A Court of Blood and Glory

Raising Armies

Feyre

Silence. That was all I heard after the blast from the cauldron. "We... we have to go, we have to help the humans." I said, finally finding my voice. Rhys nodded, and the Night Court ran towards the exit, ran towards the night beyond, only to find a shield in place, Tamlin smirking on the other side. The other High Lords joined us a moment later, hatred in their eyes as they looked to the High Lord of Spring.
"What did you do, Tamlin?" I growled, red haze clouding my vision.
"None of you questioned me when I asked for three weeks, three weeks in which the King gathered the power of the cauldron, knowing fully well that you wouldn't help him." He turned from me and looked to the High Lords in turn. "None of you questioned my actions, none of you watched what we were doing, because you all hoped that war would stay at bay, and you were blind. You will now pay for your blindness." Another wave of power struck the lands, and it shook all of us from our stunned state.
"What did he offer you? What was worth the cost?" Helion growled.
"Power. More power than any of you have, and more territory, but the real prize was meant to be Feyre." He gave me a serpentine look that chilled me to the bone, and my power roared towards him, joining Rhys's darkness as he lashed out, our power colliding and rippling through the mountain, smashing through the shield, but Tamlin was gone before the power hit him, not a trace in sight.
"He used us all, played us all, and none of us were aware of it." The Peregryn commander said, looking confused by the turn of events. We were all confused and were trying to figure out how we had lost sight of what the enemy was doing.
"Well there's no reason to dwell on that now. We need to help the mortal lands. Let's go." Cassian grumbled, and the Night Court left the mountain, winnowing to where the wall once lay, only to find the hum of power gone. We didn't say a word as Rhys picked me up, Azriel taking Mor, and flew over the mortal lands, but stopped when we found the land of the manor my family had once resided in, but found nothing. I left Rhys's grasp, running through the bare lands to the village. Nothing. No sign of a struggle, no sign of any bodies or soldiers marching through. Nothing remained but the stench of magic, the power of the cauldron surrounding us.
They were all dead, every man, woman and child that had resided in the village I'd hated, gone. Dead, wiped out by the power that the King held. "The King doesn't have anything to gain from this, so why do it? Why kill an entire village?" I asked, my eyes dry. There would be no more crying over the dead.
"He wants us to know that he can do this, that he has the power to destroy our armies in one go. He's trying to instil fear into us." Cassian said, his voice barely above a whisper. There was a sort of calm about the place, a calm that I didn't want to disturb. A calm that was horrid to witness, a calm that brought a chill to my soul, but a calm that demanding that it was not disturbed.
"We do not fear him. We will not fear him. We will win this war and we will avenge the people slaughtered unnecessarily in this war." I said, and I took one last look at the bare land that stretched as far as I could see before I winnowed back to Velaris, back to find Amren. There was no use in defending the dead. But there was in saving the living.
If the war had begun, we needed an army.

Xxx

The Court of Nightmares was as horrid as ever, but I walked in with my head held high, my arm in Rhys's. We did not bother with finery, with gowns and formal words and declarations, we entered in our fighting leathers. The people came to the streets, gawking at their winged High Lord, wings that were beautiful and deadly. Kier stood at the dais, his face paling when he took in my mate, took in the wings at his back, and felt the power that hummed through his veins. Power that also hummed through mine, and overlapped his. Keir no longer wore the chains that Rhys had placed on him the last I saw, but the ones that were in his mind were still very much present. He had not spoken to anyone of our plans.
"I want those soldiers you promised me to be taken to the border of our lands, to the camp that I am stationing there. If you have not moved all of your troops by the third sunrise then you will be punished accordingly." Kier only nodded, and Mor smiled at the state her father was in. "Is there anything you wish to say to your High Lord?" He asked, but Kier said nothing. He was broken, bowed to the will of Rhys, of his High Lord.
As quickly as we'd arrived we left, leaving Kier to bring his army to us.

Xxx

The Illyrian war camp was cold and silent as we entered, everyone once more staring at the metal attached to Rhys's back, then to the company he kept. I had chosen not to bear wings, but had allowed my power to fill me. If Devlon did not agree to move the Illyrians we would not have enough numbers to fight in the war.
"We need the legions right now. Move them somewhere useful." Rhys said by way of greeting.
"You dare fly after the shame you went through?" Devlon said as he saw Rhys.
"I do, because I need to fly if we are to win this war, and I need my wings if I am to fight. You are not the High Lord, I am, so you would do well to remember your place when in my presence." Devlon was reluctant to leave the topic of Rhys's wings, but he did so all the same. "I want every Illyrian moved to the borders of my lands. I need them there within two days, ready to move on my command. Set up camp and await my signal. Cassian here will remain with you and oversee everything. He is in charge."
"I don't take orders from bastard born Illyrians." Devlon snarled, trying to take control.
"You do now." Cassian responded, and grinned maliciously at the Lord. We were not going to win the war with smiles and formalities; we were going to win through blood and fighting, and we didn't care how.
Devlon argued some more, but soon realised that he was outmatched, and agreed, however unhappy, to follow Cassian's command, and we left the general in the camp, readying ourselves for what was to come.

Xxx

By the time the sun rose we had received word from Winter, Dawn and Day that their armies were rising, that their troops were moving, and received their final numbers of soldiers. Hybern had over a hundred thousand, but Prythian had nearly double that. I was still doubtful, though, that we didn't have enough.
We chose to stay in Rhys's residence on top of the Court of Nightmares, needing to be able to be reached by our allies, and I walked the halls remembering the last time I'd stepped foot there, when I'd thrown my shoe at Rhys. Everything had been so different back then, and I'd been about to marry the male I hated more than anything.
Reports flew in all night, and we didn't sleep or rest for a moment, trying to sort through the mess we were in. The Illyrians had left their camps, all of them making their way towards a stretch of land on the western side of the border to the Day Court, perfect if we needed to travel to Hybern.
Kier sent word in the form of a small boy that he had one thousand Darkbringers ready to fight, and that they had set out. They were not the largest army, but they were savage and brutal, perfect for what we needed to do.
I knew that I should have been in bed, resting up for what was to happen, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep, not with the rage and fear thrumming through my veins. I didn't even try, but was running on adrenaline in the early hours. We all were.
Rhys had been muttering to himself, trying to figure out where to move people, and sending word to the other High Lords, attempting to finish off the meeting through paper and pen instead of face to face. I had helped him for some time, but was of more help with Amren, combing through pages of spells and histories, trying to find another way to subdue the cauldron's power, whilst Amren attempted to find anything useful in the Book of Breathings.
Azriel had been in and out of shadows the whole time, going from Court to Court, listening out for news and messages that would help us, but didn't disclose anything to us other than reports that came flooding in from Cassian, reports on his movement and what he'd commanded the Illyrians to do.
We all looked exhausted, except Mor, who despite having been up and working on defending the Night Court all night, seemed to be energetic and as awake as she had when we'd started. I had no clue how, but was happy to see that someone was ready to fight if the time came, defending us all whilst we slept.
We worked all night, all day, taking a break once I almost collapsed to the floor from exhaustion, and got up three hours later only to start again. We would have continued longer, but Azriel appeared in the middle of the room, his face pale, and Amren rushed in, her silver eyes wide.
"The Summer Court, it's under attack." Amren said, a piece of paper that smelled of Varian in her hand.
"And Tarquin hasn't raised his army properly yet. His people are defenceless." Azriel added. I hoped that we would be able to fight an army off three hours of sleep.