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Aurick releases me quickly, shifting backward with his hands up to show DaiSzek that he isn’t a threat.
I smile, patting my furry buddy on the head. “Good boy.”
“I’ll let you get your rest.” He stands to walk away, but I dig my nails into his ankle urgently.
“I’m not resting anymore. We must get them out of the prison. Now!”
The guilt of being the only one to escape is poison to my heart. I should have stayed behind. Dessin should be the one here, leading the masses to our rescue. He would know how to command these men and women. He wouldn’t rest until he broke us out of confinement.
“It’ll all be fine. We’re working on it,” Aurick says with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“Working on it?” Steam pulses from my ears. “I just watched my best friend’s legs get chopped off by a rusted axe! Were you working on it then? Or how about when the love of my life was brainwashed into believing I’m a demon from hell sent to torture him? Where were you and this army when they were starving us for weeks? How long will you be working on it before they die horrible deaths in that hellhole?!”
I’ve gathered an audience of different members from the ancient colonies. They surround us one by one, listening intently as I raise my voice in a fit of anger.
Aurick’s glacier eyes move through the audience insecurely before answering.
“After we mapped the layout of the prison, we sent a small but formidable unit to rescue your friends. They’re on their way there now,” Aurick answers in a stern tone that tells me to stop questioning his authority.
I narrow my eyes into small slits. “A small unit?”
He nods twice.
“They’ll never make it out,” I exhale in defeat. “A small unit?”
“My husband will get them out.” A few members of the Stormsages open their bodies to allow Asena to step forward. She looks like a white wolf queen in her armor made of white scales and gray pelts, with a heavy cloak made of animal skins and furs.
“Asena,” I utter.
“Garanthian and my son took our strongest, stealthiest warriors to break your friends out.” She gazes into my spirit with those wise, almond eyes. “They will not fail.”
I know she might believe that. But she hasn’t seen what I’ve seen in that insidious place. Doubt and more guilt fill my lungs as I hold her gaze with uncertainty.
“There are swamp dawpers, and the place is crawling with sentinels and basically the entire force of the Vexamen Breed.” I shake my head and rub the space between my brows. “Even if they manage to get them out, they won’t make it back to our camp. We have to bring our army and be there waiting to defend them.”
“No.” Aurick stands tall, like the egotistical leader he is. “Their numbers far exceed our own, even with the added forces of the ancient colonies. We’re safer if we wait this out and come up with a better plan of attack.”
“With all due respect, Mr. Demechnef…” Runa appears behind me, looking to her left at Rydran, from the Naiadales.
“We follow the Fallen Saint into battle. Not you,” Rydran says, with a few of his own men forming a crowd behind him.
Aurick looks genuinely confused. “But I’m the one who brought you all here. I’m the one who has gathered your people, even you said it yourself! They haven’t gathered in hundreds of years!”
“No,” Asena says sternly. “He has gathered us. As predicted by our sacred prophecy. The last of the mighty RottWeilen, the alpha of all alphas. He was always meant to unite us for a greater calling.”
Everyone looks at DaiSzek, who now sits up, watching us with attentive eyes.
“Well…still…” Aurick still looks like he doesn’t quite understand. “You need my army, too. And Demechnef will not fight without proper planning. We refuse to walk into a slaughter.”
My face boils with heat and hatred for this man. After everything we’ve been through…how can he still be this asshole? How can he wait any longer to rescue my people? What could I possibly say to change his mind?
An intrusive thought enters my mind like an unwanted house guest.
“Shouldn’t you do it for Marilynn?” I probe.
He shifts on his feet unnerved. “She would want me to be smart about this. And she can take care of herself.”
“Can she?” I stand up, and so do DaiSzek and Knightingale. “Did you know they ripped all of her fingernails out?”
