All sorts of ways for that plan to go wrong danced around in Talise’s mind. She caught Wendy’s eye, which looked just as unconvinced as Talise felt.
“No.” Talise infused the word with confidence. “If we send our soldiers to fight, I want to fight with them. Besides, if we go to battle, some of the soldiers could die. That seems like a bad plan if we’re only using the battle as a distraction.”
Claye shrugged. “So, just tell everyone to put safety over victory. Tell them to engage the Kessoku from far enough back that they won’t get hurt. It wouldn’t be an effective battle, but it would work as a distraction.”
Talise took a deep breath, ready to spout off all the reasons she’d never agree to a plan like that.
But then Wendy opened her mouth. When Talise dropped her hands to give full attention to her friend, the others did as well. Even the few birds above stopped chirping. A rose flush spread through Wendy’s cheeks, as if she didn’t know what to do with so much attention.
That didn’t stop Talise from staring. If one person had earned the chance to speak without any interruption, it was her best friend. Wendy had always been loyal and had always supported Talise even when the ideas were terrible.
If Wendy had an idea, Talise would give it the highest consideration possible.
Wendy smoothed a piece of hair over her ear. “Maybe it’s time to end this war.”
Noises seemed to evaporate into the forest air. Breathing took too much work when such a big idea had to be scrutinized.
A honeyed smile curved onto Wendy’s face, but it didn’t hide the nervousness in her eyes. “We could ask the emperor to send his army too. We’d have to promise to fight with his soldiers, but together we could take out the main base. If we succeed, Kessoku won’t be completely gone, but we’d have their leaders and most of their soldiers. It wouldn’t take much to snuff out the rest of them.”
Fear coiled in a stiff knot inside Talise’s chest. Such an idea required more hope for the future than she currently possessed. But if the others agreed, maybe it was time to believe there might be an end to this madness. “What about the prisoners?”
But of course, Wendy had an answer for that too. “When the battle begins, the six of us will sneak onto the base. We’ll rescue the prisoners before the Kessoku get any ideas about killing them after they start losing the battle. Once we get the prisoners out and to a safe place, we’ll join the battle and finish it off. Then we’d still fight with our army. We’ll just do it after we rescue the prisoners.”
All the lowered eyebrows in the group were proof that Wendy’s idea was being considered. Talise wanted to agree without question, but the memory of Eben’s garden filled her mind. While fighting with the guardian of the amulet, she had realized that members of Kessoku were her people just as much as anyone. Kamdarians.
She didn’t want to kill them in battle.
As subtle nods rippled through the group, a sickening realization hit her. Just because she didn’t want to kill Kessoku, it wouldn’t change how much they wanted to kill her. Kessoku had started this war. Ending it would require sacrifice.
As long as Talise and her army only killed where necessary, maybe ending the war was the best idea after all.
Talise shaped the water out of an entire log before she realized everyone was staring at her. The knot in her chest coiled under their scrutiny. It didn’t seem right that a mere eighteen-year-old like her should have to make such big decisions.
“Maybe.” That was all she could manage. Pressing her palms against the log, she rolled it over to the blanket while everyone else went back to work. Their pile had grown fast. They didn’t want a lot of extra wood, or they’d have to haul it in packs as they traveled to the Ember Gate.
When she stood up from pushing the log, she had to brush her ever growing hair away from her face. It was a few inches past her shoulders now. If the war ended, maybe she’d finally have time to cut it to its usual length just below her chin.
Everyone looked to her, so she clasped her hands behind her back. “I like the idea of ending the war, but this plan has a lot of risks. I don’t want to put my soldiers in danger when they don’t even have a say in the matter.”
With a characteristic shrug, Claye tilted one corner of his mouth up. “Then why not give them a say?”
She felt her eyes narrow to slits, but that didn’t bring any level of understanding. At least when she glanced through the rest of the group, she found them just as confused as her.
Rather than bother Claye, their reactions seemed to boost him. He moved away from the tree he had been leaning against since Wendy had shared her idea and stood with his feet shoulder width apart. “Kessoku chose a new leader through a vote, didn’t they? Why don’t you let the soldiers vote on this plan?”
The suggestion didn’t just seem unfamiliar, it seemed impossible. Leaders commanded armies; they didn’t ask what soldiers wanted. Something told Talise that letting her soldiers have a say would only make her seem weaker in their eyes. But even as that thought tried to force its way through her, she recognized what had influenced it. Or who.
The emperor would never entertain an idea like Claye’s. That knowledge made her even more eager to consider it.
“That’s a good idea.” She started pacing over the forest floor, thinking through the specifics. She trusted her soldiers, and they trusted her. Why not let them help make the decision? They might fight more fiercely if they had decided to do it. “That’s … a great idea.”
Her feet jolted to a stop, and she whirled around to face Rio. “Gather the soldiers. If they agree to the plan, I’ll figure out a way to contact the emperor. If they don’t, we’ll find a different way to rescue the prisoners.”
Rio nodded but he raised one finger as he did it. “We need to keep the details vague when we explain the plan, just to make sure no sensitive information gets out. And we shouldn’t tell the soldiers about our rescue plan. The fewer people who know about that, the better.”
“Agreed.” Talise reached for the hem of her tunic, running a finger over the stitched vines across it. “Wendy and Fyra can help me determine how much to explain while you’re gathering the soldiers.”
She expected Claye to beam back at her, which he did. But she didn’t expect the reactions of everyone else. The weight of oppression sat on their shoulders so heavily every day. But in small moments like this, it lifted.
Wendy gave her sweetest smile, but it didn’t hold a hint of deviousness anymore. Instead, it held a hint of fire. The light of hope that things might change for the better.
By the time they headed back to camp with the blanket full of firewood, something in the air had changed. But this change meant a lot of things Talise wasn’t quite ready to face.
Most of all, it meant she might have to contact the emperor. It had been almost three months since she escaped from the palace. That might have been enough time for him to accept her independence. Or it might have been enough time to get him angrier than ever.
Soon, she’d have to find out which it was.
THREE
NERVOUS TENSION SKITTERED THROUGH TALISE’S STOMACH. EVEN standing on top of a table, she still seemed minuscule compared to her entire army. They stood in neat rows before her, their spines straight with hands clasped behind their backs.