[Rock]Prince Rosario pushed to the front of the group. He placed himself right between his sister and me. I didn’t know if he did this to protect her or me.“I’m going to kill them,” Queen Ivy seethed.About two dozen warriors of different species appeared behind her. The attention of every troll in the fort was now on her. We weren’t easily killed, and she had to know that number wouldn’t win against almost sixty full trolls.“Ivy, what are you doing here?” Prince Rosario said, holding his hands out as if trying to get her to stop. Which was funny because she wasn’t moving.“This group is going after that cult, correct?” she growled.“Ewan?” he asked.She gave a brief nod and, for a moment, I thought I saw her entire face soften as if she was going to cry. As quickly as it came, it left. Queen Ivy looked like a warrior out for blood. I understood how she felt.“Did they tell you the cult was interested in him?” I asked her.Her eyes went from her brother to me. There was a fine tremble in her lips before she tightened them into a firm line. Her grip on her swords intensified.“Only that they had asked about him. Not that they might steal him from me.”It wasn’t prejudice. Queen Maeve hadn’t even seen fit to tell her daughter about it. I would have thought they would consider Ivy an ally in this investigation, but it looked like they didn’t. Most likely because it was affecting the human-involved communities more than the hidden forest village.I was seeing where my anger had caused me to believe some unfair things about our leaders. That didn’t mean I would leave this momentum alone. Carmen was being held by the cult, and I had no idea what they were planning to do with her. Now they had Queen Ivy’s mate as well.Moving around Prince Rosario, I put my hand out to Queen Ivy. She looked at my hand and sheathed her swords.“I met your mate when I was visiting the seers with Carmen. He is a good man and it would honor us to have you fighting beside us, Queen Ivy,” I said.She reached out and gripped my wrist as best she could with her little hand. I wrapped my fingers around her wrist and forearm. Queen Ivy thumped her chest like a troll and I repeated the action. The trolls behind us started stomping. I let go of her arm and turned to Prince Rosario.When I reached my hand to him, he seemed as surprised as his sister did, but took my arm, as his sister had. Grunts and growls accompanied the stomping. I went to Harmony and put out my hand. It was clear she could feel the hype building.With a grin, she accepted it and thumped her chest enthusiastically, accompanying it with a howl. Gray, Cam, and the rogues from my crew howled with her, and the trolls roared. The people who weren’t trolls made noise by beating their weapons together in time to the stomps and vocalizations. Some roared, others howled, still others growled and grunted.The hype was building when Echo and Rhett returned. They looked startled for a moment. Echo went over and kissed her sister, Cam, and Gray on the cheek. She knew she wasn’t part of this and disappeared shortly after.Rhett turned slowly and took in the scene around him. I made my way over to where he stood and held out my hand to him. Rhett flinched for a moment, then realized I wasn’t going to hit him. He reached out to take my hand.I grabbed his hand and moved it to my wrist, then gripped his wrist and forearm before thumping my chest with my other hand. Rhett looked at me, then at the surrounding people. He seemed unsure but thumped his chest.The feeling that filled the meadow burst over all of us. Our people were ready to go fight. They were excited for it.“Do you have the map?” I asked.Rhett reached into his coat and pulled out a paper. He handed it to me and I carefully opened it, looking over what Dolly had drawn.Keeping in mind what Carmen told me about the caves, I could identify which chambers were occupied by which people. I took the paper over to Queen Ivy and Prince Rosario.“This is the entrance to the cave system, the main one. I think this is where the trolls should enter. Smaller beings can access the rest of these. This one, near the cavern of vampires, is going to be pretty small. I think the dark elves and smaller fae should go in that way.“Here is an entrance that will be closer to human-sized. All other human-sized beings should come in that way, except for Harmony. I want her to come in with the trolls. She’s going to use her magic to stop the earth witches from freezing us,” I explained.“How do you know that this entrance will be human-sized?” Rosario asked.“It’s the nature of goblins. There will always be three entrances. The primary, which is usually more obvious and natural. The escape, which will be goblin-sized. And the trap, which will look interesting to humans in order to lure them in. Humans can’t resist exploring things that look like they shouldn’t.”“You didn’t know that?” Ivy scoffed at Rosario.“I’m only nineteen! I don’t know everything about every species of fae that exists, Ivy.” He scowled at her.She reached out and mussed his hair. It was a very sibling-like interaction. It made me wish my brothers were with us. If they were backing me up, I felt like I could win.I turned to my friends, who were keeping the crowd excited about the fight. Looking back at the elves, I felt more sure about what we were doing. We would succeed.“We need to get this information to Mother, Trent, and Victor. We don’t know what we’re going to find in there. They might take longer getting their forces ready to go. Having a second and third wave would be a good idea. We need to overwhelm these people and make certain we save the captives and the spies.“Even though our force is formidable, we will need a lot more to fight a demon. Our hero is using magic. If the Templar could draw his blade, we wouldn’t need so much, but he can’t. There are creatures we have never dealt with before. Goddess only knows what powers this demon has. None of us are truly equipped for this fight, no matter how strong we are,” Queen Ivy told me.“Then why are you here? Why do you want to go with us?” I asked.“They took my mate. When we were told it was a demon, I said we should contact the humans who took care of these things. This is only our fight when it comes to Oberon. Mother and the others started excluding me after that.“When they found a Templar, I urged them, again, to have him contact the leaders of his people. Again, they disagreed, this time for the comfort of the Templar. As if his comfort means more than our safety.“They didn’t tell me the extent of the cult’s interest in my mate. They didn’t take my advice on dealing with the witch coven, who has been neglecting their duties as our allies. None of them know what they’re doing and this alliance is only making them waffle more,” she replied angrily.“They’re not perfect, Queen Ivy,” I told her, echoing what Harmony told me. “They’re learning. That isn’t an excuse. We can be pissed off because they made mistakes, but we also have to understand their side. They haven’t had a ton of time to understand how to work together properly yet. We’re still going in, but I see what you’re saying about a second wave. Even trolls get tired.”“I thought you didn’t trust them to have your back,” Rhett said.“I don’t trust them at my side. They can back me up, though. Plus, it would mean I would have more time to find my mate once we’re in. Rhett, I want you to take the map to the others and tell them what I said about the entrances. We’re going in now. They can come as soon as they’re able. I know Victor and his people won’t be able to come until dark. That will work perfectly as a third wave if we haven’t finished them off,” I replied.Rhett took the map from Ivy. He folded it up and put it back in his coat.“Give me just a moment. I will deliver this along with your message and return so I can join you in the assault. Normally, I’m more of a coward, but I’m doing this for Dolly. I won’t run away. I’m going to fight for her.”I nodded and patted his shoulder before he disappeared into the shadows. The group that had formed around me dispersed as we sought smaller species in the group to make sure they knew where they would be attacking.Queen Ivy would lead the human-sized troops. Viola would lead the smaller than human troops. Wylder would lead the larger than human troops.As much as I wanted to lead them and they were hyped for the battle I had started, I was still only a half troll. Being led by a Steinman would keep the excitement up. I was fine with stepping back if it got us into that cave and helped save my mate.When Rhett returned, we started out. Vehicles helped us to travel more swiftly, though some had other methods. Rosario led our group to the place where the cult holed up.As the trolls disembarked the vehicles they rode in, we all stripped off as much as we could. Trolls didn’t need armor and human clothing was restrictive. It tore when we moved in ways that humans couldn’t. Plus, our connection with the earth would help us in fighting if we were barefoot.After taking my shoes off, I could feel the earth. Even though magic wasn’t as prevalent in the world, there was still some magic there. It rejoiced when it touched trolls. We were often happiest when we could be out touching it.It was obvious this place used to be a goblin den. It was healing, though. Goblins poisoned the earth with their practices. Often that translated to fewer plants growing on their dens, resulting in barren, craggy hills surrounded by lush vegetation.Goblins created their homes. They weren’t natural caves, even though one entrance looked natural. It took an entire clan of goblins to create something like this. At least two dozen goblins had to work together to build a cave where none existed.Light vegetation had grown on the structure. That meant the goblins hadn’t been there in almost forty years. Now it made sense why Dolly’s father sent her mother there. No goblin would take over a dead den. They considered it bad luck.“This demon thing is distressing the earth,” Forrest growled as he looked around.I felt it, too. Goblins were a minor annoyance to the earth. The demon was worse. It poisoned the earth in a way that goblins couldn’t match. The only thing I could think of to heal it was to destroy the den when we were done. At least we wouldn’t have to figure out what to do with the bodies.Prince Rosario left to join his group. Harmony came to stand by me. She put a hand on my arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. She was trying to reassure me, but I could already feel that Carmen was in there and she was alive. There was no better assurance for me.‘Carmen, can you hear me? I’m here for you, little wolf. I won’t leave until I have you again,’ I said in our link.There was no response. Either they were blocking it, or she was sleeping. She’d know when she saw me. I would never abandon my mate and I would always find her.“Formations. The opening is three trolls wide. Rock, the lizard troll, and the wolf will lead with me,” Wylder called out in the language of the earth.It was starting. Pyla gave Forrest a kiss before taking her place. I helped Harmony to climb on my back. I would shield her while she prepared her attacks.Before we started our march into the cult’s den, I closed my eyes and prayed to the goddess for her protection and guidance. This was my first battle, but it was my most important one. I wouldn’t fail. Carmen needed me.