“And how many warriors do we have?”
“Soldiers?”
Elea nodded. “Yes.”
“Three hundred trained professionals.”
She tried not to show the disappointment on her face. “And how many volunteers?”
“Close to three thousand.”
Nora whistled and twirled a small dagger between her fingers. “Not great odds.”
“Perhaps more will come,” Laird Donnelly said.
Even if more serfs joined the fight, they would still be overwhelmingly outmatched and undertrained.
Nora stabbed the table with her dagger. “We need to get all of our fighters inside the city walls and begin shoring up the gate.”
“First, we need to clear anyone from the city who can’t fight,” Matteo said. “They will need to get a safe distance away in case we fail.”
Elea looked at Nora, who nodded. “Very well. Laird Donnelly, I will put you in charge of clearing the city of anyone who cannot hold a weapon.”
He placed his fist on his heart and bowed his head to her.
Every eye in the room was on Elea. Waiting for her to lead. Expecting her to be their queen. But the last battle she’d led, everyone who’d followed her had died.
Gerard broke the silence. “I had a vision in the night. I need to take an Urkan ship to stop the Kaulish Navy from attacking the capital.”
Laird Donnelly nodded. “That can also be arranged.”
He was leaving when she needed him the most. She swallowed heavily. “Did you have any insight on our battle? What we should do?”
Gerard lowered his chin and shook his head. “Nothing, Your Majesty. I do not choose what I see.”
Elea sighed. “We will clear the city, bring in all of our fighters, and shore up the main gate. Queen Nora, do you have a strategy for the battle itself?”
Nora looked at her strangely, but after a pause, she spoke. “Each professional soldier will be a captain over a company of ten to fifteen volunteers. We will need the best gunners on the city wall to snipe as many as they can.”
“I am pretty good with the bow,” Elea said. “Is there a place where you would like me to be?”
“No,” Nora said flatly. “Arrows will not be of use against bullets. And you are our queen. You need to stay in the castle with Grandmother. In the keep, where it is the safest. We’ll leave five hundred fighters with you as a last defense, in case Laird Lochdon breaches not only the city but the castle itself.”
Elea couldn’t help but feel discouraged. Her cousin thought that she was useless in battle. Maybe she was. “Very well,” she said, turning to Laird Donnelly and the other soldiers. “My cousin will lead the battle; please do everything that she says.”
They bowed to her and then stood up. Nora and Matteo were the first to leave the room. One by one, everyone left except herself and Gerard, who was still holding her hand.
He stood up. “I didn’t see the battle, but I did see you.”
Elea got to her feet. “What?”
“I saw a vision of you standing on the highest tower of Donnelly Castle,” he said softly. “And you shone like the sun, and there was blood running down your arm as it was lifted to the sky.”
“Why didn’t you tell the council?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know what it meant. Or what you are supposed to do. I thought perhaps you already knew from your visit with Eimhir.”
“Eimhir didn’t mention any turrets.” Elea felt her color rise as she forced herself to look him in the eye. “I was hoping that you had a vision of us—together. In the future. After the battle is over.”