[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]
More than any other, that was a sobering thought. For a few seconds, I stared blankly at the camp below, barely daring to breathe. I had never faced something quite like this before, a realization of this level of magnitude. In some ways, even realizing that everything we’d ever known had come to an end wasn’t even as daunting as this.
We have to kill Orcus to stop him. We have to kill him today or tonight—by the end of this fight, he’ll have to be dead or we’ll never be safe. Never.
A chill shot down my spine.
Can I do that? If it were me against him, face to face, could I?
I didn’t have an answer.
A soft rustle behind me made me turn and look back, seeing Sif returning with Thordin, Phelan, Matt, and Hecate in tow. I exhaled quietly, more glad to see them than I’d ever been—somehow, their presence was a relief. I waved them forward, turning back toward the view below the rise.
Phelan was the one to settle immediately to my left, Matt and Hecate on my right. Thordin peered through the brush on the other side of Phelan, with Sif hanging back a little, her gaze roaming. I cleared my throat.
“There’s more than we thought,” I said, echoing what I’d said before to Sif.
Phelan nodded slowly. “There are. What are you thinking?”
“That we can still make this work,” I said. “That we have to make this work.”
He nodded again. “Agreed.”
“They’re spread out,” Matt muttered, frowning. “I didn’t expect that.”
“None of us could,” Thordin said. “We didn’t know exactly what his force was built with until now. The scouts couldn’t get close enough for a really good look.”
“It’s all right,” I said quietly. “I think I have a plan.”
