POV: KAEL
We couldn't reach the Iron Mountains in two days through conventional travel. Not even close.
I stood in the command tent studying maps while exhaustion pulled at every muscle. We'd been pushing hard for twelve days already. The army was running on determination and fear, but bodies had limits.
And we were three days away.
Through the Merge, I felt Elara's matching desperation. Felt her running through impossible calculations, trying to find some way to cover three hundred miles in forty-eight hours.
"We fly," I said suddenly.
Everyone looked up from the maps.
"We can't fly the entire army," Theron said immediately. "Not enough dragons, and the humans would be too vulnerable—"
"Not the army," I interrupted. "A strike team. Every dragon capable of long-distance flight carries soldiers. We leave the main army to follow at best speed, but the strike team goes ahead at maximum velocity."
