Mother’s tits! What is the woman talking about? But the way Rhyann’s expression sharpened told Ashk that, while the words meant nothing to her, they were important.

“Yes,” Rhyann said after studying the stones. “But how to drive the Black Coats to that spot? Fighting isn’t enough. We need something they’ll run from without thinking, something they’ll fear in their hearts and react to.”

That she could answer. “The Wild Hunt.”

Selena and Rhyann looked at her thoughtfully. Varden nodded.

“The Wild Hunt?” Liam asked, sounding skeptical.

“It would be better if we had packs of shadows hounds—”

“We have them,” Gwynith said, hurrying back to them. “I was just talking to one of the Fae Lords. He said three Ladies of the Moon arrived at the camps just before the fog closed in last night. They came with their huntsmen—and their packs of shadow hounds.”

“If you want something humans will fear, Huntress, there’s your answer,” Ashk said.

Selena nodded. “Two arrows driving the Black Coats to those stones. One coming from the road, the other from this end of the rise. The human companies will take the middle of the field, coming down from the rise.”

“And the House of Gaian?” Liam asked.

“We have a different task.” Selena looked at Rhyann. “I’ll leave it to you to gather the Sons and Daughters.”

Rhyann nodded. “And I’ll gather what we’ll need.”

“Need for what?” Ashk asked.

Selena smiled coldly as she stared at the stones. “For justice…and for vengeance. I have no interest in the men who were commanded to fight, but the Black Coats, the barons, and the guard captains…I want them driven into those stones.”

Liam raked a hand through his hair. “The barons—”

Selena turned on him. “Show me a baron who did not order the death of a witch, and he is yours to deal with as you choose. But the others come to me.”

Liam stared at her as if he’d never seen her before. “What will you do with them?”

Selena’s smiled turn colder. “We’ll give them what they want.”

“Let’s move,” Ashk said. “The sun’s coming up, and the Black Coats will be forming their companies. We have to do the same.”

As she turned to go down the rise, she saw a huntsman galloping toward her.

“Hunter!” he yelled. “Hunter!”

“What is it?” Ashk demanded. “What’s wrong?”

“You have to come to the baron’s house. Lady Breanna says she has to speak with you right away.”

Breanna was at Liam’s house? She was relieved to hear Breanna was no longer lost in that horrible frozen retreat she’d sunk into yesterday, but…“Tell Breanna I’ll be there as soon as I can. We’ve a battle coming in a few hours and—”

“Hunter, you have to come now. And the Huntress, too.”