Her Cinder Throne (Completed)

Chapter 88

She told the generals the new plan, how they would combine all their forces and rush the city, merely trying to get into the castle and close enough to Thijs to end him. It was not a finessed battle plan, with carefully planned and balanced attacks in waves, hoping that they could win the city by outplanning Thijs. This was a wild and sloppy rush, hoping to surprise Thijs' men with the brazenness of it all. They wouldn't expect the army sitting on the hills to run down into the city so quickly and with so few men, so it would throw off Thijs' military strategists. Surprise and sheer brute force would hopefully be enough to get them into the palace gates.

She only got a small amount of pushback from the generals. Some were worried that they should wait for a few more of the Eldritch companies to return from Avallen to help, but Mabon explained that it would take too long. It was now, when Thijs least expected such a direct attack, or never. Waiting for reinforcements would only give Thijs time to notice the gathering of men and suspect some new strategy.

After a few more weak objections that were easily shot down, the generals wearily nodded their heads and accepted the orders. They knew as well as Mabon or Tanwyn or Cole how the war was too dangerous to keep going on any longer. With Gethwine helping Thijs to create so much black magic, the sooner they were disposed of, the better. Whatever factions still wanted to fight would be easier to clean up without the threat of more and more Cursed being manufactured every day.

With the generals off preparing their men for battle, Cole and Tanwyn went to do the same. They quickly cleaned their armor of moisture, wiping the blood and sweat from the metal and then sliding back into the breastplates and greaves. Tanwyn fetched them new swords to replace the dull ones they'd fought with that morning.

The only available blades were long swords, requiring two hands and a lot of strength to swing. Cole grimaced, already feeling the ache of her arms without anything in them. She'd been fighting what felt like nonstop, and her muscles protested as she heaved the sword into its hilt at her side. She had to press down on the handle to keep it from dangling on the ground, but she knew there wasn't much chance of getting anything better. They were working with limited supplies, unlike Thijs and his arsenal. Eldritch had little need for many weapons when they had their magic to rely on, and the human generals who had joined her side had brought only what was available to them in their outposts. Which meant that only the foreign human battalions had good weapons, and they were too busy fending off Thijs' army at their borders to come inland to help.

But, if Cole had learned anything in the mines, it was to make due with what she had. So, with long sword at her side, and her heart hammering in her chest, she went to meet the generals at their send-off point.

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The city was not how Cole remembered it at all. What had once been streets packed so densely that the heat from the blistering sun was magnified into a boiling mush of sweat and body odor, were now empty and barren. The buildings stood like empty shells, some with doors and windows wide open to reveal the ruins of what had once been houses and businesses. Debris and trash floated lazily down the beaten dirt paths, and the wind whistled hollowly in the spaces that had once been occupied by vendors or hawkers. It was nothing like the place she had grown up in.

While the outer rings of the city were empty, Cole knew from intel that the soldiers would be deeper in, near the castle. There was a significant concentration of Cursed in the area, due to Thijs and Gethwine both being present in the castle for most of the time. It was easy for them to pull a new victim in, and with the help of Bastian and his monsters, turn another hapless human into... whatever it was that they became.

At the thought of Bastian, Cole had to clench her teeth and shake her head to dislodge him from her mind. She hadn't seen him again since he had tried to kill her and Tanwyn and her mother, but she had heard stories from others. They were tales of terror, of how he was even more consumed by the darkness pierced into his heart, and the mass amounts of soldiers he killed as easily as if he was dancing.

Tanwyn pressed close to her side, as if sensing her thoughts were taking a dark turn. But, of course, really all of their thoughts were morbid and heavy as they marched toward the certain death of most of them.

"Do you think this is the right thing to do?" Cole whispered, not wanting anyone else to hear. She was supposed to be their fearless leader, the picture that Cadfael and his bards painted for them with his moral boosting tales. She was supposed to be the ancient blood returning, the glittering queen who stood proud and sure as she directed the Eldritch and humans to freedom. But, on the inside, she felt like a child given too much responsibility. Her hands shook constantly, and she wondered just how long it would take all the hardened generals to realize she was just a young girl who wanted to go somewhere safe with her mother.

Tanwyn smiled, even if it was tight and lacking the warmth it should have. His hand slid into hers as he gave her a gentle squeeze. She drank in the feeling of his palm on hers, on the nearness of his body to her side, knowing that it was not a regular thing anymore. The Eldritch generals were not shy in their campaigns for a future king, and no one ever brought up the Liar Prince, a son of a traitor and a fae without wings. Tanwyn may have been respected as a warrior, but he was not in anyone's mind for king of their people. And with the generals' good graces desperately needed, the distance had grown large between Cole and Tanwyn.

Even now, Tanwyn unwound his hand from hers, a mere few seconds after having joined them, and took a step to the side. He still traveled close to her, like a good soldier, but he was nowhere as near as she'd wanted him to be.

He took a breath. "We're going to end this, so it doesn't matter if it's the right thing to do or not," he said. "It's something, and that's what we need right now. The people are tired and scared, so they need to see us giving it our all. Even if it's for one more battle."

Cole licked her lips as they marched down the last few roads that would take them to where Thijs' army lines were. She knew if they held off on the attack, that it would only be a matter of time until Gethwine and Thijs defeated them. Cole's men were devoted and driven, but there weren't many of them, and Thijs had the command of the Cursed. And with each passing day, he got better and better at binding them to the monsters and increasing their numbers.