"Well," Mitchell said with a heavy sigh. "What do you think? I don't expect I will have any trouble getting you in, but we'll likely have every soldier after us as soon as they realize what we've done."

Allora and Lethelin sat on the bed and stared at him for several seconds as the weight of the situation settled onto their shoulders. It was Lethelin who broke the silence first.

"Balls and bloody fucking taint," she said. "Nothing ever goes easy."

"No," Mitchell agreed. "No, it doesn't."

He turned his attention to Allora whose brows were knit together as they often were when she was deep in thought.

"Will the shield go down immediately?" she finally asked.

"Awen is not sure," he told her. "She suspects it will flicker and begin to weaken at random points around the dome as the spell tries to reassert itself and the gemstones channeling the mana begin to fail at random. It could be as little as a couple of minutes, to maybe up to a half an hour before it collapses entirely."

"That is good news, then," she told him.

"How do you figure?" Lethelin asked. "Once they see the shield start to collapse, they'll drop everything and head right for us. Even with Gilriel and her squad, we won't be able to stop them."

"Once Mitchell is on the throne, it will not matter."

"Okay, about that," Mitchell cut in. "I know it's supposed to envelop me somehow, but what then?"

"My apologies, you are right. I should have told you weeks ago, but there always seemed to be a more important topic to discuss. It is not that complicated, however. The throne is not made of metal, or wood, it is made of pure onyx. It was grown by Awen in her geode and is a living part of her."

"I thought that was a myth," Lethelin said. "That would be worth the price of a kingdom alone."

"It is no myth," she told the thief before looking back to Mitchell. "Once you sit in the throne and you are ensconced within, her power will flow into you. It has made your body strong enough to withstand the transfer. Once it is complete, everything will be amplified."

"More than I already have been?"

Allora nodded.

"But it is more than that. You will be able to connect with Awen more directly and, through her, to the land itself. You will be able to feel it. I do not know how it is done, but you will sense the land in a similar way to her, if you try. In the past, this is how the monarchs were able to aid in the defense of the kingdom and what made it so difficult to attack us. You will be able to feel where troops are. You can direct your commanders. It would be impossible to move large forces of enemy soldiers through our territory without you sensing it. Working with Awen, you would even be able to bend the land to its own defense in some limited ways."

Mitchell was stunned by that revelation. Such knowledge could make his forces almost unbeatable. To always know where the enemy's troops were, to always be ready to meet them, to never be caught off guard by troop movements or where they were gathered for an attack? It started to make sense to him now why, after Iletish was defeated, none of the other seven kingdoms ever tried to attack again. They would literally have nowhere to hide, their every movement would be felt.

"But there is a more immediate benefit," she told him, breaking through his thoughts.

"What's that?"

"Once the full bonding is complete, you will be able to activate the palace defenses."

"If the palace has such good defenses, how were they able to take it the first time?" Lethelin asked, almost demanding.

"Because of how they struck," she said. "The monarch must be on the throne to use these powers. It connects them to the palace. Milandris's forces attacked late at night. They worked through spies, snuck soldiers in disguised as workers, servants, laborers, delivery people. Baylor was not on the throne and we had no warning. He was killed before he ever made it out of his quarters."

"Wait, so all of that exact stuff has to be done from the throne?" Mitchell asked.

"Your physical and magical improvements will be a part of you," Allora explained. "But your access to the knowledge of the land, your ability to work with Awen to devise strategies for how to use it to our advantage, and – in this case – control the palace defenses, must be done while you are sitting on the throne."

That revelation destroyed Mitchell's hopes of being a general that led from the front. If he wanted to have maximum advantage, he would have to somehow coordinate from Lorivin. He wasn't sure he was comfortable with that. Then a thought occurred to him. He reached out to Awen.

"I thought you could already alter the land," he asked her. "Why do I need to be in the chair for you to do that?"

"My power works slowly," she said, and Mitchell could almost detect a note of frustration in her voice. "The collapse of the cliff I told you about before, do you remember it?"

"Yes."

"It took several weeks of preparation. I had to direct roots go grow in such a way as would weaken the rocks. I had to try and channel ground water up from deep below the earth to weaken the base. And I had to time it such that it would only collapse when his casters were passing by. I identified the route his reinforcements most often traveled and was able to plan accordingly. My power does not work the same as yours, but by combining our two different kinds of magic, we can aid each other."

"So, what will I be able to do when we are joined?"

"Channeling your mana through the throne and into me will allow me to harness those forces directly. I can use your mana to effect things much faster. Instead of taking a month to saturate the soil beneath where his soldiers are camped it could be done in a day. But even that is limited by how much mana you can provide."

Mitchell took a moment to process that while the girls waited. They had learned to recognize when he was in conversation with Awen and waited patiently, knowing he would tell them when he was done.

"Okay, I think I understand," he told her, and broke the connection.

Once he was done explaining what he had learned Mitchell asked about the palace defense.

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"There are several layers, but perhaps the most formidable will be the Guardians on the walls, and the Defenders within."

"Falen told me about those," Mitchell said with interest. "He said they were supposed to protect the palace if it came under attack but it sounded like he didn't believe it. Especially since they hadn't activated during the coup two years ago. But if they only work if the monarch is on the throne…"

"They have not been activated since the war with Iletish centuries ago. Many people probably assume that it is just a legend at this point. But they will answer the monarch's call."

Mitchell tried to imagine a small army of 15-20ft stone golems marching under his orders. The idea almost made him giddy.

"And what are the Defenders?" he asked.

"They are smaller statues throughout the palace and the grounds. They function much the same way as the Guardians do, but they are less powerful. Still, there are more of them. And there are offensive and defensive runes all through the palace that can be activated from the throne to strike at enemies if they manage to breach the walls."

"That sounds amazing," Lethelin said, a note of awe in her voice.

"It is. Much of the improvements were made after the war with Iletish and, even though they have never been utilized as we never faced invasion again, the protections were always maintained. Every knight in the academy spends time learning about them and even how to maintain some of the more basic ones should repairs be necessary. They are our last line of defense."

"So, as long as I can get to the throne and complete the bond, we'll be okay?"

Allora nodded.

"In theory, anyway. We will still have to hold the great hall, where the throne is located, while you are being fully bonded with Awen. If we are overrun, they could destroy the throne while you are in the midst of the transfer and it would likely kill you."

"No pressure, then?" Mitchell asked sardonically. "How long does it usually take?"

"I do not know. It will depend on you, I think. On how quickly you can withstand the bonding process and if you are able to recover quickly enough after to be of use to us. I—"

Just then, there was a light knock on the door of the basement where they were sitting.

"Enter," Mitchell said, looking behind him to the door.

It opened slowly and Mitchell saw small fingers curl around the door and then a small girl with glistening honey-blonde hair the color of a Kansas wheat field followed soon after. The girl's wide, sparkling hazel eyes took in the room nervously until she spotted Lethelin.

"Your package has arrived, Miss Leth. Miss Cenedra said I should bring it to you."

Mitchell and Allora both looked to Lethelin who shrugged.

"What? I needed some things."

The thief waved the girl in.

"Come meet my friends, Eraphys."

The young girl stepped into the room, closing the door behind her, and Mitchell got a proper look at her. She was tall for her age, and she had the kind of fresh-face that would blossom into beauty when she was older. Her eyes were large and expressive and glittered in that way that Mitchell now understood was unique to people who were half human and half elf. Falen's blue eyes had the same quality, and so did this girl. Her body was a little gangly, but he thought that, if he gave her a few years, she would likely be as tall as Allora, or nearly so.

She looked nervously at Mitchell, but stood tall and met his gaze, giving him a small bow. Then she looked at Allora and some of the color drained from her face, but again she bowed slightly.

"Eraphys, this is Mitchell and this is Allora."

"Stollar's blessings on you, my lord Mitchell. And on you, my lady Allora."

Allora raised one dark eyebrow and looked at the thief.

"She is quite well-mannered. What is she doing with you?"

The tone was lofty, but the small grin on Allora's face was playful.

"I just haven't beat it out of her yet," Lethelin said.

The girl sucked in a breath but didn't comment.

"Oh, relax, silly girl. No one is going to beat you. I was just joking. Let me see what you brought."

"Yes, Miss Leth."

The girl stepped forward and held out a small package wrapped in a coarse-looking brown paper and tied securely with twine.

"Is Cenedra keeping you busy upstairs?" Lethelin asked her, as she pulled a tiny knife from somewhere on her person and cut the twine. Then she slid the edge along the paper and pulled the wrapping off, revealing a dark lacquered box with a two crossed tridents burned into the grain.

"Yes, Miss Leth," Eraphys nodded, staring at the box curiously. "I am helping the staff prepare the common room for meals. Everyone is very nice."

"You're looking much better now after a bath, I see. How are the scratches?"

Eraphys held out her arms and pulled back the sleeves of the simple cotton shirt she wore. Mitchell could see several small scratches and bite marks that were scabbed over, and others that had the rosy color of new flesh.

"The cream that Miss Cenedra gave me is helping a lot," the girl said with a smile. "They don't even itch anymore."

"Good," Lethelin said, before patting the bed next to her. "Come sit, I want to show you something."

Eraphys glanced at Mitchell and then at Allora, who was sitting on the bed also, but did as she was asked, sitting with a little bounce on the mattress between the two women.

With care, Lethelin slid the lid of the lacquered box open, revealing a small collection of several small vials, as well as a some pouches and what almost looked like a small chemistry set that had been disassembled and nestled into the box. Eraphys's liquid eyes widened at the site.

"This is a standard poisoner's kit," Lethelin explained. "Although I have asked for a few specialty items."

"Lethelin," Allora hissed at the revelation. "Is that the proper thing to be showing to a young girl?"

The assassin looked up at the knight.

"The girl can't go into her father's trade now, and she needs a new one. It might as well be this one. She's my first recruit."

"Your what?"

It was then that Mitchell realized that, in all the commotion of the last several days, he had never explained what Lethelin's role would be if they pulled this off.

"I'll explain later," Mitchell told Allora quickly.

Allora looked at him hard, as if she could extract the information from his brain through the power of her glare alone, but she didn't challenge him.

"This," Lethelin continued, pulling a black vial from among the collection, "is skitterback blood. Never, ever open this in the sunlight unless you have decided that you don't want your fingers anymore. But..." Lethelin paused, searching among the vials and checking labels until she found the one she wanted, "if you mix it with fire drake blood, two-to-one, and place it inside a glass arrowhead, do you know what you get?"

Eraphys wobbled her head, eyes alight and eager.

"No, Miss Leth."

"You get an explosive arrowhead that will blow a hole the size of a orc's hand in plate armor and into the body beyond it. It won't work in the dark though. Needs to be outside in the sunlight. Only use black glass or obsidian arrowheads for it. Anything else and they will blow up in your hand as soon as the sunlight hits it. Understand?"

Eraphys nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, Miss Leth."

"Good. That's your lesson for today. Do what Cenedra of her staff tells you and I'll teach you more tomorrow. Now, scoot. Back to work with you, or I'll have that hand. My shadow cat hasn't had little girl meat in awhile and he's been bothering me for another treat. Don't give me a reason."

Eraphys giggled and Allora nearly choked.

"Yes, Miss Leth,"

Then she hopped off the bed, gave a small bow to Mitchell and Allora, and hurried out of the room.

Lethelin got up, cradling the large box, and went over to the writing desk, shooing Mitchell out of the chair so she could use it.

"Where did you get that?" Mitchell asked her as she settled in and started taking out various different bottles and erecting the little chemistry set.

"I asked Falen to get it for me. Mine is in Varset. There are some things I want if we're going into battle."

Allora stepped up beside Mitchell, watching the thief work.

"Is it safe to be in here while you do that?"

Lethelin paused as she was screwing together a stand of some sort.

"Actually, maybe I should see if Cenedra has an open room upstairs. Something with a window. Since you can't leave the room, it might be better if I go up there."

Lethelin gave a bashful grin, and began to pack everything back up. Another knock came at the door then. Mitchell walked over and opened it to find Cenedra.

"It's started," the woman said. "Reports are beginning to filter in. The watch is going crazy."

"See," Mitchell said to Allora. "I told you it would work."

Allora grinned.

"But how did you know?" she asked him in return.

"It happens all the time on my world. Whenever someone famous is wanted by the po—by the watch, people call in tips all day, saying they saw them at a restaurant, or in a park, or in a market. And the watch have to chase down each one. It's even worse when there is a big reward offered. Falen's people have spread all throughout the city and they're reporting sightings of you at every opportunity. The authorities are going to be run ragged, exhausted, and numb by this time tomorrow. The angrier they get, the more likely they are to lash out at the people. That will stoke resentment in the city and make them eager to push back. Then the real fun begins."

Allora laughed and kissed him on the cheek.

"Have I told you how sexy you are when you're clever, my lord?"

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