Page 94

“Inside?” Riven echoed, his voice a hoarse whisper.

“Theother side,” I said. “I’m guessing you haven’t been trying to get eyes on the exterior side, you’d have to take out a guard to get a vantage point. It would give away our position.” It was a guess, but the Halfling nodded with wide eyes.

“But why have only one on that side?” Riven wondered. “Don’t the pairs stick together?”

“They’re probably working as a unit.” I shrugged. “The same two pairs always working together. That, and I doubt the walkway at the bottom is very wide. An attack would more likely come from the ridge, so it makes sense to prioritize the Shades there. I assume they rotate the person on patrol below. Doesn’t sound like a fun job.”

“It always seems to be the same three,” the Halfling said, running a hand through his brown curls.

“It’s meant to be,” I replied. “Shades are meant to look the same, our partners and units are selected to enhance that. The Shades are all the same height, aren’t they?” The Halfling nodded, biting his lip. “Exactly, they’ve been trained to have similar gaits too. They could’ve been rotating every night and your scouts would never notice the difference.”

“That doesn’t bode well for our distraction,” Riven said, crossing his arms as he stared at the map. “We can’t wait for the fourth Shade to climb out of the dam. It will waste too much time.”

“We’re still setting the town house ablaze?” I asked. Riven and his Elverin had purchased a property along the Silstra River. A team of four would light it on fire just as the suns were setting, providing us with the cover we needed to lay the blasts.

“Yes.” Riven nodded. “But with the added Shade—”

“Leave the Shade to me,” I cut in. “I’ll displace her quickly enough.”

“You intend to kill her?” Riven asked, his brows lifting. I’d been the one adamant that we draw the guards and Shades away. It was safer for us, but it also meant fewer lives were caught in the blast.

“I will if I have to,” I said darkly, my shoulders bowing under the weight of that possibility. “But if I can incapacitate her before she sees me or anyone else, there’s no reason for her to die. She will witness nothing.” I readied myself for Riven to disagree, but he didn’t. His eyes traced over my face for a moment and then he gave an approving nod.

“And you’re sure the guards will disperse?” Riven mapped a route with his finger from the dam to the town house that would burn in a matter of hours.

I nodded. “Yes. They’ll see the fire as a threat, especially once its big enough to threaten the Crown’s merchant house. That’ll be reason enough to abandon their posts.” I paused. “The guards are trained too rigidly. They’re too predictable. The Shades won’t help with the blaze, but they’ll search for the arsonists. Your team needs to be ready.”

To diewere the words I left unsaid.

Riven’s back tensed. He chewed the inside of his cheek, eyes darting across the tiny streets of Silstra laid out on the table. “They know what is being asked of them,” he said in a grave tone. “They’ve mapped out the fastest route to the tunnel system. If they make it there, they have a good shot of getting out.” Riven’s wide eyes pleaded with mine. He didn’t want to face the fact that he might be sentencing his recruits to die.

“If they make it there, then they do.” They would need to move fast once the Shades started their hunt. We were trained to know every shortcut, and every passage—not to mention we were faster than Mortals and most Halflings. Even with a few minutes head start, the Shades were likely to win their pursuit.

I felt someone approach on my right. Syrra was dressed in pristine leathers that held her curved blades and holstered a bow and quiver on her back. Her eyes were painted with black ink, the same color as her irises, that dripped below her lashes onto her cheeks and covered her forehead.

Elven warrior paint.

She wore it well. I couldn’t help but smile when I looked up at her. We might be able to do this after all.

“Everything is ready for tonight,” Syrra told Riven, nodding and finishing her report.

Nikolai sauntered up to us, powder caking his face, his clothes as wrinkled as I’d ever seen them. “The explosives are ready too. No one touch them or we might very well blow up this inn and ourselves with it.” I waited for his usual laugh, but it didn’t come.

“What now?” Nikolai asked, brushing the dirt from his forehead.

“For you?” I wrinkled my nose. “A bath and nap. In that order.” The dark circles under his eyes worried me. He hadn’t slept at all since we’d arrived.

“And for you?” Nikolai asked with a yawn. He covered his mouth before looking up the stairs to where his bed still waited for him.

I placed my hands on the map, leaning into the table as I stared at the miniature version of the dam inked into the paper. I raised my head and saw everyone looking at me. “We wait until dusk. And then we move against the king.”

We worked in two teams. Riven sent four scouts to set the town house ablaze, armed with crude oil and a vial of liquid fire. The dwelling would be engulfed in the blaze in a matter of seconds, smoke burning a hole in the sky as tendrils of flame reached for the clouds.

That was the first team.

The second was comprised of us. Riven and Syrra would infiltrate the dam along the west bank, and Nikolai and I would enter at the east. We’d only have minutes to set the charges, light the fuses, and get ourselves away from the blast.

Nikolai and I left first. He carried the large spool of explosives on his back while I hid my weapons and scalers under my cloak. We walked in silence through the back alleys we’d mapped only hours before. Hiding in the shadows as carts rolled by, merchants and peasants filling the street. The fewer who saw us the better.