The Enemy's Triumph

by Kristen Banet

  He gestured for the others to follow him and started walking around the cliff, his eyes still on the camp. He saw some soldiers on watch and others moving around the camp, but it seemed quiet as if they had no reason to believe there would be any trouble.

  He slowly made his way down a cliffside, thankful the night was dark enough, the soldiers could barely see anything. His males followed him down to another ledge, closer to the camp.

  “What are we doing?” one of them asked in a whisper.

  “Figuring out what’s going on,” Zayden said softly before climbing down further. When they reached the next ledge, he held up a hand. “Wait here. I’ll go in alone. There’s no reason to have all four of us running around their camp.”

  “Sir, we’re not trained for this,” one hissed.

  “I know what to do.” He was a member of the Company, and covert missions were part of the job. He spent a thousand years sneaking in and out of places. He wasn’t Bryn, that was for sure, but every Company member needed to have the basic knowledge in case any of them were called for the task of infiltrating a building or an enemy camp.

  He made it to the ground and was thankful for a layer of trees left around the edges of the valley. It gave him more cover as he moved to the southern side of the valley and found the large tents that would house the general or other commander who probably reported to Lothen at the other site.

  Zayden crept closer to the tents, hoping he found the largest tent empty. He didn’t, finally catching the faintest hint of light through the thick canvas fabric. Someone was inside.

  “We need to go out and deal with the Andinna,” someone was saying as Zayden went to his knee, using his wings to help keep him covered in the shadow. He could only hope he was far enough from the gryphons they wouldn’t catch his scent and cause a commotion.

  “They’re staying away from the camp, and we know it’s a trap. Lothen’s camp fell for it a second time. That camp has more gryphons as well. We can’t go out and risk all the ones we have.”

  “But sir—”

  “No buts. The objective of this camp is to support scouting efforts in the Dragon Spine. Lothen and I spoke at length about the possible home base of this little fucking rebellion, and we decided this camp would help narrow down the locations. Right now, I have ten scouting teams out there with set destinations to check. A third of them won’t come back because they’ll run into the Andinna. We only need another month. We’re not risking more of our men yet.” The older man sounded annoyed. “We’re under direct orders not to engage unless the mission is at risk. It’s already frustrating they know our location. If we fight with them and prove easy, beatable targets, they’ll send more, then we’ll lose our ability to sneak more scouts into the mountain.”

  Zayden grit his teeth. It was ingenious. One half of the force was large enough to wipe out the rebellion if they got the upper hand. The other half of the force was actively working on making sure the Elvasi had that advantage.

  I need to get in there. Maps, letters, anything would be more useful than this half-conversation. I need to know what they know; so do Alchan and Luykas. If they’re scouting the mountains this much, then we have problems, especially if they’re only accounting for a third of their teams being lost. That means others are getting back with information that could be dangerous.

  He waited, tucked between several bags and barrels, hoping no one walked by on patrol. It seemed the camp was relaxed. They must have gone out regularly to make sure Andinna weren’t getting close enough to get into the valley, and Zayden had gotten lucky. He’d slipped in at the right time, but now, he needed to get what he needed and get back out.

  “Get some rest, soldier. We’re back at it tomorrow. Lothen is getting frustrated by our slow progress. This was his plan, and we need to get back on schedule. He should have been able to move his forces further into the mountains by now.” The older man sighed. Footsteps told Zayden at least one of them left.

  Zayden leaned over, putting his head to the ground and very gently lifted the bottom of the canvas and looked inside the tent. It wasn’t a clear view, but it gave him an idea of what he was about to disrupt. One Elvasi was still walking around inside, the light coming from him. It had to be a lantern, which was good for Zayden since a campfire was harder to put out and would have given him away.

  The tent grew dark as the second Elvasi finally left the tent with said lantern, and Zayden knew it was time to take his chance. He belly-crawled under the canvas, holding his wings to him as tightly as he could. The Andinna weren’t built for this sort of operation, which probably made the Elvasi more comfortable, but ages ago, Alchan wanted the Company to know how to do it for that very reason. He’d noticed a weakness in the Andinna and worked to correct it, even if it wasn’t easy.

  Zayden was able to get on his feet and saw the center table. There was nothing else he found important in the tent and knew he didn’t have time to look for anything more than what the Elvasi foolishly left out. He went to the table and saw the maps first, his gut twisting.

  Alchan had a very similar map written in Andena. Zayden had a hard time not knowing Elvasi well enough to discern the important information, but he could tell what they had been tracking on the map. They were crossing out abandoned Andinna villages throughout the Dragon Spine, narrowing down the possible locations of the rebellion, and they were closing in. Zayden saw two villages scratched out that the Company had passed over only a couple of days from their base of operations. He saw red circles, and fear took him hard as he knew those locations as well. He’d seen the war room and paid enough attention at meetings to know where Senri’s guard posts were patrolling.

  He’s using the lost scouts to tell him information as well. He’s figuring out where our smaller force is keeping watch and where we are located so Lothen can use a direct line straight for us. That plays right into Luykas’ theory about why they’re so close to us. They had narrowed us down to this area of the Spine and were closing in.

  Zayden picked up several of the maps, folding them and shoving them in a hip pouch he wore with his uniform. He found others from different regions and grabbed them as well. He also found letters and other correspondence sitting out, knowing he would run out of space if he tried to take them all.

  He caught a light in the corner of his eye and looked up to see the tent flap opening and a mature Elvasi standing there, holding the lamp.

  “How?” he snapped. “Guards!”

  Zayden snarled and drew his sword, lunging for the Elvasi, knocking the lantern from the soldier’s hand. It crashed on the ground, oil going everywhere, followed by fire. Grinning, Zayden shoved the Elvasi back before running to the table again. Fire was all over the ground now, and he swept an arm over the table, knocking the papers, letters, and maps off into the flames.

  “No!” the Elvasi screamed. He unsheathed his sword and ran for Zayden, who easily blocked the attack and kicked the Elvasi back. Before the soldier could recover, Zayden delivered a fatal blow to the man’s gut, causing organs to spill out onto the ground.

  He didn’t have a chance to pause, launching an attack on a guard running, stabbing him quickly, and using the body to block the attack of another. Then he shoved the body off his sword into the other Elvasi, freeing his sword from the dead soldier.

  The camp was lighting up, and men were screaming. Zayden stepped out of the tent and launched into the air, wincing as an arrow landed in his thigh. It wouldn’t take him down, but it was annoying. The Elvasi used barbed arrowheads meant to stay in the flesh and cause damage. Sometimes, they attached ropes to drag their quarry to the ground, but these Elvasi hadn’t had the time to set up such a trap or prepare for an Andinna being in their midst.

  As he flew higher, he saw his males flying up as well.

  “We saw you going up and followed!” one called.

  “We need to go!” Zayden roared. As much as he wanted to fight, to prove himself as a warrior, the intel he had just stolen was
too important. Looking down for a moment, he saw Elvasi trying to handle the gryphons waiting. The tent he had infiltrated was now blazing, everything in it probably lost, which was for the best.

  They started flying, but as they cleared the valley’s steep cliffs, Zayden looked back to see the half a dozen gryphons following and fast. They were road-tired the way he and the warriors were, but they were moving in. Zayden slowed, moving to the back of the group, his eyes on the gryphons. He hadn’t fought the beasts since they assaulted Ellantia. Now it was time for him to get a piece of them again. As one drew close, he dropped lower and slowed further as he rolled to glide with his back to the ground. The gryphon didn’t have time to reposition, and Zayden was able to drag his sword along the beast’s gut and open it up. Its flight faltered, and Zayden made a risky roll to get out of its way as it fell at its top speed. His warriors cheered, and the riders realized it was going to be futile to follow, pulling back to see if the rider on the dead gryphon was okay.

  Comforted, he moved back with his small unit and nodded at them.

  “Feels good to be back in battle,” he said with a grin. “Now, let’s go tell Yenni what we saw, then we need to cut the mission short. I have intel the king needs to see.”

  “Yes, sir,” they said as a chorus.

  Zayden’s chest swelled. The Elvasi might have tried to get the upper hand, but they were going to lose it the moment Zayden showed everything to Alchan, and this camp wasn’t prepared to hunt him down before he made it back.

  33

  Mave

  Mave was sitting on a log, watching most of her favorite people train. Luykas was drilling Emerian and Trevan in their clearing now, where she could join at any time. Matesh and Brynec were sparring, and she was waiting her turn and enjoying the view.

  She had to grab the good moments when she could. One of the missions had already returned, and it wasn’t Zayden and Yenni’s team. It had been the one full of males, and they had been in a hard fight and barely made it home with gryphons trying to track them the entire way. There had also been a fight at one of Senri’s guard posts, leaving the spot abandoned for over two weeks now. There weren’t enough strong warriors to man it from the village and lose valuable training, so Senri was waiting for another guard post to report and move over to the key location.

  Mave tried to banish the thoughts. Since the gryphons and their riders were so dangerous, there wasn’t much anyone could do except try these risky missions to keep the Elvasi too occupied to push forward. It didn’t help that Senri’s best were running thin, thanks to fights all over the Dragon Spine against scouting parties. That had been an ongoing problem since they first came into the mountains, but losing an entire unit, thanks to the male who led the mission, was a painful hit to their plans that shouldn’t have happened.

  Mave spaced out and didn’t pay attention to much until she noticed the distinct lack of swords clashing and looked at her males, who were pointing to the sky.

  “There they are!” Luykas yelled, pointing up. “Zayden! Down here!”

  Mave looked up, her heart suddenly pounding.

  “Really?” Mave said, standing up as she stared at the sky at the Andinna in the sky coming from the south. She couldn’t breathe as one angled toward them and dove toward the ground.

  Zayden’s landing was rough but not dangerous. He’d been going fast, and he looked exhausted.

  She was the first to him, looking him over swiftly.

  “How are you? Any injuries?”

  “No. Everything healed,” he answered, his obvious exhaustion translating to the way he panted as he tried to speak. “The mission didn’t go as planned, but we can talk about that in the war room once Yenni finds Alchan to let him know of our return.”

  “It’s good to see you back,” Matesh said, stepping around her and wrapping Zayden into a bone-crushing hug. Mave smiled as the two old friends held each other for a moment before parting with smiles. “And it’s great to hear that you’re not hurt.”

  “It’s great not to be hurt,” he said, letting Mat go completely to give Bryn a quick, friendly handshake, then Luykas. Emerian and Trevan stayed further away. Mave raised an eyebrow as Zayden waved at them.

  “You’re in a good mood,” she pointed out.

  “I’m home with important intel. The mission didn’t go as planned, but we have some things Alchan needs to see. Sorry, Luykas, but I’m not going to explain all of it twice.”

  “It’s fine. Where are the horses? We should get your stuff inside then head to the war room for debriefing.” Luykas didn’t seem to care, and Mave was glad they could take a quick moment to just welcome Zayden home.

  “We left them at the edge of the valley to send others to get them. We didn’t want our arrival to be slow,” Zayden answered. “When I saw you all practicing down here, I decided to come down and head to the war room with you. I was growing tired of Yenni.”

  Mave chuckled. She knew it would happen eventually.

  “Then let’s get moving,” Mat said, grinning. “Bryn?”

  “Aye, I’ll tell those two to head home. Well, I’ll tell Trevan to bring Dave to the war room for ya, love.”

  “Thank you,” she said, kissing his cheek before he walked back over to the mutt and the Elvasi. Once Bryn was back, they started walking together to the war room, but Mave was surprised when Zayden held her for a moment. She nodded to her males, and they continued ahead, and she walked beside Zayden.

  “Something happened while I was on the mission,” he said softly, looking down at his hands. “And I wanted to tell you before anyone else did.”

  “What?” She frowned, worried again. Missions could go wrong, and if Zayden was hiding an injury, she was going to strangle him.

  “I called you my female during a conversation with Yenni,” he said softly. “And I know it wasn’t my place—”

  She reached out and grabbed his face, kissing him to stop whatever stupid thing he was about to say. She remembered what Kian said about needing to pursue Zayden because she had accidentally rejected him once before. This seemed like the perfect time. He groaned into her mouth, leaning into the kiss, and wrapped his arms around her waist. When the kiss ended, his face was red, and he quickly released her.

  “It’s your place if you want it,” she whispered against his lips, holding him so he couldn’t get away.

  “I was considering moving out to make sure it wasn’t just our close proximity,” he murmured, looking away. “To make sure whatever we are is real. I haven’t been with anyone for a long time, Mave, and you’re with my best friend. My son looks to you for so much. I’m just a lonely grouch, who took two centuries too long to move on from his wife and learn how to let his son grow up—”

  “Don’t move out,” she said quickly. “And please stop thinking so poorly of yourself. Have you been those things? Yes. But I’m not the same female I was two years ago or even a year ago when I laughed at you. I’m sorry for that, by the way. I understand more now, and I see things differently. I see a stressed father who needed help. I see a male who wants to do his best, but he’s stuck in a position that makes him feel older than he should. I also see a male with a beautiful smile, who knows how to have fun sometimes. Even if you don’t want to be in my mayara right now, that’s fine, but I’m tired of us pretending like there’s nothing growing between us. Don’t leave. Stay in my home. You can keep using your bedroom until you’re comfortable.”

  “Fine,” he said softly, looking away. “I’ll stay in my bedroom, and we’ll talk. I’ll take you for a picnic. I want to do this right, Mave. I don’t want to just fall into your bed and never leave.”

  “Is it customary for us to go on picnics?” She nearly wanted to laugh and barely stopped herself from snickering. He liked the old-fashioned ideas.

  “It’s customary for a male and female to get time outside the home and talk before they fuck,” he said, his face losing some of its shocked softness. She had annoyed him, and that was nearly as
comical. “We don’t all solidify the relationship by fucking.”

  Where’s the fun in that?

  “Fine. We’ll spend time together,” she promised. “Just as long as we’re done avoiding the obvious.”

  “We’re done avoiding it,” he agreed, nodding. “I won’t be easy.”

  “I didn’t think you would be. I gave up on easy when I decided Luykas needed to be in my mayara,” she said blandly, trying not to smirk when said husband turned around to give her a look of annoyance.

  They walked to the war room because they all knew Zayden was too tired to continue flying now that he was on the ground. From the way he looked, she was amazed he had even been able to fly from the southern edge of the valley to their clearing.

  When they arrived, it seemed everyone else was already there except for Dave and Trevan. Mave turned back to see them right behind her group and gestured for them both to stand near her during the meeting. Dave had a book out, but she took the quill from him.

  “I won’t need notes for this one, just listen,” she said quickly. “It’s important intel that might not be safe written down anywhere. We don’t know yet.”

  “Of course,” he agreed quickly, closing his book and shoving it into his shoulder bag. With a nod, he stepped back toward the wall and stood beside Trevan, who rested his hand casually on the pommel of his sword, a warning to anyone who might mess with him or his human charge. Mave pointedly looked at the hand, then the pale gold eyes of the Elvasi, and mouthed a thank you. He gave a sharp nod. This was probably the most Andinna they had ever been in the room with, and tensions could possibly grow high.

  “What’s the word, Zayden? You found the intel, you can explain it,” Alchan said as he came in as if he owned the room. He did. Rain followed him, stopping for a minute to hug his father. Alchan made no move to rush them, heading to his spot and waiting patiently.