Page 130 of Obsidian Throne

“The sooner the better.” A small smile pulled at my lips. “And, of course, you would be welcome to accompany me.”

The corner of his mouth tilted up as if to say,well played. He knew now I had been testing him. But at least he had passed.

“I’m sure that can be arranged,” he replied, looking at Taras. “We’ll keep runners in motion and send birds when we can.”

“Of course, Your Grace.” Taras nodded respectfully, but he, too, looked amused.

Evander spent the rest of the meeting outlining several potential strategies, based on how many men we were able to get. His mind was an impressive thing to behold.

“We still need a way in the gates,” he finally said. “But I’ll think on that.”

After that, he announced that the meeting was over. Everyone filed out except for the two of us and Taras, the latter of which eyed me with interest.

“It seems I was right about the chaos,” he commented.

“In fairness,” I told him, “I never said you weren’t.”

“No,” he agreed with a smirk reminiscent of his cousin’s. “It was Van who kept insistingeverything is under control.”

“Well,” Evander began. Then he paused like he wasn’t quite sure where he was going with that. “It wasn’t.”

He turned to me, raising an eyebrow. “Speaking of chaos, Lemmikki, it’s time to go get your army.”

CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT

ROWAN

We spent the next several weeks on the road, traveling up and down the length of Bear as quickly as we could. Our party was small, with only Evander, me, Andrei, and two others, so we could avoid drawing too much attention to ourselves.

Every day, we gathered more of the Unclanned to our cause and tried to spread word through their network. Our nights were spent sneaking away from camp to test the limits of my ability to manipulate the weather.

Between his careful insights and my natural skillset, we discovered several more uses for what I could do. Navigating straight line winds, icing the ground, and smaller, more targeted bursts of lightning were all possible.

It was exhausting, but with each new drill Evander had me running, it was also exciting to see how my skills were growing.

Overall, our efforts were a success.

More and more of the Unclanned joined us or sent word that they would. The testimony of Andrei and the two others had gone a long way to prove that I meant every word I spoke, that I would do whatever I needed to give them back their lives or help them create new ones.

Though they were still cautious of Evander, they never failed to be impressed, if not wildly intrigued, about the fact that he stood back and allowed me to speak for both of us.

By the time we made it back to Bear Estate, we had rallied over two thousand more men to our side. All that was left was to find a way into the castle, an opening.

But when word finally came, it wasn’t at all what we expected.

* * *

As soon as we returned, we made sure that whatever food and supplies that could be spared were sent out in small, inconspicuous bundles to the Unclanned that had sworn themselves to me.

And the men who couldn’t fight but wanted to help in other ways made their way to the castle to assist in the farming, weapons making, or whatever other role they could fill.

Word was still spreading about the shift in Bear and how the Unclanned didn’t have to live that way anymore. The people weren’t exactly coming around to the idea, but at least there was less outright hostility than there had been before.

More often than not, we found ourselves in the war room or Evander’s study, poring over maps or an endless sea of war reports and losses and strategic assessments for next steps.

Which was what we were doing when Evander’s deep voice sounded over the low sounds of rustling parchment.

“We need to get you a desk in here, Lemmikki,” he announced conspicuously after I added another report to my rather messy stack. “Really, it’sourstudy now.”