Page 3 (1/2)
"If Erawan’s searching for a way into Terrasen," Ren said at last, "the mountains would be foolish" He frowned toward the discarded trays of food they’d devoured etables Most of it bland, but it had been hot "The land does not forgive easily out here He’d lose countless troops to the ele without reason," Aedion countered "The easiest route to Terrasen would be up through the farmlands, on the northern roads It’s where anyone would expect him to march Either there, or to launch his forces from the coast"
"Or both--by land and sea"
Aedion nodded Erawan had spread his net wide in his desire to stomp out what resistance had arisen on this continent Gone was the guise of Adarlan’s empire: from Eyllwe to Adarlan’s northern border, fro wall of ’s shado every day Aedion doubted that Eraould stop before he clamped black collars around all their necks
And if Erawan attained the two other Wyrdkeys, if he could open the Wyrdgate at will and unleash hordes of Valg from his own realm, perhaps even enslave armies from other worlds and wield the hi that horrible fate now lay with Dorian Havilliard and Manon Blackbeak Where they’d gone these months, what had befallen theood sign Their survival lay in secrecy
Aedion said, "So for Erawan to waste a scouting party to find small mountain passes seems unwise" He scratched at his stubble-coated cheek They’d left before dawn yesterday, and he’d opted for sleep over a shave "It doesn’tscouts to learn the pitfalls of the terrain is of little use But if the inforh small passes like that would take months, not to ," said Ren, shaking his head His shoulder-length black hairhere? What aren’t we seeing?" In the firelight, the slashing scar down his face was starker A reminder of the horrors Ren had endured, and the ones his fa To make us reposition our forces" Aedion braced a hand on theinto his still-chilled skin
Ren had indeed readied the Bane theclosely with Kyllian to position them as far south from Orynth as Darrow’s leash would allow Which, it turned out, was barely beyond the foothills lining the southerne of the Plain of Theralis
Ren had since yielded control to Aedion, though the Lord of Allsbrook’s reunion with Aelin had been frosty As cold as the snohipping outside this keep, to be exact
Lysandra had played the role well, uilt and i any situation where they ht talk about the past Not that Ren had demonstrated a desire to reminisce about the years before Terrasen’s fall Or the events of last winter
Aedion could only hope that Erawan also reer in their midst What Terrasen’s own troops would say or do when they realized Aelin’s flame would not shield them in battle, he didn’t want to consider
"It could also be a true h to discover," Rentroops to the passes? There are sohorns behind Orynth, and on the northern plains beyond it"
A clever move on Ren’s part--to convince Darrow to let him station part of the Bane behind Orynth, should Erawan sail north and attack fro past the bastard
"I don’t want the Bane spread too thin," said Aedion, studying the fire So different, this flame--so different frohost coic "And we still don’t have enough troops to spare"
Even with Aelin’s desperate, bold , the allies she’d won didn’t coold she’d amassed did little to buy them more--not when there were few left to even entice to join their cause
"Aelin didn’t seem too concerned when she flitted off to Eldrys," Ren murmured
For a moment, Aedion was on a spit of blood-soaked sand
An iron box Maeve had whipped her and put her in a veritable coffin And sailed off to Mala-knehere, an i up a drawl as best he could, even as the lie choked him, "has her own plans that she’ll only tell us about when the tih the queen Ren believed had returned was an illusion, Aedion added, "Everything she does is for Terrasen"
He’d said such horrible things to her that day she’d taken down the ilken Where are our allies? he’d deive himself for it For any of it All that he had was this one chance to dolanced to the tords he’d discarded on the ancient table behind theo
"We’ve all ods knew Aedion had plenty to atone for