General Inadi, recently appointed to handle the day-to-day minutiae of the rebellion’s three, almost four cities, leaned against the cool brick of the outer wall on the roof of the council hall. She sighed. How had she ever thought managing Magistrate Blackwood’s household or maneuvering in the backrooms of power in Edgefort was challenging?

  What she had to do today would outstrip the difficulty of either of those by miles. She sipped her warm cup of tea and looked out over the early morning rush on the streets of Quarrybrook.

  Things down there definitely looked better than they had just after the rebels took over. The rebels and townsfolk had cleared the streets, boarded up damaged buildings, and even got a bustling daily market going in the central square. It didn’t fill the entire space, by any means, but it was a start.

  The city wasn’t as busy or healthy as it had been at its peak, but Inadi liked to think it was doing much better than it had after the influential families in the empire cut their losses and refused to send the reinforcements the city desperately needed.

  And now, they were forcing her to abandon it a second time. She sighed and turned to the woman who’d been waiting patiently for her attention. “Saren, give me the latest updates. Is it time?”

  “Likely.” Saren gave her a curt nod, then glanced down at her clipboard and read. “Reports from our spies confirm the empire is massing troops in Brightgate, turning it into a major staging city. They’ve consolidated all their free forces there and plan to move against Quarrybrook and then our other cities with overwhelming numbers.”

  “Any other details?”

  “Their intent is clear. They plan to take the city in one swift, decisive strike. No hesitation, no room for resistance. Their goal is to overwhelm us and show their strength to anyone else tempted to resist.”

  Inadi inhaled deeply, her fingers tightening around her cup. She looked out over the city again, her gaze tracing the repaired rooftops and busy market.

  “They’ll burn everything to the ground if we stand and fight.” Her voice was a quiet murmur. “And if they don’t, the nightly beasts will finish the job when they break our walls and leave us vulnerable.”

  She set the cup down on the narrow ledge and squared her shoulders. Their time to prepare had just run out.

  “And Dunhaven and Rivercrest? Or any mention of knowledge that I left Edgefort all but under rebel control with just a puppet empire lackey in charge, so Vitur didn’t announce it?”

  Saren shook her head as she scanned over her notes, double checking. “As far as our agents can discover, they’re planning to hit here first, leaving only a skeleton force back in Brightgate. They seem to think our other cities will capitulate easily after that. Typical empire. If it didn’t work the first time, they’ll just do it again but with more soldiers and violence.”

  Inadi pursed her lips. “But we have to assume this time they’ll have better tactics than just throwing themselves over and over at the walls like mindless beasts.”

  “True.” Saren gave her a reluctant nod. “We can’t keep counting on them both underestimating us and being dunders at the same time, can we?”

  “It would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Inadi gave Saren a wry grin. “We have to expect them to have a much better plan this time, now that they’re taking us seriously.”

  “What kind of plan?” Saren glanced out toward the Quarrybrook’s wall in the distance.

  Inadi followed her gaze and sighed tiredly. Despite their best efforts to repair it with workers and earth mages, it still wasn’t back to full strength. The incessant attacks by beasts every night made it difficult to make progress. But that was the reality of the world they lived in. Inadi had never been one to wish reality away.

  “Well, they were pretty single-minded with their first attack, mainly targeting the defenders on the wall. It was obvious no one had considered the logistics of breaking into a city against defenders before. If we try to keep our new home, I expect the mages will target the walls and gates this time, either directly or by destroying the foundation. Can you imagine stopping a handful of powerhouse mages whose only goal is to bring our walls down?”

  Saren still didn’t look convinced. “Our defenders won’t sit by idly while enemies target the walls, right?”

  “The empire army only needs to protect their mages until they accomplish their goal. How long would it take a squad of empire mages to take down a section of the wall? Remember how many people the empire has and how little they value their lives. They’ll pile bodies in front of the mages to soak up damage long enough for them to break a hole in our walls. Then their troops, who vastly outnumber us, will flood in.”

  A look of uncertainty flickered across Saren’s face.

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  “We’ve thought of the same strategy to use against empire cities. Multiple mage types makes it even more effective. Earth Mages disrupt the stability of the wall and the ground beneath it. Flame mages cast explosive spells under the wall and along the cracks as they form. At the same time, water mages shove torrential spells into every weakness as it forms, prying apart the wall even faster. Add a few air mages to increase the reach and explosiveness of all those effects, and—” Inadi flicked open her hands and fingers in an explosive gesture. “Poof. No more wall.”

  “Then why don’t we do that to their cities before they do it to ours?”

  Inadi gave her assistant an expectant look. “I know you’re not involved in military planning, but you’re clever enough to know why.”

  Saren blinked and then flushed as she figured it out. “Numbers. It all comes back to numbers.”

  “Exactly.” Inadi turned to look across the city at the wall that looked deceptively powerful. “A wall is a force multiplier for the defenders. Once you can bring them down with minimal effort, the side with the most troops wins. And that’s not us. At least not yet.”

  Saren stayed silent, contemplative while Inadi took one last look at the peaceful and recovering city where they’d done their best to give everyone a chance to succeed without the oppressive corruption of the empire.

  The early morning air carried the faint scent of baked bread from the market. The rhythmic clatter of hammers bounced as echoes from workers reinforcing the city’s structures. Children with smiles on dirt-streaked faces darted between vendors, their bright voices a defiant reminder of normalcy in the face of chaos.

  Inadi exhaled slowly, letting the scene brand itself into her mind. If they won the war, this was the type of city she wanted to return to—a city that could rebuild and thrive without corruption choking the life out of it.

  She turned back to Saren, her voice resolute. “Begin evacuation preparations. Quietly. The empire can’t know we’re pulling out.”

  Saren hesitated, her grip tightening on the clipboard. “Complete evacuation. None of the traps or clever tactics we discussed? We’re actually doing it? We’re abandoning Quarrybrook?”

  “You know better than that. We’re not abandoning it forever.” Inadi kept her voice firm but couldn’t remove all the regret. “We’re saving it. We’ll leave the gates wide open when we leave. Let the empire waltz in unchallenged. If they encounter no resistance, they’ll hopefully leave the important structures intact and won’t raze the city. After all, they’ll want to claim it for themselves, eventually. Once the dust settles and we win this war, we can come back and rebuild.”

  “And the beasts?” Saren asked quietly.

  “They’ll pour in too at night, at least until they learn people have abandoned it. And if Vitur blesses the timing for us, the empire will arrive close to dark so our two enemies will clash.” Inadi’s lips tightened. “The empire may be powerful, but even their soldiers aren’t immune to the beasts. If we’re lucky, they’ll have to weather a night or two unable to fully staff the Quarrybrook’s walls with no time to build their own defensive camp. We can hope the beasts will whittle down the forces we’ll eventually have to face.”

  “And then our fighters will harry them all along their return to Brightgate, whittling them down even further?”

  “Exactly.” Inadi aimed a wolfish grin at Saren. “That’s always been part of our plans. We’ve been preparing to fight against people instead of beasts for a lot longer than the empire has.”

  Saren’s brows furrowed before she gave Inadi a curt nod. “I’ll see it done. When are we planning to leave?”

  Inadi held out an impatient hand for the clipboard of information and scanned quickly over the detailed notes, thinking. “The day after tomorrow at dawn. A full day and a half before my spies say the empire troops will arrive.”

  Saren’s brows rose. “That’s not cutting it too close?”

  Inadi shook her head. “We’ll need at least a day to prepare. Despite all our drills, the real thing always reveals more flaws that’ll take time to fix.”

  “So, we’ll be officially announcing the evacuation?”

  “No. We’ll call it a full practice run for everyone who doesn’t need to know.” Inadi gave a small shake of her head. “It would be foolish to pretend we don’t have traitors in our own midst, sending information to the enemy. We’ve never had enough people with Inquisitor skills to screen everyone. We assigned our best ones to the hidden bases, where security is more vital. That we hold Quarrybrook isn’t a secret we need to keep, what with Vitur announcing it to everyone.”

  Saren aimed a glance over her shoulder at the newly built structure taking up the far edge of the expansive roof. “At least the empire has nothing close to the new intelligence network you’ve been building.”

  Inadi felt the first genuine smile of the morning form on her face as she looked over at the expansive mews she’d commissioned a month ago. “Did we get any new possibilities from last night’s wave?”

  “Yes, your specialists trapped three beasts.” Saren mirrored her smile. “And one of them might even be up to the picky standards you have for a companion yourself.”

  Inadi’s eyes widened in surprise, enjoying the simple thrill of joyful anticipation amidst the rest of the grim planning she’d been doing lately. “Agile, with elemental abilities and small enough to blend in with the regular birds that live in our cities?”

  “Checks for all three.”

  “Now that’s a piece of good news,” Inadi said as she headed back toward the door leading back into the building. “Have them message me when they’re ready to help me make an attempt. A companion to scout and communicate with our people is exactly what I need before leading an entire city’s population out into the Wilds.”

  Saren made some notes on her paperwork as she followed a half step behind Inadi.

  “Summon the council as soon as we get inside.” Inadi’s gaze hardened. “And send word to our other cities. We’ll need to plan everything carefully if this gambit is going to work.”

  As Saren hurried through the doorway to relay her orders, Inadi turned her attention back to take one last look at the waking city. They were taking a calculated risk, and the weight of all the lives in danger pressed heavily on her shoulders.

  “Quarrybrook deserves better,” she whispered to the empty morning air. Then, with a deep breath, she straightened and stepped onto the stairs, ready to face the challenge ahead.

  A frantic flap of wings on the roof behind her caught her attention. Then she heard pounding footsteps running up the stairs in her direction. Her stomach sank. Whatever had brought a flying companion rushing back to the mews along with what was probably one of her elite scouts racing up the stairs couldn’t be good news.

  Saren froze for a heartbeat before spinning to look up at Inadi.

  “Whatever it is, we’ll handle it,” Inadi said, forcing herself to believe it was true.