by Rosie Scott
“Then let's find them,” I said.
“I'll get right on it, boss,” Nyx jested, nudging me playfully in the arm before I heard her no longer.
There was a moment of silence before Azazel said, “I can see why Eteri has never tried to take this city.”
I chuckled dryly and replied, “I can always count on your optimism, bud.”
Azazel laughed softly beside me. “I said Eteri, not us. We have much better chances. Eteri has only ever had mages, melee, and ranged units. We now have assassins and beastmen who wield the lesser magics, and giants. Even if we have to breach the wall, we have many methods of doing so.”
“Regardless, this battle will be a bloodbath,” I murmured, my eyes scanning over the many tiers of the city before me. “How many soldiers do we have with us?”
“Mm...in total?” Azazel hesitated. “Your army consists of five thousand even after Monte casualties as of the last count. Calder brought twenty-five. Eteri brought ninety. Overall, one hundred and twenty thousand men. Olympia is large, Kai, but we will eventually prevail if we keep fighting and do not let them take the advantage.”
“We can take Olympia with little issue,” I agreed, “but it will be a bloodbath. However, it is beyond Olympia that I am most worried about. One hundred and twenty thousand is a daunting number against one city, but we have to make those numbers last through the rest of the war.”
“Don't forget about the reinforcements,” Azazel reminded me. “Eteri will be delivering more. Hasani will be with us in Chairel. And as odd as it seems to say this, I believe Calder and our alliance with the underground will be the key to winning this war.”
The key. I connected Azazel's words to the key necklace Calder always wore and smiled at the irony. “I believe you're right, friend.”
“Kai.” I felt a hand grab my right arm and turned toward Nyx as she came back, even though she was invisible. “I brought a friend.”
“I have been to Olympia,” another female voice sounded out beside me from thin air. “There are paths through the mountains west of the city. It is a narrow route most of the way up, so it'll be a squeeze for an army of this size.”
“Well-traveled?” Azazel asked.
“Well enough,” the woman replied. “We'd need to have scouts on both ends to keep the path clear. There won't be large groups traveling through there or anything, but smugglers and criminals of all types use that route.”
“Where does it lead?” I questioned.
“To a secluded area of the mines of the westernmost mountain of Olympia,” she replied. “The dwarves used to dig there for gems, but the well ran dry, as they say. They abandoned that part of the tunnel and chained it off.”
“Do the tunnels connect to each other throughout the city?” I asked.
“Oh, yes,” the assassin replied. “Just look at the damn place. Bridges crossing over everywhere. The tunnels are the same way. The city is the definition of interconnected.”
“Do you know these tunnels well?” Azazel asked as I breathed a sigh of relief for being right about my theory.
“Eh, not too well,” she admitted. “I just memorized the routes I needed for my hits and paid no attention to anything else. I can get you to the tunnels, but I'll be useless from there. You told us we were all splitting up once we got into the city, though, so I doubt the route matters.”
“What's your name?” I asked her.
“Than Libitina,” she replied.
“Your name reminds me of the city of Thanati,” I commented.
“Than means death,” Azazel explained, “and Thanati means place of death.”
“Fitting,” Than said, before chuckling. “I heard Thanati really was a place of death when you guys were through with it.”
I huffed. “It was. Than, thank you for your information. Would you be willing to be our guide?”
“Hell yes,” she replied, to which I chuckled. The crude bluntness of the Alderi would forever amuse me.
“Can we reach this path before the sun rises and gives away our location?” Azazel asked her.
“If we leave now,” Than replied. “We'd be using the same route we were going to use anyway, but instead of going up to the wall, we'll move between the first two mountains. By morning, the only threat we'll have to face are the smugglers.”
“Are there places to hide bodies along the way?” I asked.
I heard a snort of amusement. “Here and there,” Than replied, “but what are you worried for? Nobody's gonna bat an eye at a bunch of dead criminals, and even if they do, they're criminals themselves. They won't be alerting any guards for fear of getting arrested. If things get rough, this path leads up the mountain. We can just throw bodies into the ravine.”
“The more we talk about this plan, the more excited I get,” Nyx admitted.
I blew an anxious exhale out through pursed lips as I eyed the challenge before us. “Then let's get on with it.”
Sixteen
Under the shadow of night, my army of assassins crossed the grasslands as silent as death before hugging the mountainside, preparing to skip the path leading to Olympia's wall and delve into the mountain range itself. The deeper into the night it got, the fewer dwarven stragglers we dealt with. As I'd requested during our planning of the assault, the assassins only killed those we couldn't avoid entirely. We could not leave a trail of bodies because I didn't want to leave a trail at all.
By the time the black starry skies began to melt away into the deep lavender of dawn, my army was between the mountains, out of Olympia's view. Because our detour would take us through and over three separate peaks on our way to the tunnel entrance, I worried that my estimate of a fortnight of travel was too low. In either case, my allies would be waiting for the signal of my war horn. Even so, the longer we took, the more likely dwarven scouts or civilians would find the other army and navy in wait. It was a chance we would have to take.
Traveling with an army of assassins was a unique experience, for most of our time was spent in silence. I'd been worried that the Alderi would be difficult to travel with during an extended covert mission because I'd thought their love of sex and fun would threaten the need for silence. As Nyx helpfully reminded me during our first few days of travel, however, the Alderi loved working stealthily and loved to kill. Though they were silent, they were also having fun.
Over a week into our travel through the mountains, we reached a bridge which connected the first landmark to the second. Unlike the rickety hanging wooden bridges of the Cel Mountains, this bridge was built out of stone blocks and secured with crisscrossing iron bars beneath. Even on off-beaten paths, the dwarves insisted on showing off their advanced engineering. Our army crossed this bridge and decided to rest on the other side. Azazel offered to guard the back end of our army for four hours before switching places with another volunteer. As the others started to sleep, I made my way to him. It was the first time I had a chance to give him the ring, and it was many weeks later than I'd wanted to.
Azazel smiled up at me just before I sat. He'd insisted on having his invisibility dispelled before his shift, and I agreed since the surrounding mountains kept most of the path in shadow. I dispelled my own before plopping down next to him with a huff, grimacing when my full bladder ached in protest against the movement.
“Something wrong?” Azazel questioned.
“I have to pee like nothing else.”
He chuckled softly. “Then go.”
“I'm not a man, bud. I can't just direct my stream over the mountainside.”
“Just stand really close to the edge and wiggle a little bit,” he teased.
I snorted a chuckle, covering my face to keep it as quiet as possible. “People might be walking down there. We have thousands of people just urinating over the side of this rock at all hours of the day. Have you ever thought that we might be unintentionally...?”
Azazel stared over at me with an exceedingly amused face, one eyebrow raised. “No, Kai, I never thought a
bout that until now. Thanks for the image.”
I grinned and stared forward again. “You're welcome.”
“Relieve yourself.”
“Where?”
“Go on the bridge,” Azazel suggested, pointing forward at it.
“That seems disrespectful to the beautiful architecture,” I commented.
Though Azazel huffed with amusement, he said, “Taking over their city is arguably worse.”
I shrugged. “I suppose so.” With a grimace, I pulled myself up, walking quietly forward to finally calm my bladder. I didn't ask my friend to avert his eyes since I knew he would do so out of respect on his own. Sure enough, when I returned, Azazel was sitting up from lying back on the stone to give me privacy.
“Better?” He asked.
“Better.”
“Aren't you tired?”
“Very,” I admitted.
“Why don't you get some rest? I can handle this.”
I hesitated before answering him. “Have I ever told you about how my friends and I used to camp together all the time in Nahara and even earlier than that? Back in the days before I was leading armies and surrounded by people.”
“Mm...you've never told me that per se, but camping is something travelers have to do all the time.” Azazel nudged me playfully. “I fail to see how your camping is so special.”
I smiled and looked off into the starry skies. “Cerin was with me for over a year before we became a couple. He was shy to reveal his feelings to me, and I had a lot on my mind. I hadn't really grown into my confidence when it came to him.”
“It's hard to imagine that,” Azazel replied. “Cerin is never shy with you now, and I've never known you as anything other than confident.”
“We were young,” I said simply. “Things take time to develop. People grow. Regardless, whenever it was Cerin's turn to guard our camp at night, I would try to stay up with him like this. My favorite and earliest memories of us are of the various times we would just sit together and talk beneath the stars. I found that Cerin was more likely to admit things about himself or how he felt when we were alone, so I tried to stay up with him as much as I could. Eventually, with some prodding from Nyx, he started to do the same with me.”
“What finally happened to bring you two together as you are now?” Azazel asked curiously.
“The Battle of the Gods,” I answered, smiling as I thought back to it. “Malgor was the first god I ever fought. I was convinced I wasn't as strong as him because I am only a half-breed. Cerin thought he would lose me. I decided it was now or never.”
Azazel nodded beside me. “If only you knew then where you'd be today.”
“Exactly,” I chuckled softly. “Here. Sitting with you. Thank the gods things happened as they did during our initial doomed trip to Eteri, Azazel, or I would never have met you.” I hesitated as Azazel looked over at me, surprised by the gravity of the emotion in my voice. “Which brings me to my point about the camping. I want to be here with you now because I have something really important to say that I don't want anyone else to hear.”
Azazel's eyebrows dipped together with concern. “Okay. I'm listening.”
“As you always do,” I said, before a sigh of relief. “I love you so much it hurts, Azazel. I have come to rely on you a great deal. You're intelligent, a great fighter, a thoughtful strategist, a problem solver. I could sit here and list all of the things that make you wonderful, but that would only serve to make you as arrogant as I am.”
Azazel laughed softly, but it was stilted with emotion. “I am just a man, Kai. One man.”
“Yes, but each of us is just a person, aren't we? We are only confined by the limits we put on ourselves. I could ask you to do anything, from the simplest task to the largest sacrifice, and I know you would do it.”
“You were my light when I only had darkness,” he admitted softly, his black eyes on the stone before him as he thought of his time in the underground.
“I could say the same for you.” I thought back to his support of me during my falling out with Nyx. “I have many friends, but if I am to become a ruler of a nation, I have to make strategic decisions as to which of these friends I will rely on the most and for what. On the ship during our voyage here I thought a lot about this. We are nearing Chairel, and the only person preparing for my new role is me. So...here I am, hoping that you'll accept the positions I bestow on you so you may prepare as well.”
Azazel was quiet as he observed me carefully. His black eyes slowly glistened as he realized my meaning. “What...” he trailed off, clearing his throat when his voice became too thick, “what positions would you place me in?”
“Many,” I replied, before swallowing hard as my own throat became achy with emotion. “Strategist. Regent. My first appointed general of the Chairel Army.”
Azazel swayed a bit where he sat before he decided to lean forward on his own knees for support. “Kai...” he managed, the word nearly indiscernible.
“Think about it,” I offered, sensing his overwhelming shock. “Accept or reject any or all of them.”
“How...” he trailed off. “How many of the Renegades have you offered positions to? You've offered none of them the position of general?”
“I have offered nothing to them yet,” I admitted. “You are the first. You are the most deserving of those I listed.”
Azazel finally pulled his head up from his knees and looked over at me. Streaks of tears he'd managed to keep silent while shedding glistened below his eyes. Without waiting another moment, he grabbed me into a tight embrace. Azazel's face was hot against my upper neck as he held onto me like it would be the last time.
“Thank you,” he murmured beneath my ear. “I'm sorry if I seem ungrateful. I'm a little speechless.”
“It's a lot to take in,” I replied. “I understand.”
“Gods, I just never...” Azazel pulled back from me, reaching over to my neck to wipe the moisture of his tears off my skin. “I spent so long waiting to be recognized,” he continued, visibly swallowing as he tried to keep more emotion from breaking through. “And you did that, Kai. Already, I mean. You never had to offer me another thing. We could have continued as we are forever and I would have been happy. You thank me for the simplest things sometimes, and I think, 'why?' Because I'm just happy to do them. You mean the world to me.” He reached over, grasping onto my forearm with a hand. “I'm rambling. I'm not making any sense. I'm sorry.”
I chuckled thickly, putting my hand over his. “It's okay. Can you at least tell me if you'll think about the positions I offered to you?”
Azazel laughed softly and buried his face in his other hand. “Hell. I'm so terrible at this. Yes, Kai. I'll accept them all if I can just ask you for one thing.”
“Ask me for anything, and I'll do my best to provide.”
“This is going to sound so juvenile, and you make fun of me for this enough as it is,” Azazel admitted with embarrassment, “but I would rather spend my life with no prestige and be your closest friend than to take on all of these titles and lose what we have.”
I smiled happily. “You are so easy to read and predict, friend. Cerin and I already thought of that. I'm a selfish bastard. You're not getting far from me. I won't let it happen.” I lifted up a hand to motion toward the invisible army sleeping behind us. “You're the only one in this army who doesn't know illusion magic, and yet you're here. Why do you think that is?” I pointed at myself.
He chuckled. “I'm happy to hear you mention Cerin. It's good to know he's on board with this.”
“Let's wait a bit to tell the others, okay?” I requested.
Azazel nodded. “Are you still deciding about the others?”
I exhaled slowly. “Yes. I'm uncertain Cerin wants to do anything but fight by my side. As much as I love Nyx, I'm not certain what role I could give her that she would take on with any joy. Her attention span is so short I can't see doing anything other than providing her with gold and land if she wants it. And a
s for Maggie...”
“Seems to me Maggie already has her position,” Azazel commented. “It's how you got her to agree to join us to begin with.”
I nodded. “Maggie's a magnificent engineer. If I'll be building Jakanto Harbor and expanding the city, she'll be the one in charge of defenses and upgrades. I will try to give her the freedom and resources to build and experiment with new ships and weapons. I think she'll enjoy herself. And Holter is already a great scout. I'll have to watch how he grows over time and see if he's willing to stay rooted in Chairel after the war.”
“You offered me the title of regent,” Azazel said. “Does that mean your idea of keeping Chairel's government is solid?”
“I will have more regents than Queen Edrys does,” I replied. “I need to. I plan on living much longer than her. I need to diversify the leadership as much as possible so I can have and consider many points of view. As for you,” I poked Azazel in the shoulder, “you are not only my regent but my heir. If I were to die, I would place Chairel in your hands.”
“Kai...” Azazel shook his head. “I appreciate the offer, but that title should belong with Cerin.”
“Cerin has no interest in being a ruler,” I replied. “He is unhappy leading anyone but the dead. He told me this. Cerin's ideas for the politics of Chairel should never be ignored if anything were to happen to me, but I trust you would listen to him anyway. You have a good head on your shoulders, and I think you'd be up to the challenge. You have experienced what it's like living under tyranny. You know how to avoid it.”
Azazel appeared humbled as he stared at me with both awe and appreciation. “I would take care of Chairel as best as I could, Kai, but I'm not going to let anything happen to you.” He looked a bit regretful as he added, “As long as I live. I would give anything to learn necromancy and join you for far longer than I have.”
I nodded, thinking of the theory I had yet to test. If all went well, I would be testing my ability to give Azazel an energy high during our upcoming battle. It was killing me not to know either way for sure. Even if it didn't work, I would dedicate as much time as possible in the future to finding out something that would give my friends immortality. I'd been heartbroken time and time again by the deaths of friends and loved ones. The idea that there was a way I could shield them from such a fate had become an obsession ever since that fateful day in Monte. If I could offer prolonged life to Azazel, that would be the best gift I could ever give him.