Chapter 24 · The First King Piece

"You want the crown or the field?" Aldric didn't wait for me to answer. He swung off his horse and tossed the reins to one of his captains. "Choose fast. Council's got riders two hours out."

I was still catching my breath from the last valley. My legs shook. The numbers were gone—Virrak had made sure of that when he broke the lock—and now I had to fight the way everyone else did. Blind. Guessing. Following the screaming.

"I want both," I said.

Aldric laughed. It wasn't kind. "Then you're about to lose both."

His army was already spreading across the ridge. Three hundred men, maybe more, all of them moving like they'd done this a thousand times. My own people—sixty-eight soldiers, half of them limping—were still climbing the slope behind me. Virrak was somewhere in the middle, shouting orders I couldn't hear over the wind.

The field below was a mess. Two clans tearing each other apart over a supply route that ran straight through the center. Whoever held that route controlled the winter grain. Whoever controlled the grain owned the north.

Aldric stepped closer.