Page 116 of Destined Dawn
“I hope so,” I mutter.
“I also know when best to share with others this knowledge and when to keep it firmly to myself.”
“Thank you,” I say for the third time. “I appreciate it.”
“Now,” she says, “I’ve monopolized your time long enough. I’m sure you want to find the others and prepare. I’d advise you to be ready in the morning. The resistance will have lookouts on post to signal to us when there’s an approach. You have the night.”
I findmy five mates in the gymnasium, crowded around a whiteboard and listening to Spencer as he waves his arms in the air, occasionally pointing to the board. The others are nodding or asking questions. For once, there is no arguing going on.
I peer down at Pip.
“Are my eyes deceiving me or are they actually getting along?”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Stone calls out and the others all look my way.
“Where are all the students?” I ask. “I thought you were trying to persuade them to fight with us.”
“We did,” Tristan says with a smug grin, “and we briefed them too. Now we told them all to go get a good night’s rest and be ready to fight in the morning.”
“That’s what York told me to do too.”
“Well, she’s right,” Azlan says. “We’ve been running on adrenaline. We need rest.”
“I doubt I’ll be able to sleep. I don’t see how anyone will be able to.”
“Best you try,” Azlan insists.
“Not until you’ve explained the plan,” I say, striding up to peer at the whiteboard. It has a rudimentary diagram of the academy scribbled all over it as well as several crosses and arrows.
“It’s simple, really,” Spencer says, looking way more himself than he has done in days, his excitement buzzing through our bond. “The academy is impregnable to attack. Not only because of the old spells that prevent intruders but also the physical location of where and how it was built.”
“Erm,” I say, “the Victory Ball.”
“Okay, yes,” he says, rolling the pen between his hands and bouncing on the balls of his feet. “It’s vulnerable to attack from above, but not anymore, not now we have dragons. And this old mansion was built in such a way that it would be protected. We’re up here on top of the mound. We can see anyone coming and to reach us they have to climb up the hill, meeting our onslaught from above.”
“Or they have to go through the forest,” Tristan says.
“Which no sane magical would attempt,” Spencer says, grinning at his friend and bumping him with his shoulder.
“They could try tunneling,” I point out.
“Sure, but that takes time and also the earth here is chalk – any tunnel they try to build would fill with water.”
“They could barrage us with magic,” I say.
“Yes, from below. We’d have the high ground and the advantage.”
I cross my arms and examine the diagram.
“Okay, this is all very well. But we don’t simply want to survive their attack. We want to end things once and for all.”
“Yep,” Spencer says, “which is why we’re going to lure them in – either by dragon or from land– and then ambush them.”
“Oldest trick in the book,” Renzo says.
“This is what that is,” I say, pointing to the board, “luring them in.”
“Yep, Kennedy is going to send his foot soldiers first. We lure them in and take them out and then it’s just us and Kennedy.”
