Page 391 of Of Empires and Dust

That was all it took to break him.

He leaned forwards, planted his elbows into his legs, put his face in his hands, and wept.

Chapter 90

Those Willing to Die

24thDay of the Blood Moon

South of Achyron’s Keep – Winter, Year 3081 After Doom

“Rise.”Alina squeezed the handles of her saddle as Rynvar bolted upwards, the air attempting to rip her from his back. The buckles strapped to her hip pulled and jangled with the wyvern’s flight.

Below, the army was setting up camp a day’s march from Achyron’s Keep. Shrieks rang out all around her as wyverns soared through the sky, their scales glinting in a myriad of colours as the sun hung high. The creatures were restless after leaving the camp they had settled in for so long.

She lifted her right hand and signalled for the patrols to head out, instructing the others to land and hunt. Feeding this many wyverns while moving across the land was no easy task. Staying a short flight from the coast was the only true solution. Fishwere the only food source plentiful enough to not cause logistical issues, and as it happened wyverns were natural ocean hunters.

As the other Wyndarii dispersed, Alina stayed airborne with Mera, Lukira, and Amari, taking one last circuit around the perimeter. They’d already found some of Loren’s scouts prowling about earlier that morning. The less knowledge Loren had on Alina’s movements the better position they would be in. After sweeping the perimeter, Alina and her wing-sisters alighted near the command tent.

“Stay close,” she said, running her hands along the scales of Rynvar’s snout after dismounting.

The wyvern gave a soft purr and pressed the tip of his snout into Alina’s chest.

She laughed, scratching under his jaw. “Go,” she said, pushing his snout away.

Rynvar, Audin, Syndel, and Urin all took flight as their riders made for the command tent.

“My queen.” Both Olivian and Savrin inclined their heads from where they waited at the tent’s entrance.

“The patrol was clear?” Savrin asked as they entered the command tent.

Alina nodded in response.

“I’ll have fifty Wyndarii patrolling night and day.” Mera unbuckled her helmet, holding it in the crook of her arm. “Nothing alive will get within ten miles of this camp without us knowing. Mistakes can be made once, never twice.”

A long table was already set in the centre of the tent, cups and bottles of wine laid out, candles flickering. Six more of Alina’s Royal Guard stood about the tent with backs rigid, hands resting on their sword pommels. The remaining two – Alcon and Vahir – guarded Alina’s tent.

Everyone about the table rose as Alina entered.

Her High Commander, Joros, pressed a fist to his chest and bowed. “My queen, by blade and by blood.”

“Sit, Joros.” Alina gave the man a soft smile. He’d not been the same since the massacre at Myrefall. The man had lost five children and his wife in a single night, all while they’d slept. Anyone who experienced that and stayed the same was not human.

He gave Alina a sharp nod and returned to his chair, staring down into the wine cup before him.

“The rest of you as well.” Alina gestured for the others to sit. They had all been marching double since Dayne had been taken – or since his departure. She still wasn’t quite sure which was more accurate.

Anda Deringal and Tula Vakira, along with Tula’s son Narek, were both seated across from Joros, with Rinek Larka to his left. The new head of House Herak – Vhin’s eldest sister, Hakari – remained at Ironcreek to hold the blockade along the coast and to stop Lorian reinforcements by sea. But her two younger sisters, Savira and Vanda, were both seated at the table, along with her two eldest sons, Yerin and Vakar.

And Kirya of House Tallic – one of the large Minor Houses – now spoke for those who had once been vassals to House Thebal, since Aldon had defected.

A number of other heads of many Minor houses and some of the Wyndarii commanders took up the remaining seats, each of them staring at Alina intently as she walked to the head of the table and took her seat, her wing-sisters sitting alongside her. Alina would never not feel a warmth within her at seeing so many at her table, all bound together by the idea of a free Valtara. And yet, there was an emptiness too in the absence of Senya, Vhin, and Marlin.

After a few moments, porters brought out plates of roast rabbit and venison, pickled herring, fried potatoes, and roastvegetables on metal skewers. The cook fires had been the first things set up once the army had stopped; Alina had made sure of it. An army marched on its belly – a belly that, no matter what happened over the next few days, would soon go hungry.

Alina ripped a hunk of meat from a rabbit leg, chewed, and swallowed. She leaned in to Mera. “Dinekes and the others?”

Alina had asked Dinekes and the other Andurii captains to attend the meal. Not just to discuss plans for beginning the negotiations and the likely siege, but so they might rest with a warm meal and a cup of wine. The Andurii had turned solemn when they’d discovered Dayne was in Loren Koraklon’s hands.

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