A quiet fell over the room as sudden and complete as the recent one after Whisk’s explosion. But this time, Pax saw both thoughtful and stunned looks as the local leaders considered his plan.

  Mage Incedis gave him an approving nod while Eldan just grinned at him with a bloodthirsty gleam in her eye. Langley, who’d taken a seat out of the limelight, just shook his head in a mixture of what Pax thought was admiration and disbelief.

  When Pax turned back to the others, he saw more heads nodding than not.

  Corwin stood and after glancing at the woman said, “I concur with General Valtor. I support Vipersworn’s plan. He’s the one who brought us our companions. And who better to shield us from the beast wave and help us break through Brightgate’s walls than them? It’s bold, but it’s our best shot at taking the city fast enough to still have time to save the rest of our people.”

  His vote of confidence turned the tide. One by one, others voiced their support. Marek and Ellarion remained quiet, their expressions dark. But they were clearly in the minority now.

  Pax looked around the room, the show of support bolstering his confidence. He nodded, then addressed them all. “We’ll finalize the details, starting with the force we’re sending out to protect our people. We move against Brightgate tomorrow night. Until then, we’ll work with the crafters to get the most out of our new equipment. We’ll need everyone’s help to organize our people and make sure they all know their role. This is it. Let’s make it count.”

  Pax was done. He leaned down to pick up his chair as conversations quickly sparked around him. As he straightened, he caught Corwin’s eye and gave him a nod. The veteran returned it with a terse smile of approval.

  Then Langley stood and cleared his throat, drawing surprised glances. “As someone who knows the value of intelligence, I’d recommend not telling the rest of our troops about these plans until the last moment. The empire is very skilled at infiltration and a word or two in the wrong ears could ruin everything.”

  “Agreed.” General Valtor held up a hand to regain everyone’s attention. “And it’s my lapse that I didn’t remind everyone of this. We don’t have enough of our own with the Interrogate skill here in camp to ensure spies haven’t slipped in, especially with so much traffic coming and going.”

  “I’d suggest letting everyone think the preparations are to send all the troops to rescue our people, followed by an attack on Brightgate when they return.” Mistress Windhelm’s pragmatic advice got quite a few nods of approval. “It’s both believable and what many of us likely hope we’ll do.”

  General Valtor gave Windhelm an approving look before glancing over at the others. “Make it so and get to work.”

  As the room bustled with movement, Pax noticed Marek making his way through the others toward Pax. He almost moved to avoid the man, but decided it was best to get it over with.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Marek said quietly once he got closer, his tone not entirely hostile but still skeptical.

  “So do I,” Pax said, but made sure his confident expression didn’t waver. “We won’t know until we try, though. Right?”

  Marek’s lips pursed in a grim line before he turned and walked away without another word.

  Pax took a deep breath, the heavy weight of their decision settling into his bones. He sent a quick plea to Vitur to keep his family alive while they did their best to topple the strongest empire-held city on this side of the capital.

  ***

  “So, you don’t even know exactly how you’re going to bust a hole in the city wall?” Amil’s eyes widened in disbelief, followed quickly by admiration. “You basically bluffed the entire leadership here into letting us take charge of the first attack?”

  Dahni chortled along with Amil as they gathered later that day in their squad tent with the sound shielding engaged to keep their discussion private.

  “Not quite.” Pax tried not to sound defensive as the two grinned at him. “I have the basics, but that’s why we’re sitting down now. We need to iron out the details.”

  “Tell us what you need and where we can help.” Tasar leaned forward in his chair, focusing on Pax and ignoring the antics of the others.

  Rin had her notebook out and both Bryn and Tyrodon looked determined to take on the challenging task they had ahead of them. Langley and his crew had taken seats along the back of the tent, ready to help, but letting the younger team take the lead. The same went for Incedis and Eldan who seemed more than willing to continue their hands-off approach as their trainees took on more responsibilities.

  Magesecond Fenix and Solani 2-nine had begged off on helping with the details, citing little experience with specific battle strategies. They’d retreated to their crystals to help them recharge.

  “So—” Pax spread his hands, ready to get to work. “We have until tomorrow night to create a workable plan along with as many back-ups as we can to account for anything that could go wrong. The most important goal we have is to break open a wide enough section of Brightgate’s wall so the rest of our troops can pour in fast enough to overwhelm the defenders.”

  “What about the beasts that’ll be attacking the walls at the same time. Won’t they flood into Brightgate alongside us? Even if we hold them off, won’t some of them get in to slaughter the Brightgate commoners?” A look of worry suddenly replaced Dahni’s earlier grin.

  “Hopefully, we’ll be able to funnel them to attack the empire fighters defending the breach,” Rin said. “All the commoners in the city should already be behind closed doors for the night and as safe as possible.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “And any beasts that get loose?” Dahni shook his head. “You know they’ll go right through the walls of a house or shop.”

  “True.” Rin gave him a grim nod. “We’ll just have to do everything we can to prevent that once we defeat the empire defenders.”

  Dahni took a calming breath as he nodded. “I can check in with our earth mages, so we’re all ready to throw up a temporary fix on the wall after our troops are through. That way, we’ll keep more beasts from getting in while our fighters finish up.”

  “I don’t think there’s anything more we can do.” Bryn shook her head with a weariness that had been growing over the last few weeks. “Like has been common in this war, we’ll be fighting on two fronts. On one side are the empire soldiers and on the other, the beast hordes.”

  “Well, with this, we’ll deal a devastating blow to the first,” Pax said. “And after we take the capital, and the rebellion is finally in charge of the empire, we can take care of the beasts.”

  Langley let out a short laugh. Pax looked over at him with a questioning expression.

  He shrugged with a disbelieving shake of his head. “I’m just continually amazed at how many things you seem to think are possible, that the rest of the sane world doesn’t. But who am I to argue after seeing what you’ve done so far? You’ve given a scattered rabble of discontents an actual chance at taking down the empire. So, let’s do this. What do we need to get done by tomorrow night?”

  Pax gave Langley a cheeky grin before leaning back into his chair and gathering his thoughts. “First, let’s note down the most obvious preparations to assault the wall, considering we’ll be trying to do this during the middle of the night while beasts are attacking. What does everyone have? Rin, you taking notes?”

  She gave him a nod as the group settled into a focused discussion. They tossed ideas back and forth as Rin’s pen scratched across the page.

  “We’ll need camouflaged positions close to the wall, so we’re not discovered before we’re ready. The distance needs to be within range to launch the attack but far enough back to avoid drawing attention from either the Brightgate defenders or the nightly waves of beasts,” Bryn said. “Dahni and Talpa can help hollow out shallow areas underground to keep us hidden.”

  “As long as they reinforce the ceilings, so they don’t collapse on us when beasts come stomping overhead.” Amil looked thoughtful. “A few patches of loose dirt and stomped footprints would even help our hiding places blend in from what the defenders can see from the wall.”

  Tasar nodded. “We’ll need a method to keep watch and relay messages. Maybe give one of our Echoes to Langley, so we can coordinate with his crew? Unless we’re all staying together for this?”

  Mage Lyndara perked up at the mention of the Echoes and shot a questioning look at Langley sitting next to her.

  Pax gave him a tentative nod. “We could lend you one even if we’re going in together. It would make it easier to coordinate with your crew, especially when stealth is going to be so important. We just need to figure out whose Echo we can spare.”

  His crew looked at each other, and Pax could see them considering the question. Pax and Rin were both pretty critical to coordinating things. Tyrodon handled traps and devices, so he’d still need his. If Dahni was going to help with the earth mages and wall stuff, he’d also need his Echo. That left Bryn and Tasar.

  “He can use mine.” Tasar stood up at about the same time as Pax looked his way. “I’ll stick by Bryn’s side as usual.”

  “Thank you,” Langley said as Tasar walked over and handed over the device.

  Pax turned back to the others as Tasar explained to Langley how it worked.

  “We’ll also need extra shields for everyone and some way to hide ourselves once we come out to attack the wall.” Dahni’s voice broke the silence as everyone considered further needs. “Not just to defend our people from the beasts while we race toward the wall, but to divert them toward the empire’s soldiers once we make the breach. The more fighting we can get the beasts to do for us, the better.”

  “We should all be ready to use our barrier spells,” Rin said. “Dahni, your Earth Barrier, along with Amil’s Flame Wall should help a lot. I can always use my Wave to take care of any groups of beasts that get too big.”

  “I could just use my air shield to cover all of us from our hiding spot to where we attack the wall.” Mage Lyndara spoke up. “It should last plenty long, especially with the mana potions I plan on bringing with.”

  When Pax shot her a surprised look, she frowned. “What? You and your little friends don’t have to do all the work, you know.”

  “Agreed.” Mage Eldan gave them a reproachful look that made Pax blush at how dismissive he’d been of the more experienced people in the room.

  “It won’t be difficult for us to use our abilities to help accomplish the objectives you’re laying out.” Mage Incedis waved a reassuring hand. “No need to give us specific instructions.”

  “Thanks for your help.” Rin kept her tone professional despite the embarrassed flush on her cheeks.

  The older crowd just looked amused.

  “Thank you for all of your help and guidance.” Bryn broke the awkward silence with a respectful nod to them. Then she aimed a thoughtful look toward Pax. “What about your new Taming evolution? Any chance you can control a wave of beasts and have them fight for us?”

  Every eye in the tent turned to Pax with sudden interest.

  “No,” he said with a discouraged sigh. “I can’t reliably control even a single beast yet. Skipping the first two evolutions has left me with a much bigger skill gap to bridge than I thought. Turns out foundational abilities are important and not so easy to just figure out on my own.”

  “Hah! Something magical is difficult for Pax?” Amil grinned before realizing something and giving a disappointed sigh. “Too bad it had to happen now, right when we need to control a bunch of beasts around us?”

  “That’s why I have you guys.” Pax gave his friends a hopeful grin. “Your job is to keep all the beasts off of me while I do the important work and bring the wall down.”

  Amil groaned while Dahni laughed.

  “How exactly are you planning to do that?” Langley asked, a sudden look of interest in his eyes. “I assume you want to use the explosive devices we stole two weeks ago. But how do you plan to get them to the wall and set them off?”

  “Not it!” Amil called out. “And I don’t think we have any spells that’ll reach that far, do we?”

  Quiet fell as the others looked thoughtful. They suggested a few ideas, while others found the flaws in them. Before long, the discussion wound down without a solution.

  “Well, I was hoping you’d come up with something better than my original plan.” Pax’s tone was disappointed.

  Now his friends looked worried.

  “What crazy idea did you come up with?” Tyrodon asked, looking both concerned and interested at the same time. “Did you need my help to build something?”

  “I might.” Pax grinned at him. “But first, I need to get access to a handful of mages with both flame and earth elements. Once I work with them for the rest of the day, I should have a good idea if my plan is going to work.”

  “And if it doesn’t?” Rin didn’t look confident.

  “Then we’ll come up with another one that does.” Pax turned serious. “Whatever happens, we’re going to blow a hole in Brightgate’s wall tomorrow night, understand?”

  This time there were no jokes as they all nodded. Everyone understood exactly how critical their role was.

  As Rin finalized assignments, low but purposeful voices filled the tent before they gathered up their companions and left to get to work. As the tent emptied, Pax lingered, his thoughts already turning to the plan he hoped would work.

  He wasn’t entirely sure how he would make all the moving parts fit together. But he knew one thing: he’d get it done by tomorrow night. They’d have rebel troops inside Brightgate before the empire knew what was happening.

  Failure wasn’t an option.