Chapter Forty

Leaving Anya to her torture, Thea was the last to emerge from the cellar, and did so with shock as she surveyed the tavern. What seemed like only moments before, it had been teeming with life, and now… the Singing Hare stood frozen in time, an eerie scene of abandoned chaos. Upturned chairs littered the floor; half-eaten meals, now cold and unappetising, were left scattered across the tables, while the drinks, once frothy and inviting, had congealed, the condensation on the tankards long gone. The stale scent of panic permeated the air and the tavern itself, once a haven of revelry, was now desolate.

The others were waiting, uncertainty etched on their faces.

Wilder's eyes flicked to the trapdoor in a silent question, but Thea gave him a subtle shake of her head. It was to Everard that she looked next, nervous energy flitting through her. The tavern owner was behind the bar, cleaning glasses with a rag, his cheeks drained of colour.

‘Gotta keep my hands busy to keep them steady,' he told her when he met her gaze, though the tremor in his voice betrayed his terror.

‘What happened here, Everard?' she asked, approaching the counter, careful not to tread on the broken glass across the floor.

‘Darkness swept through the tavern, like a mist at everyone's feet. I don't know what it was – a warning of sorts, perhaps. People panicked. They fled…' He gestured to the mess. ‘The end of days is here at last. Help yourself to whatever you'd like. We're not long for this world now, however valiantly you all fought.'

Thea opened her mouth to speak, but found herself suddenly lost for words. The end of days is here at last. She had always known that her time in the midrealms would be fleeting, but she had never assumed the same for the people she loved. Wilder, Wren… Cal and Kipp, Anya… All of them deserved their futures. They all —

‘No liquor for anyone.' Kipp's voice cut through her thoughts, his command surprising. ‘Water and tea only. We need clear heads. Where can we work, Everard?'

‘Wherever the fuck you'd like, lad. The Singing Hare is all yours.'

‘Wrong,' Kipp said sharply. ‘It's yours. The Laughing Fox is mine, or will be one day. And I don't mean to see it overrun by shadow any time soon. I will not go quietly into the fucking darkness… Will you?'

Kipp's words seemed to spur everyone else into action, and soon they were dragging tables across the room, shoving them together to make a larger one they could all sit around.

The air hung heavy with the pungent scent of spilt ale and damp wood, the quiet punctuated every now and then by a particularly loud scream from the cellar. Thea took her seat, wishing Anya would join them, but knowing it wasn't her place to do or say more. Anya had to make her decisions for herself.

It was Vernich who spoke first. ‘We don't have the numbers. It's that simple. Even if we did, our resources are depleted. Our remaining men are exhausted and wounded.'

‘Then there's the small question of how we'd even get everyone to Thezmarr without draining what little energy our shadow-touched have left,' Dratos added.

‘All fair points,' Kipp said. ‘But let's talk about what we do have and what we can do. First, we gather what we can – weapons, supplies and any willing soldiers —'

‘They won't come,' Cal said glumly. ‘You saw what they were like on those fields. They were almost as likely to kill one another as they were the enemy. And once we tell them it's basically a death sentence? Well, I can guarantee they won't be lining up.'

‘Then perhaps it's not about survival,' Wilder countered, sinking into the chair beside Thea and taking her hand in his. ‘Perhaps it's about making a final stand…'

‘And what? Dying before we even touch the outer walls?' Dratos scoffed. ‘You mean to attack Thezmarr, the most impenetrable stronghold in the midrealms, with a handful of men?'

Thea felt her Warsword's grip tighten around her fingers as he spoke. ‘I mean to take as many fucking shadow wraiths with me as I can. I'd have thought we all shared that sentiment.'

Dratos considered him for a moment before he shrugged. ‘I guess I can get on board with that.'

‘Yes, yes,' Esyllt said. ‘Everyone's a fucking hero. Furies save me, can we please talk tactics?'

‘Usually for an assault like this, you might start with using starvation as a siege tactic and cut off supply lines to the fortress,' Wilder replied. ‘But… we're not up against ordinary men. I mean, do we even know what reapers and wraiths eat, besides power and people's souls?'

Talemir gave a snort. ‘It hardly matters at this point. The monsters will outlast us in that regard. With the enemy's talons in Thezmarr, I don't see how we can penetrate the stronghold. As I said before, it was literally built to withstand an attack like this one.'

The nape of Thea's neck prickled and she saw Kipp's eyes brighten as they met hers across the table. ‘They don't know Thezmarr like we do…' she ventured.

‘Osiris does,' Torj pointed out.

‘Unlikely,' Thea said. ‘Else you'd think he'd have done something about the fact that Kipp had been sneaking off to the Laughing Fox for sour mead every other week.'

Torj blinked for a second before facing Kipp. ‘I fucking knew it.'

Kipp merely answered with a grin.

‘So, if we do indeed have a few days, we could potentially use the network of tunnels beneath the kingdoms?' Drue said, bringing them back on course.

‘It's a big if, but yes,' Esyllt replied.

Thea poured herself a glass of water and drank deeply before she spoke again. ‘We've got no choice but to trust Artos' word… We'll all be dead or worse by the end of the week anyway. So we have to try.'

Beside her, Wilder nodded. ‘We should send a scout to the Bloodwoods, see what reinforcements they've added to Thezmarr's existing defences. Once we know what we're dealing with, we can move our remaining forces into place.'

Kipp cleared his throat. ‘I suggest a multi-pronged attack. If we can take the walls, we'll have Cal and his archers rain sun-orchid arrows down on them from above. If their ranks are organised, we'll use Wren's explosive devices – so long as we avoid our own shadow-touched. If we have a force at the gates with a battering ram as a diversion, I can lead another through the tunnels and attack from within once the gates are breached…'

Cal gave a sarcastic laugh. ‘Is that all?'

‘No, actually,' Kipp said. ‘I think we should blow up the Great Hall.'

‘What?' Esyllt barked, gripping the sides of his chair. ‘You're mad.'

Kipp grinned. ‘Often that goes hand in hand with genius.'

‘I'd beg to differ,' Esyllt replied.

‘If we destroy the hall, we decimate the heart of their operation. It might give us a chance —'

‘You're forgetting one thing.'

It was Anya's voice that sounded from the edge of the room. She stood leaning against the wall, her scythe bloody but sheathed at her belt, and she caught Thea's eye before she addressed the company.

‘You have three storm wielders to unleash upon the enemy. And the might of Delmirian fury.'

‘I was getting to that,' Kipp said, turning to Thea and Wren with a grin. ‘I think it's about time the Embervale sisters united on the battlefield, don't you?'