Page 97 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
“You want to know how you can stop this?” I ask. “Join me. Help me return order and peace to this court, starting with the City of Vertical Gardens. We can stop the High Chancellor from setting her Truth Templars onto whichever minority she wants to blame this natural disaster on at a whim. We can return to the people the food that she stole to create a false shortage to line her own pockets. Help me remove her from power and put her on trial for her crimes, the greatest one ignoringthis.” I gesture violently at the evidence of the corruption.
“You ask why Titania has done nothing about the corruption,” I continue, “but how can she, when she blindly refuses to acknowledge it? She has not traveled to the borders and doesn’t allow any of her senators to do so either. She forbids all from witnessing it, like that will make the reality go away. You askwhy? Because for Titania, it always comes down to her personal treasury, and acknowledging a natural disaster is bad for business. Actually fighting it will cost more money than she is willing to spend. So she pretends it isn’t happening. She crafts lies so intricate she has convinced herself. Meanwhile, her people are dying and losing their homes.”
I pause for effect, allowing those grim words to sink in.
“I am your only hope at fixing this!” I bellow as loud as I can. “Follow me, not that tyrant, and live! Let us try for a peaceful transfer of power.” Even as I say those words, I know there will be fighting, battles and maybe even an outright civil war, but my hands are tied. At least I will try to keep the peace.
Cheers tear out to meet my words.
Fists curl and slam into chests.
Soldiers fall to their knees before me.
At my side, even Commander Calypso makes the display of her allegiance to me. Not a single soldier remains standing, despite the snow that reaches their knees. Over five hundred of Spring’s best warriors, pledged to me.
It is a start.
Ispend a week gathering the fragments of my army, traveling across the court to find their numbers scattered within the wilds, hidden, neglected and dejected. The same tactic works on each regiment as I show them the truth of the corruption.
Not all of the Spring Court soldiers follow me. A fraction remain in their camps with no way to contact the High Chancellor, too afraid to break her orders and return to the capital. It is a risk, leaving them at my back, but a small one when I have the vast majority of our professional armed forces supporting me.
Andhowthey support me. I did not expect this level of reverence and dedication, but their resentment and suspicion of the High Chancellor has been brewing for a while. They are yet another group she has tried to silence and disempower instead of placate.
Tens of thousands of my soldiers amass within the valley hidden in the remote wilds of our court, waiting while our number continues to arrive. Cyprien, Cedar and Klara gatheraround me, watching from the top lip of the valley as the army prepares for our quite unusual assault on the capital.
There are maybe a hundred portals clustered in its center. Most are broken and lead to destinations that were destroyed during one war or another. This interchange has enough functioning gateways that I managed to bring my army that was scattered across the court to this location, and I will be able to use the portals around the City of Vertical Gardens to attack it from multiple directions. To meet there with Keira and the forces she currently leads. One that includes Ezekiel’s chain of dragons.
No, this isnota coup.
Itisa takeover of power.
One far more devious.
Klara turns her lilac eyes on me, tossing the knot of her many intricate braids over her shoulder. “Are you ready, Aldrin? Because there is no turning back after this. Today we show our hand.”
I raise an eyebrow at her. “Is my Minister of Special Battle Tactics having second thoughts on her own plan?”
“It has been a long time since I have truly held that title.” A line forms between her eyebrows. “I fear for Keira. She will no longer be able to hide behind a mask of fragile humanity. Today Titania will know her true powers.”
I run a hand through my hair. “You know our queen cannot be told what to do, especially when she has made up her mind. Trust me, I have tried. Besides, she is needed for this and has just as much of a right to fight for her crown as I do.”
A cold sweat breaks out all across my skin at the very thought of how vulnerable this plan makes her, but I will not sideline my mate. I could lock her away to keep her safe, but giving in to that impulse would diminish her.
Trumpets bellow and a cluster of my commanders race up the hill toward me. Calypso approaches at their head. “The soldiers are in formation and ready for the assault on the capital.”
I nod. Once she declared her allegiance to me, she became essential in recruiting more regiments to our cause.
“Power up the portals,” I demand. “We will make our move now.”
The trumpets sing out my order and soldiers funnel their raw magic into the moonstone portals that quickly flare to life. The murky archways ripple with bursts of white light, refracting a rainbow of colors. Thick mist immediately rolls out of them. The columns of my dedicated soldiers march forth and disappear into them, each regiment taking a different portal to the city.
I turn to my most trusted allies, who will each lead a quarter of this army with me to converge on the capital from four directions. Cyprien looks down upon the might of all those armored soldiers with unbridled delight in his dark eyes. Klara has her chin raised high and shoulders straight, like she is preparing to charge at the enemy alone, and Cedar looks as calm as the surface of an undisturbed lake.
“I will see you at the palace,” I growl. “Let’s make Titania pay.”
We separate, moving down the valley and to the heads of our respective regiments. Silvan waits at the apex of mine, right where they march through the portal, sword in hand and jaw clenched tight. I draw my blade and step through at his side. We travel a handful of paces through a featureless world of blinding white light and thick, damp mist, then out into chaos on the other side.
The colossus of the City of Vertical Gardens rears up before us, its buildings as tall as mountains. They are layered with many towers and platforms jutting out from their sides,thousands of bridges connecting the megastructures at every level. A cloud of water vapor shrouds the city, kicked up from its many waterfalls. The metropolis is half golden from stone and half green from forests.
