then, we exploit that,” she said with a shaky breath.

“Good. What then?”

“We knock out the guard watching Merit. Once we do that, it’s just a simple extraction, right? We free him and put as much distance between the camp and ourselves before anyone realizes we were there.”

“Knock out the guard? What if he fights back?”

“Then… we have to kill him.”

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