bluff, but by the time I got to where she had knelt, she was gone. The bluff jutted out, and the long valley was in my view in both directions, as still and silent as ever—except for her voice. I dropped to the ground, kneeling, feeling the warmth of where she had been, feeling her desperation from centuries ago. Feeling it now. The winnowing was not over.
Time circles. Repeats.
And the desperate prayers she had lifted to the gods so long ago became my own.
* * *
“Lia,” Rafe called, “what are you doing up there?”
I turned to see Rafe and Kaden on their horses. They’d brought my horse along too. I got back to my feet and took one last look at the bluff, the hills, and the ruins that towered over me.
“Preparing,” I answered, and I walked down the trail to meet them.
When we got back to camp, we sent scouts riding the swiftest horses to lookouts past the valley’s eastern mouth to watch for the approaching army. The rest of us began our work in earnest. Rafe and Kaden had mapped out the terrain and trails that could support charging brigades of soldiers. There were seven on one side of the hills and four on the other. Ruins would hide them from view until we were ready. The entrance to the valley was three miles wide, but it quickly narrowed. The Field Marshal, Howland, Marques, and the other officers would lead the charges when signaled. Our timing had to be perfect.
One division—mine—would be held out as bait and decoy. Our drumbeats and our battle chants would draw them toward us.
The high grass of the valley would help hide some of our defenses. Deadly rows of pikes were constructed and hidden. Nets were positioned for launch. Seige crossbows were strategically placed, though that was the greatest unknown—where and when the brezalots would be used—but I was sure his Death Steeds and his child soldiers would be his first line of attack. The Komizar would see my few thousand troops blocking his path at the end of the valley and assume the rest of my army lay behind me. Sending in his charging animals would clear the path quickly.
We worked without stopping And waited. Waited for the Komizar. Waited for Rafe’s troops. Neither came, and nerves grew raw. I said remembrances morning and night. I spoke to the troops, bolstered them, made promises to them and to myself.
Berdi, Pauline, and Gwyneth worked with the camp cooks to keep everyone fed and spirits up—at which they excelled. I pulled Natiya aside privately and walked with her into the valley. “Look there,” I said, pointing into the valley. “What do you see?”
“I see a battleground.”
I looked into the same valley but I saw a purple carvachi and ribbons twirling in the wind. I saw Dihara spinning at her wheel and Venda singing from a wall. I saw Morrighan praying from a bluff and Aster sitting wide-eyed in a tent listening to a story. A greater story. I saw a world past that didn’t want us to give up. I looked back at Natiya. I didn’t want her to give up on the world she had known either.
“One day you’ll pass through here again, and you will see more,” I promised. “Until then, I have a job for you. It’s more important than anything else we will do, and for it, you will not need a sword.”
CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE
KADEN
We sat in the tent, tired, aching, but still planning. Lia rubbed her eyes. Rafe rubbed his knuckles. The Field Marshal sat forward with his chin cradled in his hands. Tomorrow the brigades would be put into place. We had been holding off, hoping Dalbreck’s troops would arrive, but we couldn’t wait any longer. What little we had needed to be positioned. Our divisions would be outnumbered more than four to one.
With no sign of the Komizar or Dalbreck, Perry suggested we might want to consider retreating to Civica. To Howland’s credit, as much as he grumbled and complained, he backed Lia up, saying this was no time for retreat. We had a miserable chance of victory here and none back in Civica.
I saw the weight of it in Lia’s eyes. I felt the worry twist in my own gut, and I didn’t like that Pauline was here. She had a baby back at the citadelle. That is exactly why I am here, she had told me.
Gwyneth breezed in with a frown and a frustrated hand on