As the noise of the campsite faded into the background, Sev made his way over to the pack animals. They had ten lookouts tonight—not because they were camped in a particularly vulnerable position, but rather, because they were so close to the Phoenix Rider lair.
Sev looked up into the sky, scraps of it visible between the trees and rocky caves, and gathered his courage. He thought of his parents, sacrificing themselves for him and for other animages. He thought of Kade and Trix, of Junior and Tilla and Corem—of all the bondservants—who deserved freedom.
He could do this.
Sev identified eight out of the ten packs with ease. Their personal effects were an extension of their very lives, and Sev imagined himself cutting the threads that connected the object to the person as he carefully poisoned their stores. The crumpled petals stuck to his fingers and left a dark, reddish smear the color of blood. It was one of the reasons Trix had wanted to poison the evening meal and not breakfast. In the darkness, the traces of the poison would be far more difficult to see.
Once the eighth pack was tended to, Sev considered the ninth name, the one he couldn’t match. He was one of several soldiers who traveled without any personal items and only the most meager of supplies. There were around a dozen packs like that, and Sev didn’t have enough to poison them all.
Time was ticking on. The soldiers would come for their packs at any moment to relieve the current perimeter guards. He had to make a decision.
The steady rumble of the distant campsite was interrupted by a sudden piercing whistle.
Sev froze; this wasn’t a part of the plan.
Another whistle answered the first. Sev craned his neck to see the cooks and attendants pause in their work while the soldiers stood, heads turned toward the east.
Then a stream of armed soldiers poured through the trees, descending upon their camp.
We’re under attack, Sev thought wildly, the fear so sudden and true that his insides turned to water and cold sweat scraped across his forehead.
But the newcomers weren’t challenged or rebuffed—they were welcomed as friends with smiles and clasped hands. Captain Belden stood outside his tent, ready to greet the arriving party’s leader.
The truth crashed down on Sev like a thousand tons of rock: They weren’t the only empire soldiers heading up the mountain.
His mind reeled. They didn’t have enough poison for all these soldiers, and even if they did, the new arrivals likely brought provisions and servants of their own.
Trix had been reading some of the captain’s letters, but not all of them. Clearly this was information she had missed. All this time, they’d assumed they were a small strike force meant to deal the Phoenix Riders a stealthy—but still fatal—blow. But now, with twice their original numbers, maybe even more, they were a significantly larger threat. They couldn’t march directly to the top of the mountain together—two hundred was a difficult enough number to conceal—so they’d had to travel separately to the same meeting point, ensuring they were both ready to attack at the same time.
Sev looked around, terror ratcheting his heartbeat to a painful rhythm. It was too late to call everything off; the dinner pots and waterskins had already been poisoned, and it was only a matter of time before their contents were eaten and their ill effects shown.
At the mouth of the nearest cave, one of the cooks tried to dump her pot, while a bondservant poured extra flour into a bowl of batter. If diluted, they might make only a few guards sick and spare their lives. All around Sev there was feverish panic, while the glint of steel and the tread of heavy boots muffled the rush of whispers and the sight of Trix’s cohorts trying to abort their plan. A secondary line of pack animals and the bondservants who managed them came into view, making their way toward Sev. He looked for Kade or Trix or anybody he recognized, but they were lost in the crowd.
As the arriving soldiers settled into their camp, stew was served up, bread was fried, and waterskins were passed around. The Fire Blossoms were meant to work within thirty minutes, ensuring that everyone in the camp would be eating by the time the effects started to show.
The leader of the second party joined Captain Belden in his tent, and Sev wondered how his presence might complicate Trix’s plans—if she still intended to go through with