The first hour in the council’s tent escalated to an intense and argumentative clash between way too many forceful personalities who all thought they knew the right path forward for the rebellion. To Pax’s gratification, multiple times during the discussion, people had turned to him to ask for his input.

  He’d done his best to answer, but he still felt conflicted about the best decision himself. The quandary boiled down to a choice between going all out to topple Brightgate or sending troops to protect their people who’d evacuated the rebel-held cities and fled into the Wilds.

  If they used all their stolen weapons and troops to attack Brightgate, he believed they stood a good chance of toppling it and claiming it for the rebellion. This was ideal for a few reasons. It would give the rebellion their own staging city, provided they didn’t break it too badly in taking it.

  Even better, all of their displaced citizenry would have a safe place to settle and work to strengthen each other together. This would boost the rebellion’s crafting and training abilities, while also allowing them to protect as many of their weaker members as possible.

  But would any of those weaker members survive if they didn’t send the bulk of their troops to protect them right now? It was like a monstrous game of chicken, seeing who would blink first.

  Pax hated the logical reasons to push forward and take Brightgate. It was the best decision for the rebellion at large and if successful could make the difference between winning or losing the war.

  But his mother, Titus, Tomis and many of Team Tribal were out there somewhere, fighting for their lives. When he thought of them desperately holding on and waiting for reinforcements, he felt sick about abandoning them. And all this discussion was just wasting time when everything inside Pax insisted he do something, anything, right now.

  He couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up so abruptly that his chair toppled over behind him. His sudden movement and the crashing chair startled everyone around him into silence.

  He spoke, knowing the pause wouldn’t last long. “We’re wasting time. Every minute, more of our people are dying while we argue. There obviously isn’t a simple choice, but we need to decide where to send our people.” He paused, letting the weight of his own turmoil fill his last word. “Now.”

  A heavy silence fell over the council tent at Pax’s declaration. The weight of his words hung in the air, heavy and undeniable. Around him, the rebel leaders exchanged wary glances. Some nodding subtly in agreement. Others frowned at his audacity or shook their heads in disagreement.

  But Pax didn’t give them a chance to object further. “We’re rebels. We all decided a long time ago to give our lives for this cause. Every moment we hesitate, we lose more lives. Our choice is simple. Either we attack Brightgate now to win a decisive victory, or send a force strong enough to save our people fighting for their lives out in the Wilds.”

  “Who put you in charge? You’re just a kid, maybe an advisor, but definitely not our leader.” A female mage scowled at him. “Sure, you’ve brought the rebellion a lot of new magic, but that doesn’t mean you have any idea how to plan our battle strategy.”

  That got a reaction. Voice sprang up in both argument and agreement along with the angry stirring of the handful of companions who had taken the opportunity for a quick nap along the outer edge of the tent.

  Pax didn’t flinch. He held the mage’s gaze amidst the newly kindled arguments filling the tent. “Funny, Mage Ellarion.” He pushed a bit of his air mana into the words, so they cut through the noise. “I don’t remember you being quite so dismissive of my age when I helped you unlock a second element. I think I remember you saying something like, ‘You’re a Vitur-given blessing to the rebellion’, right?”

  Her face flushed as the others quieted down to see her reaction. “Just because you’re helping all of us, still doesn’t mean you should take command of all our troops.”

  “I’m not.”

  She looked confused.

  “Taking command.” He shook his head and made a calming gesture with his hand. “I’m just encouraging us to quit delaying and act like the leaders we’re supposed to be. We need to make the hard decisions, before we lose our chance. Taking too long to decide is a decision by itself, isn’t it?”

  Flickers of shame along with resolution crossed enough of the faces to rebuild some of Pax’s faith in the leaders here. Mage Ellarion must have sensed the shift too, as she slumped back in her seat and quit arguing with him.

  Pax pushed forward while he had momentum. “So, what do we do? Take Brightgate while it’s weak, or send our troops to rescue our civilians?”

  A grizzled-looking warrior cleared his throat, brow furrowed. “We can’t just abandon our people.” His voice was calm but firm, carrying the weight of decades of experience. “If we don’t send reinforcements, the empire troops will slaughter them.”

  “That’s true.” Pax drew on his ever-growing Charisma as he worked to get the rest of his words out past a suddenly tight throat. “My only two living family members, along with my childhood friends, are out there fighting for their lives, so I’m biased. But even I, a kid, can see how sending everyone to rescue them right now could lose us both Brightgate and possibly the entire war. If we can take Brightgate first, and quickly, we’ll have a stronghold that secures the future of the rebellion. The hard truth is, we’ll likely save more lives in the long run.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “And if we fail?” a middle-aged mage asked. His expression was skeptical, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. “What then? We lose Brightgate, and like Warrior Corwin said, many of our people, possibly the entire rebellion all at once.”

  Pax straightened and met Marek’s gaze without flinching. “Then we won’t fail.”

  “Mage Marek, we need solutions, not pessimistic predictions.” The warrior woman heading the council from the head of the main table gave Marek a censuring look.

  “Arrogant confidence doesn’t win battles, General Valtor,” Marek said dismissively, only to flush when she glared at him.

  “Neither does cowardice,” Pax said, his tone sharp enough to cut.

  The murmurs around the table grew louder as voices joined in, some agreeing with Pax, others echoing Marek’s concerns.

  Pax glanced over toward where all his mentors sat. Mistress Windhelm sat beside Captain Langley, both of them intent and scanning the various participants, no doubt marking their responses for later analysis. Mages Incedis and Eldan sat beside them, each with a crystal in front of them so Magesecond Fenix and Solani 2-nine could see what happened.

  Pax wondered if they might step in and fix things. But they simply looked confident in him, none of them making a move to take over. Mage Incedis gave him a subtle nod of approval, which Pax took as encouragement to continue.

  As the arguing voices got louder in the tent, Pax wondered if he deserved their confidence. Should he be fighting to take the lead like this? Maybe he should just leave them all to their squabbling and head out with his squad to fight their best like he was used to doing.

  Then, his upper torso suddenly convulsed with unexpected movement. With a suddenness that surprised him and everyone else in the room, Whisk burst out from under his armor and bulged up into an ominous hissing sheet that stretched above and behind him like a single flaring wing. Mouths clamped shut as every gaze snapped to the sight. Eyes widened with surprise and fear while multiple warriors reached for weapons.

  There. Whisk’s internal voice was full of satisfaction. Now the flicks will listen to you like they should.

  Pax barely suppressed a chuckle, suddenly realizing his companion was right. He’d been fighting toward this moment since he first stepped onto the Academy grounds and found himself the target of people who insisted he could never be a powerful mage.

  If anyone knew the best way to get the most from their current forces, it was him. He and his crew had a hand in so many aspects of their recent growth. And no one understood how to best utilize their Tamed companions more than they did.

  “Thank you, Whisk.” Pax tipped his head to look at Whisk’s flared and threatening shape. The room relaxed a fraction as Whisk sucked himself back under Pax’s armor.

  “Look,” Pax said, softening his tone but not his stance, as he felt his own indecision disappear. He’d known all along what the right decision was, but he hadn’t wanted to make it until the group of squabbling rebel leaders made him realize what the right choice was.

  He suddenly understood why they were wasting time arguing. None of them wanted to make the decision that got their civilians, friends and family slaughtered.

  “I know this isn’t an easy decision. And I’m not saying we won’t send any aid to our people in the Wilds. But it needs to be a small contingent of the best we can spare without crippling our primary force. We should send just enough to give them a reasonable chance of surviving until we can conquer Brightgate and get out there to reinforce them for real.

  “But I can’t lie to myself, despite how much I want to leave right now to save my family. Brightgate is the key. It’s finally vulnerable enough for us to take in this brief window of time. If we don’t take this opportunity, we may not get another. In addition, we have to scrap our plan to attack their supply warehouses to weaken them further. There isn’t enough time. The faster we conquer the city, the sooner we can send our troops to save the rest of our people.”

  “And how do you plan to take it so quickly?” Mage Marek demanded, standing now, his voice rising. “We’ve spent weeks getting assets in to target those warehouses. You want to throw all that work away? What? Do you think we can just march up to their walls and knock them down?”

  Pax paused, letting the tension peak as he leaned hard into his Strategist skill, quickly organizing the possibilities he and his squad had been discussing and dissecting over the last two weeks. A faint, knowing smile spread across his face as it all coalesced into a coherent plan. “Funny you should say that. That’s exactly what I think we should do.”

  The council room erupted in a mix of shock and disbelief.

  “Knock them down?” Warrior Corwin scoffed, and his brow furrowed deeply. “You’re serious?”

  Pax nodded. “Completely. We have the explosive devices the empire planned to use on us. Instead of planting them in the warehouses, we use them against a single section of the wall. Combine that with everything we can bring to bear, trained people and companions, and we can blast out an opening in the walls large enough for our troops to march through.”

  “And what about the empire’s troops in the city?” another voice asked. “Brightgate isn’t just walls. Even with the bulk of their forces deployed, they still have plenty of defenders and traps to protect themselves.”

  “Leave that to me and my squad,” Pax said, his voice steady. “We’ll handle the initial assault. Like I said, I’m not trying to take charge of the entire thing, just the part we can get done. I’ll leave the actual taking of Brightgate up to everyone else here. Just be ready to move the moment we make an opening for you.”

  “That’s not how we operate,” Marek said, shaking his head. “We don’t have the numbers. Our strength is in unorthodox methods, in attacking where and when they least expect it. What you’re suggesting is too direct and too risky. No way are we all throwing our lives away against their walls.”

  Pax’s grin widened. “Who says we won’t be attacking when they least expect it?” He leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with a mix of excitement and determination. “Do you think they’ll expect us to attack in the middle of their nightly beast wave?”

  The council froze, the implications of his words sinking in. For a moment, no one spoke.

  Then Corwin let out a low whistle. “You’re serious,” he said again, but this time there was no disbelief in his tone, only grudging respect.

  “Absolutely,” Pax replied. “The beasts will be as much a distraction for them as for us, and we have our companions to fight by our sides. With the right timing, we can use the chaos to our advantage. It’ll be dangerous, yes. But also unexpected, and more important, fast. And fast is exactly what we need right now.”

  Marek opened his mouth to argue again, but before he could speak, General Valtor stood. “I vote we follow Commander Vipersworn’s plan,” she said firmly.