Page 31 of The King is Dead
As we entered, there was a feminine gasp. “Yilan!”
I turned, beaming, to find Diadre—the only female Captain of the Guard. She was one of my trainers, and had an incredibly sharp mind. I’d raised her rank, a controversial move when most of our few female fighters remained in the rank and file, often leaving service when they wanted to marry, or got pregnant. Very few rose even to Sargeant. We’d never had a Captain before. But I was proud of Diadre. I counted her among my closest friends, and was working towards appointing her officially to the Council since I usually asked her to join me for those meetings when her duties allowed. It was a relief to me when she was there.
She rushed towards me, pristine in uniform, her black hair tied tightly back in a braid, the high-necked jacket making her appear even taller than she was. But all I saw was my friend, and to my surprise, my eyes welled.
“Diadre!” I gasped, trotting towards her as she ran, open armed, to hug me. “I thought you were still in Zaryndar!” I said, holding her shoulders when we pulled apart.
“Brotherdeargot worried and called me back in,” she said with a wide smile. She was a handsome woman, rather than beautiful. But I loved her easy humor—and her absolute impatience with politics.
She helped me prod the men out of their egos.
“Brotherdearneeded you back here—and so did your Queen,” Jhonas drawled from where he stood in front of the huge map of the Continent that was painted in mural at the end of the long room. Jhonas was, indeed, her brother, and my first trainer and Defender as a Princess. He’d brought Diadre in to help me spar when we were both young teens.
“Jhonas!” I said, almost as happy to see him as I was to see his sister.
Jhonas smiled and turned to face me, dropping the formal mask and opening his arms for a hug as I ran to him as well. “I’m so glad you’re here!” I squeaked in his ear as he lifted me off my feet for a moment.
“Me too,” he said. “It smellsmuchbetter here than in a Nephilim battle camp.”
I snorted. “A truer word was never spoken.”
But then I caught Turo’s dark expression and realized I was still holding Jhonas’s arm.
Turo had always thought the siblings were far too free with me. But he’d already been well into his twenties, a Sergeant, and on the field when the three of us were together daily. He didn’t understand that these two felt like siblings tomeas well.
Jhonas caught Turo’s disapproval and slipped his arm out from under my hand, but he gave me a wink as he did so. I grinned and rolled my eyes, but let him go.
Linking arms with Diadre, we walked the length of the room, towards the Council table where all the others were seated or standing near their chairs, waiting for me to approach.
“I have a lot to tell you,” I whispered to my friend as we walked together.
“About the very handsome Nephilim you brought home, I hope,” she whispered back.
I smiled, but there was a tight, possessive knot in my chest when she referred to Melek.
“That, and so much more,” I said. “Will you be free to visit this evening?”
Her smile faltered. “I hope so. We’re all on call now. War on the horizon, and all that,” she said with a shrug.
Of course. Silly me. Every fighter, warrior, and soldier in the Kingdom was either already marching to strategic positions this side of the Shadows of Shade, or awaiting the call to arms.
I hugged her arm. “Well, assuming you don’t get called out, come see me tonight after dinner,” I said. “I can’t wait to hear about everything!”
It was the last moment of levity because we reached the table and I was greeted by all the others. We all took our seats for reports and settled in to discuss how we would address the very real problem of the approaching Nephilim army…
An hour later, I hadn’t hadtimefor angst. The debate amongst my advisors on whether to position troops within the fog of the Shadows of Shade was flying hot and fast.
“This is all moot!” Jhonas growled. “The very darkness that would hide us, will also hide our enemies. If they’re braving the Shadows, we have a lot more to worry about than trying to fight blind.”
“We have always use the Shadows strategically,” Hughes said in his thin, cracked voice. He was the oldest on the Council—he’d served my parents and had already been old then. Now, his body was curled and his joints swollen. But his mind was still sharp. “Set traps and alarms. Get the Adepts in there to set trips that will alarm and draw the Shadows’ power with light when they’re triggered.”
“No. The old strategies will not work, primarily because we don’t know how high the Shadows reach—it is more thanpossiblethat the Nephilim will simply fly over them.” That came from Shen, a young Sergeant, being considered for Captain. Turo swore he was the sharpest fighter in the coming ranks and was mentoring him personally. “Even if they can’t fly to avoid Shadows complete, they can fly over obstacles. Soldiers relying on alarms will grow lax in their patrols and other defenses.”
“So, don’t tell the rank and file that the alarms are set. But use the wielders to place them anyway,” Wellhurst growled. He was not a military man. He’d been a Royal advisor for two decades, one of my mother’s favorites. I’d never liked him. But she had always sworn that he saw things others didn’t, and his judgment should be trusted.
“I’m still unclear,” I said, frowning. “Do we have any indication yet that the Nephilim have even entered the Shadows?”
“No,” Turo said quickly. “Not yet. Their numbers on the border remain static—only growing from those approaching from behind when they can be convinced to stop fighting and march. But they will have sent trackers and scouts in so it could happen any time.” He met my eyes with a firm gaze. “We have to decide how we’ll meet thembeforethey’re on our doorstep. And if, as I’m suggesting, we’re toattackrather than just defend, then it would be better to enter the Shadows ourselves, setting traps and trackers along the way to let us know if any of them get around us,” he said firmly.
