Page 20 of The King has Fallen
“Not if you handle it correctly. You and your people are far too accustomed to simply showing up and expecting your enemies to cower like nervous pups. The Tuskarrians won’t stop fighting until they cease breathing, and the Zaryndar will keep evading you until they can bring their magik to bear and actually wound you. And don’t believe that they won’t work together—letting the Tuskars battle to wear you out, then bringing the wizards up in the rear to finish you. They may not have it in them to conquer you, Melek, but they can turn you back. And the rest of the world will take notice of that.”
“I amaware—”
“Bullshit. You’re scrambling whether you’re ready to admit it or not. You haven’t made progress because you’ve assumed youcan whittle their numbers down in the skirmishes, then just walk across the swamps when they’re clear of vermin,” she snapped. “But you’re wrong. The population counts on the Zaryndar alone are in the hundreds of thousands, and they will never actually engage. It would be like fighting ghosts. It would take youyearsto kill enough of them to just waltz through their land, and in the meantime, you’realsofighting Boars who will willingly die just to bleed you. Andbothare being coordinated by the Aethereans. Your strategy would have worked faster without that, but with the soulsuckers in play, you’re screwed. You’d be old and gray before you took the wetlands… and then you’d still haveusto deal with.”
She gave a small, wicked smile. “You want my honest, unvarnished assessment of the best path through? Well, here it is: Your current plan is the waste of time. Aim for the ravine—and expect it to take time. But that mile of precious progress will open a wedge between their peoples and put you in control of where and how you meet in battle. And if you really surprise them, you’ll havethemscrambling, Aethereans be damned.”
I shook my head. “You really do think I’m stupid. The ravine is a channel. The ground between the cliffs isn’t just wet, it’s a mire which works against our weight and size compared to the Zaryndar. Even if it held off the Tuskars, we’d be stuck before we made it through—”
“It’s worse than that. The wetlands within the ravine are scattered with sinkholes that even your bodies would disappear into and never return. Meanwhile the tree canopy is so dense, you barely see the sun. You can be attacked from above and below and never see it coming,” she said sweetly.
I ground my teeth. “Then why—”
“Firstly, because they would never expect it. If I had to gamble anything on this war, it is that both the Zaryndar and the Tuskarrians believe the risk of you approaching via thatroute is so small, they have left only a smattering of guards and runners in place to alert them to your appearance. And because they know your progress would be so slow the runners would bring word to the ranks on both sides before you could make it through.”
“Which is precisely why—”
“But you can fly.”
“Not through a narrow ravine, between trees and archers. We would be picked off—”
“The land atop the cliffs on either side is the driest and clearest of any part of the wetlands. If you could take that, you would not only be on dry, solid ground, you would have the highest position, forcing them to fightuphillif they come for you. And unable to see you from within the ravine’s depths. There is some risk if they get an Aetherean up there to watch for them, but those cowards don’t like sunlight. And they won’t be willing to scale the cliffs without protection from the Tuskers.
“You do not need to take the entire swamp. You only need to remove the guards and runners that are there to alert the others. Take those without raising the alarm, and you can fly to the top of the cliffs. With Tuskarria on one side, and Zaryndar on the other, they will be forced to fight you separately—”
“Splitting our forces as well!” I pointed out, though I was beginning to see that perhaps this plan wasn’tquitethe suicide mission I’d assumed.
“Battle is your strength. Get them to face you on higher ground and you will win, and you know it. My guess is that once they realize what has happened, they won’t even try to fight. They’ll be too busy rushing their forces to the wetlands at the base of the ravineinside their borders—but again, you’ll have scaled the cliffs and can simply follow them all the way down. They won’t be able to meet you on flat ground until you’re almost at the Shadows of Shade.”
I saw the barest flash in her eyes at that statement—the Shadows of Shade was a thick band of fog, reportedly almost five miles deep, that covered the land from coast to coast and was so dense, even sunlight didn’t reach through.
It was the protection of her land and people, the Fetch. They walked the shadows were undeterred by the darkness and lack of visibility there.
But we, of course, would not be.
“So your plan is to help me defeat our mutual enemies, then position me for death on your borders?” I asked dryly.
She didn’t even hesitate. “I have given you the route you needed. If you can’t beat those armies in outright war, then nothing I have to offer will help you.”
I stared at her, but she didn’t waver.
Jann, at my side, was remarkably quiet, which meant he was thoughtful.
I glanced at him, but he was examining the maps, a frown creasing his forehead. It was an odd expression for him. I’d seen the man smile while being treated for a stab-wound to the ribs.
The Fetch had sat back in her chair, her eyes were still on the maps, but it was clear that she was smug. Certain.
I wanted to snap my teeth, but I couldn’t deny that she had accurately predicted our current positionandstruggle. And I was catching the vision of what she proposed.
“Start from the beginning and speak as if Iaman imbecile. Show me. Step by step on the maps how you see this being achieved. And when you’re done, start again.”
She tipped her head up to meet my eyes and smiled. “Don’t worry, we’ll do this as many times as it takes for you to catch on, Melek,” she said sweetly. “I’m a very patient woman. Especially with simple minds. It’s not your fault that God gave you a blunt instrument to work with.”
Behind me, Jannus cleared his throat to cover a laugh.
But I didn’t give two shits if she mocked me—if she really was giving me the keys to finally win this war.
“Start at the beginning,” I growled. “And don’t stop until I speak.”
