Warrior of the Moon

26

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Once the Fae children were distributed under the waters of Lake Muiress with the help of a few breathing enchantments and nymphs with very minor water powers, Serena was pulled into another conference of leaders.

They were understandably concerned as to where she had gone off to, though Hammel had assured them she was safe. When she told them about the massacre of Arrowmere, silence fell amongst them, and it was as if nature itself had frozen in time; no birds chirped, no water lapped at the shore, no breeze went through the trees.

Then, the elder of Crescent Grove: "Majesty, do you think that they were marching down to join their peers at Elvestone?"

Serena tried to ignore the exhaustion in her limbs as she responded, "Yes, I think that's our best guess at this point. One army coming up from the south, one coming down from the north. Meet in the middle and attempt to take the Realm from there."

"Majesty, if they're on their way down from Arrowmere to head toward Elvestone, they'll be upon Timbercress any moment. We must send warriors out to stop them."

Suddenly, she felt the urge to cry again. It was amazing to her that she was having fun just this morning. Since then, she had lost an entire city, and she was minutes away from losing another. How had Tarin done this for so long, moving from one problem or fight to the next without taking any time to stop, rest, think about himself? She could not stop, because she had no choice. If she did not act, more people would die.

"I'm not sure we can beat this army."

She had not wanted to admit it, and she did not look up at any of them as she let the words out. She felt Nahla's calming presence at her back, but her aura did not make her feel peaceful as it had before.

There was a hesitation, and she imagined nervous glances being passed around.

"Majesty... with our magic, surely we will still have the upper hand--"

"Celestine has proven that she has tricks up her sleeve," Serena said, her tone snappier than she would have liked in her exhaustion. "If we are already outnumbered by this army and lose some of our forces in the fight, even if we win, she might have even more soldiers hidden away somewhere she'll send at us right after. We can't just blindly attack this time, not with a force this big. We need a contingency plan."

"With all due respect, Majesty," the elder of Crescent Grove commented, "if we do not fight them, Timbercress will be destroyed just as Arrowmere was. Possibly our forests and lakes as well, if they have already heard about what we did to the southern army."

"I'm not saying we should sit back and watch," Serena said. These nymphs were beginning to tick her off. "I'm saying we should get allies."

"But who--"

"The Fae army," Nahla said from behind her, following her line of thought better than these others. "The one that was sent out from Reave to help Ocette. They should still be there. We could join with them against this Infernal force--"

"Ocette is days away from Timbercress, and that's assuming that they have even made it to Ocette from Reave already," one of the theti argued. "They would be no help to us. I say we do it on our own."

Most of the theti and elders nodded and mumbled in agreement, and Serena just closed her eyes. It was certainly possible that her forces would win the fight, particularly if news of their triumph in Ocette had not spread to them yet. The nymph magic came as a nasty surprise to most Fae on the battlefield, and significantly increased their chances of winning. But again, the cost, at these numbers, could end up being high. Celestine might be hoping she would do exactly what she did in Ocette. It could be some kind of trap.