Chapter 51

«An armada with black sails has been spotted along the western coast. He has begun to move his armies as well.» Manon announced as she and her thirteen walked towards Dorian and Rhiannon  in the garden. «The last Crochans to arrive brought the news this morning.»

Dorian's brow furrowed. «Do you think they'll attack Eyllwe first, or will he meet us on the battlefield?» he asked, while looking at Manon's calculating face.

«I'm not sure, but if he does attack Eyllwe, it will give us the opening we need to steal the other two keys. The timing would actually be perfect for that, but we'll have to send reinforcements to Banjali. They only have human fighters down there.» Manon turned to her sister. «Gather your witches, and go to Banjali.» Rhiannon gave a curt nod.

«I'll get on it right away. Any sign of the Ironteeth yet?» Rhiannon said.

Manon looked up at Abraxos, who was flying high above them. «No, but since Abraxos and the other wyverns escaped, there is a chance that Erawan has already begun to give wyverns to the other witches.» she turned her warrior gaze at her sister. «Be ready for that.»

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Nox balanced the tray of food while also trying to open the door. He was starting to regret saying yes to this, not to helping his Queen, but to play the part as a servant. There, he managed to get the door open and went inside. He didn't know much about the resident of these quarters, only that it was a woman, named Zahir, who had arrived a fortnight ago. The woman was never present when he came with the food, and neither was she this time. Nox carefully placed the tray of food on the dining table. 

He straightened abruptly when he heard muffled voices coming from the office a few paces from where he stood. He inched closer, straining to hear what was being said. 

«Let's get this war on a roll, waiting around is just too boring for me.» a female voice said. A somewhat familiar voice too, but he couldn't quite place it.

«Patience, my ships will reach Eyllwe in less then four weeks. You could join that fight since you're so eager, darling.» a deep male voice said, Erawan. Nox had listened in on plenty of his conversations to recognize his voice, but who was the woman.

«You know what, I think I'll do exactly that. Burning down that city and all it's people was so much fun the first time.» the woman said, Nox frowned. That didn't make any sense, the city had never been burned to the ground before. The sound of moving chairs could be heard, and he tiptoed back to the tray, and lifted it. Just when the door opened he lowered the tray back to table, then turned to whoever had come out of the office. He flinched for a second before remembering to bow, keeping his eyes from meeting theirs, then promptly made his way out of that room.

He kept his pace steady as he made his way through the servant passages. To hell with the remaining weeks of his assignment, he had to get out of here, and report this to the alliance immediately. He hurried his pace and headed straight for his little room, packed his bags, stuffed in the maps of the keep he had made, and snuck out of the keep. 

he made his way into the city, and purchased a horse. He kept the horses gait slow, so as not to attract any attention, even though ever fiber of his being told him to gallop out of there as fast as possible. Originally he was supposed to report back to Rifthold, but if she was going to Eyllwe... Nox turned south outside the city, sending the horse into a mad run. He had to warn them. 

The wind ripped through his hair. Why was she there? Had Erawan somehow turned her, or had she been working with him all along, and was pretending to fight against the demons? Or maybe she had been possessed somehow... but in that short glimpse he had had of her before he walked out, he had seen no stone torque around her neck. No matter, the alliance had to know. Before it was too late.

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Dorian watched while all the witches packed their belongings, when suddenly an eagles cry echoed above him. He looked up and found it circling above before tipping it's beak, diving towards the ground. 

The eagle halted it's descent right in front of him, then shone brightly, changing in to a brown haired Fae female with blue eyes specked with brown. She smiled kindly at him. «Are you King Dorian?» she asked with a melodic voice.

«Yes, that would be me.» he said, it must be news from Aelin and Rowan. He hoped they were on their way, considering that Erawan was planning something.

«Good, I was asked me to report to you the developments up north. They will be delayed by about three weeks, due to the coronation of Aelin Galathynius. But they are sending the Ashryver armada and Captain Rolfe's fleet to you as planned, the rest will follow King Rowan and Queen Aelin at a later time.» she said. «I'll be heading straight back to my King, is there anything you'd like me to relay?» 

He gave a merry laugh. «Glad to hear that she convinced the nobles to accept her.» he said. Then he proceeded to fill her in on everything they had learned so far, about Erawan's armada sailing in from the west and the relocation of the witches.

The fae female nodded then shifted and took to skies, flying back north. Dorian went to find Manon and Rhiannon to tell them what the female had told him.

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Nox jumped of the horse when he reached the army camped outside of Banjali. He turned to a random soldier closest to him. «I need to find Sam Cortland, do you know where he is?» he asked, while gulping air after the long and hard ride. The soldier just pointed in one direction, and Nox ran as fast as he could. Stopping regularly to get further directions along the way.

Then finally he spotted Sam's brown hair, standing with Lysandra, Wesley, a dark skinned woman and a fae male. They all looked very excited about something, they must have received some good news. «Sam!» he called out before he had reached them. The group turned to him as he closed the remaining distance, panting heavily.

«Nox! What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to meet in Rifthold.» Sam asked, visibly confused.

Lysandra took a step forward. «Let the man breath, Sam, can't you see that he's out of breath?» she put a hand on his shoulder. «Just take a deep breath, Nox, that'll help.»

He did, he took multiple breaths. «Ships, Erawan's ships are headed this way.» he said. «they are two weeks away, but that's not the worst part.»

«There's a worst part?» the dark skinned woman said. Nox nodded.

his heart beat rapidly in his chest. «I overheard part of a conversation, between Erawan and...» he swallowed hard, then glanced between the five people present. «Aelin. Aelin was meeting with him, and they were planning the attack on Eyllwe. She said she was looking forward to burning Banjali to the ground.» Everyone just stared at him opened mouth for a minute, not quite believing what he just said. He didn't blame, he had gone over it in his head a thousand times on the way down here. But it had been her, there was no doubt about that.

The dark skinned woman spoke up. «We just received news that she is to be crowned soon. How could she be in Morath now, while also being in Orynth at the same time?» she said, voiced brimming with confusion and disbelief. Sam, on the other hand, seemed like he was in deep thought. Then his eyes suddenly focused on Nox, with a look Nox could not read.

«Did she have the scar?» he asked, Nox blinked. «Was there a long scar on her left cheek, going from under the eye to her ear?»

Nox thought back to the moment he saw her, then slowly shook his head. «No, I don't think so.»

Sam cursed violently, then spun towards the fae male. «I need you to fly back right now, and stop by Rifthold and tell Dorian as well. Tell them that the older Aelin is here, they'll know what it means.» the fae male nodded, then turned to leave.

«Wait!» Nox said to the fae, then fished out the maps he had drawn of the inside of the keep. «Give these to King Dorian, they need them for the infiltration.»

The fae male took the maps, then shifted and flew away. 

«What do we do now?» Wesley asked. «From what Rowan told us in Antica, the older Aelin is next to unstoppable.» 

Sam stared up at the sky, and everyone waited for him to speak. «I'm not sure, but what if we find a way to stop her, before she reaches the city...» Nox watched as Sam sorted through whatever knowledge he had, and frankly Nox had no idea of what he was talking about.

«I can key a magical trap to her, using the wyrdmarks.» the dark skinned woman said. Sam looked at her.

«That could work, Nehemia, but that won't hold forever. I feel like there's something I've forgotten.» he cursed again. «Rowan told us a lot that day in Antica, and I can't remember all of it.» he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

«The healers.» Lysandra said from beside Nox. «He said something about the Valg being like parasites and that the healers found a way destroy them with healing magic.» 

«If they knew how to save her from the demon, then why didn't they do it then? Why travel through time to save her if they already knew how to?» Nehemia asked. No one said anything for a moment, pondering what Nehemia had said. 

«I guess only Rowan, Dorian and Manon know the answer to that, seeing as they are they once who remember exactly what happened.» Lysandra said slowly. «For now, we'll have to work with what we got and what we know. The Kaghan's armada is less than a week away, I can fly out to them while you prepare the trap for Aelin.» 

Sam nodded slowly. «Yes, you're right. We have a lot of work to do.» he met the eyes of everyone there, one after the other. «There's one thing I don't understand, though. When Rowan traveled through time, he landed in his present body, somehow molding into it or something. So why didn't the same thing happen to Aelin?»

«If we manage to capture the older Aelin, and purge the demon, then maybe she'll know the answer.» Nehemia said.

«Then let's capture ourselves a queen.» Sam said, and everyone around nodded in agreement, but not looking too optimistic about. After all, Dorian and Rowan, two very powerful magic wielders, were unable to do it. Nox gulped, this could end very badly for all of them if this didn't pan out.