His knees hit the dirt. He started coughing and holding his throat, recovering from the ordeal. Lex straightened her shirt and turned back to the others.
“Your plan, my Queen,” she said to Aydra.
Aydra wrapped her arms around her chest and turned back to the raised brow faces of Nadir and Draven. She stepped closer to them and began pointing at the map as she spoke.
“Nadir, your people will go around this side beneath the waters, ambushing them from the ships side. You’ll take their boats first. They’ve weapons on them. You’ll need to make sure they are not manned by the time the Venari ambush on shore. Balandria, you’ll lead a stealth company to take out the centuries. Draven, your wind can discombobulate the guards, throw them off so that they are confused about what is happening—”
“And what will you do?” Balandria said, cutting her off.
Aydra met her eyes, and the raven landed on her shoulder.
“The sun breaks in less than an hour,” Aydra continued. “We should get going.”
Nadir took two slow steps towards her. “If my men die because of your plan, I’m taking your castle.”
“If your men die, it is because they do not know how to handle their weapons, not because of my plan,” she replied. “And you don’t have to threaten me to take the castle. It’s not mine.”
A quirk of a smile rose on his lips, and he clapped her shoulder upon passing her. “All right, you heard the Sun Queen,” he called to his people. “Take your side of the dunes. Come in from the reef. Pluck the bastards out of our waters one at a time—” he paused and leaned back down to her “Are we keeping the ships?” he asked in her ear.
“Yes, let’s keep the ships—”
“Why would you keep the ships?” interjected Ash.
Aydra paused to stare at him a moment. “Weapons. Supplies. We need to know what these people are capable of.”
Ash shifted the weight on his feet, but said nothing more. Nadir said something else to his people that Aydra didn’t catch. They started to move out all around them. The Venari people remained, still watching Aydra and Draven.
Draven’s jaw was taut as he stared at her. Balandria leaned in and whispered in his ear, to which Draven gave a nod.
“My company come with me,” Balandria said to them. She paused and gave Aydra a full once over. “The rest of you stay with your king.”
The Venari people all moved then, embracing each other as they separated into their companies. Aydra gave Draven’s silent figure a once over and then turned away from him. “We will meet you on the hill,” she muttered before walking away from them.
Lex and Ash followed Aydra through the forest to the hill at the edge of the tree line. The moons light was bright enough she could see the forest floor, but she had the raven fly in front of them anyway. She could just see fires down below on the beach, the silhouettes of men walking up and across the high dunes.
“Wait for my signal,” Aydra told Lex as she stared down at their true enemy. “Charge with the Venari company.”
“What will you do?” asked Ash.
Aydra’s jaw tightened. “Don’t bother yourself with what I will do, Captain,” she said with a sigh. “I can take care of myself.”
Ash’s hand touched her arm gently. “I will not allow my Queen to be without a guard. I will stay here with you. Fight for you.”
A brow raised on Aydra’s face and she looked past him at Lex. “Do you see my Second Sun behind you? Turn around. Look at her,” she asked Ash. “She is the only person on this land capable of taking care of me. So when I tell her to wait and charge with the Venari and not behind me, I mean you as well.”
“But—”
“Wait with Lex for my signal,” Aydra demanded again. “That’s an order from your Queen.”
Ash’s jaw tightened, but he gave her a slow nod nonetheless. “Yes, ma’am.”
The pair disappeared down the hill then, and Aydra hugged her arms over her chest. Her heart was beginning to beat harder in her chest as the sky began to lighten. Her fist clenched and unclenched at her side, one hand around her bow. She closed her eyes and felt for the cores of the creatures around her, of all the birds she knew had followed her through the woods that morning.
The feeling of a warm body suddenly at her side didn’t make her jump this time. She sighed into the navy world and willed her breaths to relax.
“Not bad, Sun Queen,” Draven muttered at her side.
Aydra opened her eyes, but she didn’t look over to him. “Not bad for a Sun Queen or for a woman not versed in battle?”
Draven pulled one of his short swords from its sheath and held it up to the moons light, allowing it to reflect off the silver. The jagged edge of its blade cut the air, and she noticed the ivory on the handle. “Both,” he replied.
“Are those bones?” she asked about his sword.
He laid the blade in his hands, allowing her to see the handle more clearly. “Portions of phoenix breastbone as the handle.”
Her gaze narrowed. “Phoenix?” she repeated. “There hasn’t been sighting of a phoenix in decades.”
A small smile rose on his lips, and he reached down into the bag she’d been curious about earlier. The skeleton head he pulled out of it made her eyes widen. A phoenix skull, complete with black horns and sharp bone over the open eyes. It narrowed down to a sharp point at the beak, and would have covered his entire face.
“Your true crown,” she realized.
His smile widened as he held it by its horns and then looked out at the scene before them. “Is your raven already down there?”
“She will tell me when the Honest have taken the boats,” she replied. Her eyes narrowed then as she started to see
