The Blackwood in daylight was a cathedral of shadows.
Sunlight struggled through the thick canopy, casting dappled, shifting patterns on the forest floor. The air was cool, smelling of damp earth and pine.
Noella stood in the center of the narrow road that cut through the woods. It was little more than a dirt track, worn down by cart wheels and marching boots.
She looked to the east, the direction from which the army would come. The road descended into a gentle valley here, flanked on both sides by steep, wooded slopes.
Perfect.
"Here," she said, her voice echoing softly in the quiet. "This is the primary engagement zone."
Volsei stood beside her, his eyes scanning the tree line. "The slope gives us high ground. The curve in the road limits their sight lines. They'll be bunched up."
"Exactly."
She knelt, brushing away pine needles to reveal the soil. It was soft. Good for digging.
"We'll bury the main charges here, in the roadbed itself. Triggered by pressure plates made from wagon planks. The first rank of infantry will set them off."
She pointed to the left slope. "Volsei, you'll be positioned there. You have the clearest line of sight to the command group. Your first priority is the chanters. Can you identify them from a distance?"
"They'll be in the center, near the officers. Wearing grey robes, not armor. They'll have a… glow. To my eyes. A concentration of soul-energy."
"Good. The moment the charges detonate, you target them. Before they can form a chorus."
He nodded.
Noella stood, brushing dirt from her hands. "Kael and the volunteers will be on the opposite slope. Their job is not to engage directly. They'll use slingshots and thrown weapons to launch secondary incendiaries into the rear lines. Create panic. Break cohesion."
She walked a few paces down the road. "We'll also string tripwires at chest height further back. Thin, strong wire. It won't stop them, but it will slow them, make them cautious. Fear of the unseen is a powerful weapon."
Volsei watched her. She moved with a focused energy he'd never seen in anyone. Not the frenzy of battle, but the precision of a master clockmaker.
"You've done this before," he stated.
"In theory. On paper. The equations are sound." She met his gaze. "The variables are the men. Their discipline. Their reaction time. Our own people's nerve."
"They'll hold," Volsei said. It wasn't a guess. It was an observation. "They're afraid of the army. But they're more afraid of you."
Noella didn't flinch. She accepted the truth of it. Fear was a tool.
They spent the next two hours marking positions. Noella used strips of red cloth to tag spots for charge burial, white cloth for the volunteer positions.
Rylan and the other five volunteers arrived in the afternoon, led by Kael. They carried shovels, bundles of wire, and heavy sacks containing Noella's carefully prepared black powder charges, each sealed in waxed leather.
The boy, Rylan, looked pale but determined.
"Your Highness. Sir. We're ready."
Noella handed him a shovel. "Start here. Dig a hole two feet deep, three feet wide. Be careful. The package is stable, but don't strike it with the blade."
"Yes, ma'am."
The work began. The sound of digging was the only noise in the forest.
Noella supervised each placement herself. She inspected the pressure plates, calibrated the trigger mechanisms—simple lever-and-flint devices she had designed.
It was crude, but it would work. Physics was reliable.
As the sun began to set, casting long, sinister shadows through the trees, the final charge was buried and camoupered.
The kill zone was set.
Six large charges in the road. A web of tripwires fifty yards back. Positions for the volunteers on the slope.
A trap for an army.
The group gathered at the western edge of the zone. The volunteers were sweating, covered in dirt, their eyes wide with a mix of exhaustion and awe.
"Remember your roles," Noella said, her voice cutting through the twilight. "You do not engage in melee. You launch your projectiles on my signal—a single whistle. Then you retreat along the marked path back to the secondary rally point. Your job is to survive. To fight another day."
They nodded, a silent, grim battalion.
"Dismissed. Get back to the castle. Eat. Rest. We move into final positions tomorrow night."
Kael led them away, melting into the darkening woods.
Noella and Volsei remained.
The forest was settling into night sounds. An owl hooted. Something rustled in the undergrowth.
"They'll be here in two days," Volsei said quietly.
"I know."
She looked at the dark shape of the road. In her mind's eye, she saw it filled with soldiers. Heard the blast. Saw the chaos.
A cold knot tightened in her stomach. Not fear of death. Fear of miscalculation.
"What if it's not enough?" The question slipped out, uncharacteristically vulnerable.
Volsei was silent for a moment. "Then I will cut until it is enough."
He said it with such absolute, unshakable certainty that the knot in her stomach loosened, just a fraction.
She turned to look at him. In the failing light, his face was all sharp angles and shadows. But his eyes held hers.
"Thank you," she said.
"For what?"
"For not lying. For not saying it will be easy."
A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched his lips. "Easy is boring."
A shared beat of understanding passed between them.
"We should return," Noella said, the moment breaking. "Final checks tomorrow. Then we wait."
They turned and walked back through the Blackwood, side by side.
Behind them, the forest held its breath.
And the road waited, hungry.