Alchan narrowed his eyes on her. “That changes my plans now. Rain, you get Nevyn and Varon. Lady Lilliana, you can go back to bed. Everything is safe in the village. This isn’t anything for you to worry about.”
“Um…”
Mave eyed the female as she nodded slowly. She pointed and walked into the kitchen, disappearing from sight. “I’ll make some tea to calm down,” her soft voice explained.
“Let’s go,” Alchan snapped, walking past Mave. She turned on her heel and followed him out. Jumping off, they headed for the war room, while Rain went to get the priest and the general. She and Alchan flew fast, landing together. She let him storm into the war room before going in and seeing how much work Bryn had gotten done.
“How reliable is this information, and what exactly do you think is the problem?” Alchan asked, crossing his arms and looking over the maps Rain had messed with.
“Well, the information we sent out with Seanev was sound to a degree, but we’ve been trying to figure out Shadra’s strategy. I think I have,” Bryn said, anxious. “See this camp here?” Bryn pointed to a place on the maps, but Mave wasn’t the best at reading maps, so she just followed along. “A month ago, there were roughly twenty-five hundred soldiers there. Now, my scouts move a lot faster than most, doing distances in half the time. They patrol certain areas of the mountains, so they know their way around better than anyone else.”
“I understand how you’ve trained the scouts,” Alchan snapped. “What’s worried you enough to send your wife after me?”
So, I’m his Champion when I do something he likes, but I’m someone’s wife or an annoying female when I’ve upset him.
“Two weeks ago, there were only fifteen-hundred soldiers there,” Bryn answered softly. “And none of my other scouts nor the one who patrols the area know where they went.”
“How did we lose a thousand soldiers?” Mave asked, frowning. “A thousand soldiers is…a lot of soldiers.”
“Exactly, and they would be slow-moving. Very slow. What would take the Company a couple of weeks could take them a couple of months because of the terrain alone, barring any bad weather,” Alchan said. An under-his-breath curse told Mave this was serious enough to wake him.
“That’s not all,” Bryn said softly. “We sent out those missions, our new elite forces to disrupt their supplies. Between sending out those missions and my scouts seeing those camps for an updated report? Half of them got five hundred more men.”
“And it’s too late to stop those missions,” Alchan whispered, pulling up a chair. He sat down slowly, clasping his hands together and leaning over, his amber eyes glaring at the maps on the table. “They’re walking into bigger fights than expected.”
“Yes, sir. They’re the only camps that got extra men,” Bryn whispered. “She saw us coming this time. She figured out our attack plan and prepared for it. She’s set traps, using what we did in the spring. I’ve spent months watching Shadra’s troop movements,” Bryn continued. “I know the number of soldiers in every camp in the entire damn mountain range, both Elvasi and Andinna. I think I’m right.”
Mave heard footsteps and felt Luykas come close, his hand spreading over her lower back.
“We know what she’s been trying,” Luykas said, his voice tired, but Mave knew his mind was sharp. “She’s flooding the mountains with Elvasi to punch a hole in our defenses. The sooner she breeches the mountains, the sooner she can start a forward advance to wipe us out at our villages.”
“Bryn, explain to him what you just told me,” Alchan said softly.
Bryn launched into the explanation as Nevyn and Varon appeared.
“So, we attacked her new camps in spring,” Nevyn said, his frown so deep, Mave was worried it would stick. “We couldn’t hit every camp, leaving some to get strong and become…obvious targets. Like she hoped.”
“And we took the bait, thinking hitting those would weaken her,” Luykas said, nodding slowly. “She puts more men in those camps, ready for an attack now. She also makes a thousand soldiers disappear, going somewhere the scouts haven’t found, which is an unpleasant thought. Seanev is at risk.”
“She keeps boosting any camps we can’t see and a few others we can,” Alchan finished, taking a deep breath. He pointed at the other camps that hadn’t been mentioned.
Mave read the numbers and saw how one had a thousand more soldiers, and a couple others had nearly the