"Or we take the army in and we see how much they fight back as we approach. Perhaps they are forced to stay by Riekki's minions. Perhaps not. My army will be whittled down because we will not have the advantage, but it will be, perhaps, fairer."
I swallow hard, because I try to picture the elk, the snakes, the wolves, and what they'll do to someone holed up at the top of a tree. Fling themselves at the bottom until they surely die? That doesn't seem like a good solution, either. Even so…I would hope Kassam would direct them to find an access point. That it's still the kinder option than having someone's intestinal parasites rise up and attack them. "You know which one I'm voting for."
He pats the hand I have clutched to his waist. "I know, my soft one. I know."
I rest my cheek against his broad back, trying not to think too much about the terrible choices ahead. "How long do you think it'll take? To conquer the city?"
"Mmm." Kassam considers this. "It depends on how fiercely they wish to protect Riekki. I do not think they will—her fiercest devotees have always been her scholars and wizards, not the common people. I do not think a siege is likely, but if they try it, we can use magic to force them out of hiding." He pats my hand again, then rubs his thumb across my knuckles. "We will know more by the end of the day tomorrow. If all goes well, we will ride in and they will hand us the goddess without a fight."
"I hope you're right." Something tells me that the longer this goes on, the worse it'll be for everyone.
I don't think anything or anyone sleeps that night.
I'm starting to get used to the fact that nothing happens when I close my eyes, no matter how tired I am. I don't even try anymore. Instead, I just lean on Kassam and breathe in his woodsy scent. In the distance, the heavy forest is dotted with fires from Seth's army as they spend the evening preparing. The sounds of the wild army are a familiar clamor, as if they're unaware that tomorrow, we attack.
I'm both grateful and terrified when dawn approaches, when Kassam gets to his feet and makes a soft clicking sound in his throat, and his favorite griffin approaches. He pets it, scratching at the small feathers near the edge of the beak, and then holds a hand out to me so we can mount. We do, and ride over to Seth's army, me behind Kassam, to start the war.
When we get to Seth and his army, though, we're met with an angry tirade from the other god.
"You gave her time to prepare," Seth says in a bitter, furious voice as he struggles to control a prancing horse. "She has put a magical barrier around the city itself. This would not have happened if we attacked yesterday morning. She wouldn't have had time to direct her lackeys to craft such a spell."
Kassam stiffens against me, his head whipping to glance at the distant tree city. I do, too, but I can't see anything. "How do you know?" I ask.
"Go and look for yourselves," Seth retorts, shooting me a withering look. "The time for being weak has passed. Everything depends on this. Everything. We cannot come this far only to have our armies thwarted by—"
"Silence," Kassam snarls.
Seth looks as if he wants to murder both of us. His horse whinnies in terror, on edge, and Seth slams his legs against its sides, trying to calm it. That only makes Kassam angrier, and with a look over at the horse, it goes still.
The god of the wild glares angrily at Seth and then turns his griffin and instead of taking to the air, he sends it pacing through the trees. I hold on tight, afraid to even ask what the magic barrier would be. Kassam is practically bristling with fury, and I don't know if it's at Riekki or Seth—or both.
Sure enough, as we approach the city itself, the path feels charged with electricity. The small hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and as the road widens and skirts around the bases of the trees, it's surrounded by a series of poles that weren't there before—carved poles with runes dancing up and down their lengths. Something intangible shimmers between them, almost like a force field from an old sci-fi movie. The closer we move to the barrier, the more it prickles against my skin in an almost painful fashion, and the griffin becomes agitated and upset. Kassam strokes a hand down the griffin's feathers, guiding off the path, and we circle the outskirts of the city. Everywhere we go, we see more poles. There are carts parked down upon the roads below the trees, emptied of their contents. A distant stable looks empty. High above us, the platforms and the houses block off the dawning morning sunlight, and I get the impression that everyone is watching from way up high as Kassam circles the city, eyeing their magic barrier.