A familiar female voice startled me from my planning. Oh, no. I snuck a quick glance in the direction of the commanding tone. Jael. She walked with two priests. What was she doing here?

“Yes, I’m very excited the High Priestess is returning,” Jael said not sounding excited at all. “And I want to make sure all is well for my mother-in-law’s arrival.”

Murmurs of assurance from the priests. The desire to hide pulsed in my chest, but I remained in position to keep from attracting attention.

“Are all the penitents healthy?” Jael asked.

“Yes, General,” one of the priests said.

General, eh? With Estrid and her officers trapped and then frozen in stasis, I’d bet no message of Jael’s deceit had been sent to Chinska Mare. So this was where Jael’s been hiding. Smart, very smart. But now that Estrid was returning... What did that mean for Jael?

“Are they fed and bathed regularly?” Jael asked.

“Yes, General.”

“And this is where they pray all day?”

“From sunup to sundown.”

“I want to see their sleeping quarters, and then I’ll take a look at your schedules and the books.”

“Of course, General. Right this way.”

Their footsteps faded and I bit my lip. Jael’s presence complicated things. Big-time. Her powers could ruin all my plans. Or could it? She had told me she could only affect a dozen people at a time with her air magic. She would increase the danger, but we couldn’t stop now.

For the first time since I’d been in the monastery, the day flew by. After we returned to our towers, I explained everything to Fydelia. Her smile grew as I talked.

“No guarantee that this is going to work,” I said. “And now we have General Jael to worry about.”

“We’ll make it work,” she said. “I already have teams in each tower.”

“You do?”

“I told you, we’ve been training for a long time. And we’ll keep the attacks quiet.”

“You won’t have weapons until Sergeant Odd shows up with his men.”

“Not a problem. All the tower guards have are their reeds. I just could never figure out how to get past the next barrier without weapons.”

“I want to be a part of tower ten’s strike team,” I said.

She studied me. “Do you know hand-to-hand combat?”

“I have the hand-to-hand thing down. Don’t worry, I can hold my own.”

Fydelia didn’t appear to be convinced. I told her about my powers.

And for the first time since I’d known her, Fydelia looked rattled. “You’re that healer who helped Melina?”

“Yep.”

“You came to rescue her again?”

“Yep.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Apparently. But I promised her mother,” I fessed up. “Melina wouldn’t cooperate with my original plan, and she had an excellent reason. We can’t leave all of you.”

“Thank the creator.”