Kingdom of Scourge and Shadow (The Sightstone Series #1)

Chapter Thirty-One: Judith

"I once met an old man who claimed that war was the natural state of the Northern Lands, and, with every day that passes, I come to agree with him a little more."

-from the Codices of Saint Caroline the Heretic

***

 The War Room was in chaos.

Queen Sara had arrived at some point while Judith and Elizabeth were working, and stood at the carved table with the four generals, and the map on the wall across from the door had been changed. Now, it depicted the valley around Rosburg, and, to Judith's surprise, there were colored pins on it that could only indicate troop positions.

"We need to cut them off at the head of the valley," General Harding snapped.

"No, no," General Fleming protested. "We'll be trapped by the valley, and they'll dig in. We'll have ourselves some good, old-fashioned trench warfare, which, I think you'll agree, is the last thing we can afford."

"The Saroviyans have been ahead of us at every turn lately," General Stark said, eons more calmly than the others. "We need to preempt them somehow, turn the tide, or they'll hit Rosburg while we're still standing here arguing. We need to move. Now. Whatever we decide to do."

"I agree with General Stark," the queen said, her rich voice steady. "But we can't cut them off, or we'll be as trapped as they are. We need a viable alternative, instead of just saying, 'let's do something else.'"

Elizabeth cleared her throat, and all five of them whirled to face them.

"Ah, cadets," General Stark said, the first one to gather herself. "What do you have for us?"

"Please say you have something useful," the queen quipped, throwing her hands up in despair. "Do you see this? The best generals in the world, and not one of them can agree on anything. Tell me you have something to shut them up."

"The mines," Judith blurted, then clapped a hand over her mouth. She was supposed to give a report on the region around Rosburg, not propose strategy, but the words just slipped out.

"I beg your pardon?" General Harding blustered, but General Stark held up a hand, cutting him off.

"Go on, Private Craven," she said, her gaze fixed on Judith's face. "Mines?. What are you talking about?"

Judith took a shuddering breath. "There's an old system of copper mines in the mountains around Rosburg," she began hesitantly. "They've destabilized the mountains so much that all mining operations had to be halted."

"Go on," General Stark prompted, when Judith faltered.

"What if you use the mines?" she asked, trying to sound more confident than she sounded. "Some of the more stable tunnels are still used to smuggle information across the border. You could go through the mines, come up behind the Saroviyan force. You could have another force waiting in front of them to cut them off, or you could use the land to do the same thing instead."

"Wait," the queen said, turning more fully to face her. "What are you saying?"

"Trigger an avalanche," Judith said, squaring her shoulders. "The mountains are covered in snow, even this early in the season. All you'd need is a single witch with a well-placed strike, and you could bring the whole side of a mountain down on the valley, blocking the way. The Saroviyans won't suspect anything; avalanches happen all the time in the region. While they're trying to dig through, the force you sent through the mines can come up behind them and take them from the rear when they're least expecting it."