Three Broken Kingdoms-Book 1 of the Lost Continent (Completed)

Chapter Forty-Seven: Kazimiar

Their forces numbered almost seventy thousand altogether-eleven thousand elves, fifty thousand valkyries and around eight thousand rebels. Still, they managed to move swiftly across the coast, almost undetected.

Her people knew the coast well enough to hide amongst trees and on the beaches. Kazimiar was closest to Crimsith, about a quarter of the way between the capital and Cobalt. It was a glorified holiday home for the Empress and her court, for when they wanted to escape the capital or send their sons and daughters to get a good education. Though apparently the valkyries would laugh at what the Kallians considered a good education.

Merely weeks ago, Nala had been there for the Chancellor's funeral. At the time she had hoped to see something of Tarua Teris' spirit and hope amongst the coastal city, but she had seen nothing. It was simply a nest for the spoilt children of the Crimsith Court with talented artists trying to scrape out a living and get into the universities and academies that dotted Kazimiar. We'll change that, Nala promised. We'll change it all. Kazimiar-no, we'll call it Tarua Teris, like it was before-as our capital, Crimsith burnt to the ground.

Everything could be different. They could rebuild it all.

The plans for the attack had been decided that morning. With nobles already fled and their personal guards with them, their operatives could take the rest through the tunnels, open the gates, destroy the guardhouses and take the town hall within minutes. The only reason they hadn't done so already was because they could not hold the city. They couldn't afford a quick victory. This needed to be a diversion, a battle that was meant to last until tomorrow night, when the valkyries struck. So, they would draw it out.

Instead of going through the tunnels the majority of their army would attack the gates whilst a small number-including her-went through the tunnels for the real attack. The battle going on at the gates would continue for the whole day, misleading Medea into thinking she still had time before the attack on her capital. But as soon as the valkyries reached Crimsith, those inside the city would claim it within half an hour.

Nala mourned for the lives they would lose to the diversion, but they had no choice. This would save far more in the end, and the rebels who laid down their lives for a chance to take the empress by surprise were there willingly, proud to fight and die for hope of a better world. If only Jasper could be the same, she thought bitterly to herself. If Jasper had rung the bell. What would she have done if that future had come to be? Her husband and friends would have lived, and her nephew would have died a hero. Was that better than what she had now: the love of her life dead and her best friends in whatever other world there might be, her nephew disgraced for his cowardice? At least he was alive. But Peter wasn't, and that would always be his fault.

They reached Kazimiar and breathed sighs of relief, glad that they had made it there in time. Everything about the diversion relied on when the sun rose and set. They came to Kazimiar as dusk fell, and the valkyries sneaked off in the dark whilst the rebels attacked. By the time Myra and her army reached the capital night would mask their arrival.

It was strange, given that Viktoria was the War Queen, that Nala always thought of the army as Myra's. But that was what everyone did. The Dragon was far more famous than her mentor would ever be.

How did Jasper end up at her side? she wondered, when her anger had cooled. How did my son earn his place beside the deadliest person I've ever met? Those were questions for later. For now, Tarua Teris would take back the city that the chancellor before her had loved so well.Nala sent nine thousand of her ten to attack the gates, with orders to draw out their victory. Even though they had been instructed not to take risks and be careful with each and every life, she still felt a pang of regret at the thought of using them as a mere distraction. But it was necessary, she reminded herself.