“You should be the one to stay and coordinate between us and the generals in the war tent,” I suggested.
“Not a chance!” he protested in offense.You know as well as I do that Darragh shouldn’t be fighting so close to Mionlach and our encampment,he added privately.
Unfortunately, he had a point…
“Are you fully healed?” I demanded, narrowing my eyes at him because I already knew the answer.
“I am well enough to fight,” he insisted stubbornly.
We did not have time to argue. We’d both walked onto plenty of battlefields with injuries before, so I just nodded and decided to trust in his judgment.
“It’s the Fuath. They came from the south,” said Nuala as she came to my side. “The scouts spotted them trying to use the Nabaneese Mountains to sneak up on the camp. We have maybean hour. Rian… there arethousands.”
“I’m surprised they would come here,” Sage admitted as Ornella reached him and entwined her gauntleted hand with his. I couldn’t help noticing how similar her suit still was to how it looked when Aodhan wore it.
“I am not surprised. Queen Aoibheal knows we have a Seer here, and it is only a matter of time before I find her. She has become desperate,” I assured them.
“A Seer who missed a whole army,” Nuala muttered, and I glanced down to see her scowling at the floor.
I turned to her, one finger slipping under her chin to tip her angry face up toward mine.
“I have known to prepare my army for her for weeks because of your visions. Aoibheal knows you are here. She has also proven that she knows how to move unseen. You cannot warn me of what you cannot See.”
She gave a slight nod, her eyes hopeful as they darted between mine as if to ensure I didn’t blame her. But this was my fault, I realized now. She told me she needed to be exposed to more leads in order to See more, but I had been doing my best to avoid her instead.
“Do you have a plan?” Ciaran interrupted impatiently, and I released Nuala to face the room. All the riders were battle ready in their armour, and my family were on their feet waiting anxiously for my instructions.
“I will go and hold them off while the rest of you help prepare the army. We need time to get into formation.”
“We all go,” Sage objected, but I shook my head.
“I need you to help Darragh coordinate the army with the generals. I still need to find the mage, and until I do, we cannot use full force,” I reminded them firmly.
“Killing him would be cutting the head off the snake so why would wenotwant that?” Ciaran growled.
“The mage has a direct link to Aoibheal,” Nuala spoke before I could. “He is our best chance of finding her.”
I knew Ciaran already knew this, he just hated to use restraint in battle.
“I just want to be clear that I will not be sacrificing our warriors just to be gentle with the Fuath. The second they get an upperhand, I will be using full force,” he warned.
“Agreed,” I assured him. “We are still a little drained from fighting the Sylvan so I will consume the magic we need and get the rest of you back up to full strength.”
I waited until they nodded.
“Sage and Ciaran are most effective when in the sky where they’ll have aerial vantage points. Ornella will be most useful on the ground where she can access more of her magic from the earth. You also seem to have enough control of your vargr to employ her in close proximity to other people,” I told Ornella. I tried to conceal my envy over that since my own vargr would barely look at me. “Once you get the army into formation, you will relay the aerial observations and directions from Sage and Ciaran to the commanders on the ground,” I finished.
I did not miss the way the dryad bristled slightly at the direct order, but she nodded in agreement.
“You all know your quadrants. Ciaran can take control of mine as well,” I added, and he nodded. “Go.”
Ciaran went into a portal without any more hesitation. Sage and Ornella took a moment to hug his family before they departed for their posts along with their vargr.
I stepped forward to address my family, but Nuala put a hand on my forearm to stop me.
“You’re going out alone?” she demanded nervously.
“I am more than capable of handling Fuath. The hard part will be not killing too many of them before I can find the mage,” I assured her.
