~26~
Lyria's forces were still further away than any of them had ever expected, further away than the piss poor messenger had led them to believe – currently they were barely a dark smudge on the horizon, only just visible. Instead of the enemy arriving in just a few hours as the messenger had suggested, it was likely to be at least a full day at the very most.
But it was the final delay that they needed, in order to prepare. Rowan and Endymion had already expended much of their power in freezing the rivers, now they placed deep cracks in the ice, so that it would break apart at the opportune moment – right when the majority of the opposing army was crossing both rivers, leaving the smaller force in between the two rivers.
Hopefully Lyria and Dorian would be among those who drowned, and good riddance if they did, but if not, then it didn't really matter either way. It wasn't as though either of them would ever live to see the light of day again. Not after what they had done, attempting to bring down one of the oldest monarchies on the continent, out of nothing except sheer bloody minded spite.
Upon watching the enemy's approach Aelin's expression revealed nothing, but she just felt relief. Relief and a lack of enthusiasm. Due to her upbringing under Arobynn's tutelage, Aelin was usually eager for a fight. But her advanced pregnancy meant that she would have to remain reserved, that she would not be able to fight with her full powers and abilities the way she longed to. Yet she was relieved that the last year would soon be over, that an end to fear was in sight.
"I have always hated this part of the battle," Aedion said quietly, suddenly appearing beside Aelin once again. "The waiting for the battle to actually begin. I'd much rather just get it over with. I could never stand the suspense."
"But at least it will all be over soon enough," Aelin muttered back. "I don't know how much longer I would have been able to live like I have been this last year, constantly looking over my shoulder, wondering when and if she was going to strike."
Aedion immediately looked sympathetic. "I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through this year. No one should feel that their life is threatened. Especially while pregnant."
"At least it will be over soon," Aelin repeated herself, before continuing, looking cheeky. "Then we just have to figure out how to get you and Lysandra back together."
"Aelin," Aedion groaned. "Do you have any idea just how crazy you sound just now, talking about that just before a battle this important?"
"Well, what else am I going to talk about?" Aelin snapped back. "Do you really want me to go around feeling sorry for myself?"
"I suppose not," Aedion muttered, ungracefully conceding the point.
"Are you two seriously arguing again?" Rowan asked, walking over from where he had been discussing battle strategies with Endymion, attempting to decide upon the best moment to smash the frozen rivers. "What is it this time, then?"
"Aelin just thought that it would be a good time to try and set me up with Lysandra again," Aedion scowled unhappily. As much as he liked Rowan personally, he wasn't exactly fond of airing his personal life in front of him. In fact he wasn't fond of the airing of his personal life in front of anyone.
"Well, in that case, when we've dealt with this problem here, perhaps you can patch things up with Lysandra," Rowan said frankly.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Aedion muttered, growing annoyed. "I've already admitted that I most likely need to work things out with Lysandra, but in case you haven't noticed this is hardly the best time."
"For heaven's sake," Endymion said, overhearing their conversation as he approached. "In case you hadn't noticed, right before a battle isn't exactly the best time to be handing out romantic advice. Besides, you two were banging on about it to him earlier."
"Were you eavesdropping on our conversation in the tent earlier?" Aelin said, in equal parts shocked and outraged. How dare he listen in on her private conversation with her mate and her cousin! He had no right.
"Of course I was!" Endymion exclaimed, looking almost shocked. "I admit that I was concerned about you after Lorcan started screaming at you, for absolutely no reason at all. I have to admit that I blamed myself for that. It was my plan that placed him in the dungeons with Sam Cortland, after all. If I hadn't come up with that plan, then Lorcan would never have grown so resentful and aggrieved with you."
"I know that you and I have never been that fond of Lorcan," Aelin said, "but even I never realised that his hatred had grown so much. I don't think anyone could have. He agreed to the dungeon plan. He said he was willing to help with whatever plans we had. Lorcan hid his resentment well and he played us all. No matter how long or short a time he was planning this, he played us all, and he played the game well."
"That he has," Rowan muttered bitterly. Out of all four of them, Rowan had the best claim to anger and bitterness at Lorcan's actions, having had worked with him for centuries.
"Why the bloody idiot couldn't just shut his mouth and keep quiet is beyond me," Rowan muttered. "After all he put you through during the war, you were far more decent to Lorcan than he could ever possibly deserve."
They all fell silent at that, not having anything to say. For every word was true. Aelin had been willing to over look Lorcan's treachery, allow him into Terrasen, into her service, and even allowed him to marry one of her noble ladies – all of this just in order to make Elide happy.
Silently watching the enemy approach, Aedion wondered how Elide would react to the news of her husband's continued betrayal. He highly doubted that she was currently aware that Lorcan wanted them to leave Aelin's service.
Elide was highly devoted to her queen and would not willingly leave her service. Besides, before they had travelled south to the battlefield, nothing in Elide's demeanour had suggested that she had known what her husband had been planning. Therefore it was likely safe to assume that Elide didn't have a clue about her husband's plans or treachery. She would never agree to any of it. And if Lorcan thought that she would, than he was deluding himself.
"Well, as interesting as this tête-à-tête is, I don't believe that we have the time to continue it," Endymion said candidly.
A mere glance to the frozen rivers at their feet told them that their enemy was right where they had wanted them. It was time to act. It was time for Lyria and Dorian to pay for their crimes for once and for all.
The sudden flurry of action coming from the army surrounding them brought a sense of comfort to them at that moment in time. They had the high ground, the advantage and the means to win this battle. They had every possibility of winning and likely would. But in that moment they no longer felt alone. They had the love and support of their people always propping them up and pushing them forward.
"Well then," Aelin said sombrely, "let's go rattle the stars." Rowan let out a joyless chuckle at the words as he and Endymion sent out another joint wave of their power, creating deep chasms and cracks in the ice, ready to break at any given moment.
Despite the messenger arriving with the news with the Terrasenite army forming a trap for them between the Perranth and Florine rivers, Lyria was still feeling rather confident. Far too confident for the men's liking. It seemed to constantly slip her mind that the opposing army would have all the advantage in the coming battle. They had the better position, and what with the multiple magic wielders in Terrasen, they would surely have several water wielders controlling a good portion of both rivers. Their forces were already small enough as it was, and with no magic wielders at all, the majority of them would likely drown, for Lyria would surely do nothing at all to save. Their lives were worthless to her.
As they neared the first river that they were to cross – the Perranth river – Lyria widely smirked to herself before turning to face them all. Her army – the Adarlanian lords and ordinary foot soldiers who were there unwillingly froze, not wanting to become her latest victims. They would rather die at the hands of the enemy, or cast their lives to the mercy of the unforgiving river.
"I am perfectly well aware of how little esteem you currently hold me in," Lyria said coldly, her icy tone not matching her cheerful countenance, "but I have pray that your opinion will change with the successful victory that we are to win today. I have to tell you one last time that we are to be victorious today. Yes, Terrasen's army has gathered. But if they did not mean us to win, they would not have iced the river over for our use. They have come thus far only so they can surrender to us in person here rather than face the shame of having us surround their precious capital in defeat. The only reason that they have chosen to surrender here is because that it is far from any form of civilisation. They do not want us to threaten their people the way we have threatened them. They know that we have the superior army. The superior forces."
Extremely few of the Adarlanian lords and their soldiers, if any, believed Lyria's words at that moment, noting the dangerously deep cracks in the ice and the faint creaking noise as the ice cracked. It was blatantly obvious, to them, at least, if not to Lyria, that frozen river was not safe to cross. Far from it, actually. But they all were far too afraid of Lyria to mention any of it – either to her face or behind her back.
Dorian wasn't going to be any help to them either. He was too in thrall to Lyria to realise that they were knee deep in trouble. Instead of helping them get out of this whole situation with Lyria, helping free them from this slavery, their sworn king was thinking with his cock, with his brain in his pants. Their king was doing nothing and was going to get them all killed.
Their king was going to get them all killed in a pointless battle that had nothing to do with them and he didn't even care. Their king's brain was in his pants and was not thinking about the safety of his people. He had been so deeply in thrall to the witch who was leading them, that he longer cared about the very people that he had sworn to serve and protect.
Their crowned king no longer cared about his people. It was an extremely bitter pill for them to swallow, hard for them to accept.
Either ignoring or not noticing their discontent, Lyria turned to Dorian, riding strongly, confidently, by her side. "Now, my beloved king, are you ready to reclaim your glorious destiny?"
"I am, my lady Lyria," Dorian said lovingly, openly flirting with the gorgeous Fae woman. "And are you ready to reclaim what you lost so many centuries ago?"
"Yes, I believe I am," Lyria said firmly, determinedly, no trace of affection for Dorian in her tone. "In fact, I believe that I have waited long enough for this. Now, forward."
At that, the soldiers so slowly, so carefully, began to march over the frozen river, many of them eyeing the ice warily as they did so. And they were right to be wary of the cracking ice, more than any of them knew. As the last third of their forces crossed the frozen river, the cracks in the ice deepened, and continued to crack to the point where the ice smashed through completely and their soldiers and their horses fell through the layer of broken ice into the raging river below.
"What the hell just happened?" Lyria shouted, quickly and harshly reining her horse to a halt.
"Magic," one of the soldiers said in a rather stunned tone of voice. He had been one of the last soldiers who had been able to cross the river before the ice broke. "They have several magic wielders in their army. One of them must be a water or ice wielder."
Lyria felt a sudden surge of anger at the thought of Endymion Whitethorn. She knew that he had somehow made it to Terrasen while escaping her detection all the while. But right now she didn't give a damn about that. No, she did not.
How dare Endymion attempt to thwart her now, when she was so close to achieving her goal? How dare he? He had right to thwart her now, when she was so close to winning Rowan back, and killing the fire breathing bitch of a queen that Rowan had supposedly married and knocked up. After this show of defiance, Endymion had to die alongside that queen. Both Aelin and Endymion would die, and Rowan would have to learn to live without them. Luckily, she would be there to love and support him through the difficult time. And in time he would learn to love her again, the way he had loved her two centuries ago.
In her complete self-absorption Lyria was unable to see the truth even when it was right in front of her face. Unable or unwilling to see that she had lost Rowan two hundred years ago, and nothing she did would bring him back to her. Unable to comprehend the fact that he wouldn't even want to come back to her, especially in the wake of the atrocities that she had committed in the last year alone. Completely unable, completely unwilling to admit to the fact that Rowan no longer loved her and had finally found the peace and happiness that he needed in order to move on with his life with his new family.
As a matter of fact, many of the lords and ordinary soldiers in Lyria's small army pitied her. Pitied her and hated her in equal measure. Hated her intensely for what she was putting them all through. How they hated her. Yet they also pitied her for her complete lack of empathy. Pitied her for her complete and utter inability to see the truth when it was right in front of her face. Pitied her for her inability to leave the past in the past and move on her life. They all thought that she should just accept the fact that Rowan Whitethorn no longer wanted her and just move on with her life. But she was either unwilling to, or unable to.
As the remainder of the force shifted uncomfortably in their saddles or on their feet, Lyria snapped at them in anger. "Do not help them any of out of that river," she almost screamed at them. One young man who had reached to help an older man out of the torrid, raging river. "If any of you attempt to assist any of your comrades out of that river, than you will pay with your lives."
The young man who had attempted to assist his fallen comrade slowly eased to his feet in dismay. He didn't feel that it was right to abandon those who had fallen through the ice, not when there was a chance that they could yet survive. The older man that he had attempted to save struggled and thrashed to get to the river bank, but failed and slowly went under the surface. The young man swallowed heavily as he turned around. He had never seen anyone die before, and to witness this was quite horrifying to him.
Ignoring the mumblings and mutterings of the men she had gathered to fight for her, Lyria merely spoke over him. "Regardless of the freak accident that we just witnessed, our objective is still the same. We are still able to win. Now, you are going to grow up and get over yourselves and march forward. Remember that you have a job to do."
Many of the soldiers were extremely uncomfortable about obeying Lyria's orders, but were still more frightened of Lyria than they were of the queen of Terrasen and her consort. As long as they were willing to surrender on the other side of the other river, if they survived crossing it, they believed that Queen Aelin would still be more merciful to them than Lyria would ever be.
Slowly they crawled their way toward the Florine River, their spirits plummeting lower than the icy temperature. Would the ice on the river break through again? If it did, how many of them would drown in the glacial waters? Would Queen Aelin truly show mercy to any survivors? They had, after all, made the effort to appease Lyria. They had come all this way for her. And now they were going to die for her.
Why on earth had they thought that appeasing Lyria would help any of them? It had been blatantly obvious from the get go that she didn't give a damn about them. So why had they attempted to make her and Dorian happy, when it was clear as hell that they didn't care about their happiness or their welfare. Heck, it was perfectly clear that the only people that Dorian and Lyria cared about were themselves.
The frozen over river was growing ever closer. How many of them would survive crossing it, if any of them at all? Were the cracks in the ice deepening by any chance?
Yes, the cracks in the ice were growing ever deeper as they crossed it.
Then, suddenly, the ice was breaking again, smashing through, sending half of their surviving forces down to the arctic waters below, a magical wind blowing across the still battlefield, pushing the men in the water back across to the other side of the river bank and under the surface of the water.
With a roar of utter fury that terrified the already utterly terrified soldiers, Lyria saw her beloved Rowan standing with his arms firmly around the waist of the queen whore who had stolen him from her, Endymion and a stranger standing close by, both with hands on sword hilts, an army amassed at their backs.