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“We have been keeping this quiet as we didn’t want to cause a panic,” Elder Milam admitted. “But right before the Great War, a small amount of Metallicum was taken from the Fae lands.”
“How much?” Claire asked, worry sinking into her gut. According to what her Triad had mentioned in the hoard, there wasn’t that much Metallicum to begin with. A loss of even a small amount could be critical.
“Enough to power this type of weapon,” Elder Milam admitted.
At his declaration, the Fae in the room started murmuring. The upset and anger on their usually expressionless faces indicated just how pissed they were that the Elders had hidden this information from the rest of the Fae or at least the Fae commanders.
Claire bit her lip as she tried to figure out how to handle it. The Fae were upset and rightfully so but they had to focus. “Those are just our ideas for ingredients. I would appreciateallof your counsel and ideas on other ingredients. If we can figure out what they need, we can figure out where they will go next and how to stop this weapon before it can be built.”
“With all due respect,” a Fae with salt and pepper hair spoke up, “is a weapon like this even possible? One that nullifies magic?”
Claire held up her hand when Desmond went to snap at his disbelief. “It’s possible enough that the Council would be willing to go to war over it. Twice.”
The Fae nodded at her, conceding her point and the group jumped into smaller discussions about what the ingredients could be. Claire listened to the chatter intently and her Triad did the same. Her friends seemed a little overwhelmed by the unusually talkative Fae but Zack was scribbling furious notes as he heard things.
“We are forgetting one thing,” one Fae’s voice cut through the chatter. “The amount of magic required to fuse these four ingredients together into a usable weapon is far beyond our imagination. It’s the type of magic level I’ve never seen before. Until yesterday.”
All eyes turned to Claire and she held in her wince. When her magic exploded out of her yesterday.
“What do you mean?” Desmond asked.
“I mean that if the Council is smart, and I believe they are because the worst mistake one can make is assuming their enemy is dumb,” the Fae explained, “then they know that the only way to fuse a weapon like this together is with a massive amount of magic. Now they could work together to combine magic levels and fuse it but that would leave them weak and defenseless and they wouldn’t risk that. So the alternative is…”
“Claire,” Desmond breathed, looking at her with wide eyes. Everett and Malcolm’s panic shot through their bonds at the same time and her chest felt too tight for a few moments until Claire could force a breath and then another.
“That would explain the Council's hyper-fixation on Claire,” Holly said, her eyes wide as well. “And their efforts to control her or get her under their thumb.”
“Or using us as leverage,” Cody pointed out.
Claire could feel her Triad’s worry down the bond about how much bigger of a target this news made Claire. But she was focused on how much bigger of a target it made her Triad and friends. Would the Council go after them to get to her?
“That would explain the notation in that person’s journal,” Zack said, “that the child wasn’t secured.”
The Fae who brought it up nodded. “If they had been successful in capturing Claire that young, they could have raised her among them and brainwashed her. You could have been used to activate the weapon without your knowledge.”
“It could have killed her,” Desmond argued, “If she used that much magic that young.”
“The Council wouldn’t have cared.” The Fae shot back.
There was no ‘could’ about it, Claire realized, thinking back to her mother’s warning about using her full magic before her birthday. The Council wouldn’t have cared if the magic overloaded her as long as she activated their weapon and she doubted they would have waited until her 25th birthday if she had grown up inside one of their households.
This was a perfect opportunity to tell her Triad and the others about her mother’s warning but she kept silent. If she told them now, they would want to keep her in a bubble more than they already did. She couldn’t risk being sidelined, especially not when she wanted to keep them safe.
“So what do we do now?” Someone asked.
“We focus on the immediate problem,” Elder Vali suggested. “There have been Council troops watching outside the barrier where the doorway Claire opened is located. They look like a scouting party. There have been a few attempts at breaching the barrier again. They haven’t attempted it since after the Great War.”
Claire winced. She had exposed a weakness in the barrier that the Council had been eager to find for the last few decades.
Elder Vali must have seen her wince and smiled kindly at her. “We knew this would come one day. Regardless, the increased activity is concerning. They are preparing for something.”
Malcolm nodded. “A battle is coming. We need to get prepared for that. I would suggest going on the offensive and getting as much prepared for the battle as possible.”
Claire nodded. “We can reach out to the Elves and our allies outside of the Fae lands. What are some ways you suggest we get prepared?” She addressed the room of seasoned warriors with more battle experience.
As the group brainstormed ideas which included moving the children and non-combat Fae deeper into the territory, Zack and Bethany kept a running list of things they needed to do. As the list grew, so did Claire’s worry. It was only a matter of time before the corrupt Councilmembers made their next move. There was so much to do and she worried they were running out of time to do it.
“One thing,” Elder Vali broke in, cutting through the noise. “That would be immensely helpful to your magic and our chances at winning the battle is if you finish bonding with your mates.”
