Page 57 of Winter Queen
“Tamara, how many Gods pledged their allegiance yesterday?”
She looks at her list. “Twenty-three, plus several other previous allies have confirmed that they’ll be fighting on our side again. I’m waiting for more information from most of them, but if I take a rough guess, I’d say that we can now match Angus’s numbers, if not beat them. We’re still outnumbered if we add the Morrigan’s demon army, but they’re not as well trained and equipped as our Guardians. An Epona soldier, for example, can easily take ten demons.”
“I’m feeling a lot more hopeful,” Gwain admits. “This gives us the manpower to not only defend the Realms, but also to be on the offensive. We could attack Angus if you so command.”
That sets me aback slightly. The whole time, we’ve been talking about defending the Realm, and now suddenly, there’s a chance of us throwing the first metaphorical stone?
I’m not sure how I feel about that. Defending makes sense, there’s no choice. If the people of this Realm are to survive, we have to take up arms and defend ourselves. But actively going into Angus’s Realm and fighting him on his own lands… isn’t that what he’s doing to us?
“No, it isn’t,” Crispin whispers, so quietly that I’m the only one able to understand. He’s taken Storm’s seat in the Guardian’s absence. “Think of what they did to us. What the Morrigan did to you. It’s still defending, just not in our Realm.”
“Are you reading my mind again?”
He shrugs. “Can’t help it. It now seems to happen occasionally even when I don’t touch you.”
An issue for another time. As handy as it is to have him hear my thoughts in times of trouble, I really don’t want him to be able to read my mind at all times. I don’t have secrets from them, but my mind is mine and mine alone.
“Should we prepare our troops for a possible assault on the Summer Realm?” Gwain asks and the room falls completely silent. Everybody is staring at me.
My mother should be sitting in my place. It should be her making the decision.
So many lives could be lost.
Lives will be lost, no question about that. People I know and love could die.
Is it worth it?
A flash of light tears through my vision and I’m in Frost’s head again. There’s noise, so much noise, and smoke, and the smell of blood. He’s lying on the ground, his legs twisted and hurting. Pain is fogging his thoughts, but he’s clinging onto consciousness.
“Frost!” I shout, not sure if he’ll be able to hear me. Maybe he’s seeing the Council staring at him… me, rather than the dark stone corridor I see at the moment.
A shadowy figure bends down to me.
“I’m going to enjoy playing with you, sweetie.”
That voice is familiar. So sweet and so poisonous at the same time. The Morrigan.
She’s got Frost.
Suddenly, she’s thrown to one side by a massive gust of wind. Storm! He’s still fighting. That’s good. I can’t see Arc but hopefully, he’s there as well.
“Can you stand?” Storm asks his brother but I shake my head. My legs hurt too much. They’re broken, I’m sure of it. I need a healer… no, Frost does.
“Arc!” Storm shouts. “You carry the father, I carry Frost!”
The father. My father? My dad? They’ve got him?
“Not so fast,” the Morrigan cackles, and it’s the last thing I hear before I’m flung back into my own body, back in the Palace.
“Wyn?”
Someone is shaking me by the shoulders. “Wyn? Are you alright?”
My legs are tingling with Frost’s pain. I need to help them.
“We need a distraction,” I say into the quiet room. “Gwain, ready the troops. We’re going to attack Angus. Tamara, Zephyr, let our allies know. Crispin, take twenty of our best fighters and travel to the Gate at Castle Tioram. They need a healer.”
“How do you know…?” Gwain asks, bafflement clear in his voice.
