Page 42 of Fate and Flame
A pit of guilt tumbled in my stomach. He wasn’t accusing me, but I felt the shame anyway. “He took my barrier ring. I couldn’t fight against him entirely. I tried.”
“It’s not your fault, Temir. It’s something we all knew would happen eventually.” He patted me firmly on the back and stood beside me, at the head of the room, until Rook ushered the last few fae in and nodded to me to begin.
“We don’t have a lot of time. The king’s soldiers are coming for us and they could be here at any moment. We might have a few hours, we might have a few minutes. We need to decide quickly what we are going to do.”
Sidelong glances from a silent audience met us. Some seemed to shrivel in place while others frowned and looked to the ceiling for easy answers.
“If we stay,” Rhogan said, “we can fight, but not from down here. We have to get above the ground.”
“If we fight them from down here, there’s only one entrance,” Rook countered. “If they are bottlenecked into the compound, we can take them out at the door a few at a time.”
“Or we could run,” a lutin called out. “We could flee south and combine forces with the Marsh Court rebels.”
“Either way, we need to decide quickly,” I urged.
I recognized a male that stood. He and I had fought our way out of the tunnels below the castle together.“I say we stay and fight inside the compound.”
“It doesn’t make sense to stay here when they could just send more soldiers. It’s not safe anymore. We have to flee,” a kobold said from the back of the room.
“Consider this.” Rhogan took a step forward. “If we all pack our things and go above ground, we can send the females and children ahead first. The males can stay behind and fight the first wave of soldiers. We would still be able to catch up to the others and there wouldn’t be a possibility of being trapped down here.”
That was his biggest fear. After being trapped in the dungeons, which I completely understood, he couldn’t stand being underground if he thought there was even a possibility he would not be able to escape. He was a winged fae. He needed to fly.
Another spoke up, slamming his hand on the table in the center of the room. “We can’t leave the females and children. If the soldiers catch them . . .”
“They won’t. We know which way they will come,” Rhogan said. “I can watch the skies and make sure the soldiers don’t reach them.”
“We’ll need you on the battlefield, Rhogan.” Rook placed a careful hand on his shoulder. “Let us all split now. Run to your rooms, pack your essential things, only what you can carry, and I will discuss this with Rhogan and Temir. We will decide what the best plan is and go from there.”
Within minutes the room was empty.
“We don’t have long to make a decision,” I warned them.
“I know we don’t. I just can’t be down here. I can’t fight down here,” Rhogan said. He looked up to the tip of his raven wings, and I noticed for the first time they were nearly touching the low ceiling. He probably couldn’t even stand straight in the rebel headquarters.
“Then it’s settled,” Rook answered. “We send you to guard the others while Temir and I will run the battle in the clearing outside of the Keep.”
“I think we’d be better off fleeing. As long as we have a head start, it doesn’t make sense to sit here and wait for a fight, potentially losing lives we could have otherwise saved.”
“I know it’s your nature to try to save everyone Temir, but I don’t think we can just take off running,” Rook answered. “We will be slower on foot than they are on horses.”
“Do we have no horses of our own? I thought we were stealing them from the king.”
“We have a few, but not nearly enough.”
I nodded. “I don’t see how we have a choice, then. We’ll have to fight them on the field. Do we have weapons?”
“Plenty.” Rook smiled at Rhogan. “Gather your things and let’s get going.”
“I’m not sure my mate will agree to go with the others.”
“Neither will her mother,” Rook answered, rushing out of the room.
I followed suit, scanning every nook and cranny I could on the way to Nadra. The rebels were moving quickly. I found Nadra and her mother hugging and crying, and I gave them only a moment until I interrupted. “I’m so sorry, but we have to get prepared. The soldiers will be here sooner than we thought.”
“Mother, this is Temir, my mate. Pack your things. We need to leave.”
Her mother stood as tall and beautiful as she did with the same copper hair, but her eyes were blue and she didn’t have a single freckle. Her face was serious all the same.
