Page 76 of Gilded Crown

“Don’t worry about how Gullveig did it,” snapped Aurelius. “The point is that he did it to shock us and make a point. He’s taken over, and he’s the threat now. Gullveig was the one to worry most about the whole time while I was focused on Zylem for the most part.”

“What did the herb woman do?” asked Jari.

“The Commander of Morning Glory knows to send out about a third of the army to watch the outer cliffs. It’s to prevent anyone from trying to get in with fliers and attacking from the back while distracting Morning Glory with a frontal assault. Provided that she’s remained loyal to me, she’ll have poisoned their supplies and smoked them out. She knows where nornine grows out in the rockier areas.”

Nornine left the user higher than a hawk but completely limp and useless if they drank a tincture of it, so it wasn’t exactly a favorite drug. It was also hard to grow or find, and it could only be found in the mountains. If the herb woman had been secretly cultivating and stocking enough, lit bundles of it would work for Aurelius’s purpose.

The fliers patrolling around wouldn’t have time to land once they realized something was wrong. That was if they’d even had time to figure out they were high. They were probably happy and at ease while hurtling to their deaths.

Este raised an eyebrow as she regarded Aurelius. “You left that out.”

“It’s better to plan as if she betrayed me,” said Aurelius. “Who knows? Maybe she has or something went wrong. If not, our enemy is greatly reduced, and they won’t be on their way since the smoke signals have gone off. At the very least, Gullveig’s morale is cut.”

“You like making plans without telling people, huh?” asked Jari.

Also, he was telling Este now to distract her from Zylem’s gold figure, not that she’d forget for long. Hopefully, she’d stop asking how and accept his explanation.

“What do we do with that?” Este demanded as she pointed at Zylem.

“Treat it as anybody.”

“But what about the gold on the outside? Do we leave that?”

Elira’s Book had no instructions for what to do in case someone’s dead brother was covered in gilt due to a cursed ability.

“Leave it,” said Aurelius. “Zylem can be buried with the rest of the family in the tomb once this is over, and while I don’t hold any love for him, I don’t want someone chipping at a family member’s body. For now, we have a war to win.”

Chapter Seventeen

The army moved forward into the pass. Everyone was in position, and in front of the main group, fairies with huge, curved shields stayed just ahead of the horses on the front lines. As the wall and gate of Morning Glory came closer, the fronts of their horses and bodies would be vulnerable.

Everyone else would have to worry about the assault from above.

Some with large shields were interspersed among the foot soldiers to help add extra protection and keep them alive. Archers huddled under them too since they needed both hands for their bows. They’d be vulnerable if they moved out from under the shields to loose arrows.

Once the cliffs came up on either side of those at the front, Jari heard an arrow hit his shield as he held it up. Dozens more flew down in the next second and pinged off metal. Others struck living targets. Someone shouted in the back as they must have been hit, and Jari was sure he heard someone vomit in fear.

His stomach was tight, but he didn’t feel like he’d throw up, and he was acutely aware of Aurelius right next to him who was still safe with his shield up. Este was on the other side of him, and the rest of the cavalry in the front lines kept a steady pace.

Archers took the chance to pop out from under shields in the back to send arrows and magic up. Several fliers suddenly took off. It was a race to get to the top of the cliffs, avoid arrows, and kill the archers up there before they could do more damage to those on the ground.

The line of shield fairies at the front had to be careful on the rocky ground. As they came within range of the main wall and entrance to Morning Glory, a huge cloud of arrows came fromthe Novan archers on top. Lightning bolts followed as someone shouted behind Jari.

“Oil! Oil!”

The hot liquid would find any nook to flow into on fairy or horse armor. Metal clashed as the army tried to tighten their formation and still keep moving forward, but the shields couldn’t form an impenetrable wall against liquid. Horses screamed as they were burned, and soldiers yelled. Somewhere behind Jari, a horse neighed in panic, and it sounded like the formation was breaking apart in one section. Fuck. One horse that lost its nerves could be dangerous in such conditions.

Luckily, none fell on those in the front lines.

Fire and lightning came down too, and Jari was sure someone with blue energy must have struck his shield since the force was so intense, it sent an ache through his arm. He managed to keep his shield up, and the faint electric feeling of it wasn’t more than a tingle through his body thanks to his armor. A body fell from above and broke on the rocks ahead.

The shieldmen in front ignored the bones sticking out and the blood spattered on the ground. One had to step over the corpse. Behind Jari, he was pretty sure a body hit shields judging by the loud sound it made.

Mercury plodded on, sure-footed despite the rough terrain, and Galahad matched his pace as Aurelius kept his shield up. Arrows thunked, fire blazed down, and lighting found little cracks to shoot through. Horses neighed, and Jari didn’t dare look back. One of their fliers hit the rocks to the side with about a dozen arrows sticking out of his wings and his face burned beyond recognition.

Tracking lightning found Jari, and he tensed even though his armor covered him and had materials and spells worked into the metal to protect against it. It was more than a tingleand unpleasant to say the least. Rocks scraped as shod hooves moved, and horses and men fell under the onslaught.

It would only get worse once the cannons were fired. Hopefully, the laddermen would be okay in their tight, shielded formation.

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