like a landscape, and he couldn’t imagine finding his way through such an overwhelming image.
“If you join the battle as a Stregan, only death will come of it, Dari.” Nic grimaced as he turned her loose and came back to the here and now. “Archers could bring you down, and swordsmen could hack you to bits. Fight with your sword. Fight with your graal if you have to, but don’t shift, for the sake of us all.”
Dari’s muscles tightened.
For a moment, Aron thought she would argue, or even go ahead and shift if he didn’t intervene. Her expression reflected the force and depth of her inner struggle, but a bit at a time, she seemed to master her urge to revert to her true nature and attack her sister’s captors with teeth and claws and billowing gouts of flame.
When Nic seemed certain she was in control of herself, he addressed Lord Ross again. “Please lead us. I have the Mab name and bloodline and graal, but I am no warrior, and certainly no battlefield commander.”
Nic didn’t bow when he finished his sentence.
Thrills of surprise ran through Aron, but he could tell Lord Ross didn’t take affront to this. Dari’s grandfather was no longer expecting deference from Nic. It seemed, as Aron glanced around their small circle, then farther, into the wider group of fighters awaiting instructions, that no one was.
Lord Ross bowed to Nic, accepting Nic’s request to retain command of the battle.
It was a quick gesture, underscored by a clap of Stormbreaker’s thunder, but in that one small moment, Aron watched the future of Eyrie shift into Nic’s hands.
Aron’s heart hammered as he perceived this truth, a real and golden energy, sinking into Nic’s body and heightening the color of his graal. It was as if Nic’s use of his legacy in the fashion it was intended, to guide the fate of Eyrie, strengthened Aron’s graal as well.
Lord Cobb spoke next, though his shoulders slumped forward. Aron understood that Lord Cobb wasn’t afraid to fight, but that it crushed him to think of so much death. “Our armies are hours away as yet, maybe even more than a day, but they are moving. Perhaps we can hold the day until they arrive to assist us.”
“I know that you and your people cannot join in this battle to defeat dynast forces,” Lord Ross said to Stormbreaker, “but can you defend your stronghold? Can you help to rescue my granddaughter for that purpose?”
“We can protect our own, and fight for the weak and infirmed like Kate,” Snakekiller confirmed. By the ever-increasing thunder blasts in the distance, Stormbreaker had moved beyond the ability to speak without losing control of himself.
“We can take our dispute over Thorn’s conduct directly to Lady Thorn,” Snakekiller continued, crossing her arms over her chest to tap the hilts of her blades. “At sword point, if necessary, if her guild protectors won’t allow us access.”
Her skin seemed to gleam with the desire to do just that, and shed as much cardinal red blood as possible.
“Then I place a portion of Kate’s safety in Stone’s hands.” Lord Ross approached Stormbreaker and Snakekiller, extended his hand, and clasped theirs when they offered. “You have served Dari and Nic as true friends for these many cycles, and I believe you have the best chance of a successful frontal assault in our rescue of Dari’s twin.”
Lord Ross let go of his Stone allies, and his next words were for all the soldiers within hearing distance. “From our scouting information, we know we’ll be dealing with contingents, not armies—but they are large in number, and fortified by Thorn Guild renegades. They’ll outnumber us ten to one, but we have advantages they don’t expect.” His expression remained blank, but the lines of his face tightened as his eyes narrowed and his fist closed on the hilt of his sword. “Lord Baldric will be digging in, and by now Triune will be proving more a challenge than their attackers imagined. Fate willing, our battle will be fought outside the walls.”
A shout went up from the soldiers, and Aron shouted, too, caught in the force of Lord Ross’s address.
“Talons can move faster than horses, and they draw more attention.” Lord Ross wheeled toward Aron, Stormbreaker, and Snakekiller, his black eyes almost silver-white with the drive to succeed in his quest. “The Stone Guild’s talon-riders will approach from the hill near the main byway. Draw Thorn’s attention, and engage what you can of the Brailing and Altar