Queens & Liars-Sequel to Three Broken Kingdoms (Completed)

Chapter Thirty-Four: A Thousand Assassins

Today, it would begin. Today, the war would truly start. Today, they sent a message not even the Empress could cover up.

They landed on the cold grass, leaves whistling as the wyverns descended. She turned back to check on the others. Their army gathered behind her, hidden by the night and the forest that covered the plain before Topaz.

As Nala stared at the walled city, she was suddenly hit by the surreality of it all. How far the girl from the Midlands had come. She wouldn't have believed her eyes. Wouldn't recognise this person who queens spoke to like an equal and rode upon the backs of legends. How far she had come. How much she had changed. And how much she still had to do. Her job might never be finished. It might take a lifetime to build a future for her unshaped, wandering people. Of course, she now had several lifetimes, thanks to Lysandra. Not that any of that had sunk in yet,

Nala thought wistfully back to the little girl in the Midlands. The girl might have escaped death a thousand times, but in the end it had claimed her anyway. Only this new Nala, this stronger, harsher, numb Nala remained. What had she become? And did she like the person she was turning into? It had been an eternity since she had been a child. Lifetimes ago. A different person-several different people-ago. They said that every seven years or so, every cell in your body would be replaced. Nala felt like that had happened with her mind. Slowly, every piece of her had been replaced with something stronger, something different. She and the child she had been shared the same body, the same parents and a few of the same memories, but nothing else. War had made her into a different person.

The walls of Topaz were some of the highest and most impassable Nala Merson had ever seen. They reached high into the air, cold, hard stone that stood between them and the city inside.The walls were littered with defenders patrolling and perfect places to ambush and hinder any opposing forces.Which was why Nala and the rest of Tarua Teris had no plans to go through the walls.

Myra Isidore was a true military genius, Nala reflected. And she had spent almost six years planning how to take back her country from the Kallians.

"If we try to break through the walls, we die." Myra had said matter-of-factory during one of their many meetings. "We have the Aerial Legion and elves who can manipulate gravity. Let's use them."

And so they had begun the painstaking calculations and planning that had taken them months. Everything had to be planned for. Every single soldier accounted for. They had had months to devise the perfect, most efficient strategy for reclaiming the cities and the most brilliant general the world had ever seen to work with. Because in the end, that was what they were doing. Reclaiming the cities. Not destroying them. Not burning them to the ground. Taking them back from the Kallians and using them as weapons in the war ahead. If they had wanted to rain destruction upon Topaz, Citrine and Zerena, it would have been a simple matter. But they didn't. What they wanted was to take back every part of its military and liberate its people. Much trickier.

They arrived in Topaz in the middle of a moonless night. Yet another reason for the four month delay. If they had gone a couple of weeks ago, their arrival might have been heralded by a gibbous.

Those who could—their spies, mostly—had already entered the city. Only four thousand of their fighters remained outside, fifteen hundred of which were part of the Aerial Legion. Nala shakily mounted one of the wyverns herself, another two rebels already seated. Only one of them had received any training.

"Now," she said and they took suddenly to the air. Nala held on for dear life. Fifteen hundred wyverns and gryphons followed into the air after them, hidden by the night. There was a single elf with them, who's rare ability allowed him to manipulate sound vibrations. There had been a couple of valkyrie scientists who followed him around incessantly, trying to understand how his magic worked. Nala didn't particularly care, so long as he made sure their arrival remained quiet.