“As long as the House of Gaian rules the Mother’s Hills, there will be witches. As long as there are witches, there will be vessels to embrace and channel the Great Mother’s power and breathe magic into the world. As long as there is magic in Sylvalan, there will be the Small Folk—and the Fae. So, yes, once he realizes those hills are the wellspring of magic in Sylvalan because of who rules there, he’ll throw everything he can at those witches until he destroys them—or until he and those who follow him are destroyed. And Liam, and the people of Willowsbrook, are standing squarely in his path.”

Neall leaned closer to the map. “Those hills cover a lot of land, and I doubt the eastern barons can gather enough men to form an army big enough to take them.”

“If the Inquisitors control the barons of Wolfram and Arktos, and it seems likely they do, they can gather an army that’s strong enough to be a real threat,” Padrick said.

“If they divide the army and have half swing below the hills to come up on the other side, they’ll be attacking from both directions,” Neall said.

“So we block the way,” Ashk said. “Follow the curve of the hills to the south and north. If the barons who rule the counties there will stand against the Inquisitors with the help of the Clans in those areas, there would be no threat to the midlands or the western side of the hills, so the midland barons could send warriors to defend the gaps.”

“Assuming you can get enough of the Fae to help,” Aiden said with a trace of bitterness.

“If they want to spend time in the world, they can help defend the world,” Ashk said coldly.

An uneasy silence settled around the table until Padrick finally cleared his throat. “There might be another problem with the Fae’s presence in those southern counties. I’ve gathered that their…manners…haven’t made the humans think well of them. The barons may not accept the Fae being among their people.”

“They’d better accept it if they don’t want to be outnumbered and crushed in a battle,” Ashk snapped. Then she relented. She’d heard enough over the years about how the Fae dealt with humans in other parts of Sylvalan to understand why the humans wouldn’t trust the Fae, even to fight a common enemy. “All right. We’ll head for the southern end of the Mother’s Hills first to convince the barons there to accept us as allies. Letters from you might ease things.”

“You’ll have them.”