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“And it doesn’t seem to mind squishing us as it does so,” Pepha added.
Iryana grimaced at the memory, adding, “Voordiza’s creatures didn’t want us to cross the river, so she must be trying to limit travel. It’s hard to know if her intent was to keep people in the fort, or to keep them out. Limhiz must have ordered his creatures to protect us.”
“The question I have,” Pyetar drawled, “is what drew the metal-badgers to the fort. This is supposed to be our safest holding, the one the others might have to fall back to.”
They were all silent for a moment, trying to find a connection.
“I have a theory,” Iryana finally said. “Thelbiz said Noshtiz’s beasts would be digging, looking for this deeper magic source, but also to release his magic, to help him recover it. I figured the magic would be thickest in the wells, but what if there is a large concentration beneath the fort?”
“That would be unfortunate,” Major Tenar pointed out calmly at the same time Vabihn groaned.
“It makes more sense than anything else,” Lidishta said softly. “I can’t imagine Noshtiz caring about the collateral damage when his success would doom us all, anyway.” She exchanged a look with Vaneshta, who leaned over to wrap her arms around Lidishta.
“That would mean they’re going to come back.” Mezhimar grimaced, his long face contorting. He sat rigidly on the side of the couch.
“And if they come back—” Pepha swallowed. “Then the dragon comes back, too.”
“Will we need to abandon the fort?” the major asked Pyetar. “Fall back to Midmarket or one of the other fortresses?”
“Midmarket is more central in the highlands and it’s likely even more dangerous. I also don’t know if they have room. It would be far to travel in winter even without the war. Plus, we just sent word to all the other settlements in our territory that they need to think about leaving.”
“I should be meeting with the duchess soon, and the other clans,” Iryana added. “If the duchess will house refugees in the Sky Valley, we can get more people out.”
“Until we have an alternative, we’ll just have to fortify Myura River,” Vaneshta pointed out. “The metal-badgers were a new threat to us, but now we’ve seen what it takes to kill them. It took a while for the dragon to arrive. If we can kill them quickly, we won’t have to worry about it.”
Until things get worse, Iryana thought. But she kept that to herself.
“Metal-forgings are strong against the dakii, which we now know are creatures of air magic,” Iryana mused instead. “The badgers will be of metal magic, so fire-forgings would be the strongest against them.”
“Or just the forgings of those double-forged,” Vabihn added, gesturing at Iryana. “Your metal-forgings were pretty effective.”
“Iryana has to defend her own clan,” Pyetar added quickly. “And she can’t keep using her forgings.”
“I didn’t mean Iryana specifically, just… generally,” Vabihn said defensively.
“The conclave has been trying to make more double-forged,” she told them, detailing what she’d learned of their experiments and failings. “I doubt they have been successful since then nor would they be willing to send help if they were.”
“The one time we regret killing Karvek,” Vaneshta mumbled, displeased. “He was dual-forged with fire. Would have been ideal against the metal-badgers.” Lidishta’s head whipped around to look at Vaneshta, tensing.
Major Tenar seemed similarly distressed. It made Iryana wonder what horrible history he might have had with the late general. What had made him so endlessly supportive of whatever Pyetar wanted to do.
“I know we decided it was too dangerous to try to find Karvek’s well… but maybe it would be worth it now,” Iryana suggested, eyeing Pyetar.
“You know where Karvek was forged?” Lidishta blurted out, worry clear in her voice.
“Just the general area,” Pyetar admitted, frowning in consideration. “We don’t know if Karvek’s forging is repeatable, though.”
“But there could be information there, something that would help. A way to keep the double forgings from becoming lethal,” she explained slowly. Pyetar’s eyes widened slightly in understanding.
“We’d need someone willing to risk it,” the major added, running a hand through his hair in a nervous kind of way.
They were all quiet for a moment, looking between each other.
“I’ll do it,” Vaneshta declared.
Everyone turned to stare at her. She had one of her no-nonsense looks, hands braced on her hips.
“No, Vani,” Lidishta pleaded.
