Page 95 of Once Upon a Crown
“Well thank you, I suppose.” I blew out the candle on the bedside table and lay back on the pillow, closing my eyes in an attempt to go to sleep.
After several minutes, I turned on my side, hoping to get more comfortable, but the tiredness I had felt before had decided to disappear, much to my annoyance.
An arm came around me, and above the blanket, Lance moved himself so that he was lying behind my back. He found my hand and entangled our fingers. I fell asleep to the sound of him breathing.
Chapter 38
Elara
I bit the inside of my cheek as I stared out of the council-room window. Where the hell was Cai? Alastor had said this was urgent.
He’d been spending the past week or two arranging scouting groups for the surrounding area and towns, as well as finding more loyalists to join the cause. The Norrandish army was slowly growing but it wasn’t enough to defeat Aries yet. I’d sent word to Everness, reporting our success at Mistwood to the council and requesting they send any men that we could spare to march to Norrandale.
A few minutes ago, Alastor had arrived back at the palace, out of breath and with the look of death in his eyes. Whatever he had to tell me and Cai, it couldn’t be good.
The door to the council room opened and Cai rushed in, his face white as a sheet. “You called for me?”
“Yes, Your Majesties.” Alastor cleared his throat. “I rode through the night to get here. I thought it best you both hear this as soon as possible.”
Cai and I made eye contact. I hated when there was tension between us. We’d been through a lot in these past few months and we needed each other now more than ever.
I braced myself for what was to come.
“Aries is coming. His army has arrived.”
It was always coming, and we knew it. But for some reason that didn’t lessen the blow.
“So, he’s decided to stop searching for the Myrgonite stones.” It was more of a statement than a question.
“With Thatcher no longer giving him free rein to do what he pleases, he knows we’re going to oppose him. He also knowsit’s better to strike now while he has the upper hand,” Cai responded, before looking to Alastor. “How far away is he?”
“His soldiers are still raiding farms and villages as they move, so he’s not going to need supplies for a while. If the weather holds up like this, I’d probably say two weeks, maybe a month given they have to travel through the mountains.”
That was not enough time for all of Norrandale’s army to get here, never mind Everness’s. I could tell Cai and Alastor were thinking the same thing. Travel during the winter was hard enough as it was, and armies moved slowly.
“It would take a blizzard to hold them back now,” I said, while knowing better than to trust my fate to the weather.
I would never be able to put into words the amount of fear written on Cai’s face. It was as if he could see everything and everyone he cared about disappearing before his eyes, taken from him in the most horrid of ways. This was a nightmare. And none of us could wake up and make it stop.
“If Aries is coming, we need to do everything in our power to stop him,” Cai said as calmly as possible. “We’ll need to gather a lot in a very short amount of time.”
He pulled a map from one of the shelves and rolled it open on the table.
“Alastor, I want you to send messengers in every direction.” He pointed to all the major cities that surrounded Mistwood. “I’ll write letters, stamped with my seal. We’ll make the threat known to our people and call on all the loyalists to start marching. If Aries wants to catch us off guard, we need to be a step ahead of him. I don’t want him to reach Mistwood at all. So, we’re going to have to meet him in the field.”
Cai placed his finger where all the mountains were drawn. “There’s a valley here, close to the old mines. We can find a way to ambush his army there while keeping the high ground.”
“I agree, Your Majesty,” Alastor said. “We should use the terrain to our advantage. I’ll make sure the reinforcements march in that direction.”
“I’ll send word to Everness,” I added. “To try and gather any forces I can. But at this rate, they’ll never make it on time.”
“I suppose it’s worth a try, though. Every sword is going to count now.” Cai didn’t look at me as he said it, his eyes boring into the map as he contemplated the possibility of losing his kingdom.
“Alastor, I want you to alert everyone in the palace. Let them know we are preparing for battle. I’ll get you those letters by the end of the day.”
Alastor bowed and left to fulfil his duties. As soon as the door was shut behind him, Cai fell into the nearest chair, full of dismay. My heart ached to see him in such a state. But it was clouded by my own worry for what we would have to face, combined with our unresolved argument.
“It’s going to be all right.” It was the only thing I could think to say.
