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"Controversy exists over defining the last six and a half centuries of the First Age as an aeon on its own. Many historians believe that this should form part of the greater Age of Humans, citing that all the authorities of that time did not recognize the significance of the change in international policy and instead continued to count the years onward from 2179 [of the First Age] (which was the year of the Bloodstorm). However, most scholars today consider it distinct from the greater First Age since magic became commonplace after its decriminalization and in truth played an integral part in shaping the events of this age, as opposed to the First Age. This was an age of great prosperity and incredible advancements in technology and magic. For example, some records indicate that Arthulle, in conjunction with the Jet Tower, had managed to develop a functional prototype of a flying ship just before the events of The Shattering, though such claims could never be proven.

However, this Golden Age was not without its world-changing conflicts. For instance, the magi civil war known as the 'Amber Rebellion' would redefine the entire magical society with the inauguration of the Circle of Five only one century onto the age, while the last fifty years or so were dominated by attacks from the rouge magi group known as the 'Bloodhands', led by the disgruntled crown-prince Leradde of Naeve who had to renounce the crown when he was identified as a powerful magus. But mostly, when one thinks of wars in the Golden Age, it is the Orc Raids and Wars that comes to mind. Still, while the worsening Raids was a major contributing factor that led to the Amber Rebellion in the first place, it would be more than four centuries before these raids would erupt into an all-out war. And then, it was only with the discovery of a Manashape that could banish a Barathrum Entity back to Barathrum Proper that would provide the flash that ignited the kindling.

And what an inferno it turned out to be. Within a few months, the Kentereal Highlands was overrun by a massive army of orcs which, up to this point, had never been seen in numbers surpassing thirty warriors. The attack was so swift and brutal that the Nacre Tower stood no change against the onslaught and even Kerrathien [Kentereal's capital at the time] would have fallen had the Coral Tower not intervened as decisively as it did. Even the famous Amber Tower failed to survive, falling after a siege of eight months to a betrayal from within. [This would be the first recorded identification of Shadowfriends, native Seleborians wilfully assisting the Shadowspawn against Selebore.]

It finally took the reformation of the Alliance of Light amongst all five of the old kingdoms as well as the assistance from the Circle of Five to push the Horde back into the Curndor Mountains. But even so, the fighting in the treacherous mountain landscape would prove difficult and with the appearance of the first dragons assisting the orcs at the First Siege of Juinkarr, it would be six years before the war would come to an end."

Extract from "The Golden Age rediscovered" by Sean of Aerthworth - Expert on the Golden Age during the Second Age

***

The first rays of the sun just started to appear over the hilly eastern horizon. One of the freezing watchers in the crude little tower saw a few gryphons off in the distant southeast. He shouted a quick warning, but the catbirds were far away and immediately turned south, away from their position to head further downriver. With the morning light this strong already, they were obviously heading off on another patrol, probably to try and find the opposing dragons again.

"Anything else?" his companion grumbled irritably. "I'm not going to sound the alarm again for a mere patrol!"

"N-no, sir!" the first goblin whined dejectedly, turning to the third in the poor excuse for a watchtower. "What about you? Did you see anything else?"

"Still nothing, you dimwit!" the third snapped grumpily, tired and freezing after getting up early to keep watch during another cold morning. "I'll let you know if I see anything!"

"What are they waiting for then?" the whiny goblin muttered, trying to catch a glimpse of where they figured the elves had set up their camp.

"How should I know?" the irritable goblin growled, giving Whiny a slap against the ear.

"He does have a point, I guess," the grumpy goblin muttered, already thinking longingly of the chow they will be getting for breakfast and the warm sleeping roll that was waiting for him. "I don't think they are going to attack today either."

"And how can you possibly say that?" Irritable growled, aiming to hit the third goblin as well but then thought better of it. Unlike Whiny, who was the smallest of them, Grumpy was the largest.

"The spy in their top command said that the attack was supposed to be an hour before sunrise yesterday, right?" Grumpy hissed, pointing to the golden disk of the sun already halfway above the horizon. "There is already not enough dark to move on our positions unnoticed anymore. We'll be able to give a warning long before they reach the river. Baumuth's balls, they won't even be able to reach the base of our hill..."

"Quiet!" the orc captain in charge of the forward observation post growled at them from the base of their lookout tower. There was a short, awkward silence before it became too much for Whiny.

"I hope you are right," he hissed, keeping his voice low in the hopes of not drawing the ire of the orc below them. "I can't wait to be relieved tomorrow. This forward outpost is the worst!"

"What do you mean?" Grumpy growled. "Food's better than most watch camps. Guard duty shorter and..."

"But we are the encampment that has to be attacked first!" Whiny whined. "We are on the wrong side of the river, so when the attack comes, everyone here will be dead before the rest of the army can even react."

"Nonsense," Grumpy snapped. "We are secure on the cliffs overlooking the ford. We can hold out longer than..."

"I said quiet!" the orc commander shouted up at them, punctuating his order with a bash the flat side of his axe-head against the wooden structure, making the crude watchtower shudder for a moment. Whiny nearly shrieked but managed to swallow the sound more out of fear of the orc below him than a true attempt at bravery. "Your shift doesn't end until an hour after sunrise! So, shut up and do your job. Or heads are going to roll!"

All three goblins shuddered at the threat, well aware that it was not meant to be a figure of speech. Grumpy and Irritable shot Whiny a reprimanding glare, but their fury at him was completely unnoticed. He was staring, wide-eyed up at the eastern sky, momentarily frozen in fear.

"What now?" Irritable questioned below his breath and turned to look himself, just as Whiny let out an ear-splitting shriek of terror. Then Irritable saw what had scared his small companion so. Already diving onto their position at full speed were four dragons. The silver armour they wore gleamed in the sunlight and the riders on their backs were huddled as low into their steed's back as they could get.

"Baumuth's balls!" Grumpy shouted grabbing for a wooden mallet on a pedestal next to him. Irritable on the other hand, did not hesitate before he started to scramble over the low wall that made up their little box. Whiny was lost to the world, shrieking and freaking out as he uselessly tried to back away from the approaching doom into a corner. Ignoring his comrades, Grumpy was the only one to even try to do his duty, hitting the large brass disk hanging in the tower with his mallet.

Then, the first dragon attacked. It levelled out of its dive over the palisade and unleashed a two-second burst of searing fire along the ramparts of the wooden defences. The tower with the three goblins inside scored a direct hit, cutting off the warning ding of the gong just as the third ring sounded. The orc at the base of the tower was also nearly incinerated, but he managed to jump clear of the rolling flames as they raced past him.

"Light the beacon!" he roared out as he got to his feet again. He was just in time to see the first dragon cease its attack, pulling up and away to clear the way for the second, who continued the flaming attack along their defences from where the first had stopped. "Light the beacon! We're under attack!" he roared again, turning back to head deeper into the camp from where he could organize a better defence. Only, he cursed loudly when he noticed that the opposite wall was also being hit with this rolling flame attack by four other dragons.

It was complete chaos as orcs and the few remaining goblins scampered about the camp, the threat posed by the fire just adding to the mayhem. But all was not lost. With relief, he noticed one of his trusted lieutenants organising a group of defenders around the one ballista. The mounted crossbow was one of two they had set up, meant to defend against the roaming gryphons until Umbrin support could reach them. But even as he tried to run to them, the lieutenant was killed by an arrow to the chest. The arrow had come from a Dragonrider, whose dragon was hanging over the camp and who wasted no time in blasting their best defensive weapon with a well-aimed ball of fire.

The orc captain roared out his fury, throwing his axe at the dragon with the archer. His aim was true, but the axe only clanged against the blue-hued, lamellar plackart that protected the flying lizard's ribs below the wings and fell away harmlessly. Still, the attack had come as a complete shock to the dragon, who squawked in distress and quickly banked away from the encampment just as its rider reached for another arrow from a frame strapped to the saddle. The orc captain smirked for a moment at the small victory, but then the second wave of rolling flame attacks hit the walls of the camp that was not yet burning. He was forced to back away from the intense heat again, covering his face with the crook of his elbow. As such, he almost missed it when the first dragons landed within the burning camp and started with their ground attack. The new wave of riders, now armed with lances and sabres, cut through the disarrayed orcs with dangerous ease while the dragons crushed them underfoot, the opisthenar of their paws protected by a type of open gauntlet.

"To me!" he roared again, fear now truly starting to set in as he grabbed a new axe off a fallen comrade, cursing his lack of thought when he threw his own away. "To me!"

The orcs still standing started to organize themselves around him, finally setting up a proper battle line to try and defend against the intimidating foe. But just as they started to rally, a smaller black drake with golden armour landed hard on top of the orc next to him. The dragon had scarcely driven his victim into the ground when he struck at a second, hitting him cleanly off his feet. The dragon turned to attack him as well, but the orc captain managed to avoid the deadly claws just in time with a quick step backwards.

Then he spotted a small opening between the base of the crinet on the dragon's neck and the pauldron protecting the one shoulder, and with a bloodcurdling roar, he hacked at the weak spot. Only, there was a flash of moulded Mana from the dragon and the axe-head twisted in his grip, making the weapon hit harmlessly against thick golden coloured pauldron. The orc captain blinked in surprise at the dragon's unnatural ability with magic a moment too long and was unable to duck away from the drake's human rider's sabre. He could only utter a last grunt of pain as the cutting edge of the long, curved sword sliced across his neck.

"Push them into the flames," Merec shouted as the burly orc, who had been the last to try and organize a defensive line of any kind, dropped to the ground.

"Lúg'hir!" Farriha called as she glided overhead. With a swipe of her forepaw, she pointed to where an orc had already set a large pile of wood alight. "Message beacon!"

"What the...?" Gahntuar gasped surprised, turning around to see the flames already engulfing the beacon they had not been warned about. "Destroy it! We don't want any messages getting out!"

At that, one of the squads of dragons pounced the beacon there didn't seem to have been any intelligence on, and in no time they had pulled it apart. But it was not fast enough as Farriha indicated further east to where a second beacon was being lit.

"Go!" Gahntuar ordered her, knowing that he did not even need to give a clearer command. "Ethiene! Go with her!"

"Sir!" the lupine Battlewing Commander sitting in the addressed draine's saddle replied. His golden draine wasted no time in calling two of her squad leaders over as she banked towards the green. "Sjeric, Eulorre! With me!"

"Ethiene," Farriha ordered quickly even as they started to head east. "Take Sjeric and hit that flat, rocky outcropping you can see two ridges beyond the river. If there is nothing, seek out their next beacon towards the south. Eulorre, with me!"

"Shouldn't we be attacking that beacon there?" Eulorre's human rider queried as his dragon called over the four dragons assigned to him.

"No, it's too late for that!" Farriha snapped as she headed for another flat-topped hill a little to the north of the position she had sent the Battlewing Commander to just now. "We need to go for the third!"

As the two squads winged their way east to disrupt the chain of beacons, the fighting on the centre of this lookout station was going poorly for the defenders. Merec slashed at one of the last few magic-wielding goblins as Gahntuar finally came to a standstill. The drake rumbled thoughtfully as he watched the remaining two squads of his Lúgroccae easily push the last remaining orcs into the flames.

"Do you think this was what the final moments of the siege was like in Corrumwhell?" Gahntuar muttered a little uncomfortably as he sat down in the middle of the ruined outpost, looking around at the carnage they had caused in barely a handful of minutes. As he spoke, the imminent doom confronting the last orcs were too much and the last twelve of them surrendered.

"Probably," Merec replied, the distaste at the carnage around them obvious in his voice. "Though it was probably a bit more crowded, I think."

"Wings, to the east!" one of the dragons still in the sky suddenly called. Gahntuar looked towards the indicated direction and immediately spotted the unknown red dragon fleeing desperately towards the still distant mountains.

"Where's Aerhin?" Merec shouted.

"They are still sweeping the skies to the north!" the dragon's rider replied.

"Oranne!" Gahntuar called to one of the remaining squad leaders. "Take that dragon down!"

"Yes sir!" a nearby, amber drake snapped. Quickly, the squad leader called to his dragons and they took off, chasing the fleeing Umbrin scout down.

"I was wondering where the Umbrins were," Merec commented as he cleaned his sabre. "Do you see any more?"

"No," Gahntuar replied after a quick scan of the skies "but I'm sure any that are still in the vicinity won't escape Jerielle and Fargamer! They should be on their way here already if they didn't run into trouble."

"True," the human smiled, sheathing his sword into place in front of the small frame of arrows and clicking the catch to hold the blade secure in-flight shut. He sighed, looking around uneasily at the descending calm of a destroyed outpost. "I'm not sure if I should be worried or relieved that this was so easy to destroy!" he finally commented.

"Easy?" Gahntuar growled, considering the devastated camp for a moment. "Yes, I guess you are right: This was rather easy..." he started to agree when he was interrupted by the snap of sails as an olive-green draine came into land nearby.

"We've destroyed the third beacon just as they tried to light it, sir!" Farriha suddenly announced as she trotted to a stop, completely disrupting Gahntuar's thoughts. "Warning of our attack won't be going through to wherever it was headed via that route."

"Well done," Merec smiled, but then looked up at the billowing black smoke with a frown. "Get two pairs to escort the prisoners back to the elves, I think our hosts will be eager to interrogate them. Though, I wonder if their headquarters won't see the smoke signals we are sending up?"

"I doubt they will associate it with us," Farriha commented, looking up as well. "Fire beacons like these usually operate over several dozens of miles. Over distances like that, even smoke like this would be difficult to pinpoint where something is burning. And this column will dissipate soon enough to the winds. Sure, the orc horde by the river will know by now that we attacked here, but they wouldn't be using beacons to communicate something like that with them. No, that message we disrupted was not intended for someone here in the Horthnen valley. My guess would be Eydelvise... or maybe even further?"

"Why do you think are they not using communication mirrors?" Merec asked, twisting around to try and look east.

"I honestly don't know," Farriha replied, the question bothering her suddenly. "Maybe they are too fragile for frontline battles? Maybe they don't have the needed Manashapes to create or operate? We don't have mirrors like that for instance."

"Probably," Merec conceded the possibilities, looking around as the Battlewing Commander who assisted in striking the outpost approached them.

"The orcish scout outpost has been completely cleared out, sir," the lupine rider stated crisply. "And I saw Peter and Oranne had chased down that single Umbrin successfully. They should be back soon."

"Thank you, Roccan'gon Steivan," Merec said, nodding to Farriha to send one of her scouts to inform the Field-Marshal that they had achieved their objective.

"And what do the casualties look like, Lúg'gon Ethiene?" Gahntuar rumbled as Farriha left them momentarily to get the message sent.

"Minor injuries to two dragons and five riders, sir!" the golden draine stated quickly. "Nothing even a novice Green can't take care of. I'm not sure of Lúg'gon Fargamer's Battlewing though."

"I doubt they saw any action, to be honest!" Merec stated with a dry smile as he watched the Battlewing in question make their way to their position. "Have the injured taken care of, and report back here as soon as you can!"

"Yes sir!" Steivan quickly snapped and the two quickly left to carry out the order.

"Not bad," Merec commented as they watched the approaching dragons descend into the destroyed outpost as well.

"And how was the hunt?" Gahntuar asked as the rest of the counsel landed and walked up to them.

"Boring!" Audenier snapped quickly, looking around at how the flames were engulfing the shack that had probably been used by the orcs as their barracks. "Do we need to douse the flames?"

"Don't bother," Aerhin stated, also inspecting the carnage. "The army is going to be pressing on at speed as soon as we cross the river."

"Or do you really want to sleep in there?" Jerielle smirked, laughing when the younger blue drake snorted in disgust.

"Charl?" Merec spoke to Audenier's rider. "Prepare to hold this position until further notice."

"Sir!" Charl acknowledged crisply.

"But sir, shouldn't we be participating in clearing out the river crossing as well?" Audenier suddenly asked, genuinely surprised. Obviously, he had hoped to see some action today.

"We were ordered to clear out this outpost and then to hold this position until we receive further instructions," Merec stated calmly, understanding the dragon's disappointment. "It is important that the Field-Marshal knows where we are during the battle so he can change the battle plan accordingly if needed."

"Oh, don't worry," Gahntuar teased. "From what I heard, the orcish defences on the river banks are rather weak. So, the main army is probably going to be through it by the time we arrive anyway."

"And we will be able to keep an eye on them from up here," Merec added. "So, we can act swiftly if they need assistance."

"Very well, sir!" Audenier conceded, his crest flat in disappointment in having been elsewhere during much of their action. Still, though he was visibly not impressed to be just sitting around, he was too well trained and disciplined to question the orders further and he allowed himself to be herded away by his rider to carry out their orders.

"So, do you want to go have a look at what our allies are up to then?" Merec asked curiously.

"Why not?" Gahntuar agreed, getting up quickly and with three quick leaps, he jumped up onto a rocky outcropping just outside the collapsing cinders that had once been the palisade. Quickly he found himself a comfortable spot to sit down again, and from where they could look down onto the ford. The main army had moved up quickly and already they were engaging the horde on the far bank of the river.

"Looks like they are also having an easy time of it!" Gahntuar rumbled as he considered the specs in the distance.

"If you say so," Merec muttered, wishing he had one of those looking glasses he had seen on the elven commanders. "It is too far for me to properly see who is who."

"You and your weak human senses," Gahntuar chuckled, turning his head to grin at the human. "No wonder you need me!"

"Yes, oh great one," Merec grumbled, pretending to be annoyed. "And yet, you'd be lost without our little nimble fingers." Before Gahntuar could comprehend the statement, Merec reached up to start scratching the finer scales behind one ear, making the black dragon purr in delight.

"Hey, enough of that!" Gahntuar quickly snapped, shaking his head to get rid of the pleasant affection. "We are at war! This is no time to be pampered!"

"Just returning the favour you showed me last night," Merec smirked, making the dragon nip at him.

"That was with cause, and you know it!" Gahntuar growled, turning his head to regard the battle below them as a cover to hide his smirk. It had been an interesting night, to say the least.

"Oh, so you are only keeping me around because I am useful?" Merec asked with a smirk, earning a quick, reprimanding nip from Gahntuar.

There was the snap of sails and Jerielle joined them on the rocky outcropping. For a moment, she struggled to get her footing but quickly managed to settle down, crouching so close next to Gahntuar that the pauldrons on their haunches clinked together. Gahntuar was about to ask her why she was sitting pressed up to him when Farriha joined them as well.

"Do you think we will be seeing any more action today?" Jerielle asked, stealing a quick affectionate nuzzle to Gahntuar's jaw as Farriha tried to get comfortable a little bit away.

"If the fighting down in the valley continues like this, I doubt it!" Farriha stated, completely oblivious to the shy smirk Jerielle gave Gahntuar in reaction to his reprimanding glare. "The horde was clearly not expecting us to attack this high up the Horthnen and the defences here are rudimentary at best. Though, the Field-Marshal might call us in to play the role of cavalry when the orcs break completely." Her crest suddenly perked up in interest. "Speaking of which, why don't the elves have more horses? I've only seen the officers riding them!"

"The forest is not very accessible to the horses," Aerhin replied. "The close quarters, the deadfall on the forest floor... elves had never had much use for cavalry units like the peoples of the plains do."

"What about the gryphons?" Merec asked curiously. "Can you see what they are up to?"

"Looks like they are still busy destroying the stronghold assigned to them!" Gahntuar stated drily, trying to ignore the uncharacteristically affectionate draine.

"They're slow," Aerhin laughed, patting Jerielle's neck to soothe her, thinking her sudden strange behaviour was a result of the excitement of the fight that had gotten to her a bit. His touch seemed to work, as she stopped pestering Gahntuar and turned to look at the fighting in the ford as well. "At least, they will have to admit now that we are here to mean business! I doubt the gryphon-knights would have been able to clean out this outpost more efficiently than we did!"

"That is true!" Merec agreed with a broad smile directed at Aerhin. "I think we have earned some honour from the rest of the army today!"

"Indeed!" Gahntuar rumbled hopefully, as the three dragons and two riders watched the battle unfold in the elves' favour.

***

The fight for the ford was short and despite brave opposition by the orcs, the defenders were easily overwhelmed by superior numbers, leaving the opposite bank of the Horthnen captured and secured by the elves long before noon. As they sat on their little hill, the Lúgroccae looked down at the unfolding battle more than a little annoyed at being side-lined. Not for lack of trying though, as Merec twice sent out one of the scout dragons to offer assistance to Field-Marshal Veryalas, and a third as the last fighting faded towards the south two hours ago. But always the reply they received was merely to hold position and await further instructions.

That was, until a good hour after even Farriha stopped seeing any fighting. The dragons were laying all over the hill where the outpost they had destroyed had been, sun-basking for lack of anything else to do. Their riders had dismounted long ago as well and were relaxing against the sides or between forepaws of their steeds as they chatted amongst members of the various squads. This relaxed atmosphere was what confronted the tawny and light beige gryphon that eventually arrived with a message from the Field-Marshal.

"Stop slacking, you lazy bunch!" The human on the gryphon's back shouted, not even bothering to seek out the commanding officer as was expected. "You are needed by the river!"

"Finally!" one drake rumbled, clearing the grogginess from his mind with a shake of the head.

"What for?" one wolf rider challenged the human as the dragons started to slowly wake up. "Anyone can see the fighting has already died down!"

"Stop asking questions and get to it already!" the gryphon snapped arrogantly. "We don't have all day."

"Still, what's the rush?" Farriha called up, her crest erected in annoyance. "The fighting is over already."

"Don't ask stupid questions and move!" the gryphon snapped at her as well, either not realizing or not caring that the draine technically outranked him.

"Unlike you worthless lot, we've been doing some actual fighting!" the gryphon's human rider supported his steed, making several of the dragons growl threateningly at the irritating creature hovering above them. Some even sat down again to start grooming at a palm of their forepaw or a random patch of scales visible through the armour, just to spite the gryphon who was trying to get them moving.

"Don't blame us for capturing our objective long before you slowpokes could!" another drake challenged, earning a hearty laugh from his comrades around him.

"Easy to boast when you got the softest target!" the gryphon snapped angrily, the comment seemingly having hit a nerve somewhere. "And even so, you were not able to capture it before they managed to set their beacon alight!"

"We were never informed of any beacons..." Sjeric, one of the dragon squad leaders who had chased the beacon signal down, started to call up, but he was interrupted by a squawk from the gryphon.

"Stop arguing and get your scaled arses moving!" the human on the gryphon shouted. "Before I report you for insubordination!"

"Go ahead!" Merec suddenly called back, already saddled up on Gahntuar's back. The gryphon-knight's attitude was grating against his self-esteem, and for the sake of those under his command, he had to respond. "Just remember to explain how we don't report to you or your superiors!"

That seemed to take the wind from the under the wings of the gryphon's argument and he only clacked his beak at them. The human rider muttered something under his breath that made the gryphon grin before he finally banked away from the hill and was gone without another word.

"How rude," Gahntuar grumbled, watching the feathered annoyance fly off.

"Very!" Merec agreed. "But let's get going anyway. No need to waste time because of one individual." He turned to their Arial Combat Instructors. "Get them up and let's be off in quick order."

"Yes, sir!" Charl stated quickly even as he was doing up the last links of his harness.

"Lúgroccae!" Audenier called out loudly. "Saddle up!"

Now given a clear order by their direct commanders, there was more urgency in getting ready to take off. In quick order, they were calling out their readiness and with a roar from Gahntuar, they ascend. The thunder of dragons quickly turned to the ford where the elven army was already busy crossing the river, completely unopposed.

"Hey, will you look at that!" Gahntuar smirked, swiping a claw forward in the dragon way of pointing something out in flight. To Merec's surprise, he saw that it was the gryphon who had been sent to fetch them. The creature was still en route back to the river, idly gliding as if he had no care in the world. The dragon turned a mischievous grin towards his rider. "What do you say we push a little to get to the river before that featherhead?"

"I don't think it..." Merec started to warn the dragon against the idea, but their second-in-command had been flying closer than usual and the draine had heard the suggestion.

"Agreed!" Jerielle hissed.

"Audenier?" Gahntuar turned to the other dragon in the lead before either Merec or Aerhin could respond.

"With pleasure!" Audenier growled and with a quick roar, he gave the command to increase their speed to attack velocity. The steeds of the Lúgroccae seemed to understand what this was about, and they reacted quickly, zipping past the unsuspecting gryphon who only squawk startled when the slipstream of the dragons nearly knocked him from the sky.

The dragons were still laughing amidst themselves as they landed gracefully nearby the ford. To the side, Merec could see the elven Field-Marshal sitting on a feral stag, overlooking the army's crossing of the river. He was idly chatting to a burly tiger as the elf was inspecting his sword.

"I cannot see why we were called in, sir," Farriha said worriedly as the Lúgroccae came to stand on parade behind them.

"Nor can I," Merec agreed with a frown, looking at the seemingly peaceful scene before turning to Charl and Audenier. "Have the troops stand at ease, but don't let them fall out just yet. Aerhin, Jerielle, let's go hear what it is that our host has to say."

Wordlessly, the two dragons started to stalk up the slight incline to where the elven commander was pointing something out on the other side of the bank. For a moment, he caught a snippet of a complement of how fearless the elf was in battle, even if it was only for a small outflanking manoeuvre. Next to him, the other commanders were also present, each sitting on some of the few feral horses the elves had and pointing down to where some large wagons were finding it more challenging to cross the ford than expected. Merec also noticed Roccan'her Harald sitting on a borrowed brown stallion, looking very annoyed at something. Did he notice the stunt the dragons pulled with the gryphon?

"Reporting as ordered, sir!" Merec called when Gahntuar and Jerielle came close enough to seem respectable. Even though some of the feral horses were carrying civil species that resembled predators, they were visibly not happy with the dragon nearby but trained well enough to settle down when their riders yanked at their reigns. Immediately sensing the tension amongst the beasts of burden, Gahntuar decided not to test their training and came to stand a respectful distance away. Still, they were close enough for Merec and Aerhin to give the expected bow in reverence to the superior officer.

"Ah, good!" Veryalas cheered, finally looking relieved to see the dragons. "The gravel in this drift is softer than we had expected, and the baggage train is having difficulty getting over the river. I need your dragons to assist in getting the heavier wagons and equipment across as quickly as possible."

"With all due respect," Gahntuar hissed, his crest immediately erected in agitation as he bit back a furious snarl. "We are not beasts of burden!"

Veryalas raised an incredulous eyebrow at the statement and Merec had to quickly intervene to alleviate the situation.

"With all due respect," Merec quickly added, touching his dragon's neck reassuringly. "We are not engineers nor wagon drivers. Surely there is someone else who will be better equipped to deal with this problem."

"But the dragons are the strongest creatures in this entire army!" Veryalas pointed out, seemingly a little colder than he had been at their first meeting two days before. "Or are you refusing to obey a direct order?"

"Not at all sir, it is just..." Merec hesitated momentarily, trying to decide how to explain to this uninterested commander that the dragons were proud creatures and treating them as slaves would not be a smart idea. "We have captured our objecting early on and had to look on from a distance for the rest of the day. The dragons and their riders are all eager to show what we are capable of in the field, and with the other units scorning us from all sides, I'd need to keep the morale as high as possible. And having us do only menial tasks just will not be enough!"

"I have deployed you where I needed you," Veryalas stated coldly, obviously not in the slightest impressed with the unwillingness of this Lúgroccae to do as they are told. "And right now, I need you to assist with the crossing!"

"It shall be done, sir," Merec quickly relented, realising they were fighting a losing battle and he needed to concentrate on damage control now.

"But..." Jerielle started to complain even before Gahntuar could open his jaws.

"No buts!" Merec snapped irritated, cutting her off. "Come Gahntuar, we have a job to do!"

Maybe it was the dragons' disappointed growls despite their discipline, or maybe something in Merec's voice, but just as they had turned to leave, the Elven Field-Marshal called him back.

"Roccan'hir!"

"Sir?" Merec asked, twisting around in his saddle. Gahntuar did not even bother to look around, though he did stop for his human to hear what the elf had to say this time.

Veryalas considered the four before him before giving them some leeway. "At the next pitch battle, I'll see if I can call more on your unit."

"Thank you, sir!" Merec stated, a little more relieved as he finally bowed his head as was expected to do when taking leave of a superior.

"We should have been more insistent that we are not here to pull wagons through the rivers!" Gahntuar growled at Merec when they were out of earshot of the commanders on the riverbank.

"War is more than just fighting, you know!" Merec stated, suddenly feeling more tired than he had been after the fight on the hill. "Remember that Roccan'her Harald often told us war is mostly boredom interlaced with short bursts of action. There are other jobs to do as well, things that are equally important to a campaign but much less glamorous. Think for instance of guarding duty or pitching tents. This is just another mundane task that needs to be done by the soldiers and none is strong enough to accomplish it."

"But..." Gahntuar tried to argue, but Merec soothed him with a comforting palm to the neck, where the crinet and pauldron did not quite meet.

"Then think of it this way," the human smirked. "The sooner we get across the river, the sooner we will catch up with the rest of the horde that had abandoned the river defences here. Then we can have another go at fighting again!"

"If you say so," Gahntuar grumbled, still not happy with it. "But I'll leave it to you break this uncomfortable order to the others, understood?"

"Sure," Merec chuckled. He had that one coming, probably. "I guess we'll have to think of sugar-coating it a little. They mustn't think of this as a punishment... maybe compare it to the building of The Camp back in the day? Either way," he pointed a thumb over his shoulder back towards where the group of commanders were sitting "whether they agree or not, we have done very well today and the rest of the Lúgroccae should know it!"

"Agreed!" Gahntuar purred, before twisting his head to grin back at his rider. "So, what do you say about having a bit of a celebration tonight?"

At the suggestion, Merec couldn't help but return the grin.

"Now, that may be a very good idea indeed,"

***

Nothing noteworthy came of the promise to allow the dragons to be more active in the fighting.

Not that it was the Field-Marshal's fault, to be fair. The elven army barely saw any more action as it lumbered along the northern bank of the Horthnen, following it downstream just after it turned sharply east. The only noteworthy events were several small skirmishes between the advanced guard and orcish patrols in the area or the gryphon-knights that drew unwanted attention during their regular scout missions ahead and to either side of the army.

The dragons were usually too far away to be of any assistance in time, being assigned to the back of the army and still relegated to be little more than specialized beasts of burden. They were only called in to assist when the wagons got stuck on something or another, or when the drivers could not navigate up or around a particularly rocky outcropping. There were no roads in this part of the dense forest and though the baggage train was making surprising quick progress thanks to the dragons, the crawl towards their objective was still painfully slow. Not that the meagre efforts they were called upon for, were ever recognized by the other units.

The lack of respect and the expectation just to accept their position was not only grating against the inborn pride of the dragons, but the emotion was washing over to the riders as well. Already there had been talking of returning home to the Amber Tower where they were appreciated, and the counsel who had travelled south had trouble to keep moral up. Especially when Merec's frequent request to assist with the patrols the gryphons were given responsibility for was continuously denied, the last time with a warning not to antagonize the elven leadership more.

Luckily for the Roccan'hir, their luck changed some six days into their march. Late one morning, a patrol of four Umbrin dragons surprised one of the gryphon-knight patrols, killing two gryphons and chasing the last back to the army. The Lúgroccae could not assist to bring the enemy dragons down, hitch yet again to the struggling wagons at the time as they were. So, the enemy dragons escaped, undoubtedly taking the word of the army's location back from whence they came.

Of course, the gryphons tried to let everyone know that they were responsible for chasing the threat off without Lúgroccan help, but everyone still noticed when the first Lúgroccan squad was finally sent up on their own patrols that same afternoon. And soon thereafter, they were also called up to assist with guard duty when the army had to stop for the night. Though the relationship with the other units did not thaw significantly, at least their active participation now caused the snide remarks to dry up.

Four days after the Umbrin Fiasco, they arrived at the confluence of the Horthnen and the Echoren Rivers. Gahntuar sat there on a little outcropping a little to the east of the ruined palace, not sure how to feel about seeing it again. It had been well over two decades since he had first seen the thick smoke rise over the broken walls and collapsed towers and he had thought the pain at the loss of his friends had been buried somewhere in the Thirstlands. But though time and the new friendships had managed to heal much in him, now, sitting here in the very spot from where he had first witnessed the full scale of the destruction, he felt that same open wound start to fester again.

"The valley of sorrow and ruin..." he muttered to himself, rumbling in appreciation at Merec's hand when he felt a shiver run down his spine.

"So that is Eydelvise?" Merec asked in a hushed voice. "How did it ever fall? It looks like it was built sturdy!"

"Surprise attack?" Gahntuar guessed, trying to put his past aside and focus on the issue in front of his snout: That of recapturing the broken castle. "Remember, back then the closest orc stronghold was on the plains of the Shadowlands, clear across the mountains. And there hadn't been any hostilities between elf and orc since the end of the Dark Age."

"I guess, but still," Merec replied, nodding his head at the stronghold in the distance. "It looks imposing even now."

As far as fortifications went, the roughly triangular Eydelvise was imposing. Situated on a descent rise as viewed from their position, it was flanked by a near-vertical, seventy-meter high cliff on one side and the fast-flowing Echoren on the other. The keep itself dominated the only real approach to the castle, perched as it were on the cliff side of the outer fortifications. At first, Merec had considered that it would have been better to place the keep at the very back of the triangle, right next to the great waterfall he could not see at the moment, but Gahntuar was quick to point out that was where the gardens were. The terrain there was rather uneven and consisted of several small terraces that made building any serious fortifications beyond a wall very difficult.

"Did the High Lord Ealyndore live here with his family permanently?" Merec asked, forgetting for a moment what that family meant to the dragon he was standing next to.

"No," Gahntuar sighed, his gaze following the Horthnen downstream for a moment. "Their family estate was way beyond where I dared to travel. I believe it was just outside Port Ghrathelle, or at least thereabouts. But the mother's constitution was not strong, so they preferred to live here during the summer months rather than by the sea. It was prettier back then as well, though..." The dragon's voice trailed off at the memory of the old palace and for a moment they remained quiet until the snap of a wing alerted them that one of the other dragons just landed behind them.

"Looks like the orcs had been busy!" Farriha commented almost cheerfully, striding up to them as Jerielle and Audenier also landed nearby to join them. "The wooden structures on the ramparts are not as good as the original stonework, but it will be an effective barrier either way. Sadly, word of our approach has already reached them by the looks of things."

"You can thank that oaf of a Field-Marshal for that!" Charl muttered, just loud enough not to be heard far. "Had we been allowed to patrol as the Roccan'hir had requested, we would have been ready and able to chase those spies down!"

"So, we will be assisting in burning those barricades down for the elves?" Audenier asked hopefully, eager to do something constructive since their first pitch battle had him clearing out airspace where there were no enemy dragons to begin with. He sat down comfortably to allow his rider to dismount as well, frowning momentarily when Jerielle cuddled up against Gahntuar's side as if looking for affection. But the little clearing was not very large, and the four dragons and three dismounted riders were making this little lookout point rather crowded, so he paid it no further mind. Unlike Gahntuar, who tried to shuffle away but found him trapped by an oblivious Merec on his other side.

"No," Gahntuar growled annoyed. "We are to capture and hold the three orc fortresses to our left!" He turned to look at the ridge of low, rocky outcroppings to the north of the castle with distaste. "Those forts secure the roads to the north as well as the old bridge across the Echoren out to the northwest. And this time, we are not to lay waste to the forts, but to capture them intact on hold onto them until the tigers can occupy them properly."

"The orcs will have to bring in any fresh troops and gear along the road," Farriha agreed thoughtfully. "So, occupying them will give us the commanding advantage of what goes where. Good move. Though, I can't understand why the defenders didn't try to hold this narrow passage between the ridge and the river. Occupying this chokepoint would have delayed our advance quite a bit and made our eventual attack on the castle that more difficult."

"Maybe they didn't have the manpower?" Charl wondered, looking around as well to study the ridge to their left. "But you will surely not find me crying for their lost opportunities!"

"At least the elves control the passage now, and they won't be dislodged easily," Merec agreed with his fellow human. "But if those forts remain, our left flank will be vulnerable. And the elves will not move ahead to lay siege to the castle until the back of the army is secure."

"We cannot lay siege to the castle!" Farriha snapped, appalled. "That will delay us here for who knows how long! We can be sure that word of our presence here had reached the main orc horde by now, and I doubt they will be stupid enough to continue their march to the sea, no matter how attractive the port is. I don't want us to be squashed between the castle and the main orc army in a week. I think it is better to put enough of a force here to keep the defenders on those walls busy and move on to confront the real army. Without them, this castle will anyway be lost!"

"True enough," Gahntuar sighed, "but the elves want the castle back. They are desperate about it, I might add!" He decided it may be for the best that he didn't tell the upset draine that he was also desperate to get into those walls and push the orcs out once and for all.

"It is not the possible siege that has me worried," Merec said with a scowl. "The elves have made it clear to everyone that they are to be the ones to capture the ruin. Some nonsense about national pride or the like."

"Honestly, if they are expecting us to sit around again for most of the day, I'm going to send in some squads to clear a path for them, damned what they want!" Gahntuar growled, snorting a plume of smoke in the direction where the main army had set up camp for the night.

"But first, we have our own objectives to worry about!" Merec smirked, interrupting his dragon's plans of invasion with another soothing caress at the exposed neck scales. "I don't want any orc horde or Umbrin dragons crashing into our backs while we are trying to speed up things for the elves."

"Agreed!" Aerhin said, his face strangely scrunched up as he considered the poor state of the once beautiful and yet imposing fortification.

"How do you want to approach the attack tomorrow then, sir?" Charl asked, still turned away as he was considering the ridge.

"We've got three forts we have to take out before the elves will move onto the castle itself," Merec repeated the information to himself thoughtfully. "I'd prefer not a warn them, so we'll hit all three at once. I would have liked to keep some in reserve, to cut off any other signal beacon surprises they may spring at us, but two squads per fort are already stretching it a little thin to my liking."

"They didn't look as large as the one we captured when we first crossed the Horthnen, so I think we will be fine!" Aerhin said, finally turning away from the castle itself.

"And what do you think, Farriha?" Merec asked, genuinely interested.

"I think it is good, sir!" Farriha nodded her head thoughtfully. "Strike hard and fast. I think I'll keep the scouts back to be that reserve you wanted and send them in to assist wherever they are needed."

"Thank you," Merec smiled up at her, before turning his attention back to the other two pairs. "So, we agree to this course of action, right? Good. Aerhin, you and Jerielle, please assist Steivan and Ethiene to capture the fort closest to this river, while Charl and Audenier assist Celine and Fargamer in the east. Gahntuar and I will take a squad from each Battlewing and capture the central fort. Any questions?"

"So, it is decided then," Gahntuar commented when there were no replies, a hint of eagerness in his voice. "Rest well tonight and prepare as best you can. We attack again with sunrise."

***

The next morning broke to reveal yet another relatively easy victory for the Lúgroccae. Though they had to be more careful with their fire this time, the shock and awe of their quick strike at the very heart of the little encampments still overwhelmed the defenders before they could organize any defensive formations. Of course, these small, interlinked fortifications were also equipped with mounted ballistae and these needed to be taken out by a strategic blast of fire before any serious attack could be launched. It was the only time the dragons had resorted to their most feared ability, but even so, the attackers were also rather pressed to capture the station before their own fire started to burn out of control.

The westernmost fort that Jerielle had to hit, turned out to be the hardest to crack. The sun was already a hand's width above the horizon by the time they had neutralized their objective, the fire they had used to destroy the ballistae having taken root in the main barracks and causing significant damage to their fort before they could claim it as theirs. Of course, the other units in the army were quick to point out their inefficiency, and as such the tigers held back before occupying the forts as had been originally discussed, probably hoping to be reassigned to assist with the capturing of the castle itself.

Not that the dragons at the westernmost fort were weaker or less prepared than their peers. It turned out that specific target had been slightly larger and better defended than the other two, as it had to watch over the riverbank as well, and to complicate their job even more, one of the dragons on that side had been hit in the wing shoulder early on before they could neutralize the ballistae. The unlucky javelin had hit the drake in just the wrong spot, between the solid pauldron on the shoulder and laminated one protecting the wing. The poor drake's rider also ended up with a broken leg when his steed fell from the sky, but their armour did its job, and both will walk away from this fight even though their participation in the war was on hold for at least a week.

Still, it was just over an hour after sunrise when the elven army started to move into position in front of the main entry to Eydelvise. Luckily, there was still no sign of any Umbrin activity in the sky, but Merec still decided to send one of the squads with him up to take the first patrol. Not only would they be able to keep an eye out for any approaching activity, but they should also discourage anyone from trying to sneak up on them. As discussed, Charl will send up one of his squads to replace them just before noon and one of Aerhin's squads will take their turn mid-afternoon.

But though they had to keep these fortifications manned, the members of the counsel still decided to set the Battlewing commanders with them up in the outer forts and converge on the central one to watch the unfolding victory of the elves from the best advantage.

"Oh, the trebuchets are ready!" Farriha chirped excitedly as she arrived, obviously excited to see equipment she had only heard or read about finally in action. Gahntuar had settled down comfortably by the time she landed and Jerielle was already heading determinedly towards him.

"Why did the elves decide to warn them of our intentions first?" Jerielle asked, pretending not to have noticed the reprimanding nip from Gahntuar when she came to cuddle up to him yet again. "Why not just attack outright?"

"That is how sieges have always been done, to be honest," Aerhin replied, not even turning around to look at the draine as he sat down on a rock in front of her. All his attention was focused on where the elven army had set itself neatly in front of the castle in intimidating rows. The envoy the Field-Marshal had sent forth to the main gates to negotiate a surrender of the castle was heading confidently up the steep incline and the elf was visibly anxious to see the outcome of the discussions.

"Taking or defending the castle will be costly for both sides," Farriha explained eagerly as she crouched on the other side of Gahntuar, unknowingly blocking off his retreat from Jerielle's covert advances. "Sometimes, a deal can be settled where the defenders can surrender the castle without dishonouring themselves."

"I find that hard to believe!" Jerielle scoffed, covertly using the opportunity to press up tightly against Gahntuar's flank.

"What about when young drakes try to capture a territory of their own?" Gahntuar asked, giving his second a questioning evil eye though she pretended to be watching the battlefield with the same intensity as her rider. "The first part of a territorial fight is always to posture at one another and show off how big and strong you are. Usually, the younger drake is scared off without any fighting, though sometimes the dragon past his prime realizes that he can't win against the stronger youngster anymore and he gives up the rights to his territory willingly."

"It is more complicated than that!" Farriha complained a little absentmindedly, her attention captured by the happenings on the little field below them.

"I know," Gahntuar replied a little exasperated, turning the evil eye on her with equally ineffective results. "It was just meant to get the idea across. Had the roles been reversed, elvan honour for instance would have demanded that the castle must be defended until the last soldier, regardless if they could win or not."

"Or more likely, these orcs will know that they just need to hold off for a week or so," Farriha grumbled, noticing the annoyance in Gahntuar voice but thinking that he was also upset with the elves wasting valuable time like this. "If they can pull that off, and it shouldn't be too hard I might add, they can watch on as the elves are crushed against their walls."

"You really think the main horde to the east is heading this way already?" Aerhin asked, finally turning around to regard the three dragons crouched comfortably side by side.

"I refuse to believe that they are not aware of our presence by now!" Farriha stated firmly, finally taking her eyes from the trebuchets to snap her jaws eastward. "I know I would have left the port behind and turned around to try and confront this army before the castle fell. Failing that, I'd have tried to escape north before this pincer closes around me at least."

There were sudden shouts from the castle that even the human could hear, and the dragons couldn't help but chuckle in delight as the elves had to flee from the gate when they came under attack.

"I take it the answer was no," Merec stated, trying not to join the dragons in their mirth. It would have been great if they could have gotten the castle without any problems, but as Farriha pointed out the chances of the orcs surrendering so easily was slim indeed.

"I'd say!" Jerielle grinned, but then with a comforting croon, she quickly reached forward to nuzzle her upset rider. "Oh, I'm sorry for laughing! It is just … it feels vindicating that they also suffer setbacks, considering how they treat us all the time. But don't worry, we'll not hesitate to help when they ask."

"Good," Audenier suddenly rumbled even as he landed nearby them. "I was hoping to have a bit of a real challenge." He trotted the last few steps of his landing towards them, quickly crouching to let his rider climb off as well. "I think it would have been a shame if we came all the way out here, only for the horde to hand the castle over again without any resistance."

"I'm sure we'll be able to find you a proper challenge before we go back to hide the Amber Tower's shadow, you bloodthirsty creature!" Merec smirked, looking over his shoulder at the relatively young blue drake. He laughed when Audenier replied with an indignant nip at him, only to yelp in surprise when he received one from Gahntuar.

"Hey," Gahntuar growled in mock irritation, unable to hide his smirk. "I'm the only one who is allowed to reprimand my human!"

"Then do so, Lúg'hir!" Audenier appealed to the black drake.

"Behave yourself, Roccan'hir!" the Lúg'hir reprimanded his human in the same tone of voice as he had scolded the younger drake.

"Yes, sir!" Merec replied, failing to get the proper voice tone right. "Of course."

The counsel shared a light chuckle at the absurdity of their moment of fun as the bugles on the field below them sounded the call to arms.

"But seriously though," Audenier asked a little hushed, cuddling up as close to Farriha as Jerielle was to Gahntuar. "What do you think are the chances that they will ask for assistance this time around?"

"I'm afraid that it is still doubtful," Aerhin muttered, sighing longingly as he watched the attack begin and obviously wishing he could have been part of it. "We are still considered unproven..."

"And exactly how are we supposed to prove ourselves if not given the opportunity?" Charl grumbled upset as he found himself a place to sit as well.

"...then there is the elven pride that won't allow them to let anyone other than elves capture the keep!" Aerhin continued, giving the darker human an annoyed glare. "Even if it needs to take a lengthy siege, the elves must be the ones to take Eydelvise back."

"But we cannot afford a lengthy siege, I might add!" Farriha added again, worried beyond measure at the prospect. "If the elves really want this pile of broken masonry back, they need to be smart! Not patriotic!"

"Let's wait and see what happens first, shall we?" Merec halted the discussion about things they could not change, pointing down to where the attack started on the main gate. Four of the heaviest wagons had now been converted into the large trebuchets that had excited Farriha only minutes before and all four machines released their payloads in quick succession against the barbican on either side of the patched-up gatehouse. Of course, such machines could not be reloaded quickly and even as they had fired, the first wave of attackers rushed at the walls amidst a great volley of arrows from both sides.

"A frontal assault? Really?" Farriha muttered to herself, sounding not very impressed with the strategy the elves decided on.

"And what would you have done?" Charl asked. Though he sounded a little challenging, he was genuinely interested to hear how their tactician would have approached this task. "The cliffs are too steep and the rivers too deep and fast flowing for ground-based soldiers to approach from the sides..."

"But using the dragons or even the gryphons to draw their attention elsewhere, will inevitably weaken the defences on the main gate!" Farriha insisted. "The frontal approach here is too narrow to push enough forces up to overwhelm the defenders, so try going around the back with your flying units. You know, take a page from Seghrien's first attack on Corrumwhell. For all his faults, you must admit that approach was more interesting. I'm sure, had it not been for the Dragonslayers in town, or if he had more dragons with him, he would have succeeded in breaking through the human defences that night."

"I wonder if this was how he felt when he attacked Corrumwhell all those years ago," Gahntuar muttered, looking east as if expecting to see the main horde to show up at any moment. He knew Farriha was only speaking from a historical point of view, but recalling his old enemy coming that one last time after him made him feel... uneasy.

"Are you suddenly pitying him now?" Merec asked incredulously, turning to look at his old friend.

"No!" Gahntuar hissed, crest erected in agitation at the suggestion. "He still got what he deserved! Killing my family like he did... smashing Lainah's eggs!" The black drake sighed to calm himself again. "No, it was just... strange to see the conflict from his perspective suddenly. Knowing you have to get inside the defences, but realizing you have to deal with the threat of an imminent relief force as well."

"I think I understand!" Merec replied, reaching back to rub his dragon's jaw reassuringly.

"Surely, there has to be a better way than using ladders to get onto the walls!" Jerielle commented as the first ladders were propped against the walls, some elven archers shooting up to try and pin the defenders on the walls down.

"There are things like siege towers that are more protected and can deliver attackers quicker," Gahntuar stated, watching the elves' attack with interest.

"True," Farriha agreed "but the terrain here is not suitable for them. Too many rocky ground and the approach to the walls are too steep."

"Also, they need to be tall and sturdy, so unlike the trebuchets, we had to cart them along as is or waste even more time building them here," Aerhin added. The elf turned to smirk at his draine. "Imagine hauling even one of those large, top-heavy things through this terrain... we would still be trying to cross the river!"

"Why not follow the road then?" Audenier asked, eyeing the broad but neglected pathway just below their position.

"That is the only road to the castle," Aerhin replied with a shake of his head. "And it goes directly to Port Ghrathelle, so if we decided to follow that instead, we would have had to fight through the main horde force before we could even get to the castle. Today, we came in through the back door as it were."

"Oh, so we are going to use the speed of the roads to close the pincer as fast as possible?" Farriha asked, her crest erect in excitement again. "That is really smart!" But then her joy seemed to wilt again. "That is if we capture this stupid castle in time!"

The discussions grew silent as they watched the battle unfold. At first, Farriha would chirp in excitement each time the trebuchets were fired off over the walls, but soon even her excitement of seeing them in action started to waiver. Though stuff was happening all the time, the group on the hill could not see any progress being made. Even by the time their third squad was sent up on patrol, the elves had only been able to secure a section of the outer wall, but they were unable to forge ahead any deeper than that.

It seemed that even the Field-Marshal was getting frustrated with nothing to show for all their hard work. So much so that the assistance of the gryphon-knights was finally called in to clear out some space on the battlement for the elves to push in more attackers and make a lunge for the gatehouse itself. Much to Audenier irritation, of course. But ballistae mounted on the walls and towers came into play, scattering the gryphon formations and even knocking one or two of their number from the sky. Then, just as the gryphon-knights started to reform again, four Umbrins stationed inside the castle finally revealed themselves. But though the gryphons immediately turned to mob them with strafing strikes, the enemy dragons for once remained in disciplined formation and kept within attack range of the ballistae on the walls, making the job of the gryphons incredibly hard.

"I believe that should have been our cue to assist!" Merec grumbled as another gryphon was struck by a javelin. Just like Gahntuar and Lainah at the siege of Corrumwhell, these Umbrins were playing it smart and only doing enough to keep the gryphons busy. Merec had been in enough aerial fights to know immediately that the gryphons were not going to be able to answer the Umbrin challenge for command of the skies on their own today. Not if the defending dragons remained within the range of the ballistae and definitely not without any heavier bodies to drive the Umbrin formations apart. As he stood up, he turned to Charl and Aerhin, smirking to himself when he noticed Audenier already on his feet and crest erect with excitement. "Go get yourselves each a squad ready. I think we can leave one squad to each fort here, so that will leave us with three to go do a little damage to those orc defences."

"Yes, sir!" both quickly snapped to attention before mounting up and leaving to carry out their orders.

"The elves had not called us in yet," Farriha cautioned, but her crest was also quivering in excitement at the chance to make a difference.

"I know," Merec admitted, frowning down at where the cluster of commanders was meant to be. "But with the Umbrins around, I think we can force his hand a bit. Send one of your scouts to inform the Field-Marshal that we will be assisting in weakening the defences of the castle."

"Yes, sir," the green draine stated, stepping away to talk to a nearby red drake.

"I suggest we take Eulorre's squad!" Gahntuar stated thoughtfully. "They hadn't taken patrol duty today, so they will be fresh still!"

"Good idea," Merec replied, turning to regard the castle again as Gahntuar called the mentioned drake over.

"How do you intend to get into the castle?" Gahntuar asked after he had relayed the new orders to the bluish drake and the squad leader left to gather up his dragons.

"We will first have to deal with those Umbrins," Merec commented. "We don't need to take them out completely I think, just keep them preoccupied. One squad to harass them and try to draw them away from their support should suffice. Then the next target will definitely have to be those ballistae..."

"Some fire along the ramparts would do nicely, wouldn't you agree?" Gahntuar smirked. "Though I'd suggest we come in from the south... the garden used to be that side on the lower terraces, back in the time I used to visit. There is just a small gate there, through which the castle was supplied via the Horthnen River, but it is too small to launch a sufficient attack through and you'll need ships to get to the pier in the first place. I do not think the orcs will be paying it much attention as it is."

"Well, Farriha did suggest much the same… take some inspiration for Seghrien," Merec agreed, chuckling when Gahntuar nipped at him. At that moment, Farriha joined them again and Merec turned to smile at her as he continued in a serious tone. "And, as Charl pointed earlier, out it is impossible to attack the castle from the back, so most of the defenders should be focused to the northwest, defending the main gate. Especially if we have a squad out front to chase the Umbrins around as well. Then... we burn the front gate down for the elves, I guess. What do you think, Farriha?"

"Sounds good, sir," she nodded thoughtfully, "but I'd suggest that we fly in low and fast when we make our approach. It will help to keep us out of range of the ballistae on the cliffs as much as possible and may even help us remain unnoticed until the last moment." However, she pulled her crest flat in irritation for a moment. "Though, won't the elves be upset if we capture their precious castle like that?"

"Probably, but as we all agreed before we don't have the time to wait for the elves to come to their senses!" Merec grumbled equally annoyed with the senseless restrictions and already formulating how to circumvent that last order using wordplay. That was a skill he had to learn rather quickly while staying near the Amber Tower. "We will try not to enter the walls before the elves do, but I'm not going to be making any promises. If we cannot avoid it, stay in the gardens and allow them to take the keep itself, that should keep them happy enough."

"Yes sir," Farriha replied, allowing herself a little grin as she watched Eulorre's squad came to stand at the ready nearby. "Who will be leading the attack?"

"We will, of course!" Gahntuar insisted sternly as if shocked at the question.

"You know what Harald's reaction to that will be," Farriha reminded them.

"Yes," Merec sighed, not thrilled to be reminded. "But if we are to draw the Claw of the Master out, we must be visible. And what better place to draw her attention than leading the dragon attack on Eydelvise?"

"And I need to assist with the attack personally!" Gahntuar rumbled in a tone of voice that suggested he would not be arguing about it further.

"Yes, sir," Farriha stated with a frown, looking up as her messenger arrived.

"What does the Field-Marshal say?" Merec asked when the messenger landed, hoping that the stubborn elf had not shot their suggestion at help down yet again.

"The Field-Marshal agrees that you should do what you can to damage the buttresses guarding the main gate," the red drake confirmed. "But he stressed that you are not to enter the castle before the elves do."

"Thank you," Merec nodded, smirking as he noticed the other two squads who would be partaking in the attack started to arrive. In quick order, the squads took their positions as Merec relayed their plans of attack to the other two pairs of the counsel as they arrived as well.

"We have been ordered to stay out of the castle," Merec stated finally, "so if we can pull this off without physically landing inside the walls, all the better. The less we antagonize our hosts, the better... but we are not going to go out of our way to please them. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" Aerhin confirmed a little worried about any consequences but willing to follow his Roccan'hir's lead. With a satisfied nod from Merec, they quickly saddled up.

"Lúgroccae!" Audenier called out when they were all saddled and Merec gave him the go-ahead. "To wing!"

The eighteen dragons took to flight silently with only the beating of their wings audible. Immediately, Audenier turned his squad towards the castle as ordered to attack the Umbrins still making life difficult for the gryphons. The jigsaws were completely unprepared for the improved tactics of the enemy dragons and they were only filling the sky at the moment. Gahntuar and Jerielle slipped north, following Farriha's advice and keeping low and behind the hills to obscure their movements from any watchers in the castle. Once they were satisfied that they were well clear of the castle, they turned south, following a wide arc over the forest south of the Horthnen that took just over ten minutes to complete.

"Jerielle!" Gahntuar called, suddenly very determined in taking the lead when the cliffs on the northern bank of the Horthnen came into view again. "Take your squad down the wall along the cliff. I'll lead the attack along the upper river!"

"Yes, sir!" Aerhin replied as Jerielle called back to the dragons she was leading, immediately banking more to the left to start her attack run.

Gahntuar continued towards the great waterfall where the Echoren crashed over the cliff. Right next to it, the original builders of the castle had built a large pavilion, obviously intended for the elven lord and his family to enjoy the tranquillity of the very lowest terrace of the garden. But years of constant war had ruined the once beautiful building. The sides seemed to have been built up with rough stone, making it into a temporary buttress of its own, and as such, it also had defenders stationed there. There were panicked shouts from within the barricades and then, the sharp twang of a ballista being fired off. But the defenders did not take the time to aim properly and the shot was too high, the javelin sailing completely over the approaching dragons' heads.

With the ballista empty, Gahntuar ascended to the level of the pavilion and unleashed a furious bout of fire through the narrow gap, only another ballista was fired off from within just as his fire oil splashed into the interior. This time, the shot was true and a dragon from Jerielle's squad squawked in pain as they also started their final ascend. There was a splash as the wounded dragon fell from the sky into the lower river, but Gahntuar kept his furious fire attack focused on the pavilion even as the squad leader with him lead the rolling attack along the river defences. Only when he was sure that the pavilion was cleared out, did he pull away to see how the others were doing.

Immediately he noticed that Oranne, the squad leader with Jerielle was missing. In his stead, the red draine was leading the destruction along the southern fortifications, keeping slightly inside the walls where the fixed ballistae could not reach them.

"Where's Oranne?" he asked stunned.

"I don't know," Merec called back worriedly. "He took a javelin to the chest and fell into the river. I haven't seen him come up yet!"

Along the eastern fortifications, Eulorre was doing an equally outstanding job reducing the defences on the river to ash. But more importantly, the inside of the castle was absolute mayhem as the orcs rushed units back, attempting to reinforce their backs before it was too late. There was the snap of crossbows as they tried to shoot bolts at the dragons but shot up this high at their targets, the projectiles lacked the punch needed to punch through the dragons' formidable armour. Still, one draine was hit in the wing, the tear in the membrane quickly tearing wider and forcing her to withdraw to the far side of the Echoren to avoid crash-landing in the courtyard.

The squad of Umbrins had turned back in a desperate attempt to protect their only safe location, while two more appeared from the higher gardens. Audenier was quick to capitalize on the original group's confusion, crashing into their formation and effectively scattering them, finally making them easy pickings for the overwhelming number of gryphons.

There was another yelp of pain as another dragon was hit in the wing, the orcs seemingly having identified the only weak spot left to them they could exploit. But this time, the drake was unable to retreat in time and he crashed heavily into the central terrace of the castle. Gahntuar didn't hesitate to dive in to assist the fallen drake, crushing an orc and swiping at another who dared to charge in to finish off the downed creature off.

Desperate to push the attackers out of the courtyard again, the orcs that could manage it started to swarm onto the small terrace, but a wave of fire from one of Gahntuar's dragons forced the counterattack to falter long enough for more dragons to land next to the Lúg'hir. In no time at all, the Lúgroccae had secured the patch of neglected garden in front of the main barracks and they started to push out towards the lower garden.

"Aerhin, Jerielle!" Merec called up as Jerielle started to descend as well. "Fight your way to the main gate and open it for our hosts! We'll deal with these orcs here!"

"Sir!" Aerhin called back and Jerielle quickly led her squad back to the main gate.

"Eulorre!" Gahntuar called to the squad leader with him. "Take two dragons and secure the walkway to the main terrace! I'll take the other two down and clear out the lower one!"

"They're trying to regroup by that ruined pavilion at the very end of the garden!" Merec warned as three dragons turned to block the pathway leading up to the main castle.

Hearing this, Gahntuar let out a ferocious roar Merec recognized as that of a drake demanding a challenger to leave his territory. The black drake rushed at the last defensive line the orcs on the lower terrace had managed to set up, almost heedless of the rest of the battle or the other two dragons with him. For a moment, Merec wished he had a lance rather than a sabre as his dragon charged at the thin line of defenders and the orcs levelled their pikes at the charging dragon. But Gahntuar had other ideas, spitting a glob of fire in their faces at the last moment spat, before jumping clear of the first row to crash hard into the second row.

The orcs line around the suicidal drake crumbled in the face of such reckless fury, and they were completely unprepared when the other two finally managed to catch up with the Lúg'hir. A furious fight ensued for the pavilion, and though the dragons and riders fought bravely, they were slowly being pushed back as the orcs managed to regain order and started threatening to surround them. Gahntuar was contemplating falling a little back to try and break their formation apart with some more fire when a dragon from above did it for them.

"The main gates are open, sir!" Jerielle called out as a second dragon unleashed a torrent of fire from above over the orcs.

Merec was about to answer, but Gahntuar unleashed another challenging roar and rushed at the broken orc lines. As he pressed ahead, more of the squad with Jerielle started to land next to them and the tide of the battle shifted drastically. The surviving orcs fell back behind wooden barricades that enclosed the pavilion from the back, obviously hoping to make a last stand there. But Gahntuar would have none of it.

The black dragon unleashed a terrible wave of fire against the blockades, keeping the fire oil flowing for as long as his ducts could stand it. These defences were clearly not erected with dragons attacking from this side in mind, and they crumbled as soon as the drake crashed his full weight into it with a powerful swipe of both of his forepaws. Next to him, a draine followed suit, weakening the defences with fire before crashing through and in no time the pavilion was overcrowded with dragons and orcs.

The press of the trapped orcs was so great that the poorly constructed wall of rough stone on the far side suddenly collapsed outward, several orcs screaming in terror as they plummeted down the cliff and into the river far below. The fury of Gahntuar's attack intensified at this and he led as many dragons as could fit in between the original pillars of the pavilion in a press forward, pushing the remaining defenders over the edge until Merec killed the last orc with a stab to the neck.

For a moment, Gahntuar glared this way and that, as if not believing that all the defenders had been removed. Then, stalking out to the edge of the pavilion where it jutted out slightly over the cliff, he roared out a call of victory over the waterfall. One after the other, the dragons joined him in his call, until the Lúg'hir finally turned away from the waterfall to regard the rest of the battle.

There was a flurry of wings as Audenier landed just outside the pavilion.

"The Umbrins have turned tail when the main gate fell!" he announced with a grin. "They are fleeing to the mountains up north and the gryphons are chasing them down as we speak."

"We have secured the lower garden, and the old barracks buildings on the central terrace, sir!" Charl added quickly. "But the fighting on the main, upper terrace is still something fierce! I suggest we rotate in the fresh squads from the forts outside to assist in clearing out the entire garden."

"We have done enough damage, I think!" Aerhin quickly added. "I think we better not upset our allies more than we already had!"

"I think you are right," Merec stated a little distracted as he patted his dragon worriedly. All strength seemed to have fled Gahntuar and he crouched tiredly in the middle of the pavilion he had pushed so hard to win. "Have our units hold our current positions."

"Yes, sir!" Charl grumbled, obviously not impressed but understanding the need to appease the politics.

As Audenier left to relay the order, Jerielle collapsed to the pavilion floor amidst the old rubble that had accumulated over the years of war. For once, she was too exhausted to seek covert affection from Gahntuar, but the drake was too tired to notice. Instead, he merely turned to watch the waterfall with an almost longing sigh, leaving anything that still needs to be done to the riders to sort out.

"At least we are not the only ones the elves will be upset with," Merec grinned, pointing up to a section of the upper garden where he could see a group of tigers were cornering a good number of orcs. The elves finally arrived, rushing past the various isolated fights to charge at the inner gate guarding the keep of the castle itself.

"I guess we'll be hearing now, sir!" Aerhin replied nervously, motioning up the walkway with a covert wave of his hand to where the Field-Marshal was approaching them. As he approached them determinedly, they could see he did not look happy. Harald's expression was less readable as he followed the elf closely down to the pavilion.

"Gahntuar!" Merec called firmer when the dragon did not respond to the initial call. The dragon was still staring out mesmerized over the waterfall and snorted in surprise as he snapped out of his sudden melancholy. His crest was flat in embarrassment for a moment as he turned to face the arrivals just as their animals started to get fidgety, Jerielle's light chuckle not helping him regain his composure.

"I believe I gave you specific orders!" the elf snapped, ignoring or not understanding the body language of the dragons.

"Which we carried out with speed, sir!" Merec replied crisply, automatically taking on the placating tone he assumed when asking Archmagus Vicia for forgiveness. "The buttresses to the main gate has been cleared as ordered."

"But I specifically stressed that you are not to enter the castle before we do!" Veryalas snapped again, not in the least amused with the attitude of the Roccan'hir.

"As we did, sir!" Merec replied firmly, making it clear that he was not going to be backing down. "This is merely the garden. The castle is still yours, as ordered. In fact," he added, pointing up to something behind the elf "I believe your soldiers is about to breach the keep."

Field-Marshal Veryalas only glared at Merec with unwavering intensity. But he could not deny the logic even though both knew the human was twisting the order to fit his intentions. He shot Aerhin a dirty look as if to accuse him of being behind this breach of etiquette before with a scowl he turned to leave. His forces were putting real pressure on the inner gate that could not be manned properly in time by the orcs, and the elven commander had to be present when his forces finally entered the keep itself.

"It seems I have taught you a little too well," Harald replied sternly, trying to sound upset but the smirk he bore failed to convey a reprimand. "But I don't think our host will find your antics funny."

"They were not meant to be funny, but effective," Merec replied as he watched the Field-Marshal re-join his forces. "Farriha is sure the main horde is on their way already and we don't have the time to wait for the elves to get their way."

"The last update I heard yesterday indicated that the main orc horde is still holding their position outside Port Ghrathelle," Harald informed them flatly, looking up as the squad Audenier led earlier circled above the castle as they started their patrol. "My understanding is that the second army is going to launch an attack on them tomorrow. So please, try not to alienate the elves any more than is necessary. Still, well done. You can let the rest of the Lúgroccae know they should be proud of themselves!"

"Yes, sir!" Merec replied with a broad smile. "Thank you, sir!"

Roccan'her Harald gave them a satisfied, last nod before turning to follow the Field-Marshal up the incline again.

"Do you think we will finally get some respect?" Aerhin asked, finally starting to undo the clips of his flight harness. There was a shout of elation as the reinforces door gave in and the elves rushed into the keep.

"Strangely, I don't really think so," Merec commented as he caught a last glare from the Field-Marshal before he also disappeared into the keep.

***

The keep did not stand for long once the elves gained access to the structure. Within the hour, the fighting started to die down, enough for the different species of this alliance to start settling in at various locations. Needless to say, the elves took possession of the keep itself, while the gryphons were eager to set themselves up inside the buttresses on the outer walls facing north and east. Instead of taking the outer forts as originally intended the tigers were busy restoring the main gate, an important enough job to get done as soon as possible, while the Bovidae were fixing the defences along the river. The minotaurs were of course very eager to take possession of the pavilion at the lower end of the garden, but Gahntuar would have none of it.

So, the amber light of sunset found Gahntuar in the pavilion, busy clearing away the burnt barricades and various other rubble that had accumulated on the platform over the two decades of war. With great heaves, the dragon shoved the rubble out through the hole in the makeshift fortifications where the orcs were pushed out into the waterfall. True, there were probably better ways to approach this self-imposed clean-up mission, or if he honestly wanted the space cleaned up, he could have gotten one of the lower pairs to do it for him. But he didn't care about all that. He wanted to be the one to clear out the platform. And he needed to do this the old-fashioned way.

"Are you still here?" Merec suddenly asked as he appeared around the only section of the wooden barricade that was still standing. "Have you seen those new, mobile ballistae the Alliance gave to the bovine to set up along the walls? " he human asked worriedly. "They brought them up here with the assistance of only two gryphons, and it takes only three soldiers to set up and operate... With those, the Alliance would be able to attack us in the wilderness, so we need to get ahead of this before they try to come after us in the north..." The human fell silent when he noticed what the dragon was doing. "Have you been cleaning up here this whole time?"

Gahntuar only made some noncommittal sound, and after a dismissive flick of his tail, he merely continued to shove rubble into the river.

"You don't need to protect this pavilion like it is your territory, you know. The bovines might have a valid point in setting up a ballista team here as well!" the human tried to joke, stepping into the pavilion with the dragon. When that didn't seem to lift the dragon's mood, he merely sighed and continued with what he came to tell the dragon in the first place. "The squads are finally starting to relax and some have even managed to join in with the activities going on by the Great Hall. Someone discovered a stash of goblin ale there and it seems the lower ranks are determined to not make it last the night!" Merec smirked at the memory of the impromptu celebrations the soldiers became involved in, and for once the lúgroccae were not being side-lined. "I don't know if it is the start of a better comradery or simply the booze talking, but it is rather nice to be accepted for once. We should make the most of this good cheer while it lasts."

"How is Peter dealing with his dragon's death?" Gahntuar asked, finally stopping to look sadly at his human. "I know he and Oranne were really close."

"Err … their whole squad is still shaken by his death," Merec admitted solemnly after clearing his throat awkwardly, his mood dropping quickly. "They are still by the river retrieving his body. Is that why you are hiding here? We've lost dragons and riders before..."

"Oranne was one of our brightest squad-leaders," Gahntuar replied, sitting down on a dusty patch of the pavilion's stained floor. "I had really hoped that he would one day lead his own Battlewing..." Gahntuar fell silent, looking out across the waterfall that was bathed in the golden light of the sunset. He sighed, forcing himself to look back to the large pile of rubble he still had to clear out. "But no, you are right. We all knew that some of us may not return from the forest."

Oranne was hit by a javelin from one of the ballistae stationed in this very pavilion, the projectile entering his chest between the peytral and the pauldron just in the elbow of his forearm. He had fallen into the river and was washed a little ways downstream. The party sent out to find him and his rider only returned with the sad news an hour ago.

"What's wrong then?" Merec asked softly, sitting down on a dirty rock that looked completely out of place even within the rubble.

"I was just... remembering Lord Emelas!" Gahntuar finally admitted, staring down at where his claws were scratching mindless patterns in the dust.

"The High Lord of Ealyndore?" Merec confirmed, a little surprised even though he should have known. "Your old elvan friend?"

"Did you know that they built this structure especially for me?" Gahntuar asked, still hushed as he looked around at the original masonry that was ruined and repurposed almost beyond recognition. "It was something of a shelter I could rest in when I chose to visit them... which I often did by the way. I chatted at length to the lord about all kinds of topics in this very spot, allowed Erendile to crawl all over my back like an excited hatchling..."

"So that is why you were so determined to claim this section of the garden?" Merec whispered, looking around at the structure with a new understanding.

"I guess," the dragon whined to himself, studying a large crack in one of the broken flagstones in front of him. "I always had fond memories of my elven shelter, but... but now look at it. At this entire place! It was once truly beautiful, but now... They were so kind to me, but when they needed me the most, I was nowhere to be found!"

"We've already agreed that there was nothing you could have done for them!" Merec replied solemnly, understanding his friend's anguish but not knowing how to help him relieve the pain, the regret he still bore.

"I know," Gahntuar agreed with an audible sniff, rubbing a tear away with a wing thumb. "But it will always haunt me, no matter what anyone says!"

"I guess it will never truly go away," Merec admitted. "But that is because you are kind-hearted, and I would not have you any other way!"

As he spoke, Merec stood up to step closer to his friend, laying a comforting hand on the dragon's shoulder where the pauldron didn't fully cover the scales. Gahntuar crooned in delight at the thoughtful touch, unfurling a wing and closing it around Merec's shoulders in a draconic hug. They stood there for a moment in silence, just finding solace in each other as the descending sun started to shine into the pavilion as well, casting a deep shadow over the waterfall. Then suddenly, Merec could feel Gahntuar unexpectedly perk up. In a flash, he disengaged from the human and with his crest raised in interest, he rushed over to where he had seemingly noticed something under the rubble.

"Ah, I see you've found him!" Aerhin suddenly commented cheerfully from outside as Gahntuar started to shift burnt or rotten wood around.

"Are you two coming?" Jerielle added equally excited. "The celebrations for capturing the castle is already underway in what is left of the Great Hall. And for once it seems that the other units don't care who we are, though I imagine it is the infectious cheer talking."

The two newcomers appeared around the surviving barricades, completely oblivious to the sombre mood within the pavilion as they chuckled amidst themselves at the thought of the celebrations higher up the incline.

"Not as much ale as would be expected," Aerhin agreed with a smirk, "but I guess we are still deep inside enemy territory. Still, the fun just would not be right without..." The elf finally fell silent when he noticed Gahntuar crouched low to the ground, one forepaw reaching awkwardly beneath a large fallen pillar to try and grab at something. "... without the two of you joining in."

"We'll be there shortly," Merec stated when the elf shot him a questioning frown. Then, all three blinked in surprise when the black drake carefully pulled out a pile of rotten rags from under the collapsed masonry. Gingerly, he picked it up and they realize it is in truth an old, rotten child's cuddle toy... a stuffed black dragon to be precise.

"That must have been the original lord's young daughter's toy!" Aerhin commented surprised. But then he gave a sad sigh as he recalled the old story that had every elf hot under the collar. "Erendile, I seem to recall her name was."

"She liked dragons?" Jerielle asked surprised as she nosed at the toy.

"As far as I know, not in general," Aerhin stated absentmindedly, recalling the day he received the devastating news himself. Like so many other elves of his generation, the shock of the moment was after all branded into his memory and had propelled his life from the unrewarding work as a dockhand to him starting to hunt Shadowspawn. A strange series of events that ultimately led him to become second in command of the Lúgroccae as a result. "You see, the High Lord Ealyndore had befriended a dragon, but the damned creature turned on him and betrayed him to the orcs..."

"That is a lie!" Gahntuar growled furiously, snapping his jaws at the elf in a clear admonishment. Though not a real attack, sudden aggression caught the others completely by surprise. Aerhin, who knew dragon mannerisms well enough not to be scared off by the usual playful nips, stepped back in shock, almost falling over before Jerielle curled a protective wing around her rider. The actions of those he considered close friends shocked Gahntuar as well and he pulled away from them even before Merec could intervene. "I... I am so sorry for my outburst!" he whined, crest flat in humiliation. "It seems that today has been more taxing than I have expected."

"I'm sorry to have upset you, Lúg'hir!" Aerhin quickly apologized as he regained his composure, not understanding the reason for the violent reaction but knowing the drake well enough to trust he had his reasons. Unintentionally, the use of his title made Gahntuar feel even worse for his outburst. "It is just, all elves know the story..."

"What story?" Jerielle asked, frowning at Gahntuar in a manner that clearly indicated she did not appreciate the drake's action.

"There is not much to tell to be honest," Aerhin admitted. "Everybody knows that there was a black dragon who often came to visit the lord here at the castle in the years before the war began. Though it was a strange phenomenon at the time, there was never any question about it as Lord Ealyndore acknowledged the friendship often enough. But when this war started, he just disappeared. Survivors of the day when Eydelvise was first sacked told that the lord was out here one night, waiting for his friend when another dragon appeared instead with an army of orcs. He knew exactly how to attack the castle, lead the invasion and striking at the castle's weak spots. There can be no question about it, the one who had played at being the lord's friend was, in fact, spying for …"

"I never spied for anyone!" Gahntuar hissed vehemently before his shame caught up with him again and he collapsed to his haunches, refusing to meet their eyes. Instead, he stared out over the waterfall again as if looking for a way to escape the series of events he regretted most in his life.

"I never said you..." Aerhin started to say, but then understanding dawned. Everything from the black drake's understanding of Sindarin to the strange actions he now displayed. "You were the dragon that befriended Lord Ealyndore!"

"Yes, it was me," Gahntuar admitted crestfallen, still not looking back at them. He hugged the rotten toy to his golden peytral, whipping the fresh tears that were flowing freely away with a wing thumb. "I thought I had found peace and quiet here after Seghrien chased me away from my first territory. Only to come here, after spending an unplanned day with a draine and find the castle destroyed. I... I couldn't stand it and fled north without looking back. And hearing now that there was another dragon who lead the attack … I should have been here! I could have been able to help!"

"I... I am truly sorry for what I have said earlier, I didn't know!" Aerhin said with a respectful bow of his head. Now, he was the one who was feeling ashamed for his thoughtless comment. "I know with all my heart that you could never do such a thing. You are our Lúg'hir and we will follow you wherever you may lead us. "

"No need to apologize, Aerhin!" Gahntuar replied, finally turning around to try and give the elf a friendly smile. "I never told you. And thank you for your continued support!" He crooned when Jerielle gave him a comforting nuzzle as well.

"But I do need to apologize," Aerhin admitted, almost hoping to earn forgiveness for earlier transgressions Gahntuar did not even know about. "The stories told of that day was always told so frequently and so fervently that it never occurred to me that there could have been more to it, not even after meeting you on the peninsula. I always just assumed the two were mates and I was never interested in trying to find out more. At least, not until I was ready.

"Most of the lower-ranked elves joined up with the army to halt the orc advance on the back of those stories, but I felt I needed to do more." The elf sighed as if trying to gather courage. "That is how I became a hunter. I had no experience in hunting Shadowspawn, but I convinced myself that the only way I could make a difference was to work myself up to a point where I could lead a party to hunt them down."

Aerhin hung his head in shame as he remembered how zealously he felt about the whole situation before meeting Gahntuar in the human town and eventually joining up with the fledgeling Lúgroccae.

"It shames me to admit so now," he said "but I had a particular dislike towards the black one because I always thought he had used friendship as a weapon. Much more even than the red with the one eye who lead the attack in the first place."

At that, both Merec and Gahntuar looked up in surprise.

"What?" Gahntuar squeaked in alarm, looking up shocked at the elf. "The dragon who attacked the castle was red with one eye?"

"You mean, it was Seghrien?" Merec added.

"Seghrien had only one eye?" Aerhin asked, stunned. "How is it that I never heard of it?"

"After he died, I guess it wasn't as important," Gahntuar muttered, not in the mood to resolve this unimportant mystery. This latest news caught him completely off guard and he stared blankly up at the keep, his mind suddenly empty. "But I can assure you he had only one eye; Had I not destroyed the other when he first attacked me, I wouldn't be alive today."

"I... I guess it must have been then," Aerhin replied uncertainly.

At the confirmation, Gahntuar broke down again as he realised a truth even more horrible than the thought of abandoning his friends when they needed him.

"So, it is true!" Gahntuar wailed. "Emelas died because of me... I did lead the orcs here!"

"Don't say that!" Merec stated firmly, stepping up to put a comforting hand on his snout. "You know no-one in Corrumwhell blamed you for what Seghrien did there, and the exact same thing applies here!"

"But I... I should have known!" Gahntuar cried, hugging Merec with a wing again while cradling the toy so tightly that the head tore off and fell to the floor with a sick plop. "I should have been prepared, I should still have done something! I shouldn't have been away... "

"Seghrien would have killed you back then!" Merec hushed him.

"I..." Gahntuar started to argue, but whatever he wanted to say was lost amidst sobs of loss.

"Come, Jerielle," Aerhin whispered to his dragon. "I think we need to take our leave." Jerielle hesitated, glancing worriedly over at Gahntuar before following her rider's lead and disappearing out the pavilion.

"I thought I could hide here," Gahntuar admitted after he started to calm down again. "Laethia had told me she accidentally informed Seghrien I had come here. You see, I tried to convince her to come with me here, but she had her own life and a new mate she adored... anyway, the way she told it I had thought it happened years after I left for the Thirstlands. Now, hearing that Seghrien destroyed this castle just like he intended to do to Corrumwhell. It is too much to bare..."

"Seghrien is dead now, so he cannot hurt anyone you care about anymore," Merec replied softly, bending to pick up the lost head. "And together we have stopped the Umbrins in the north, creating a new future for the Lumors to be safe once more. Soon, we will capture the last Claw and then we can start to focus on ending this madness once and for all."

He placed the head along with the body of the toy dragon in Gahntuar's claws.

"I guess you want to be alone for a bit?" Merec asked carefully.

"Not right now!" Gahntuar admitted, flexing his wing around Merec in another hug. As he pulled his human against his chest, he looked down at the broken, rotten toy in his paws. With a sigh, he suddenly pulled away and hobbled on three legs out of the pavilion, still cradling the toy like a treasured possession.

"Gahntuar?" Merec asked confused, following the drake outside and found him digging a hole beneath the dried remains of a large rose bush next to the steps onto the platform.

"What is, is done!" Gahntuar stated firmly, sounding more like he was berating himself. "I don't know if it is for the best or not, but it is no use to wallow in what could have been." With one last look at the toy, he carefully placed it in the hole.

"You are right," the dragon continued, momentarily looking up at his human before he started to shove the ground he had excavated back into the hole. "If I was here, there would have been nothing I could do. Emelas, Lúthile and Erendile would still have died but Seghrien would have killed me as well. Then he would have won."

Gahntuar hesitated one last time before, with a last sigh, he pressed his weight down on the toy's grave to compact the ground again. He sighed one more time as he regarded the spot, before turning his back determinedly on it and returning to the pavilion. He ignored the mess that still lay scattered on one side of the platform, sitting down to admire the view. The shadow of the pavilion had shifted more north along the river, allowing the last amber-red light of the dying day to light up the waterfall in a wonderful display of colour.

"No matter how I wish that Eydelvise did not fall, and loathe I am to let them go, I would never trade my friendship with you for anything," he finally stated, nuzzling Merec with a more joyous croon as the human came to stand by his side again, before giving him another wing hug. "It is time to let go of the past. There is much yet in life to live for."

"So, I hear that Arch-magus Vicia contacted master Jonnon an hour or so ago," Merec suddenly commented, sensing that the dragon's mood had lifted considerably.

"Oh?" Gahntuar chirped, intrigued by the sudden change in topic. "I hope it is to congratulate us on a job well done!"

"Maybe... depends how you look at it I guess," Merec admitted with a shrug. "Now that Eydelvise is secured, the Field-Marshal has indicated that we are no longer required here. I wanted to mention it earlier, but the moment just didn't seem right."

"Sending us away, are they?" Gahntuar growled irritated, snorting a plume of smoke out across the waterfall. "More likely they are annoyed that they couldn't do so without our help!"

"Probably," Merec allowed himself to grin a bit before he became serious again. "But it means that the Amber Tower is recalling us back home."

"What?" Gahntuar gasped. "Why?"

"Apparently, our job here is done," Merec quoted someone with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"And what about the Claw of the Master?" Gahntuar challenged. "We haven't encountered her yet."

"Honestly, I don't think she is here," Merec admitted, looking thoughtfully out over the waterfall towards the distant mountains. "We've been here just over two weeks now and we've only seen... what... seven Umbrins here, maybe twelve if the squad from last week wasn't stationed here. And most of them have been here at the only real fortification for miles around. If she was in the forest, she'd have been waiting for us here where she could make a decent stand."

"I guess you are right," Gahntuar grumbled, hating to admit the logic.

"Master Jonnon suggested most of it," Merec admitted shyly. "But the matter of the fact remains that we are done here."

"What about the main orc horde?" Gahntuar asked quickly. "Couldn't she be with them? We should at least make sure of that!"

"Maybe you have a point," Merec conceded the possibility "but the reports that manage to filter down to us also indicate that they don't have as strong draconic support as we initially thought. Six dragons, or so. And anyway, everyone agrees it will still be at least four or five days before we reach them... that is if we turn east right now and march straight at them while they march at us as well. Even Farriha agrees to this."

"So, Farriha had been right all along!" Gahntuar stated, looking longingly east along the river. "The plan was always to march east and confront the main horde from behind?"

"The cat is pretty much out of the bag now," Merec confirmed. "Field-Marshal Veryalas has all but confirmed it for us. He has indicated that the elves intent to recuperate here and build funeral pyres for the fallen tomorrow before marching on, leaving just enough elves here to secure their presence in the old palace. I heard that he intends to strike at the old bridge across the Echoren, some four miles north of here before following the road towards the ocean." He indicated to someplace upstream along the river that was falling over the cliff in front of them as he mentioned the bridge.

"I know the place," Gahntuar replied with a thoughtful nod of his head. "It will make sense for the horde to try and defend that chokepoint, but I don't think the elves will have much of an issue to take control of it." Gahntuar sighed as if relieved of a heavy burden, looking at the waterfall and the ruined pavilion as if for one last time. "Well, I am done in the forest, I think!" he announced, turning a fond gaze on Merec. "Do you want to go home?"

"Honestly, I don't think I'm quite ready to be cooped up at the Amber Tower again just yet!" Merec admitted with a naughty smirk, making Gahntuar laugh.

"I know the feeling!" he returned the smirk. "And though we had our moment in the sun, I'm sure the squads will not be happy to return home just yet either."

"True," Merec grinned. "I know Farriha especially will be livid at the thought of leaving. I know she has been excited to see the pincer movement in action and would like to stay to see it fulfilled."

"That is so true!" Gahntuar agreed with a chuckle of his own. He became silent for a moment, contemplating the decision. Then suddenly, he sang softly in draconic to himself: "'On each wind we will gain, on each we will lose! Yet we must choose, which wind must we choose?'"

"What's that?" Merec asked intrigued, the dragon's voice just loud enough for him to have heard.

"Oh, just a part of a song the Lumors had been singing since abdicating," Gahntuar replied with a dismissive wave of his snout. "It is about making choices where each possibility has its own pros and cons. Surely, I've sung it to you?"

"No, you haven't!" Merec accused him with a mock scowl. "It is the first time I'm hearing it."

"That is a shame!" Gahntuar replied, genuinely surprised. "I must teach it to you when we return to The Camp again."

"You better!" Merec demanded, before becoming serious again. "Though I assume it is going to be a while still considering we are going to be overstaying our welcome."

"I guess so, seeing we intend to stay and see this campaign through to its end," Gahntuar agreed. "But... will the Amber Tower allow it?"

"I chatted to Master Jonnon about it," Merec admitted with a smile. "He told me that he should be able to twist a few arms if we decide to stay. Most of the elven commanders are also eager to keep us around, which is surprising. And as you pointed out, the Claw of the Master may be with the main part of the horde. I just wanted to confirm with you before I asked him to do anything."

"Then, we stay!" Gahntuar grinned, turning his focus back to the waterfall as the bright colours of sunset started to fade into night.

"We should probably be heading to the Great Hall sometime tonight," Merec stated when the darkness started to become thick enough for the nearby Leonae and Bovidae watchmen to light torches. "The others will be wondering why the Lúg'hir and Roccan'hir are making an appearance."

"You go ahead," Gahntuar replied with a purr, encouraging the human with a soft push of his snout to the small of his back. "I think I still need to be there in a bit."

"Some more ghosts to bury?" the human asked a little worriedly. "Anything I can help with?"

"You could say there are a few more things that need to be taken care of," Gahntuar smiled reassuringly, glancing off into the deepening dark covering the lower garden. "But I don't think you'll be able to help with it this time!" The dragon leaned in as if to nuzzle his human one last time before whispering with a conspiratorial smirk: "Don't worry, I'll let you hear about it all later tonight."

"All right," Merec replied, frowning a little at the dragon's strange antics. But he was willing to trust his judgment, so he shrugged it off and continued more confidently. "But be quick about it then! I don't want to come to fetch you again. The squads need to see their leaders as confident and I don't think they will be impressed if I have to drag you by the tail!"

They shared a quick laugh at the imagery.

"Go!" Gahntuar chuckled, giving the laughing human a more forceful shove. He watched the human disappear into the night, waiting for a few seconds to make sure he was out of earshot before turning back to the now invisible waterfall. Then, without even looking around again, he asked aloud: "Though it begs the question why you are not at the Great Hall either."

"How long have you known I was here?" Jerielle asked surprised, stepping out from behind one of the last remaining wooden barricades that had somehow survived Gahntuar's murderous attack.

"Only a few minutes," Gahntuar admitted, finally turning to face her where she slunk up to him in the dark. "So, what is it you want to talk to me about that you didn't want Merec to be involved in?" He looked around for a moment before concluding "Or Aerhin, it seems?"

"N-nothing important," Jerielle stated far too quickly to be innocent. "I... I just wanted to talk to you... something the civils doesn't need to be involved in."

"Like..." Gahntuar asked worriedly, letting the question hang in the air.

"Just," Jerielle swallowed like a nervous hatchling, looking out over the waterfall that by now could only be heard in the dark. She sighed before finally just letting the thoughts that had been brewing in her the past two weeks flow out. "I can't help but think of the time when we first settled at the Amber Tower, okay. It is always on my mind and whenever there isn't something urgent to concentrate on, I find myself fantasizing about what could have been, had I known! I know I should ignore it, but I just can't seem to shake it."

"What is it that is troubling you?" Gahntuar asked worriedly. "We did make some serious mistakes when we started, but I don't see..."

"It is the first rumours of you when we started the Lúgroccae!" Jerielle snapped a little agitated that he didn't know what she was talking about. It didn't help Gahntuar though.

"Which one?" the black drake scoffed. "There had been many floating about since the Siege of Corrumwhell and most of them are not true in the slightest, I might add!"

"The one about you being... Lunintur Reborn!" Jerielle finally admitted, puffing a plume of smoke over the waterfall.

"That again?" Gahntuar grumbled, more than a little annoyed. "You know better than..."

"But I never thought there was even a small bit of truth to the matter!" Jerielle snapped, turning to give him a reprimanding nip.

"I am not Lunintur!" Gahntuar stated firmly, returning the nip in kind though it seemed to have had the opposite result than he had been hoping for. "I've told this to you back when we first came to Ealyndore Forest!"

"But his blood runs in your veins!" Jerielle announced as if in victory. "The blood of Gullivarth Himself... you cannot deny this!"

"But I am still just me!" Gahntuar insisted exasperated. For a moment, the memory that it was his grandfather Lunintur, who had first captured this very castle bubbled up in his mind and he quickly banished the thought that he was effectively flying in the famous dragon's slipstream. No, wherever he had to go in his life, he had to fly on his own wings.

"But," Jerielle complained, but Gahntuar cut her off quickly.

"No buts!" he insisted. "I made it clear that I don't want the other dragons to find out! I don't want them to have a grand expectation of me I cannot live up to!"

"You are the Lúg'hir!" Jerielle scoffed, turning to look at the dark abyss before them again. "The Lord Dragon of the Dragonriders. You already have a grand expectation you have to live up to!"

"Those are at least ones of my own making!" Gahntuar sighed a little exasperated. "Ones I can be more confident of fulfilling than being a descendant of Gullivarth!"

"Now you are just being silly!" Jerielle announced, turning her head sharply to plant a lick directly on his mouth. Gahntuar pulled away from the sudden kiss in shock and Jerielle, realizing what she had done quickly turned her face away in shame. "I... I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that!"

"Jerielle, what is really on your mind?" Gahntuar asked sternly. "If I didn't know you better, I would have thought you are trying to seduce me! You have never been this amorous with me before... not even when we were pushing the Umbrins into the Ice Mountains last year and had to set up a small forward camp away from the Amber Tower to run the operations effectively from!"

"That is just it!" Jerielle sighed, still not looking at the drake. "I don't understand why, but... ever since I heard you were descendant from Lunintur I... I continued to catch myself wondering how... what it would be like if you were to... mate with me!"

Gahntuar blinked momentarily in surprise at the uncharacteristically uncertain draine.

"Fairly average, I would imagine!" Gahntuar blurted out, his mind a little mushy at the admission he never thought he would hear. "I am not a greater dragon than the next drake, just because Lunintur is my sire two generations prior..."

"But beyond that, you have Gullivarth as a sire, three generations prior!" Jerielle snapped a little desperately. "The Father of ALL DRAGONS! Great Gullivarth's blood, you are the only one I know of who still walks this world and carries divine seed in his balls!"

This time it was Jerielle herself who blinked in complete shock at her outburst.

"I... I mean... " she tried to backtrack, but it was finally out. For an endless moment, Gahntuar stared at her in complete shock before he burst out laughing.

"And that... that is what I meant with... expectation of me I cannot live up to!" the drake managed to say through his chuckles. With great effort he forced himself to stop laughing with a deep sigh, nuzzling the embarrassed draine in consolation. "I am still not a greater dragon than any other... in fact, I was the runt of my clutch! How many times now have others commented on their surprise that I am slightly smaller than the average drake? And it doesn't matter what my linage is, I doubt I have... divine seed in my balls! Only my own!"

"I... think I understand what you mean now!" Jerielle sighed, accepting his nuzzles with a croon even though she felt utterly humiliated. "The secret of your heritage is safe with me."

"Thank you for understanding! And for keeping my secret!" Gahntuar purred, not realizing his nuzzle had turned a little more affectionate even when it made the draine croon in delight. Though he didn't want to admit it directly, after the long, emotional day he was glad for her company.

Jerielle twisted her face appreciatively into the nuzzle and for a moment their snouts touched by accident. For a moment they held still, sharing breath as time seemed to stop around them. Then, lips parted, and tongues pressed up against one another as their canines locked behind the others. They held each other like that for a glorious moment, Jerielle moaning in delight like a young adolescent as she tasted Gahntuar and she gave a small step forward to get a better angle to push deeper into his delightful maw. Instinctively, he followed suit but the step he took seemed to have broken his trance and he pulled away, crest flat in embarrassment.

"I... I am sorry," he stuttered, but for reasons he wasn't sure himself, he didn't pull away from her completely. "I shouldn't be encouraging you like this!"

"That still that doesn't change the fact that I suddenly am desperate feel you to inside me!" Jerielle admitted with a needy whine.

Gahntuar sighed as he finally stepped away and sat down to look out over the dark waterfall again. His crest was flat in exasperation at the admission or disappointment in himself that he was considering going through with this, he was not entirely sure. His movement, even though only a small one, made the red draine squeak in desperation before she regained control of herself.

"I already have a mate, you know!" Gahntuar stated sternly, or he meant to be stern at least. "A mate with whom I happily have a clutch already. And there is another draine who is patiently waiting for me even though it will still be four years before my current clutch will be considered adult. If I must breed every female who fancies me, I'll never do anything else!"

"I know," Jerielle grumbled, daring to step closer to Gahntuar again and perking up again when he allowed her to nuzzle the exposed scales of his clavicle. "But I am not asking you to breed me! I am not in heat at present and I don't intend to carry your clutch as well. It is just... I can't explain... I just want to... I need you! I…"

Encouraged by the fact that the drake didn't get up to step away from her approaches again, Jerielle twisted suddenly to rub her shoulder into Gahntuar's chest, the metal of her frontal pauldron clinking softly against his peytral. Though the armour was a little inconvenient in showing affection, she still followed through and twisted completely around to stand in front of him with her rump pressed against his chest. When he still did not pull away again, she became bold enough to take the last step she could, curling her tail around his shoulders in a clear invitation for a mounting. As she did this, the scent of her desire suddenly became unmissable even through the sturdy armour. That surprised Gahntuar as he knew perfectly well that, while she did enjoy her fair share of illicit romps from time to time, she was no mindless tail-raiser. But smelling her scent wafting up like this inside his pavilion, he could tell that she needed his loving touch. Badly.

"I don't think the civils will be impressed if we continue with this!" Gahntuar stated, knowing it was a bad idea to continue but still allowing himself to place a forepaw on her hind pauldron.

"The riders will understand we are dragons!" Jerielle practically chirped in barely contained excitement as Gahntuar's claws curled around the leading edge of the reddish hued steel covering her haunch. "And we both know for a fact that we won't be the first Lúgae to mate since we arrived in the forest. As for the rest of the army, I couldn't care less about them right now! You will still be my Lúg'hir and I will always be your Lúg'her!" She punctuated her next statement by pressing her rump back into Gahntuar's chest again, her armour clicking once more against his. "Anyway, I think a quick romp between old friends will help to relieve the stress of the day, don't you agree?

"You are impossible to say no to!" Gahntuar chuckled unashamed as she pressed back into him. This strange behaviour of the usually very level-headed draine was starting to get to him and he could feel his crotch heating up. Again, against his better judgment, he lowered his head to sniff below her tail but then snorted in surprise when he found her crotch covered up by a protective codpiece! Was he really that worked up as well to have forgotten about that strategic piece of armour the dragons complained about the most?

Maybe she did have a point. Maybe they needed to relieve some stress.

"Just a quick mounting, I don't want to explain to the riders why we are tied together when they come looking for us." Gahntuar purred, making Jerielle squeak in unveiled excitement as he purposefully lifted her hind pauldron away from her haunch. Shivering with excitement, she complied, lifting that same leg enough for Gahntuar to reach his wing thumb into the crook of her hindleg and pull the quick-release hidden there. The red codpiece dropped from her abdomen with a seemingly loud, metallic clang onto the stone between her hindlegs and the smell of her arousal increased tenfold, making the drake worry that the Bovidae in the terrace just above them might notice it. Quickly he pulled the metal out from under her, snorting in momentary surprise to find it wet with her arousal before he shoved it aside and out of the way.

"A-agreed!" Jerielle managed to stutter, quivering in place as she glanced over her shoulder at her Lúg'hir, watching him smile as his gaze lowered to her now exposed pussy.

Now that she was freed of the inconvenient pieces of metal, Gahntuar took his time to regard the vaginal lips he had never considered to think about before. They were wet and puffy with need, even in the poor light from the torches higher up the incline, and he could not help but croon in delight at the smell that wafted from them and drew him in. He licked at her opening, smirking when Jerielle moaned in delight at even this soft touch. Emboldened, he pressed in harder, making her nether lips quiver in desire as the draine moaned again. Even now, her folds unexpectedly exploded on his tongue and he eagerly lapped up her taste with short, eager strokes. Maybe it was the stress of the last few days, or maybe the fact that he was eating out his second-in-command of all draines, maybe it was the constant threat of being discovered by those who would disapprove, or maybe it was even the inconceivable but exhilarating idea of mating in full armour that had him riled up like never before, but he found her taste undeniably divine. Only Laethia's taste had ever gotten him this desperate for more of the female's nectar and he lost himself in his performance.

One particularly hard press from him and his tongue slipped into her rippling tunnel. The sudden intrusion caused Jerielle to nearly cry out in delight, but she barely managed to stifle it. Still, Gahntuar grinned in amusement at the strangled sound, but then it reminded him that he could not play with her all night as he would have liked. Any moment now they could have unwanted visitors, be it their riders coming to find them or soldiers doing their patrols, or even another pair of Lúgae sneaking away from the festivities to celebrate the victory with each other as only dragons could.

Reluctantly, he had to pull away from her nectar. Jerielle turned to growl annoyed when his loving touch disappeared, but then her crest rose completely in excitement when she noticed him standing up. Giddy himself with excitement, he reached back into his own groin with the same wing thumb and moments later his own codpiece also fell away with another unnecessarily loud clang.

Gahntuar regarded the golden piece of armour for a moment, only now realizing that he would have to ask someone to put it back for him. It was made to be easily removed by a dragon when nature called, but neither their forepaws nor their wing-thumbs were not nimble enough to put it back again. Too late now, the drake decided with a shrug, using his tail to slide it next to where Jerielle's lay. He can ask Merec to fix it back into place later. His dick was painfully hard now and with a grateful sigh, he allowed the firm flesh to slide free of his genital slit.

"Please," Jerielle started to beg, but Gahntuar interrupted her when he mounted her in one swift motion. First his peytral, then his plackart clinked deliciously against both her rear pauldrons before he slid far enough up along her back for his peytral to just touched her saddle. Seeing this, a sudden new inspiration hit him of something he wanted to try with Merec when they returned to the Amber Tower, making him rumble in excitement.

Jerielle purred in satisfaction as Gahntuar's weight settled on her rump and instinctively, she shifted to widen her stance and lowered her chest for him. The shift of the draine between his legs brought him back to the moment and without wasting more time he started to probe for her opening. He found her passage easily and they both hissed in pleasure as he slid a good third of his rigid length into place. Jerielle twitched around him in rapid succession as he penetrated her, and he held still to allow her to get comfortable. Her tail quickly found its way around his rear pauldron and she curled it possessively around his own.

"Ready?" he whispered when her spasms subsided somewhat. She nodded meekly and gripping her sides firmly, he resettled his hind legs into a better stance. "We don't have time, so I won't be gentle."

"Just start already!" she growled, trying to snap her jaws at him but the reprimanding nip was completely off the mark. He merely chuckled, leaning over to reach her ear.

"My Lúg'her's request is sustained," he smirked, biting playfully at her horn.

Then not wasting more time, he locked his teeth in between the laminated sections of her crinet more firmly than he would have tried with her bare scales, and pulling his hips back, he gave a sharp thrust forward to slide back into her moist embrace. Jerielle growled in pleasure as he pressed in again, clenching her jaws tightly in a desperate but futile attempt to remain silent. Her growl rose sharply in pitch as he pressed into her again, this time reaching deeper than before and pressing up to a particularly sensitive spot. She clamped down momentarily in reaction, making Gahntuar squeak himself in desperate need.

Yet, he did not stop. He pulled her hips firmer into his groin as he started humping with powerful, fluent strokes. Their armour clinked softly in rhythm to his movements and it was a wonder that the bovines on the upper terrace remained oblivious to the mating dragons in the dark pavilion not even thirty yards from them. They continued at it until Gahntuar suddenly felt his knot press up against her lips. Reluctantly, he forced himself to calm his movements slightly, least he pressed deeper still and tie with Jerielle. Though he desperately wanted to, he was of sound enough mind to know it was not a good idea.

"Where," Gahntuar gasped unintendedly, fighting the desire to push in all the way as he pressed forward again. "Where does my Lúg'her want my divine seed?"

"In-!" Jerielle's request came out as a high-pitched squeal that could have been loud enough to draw some unwanted attention. She gasped at her shout and after another, badly timed moan, she spoke in a ragged whisper. "Inside, please. I... I need to feel..."

It was enough encouragement for Gahntuar and he picked up speed again, now desperate to finish. He gave a few grateful sharp thrusts of his hips before instinct got the better of him momentarily and he pushed forward with all his strength. He felt Jerielle's body start to swallow the bulbous base of his penis, but luckily, he was still of sound enough mind to halt his thrust and pull out just before her lips slipped over the widest part of his knot.

But he could not force himself to stop anymore. Instinct drove him on and before he could catch himself, he pressed forward again with all his might. Again, Jerielle's vagina strained to take the knot as it should have had, but that one last pullback proved to have been enough. The knot had grown too large and try as he might, Gahntuar could not tie with her anymore. Still, Gahntuar whimpered in delight as Jerielle's flesh quivered around him, and with a delighted squeak, he came inside her.

Jerielle bit back an ecstatic roar as Gahntuar shuddered on top of her, the feeling of hot, thick semen splashing into her sending her as well over the sexual point of no return. For a blissful moment, the world, the war and all their worries ceased to be important. Only the two bodies that had become a singular entity mattered, the joining of souls in orgasmic bliss. Grateful for the release, Gahntuar hugged Jerielle as close to himself as he physically could, while his penis shot a second and third rope of glorious cum into her hungry depths.

Then, the world and all its associated troubles and responsibilities crashed unnaturally quickly into them again as they realised that the orange flickering light of a torch was quickly coming down the walkway towards them. Gahntuar yelped like a naughty hatchling and quickly slipped off Jerielle's back, just as the wide horns of a minotaur appeared over a burnt section of barricade Gahntuar had not yet gotten around to clearing out.

"Who goes there?" the bull demanded as he climbed the flight of stairs onto the platform. He immediately recognized the two dragons who had sat down next to each other, with their backs towards him. Of course, what he didn't know was that they were sitting to hide their wet genitals from the torchlight. "What... what are you two doing? I thought I heard something dying..."

"It came from lower down the slope!" Gahntuar stated quickly, hoping he didn't sound out of breath still and ignoring the accusing glare Jerielle gave him. "My second and I have been trying to catch a glimpse of what it was. Doubt it is dangerous though."

"You sure?" the bull grumbled, stepping around them to get a better look at the dragons. "You haven't been up to anything... unregulated?"

"Like?" Jerielle challenged the unwelcome arrival, conscious of where her tail was folded between her legs and smooching against her wet vulva.

"Like what dragons get up to when no one is watching!" the bull continued, obviously trying to catch a glimpse between their legs. But the flickering light of the torch made the shadows harsher and he could see nothing past the lamellar plackarts.

"I hope you are not suggesting that we were being unprofessional!" Gahntuar growled, trying his best to sound annoyed and not to look at the discarded codpieces lying just behind the bull.

"Let's be blunt then!" the bovine snapped impatiently. "The two of you weren't fucking around, right?"

"What? No!" Gahntuar tried to lie fluently, though his flat crest betrayed his attempted deceit. But only to one who knew dragons, therefore the bull in front of them remained none the wiser. "If we were, the noise would have been so loud that the whole castle would know we were up to!"

"And we tie to each other like wolves when the deed is done!" Jerielle added victoriously, but with a crest equally flat in shame. "So, do you really think we can get away with it in public like this?"

"No, I guess not!" the bull admitted defeat, obviously disappointed at not catching them out. He snorted and started to leave the pavilion again. "Whatever … I have to continue with my rounds!"

"Wait!" Gahntuar suddenly ordered, making both the bull and Jerielle look up in surprise.

"What is it?" the bull grumbled, obviously not interested in talking more to the dragons than he absolutely had to.

"Your commander has wanted to put up a ballista station here," Gahntuar stated, looking around at the pavilion. "I had been against it at first, but I have had time to reconsider and I'll admit you may have a point. You can let your commander know that he can use this platform on the condition that your company will not object against the Lúgroccae stationing ourselves in the lower garden."

The bull stared hard at the Lúg'hir, wondering what the dragon was playing at, before giving him a simple sharp nod of his head.

"I will inform him then!" he stated, and then he was gone.

As the torchlight faded around the corner again, Gahntuar and Jerielle tried not to look at each other. But it proved to be irresistible and when they were sure they were alone again, they shared a naughty glance before bursting out in giggles. Gahntuar lifted his one leg to reveal a still angry hard penis, glisten wetly in the rising moonlight.

"I... never thought I'd feel like a naughty hatchling being caught again!" Gahntuar admitted through the chuckles.

"Likewise!" Jerielle grinned, looking again at where the torchlight had disappeared to. "Though, we should probably be more careful next time! For a moment I was really worried that he knew we were bluffing!"

"We better clean up if we are to return to the rest of the Lúgroccae!" Gahntuar stated, reaching around to clean his mess up, only to grunt in shock when he found his plackart limited his flexibility.

"Let me, sir!" Jerielle chirped overexcited, darting her snout in between his legs to quickly lap at Gahntuar's softening penis before he could respond. In quick order he was clean and presentable again, having retracted back into his slit.

"Now, your turn!" Gahntuar insisted, nudging her haunches up with a forepaw. "Stand and lift your tail for me."

"Yes, sir!" Jerielle grinned at the lewd order. Then her grin grew even broader. "Just, don't lap too deep if you please. I'd... like to continue feeling your divine seed!"

Gahntuar grumbled annoyed but then burst out laughing when Jerielle winked at him he realised that she was only making fun of her earlier convictions. With a shake of his head, he complied, making quick work of cleaning the mess he had left on her inner thighs up.

"So, seriously now: Are you feeling better?" he asked, inspecting her pussy to make sure it was properly clean on the outside at least. "I mean, now that you experienced there is nothing special about my divine seed. I need my second at her best!"

"I don't think I can agree to there being nothing special about mating with you, sir!" Jerielle replied with a grin, lowering her tail again to a more comfortable position. "But I can honestly say that I do feel much better, thank you. Though, I can ask you the same! We cannot have a moping dragon lead us into battle."

"Honestly, I do feel better as well!" Gahntuar grinned after considering the question a moment. With an affectionate croon, he nuzzled his second in command. "Thank you for your concern."

"You are welcome!" Jerielle replied with a croon of her own. "Though, we should do this more often I think."

"Maybe we can discuss it later," Gahntuar conceded, trying to ignore the twitch in his loins at the thought. Now that he had experienced it himself, he suddenly understood now why so many of the lúgae were sneaking off to mate when they could afford it. There was something exhilarating about getting his dick wet in the middle of a dangerous environment like this, even if just quickly. "Though first, I think we need to get back to the others. As Merec said, the others need to see us at the festivities as well."

"Didn't we just celebrate?" Jerielle asked as they finally departed the pavilion, and together they left the lower terrace amidst joyous laughter.

***

Two days later, and yet another wooden orc fortification overlooking a river was smoking, following a devastating attack by a now emboldened Lúgroccae. They were still on a high after their successful attack on Eydelvise and the two fortifications on either side of the Echoren River, upstream from the bridge did not stand a chance.

"The last of the fortifications have been cleared out, sir!" Jerielle announced, trotting to a stop as she landed close to Gahntuar. "I've set Fargamer and Celine up in command of the western bank!"

"Good, thank you!" Gahntuar replied with a smirk.

"Time to send out the usual patrol again, I guess!" Merec stated, looking around as Audenier also stepped closer.

"Yes, sir!" Charl snapped, though his dragon hesitated momentarily.

"Are we going to be sitting around, doing nothing again?" the blue drake growled upset. "After our success with taking Eydelvise, I would have thought they would be more eager to get us to assist in the field!"

"You have an order to carry out," Merec stated firmly as he sheathed his sabre, making the upset dragon bow his head quickly.

"Yes, sir!" he replied, quickly turning around to carry out the order as Gahntuar settled down to watch the elven attack on the bridge itself. By the time Merec had unclipped his harness, the squad was in the air and heading a little east to patrol the sky over the battlefield.

"I know how you feel, Audenier!" Merec sighed as he climbed out of the saddle. "But we've been over this before: The Field-Marshal will deploy us where he sees fit. Remember that this is his war, and we are only helping."

"I still think it will be easier for everyone if even one of our squads could clear the way across the" Audenier hesitated, pointing with a snout down to the water when the name of the river didn't come to him immediately. "... the Echoren is it?"

"Probably," Jerielle agreed with a grin, settling down comfortably a bit away and allowing Aerhin to dismount her. "Though, I think we are still side-lined probably because the high elves are sour that we proved to have been instrumental in capturing Eydelvise."

"I tend to agree!" Gahntuar agreed with a growl, glancing over at her. Ever since their quick romp two nights ago, that strange desire that had gripped his second in command seems to have dissipated... somewhat at least. She seems her old self again: Calm, collected and no longer desperate for his attention like an adolescent youngster fresh from her dame's den.

"Though it is still not like they need our help, it seems," Jerielle snorted, as she pointed to the old bridge with a snout. "The elves have taken the bridge already and is pushing ahead strongly." She sounded confident and focused, but to Gahntuar's surprise, he noticed her tail har curled up around her stifle and she was idly rubbing the tip against her codpiece. Gahntuar coughed and Jerielle quickly snapped her tail away, nearly tripping her rider in the process.

"Is everything alright?" Aerhin asked, surprised that she had startled so easily.

"Nothing is wrong," she replied quickly, giving Gahntuar a covert glare as he tried not to chuckle.

"It does seem like you are right!" Farriha agreed, focused intensely on the unfolding battle. "But seeing how quickly the orc lines broke, that last group is putting up a rather good rear-guard action."

"There have to be some properly trained units in the entire orc army!" Audenier scoffed. "Even if most of them seems barely able to put up some resistance of any kind! Honestly, how had the elves failed to push them out of the forest for two decades?"

"Don't underestimate your enemy!" Farriha scolded the blue drake with a light nip. "Remember, this is just a small guard, only meant to hinder any attempt of a crossing here. Twelve hundred is not a real match to the army of eight thousand we have here."

"And the real horde is still days to the east," Merec added thoughtfully. When the two armies truly met, things are not going to be the same as the walkovers they were becoming used to by now.

"Where is the real orc army exactly?" Charl asked. "Do we even know?"

"Things are very sketchy this far down the chain of command!" Aerhin complained. "But last we heard anything, they were still preparing to lay siege to Port Ghrathelle, or at least holding their position to see what we are up to."

"I'm still convinced they have heard about our presence by now!" Farriha grumbled, swishing a plume of smoke away with a swipe of her snout. "I'd like to send out a scout to confirm exactly where they are, but we cannot do so without approval from our dear hosts. But at least they cannot be less than a few days from us yet. I just hope the Field-Marshal will consider actively sending scouts to seek them out once we start to come into range of them."

"Don't worry," Merec smirked up at the upset draine. "There are regular scouts sent out on normal patrols, so it will be impossible to miss an army of that size."

"I hope so!" Farriha grumbled, before sitting up in surprise to look intently at the battle by the river. Then something else caught her attention. "Why is the Field-Marshal leading the charge?"

"I heard he like to be close to the fighting," Charl commented. "I know he led a small outflanking maneuverer on the Horthnen and was meant to have assisted in the final charge for the keep of Eydelvise if we didn't interfere as we did."

"He probably feels left out, seeing how you lead by example, sir." Audenier grinned, puffing up his chest proudly.

"His senior commander had been grievously wounded when we took Eydelvise," Merec explained flatly. "And the other two somehow convinced him it was a good idea to lead the charge today."

"I doubt it took much convincing though," Aerhin muttered beneath his breath.

They were silent for a while longer, watching another orc line retreat deeper into the forest. Already Verylas at the front was gone from their direct sight as more of the elves were pouring over the bridge. The horde on the elven army's flanks seemed to hold out a little better than those where the elven spearhead struck hardest, but even they were being pushed outward by the mass of elves.

"Anyone knows what the gryphons are doing by the way?" Audenier asked, looking around to try and catch a glimpse of the irritating featherheads.

"I do not know," Aerhin admitted. "They were sent east along the Horthnen to secure the far south of the field, but I haven't seen them since daybreak."

"I guess they ran into some kind of trouble," Merec replied. "I've heard that they called up the rest of their squadron south."

"Probably still struggling with their assignments!" Jerielle suggested with a wide smirk.

"Definitely!" Audenier agreed with a hearty laugh. The others joined in, enjoying the thought of the cocky jigsaws running into trouble, and being too proud to ask for assistance. All that is, except for Farriha.

"Is something wrong, Farriha?" Merec asked suddenly when he noticed her frown, breaking the mirth of the moment.

"I... I don't know," Farriha admitted, sounding extremely unsure of herself. Then adding below her breath, she added "What are the elves doing?"

The group looked unsurely at the river crossing again, not sure what was bothering the draine do badly. They were on the brink of an easy victory again, were they not?

"I don't see anything wrong?" Gahntuar dared to comment. "We've captured a large section of the western riverbank and the bridge comfortably. And we are pushing quickly westward..."

"That is what is worrying me," Farriha admitted exasperatedly. "They've secured the side of the river we attacked from and have sufficient numbers on the bridge as well. But now they are moving too quickly and not securing their flanks on the opposite side..."

"I doubt you can move too quickly!" Audenier scoffed, still chuckling at the thought of the gryphons running into trouble. "The orc centre has collapsed, as usual, putting pressure on the other orcs still trying to resist our advance. When the elves punch cleanly through, they can double back and attack the part of the horde still trying to make a stand from behind as well."

"I... guess," Farriha conceded unsurely. "But I don't like this salient they are forming... um the... the bulge into the orc formations!"

"I cannot see why!" Audenier declared confidently. "The sooner they cross the river, the sooner we can face the real horde to the east. I for one can't wait until we can show these self-important idiots what we are truly capable of!"

"Hear-hear!" Charl agreed enthusiastically. The dragons and riders laugh again in high spirits as they watched yet another boring elvish victory unfold in the valley below them. Even as he was speaking, a far-off orcish horn sounded forlornly, as it called the order to fall back to a more defensible position.

All that is, except for Farriha who still could not shake the sudden feeling of dread at what was to come. Hopefully, it was just her nerves flaring up with all this talk of the main battle to come in a few days. This was after all the last river crossing, they had to capture before they could move to close the pincer movement around the main horde. After this, there was nothing left between them and the final battle for the forest itself.

... to be continued.