Lady Smoke (Ash Princess Trilogy #2)(92)

* * *



—

When we leave the dungeon hours later, Erik is uncharacteristically quiet. At first, I think it’s only because he’s tired, and I can’t blame him—I feel half-asleep myself—but when I glance sideways at him, I see that he’s deep in thought, his brow furrowed.

“What’s on your mind?” I ask him as we step out of the riser and onto my floor. Erik offered to walk me to my door, and I’m not proud enough to refuse, with an assassin still lurking around somewhere.

Erik looks like I’ve just shaken him awake from a deep sleep. “Nothing,” he says, but the lie is obvious and he realizes it. He sighs. “I’m just thinking about the camp. I don’t think I’ve stopped thinking about it.”

“I know,” I say. “I haven’t either. I hate feeling helpless.”

Erik nods. “It’s strange, though, because they aren’t helpless, are they? Many of the adults have been doing physical labor for the Sta’Criverans. They’re strong. And they wouldn’t have survived if they weren’t smart. I don’t think they want pity or even charity, really. They just want a chance to fight for a fair life and a place to call home, the same as the rest of us.”

They want to fight. The words echo in my mind over and over again until I stop short, gasping.

“Erik,” I say.

He stops as well, turning back to give me a worried look. “Everything all right? Tell me there wasn’t some kind of poison dart or something. I think your Shadows would actually murder me if something happened to you on my watch—”

I shush him, holding up a hand. A single piece of a plan is joined by another, and another, until it begins to make sense. Until it becomes something solid.

“How many refugees do you think there are in that camp?” I ask him.

Erik shrugs his shoulders. “Three thousand,” he guesses.

“And if you take out the children and the elderly? And anyone who can’t or won’t want to fight? How many are there who could be warriors?”

Something in his mind clicks and he smiles, seeing where I’m going. “One thousand, maybe more,” he says. “Not enough, Theo. Not even with a Gorakian army and a Vecturian army.”

“No, not enough for a war,” I agree. “Not enough to take Astrea back. But would it be enough to take control of a mine?”

He frowns, considering it. “Maybe, for a time. If it’s a surprise attack against only the guards of the mine,” he says. “But even then, we could hold it for just a few weeks until the Kaiser hears the news and sends more troops. Then whatever victory we had would be swiftly canceled out. He has too many men, too many trained warriors. Even with the element of surprise on our side, it wouldn’t be enough. It would get us time, that’s all.”

“Time,” I agree. “And the Fire Mine. Another twenty-five hundred Astreans are there, roughly. And we wouldn’t stay long. By the time the Kaiser sent more troops, we’d be gone.”

“To another mine,” Erik supplies. “To free more people, and recruit more warriors at the same time. By the time we take all four mines, you could have a real army.”

“Everyone gets a choice,” I add firmly. “If they don’t want to fight, we’ll still give them all the protection we can. But I don’t think it will be a difficult choice, after everything. They’re angry—let’s give them a chance to use that against the people who took everything from them.”

Erik nods slowly, eyes intent. “But if you leave now, King Etristo will have no reason to keep S?ren alive—unless he sells him back to the Kaiser out of spite,” he points out.

Only minutes ago, S?ren told me that if I had the chance to save Astrea I should leave him behind to do it, but now I have that chance and I know that I can’t do it.

“I can get more people,” Erik says after a moment. “There are other camps—one in Timmoree, one in Etralia. They might not be as big as this one, but they’ll still be sizable. I can go and try to recruit more people and at least make sure they aren’t being treated as badly as they are here. And it will take some days to get to each and return to Astrea. That will buy you time to get S?ren out of that dungeon, time to get a message to Chief Kapil in Vecturia to take him up on his offer to help. It’ll mean playing their game a little longer.”

“I think I can manage that,” I say dryly. “After the Kaiser, it should be easy.”

“Maybe it would be if there weren’t also an assassin to contend with,” he reminds me, which is a fair point.

“I’ll be fine,” I say, waving a dismissive hand. “How soon can you leave?”

“Within hours,” he says. “The rest of the Gorakians have been ready to go since we got here. They don’t like it in Sta’Crivero.”

After what Erik said about the way they were mistreated and spit at, I can’t blame them.

“How will we keep in touch?” I ask him. “Gods forbid anything goes wrong, but it would be nice to have some kind of communication plan in place if it does.”

Erik nods, face drawn tight in thought. “Let me talk to Master Jurou,” he says after a moment. “He has some inventions that he’s been keeping to himself, but one of them might work for that.”