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Hells, I despised him.
“Do we make the move?” Luca asked.
I nodded and pulled shadows around us when a patrol unit stalked past not more than thirty paces away.
“The cottages are stocked with more than half the army’s rations?”
“Yes.” Luca unfurled the parchment with the map. He pointed at a sporting field near the back of the main academy. “Here is where their weapon tents are as well.”
“The Kryv and Falkyns will move there. Valen and the warriors will take the cottages.”
The two skyds we’d captured from the arena told us of the impressive supplies of ale, seed grain, and dried fish housed for Ivar’s armies, and with the fine smithy near the academy it was the natural location to supply the skydguard with new swords.
Raum had confirmed it before dawn, and our move was set.
“Now, what do you make of those odd-looking folk by the house entrance?”
Two tall guards with pale blue hair, like fresh cream, stood on either side of the longhouse door. They wore antlered skins atop their heads and their swords gleamed in pure silver. A fine quality, but without the rough strokes of melded iron and leather hilts.
I snapped my fingers a few times. “Ari.”
The ambassador scurried to my side, keeping low. His face was coated in kohl and rune markings in black battle paint, and he’d covered his head in a thick cowl. “So, I’ve been degraded to being summoned by the snap of fingers?”
I gripped the back of his neck to pull him closer, pointing to the two guards. “Are those Southern fae?”
Ari narrowed his eyes. “Dammit. Those swords are used by guards of The Borough—the inner courts of the High Queen.” Unbidden, my grip tightened on the back of his neck until he shoved me away. “I thought we’d overcome our angst and I could trust you not to snap my neck, you bastard.”
I ignored him. “If they have the alliance of the South, then don’t you think we ought to let them know the position of the North?”
“I would be disappointed if we didn’t.” Ari talked a great deal. He was flippant and teased more than he was serious. But the man knew how to be vicious. The curl of his mouth held threats of blood and pain when he drifted back into the shadows.
Keeping low, we pulled away from the top of the slope over Patrik’s yard. Northern warriors, the Kryv, and Falkyns were hidden deep in the hedgerow. Halvar conversed with Herja over placements of archers. Tor and Sol checked that each other’s straps were secure.
Valen stood close to Elise, speaking low. Beside them Malin rummaged through the pouch of new bone dust vials she’d created from several skydguard and more than one Skítkast councilman. The last memories of the dead, when we’d been the ones to kill them, weren’t helpful in gathering information. But they could be brutal if forced into the thoughts of others.
With Malin’s power increasing, for all I knew she could cause bleeding madness if she forced any of her bone dust on someone.
Malin’s eyes were lined in kohl and paint. She lifted her gaze to mine and smiled. “Do we fight, Nightrender?”
I kissed the back of her hand. Her words turned Elise and Valen to me. Like Malin, their faces were marked in streaks of black and ash. Elise’s icy blue eyes popped beneath the heavy black lining her lashes.
Valen found a bit of delight in using our enemies as battle paint. Tracks of dark blood dragged down his face like someone had clawed his skin from his forehead to chin. A message to any units of skyds, any Eastern nobles, that we were not here for games.
We came for blood.
“We found the food and weapon stores.”
Valen’s eyes darkened. “So, our friends spoke true.”
“Seems that way. I also found my sword.”
Malin dug her fingers into my arm. “The Benevolent is here?”
“He is.” My gaze went back to Elise and Valen. “There is an Alver who is my opposite. He will give you dangerous hope. It will ensnare you, lead you to him, then he will kill you. If you cease feeling fear, run.”
Elise sighed. “I never thought I’d yearn for all the twisted earth fury, but I swear it, this body magic over emotions and the mind, I could do without.”
I smirked. “Welcome to the East, Queen.”
