"Absolutely not." Ansgar's voice cut through the Council chamber before Alistair had finished laying out the plan. "You want to lead an expedition to a location that has been erased from every map for two centuries, based on a vision seen by a woman whose gift itself has begun behaving in ways none of us understand. Your Majesty, I say this with respect — that is not strategy. That is desperation dressed as urgency."
"Desperation is watching Damon's soldiers die willingly to steal artifacts we don't yet understand the value of," Alistair said. "I'd rather reach the answer before he does than wait cautiously and lose the race entirely."
"Or," Voss said, quieter but no less firm, "you walk directly into whatever trap was set the last time someone went looking for that valley and never retu
