Kerrick drew a circle in the dirt with a stick. “The enemy is about a mile deep, but I’m sure Tohon has patrols going farther out. It’ll take the overland and underground teams the same amount of time to reach the Healer’s Guild, so that fourth day will be our action day.” He tapped the stick on his boot. “Do we want to strike at dusk or the middle of the night?”

“What’s the advantage of dusk?” I asked.

“It’s like catching them with their pants down,” Quain said.

“Not quite,” Loren said drily. “They’re settling down for the evening, eating supper, and washing up.”

“That’s what I said. And middle of the night means we have to be extraquiet—any sound is amplified.”

Loren leaned forward. “But the enemy is confused and disoriented from being woken. Plus the darkness will help hide us, which will work in our favor since our teams will be—”

“Tiny, petite, minuscule, infinitesimal.” Quain pinched his finger and thumb together.

“Mobile, fast, flexible,” Loren countered.

“The darkness can also make it hard for us to see,” Belen said.

“Unless the moon is bright,” Flea added.

“If it rains, we’ll have to wait until it stops. Hard to have flaming arrows in the rain.” Loren lined up an imaginary bow.

The discussion continued and everyone offered their opinions and advice.

In the end, Kerrick decided our course of action complete with contingencies in case it rained and set the time of attack to a few hours after midnight.

“The overland team will be led by me and consist of Flea, Belen, Sergeant Saul, and his squad. The underground team will be led by Avry and consist of the monkeys, Private Beau, and the rest of his squad. We’ll leave in the morning,” Kerrick said.

The others rushed off to gather supplies and prepare for the mission, leaving me alone with Kerrick. No cookouts tonight.

“Well, that was rather convenient,” I said.

He smiled. “Nice of the boys to clear out.”

But my mood soured thinking of Belen and the others. Had I just condemned them all to death? Or worse?

Kerrick brushed a hair from my face. “What’s wrong?”

“Quain has a point. Why don’t we just go hide until Ryne and his army catches up? He has plenty of personnel now and we’re a small force. It’s suicide.”

“No. It isn’t.” He turned so he faced me. Taking my hands in his, he met my gaze. “Trust me. This is exactly what we need to do. Okay?”

Understanding mixed with frustration. Kerrick hadn’t told me everything. He didn’t want Tohon to discover it through me. Smart.

“I trust you.”

“Good.” A slow smile spread on his face. “Besides, I’m feeling...energetic.”

“You shouldn’t waste your energy.”