Chapter 32 - War at Dawn
Jace looked at the army below.
Then at me.
"Any terrible ideas?"
"Several."
Mira said, "Give me to him."
Both of us said no.
She glared.
"It is my life."
"Exactly," I said. "So you decide after we give you options. Not before."
We had six hours.
Iron Lotus had twelve hundred combat disciples.
Golden Court had ten thousand.
So we did not prepare for war.
We prepared for embarrassment.
Jace opened every formation gate.
Rook arrived with Blackwater smugglers.
Fen spread copies of the harvested-root records through the valley.
Mira recorded a message naming Golden Court officials who had helped Veyr imprison her.
I climbed the mountain peak and waited for Heaven's Debt to notice me.
At sunrise, Lord Sen ordered the attack.
I activated Meridian Bite on the storm ward above Iron Lotus.
The sky opened.
My accumulated tribulation arrived.
Not one bolt.
Hundreds.
Golden Court's front line stopped.
I pointed downhill.
"Sorry," I told Heaven. "Wrong address."
Lightning hit the army.
The Court scattered.
Iron Lotus cheered.
Mira did not.
She stared at the center of the storm.
A golden chariot descended through the lightning untouched.
Lord Sen stood on it.
Beside him was a woman wearing my mother's broken-halo mark.
Fen whispered, "That's impossible."
The woman smiled at me.
May you like
"Hello, little brother."
