A Crown and A Curse

Chapter 38: Outer Foes

Zora

I sighed in relief as we finally finished splitting all of our fighters into legions. It was an arduous and, in my opinion, unnecessary task. Penrith was ill defended and would likely be very easy to overtake. We could do it with only a quarter of our makeshift army. 

"Now that we have our legions taken care of, we can begin planning our attack," said Stailon, gesturing to the large map of Penrith and the surrounding forest that had been haphazardly spread on the table. 

"The approach we should take is quite simple," Mace began, pointing to the area just outside the city's large stone walls. "We send half of our legions straight at the front gate, a distraction. It will take all of the city's defenses just to keep this group contained. While we have the patrolmen's attention at the front entrance, we send the other half of our troops in the back way, where they can execute a surprise attack from inside the walls." A chorus of nods and assent followed this suggestion, it wasn't a bad one. But I believed there was a better and more beneficial way to take the city. 

I cleared my throat, "Or, we could take the city right from under the King's nose with less than a quarter of the  manpower." Mace frowned, offended or surprised I couldn't tell.

"How do you expect us to manage that?'' Stailon asked, perplexedly. 

I smirked, "Well, I highly doubt the patrolmen are expecting an attack. They're only there to keep the citizens in line. If we keep our people in the treeline, hidden, and sneak only a small team over the walls, they could take out all of the patrolmen and open the gates to the city, letting everyone else in. We can then barricade the city with the help of the people inside. If we execute fast enough, the Dark King might not even know what's happened for a few weeks. It'd buy us time to plan further and spur more soldiers to our cause." 

"It's not a bad plan. Why waste the efforts of an entire army to face a minuscule force of  patrolmen?" Kian agreed, smiling. "It's brilliant actually." 

"Perhaps we should put it to a vote," suggested a tight-lipped Mace. His strained smile didn't quite meet his eyes.

"All in favor of a surprise attack using all of our legions?" Only Mace and a few of Kian's men raised their hands. 

"All in favor of a sneak attack, using a small force?" Every remaining hand in the room shot up, outnumbering Mace's supporters by far. 

Kian smiled, "It's decided then. We will begin prepping the team of invaders immediately. Dismissed."

I walked over to Mace, a small smirk on my face, "No hard feelings?"

He frowned, glancing over to where Kian spoke to Stailon behind us, "I hope you know what you're doing, child." And with that, he turned and left. I stood in the doorway, smirk fading, and confidence wavering.

"Kian, I'm going into the city and you aren't going to stop me."

Kian ran a hand through his already disheveled hair, sighing, "Zora, we can't lose you in there, it's too risky for a minor mission."

"What makes me so special from the others? I have no magic, not that I can use. Let me at least contribute something!" 

We had been repeating the same argument for the better part of an hour. I paced back and forth across the floor of his bedroom. 

"You are special, you and I have parts to play and you can't play yours if you're dead."

I turned to him, eyes narrowing, "And what exactly is my part? I don't recall auditioning for one."

"You and I, we are a team. We are a union between magic and mortal. You have to stay alive so that we can keep the balance. The unity of our army depends on it," He sighed, standing up to take my hand, but I pull it back. 

"Kian, people aren't going to look to me as a leader if I don't do anything for them. You at least have a crown to your name. All I have is good skill with a blade and a little bit of training in war tactics. No one is going to believe that I'm useful if you don't let me BE useful."

"But-"

"You said yourself that it's a minor mission. If you don't even trust me with this how do you expect me to go into an actual battle?''

Kian sat down, clenching his hands together in his lap, he looked down at the floor, his hair flopped over his forehead. I looked at him pointedly, daring him to meet my eyes and argue with me. 

"Fine," He breathed, barely audible.

"Fine what?"

He looked up, light catching the bags under his eyes, and exaggerating the paleness of his skin, "Fine, you can go."

He stood, leaning in to kiss me lightly, "But you better be more careful than you ever have in your life." And with that, he turned to leave.

"Where are you going?"

He paused by the door, "To look over scouting and weather reports for the next couple of weeks."

"And when is the last time you slept?" 

Kian huffed, turning to face me fully. "I'm fine, Zora, really." 

"I didn't ask if you were fine. I asked when the last time you slept was," I said, sitting down on the bed.

"The night before you went missing." 

I patted the bed next to me, "The scouting reports can wait until tomorrow. Come on, I'll stay with you." 

With a sigh of defeat, Kian curled up on the bed beside me, lulling me to sleep with the scent of parchment and dew.