Page 21 of The King has Fallen
She took a deep breath, but she nodded and turned back to the maps, pointing with her free hand.
“You’d need a force large enough to fight, but not so large that you march slower than a man alone. There’s a trail that runs parallel to the road from Noctharrow and you’d be expected to take that if you were splitting forces to meet the Tuskars…”
8. The Voice of Angels
~ MELEK ~
Two hours later, I rewarded her by untying her bonds and putting her back in the cage. She groaned when her hands were released, working them carefully, opening and closing her fingers and rolling her wrists without a word. I left her to herself in the cage while I stepped outside with Jann to discuss details where she couldn’t hear us.
Before he pushed through the tent flap, he looked over his shoulder at her, smiling. He opened his mouth like he might farewell her as a friend, but he caught my frown and closed it again, though he chuckled.
“Do you believe her?” I asked him without preamble when we reached the glowing campfire twenty feet from the tent, keeping my voice barely above a whisper so she couldn’t catch it.
Jann’s brows rose. “I believe the strategy is realistic, but risky. An enemy never moves the way we expect. With that said… it’s far better than anything we’ve come up with so far. The question is how to avoid the sinkholes while we’re still on the ground and stalking the guards and runners. We can’t afford to let any escape.”
It was the same thought I’d had. So extremely risky—and yet, if it worked… it would save livesandtime.
“Do you think she’s setting us up to be defeated by her people?” Jann asked.
I snorted. “Of course she is. The question is, has there been a specific ambush planned, or does she just know the terrain enough to know what would disadvantage us in meeting the Fetch. She seems to have a great deal of trust in the Shadows of Shade…”
We talked through all the questions that remained—and for which we had no answers—then I sent Jann off to share the idea with our strategists.
“…tell them, if we’re going to do this, wemusthave taken the ground before the Covenant Days of Peace. We need them tired and weary, not rested and sharp.”
Jann nodded, clasped my arm, pulled me into a quick hug, then stepped back.
“Don’t let her get under your skin, Melek. She’s toying with you. Play back.”
I grunted and farewelled him, before walking back to the tent, feeling suddenly very heavy and hulking and far wearier than I wanted to let on. But I pushed the selfish thoughts of rest and peace away, because they benefited no one.
As I took the final steps to the tent and braced myself in anticipation of the Fetch’s cutting comments to come, I was surprised to catch a very quiet, but very beautiful refrain riding the night-chilled air.
I hesitated before I stepped into the tent, cocking my head, unwilling to believe the lovely sound came from the source I suspected. But sure enough… in the near-silent night, a lone, feminine voice rose and fell in a stunning, but quiet, almost husky melody. And to my even greater surprise, her words were a love song.
…lay me in the arms of peace.
Lay me in safety, in the shade of the trees.
Feed me at the table of my enemy
Let not the shadow of death take me.
For your hand is power
And your heart beats for me.
I am safe, I am safe, in these arms.
The arms of peace—
She broke off the moment I flipped the tent-flap back. She had seated herself against the back of the cage, pulling her knees up to her chest—to keep warm, or just as protection? I didn’t know, but she was still working her hands, opening and closing her fingers, and rolling her wrists.
I took these details in with a glance, then turned away and refused to look at her, or let her know I was listening.
A moment later she hesitantly started singing again, though even quieter this time. I pretended to ignore her, busying myself with finding another blanket and pillow, a new bucket since her cage was now littered with the pieces of the earlier ones I’d offered her.
I swallowed at one point, frowning, surprised by the melancholy surge in my chest.
