“You can’t go into the mine, Blaise,” I say, surprised.
He shrugs. “Actually, I’m the only one who should,” he says, his voice coming out level, though I can see the nervousness in his eyes. “I know the layout, I know the paths. Anyone else would get lost down there.”
I want to protest, to tell him he’s being reckless and I thought we were past his martyr phase, but I hold my tongue. Though I don’t want to admit it, even to myself, I understand the logic in his words. It makes sense, but that doesn’t mean I like it. There has to be another way.
Before I can reply, Maile interjects.
“All of us can’t go to the Earth Mine,” she says. “If the Kalovaxian scouts see our whole army heading there, their army will be ready to meet us. And it won’t end well.”
“I know,” I say.
“We can go west,” Erik says. “Meet Dragonsbane’s ships like we’re meant to, but instead of just giving her our injured, we’ll all leave. Take a few months to gather our wits and our resources before we strike again.”
Søren shakes his head. “If we flee now, we lose everything we’ve worked for, everything we’ve won. They’ll take over the Fire and Water Mines again, and the Ovelgan estate. Everything we’ve lost to get to where we are now will have been a waste.”
Though he doesn’t say Artemisia’s name, his eyes still flick to her when he speaks. She’s not lost, I want to say, but I understand what he means.
“We can’t run,” I agree. “Not even with the intent of coming back. We have to strike now or else we’ll never get another chance. If we run, we’ll no longer be the attackers, we’ll be the attacked, and Cre—the Kaiserin won’t stop until she’s destroyed us all.”
I think of Cress in my dreams, wandering through her palace, giving orders and sending others out to do her work for her, never putting herself in danger, never risking her own life. There is no chink in her armor, but strip it away, and she is nothing.
“Theo,” Søren says, eyeing me warily. “You have that look in your eyes. Either you have a plan or you’re about to do something foolish.”
“I have…the beginnings of a plan,” I admit. “We’re going to meet with Dragonsbane, as we said we would. And then we’re going to attack the palace, from the land and from the sea.”
“That’s a death strike,” Erik says. “We don’t have the numbers; we don’t have the weapons. It will be like throwing pebbles at a giant.”
I smile, but it’s only a tight, grim line. “Not if we can make it past the capital wall, into the heart of the palace before they know what’s happening.”
Blaise understands first, his eyes growing bright. “You want to use the tunnels,” he says.
I nod. “We know there’s one from the sea that leads to the throne room and the dungeon,” I say. “Are there any others you remember with an external entrance?”
Blaise frowns, thinking. “A couple, but they might be closed off by now. I never tried them.”
Heron digs through his knapsack, draws out a rolled-up map, and unfurls it. “Where?” he asks, passing Blaise a stick of charcoal.
Blaise examines it with a furrowed brow before using the stick of charcoal to draw two x’s, followed by lines leading into the palace.
“This one lets out in the kitchen cellar,” he says. “It’s the one I used to get into the palace in the first place, so it was active as of a few months ago. This one, however, I’m less certain of. In theory, it lets out in the wine cellar, but I haven’t tested it. I only know about it thirdhand. But they’re all narrow paths. You can’t send an entire army through them. The Kalovaxians will realize and slaughter us one by one as we emerge.”
“I have no intention of doing that,” I say, before laying out exactly what I have in mind.
When I finish, the room is silent, everyone turning my words over.
“It’s a mad plan,” Maile says, breaking the silence.
“Do you have a better one?” I ask her.
Maile shakes her head. “I said it was a mad plan,” she says. “I never said it was a bad one. If it works, it’ll be a miracle, but it could work.”
Søren nods. “I’ll start organizing the troops, figuring out who will go where,” he says.
“And I’ll get word to Dragonsbane,” Heron says.
I nod, glancing at Artemisia. “Don’t tell her what happened. Not via message. Some things need to be explained in person,” I say.
Though I know it’s the right call, I’m still dreading having to tell my aunt about Art face to face. Heron and Søren were both kind enough to insist it wasn’t my fault, but I don’t doubt that Dragonsbane will see things very differently. She’s already lost one child. I can’t let her lose another.
* * *
—
When everyone disperses, I follow Blaise. He doesn’t look particularly surprised when I fall into step beside him.
“Come to say goodbye?” he asks, looking sideways at me.
“I’m assuming there’s no cause for me to tell you to be careful,” I say. “So I suppose yes, I’ve come to say goodbye.”
That gives him a second of pause. “I meant what I said to you, Theo,” he says. “I don’t want to die. I intend to do everything in my power to meet you at the palace, preferably with more warriors behind me.”
“Then do it,” I tell him.
He hesitates again, turning his words over in his mind. “Do you remember when we met in the kitchen cellar?” he asks. “I asked you to run, to leave all of this behind in order to live.”
I can see where he’s going and it makes me uneasy, but I have no choice but to nod. “I remember,” I say. “I was tempted to go with you, more tempted than I’m proud to admit.”
“But you didn’t,” he says. “You didn’t want to die, but you also didn’t want to live in a world where you didn’t do everything in your power to help the people who needed you.”
He takes hold of my hand as we walk, squeezes it tight in his.
“I don’t want to die,” he says again. “But I can’t live with myself if I stand by while others suffer. I think you understand that.”
I swallow down a protest and nod. “I do,” I say. “But if you go into that mine, Blaise, you’re going to be surrounded by Earth Gems. That kind of eruption of power wouldn’t kill only you.”