FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"The name, Circle of Five is interchangeably used for either a combined Council of Elders that govern the magi, as well as the actual structures that are arranged in a circle around the central Aether Temple as described below. With the decision to establish a total of five towers in 132 of the Golden Age, a united council of 40 members came to govern all aspects of magical life. These members were made up of the triumvirate from each Tower, along with five more members selected from the different Councils of Elders. This combined council gathered once every two years within the Aether Temple to perform a series of rituals and to discuss and vote on changes to policies. Though special sittings have been recorded where a meeting was called out of the schedule to discuss issues that required immediate action.

…

Though the term 'Circle' suggests a strong sense of unity, they were anything but. For the most part, the various towers have distinct enough roles within the magical community that there was rarely friction between them. However, a strong rivalry existed between the Amber Tower, who have always had a strong sense of duty towards those not blessed with the gift of magic, and the Coral Tower, who share an equally strong sense of duty but as caretakers of the continent overall. Of course, this antinomy tended to spill over to other members of the Circle from time to time when tensions are particularly strenuous.

These unnecessary aggrievances between two towers, who should have had more in common with each other than any of the other Towers, have often been blamed for the weakening of the Circle of Five, which allowed the Potestan Empire to annul the centuries-old Bloodstorm Treaty with barely any opposition. Some political analysts have even gone so far to suggest that, if this rivalry is not dealt with decisively, it may lead to a shattering of the Circle of Five entirely."

Extract from "The Seven Towers of Magic" by Evans Brightheart, renowned historian of the late Second Age.

***

The ball of slimy fire exploded within the narrow alley, rolling across crumbling walls and scorching every plant matter that had taken root within the shadowy confines. A large yellow flowering bud of a Creeper Vine scored a direct hit and despite it being a plant, it shrieked in pain and lashed out with a three-inch thick vine in a random direction, hitting a wall and widening the broken window even more. The vine lashed out again in the other direction, but the pool of fire oil did not stop burning, even though the dragon was not spraying it anymore and the flower bud curled in on itself as it too started to burn. When the vine stopped writhing about, the human with the dragon moved in and started to chop at the charred remains with a crude machete. Though, after hacking through four of the anchoring roots, he jumped away with a startled yelp just in time before a fresh green shoot curled about his leg. With a furious curse, he slashed at the thing.

"Be careful not to let one of those vines ensnare you!" Gahntuar smirked, glancing in through a broken doorway as he watched the remaining section of the vine pull back into a large pile of debris. "I know that section where you are is burnt, but I've seen them slither along the next alley looking to outflank us."

"I'm careful!" Merec shouted back, jumping yet again to get clear of the section he had cut off and which was writhing about the cobblestones. "But you should listen to your own advice!"

"They are livelier here," Gahntuar scoffed, "so I know to be..."

Merec interrupted the dragon by raising his blade at the reptile. Gahntuar did not immediately recognize the gesture and frowned at his human momentarily, but then he yelped as well in surprise as one of the vines curled about the ankle of his one hind leg. The dragon pulled his leg free with a violent yank before the Creeper Vine could throw another loop around his leg, and he stomped on the thing with the full strength of his leg. The vine writhed for a moment before it snapped off in a gooey mess. Gahntuar smirked satisfied as the thing also retreated through the doorway, but then hissed in shock as five more vines started to slither out of the shattered building. With a growl, he jumped back and blast the annoying things with a torrent of sheering hot flames, only letting up when he noticed the human behind him chuckle.

"Oh, shut up!" Gahntuar hissed annoyed, rubbing at his jaw with the back of his hand.

"How's your fire?" Merec asked, jumping clear of the wriggling vine again to come to stand by his dragon.

"My fire-oil ducts could do with a rest before I cook them!" Gahntuar admitted before glaring down the shadowed alley where they could spot the plants writhe in preparation for the attack. "But I don't want to give these vines any rest-bit either."

"Still, I think a short break will do us all good!" Merec decided, quickly walking out towards the main street again. "The plants are not going anywhere and I'm guessing the other dragons feel the same."

"I suppose," Gahntuar muttered, licking at his lips again before he roared out the signal to fall back to the main plaza. The dragon spared one more moment to glare a last time down the narrow alley before he turned and followed the human to a more open area.

"Where is our divine protector?" Aerhin muttered annoyed as they met up in the large circular structure where they had met the orc chief only two days ago. Though he was trying to sound respectful towards the big black dragon, it was clear that he had his doubts as to what to think about the creature.

"Still in the foyer of Juinkarr, I think," Merec replied, turning to look back at the imposing black spire of stone. Yes, it may be theirs now technically, but it still had that foreboding aura to it that made the human shudder involuntarily. At the mention of their divine guest, a strange sense of curiosity came over the human and he had to turn away from the structure least he walked up to it to go have a look at what the big reptile was up to.

"He's been there the whole morning now!" Gahntuar growled, walking up to the fountain in the centre of the plaza for a quick drink of water. It was safe to drink from now and even as he quenched his thirst and soothed his fire-oil ducts, more dragons arrived and also did not hesitate to stop there for a quick drink.

True to his word, Gullivarth had removed the petrification on all the statues in the larger ruins the day before. The victims of Juinkarr's curses were taken to one of the most intact buildings they had, and with a chill spell from the equine magus who had accompanied them here, the bodies were kept cool until they could be laid properly to rest. Merec had tried to find Felicity to assist with preserving the corpses as best they could, but she was suddenly gone.

"I thought he said he is not going to be clearing out the main tower just yet!" Edward commented, grunting with relief as the lupine sat down on a large broken section of wall.

"That is what I understood as well!" Gharavhan agreed, shaking water droplets from his muzzle with a quick flick of his snout.

"Why doesn't he, though?" Audenier asked as the blue drake settled down comfortably close by his rider. "Isn't that the whole reason he said he is here? Why clear out the larger ruins but leave the centrepiece of the place as it was?"

"How should I know?" Gharavhan growled, glaring at the younger drake. "That is something you will have to ask him!"

"You know how he is," Gahntuar sighed, also settling down as Merec started handing out rations for the riders to munch on. "Like a true Theos, vague in his answers and mysterious in his ways... He just doesn't want to say. The most I've gotten from him is just that the traps in the main tower still has some function to perform."

"Then why exactly is he here anyway?" Charl grumbled, glancing covertly at the tower before resuming his lunch with a shake of his head. "He claims to be here to help us take control of this old fort, yet he doesn't want to clear out the keep itself? Nor will he attack the demon who is coming outright. Nor is he telling us how we are to defeat this demon... Not much of a god if you ask me!" He quickly turned to the dragons in general and held up his hands placatingly at them. "I'm sorry, I know how you feel about him, but I only call it as I see it!"

"Don't worry about it!" Gahntuar smirked. "He will anyway be quick to remind you that he is not a god, remember?" Gahntuar glanced back at the great citadel as a sudden desire to go check up on the large dragon came over him. But he cast the thought aside with a shake of his head before looking determinedly at the other human. "But I'm guessing that he doesn't want to clear out the main tower itself yet because he doesn't want to have the Circle of Five snooping around it before we can have a go at it."

"The Circle of Five?" Charl gasped, nearly choking on his food. "Are they coming here?"

"So I've heard as well!" Merec agreed with his dragon. "If we want to restore our relationship with them, it will be best to involve them with restoring this place as quickly as possible, don't you think? Also, we need their help if this... Quattor is coming to dislodge us."

"I guess," Charl muttered, "but it will still take weeks for all of them to get here. Will there be enough time to fix this place up enough to withstand a siege from the Shadowlands?"

"Haven't you heard?" Edward grinned before the wolf took a bite from his food as if the news was not that important. "Our dragon overlord had created a set of portalstones yesterday and sent Felicity back to the Amber Tower with one of them, without even needing to use them."

"Don't believe everything you hear though!" Aerhin quickly cautioned the wolf.

"He told me that is what he did yesterday when I was looking for Felicity earlier," Merec commented, only shrugging when the elf frowned disapprovingly at him.

"But what makes these stones so special then?" Edward asked, surprised at the elf's reaction.

"Other than you don't just make them in an afternoon?" Aerhin insisted. "Well, it opens a portal between the two stones no matter where they may be." When the wolf looked blankly at him, the elf elaborated with an exasperated sigh. "Okay, imagine it like opening a door between two rooms, but one room is here, and the other is back at the Amber Tower."

"Archmagus Vicia wanted us to use them to get to the Amber Tower quicker when we were recalled from Ealyndore, remember?" Merec stated quickly. "I know you did not join us in the south, but I assume she will have informed you."

"I don't recall her saying anything about portalstones though," the wolf commented thoughtfully. "But I can see how it will make travelling much faster. And manoeuvres on the battlefield will have a completely new dynamic as well..."

"Don't get your hopes up just yet," Aerhin quickly interjected. "No one remembers how portals are created anymore, let alone any of the complex Manashapes contained within the portalstones. I doubt anyone will be coming here anytime soon."

"Except if one has the power of a Divine!" Audenier grinned. "Juinkarr has been cleared of magical traps, hasn't it?" Aerhin looked up at the blue drake, for a moment not sure how to respond to that logic.

"So, is that why he…" Edward indicated with a thumb over his shoulder to the citadel, "has been staying in the tower's foyer instead of helping us clear out the garden? Is he expecting them to arrive today through one of those portals?"

"That would be my guess," Gahntuar stated, turning again to frown at the tower. "He did after all invite the Circle of Five to come to visit."

"But... is that wise?" Aerhin cautioned. "We all know what they think of us at the moment. I doubt bringing Juinkarr into their fold will achieve much with them."

"Probably not, but what is the alternative?" Merec asked, squashing a sudden desire to go have a look at what the big dragon was up to and why he couldn't assist with the garden. "The big drake had been pushing hard for them to come here, probably with good reason. I'm guessing our presence here will not go unnoticed for much longer, that is if our enemy has not already noticed us. And you know we are in no position to fend off an attack by a fraction of the Shadowlands. We need all the help we can get, and we need it..."

Merec was interrupted when Gahntuar suddenly growled deep within in throat. It was a low sound, not meant to have been heard but it still caught the human by surprise. But when he turned to look at what had caught the dragon's attention, he noticed that it was their two draconic guests being led to a more secure building nearer the main Citadel.

"Ignore her!" Jerielle growled though it sounded like it was advice for herself more than Gahntuar.

"Easy for you to say!" Gahntuar grumbled, still glaring at the far-off draine with narrowed eyes.

"I have also lost dragons under my watch to her, so don't tell me it is easy to say!" Jerielle snapped angrily, going so far as to nip at her superior with enough force to make him yelp. But when he turned around to glare at her with his crest raised in challenge, she suddenly realized the extent of her outburst and quickly bowed down to him with her crest flat in submission. "I... I am sorry, sir. I don't know what came over me!"

Gahntuar glared indignantly at her for a moment before he turned his attention back to the pale-blue draine who had made their lives miserable the past ten years. He remained silent, only huffing in annoyance and dispersing the plume of smoke with a flick of his snout.

"Well, at least we don't have to let her go free anymore!" Gharavhan quickly stated to lift the mood, though he was also glaring at the young draine as if he could do her physical harm with his gaze alone.

"Thank Gullivarth for small mercies!" Jerielle agreed with a snap of her teeth at the hated creature.

"I'd prefer it if we could just be rid of her completely," Gahntuar muttered with a dangerous growl. In the distance, Ikessa looked up at them as if she could hear what was being said despite the distance. But as soon as she made eye contact, she lowered her head in defeated submission and meekly followed the guards who were leading her to her new permanent residence, the golden Restraint Spell not even pulled taught.

"She has been cooperative..." Merec started to say but he was interrupted by an angry nip from his dragon.

"Are you taking her side?" the iridescent drake growled upset.

"No!" the human insisted, batting the snapping jaws away exasperatedly. "She has been responsible for many deaths and nothing would ease my need for justice more than seeing her dead! But something about just killing her bothers me immensely, even if we were to hold some kind of trial. And especially after we only banished our trainees to the Thirst lands. No, I think it may be best to have the Circle of Five decide her fate."

"She was not the enemy of the Circle!" Jerielle pointed out with an upset growl, hating the human's logic.

"Nonetheless, her actions had affected them as well to some extent," Aerhin suggested, trying to appease his dragon. "But the Roccan'hir is right, we cannot be unbiased when judging her so it may be more justified to have her tried by a more independent party. And who knows, she may still prove useful..."

"Her confessions had not changed the hunt!" Gharavhan grumbled upset. "If she knows anything else that will be of worth and she is still keeping it to herself, what worth will she be to us?"

"Maybe she is using that knowledge as leverage to keep herself alive?" Charl suggested.

"And what use is that?" Gharavhan insisted. "If she knows something else and she is not sharing it, we are no worse off if we just kill her!"

"I doubt she has anything more to share, at least not knowingly!" Merec stated softly. "She seemed pretty sure that vow of hers was going to kill her."

"Pity it wasn't real!" Gharavhan grumbled.

"All the more reason not to trust her!" Gahntuar announced, suddenly jumping to his feet as Ikessa and her whelp disappeared into a reasonably intact building. "Merec, are you coming?"

"Where?" the human asked, frowning up at his dragon.

"Lord Gullivarth usually comes out from time to time to check up on us," Gahntuar grumbled, turning his attention to the Citadel. "But he hasn't shown himself for a while now. And since he is not intending on clearing it out just yet, I want to know what he is up to in there!"

"You curious about that as well?" Merec asked with a smirk, getting to his feet as well.

"It is driving me insane!" the drake admitted with a snap of his jaws. "Want to go have a look? Just a quick peek, and maybe ask him exactly why he doesn't want us to explore the tower as well. I think we can continue to clear out the garden when we come back."

"Your curiosity is going to be the death of you one day!" Merec laughed, patting his dragon's flank in encouragement. "But I'll bite! Lead the way, let's go chat with that great grandfather of yours! I've been meaning to talk to him as well but just hadn't had the time."

"Did you really have to call him that?" Gahntuar hissed upset under his breath as they started to head towards the Citadel.

"Probably not," Merec admitted with a shrug. "But if anyone can get answers from him, I'm sure it will be you."

"Wait up!" Jerielle suddenly called when they were a few paces away. "We'll join you!"

"No need, I think," Gahntuar started to say, but Aerhin cut him off with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Still, some moral support won't hurt I think!" the elf stated as he and his dragon caught up to them.

"I guess not," Merec agreed with a knowing smile, turning back to the Citadel.

They walked briskly up the steps in silence, a strange sense of urgency coming over them. Though they had achieved much already, there was still a lot to do in the garden and they were eager to get back to work. But as they passed through the broken doors into the foyer, they were surprised to see a large crowed milling about within the tower's entrance. All manner of creatures were clustered together, wearing ceremonial robes of brilliant reds and yellows and greens, stark black and pure white.

"What the..." Aerhin gasped, noticing the portal to the side of the foyer just as it popped out of existence to leave a brass stander with a large blue sphere perched on the very top.

"Ah, you come as if you were called!" Gullivarth called out, not even looking around at them as he was busy talking to a wolf dressed in a deep, dark yellow. "Glad to see you have joined us. I was just about to send someone to go fetch you."

"Something tells me we were already called!" Aerhin challenged the statement, sounding a little uneasy at what he was suggesting.

"If you say so," Gullivarth replied unperturbed, though some mirth did leak into his voice.

"He did!" Felicity snapped, suddenly appeared from behind Archmagus Vicia and gave the large dragon a dirty glare. Gullivarth took the accusation in stride, only laughing heartily as if he had told a joke before returning his attention to the Archmagus who clearly did not know what to think about the monstrous dragon in front of her.

"What is going on here?" Merec asked with a frown as he looked at the large number of magi milling about. "I thought only the Triumvirate of each Tower was going to come."

"No, it is the entire council of representatives... the entire Circle of Five Councils if you will!" Felicity muttered, also looking about the strange gathering.

"Roccan'hir Merec, a moment if you please!" Archmagus Vicia suddenly appeared, grabbing the human by the arm and pulling him aside before he could utter a reply. When they were alone enough, she rounded on him with a furious hiss. "Have you lost your mind? Are you really going to trust that demon?" The wolf emphasized who she was talking to by covertly indicating to where Gullivarth was now talking to a polar bear dressed in a dark, off-white robe that resembled aged ivory.

"That is my Great-Grandfather you are talking about!" Gahntuar hissed a little upset, having joined Merec without the wolf noticing.

"Wh-what?" Vicia gasped, looking up at the dragon she thought she knew with a new look in her eyes.

"Things has been crazy ever since we were kicked out of the Amber Tower!" Merec replied quickly, giving his dragon a questioning frown. "We had barely had time to consider any actions or plans. But, yes. I trust him. I don't know how or why... but..."

"You're not compelled, are you?" Vicia asked, her one hand quickly reaching for his temple and the Manashape already igniting on her fingers.

"No!" Merec snapped, batting the hand away with an annoyed grunt. But the test had already been performed and they both let the incident slide. "Look, if you want a reason why we trust him, then I guess he represents some part of the security we lost after we had to leave to Amber Tower. And the dragons worship him as a deity, so they trust him implicitly... and we trust our dragons implicitly. That is just how we..."

"Is this what you call respect?" Gullivarth suddenly roared out angrily. They turned to see that the large dragon was arguing with a black stallion, who was dressed in a deep burgundy. The stallion was cowering away from the creature before him as the dragon seemed to grow even larger and a shade darker with each word he spoke. Still, eyes were ablaze with such a light that it was difficult to see anything else but his gaze that was transfixed on the equine who seemed unable to move an inch.

"How will you like it if I were to show up at your door and DEMAND you hand it over?" Gullivarth continued furiously. But then, just as suddenly as the atmosphere of impending doom appeared, it evaporated leaving just an angry black dragon behind, albeit a very large one.

"You have done what you have set out to do," the large dragon hissed, still clearly angry. "You have seen the inside of Juinkarr's Citadel. Now, stop wasting our time and let me..."

"We demand to see the Aetherfontes! We have the right..." the stallion shouted back, somehow having found his voice again. He stood up straight again in a pathetic display of defiance, but his voice came out as a crackling squeak that betrayed his failing nerves.

"And your demands will go unanswered!" Gullivarth snapped furiously, cutting off any argument the red Archmagus could come up with. "You are guests here, if you do not behave as such, I will return you to your Tower without delay!"

"We will not tolerate this disrespectful..." the stallion insisted, but he was interrupted yet again by a massive flash of Mana from the portalstone. For a moment, the stallion stared dumbfounded at the portal next to him. Even though the stone was linked to a specific other, it was the main entrance to the Coral Tower that appeared through the hole in the universe and not the location where they had come from just now.

"It may be impossible to open a portal inside the influence sphere of the Aetherfontes without a portalstone," Gullivarth hissed threateningly. "But I do know how to hack the protocols encoded in the stones to take me where I want!"

A wall of rock-solid air suddenly appeared around the delegation of the Coral Tower, moving slowly as it started to gather the unwelcome magi up and push them towards the portal.

"Okay-okay!" the stallion yelped in distress. "I'll yield!"

There was a very unfriendly growl from the big dragon and the display of magic popped out of existence. The cluster of Reds nearly fell over as the wall of wind disappeared as well.

"Go read up on your own rules and regulations, Archmagus Havold!" Gullivarth challenged the equine. "Even before the Bloodstorm itself, it was decided that none may be in control more than one Aetherfontes at a time, which is why the Ivory Tower never expanded to its original locations after the complete decriminalization of magic at the start of the Golden Age! So, if you ever try to take control of the Aetherfontes here or have another control it in your stead, I will lock this place up tighter than Tribus and Septum had time to do. In fact, it will be so tight that even speaking of it will lead to disaster!"

The Red counsel scurried away like naughty children and Gullivarth glared after them, a think plume of smoke curling from his snout. He turned to glare at the next magus inline and his demeanour immediately changed to that of an old friend even as the large, black bovid in green nearly fell over backwards when he came under scrutiny.

"Is that...?" Merec gasped when he noticed a familiar lioness amongst the Coral delegation. They had retreated to a distance they deemed out of reach of the troublesome dragon and were talking softly amongst themselves as they headed to the great doors to go see the ruins of Juinkarr for themselves.

"Adarah, yes!" Felicity grumbled, glaring at her old rival even though the feline made a point of not looking at them.

"She is on the Coral council?" Gahntuar growled, his voice thick with disapproval. "Since when?"

"I'm not sure when she was appointed," Felicity admitted with a shrug to pretend she didn't care, "but she has served for some time now. That does make her the youngest council member that has ever served by far, and most in Circle disapprove of the presence of such an inexperienced magus. But no one can prescribe to the Coral Tower who they chose to be their delegation, so she has some serious political power now."

"I think she only has received the position because of her ferrous opposition to your Lúg'roccae!" Vicia agreed, her voice a little tight as she tried not to scowl herself.

"Roccan'hir Merec, presume?" a deep voice suddenly growled behind them. Merec turned around and was surprised to be confronted by a large, burly tiger. The intimidating man was dressed in a pitch-black robe that made his presence even more overpowering.

"That is correct," the human quickly spoke up, hiding the sudden fright with a clearing of his throat before he gave a formal bow. "And this is Lúg'hir Gahntuar, and our second in command, Roccan'her Aerhin and Lúg'her Jerielle..."

"We receive thee in peace," Gahntuar suddenly announced in common with a respectful nod of his head to the tiger, obviously not wanting to be left out. "And hope that the winds hath been favourable!"

"Er, yes!" the tiger replied, a little taken aback by the rather ritualistic greeting from the dragon. "I am Archmagus Eroul of the Jet Tower, at your service!" The tiger returned the formal bow. He spared an unsure glance at the black dragon next to Merec. "And... we come in peace... I assure you..."

"Then I am honoured to bid thee welcome to enter our territory!" Gahntuar added with a satisfied purr that even the tiger could interpret that the Lúg'hir was impressed.

"If I may ask," Eroul quickly stated, somehow realizing that the formal greeting was over. "How is it that you have managed to capture Juinkarr when all other attempts we have made had failed so spectacularly?"

"I would not call Juinkarr captured, just yet!" Merec stated quickly with a smile that hid his true worry about the subject. "True, we have a non-aggression pact with the orc tribe nearest to us..."

"You have a what?" a large white wolf with a mean-looking scar gasped surprised from behind the tiger.

"It is just a non-aggression agreement!" Merec quickly stated. "They were supposed to chase us out, but thanks to infighting in the Shadowlands, they are unable to meet their obligations. So, they will not attack us if we leave them alone."

"You trust the orcs will hold to this agreement?" the wolf growled annoyed.

"Honestly, no!" Merec admitted.

"At the time, it was our best course of action, seeing that we had nowhere else to go!" Aerhin quickly added, turning a meaningful look towards the big dragon still talking to the Greens. "We were only meant to stay until tomorrow morning, but then someone else overruled our plans, as has always been the case with us it seems."

"Of course," Eroul replied knowingly, obviously having interacted with the large dragon himself.

"As I was saying," Merec quickly interjected, "we have a non-aggression agreement with only one, severely weakened tribe. And if all the information we received recently is correct, then there is a demon out there who will not tolerate our presence here. So, I'm afraid this is far from over."

"Indeed," the tiger agreed thoughtfully. "And that is why we are here, I assume. To help to erect defences in preparation for this demon's arrival."

"That is correct," Merec admitted. "We have received a lot of help from the big guy over there, but there are things he cannot do for us."

"At least, Theos Gullivarth is assisting us greatly in clearing out this place for us." Jerielle chirped excitedly.

"You believe he is actually a Theos?" the wolf with the scar asked, giving a dismissive nod towards the large dragon as the Green Archmagus laughed at something he said. "Granted, he is massive, but I'd expect there to be more to godhood than mere size and strength."

"Can you prove he is not?" Gahntuar growled a little insulted on behalf of this great-grandfather, raising his crest in a challenge. Of course, the display was completely lost on the Jet delegation. "He did after all create the portalstone you just used in less than half an hour..."

"Be as it may," Merec interrupted his dragon with a gentle touch to the sensitive scales of his throat, "destiny has thrown us onto this course whether we like it or not, and now we have to see this through. We are grateful for any assistance we can get to survive the coming weeks."

"That is true," the tiger agreed, resting his chin on his one hand thoughtfully as he regarded the human he had so often heard about. "You are not what I had been expecting, Roccan'hir Merec! I am sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused you in the past, but you must understand the situation we found ourselves in after Kantmere..." The apology was too formal to be genuine in both Merec's and Gahntuar's opinion and the dragon made his thoughts known with a slight puff of smoke, but they decided not to comment on it.

"Those are yesterday's winds... I mean water under the bridge!" Merec replied equally formally, though the slip of his tongue did break the illusion of strict professionalism. "We have more important things we need to be worried about other than past slights committed against one another."

"I cannot agree more!" Eroul agreed quickly. But then he glanced nervously out through the large, broken doors of the Citadel where the Red delegation was already disappearing down the stairs. "If you will excuse us, we would like to go have a look at the state of the current buildings as soon as possible."

"Of course," Merec nodded, secretly thankful the meeting was over. But he quickly stopped the tiger just as he was turning towards the exit. "Just, please note that we are still clearing out the garden of any truly dangerous plants, so please keep behind the other dragons."

"Yes, of course!" the tiger replied with a genuine smirk. "The old texts do say that untended Aetherfontes gardens can be rather... interesting."

The tiger nodded a farewell and even as they started to walk away, the Ivory delegation stepped up to take their place.

"Roccan'hir Merec, presume?" the polar bear Gullivarth had been talking to earlier spoke up. "And Lúg'hir Gahntuar?"

"That is correct, madam!" Merec replied with a respectful bow before he quickly introduced Aerhin and Jerielle as well.

"We receive thee in peace," Gahntuar repeated the ancient dragon greeting to the bear as well with the associated nod of his head, "and hope that the winds hath been favourable."

"Um... it is good to be received in peace?" the bear replied a little unsurely, blinking up in surprise at the dragon's greeting before giving Merec an unsure glance.

"It is a direct translation of the formal dragon greeting," Merec quickly explained. "It is spoken by territory owners accepting wanderers peacefully into their territory."

"Right," the bear replied with a suppressed growl as a shadow crossed her features. "I am Archmagus Ursiele of the Ivory Tower and Chair to the Circle of Five," she announced stiffly before glaring up at the black dragon next to Merec, obviously not impressed with Gahntuar claiming the tower as his already. "And we come in peace as well."

"Then I am honoured to bid thee welcome to enter our territory!" Gahntuar agreed nonchalantly, though he did give a purr of satisfaction so that even the bear in front of them knew that he was satisfied with her reply. Ursiele flinched at his statement, suddenly aware that she had recognized his ownership of the Tower, even if it was only in draconic customs.

"Forgive my bluntness," Ursiele suddenly stated a little coldly. "But I must know what your intentions are in occupying Juinkarr like this."

"Please understand that we are not trying to challenge the authority or disrupted the unity of the Circle!" Merec quickly stated. "We've merely come here to find a place where we could consider our options more carefully."

"We would have been happy to remain where we were..." Jerielle grumbled, but she was interrupted by a series of sharp growls from Gahntuar. She replied something in kind and bowed her head in acquiescence. Ursiele glanced at the riders with her eyebrow raised curiously, but neither Merec nor Aerhin was forthcoming with a translation of what the dragons said.

"The point is this," Merec stated firmly instead. "Forces beyond our control has brought us here," he shot a meaningful glance at Gullivarth, who was accompanying the Green council to where they were standing, "forces that have been active for much longer than we are aware of it seems."

"You really believe the story that he is who he claims to be?" the Ivory Archmagus growled unimpressed.

"It does not matter if you believe him or not," Merec replied equally cutting, "the fact remains there are powerful forces at work here that has brought us to this point in time. Or do you still deny the existence of surviving demons in this world?"

"I..." Ursiele gasped, taken aback suddenly. "It... seems that the information on Lady Fucia, or Senna as the case may be, has turned out to be accurate!" she finally admitted, albeit very begrudgingly.

"You managed to capture her?" Merec gasped taken aback this time. Though he tried to keep his voice neutral, he failed to hide his surprise at the accuracy of the information and the hope that the creature had been caught.

"No," the bear grumbled. "She escaped minutes before we could get to her, but not before killing King Loburt, I'm afraid."

"The king is dead?" the human gasped, this time not ever trying to hide his shock.

"Why do you act surprised at his death?" a fox in white accused him. "Did you not betray him when he called upon you?"

"Errin!" the bear snapped sternly, turning her head to glare a moment at the fox.

"I... apologize!" the fox replied, head bowed in submission. "I admit, that was uncalled for!"

"We may not have agreed with his desire to expand his influence, but our departure from the Peninsula was more complicated than that!" Merec stated carefully, glaring at the awkward fox. "Or do you call the few humans in the Circle who has access to Evoceathers also traitors for not rallying to his banner?"

"Still, you disobeyed a direct order from your monarch to present yourself to his court!" the bear quickly stated sternly. "You also disobeyed our order to disband. Do you deny that?"

"As did the Ivory Tower itself at the start of each of the Witchwars of the First Age!" Merec stated equally firmly.

"That was different," Ursiele stated, taken a little aback. "Our predecessors had no choice in the matter. The authorities of the time did not want to understand magic and completely overreacted against it!"

"Nor did we have any choice!" Merec replied sharply. "Just because we couldn't find the proof you insisted on that the demons existed, doesn't change the fact that we were being hunted by them! Or do you still not understand that those same demons, who you now admit exist, are after us to reopen the Aetherfontes of Juinkarr?" The bear opened her mouth to reply, but for a moment she could not think of a way to respond.

"But history aside," Merec suddenly changed the topic, "I will not abandon those who have placed their trust in me just so that I can be accepted by others. The same goes for the order by Thendor to return to them. Most of our riders are canid, even from the very beginning and I will not force them to fight for the enemy of their respective kingdoms either. We don't intend to be your enemy, please don't be ours."

"You seem to be a rather... interesting individual, more so than I had initially thought!" Ursiele commented carefully after she had silently regarded for a moment. "But other than your recent decisions not to comply with authorities, there is another issue that bothers us greatly: What about any artefacts that still lies within this tower? It is still sealed off to us..."

"As is it to us, remember!" Gahntuar hissed exasperatedly.

"We know enough of magical artefacts not to handle them without care," Merec commented quickly, cutting his dragon's complaint off. "And especially with anything from around here. Rest assured that we will not be doing anything with them without the Circle's blessing. But Lord Gullivarth here," Merec motioned up to the big dragon just as he came to stand with them, "is the one who is responsible for clearing out the magical traps in the rest of Juinkarr, and he refuses to clear out the main tower."

"As I have said before, I still have need of them!" Gullivarth rumbled with a dangerous growl. "And I will not be removing them for your pleasure!"

"Why?" the white bear growled equally ferociously back.

"That is not for you to know..." Gullivarth started to declare with his typical defiant manner, a dangerous glimmer in his eyes seeming to give him the authority of a Theos. But then the large drake seemed to deflate somehow and the aura around his features dissipated. Then, with a small sigh and a sad glance at Merec, he admitted with an almost defeated tone. "My reasons are my own and I cannot share them least I risk ruin to my children."

"Your children?" Ursiele asked, more rattled by the dragon's change in demeanour than in his display of power.

"I have already said too much, I will not speak more of it!" Gullivarth stated, sitting down on his haunches and staring out the broken door into obscurity,

"I..." Ursiele muttered, completely at a loss for words for a moment. "We-we can continue our discussion a little later, I think. I know many of my subordinates are eager to see Juinkarr for themselves."

"I understand," Merec replied with a formal bow. Normally, he would have smirked at the Archmagus's awkwardness after being put in her place, but the sudden shift in Gullivarth's attitude had him feeling cold as well. Still, he couldn't help but use the opportunity. "I'll be looking forward to some proper dialogue in the future. Oh, and please note that we are still clearing out the garden of some unwelcome plants, so please keep behind the other dragons."

Ursiele gave him a dirty glance when he added slight stress on the word 'dialogue'. She recognized immediately the human's obvious intention to berate her for deciding their fate without so much as talking to them. But then with a small smile, she nodded a greeting in return and with that, the Ivory council left to explore Juinkarr for themselves.

The white Archmagus had barely left when they were rushed upon by the bovid in green who eagerly held out a hand in greeting.

"Roccan'hir Merec, I presume? And Lúg'hir Gahntuar?" the black steer prattled off excitedly. "I'm sorry for not meeting with you sooner, but duties of an Archmagus does not allow us to travel very far from our respective Towers, I'm afraid."

"That is quite understandable," Merec replied, a little taken aback by the suddenly friendly demeanour.

"We receive thee in peace, and hope that the winds hath been favourable!" Gahntuar repeated his greeting once more after Merec had introduced Aerhin and Jerielle as well, nodding his head as he had with the others.

"Oh, yes... er... We come in peace and... and... wish you good health or something?" the bull replied a little awkwardly, returning the nod of the head with a respectful bow. "I'm sorry, but I'm not exactly sure of any draconic customs. The dragons at the Nacre Tower isn't quite as forthcoming as the Lumors."

"It is quite alright!" Gahntuar grinned, trying not to smile too broadly. "Promising to adhere to peaceful interaction and wishing good health to the Territory Owner is the basic idea of the greeting." With a more resonant purr than those he gave the other archmagi, Gahntuar bowed his neck down with an honest show of respect. "I'll now conclude the formal greeting by welcoming you to enter our territory."

"Thank you," the bull smiled before turning to Merec. "I am Archmagus Fidesu of the Nacre Tower, at your service!" The black steer spared a quick second to look around the broken foyer. "I must admit, I'm quite impressed with what you and the dragons have achieved so far."

"I'm afraid we cannot accept much of the honour here," Merec quickly stated, motioning to the side where Gullivarth was still sitting. "Theos Gullivarth had done most of the heavy lifting in clearing up Juinkarr..."

"You shouldn't sell yourself short," Gullivarth stated, still a little upset but bravely smiling his way through whatever troubled him. "Had you not secured the Aetherfontes, I would not have been allowed to return."

"I'm wasn't only talking about Juinkarr, young lad!" Fidesu replied with a smile, "but your entire campaign of the past ten years. We live near to the elves, and of all the Towers of the Circle, we have the best relationship with them. So, I know the term Lúgroccan is in fact supposed to mean 'failing because you tried to achieve the impossible'. And yet, here we are. Not only is your recent action in Eylendore Forest worthy of praise, but the stability you have brought to the northern Curndors is also especially impressive. True, your departure from the Northern Arthulle Highlands had not been on the friendliest of terms, but I do know you still enjoy a lot of support amongst the Equidae… and I truly hope that one day my own culture will come to see as allies as well."

"I... thank you, sir!" Merec stammered, a little unsure what to do with the sudden praise.

"I would appreciate it if we can talk in less formal terms later today," Fidesu suddenly announced, looking a little awkwardly towards the doors. "But I must leave you for the moment. We need to start looking at where the best places are to set up hospital stations for the fight I hear that is to come. And who knows, maybe we can assist the blacks in creating some decent defences for this tower." He suddenly smirked. "Or at the very least help with your garden issue, if I understand the old texts correctly. I suppose you will already be busy clearing out the overgrown plant matter and a few of my magi are eager to see what exactly an untended Aetherfontes does to plants before everything is cleared out."

"So, you have come to assist us then?" Aerhin stated more than asked, unable to suppress a sigh of relief.

"Why, of course!" the bull stated unperturbed. "I know your recent history with the Circle had been strained, to say the least. But you should know that you can count on the entire strength of the Amber and the Nacre Towers in what is to come. The Jet Tower may not be very useful in the fight itself, but they are also very eager to help with building up the defences, even if it is only to show the others that they are more than simple trinket makers. And despite what the Corel Tower might say, they will be damned if they were to miss out on this. Then finally, the Ivory Tower had never been great at actual fighting, but as I know them, they will not want to be the only ones to be left out of this either."

Fidesu suddenly smirked as he leaned in to whisper conspiratorially to Merec.

"Then I've also heard that the Equidae are mobilizing their forces to come to your assistance and there are rumours are the Bovidae may be following suit as well soon!" Fidesu nodded smugly when Merec only gaped at him. "That, despite the unfortunate event at Kantmere. Then again you did more good for the equine lands than ill, so it should come as no surprise that they are eager to help. But as a bovine myself, I must admit that to hear the Bovidae might also be sending an army here is surprising... but then again probably not that much. Our lands will be the territories to feel the consequences of what is to happen here first." He clasped the human's shoulder firmly. "So, do not fear, you are not alone in this."

"Thank you, sir!" Merec managed to smile. "The good news is much appreciated."

"I'll be off then, chat to you later?" The bull nodded a quick greeting before he and the Nacre delegation followed the others outside.

"I'm afraid what he didn't say is that it will take time for them to get here and until they arrive, we are extremely vulnerable," Vicia quietly stated as she came to stand next to Merec again.

"But we still have time to prepare, I think!" Merec replied.

"That is exactly the problem," Gullivarth stated sombrely, a slight curl of smoke still rising from his snout as he glared out the windows. "As I remember Quattor, his main flaw was his impatience. He was never one to think before he acted, so I doubt he will take the time to assemble a proper force. No, rather he will come for us as soon as possible."

"How can you not know what is going to happen?" Hurthor grumbled annoyed, looking up at the large dragon. "Aren't you a god or something?"

"I've been over this many times already!" Gullivarth growled frustrated, turning an exasperated eye on the Yellow Vice-councillor. "One, I am not a god! Two, when I returned to this realm, I became bound to time again so I cannot see exactly what was, what will be or what is happening elsewhere. I can only remember what I had seen of possible futures before my return. Three, due to agreements between real Gods, I cannot intervene in this directly..."

"Okay, okay!" Hurthor yelped, holding his hands up placatingly. "Sorry I asked!

"But even if this... Quattor will come for us without preparing properly first, we still should have some time!" Gahntuar commented, looking up at Gullivarth questioningly. "He will first need to hear that we have taken up residence here, then he has to get that army together, then march that army across the Shadowlands to get to us..."

"The time is less than you think!" Gullivarth stated solemnly, looking away as if ashamed. "Quattor already knows that I have returned. He will have felt my passing through the Aetherfontes and that can mean only one thing to him, that you are here as the prophecies foretold. And remember the rolling hills of the local Shadowlands is much easier to traverse than the steep climb across the Curndors you came up with last week."

"Yes, but if we can hold out long enough, we might stand a chance!" Alund commented, the Amber Councillor looking up unsurely at the large dragon.

"Do you think anyone will be able to reach us in time?" Merec asked worriedly, turning to the large chestnut stallion next to Vicia.

"Honestly... I don't know!" Alund admitted with a worried sigh. "If they do, it may mean that this Master took time to better prepare for this fight, in which case I doubt they will be enough to sway the tide of war. And if your," he cast another unsatisfied glance at Gullivarth, "patron is correct, this demon will attack us before we are ready."

"Can we not use the portal to bring the armies across?" Merec asked, suddenly a little hopeful. "Like we just did with the Circle of Five?"

"I'm afraid not," Hurthor grumbled quickly, seemingly having thought about it as well earlier. "Like magi, magical artefacts can also suffer from Manaburns if used too often. Even the one created by a Theos." He cast Gullivarth an unsure glance as well, clearly not sure what to think about the creature. "If we bring even one army across, the portalstones will fail catastrophically, doing who knows what to both locations the portal had joined. Add the power of an Aetherfontes, and..." The bovid did not complete the thought but only shrugged.

"And one does not cut the veil on a whim," Vicia agreed, "even with the use of portalstones. And one never leaves the portal open for longer than is absolutely necessary. If I had my way, I'd even have advised against bringing in the rest of the magi in like this, but we are running out of options very quickly."

"What about the other races?" Jerielle suddenly asked. "You've mentioned the Equidae and Bovidae... but what about the rest."

"No luck there, I'm afraid!" Alund replied with a despairing shake of his head. "That other demoness who had been on the loose had done quite a number on interspecies relationships. True, with the human king dead and her involvement in starting their war now in the open, the humans had called for a truce with the wolves, foxes and the northern lions who had recently decided to side with the canine allies. But tensions are still very high and none of them are able, or even willing, to move any of their forces east. The southern species are also in a deadlock, still because of the Banzinen Incident of years ago and the tensions between the magic loving and fearing cultures there are still at a flash-point. There are urgent negotiations underway, but you can consider the Viridae, the Cervidae, the Ursidae, the Tigrae, and the southern half of the Leonae also unable to come to your assistance in the foreseeable future. This Senna may have been the ignition, but these tensions go back generations and won't be eased quickly, I fear. Then, as you know the elves are unable to help anyone following the disaster on the Echoren. But at least their position is secure enough that they were able to send the rest of your Lúgroccae forces this way, as well as just about the entire gryphon-knight division you fought alongside two months ago..."

"Wait-wait-wait," Gahntuar managed to stop the equine. "The others are coming here?"

"Of course," the Amber Councillor stated, giving Gullivarth a questioning frown. "Didn't..."

"I've requested the Archmagus here to call the rest of the Lúgroccae here," Gullivarth stated calmly, though his crest did betray his awkwardness at not having told them what he was up to. "I didn't want to get your hopes up as they may be just too late, but I have asked that they come with speed as it is urgent."

"I would like to join you when you meet with Archmagus Fidesu," Vicia suddenly stated, herself a little worried about the prospect of a coming battle they will not be prepared for, "but right now, I must ask that you excuse us as well. The other counsels have already left the main tower, and we also would like to inspect Juinkarr for ourselves. See where best we can help with the preparations."

"Of course," Merec forced a smile. "I'm looking forward to a more relaxed chat this afternoon."

"Thank you," the Amber Archmagus replied, greeting her hosts with a respectful nod to each. "Roccan'hir. Lúg'hir."

And with that, the Yellow delegation also headed to the door, already whispering amidst themselves about what they can do. The Lúgroccan high command watched them go with bemused looks.

"it is hard to believe this is actually happening!" Merec stated unsurely.

"And yet, it is!" Aerhin agreed, equally hesitant about what he was seeing.

"You forgot to perform that draconic greeting to the Amber Archmagus," Merec smirked, chuckling when the Gahntuar nipped annoyed at him.

"At least things are finally looking brighter for us!" the drake chirped excitedly, turning rather to the large drake next to him instead. "Isn't that right, sir?"

"Is... everything alright, my lord?" Jerielle gasped worriedly when Gullivarth did not share Gahntuar's enthusiasm. Instead, he was in clear distress with his crest low and his talons fidgeting at some of the loose stone tiles on the floor.

"Yes," Gullivarth tried to smile when the draine spoke to him, though he suddenly flinched at himself.

"And no," he admitted after a slight hesitation. "The night is only falling now, and it will get much darker before the dawn breaks. It may have been only a few hundred years since I was first banished from this realm, but I have dreaded the coming week for aeons."

"But... there is hope, right?" Gahntuar whimpered, finding the big dragon's distress rather infectious.

"Of course," Gullivarth replied, looking at the smaller dragon with the sad smile of one who knows something terrible and yet, cannot tell. "As long as there is life, there is always hope! I promise you that there will be a dawn after the coming night... just," the great dragon sighed, seriously troubled with his thoughts, "... not for all!"

***

"Divina lux illuminat tenebras, benedixitque gratiam dei. Protegas mehi ab inlecebra, sapientiam tuam dirigendos meos pedes in via iustitiae."

It was still early dawn and the light of the new day was filtering silvery through the half-opened flap of the tent he had been assigned. He did not need to repeat his meditation prayer. His fasting was done and his question answered, but he had found on his way here that the repetition helped calm his nerves and bring into focus what he had to do. He had time to himself before morning roll-call anyway, so he could after all use the time to pray to the Light for guidance again.

"Divina lux illuminat tenebras, benedixitque gratiam dei. Protegas mehi ab inlecebra, sapientiam tuam dirigendos meos pedes in via iustitiae."

Adulsworth remained silent in contemplation again as he stared at the unlit candle he had made stand on a small desk. It was one of the candles he had failed to light during his week of solitary fasting. He should have handed it back to the priests of the Light along with the other one when he exited his Meditation Cell, but for some reason, he had decided to keep it with him. Of course, some would see it as blasphemous that he still had it but for him, it reminded him of the new path the Light had shown him. Of his new insights into the Lúgroccae.

It also brought into question exactly how much of what those around him considered to be blasphemous was indeed so.

"Divina lux illuminat tenebras, sapientiam tuam dirigendos meos pedes in via iustitiae."

'Sapientiam tuam dirigendos meos pedes in via iustitiae' indeed! As was to be expected, voicing his recent revelations regarding the Lúgroccae had earned him some serious opposition and absolutely no support. Yet, deep down he knew he was right and that the Light needed him to follow this course. But... how to let the others see it as well? Before it was too late!

"Commander Adulsworth?" the lion orderly suddenly called out from outside the tent.

"Enter!" Adulsworth commanded, grabbing the candle and stuffing it back into his jacket pocket just as the flap opened and the young lieutenant stepped in.

"Your presence is requested at the General's tent, sir!" the orderly announced crisply, his face drawn into a slight frown in an attempt not to scowl.

"Ah, thank you!" Adulsworth stated as he rose to his feet and retrieved his officer's cloak, doing a much better job than the orderly in hiding his surprise at the very early summons. For a moment, the human felt sorry for the young lion who was assigned to see to the needs of probably the most unwelcome officer in the entire camp. "I must admit that, how some of the Brigadiers has started to try and discredit me, I started to fear that the General will not..."

"It is not about that, sir!" the orderly stated quickly, still standing at attention.

"Really?" Adulsworth asked shocked, this time unable to hide his emotions. "Do you know what it is about then?"

"Not specifically, sir!" the orderly admitted as Adulsworth exited his tent. "But something serious is going on. A massager arrived late last night in quite a panic and immediately headed for the General's tent. The story was exacerbated between the midnight and predawn guards and now there is some serious confusion within the camp. I've heard rumours that King Loburt is dead, as is High Commissioner Achius. Others say that the human King had everyone in the Temple of Light in Lendor arrested on charges of high treason. And others still claim that one of the demons of the dark age had survived and has launched an attack in eastern Kentereal again and another that Kerrathiene had been laid to waste..."

"Anything less far-fetched? Who in their right mind..." Adulsworth asked with an annoyed growl, but suddenly he recalled the preposterous claims of dragons in the Catarrum Mountains and orcs invading the Thirstlands some ten years ago. "Then again, have I not concluded that what we think we know may not always be accurate?"

"I wouldn't know, sir," the orderly growled diplomatically, obviously thinking of the human's recent 'insights' into the Dragonriders. Still, he was disciplined enough not to challenge his superior's opinion, despite clearly not sharing it.

They left the tent in silence, quickly heading over to where the larger General's tent was pitched in the central area of the camp. But almost immediately Adulsworth became aware of what the orderly had told him regarding the serious confusion amongst the soldiers. What he failed to mention was the palpable sense of nervous tension and doubt that lay thick around them. As they walked, they kept on passing soldiers who were gathered together in small clumps, talking in hushed voices and casting worried glances cast at any officer who passed by. Even Adulsworth received his share of nervous consideration instead of the usual scornful glares and as such, he found the mood of anticipation infectious.

As they neared the large tent where the General held his meetings, he noticed several other commanders approach and enter the tent as well.

"Lord Engfort?" the human called out to a large tiger as the brigadier appeared around the edge of the tent. "Do you know what is going on?"

Though the tiger had also not been very impressed with the recent suggestions from the human, he was at least one of the few in the camp professional enough to have listened to what Adulsworth had said before shooting him down. As such, the tiger scowled when he noticed who had talked to him, but he did allow the human the courtesy of an answer.

"Not a damned clue!" the tiger growled upset, looking around disapprovingly at the soldiers pretending to be busy with... nothing in particular. "But whatever it is, this needs to be handled fast and decisively!"

Adulsworth waited patiently by the flap to the General's tent, allowing his superior to step in first before he followed the tiger inside. He was not surprised to find most of the officers of the rank commander and above already present and waiting for the General to announce whatever the messenger from the night before had come to inform him about. What did worry him, however, where the three equines who stood patiently in one corner, one with a bag of satin cloth while the other held a book he assumed was the Annuals of Light. A third held a bowl of what looked to be blue balls made of glass. Initially, he had thought they were White magi, but the Flames of the Light emblazon on their chest confirmed the clerics as low-ranking priests of the Light. A heavyset human with a thick, bushy moustache shoved him with a lazy shoulder from behind as he pushed into the tent as well, not so much as turning to apologize. Adulsworth glared after the man he had come to know as Commander Juan Steele and was about to confront him for the slight against his honour, but the press of officers talking amongst themselves as they tried to guess what was going on made it not worth the effort.

The unpopular human stuck to the side of the tent, looking over the gathering and trying to ignore the few covert glares he was receiving. Luckily, the wait was not long and soon, the last two commanders joined them also talking about the strange meeting, guessing that the Dragonriders were finally tracked down and that volunteers were needed to bring the demons to justice.

"Everybody present?" General Saintclare asked solemnly, the heavily built human's scarred face looking over the array of officers assembled within. He nodded in satisfaction, coughing in uncharacteristic awkwardness before he started to speak. "Good! I'll try to be brief, but there is no easy way of conveying what I am about to tell you." He took a deep breath as if to find the courage to do the impossible before he continued again. "Five days ago, the Ivory Tower moved to arrest Lady Fucia on suspicion of treason, sabotage, terrorism and various Circle of Five related accusations which includes the casting of illegal spells and..."

"What! That is absurd!" an angry voice called from somewhere at the back of the assembly.

"This is obviously a ploy to discredit us in retaliation for the Banzinen Incident!" a second agreed with his colleague. "Rather cowardly of them to wait until..."

"Enough!" General Saintclare snapped sternly. "Be as it may, our dear Lady has completely disappeared, and the contact details of her closest relatives have proven to be false. Furthermore... I SAID ENOUGH!" The general had to raise his voice when the murmuring started up again. "Furthermore, King Loburt was found dead in her quarters, where he had been slain with one such 'illegal magic spell' as she has been accused of performing in the past. Even worse, in retrospect, the symptoms of the king's strange illness of the past decade correspond closely to those described even in the Annuals of Light as someone who had suffered in the long term from powerful, mind-altering magic. Symptoms, which have also recently been observed in Lord Achius though not to the same extent."

The human general had to call for silence again, but this time the murmuring did not quiet down, and the six brigadiers had to step in.

"But... even if it were true, why would Lady Fucia, who had played an important role in the reestablishment of the Alliance of Light, make a move like this?" one surprisingly young fox shouted. "It does not make sense!"

"I agree!" Steele affirmed his vulpine friend next to him. "This is obviously propaganda to discredit her and by extension the High Commissioner himself. And on the eve of the greatest battle of our time no less!"

"The information is still very sketchy," Saintclare stated when the tent had quieted down, even though his hold on the order was still very flimsy, "but that does not change the fact that we have strict protocols to follow now. The Annuals of Light makes it crystal clear that every member who had been in contact with a suspected shadowfriend is to be relieved of duty, pending an investigation by an independent panel of judges. Sadly, with Lady Fucia having been such an integral part of the Alliance as a whole, that means that the whole Temple of Light in Lendor, as well as the entire High Command of the Alliance, must be considered compromised."

"But... can we afford to shut down the whole of the Main Temple?" an older wolf and the last commander to arrive asked. The wolf Adulsworth had not yet met in person stood nearby the human with a raised hand as he voiced the first real comment worthy of note. "And who is to lead us in our greatest hour if the entire High Command has to be suspended? Our soldiers need their leaders!"

"By seniority, the Temple in Kerrathiene is to take over from Lendor!" Saintclare announced. "The Grand Priest there will be taking on the responsibilities of the High Commissioner until Lord Achius and Lady Fucia has been acquitted of all wrongdoing. However, the bovine Priest there had gone into meditate isolation following," the General shot Adulsworth a reprimanding glare, "a disturbing discussion with one of our senior officers who had recently completed his compulsory meditation there!" Though he said nothing directly against Adulsworth, many in the tent turned to glare disapprovingly at the unpopular commander as if he was at fault for the whole affair. "Therefore, the Grand Priest in Garrowull will be taking charge of the Alliance for now."

"How is that going to affect the Alliance's stance on returning to our original roots?" a voice lost in the throng of commanders asked. "I mean, it is no secret that the equines are much more lenient towards the use of magic than either the humans or bovines..."

"Enough!" the General snapped furiously. "It is not your place to question the decisions of your superiors! While we are all confident that the Light will exonerate Lady Fucia and that Lord Achius will be able to resume his duties as normal with speed, Garrowull will take over all operational functionality from Lendor with immediate effect. If they chose to try and amend relations with the Circle of Five, then we have to be confident that it is the Light that lead them to such a conclusion!" He gave Adulsworth another meaningful glare, though this time it seems to have gone unnoticed. With a shock, Adulsworth realized that even the General was seriously worried about something other than the rumours from Thendor and reluctant about something! But... what?

"Sir, you mentioned that the entire High Command is to be suspended with immediate effect," an ursine brigadier questioned carefully. "Who, exactly would that be and how will it affect us here in the field?"

"That is the most urgent problem we are facing," the General admitted, his shoulders suddenly sagging as if he had hoped the question would not be raised. "The procedure for compromised personnel demands that everyone in regular, direct contact with the suspected shadowfriend must be suspended from their duties with immediate effect."

"But that would mean..." the ursine stated with a worried gasp, but he did not dare to complete the phrase.

"Everyone at the rank of brigadier and above!" Saintclare admitted with an unsatisfied grunt now that the secret was out. "Yes, that includes you and me."

"But we cannot change the whole command structure on the eve of battle!" Adulsworth gasped upset, not even noticing the surprised stares he suddenly received. "The soldiers need stability, especially given the severity of the fight to come!"

"Yet, we have no other choice!" Saintclare stated firmly, though with an upset grumble to his voice. "If we start making exceptions to explicit rules, we might as well throw out the rulebook entirely. And then we would be no better than the shadows we are opposing. In the small change... SMALL CHANCE that Lady Fucia is indeed a shadowfriend, she will have worked to prevent us from truly achieving our goal to defeat Juinkarr and therefore, everything she has done must be purged from us."

"Who is to lead the army then?" another brigadier, a lean but deceptively dangerous human asked worriedly. "There is a form of seniority amongst the brigadiers if something should happen to the command structure, but it is not as clearly defined amongst the commanders who now have to step up into our positions."

"These are unprecedented times and unprecedented circumstances!" Saintclare agreed. "All we have we can be sure of now is our faith in the Light. The acting general and the new brigadiers will therefore be appointed by the Light through Cleromancy."

"And how will we choose who is to draw lots for the position?" a bovid commander quickly asked from the side, failing to suppress an eager tone to his voice.

"It will not be true Cleromancy if we filtered out candidates first!" Saintclare insisted, glaring towards the three equines waiting patiently in the corner. "Everyone present here is to take part. All commanders..."

"But sir!" the bovid appealed with an angry gesture towards Adulsworth, "you cannot be seriously considering allowing him to participate in the drawing of lots?"

"I concur!" another bovid friend agreed loudly. "We all know he has been considering that the Alliance side with shadowspawn of all things!"

An argument broke out within the tent, with most people shouting for the removal of Adulsworth from the poll whilst a few others tried to restore order.

"ENOUGH!" Saintclare roared, banging his fist down on the small table on which maps of the local region was spread open. "I WILL NOT TOLERATE DISOBEDIENCE! HAD IT BEEN ANY OTHER TIME, I WOULD HAVE HAD YOU ALL CONFINED FOR INSUBORDINATION!" When calm descended again, he continued in a softer but still furious tone. "But just like you all may not be dismissed from this Cleromancy, so he must be allowed to stand for the drawing of the lots!

"But..." Steele tried to argue against the logic again but was silenced by his brigadier.

"The Grand Priest of Kerrathiene had not been able to argue fully against the logic he claims to have received from the Light," the general growled upset at the truth of the matter. "In fact, the Priest has gone into Meditate Isolation himself to seek confirmation from the Light as well. Do you dare to claim you know better than any of the Grand Priests?"

There was a hesitant murmur of 'no' from the assembled group as the General glared at them.

"Is there anyone here that can give proof that Commander Adulsworth has broken any of the Alliance's rules and regulations?"

Again, an even softer murmur of 'no' filtered through the strangely still air in the tent.

"Is there anyone here who can prove that Commander Adulsworth is unfit to keep his rank or to be the recipient of a field promotion to a higher rank than he has now?"

"He had been advocating that we work together with the Dragonriders!" Commander Steele jumped eagerly at the opportunity.

"According to the Annuals of Light:" Brigadier Engfort clarified to him sternly. "Has he taken steps for selfish gain or to bring the Alliance into disrepute or disaster, knowingly or not?"

"How does justifying the near destruction of Kantmere by the Dragonriders not constitute bringing the Alliance into disrepute?" Steele argued triumphantly. "Not to mention, there is still a standing order by the Temple of Light in Lendor that the hearts of their two leaders are to be brought to the High Commissioner without delay. Disobeying that order..."

"An order as given specifically by Lady Fucia, you mean?" the wolf next to Adulsworth questioned softly, yet audibly. That took the winds completely out of the other human's sails for a moment. "I think it is safe to assume that all orders that originated with a suspected shadowfriend should be disregarded until further notice!"

"That still doesn't explain the Kantmere issue!" Steele objected and the wolf had to relent.

"Adulsworth?" the general hissed, clearly wanting to take Steele's side but with the three clerics in the corner, he knew he had to perform this Cleromancy strictly by the book. "By the Grace of the Light, you are allowed the opportunity to answer this challenge."

"Do the Alliance stand by the actions of all its members, irrespective of what those actions may be?" Adulsworth demanded, turning to face Steele directly. "Or had we not discharged soldiers for taking bribes or extorting those placed in their care. Had we not flogged deserters and cowards who gladly take the glory of the Badge of the Light, but do not want to lift a finger to honour their responsibilities. Had we not executed shadowfriends wherever we could find them, be it in the society at large or even within our own ranks? Are we guilty of the wrongs done in our name, despite punishing the guilty parties?"

"But that is the point!" Steele snapped with an air of superiority. "The Dragonriders did nothing to rectify the atrocity!"

"Have you conveniently forgotten that the guilty parties have been banished to the Thirstlands?" Adulsworth retorted, not backing down.

"A mere slap on the wrist..." Steele muttered dismissively, but Adulsworth interrupted him.

"Will you be able to survive an unknown time in a desert?" Adulsworth snapped, a sudden fire within him urging him not to back down, not to allow his accuser why room to wriggle out of the quasi-trial. "The Annuals of Light demand that those accused of being shadowfriends must be allowed to state their case before their accusers. Yet the Dragonriders have been found guilty by all who stand here without their side of the story being heard. True, there were times when we did not allow such formalities least they curse their captors or enchant them into releasing their prisoners, but there is no proof that the Dragonriders had ever used or even been capable of such feats. Do not call judgment upon others without truly trying to understand them. We have demanded the same when authorities had criticized the punishment we deal out to every convicted shadowfriend."

"We did what the lesser authorities did not dare to do!" Steele declared vehemently. "Every time we took drastic action, the local authorities had claimed we acted too harshly. But we knew what had to be done and made sure we saw it through."

"Because we were in a better position to make those choices!" Adulsworth agreed. "And does that not hold for the Dragonrider council, who ever closer to the events regarding Kantmere?"

"Surely that does not hold for Shadowspawn themselves..." Steele scoffed, unknowingly stepping into the same hole as the Grant Priest the week prior.

"Why not?" Adulsworth quickly jumped on the opportunity presented to him. "What holds for one hold for another. The Universal Truth does not alter to fit one's needs at a particular time or place, else it will no longer be the truth!"

"But the Grace of the Light cannot be made available to those of the shadow!" Steele argued desperately, feeling the debate he had to win at all costs slipping away from him.

"Then how can we demand of them to hold to the same law as us?" Adulsworth snapped. "By that logic, the shadow may be free to do as it likes for it stands under a different law than we do. The law that condemns has to be the same as the law that governs."

"I," Steele snapped fervently, but then his mind became blank.

"I," he tried again, wetting his lips in a sudden panic as he realized the despised commander had bested him. "I cannot fault your logic at the moment, but I still don't agree with you."

It was a pathetic attempt to continue the debate. And it was not good enough.

"Then, if there is no other objection…?" Saintclare grumbled, a little annoyed that Steele had failed. He glanced around the suddenly silent room, hoping to see someone else try their luck at finding fault with the annoying commander. But after they had seen Steele being put in his place and remembering that even the Grand Priest could not best his debating skills, they wisely chose to remain silent.

"Then we have no choice but to allow him to participate!" the general sighed, nodding to the three clerics who was still patiently waiting to be called.

"But what if he becomes general?" Steele's vulpine friend shouted desperately. "He will have us join forces with those winged monsters!"

"Then it will be the ultimate proof that the Light had indeed spoken to him during his meditation," the one cleric suddenly stated, his voice soft but cutting. "And as a servant of the Light, it will be your duty to obey."

"But before we can conclude anything on that matter," the general stated quickly, "the Light must first appoint him as acting general." He took the bowl of little glass pellets from the one cleric and placed it on the table.

"This is a little unorthodox, but it is the best we could do on such short notice!" Saintclare announced, twirling his one hand through the beads. As he mixed it, one yellow bead rose to the surface and the general picked it up. "The clerics with us has assured me that this will be an acceptable form of Cleromancy as each bead is uniform in size and shape, and cannot be distinguished between each other without the ability to see their colour by those who will be drawing lots today.

"There are twenty-four beads in total, one for each of the commanders stationed here!" he continued, holding up the yellow one. "Most of them are blue as you can see while six of them are yellow." He dropped the yellow bead back between the blue ones and after rummaging through the small pile again, he pulled out a clear bead to show them. "One has no colour at all!"

"Now, the rules of this divine lot are simple," the general announced as he replaced the clear bead on the pile of blue ones and carefully dumped the contents of the bowl into the black satin bag that one of the clerics was holding out to him. "Each of you will be given a turn to draw out a single bead. Select a yellow bead and you will take over command from one of the brigadiers. Find the white one, and the Light has seen it fit that you are to lead this army in my stead. Understood?"

When there were no objections, the battle priest with the bag stepped in amongst the commanders, holding the bag in such a way that they could not see what was happening inside. The first three commanders to draw out beads were all blue, while the first yellow one belonged to Commander Steele of all people. He grinned satisfied as he rolled the little trinket between his fingers, looking on as the next seven beads were also blue. The lupine who came in last was the second to receive a yellow bead.

And then, it was Adulsworth's turn. He looked on in apprehension as the black bag was held out to him. Though he had been aware of it ever since the General had announced the Cleromancy, he realized all over again the importance of his draw. Should he fail to find the clear bead, his struggle the past few weeks since the Battle on the Echoren would have been for nought. In fact, it might even be the end of his military career, as he will stagnate in his position if he was lucky. But should he pull out the colourless one, it would mean the confirmation of the new convictions he had so longed to give those around him.

He chastised himself at his hesitation. Had he not prayed for the Light to make its will known to those around him? Had he not been asking for something like this, to show the naysayers around him that the Light was far more glorious in its power than they have ever made of it?

With a sigh, he cast as much of his doubts he could muster aside and reached into the bag. All he could do now is pray and trust in the Light.

'Divina lux illuminat tenebras, benedixitque gratiam dei!' he whimpered a soft prayer to himself as he felt around at the beads. They all felt the same to him, so how was he supposed to make an informed decision? But then he realized that was the point: He had to stop trying to overreach himself and simply trust in the Light.

Almost irritated with himself now, he started to close his fingers around the first bead that was in reach, but then another seemed to roll over his fingers to lie comfortably in the crook of his forefinger. So Adulsworth took that one. To him, it was as good as any other, so why worry? Quickly, he pulled his hand free, hesitating yet again before opening his hand to reveal the glass bead he held in his palm.

It had no colour.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" the bovid who first challenged Adulsworth's right to participate in the Cleromancy complained loudly.

"The Light has made its decision known!" Brigadier Engfort snapped, though he sounded a little surprised at the result. "You will respect it!"

Wordlessly, the equine priest held the bag up to the bovid, though with a glare of disapproval at the commander's attitude towards the obvious will of the Light. The bovid plunged his hand into the bag and quickly pulled out another blue bead.

"Well, no surprises there!" he snarled, hurling his bead across the tent and storming out. Three more commanders who had also drawn blue quickly followed him amidst complaints about the lot being rigged somehow.

"Should I have them brought back, sir?" the wolf next to him asked unsurely, still carefully holding onto the yellow bead in his hand. It took Adulsworth a confused second to realize that he was now in overall command.

"Let," Adulsworth started to say, stuttering awkwardly with the sudden weight of authority given to him. "Let him cool down first. These are strange times, and everyone should be allowed a moment to process what is happening."

"Yes, sir!" the nameless lupine agreed with a thoughtful nod of his head.

The rest of the Cleromancy ceremony went by in a blur for Adulsworth as he rolled the bead in his hand over and over between his fingers. He was vaguely aware of several other commanders also leaving the tent after drawing blue, with various levels of disappointment. But their lack of a field promotion was irrelevant to his troubling thoughts. Yes, he wanted his superiors to understand that the Dragonriders may be important allies in the fight to come, but he didn't want to supplant them! And yes, he had long ago hoped to lead a brigade in this battle, but being general was too much. He was not prepared to lead a whole army!

"That will be all then!" Saintclare suddenly announced. "That was the last of the yellow beads. I believe congratulations to our new Military High Command are in order!" He didn't sound very impressed with the outcome, obviously having considered other candidates better for the job. But this was how the Light had willed it and he had to abide by the decision. "The seven of you are to remain behind for a proper debriefing. The rest of you are dismissed."

There were a few murmurs between the commanders who were unlucky enough to have received a blue bead as they quickly filed out of the tent. In no time it was only the original general and brigadiers, the three clerics and the newly appointed officers who remained behind in the awkward silence.

"I need to stress that this promotion is only temporary, pending approval by the new High Commissioner!" General Saintclare stated firmly, levelling a hard gaze on each of them and lingering a moment on Adulsworth. "When Lord Achius has been exonerated, you will return to your original posts. But if you do impress, you may find yourselves on the next shortlist for promotions."

"Understood, sir!" Adulsworth replied crisply.

"So, General Adulsworth," the wolf whose name he still didn't know asked as they gathered around the previous general's table. He sounded reluctant, but willing to obey the will of the Light. "I assume you will be wanting to go find those... dragons of yours?"

"To be honest, no!" Adulsworth stated firmly as he reluctantly walked up to the table, approaching the piece of furniture as if one of the maps laid open on it was going to jump up and attack him. "The threat of Juinkarr is more pressing at the moment. If the Light deems their role in the coming fight that necessary, their location will be revealed to us in due time. Right now, we have to consider Lady Fucia's advice in setting up these defences as sabotage and completely re-plan our strategy in fighting off the coming horde."

***

Once the majority of the Black magi arrived, progress on the defensive walls proceeded with surprising speed. The outermost wall was mostly up, though the decision was made to strengthen it by adding additional height and weight to the structure. Two additional concentric walls that cut through the ruins were also in the process of being created, though they still needed some serious work to patch up the sections that had collapsed.

"Why are they building three walls when the Amber Tower has only one?" Gahntuar questioned as he lay lazing on the uppermost level of Juinkarr Citadel, his tail hanging down over the edge where the original wall had collapsed into the river long ago. They knew this section of the structure was safe as they often saw Gullivarth sitting up here, keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings of getting the Tower ready for the coming attack, or carefully studying the southern horizon with palpable anticipation.

"Archmagus Eroul informed me their investigations found that the original design of these ruins incorporated three defensive walls, so the Jet Tower is using that original layout to build up our defences!" Merec stated as he watched some of their dragons assist in clearing out the fallen rubble, pushing them out from amidst the still-standing structures towards the walls where the magi could incorporate the rubble into the new walls. It was easier to reuse the rubble in the walls, moulding and shaping it to their needs than to cart in fresh stones from the surrounding mountains... and it helped clear out space between the buildings so that they could walk around more freely.

"Interestingly enough, there is evidence the walls wrapped around towards the east side of the ruins as well, though they not as strong as the westward-facing defences!" the human continued, shifting as much as he dared to look back towards the west where their original guardhouse stood. Though he was sitting next to his dragon, he was not quite as comfortable near the dangerous edge of the crumbling balcony as Gahntuar was. True, they had to show face down there to do their part as well, but right now they just wanted some peace and quiet where the Triumvirates could not reach them.

"The old demon council didn't trust their minions, I take it," Gahntuar commented, his tail flicking absentmindedly to and fro over the edge. The drake grinned when he noticed Felicity and Adulf appearing from between the ruins, walking up to the central plaza. The vixen was waving her arms about as she tried to explain yet again to the confused Green they had been waiting for exactly how it was that they had come to secure Juinkarr like this… and what the entire Circle of Five was doing here a day before he managed to arrive.

"It appears to be the case," Merec muttered. "That Claw did say they do not trust each other much!" Gahntuar growled upset at the mention of the hated draine and Merec quickly changed the topic. "But the east-facing defences are not strong enough to ward off an attack, so the Black magi are improving them in addition to the repairing work."

They watched two of the magi working on the inner wall gather up the rubble brought to them even as the dragons arrived with their loads, lifting it into a gap in the structure while a third bound the loose stones with magic together to form a seamless section of wall.

"They are using quite a lot of Mana," Gahntuar commented worriedly.

"They are, but here there is no shortage of it here!" Merec replied with a grin. "There is an overabundance of it, in fact. And I hear they are working in shifts which are regularly rotated, so they will be able to go longer before suffering even the slightest of Manaburns."

"Theirs's is not to fight but prepare, let them thus work with devotion and care!" the croaking voice of a phoenix suddenly announced, making the two hiding from the world look up with a startled yelp.

"Finally decided to show yourself again, Lunch?" Gahntuar growled annoyed as he glared up at the fiery bird, not truly knowing if it was the same creature who had stayed so long at the Dirt Tower nor caring at that moment. The creature was sitting on a broken section of what once had been the floor above theirs, looking down at them with interest. When Gahntuar spoke to it, the bird gave an indignant squawk and a defiant clack of his beak, though it did edge a little away from the drake nonetheless.

"Oh, leave her!" Gullivarth rumbled, making the two hiding up here yelp in fright yet again. "She did what she was told. Or will you have gone to Eylendore Forest knowing you would lose about half of the souls who followed you there? Even if it meant saving the Lúgroccae as a whole?"

Gahntuar opened his mouth to vehemently argue back, finding it unthinkable that anyone could be asked to do such a thing on purpose. But then he had to relent the point. Where would the Lúgroccae be now if they had not won such honour on the banks of the Echoren?

"I'm still not happy with where we were led," he grumbled with a defeated huff.

"Sometimes, it is better not to know the future exactly!" Gullivarth stated with a tired sounding sigh, making a point of it not to look at them. Instead, he allowed his gaze to drift about the cracked floor and up the wall to finally regard the phoenix itself. "Often, it is better for us to pass through various troubles than to take the path of least resistance and end up... nowhere!"

The great dragon suddenly talked to the phoenix, speaking in what they thought was a flawless mimicry of the indecipherable squeaks and twerps. The phoenix clacked her beak annoyed at him and after a curt reply, she flew off. There were an additional squawk and two more phoenixes followed her.

"We did not hear you land, sir!" Merec quickly stated, trying to change the topic.

"I know how to move around quietly if I want to," Gullivarth smirked, finally looking around at them again.

"So, you wanted to give us a fright?" Gahntuar suggested, but the joke rolled a little awkwardly off his tongue.

"It did work, didn't it!" Gullivarth laughed, flopping down on Merec's other side. "But to be honest, I've been avoiding the various magi councils. Their demands for proof of my divine authority or questioning my motives have long ago started to annoy me!" He gave an indignant snort, flicking a light plume of smoke away with his snout. "Well, hopefully by this afternoon they will know better than to annoy me with such unnecessary nonsense!"

"What do you mean?" Merec asked, intrigued.

"You'll see," the great dragon replied, giving the human a knowing smirk. "It will be impossible to miss in fact!"

"You are not going to tell us this time either!" Gahntuar accused the larger dragon with an annoyed growl.

"Nope!" Gullivarth chuckled like he was playing a prank on them. "It will spoil the surprise, I think!"

Gahntuar glared up at his great-grandfather, flicking his snout a little rudely at the larger drake and only receiving a hearty laugh for his trouble. With an annoyed grunt, he returned his attention to the preparations on the defensive walls, noticing a cluster of magi inspecting a section of the very outer wall that was already finished. Then even as he watched, the spell they were casting took effect and the stone of the wall shimmered for a bit before it took on the appearance of badly rusted copper.

"What are those the magi doing?" the drake asked astonished. "Shouldn't they be focusing more on important stuff rather than amuse themselves with... that..."

"Can't argue with that!" Merec agreed, now also looking at the group of Black magi arguing amongst themselves. "But it does remind me of the other Towers that have similar illusions on their walls that represent their namesake. Maybe they are trying to convey to the world that the Shadowlands are no longer in control of Juinkarr... But then again, the illusions of the other Towers' are all some kind of organic substance related to their name. What is that supposed to be?"

"It looks like scales!" Gahntuar suddenly realized. And not just any scales, but his own... or Gullivarth's who shared a very similar irredentist colouration. However, if that was meant to be the case, the spell hadn't succeeded as it reminded the drake more of oversized fish scales instead of reptilian ones.

"Interesting," Merec mused thoughtfully. "Hopefully their amusement will help us get the Coral Tower off our backs about Juinkarr at least! Can you believe they've managed to corner me earlier today and demand I relinquish control of the Tower to them? Again?"

"That may be part of their idea, to be honest," Gullivarth smirked, turning to the two with him. "You may not know this yet, but Archmagi Vicia and Fidesu have been discussing between themselves about getting the Lúgroccae recognized as a Tower of the Circle as well. They have already been in conversation with Archmagus Eroul about it as well."

"Why would they do that?" Merec asked surprised, looking up at the large dragon. "Did you tell them to?"

"They thought of it themselves," Gullivarth quickly countered. "It makes sense from their point of view as well. The Nacre and Amber Towers have always assisted you, so you will be more likely to side with them in future Circle of Five official sittings, should you receive Tower status in your own right. And having an alliance of three Towers will be very advantageous to all three. But it is not just they who will be benefitting from such an arrangement. As a Tower in your own right, you will be safe from the Coral Tower, the Alliance of Light and any other authority who would try to abuse your strength. At least, as long as the autonomy of the Circle survives."

"You said before we should work towards this goal as well?" Gahntuar recalled.

"That is correct," Gullivarth agreed, but then he sighed again as his mood dropped somewhat again. "But first, we need to survive the coming night!" He indicated to where the cluster of magi who had been playing with the illusion spell was arguing with a group of Reds now. "That illusion they are working on actually serves a more important purpose than simply to look cute. You see, it uses up a lot of the excess Mana, so the flora in the garden doesn't get out of hand quite as much. And it also serves as a kind of buffer against any overspill of Mana. The idea is that attacking magi cannot utilize the Mana from the Aetherfontes directly until they have first breached that outer wall. It comes from the days of the Amber Rebellion, though I doubt any but the Black magi still remember the true purpose of the grand illusions these days."

"Oh," Gahntuar gasped, looking back at the arguing magi with a new understanding.

"That... is actually smart!" Merec agreed with a thoughtful nod.

"You should not question the expert decisions of those who have come to your aid!" Gullivarth smirked. "The Blacks have to put up the defences as quickly as they can, and as best they can. When Quattor arrives, most of them will only be in the way as they are not that well equipped to fight. True, they can be useful to repair any damage to the defences, but only when there is a lull in the fighting."

"Still, there are several, very talented smiths among them," Merec commented, trying to look towards the western gate where some of the forges were being repaired. "I know this will be a different fight, but from what I recall from Corrumwhell's siege, the small band of smiths we had were busy the entire time."

"But those smiths you mentioned are not working as Mana intensively as those fixing the defences right now, are they?" Gullivarth asked patiently.

"I guess you have a point there, sir," Merec admitted. "A few are busy assisting Lesley and Claude in preparing any weapons and armour they can get their hands on for the attack, but they are not doing anything magical at the moment."

"Lesley is here?" Gahntuar chirped with a smirk Merec had come to be wary of. "And you didn't go to see her?"

"She and Claude came through the portal with the second batch of magi to help us prepare!" Merec stated, firmly pushing the inquisitive snout away. "You know most of your armour needs refitting and I know Jerielle's saddle needs work. And I need a new sword still... Which reminds me! I heard there is a young human magus amongst the Blacks who is apparently from somewhere in the northern peninsula. He is especially good at enchanting tools and I was thinking that he could help us with some custom charms for our armour. I know Claude has also been eager to meet him, but he seems rather hard to track down."

"Still, you should go greet her properly," Gahntuar rumbled softly nuzzling the human a little too insistently.

"Who said I didn't meet up with her when she arrived?" Merec asked affronted. But when his dragon friend gave him a knowing smirk, he shoved the narrow snout away again with an annoyed grunt. "Oh, shut up, you horny lizard! There will be time enough for that once we manage to settle in here properly!"

"If we can keep this place!" Gahntuar grumbled, his mood quickly souring as he watched another group of dragons clear out debris towards the innermost wall.

"Oh, don't worry too much," Merec tried to say jovially. "At least those walls look strong enough to offer us decent protection!"

"No, they will not be!" Gullivarth suddenly rumbled absentmindedly, staring again off towards the southern mountains. There was a mournful tone to his voice that had the other two stare up at him worriedly. "These walls will be breached, I have not seen any other way for the future to play out. And terrible sacrifices will have to be made."

"Sir?" Gahntuar gasped worriedly, looking down at the preparations. "Shouldn't we then, I don't know, inform the Blacks to strengthen the walls even more?"

"Do not fear, you are not alone in this!" Gullivarth stated softly, turning to give the smaller drake a nuzzle as if he was a scared hatchling. "Armies are mobilizing to come to your aid and they will be important in the fight to come, even the ones who are too late to make a physical difference. What I meant to say was that these walls alone will not be enough to protect you."

"How can you say we should not fear?" Merec gasped upset. "One of the great demons of the Dark Age is on his way here, to get a hold of our hearts so that he can reopen the way to Barathrum again! Now we hear that we will not be able to keep him out! And you keep on saying that you won't be helping us..."

"I did not say that!" the great dragon snapped a little forcefully, nipping at the human. Despite being used to dragon tirades and reprimands, Merec still flinched in surprise. The reaction of the human seemed to pacify Gullivarth and after a deep breath to calm himself again, he continued to talk more calmly to the human. "I said that I cannot move against Quattor directly yet, but there is much I can do and have already done to increase the likelihood that he will not walk away from this battle alive."

"Like?" Gahntuar challenged, forcing himself to relax the wing that had snapped around his human again.

"I brought them in, didn't I?" Gullivarth growled annoyed, glaring at the smaller drake as he indicated down to the magi with a wing. "And I made it known that you need assistance to the rest of Selebore. Much of the other things I have done, I cannot speak of least my preparations loses their effectiveness. But you will know them when the time is right."

"That is not very reassuring," Merec dared to mutter.

"You don't trust me?" Gullivarth hissed, still annoyed.

"I'd feel better if I knew what the plan was!" Merec admitted, looking up at the big dragon. Gullivarth stared at him for a moment in surprise, before he recalled his own experiences as a mortal in this real.

"That is not trust!" Gullivarth replied, forcing himself to smirk. "Trust is knowing I have the best interest at heart without having any proof."

"I... guess," Merec relented, hanging his head in reprimand. "It is just, this coming wave of darkness seems so insurmountable. It terrifies me."

"Good!" Gullivarth growled dangerously. "Even with me here, you should be terrified. If you were not, you would not have taken this threat seriously and then failure would have been inevitable! But think upon this: Those in service of Barathrum has a saying: 'There is no escaping the power of Barathrum. A light may shine, but eventually, it will fade, and the dark will return to claim its rightful rule over all things. All must eventually bow before the Great Night.'" The big dragon gave a rude snort at that, flicking his snout to disperse a slight puff of smoke. "It seems logical enough at first glance when one thinks of a candle in a deep cave. But they forget that all lights must eventually fade, it was never the intention for them to last forever. When its time is done, the next light must come forth to reveal something new, wondrous and equally true. Even mine will not last: I will return to this realm twice more but after that, my time here will be done and my name will pass into nothing more than myths."

"But how will we know if our time is done?" Gahntuar asked, not liking where this conversation was going. Gullivarth looked at him sharply, opening his mouth to reply. But the large dragon could not hold the gaze of the smaller one and he turned away with a sad sigh.

"You should not despair because of that fear though," he continued as if Gahntuar had not spoken. "As strong and omnipresent as it may seem, the Darkness cannot withstand the Light, for it is not in its nature. Even the smallest of lights will push back the dark and reveal the truth and beauty that has been obscured."

"So, you say that we only have to stand up against Quattor and we will succeed?" Merec asked with a frown, sharing a worried look with his dragon.

"No, I'm afraid it is not that easy!" Gullivarth replied with a sorrowful look in his eyes, like one who knows a terrible secret but cannot talk about it. "I have stated before that when I returned to this realm, I became part of the flow of time again and as such, I cannot see how our decisions will influence the future anymore. Sadly, there is a very good chance that Quattor will win the coming battle, and I may not oppose him as long as Nixoruma has not convinced Procellerus to revoke his protection of the demon. And with your hearts, he will begin a new Dark Age, one I know will last for millennia. So, do not underestimate him: He is the demon of wrath and as such, he is immensely strong and powerfully motivated to his cause. But that also makes him a fool, more prone to rash reaction than proper thinking.

"If he went about this correctly," the dragon continued, looking out towards the east with a growl, "he would take the time to properly gather his forces before marching upon Juinkarr again. True, it will give us time to better prepare defences and gather a more significant army, but one that we will not be able to keep stationed here for any length of time. The needed logistics just is not in place for us. But if I know him, he will only scrape together the northern orc clans as best he can before rushing over here. As long as he doesn't attack before the first army arrives, that will work in our favour. His army will be much smaller than he could have managed, and it will have no unity amongst the orcs, seeing how they were fighting each other only last month, as is the orc way. The only thing holding them together will be fear of him and even that is already slowly waning."

"How so?" Merec asked, recalling how easily the local tribe had surrendered Juinkarr.

"You may find this surprising," Gullivarth smiled again, turning to smirk confidently at them again. "But for all his strength and rash action, Quattor is actually a coward. He will not confront anyone who he even suspects will be able to stand up against him. In fact, since the death of Unus, he had been hiding in a tiny cave, a little to the south of here. As such, he has started to lose much of the control he had enjoyed over the Shadowlands during the Dark Age. Make no mistake, he is still dangerous and widely held in awe by the shadowspawn still fanatically loyal to Barathrum, but I am confident he will not treat you with the respect you deserve. I firmly believe that the Lúgroccae will be able to stand up to him and ultimately see him destroyed. And even if he was to win here, I firmly believe the Lúgroccae will endure to challenge him again."

"You have more faith in us than I have in myself!" Merec admitted, waving a hand towards the east. "How can anything I do stand up against... such overpowering darkness?"

"The Darkness we all have to be really worried about is not towards the east," Gullivarth smiled like a patient parent. He reached down suddenly to touch his large claw softly to the human's chest. "It is the Darkness inside all of us that is the most dangerous to us. Defeat that Darkness, and no one else's Darkness will be able to truly overwhelm you. Stand up for what is truly right and not what you want to be right, and even in death you will not have failed."

"How are we dying going to help anyone?" Gahntuar grumbled upset. "If we die, the demon gets what he wants, and a new Dark Age starts!"

"A true sacrifice of pure love is a powerful thing! It has destroyed demons before and will do so again," Gullivarth replied, still like a patient parent. "If you know how to deny the Darkness within yourselves, death will not stop you from denying victory to the darkness from outside."

"But... how?" Merec sighed, feeling a little overwhelmed. "How will we know how to fight the Darkness inside ourselves? And how will it save the others?"

"In the early days of your friendship, there were several times you could have gone your own directions," Gullivarth replied with a quick nuzzle to each. "Yet you decided to remain true to each other, irrespective of what others had to say or the challenges you faced. True, your... methods to affirm your friendship is most..." The great dragon gave a curious purr and sniffed interested at the human's chest, "... intriguing, but I am most grateful that you had found each other nonetheless. To be fair, I don't think Nixoruma is quite as impressed with your decisions in that regard as I am, but I know she will not intervene to put a stop to it, as is the unknowable ways of Divae."

"Yes, but I guess we needed each other!" Merec admitted, his face a little redder suddenly. "And in more ways than just physical affection... if you were wondering!"

"And that is exactly how you should live!" Gullivarth declared triumphantly. "When you take the time to consider things from the perspective of others, and you do not allow your desires and feelings to cloud your decisions, you will know what it is the right thing to do."

"We don't always have the time to patiently consider things!" Gahntuar grumbled annoyed.

"I think he means 'Do unto others...', right?" Merec queried.

"Precisely!" Gullivarth smirked, satisfied. "Okay, it is a little more involved than that, but you get the idea."

"But what if when the others don't show us the same courtesy?" Merec replied with a frown. "What if they demand of us that which they are unwilling to provide themselves?"

"I never said letting the Light shine within you will be easy!" Gullivarth laughed. "Or comfortable for that matter. More often than not, it will be a struggle against yourself. In the case you asked about, the action of others should not define your own!"

"That is easier said than done!" Gahntuar grumbled annoyed, looking down to the group of arguing magi where a White was finally coming to intervene.

"That is truer than you may realize," Gullivarth admitted with a sigh.

They were silent for a while, Gullivarth tapping out the rhythm of a long-lost tune as he watched the southern horizon with an air of impatience. Merec was about to suggest that they stop hiding from the Reds and go down again to assist with the clearing up of the rubble. But just as he inhaled to make the suggestion, Gahntuar spoke again.

"What I don't understand is why you only came to us now!" the smaller drake suddenly asked with an upset huff. "Why didn't you arrive sooner? You know we really needed your help..."

"And who says I did not help you before?" Gullivarth growled annoyed again. "Even from beyond the veil I have watched over you, even set the winds to favour you from time to time. I've done more than you can ever know, of which Nixoruma was not pleased about several things. A few even furious about, I have to admit to my shame."

"Like?" Gahntuar asked a little subdued.

"Many of the things I have done only make sense when viewed through the eyes of eternity!" Gullivarth admitted, flicking yet another puff of smoke away with his snout. "Many of the things are small stuff that doesn't make sense in the immediate moment, stuff like a slight shift in the wind... and I mean the natural wind, or a desire to see an old friend again. Though, there were instances where my meddling was more... in your face you could say. Like a strange decision to seek out an almost forgotten acquaintance to ask for assistance in a quest for vengeance." Gullivarth turned to look fixedly at Gahntuar as continued with a deep growl. "Or guiding a certain claw to a certain eye..."

"You...?" Gahntuar gasped, staring in shock at the great dragon before looking down at his own uplifted claws.

"Yes, I did!" Gullivarth admitted mutedly, looking away from them again. "It is the thing I have done that frustrated Nixoruma the most I would say, yet if given the choice again I most likely will choose to intervene on your behalf, even though it has and always will haunt me."

"Haunt you?" Gahntuar asked, a little shocked "You... regret saving me?"

"No!" Gullivarth snapped fiercely, turning to look at the smaller dragon determinedly. Yet, even as they made eye contact, Gullivarth's resolve seemed to wane and with a crest flat in distress, he turned away from them again. "And in a way, a bit!" he finally admitted with a frustrated sigh. "Do not think I do not value you, you are more precious to me than my own life. But so was your cousin Seghrien, and in destroying his eye to your advantage, I have caused great harm to myself. Harm you can only understand once you have witnessed eternity itself! Still, the Goddess of this realm is much wiser than me and may have managed to turn my betrayal of her trust into an even brighter future for all. But even with the knowledge of eternity I have, I cannot help but wonder if I had done the right thing that day, or if I should have handled it as Nixoruma had instructed me to do and left the two of you to fight it out on your own."

"But how can you defend Seghrien like that?" Merec asked astounded. "He had helped wipe out your linage, had he not?"

"I am not only the Theos of the dragons you like but to ALL dragons!" Gullivarth insisted with a dangerous growl. "You must understand that as long as I can help it, I will not pick sides between either the Umbrins and Lumors. In fact, I can barely wait for the day when the dragons of Selebore will be one clan again!"

"I still don't understand how you can justify the Umbrins!" Merec admitted with a shake of his head. "I mean, they serve Barathrum without question or hesitation, doing horrible things..."

"As have I, remember!" Gullivarth rumbled patiently, but insistently. "It was I who laid waste to all of Selebore in the service of Barathrum. I have burnt cities to the ground, killed thousands of people for crimes that were nothing more than their desire to determine their own destiny. I had a furious temper and a cruel idea of justice in my time as king!"

"But you turned against the demon council, didn't you?" Merec countered quickly.

"Then, how can you allow me the opportunity at redemption and not another?" Gullivarth asked softly, yet still insistently as he turned to look meaningfully at the nearby building where Ikessa was held prisoner. "How can you withhold the opportunity of redemption from anyone?"

"You speak of the Claw-of-the-Master?" Gahntuar gasped shocked before he regarded the building with a growl. "She is beyond redemption!"

"And who dare you claim to be, to decide such matters?" Gullivarth hissed, his crest erected in a direct challenge as he turned to glare at his great-grandson. "One of the things that held me back from passing through the veil was not just waiting for you to fulfil your destiny and capture this fortress, but also I have allowed a spiritual daughter of mine to the opportunity to turn against Quattor."

"Wasted grace if you ask me!" Gahntuar hissed, still fixated on the building and not even noticing Gullivarth display. "I can never forgive nor forget the lives she destroyed over the years."

"Nor will she, I assure you!" Gullivarth replied softly, his display relaxing somewhat as he looked back at the building again. "But if she so chooses when the time comes, she will one day play the leading role in the Lúgroccae victory over Septum's protégé, Farron." Gullivarth turned back to Gahntuar and gave him a serious nip, one that made the smaller drake yelp in shock. "But she cannot do so if you continue to force her to side with Barathrum after I have returned beyond the Veil."

"We never forced her to do anything!" Gahntuar appealed, crest quivering in shock at the treatment he just received from the big dragon. "She chose to commit all her strength into destroying us!"

"But what are you doing now?" Gullivarth hissed, trying to make a point.

"Being careful!" Gahntuar retorted. "Or can you say for sure she will not turn against us if it will serve her needs again?"

Gullivarth opened her mouth to reply, but then he had to relent. "That is true, the winds we chose to fly on remains our own, so there is always the possibility that she may yet betray you. However, I assure you, that probably is small right now but if you push her too much it will become her only course of action."

"We don't intend to give her the opportunity!" Gahntuar insisted with a scowl.

"What did you mean with having to return beyond the Veil?" Merec quickly asked before this discussion got out of hand. "You are not going to be staying?"

"No," Gullivarth sighed, glaring at Merec and knowing exactly what the human's intentions in changing the subject are. "Soon after this coming battle is done, I must return to beyond the Veil. But don't despair, even after I have left you physically, I will always be with you, as I have been with you even before your egg hatched or you were born. And I will return in the flesh again both when Septum and Senna will make their moves to reopen the Veil to Barathrum Proper. But... those events are worries of their own, so I suggest we don't talk about that now!"

Gullivarth suddenly chirped in excitement as he snapped his head around to look at the southern skies again.

"Ah, good!" he exclaimed, getting to his feet so quickly that he broke a small section of the floor on which they were perched. "They are here!"

"Who?" Gahntuar asked surprised, turning to see for himself what the big dragon had seen. But just as he started to scan an empty section of the sky above the horizon, there was a jovial roar from another dragon. A call of an announcement the drake immediately recognized as belonging to Farriha.

"Is that the rest of the Lúgroccae?" Merec asked surprised, also getting to his feet though much more carefully than the two dragons.

"And more!" Gahntuar chirped excitedly as he stared up at the sky where the great thunder of dragons was circling abound the ruins, with the first few already descending to land on the large central plaza where he and Merec had met with the orc chief that set all this in motion. They were closely followed by the contingent of almost sixty gryphons who fought with them in the forest, though the birds were a little less eager to come this close to the dangerous ruins.

"We need to go greet them!" Gullivarth announced excitedly, their morbid discussion all but forgotten for the moment.

"Of course, sir!" Gahntuar replied a little forced as he was already crouched, waiting for Merec to link his harness to the saddle.

"We should probably let the others know of their arrival," Merec stated, patting his dragon on the neck to indicate that he was ready.

"No need, I think!" Gullivarth hurried them with a prod of his snout. "They will have heard the announcement themselves!"

"True," Merec agreed with a shy smile, glancing up at the large dragon who was practically prancing about in his haste to be away.

"Let's go then!" Gahntuar suggested, giving the big dragon a questioning look before he leapt off the balcony with a roar of his own. Gullivarth leapt into the sky after him and in moments they had descended to meet the others. They landed just as Audenier, Gharavhan and their riders appeared from the ruins.

Jerielle and Aerhin were already there, talking to the strangely excitable olive-green draine who had led them here.

"... as quickly as we could," Farriha was saying with a nervous glance at the broken shells of building around them. "But when we noticed how close to the old ruins we were supposed to meet up with you, I decided to be a little more cautious and..." Her gaze drifted over to where she had heard Gahntuar's flapping wings and nearly fell over with shock as she tried to scurry away from the unexpected sight she saw instead. "Great Gullivarth's..." she started to say, but then caught the curse just as it was forming. She blinked in astonishment for a moment at the immensely large drake who accompanied the Lúg'hir, just to make sure she was not imagining things. Then a movement to the side drew her attention and she glanced over to where most of the other dragons had collapsed into worshipful bows. The gryphons who had joined them in their summons north were backing away in fear, unsure if this monster of a drake was a friend or foe.

"Is... is that...?" she finally managed to squeak out, returning her attention to the Theos who was quickly making his way to her, her own knees threatening to buckle in worship.

"Good afternoon, Farriha!" Gahntuar greeted her warmly as they reached her. "And yes, it is!"

"And my tail hole is completely fine, thank you for asking, Farriha!" Gullivarth added sternly.

"I... I'm sorry, sir!" Farriha squeaked again worriedly, also bowing down in submission. The dragons who had arrived just now and who hadn't bowed yet did so now. As for the gryphons, they were just about to bolt and only a stern command from the human captain on the one black gryphon's back held them in check.

"Just, respect my body parts in the future!" Gullivarth smirked, very unbecoming of a divine. Then, with a loud voice, he announced. "Enough of this now, stand up and allow us to welcome you properly to your new home!" He immediately turned to the cluster of gryphons, still smiling warmly at them. "And especially welcome to our friends, who have travelled far to answer our call for help! Your presence is greatly appreciated."

"Who...?" the black gryph asked, fighting the urge to back away from this intimidating creature despite his friendly demeanour. "Aren't you...?"

"Yes, you are correct," Gullivarth admitted with a nod as he sat down in front of the entire assembly of the Lúgroccae gathered together again. "I once was known as Gullivarth Nigrum Rex. But that was a lifetime past. As I stand here before you, I am Theos Gullivarth, guardian of the dragons of Selebore by the divine authority of Nixoruma. And I promise you that you have nothing to fear from me."

"A Theos?" the human on the black gryphon's back hissed, his hand already on his sabre's handle and the first foot of the blade drawn. "How do we know that is true?"

"I don't usually grant requests to display my divine authority," Gullivarth smirked excitedly as he raised himself onto his haunches. "But if it is proof you require, you are just in time. I will only do this once so behold the divine authority granted to me by Nixoruma herself!"

Even as he spoke, a shimmer seemed to come over him, catching the edge of every scale on his body as if it had been coated with gold. Though he was irredentist by nature, his black scales shone like polished metal in the firelight and even his eyes reflected a light that was not present anywhere else on the plaza. Again, his voice started to resonate in a thousand languages that made all who heard it shudder involuntarily.

"Now that we are all assembled here," Gullivarth announced, holding his wings and forelegs out as wide as his quadruped form would allow, "the time has come for me to bestow the gift Nixoruma and I have devised for you."

The light that radiated from the dragon Theos seemed to grow brighter to such an extent that it was rather difficult to look directly at him, yet those assembled there were unable to avert their eyes. The resonating of his voice also grew with its intensity, making distinguishing individual words impossible. And yet everyone knew what he was speaking of. A promise to love and support each other. To remain together as a single unit, irrespective of the pressures of the world around them. To exist as a partnership of two individuals, yet to remain united... as one. A commandment never to abandon or betray one another. To be the strength for one another when theirs should fail and be the hope the other can always trust on. To remain bonded together in loyalty and commitment... as one. A covenant to stand and fight together against any odds. To present a united front against both differences of opinion as well as physical attacks upon them. To stand firm with each other... as one.

"Alright, enough staring!" Gullivarth suddenly shouted, his voice normal once more and the glow gone as if it had never been. "The show is over."

He turned to a few magi of various colours who had gathered together, staring at the whole assembly in utter shock. He picked out a certain vulpine dressed in yellow and gave the blushing vixen a knowing wink before he addressed them in a loud voice. "That includes you lot as well!"

"What was that?" Gahntuar gasped, also staring in complete surprise at the larger drake he had come to think he knew very well.

"A gift," the dragon Theos reminded him, speaking loudly enough that he was audible to the whole Lúgroccae order. "To help you in the trials to come. And not only for the upcoming battle, but whatever adverse events may cut the wind you take, from now until the end of time. Do you not feel it yet?"

"Feel what?" Gahntuar asked, stumped. He glanced over at his human who could only shrug in reply. He could tell by just looking at him that the human was equally confused about this gift they were supposed to have received. Though, unlike himself, the human was trying to come up with a solution. But he was slowly becoming frustrated as each possibility he could think of, from divine protection to holy strength was dismissed. Then, even as the dragon was frowning at his human, Merec looked up at him in shock and a cold ball of uncertainty started to form in his stomach.

Then it hit Gahntuar as well: How could he tell what the human was feeling? As if to complicate the issue, the dragon felt a confirmation from the human that he was also aware of the drake's emotions as well.

'How...?' a vague thought drifted from the human, freaking the dragon even more out. Gahntuar turned to stare at Gullivarth who only smirked in victory.

"Yes," Gullivarth grinned. "You are now aware of each other's emotions. It will be called a 'Soulbond', where everything will be laid bare between rider and steed. Hopes and dreams, desires and regrets, worries and fears. You will even share each other's physical pain and pleasure."

"How...?" Merec finally voiced his question out loud, making Gullivarth laugh heartily.

"That, my dear human, will be a question none in this plain of existence will ever be able to answer!" the dragon Theos chuckled. "And believe me, the Ivory Tower will spend centuries trying to solve the riddle, to recreate it and at one stage even to break it. But it does not have Mana origin, and thus they will never succeed in understanding even the tiniest bit of it."

"How... connected is this... bond?" Gahntuar asked awkwardly. "I mean, is Merec going to know… everything...?"

"The longer you remain together as a Lúg-Roccan pair, the stronger this bond will become!" Gullivarth agreed. "In time, it will be so strong that you will be able to communicate to each other across it, share each other's memories... even see through each other's eyes. Any secrets between the two of you will be a thing of the past, I'm afraid." The big dragon leaned in conspiratorially. "So, you and Jerielle won't be able to grab a quickie without your riders knowing about it again."

Merec blinked in surprise at the revelation, but then a stray thought bubbled to the surface and before he quick squash it, Gahntuar had picked it up through the still fragile bond.

"Wait, you thought of doing what?" the drake hissed as he leaned in closer to his human.

"It was just something I thought of once..." Merec hissed back, looking awkwardly around at the rest of the Lúgroccae. He sighed with relief when he saw that they were too preoccupied with the sudden revelation of various secrets of their own to have noticed anything between the Roccan'hir and Lúg'hir. "I know it will only complicate things, so I didn't want to say anything... but the thought just doesn't want to... I mean..."

"No, I... I was just... it caught me off guard!" Gahntuar admitted. He suddenly became aware of a flood of relief and gratitude from the human and he realized that Merec must have picked up on his worry at the human's distress instead of anger or the expected disappointment. The dragon's worry turned to joy that they could resolve the revelation so quickly, but then faded into intrigue as he considered the idea himself.

"You... would really do that?" the dragon asked, failing to hide a smirk. When the human only nodded shyly, the intrigue only grew. "Well, then. It can be arraigned, I think. But we will first have to speak to Laethia..."

"To remain two individuals, yet be able to act truly as one, will be your most dangerous ability!" Gullivarth suddenly announced, talking loud enough for all assembled there to hear. "But as with all things from the Divae, this prey bites back. This bond you now share is indeed a wondrous boon and you should not hesitate to exploit it to its fullest. But know that you will also find it to be a terrible curse. As you will share all of life's joys, you will share its sorrows." He risked a covert glance at Gahntuar and Merec, a sudden look of despair in his eyes. "You will share the warmth of love, and the cold pain of death."

"Then, why give something so terrible to us? Will we not be better off without it?" Farriha asked, acutely aware of an emptiness that now lingered in her heart. The olive-green draine could not help but wonder if it was the place her long-dead rider had to fill or was it merely an awareness that she had no rider to share a bond with anymore?

"No!" Gullivarth insisted vehemently. "You are better off with it, I assure you. But when it comes to the Divae, nothing is straightforward. The good they grant you, the bad you may experience, everything has an underlying flow that is to your benefit, one that you can only begin to understand when you have gazed across eternity itself!" The great dragon suddenly made a clicking sound with his tongue no one had ever heard from a dragon before he tossed his head like a playful youngster. "But no more talk of doom and gloom. We will have enough of that in the weeks to come. I think work on the walls has progressed far enough to allow the magi a few hours to rest. Come, let us celebrate: The Lúgroccae has finally come home!"

***

"The more I look at the original plans, the more I'm wondering if the rumours of Lady Fucia may not be accurate after all!" Eloff grumbled, the new lupine brigadier running his finger over the map that was laid open on the table between them. "How the original top brass thought this would suffice is beyond me!" He looked up at the human who had pulled out the clear bead after him during the Cleromancy of the day prior. "Do you think we will have time to make any of the suggested alterations?"

"I doubt it!" General Adulsworth replied with a frustrated hiss. "Juinkarr may already have woken up for all we know. The scouts we sent higher up the valley were capable of finding positions from which we can harass the advancing enemy, but we don't have anything that can provide a strong enough encampment to completely cut off any supply lines back to the black fortress!" He looked up from the map with a sigh. "I wish I had some elves or magi to magic us some additional defensive lines we can use."

"You cannot be serious, sir?" Aurrin, a strong-minded and passionate tiger growled. "Our original roots..."

"Were another time and setting altogether!" Adulsworth snapped back, interrupting the tiger before he could work himself up.

"We have not heard back yet from the Grand Priest in Garrowull..." Aurrin pointed out but Adulsworth cut him off again.

"Nor will we for another two weeks!" the human reminded him. "Will you allow the shadow any respite because you are unwilling to change your views? Tell me, what is the best weapon: A sword or an axe?"

"Each weapon has its advantages..." Perrin Feuer, an elder human who had been unable to progress further than the rank of commander until now, quickly stated before he could catch himself. However, he did not complete his statement, grunting when he realized he had answered exactly as the new general had hoped.

"Exactly!" Adulsworth nodded to the older human before turning back to the tiger. "The Alliance had relied heavily on magic both during the Orc War of the First Age, as well as the whole of the Dark Age. I am not going to cast away a good weapon in the fight against the shadow simply because I have been told not to like it." He held up a finger at Aurrin when the tiger wanted to continue the argument. "And may I remind you that the 'Original Roots' directive is directly linked to Lady Fucia, so unless you can find me irrefutable evidence that something is against the Light, we will not be excluding anything or anyone willing to assist us in our fight against Juinkarr."

"Yes, sir!" the tiger growled, not happy with the decision but allowing it to slide. For now, at least.

"But even if we had magi," the wolf asked in a serious tone, "would their magical defences be of any real use?"

"I've seen the elves put up functional field defences in a matter of hours," Adulsworth commented. "Give them a day or two and they will be able to erect structures to rival these we have spent months on constructing. We could use a succession of defensible lines instead of having to put all our hope in this single position. But exhausting the troops by building additional lines is going to leave us worse off, so we will have to make do with this! The best we can do in the dubious time we still have is dig another trench or two and plan on disrupting the horde with more manoeuvrable tactics."

"Do you not trust that the Light will assist us?" Brigadier Steele asked with forced respect.

"I don't think the Light will be impressed that we don't take the job assigned to us seriously!" Adulsworth grumbled, "which is exactly what we would be doing if we only expect the Light to handle everything for us."

"Understood, sir!" Steele quickly conceded the point.

"Sir, may I ask you something else?" the tiger asked again, though in a less challenging tone than he had used when the topic of using magic came up. The human general nodded, and he cleared his throat awkwardly before speaking again. "Sir, if you truly think that the Dragonriders... " he hesitated, not truly willing to acknowledge the suggestion, "... service the Light as we do, then why have you not dismissed the Dragonslayers by now."

"There are more dragons than those serving in the Dragonrider Order, you know!" Adulsworth stated patiently. "In fact, most dragons still serve the shadow willingly and I don't think the Dragonriders are strong enough to stand up against them on their own. I firmly believe the Dragonslayers may still be of use to us."

"But will your precious..." Steele cleared his throat awkwardly as he realized he was pushing his luck too far again. "I mean, will the Dragonriders not be at risk of friendly fire? There is still a serious question about dragons on our..."

"Sir?" the lion orderly suddenly interrupted them, stepping halfway into the large tent.

"Did I not express the importance that we should not be interrupted?" Adulsworth growled, glaring up at the younger lion.

"I know, sir. But this is important!" the orderly insisted a little awkwardly.

"What is it then?" Adulsworth groaned. "And it better not be another report about one of the soldiers supposedly sighting a phoenix again!"

"Sir," the orderly quickly snapped. "Reports have come in of the Equidae army having been mobilized. They are already on the march and heading this way."

"Really?" Adulsworth gasped, now truly interested.

"Finally, praise the Light!" Victor Coles, another human brigadier explained. "So, the horses have finally seen some sense in uniting under our banner!"

"Can probably thank the Dragonrider attack on Kantmere for that!" Jeuronne replied, the black-maned lion standing in the one corner giving the general a knowing smirk. "It seems you are right, sir! Maybe the Light does use those demons in ways we cannot understand."

"Not now!" Adulsworth hissed, unimpressed as he turned to the map again. "This is good news indeed! With the additional manpower, we can set up defensive works here and here..."

"No sir, they..." the orderly tried to interrupt the general, but the human talked over him.

"Of course, they will have to man defences which are not as substantial as the existing defences," Adulsworth was thinking out loud as he studied the map with a new interest. "But we can still use this line as the final fall-back... How far are they out? Do we know?"

"About a day or so out," the orderly finally managed to get a word in. "But they are not coming to join us!"

"What?" all seven of the officers around the map table gasped, turning to look in surprise at the younger lion.

"Where are they off to then?" Brigadier Coles asked astounded. "What can be more important than Juinkarr?"

"Exactly that!" the orderly stated firmly. "They are heading to Juinkarr itself!"

"Have they lost their minds?" Feuer gasped, the elder human's grey moustache quivering in indignation.

"Or are they trying to impress everyone by going one up on us?" Jeuronne growled already annoyed with the audacity of the Equidae.

"The full story is still a bit sketchy," the orderly admitted, "but according to initial reports, the Dragonriders have finally been found... they've taken Juinkarr as their own."

"WHAT?" all seven of the officers around the map table gasped yet again, now openly gawking at the orderly as if he had lost his mind.

"Say that again..." Adulsworth quickly stated again.

"Rumours say that the Dragonriders have captured Juinkarr and is now struggling to hold the ruin against the Shadowlands!" the orderly insisted. "The Circle of Five have already sent out a decent number of magi to assist them and the force they had in Ealyndore had been called back to help defend it. Even the gryphons in the forest have been granted leave to follow the dragons north. And it appears that the Amber Tower had asked the Equidae for assistance and the Nacre Tower had reached out to the Bovidae as well. Which is why the equines are on the march as we speak."

"How do we know they captured it?" the tiger suddenly asked affronted. "Have they not maybe returned home to assist in Jinker's breakout onto the Kentereal Highlands?"

"How accurate are the reports?" Adulsworth asked over the tiger, giving the brigadier an evil eye.

"Most of it is still hearsay," the orderly admitted, "except for the Equidae army marching on Juinkarr, and about the dragons and gryphons having departed from Ealyndore at the behest of the Lúgroccan High Command. Those have been confirmed."

"Very well," Adulsworth grumbled thoughtfully. "Go confirm as much of the rest as you can! And be quick about it, I need to know what is going on before I make a decision and time is critically short."

"Sir!" the orderly saluted and turned to carry out his orders.

"Wait!" the elder human brigadier stopped him. "You mentioned the Bovidae are also mobilizing? Any news about them?"

"Nothing other than rumour yet, sir!" the orderly replied crisply. "But if they have mobilized along with the Equidae, they won't be far behind them."

"And the other species?" the tiger added quickly. "Anything about them?"

"Even less is known about their response, sir," the young lion admitted a little subdued. "Though, as things stand at the moment in the Barthon gulf, I doubt they will be able to give much assistance in any case even if the rumours were true."

With that, the orderly left to carry out his orders. The six brigadiers watched the flap of the tent where he had been for a while longer, lost in thoughts of their own. The lupine amongst them was the first to notice that the general was hunched once more over the map, tracing the flow of the Belthean River upstream with a finger until he reached where the ruins of Juinkarr was said to be.

"You are not thinking what I think you are thinking, sir?" Brigadier Eloff asked worriedly, alerting the others about what the general was doing.

"I did say that if the Light wanted to use the Dragonriders in this fight, it will let us know where they are before the battle begins!" General Adulsworth stated calmly, though he did grin very satisfied with himself. When he spoke again, it was more to affirm his thoughts to himself. "Three days hard march, through difficult terrain..."

"You can't seriously be thinking of abandoning the defences we've been working on for months now and march to Juinkarr itself!" Brigadier Coles yelped in shock. "Marching the entire army across difficult terrain right before a pitched battle is suicide!"

"Did we not complain just now about leaving all our eggs in one basket?" General Adulsworth reminded him with a stern gaze before turning his attention back to the map. "No, I will not abandon this location completely! But if these reports turn out to be accurate, it will be much more advantageous for us to push forward and secure the ruins before the shadow can overrun them. On the other hand, if we remain in the wrong place as we are now, we may be worse off than if we took the risk." He tapped the location on the map where Juinkarr was marked, chuckling at himself. "You have to admire the vagueness of prophecies! So, it turns out that Juinkarr has risen. But instead of stopping it, we may now have to decide who gets to keep it."

"Are you sure about this?" Brigadier Eloff asked worriedly, but willing to follow the human's lead nonetheless. Anything for the sake of the glory of the Light.

"As much as I can be sure of anything!" General Adulsworth replied, grinning as he already envisioned the Dragonriders swearing fealty to the glorious Light. If he could succeed in turning Juinkarr of all places into a Temple to the Light, it would be the ultimate proof of his vision in the Meditation Halls, and from there they could strike at the Shadowlands unopposed, converting the shadowspawn to the Light and crushing the rest who remained loyal to Barathrum. Never again would the threat of the shadow fall across Selebore.

It would be the beginning of a glorious New Age.

***

The councils of all six towers walked down the outer wall, inspecting the finished defences. The large walls stood imposing, like a structure of solid stone well over two stories tall. A few Blacks were still busy working on the illusion spell, which eventually took on a plain, featureless appearance like Patina on bronze to keep the Coral Tower happy. Though the illusion was still very patchy, the Jet Tower had done an admirable job with the walls and it was hard to imagine any force powerful enough to get through it.

"Though, why put a gate in the outermost wall here?" Hurthor asked as they approached the gatehouse, the Amber Vice-Councillor indicating up to the barbicans. "We won't need to cater for traffic from the east."

"In all fairness," one of the council members of the Jet Tower, a white wolf with a mean-looking scar across his face, stated firmly. "We will not be able to predict where an attack is most likely to land the hardest against a uniform defensive formation. And with a wall at about a mile long, that will be too much ground to cover for the number of defenders we have at this time. But with an apparent weak point for the enemy to focus on, especially one that is not an obvious trap, we will have a better idea of where to mass our meagre forces."

"You've never considered it, Roccan'hir?" Eroul asked, the Archmagus of the Jet Tower turning to frown at Merec when they human applauded the wolf's suggestion.

"I have more experience with aerial command than siege warfare," Merec admitted nonplussed. "I have much to learn yet about all the other units and broader tactics of war. Also, I'm sorry to say that our master tactician had been slain on the Echoren River two months ago, but his protégé here is quite capable of handling herself."

"The gate is strong enough to hold them long enough for us to cut them down though?" Farriha asked when Merec glanced over at her.

"You...?" the tiger gasped, blinking surprised up at her when the draine questioned them. However, he quickly recovered his composure and nodded confidently. "Yes, we had our best masters go over every inch of these defences, especially the gate. It will need a terrifying amount of force to break through anywhere along the perimeter."

"And the fighting magi have picked the positions where they prefer to station themselves?" Merec asked, turning to Vicia.

"The Reds have demanded to be front and centre, while the Yellows will fill in the rest of the wall!" the Amber Archmagus replied, turning to glance back at where the Coral and Ivory Archmagi were talking softly with each other. They had been rather subdued ever since the display of divine authority from the dragon Theos, and as such were hanging back a little by themselves.

"They claim it is because they don't trust the other magi with the position," Vicia added in a whisper as she leaned in closer to the human, "but to be honest, I assume it is where they think their skill and prowess can be best witnessed by most. The Yellows have filled up any gaps they left on the outer defences, but I fear it will not be enough. The few Whites here are staying back to advise... as usual."

"The Greens have set up field hospitals throughout the ruins," Fedisu added, the Nacre Archmagus waving a hand vaguely towards the west. "The largest, of course, is near the original barracks buildings by the western gate."

"It might be a good idea to put the new portalstone there as well," Hurthor suggested. "It should be a good idea to have an escape should the battle go poor."

There was a collective hiss of disgruntlement from the dragons at the suggestion. Hurthor was about to defend his opinion when Farriha suddenly agreed with him.

"He is right though!" the olive-green draine stated with a reprimanding snap of her jaws at the others. "We should be prepared for any eventuality."

"What about the other walls we have?" Merec asked as they stopped by the gate. "Any reinforcements stationed on those?"

"Aren't those positions we are supposed to fall back to?" Vicia asked, looking through the still opened gate at the next wall.

"It will be better if we can station fresh warriors there," Farriha quickly stated. "Not only will they be already in position when we need them to be, but they will be able to assist tired warriors retreating from the front lines should the outer wall fall."

"We barely have enough to garrison the outer wall!" Alund gasped, the Amber Councillor looking up at the draine in shock.

"We don't need much on the second wall," Farriha quickly stated. "Maybe at most a fifth of what we can muster. And we can worry about garrisoning the third wall if we have to abandon the outer defences."

"It will be easier to garrison the defences once we have more soldiers!" Merec grumbled. "Any word on where those promised armies are?"

"The Bovidae army was approaching the Belthean River valley this morning, last I heard!" Fedisu quickly stated. "We can expect them to arrive early next week. Maybe sooner. Why do you ask, Roccan'hir?"

"Oh, we just have the distinct feeling that we are running out of time!" Gahntuar replied with a toss of his snout. When they looked up to where he had indicated, they were shocked to see eight phoenixes sitting in groups of twos and threes on the barbicans of the gatehouse as they idly chatted amongst themselves.

"The Equidae army is a few days ahead of them, having already started marching up into the valley!" Irene, the Nacre Councillor stated quickly. The dark mare turned to grin at the equally dark bull, a hint of national pride that the equines were beating the minotaurs in their march here. "But the terrain is difficult and narrow, so the advanced units will not be able to reach us for another three or four days at least."

"We had walked the mountain pass ourselves," Aerhin recalled. "I cannot imagine having to rush a whole army up those slopes."

"I heard they were not that impressed with the camp the Alliance had put up at the mouth of the valley!" Alund suddenly announced. "For the amount of time they spent on it, the defences are wholly inadequate and badly undermanned."

"It turns out that one of the demons had been instrumental in much of their decision making," Merec replied dismissively. "So I'm not surprised that they are so ill-prepared."

"Hopefully they will stop being so self-righteous for a bit after this is said and done," Gahntuar growled, upset at the thought of the Alliance.

"And then hopefully they will stop pushing us into a direction and condemning us for it at the same time," Merec completed the thought when something off to the east caught Gahntuar's attention. The human turned to look as well, but the distance was too great for him to notice anything.

"Who is that?" the human asked surprised when he felt a sense of recognition over the strange bond Gullivarth had given them. Though it was growing surprisingly quickly, the bond was not yet strong enough to allow them to share eyesight just yet

"Not sure," Gahntuar admitted. "But it doesn't seem to be a threat."

"It is alone as well," Jerielle agreed surprised. "Don't they usually travel in groups?"

"Best keep your guard up then," Merec suggested as the goblin they had been discussing finally came into proper view. All the magi present reacted quickly as soon as the creature showed itself, preparing a variety of spells to dispatch the goblin and Merec had to quickly intervene before the creature was blasted to a crisp.

"Are you sure about this?" Vicia hissed worried, signalling to the Yellows with her to stand down. Yet, she still held her shape at the ready.

"The goblin is wearing the insignia of the Gurroc clan," Gahntuar stated calmly, keeping a close eye on the creature who came slinking up to the dragons. "I believe you are aware that we made a non-aggression pact with them shortly before you were contacted... which is why we are allowed to stay here and build up these defences in the first place."

"Roccan'hir!" the creature squeaked when he came within earshot, cowering as if he was expecting to be blasted by a ball of dragon fire any moment now. "Roccan'hir!"

"Why would you do such a thing?" Fidesu asked shocked, blinking up at the dragon unsurely.

"It is not an alliance!" Aerhin reminded him sharply when it was clear neither Gahntuar nor Merec had registered the question. "It is just a non-aggression agreement!"

"Yes, that is me," Merec called to the goblin as he came close enough to reach out and touch the creature.

"Roccan'hir!" the creature screeched worriedly, obviously not understanding what was being said. But it still dutifully held out a rolled-up piece of parchment for the human to take. "Roccan'hir!"

As soon as Merec took the message, the goblin scurried off as quickly as it could move across the flat shrubless field that extended beyond the outer wall.

"One moment!" Alund quickly called out as Merec started to undo the leather thong which held the message closed. There was a quick flash of Mana from the equine as he put a finger to the parchment before he gave the nod for the human to continue. "Okay, it is clean."

"Thank you," Merec replied a little shyly as he had not considered checking the message for traps himself. He quickly opened the message and read the contents.

"Well, that didn't last long!" Gahntuar grumbled, as disappointed as his human as he leaned over Merec's shoulder to read the contents for himself. He may have a basic idea of what it said through the strange Soulbond, but it was still growing, and he didn't get the exact contents for himself from the human's thoughts.

"At least the chief had the decency to let us know," Merec grumbled annoyed, holding the message up for the dragon.

"What is it?" Vicia asked a little awkwardly, not sure how she felt about this Soulbond that had been described to her.

"Chief Orghul states that he is sorry to have to go back on his word, but he has been forced to commit what resources he has to the fight to reclaim Juinkarr from the westfolk!" Merec hissed upset, handing Aerhin the letter when the elf requested it.

"And you trusted them to keep to their word?" Hurthor asked astounded.

"Not really," Merec admitted with a shrug. "At the time we just wanted to lie low for three more days and a non-aggression pact served that end. But then, a certain dragon had to show up..." The human did not complete his statement, instead, he glared up to the Citadel where Gullivarth was perched in his usual spot at the very top of the broken tower. At that moment, the great dragon Theos was looking down at them before he returned his attention to the west, anxiously waiting for the first of the armies to arrive.

"You cannot truly blame the chief," Aerhin commented softly as he rolled the message up again. When the others stared at him in surprise, he explained. "He is still too young to lead confidently and these are trying times for his clan. And as he states here, he has to think what is best for his people." The elf handed the message to Vicia as well when she requested it. "At least he states that they will try to stay out of the fighting as much as possible."

"Which is probably why that Agreement Stone of theirs hadn't broken apart yet," Jerielle guessed.

"Couldn't they just refuse to assist?" Alund grumbled annoyed as if he was the one being betrayed. "Or lie low for that matter?"

"Not really," Gahntuar replied thoughtfully. He then suddenly gave Merec a reprimanding nip, the human ducking beneath the dangerous jaws seemingly just in time to avoid a serious injury. "And don't give me that!" the dragon growled. "You know as well as I do, he has no choice. Or did we handle our situation better when rumours reached us about the Alliance laying an ambush for us when we were still on the peninsula?"

"I know... but I still don't like it!" Merec countered, glaring up at his dragon but conceding the point. He turned to Alund to explain in a more controlled voice. "It was his duty to make sure we didn't have the opportunity to get comfortable here. Obviously, they had failed in that, so they must be present on the battlefield or they will face annihilation themselves. Still, there is barely anything left of the clan, so I doubt they will be able to do much more than show up and observe."

"Did he at least share some insight into what we are facing?" the wolf with the scar, whose name he could just never seem to recall, asked worriedly.

"Yes," Merec replied. "All four of the other northern orc tribes has been called up in their full capacity, with dragons called up from as far south as Ealyndore by a new Claw-of-the-Master," He hesitated a bit before adding with a worried sigh, "And the demon himself will be present on the battlefield."

"And when does he think this army will be ready to attack us?" Eroul asked nervously.

"They will arrive with the storm!" Merec replied mutedly, turning to look east at where the first dark storm clouds could be seen appearing on the horizon.

***

"What is duty? What is honour? Is it absolute loyalty to the authority you have been placed under? Or the obedience to the justice inscribed deep within your soul?

It is a question that has come to haunt my mind as I stand here, looking over at the walls of Juinkarr. They had been restored beautifully, gleaming in the last rays of the sun as if coated in a sheet of old bronze. But even though their shine had faded significantly in the shadows of the great storm-clouds overhead, they continue to shimmer defiantly against the darkness that has come to overwhelm everything.

Who are the ones that should enjoy the fruit of your commitment? Those to whom you have been subjected to from the moment of your first breath? Or those who rely on you to make decisions on behalf of the greater good?

We walk a narrow path, flanked by cliffs with mortal drops on all sides. One wrong step and we will be lost to the abyss of eternity, yet the path splits now and we must press on despite the fog of time obscuring the view ahead. I have never been a religious person, but now I can only pray to the divines who dictate our destinies that I have made the right choice.

Let us not pass into the abyss, blown away like worthless leaves shed by the trees of the plains. Let us endure, preferably for many generations yet to come! Or if our final moments have come, let us be remembered down the ages, through songs and tales that glorify the greatness of our final act!"

Translation from the memoirs of Chief Orghul, Last of the line*, renowned leader of the Gurroc clan.

[* additional note, 'Last of the line' indicates that there is no related heir.]

End