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Ch. 6 The drums of war.

Malehk sat quietly amongst his four generals in the war room of Bizshra Necrotai's palace. Neither of the three gryphons or two humans thought they would ever be in that room, especially as allies. Malehk had chosen to wait there instead of attending the court of Grasolahn, partially out of respect for the Bizshra and the tensions he was already feeling in his court at the alliance. Necrotai had promised this court gathering would be short, simply his informing the people of what he decided and why they better like it. Malehk was in mixed ground with such a leading method; on one wing it did not show much respect for the people, on the other wing it was the head strong peoples of Grasolahn that Necrotai had to deal with.

What ever the situation, they had to show good faith for the sake of the alliance. The Bizshra had asked an audience with the supreme commander of the Titanian forces to share new information his scouts had gathered recently about the situation in Randulan. The click of a latch marked the opening of a door, but it was on the opposite side as the Bizshra's door to his throne platform. Malehk looked to his left to see a rather young servant girl pushing a cart with fresh water for the gryphons and wine for the humans. Her movements were extremely hesitant and her face was that of a terrified youngster as she inched toward the humans first. She could not have been more than eleven years of age, she certainly did not hold the scent of having started or completed the maturing process of humans referred to as 'puberty'. her movements kept her as far away from the three large predators as she could possibly get while still doing her job. Carpenter and his counter part, General Fredrick, both thanked the girl when she poured their wine.

Now she was on to serving the gryphons, a task she was obviously afraid of. Malehk could only wonder what wild tales of their bestial and predatory nature had been crammed into the child's head. The gray feathered Lumere watched the girl nudge a bowl of water close to him with great amusement in his eyes. It was a rather comical sight, but it also spoke of great problems for the alliance if so many thought of gryphons as mindless predators that attacked anything that got into striking range. General Tarse looked to his king and the two humans as the scene was repeated before him. Once the bowl was in place, the pale tan feathered broadwing nodded his thanks to the girl. The simple gesture took her by surprise and locked her in a stunned and confused state for a moment. The young servant recovered and scurried behind her cart once again to prepare a bowl of water for Malehk. The warrior king wanted to heave a deep sigh of annoyance at the spectacle, but he held himself in check to make the task easier on the girl. Once again, she placed the bowl on the floor and crouched down to slide it toward Malehk with her foot, keeping as much of herself away from him as possible.

There was the click of a door latch to the right, followed by the sound of heavy boots Necrotai's voice filled the room,"What is the meaning of this, girl? You are serving the king of Titania and not only do you serve him last amongst his fellows, you serve him water with fear as though he will nip your arm off."

"M-my lord, please forgive me, they are gryphons! They are well known to eat children like me," the young girl pleaded as though for her very life.

The Bizshra stared down at the girl with a hard, yet expressionless gaze, "Who filled your head with that nonsense? Gryphons don't eat anything that can talk to them, that fact is well known."

"Yes my lord," the girl replied with tears welling up in her eyes, "Me mum said that if I am bad she would feed me to the gryphons, so I thought they ate little kids like me. She even made me take this assignment for spilling my stew on my good dress."

Necrotai looked at Malehk for a moment then back to the girl, "What is your name girl?"

"C-Carly, Lord Bizshra," she replied nervously with a glance at the large broadwings resting in the room.

The Bizshra nodded his head gently, "Show me how loyal you are to your lord, Carly. I say those gryphons will not harm you, now prove your trust in your Bizshra by walking up to one and petting his neck."

Carly inched slowly, but steadily , toward General Tarse while wringing the fringe of her simple brown dress. Tears began to fall silently from her warm brown eyes with each step she took. A lock of her strait, mouse brown hair fell before her eyes as she lowered her head to brace for a strike while raising her hand.

Malehk stood and spread a wing to block her path, "With all due respect Necrotai, that is enough. This is cruel, the child is loyal but if she moves on much further she may fall dead with fright."

"Thank you Malehk, your intervention taught even more lessons than I had hoped to teach," Necrotai replied calmly with a grin, "Carly has now done the most frightening thing she ever could have been asked to do and she faced her greatest fear to try and do it. She knows her loyalty is without question. You have also shown her that you do not wish to eat her, in fact you have stood to protect her after she treated you all so badly by offering you bowls of water like beasts. Certainly not the actions of child eating monsters. For your own piece of mind, I would have only let her take one more step had you not intervened."

Carly bowed her head in shame, "Please forgive my stupidity Lord Malehk."

The gryphon king placed a gentle foreclaw on the small human's shoulder, which also covered nearly half her back, "There is a difference between stupidity and being fed lies while never having the opportunity to learn the truth. You have done well to show courage and to let your mind be open to new possibilities. But that is not why we are here, I do believe we have much more pressing business to attend to do we not?"

"Indeed we do," Necrotai agreed as he took a seat at the heavy table that held a map of their continent, "I know you've been scouting about the lands held by the Soul Legion, and so have I. Most specifically, I have had my scouts searching around the borders of Randulan. They have brought back news of why communications have ceased to come in and out of Randulan; they are being boxed in and cut off by the Legion as those demons gather their forces in mass for a powerful offensive strike. Soon Randulan will be wiped out."

Malehk and his four generals stepped up to the map, which turned out to be permanently sealed to the table by some sort of varnish, "If this is true, we need to find a more effective way of slowing them down than the method described by my mate. Our own scouting reports have shown heavy movements of troops from the more northern territories of the Legion. However, they are moving them by the regiment, a few hundred at a time. We need to give them a bloody nose to show them they aren't so invincible and to trip up their strategy."

"Yes, I agree, but what can we do to hit them hard enough to make them pull back an assault that has so many of their resources pooled into it," Necrotai asked as he looked out over the map, most of it covered in the fine gray powder that marked the Legion's territories.

Tarse cleared his throat, "If I may? We have more than one nation's resources in both personnel and supplies. Grasolahn troops can work within the territories of the Legion without supply lines, simply by using supplies from us. They can replace them at a safer and more leisurely pace from the back end of our combined territory. We should take advantage of this and our numbers to form two or three large mobile groups to strike down several of these regiments with over whelming numbers. That should allow us to greatly reduce their numbers at minimal risk and strike hard enough to make them pull back to cover their tails instead of rolling over Randulan."

"I see why you made him one of your generals Malehk, this fellow has great ideas," the Bizshra grinned broadly over the map, "But what will we do if they turn the troops they have already massed back on us while we work?"

It was Malehk's turn to add his own insight to the planning, "We keep our forces close enough together to fall back to one another and amass a large enough force to take them on. Instead of shear numbers, we will employ an old trick and keep another assault force hidden just behind our borders to strike their main assault group from behind if they come after our infiltration forces."

"That would put a force in place to fight them if they come across Titania's borders with our infiltrators poised to attack from behind as well, very clever," Necrotai nodded gently as he looked over the red and blue dusts that represented the territories held by Grasolahn and Titania, "Let us take care of infiltration while you stand poised to attack the rear and watch your borders. That leaves defenders with knowledge of the terrain in place to hold out until the rear assault arrives. I would like no less than one hundred and no more than two hundred gryphons and ground troops from Titania with us. That comforts my men from the fear that you wont arrive should that main force turn, as well as giving some of your boys a first hand experience with the deeper territories of the former nations."

Lumere gave a nod of approval, "He is right Lord Malehk, we have little to no knowledge of the terrain out there. I also advise this plan on the grounds of forging camaraderie with our allies and our own troops, it would make both more reliable to use and to our honored host if such ties could be forged early in this conflict."

"I agree, but I would like to add another twist to this whole operation. Both sides of this alliance have a number of troops that can infiltrate a keep or the like silently and hit specific targets, why not employ them to stick to the original strategy even as this new one is carried out," Carpenter offered as he circled a keep at the mouth of a canyon on the map, "Kentari Keep has the mine that supplies the crystals they use to communicate without diverting resources to messengers or arcane methods of communicating. If we sent our stalker type troops there to assassinate every last Legion soldier in the keep, we could easily cut off an important resource."

Malehk nodded gently as he thought of the different soldiers, human and gryphon alike, that he could send on such a venture without weakening the defense forces, "This is doable, I think if we could manage around seventy infiltration specialists into that keep, they could make short work of the enemy within. I myself can already think of forty I could send."

"Only send thirty five of them, I have fifty I can think of myself and I have an idea for our loose infiltrators as well," the Bizshra replied, "During this time they are rather cocky about the safety of their supply lines. My scouts report that they are so very lightly guarded that they were very tempting targets. Let's use the spare infiltrators to help the Soul Legion give us the gift of their very own supplies. I am quite certain they will come to a much more constructive use in our possession."

The gryphon king nodded in agreement, "Excellent idea, and we'll have them join the nearest raider group once they fully cut off the supplies or find themselves in a spot of trouble. This is all a devastating and full forced strike against our new foe, but we are out numbered and we have to make damned sure they are hurt bad before we have to start going tit for tat with them. Never forget that our primary goal with this is to damage the Legion and try to get them to pull away from Randulan so we may extend an offer of alliance with a show of combined strength and good will. Having their aide will greatly increase our chances of surviving this war."

"Agreed, I will stay in communication with you Malehk, we need to get back to our own peoples and begin constructing the assignments of this massive assault," Necrotai announced in way of dismissal.

Malehk nodded his thanks to the Bizshra as he and his generals stood to give a bow of departure, "Thank you for the sharing of this information and your hospitality Lord Necrotai, I will keep in touch with the rosters and to set a time for the assault."

"I look forward to our glorious victory," Necrotai replied with a grin.

* * *

Rio held tight to the squirming form of the week old gryphlet with both hands and tail to carefully hold her eyelids open for her examination, "Easy Abigail, I need to see those pretty little eyes of yours."

Raizehl watched on with concern as the healer managed to get a good look at the little one's eye during a moment when she was winded. The drake decided to press her luck and check the other eye, placing her hand against the sharp beak to her patient to get the angle quickly. Abigail shifted her struggles to a more aggressive attempt to free herself from the healers grip, clawing at the hard scales of her forearm and biting down on the scaly hand.

"Ouch," Rio chirped and pulled her hand away quickly to examine the bite.

Raizehl gasped and picked her daughter up to scold her, "Abigail, no! Don't bite Rio, she's just trying to make sure you are well sweetheart. Are you okay Rio?"

The healer examined the bite closely, it was nothing bad just a touch of blood. The hooked tip of her patient's beak happened to slip between two of her scales and pricked the flesh beneath. A crimson drop of blood oozed slowly from the puncture wound.

"I am fine, this is actually a good sign though. Her jaw muscles have strengthened enough that she is using her beak for defense," Rio explained as she held a cloth to her wounded hand, "Her eyes are reacting normally as well, all in all, she will be a perfectly normal little gryphon."

Raizehl breathed a deep sigh of relief as she nuzzles Abigail with the gentle touch of a mother, "That is most wonderful news, does this mean you poor healers can stop the round the clock watch? I feel so bad about needing to have that done for my daughter when you are all so busy with the other survivors."

"Think nothing of it, we healers help those who need it. But Abigail is no longer in need of such attentions, so we will just have mommy bring her to see mean old healer Rio twice a week for now," the healer smiled as she wiggled a talon against the playful gryphlet's open beak, "For now you can be set free to start your reign of terror upon mommy's new house, yes you can."

The gryphoness smiled as her daughter tried to bite the talon in a playful manner, "I can't thank you enough for everything you healers have done for us. I really don't know if I would have recovered from losing Abigail too. I owe you everything I can possibly offer."

"The only thing I ask of you is that you raise your daughter with love and understanding. Make sure she never endures the things that Agrok has, she will have a hard enough time without her father as it is," Rio replied quietly as she let the gryphlet catch hold of her talon and gnaw on the hard nail.

Raizehl gave a gentle nod with a bit of tears watering in her eyes at the reminder of her lost mate, "I will, I could never do to her what Tikhana did to her entire family. You really seem to be taking the things that happened to Agrok quite personally."

"She didn't deserve that, Agrok is an amazing, strong hearted female. She can and will do great things for all the peoples of this nation and others now that she is free to pursue her own paths and ambitions," Rio replied with a strong conviction in her voice, "I only wish I could have had a daughter like her."

The gryphoness smiled gently, "You already do, the look in your eyes, the love, that firm protective and protective reaction. This is the face of a mother, perhaps not of birth, but a mother in heart and soul."

"I don't know, I don't think she returns such feelings," Rio sighed softly as she wiggled and pulled gently at her talon in a playful tug match with Abigail.

Raizehl laughed softly as she watched the little game, "Well, she has been talking to you about her mother as of late has she not? I for one have heard that she has come to you for comfort."

"She has, but in such a strange and confusing state as she is in, she would be seeking comfort from everyone she loves," the drake pointed out.

The new mother snatched her daughter up at the first chance to get her back under her control, "Well, that would be true in most cases, but in this one,she has only seen you."

"I didn't know that," Rio admitted as she was given back her talon when Abigail squeaked her protest at her mother, "This just frightens me even more with war looming on the horizon."

Raizehl looked down at her daughter, having forgotten about the war that would soon have to be fought against this mysterious Soul Legion, "I am sorry Rio, I keep forgetting that we are on the eve of war and that others will be sending their own out to fight. I am not used to thinking of Agrok as a warrior as well, she has always been that odd little girl who just never fit in."

"I can understand that quite a bit, I have a hard time imagining her in a fight with how warm and sweet she is at home. You should see her with Ronin, such caring and motherly side of her," Rio smiled warmly at her patients.

"Who is Ronin? I haven't heard about them before," the gryphoness asked as she caught Abigail by the tail to prevent her from lunging off the table, "Easy my little one, you cannot fly yet!"

The drake giggled, "Ronin is an orphaned human girl that Agrok has all but adopted, she takes great care of her and teaches her what she can. I am sure you will meet her soon enough."

* * *

Agrok ran a gentle foreclaw through Ronin's hair as she poured warm spring water from a bowl over the child's head. Something about the warm waters of the spring made them quite effective at cleaning feathers and hair. The sands at the bottom seemed to do the same for human skin, as Ronin herself discovered.

"Why do I have to wear clothes if this is my bath," Ronin complained as she tugged at the wet cloth clinging uncomfortably to her skin.

The gryphoness touched her beak gently to the side of the child's head and cooed a soft reply, "Because males use this spring as well, sweetheart. You don't want them to see your naked self."

"Male gryphons, I'm a human! You are all wet, why aren't you worried about being seen? You told me it's like being naked for you," Ronin tried to fight against her linen shackles with what logic her young mind could come up with.

Agrok tisked at her, "It is not polite for such a young lady to allow a male of any intelligent species to see her so exposed. As for me, I am covered by the water when I am in it, and I can easily chase off anyone who would come to gawk so rudely."

"I bet you couldn't chase Grenz off so easily," the youngling gave a pouty huff

The warrior allowed her young charge to see a bit of the strength she possessed by picking her up to turn her around and look her in the eyes, "Grenz is more protective of my virtue and decency than I myself am, he would drive anyone off more harshly than I would. Why are you being so ornery my little one?"

"I'm sorry Agrok, I just feel bad since Altair started coming around. He always wants to spend the night alone with you and I have to sleep with the other kids who don't have a momma and a poppa anymore," Ronin explained with a little bit of quavering in her voice, "I miss snuggling up with you to sleep and I'm mad at him for taking you away all for himself."

Agrok pulled the small human to her chest to hold her tightly in her forelimbs, "I'm so sorry sweetheart, I hadn't thought about that but I had noticed. It is part of why I have pulled away from everyone, even him. He dominates my time and always wants to coddle and caress me with warmth. I do not need that right now, I need something that I don't know yet. I do know that i do not need that. When my mother died, it left a hole inside; we hated one another in the end and even though it was hate and pain between us, it was there. Now there is nothing, I feel a little bit empty."

"I know what you mean, she was a bad momma, but she was your momma still," the young girl held tight to the gryphoness and rubbed her face against her wet feathers, "I know how that empty feels, I never had a momma, mine went to heaven when I was too little to remember her."

The gryphoness nuzzled her young charge on the head as she shed her first silent tears for the strange losses she had felt and for the losses of such a sweet youth, "I am so sorry my sweet Ronin, I will not let you sleep alone again, He will have to understand that. But I will not send Altair away, I love him and he stands a very good chance of becoming my mate. You two will need to get along for all of this to work."

"I'll try momma. I mean, Agrok, sorry 'bout that," Ronin caught her slip as she snuggled against the wet feathers of her self appointed guardian.

Agrok just held the child as the slip pulled a new string from her over strained heart, although this one left her feeling so very warm inside, "It is quite alright sweetheart, if you really feel that way then you can call me that. I suppose I have taken on such a role for you already."

"Can you be my momma all the time? I don't want to go back to the matron, I want to go home with you," the young girl pleaded.

The gryphoness smiled and picked the child up out of the water, "Come now, strip down and towel off, when we are done visiting with Raizehl I will talk to the matron about adopting you outright. I'll have a chat with my sister if I have to."

"You really mean it," Ronin gasped with wide hopeful eyes that locked onto the gryphoness.

Agrok smiled as she stepped out of the water and shielded the child from view with her wings, "Yes I do, but you will need to make quick work of drying and getting into your clothing or it will have to wait another day."

Ronin nearly cried with the raw joy in her heart as she hurried through her towel work and putting on her clothing. Things were changing for the better in some ways, and neither of them wished to miss it.

* * *

Grenz stared at Tahkra blankly, partially out of shock at the news she just gave and partially out of the comfort she displayed in talking to her sister's rival, "Agrok went and did what?"

"Why wouldn't she talk to me about this? I thought we were supposed to be lovers, would this not include both of us," Altair asked with a very insulted expression.

The scout was quickly towed back in line by the young queen, "You are not her mate, she can make these decisions on her own. Do you really object to her having an adopted daughter?"

"Uh, not really it's just that..is she ready? I am uncertain if I am ready to be a father of any kind and now I am being forced to choose to do so just to be with her," Altair flattened his ears and looked down a bit.

Grenz growled a bit as the self importance of this new confident Altair began to grate on his nerves, "It's not all about you, scout. Agrok is a strong and willful person, she is ready for this, she wants this, and if you would look past yourself you would see she needs this. Why have you not figured out that there is a gaping bleeding hole in her heart, left by the passing of her mother? Is it really something so strange that I am a freak of nature to have seen it?"

"Why are you so deeply concerned about another male's lover? You're just her rival, yet you speak of her heart as if you are the closest one to it. Just who do you think you are," the leaner built scout demanded as he stood and bristled at what he felt was a rival male.

The larger warrior had had enough and stood to meet the scout's challenge, "She lived with me for a bit, we trained together, I trained under her, we have been one another's only friends for some time, and above all we are field partners. We have to trust one another with our very lives, when you rely on some one that fully they become safe to talk to."

Altair growled deeply and lunged at Grenz, who knocked him flat on his beak with a downward wing strike that was faster than the younger scout had expected. His time sparring with Agrok and training with her had helped Grenz to gain quite a bit more speed than he had normally. Tahkra gasped and cried out for some one to separate the two warriors. Just as Altair regained his feet and crouched for another lunge, General Carpenter seemed to materialize between them with his heavy claymore drawn and leveled at the attacking male.

Almost at the same time Jirri grasped Grenz by the left wing and shoulder, "Be at peace sweetheart, much has and will happen and we all need one another to get through the dark days to come."

"She's right boy, back down before you force my hand. I wont let you go scrapin' so close to our queen," Carpenter warned as he stared directly into Altair's eyes.

The scout sat up and held his head level and high in attention, "Yes sir, sorry sir."

"What ever the hell is wrong with you, I suggest you get it corrected before Agrok sees this and puts you right in your place just before she puts you out on your beak. You don't own her, she is not property and she is not some unfaithful whore," Grenz spoke in a quiet, dangerous tone, "If you think for a second that Agrok holds my interest in that manner, then you are dead wrong. We shared our times before you two came to be, but that was out of necessity and we find things better without it. We are friends and nothing more, nor could we ever think of being more. I have a different interest in the game of hearts and attractions."

Tahkra drew herself up and gave each male a hard stare, "Grenz, shut your beak. Altair, go home now."

"Why do I have to go home," the scout demanded with every sign of insult in his expression.

The young queen snapped a hard stare that bored deep into the offending male, "Because I want to have a calm intelligent conversation about my sister and her decision without some selfish bastard getting huffy. You are the aggressor here, not Grenz. Grenz is becoming a family friend, I barely know you at all and I can't say I like what I am seeing now. Above all, the queen has ordered you to go home. Carpenter, this scout is to be evaluated to see if he is useful enough to keep in service. We are at war, we need soldiers, not self righteous pricks who would even question their queen."

"You'd better go lad, she sounds a bit pissed off. I'll discuss the matter with Malehk later on," General Carpenter advised as Altair stared at Tahkra with a shocked, frightened expression.

The scout lowered his head and flattened his ears to slink away and carry out the orders given by Queen Asreigh. There was a heavy silence that followed in his wake for a long moment after he had gone.

The priestess rested a foreclaw on Tahkra's shoulder, "You should reconsider that order when you calm down, something is troubling him and it needs to be found and dealt with. Punishing him so severely for an outburst is not going to solve the problem."

Tahkra gave a deep sigh, "I know, I let my temper get the better of me. But he and everyone else does need to realize that while I may be patient, I do have my limits."

"You have certainly demonstrated that fact here today, I do advise re-evaluating the severity of the lad's sentence in a calmer moment. Just what I seen so far, I agree with you, he is getting a bit of a big head and can stand to stew in his own fears for a few days," Jirri offered coolly.

The queen shook her head, much to Grenz' relief, "This is done for now, there are more pressing and interesting topics to discuss. The most dangerous of those would be my dear sister's gift of controversial nest bonding. What ever I decide in this, there are going to be a lot of people who are most dissatisfied by the outcome."

"I don't see what the big question is, an orphan has an interested foster parent," Grenz stated the facts as he could see them.

Carpenter shook his head as he re-sheathed the long blade behind his back, "This is a cross species case lad, it's not that simple. People are going to react as they are used to reacting, humans thinking of gryphons as so alien that they may as well be beasts. Gryphons worried about human encroachment into their society. Then the supporters, both human and gryphon a like, will shout of discrimination on the part of the queen if she does not allow such an adoption. There is also the other unanswered question, are gryphons so different from humans that a fine lady like Agrok would still be poorly suited to raise a healthy child like Ronin."

"I do not think species is a real factor in this case, in so far as the ability of Agrok to raise Ronin to be healthy and well educated," Jirri countered, "Agrok eats well for both human and gryphon standards, thus the meals she would be sharing with Ronin would be well balanced already. Once the currency system is in place and wages begin to circulate; Agrok is a soldier of respectable rank already, she should have no financial troubles. She lives on very highly regarded values of honesty and decency and there is no question of her ability to love or the kindness of her heart."

Tahkra added her own thoughts, "But can Agrok teach her about the many human aspects of being female? They do have a cycle, we gryphons do not. We only ovulate when triggered by the scent of a triggered male, unlike humans who are always in season. There is also the argument of a single soldier raising a daughter during a war, what if she gets hurt, captured, or killed? Ronin is once again without a family."

"Hogwash," Grenz growled, "Excuses brought by fear of opposition, all of it. Even if something were to happen to Agrok, I don't think for a second that the Asreigh clan would turn their backs on the girl she held as a daughter in her heart. Rio would be her grandmother, she is a healer. That drake knows enough about different species to help Agrok deal with the maturing of a human girl. Anyone who questions the ability of Agrok to mother Ronin, has not even looked at either of them for the last several weeks."

Jirri tilted her head, "What do you mean Grenz?"

"I mean that Agrok has been mothering Ronin all this time without having adopted her. It's already done, it is just not yet official. Agrok supplies her clothing with work done for the tailors, she feeds her, and before Altair, Ronin slept with Agrok rather than at the Matron's dwelling. The heart bonding is already there as well, you can't tell me you don't see that Tahkra," Grenz addressed the queen of his nation not as his queen, but as the sister to his friend and rival.

Carpenter rubbed his chin, "Well now, with this in light, Grenz is indeed right, Agrok is already doing all the work, only species based taboo keeps her from enjoying the warm feeling of hearing her daughter call her mom, mommy, momma, what ever they work out. I give my personal backing to her in this and I must admit that I side with her , my queen. I openly advise you to permit this adoption."

"But this may draw battle lines between the peoples of Titania so early in our nation's rising. We need to be united, human, gryphon, and what ever other species we happen to see as our citizens," Tahkra countered.

Jirri smiled brightly, "Well my sweet child, the wisdom of the consorts say that a line must sometimes be drawn in order to erase others. So you have the separatist group in arms over a cross species adoption, but they are both gryphons and humans standing united. With gryphons and humans standing united against them, I see more of the most important unification in place with only a more political and ethical division standing instead. Basically you create no divide, because people will always bandwagon. There will always be two opposing majorities over some issue or another. So if there is a banding of species we need to view one another as equals and the happiness of a mother and daughter to be had, what real reason is there to deny this?"

"Thank you Jirri, I really didn't want to have to be the bad girl in all of this. I could use a spiritual adviser if you are interested. It would be the same as you are now, only I come to see you if I need advice and it pays for service to the crown," Tahkra offered with real gratitude in her eyes and voice.

The priestess smiled warmly at her queen, "So I would be paid to be your guiding priestess once again? I will accept for one reason and under one condition."

"I already know you well enough to expect the reason to be tied directly into the condition, Priestess Jirri," Tahkra returned the smile.

Grenz settled down to relax only to find Jirri settled in against his chest and belly, "Well, I only do this so that I wont have to be dependent on others income or a strain on the finances of any potential mate. Don't even say it, yes a priestess can have a mate and even temporary lovers before she does find a mate. But all that aside, If you wished me to fill this position, you would have to understand that my duties to the Consorts come first. If a matter is not urgent and it can wait, then you will do just that if I am with another in need of the guidance of our gods."

"This is most reasonable, I accept your terms. We will work out wages once I have hashed out a currency system with the nobles and generals," Tahkra turned her eyes upon Grenz, catching his attention, "Grenz, I know Agrok will tell Kalah of this adoption once she hears my decision. That means Saltriss is going to be recruited to bring Ronin's things and what ever furniture they can secure for her room to Agrok's home. I would consider it a personal favor if you would help him. I like that old drake and I don't want to see him getting himself hurt or wore out over such things."

The large male nodded gently to her, "Yes of course Tahkra, I would be happy to help move little Ronin into her new home. Just let me know when you are going to tell Agrok the good news, I wish to be there."

"Well, right about now, I am off to speak to the matron now so you may want to follow," Tahkra smiled.

* * *

Reyfis sat quietly in his position as the generals entered the gathering dwelling to address the humans and gryphons that had been summoned. The elder warrior noticed that several, but not all of the humans had new armor and weapons. The smiths had been working hard to outfit the newly acquired troops with new equipment to replace their battered gear. It was both a good and a bad sign for the people of Titania.

Malehk lead his generals to the front of the domed structure,where he paused before he cleared his throat, "Your attention please. You have been asked here because we are structuring our military and we have decided you should be our commanding officers. Your rank will be referred to as Lieutenant, you are one step below us generals. You will command regiments that will be divided into smaller units called 'wings'. We are assigning rank in a trickle down fashion, each of you will be given the roster for your individual regiments from which you will assign the wings. Each wing will be lead by another who holds a rank just below yours, referred to as commanders. Each wing will be split into several smaller units referred to as 'divisions' these will be lead by soldiers of the captain rank for ground forces, and sky marshals for gryphons. Divisions do not have to be segregated into solely ground and aerial troops. Your commanders will create their divisions and select their captains, who in turn will form the last sub groups known as squadrons or 'squads' for short. You probably already guessed that the captains will select the next lowest ranked leaders, referred to as corporals. The lowest service ranks are privates and scouts, there is a training rank below them simply referred to as recruits. Are there any questions?"

"What do we do about deploying troops we have no experience with, like say humans deploying gryphons and gryphons deploying humans," a black haired human of about twenty four years of age asked first.

The gryphon king waved his claw to gesture at the entire room, "You have no less than a dozen colleagues who have experience in their species deployment tactics and strategies. I would hope you would all discuss amongst yourselves the functions of various units with those who are trying to command your former comrades. This should also help keep any rebellion against the new chain of command to a minimum if the people the troops respect are all embracing one another's presence and aide."

"Who is our supreme leader? I suppose I should say, where is the top loop of the chain of command," A large gray broadwing with black dyed wing markings that identified him as being a Vikteran warrior, asked next.

"The generals are the next step above you, as far as the military goes, I am the highest in rank, supposedly my power is equal to that of my mate, but this is not the case, she is still able to give me orders and override my commands. So, for the most part I am, but the reality is that Tahkra is the end all of the chain of command," Malehk explained, "Which brings me to another very important point, no matter what, there must be a leader for our people. If it should ever come down to it, every one in the military, myself included, must observe the golden rule. 'My life for the queen', this is to be amended to say king should a male be chosen as the heir."

No one questioned that rule as it was fairly standard, so Malehk continued, "We have put together your regiments, you all know the credentials of a few of the soldiers you will be in command of, and a few with potential have been highlighted for review for command positions at your discretion. I hope I do not see squads pulling command with an entire chain of a single species. We are all brothers and sisters reborn under the banner of Titania. You have until tomorrow to form up your divisions and select your commanders. By tomorrow evening you need to have informed them of their duties and delivered their division rosters for their assigning of wings. After that you are to meet with myself and the generals to discuss the battle plans ahead. The time has come to face the foe that has crushed the nations around us. They are no longer so alien to be faceless and nameless, we know their tactics, and we know the name of the Soul Legion. The last of our non-allied neighbors is poised to be crushed, let's save them and teach those Soul Legion bastards to fear the might of Titania!"

The gryphon king let his voice rise and carry more intoxicating vigor as he turned his news into a rally cry. He was greeted with a throaty cry of agreement from his lieutenants, even Reyfis found himself taken by the strangely intoxicating pull of his son in law's call to arms. As if they had been waiting for the call, two human couriers carried a covered table into the domed wood and leather structure to set it just before the generals. They pulled back the sheet to reveal several hard waxed cardboard envelopes with the names of each newly appointed Lieutenant on them.

"These are your regiments, take them and examine the names tonight so you may begin putting together ideas for divisions. You are now responsible for the lives and deaths of the souls named on those sheets of paper, do not forget that they have lives and families of their own, just like you," Malehk announced before the gathered warriors began to swarm the table.

Reyfis sat patiently waiting for the crowding to die down before he attempted to find his own assignment packet. It had not escaped his notice that he was the eldest of the soldiers who were to be Lieutenants, and he just could not help questioning the wisdom of his new designation. He had experience with leading warriors before, but nothing of such a grand scale as he had now. Whether or not he agreed with it, the rank was assigned and all he could do was form a strategy for preparing his next ranks by morning. The elder gryphon decided it would be best to view only those highlighted by the generals, they knew their old comrades better than he did.

"Reyfis Asreigh," Lumere called out over the low roar of the muttering lieutenants, "If you would please step forward, we have a special assignment for you."

The middle aged male stood and moved to stand before his king and his commanding officers at a perfect tension, "Yes sir?"

Lumere cleared his throat gently, "Well, it was put on my head to deliver this assignment since it was against the advisement of our beloved king. His argument was easily defeated by your record of amazing command and personal skills in keeping Grasolahn at bay with a dwindling force. None of us could think of a better match for this particular wing. Lady Rochelle, please give Reyfis his assigned roster."

One of the couriers opened a leather case hung over her shoulder to reveal a thinner envelope with Reyfis' name on the front. When she offered the envelope to the gryphon, he accepted it with a nod of thanks.

"The reason your king protested is that your wing is small, with your own daughter as one of the key figures. We have all agreed that you are both loyal enough to do your jobs regardless of personal feelings," Lumere explained in a manner that came across as an order.

Reyfis tensed up and held his head high and level, "Yes sir, I will do my best to perform up to the standards before me."

"Good, because you are in command of our special forces. As the overseer of the Queens Own Talons, your orders come directly from Malehk or Tahkra. The assignments you hand out will be dangerous and require a lot of skill, which your troops possess," Lumere stared at Reyfis for a moment before waving a foreclaw at him, "That is all, you are dismissed."

Reyfis nodded, "Yes sir, thank you sir."

Malehk stood back up and cleared his throat, "That goes for all of you, get your assignments and then you are dismissed. You need your ranks filed down in two days so we can begin moving troops to the lines. The drums of war are rumbling in the distance and we must meet the challenge head on. You have work to do, so stop standing around and do it!"

The entire room snapped to attention and replied in unison, "Yes sir!"

Reyfis made his way out of the structure with his envelope held gently in his beak. This was to be a hard start for their nation, carved out with the talons and blades of their brave, but they would do it. In the end, did they really have a choice?

* * *

Relief, that was what the clean scents of the hills brought to Altair. Ranshin had been crushed second by the Soul Legion. Being sent here to scout the landscape for signs of their movements was good news for the scout. It meant that he was not deemed useless for military service by the queen he had angered and could still serve a purpose to his nation. With wings spread wide, Altair kited along over the cloud cover to stay hidden from ground observation. His very sharp eyes were well equipped for spying through the tiny breaks in the clouds for signs of movement on the ground. But it wasn't the ground that showed him signs of movement.

Another shadow of a winged creature flashed over the ground below him as a small break showed between the clouds to the emerald canopy below. The broadwing quickly banked to begin a circle of that spot so he could attempt to identify the winged creature. At the edge of a gap to his right he spotted a flash of gray and white wings, most definitely a gryphon of tapered wing build. There should have been no other gryphons out in that region, which made this something most important to investigate.

He touched his insignia on his harness to contact the Grasolahn scout on the ground somewhere down there, "This is Altair again, Vechan, did you see that gryphon too?"

"Yeah, I got a good look that you would have paid for, she's pretty one," the human replied in a gruff teasing tone, "Seriously though, she looks nice, but she is out where she shouldn't be. You will reach her heading west long before I will catch up, but I am en-route. Meet you after you ground her, keep that in mind before you begin flirting boy."

Altair growled softly, "I have a lover, as cold as she is right now, and I am in no mood for romantic games. I am on an intercept route as we speak, see you ground side dirt monkey."

"Aye, see you westward turkey," Vechan replied with the hard macho humor shared between males.

Altair found that he liked the banter, and Vechan, oddly enough for a Grasolahn, seemed friendly enough with him. The thoughts of friendly natures would have to wait, he had a gryphoness to intercept in enemy territory before either of them were discovered. Just another day behind enemy lines right? He raised himself to the ceiling of his flight capabilities and angled himself westward to tuck his wings in a shallow, prolonged dive that gradually picked up ever increasing speed. It didn't take long for gravity and the cushion of air beneath his half spread wings to turn him into a streaking missile in the skies. He could not see a thing through the clouds, but that would soon change as his altitude slowly decreased with the trade for speed. Slowly he cut his way into the clouds until he came through the bottom just in time to see his target ducking into the trees at the base of a cliff. She was indeed pretty, very graceful in form, although she was dainty and not very athletic in build.

Altair angled his flight and began to break himself as he approached her entry point of the forest below. Just before he landed he folded his wings completely to cut all backwash and use his leg's strength and agility to cushion his landing. His training as a scout was immediately effective as he found her trail, or rather her attempt to cover her trail. She had carried some brush or a branch behind her to cover her footprints. This left a faint trail all of it's own and it was no work at all for a scout like him to follow. What he found when he did finally catch up to the female made him stop and gape in awe.

There was a whole village of refugees hiding in a hidden little valley beneath the mountain. Several humans stared at him in fear as they scrambled back to their homes of sticks and leaves. There was a shout raised for a name he didn't quite catch, he soon had his claws full with humans bearing clubs and rocks to try and defend their hidden little hiding spot.

"Oh my, all of you back down! He is of the plains, we were hoping to find them," a very lovely, enchantingly feminine voice caressed his ears.

The men parted and lowered their weapons to reveal the gryphoness he had seen in flight, a very lovely creature to behold. She was small like Agrok, with a much less athletic build to her. White with gray and soft brown eyes.

"Lady Krintahl, we have remained safe here for so long, is he not a risk to our safety if we let him go and possibly be captured," A large man with red hair spoke up.

The female shook her head softly, "You have gotten too comfortable here, old man. We have to leave here for we will eventually be found. The plains are the safest place to be, am I correct in my assumption friend?"

"Yes ma'am, it is indeed safe behind the borders of Titania. We are preparing to defend our borders from the Legion," Altair replied gently as he looked around, "How many of you are there?"

The female tilted her head as she eyed him up and down, "There are fifty in all, would you be able to help us reach safer grounds? It would be a most pleasant to be rescued by a handsome feathered knight."

"Well if I find one, I'll let him know you are here. In the mean time, I'm scout Altair and I will do what I can to guide you to safety as soon as my contact gets here," the scout replied as he touched his insignia once again, "Vechan, you're not going to believe this until you get here, but I found her and her entire hidden village. We'll have to get them out of here to Titanian territory, all fifty of them."

"Be civil they said, the gryphons are our friends in this war they said, but now I have fifty head to get through enemy territory with a crazy vulture at the lead," Vechan replied over the arcane connection, "Tell you what boy, you keep heading west, with fifty civies slowing you down I should have no problem covering your tail until I catch up. Make sure to report in to your people so they are ready to receive your wonderful gift. I'll contact the other ground scouts from Grasolahn and have them keep our paths clear."

"Grasolahn," Krintahl gasped in panic, "They are the enemies of the gryphons!"

Altair heaved a heavy sigh, "Please calm yourself, they are our allies against the Soul Legion. I wouldn't let anyone hurt you little lady."

"They are your allies? Are things that bad off for everyone that enemies are now friends," the female asked with a tilt of her head.

One of the women of the hidden village stepped forward, "I believe him Krintahl, we've seen what the Legion can do first hand. No single force can hope to stand against them, but perhaps an alliance has a chance we never had."

"She speaks true, the Bizshra approached our queen to ask for this alliance and we are preparing a concerted attack upon the Legion as we speak," Altair decided it best to reveal the situation to the gathered refugees.

Krintahl gave a sigh and looked up at the scout, "Everyone gather only what you can carry with ease, we're following this handsome bird to safer territories. I suspect it will be a hard pace dodging patrols all the way."

"It will be a hard pace, but I have yet to discover a patrol in my scouting here, most of their forces are gathering south to prepare for an attack," Altair replied as he stared the female in the eyes, finding a desperate set to them and a thankful expression behind them.

The female looked down a moment before she looked up at him again with a soft blush around her nares, "So, you must certainly have a mate being such a brave and handsome scout."

"No, I thought I had a lover, but she has been pulling away as of late," Altair replied with a gentle sigh, "I think it is heading toward just being friends with extra privileges."

Krintahl perked a very brief second before she laid her ears back again, "That is quite unfortunate, she does not know what she has. If I had the chance I would not let go of such a wonderful example of a male."

"Um.. so you seem to be the leader here," Altair pointed out as a half question in an attempt to change the subject. Not that he wasn't enjoying her admiring attention, she was so very lovely, she was just too lovely.

The female caught his cue and blushed heavily, "Oh, yes, I managed that by accident. It turns out I was the only being of any position at all that made it here. The people seen me as a member of the court, and thus a figure of authority. I've been doing all I can to keep them all safe since then."

"That is quite the feat considering your lack of survival training as a courtier, I must say I am impressed with your success so far," the scout gave a nod of true admiration for her deeds.

Krintahl smiled at him for a moment before she threw her forelimbs around his shoulders and nuzzled his cheek softly, "Thank you for all this, we needed to get out of here soon. The supplies of food I was able to gather have began to dwindle and forced me to move out farther every day. I was close to reaching the ,limits of how far I could go in a single day for food."

Altair hesitated before he gently wrapped his forelimbs around her middle to return her embrace, he found her very soft and warm to hold, "It is no trouble at all, this is what we warriors are for. We protect the people and move them to safer places when the need arises. I will do all I can to see your people to Titania safely."

"It doesn't matter if it's your job, you are still doing something so very wonderful for us and you should be appreciated for what you do," the female stated firmly as she loosened her hold on his neck to look at him, "Thank you, so very much."

The scout remember his attachments and released his hold on the former tribal ambassador, "Don't thank me yet, just because we haven't seen any patrols yet doesn't mean that danger isn't there. We are still behind enemy lines with a day or two of travel to even reach the territories controlled by Titania, let alone any civilized village or town."

"That is understood, we will all do our best to make this effort worth it. I trust you to bring us home," Krintahl spoke softly with a gentle blush before she turned to call out to the village, "It doesn't take that long to make a light pack. Give up the junk and get out here, we leave in two minutes. Whoever isn't ready by then needs to catch up or be left behind, we can't afford to wait."

Altair felt a bit of heat in his own nares as he watched that lovely female giving orders to the people who followed her. She was beautiful and she shared similar personality strengths with Agrok. She was nowhere near the same, but similar enough to hold the same attractions in his heart. He had no idea what was going on inside, but it promised to be a difficult time for him.

* * *

Necrotai tested the makeshift sofa with his hand before he settled himself down to discuss the operations ahead with his gryphon allies. The sofa was little more than a cushion set atop several logs to give height. It was not quite what he would offer such a guest as himself, but he was very understanding of the young nature of the Titanian nation, they had no palace to begin filling with furniture for dignitaries or ambassadors. He knew the current accommodations were not an insult, merely the best they could do for the time being.

"Necrotai, welcome to our humble home. I apologize for the lack of more luxurious facilities. We likely wont have anything for some time as we have not yet chosen a capital and I have sent every last mason and architect to build permanent homes for the people," Queen Asreigh explained with genuine concern for the perceived hospitality.

The Bizshra gave a slow smile to the young queen, "I would rather sit here on a rock than see another ruler rise to power with their own comforts placed before the needs of her people. I take more comfort here with that knowledge than I would in a palace with people outside living in huts. How maddening it must be for those who hate your kind, to find that more and more a young female gryphon is proving to be a greater monarch than any of those fools who fell to the Legion ever were."

"Speaking of the Legion, our forces are formed and the chain of command is established. We have formed the most base of strategies that are simply the best we could do without input on your plans for the attack," Malehk picked up the small window to get the conversation on the business at hand, "I have the list of the lieutenants who will be in charge of the operations on our end, we will need to put them in touch with your commanding officers so they can coordinate the efforts."

The Bizshra reached out his hand to take the note when the gryphon king offered it," That will be most helpful, I do believe we share a sentiment in wishing to get this started as soon as possible to help ensure the survival of our last neighbor. I don't think I need to mention the increases in our chances of success in starting before all their forces amass in one spot."

"Yes, I share that same opinion of quick deployment in this case. We have the greater plan together, we just need to share our finer details with the commanding officers that will be running the field," Malehk replied as he watched the young human girl from the Grasolahn palace assist Tahkra in making a stimulating tea.

Necrotai took note of the gryphon's split attention and grinned to himself, "Before we move on, I must speak up for my new-found brother in arms here. He has the gaze of a father, you would be most kind and thoughtful of him to let him fill your belly with young, dear Queen Asreigh."

"Dear Bizshra Necrotai, that thought has crossed my mind several times. We are not yet in a stable place that I can spend time raising children. Speaking of Children, how is it that you have a child as your personal servant on a diplomatic visit," Tahkra asked with a smile for Carly.

The Bizshra grinned at the gryphon king, "After the incident with Malehk, Carly here has been intensely interested in learning more about gryphons. She has even managed to muster up the courage to ask an audience with myself to ask what I knew about you lot. I was able to give her some new truths, but not very many. So it was very easy to figure out who would serve me during this trip, the poor girl does deserve a treat like this after that frightening event."

"The incident with Malehk? I have not heard of this incident, is every thing okay," the gryphon queen asked the young girl.

Malehk chuckled softly, "She is well my beloved, I believe our dear ally Necrotai is treating his open minded subject to a special visit to a land she is most interested in. Part of me wonders if he even has any tasks for her for this entire meeting."

"I do indeed have a task for young Carly during this meeting of monarchs. She is to leave here and find children to play with, or perhaps a friendly gryphon to pal around with. Do not stray too far, this meeting will not last the entire day and you will be called in to return to our lands," Necrotai gave Carly a look of pure command from the lips of her emperor, even as his words sounded more like a parent instructing their child.

The girl looked up at him with wide eyes for a moment before she looked around at the two gryphons in a state of confusion, "Yes lord Bizshra, but I do not know anyone around here to play with or who would be nice to talk to."

"I have this covered, you boys continue discussing your violent affairs," Tahkra intercepted the males before they could make any reply, taking the child under her wing to guide her from the dwelling, "Come along, we'll take advantage of this opportunity to feed your young mind with real facts from the beak of a real priestess of the consorts and a youngling tutor. Then we'll find you some playmates."

Carly seemed to light up with real excitement and youthful wonder, "Really your majesty? The Queen of Titania would do that for a servant girl?"

"I'm a different kind of queen than most are used to," Tahkra replied as the door flap fell closed behind them.

Malehk stared thoughtfully at the door for a long moment, "She is the first in line isn't she?"

"Very perceptive, but how did you figure that out," Necrotai replied.

The gryphon king turned an indifferent gaze back upon the Bizshra, clearly not willing to interfere with what may be protocol, "You are concerned about how she feels about gryphons, as well as the wish for her to know the truth about us, even beyond your own understanding. Even if one was trying to sew the seeds of change to swallow up the barren earth of hate, this is more effort than one servant girl would warrant from a leader with so many issues to juggle as you have. I do admit that I only suspected, until you spoke to her as one would their own child just a moment ago."

"I must explain myself, lest I fracture what little trust we have between us. Children in Grasolahn do not know their fathers until they are ten years of age, we foster them until then. This is so that any children of a Bizshra will grow up with a humbled foundation to understand the lower cast people around them. However, there is more to the situation with Carly," he explained to his feathered comrade.

Malehk nodded gently, "I must admit, I had some suspicions when I found out. But Carly genuinely doesn't know that her father is the Bizshra of Grasolahn, or that he has her working close enough at hand to watch her grow. This must mean that your demand of her name was an act for her benefit as well as ours."

"You are right again. For proper knowledge, she is unique as well in that she is not fostering but rather lives with her birth mother. Malehk, I have a personal favor to ask of you before we continue with our co-ordinations," Necrotai looked the gryphon in the eyes with an earnest look.

The gryphon king stared right back with an honest look of consideration, "I will see what I can do, but my power is limited and I know not the scope of the request. I can already guess that you want something to do with Carly within the borders of Titania."

"Yes, your dearest Tahkra is an incredible queen. She is beautiful as gryphons go, intelligent, compassionate, and strong in heart. She cares for your people, but like a loving mother, she will force them to do something they don't like for their greater good in the future or to ensure that future. I have also heard rumor of her sister, Agrok. My scouts that have seen her in the field have expressed a lack of desire to challenge her. Rumor has it that she is a very kind hearted soul who has been through a lot of heart ache and disdain by others; yet she still has a strong desire to protect these same people. Such strength, compassion, love, honor, and sense of duty as could be learned from both of them is what any leader should have. Particularly if this leader were to be the first female Bizshra of a people who were born in warfare and bloodshed," The Bizshra pleaded his case without begging or trying to convince the gryphon through any manipulations.

Malehk nodded gently and gave a heavy sigh, "I can say that such a prospect is indeed welcome to me, but you have approached the wrong person. This is a decision that Agrok and Tahkra must make, both as the tutors, and in Tahkra's case, as the queen. If they do say yes, I can tell you for certain that neither of them will be willing to lie to her, so it would be best to step forward and admit her lineage at least to her."

"I was hoping you could discuss the matter with them on my behalf to give them a proper length of time to consider the endeavor. I do see potential gain for your people as well, a Bizshra that tutored with, lived amongst and understand gryphons on a personal level. It certainly would open the door for a future death of the hate that stands right now," Necrotai pointed out.

The gryphon nodded once again, "You may be right, or this may be the kicker that sends your nation exploding into a civil war of 'sympathizers' versus the 'true Grasolahn'. You are in a position I do not envy."

"Yes, this is something I am aware of, which is why I wanted her to learn from both of them, and perhaps absorb some the the determination of the queen, and the fighting spirit of your sister in law in hopes that it would be enough to prepare a Bizshra for what is to come. This civil war you speak of may be as inevitable as it is necessary. But this matter is not why we are here. I am aware that Fredrick and Tarse will be the ones holding the border near the fighting. What of your other forces," the Bizshra inquired.

"Well, I had planned for the generals to keep a force at the ready to reinforce any of our border guards as well as the primary fighting force if need be. Each border position along the more northern regions shall be handled by the lieutenants and their individual forces. With the exception of the Queens Own Talons, lieutenant Reyfis Asreigh shall lead them alongside your infiltrators into the keep. I'm going to put some one else in charge of the supply caravans, to test his medal as a commander. This does split up our finest team however," Malehk explained.

Necrotai thought the plan over for a moment, "Perhaps we should leave it as it is and allow our field commanders a chance to coordinate their troops together once they gather at the staging grounds. We have a sound over all plan, the lieutenants and generals are there for the finer details anyhow."

Malehk was about to say something when the drake mage burst into the dwelling, "Lord Bizshra, Lord Malehk, scouts Altair and Vechan have discovered a pocket of refugees and they report their return path with civilians in tow."

"Thank you Kalah, we may need your services to mark the maps of our scouts for this next order, that is if I share the same idea as our ally," Malehk replied with a grin to Necrotai.

Both kings touched their respective enchanted communication devices and gave the same command at the same time, "Scouts, we have Altair and Vechan towing in some civilians, our mage will mark your maps from here, keep that lane clear of anything that even smells of the Legion. Help our boys bring them home."

Kalah nodded and cast her spell, concentrating hard to hit so many targets at such a distance, "It is done.. god speed to them."

Necrotai nodded, "I trust in our warriors to get them home safely."

* * *

"Now you wait just a minute, she has the decree and the blessing of the queen. Ronin wants to go and the biggest boss said she could," Rio growled at the pinched faced matron, waving the signed decree at silver haired woman.

The matron held her ground in the face of the angry drake, "Healer, I suggest you stand down, I am the final say in adoption matters concerning my charges. I say that human children go to human families, and gryphons are free to take in what ever gryphon children they like. A mixed family wont work and I will not inflict the younglins to such a mockery of a family."

The drake clenched her clawed fists with anger before her step daughter pulled her away from the infuriating human, "Rio, please, getting so worked up that you would consider that is not helping matters. We will find a way for Ronin."

"Agrok, you already mother her, this just lets her live with you instead of at the matron's facility. Why is it so wrong that she would block it even against the word of the queen," Rio clenched her jaw as tears of anger and frustration filled her eyes.

"What's going on," a female gryphon asked, one that Rio did not recognize.

Agrok seemed to know who she was however, and somehow seemed pleased to see her, "Hakarah, the matron wont release Ronin to us even with Tahkra's decree in hand. Wait, what are you doing here?"

"We came to see a historic moment for Titania, this is the first cross species adoption. Oh, Rastak will be along shortly, he had to deliver a progress report to Tahkra," Hakarah replied with a thoughtful look at the matron.

The woman smoothed her midnight blue gown, "Glare at me all you want, bird. You wont be stealing the child from this facility to give false hopes and eventually toss aside."

"What's going on here Agrok," A male voice asked from behind them.

Rio turned to find a large male gryphon, not as large as Reyfis or the colossal Grenz, but still fair in size. He was not wearing the normal canvas neck pouch, nor any harness, which was unusual for the gryphons. The gentle nuzzle he received from Hakarah quickly identified him as Rastak.

"The matron refuses to release Ronin, even with a written decree from the queen," Rio explained as she matched glares with the human.

Rastak stared at the woman with knitted brows for a moment, "You have the paper work from Tahkra?"

"Yes, I have it right here," Agrok reached into her canvas pouch to produce a rolled document and offer it to the nobleman.

The male broadwing nodded and advanced on the matron to shoulder her aside with his wing, "Right then, let's gather up Ronin and what things she has and be on our way."

"You can't do this, I haven't released her! This is abduction and the people shall hear of it," the matron screeched at the gryphon as he placed his foreclaw on the door to the orphans dwelling.

Rastak ignored her and opened the door to find the red haired human girl standing ready with a small pack in her arms, "Ronin I presume, Agrok is waiting to take you home, feel free to go to her now."

"Thank you," Ronin replied politely before she darted out the door to throw her arms around Agrok's neck, "Agrok! Matron Susan said I couldn't go just because I stayed up late last-night. She said that naughty children don't get to have mongrel families."

The gryphoness held her adopted daughter tight and nuzzled her head softly, "You don't have to worry about her any more, but we will have a talk about staying up so late. You need proper rest young lady. Now come along, we have to get you settled in to your new home."

"Yes momma," the girl nodded and fell in beside her new mother as the gryphon lead her toward her stone house.

Rastak shook his head, "Abduction, this feels more like a rescue."

"It was, and I shall be discussing these events with Tahkra. You can bet on that," Rio growled softly.

The male gryphon turned his gaze back to the matron, "You should amuse me and file a report of this to the queen. I am quite certain something would be done about it."

The matron glared at Rastak as her mouth worked, trying to find a proper retort for a moment. The woman finally gave up and turned on her heel to enter the orphan's dwelling and slam the door behind her.

"Well, I suppose that is that, thank you so much Rastak. I was at my whits end with that aggravating female," Rio hugged the male who had saved the day for her step daughter and their newest family member.

Rastak purred softly and gave her a pat on the back as best he could, "It was nothing, Neither Agrok nor Ronin needed to endure fighting for what was already given to them. They've been through enough. Besides, even with your sharp talons and pointy teeth I am afraid you are not very intimidating. Add a big powerful predator that looks the part and the most stubborn fool will fold to what is happening."

"Yes, well that is the curse of being a small and lithe female. I had best be off to help them settle in together. Thank you again Rastak and you too for bringing him along Hakarah," Rio thanked them both once again and turned to follow her step daughter.

Hakarah laid a foreclaw on her shoulder gently, "Rio, wait a moment. You are a healer, does your knowledge of health include that of heart and mind?"

"Only to the extent that I can tell when there is an existing problem, although not what it may be. Why do you ask," Rio replied with her own inquiry.

The female taperwing looked her in the eyes as a mother to a mother, "Tahkra has asked me to watch the progress of Ronin as an unbiased third party. I need you to let me know when she is settled in mentally so i can talk to her and see how things are going and how well she is adjusting. Tahkra trusts her sister, but she wont let this situation go unmonitored. She cannot let anything happen here, even more so with her sister being the one who is making this adoption."

"Understood, and that is the right decision as a queen and as an aunt. I will keep you informed, and you will have your interview. I must be off now, my new granddaughter needs to welcomed into the family," Rio nodded her reply.

Hakarah returned the nod, "You go and do that, grandma Rio."

The healer smiled to herself at the sound of that title as she turned and made a fast walk toward Agrok's stone house. Many things had changed in the past several weeks for the Asreigh family, mostly for the best but many of the changes had come with trials. Rio knew the trials were not yet finished, but she was glad to reap the rewards that had already come. The healer could barely hold back the urge to hum a Shialan tune, and by the time she approached the wooden door of Agrok's home she had given in to the urge to hum that celebratory tune. There were two parts to the song, one male and one female, Rio had chosen the female portion to hum to herself as she stepped into the door. It was an uplifting and inspiring tune of a brave dragon warrior who found his love in a kind drake girl. The living room was empty save for the table, sofa, and bookshelf in the far corner.

"Agrok, Ronin? Where are you two," Rio called out, hoping to get a reply as she was very much not familiar with Agrok's house.

The muffled reply seemed to come from upstairs, "We're in the second room on the right!"

Rio sighed gently, the stairs were not her idea of a pleasant trip. While her foot was mostly healed from the sword incident, she was left very sore and tender around the damaged area. Thankfully the stairs had been designed for gryphon use and were not too steep. The drake eased her way up the wide steps meant to allow Agrok to head to her bed chambers with a large body beside her. Rio had to pause at the top of the steps to rest her foot and let the dull throbbing fade before she moved on. A gentle massaging of her own foot had the healer back up on her feet in short order. She walked with a light limp past Agrok's bed chambers, another clever idea by the masons. Anyone coming, or going , from the rest of the sleeping chambers had to pass the master bedroom and the warrior with her fine tuned senses.

The bare stone of the hall felt rather rough and unrefined to the drake, having been raised by a well to do family she was used to decoration. This young home was barely lived in and only provided with the most basic of furnishings. There were no paintings on the walls, no table in the hall, not even a rug on the stone floor. Rio could not fault Agrok, nor the masons for the bare state of the house; there were simply too many things that needed doing of greater importance than making pretties for one gryphon's house. There was no currency as of yet to pay for luxuries either, which put work to only crown appointed tasks and tasks of daily survival.

The door in question was open so Rio just walked right in on the pair as they rested in a snuggle on Ronin's new bed, "But why do I have to be grounded already? It was just a stupid rule from mean old Matron Tisha."

"Young lady that is a rule I agree with, you need your rest to grow and you ignored your bed time to stay up late and disturb other children. Going to bed an hour early for three days is not a harsh punishment, you will survive the ordeal I assure you," Agrok replied with a rather firm tone.

Rio smiled at them both as she moved to the bed to settle down, "You didn't think Agrok would just let you run wild did you? She must care for you now and that means enforcing the rules to keep you safe and well, not to mention to help you develop as a part of society."

"This rule was for your own good as well, so my enforcing it is nothing more than me taking my place as your new mother. If I let this go by because I don't like the person who first made the rule, I would not be a very good mother would I," Agrok pointed the facts out to her new human daughter.

Ronin shook her head softly before she hugged the female warrior around the neck, "No, you wouldn't. I'm glad I'm grounded, because that means I have a momma to ground me. Can I call you that now, or do I still have to call you Agrok?"

"You can call me momma if you'd like, it is most appropriate now. Make sure to put your things away, we have company tonight. Tahkra has asked Hakarah and Rastak to join the family meal tonight so that she and Hakarah can lay out their secret project for us," Agrok replied with a warm embrace, her feathers puffing up with contentment.

Rio watched the two of them with a warmth in her heart until the human girl looked up at her, "What about you miss Rio?"

"I beg your pardon," the drake asked in reply, having been caught off guard by the question.

Ronin smiled shyly and blushed a bit, "Can I call you grandma Rio, even though you look more like a momma than a grandma?"

"Yes you may sweetheart, I kind of like the sound of that," the healer smiled and kisses the child on the forehead, "Oh, Agrok, you and your father deploy soon, what are you going to do about Ronin while you are on the field?"

Agrok nodded slowly, "I was hoping her care could fall between you and Tahkra, and if you two were busy there is always Jirri, or even Raizehl."

"Do Jirri and Raizehl know that they are in your care line up," Rio asked with a little grin.

The gryphoness looked back at her slyly, "Not yet, but they will soon enough. Speaking of Jirri, how are you two getting along?"

"We get along well, I like her wisdom that is beyond her years. I can't say that my faith lays with the Consorts, but that is mostly because I was born in a multiversal society," the healer replied.

Ronin looked up at her for a moment, "Grandma Rio, what's multiverah society? Is that where the bad guys came from?"

"Sadly, yes, Society is the many groups of people that make up a working net of peoples. A multiversal society is one that is a group of worlds in different universes, or 'realms' as we travelers call them, that all deal with one another in trade, defense, and in some poor cases, war with one another. The Soul Legion is the worst of the bad eggs in the multiversal community. We do not know why they do what they do, or what it is they really want in the end. We just know that they are hurting a lot of people and even destroying worlds; they must be stopped," Rio explained in a story telling style meant to separate the harsh realities Ronin had already faced with the past that she had never seen.

The girl looked up at Agrok then back to the drake, "My momma will stop them, she's tougher than them, faster than them, and smarter than them."

"I cannot do it alone sweetheart, I will most certainly need the strength and support of the soldiers who fight at my side," Agrok corrected the child.

Rio smiled and nuzzled Ronin's head softly, "Do not fret little one, I am confident Agrok will remain a very powerful weapon against the Soul Legion, if not the deathblow to their reign of terror. They simply cannot know how to fight her. She is too fast to overpower, and too tough to hit light and fast without her getting her claws into one's hide."

"Yup, I have the best momma ever," Ronin chimed and pressed against Agrok's chest.

Rio giggled lightly as she watched them, her mind adrift to the darker realities around them. War was knocking on their door and it would not be a pleasant guest. There was one distinct difference between the forces of Titania and Grasolahn and those of her home world; the soldiers on Eldarohnd still had morale and the rested strength of warriors who had not fought all their lives. They were able to live their lives up until now and remember exactly what it is they would be fighting for. The dragons and drakes of Skanshial, along with their human allies, had spent generations fighting for their very lives against the growing threat of GahlByrn. War was all they knew anymore, and it was taking it's toll on the defenders of the realms. The renewed hope and fury of these gryphons may just be the push needed to finally take down the Legion. With Agrok as their finest, Rio may have spoken true about her dealing the deathblow to the evil heart of the Legion. The healer took a moment to give a silent prayer to the Lord of Realms and the Great Consorts, that her words may become prophecy.

* * *

The cold cut through Krintahl's feathers to chill her skin down to the bone. This was the cooler part of the year, but this day was colder than normal and she feared for the humans who did not have feathery coats to protect them from those icy talons.

"Altair, it's going to be a very cold night. We should consider a place to rest and warm up for the night if we can, the humans are not built as we are for the cold," she pleaded with the scout as they followed along the rear of the column.

He nodded gently, "I know, Vechan has expressed the same concern and we have been looking for a suitable place to camp. Unfortunately we have yet to discover a place to safely have a fire out of view prying eyes. We will keep looking, it would make no sense to have you all die of hypothermia before we get you to safety."

"Thank you, I know I seem like an over protective mother but these people have come to look to me for leadership and I feel responsible for everything that may happen to them," Krintahl explained herself, she felt the need to talk with the handsome scout so she fed her curiosity, "Altair, would you be willing to tell me about your mate?"

Altair gave a soft sigh, "She is not my mate, we are simply lovers as I attempt courtship. With the way things have gone lately, I fear I may not be doing so well."

Krintahl was about to reply when Vechan interrupted, "Altair, I think I found something you should check out from above."

"Alright, lead the front up to a visible vantage point and we'll bring the rear of the column up to join you," the broadwing replied as he began to look toward the head of their column.

The female taperwing kept her eyes only half focused forward, always did half her vision keep a side view of that handsome male in the corner of her eye. There was something about him that held her attention, even as she knew he had a lover she found herself drawn to him. There was a battle of desire and morality raging inside of her, most notably around the fact that he was not happy and didn't seem to think his lover was either. Even as her heart and her thoughts circled themselves, the column marched forward to quickly knot up on it self as they reached the spot that Vechan had called the halt.

"What is it you had to show me Vechan," Altair asked as he stepped up beside the Grasolahn scout.

The human nodded to something off ahead, when Krintahl's eyes finally registered what he was nodding at her beak gaped, "Have you ever seen such a large stand of trees in such a perfectly round placement before?"

"No, I haven't. I better take a look from above before we risk signaling them to a ground presence, if there is some one in there. Keep a close eye and ear out, you may have to cover their retreat," Altair replied with a determined set to his shoulders.

Krintahl laid her forepaw on the broadwing's shoulder, "Altair, please be careful out there."

"I can only be so careful before I stop doing my job. Some things I have to do," he replied firmly before he stepped off into the brush to put a different direction to his approach.

Vechan stepped up beside her and shook his head as they both watched Altair spring into the air to fly above the strange formation, "You've got the eyes for him quite strongly."

"I beg your pardon," Krintahl asked in reply, quite confused by the expression.

The human scout turned his eyes to her after the broadwing dived into the center of the trees, "You want him as yours, the adoring gaze is obvious. His lover and him aren't a good fit, he has told me a bit about her. She is very independent and strong in spirit, he needs to feel needed and to comfort those he cares about. This crisis of theirs may be the only current hitch, but when you have two opposite needs like that it is bound to be a hard time together. I say you don't fight it and just court him already, it may hurt her at first but everyone will be better off in the end. Besides, they are just lovers not really attached."

"I suppose that is true, but I couldn't ask him to forget about her and join with me. It just doesn't feel right and it could lose a friend for him," she replied with her dainty ear tufts laid back

Vechan gave a snort, "Look, I know you might think I have no business in this matter but Altair is a good fellow. I would say he is far better than those I would call friend back home and I hope to be his friend. Never in my years did I think a gryphon could be my best friend but there it is, and I think he deserves a gal that can make him as happy as a hog in slop. What I seen, that's you."

Krintahl remained silent at that, not knowing what to say at all. This fellow had no interests in this matter except to see Altair happy but he had a lover already. Morality and her heart's desire clashed even harder than before, but now there was a difference in strength in favor of her heart.

Krintahl knew the truth of the matter and could not help but voice her feelings, "Consorts help me, I love him already. I need to be his and I need him for my own, but how do I beg forgiveness of his poorly selected lover?"

A rustle in the brush at the base of the odd tree formation caught their attention just before Altair emerged, "I have good news, this grove is hollow inside. We can make camp and even have a fire safely, there is a down side though."

"What's wrong with it bird," Vechan asked bluntly, cutting strait to the core of the subject.

The broadwing took a deep breath, "It's hard to explain, but it is easy to tell that this was once a place of power and that old power seems to be watching in there. It does not feel aggressive, simply vigilant."

"Well, old power should just sit and do nothing. We ought to be fine camping in there; if some old power is keeping an eye out, it can take a turn on watch," the Grasolahn scout announced as a matter of fact before he started to walk toward the grove.

Krintahl gave a soft sigh, "Everyone follow him in, we need the rest and to warm back up. If you would be so kind as to cover our tails as we press on to this grove Altair?"

"I would be glad to milady," the broadwing replied as he waited for the column to move into the brush.

The taperwing swallowed hard as she braced herself for her first bold move, "You would hmm? Well once we get everyone home safely, I should take you up on that."

Altair coughed softly with a deep blush to his nares, "Ah, the path through is right this way, we shouldn't lag too far behind the others."

The female smiled at him and moved on ahead of him with a sway of her tail as she headed for the brush to find the opening he had mentioned. Her heart was in her throat after letting that comment free; she still had no idea if his reaction was a good one or a bad one. He did follow along rather close on her right side, which told her that he was not repulsed by her behavior.

Krintahl paused at the brush line and examined the shrubs closely, searching for a way through, "How did you make your way through this?"

The gryphon scout pulled back a clump of branches to reveal his path, "There is actually a very clear path just beyond the cover. You just have to be good at finding clear passage."

"Something else you'll have to show me later," She gave his cheek a little lick before she padded her way down the path.

The trees of the grove were larger than she had expected, some of the trunks were even as thick as she was long. There was a quiet feeling to it all with the same feeling of old power that Altair had described, making the twilight of the grove seem much more alive. The path turned out to be short, but longer than she had expected as well. When she stepped into the hollow, she had to pause and stare in awe at what was within. The hollow held a large meadow of short, very soft grass with a set of stone sings set within one another around a large green gemstone of some sort. That green crystalline stone rest half buried and still twice as large as the gryphoness. The rings were connected by lines of stones that formed boxy wedges between each ring, and those wedges were filled with more stones arranged in various runes and covered with some sort of luminescent moss. This same moss climbed up the great wooden fortress that was the trees of the grove to create a well lit chamber within their midst. True to the naturalist origin she suspected to this grove, the sky was visible over head to remind the visitors that their fortress was still outside amongst nature's glory.

"By the Great Consorts, this is truly astounding," Krintahl whispered as she let her eyes drink in the odd green-yellow glow of the scenes before her, "Simply beautiful."

Altair stepped up beside her, the glow of the moss made his markings stand out quite prominently and made him look even more striking, "Yes it is, just as imposing as it is inviting. Somehow, I wish I had some one here to share this place with."

"Why Altair, I never knew you felt that way. I should ask for a new assignment before this gets any more strange around you," Vechan snickered.

Krintahl blushed a bit at the thoughts of how romantic the lovely grove was and covered it with a giggle as the broadwing shot back at his counterpart, "That's not what you said when you were begging me the other night. If you're going to be like this, I think I made the right choice in refusing you."

"Not a very good return,bird. Go with the pretty girl and enjoy the scenery, don't forget to enjoy the grove as well. I'll take first watch to give you some alone time," the human gave the male a slap on the shoulder, "I already have the boys searching for burnables that are not the moss or other sacred objects. I have no idea what this place is, but I do know I would like to keep it intact."

Krintahl held her eyes on the great green gem int he earth for a moment before she gave an answer, "I think we have made a great discovery, this looks very much like the descriptions of the great Druid's Lost Grove. It is an old legend in Ranshin's history, of the great druids who used to protect the nation before the great war. The legend goes that they had a great mysterious grove that no one could find, where they would gather and take company with the spirits of nature."

"That can't be, druids are just a myth," Vechan snorted in return.

Krintahl bit right back, "So is Grasolahn intelligence."

"Well played girl! See that Altair? You need her around to protect you from manly retorts and jabs. Either that or I'll keep her, I know how shape changing magic works. If she's this pretty as a gryphon, she'll be a goddess as a human," the Grasolahn scout jabbed his comrade in the ribs with his elbow, "So tell us how you know so much about all this anyhow, girl."

The female laid her ears back a bit and looked at her forepaws, "Well, I am the only gryphon that has ever not been of the plains. I was born across the borders in Ranshin and my parents were slain as trespassers by some rather ignorant land holders. The nobleman of the region came across the scene and had his men save me from the brutes as a newborn infant. I have been raised in Ranshin ever since. I have always dreamed of seeing the plains and meeting more of my species."

"Altair, that lonely look, take her down to rest and console her as your kind would. I think it is something she needs, whether you're smart enough to court her or not," Vechan locked the broadwing with an expression of deadly seriousness.

The broadwing nodded gently as he curled a wing over her back, "I would have to agree with you Vechan, no matter how cultured some one has been with another race, they still need the presence of their own kind. Come Lady Krintahl, we'll lay in the soft grass and talk some more."

"I think I would like that," the taperwinged female ducked her head to hide her blush, and her tears.

Never had Krintahl imagined she would ever see another gryphon, let alone return to the plains of her people. Now she was traveling with a gorgeous male who showed everything she ever dreamed of in a mate, to return to the safety of the gryphon's lands. The wing around her was a new sensation, it felt so very warm and some how made her feel loved and cared for. She could not help but give in to the urge to press against the strong agile form of the scout as he lead her to the fire pit that was long ago lost and forgotten. Her escort settled down with her near the pit that was being filled with what wood scraps the men could find, the twin moons in equal size in their alternate wax and wane high above them like drooping eyes.

Altair caressed her cheek gently with a tender foreclaw, "So you really have never seen another gryphon before. I couldn't imagine how that must have felt."

"Very lonely, and rather unwanted," Krintahl replied with a sniffle as she fought back the urge to weep, "I know my lord had struck a deal with one of the chiefs to have his son come to be with me as an arranged mateship, but I planned to let him go right away if he wanted. I wanted a real mate, not some one who was with me to serve his people. That tale must certainly have gotten around the tribes, oh what they must think of me! Altair, I don't know how to be a proper gryphon. What things do i need to do, how should I act? Will I ever be able to fit in? I-I'm scared of my own dream!"

The male made a soft soothing sound as he wrapped his strong forelimbs around her to hold her tight, "Shhh, it's okay. You arrangement was widely unknown, I only knew because my lover was the female that the male in question fell in love with just before he was to depart. He died protecting her from an attack she had missed. You will take heart that he was to refuse such an arrangement to pursue his heart. Now for the silly part, you are a proper gryphon sweetheart. We are just people like any other, there may be a few cultural differences, but all in all we are just like anyone else. You will find that others are glad to share in our culture."

"I suppose that notion was pretty silly wasn't it," she blushed with a sheepish smile as he caressed her cheek quite tenderly.

The scout smiled back at her and let his eyes meet hers with a soft caring gaze, "Yes, it was. You will have the same adjustments that come with any move, but that will just be to the people living around you. You have nothing to be afraid of Krintahl, I wont let anything happen to you. I promise."

Krintahl nearly lost herself in the mixed emotions running through her heart. She wanted to cry in both sorrow and joy, she wanted to just rest in his forelimbs and enjoy the warmth, and even deeper, she wanted to hold tight to him and beg him to take her right there. She did find herself nibbling lightly on the hooked tip of his beak before she even knew what she was doing.

The female quickly pulled her head back and blushed furiously, "Oh, I'm so sorry Altair, I don't know what came over me. I didn't mean to-."

Her words were cut off as he pulled her tight to him and slipped his beak around the edges of her own to caress her tongue with his own tongue. She was shocked at first, but that quickly faded as she fell into the kiss, holding tight to the scout as she embraced the beautiful affection. She couldn't help but lean and roll to her back as she pulled him along with her to stay close and locked in the kiss. He in turn rested his flank against hers to lean over her with a forelimb draped across her chest to stroke her cheek in a tender caress.

When they finally broke the kiss Krintahl looked up at him with a breathless pant, "Thank you so very much, but why?"

"I-I don't know, I guess because you seemed to want and need something like that from me. Maybe because that want and need has made me feel more like your mate than I have felt with Agrok. What ever it is, I know it felt right," Altair replied with a gentle blush as he stared down into her eyes and continued to caress her neck and cheek.

Krintahl wrapped her forelimbs around his neck and stared back into his eyes with tears of joy and desperate need, "I don't know how it goes, but I want you to be my mate Altair. Please, I need you to be my mate. You said yourself that you don't feel like her lover,she can find a new playmate. I need your heart, your warm caring heart next to mine. Please Altair, I need you, I-I'm in love with you."

The stars and the twin moons shined bright up above as they watched the pair , waiting just like her for his answer. She looked up into his eyes with tears of fear and need streaming to her soft feathered cheeks where they soaked in. He was clearly torn and it showed in his eyes. Her heart pounded in her chest like a drum as she watched him and waited for his answer with every hope and dream depending on what he would say.

* * *

Jirri smiled warmly to herself as she gazed across the table at the very strange and very diverse family that had come to form around Agrok and Tahkra since their exile from the Kenjaya. The two young ladies had done very well in turning such a loss into a gain of freedom to allow themselves to blossom and flourish. Agrok had become the first female warrior of their people, and the finest warrior of their present times. Tahkra had become the queen of the peoples they had both managed to unite in different ways. The drakes who had come to pursue their foes and share knowledge with the peoples of the world they followed them to had also come to be a firmly rooted fixture in the odd family. The strangest of all, and probably the most important piece to the puzzle of the new Asreigh clan, was Ronin, the young human girl.

Grenz looked around from her right at all those who had gathered, "I thank you for having us at this family meal, but I must ask why myself and Jirri are here."

"Several reasons really, Jirri is here because she has been the priestess who has counciled Agrok and Tahkra all their lives. Reyfis has a few things to say to you as one of his personnel;as for the most important reason, I will let Agrok explain that one," Kalah replied with a smile, "And welcome Ronin as a part of this family, as strange as it is, we will all do what we can to make you feel at home."

Agrok smiled as she gave Ronin's back a rub, "Thank you Kalah, and I suppose I should explain the reasons to Grenz. I know we shared quite a few physical pleasantries before, but my heart has changed. I've come to love you Grenz, not as a friend, not as a lover, but as a sister loves a brother. Don't worry, you're still my rival, that has not changed."

"Well that is a delightful development indeed. I do believe you two were meant to have such a close bond as this. The more I watch you interact, the more I am convinced that you are indeed soul mates," Jirri stated with a warm smile at both rivals.

Agrok tilted her head at the priestess, "But we are not mates, I couldn't become mates with him even if our rivalry ended now. How is it that we can be soul mates?"

"One does not have to be mated to their soul mate, they certainly do not always make the ideal mate. Your soul mate is some one who makes you complete just by being in your life, when they are around you can take on any challenge in life simply because they are there to balance and even comfort you," Rio explained, "Such is the case with myself and Kalah, she completes my heart and soul, but I feel no physical attraction towards her or any female for that matter. I know I was lost during our time of not speaking."

Agrok gave a nod to her step mother as Jirri gave a soft nibble to Grenz' neck, "Okay, I understand the concept now and it does make sense in our case. But I must ask Grenz and Jirri, what is the status between you two? You are always together, you've been sleeping in Grenz' dwelling, and you are quite affectionate."

"I don't think we have defined anything as of yet, but it is safe to say we are quite fond of one another," Grenz replied, "I think I would take to anything she wanted with us, I just don't know what she wants so I make no moves."

Jirri smiled and purred softly as she lay her head against his neck, "That being the case, we are indeed a couple. I have seen the best and worst of Grenz and I find him to be a beautiful soul to share a life with."

"Well that is so sweet, great work Grenz. I do believe she is quite the keeper," Agrok offered in a serious statement even as she giggled.

Grenz gave a snort at her girlish behavior, "So tell me, Tailflicker, have you made up your mind on what you will do with Altair?"

"Yes, I am quite interested in what is going on with all that," Saltriss edged his way into the conversation, "I have yet to meet the boy, but I have heard both good and bad things."

Agrok took a deep breath, "Well, I am at least half responsible for his bad behavior. I haven't let him in like I should have, and I have reclused out of habit. He is not feeling like a part of the life we're supposed to be settling into together and being younger than I to this love game, he is panicking. I intend to apologize to him for being so withdrawn and prove my interest by offering my secondary to him for trade. This will be with the understanding that accepting me is accepting Ronin as well, I refuse to let anyone separate us. However, a certain young lady will find herself very familiar with the teachings of the consorts and Raizehl if she does not eat her vegetables."

"Aww, Uncle Malehk doesn't have to eat any, why do I," Ronin protested as Agrok curled a wing around her back and gave her hair a few preening nips.

The motherly warrior gave her adopted daughter a nuzzle as she replied, "Because Uncle Malehk is a predator born and designed to eat only meat, he can live quite healthy that way. Little red haired human girls need vegetables and fruits to help keep their bodies properly fed and balanced. Besides, I eat them as well because they taste nice the way Kalah prepares them."

Jirri felt an utterly warm and pleasant sensation in her heart as she watched the two interact as mother and daughter. There was a nearly overwhelming feeling of things being right in the every day task of a mother guiding her daughter. The priestess felt a slight twinge of envy for Agrok and her place as a mother. Jirri was older than she and felt the real ticking of her biological clock quite strongly.

"Okay momma, if you like them I will try them," Ronin surrendered her youthful battle against the green menace.

Agrok smiled then looked up at everyone else who had gathered, "I have a favor to ask of you all. Both myself and Altair are warriors, so we will be away often on assignments. I need to ask for assistance in caring for Ronin while I am away. I also need to ask for a permanent arrangement should anything happen to us out there."

"No need to ask, little sister, Ronin will stay with Malehk and I while you are out on assignment. I had already planned to steal my niece while you were away, no better time to have some quality time with Aunty Tahkra," The queen grinned at her sister.

Grenz cleared his throat, "If I may, honey, you declared us a couple dear Jirri, so i am taking my turn to decide something for us. We will be Ronin's god parents. Should anything happen to Agrok and Altair, we will take Ronin in and continue raising her for them."

"That is a most wonderful idea, with a warrior and a priestess to make up the household that is a very stable environment for a child. Jirri, I'm acting as your friend and overriding any objections you have," Raizehl cut her way into the conversation.

Jirri smiled gently at her elder friend, "Well it certainly is a good thing I have no objections then, isn't it Sister Raizehl? I happen to like children and find myself prepared to have some of my own, caring for Ronin would be a blessing if such a dark time were to come."

"Having this all settled is a good thing, because we have a grim task ahead of us soon. I am your lieutenant and I must lead you to perform covert strikes on high value targets behind enemy lines. We are marching out in the morning. Grenz, my boy, I want you to lead the groups striking the supply caravans. I see potential in you as a warrior and a commander as well, and I wish to see just what you can do. As for Agrok, she will be coming with me to begin the process of carving out the heart of the keep we are to invade. There is more to be said for our plans and strategies in this task, but I will not speak of it until we are off in the field and heading toward our targets," Reyfis announced with a bit of a sigh, I hate to lead my daughter and her best friend and rival into a war that promises to be quite rough, but we must hit them first in order to stand a chance."

Jirri laid her dainty ears back a bit as she looked up at Grenz for a moment, "So it is we who are to start this war, bringing our talons to draw first blood. May the Consorts grant our warriors strength and see our loved ones home safely."

"We are catching the enemy in their most lax and vulnerable position with many of their warriors bunched up in one place for us. If we strike swift and hard, we can greatly reduce the numbers significantly, or cause them all kinds of trouble they have not been counting on," Malehk offered.

The priestess looked at her king with a warm and serene expression, "I do not disagree with this assault, and I do understand the reasons behind it. I do, however, find the very necessity of such actions to be disturbing and frightening to have as our standing reality. We have only just made the glorious change to being a united people and a nation, and now we must start the war that may very well be our last stand. The Consorts have blessed us with some powerful champions, but they need something else as well. I can't shake the feeling that something else is looming that we just do not have the ability to fight."

"Her words hold quite the possibility of truth," Kalah cut off the beginnings of the murmurs from the warriors in attendance, "I have been feeling the looming presence of a long distance scry that has managed to pierce all my attempts to blur out any visions received by such attempts."

Tahkra perked in alarm, "We have been scryed upon? Some one or something out there knows of our presence and positions, why on earth have you not told us sooner? We should begin moving about every day to keep them from knowing where we will be at any given time."

"Peace, Tahkra, there have been no omens about such a thing and Kalah is not alarmed by this presence. The Consorts are giving us reasons to at least keep our selves from fleeing in fear, let us hear what else our mage friend has to say about it," Jirri answered her queen with a gentle tone and a near motherly smile.

Kalah nodded gently and continued, "Only GahlByrn and his six have that kind of power among the Legion, but it is not one of them. I have seen and fought against those Vyrekai, I would recognize their power in an instant. This scrying force, it is familiar, yet it is also unknown to me."

"This is a tale you have not even told myself, heart sister," Rio seized the the moment of pause, "You should explain yourself, and explain what a Vyrekai is. I don't believe this world has ever seen one before."

Kalah gave a deep sigh, "Of course, in true sisterly fashion, you have cut me off to request precisely what I intended to do. Now then, for the Vyrekai, magic is the same form of energy found in different places. These places are the three weaves, the Astral that flows through the universe beyond the worlds, the Earthen which consists of the nodes and leylines, and the Soulweave which is the energies put off by life and the very planet around us. Even the other weaves give off the energies that collect in each soulweaver's soul mesh. Most worlds will only know adepts in a single or two weaves, but there is a step beyond that to nearly unimaginable power that one must simply be born with. Vyrekai are mages that have full use and control of all three weaves, creating a pool of power and particle variety of immense levels. I am merely a soul weave adept who can also wield the energies of the earthen weave."

"So how is it that this scry is familiar and unfamiliar at the same time? Shouldn't it be one or the other," Grenz asked, speaking as though he didn't even experience the entire magic explanation.

Kalah shook her head gently, "It is unfamiliar in the sense that I have never met this mage, nor have I ever heard rumor of a name or face to go along with signature. I have felt this signature in such a scrying before and what followed was an incredible display of arcane might from afar that reduced GahlByrn's nine great Vyrekai to six. I cannot say for certain if this is merely another conqueror who wishes to undermine their competition, or if this is a real champion of such power that they would restore hope to this desperate war."

"I have heard rumor that a world has backed down the Legion, on the talents of an incredible spell caster. It was said that this mage drove not only GahlByrn's twelve, but GahlByrn himself, from their realm and pursued. They were supposed to have sealed the realm behind them with a nearly impossible task to open the seal," Rio chimed in once again.

Kalah frowned at her closest friend, "I have never heard this tale, but it does hold a grain of truth. There are three of the twelve that have disappeared and been presumed dead by what we gathered through intercepted communications."

"By the paws of the Great Mother! If such a mage is here watching us, we may have an ally who would seem like the consorts themselves come to protect our lands and our people. This is, however, only a rumor with small signs of truth. The consorts cannot effect events outside of our world, for that is beyond the reach of their pantheons," Jirri observed with a hopeful tone.

Malehk nodded gently, "Yes, such a resource would be invaluable in the coming struggle if we find ourselves facing these Vyrekai in service to GahlByrn. We really don't have much in the way of arcane weaponry."

"You have more than you know, I have been scrying and keeping a close eye on your numbers. There are a rather decent amount of untrained soul weavers among you. My guess is that your mages are all earthen weavers, thus teaching a soul weaver is simply not going to happen. Until now; I have found your brightest arcane star was a sleeping soul weaver as well as her earthen weaving capabilities. I have begun teaching Krinzehl how to use the energies of the soul weave. We will begin training others to use the soul weave once she is advanced enough to do so."

Tahkra's ears perked at the news, "So we will have more mages in our midst to help bolster our ranks and supply arcane support?"

"More than that, they should be able to help 'modernize' your infrastructure for your nation. Arcane components to irrigation, sewage, waste disposal and even creature comforts is quite valuable and effective in keeping a nation running clean and efficiently. it also helps to increase population health with more efficient and clean waste disposal and irrigation for food production," Kalah explained.

Jirri could not help but beam at the the very idea of better health and more comfortable lives for the people, "This is something the Consorts would want for their children, healthier, happier, and cleaner lives. We must be cautious that we do not become too dependent on it's use, else we lose the ability to function without it and become weaker and less independent as a whole."

"Of course, magery could be used to take care of it all, but what I proposed is arcane components, rather than full arcane systems. These components can be replaced with mundane components and easily used with a bit of effort. We went through the very laziness you are concerned about, back on Skanshial. We learned our lesson and we will not teach the full arcanization of civilized functions," Kalah replied with a smile.

Tahkra turned her gaze to her mate, "Malehk, is it possible to spare a small force of the soon to be mages to focus on creating such an infrastructure while the rest fight for our world?"

"I can't see why not, we were not aware of this resource before and already planned and strategized without it. But how long will it be before mages begin to rise to usable levels of training," Malehk replied before he asked his question of Kalah.

The drake mage shook her head gently, "I cannot say for certain, things will go quickly with Krinzehl. She is already an adept of the earthen weave, it is simply a matter of teaching her new spell theory rather than new spells. They are fairly identical in the end. New spells she is likely to discover on her own or learn from the soulweavers spell book I gave her. As for the rest, they are starting fresh so their advancement will be on their own ability to grasp the lessons and formulas."

"All we can do is wait and plan accordingly, I will leave it in your and Krinzehl's claws to assign battle and utility mages. In the mean time, I have worked with Raizehl and Hakarah on a pair of similar projects that have the same end purpose. I know I can trust our current nobility, but I am not so naive as to believe this trustworthy state will remain through out the ages. That is why I have created the functions of the ladies in waiting and the royal couriers. My ladies in waiting will serve in clerical tasks in their off time and during their times of real service, they will mingle with the nobility and escort single male nobles during court events and celebrations. Their function is as the unseen eyes and ears of the queen. They are some one that is easily considered unimportant and ignored during important discussions, thus they see and hear more. That fact of life is precisely why they will be watching and listening for the queen, or king if we happen to have a male head of our nation," Tahkra announced.

Rio smiled to her step daughter, "That is a splendid plan, I have overheard a few things myself by being a pretty face on a mucky-muck's arm. But what of your royal couriers? What exactly will they do?"

"While my ladies will be an unseen factor, the couriers will be the known eyes and ears of the queen, even a bit of her voice as well. They will collect reports from each of the nobles and sub-rulers in the various towns and villages through out our nation to show progress in farming, education, health, and financial situations. They will also be responsible for reporting to the queen anything they suspect or have outright witnessed that may be amiss to the queen directly. These reports will also be a source of collecting complaints and issues with higher levels of the chain of power within Titania. Couriers will deliver smaller complaints and issues to the officials appointed to deal with them, and bring items of real importance directly to the claws of the queen," Tahkra explained in as much detail as she could manage.

Slatriss stroked his scaly chin, "I think you just might be on to something here Tahkra,this is something different. A policing entity with no real authoritative ties, but the importance of nearly the queen's. Certainly something the people would love and the less scrupulous noble would come to fear."

"That is precisely the point," Tahkra smiled sweetly, "Let them know that no matter how hard they try to hide their dirty deeds, my eye can always find them in the act and bring justice to the ones they hurt."

Reyfis cleared his throat, "Well, this is wonderful news and great planning, but I need my two warriors to eat up and spend some time with their loved ones. Kalah has already agreed to gate us all out to meet the main battle group where we will branch off in the early morning. The winds of war is upon our wings, I suggest you make sure you are well rested to meet them."

"Understood sir, I do believe I have taken my fill. If my lady is finished I will take my leave, if not I shall stay by her side while she enjoys her meal and our company," Grenz half replied to Reyfis and half asked Jirri.

The priestess smiled at her male, "I am done sweetheart. I do believe I will find time to discuss this whole new internal spy net with Tahkra while you and the other boys are away defending our way of life. There is something I wish to do this evening before we take to rest."

"Lad, you are certainly dismissed. A statement like that usually means something of great importance to a female and missing it would be worse than marching alone to the battle tomorrow," Reyfis waved Grenz and Jirri off.

The younger male gave a snort, "Jirri is not the spitfire and rumbling geyser of anger and fury that many would have us believe other females to be. But it is in appreciation of her gentle ways that I wish even more so to avoid disappointing her. What about clean up though, is there anything we can do before we go?"

"No, you are quite alright hun, go on and enjoy your last night before the battle to come. We non-combatant ladies will tend to the chores. That goes for Agrok too, get on and tuck your daughter in. Tell her a story and curl up with her for the night, you will regret it for eternity if anything happens along the way and you failed to spend that one last special night," Rio waved off the offer to help before she laid down the firm advice.

Jirri smiled as she stood and made her way to the door of the dinning structure, "Come love, I do believe that was polite motherly figure for , 'Get going now.' Thank you for the lovely meal and wonderful company everyone."

"Ahem, yes, well thank you all for having us. I would be glad to make up for skipping out on the clean up at a later time. For now, a very lovely lady requests my presence else where," Grenz thanked the two female drakes who had prepared the meal and stood to follow Jirri.

Kalah gave a warm smile with a slight sad look in her eyes, "Make you a deal, if you come home in one piece then you are off the hook for the clean up."

"You have yourself a deal little scaly lady," Grenz replied before he ducked out of the shelter to follow Jirri back toward their shared dwelling.

The priestess smiled back to her male, "You are still going to do something for them aren't you?"

"Of course, just wouldn't feel right not to," he replied as he fell into step with her stride at her side.

Jirri smiled and pressed against his side, "So, handsome hero, that little announcement back there, was that Grenz for, 'I would gladly trade feathers with you if you wished.'?"

"Well, yes I do believe it was. You are a wonderful heart and kind soul unlike any other I have ever met. Your mind is sharp and wise beyond your years, which are less than you let on," Grenz replied as he curled a wing around her to shield her from the cool night air.

She smiled warmly and nuzzled her beak against his neck, "Well, looks like you finally got the girl. We'll trade our secondaries when we get home."

"No, we will wait until I return from the battle at hand. I do not wish to take the freshly adorned feather to be destroyed or damaged in battle as soon as I get it. I wish to keep it as safe as I can for as long as I can. It should stay as pure and beautifully perfect as the angel it came from," Grenz replied as they approached their home.

Their home, it was a strange and yet ordinary concept. The Kenjaya were all afraid to court with a priestess by the misconception that she was supposed to remain celebate. That left her quite hopeless in sharing such simple things as the companionship of an attracted male or a mutual home with the one whom she shared her heart with.

Jirri smiled back at Grenz after she charged ahead of him with a seductive wave of her tail, "Come my wonderful hero, your maiden has something for you."

She could almost feel his eyes rivet to her form as she nearly slithered her way throuh the door flap, making sure to flick her tail tip through to add to the inviting display. She hurried herself to sit in wait for her beloved warrior. It didn't take him long to appear through the door flap and slowly stalk toward her.

"What was all that, dear priestess," Grenz asked as he gently ran his beak along hers to slip into a caressing, nipping nuzzle along her neck.

Jirri hummed with a purr of growing desire as the nips to her feathers signaled the mutual interest, "You are getting the girl, my dear darkfeathered champion."

There were no more words to be had as they both lunged for one another, locking beak to beak in a deep passionate kiss. Their tongues grasped just as desperately at one another as the two bodies grasped with wing and foreclaw to hold tightly to one another. The heat in her belly was rising fast as she felt her need for her beloved growing stronger. Jirri couldn't take it anymore, she twisted in his forelimbs as she pulled away from the kiss. She shifted her weight forward to rest on her feet and curl her tail up and over his back. A soft purring moan of anticipation and invitation escaped her chest and throat when she felt his foreclaws on her flanks and his weight on her back.

Before anything happened, that weight vanished from her back with a sigh from her lover, "I'm sorry Jirri, but I can't. Not right this moment anyway."

The priestess was very confused as she turned her head back to look at her male, "What is wrong Grenz? Am I not apealing, or perhaps I didn't let you warm up enough?"

"No, it's not that. Believe me, you are most definately appealing and you certainly have me heated to boiling. I want to, I really do, but my gut and my heart are stopping me because this just isn't the right moment to cross that line with you. It just seems like the wrong place and time, the mood is close but not quite right if that makes sense," Grenz explained with his ears flat against his skull and his state of action quite obvious to her.

Jirri could barely hold back her tears as she moved to him to quickly embrace him with all her strength, "That is the mnost beautiful thing I have ever heard anyone say. To know that you care about me that much that it must be perfect and memorable when we become physical, it makes me feel just as perfect and special to you. How, how in the world did such a beautiful male as you find yourself single all this time?"

"No one else has been so perfect as you to find the true depths of my heart and soul. I can't stand most other girls and none have had the depth in their own hearts and minds as you do, save for one and the cards were just not right for her and I to be anything different than what we are," Grenz replied as he let his eyes meet hers with a warm loving gaze, "But why has such a beautiful and simply astounding female as yourself remained untouched and unattached all this time?"

Jirri smiled and moved up to him to snuggle close and rest her head against his neck and chest, "I never said I was untouched, although it has been long enough I may have reflowered. I have remained single because everyone assumed a priestess was celebate or they were threatened by my devotion to the Consorts."

"There is no reason to be threatened by that, I look at it as a job you have that requires you to work at a moments notice. Besides, some one this beautiful and this perfect, only the gods themselves would be good enough for you," Grenz offered his thoughts to her.

Her control over her tears of deep rooted joy and contentment finally crumbled as she looked up at him, "Give me your feather, we will not trade yet, but I will not accept anything but to be your mate. I am not letting you go Grenz and I simply must show the world who holds my heart."

The male smiled at her and leaned back with her suddenly to pull her onto his chest and belly as he fell onto his back to look up at her. The priestess squeeked in surprise and held tight to her lover.

Jirri had not realized she had closed her eyes until Grenz spoke up, "There is my wing, take what you want. I give myself to you heart body and soul. If you wish this unworthy bird, I will gladly be your mate."

The priestess opened her eyes and caressed the inner surface of the offered wing to select the finest of Grenz' secondary wing feathers, "This one is perfect, I would take your primary but a priestess can never be so exclusive. Any mate a priestess may have must share her with the Consorts."

"The Consorts gave us our species, our lives, if sharing my mate with them is a service to them, then I am happy to wear only your secondary," the warrior replied with a warm loving smile before he held her in a tight loving embrace.

Jirri cuddled into his soft warm body to hold him for a long moment, "Sleep now my beloved, I want you rested to face the challenges ahead of you."

"As you wish dearheart. May your dreams be as sweet as your voice in my ears and your scent in my nose," he replied before he laid his head back and closed his eyes.

Jirri held tight to her mate as she closed her eyes to fight the icey ball of fear in her belly, "Rest well my brave warrior, and may the Consorts see you safe and well my love."

She decided she would not tell him of her fears, he needed to be calm and focused on the tasks ahead of him. All she could do was pray and hope that her mate would return home safely. Even witht he blessings of the Consorts, this was war and it would feed and consume the lives of every living thing it touched. All that any one could do was pray that their loved ones would make it through to the end.

* * *

The morning was clear and warm, a good day to relax outdoors. Necrotai found it to be a bit rude of the weather to give such a beautiful day to such a grim march. The scouts had confirmed the movements of another Legion batalion set to join the battle group gathered on the borders of Randulan and it was his job to stop them. Once they met with the refugees that the two scouts were bringing in to Titanian lands, Necrotai's forces were to split and head directly north while Reyfis took his smaller unit of infiltration specialists to the keep for its cleansing and occupation. There was one female amongst the troops and it was not hard for him to guess who that gryphoness was who marched near the front of the column.

"You must be Agrok, sister to Tahkra and the fierce warrior my scouts have reported," the Bizshra spoke up to try and break the ice.

She turned her head to scan up and down his formn with her eyes once, sizing him up, "Yes, I am Agrok and Tahkra is my sister. Why would that be of any concern to the Bizshra of Grasolahn?"

"I have simply heard rumors of your skill from both your own people and from my scouts who have managed to witness your handy work. From what I hear and what I see in the way you carry yourself and the way you walk, you are quite impressive. A rarity among warriors, you do not think yourself the chosen gift to all but you will defend all to your dying breath if you have to," Necrotai replied with his eyes on the path ahead.

Agrok gave an amused snort, "Are you trying to strike up conversation or make a pass at me sir? I must warn you that I am not interested in humans in such a manner, and I already have a lover."

"Well, there is something we have in common. I do not hold any such attractions for gryphons, but I will admit that you are a rather lovely example of your species. I can easily see the potential agility and grace with the natural power of your form. If your skills match what I have heard, then I am most pleased that you are on my side of the lines," the Bizshra said with a grin.

The gryphoness turned her head to look at him with narrowed eyes, "For one who has no interest you certainly do a lot of flattering. If you wish to be in my good graces, then just talk to me like anyone else. It has been my experience that people only compliment in such a manner when they want something."

Necrotai was stunned, he was not certain if he was impressed by her bold personality or taken aback by her blunt reply. He could not deny that he admired that bold mannerism in protecting herself from a potential manipulation as she precieved it to be. This warrior was definately female and every ounce of her femanine form was composed of the strong fibers of a warrior. She was a perfect role model for Carly to learn to carry herself. Such a personality in a female Bizshra would certainly keep any who thought her weak on their toes.

"Well now, that is quite the accurate observation when it comes to most. I will admit to it being partially true in my case as well, but I wish to know you better to know for certain you are the right one for what it is I need," the Bizshra revealed his motives to the warrior.

Agrok gave a nod, "I see, perhaps you should tell me what it is I am being measured for so that I can decide if I am willing before you spend time and effort on me."

"A most wise notion," he agreed, "I have a daughter who doesn't know she is my daughter, this is tradition for the children of the Bizshra. I wanted her to learn from you gryphons to help keep prejudisms from tainting her like too many of my peoople have been tainted. The Priestess Jirri has agreed to teach her of your lore and your beliefs and your sister has agreed to teach her what it means to be a leader and a ruler of a nation. I would ask of you to teach her the meaning of real honor and courage, as well as how to fight with grace and skill rather than brute force. I want her to know of the gryphons unlike any other Bizshra ever before her, I want her to lead with the same care for her people as Tahkra shows to yours, and I want her to be as skilled and as strong in heart as the first female warrior of a former patriarchal race."

The gryphoness looked out through the forrest ahead of them for a moment before she replied, "It is a very wise and noble wish for your daughter, to prepare her for the position before her. I would be willing, but we have a war ahead of us that I must fight, and I have recently adopted a daughter of my own. I can not say for certain i can devote a firm schedual of training, lessons, or interaction."

"That would only be another important lesson for her," Necrotai smiled, "The face of honor and duty as you not only defend, but tend hearth and home."

She nodded back to him, "Then you should evaluate me at your convenience to decide if I am right or not. Until then we have a battle ahead of us that must be won if we are to weaken the Legion to a manageable level."

"I believe I have seen enough of you so far, there is not much else I could hope to find out about you in regards to this matter," Ncrotai replied before his eyes fell upon the box in her neck pouch, "I am a bit curious as to why you have a decorated wooden box during a march into battle."

Agrok paused to reach up and grasp her neck pouch, "This? If you must know, it contains my secondary wing feather for my lover. When we meet I am going to offer myself to him in true mateship."

"I see, but why would you need it out here in the field," the Bizshra asked in return as she started toi march along side him again, "I find it unlikely you are seeing a member of the Legion."

She shook her head, "No, my lover is the gryphon scout we are to meet up with, so I will see him before we engage the enemy."

"Ahh, now I see, that feather will never be anywhere near the fighting. Well miss Asreigh, I wish you the best outcome to this attempted union. Just between you and I, if he says no then he be a great fool. A female with the kind of heart and fire of the soul as you show is just too rare to let go. Providing she is of the correct species of course," he offered a good natured compliment.

Agrok smiled and gave a light giggle, "Naturally of course!"

Necrotai gave a deep chuckle as he marched on, scanning the trees for any sign of unwanted attention. The human felt a bit awkward in his heavy armor amongst the brush, particularly next to the graceful and nearly silent gryphon that seemed to flow through the brush like liquid or the air it's self. Every creak of leather, clank of plates or jingle of chain sounded like thunder to him against the silence. Even the blessed blade at his side acted as a sound beacon in his ears with it's clacking against his hip and thigh plates. The Bizshra felt a bit of glee from his blade at the noise it was making and the possible harm that might be brought upon him as a result. Almost as if she felt it too, Agrok's eyes fell upon the blade for a moment.

"Is something the matter," he asked as casually as he could manage.

The gryphoness gave a gentle nod, "Your blade, it is causing my harness to feel warm as if it were trying to slow a spell with ill intent directed toward me."

"Well that may be due to the fact that my blade does mean you harm. Before you get the wrong idea, let me explain milady," Necrotai replied, "The stories of a demon's soul being trapped within a powerful prison within the blade is completely true. But this is no ordinary demon, what is trapped in this blade is an infernal lord. Ketris could easily escape this prison if not fro the three parts. The gem in the hilt is the arcane prison that builds the walls, the golden blade and it's grip use divine power to reinforce the walls, and the spirit of each Bizshra that carries this blade act as the shackles to hold him in place. After so many centuries, possibly milenia of imprisonment, Ketris seaths with rage at every living thing for being so close and not feeling the bite of his claws or firey lash."

Agrok made him feel even more clumbsy by staring at him while she picked her way throught he brush with relative ease, "That is quite a burden to bare. I must say that you are quickly earning my respect Bizshra Necrotai, you are not what I expected to find in the ruler of Grasolahn."

"Well, not everything is always as the most common face would seem. A Bizshra must remain pure of heart and intent, else he weakens the prison tat holds the demon lord within the blade. The hateful ways of most Grasolahn against your people is not something that can be found in a pure heart," he pointed out.

The gryphoness smiled up at him, a sight he found oddly heart warming, "You are very right in that. So with all that power in that blade, does it help you in combat at all?"

"Not in the least! The only benefits to the power in that blade is that the gold is stronger than steal with all those divine enchantments upon it, and it cuts incorpereal creatures justa s easily as if they were flesh. Other than that, the gold is heavier than steal and makes the blade far more cumbersom than an ordinary weapon. My strength was great before I took up the blade, but not nearly what it is now that I wield it. I can say i am thankful that it is well balanced," Necrotai admited the downfall of his own blade.

Agrok was quiet for a moment as she thought over everythign he had told her, "I am glad for the rare oppertunity my sister has to know you in our fledgling days, you are a great man and a wonderful leader to hold your people as well in order as you do even as you bare such a curse as that blade. I am honored to be considered to help your daughter prepare to take up such a weight upon her soul."

"Agrok Asreigh, I must say that you impress me as well. I see what I have heard of you pales to the real heart I have only seen a flash of thus far. If my daughter were to be half as humble and strong as you, then she would never feel strained by her spiritual duties. As for your skills in combat, the scouts that reported your skills have a tendancy to find every gryphon unimpressive, no matter how opposite the truth may be. They have declared you a most lethal and skilled warrior even against their own prideful prejudice. I hope to be able to call you my sister in arms someday," the Bizshra declared his feelings about the little gryphoness that many spoke of in whispers and rumors.

Agrok gave a bit of a snort, "Don't let rumor and appearances fool you, I am rather fragile inside. There has been no fame to bring any form of social life to me, and my odd form still repells most."

"Then it is a tribute that you made it this far and have decided toprotect others who may be as vulnerable as you are inside," Necrotai pointed out just as one of the gryphon scouts above tucked his wings to dive toward the head of the column.

The gryphoness narrowed her eyes as she identified the scout with ease, her vision something that the human leader envied, "Looks like we have something up ahead, Leckren doesn't report shadows and squirrel droppings."

As the gryphon neared, the Bizshra could now see his grey with white markings in four thin bands on his wings and a pepering of white in his neck rough. Necrotai was impressed by the courtesy the broadwing displayed in landing a short distance from the marching troops so as not to blast them with dust and other litter.

"Sir, I have spotted our scouts and their refugees to the south west of us, they are traveling a wash for cover so we won't see them from the ground until we're on the wash," Leckren reported with a respectful salute to the Bizshra as his superior officer.

Necrotai gave a nod to the news, "Very good, bring this news to Leuitenant Asreigh and assemble a small gryphon team to fly ahead to greet and cover our lost flock until we can get our ground forces to them."

"Yes sir, right away sir," Leckren gave a salute before he trotted away to leap into the air and wing his way down the column to the grounded gryphon squads near the rear.

The bizshra watched the gryphon move to carry out his orders without question, mildly impressed by the willingness to take orders from the ruler of a former enemy nation, "Very strong discipline in that one, a very fine soldier indeed. I suppose you will be volunteering to join the advance team?"

"This may surprise you, but we gryphons are quite well aware of the deadly necesity of this alliance. Many of the soldiers you find gladly following your orders probably hate your people with good reason, but they will follow the orders gladly to protect themselves and all they know and love. As for me, I have reasons to hate you, but I let each person stand on their own merrit," Agrok replied as she watched the other gryphon land where he was only a grey shape to the Bizshra, "Oh, sorry, I hadn't answered your question. I will not be joining the away team if I am not ordered to, my place is best here and I will not put my personal desires ahead of my duties."

Necrotai grinned broadly at the small gryphoness, "I like you quite a bit, you have the greatest challenging personality I have ever come across. If I had found a human girl with that kind of fire, I would have done all I could to make her my wife. A friendship may be quite desireable if it is acceptable and possible."

"That has yet to be seen, I will not rule out the possibility, but I will not say it is a possibility either. A rather large number of factors all play on that possibility, but I will say that you do appear to be worth the time to conversate with. My father is coming to the head of the column," Agrok replied as her sharper eyes identified the shape that the Bizshra could not.

Necrotai nodded gently, "Remind me to let him know how highly I think of his daughters sometime. Captain, prepare the Black Gaurd for possible new orders. It would seem that there is something to discuss on the command end of this opperation."

The captain, who was marked only by a blue shield symbol on his left shoulder saluted, "Yes my lord Bizshra."

The Bizshra watched the captain of his personal gaurd walk away just as Reyfis Asreigh landed near by to approach with a salute, "Bizshra Necrotai, I would like to make a request for the refugee party."

"Very well, let us hear your request. I am certain it is thought out and has good merrit," Necrotai replied before he looked up toward the warm sun, "Blasted weather is nice and cold until you need to suit up and march."

Reyfis gave a knowing nod, "It has a twisted sense of humor. As for my request, I was hoping to secure some ground troops to help escort the refugees. I cannot spare any of the inmfiltrators and Grenz is running with only two squads for his interceptions of the supply trains."

"Hmm, I see what you mean. We can't part with very many at all either, the best I can do is send two members of my Black Gaurd along to escort. Will that suffice to keep them safe," the Bizshra replied after a thoughtful pause.

Reyfis nodded quickly, "Yes sir, that will be quite perfect. They should be able to handle any scouting party, especially with assitance from my gryphons."

"That is precisely what I was thinking, however we need to get to the refugees and get them resupplied so they can continue on to safety," Necrotai agreed before he turned to start issuing orders, "Alright soldiers of Titania and Grasolahn, let's get a move on and haul our numbers to those scouts and people. We don't have all day, we have a war to win."

Reyfis gave a nod to the bizshra and headed off to spread his words down the column while the head turned southeast toward the refugees. Necrotai had noticed that his travel companion had fallen silent once again, but he decided to leave her be when he seen the thoughtful look on her beaked face. The things in life that bring such reflection tended to be a very private matter and often best left in the hands of those who experienced them. The march continued on as the gryphons chosen to meet with the scouts and refugees flew on ahead to do just that. The silence seemed to make time stretch endlessly and it was in that endless stretched time that the Bizshra began to realize that he was feeling lonely without the friendly chat of the little gryphoness. She helped deepen the respect he already held for gryphons and talking to her helped him relax like he would have around his closest comrades in the field.

"Captain, inform the two volunteers of the Black Gaurd of the task they enthusiasticly agreed to fulfill," Necrotai said without warning as they marched.

Agrok looked up at him for a moment, drifting away from what ever had held her focus for so long, "You do not use his name. Is it because you are in the presence of traditional foes, or is there some other reason behind it?"

"It has nothing to do with your presence I assure you," the Bizshra replied, "It is the tradition that no one knows who the Black Gaurd are. Even their families live with no idea that their fathers or husbands are members of the Black Gaurd. That knowledge is only for their comrades and the Bizshra."

She smiled at him, "So the greatest honor of the Grasolahn military is to lose one's identity. I can see the merrit of keeping such an elite and personal gaurd unknown in their off time. They would be nearly impossible to undermine in their personal lives, or to suffer threat and blackmail."

"You are correct on every aspect of your statement," Necrotai replied as he let his mind wander into the emerald nests of the under brush that surrounded their column, "It is a pity that this beautiful land has been stained with blood by men with such savage hearts as the Legion. This lush gem can never again hold a quiet beauty without the echoed memories of the slaughter that took place in it's cities and fields."

Agrok stared out ahead at a bit of movement that was easily recognizable as one of the gryphons who had flown ahead, "That is why we are here, to put a better ending to this memory than just the slaughter of innocent lives. We are here to give it the final seal of justice, hope, and triumph over those who would do such a terrible thing."

"A fine point of view on the situation, I do believe I am going to borrow those words my feathered companion. But for now we seem to have found our lost flock," the bizshra reached up a gauntleted hand to give her neck a light scratching before he turned to issue orders down the line, "Get the supplies ready, we feed and water these people, supply them, then we march to battle. The spring time stroll is finished, so get your war face on and prepare your hearts for the tasks ahead."

As the men started to move to carry out his orders, a male voice called out to catch the attention of both Necrotai and his companion, "Agrok! Agrok we made it through after all!"

"Hmm.. your lover I take it," the Bizshra stated as he examined the features of the handsome male, "Quite the striking fellow, very suitable for such a lovely example of a gryphon lady. Good work on catching him."

Agrok blushed red at her nares as she gave Necrotai a light bump with her wing, "Enough of the flattery, I'm about to offer him more than a temporary place in my bed. I can use a bit less embarassing comments a nd a bit mpre supporting calm."

The Bizshra nodded and kept his mouth closed as the male gryphon approached and nuzzled Agrok softly. Necrotai did notice a some what odd spectacle, a female was following close behind the scout. Something wasn't quite right with what he was seeing, but he did not wish to spoil the warm reunion for the warm hearted female he had traveled with.

"So you did Altair, I'm proud of you for helping these people. You've done a beautiful job indeed," Agrok smiled at her lover as she began to dig in her neck pouch for the cased feather.

Necrotai felt an odd icey sensation at the back of his neck as the demon in his blade cackled with glee just before Altair began to speak again, "I know we haven't fit together so well and I know it's because you are so independant, and I need some one who really needs me. We were just lovers to begin with, it's best this was figured out before we became anything more. I have been offered a mated relationship by Lady Krintahl, which I have accepted. She's a bit like you, only she is more in need of me."

Necrotai could see the young warrior's heart shatter in her chest as her foreclaws went weak around the red stained wooden box. Her soft sigh was not one of devestation, more acceptance and resignation, which only made his heart ache for her all that much more. Agrok didn't have to explain herself to her former lover, because those limp foreclaws dropped the box to break open on the ground and reveal it's contents.

The gryphon scout just stared at the feather with a stunned expression as Agrok's father approached with the potential for trouble riding on his wings, "Agrok, what's going on? Why has everyone paused and gone silent..."

The Bizhsra debated on stopping the elder gryphon or not as he watched the rage build in his eyes, but Agrok beat every one to the punch with a stern statement, "Don't. I can take care of myself father. This is not some wrong Altair inflicted upon me, quite the opposite, this is the results of the wrong way I treated him. I understand how he felt when I pushed him away so strongly to reflect on myself. I should have embraced him and let him help me deal with the confusing tangle my heart had become, but instead I refused to show him how I felt until it was too late.I am hurt and agry, but only at myself for not acting soon enough to share my heart with him. All I can really say is that I am sorry Altair, and I hope you two will be so very happy together for a very long time to come."

She turned and started to walk away from the new couple and the dramatic scene that the gathering spectators were begining to make of the situation. Necrotai was impressed but pained by the display of real heart and composure the gryphoness had displayed. A surge of anger and near animosity towards her former lover that he knew the less composed men and gryphons of their combined forces were feeling as well.

The Bizshra was quick to act in keeping the peace, "Back off, the whole lot of you. The show is over, Agrok spoke true of her happiness for them so leave them be. I get the feeling you would be dealing with her anyhow if you tried to harm either of these two."

"You heard your Bizshra, back to your places all of you," his own first officer barked the second to the orders that helped drive the thunder behind them and sent ripples of orders through the chain of command.

Necrotai left the commanding officers to reorganize the column as he went to find Agrok. As much as he hated to admit to any of his own people, he liked that little gryphon and he wanted to make sure she was okay to continue on with the mission. It did not take him long to find her, she was waiting right where she should have been if the column had not stopped for the refugees. Her expression was unreadable and she was very quiet, but her breathing was normal as ever.

"Agrok? Look, this is rough and if you need to be replaced I can send Vechan with your father so you can go home and deal with this on your own terms," he spoke softly to her as he stepped up beside her in his position.

Agrok turned her gaze upon him for a moment, "Is it because I am female that you think I need time to deal with this rather than adressing the mission at hand?"

"No it is because you a hum.. you have a real heart, a caring one, and this is a painful thing to go through. I would rather see you sit out than get yourself or others killed for a lack of focus and will," the bizshra replied, "I would have said that to any man in my ranks as well, fine warriors do not serve well dead."

She nodded gently to him, "I see, well I will be fine sir. I am perhaps a bit angry but I will have plenty of targets to vent myself upon once we are under way."

"Very well," Necrotai replied in acceptance as the rest of the column joined them, "We head north west now to the split point, blood and glory awaits us men, and woman. We march!"

* * *

Captain Shephard of the Soul Legion infantry was rather displeased with his assignment. He was a fighter, ruthless, cunning, brutally skilled at his profession, and here he was with his fine men escorting a gods be damned supply caravan through the heart of Legion territory. No one would dare step foot this far into their domain, but even so he did not like the small number of men he was given for the task. He would have prefered scouts and outriders to keep an eye ahead for any ambush that might have been prepared by the local bandits. Instead of the numbers he wanted, his troop was split into thirds with two thirds being redistributed amongst other commanders for the invasion force gathering in the south. He only had two men per wagon totaling twenty men in all.

Shephard toyed with the idea of slaughtering the drivers and simply having his own men drive the wagons to their destination. There would be no reprimand for such an action since the drivers were reluctant locals anyhow. the captain just did not know if it would be easier or harder to protect the supplies if his men were driving the wagons. The trees around them were crowded with a thick underbrush that may have been easier to scan from up on the wagon's seats. That was dashed away as they neared a blind bend in the road and two distinct thwips buzzed in his ear just before a gurgling cry and the shattering of crystal filled them.

He whirled to see his communications officer slumping over to fall from his seat on the wagon with the shards of their contact orb raining from his lifeless lap. The shots were clean and precise, much better than the regular archers they met in taking this land, one dead in the left eye socket while the other hit the orb dead center to shatter it as completely as possible. The men all reached for thier shields of they had them, and those who did not picked up anything they could use as such. Shephard unbuckled his own shield and held it to cover himself in the direction the arrows had come from to examine the projectiles left with his dead officer. The shafts were pretty standard as far as arrows went and so were the heads, but the fletches were rather abnormal. The feathers used resembled eagle feathers, however they were quite obviously much much larger versions of very small feathers that would normally have been useless as fletches. The markings were not something he had seen before either, black feathers that had been bleached and redyed to give them a stripe of rosey white that shot out at an angle from the shaft at the top of the fletches.

"Prepare for an ambush at any moment men, it seems we have bandits upon us," the captain spoke calmly even as the giant feathers screamed alarm in his head.

A rather deep voice cleared it's throat, "You are quite wrong sir, there is no ambush. We only took out your communications to avoid the inconvenience of your warning everyone else before we were ready. I intend quite fully, to fight you and your men head on. We are also far from bandits, we are soldiers, real ones, unlike yourselves, who are here to help protect our neighbors and free the oppressed and abused peoples of this fallen land."

Shephard stood to face the spokesperson of the group of men and beasts that had gathered while they were watching the tree line. The armored men and harnessed bird creatures had simply walked around the bend as their tracks sugested. The captain was somewhat appaled to find their spokesperson, who also happened to be sitting at the fore of the squadron, was one of the strange half bird half feline creatures. It appeared to be a very large male, easily a head taller than any of the other beasts. The black and iron grey creature stared Shephard right in the eyes with a piercing, challenging gaze that made him quite nervous. If these beasts were as powerful and agile as they appeared, their aparent intelegence was not a welcome factor in a fight against them.

"Dig in men, it looks like we have one hell of a fight ahead of us. Don't be fooled by their appearance, those beasts are sizing us up and gauging our abilities," The captain took a ready stance with his shield before him and his long sword at the ready, "Remove your men from this road and be on your way, you may live to escape."

The beast in command gaped his beak a bit to grin at him, "Throw down your weapons and your shields and we may be willing to tie you up and retrieve you as prisoners later."

Shephard felt a bit of ice in his gut as he and his men stepped shoulder to shoulder to form a berricade of shields for the opposing squadron to throw themselves against in thier comming assault. He planned to let them strike that wall and slip thier swords over, under and beside thier shields to maim or kill the attackers. But the beast's squadron was taking a formation of thier own that stumped the captain. They spaced in a patern with a human on either side of each beast. Thier light shields and plate armor didn't seem right for a line fight either, which confused him even further.

"Come then, and face your deaths at the hands of the Soul Legion," Shephard refused to show them his bewilderment or nagging feeling of doubt and dread, "Our lord GahlByrn will feast upon your souls after we present your broken bodies to him."

The beasts all surged forward at once with thier commander taking him on personally. They all ducked low at the shields, giving the perfect opening to Shephard and his men as they all struck down at the beasts heads. They met a smaller, more mobile wall of shields instead of soft yielding flesh as the men that had spaced around the beasts brought thier shields over their comrade's heads and necks. The maneuver made perfect sense when the beasts hooked their long powerful talons beneath the shields of the captain and his men to heave upward. The powerful appearance of thier forms was entirely accurate as that pull was irresistable, throwing the phalanxed men off thier balance and ripping thier shields out of thier defensive possition.

Shephard was not ready to give in just yet as he seen the belly of the beast before him, soft and unprotected with all it;s vital organs within. He made a desperate slashing lunge, sacrificing his remaining balance to commit to the killing blow. The strategy of thier formation made perfect sense to him the moment the deffending shieldman rolled his shield around to protect his designated beast's belly. The motion combined with the only open angle of attack forced the captain's blade to be deflected down into the hard packed road. He could see the beast shift his body for a counter attack and nearly wet himself as he realized what was coming and that he coulod do nothing to prevent it. His commitment to the attack left his blade with no angle to bare upon the beast in defense, he would only hit the shield again. He had no footing left to leap back or lunge forward, and his shield was still against the powerful foreclaw of that massive avian creature.

Shephard's armor saved him from the talons, but not the force of the striking claw as it crunched the metal against his ribs. He howled in pain as his ribs shattered beneath the crushing force of the blow that drove him to the ground with a heavy impact. The shouts and screams of his own shieldmen seemed to become dull in his ears with the onset of agony and shock from injuries his body was only now revealing to him. In addition to the ribs, his right shoulder had been at an odd angle thanks to his attempted strike and had been wrenched quite badly in his fall. This was it, the captain could not swing his blade even if he got to his feet. His remaining men tried to fight against the attacking force but they were out numbered and certainly over powered by the beasts. Shephard knew the truth now; these were no ordinary soldiers, they were an elite squadron from where ever they hailed from.

The air grew quiet for a moment as the last of the Legion troops was silenced, the huge commander of the strange unit turned his attention to the wagon men, "You there, are you from these lands?"

"Aye sir, I would say we owe you a debt of graditude but we have no where to go," the driver of the lead wagon replied, wiping the sweat from his brow on the back of his red sleave.

Shephard lay as still and quiet as he could in hopes that they may think him dead and reveal something he could trade for his life when Lord GahlByrn discovered his failure. Such a mistake as his own against an unknown enemy was not tolerated in the ranks of those who conquered unknown worlds every day. Any hope for mercy was a fools dream when it came to the Vyrekai who sought new souls to devour and extend their webs of power.

He was not disapointed when the beast spoke again to respond to the wagon man, "Keep heading down where you were, the allied forces of Grasolahn and Titania are gathering to broadside the Legion forces gathered at the borders of Randulan. The supplies meant for the legion would be quite beneficial to our counter forces if you think you can get them to our troops."

"Oh we are the first train of this batch, if you make as quick of work out of the rest of them as you did this lot, we should have no troubles at all. I for one and quite glad we simple merchants and roadmen can do something to help bottle up these bastards," the lead driver nearly spat his words.

The captain wanted to growl in anger, but that urge passed quickly as a massive foreclaw wrapped around his head and lifted him off the ground to stare into those huge grey predatorial eyes, "By the way, I already knew I hadn't killed you with that strike I was merely waiting until I had finished my bussiness to adress your situation."

"Who the hell do you think you are? The Soul Legion will crush you all, give in and swear fealty to Lord GalhByrn and there may be hope for your continued existance," Shephard spat back at the beast through grunting groans of agony as his weight pulled down on his shattered ribs.

The beast gaped his beak in a grin, "I am Grenz, gryphon of Titania, commander of this special unite from the Queens Own Talons. We will not bow to become slaughtering bastards while our children and loved ones have thier sould devoured by some mad dragon. We will fight, and you will learn quickly of the might of our people when we stand together with our former enemies to protect our world and both our ways of life. When I rise to plant a fertile seed in my mate's belly, it will be over a world that you no longer threaten."

Gryphons, a strange word to the captain but he grudglingly admitted to himself that they were a powerful new foe that the legion may not have had the resources to handle at thier current position in the multiversal struggle against the forces hailing from Skanshial. If all these .. gryphons.. fought as well and had an equal intelegence as this commander, they would be a powerful force to adress indeed. Shephard had no doubt in his mind that it may take the assistance of one or more dragon wings to squash the problem they posed.

"Sorry to say we have no time or means to take you captive, but I will make this quick. When you face your judgement, let them know that Titania will be sending countless others like you to speak to them," Grenz announced before he flung his forelimb back.

The massive foreclaw held tight to his head as Shephard's body twisted with the momentem and snapped his neck. It was a very quick and clean transition from life to the dark void of death for the captain, far more painless and efficient than any of his own victims ever recieved from himself.

* * *

The grove was quite, much more so than it should have been, but the great silver serpent knew exactly why that was. The great stone in the center kept the gathered power of magic users of the past who had come to congregate and perform thier rituals here. The spirits of the grove moved about the massive leathery winged reptile as power flowed from it's shimmering form. There was a battle that would prove tremendously important to the battle of the Soul Legion and the council of Arch Vyrekai. If the gryphons and thier allies could win the fight before them, GahlByrn would be hard pressed to provide enough reinforcements to engage all fronts. There would be a weakened front somewhere and that would mean an opportunity for the forces, both allied and freelance to crush a section of the Legion and force them from a world for the second time in the centuries the war had raged.

A victory here on this world of Eldarohnd would put a crack in the seemingly invincible armor of the Legion's assault on hope. Such hope was something that was fading fast from the ranks of those who fought so hard to keep thier lives and thier people intact. Most of those fighting so far away on other worlds, in other univeres would never know just how much this coming battle would mean to the balance of power in the multiverse. Such hope was enough to bring a tear to the sapphire eye of the argent serpent as it focused it's concentration in many different places at once, using the stone to help anchor it's own conciousness while scrying the different battle groups.

A watchful eye rested on the four different fronts as the forces advanced, prepared to lend power to protect those brave souls from any other Vyrekai that may join the fray and give them a fighting chance. There was another more focused point of personal interest to the serpent, a single watchful eye that would never leave a certain brave female gryphon who reminded the serpent of it's self. The silver dragon felt a warmth in it's heart for the indominable spirit of the young warrior and a yearning for a meeting with her, face to face. The motives behind that desire were both sefless and selfish all the same; beyond meeting such a lady that lady did need support and care more directly than she was currently recieving.

Hope, she was hope, every fiber of her being showed the potential to be the kind of chapion this world would need to stop the Legion dead in thier tracks. Stopping the legion here would indeed weaken the foundation of thier seeming invincible status in the eyes of thier enemies and victims. She needed to succeed, she needed to rise to the top of her people's history for all things to have any hope of survival against the bloodthirst of the Legion.

For now, the hidden dragon could only watch and wait while the events unfolded around the hidden grove. The cooperation of the druid's ancient power was a good sign as well, it showed the dragon that the time was fast approaching when all the powers of the Multiverse would rise to challenge the Legion and attempt to stop the crazed madness of GahlByrn. All that could be done until the battles began, was to watch and wait. That was precisely what the dragon was prepared to do, it had been patient for centuries after all.

* * *

King Owen of Randulan sat on his war horse staring grimly over the fields that would become a bloody bog of bodies and the fluids that would escape them in the coming desperate battle. His people were in trouble and he knew very well that every skilled blade would be needed to have any hope of fighting off the incredible force that was gathered on thier border. Unlike his neighbors, Owen had managed to discover the gathering forces before they could strike. Just like his neighbors it didn't make a difference, the sheer numbers of the enemy alone was too much for his nation to repell. Owen could only begin an organized evacuation of his civilians and move them as a group toward the plains in hopes that the gryphon tribes would hide them from the invaders. They were beasts with a primitive life style but surely they would take pity and show mercy to fleeing women and children.

It was a slim chance and he knew it, but it was the best hope they had in continuing Randulian blood lines. All he had left was a prayer that he and his men could hold the attackers off long enouhg for thier families to disapear into the tribes of those they once fought against. Times were grim and Owen could not hide it in the least. A call from the fronts pulled his attention back to the enemy forces only to find them begining to advance. He heaved a heavy sigh before he pulled his heavy helm over his head and turned to adress his men.

"I should be giving you some inspirational speech that will motive and drive you against our foes. Some how, I think you all would already know that anything possitive I say about the coming engagement is a line of crap," the gathered forces of Randulahn watched thier king silently as he sat astride his black charger in his shining silver armor and royal blue cloak, "All I can honestly say is that you are a fine bunch of men and that we have a job to do for the ones we love. Let us give them a fighting chance!"

His men gave the shout of men eager for glory even as they marched to near certain death at the hands of thier much larger foe. The drummers beat out a rythm for the marching feet of the men to follow as they advanced toward the marching enemy with weapons drawn. Owen knew this was their last advancing march, the strange new foe was just too strong and they had no place to run to or hide if they failed to stop them. Both sides advanced onto the gentle hills of the Randulahn farmlands, marching ever closer by the minute. The battle began as both sides marched within range of one another's archers who rained death upon thier enemies. Shields were raised for those fortunate or wise enough to have them while the flying shafts sank deep into the bodies of those who did not. The first agonizing cries of the dying filled the air as the archers continued thier lethal storm upon the battle field. Owen was pleased to find that his archers were scoring more lethal hits than the enemy, even if it did little to bring hope to the desperate battle before them.

The next phase in the bussiness that was war, was to engage the troops on the ground with his own ground forces. This was where thier good fortune turned to a gruling test of skill and tactics as well as endurance on the part of his men. The first tactical trick owen employed was to send his first push on the direct heels of an archer's volley, bringing advancing fighters to attack them from the ground while they had to defend against the lethal rain. It seemed to be working as the front lines of the enemy were mowed down with ease while they focused on the arrows raining down upon them. That rain could not fall forever and the moment it stopped, the defender's push was halted quickly. The troops that were slaughtering the enemy were now fighting for thier lives and every inch fo ground they had already gained against a force that out numbered them by a tremendous amount. The tide of the battle was already bad from the begining, the clash of steel and the cries of the wounded and dying dominated the battlefield. As hard as they were being hit the Randulahn forces managed to hold thier ground and keep thier position for some time. It did not take long for the lines to begin to crumble and Owen's forces were forced to begin pulling back to regroup and reform lines. It was the begining of the end for him and his forces, and he knew it.

Owen was about to call for a full retreat in hopes of saving at least some of his men for guerilla strikes later on when a messenger charged up to him on a horse, "Sire! There is another force coming from the east!"

"What now? Is there any idea who they are, friend or foe," the king demanded with a hint of the defeat and stress in his voice.

The messenger shook his head with uncertainty, "We've no idea my lord, it appears to be the gryphons themselves. But they have human ground troops with them and they are charging in fast under a banner I have never even heard of before."

"Show me, general you have command until I return," Owen barked his orders before he turned his warhorse and charged back toward the hill behind thier position.

The messenger spurred his mount to follow close behind his king while they climbed the hill to look out over the battle field toward the wes, "There sire, in the west, approaching fast."

Owen nodded grimly as he watched the mass moving across the land quite close to the battle. He reached down and pulled his spyglass from it's case on his saddle to get a closer look. The banner showed the rising sun with a gryphon reared before it under the twin moons, easily recognizable as something from Eldarohnd. There was only one place on Eldarohnd that had enough gryphons to form that kind of force.

"It seems our neighbors have been growing and evolving as a people. By the tome! I recognize that man at thier lead, that's the general from the primary royal military of Ranshin. If he's at thier lead then they must have integrated into the tribes after thier fall. This force is not here to help the invaders, you can count on that! Quickly, if we can manage to last until they arrive, we stand a real chance at winning this battle," Owen spurred his horse and charged back toward his troops and his command group with the messenger hot on his heels.

Things were looking bad, although not as bad as initially expected. The generals had lead a good defensive dig and managed to form a shield wall against the invaders. It was only a stalling tactic as they really lacked the personelle to back up the defenses against so many attackers. A defense with no counter offense behind it is only a sitting target to be whittled down and King Owen knew this. It didn't matter with the coming reinforcements from the plains and the remains of the Ranshin military. The invaders would soon find thier flank smashed in by heavy footmen and gryphon warriors in a surprise attack while the bulk of thier resources were focused on the assault and counter defense at the shield wall of the Randulahn forces.

"My lord! We have managed to halt thier advance but I am uncertain how long this tactic will hold them at bay," General Cavix reported in a tone that was more appology for not finding a real solution to the situation.

Owen clasp the man's steel clad shoulder as he stared him right in the eye slit of his helmet, "Have the men dig in as hard as they can and move the archers forward to fire volleys from within our third lines. We want to give them as much hell and as hard an object as we can to make them focus defenses and offenses directly at us."

"My lord," Cavix asked in an absolute loss for what his king was thinking.

Owen grinned at his chief general, "We have unexpected help coming and we want to make sure these bastards unwittingly show thier soft bellies to the gryphons and Ranshin that are advancing fast toward them."

"What? How many my lord," all seven generals gasped in complete surprise at the hopeful news.

The king gave an excited shake to Cavix' shoulders, "At least half our begining numbers, foot men, gryphons, shieldmen, pikemen and I believe I seen some known magic using gryphons amongst thier ranks. They fly a new banner, perhaps a unified tribal nation of the plains. I hope to win this and find out for myself what that banner is."

"By the Tome of Adoran! That many Ranshin and gryphons would cleave through an unsuspecting flank like a hot knife through butter. We need to do as our king has commanded, if they get that chance the balance of this battle will shift firmly into our grasp. Get the men dug in and get those archers into position and supplied," Cavix began bellowing his orders in rapid succession as he organized a fortification of the already firm defenses.

Owen had a spark of inspiration, "Ready the Cavalry to charge in an instant command to a position specified on the go. They will divert defenses to stop the charge of the new attackers and that will put a weak spot in thier lines. I want to give them a surprise charge of our own and see if we can't bite off a chunk of them to chew up between us and the gryphons."

"Aye milord, I will ready some of the back lines to flood intot he resulting hole to come at the vulnerable and disoriented ranks scattered by that charge," Cavix replied quickly before he turned to issue the orders of his king to the men.

King Owen smiled at his finest general, "A good thought Cavix, precisely the kind of sound quick thinking that earned your rank."

The weather was oddly mild as the Randulahn shuffled more shieldmen into position to face the assault upon thier standing bastion of steel and flesh. The archers filed into the ranks closer to the front to take aim at the enemy for thier next volley into the deeper ranks. The commander of the archer's units seen an opportunity and siezed the chance to make in unexpected impact on the invaders. The orders were passed along to change thier trajectory before the order was given to loose the next volley. Owen watched in amazement as the sea of arrows sailed over the enemy troops and rained down on the surprised archers behind the enemy foot soldiers. The attack was so unexpected that most had arrows noched and ready to loose at thier own closer counter parts, several of which were lost wildly when they were cut down by the deadly rain. Not nearly even half, but a fair bit of those enemy arrows were lost in wild dying shots that struck the invading footmen in thier backs or sailed hopelessly off mark.

In the time it took to shuffle and ready the archers, the advance airial troops from the plains arrived to dive upon the already scattered archers of the invaders. The gryphons played it smart as they clawed thier way through the scrambling archers. Each warrior only killed one before they took back to the skies and removed themselves from the reach of the footmen before slecting a new target. The invaders were shocked and confused by the inexpected onslaught against thier archers at the rear of thier forces as thier commanders desperately tried to organize the double front. The assault on the shield wall weakened a great deal in the confusion, an opportunity that Owen would not ignore as he ordered his men to remind them of the fight they had already started. What pikemen they could muster advanced and jabbed their weapins through gaps made at strategic points by the shieldmen. The gryphons had made rather short work of the disoriented archers and pulled back to rejoin thier own troops. That was when the ground troops and grounded gryphons smashed into the invader's flank like a like a tidal wave crashing into a field of grain. Heavily armored infantry cleaved into unsuspecting troops, cutting them down with ease while thier feathered comrades tore into thier foes with beak and talon as though the only way out of a trap were through thier bodies.

As he had expected, the enemy had diverted defensive units from the shield wall assault to meet and stop the charge of the plains forces. Owen was able to spot the weak point in the line and spurred his horse to charge to the fore of his heavy cavalry.

"Come men, we have our weak point, hit it with everything you got! CHARGE," the king drew his own long sword and sent his horse charging at the weakened front with his cavalry at his heels.

The Randulahn shieldmen held thier positions for as long as they could before they surged away to open a sudden gap before the invaders that was quickly filled with the thundering hooves of the cavalry as they charged the line. Panicked shieldmen tried desperately to run or switch from sword to pike before they were met by the charging horsemen, but they simply had no time for escape. Men screamed in terror and agony as they were trampled under the unyielding hooves of the heavy war steads. The scent of blood filled the air as those fortunate to avoid the charging horses were cut down by the riders blades. Behind the charging king and his cavalry, the shieldmen slammed into the gap and bullrushed the sides of the enemy shieldmen who were trying to stand thier ground. This time the Randulahn defenses had a potent offense to accompany them to slash and impale the fighters they bowled over with thier strength and heavy shields.

The charge was begining to slow as the surprise was begining to fade in the enemy troops and more were prepared for fighting off cavalry. The surging attackers came from all sides as the enemy fully recovered from the shock of the charge. Owen slashed and blocked with his sword desperately against attacks from both sides. His blade gashed open a throat, met another blade in a parry of a vicious slash, and drove the tip into the eye slit of a heavy plate helm before a mace blow finally took the king off his horse. A spear took the rider that had been directly behind him while the king used his kite shield for leverage in standing to his feet to face the attackers head on. The closest of the enemy seemed to realize they had the king of thier prey before them and grinned a victorious smile as they moved in. Owen was no pampered prince and readied himself to show them just how much he knew of sword play.

"Come and get me then, if you dare," the king made his challenge to the invaders to try and goad thier attack.

It worked with the mace wielding fighter who rushed Owen with a full rushing attack. The king raised his shield to deflect the blow and nearly fell to his knees under the shear force of it. The attacker's armor must have been hiding a powerful frame to strike like that. Owen felt his shield arm going numb after the impact which was very much not a good thing. He knew he had to strike while the man recovered from his own attack. The king quickly got to his feet and layed into the mace wielder with a flurry of slashes and lunges that his foe managed to parry or dodge. On one strike, his foe managed to parry just right to deflect his blade upward and open him up for a kick to the chest. The boot crashed against his breastplate and drove the king to the ground on his back. Owen had no time to try and scramble to his feet before the maceman was standing over him with that weapon held high for a mighty blow. All he could do was try and get his shield up against the strike, although he was fairly certain that it would break his shield arm and leave him completely defenseless for the next. The mace began it's rapid descent toward the king at the same time that a flash of grey appeared from no where. A massive foreclaw caught the shaft of the mace and stopped it dead still, half way to it's target.

"Hey I always wanted to try one of these, let me borrow this," the gryphon said cheerfuly as he wrenched the mace form it's owner.

The human grunted as he tried to resist the great strength of the large broadwing to save his weapon. It was no use and the gryphon seemed to find the futile effort amusing. The great grey feathered warrior hefted the mace in a single foreclaw, awkward for the shape of his foreclaw, and gave a mighty swing to slam the head of the mace into the center of it's owner's breastplate. The armor crumpled deep and the man inside gasped as blood droplets escaped with his lost breath. The gryphon was merciful and drew the mace up high to strike a killing blow against the helmet and skull of the gravely injured human.

"Lumere, behind," a shout came from above as something with blue and white scales streaked down behind the gryphon.

The death cry of a human sang out in that same instant as the gryphon quickly whirled and Owen rolled to his feet with blade at the ready. What he seen was not nearly what he had expected, it was a white scaled reptile with leathery wings that stood about his hight that fought off several men with great skill and a strange curved sword unlike anything he had seen before. The reptile used every weapon he had, manufactured and natural, in a perfect dance of attack and evade. Any opening that was offered was struck with lightning speed and instant reflexes to place blade or claw into flesh. One of his opponents even had his neck snapped by a solid strike with the long powerful tail. Owen shook off the shock and joined the brave creature in fighting off the invading horde.

The gryphon took up a position on the opposite side of the king to help fight the advancing waves with powerful strikes and agile dodges, "General Lumere, of the Titanian military, I have a few squads on the task of cutting into the other side of this to cut the clump off. Your archers are peppering the larger group to help keep them supressed a bit while we finish this group off. I must say, very good execution on the part of your men."

"Thank you," Owen replied as he blocked a high slash, "For the compliment and for showing up. We were done for if you hadn't arrived when you did."

Lumere dodged a lunge and lashed out at the neck of his opponent with his powerful beak to snap the spine in a lethal strike, "We may be traditional enemies, but if we do not work together to beat this foe our entire world is lost. We all need one another now unlike any time before."

The king felt a new surge of energy at the gryphon's words and when he seen the other gryphon units finally break through to cut off the clump of invaders from thier main group, "Agreed, now lets finish this bussiness and show them that this world wont be taken without a fierce fight!"

They all knew there was still a hard battle ahead of them, but now it was a battle and not just a matter of time before the defenders were overrun. Owen, Lumere, and the reptile all tore into the clump of men before them while the archers kept the main force busy. The sounds of steel clashing and the cries of the wounded and the dying filled the air along with the scent of dust, sweat, and blood. With the aide of thier newfound allies, they at last had hope against this powerful foe and Owen intended to make good on the promises it held.

* * *

The keep stood before the infiltration squads like a giant egg, waiting to be cracked open to reveal it's golden treasures. Agrok studied the walls, every little walkway and spire, for any signs of sentries or points of cover for her to slip in. It was her who would have to let everyone inside by virtue of her size and species. She was small enough to be easily concealed, yet somewhat larger and stronger than a human by a small margine. Should she be discovered she was the most likely to handle the situation quickly and quietly. Her father was quite aprehensive about sending his daughter into the keep alone, but he did not hesitate to take the strategical advantages. Agrok did note an odd lack of sentries about the keep walls, but that may have been due to thier location deep behind the enemies lines.

"Well, what do you think Agrok? Does this look right to you," Reyfis asked softly from thier hiding place.

The gryphoness shook her head to her father's question, "It is too quiet, I do not think flying in will be an option. I intend to climb the wall and hit the gate switch from the other side to let you all in. Father, if anything goes wrong leave with the rest of the men. Do not do anything stupid to try and save me, the single loss over all does not out weigh the lives of all these men and gryphons."

"Keep your communication device open, if it is light trouble then we will intervene. If the danger is great we will do as you have asked," Reyfis replied, not quite dismissing her request.

Agrok gave a nod to her father before she crouched low and stalked her way toward the keep wall. There had been no sentries visible for some time but she was not willing to take her eyes off the ramparts to risk exposure. The brush only carried her for so far before it ended leaving her crouched at the edge to wait for her instincts to tell her to make her dash. As soon as her gut let her, the gryphoness made a quick dash toward the keep with a low crouching stride. The broad daylight offered her no deep shadows to stalk in so she ended her dash with a great leap onto the stone wall. Agrok's talons and hind claws found themselves employed as climbing hooks that gave her many more holds than a human would have had while climbing. The lean and agile female made short work of the climb that was easily as high as twenty human men standing on one another's shoulders.

She pulled herself over the top of the wall with a roll into a crouching prowel on the ramparts. The young warrior ealed her way along under the line of sight of the wall toward one of the tower doors close at hand. The lack of sentries was even more disturbing now that she was getting closer and seeing how vulnerable the place really was. Something was quite wrong about that and it was making her feathers itch with an earie feeling. Agrok quikly slipped inside the iron door and closed it behind her, letter her sharper vision guide her through the poorly lit stairway.

"Sir, I have a very bad feeling about this," she spoke quitely so her father and commanding officer could hear her over her communication insignia, "There is not a single sentry about, no signs of any gaurds, this is simply wrong altogether."

Reyfis spoke just as quietly with a bit of concern in his voice, "Just keep your head down and see if you can find out what is going on while you let us in. Agrok, if it is something too big, you get out of there right away. We need living warriors, not fallen heroes."

"Understood sir," Agrok replied softly while she padded her way down the stairs as quietly as she could.

When she neared the bottom she could hear voices coming from the courtyard. She could not yet make them out so the gryphoness crept up to the iron door at the base of the stairs and carefuly risked opening it just a crack to see outside. She had to stifel a gasp at what she seen out there. The entire keep's gaurd was in formation before a great black scaled reptile, much like a giant version of the drakes. It could only be one of the dragons that Kalah and Saltriss had spoken of and the sickening aura of raw power that radiated from the being could only come from one being they had discribed. The blood lord GahlByrn himself in all his arcane and physicaly powerful glory. The ebon scales were smooth and polished with health as they encased the ripling muscles beneath on that powerful frame. The eyes that scanned over the assembled men were an odd rusty red color, adding to the deadly feel of the magic that was condensed in his body.

The great dragon was tall enough to be just shy of two thirds the hight of the keep walls standing on all fours as he was. Black horns protruded from his head and ran over a quarter of his neck which looked about the same in proportions to the length of a horse's neck. His features would have been more handsome than threatening if Agrok had not known what vile deeds this beast had performed and commanded others to carry out.

"Ekretz, have you prepared yourself for the casting," the dragon rumbled in a deep very rich voice.

A human in a deep blood red robe stepped forward and bowed to the self apointed emperor, "Yes my Lord. I have studied the spell and prepared myself to recieve the blessings that will allow a mere human to cast such magic."

"Very good, bring out the fuel so that we may begin," GahlByrn ordered with a firm command.

What ever they were casting, Agrok knew that it could not be good in the least for her world or her people. Her opinion was only strengthened when the armed men brought out the 'fuel' for the spell. Several scared women, young adolescent boys, and a few defiant men who must have been soldiers were brought out in a group of about a dozen or so. Ekretz began his spell as the first of the defiant men, a dark haired man with a deep scowl, was forced onto his knees before the dragon. Agrok expected him to be burned, impaled with a talon, eaten, or some other form of painful bloody sacrifice. What she watched next was something she couldn't have began to imagine ever witnessing. GahlByrn raised his great claw over the man and stared right into his eyes before the man convulsed once and began to glow a light blue. The defiance drained right out of the poor human as his body began to loose girth and muscle tone while that blue glow was pulling into a ball of energy within the confines of the dragon's claw. When the blue had all drained away the lifeless form of the victim fell as a husk of the former body while he reached over and pressed the ball of energy into Ekretz' back.

"Oh my, the power, it is so exhilerating and wonderful to feel! It feels as though I can cast anything with such power flowing through me," the mage sang out as his face took on an almost orgasmic expression of pure bliss.

Agrok nearly wretched at such a disgusting display and retreated to try and recover from her disturbed shaking. Another horrofying scream of pain and terror ripped her heart in half as she thought of all the innocent people who must have gone through this very same process to fuel countless invasions of thiers and other worlds. Agrok forced herself to look back outside to find out what they were doing with the energy of those stolen souls. What she found made her heart drop, the mage was opening a gate to a place she had never seen before. Beyond that gate was a massive gathering of soldiers of various species, some she knew and others she did not. She had really planned to follow her father's orders upon finding GahlByrn, but she knew that mass of troops could not be allowed to enter thier world, else the counter offensive would easily be crushed under a second larger wave. Her own people and the peoples of Randulan and Grasolahn would be used for these very sources of power. That was something she just could not accept.

Agrok reached down and touched her communication device on her harness to open the channel more clearly, "Father, I'm sorry, but I must disobey your orders. They are summoning a larger force than they already have here. To make matters worse, thier lord is here feeding the gate mage the souls of thier captives to keep the gate open. I'm going to eliminate the gate mage and see how many of them I can take out while you all escape. Please don't make this stand in vain."

"Agrok, pull back we can think of another way to stop them," Reyfis pleaded in reply.

The gryphoness growled deeply as she moved back to the door, "I am giving you a fighting chance to escape and finish the battle at hand, go back and help them now! If you stay here we will all die, let me buy you time to get to the main forces and prepare for retaliation. Agrok out, I need silence to get into position without being discovered before I can strike."

There was no reply, her father knew she was not going to back down when she fekt her sense fo duty calling her to task. She slipped out the door like a living shadow and crept quickly toward the smithing shed that lay between her and the gaurd's gathering. GahlByrn seemed to be focused on his mage and the prisoners he was feeding to him, so she took advantage of the shed ad climbed onto the roof quietly. From her new vantage point the gryphoness could see that the dragon had fed the souls of half the gathered prisoners to the mage and the entrance to the crystal mine loctaed directly behind the gate by around thirty of her own body lengths. If she was lycky she could probably get one of the special mage bombs that Kalah had made for her into the entrance to at least cave it in and slow them down a bit. Her plan formed in her mind and she locked herself into doing what instinct screamed at her to do.

Agrok turned her back on the gathering to face the near by wall and leapt at it as hard and high as she could. When she hit the gryphoness pushed up and away from the wall for more hight and propulsion toward the mage and the gathering. The agile warrior twirled to smoothly slip into a shallow dive that streaked toward the mage. The air rushed past her ears and over her body like cool wings ambracing her entire form while her target drew closer in her field of vision. The first row of men streak below her and spotted her to call out an alarm. It was too late to do anything, she was moving too fast and was too close to her target before they could begin to react. The gryphoness struck her prey with a single foreclaw as she landed hard next to him and skidded on the stone ground. Agrok twisted her body to force her momentum as far away from the gate as she could, bringing herself sideways with a great heave. Ekretz howled in pain and shock as his body was propelled by the momentum of that foreclaw and caught by the talons set deep in his shoulder under bone and tendons. Her heave swung his body in an arch that carried his legs and lower half through his own gate and struck the side just above his naval. The gate's edge had no surface simply the edge of the seperating veil between two realms making for the most impossibly sharp edge. Ekretz' body was cleaved with no resistance sending a shower of blood and entrails to both sides of the portal and immediately caused the gate to craze with unstable energy.

The center of the gate looked as if some one had shattered a stained glass pane as it crackled and made a horendous sound. Agrok tossed her victim's remains aside and dived with a great lunge to try and take cover as best she could. The gate drew up into a thin rod of energy that was taller than the walls before it fell in on it's self to explode into twin pillars of flame that blasted out from either side of the open surfaces of the gate in a single pillard of deep ruby red that crashed into the gathered men and the wall behind them. The other pillar an emerald green that roared directly into the mine and caused the earth to heave a bit and glow with the white hot radiance of nearly vaporized stone. The twin blast forced the great dragon mage to rear back against the wall and throw up his own shielding while a heavy column of his men were blasted back and most if those caught by that blast were incinerated in an instant. Those unlucky enough to escape the heat were hurled great distances only to be fused into the stones of the ground and the walls when they landed to suffer greatly in the final munite or so of thier lives.

Agrok was shaken by the blast but had managed to avoid the arcane distortions and the intense heat. She had time to glance at the gathered men to see that she had eliminated more than half thier numbers with that unexpected blast. She did not have time to recover enough to escape to the air before the first of the men began to advance upon her.

"Impressive, such a precision strike and quick reflexes to have escaped that blast. This beast intruiges me, take it alive if you can. Do not fail, Ekretz' stupidity and failure has already fouled my mood," GahlByrn rumbled a deep growl.

Agrok was able to get to her feet in time to rear back out of the way of the first sword slash and strike at wielder's throat with a lightning fast talon swipe that sent skin and gore sailing from the attacker. She caught the arm of a man rushing her with a mace and whirled to shove his body onto the spear of his nearest comrade. The fallen mace was scooped up and hurled with all her might into the face of the nearest soldier trying to level a crossbow on her. It struck with a wet cracking crunch as it caved in his skull and his jaw. A new foe rushed her even before he had fully drawn his sword only to find himself beneath a pouncing gryphoness who vaulted herself off his shoulders. The force of her second leap drove his face into the stone paved ground with a shuddering impact that shattered his nose and teeth. Agrok used the momentum to land and twirl with her talons outstretched in a full slashing circle that caught several men at once.

Something scaley wrapped around her left hind paw and clamped down like a vice before she could react to it. What ever it was tugged her hard enough to pull her off her feet like a rag doll and slam her against the wall with crushing force. Stars filled her vision as her head struct the wall in the whipping motion just before the scaley noose tossed her far into the courtyard to land in a heap. Agrok was able to lift her head in time ot see the retreating tail tip of the great black scaled dragon as his angry eyes set upon her.

"Killing Ekretz and foiling my plans was irritable of you, continuing to defy me is intolerable. I am GahlByrn, Lord of Souls, you and everyone else to ever draw breath are mine to command and use. I tire of her spirit, kill her and I shall enslave her soul in her reanimated body for further studies. We shall see how you like watching yourself serve my every whim," the massive draconic mage growled hatefuly.

The remaining gaurds began to advance with anticipation of the chance to kill such a powerful warrior that cut down thier comrades. Before they could reach her a concentrated column of blue white energy struct them and washed over thier advancing line like a beam of frost that left everything it touched instantly frozen to the core. The ground shook gently as a massive rush of wingwash wafted harshly over the gryphoness. She looked up to see another dragon, this one of shimmering silver scales like newly minted and polished coins. She, Agrok guessed by the lean shapely form and the decidely femanine scent, stood only around two thirds the size of the great black scaled male. The body was shaped just so, that she could have walked on two or four legs at the dragon's whim. The silver head was not adorned with horns or spines of any kind that Agrok could see, but the silver ears were laid back in a threatening posture while the deep sapphire eyes locked on the opposing beast.

She spoke and confirmed Agrok's suspicions on her gender, "You will not slay this lady GahlByrn, not while I breath."

"And just what do you intend to do female," GahlByrn snarled at the smaller silver female, who was of a different dragon species by what Agrok could tell with her fading conciousness.

The silver female leaned down to nuzzle the injured gryphoness, "Be still, you will only hurt yourself even more. As for you, GahlByrn, I intend to make a trade. We both know you fear me more than anything because I can beat you hands down. So I offer my full surrender in exchange for this avian's life."

"This is a rather tempting offer, the surrender of my most sought after enemy for the price of merely sparing a lovely creature. I accept your terms," GahlByrn grinned at the silver female, "Of course you know what this means for you. Prepare the prisoners for transport, this keep is useless without the mine."

Agrok fought for conciousness with all her strength and will, managing to stay awake at least that long. It was a fight she was loosing however, she had suffered too much head trauma and full body damage. Her body was simply trying to shut down to heal it's self. One of the remaining few gaurdsmen stepped up to her side and reached out to grasp her right wing joint and roughly tugged to try and force her to her feet. Agrok cried out in pain as her injured muscles and joints all spasmed at the harsh handling.

The dragoness spit a shot of frost breath onto the gaurdsmen and smashed her hand claw down on the frozen victim to shatter his body, "I said spare her, take her captive but until I am bound she is under my protection. I will carry her myself to your holding facility, but if you or your underlings try to harm her again, all deals are off."

"I have already placed my mark upon her for this journey. Carry her if you like, but try and escape and her life is forfiet," the male replied before he turned and spread his wings, "We shall fly north."

The silver nodded and scooped up the wounded gryphoness and whispered softly to her as she spread her great shimmering wings, "I have traced your communicator and informed your people of the situation. For now, we will have to stick together and hold on until help comes."

The black talons of unconciousness finally caught full hold of Agrok's being and dragged her down into oblivion, all she could manage before she went was to say, "Thank you.."

* * *

Hakarah felt rather anxious about Rastak joining the forces in the border invasion and defense group. But she knew he was a warrior at heart and he would not be the same male she fell in love with all those years ago if he did not do everything he could to protect those who needed him. She in turn would do all she could to give him peace of mind in knowing that thier lands were well kept while he was away. She was not helpless as a leader herself, in so much as her ability to manage people and resources. Hakarah had moved herself closer to where the Titanian defenses would be staged for several reasons, much to Rastak's dismay, primarily because of the settling of new male soldiers in that area with the unattatched females of the Dremdal. It was unlikely that there would have been trouble, but it was best to have an authorative presence in the area to help discourage any insistant advances or jealous rivalries over potential studs. There was also an influx of human miners surveying the region after the discovery of a single stone rich in gold deposits. The untapped resource would be vital to establishing the economic base for the fledgeling nation, at least until they could establish in export to trade for other sources of currency.

There were several iron and coal deposits found throught the plains as well, proving the lands to hold at least a good portion of the riches thier past invading neighbors had sought to take from the gryphons. Mining was prohibited by the queen however, she wished to keep the consorts happy and refrain from the damaging methods that were currently popular in the mining the humans had done to thier old lands in the past. The miners were a bit ruffled at first until Queen Asreigh started putting together the council of mages, surveyers miners and engineers on the task of finding a way to harvest the resources without raping and severely damaging the lands. Once they were given the news of her wishes and reasons for the ban, they turned out pleased with thier new queen's decision and gave thier all to find a way to bring the resources to thier new people. Hakarah was in the area to make herself available for that news as well.

The pregnant female had finished her rounds of the local village and settled into her soft cushion to begin readong over reports of the state of thier county and of her new quietly growing force of royal couriers who were all the swift ladies of her remaining Dremdal. That notion was sugested by Tahkra herself, as she had pointed out, they enjoyed the protections of the nation and had nothing to return other than themselves. Thier loyal service in keeping the ever vigilant eyes on thier routes would be critical to the power of the queen. Knowing she was doing something for her people now was a tremendous relief to the former female chief as she poured hot water into a drinking dish with a small holey metal ball in the bottom that contained her favorite blend of relaxing teas. It was only about an hour past noon, she wasn't for certain since she had not yet acquired a time keeping device of any type. As early as it was she was under orders by her mate to be done with her days to keep added stress off of herself and the freshy concieved younglings in her womb. Hakarah was not content to get no work done with so much free time, so she had schedualed her reports for the later portion of the day to simply give her something to read while she relaxed.

No sooner had she set her tea to steep did some one knock on the hide door of her temporary dwelling, "Lady Hakarah, there is something you should see right away!"

The noble female sighed softly to herself as she set her reports aside and stood up with an arch of her back in a stretch. She padded to her door and opened it to see the head surveyer with wide eyes and a blank expression.

"Well, what is it that is so important I should return to thining for everyone after I am healer ordered to rest," Hakarah asked with a bit more annoyance than she really felt or intended to express.

The human stepped aside to let her see out over the gentle hills of the plains leading into Randulan where an enormous blotch crawled across the landscape toward them. The sharp eyes of the gryphoness was easily able to pick out women and children at the fore of the mass.

Hakarah turned quickly and called out to the swiftest of her local couriers, "Kirini! Quickly fetch the six swiftest of your courier sisters, messages need to travel quickly and the military has all arcane lines locked down. Every one else begin preparing to recieve refugees, a whole lot of them!"

* * *

Tahkra sighed softly at the hair brush that had certainly gotten the better of her as she tried to groom Ronin's hair in Agrok's absence. Her hand like forepaws should have had a much easier time wrangling the wayward styling instrument than Agrok's fighting claws. Alas, Tahkra found herself flailing about the task in defeat while her adopted niece's hair became more of a mess.

"This doesn't feel like my hair is getting better," Ronin complained as the brush tangled in her hair again.

Tahkra sighed softly in defeat, "It isn't, let us go find grandma Rio before I do any more damage to your hair sweetpea."

The gryphon queen let go of the brush only to blink in awe as it stayed put in the child's hair. She was certainly out of her element in human grooming and it was painfuly obvious now. To complicate the matter, she wasn't even certain Rio would know anything about human grooming techniques. She just knew that she had more experience in dealing with humans.

A soft knock on the door frame fo the open dwelling preceeded the soft clearing of a femanine throat, "Queen Asreigh, it has been sugested that the royal family may be in need of assistance with thier newest member. I can see now that those statements have fallen miserably short of the situation."

"Who ever you are, if you can help make some sense of the nest that my niece's hair has become you are a gift from the consorts," Tahkra admitted before she turned to face an elder human female.

The woman was in her later part of her child baring years, quite near the end but not yet of her silvering days. She was of a stunning golden blond with sparkeling blue eyes that held nothing but a soft tender kindness to the. Her form was nearly perfect to what human males discribed in general as the absolute image of beauty.

The human smiled and stepped into the dwelling to examine the rubble that used to be Ronin's hair, "My oh my, you should have practiced on something before you came to try this my dear queen. I think I can salvage the situation though, if you would like I can show you how while I do it so that you may handle things better in the future."

"I would be most appreciative of such tutalage as I do believe I have many more babysitting sessions in my future with my sister helpung lead tha charge against the Legion," Tahkra admitted with a deep blush of embarassment at her failure, "Sadly my sister is much better at this than I am with more difficult foreclaws as opposed to my forepaws."

The human smiled and gently removed the brush from Ronin's hair before she showed Tahkra silently how to hold it in her palm for greater control, "Many humans are so sadly incapable of handling thier own grooming that we have a great many who make thier way in life by doing it for them. Really it just takes a patient eye and a gentle hand to coax tangles and snarls from hair to give the strait style I think you may have wanted here."

Ronin held her breath as the woman began to run the brush through her hair, expecting to feel the tug of the tangles as they crackled under the strokes of the stiff bristled brush. Both Tahkra and Ronin were surprised to see the bruch gently gliding over the tangles and softly kissing them away with patient gentle strokes of the brush. Slowly and gently Ronin's hair straitened out and became free of tangles to resemble the hair of a little girl once again.

"Thank you so much for your help, I was certainly out of my depth," Tahkra said softly s the woman put a band in Ronin's hair to tie it back in a ponytail.

The human smiled gently, "It was no trouble my queen. I had come to offer my services in helping to tutor you and your sister in proper grooming and care of your niece. I might also be of use in aiding in the tasks your paws are simply not suited for."

"That would be quite beneficial, but I am certain there are a great many who would take up such a role to work for the queen. There is also the matter of security and well being of the royal family, we would have to know we can trust you to let you so close at all times. We could certainly start looking into your background, what is your name," Tahkra replied.

The woman stared the queen right in the eyes with a little twinkle in her own eyes, "Rebeca Carpenter, my brother works for you and sugested I offer my services since I filled the very same role for the court of Ranshin."

"You mean your brother is my general Carpenter," Tahkra asked with a smile, "Well I will still need to speak to him directly, but if he does identify you as his sister I do believe your background is all vouched for."

Rebeca smiled at her queen, "Thank you oh so much for the chance to serve, your grace. I shall continue my studies on gryphlet care to be ready fro the day your handsome mate follows you into the sky."

Tahkra did not have a chance to reply before Krinzehl entered with an exhausted courier in tow, "We got a problem girl, Hakarah is dealing with a different kind of invasion right this moment and she needs supplies and bodies to deal with it fast. Refugees are pouring in from Randulan like a flood of the entire sea at once."

"What do our arcane resources look like," Tahkra asked quickly.

Krinzehl shook her head, "Anyone of any real power is out on the lines helping our boys put foot to tail. I'm the only real mage you have beyond a low end journeyman."

"Can you gate my friend," the young queen asked with real hope in her eyes as she rested a foreclaw on her royal mage's shoulder.

Krinzehl sighed softly, "I can make a gate, but I am uncertain how long I can sustain it or how stable it will be. Gating is a new arcane science to me."

"We're going to have to trust you to come through for us. We will send the supplies first until you feel comfortable with your hold on the gate, then we will start sending people to assist. In the mean time, courier, what is your name," Tahkra replied before she asked her question of the courier.

The lovely white feathered gryphoness bowed to her queen, "My name is Kirini my queen."

"Kirini, I hate to burden you when you are already so exhausted, but I need you to carry a decree from the queen. You are to inform every nearby village and town that your location needs aide and all who are swift of wing that can provide first aide and help to feed people or tend younglings is to make their way to your village by word of the queen," Tahkra wrote a hastey note outlining what she had said to her courier and signed it before she handed it over, "Any one who argues can question my signature and answer to me in person when all is said and done here today."

Kirini took the note and tucked it into her hard leather message tube before she gave a bow, "Yes, right away my queen. We all must do what we can to help one another now, more than ever before."

"No truer words could have been spoken," Tahkra turned her attention back to Krinzehl, "I need you to get that supply party and gate up. If you manage to keep it stable enough for people to travel through, inform the lines we will be ready to take on the wounded when you are finished. There should be a mage or two on thier end that can help hold the gate up."

Krinzehl gave a nod, "I'll do my best for you girl, but I am sorry that I cannot promise anything. I think you should know, you are doing a spectacular job. We could not have asked for a better queen than you, kitten."

Tahkra looked down at Ronin who looked back at her with worried eyes, "I just hope that we, and I, are strong enough to survive this war."

* * *

Necrotai was pleased to find that the reinforcements were few and far between. It was almost as if something had stopped them dead in thier tracks, which made his job rather quick and easy with the number of men he had brought along for the engagement. Now it was time to advance upon the primary attack group and help to smash thier lines. He had already received reports that the primary border group had advanced to save the defense forces of Randulan. That put the time tables a little off, but it did not cripple the opperation in the least with the effects they had already had on the invading forces. The Bizshra himself had cut down enough to make his blade giddy with a sickening glee at the death and pain it got to deal and the blood it was bathed in. Necrotai ignored the praises of the demon in his weapon as he lead his men on to the battlefield ahead of them where thier comrades from Titania were fighting hard along side the forces of Randulan.

The fight was fierce on both sides, which was good for the arriving troops to have the greatest effect on the battle. They were undected as they advanced toward the invader's rear position to close a vice of defending troops around the remaining forces of the Soul Legion. Arrow and magic kept them busy trying to defend against the various deadly rains that fell upon them. Necrotai moved his men into a close position to form up before he called his charge.

"Grasolahn! Our fellow Eldarohnd peoples are defending our world, let us add our sacred might to thier efforts, for the gods, for the people, attack," the Bizshra called out to his gathered men to signal the advance with a rather short motivating speech.

The pikemen took the head of the lines as they all charged toward the enemy, the long weapons catching the Legion troops off guard as they only had time to turn and see thier attackers before the sharp tips plunged through thier bodies. The Bizshra himself joined the second wave of fighters as they filed around the pikemen, who were retrieving thier weapons from the heavy bodies of thier victims. Sword, axe, and mace meet flesh in a ruthless flurry of strikes as the Legion soldiers tried to turn and face the foes attacking from behind. Necrotai himself beheaded his first victim and drove his blade with the momentum of his swing in a spin to plunge the blade into the next fighter's belly. All around him the blackgaurd cleaved through flesh and light armor like a sharp machete through underbrush. The momentum of the heavy blades was more than enough to make any attempt to block a fatal mistake as sword and shield snapped or buckled under the heavy impact. A group of heavily armored men made thier way through the enemy fighters to start trying to stop the trampling onslaught of the Grasolahn forces that were butchering the lightly armored fighters at the rear of the lines. They appeared to be similar in the degree of thier armor to the blackgaurd and thier weapons were equally heavy axes. Necrotai could feel the tension in the air as the heavy armored elites stared one another down for the real battle of this engagement.

The Bizshra pulled the grim skull visor of his helmet down as he prepared to take on the first worthy foes they had encountered all day. The blackgaurd stood ready at either side of thier Bizshra, ready to fight along side and defend him with thier lives. Necrotai examined the dull unpolished armor of the grim opponents to try and identify thier leader. He was easily spotted by the long blue mane that fell from the crest of his otherwise unadorned helmet. The Bizshra stared right into the eyes of his chosen foe and drew up his blade in a ready stance.

"For Eldarohnd," Necrotai gave his cry that was echoed by his blackgaurd before they all rushed to meet thier foes.

The Legion's elites gave a cry of thier own, simply loud yells of no words as they rushed on to meet the advancing Bizshra and his men. All around the two strongest forces, the battle raged but none dared to step into the fray of the heavily armored warriors. Necrotai met the axe of the commander with his cursed blade, giving a proper redirecting parry rather than a full block. He slammed his shoulder into the commander's chest plate and sent him stumbling away. The Bizshra's opponent managed to hold on to his wicked great axe however and turned his stumble into a vicious spinning swing meant to cut his torso in two along the mid-drift. Necrotai lunged backwards to avoid the swing before he lunged back in to drive the point of his blade against the back plate of his opponent. The enchanted and cursed blade managed to tiny punture in the heavy plate, but there was padding and mail beneath that protected the man within. The impact did make him arch his back and that was the real goal of the strike, to batter the fighter within his own armor and turn that defense into a weapon for the Bizshra. The commander was shaken but not stalled as he turned an overhead swing on the leader of the Grasolahn. Necrotai met this swing with a rotating parry that brought his own blade over the top of the axe's shaft and drove down to add to the force of the swing so that the head was driven even deeper into the ground. The motion made it more difficult for the man to recover his weapon and the Bizshra made good of the opening, bringing his blade across the commander's face with a fierce upward cross slash. The blessed blade cut deep into the armor and caused minute slivers of metal to tear free in a shower of friction heated sparks that showered the man's face.

The commander finally gave on his grip of his weapon and took a step back from the sparks in his face. Necrotai took advantage yet again and whirled with the momentum of his own slash and made a lunge right into the eye slot to plunge the tip of his weapon through bone and flesh with a light spatter of blood. The demon imprisoned in the blade both praised and berated the Bizshra, attempting to give pointers on making such a kill more painful and lingering. The battle between the elites was far from over with the loss of the commander, another of the heavily armored men made a vicous swing on the Bizshra while he was retrieving his blade from the visor of his victim. One of the blackgaurd made a quick move to block and protect his lord. He knew it was a sacrifice before he made his attempt and found his blade struck away to leave him open to the cross chop that hit just below his helmet and removed his head from his shoulders. Necrotai gave an fierce roar of pure rage as he freed his blade and scooped up the fallen gaurd's unique heavy long sword in his left hand. The Bizshra displayed a strength that surprised the Legion elite as he wielded two weapons that would have been difficult to wiedl with two hands for most and laid into the would be attacker. The heavy weapons struck equaly as heavy blows with the speed and fury of a man wielding two smaller weapons. The enchanted blade cut scar after scar in the breast plate of the Legion soldier as the gaurd's blade hammered him and rattled him in his own armor. The man was unable to recover enough to bring his own heavy weapon to bare against the onslaught of savage blows. His own blade finaly scarred deep enough in the center of the breast plate to partialy expose the mail beneath and Necrotai prepared a lunge witht he gaurd's blade that would have pierced the flimsy armor and ended his foe. Another of the Elites managed to break free of his gaurd opponent and made an attack at the Bizshra to disrupt his killing strike and forcing him to defend and buying his comrade time to recover and return the assault as well. Necrotai was a match one on one, but the twin axes baring down on him at once was too heavy and too fast to deal with as he was pressed back with attempts to doge slashes and swings.

The Bizshra was wearing down in his frenzied defense and he knew he was indeed in quite a bit of trouble. It would only be a matter of time before these two men took him down without some sort of assistance to distract or seperate them. A near simultaneous strike by both men caused the Necrotai's parry to fall just wrong to meet the second axe and rocked his balance fairly hard with the powerful impact. There was nothing he could do to avoid the next strike, all he could do was hope that his armor would absorb the blow. The man on his left made the swing with all his might, but the axe fell short and reangled into the ground when the man's feet pulled back and upward before he swung further left. The Bizshra was a bit confused as he watched the body swing back right with great force to collide with his comrade and send him sailing through the air to land heavily on his back. Both sets of armor were mildly distorted by the force of the blow and it was not until the first man slammed back to the grund that Necrotai realised there was an incredibly large gryphon standing behind them. He regocnized the great warrior as Grenz, Agrok's rival and the commander of the caravan raiders.

"I never thought I would be so glad to see a gryphon as I am now, I owe you my thanks," Necrotai said with earnest gratitude as the great bird helped him to his feet.

Grenz only snorted and proceeded to remove the helmets of the injured Legion elites before he too a head in each foreclaw and clapped them together in a crushing impact that ended both lives, "Think nothing of it, we are all in this fight together. Now let's get back to the bussiness of killing this dimension hopping vermin."

"Agreed, though I will say, you gryphons have the right of it when dealing with foes like this. Heavy armor requires a heavy hitter to balance things out," the Bizshra replied as he retrieved both weapons once again, finding the dual wielding method to be quite effective.

Grenz turned to face the rest of the elites, thier numbers begining to dwindle as the blackgaurd was begining to get the best of them. One Legion soldier rushed the gryphon to take a swing at the powerful warrior. Grenz responded by catching the shaft of the axe with his foreclaw and stopping the swing dead in it's place before he jerked the axe and shoved the man with a powerful forelimb. Necrotai could see the raw muscle coiling under the feathers of the great bird and felt a bit of a shudder. He certainly would not wish to challenge such a powerful being if he had a choice, and he was certainly glad such strength and skill was on his side. The gryphon hefted the axe in his right foreclaw as he settled back down onto his left to stand over the legs of his soon to be victim. Grenz raised the axe and drove the edge through the breast plate with the force of his swing. The head of the axe sunk deep enough to have damaged the back plate of the man's armor and easily making the kill.

Necrotai himself came to the aide of one of his own blackguard who was in a similar sitaution he was in not a moment ago. The Bizshra rushed the closest Legion fighter as he finished a swing and struck the back of his axe with the sacred blade to hold it away while he drove the fallen gaurd's sword under the helmet line beneath the man's chin right into his throat. The axe wielder gurgled in surprise as blood blossomed under his helmet and over his brest plate. Necrotai kicked the dying man off his second blade like so much rubbish before he engaged the second with his gaurdsmen. It did not take long at all for the two of them to dispatch the remaining fighter leaving the Bizshra free to assess the battle of the elites. The addition of the gryphon had proved to be the breaking point for the even battle as he and the blackgaurd now outnumbered the Legion elites. This battle within the battle was in the final stages as Grenz proved devestating to the enemy with his great strength and agility. The gaurdsman that he had helped reached down and picked up the dead man's great axe to test the feel of the weapon in his hands and feel the balance.

"I wish to claim this weapon as my own, my lord Bizshra," he stated his request before he did anything else.

Necrotai raised his visor to grin at his gaurdsman, "We have beaten them, and they have slain a small number of our comrades, they owe you that weapon at the very least. Consider it your spoils of victory in this specific encounter, but the day must be won overall for me to allow you to carry it on duty."

"I was hoping you would say that my lord, byt he rumors these savages have much to answer for and I have a new weapon to christen," the gaurdsman replied grimly as he raised his axe to the ready and selected his first target to test the new blade upon.

The Bizshra felt a twinge of pride in his blackgaurd as they finished off thier equals in armaments and armor. They had truely proven thier skill against equally geared opponents and dispelled the myth that the blackgaurd rellied souly on thier armor and superior weaponry to win thier battles. Only regular troops lay before them now as they advanced upon the Legion's forces. It was not as easy as it had started however, the Legion was now forming against them with the loss of the surprise and shock of the sudden attack. It was a desperate fight for the Legion now that they had three major fronts to work on with arrow and spell raining damaging volleys to the central forces. Order was begining to fade from them as panic started to set in with each passing moment. Necrotai could see the fear in the eyes of the men he fought and killed as they attempted to fight thier way out of the desperate situation.

The Bizshra found himself competeing for opponents with his own men, so he pulled back and took a moment behind his lines to gather status reports on the battle. Before his own messengers could reach the ends of his lines Necrotai spotted the form of Reyfis flying in to meet him with a few other gryphons and the borrowed ground units that made up the infiltration group. He waved his arm up at the gryphon to signal his position and attempt to call him in.

"Reyfis, here! How does the sitaution look from above," Necrotai called out as the gryphon came within earshot.

Reyfis landed as lightly as he could manage before he gave a proper salute to the Bizshra, "We seem to have this nearly wrapped up, they are surounded on all sides by our forces. All we need to do is finish them off now."

Necrotai noticed a bit of a distressed look about the gryphon commander, "You do not seem yourself, are you well?"

"Nay, you may notice the lack of my daughter amongst the forces I have arroived with," the leutenant replied bitterly.

Necrotai looked about the forces that had gathered behind the gryphon, "Where is Agrok now? Has she been slain?"

"No, she was not slain. Agrok caught them bringing in a massive amount of troops and stopped them. In the process she destroyed the mine but thier lord is here and he managed to subdue her. She is now thier captive as I was informed by the one who sacrificed her freedom for Agrok's life," a look of shame and guilt washed over the gryphon as he seemed to almost vomit the words.

Necrotai knew the look, he was a father that had ordered his own daughter to her unintentional capture. No matter how much of a commander he was, he had a heart and that would certainly tear it in two. Reyfis Asreigh was no longer fit for the battle and with good reason on his own part.

The Bizshra rested his hand on the gryphon's shoulder, "Go and help tend the wounded while I lead your warriors through the end of this day. You've been through enough comrade."

Reyfis could only nod before he took himself to the air to find the encampment for the wounded. This day would end in victory, but it would also be a very sad day for the ruling family of the newly born Titania. The Bizshra decided that Agrok's sacrifice would not be in vain, that they would send a loud and clear message to the Soul Legion that Eldarohnd would fight. They would put aside all thier differences and fight with a heart and ferocity that the Legion had never witnessed before. Even if they were to fall, they would make the Legion pay far too much for the victory such as they were paying right that very moment. Necrotai knew they could bottle up this battle in a matter of an hour, maybe even minutes if they handled things right.

He turned to his newly aquired gryphon troops, "I have an important assignment for you before I have you join the fight. I need my messages delivered to the other commanders to coordinate and focus the attacks of our mages and archers on those central ranks to burn them down fast. Can you do that for me, for every soldier on our side?"

Every one of Rayfis' gryphons snapped to attention and nodded, "Yes sir!"

"Good, find the generals and start there, when tyou are sure the message is being passed, find my position and join it. I intend to have a piercing strike group cutting a swath through the Legion," Necrotai ordered before he hefted his two blades and stalked back toward the battle.

The messenger flight took off behind him as he charged back into the fray to strike the lines like a maul on armor. The Bizshra struck hard against the men before him with his heavy blades, striking down weapons with one blade and cutting down the men wielding them with the other. The scent of blood and sweat filled his nose as he cut through flesh bone and steel with an unrelenting drive. It wasn't long before he spotted the gryphons returning over head, this marked the time for the mages and archers to begin their coordinated assault. Necrotai order the shieldmen to form a barrier and his fighters to pull back behind them so as to create a wall that would cage the Legion dogs to be burned down by the coming attacks. He ordered the fighters to help brace the shieldmen against the coming tide of panic.

There was a roar of different elements being wrestled to the control fo the mage's will before ice shards, fireballs and razor sharp stone shards began to rain down upon the trapped forces of the Soul Legion. Hot on the heels of the arcane rains was a swarm of arrows from the bows of the Titanian and Randulan archers. The men managed to defend themselves against most of the attacks, but thier very armor became the lethal conduit for the lightning that spidered through thier forces at the talons of a rather clever gryphon mage somehwere over head.

The fighting men of the Legion sucumbed to the madening throws of fear and panic, becoming little more than desperate animals trying to escape death. They pushed hard against the shield wall and strained the stances of the shieldmen and the fighters bracing them. Some men even tried to climb over only to be scewered by the pike and spearmen who had moved into place without need of an order. The carnage beyond the shields was incredible with the bodies of the fallen both frozen and nearly incinerated by the miriade of attacks. The scent of blood was replaced witht he scent of heavy ozone, sulfur, and burning flesh as some men were cooked alive in thier armor. It was a truly horrific sight to behold, even for the battle hardened Bizshra who had to live with the nightmarish dreams given to him by the demon in his blade. It was brtually effect, but this was war and a commander had to be ready to give such orders to minimize the loss of his own men. The entrapped demon cackled with glee inside his head forcing Necrotai to trigger the snares in the blade and tug on his 'leash'. He had more pressing things to worry about than an unrully prisoner.

The deadly rain stopped slowly as each mage grew weary and the archers ran low on ammunition. Necrotai ordered his shieldmen to shove back the remaining men to make way for the fighters. The shieldmen gave theirr mighty heave and pulled back to immediately turn and dash behind the rushing fighters who cut into the frightened and battered remains of the Legion assault force. The men the Bizhra cut down were not even trying to fight back, rather they were looking for some place to run to. There was no place to run however, the allied forces of Eldarohnd had them surrounded. The men who had committed cruel acts of genocide upon other worlds and other nations, now found themselves facing the justice of blade and talon. It was not long before Necrotai found himself facing an opponent who turned to run only to fall from an attacker who was behind him. King Owen stood before the Bizshra with his blood drenched armor and dripping blade. Beside the human king was the feathered form of Malehk, the king of Titania.

"Am I glad to finally see you two out here," the Bizshra said with real relief before he sunk the tip of his fallen gaurdsmen's blade into the earth.

Owen smiled to the other rulers as he began to clean his blade, "I must say I am more glad to see you two. We were lost without your help and we owe the lives of ourselves and our families to you and your people."

"I am afraid your salvation comes at a heavy price for the royal family of Titania," Necrotai replied with real regret, "Agrok Asreigh, the sister of Queen Tahkra, has been taken captive in the opperation that cut off thier supply of communication crystals."

Owen lowered his eyes for a moment, "We have a bit fo clean up here yet, but once that is done I will see what aide I can offer in retrieving her. We owe you all our lives after all."

"The matter will have to be balanced and weighed before we can make a decision on whether or not we will be retrieving her. As much as I love her as a sister, I cannot ignore the potential risk to others in rescuing a single warrior."

Necrotai sighed softly to himself but spoke no ill word of Malehk or Tahkra. They would hurt for some time over this loss and they would really have no choice but to suffer it. The day was wone, the lesser commanders would handle the clean up opperations and the men would organize thier own victory celebrations. Now was the time for the leaders to rest and reflect on thier commands and decisions while they bared thier curse of leadership.