Even Gods Must Fall Read Free

to live with his decisions.”
    “I don’t know, Ingrid. That sounds like a lot of speculation. What is your reasoning?”
    She paused. A warm grin spread across her face. “The princess.”
    “Maleela? What about her? No one has heard from her since the Wolfsreik left for the invasion of Rogscroft.”
    “Precisely. My gut tells me she is an integral player in all of this. Could Bahr be heading west to find her?” Ingrid’s eyes shone with fresh ideas. The princess of Delranan might well be the answer to all of their problems.
    “More likely off to confront his brother,” Orlek concluded. “Badron’s never cared for his daughter. I think you overstate her importance.”
    “Possibly, but we have to keep that option open. Orlek, I think we need to start driving east. Catch up to Bahr if we can.”
    His eyes widened in shock. “To what end? You’ve seen his group. A Giant, Dwarf, wizard, and Gaimosian? That’s no meeting I want any part of. If Lord Death is stalking Delranan that group is heading straight for him.”
    “Harnin will assume the same and move to stop Bahr. There’s no love lost between those two. We can use that distraction to slip back into Chadra, seal off the Keep, and bring the One Eye to his knees.”
    Orlek wasn’t convinced. “You’re forgetting those five thousand soldiers roaming the kingdom. What about them?”
    “We’ve already bloodied their noses in the west. Harnin’s lost significant supplies, weapons, and manpower. Orlek, this is the only chance we’re going to have.”
    “We abandoned Chadra to change the war,” he said.
    Ingrid nodded. “Now it’s time to change it again. We need to move into the end phase of the rebellion. Delranan can’t sustain the kind of warfare it’s been subsumed with. How many more sons and daughters are there to throw into the flames? This is our chance, Orlek. We can break Harnin. Argis is gone. Jarrik killed himself. The others haven’t been seen or heard from since Badron left. Only Skaning remains and his focus is moving east. We have to presume he’s chasing Bahr and forgetting about us.”
    The decision to return to what little remained of Delranan’s capital wasn’t easy to make. Ghosts haunted the streets, worsened by the plague. Still, Orlek reluctantly admitted Ingrid’s plans bore at least a little measure of merit. Bahr’s return was no secret and Harnin would be frothing at the mouth to get his claws on the king’s brother. Orlek’s only issue was the rebellion lacked up-to-date intelligence on what was happening in the east.
    Speculation of Badron’s return continued to circle the campfires nightly but without confirmation Ingrid couldn’t react accordingly. Orlek knew the rebellion teetered on a constant edge. All it would take to push it too far beyond the recoverable line was one fell move. They needed to get back in the fight before idle minds bled them all dry. Reluctantly he began to follow Ingrid’s thinking.
    “If we can do this, if, we could bring the war to an end before summer,” Orlek spoke slowly.
    “We can,” she affirmed.
    He forced a grin. “If, we’re going to have to push scouts forward immediately. We can’t march on Chadra without knowing what we’re getting into.”
    She resisted the urge to rush forward and hug him. Her personal feelings continued to strengthen towards the normally stoic warrior. Love was forming, but she couldn’t allow any more than a passing thought until the rebellion reached its destined conclusion. She’d already lost one husband, the pain of going through it all over again frightened her more than any other aspect of this war.
    “Summon Harlan. We need to begin drawing up plans. Our forces need to find a convergence point a day’s walk from the city,” she ordered.
    Orlek agreed. “I’ll push out scouts in the morning. Moving against Harnin blindly turns my stomach.”
    * * * * *
    Lord Skaning peered intently through his spy glass. He closed it just as fast,