Chapter 12

A single beat of monstrous, sail-sized wings was all that it took to keep the mighty dragon at a comfortable altitude, soaring to the southwest in a cloudless summer sky, the light of the sun glittering off shimmering golden scales. The air rushed over those scales like the caress of a lover, giving Tarrin a feeling of freedom and exhileration that he only felt when he feet were not on the ground. It was a sensation he denied himself much too often because he had always feared the meaning of it, the power underneath that gave him that ability. He did not want to fly because he loved to fly, and flying might make him want to fly more, to come to take pleasure in a power that he had never wanted nor did he want to come to like.

Not that any of that really mattered anymore.

Tarrin soared high in the sky on a lovely summer afternoon, the air delightfully cool at that altitude as he conducted what Kang had deemed a “presence flight.” Both Tarrin and Ariana were flying far out from the main host to keep track of the movements of the soldiers of the One, and also to be seen by anyone else on the ground. Ariana was under orders to report those troop locations to Kang immediately upon her return. Tarrin was tasked to land and destroy those columns of church soldiers whenever he came across them, to prevent them from joining larger units and becoming a threat.

For four days now, Tarrin had been doing this. Kang had quickly taken complete control of the group, and had pulled them back to the south to get distance from the large column of enemy soldiers to the north. Lorak had had a conniption when Kang issued that command, but one savage look from Mist cowed him immediately. Tarrin put Kang in charge, so as far as Mist was concerned, anyone who said anything against Kang was directly challenging her mate’s decisions. Mist did not tolerate challenges to Tarrin’s authority. Lorak didn’t complain very long, though, after he sat in on one of Kang’s planning sessions. Lorak was impressed by the dark-skinned General, with his intelligence and his ability to plan. Kang didn’t intend to sit on his hands out in an open grassland for long, only long enough to locate and absorb more rag-tag groups of Shadows. His target number was fifty extra soldiers, he said he’d feel confident with that number, given the strength of some of those in the host and the heavy reinforcement the soldiers would get from magic-users.

Chief Kur of the orcs had actually helped them, for he had found one group of Shadows and sent them close enough for Ariana to spot them two days ago. She landed and, after explaining what was going on, led them back to the host, increasing their number by sixteen soldiers.

The group to the north hadn’t just been sitting idle. Whoever commanded it had sent out scouts, which the Selani promptly slaughtered. He then sent two vrock to fly out to the south to find out why his scouts hadn’t come back, which were promptly slaughtered by Ariana, who was just coming back from a scouting mission. They never knew what hit them. When the Demons didn’t return, he sent a skirmish force of thirty soldiers on horseback to find out what was going on to the south, but they never got within sight of the host. The Selani spotted them and signalled back, Kang sent Tarrin, and Tarrin destroyed them.

The bodies were left out purposefully. Kang wanted evidence of someone laying waste to the One’s forces out where everyone could see it, as a psychological weapon against the enemy and an uplifting sight for those allied with them. Tarrin had left quite a few of those ugly battlefields all over the southern plains the way they came, as he located and destroyed any unit of the One’s forces he could find, and he left them laying out for the vultures as a warning to the One’s forces and a message to the Shadows: you’re not alone. He was sure his huge footprints were causing all kinds of confusion and speculation, but that in itself was part of Kang’s scheme. He wanted everyone to know about Tarrin, everyone to know about the titanic beast that was fighting against the One, a huge symbol of rebellion that might bolster more and more to join them against the One.

Tarrin could understand that, understand why keeping Tarrin a secret wasn’t as good. These people had lived in terror for a very long time, terror of the One, terror of his brutal system, so they needed soemthing tangible, something visible, something that they could see that looked like it was a challenge to the One, something mighty and heartening. Rebelling against the One would take more than just hope or faith, it was going to take action, and visibility. There were nothing but little villages this far north, so close to the lands of the Dura, and none around them because of the Fangwood, but he’d seen some tiny hamlets here and there, and he was certain that they’d seen him. Those would join with stories of the decimated Church forces and also the stories of when he assaulted a couple of cities in dragon form, to make them understand that this massive behemoth was out here destroying the One’s forces…and under his large wings, rebels would find safety and security.

Good old Kang, never one for looking at the short term. Kang was already devising plans for assaulting the One’s cities…just in case. When Tarrin explained what was going on, he immediately declared that the defeat of the One was the ultimate objective, and that was what he was working towards. Getting them to the Dura was only an intermediate objective.

Tarrin wasn’t alone on today’s flight. Dolanna rode on top of his head, between his horns, with ropes tied to both of the backswept horns and around her slender waist to keep her from falling off. It wasn’t safe for a rider to be anywhere but right where she was; though there was plenty of space on his neck and back, between his spines, he moved his neck and back quite a bit because they were how he controlled his direction. Where a bird used its tail for control, Tarrin had to use his wings, head, and tail, and that required a bit of motion. Anyone riding between the spines on his neck or back or tail was in danger of getting crushed between them if he made a sharp turn. Though it was conceivably safe on his back to the side of his his spines, just over his wingjoint, he wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone when they were back there, and it would take a lot of rope to secure them. Because Tarrin was shapeshifted, it meant that the sword was shifted with him…so if she wanted to gather more power to fuel her Sorcery, she had to be very close to him.

There were other reasons for him bringing her along, though. Dolanna was one of those loose ends he needed to see to.

“I see something east of us, dear one,” she called loudly, over the wind, in Sharadi. When they were alone, she always reverted to her native tongue. “It’s too bad I won’t waste the power to weave a spell to let me see better,” she lamented.

Tarrin turned his head enough to look, but not enough to make him start drifting in that direction. His eyes, the eyes of an airborne predator, were very sharp. “It’s a group of villagers, from that little village over there to the left of them,” he answered. “Let’s go pay them a visit,” he said with a mischevious tilt to his voice.

“Be nice, dear one,” she laughed.

“I’m not gonna swoop down on them,” he explained as he banked east. “But if they have a Priest in that village, I want to do something about it.”

When he got closer, he saw the village’s chapel, the only stone building among the twenty or so thatch huts. The village was roughly oval in shape with only one gate in or out, the wall made of blackened logs that looked quite old. The chapel had the One’s symbol on the door, but itself was only the size of a small cottage. The villagers were already starting to scramble when he descended, and it was a full rout when he landed, streaming out of the little village and the surrounding farmland. He ignored them, ambling up to the wall of the village as they screamed and ran in terror, then craned his neck over the open front gate and right up to the front door of the chapel. By gently brushing his nose forward, he managed to knock on the door.

“Dear one!” Dolanna said, then she laughed as he withdrew his head enough to see the door without straining his eyes.

To Tarrin’s surprise, the door opened. He figured the people inside didn’t give screaming peasants much notice. The figure that opened the door was a thin middle-aged human with graying and balding hair, wearing a black cassock with the symbol of the One sewn onto the chest. Tarrin looked at him, and there was an aura about this human that marked him as a true fanatical follower of the One, as well as a dark sense of maliciousness. This was a man who enjoyed hurting people.

The human wasn’t entirely surprised to see him. No doubt that was because of the Quasit standing beside him, only coming up to his knee. “You!” he spat. “The One will hang your horns in the main cathedral, Damned one!”

“No running? No screaming and begging?” Tarrin asked conversationally.

“I will not dishonor my god by demeaning his might,” he sneered. “I will fight you to my last breath, Damned one! If I die here, I die in his service!” he screamed, taking up the mace that was hanging from his belt. He pointed at Tarrin. “Attack!” he ordered his Quasit.

The Quasit wasn’t that fanatical, but it didn’t really matter. Tarrin turned his head sideways, opened his jaws, and bit the entire front of the chapel clean away, accompanined by a loud crack of shattered stone and a huge cloud of thick dust. The human Priest and his Quasit were somewhere in that mouthful of stone, wood, and thatch, but there certainly wasn’t any screaming or moaning. He lifted his head up as the roof of the building, the front wall ripped out, collapsed in on itself, then tossed the mouthful of building material to the side casually. He then backed up until he was a safe distance away, turned around and started ambling out to where it would be safe to take off without the backdraft of his wings knocking down their little thatch huts.

“Dear one, do warn me next time!” Dolanna said breathlessly. “When you turned your head, you threw me against my ropes and knocked the breath out of me!”

“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely as he thrust himself into the air with a poweful kick of his legs, tearing massive divots out of the ground, then his wings propelled him forward. He then began powerful wingbeats to gain altitude. “Has Haley ran out of new teas yet?” he asked.

She laughed. “Not quite yet, dear one,” she answered. “But I know he can’t have many more. He’s not making me a new one every day now.”

He was silent a moment. “You know he loves you,” he said evenly.

“Yes, dear one, I know,” she answered with a pensive sigh, barely audible over the wind.

“How do you feel about him?” he asked directly.

“That is a complicated issue, my friend,” she answered. “I love him as a friend, certainly, but I never allow myself to think about him any other way, because he is a Were-wolf. That fact never leaves my mind, dear one. I have too much experience with Were-kin to ever drop my guard. Neither does he. He’s always exquisitely careful when he’s with me, not doing anything that could even in its most remote form cause me to turn. He won’t even so much as blow on my tea to cool it.”

“Ah.” He was silent a long moment. “Well, if that wasn’t in the way, how would you feel? If Haley was human?”

“Dear one, I wouldn’t even attempt to think about it,” she told him. “Because it’s an absolute impossibility. The only possible option, should I come to love him, would be to allow him to turn me…and I won’t do that. I’ve seen too many be destroyed by the power of Lycanthropy. You, and Kimmie, and Jula, you are very rare, and not just because you’re Were-cats. I’m not so arrogantly confident in myself to think that I could handle being Were just because I have a greater understanding of them than most.”

“I’m not talking about the realm of possibility, Dolanna. I’m asking what if. Now, if him being Were wasn’t an issue, how would you feel about him?”

“I, I honestly don’t know, dear one,” she answered after a long moment, her voice uncertain. “As I said, I’ve never allowed myself to even explore the possibility.”

“Really,” he drawled.

He was absolutely sure she was blushing, though he couldn’t see it. He could certainly feel her uncomfortable shifting atop his head.

“I’ve watched you with Haley, Dolanna,” he said bluntly. “I happen to know that you do know.”

She was silent a long time. “You are being cruel, dear one,” she said in a wan voice. “Why make me consider such a thing when it is an impossibility?”

“I’m not trying to be cruel, but I wanted to hear it from you,” he said, banking slightly. “If things weren’t the way they were, you could find it in yourself to love Haley the way he loves you.”

“It…would be possible,” she said slowly.

“That’s all I wanted to know,” he said.

“Why ask that, dear one?”

“Because it had to be asked,” he answered. “And maybe it had to be answered.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will,” he said cryptically, and then he would say no more, despite her repeated attempts to drag it out of him.

That was one to cross off the list.

Dolanna was pensive and a bit confused when they got back to the encampment, which was being patrolled by pairs of mounted Shadow soldiers. The tents were all raised, as well as some pavillion style open-walled tents under which many Shadows slept at night. Tarrin landed well away from it, then sidled up and lowered his head so Dolanna could get down. Every time he returned to the camp, all the Shadows gaped and gawked at him, and there was also a little bit of staring from his friends, specifically the ones who had come to help. Well, it wasn’t that they were amazed he could do it, they were just really impressed with the size of the form he had assumed. Nothing about Tarrin really surprised any of his friends and family anymore.

After Dolanna slid down onto the ground, he raised his head, closed his eyes, and then willed himself to abandon his current form and return to his natural shape. He’d have to return to the dragon form before they started attacking fortified positions, Kang was planning those assaults with his dragon’s size in mind, but until then he needed to be back in his base form. The body of the dragon, his golden scales seemed to dissolve into sudden flame, and then that large fiery form wavered and evaporated. Tarrin spread his wings and lightly lowered himself to the ground, amazed that the change back had been absolutely painless. His wings still ached a bit, but he could feel that they were better than they had been when he took the dragon form. The healing had been slower in that shape, but he had done some healing.

He shivered his wings and then folded them behind his back, then offered his paw to a surprised Dolanna after he reached her. “Dear one, why change back?”

“Because it’s hard to talk to people by craning my neck over the camp,” he answered. “Besides, Mist would kill me if I stayed like that for much longer. She’s been getting really short-tempered. I need to do something about that.”

Dolanna nodded as Zyri and Jal ran out of a tent, then saw him and immediately rushed towards him. “Master Tarrin, you’re you again!” Zyri said breathlessly, running towards them. He reached down and scooped her up, then hooked Jal by the arm and swept him up off his feet as well. He carried a child in each arm as he moved up into the encampment, as the Shadows stared at him and whispered.

“Yup, little bit, at least for now,” he answered. “I don’t need to be a dragon again until we punch through to the Dura. Now, where is Camara Tal? I need to talk to her.”

Jal blushed furiously, and Zyri laughed. “That Ambizon is funny,” she said.

“Amazon,” he corrected absently.

“I didn’t know a girl could be so big,” she noted.

“Sisska is a girl,” Tarrin informed her. “She’s just not human. Why the blush?” he asked Jal.

He blushed even deeper.

Zyri leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “Mistress Camara didn’t have anything on under her little skirt this morning,” she told him gravely.

“She never does,” he chuckled. “I take it Jal found that out the hard way?”

Jal nodded furiously, his face a brilliant shade of scarlet.

Tarrin smiled. “You’ll get used to her, Jal,” he promised. “Just remember that as short as you are, if you get too close to her you’re gonna see things you might not think it proper to see. Just mind where you look when she’s standing up.”

Zyri giggled uncontrollably.

Camara Tal was in the “command tent,” the large tent that Kang had brought with him that served as his personal tent and his command center. He, Camara Tal, Binter, and Lorak were looking over a map that the last group of Shadows had in their possession when they joined. It was a large map with deep creases and dark age lines on it, showing the entire continent holding the Pyrosian Empire. “There are three citadels in pass, General Kang,” Lorak was saying as Tarrin entered. “This one is the largest, the one facing the Dura’s lands. This one and this one are just support for the main one. Most of the fortifications are based towards the Dura, so we’ll be attacking it from behind. I believe this fort here on our side has its fortifications equally set both ways, so it might be the hardest to overwhelm.”

They all looked at him for a moment, Kang standing respectfully. “Well, it’s good to see you back,” he said. “Any reason why you changed after three days?”

“At least this way I won’t eat our entire food stores in a single day,” he shrugged. “I’ve depopulated the local herds of elk. Camara, I need to talk to you,” he said immediately.

“Sure, Tarrin,” she said with a nod.

He put the children down. “Go get your chores done,” he ordered. “Then we’ll go for a ride or something.”

“Aww,” Zyri huffed, but Jal simply nodded and scurried from the tent.

“No backtalk,” he said, swatting Zyri on the rump with his tail as she shuffled out of the tent.

“Yes, Master Tarrin,” she sighed, then chased after her brother.

Tarrin looked at Camara, then glanced at the others. “Come walk with me a while,” he told her steadily, holding the tent flap open for her.

The cloudless afternoon sun shone low in the sky as Tarrin led Camara away from it. They walked in silence as they passed through the camp, her with her hands behind her back and him walking with that slow, measured pace so she could keep up with him. When they were well enough away from the others, walking out into open grassland with the camp well behind them, he finally spoke up. “I need your help,” he began, speaking in Amazon to ensure their confidentiality.

“You know you don’t have to ask,” she answered in kind. “What with?”

“I need you to teach me every Priest spell you know,” he told her. “Even ones I have no hope of casting.”

She glanced at him, a single eyebrow raised. “That’s a weird request, old friend. Would you mind if I asked why?”
“Two reasons,” he answered. “The One has the ability to use Priest magic. When I fight him, he might fall back on it, and that means I have to be ready for it. If I can recognize his spells, I’ll know what’s coming.” He furrowed his brow in thought and worry. “What I’m about to tell you, it can’t go any further. You can’t tell anyone else.”

“You know I can keep a secret, Tarrin.”

“I know. That’s why I’m talking to you instead of Miranda,” he told her. “Miranda can keep a secret, but only when it suits her. If she thinks it’s better for her or for someone else, she’ll talk. I can’t risk that.”

“That’s a rather fair assessment,” she said with a nod.

“There’s also the fact that she’s in active contact with Kikkalli. What I tell Miranda, Kikkalli will find out, and that means the gods of Sennadar will find out very quickly afterward. I can’t have that, not about this.

“Why is that a problem?”

“I can’t tell you unless you promise it goes no further.”

“You have my word as an Amazon, Tarrin, I won’t repeat what you say, not even to Neme. Not unless you tell me I can, or they find out some other way and ask if I knew. I will not lie to my Goddess, Tarrin. Not even for you.”

“Fair enough.” He blew his breath out. “I can use Priest magic here,” he told her.

She looked at him for a long moment. “I thought that was impossible.”

“It should be,” he told her. “But I’m not getting the power from Niami. I’m getting it from me.”

“What?”

“I’m able to cast Priest spells using my own power,” he told her. “I discovered I could the first time I fought the One.”

Camara Tal mulled that over for a very long moment. “That shouldn’t be possible. But then again, your very existence isn’t supposed to be possible,” she said thoughtfully. “You can grant yourself spells?”

He nodded.

“How strong?”

“I have no idea. I haven’t done it since the fight with the One, and besides, I’ve been wounded. I couldn’t do it even if I wanted to.”

“Well, you do have some of that kind of power,” she said speculatively. “If all the other gods can grant spells, then so should you.”

“But I’m not a god, Camara,” he said pointedly.

“No, you’re not. But you’re not granting magic to mortals, Tarrin. You’re granting it to yourself. In other words, you’re just using the power you’ve already got in a different way. It’s surprising that you can do it, but it’s not entirely irrational to think that you can.”

“You just lost me, Camara,” he chuckled. “That’s a bit too deep for me.”

“Pft,” she snorted. “You understand well enough. You just don’t want to.”

“That’s an odd statement.”

“No it’s not. Not at all.” She was quiet a moment. “So, you want me to teach you everything in hopes that you might be able to use it,” she surmised.

He nodded. “Or at least some of the stronger spells. I doubt I’d be able to cast them all.” He glanced at her. “You do know them all, don’t you?”

She gave him a withering look. “I am the High Priestess of Neme, Tarrin. I know spells I haven’t even taught my Second. Most of them were taught to me by Neme herself.”

“Then I’m talking to the right Priestess,” he said. “I’ve seen Miranda use some pretty clever and interesting spells here, Camara. I’d never even heard of some of them. Can you cast those kinds of spells?”

“Easily,” she snorted.

“It makes me wonder why you never did,” he chuckled.

“Because I didn’t have to,” she answered. “Someone else was more than capable, and Neme forbids the use of her magic unless there’s no other way to do something. You know that.”

“I know. I know that’s why the others seriously underestimate your power, old friend. You’re probably the match of Miranda, at least on Sennadar.”

“I doubt that,” she laughed. “Miranda is Kikkalli’s daughter, and Kikkalli will cheat outrageously so her favorite daughter will win.”

“That’s probably true,” he acceded after a moment. “Can we start tomorrow?”

“I have nothing else to do,” she shrugged. “How about in the morning?”

“Sounds good to me. I have a couple of other people to talk to Camara, so I’ll let you go back to the meeting. How’s it going?”

“Kang won’t budge without at least three hundred more soldiers,” she snorted derisively. “I think he’s being way too cautious. With you and what we have here, we can crush anything in our way. And I do not like sitting in the middle of an open plain in hostile territory, just waiting for someone to come along and attack us. I feel like I’m fighting naked, waggling in the breeze and nothing a big target for anyone to take a stab at.”

“That would be quite a bit of waggling,” he noted idly.

“Talk about waggling, I about fell over when I saw Mist. What happened to her?”

“She was short because she wanted to be short,” he answered. “She decided she wanted to be her proper size, so she grew. We’re shapeshifters, Camara, what we want actually affects how we look, to some degree. Mist’s resistance to the idea of growing effectively stunted her growth.”

“Interesting,” she said, tapping a finger to her cheek thoughfully. “You’re free to sit in.”

“No thanks,” he said with a slight face. “Were-cats aren’t the kind that make plans.”

“I’ve noticed,” she grinned.

His next stop was at the large tent that belonged to Phandebrass. The Wizard was there with Kimmie and two Shadows who were Wizards, talking about something magical, no doubt. They all stopped talking when he ducked his way inside, and Kimmie rushed up and gave him a wordless hug. He returned it fondly, then kept an arm around her while he looked at the other two unknown humans. “Out,” he said immediately.

They glanced at Phandebrass, who nodded simply. “I say, we’ll continue this later,” he told them. “What can I do for you, Tarrin?”

He took out his Gnomlin Traveling Spellbook and spoke the word that caused it to become its full size. “I want you to put every spell you can find into this book that’s not already there,” he told him, putting it on the folding table in front of the Wizard, dropping it on top of a bunch of scrolls and parchments. “You said you were down to your last set of books, so I want a backup copy in case something happens.”

“I say, that’s a wise idea, that is,” he said with a nod. “How much space is left in it?”

“Nearly seven hundres pages,” he answered.

Phandebrass fretted. “That might not be enough,” he warned. “But I’ll do my best, I can.”

“Make it work,” he said calmly.

“I’ll start on it—“

“Right now,” he said. “And you have at least three others who can help you. I want it done by senset the day after tomorrow.”

“Two days?” Phandebrass said with a gape. “I say, Tarrin, that’s just not possible, it’s not.”

“You’re going to look funny without legs, Phandebrass.”

Phandebrass wasn’t sure wether to laugh or not, judging by his expression, but he finally decided against tempting fate and nodded gravely.

“I’ve put most of the book together, I can help a great deal,” Kimmie told them. “I know what’s in it and what’s not.”

“I say, that will help a great deal,” he said with a relieved nod.

“All his spells, dear?” she asked him.

“All of them,” he said adamantly.

“Alright then. Out of the tent, you’re in the way,” she said, shooing him out with her paws. “I’ll bring it to you when it’s done. Oh, and send Arkem and Rorace out to gather the rest of the Wizards and have them join us. This little collective effort might be useful for us all.”

“I say, it just might,” Phandebrass nodded.

Tarrin left them to their work. He knew that they’d never finish, but he also didn’t want them holding the army up if they decided to march, so he gave them an impossible deadline.

Fireflash zipped in a tight circle around him, then landed on his shoulder and nuzzled his neck briefly before flying off towards the two Hellhounds. Ember and Forge were playing like little puppies out away from the encampment, not far from the horses and Pegasi, amusing themselves while they guarded the mounts. Anayi was high in the air above the camp, scouting out any threats long before they reached them, while Ariana was out trying to find out Shadows on the plains. Tarrin took one look at them and knew that the a new pack of Hellhounds was already imminent, and he wondered idly if the puppies would be true Hellhounds, or would have the altered temperament of their parents.

Academic, he supposed. They’d find out in a few months.

The last order of business for a while was, of course, Mist. He found her in their tent, and Miranda was with her. They were making new clothes for Jal and Zyri—more to the point, Miranda was doing the sewing while Mist did what she could to help. “Well, you’re looking short, Tarrin,” Miranda chuckled as he came in.

“I don’t need that for a while,” he answered. “Besides, it’s rather lonely like that.”

Miranda gave just one look at the sudden expectant look on Mist’s face, then smiled impishly. “I’ll clear out then,” she said delicately. “I’d rather not be assaulted by flying shreds of cloth.”

“That’s smart,” Tarrin told her absently as he took Mist’s paws. “I’m sorry I’ve been distant,” he told her. “But it was necessary.”

“I’m patient, my mate,” she told him as Miranda withdrew from the tent. “You’re not going back to that shape until you have to, are you?”

He shook his head. “No, I need time to heal, and I do it faster this way,” he answered her. “Besides, I missed you, my mate. Now, if you didn’t miss me, I can just go right back,” he threatened, moving to turn around.

Mist laughed and pulled him into an embrace. “Don’t be an idiot,” she told him before giving him a passionate kiss.

The next couple of days passed quickly for Tarrin. What was supposed to be a morning session with Camara Tal became an all day affair, and it carried over to the next day. She already knew which Priest spells he knew, because she taught them to him, so she simply picked up where she’d left off so many years ago. When he wasn’t with Camara, he spent time with Mist, or the children, or caught up more with his friends who had come to the Pyrosian continent to help him.

Some things were just too funny. No matter how much they tried, the Selani just could not best Tsukatta. None of them could come close to him, and in a way, that drove them absolutely insane. Not that he was better than them, but that he was a human. Selani, like most races, had a kind of racial superiority about them. It wasn’t quite prejudice, but Selani expected to be able to beat any human in a fair fight. In Tsukatta they had come across a human that they could not defeat, and that just rubbed them raw. They weren’t mean or snide or petty, Selani honor wouldn’t permit that, but Tarrin, who had a very intimate understanding of the workings of the Selani mind, could tell that Tsukatta really, really, really irritated them. One Selani, Veni, almost had an obsession with Tsukatta. She challenged him an average of three times a day, and was soundly thrashed every single time. Frustration had a great deal to do with that, he could tell, for Veni was a better warrior than she showed in her matches against him. But she kept coming, determined to defeat the human. Tsukatta confided that first night after he started learning from Camara Tal that he could see the potential in her as well, and was humiliating her on purpose to see if she could overcome her aggravation and frustration and show him the potential he could see in her. Tsukatta was one of the greatest warriors that Tarrin had ever seen in his life, as skilled and formidable as Allia, but his humility was just as boundless, as was his compassion and his desire to become better. Tsukatta was an excellent teacher, for he wanted others to reach their full potential, and worked to make that come about…often without them realizing it. Tsukatta was much like Phandebrass in his quest to better himself, but where Phandebrass concentrated on learning, Tsukatta focused on perfecting his fighting art.

Probably the most intersting thing he’d seen was when Tsukatta tried himself against Binter. Tsukatta had sparred against some of the other Vendari and had defeated them, but as good as he was, he wasn’t grown up enough to play with the Wikuni Queen’s personal bodyguard. Binter was, quite simply, the best the Vendari had. That was why he was the Queen’s protector. The match was, to Tsukatta’s credit, the longest he had had against anyone. Tsukatta and Binter were probably equal in skill, training, and experience, making it a totally fair fight, but in the end Binter simply wore the human out. Vendari were reptillian and were actually cold-blooded, and that lent to them an endurance that no warm-blooded animal could match. Their metabolisms were able to pump all the energy into the muscles rather than trying to fuel a draining biological temperature regulating system. Binter beat Tsukatta by exhausting him, adapting a nearly frenzied pace of fighting and maintaining it longer than any human or Selani could ever hope to maintain. That was the true secret of the Vendari; the swing of Binter’s hammer at the beginning of a fight would be just as fast and powerful four hours later, a feat of endurance no warm-blooded mammal could duplicate. Not even Tarrin, with his Were gifts of regeneration, could maintain that level of activity for such a long time without tiring. Binter came at Tsukatta so hard and fast that the samurai had to match that fury, and he simply kept at it until Tsukatta faltered.

It wasn’t short, that was for sure. Tsukatta was amazingly conditioned for a human, able to fight for hours at a time…which Tarrin had personally experienced in his spars against the wandering extra-dimensional warrior. It took Binter nearly an hour to finally exhaust the human, one hour of the most dazzling display of fighting that the world of the Pyrosians had ever seen. Both of them had fought without a single error, but Tsukatta’s human limits were what allowed Binter to finally defeat him. Tsukatta simply could not keep up such an extreme pace for so long. It would be like running as fast as one could possibly run for an hour, and never slowing down a bit.

The Selani were amazed, the Vendari simply shrugged and went on about their business, but it was Tsukatta who amused Tarrin. After the fight, he simply laughed, accepted Binter’s hand to get back up off the ground, and said in a panting wheeze “very well done, Binter-san. I will work harder, and hope to present a greater challenge to you the next time.”

If anything, Tsukatta defined the word tenacious. He still strove to beat Spyder in a fight, and he would not stop until he did so. Tarrin had no doubt he would work to improve his already phenomenal endurance to better face Binter, or not make the mistake of trying to outlast a Vendari in combat again, going for the quick victory. That was the key to beating a Vendari…if you couldn’t take one down in the first ten minutes, you were going to lose. That was just assuming you had the martial skill to last that long against a Vendari, of course.

The task that Tarrin had set before Phandebrass and the other Wizards had caused them to virtually disappear. All nine of them, including Anayi, labored in the tent Phandebrass used, working in shifts to transcribe the spells that Kimmie had earmarked into Tarrin’s book. He wasn’t sure if they’d succeed, but they were certainly going to try.

After spending most of the second day with Camara, he left her to go see what more Kang had planned since they began, and took Zyri and Jal for a flight on the Pegasi. Both of them had become rather good at flying on the backs of the winged horses, but Tarrin flew under his own power along with them as they soared to the southwest, along a route that Tarrin had already taken. He was taking them someplace particular, a small lake he’d seen during one of his scouting flights. It didn’t take them long to get there, a small lake with reed-covered shores on all sides but one, where the elk and other roaming plain animals had trampled down an entrance to the water. The old ruins of a farm were built near that lake, as well as a rickety old dock that extended out into the water in the middle of that open lakeshore. In times past, a farmer had built that dock for a small fishing boat, but what had happened to them was no a mystery lost to the ages.

The lake was their destination, and the objective was some serious fishing. Tarrin had fashioned poles for them before coming, stowing them in the elsewhere during the journey, so all he had to do was scrounge up some worms for the hooks that Dolanna had had the foresight to add to their list of goods, and they were all sitting on the end of the dock, fishing poles in hand and lines in the water. Jal was more interested in the little fish visible under their feet than paying attention to his pole, watching the fish through the clear water. After watching them a while, he used his Elemental powers against the water, causing it to move according to his will, scooping up a startled fish and pulling it through a tube of water he raised up from the surface of the lake, and holding it at the bulbous end. He gestured at the fish proudly, with a grin, but Tarrin chuckled and pointed at the lake’s surface. “No cheating,” he instructed. “Put it back.”

The boy did as he was told, carefully pushing the startled fish back down into the lake, then releasing his control of the water. It dropped back down into the lake with a sudden splash, spraying all three of them.

“Yai!” Zyri gasped, flinching away from the spray. “Jal!”

He gave his sister a contrite look…one that was completely insincere. He meant to do that.

“I’m not fishing either of you out of the lake,” he warned in a serene voice, staring out over the small lake’s surface.

They fished in silence for a while longer, as the sun crept lower and lower in the sky, and he glanced at the two children. “You know, this lake reminds me a little of a pond not far from my house,” he told them. “It’s not nearly this big, though. It’s in a little valley over the hill from my house, and the water is so clear you can see the bottom, even in the middle. There are these little fish with blue stripes on them that glow with a faint light in the night in the pond, making it look like there are fireflies swimming in the water. It’s really pretty. I loved to go there with my children, at least when they were still little.”

“It sounds pretty,” Zyri said.

He was quiet a moment longer. “You two know that not long from now, we’re going to go back,” he told them. “I told you that I’d keep you until we found a new place for you. Well, here we are almost finished here, and we still haven’t found anywhere for you. So you two need to think about something.”

“What, Master Tarrin?”

“You have to decide what you want to do,” he told her. “Before we go, you have to decide where it is you want to be. If you want to stay here, then we’ll do our best to find someone who will take very good care of you. But if you don’t want to stay here, well, that’s not a problem. I’ve talked to Mist, and she’s already got it into her head that you and Jal are as good as her own children. That means that if you really want to go back with us, you’re more than welcome to. I have a really big house that’s standing empty right now, and there’s more than enough room for both of you. If you want to come live with me and Mist, we’d be glad to have you.”

Zyri gave a little squeal and was suddenly in Tarrin’s lap, hugging him tightly. “I want to go with you!” she told him ecstatically.

Tarrin chuckled, putting a paw on her back. “Well, that didn’t take long for you to think over,” he teased, then he looked at Jal. “Well, Jal? Do you want to think about it, or do you already know what you want to do? Mind you, you don’t have to go just because Zyri’s going. If you want to stay here, you’re more than welcome to.”

He smiled radiantly and pointed at Tarrin.

“Alright then, it’s decided,” he said. “You two are coming home with us. You’ll live with me and Mist until you’re old enough to be out on your own. That makes you my children, you know,” he told them. “So I’d appreciate it if you stopped calling me Master Tarrin.”

“What else should I call you?” Zyri asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve always been partial to Father,” he told her. “But if that doesn’t make you comfortable, I understand. I know I can’t take the place of your own father.”

“Father!” Zyri cried out joyfully, hugging herself to his chest.

“Well, I guess that’s not a problem after all,” he chuckled as Jal scooted over and hugged his side. “Just wait until you see my house, cubs. You’re going to love it. And I have—“

He stopped dead when the sense of it reached him, so much so that he immediately turned his head south, his ears picking up and swivelling in that direction. It was a discordant alteration in the very nature of this universe, a dark stain on the harmony of the material world. The voices of the other gods, always a murmur in the background to his ears, suddenly became fearful and worried, and they began to shout at him so loudly that he could nearly make out the words. The sense of that made the pit of his stomach hollow, and made his mouth go dry at the very thought of what it meant to this world, and how everything changed in the blink of an eye.

Oh, Goddess.

“Cubs,” he said in a distant, almost musing voice, but one full of raw, unmitigated fear. “Get up. We have to go back to the camp. We have to go back right now.”

“What’s the matter Mas—Father?” Zyri asked.

“It’s not safe here anymore,” he answered. “We have to get back to the others. When we get there, I want you to pack up your tent and be ready to move, alright?”

“Yes, Father, we’ll be ready,” Zyri told him as she got off his lap.

Jal fished the fishing poles out of the lake with his power, and he followed along behind Tarrin and Zyri as they went back out onto the grass. A shrill whistle recalled the two Pegasi, and he hefted each child into the saddle and helped them tie themselves in. “What’s the matter, Father?” Zyri asked. “Why are you afraid?”

“The One just crossed the line, little bit,” he said grimly. “He’s commited the ultimate sin. We have to get to the Dura immediately. It’s not safe to wait anymore.”

“What happened? What did he do?” she asked.

“He’s summoned a Demon Lord to this world,” he answered. “You don’t understand what that means, girl, and I won’t explain it to you. Let’s just say that it’s the worst thing he could have possibly done, and leave it at that.”

“Why is that so scary?” she asked.

“Honey, in two days, there’s going to be an army of Demons rampaging across the land,” he told her bluntly. “Not a few, not a dozen, not a hundred. Thousands. Demon Lords can summon as many Demons as they have that follow them. This Demon Lord will summon his entire Demon army here and they’re going to destroy everything in their path. We have to get to the Dura. Now.”

The Pegasi may not have felt the arrival of the Demon Lord, but they did understand what Tarrin was saying, and they were not stupid. They flew behind the Were-cat with the same dreadful urgency he had, getting back to the host as fast as their wings would carry them. He got about halfway there when Anayi came racing in from the west, banking around behind them and pumping her wings to catch up with them. “Tarrin!” she screamed. “Oh, Tarrin—“

“I felt it, Anayi,” he said grimly. “Have you told the others yet?”

“No, I was out scouting,” she told him.

“I thought you were helping Phandebrass,” he said.

“I was, but Kang told me to go patrol,” she answered. “We have to get back. We have to move. We can’t stay in one place.” She paled. “If he finds out we’re here, he’ll try to command me and the Hellhounds!” she said in a strangled tone. “Oh gods, Tarrin!”

“Anayi, stay with the children,” he ordered, calling forth his clear crystal visor from the elsewhere and putting it over his eyes, protection for his eyes from the wind whenever he intended to fly very, very fast. “Guide them back to the camp. I’ll go ahead and order the camp to start packing. We have to break through the citadels in the passes before that thing gets the majority of his army here, or he’ll just have them Teleport right on top of us when we assault the citadels.”

“Aye, Tarrin,” she said, calming down a little.

Tarrin streaked ahead, his mind racing. What was the One thinking? Had he lost his mind? Only a maniac called forth a Demon Lord! Didn’t he realize that the Demons were going to betray him the instant they had enough of a force here to eclipse him?

Gods, it was going to be the Blood War all over again.

The only thing he knew that was right now, getting everyone off of Pyrosia was an absolute necessity. They could not be here when the Demons broke free of the One and started rampaging across the land.

He lanced into the encampment not long before sunset and saw immediately that Forge and Ember were highly upset, pacing around Kang’s tent in a frenzy of concern. “KANG!” Tarrin boomed in a voice so loud that only a deaf person could possibly miss it, landing not far from his tent. Both Hellhounds raced up to him and whined, pushing their heads against his stomach and side. He comforted them as best he could. “I know, I know,” he told them. “We’re going to move. Go to your mistresses and protect them,” he ordered them. “I’ll do what I can, I promise.”

They gave him a sober look, then bounded off to do his bidding. Forge raced towards Phandebrass’ tent, while Ember charged towards Kang’s.

He didn’t wait for Kang. Many of the Shadows and the warriors who had come from Sennadar were looking at him, so he addressed them directly. “Pack the camp now!” he shouted. “We’re moving!”

They stood and stared at him in surprise.

“Didn’t you hear me?” he asked, his wings flaring with sudden bright light, his eyes suddenly consumed in the unholy greenish aura that marked an angry Were-cat, and fire bursting forth from his fetlocks. “I said pack this camp NOW!” he boomed, pointing at the nearest human, a Shadow.

“Tarrin! Tarrin, what’s wrong?” Kang called as he rushed from his tent, with most of the other “command staff” in tow behind him.

“Get this camp ready to move,” he said with white-hot intensity in his voice. “We have to get to the Dura, and we have to do it now.”

“We need more men to—“

“THAT WAS NOT A REQUEST!” he shouted with such power and ferocity that Kang shrank back. The fact that his wings were now writhing, with flames dancing along the top arch, making it look like they were on fire, certainly helped ram home the impression that Tarrin was not going to brook any backtalk.

“Dear one, what goes on?” Dolanna asked as she rushed down to him, past a startled Kang.

“The One has called forth a Demon Lord,” he said in a grating voice. “We’re not safe here anymore. We’re not safe anywhere anymore now. We have to get to the Dura. We don’t have much time.”

Miranda gasped and put her hands over her mouth. Camara Tal closed her eyes tightly and muttered a few choice words in Amazon, and Dolanna paled and looked at Tarrin with terrified eyes.

Kang was the general of the armies of an Empire ruled by a Succubus, so he certainly understood what a Demon Lord was, and what it meant. “Miranda,” he called, looking at her, his expression grim and very, very concerned. “How fast can you cast that spell that takes us into the Astral?”

“It takes about ten minutes to set up and cast,” she answered him.

“Then get to work on it. We cannot stay here. Not now.”

“Flee? This is my world, General Kang,” Lorak said stiffly. “I will not abandon my home. I have fought against the One all my life, and I won’t simply turn tail and run because he’s conjured up some new kind of Demon.”

“In a year, there won’t be a world anymore,” Camara told him bluntly. “If your people have the spells to escape this world, then you’d damn well better tell them to use them.”

“We’re not going anywhere,” Tarrin snapped at them. “This is the One’s domain, and that means Miranda can’t get us out of here. We have to get to the Dura’s lands, where the One can’t interfere.”

Miranda gasped, then nodded in understanding and agreement. “He’s right,” she affirmed. “I can’t use the Astral spell here, because the One changed his domain so those kinds of spells won’t work. I have to be on land he doesn’t control, so I have to get to the land held by the Dura before I can cast the spell.”

“Damn,” Kang growled. “Break camp!” he shouted. “Break camp and prepare for a forced march! Leave anything behind we don’t absolutely need!”

“Is this Demon truly that dangerous?” Lorak asked earnestly, as the camp exploded into a flurry of activity.

“Lorak, a Demon Lord can summon an army of Demons,” Camara Tal told him. “He’ll pretend to work with the One for a while, until he has enough of a foothold here, then he’ll turn on the One as well. And he’ll win. After he disposes of the One, he’ll have his army of Demons destroy everything in this world, until there’s nothing left but a barren wasteland. There are no Elder Gods in this world, and the other gods aren’t strong enough to stand against him, so that means there’s no one to oppose the Demon Lord. I’m sorry to tell you this, but this world is doomed. The best thing you can do right now is contact your people and tell them to get as many people into the Astral or through gates to other worlds as quickly as they can. Save as many as possible.”

“Imagine the entire world as Auromar is,” Dolanna told him. “That is what is going to happen, and I fear that there is no way to prevent it. A Demon Lord is as a god, and there is nothing that we can do. Escape is the only possible option now.”

“No,” Lorak said stubbornly. “There has to be a way. We didn’t fight this long just to lose now. I won’t see my people destroyed, and I won’t see them forced away from Elara. We have stood against the One for thousands of years and have persevered, even flourished, and we will not be uprooted. Not by the One, not by this Demon Lord. Run if you want, but the Elara will stay, and we will find a way to defeat this new threat.”

“Argue while we move,” Tarrin snapped as the children landed with Anayi close behind. “Quickly, cubs!” he called to them.

The camp was broken down in a chaotic frenzy of activity, as the soldiers worked feverishly to knock down the tents and pack them. At first Kang wanted to abandon them, but the need to keep his troops out of the weather overruled that idea. They were on the move within an hour after Tarrin’s return, riding or running at a brisk pace to the north, rushing towards the Dura’s lands. Every moment mattered now, and they knew it. They had to break through the citadels in the passes before the Demon Lord could get too many or his Demons into this world, or they’d be facing a vastly superior force. Tarrin, Anayi, and Ariana soared high over the host, keeping an airborne eye out for scouts or elements of the One’s army that might be moving north.

Tarrin took that time, as they marched on through sunset and continued to move by torchlight, to seriously reconsider his course of action. What he had originally planned to do was thrown out the window now. With a Demon Lord on the loose, everything was different now, and much more dangerous. He still had to get to the One and destroy his icon, however, and for more than just petty revenge now. It was now absolutely imperative to destroy the One and eradicate the main force that kept his armies together, which would also release the souls that the One had trapped on Auromar. He still had a duty here, a promise to Niami that he had made, a promise he would not break. He had promised her he would get the souls of her children back home, and he would see that through.

Getting everyone back home now was what mattered. His mate, his new cubs, his family and his friends, they had to flee now, had to escape this world. He would not let them stay here and become witness to a new Blood War.

But he would not abandon the Pyrosians either. These people had no defense, no hope, and if someone didn’t stand up to the One and this Demon Lord, they would all be systematically eradicated. He could not look at himself in a mirror ever again if he ran away from them now. In a way, this was his fault…had he not attacked the One, had Mist not damaged his icon at his behest, he would never have taken the drastic step of calling forth a Demon Lord. Now Tarrin had to face this counterstroke of his opponent, who had called on the power of a Demon Lord to obviously protect him, because they both knew who was going to heal first.

He thought furiously as he drifted above the host, his wings making him a beacon in the night. He had to come up with some way of taking out the One and sending the Demon Lord back to the Abyss. Usually, killing the one who summoned a Demon would send it back, but that wouldn’t work here. He’d have to kill the One, not just destroy his icon, and that was quite impossible. The One was in another dimension, in the Upper World, the higher plane of existence, utterly immune to anything Tarrin could do to him. The most Tarrin could do would be destroy his icon, but that wouldn’t send the Demon Lord back to the Abyss. To do that, he’d have to go to wherever the One was and kill him there…and he couldn’t do that. He’d be a mortal trying to destroy a god in that god’s home dimension, that was a task that defined the word impossible.

Alright, so banishing the Demon Lord was off the list of possibilities. His mind raced as he considered other options, the highest in his mind being to confront the Demon Lord and destroy his incarnation in this world. That would be very difficult, for that Demon Lord would have power that would rival his own. Dolanna wasn’t kidding when she said it’d be as a god here, because it would. It would be just as strong as the One, maybe even stronger. Add the fact that he’d also have to deal with the One and whatever nasties that the Demon Lord would have summoned by then, and that was going to be a very risky proposition. He’d be fighting two beings with divine power and a horde of Demons, all at the same time.

He looked down and saw Binter and Sisska leading the host on foot, easily keeping pace with the cantering horses. Immediately behind them were the rest of the Vendari and the Selani, and Kang was behind them, with Lorak and Dolanna on one side and Camara Tal and Dolanna on the other. His other friends rode behind them, including Zyri and Jal—

—of course! That was the answer!

It wouldn’t be easy to do, and it certainly wasn’t something he wanted to do, but that was the most logical solution. It would wipe out the danger the One and the Demon Lord both posed in one fell swoop.

He thought about what had to be done before that plan of action was carried out, and realized that there was only one thing that had to be done. Much of what he already had planned fit right into this new course of action, it would just require more of him. What new that had to be done was that he had to make sure to get the host to the Dura, off of land controlled by the One, and getting them and anyone else who wanted to go off of Pyrosia. Niami would fix it so Phandebrass could open that gate, but it wouldn’t be for the souls of Niami’s children…Phandebrass would have to go to Auromar to do that. It would be for them. The souls of the katzh-dashi would be freed later, because right now, they were not as important as dealing with the Demon Lord was. They’d have to wait, and Phandebrass would have to open the gate for them later…though there was a chance that they’d be freed when he confronted the One. If he could destroy the One’s icon, the One’s power over the land would be broken, and those souls could escape on their own. Mortal souls had the power to pass into the Astral from the material plane, no matter which material plane it was. All he really had to do was stop the One from using his power to hold them here, preventing them from escaping.

So, he had to have Miranda contact Kikkalli and tell her to have Niami get Ayise to allow Phandebrass to open a gate into Sennadar. That was a bit convoluted, but it was what had to be done. He gauged the distance that he thought the host could travel in one day at a forced march, factored in the delay of getting past the citadels, and then added it all together to come to a figure Miranda would have to relay.

Ten days. They had ten days to get to the stronghold of the Dura. Tarrin had ten days to prepare for what must be done. It would be risky. It would be dangerous. It would be something he would very much prefer to avoid doing, because of the utter finality of it. Once it was done, it was done. There would be no going back, and his life would be at its end. It would mean sacrificing everything. But it had to be done. It just had to be done.

You must be able to make the choices that must be made.

He knew that it really was no choice at all…but that didn’t make it any easier to bear. He accepted that choice with grim stoicism, for it had to be done. There just wasn’t any other choice. As much as he hated it, detested it, despised that choice, it was a choice that was itself no choice but to choose.

But knowing it had to be done certainly didn’t make it any easier to accept.

On the horizon, he saw the firelight of the One’s forces that were camped there, and there were more of them now. They were directly in the path of his forces, and that meant that a battle was imminent, which would waste lots of time and just put their soldiers in needless risk. They couldn’t throw men away or waste time on annoying inconveniences right now, not with what was lurking to the south.

That was easy enough to deal with.

Calling his sword forth from the elsewhere, he closed his paw around the hilt and felt the sword suddenly explode with hidden power, the blade erupting into bright fire. The sword certainly understood what was behind them, and understood his need. That red fire suddenly turned white as the sword did whatever it did to reach back into the realm of Sennadar and touch the Weave, and he felt that connection much more strongly than he had before. His wings immediately began changing from red to white like the filling of a goblet, as the sword caused his wings to visibly display the magical power Tarrin had stored within him.

There was no time to waste on silly deceptions or false fronts. Now was the time to use anything and everything that they had to get to the Dura, and that meant using drastic measures. That meant using Sorcery.

“Ariana, tell Kang I’m going to go ahead and clear the path,” he called to the Aeradalla who was circling to his left and above him.

“Do you need help, my friend?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I’m going to use Sorcery,” he told her. “You’ll help me more by staying out of the way.”

“I’ll go tell him,” she affirmed with a nod and sly smile, folding her wings a little and suddenly diving past him, towards the ground.

Tarrin surged forward, until the wind was stinging his eyes, he was going so fast. He paused only to fish his Selani visor out of the elsewhere and put it over his eyes, then he raced ahead of the host, his wings a bright beacon in the night, like he was some kind of monstrous firefly. It only took him about twenty minutes to get close enough to the One’s forces to see that they had nearly five hundred here now, including at least twenty Demons, and those Demons were the ones whipping the camp up to get ready for him. They could feel him coming long before the scouts saw him.

Not that that would help them in the slightest.

Tarrin hated the idea of what he was about to do, but the rules all went out the window the instant the One called forth that Demon Lord. The only thing that mattered was getting his friends and family to the Dura, and getting them there now. If there was some way—

Wait. There was a way to get them to the Dura quickly. Tarrin had a great deal of power now with his Sorcery, if he combined that with his divine capabilities, he could get the entire host to the lands of the Dura and completely bypass the mountains and the forests beyond them. Actually, he felt completely stupid for not thinking of it already.

He’d Transmuted several horses into Pegasi already. Transmuting every horse in the host wouldn’t be much harder. Then he could use Sorcery to create a large net, and he could carry all the supplies in his dragon form, as well as the Vendari. The Selani could double up with other riders on the stronger Pegasi.

Yes, that would work. They could reach the Dura in a couple of days, and then Tarrin could fulfill his last duty and discover if the Dura were either the descendents of the Dwarves of Sennadar, or knew of them. Then Miranda could use her Astral spell to get everyone off of Pyrosia and to safety while Tarrin journeyed to the remains of Pyros and had his final confrontation with the One…and finished it, once and for all.

He suddenly banked away, and left the startled forces of the One behind. They didn’t matter anymore. They meant nothing now.

He reached the host not long after that, which was moving quickly towards the force that was now behind him. He landed in front of them and simply stood and stared at them until Kang called for a halt of the formation. “Lad? Did you chase the enemy force off?” Kang asked.

He said nothing as he raised his sword, and its fire again turned white, which caused his wings to shift from red to white as well, glowing with such illumination that to the host, his form was as shadow. He opened his eyes, which glowed with an incandescent whiteness that blazed forth from the dark silhouette.

“Uh…Dolanna,” Kang said hesitantly.

His feet left the ground as he rose over the force of Shadows and friends, and he immediately got to work. Every rider of a horse suddenly found himself grabbed by a glowing white strand of pure magical energy that erupted from Tarrin’s wings, and physically hauled off his or her mount, or unbuckled packs and removed them from pack animals. Those strands delicately set the riders and equipment down, then struck the mounts, which caused them to blaze forth with brilliant white light.

Miranda looked around, then laughed. “Damn clever!” she called.

“What is he doing?” Kang asked her.

“He’s turning them into these,” she said, pointing at her Pegasus. “And since he’s healed enough to use Sorcery, I bet he has a plan to carry the Vendari and Selani along. We’re going to fly to the Dura! We won’t have to fight our way through!”

Dolanna, however, wasn’t quite as overjoyed at the idea of it as the others. She looked at Tarrin, and looked around and started counting the horses, counting the glowing reverse silhouettes who were even now starting to grow wings. “What troubles you, shaida Dolanna?” Var asked from beside her small Pegasus. Var and Denai often quietly shadowed Dolanna, seeing her more as a child in need of protection because of her small size and gentle demeanor than as a capable, even formidable, adult.

“I…nothing, Var,” she said, glancing at Miranda. She too started counting the horses after she saw Dolanna doing it, then gave the Sorceress a sober look.

In mere moments, it was done. Every single horse was Transmuted into a Pegasus, including the pack animals…well over one hundred horses, changed at the same time. That was what of which Dolanna had taken notice, something that would have been impossible for just about any Sorcerer, except Tarrin, or Spyder. Tarrin gestured at the ground, pointing his sword at it, and pulled forth a large expanse of dirt and rock. His power shaped it, spreading it out, forming it into a large, heavy net with stout loops on each corner, then it shimmered from earth and stone and became stout, unbreakable plaxa fiber rope. He pulled forth another expanse of earth and rock, and this was molded into the shape of a large, wide, low-walled basket of sorts, with heavy braided ropes ending in loops.

Tarrin’s glowing form backed away from them, and then his sword and wings burst forth in fire once again. The wings suddenly expanded, quadrupled in size, grew even more, then the folded around the now small form to which they were attached. The body within melted away, succumbed to the power of the fire and became living flame, and that living flame, an entity without set form, went about the task of creating a new form to occupy. Fire grew from that central mass, flowed like water, expanding into a fireform shape of a dragon. The body was formed, then legs, head and tail quickly and smoothly grew forth, and then wings. When the fireform shape was complete, the entire construct flared with light as fire became flesh and blood and bone, and then the fire evaporated away like smoke, leaving behind the flesh and blood body of an unimaginably huge gold dragon.

“Load all the equipment into the net. I’ll be carrying the Vendari and Selani and the Hellhounds in that,” Tarrin said in a weary, exhausted, weakened voice, pointing at the net. “When we’re ready to move, sit down in the basket and tie your legs down with the straps you’ll find on the floor.” He laid down on the ground, causing a small shockwave in the ground beneath their feet. “Explain to them how to strap into the saddles, Dolanna,” he said, closing his eyes. “Kimmie, Phandebrass, come here.”

Everyone was silent for a long moment, and the Shadows, even Lorak, seemed awestruck. None of them had ever seen a display of magic of that magnitude before. Kang blinked, then shook his head. “Why are you standing around?” he barked. “You heard him! Move! Sergeants, take command of your elements and get the gear loaded into the net! The faster we get done, the closer to the Dura we’ll be!”

“I say, quite a demonstration, lad, it was,” Phandebrass chuckled as he and Kimmie came over to him, looking up at his huge head. “What do you need?”

“I need my book,” he told them. “Once we get to the Dura, how quickly can you finish it?”

“I say, give us one more hour, and we’ll be finished,” he said proudly. “You forgot, lad, I created Phandebrass’ Amazing Duplication last year, we’ve been shuffling spells about using magic, we have!”

“We wanted to surprise you with it, dear,” Kimmie grinned. “You didn’t think we could do it. We wanted to prove you wrong.”

He had indeed forgotten about that spell, and he chuckled at Kimmie. “You have it right now,” he told them. “We’re not moving until you finish that book.