Taking The Battle To Them

Orion nodded.

“Exactly.”

Sophia looked at him for several moments before speaking.

“I understand what you’re saying, but why are we rushing?”

Orion frowned slightly.

“Why are we waiting?”

She blinked.

“What?”

He leaned back against the bed, his eyes remaining on hers.

“Do you want the enemy knocking on our front door, Shorty?”

“No.”

“Then why are we waiting for them to do exactly that?”

“We already have a meeting point. We know exactly where we’re supposed to intercept the Enclave army and take them down,” Sophia argued.

Orion nodded.

“That’s true.”

“So…”

“But what’s the probability that meeting point gets pushed back?”

The room became quiet.

Orion continued before anyone else could answer.

“What if they keep advancing? What if the battle doesn’t stay where we planned? What if they break through?”

Sophia immediately shook her head.

“We’ll do everything to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“I know,” Orion said, smiling faintly. “And I’m certain everyone here will do exactly that. But there are variables.”

His gaze swept across the room.

“In life, there are variables.”

He paused only long enough for the words to settle before continuing.

“In war… there are variables too.”

Orion turned back toward Sophia.

“In your visions, did you see anything that suggested Victoria knows we know about the war?”

Sophia thought carefully before answering.

“No.”

“Did you see anything suggesting she knows we’ve already started preparing?”

She shook her head again.

“No.”

A slow smile spread across Orion’s face.

“And that’s our advantage,” he said. Then he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Victoria believes she’s the one dictating the pace of this war. So why don’t we wake her up to reality?”

Lysander looked thoughtful before another concern crossed his face.

“What about the healers?” he asked. “The camp has already been established, brother.”

“It stays where it is,” Orion answered immediately.

Lysander frowned even deeper.

“But that wasn’t the original plan.”

“I know,” Orion replied to him.

“We chose that location because it would make it easier for the warriors to retrieve the injured and bring them back quickly. If we move the battlefield farther away, then the distance becomes greater.”

Orion nodded.

“It does.”

“And you don’t think that’s dangerous?” Lysander asked him.

Orion looked at him quietly before asking,

“You said the herbs that would be used in the device have been completed, right? The exact measurements too?” he asked.

“Yes,” Lysander replied.

Then Orion tilted his head slightly.

“Remind me, brother, what exactly are those herbs used for?”

“They’re first-response treatment.”

“So…”

Orion spread his hands.

“They’re meant to stabilize injured warriors before they ever reach the healers.”

“Yes.”

“They reduce bleeding.”

“Yes.”

“They buy time.”

“Yes.”

Orion nodded once.

“Then do you have so little faith in the herbs you spent days creating that simply adding a little more distance suddenly makes them useless?”

Lysander opened his mouth to argue and then closed it again.

A faint sigh escaped him.

“I know they’ll work,” he admitted.

“Then what’s the issue, brother?”

Lysander rubbed the back of his neck.

“…This wasn’t the plan,” he said. “Don’t you think this is risky?”

Orion turned toward Brynhild then.

“Do you think this is risky?”

Brynhild remained silent for several moments. She considered everything carefully before finally answering.

“War is about risk. Our lives right now are us taking risks, and sometimes the risks are what actually save us. So… yes, it’s risky, but it’s no different from every other risk we’ve taken. It pushes things forward, yes, but we can cope with it.”

“The warriors assigned to transport the injured are among the fastest in the pack,” she said, her gaze in Lysander’s direction. “They’re almost as fast as Sam. We also already have contingency plans in place to reduce casualties.”

Orion nodded approvingly.

“Exactly,” he said. “To be honest, what I actually want is for us to draw the Enclave exactly where we want them.”

Ronan frowned.

“What about the blizzard?”

“It happens in two days, right?” Orion asked him.

Ronan nodded.

“According to Paula, yes.”

“Then we’ll use it. We are not changing the plan that involves using the blizzard to our advantage. We’ll lead the Enclave warriors to a point where we can put this plan into action.”

Silence followed for several moments before Orion asked another question.

“Which reminds me, have we sent scouts at all? Shorty’s visions may tell us a lot, but we can’t only rely on her. And besides, if the Enclave is so close to us, I’m certain they’ll send scouts toward us too.”

“Ethan already left,” Brynhild told him. “He took a small group with him yesterday. They should begin sending reports soon.”

Orion nodded at that.

“Are there still any warriors training in the heart of Nirvana?” he asked.

“No,” Ronan answered. “We stopped sending them after the last batch. Everyone is training in the pack now.”

Orion smiled, then stood up from the bed.

“We still have a little to do, but we’ve done most of the preparations. Also, today is the last day we train. Tonight we rest, and tomorrow we attack the Enclave,” he told them.

“What about Ethan?” Sophia asked.

“I don’t doubt we’ll get information from him before the end of today,” he said to her.

Then Orion took a look at each of them.

“I know I don’t say this a lot, but I appreciate having you guys. Even when I was unconscious, you all did everything you could to make things move forward,” he told them.

“Well, I accept the thanks,” Caspian said with a laugh.

“Me too,” Daniel said, laughing. “You should learn from Orion, son,” he said to Ronan.

Ronan rolled his eyes even though his lips twitched.

Just then, Raina made a sound, and every laugh stopped as they all watched to see if she would wake up.

Sophia whispered softly to her, and she settled back into sleeping peacefully.