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“He’s letting us kill his sister so he can be the victor?” Nevahn sounded disturbed.
Odan folded his arms. “Balor’s glory lust is apparently stronger than blood.”
“As for getting them into the pass, that will fall to our gargoyle legion.” I gestured to Harif.
Harif pointed to a section of grassland just northeast of the pass. “As soon as they make camp, we’ll harass them. They will find no safe haven in their camps, nor in their lines. With the barrels of pitch and oil you have provided, we will turn their own fire against them. Our archers will focus on the rear line, pushing it ever forward. They will have no choice but to advance or fall.”
“And if Brenna and the ivory dragon focus on you?” Devonay asked.
“The dragon cannot fly, and we know the range of its fire, thanks to the information gathered at Lach Ban-Lenon,” I said, nodding to Nevahn. “Harif’s forces will maintain a range that is both outside the dragon’s fire’s range and inside their own.”
“Then that leaves the pass itself.” Nevahn pointed out several areas. “Are we fortifying these?”
I nodded. “With palisades and pits.”
“Where do you plan to put the ballistas?”
“That’s a good question.” I sighed. “We have three surviving ballistas. Given the narrow space, I’m not sure. They need to be guarded, but also a clear line of sight that our people won’t interrupt.”
Morlash snorted. “The minute Brenna sees those ballistas, she’s going to burn them to ash like she did before. Might as well not field them at all.”
Nevahn leaned in, studying the eastern section of the map. “Actually, that’s a good idea. Not to keep them off the field, but to use them as bait. Brenna knows they can hurt her dragon, right? Morlash is right about how she’ll react, making them priority targets. So let’s make them priority targets.”
Odan frowned and glanced around the table. “Am I the only one confused?”
I saw it, and Nevahn’s plan was genius. “We get her to chase the ballistas into the pass.”
Nevahn nodded. “Leave them on carts. Put them here, at the eastern end. If you give me a small force, I’ll guard them and use my magic to herd them.”
Hellion nodded. “They’ll already be coated in flammable oil. If you manage it, they’ll burn on both sides, rear and front.”
“But not all of them,” I said. “Some of her forces are fireproof, like her. They’ll advance through into the pass. And then when the dragon arrives, anyone in that pass that isn’t fireproof will burn.”
“That’s why we use the pass to kill the dragon,” Nevahn said excitedly. “Bring the ballistas on carts back through the pass. We can dig a wide trench here in the middle with a bridge that’s strong enough to hold the ballista carts, but will break under the dragon’s weight. Palisades in the trench will damage the dragon’s feet, rendering it immobile and—”
“She’ll have to abandon her dragon.” Gods, he was so clever it made me want to kick everyone out of the war room and bend him right over the table. Unfortunately, if I did that, he’d be too sore to sit in a saddle.
“One good shot from the ballista will finish the dragon,” Nevahn said. “Then she’s just another foot soldier.”
“Another foot soldier with fire magic,” Hellion said. “We will have to be careful how and where we engage her. Nevahn, you will stay far away from her. I doubt she can control lightning, but we can’t risk it.”
I didn’t want him out there at all, but I had made peace with it. Nevahn wasn’t ever going to sit in the castle and wait for everyone else to do the work. That wasn’t who he was. As much anxiety as it gave me, I had to accept that.
The table was silent for a long beat, everyone holding their breaths, considering the battlefield.
I moved my fingers over the map, throwing a small group of the soldiers Devonay had placed up to the east end of the pass where Nevahn would be stationed. “I’m giving you command of the Silver Company, Nevahn.”
Morlash made a clicking, hissing noise through his teeth. “First, you give the whelp the ballista command, and now he gets Nisang’s post? After losing the only battle he’s ever been in?”
“When I want your opinion, Morlash, I’ll ask for it.”
Morlash scowled but shut his mouth.
“I want everyone who can dig armed with a shovel and out at the pass in an hour,” I said. “We dig through the night.”
Themountainwasaprison, and Cian was its warden. It was one of the first things I had learned upon my arrival in the Land of Nightmares. Deep beneath the sea lay the Terrors, imprisoned thousands of generations ago. If Ezulari fell, if Brenna won, releasing those Terrors upon the world would be high on her priority list.
But there was more beneath the black rocks atop which Ezulari and Cian’s castle sat. There was the Silver Company, the elite warriors I was being entrusted with.
