The Gates of Memory, стр. 84
“That’s not what I mean,” Ana said.
His tired mind didn’t understand.
“I know you’re focused on learning how to defeat Regar and the queen,” she said, “but I fear some of the actions you’ll take will destroy you.”
Exhausted both mentally and physically from their days of running and hiding, Brandt finally snapped. “Do you think I like the idea of what I might have to do? I detest it! I know that to deny a clean death to an enemy might make me into a monster. But what am I supposed to do? How else am I supposed to protect you? How else am I supposed to defend the empire that I swore I would give my life for?”
Ana, apparently, had also reached the end of her patience. She didn’t shrink away from his whispered outburst. “Stop hiding behind us!” she demanded. “You say you’re only doing these things out of your love for us, but those of us that love you don’t want you to go down this path.”
She paused, then stabbed him deeper. “You’re not doing this for us, you’re doing this for you. That’s why you lied about the gate, even if you knew it would do you no good against the queen.”
Her words hit with all the force of Regar’s attacks. Brandt opened his mouth to respond, but had no idea what to say. Ana saved him the trouble. She rolled away so that her back was to him, cutting off the conversation.
He saw her shoulders, softly rising and falling with her silent sobs in light of the stars. He reached out to comfort her, but his hand stopped just short of her shoulder.
How could she believe that of him?
Brandt snarled and turned over as well. And for the first time in years, they fell asleep apart from one another.
44
Alena looked down the mountainside at the small group of warriors that patrolled the valley. The sun was setting, lighting the underside of nearby clouds with gorgeous pinks and dark shadows. The patrol below them consisted of six warriors, and each focused their attention on the village even farther below.
Beside her, Jace whispered softly, “Tell me more.”
Over the past two days, that command had become shorthand for using a soulwalk to gain more information.
Alena did.
She’d practiced enough in the past few days that she no longer needed to close her eyes. She felt the shift in her mind as she reached out to explore the thoughts of the party below. She explored each for a moment, then answered her brother. “The same as the others. They’re confident and eager for reinforcements.”
Jace didn’t respond, but she could see him assessing the situation yet again.
“Do they know how soon?”
“Nothing definite. Soon enough that their confidence is high.”
Once the war party was out of sight, Jace nodded. “Let’s head back, then.”
They climbed higher up the mountain to a small cave that provided some protection and sheltered them from the worst of the elements. It had been home for the past few days, high enough above any commonly traveled paths to keep them relatively safe from discovery.
Once the enemy had been spotted, Jace took command of their little group, not intentionally perhaps, but completely all the same. Sheren called him her warleader, which seemed to irritate and inspire her brother in equal measures.
Jokes aside, he was best suited for the role. Toren was a skilled warrior, but his knowledge of strategy was limited. Sheren had laughed when they asked her if she possessed any military experience. “I would be beaten by a child with a stick,” she confessed.
Jace had been the one who ordered the party higher up the mountain. He argued that the vantage point allowed them a better view of the situation and gave them the advantage of elevation if they were discovered.
The suggestion turned out to be even wiser than they’d expected. None of the patrols seemed interested in anything besides the village. In their days of watching, Alena had barely seen anyone do much more than glance up the mountains.
Their observations revealed the lay of the land. Weylen’s village wasn’t just under attack, it was completely surrounded. But the siege, if that was the best word for it, defied Alena’s expectations. Occasionally an enemy warrior might wander close enough to the village to lob a few arrows at exposed targets, but for the most part they played a waiting game, content to rest until their numbers were sufficiently overwhelming the village had no hope of victory. Until then, they wore the village down by preventing the gathering of food or supplies.
The patience of the invaders, along with the certainty of reinforcements, forced Alena and the others to act.
Jace estimated the invading Falari had about seventy warriors surrounding the village. They rarely congregated, instead choosing to remain scattered around the village. That scattering prevented Alena from sneaking into the village, but it also provided ample opportunity for ambush.
Jace came up with the plan and drilled the vital aspects of it into the others. They needed to hit fast, then retreat, leaving little to no evidence of their passage. They would divide the enemy’s attention, opening up further opportunities.
This was a side of Jace she hadn’t seen before. He assessed and planned, and was surprisingly meticulous in his considerations.
Though he wouldn’t have chosen the circumstances, she believed he commanded well.
She ended up being their greatest uncertainty. As their planning concluded, Jace looked to her. “What is the extent of your powers?”
“What do you mean?”
“Can you blind someone? Or make them flee in terror? Could you make them kill themselves?”
“Jace—”
“I’m not proud of these ideas, but I’d be a poor commander if I didn’t ask. If you want to save the Etari gate, this is the way forward.”
They sat in silence around the fire as Alena decided. “I don’t