Chapter 9

The plan was a simple one, and almost guaranteed victory for the forces of the katzh-dashi and their Vendari and dragon allies.

However, the first people Teleported into a market square near the harbor had a very loose concept of the idea of a plan when something shiny and distracting was dangled in front of their eyes.

Tarrin appeared within the market square just before noontime with Sarraya on his shoulder, as the civilians of Zakkara were conducting their daily business, buying and selling the goods and foodstuffs that would get them through the rest of the day. His part at this stage of the attack was a simple one; clear the square in preparation for the appearance of the Kyrienna and her advance team so she could cast her Gate spell. This was a task for which Tarrin was particularly suited, since he was the most powerful of the sui’kun and could fight hand to paw if needs be…as well as the unstated fact that Tarrin wouldn’t particularly care if he caught up civilians in his clearing. It was clear to everyone that he was both not meant to be there, and he was not there as a friend. He appeared in a full suit of black armor, the armor of his Cat’s Claws, his fiery wings flared behind him and brilliantly visible as they snapped out and the Were-cat set his will against the Weave. Those fiery wings flooded with brilliant white light, and many of them realized just who he was. The legends had spread even to the reclusive nation of Zakkar.

It was instant panic. The black-robed Zakkites scattered in every direction, screaming in terror, as those who didn’t grasp what was about to happen were infected with the terror of those that did. They didn’t get far, though, before a scouring wall of air slammed into them from behind, a ring of solid air that emanated from the Were-cat and spreading outward like a ripple in a pond, sweeping anything and everything out of the square, leaving nothing but the sand and stone of the ground behind.

Jenna, now, Tarrin called out into the Weave, taking up the Firestaff in both paws as he lifted from the ground, completing the first phase of the plan. It was at this point that he was supposed to wait for the others to arrive, Kyrienna and an advance element of Knights, Sorcerers, and three dragons to defend Kyrienna as she cast her spell, and after that he, Jenna, Sapphire, and Tenshale could assault the citadel of the Witch-King to tie up any kind of heavy magical counter-attack, but Tarrin sensed the great power there, a very impressive magical power, and decided that it was better if he went over there now and got them worried about him so they didn’t try anything on those who would come through that gate and not have the same understanding he did.

“Oooh, feel that?” Sarraya gasped, looking towards the citadel.

“Yah, we’d better get there fast,” he nodded. He turned and hurtled for the castle even as fifteen figures shimmered into existence in the swept square. The pale Kyrienna stood in the very center of that host, surrounded by four Knights, six Vendari, Jenna, and three dragons in human form.

“Tarrin!” Jenna shouted after him angrily as she saw him flying off.

Sapphire’s draconic form was the first thing the defenders really saw, as she reverted to her normal form, and the sheer, raw panic of a dragon caused instant and unmitigated chaos in every part of the city that could see her...which was most of the city. Zakkara was built on a hillside overlooking a natural harbor, with a flat plain near the water’s edge, where the higher one lived, the more important one was. Virtually all of the city could either see Sapphire over the buildings or look down from the hillside and see her. At that point, the battle was basically over. The defenders, who had only just received magical reports that some kind of major disturbance involving a Sorcerer had happened at the harbor square, boiled out of their garrisons and saw a titanic blue dragon standing where they intended to go.

It was easy for Tarrin and those intimate with Sapphire could forget how terrifying she could be. But those who had never seen a live dragon before were in no way prepared for the sheer, overwhelming terror that seeing an angry dragon could invoke.

The defenders were panic-stricken and did not respond to the invaders. Officers who tried to bully soldiers took one look at Sapphire, and joined their troops in the flight as far away from her as they could get. Those who had had the fortitude to swallow down the fear had their wills broken when Sapphire roared, a sound that shook the entire city.

The only ones who could resist the fear of the dragons were the War Wizards, and Zakkirum, the Wizards who ruled the empire. Where their soldiers fled, the Wizards responded, quickly assembling in their towers to prepare to counter this sudden invasion of the capitol.

The Elara Wizard moved quickly and efficiently to cast her spell, which was completed before Jenna had summoned her second Elemental. A very large vertical whirlpool of reddish magic, nearly thirty spans across, appeared before her, then it solidified to show a red-tinted view of the chapterhouse training ground in Suld, where the other attackers were stationed and waiting; she was unable to open a gate back into the Tower grounds. As soon as it stabilized, Vendari, Knights, and Sorcerers boiled forth in a column eight across.

The second dragon to revert to her dragon form was Nightshade. The shadow dragon glittered in the morning sun, then her piercing, high-pitched keening cry spread even more terror through the city as the smaller dragon raced for the harbor, a harbor where ships were already either lifting from the water to do battle, or were turning to flee. The shadow dragon was over the water in seconds, bearing down on the closest ship, trailing shadow behind her like a wake through water, solid shadow that did not evaporate, but did drift on the sea breeze like fog. She was the first to attack, unleashing her breath weapon on a ship that was just starting to lift up from the water. Even in the market square, they heard the agonized screams of those caught in the weapon’s effect, as every iota of strength and warmth were sucked out of them. Those screams were cut brutally short as the cone of shadow enveloped the ship. The ship lurched and then fell back towards the water, eddies of shadow swirling around it as it dropped from the inky cloud of darkness. The next ship saw her coming, and responded out of sheer desperation. Lances of lightning, streaks of fire, and blazing missiles of pure magic erupted from the next ship and sizzled towards the slender dragon, but shadow billowed out from the dragon and enveloped her even as she flew towards them, causing those magical attacks to hurtle into that inky cloud and leaving their success a matter of uncertainty. They looked around for a moment, unable to see her or hear her, but then she exploded from the cloud of darkness low and close to the water, ignoring the ship as it turned to give the Wizards an arc of fire, instead banking around the three towers that enclosed the large harbor off from the open sea, spreading her wake of darkness over the towers, then circling around the wharfs, spreading more and more of her darkness. The ships still at the docks tried to attack her with magic from the decks, but their attacks punched into that aura of darkness around her and left it up in the air as to whether they struck her or not.

As soon as the dragon flew a complete circuit around the harbor, creating a ring of shadow that enclosed it, suddenly the entire harbor descended into inky darkness, as the dragon enacted its powers to swallow an area surrounded by its shadow into darkness.

From that darkness, there were only the screams of the victims. The men on the ships could not see to navigate, and could not see the dragon to try to repel her as she attacked the ships, one by one, with her deadly breath weapon, eradicating the crews while leaving the ships unharmed. Nightshade systematically killed every living thing on every ship, securing them for the katzh-dashi.

The Knights and Vendari, with the katzh-dashi interspersed into their formations to defend against the Zakkite magic, erupted out of the market square like a plague of locusts, swarming under anything and anyone in their way. Terrified civilians were captured, but anyone wearing the livery of the Zakkites or carrying a weapon was slaughtered without mercy or quarter. The defenders could not mount any kind of organized resistance, because there were now nine blue dragons in the air over the city, screeching and roaring, inducing panic in the city below. Waves of mounted Knights and Vendari charged towards the harbor as a second force started up the main avenue leading to the Citadel of Night, at the top of the hill overlooking the harbor, a citadel of black stone and multiple towers that, even now, was embroiled in its own battle for survival, for it was under siege from the Were-cat Sorcerer, Tarrin Kael.

What Tarrin had felt was powerful, powerful magic. There was an artifact of some sort there, like the crown in Amyr Dimeon, a magical relic of great power that had immediately gotten both his and Sarraya’s attention. Tarrin was hovering outside the outer wall, watching the frenzied movements of defenders within, trying to puzzle out where it was and how it was doing what it was doing.

It was creating some kind of Druidic-based field of power that actively disrupted Sorcery.

That was Zakkara’s counter to the threat of the katzh-dashi, he realized. They owned that ancient relic, probably a remnant from the Age of Power, that sought to prevent the use of Sorcery within the citadel. It was unanticipated, that was for sure. Tarrin had never heard of an object that could utilize Druidic magic. But it was certainly in there, and that was what it was doing, and even from that distance he could feel it reaching for him, in a peculiar way, as if to wrap a spectral hand around him and muffle his powers of Sorcery. And it was most definitely Druidic in origin. It was why both he and Sarraya could sense it, since they were both Druids.

“Can you find it?” Sarraya asked.

“No,” he answered. “You?”

“No, we’re either too far away or it’s hiding itself,” she answered. “I don’t think we can stop it either.”

“I wouldn’t know where to start, and I’m not about to monkey around with unknown Druidic magic.”

“We’re going to need the dragons to get in,” Sarraya reasoned. “Maybe Sapphire can figure it out, she’s better than us at Druidic magic.”

“Yah, let’s go back to them.”

As the Knights and Vendari below started systematically laying waste to they city, going slow enough to allow those who wished to escape to get away, Tarrin circled around and came up behind and between Tenshale and Sapphire. “How dare you go off on your own like that, Tarrin!” Jenna snapped.

“Calmly, little one, I can sense why he did,” Sapphire called across to Tenshale, where Jenna rode on the massive dragon’s head. “What did you sense?”

“We can’t figure out where it is,” Sarraya shouted to her. “Neither of us.”

“It’s strong enough to stop both of us,” Tarrin called. “Even from well above the castle walls, I could feel it trying to muzzle me.”

“What is it?” Jenna asked.

“There’s a device of some kind within the citadel that actively stops Sorcery,” Sapphire answered her. “It’s Druidic in nature. I have never sensed its like before. I wish to study it after this, my little one.”

“It’s yours first, Sapphire,” Tarrin told him. “But this means me and Jenna can’t punch through, and I’m wary of using Druidic magic around it.”

“Agreed. We will do this the old fashioned way. Tenshale, let us batter down the gates by main force. Jenna, Tarrin, protect us while we take care of this.”

“Then let us put all this bulk to good use,” Tenshale said with a chuckle. “Hang on, little Jenna, because we dive to attack!”

Tarrin landed on Sapphire’s head, between her horns, and held on as she too dropped into a dive, raising his paws and weaving a Ward that would stop any and all Wizard magic from penetrating. Tenshale, the smaller of the two, pulled up and raked the main wall with his power, his intertwined lightning bolts blasting into the wall…but his breath weapon rebounded off the wall and struck the street before it, sending a shower of rocky debris and dirt into the air. Sapphire gave out a keening roar that the other blues would know would be a call to assist her, then she too unleashed her breath weapon as they dove, striking the hammered gold covering the massive doors isolating the citadel from the rest of the city. It too was reflected away harmlessly, which made Sapphire nod.

“The defenses of the Zakkites are both thorough and strong,” she noted to Tarrin and Sarraya. “But let’s see how they stand up to brute force! Call forth your Elementals, my little one! Jenna! Order your Elementals to attend us immediately!”

Tarrin wove the spells to call forth his Elementals, one after another, with speed and efficiency. In mere moments, all four stood or hovered near where Sapphire had landed, on the street just in front of the door. All four had fighting forms. The Air and Water Elementals were amorphous masses, able to change shape as needed, and the Earth Elemental was in its usual bipedal, long-armed, no-head form. The Fire Elemental had taken on the form of a small dragon, a burning miniature replica of the behemoths that shadowed it from the sun. “Tarrin, Jenna,” Sapphire called out, speaking the dragon language, “Hold your Elementals fast here until the gate is breached, then send them in to engage the enemy forces! Defend me, my little one!”

Sapphire lumbered towards the gate, and a veritable sheet of arrow, ballista, and catapult fire accompanied a barrage of magical spells that roared towards them. Tarrin’s task was to protect Sapphire, and he did so, his Ward stopping all the magical attacks while he used Sorcery, a wall of air, to physically shield them from the missiles. But for every step Sapphire took towards the wall, he felt that device within start to interfere with his ability to use Sorcery, trying to smother his power under a blanket. He abandoned Sorcery and reverted to Druidic magic, using a spell that Triana had taught him, repelling the rock and wood from which the missiles and catapult stones were made while his Ward continued to protect against the magic. Because of the Were-cat riding with her, Sapphire reached the front gates untouched, and the Zakkites screamed in fear and started fleeing the gatehouse as she reared back, then ripped her massive paw into the beaten gold of the gate.

The contact of dragon with gold created an intense blast of light and sound, as Sapphire’s attack triggered another defensive spell on the gate, but Tarrin’s Ward stopped it…if only just. He felt the Ward take all that magical power and shudder, already weakened from the device within. His Ward unraveled from the onslaught, but not before Sapphire tore one of the gates off its hinges, sending the gold-plated door crashing into the bailey beyond. Immediately, eight Elementals surged forward under the dragon as she clawed down the other door, as her tiny rider defended her from the assault from above.

Of course, Tarrin realized that Sapphire could have simply protected herself, but he got the feeling that she was feeling things out, seeing how a dragon without her magical powers and a Sorcerer could work as a unit.

With a terrible screeching of tearing stone, Sapphire tore the gatehouse asunder, which collapsed parts of the walls on both sides, sending catapults, rocky debris, defenders, and Wizards plummeting to the ground below, a veritable rain through which the eight Elementals charged as they raced towards the breached gatehouse. Over their heads, Sapphire unleashed a devastating blast of her breath weapon across the bailey, electrocuting hundreds of soldiers, but ten of them stood unmoved by the attack, what looked like animated, fifteen span tall statues.

They were called Golems, and they were one of the pinnacles of Wizard magic. They were virtually invulnerable, immune to virtually every kind of magic except Sorcery, but in this place, with that artifact, that weakness was covered. The only way to defeat one was to literally tear it apart, but they could only be harmed by certain kinds of weapons, and those weapons had to carry a significant magical enchantment.

They were in the way, and he had bigger things to do.

Raising the Firestaff over his head, he called on its power, which made it blaze forth with bright light, then he pointed the tip at them. A raging cone of magical fire erupted from the Firestaff and blasted into the golems, unleashing such magical fire on them that the stones under their feet turned instantly red hot and melted. The ten golems moved to advance, but their movements were suddenly fast and lucid, as their joints became fluid from melting rock, but then globs and pieces of them started dripping off, carried away by the force of the fire. Before the golems could take three steps, they were rendered virtually liquid, melted by the power of the Firestaff. When the fire ceased, all that was left was an unrecognizable series of molten lumps.

Sapphire ambled into the bailey with surprising speed, with Tenshale and Jenna right behind her. The two dragons did not advance, they simply held the bailey and the front gate, using their breath weapons and their tails and claws to lash out at any biped stupid enough to expose themselves. “I’ll go try to find that thing, Tarrin,” Sarraya piped as she rose up from his shoulder.

“Sarraya, that’s crazy! Stay here!”

“They’ll never see me,” she winked at him as she wavered into invisibility.

“Let her go, little one. She just might do as she boasts.”

“You bet I will!” she called as the sound of her wings faded.

“We can give her time by keeping the defenders busy, and it won’t stay quiet for long,” Sapphire called as Tenshale swiped a small building into rubble with his tail. “They will have more magical defenders than those golems.” She paused to chant in the language of magic, sending a cascading sheet of greenish slime spraying from her massive paw. The slime sprayed over a doorway into the main keep, and wherever that green liquid struck, it began to sizzle and burn, eating away anything it touched. The doorway, as well as much of the polished black granite that framed it, melted away in a savage hiss of acid.

They did. Appearing high from one of the towers was a winged Demon, a vrock. It screeched and held its glaive in both hands as it took the air. But, strangely, the Demon did not attack. It instead turned southwest, escaping from the citadel, fleeing for the open ocean. It flew out over the city, then passed it, but as soon as it came over the cloud of shadow engulfing the harbor, it got a nasty shock. Nightshade erupted from that shadow with a furious cry, flying straight up at almost impossible speed, so fast the Demons seemed sincerely surprised she was there. It tried to bank away from the dragon, but the dragon simply turned with it.

Even from so far away, Tarrin heard Nightshade’s jaws snap shut on the vrock, sending a single severed arm and glaive spiraling down into the cloud below as the rest of the creature vanished into her mouth. The shadow dragon then dropped back down into the cloud herself, like a lurking shark just waiting for another meal to pass close enough to her to lunge for it.

“Why didn’t it Teleport?” Jenna asked.

“That was no vrock, it was a magical spell to make one look like one,” Sapphire answered. “One of the Wizards tried to fly away.”

“I’d hazard a guess that the Witch-King has already made his escape. Even he must see the inevitable, with Vendari running through his city and two dragons holding his outer bailey,” Tenshale noted.

“Keeper, we’re about ten minutes from the citadel,” came a Whisper in the Weave, done so by a Sha’Kar Tarrin didn’t know. “Do you wish us to go faster?”

“Don’t go faster than you need to,” she answered aloud. “We have things under control here.”

“Those were rash words, little one,” Tenshale said grimly as a vortex of magical energy began to form near the citadel keep. “Sapphire—“

“I have seen this spell before,” she said calmly. “Tarrin, do you know Abrogad’s Disjunction?”

“I do,” he answered.

“Cast it with me,” she ordered. “That is Misraj’s Calamity, I don’t think we want to taste that spell when it completely forms. It causes shifts in luck that kill.”

In unison, Tarrin and Sapphire chanted the Wizard spell known as Abrogad’s Disjunction, a powerful spell that eradicated other Wizard spells. It was a defensive spell, but it did not cast quickly, which made it less useful for use in combat. There were weaker versions of the spell used for that. Simultaneously, he ordered his Elementals to enter the keep and cause chaos, specifically to kill anyone who looked like a Wizard.

It was the beginning of a standoff of sorts that lasted several moments. Tenshale and Jenna stayed back and out of the way as Tarrin and Sapphire countered spell after spell hurled at them from within the citadel keep. Those within weren’t about to throw soldiers away in a confrontation with dragons, but their attempts to repel or drive away the dragons using magic were failing because there were two very proficient Wizards facing them. Jenna sent her Elementals into the keep as well as Tarrin and Sapphire defended the bailey with Wizard magic, but every moment that went by annoyed him. He could smash the citadel with the Firestaff in seconds, but Sarraya was in there, and he couldn’t risk harming her. And, he had to admit, he really wanted to capture the artifact that was disrupting Sorcery, to see how it was made. A non-living object using Druidic magic? Even Triana would be surprised at that.

“Nightshade has the harbor completely secured,” Tenshale called as a keening cry scraped across the city, one of Nightshade’s roars which was a pre-arranged signal. “How go the Vendari?”

“They have nearly half the city captured,” Jenna answered as smoke started rising up from the city below, then she gasped. “Something destroyed one of my Elementals!”

“I think it’s coming out,” Tenshale called as Tarrin and Sapphire both looked up, sensing a magical presence. On a balcony above them was another golem, this one made of iron, twenty spans tall and built to look like a burly armored human warrior, carrying a sword and a shield. It jumped off the balcony and dropped sixty spans to the ground, shattering the paving stones and making the ground shake when it landed. Tarrin raised the Firestaff and came up off Sapphire’s head, but she batted him with her snout.

“No, little one! Fire makes iron golems stronger! Use cold!”

The iron golem advanced on the dragon fearlessly, but Tarrin swooped down and hovered fingers above the ground, chanting the formula for the spell known as Cone of Cold. He completed the spell and presented his open palm of his snow-white paw to the golem, and then a pale bluish arc of magical light erupted from his open paw, causing the rocks it touched to frost over and split from the intense cold. The wave of light bathed the golem in a cold so intense that only magic could produce it, making its silvered surface rime over in thick frost. The golem continued to advance, flakes of frost falling away from its legs and arms, but its movements became slower and slower, until it finally stopped moving completely.

“Now, Tenshale!” Sapphire barked just before she began to chant again in the language of magic. The male blue advanced around Sapphire and turned slightly, bringing his tail to bear. Instead of lashing the golem with that deadly tail, instead the very tip wrapped around the immobile metal arms, hooking it securely, then the dragon took a single step to the side with his back legs and snapped that tail like a whip, hurling the iron golem over the wall and far out into the city.

“Why do that?” Jenna asked curiously.

“Iron golems cannot be destroyed by magic,” Sapphire answered. “At least none we can currently bring to bear. They can only be immobilized using cold magic. By the time it thaws out and gets back here, we will be long gone.”

“I do hope that doesn’t land on anyone we care about,” Tenshale noted absently.

The magical attacks ceased when a column of warriors poured into the breach Sapphire created. They were Vendari and Knights, led by the sashka, dakka, and Darvon. “Ho, Tarrin! Are we ready to invade the keep?”

“Aye, Lord General!” Tarrin shouted. “There’s quite a few Wizards in there, though, so be ready!

Tenshale took a step over to give them room to pour into the keep, but Sapphire took her human form and settled her dress on her shoulders calmly. “You will need Wizards in there, your Sorcerers cannot help you,” she announced, then she gave a strange whistle. Moments later, Densheen swooped in and landed. “Assist Tenshale in holding the bailey,” she ordered her daughter.

“As you wish, mother,” she nodded. “The dragons have the citizenry in complete disarray, Lord General,” she reported to him. “They are harassing any concentration of bipeds they see, but only attacking ones wearing uniforms or carrying weapons.”

“Aye, lady dragon, we could see it, and a wonderful job you’re doing,” Darvon told her, getting down off his charger and clapping his visor down. “Now let’s go finish this.”

“Come, Tarrin, let us keep them out of trouble,” Sapphire ordered as the Vendari kings and Darvon led the column towards the destroyed front doors of the Citadel of Night.

“Yes, Sapphire.”

The clearing of the castle was quick and efficient, and much less dangerous than Tarrin would have expected. When the Vendari started charging into the keep, the defenders within activated every magical defense they had and then fled. These magical traps and magical constructs would have decimated the Knights or a mundane army, but the Vendari proved to be just as resistant to them as they were to the spells the Zakkite War Wizards cast in battle. Vendari would spring those traps with almost no injury to themselves, and that protected the Knights behind them. The defending Wizards could see the Vendari coming, and knew that their magic would not stop them, so instead of fighting, they fled, leaving the defense of the keep to the guards and soldiers.

That wasn’t to say that it was easy. Fanatical resistance met them in every hallway as the invaders battled the Royal Guards, who would not retreat and would not surrender. They fought to the last breath, to the last man, defending the home of their king with fanatical devotion, a devotion that the Vendari found highly respectful and honorable. Vendari and Knights fought for every span of hallway they controlled, but despite their suicidal zealousness, the defenders were not as well trained as their attackers. They were swept from the keep in about two hours of savage fighting, and were killed to the last man.

Two hours. It had taken the host about twenty minutes to reach the keep, and while the invading force was taking it, the rest of the army was taking Zakkara. By the time the last defender was killed within the citadel, the rest of the city was solidly held by the invaders. Once the last defender was conquered, the Knights started clearing out the vaults of a king’s ransom in gold and treasure, money that would cover the expenses of the Knights for years, and Tarrin, Sapphire, and Jenna followed an ecstatic Sarraya down into the bowels of the keep, deep underground.

“I followed a rather important looking guy down here,” the Faerie said breathlessly as they walked along a dark stone passage that had been hidden behind a secret door and a magical spell. “He was carrying a big satchel full of books. I thought those might be the spellbooks that Sapphire wanted, so I kept with him. Well, he came to here and the wall just vanished,” she said, pointing at a stretch of bare wall. “He stepped through, and I followed him in. There was a big library in there, and a ruby the size of a man’s head! That is what we’re looking for, Tarrin! We just have to figure out how to turn the wall back. From the other side, it just looks like an empty archway, that’s how I got back out. I told you I’d find it!”

“What happened to the man you were following?”

She slashed her hand across her neck. “Kkk-k-k-thk,” she sounded. “I killed him.”

“How did you do that?” Jenna asked. “Didn’t you say you couldn’t use your magic in here?”

She grinned at Jenna evilly. “I may be a little thing, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to kill a human without magic,” she told her smugly.

Tarrin raised the Firestaff before him and touched it to the wall, commanding it to open the chamber beyond. The wall shuddered, and then the blocks vanished, revealing an archway holding a small library lit only by a shimmering ruby sitting on an ornate golden stand. There was a still figure laying in front of it. Many of the shelves were bare, and bags and books were laying all over the floor. It was very clear that others had been there, and they had cleared the room out as quickly as possible. They already knew that the Witch-King had somehow escaped, and it was obvious that he had taken some of his treasures with him when he did so.

“Looks like a lot is missing,” Jenna said, noting the look of the room, as if it had been cleaned out in a hurry. “When the Witch-King escaped, he must have had them take most of their big treasures. But they couldn’t take the ruby,” she noted. “If they did, then it would let me and Tarrin rip this place to the foundation. They were stuck. They had to leave it in place to protect the keep from us long enough for him to escape.”

“I bet that’s why that man was here, to take it once the king escaped,” Tarrin noted as they came in. “But Sarraya got him.”

“You bet I did!” she declared as Tarrin kicked the body over. Jenna flinched when the body’s head bent at an unnatural angle.

“Eww, Sarraya, what did you do?”

“I broke his neck,” she answered casually.

“How on Sennadar did you do that?”

“I’ll show you someday,” she winked in reply.

“Stop being so boastful,” Sapphire chided. “She tripped him, and he struck his head on the edge of this desk,” she answered, pointing at a bloodstain on the corner of the desk.

“Well, it worked,” Jenna chuckled. “Let’s take what we can that’s useful and then burn this place to the ground.”

It took them about seven hours to get things done. The mysterious ruby and quite a few spellbooks and other magical objects the fleeing Zakkites left behind in their haste were packed away to be taken back. While that was being done, the dragons chased just about everyone out of the city, and the Vendari and Knights killed the last pockets of armed resistance. Everything being kept was carried to the harbor, where the Vendari, Knights, and the Sorcerers cleared all the dead bodies out of the ships and stowed away the spoils, then gathered the ships together so they could be transported out. In all, they captured ninety-one usable ships, all of the skyships. Adding those ships to the nineteen skyships and modified ships the Wikuni had provided, which they still had to pick up in Wikuna, they would have an even one hundred ten ships to take with them to Pyrosia.

Once everything of value was taken from the citadel, Jenna and Tarrin destroyed the Citadel of Night by sinking it into the earth with powerful Earth weaves, triggering an earthquake to shatter the black fortress, then opening a chasm to tumbled its jagged remains into the earth, to forever wipe it off the face of Sennadar.

An hour after sunset, they were ready to leave. The army set fire to the distant sectors of the city and warned the civilians to seek safety elsewhere, and then Kyrienna, who had held fast in the square for the duration of the battle in case they had to retreat, opened another gate and allowed the Vendari and Knights to return to Suld. In the long moments it took them to march through, Jenna led a Circle of all the katzh-dashi except for Tarrin, a Circle of staggering power, and using that power, she Teleported all ninety-one ships to the open sea in a cordoned area just to the north of the harbor of Suld in a single spell. By the time the last four stood at the gate and returned to Suld, Darvon, Kyrienna, and the two Vendari kings, the entire city of Zakkara was on fire, the Citadel of Night was nothing but a gaping wound in the earth, and the capital city of the Zakkite Empire was no more.

Wikuni ships towed the Zakkite skyships into the harbor at Suld, as Tarrin and Jenna stood on the deck of the lead ship with Sapphire, watching the city of Suld get closer and closer. “Well, that’s done. Once Rallix gets those other ships ready, we’ll be ready to shrink them and send them to Pyrosia. Ugh,” she grunted. “That’s going to be ugly. When are we sending them through?”

“Tomorrow. I’d do it tonight, but we all need some rest, and I’d like at least one more night with the family before I go. I want to be in Pyros in five days. Something tells me I need to be there as soon as possible.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Just a feeling,” he said, flexing the fingers of his white-furred arm. “I’ll get started on shrinking the ships as soon as they tow them into the harbor. It’s not going to be easy though. I didn’t expect to get so many.”

“It shouldn’t take that long. Once I gather up enough for a good circle, I can shrink them in twos and threes. I’m glad I fingered nearly two hundred da’shar for this, so we have plenty. I’m just not too happy about sending so many Sorcerers to Pyrosia. It almost makes me worry that so many gone will stress the Weave.”

“No, it should be alright. Kerri’s star is still in the Heart, even if she’s not here. I’m sure it makes it different, but the simple fact that they’re alive should count for something.”

Sapphire and Tenshale approached them wearing a human form, Sarraya riding on the male’s shoulder. “My little ones,” she said in greeting. “A most eventful and effective day, was it not?”

“It was a rout,” Tarrin said. “Are the dragons ready to go to Pyrosia, Sapphire?”

“We are,” she answered.

“I still wish I could go,” Sarraya sulked.

“Maybe the next time, Faerie,” Sapphire said. “After all, the amulets you made will still be here.”

“But I’m going to miss everything!” she whined. “I wanted to be there!”

“Well, you could theoretically go, but you’d have to stay very close to a dragon at all times,” Tenshale noted. “But that would be very, very hard. It wouldn’t be worth the risk. Just one little slip of bad luck and you’d be in mortal jeopardy.”

“I know,” she sighed. “It’s just not fair.”

“Life’s not fair,” Tarrin told her as she flitted over and landed on his shoulder.

“When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow,” Tarrin told her. “The sooner the better. As soon as we get the boats shrunk and the Wikuni sorted out that are going to man the ships, we’ll be ready. Darvon already has the Knights organized.”

“Are any of the Vendari going?” Tenshale asked.

“Some of the Vendakan Vendari are,” Tarrin answered. “Ten Vendari for every ship we take, I think was what they agreed to, and another thousand to reinforce the city. That was already arranged with the sashka. I don’t know about the dakka’s troops. He might, though, as a gesture since we let him burn Zakkara to the ground. Vendari take honor seriously, and we just let them strike a crippling blow to their oldest enemies.”

“I will speak with him when we arrive. He’s an amiable sort,” Tenshale told him. “I won’t demand it, but I can hint that his offer wouldn’t be rejected.”

“Tenshale, from a dragon, that’s as good as an ultimatum,” Tarrin snorted.

“Usually it is, but the dakka isn’t afraid of us,” Tenshale laughed. “Vendari don’t scare easily.”

“Well, space is a concern too,” Tarrin said. “We can only put so many men on one ship and not get in the crew’s way, What did Rallix say, Jenna?”

“He said we could only put about fifty people on each ship,” she prompted. “Given that we’ll have a crew of ten Wikuni and at least five Sorcerers on every ship, that’s only room for thirty-five soldiers to repel boarders if there are any flying Demons left to attack them. Ten Vendari would probably be more than enough, but if it was me, I’d rather have an overwhelming complement on board to protect the ships.”

“It’s the ships that really matter,” Tarrin told her with an agreeing nod. “With most of the flying Demons dead, it gives us a way to strike at the enemy army without being hit back. A hundred Sorcerers raining spells down on an enemy army from above, with no way to stop them, can cripple the enemy. And that doesn’t even count the damage the dragons can do, which will be much more significant.”

“Truly,” Sapphire nodded as the skyship neared the dock. “How long will it take to get to Pyros?”

“Five seconds,” Tarrin answered. “They have Sorcerers there who are already grounded to both the city and the grove. I’m grounded in Pyros myself, so I just have to ground at the grove and I can shuffle things back and forth. When we get there, I’ll have all the ships Teleported to Pyros if it’s clear, as well as the soldiers that won’t be on the ship. If it’s not, or it’s better for us to fly, it’d take five days to get there the hard way.”

“Why would it not be better?” Tenshale asked.

“It depends on where the enemy army is,” Tarrin answered as ropes were thrown to the skyship. “If they’re almost on Pyros, or if they’re far away, we’ll Teleport there. But, if they’re about five days out, we’ll fly there so we can come up behind them without any scouts seeing the ships.”

“Attacking by surprise,” Tenshale nodded. “And if the army is five days out, it would be prudent to believe they already have scouts at Pyros that would see the ships take off and move towards the approaching army.”

“Yes. I’m hoping all this is a moot point, though,” Tarrin answered. “Right now, we have a huge advantage. I can turn all the humans against the Demon Lord, so he won’t be able to use them to attack Pyros. But, that just reduces the enemy army from several million to however many Demons the Demon Lord has there now. That number is probably going to be big. Even without the humans, the Demon Lord will still have enough Demons to attack Pyros, but the Pyrosians turning on the Demon Lord swings the balance in our favor. And there’s also the fact that the Demon Lord is dead the instant I get within bowshot of it,” Tarrin added. “Once Gruz is dead, every Demon it summoned to Pyrosia will be banished back to the Abyss. That won’t be all of them, but it should be most of them. Either way, it will be enough of them to make however many is left not matter. If it’s leading the battle itself, I can end it all with one shot.”

“And if he is not?”

“I’m not sure,” he answered with a shrug. “Because of the threat of Dolanna, it can’t expose itself to her. If it shows its ugly face, she can blow it off its head. Dolanna can kill the Demon Lord if she can get a shot at it. It’s not immune to Sorcery. It would not be easy for her, though. She’d have to have full command of that Weave to do it. But still, that’s a threat the Demon Lord can’t ignore. So, I don’t expect to see it leading the charge on Pyros. But, I don’t see it being very far from Pyros either. It will want to be nearby, so it can get quick information. So, what I’m guessing is that the Demon Lord will be hiding a day or so away from Pyros, close enough to have fast news, but not so close that Dolanna can sense it and kill it. If not that close, it will probably be holed up in one of the cities on the east coast. Either way, once I’m sure Pyros will be safe, I’m going to go hunt it down and kill it.”

“Why not simply kill it from a distance, much as Dolanna could?”

“Because it’s not guaranteed,” he answered. “This is a Demon Lord, Sapphire. I could take Dolanna’s place in the Weave and hunt it down and try to kill it that way, but I could fail, and the attempt could kill me. It’s entirely possible,” he admitted. “That’s why it’s so dangerous. If Dolanna tries, it might kill her, and she knows it. The amount of power it would take to kill a Demon Lord would make it dangerous to try, because of the stress it would put on my her body, or mine. I’d have a much better chance of pulling it off than Dolanna, but I’ve come too far to gamble on a maybe at this point. That’s why I got the bow. It’s guaranteed. If I hit it, it’s dead. It’s much better than putting my tail out there for something to bite off, or Dolanna risking her neck. If I didn’t have the bow, I’d probably do it that way, but at this point, I’ll take the easy way.”

“For the first time ever,” Jenna chuckled.

“I have too much to lose now,” Tarrin said as the gangplank was lowered, and they started off the ship. Jenna barked strong orders for dock workers to start unloading the ships, and to have everything within taken to the Tower. “Before, I didn’t care if I lived or not. I care now.”

“That’s a good thing to hear, my little one,” Sapphire said with a gentle smile, patting his white-furred arm. “I’m much too fond of you to lose you now.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Tarrin waited uneasily, pacing back and forth on the dock as the workers unloaded it, and more Zakkite skyships were being pulled into the harbor by the Wikuni clippers. Tarrin’s presence made that a very fast operation. They struggled under the weight of the boxes and chests, and more than one realized he was carrying gold, more gold than they’d ever seen before. There was no doubt a few ideas of running with that treasure, but the presence of the dangerous Were-cat, and the calming presence of Jenna, acted in concert to quell those thieving impulses. They were too afraid of Tarrin and too afraid to disappoint Jenna, the jewel of Suld, to try to steal it. Even those few that could look past those two saw any shred of a chance fade when a column of Knights rode up to the docks, escorting a long line of wagons, and dismounted. They were led by Darvon, who sent the Knights in with the workers to help empty the ships as quickly as possible.

It took them about half an hour to unload the ship, and then everyone was cleared off of it. Once it was clear, the Were-cat stepped up to the edge of the dock, and the dock workers got to see a sui’kun performing magic beyond any but others of his tiny circle. His entire body limned over in Magelight, Tarrin wove the complicated spell of all seven spheres, sending it to cover and infuse the ship, until ghostly light clung to every exposed part of the ship like illuminating water. The ship shuddered, and then so fast it made most onlookers flinch, the ship seemed to vanish.

It didn’t vanish, however. Enclosed in a glowing aura of light was the ship, only a ship that was the size of a large dog. The tiny ship rose up over the dock and then hovered in the air, then it quickly floated over and deposited itself carefully into the back of one of the wagons the Knights brought.

“Take it to the Tower,” Tarrin told the driver, one of the cadets, as the light began to fade. “When you get there, place it on the sand in the training field of the Knights, and have it guarded. Just don’t be rough with it.”

“Aye, sir Knight,” the cadet answered with a nod.

Tarrin looked around, and saw the reality that this was going to take a while. “Jenna,” he called. “Go to Wikuna and pick up the other ships and the Wikuni crews. I’ll stay here and work on this.”

“Alone? It’ll take all night!”

“It’s going to take all night no matter what,” he told her evenly. “I don’t need to sleep, so it’ll be fine. We need those other ships here, and one of us has to stay.”

She nodded. “I’ll go take care of it then, brother,” she told him.

“I will stay with you, my little one,” Sapphire told him.

“Me too! I can’t let you get bored,” Sarraya said, patting him on the shoulder.

He was about to make a dark comment about Sarraya’s concept of alleviating boredom when he felt a strong shiver ghost through the Weave, felt an odd tingling in his right arm, and he cursed. Not now! It was too soon! He wasn’t finished here!

A Solar had come through the gate!

He had no time. Any second now, that Solar was going to cast out and sense him, and then Spyder would be placed in the very ugly, very dangerous situation of being forced to repel one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse. That was a fight he would lean towards his Urzani sister, but it was no guarantee she would win. So fast it made Sarraya squeak in surprise, Tarrin slapped her off his shoulder, and then wove a spell of Teleportation so fast that even Jenna couldn’t make out what he was doing until he was gone. Mother, you have to explain it to them! he called out desperately as he appeared in a narrow, deep gorge high in the mountains, as a bitterly cold wind slashed across his face. Not far, down the ravine, was the gate to Pyrosia. He’d grounded here years ago just before they entered Pyrosia to search for Kimmie and the lost katzh-dashi, and that grounding point served him well now, for he only had seconds before Spyder’s life would be in great danger because of him.

Kitten, go! Niami said urgently. There is more than just the Solar! Do not make Spyder fight!

I’m going! he answered as he took to the air and raced towards the pool of light just paces away. He was fairly sure they knew he was on Sennadar, but in just a second, they would realize that he used one of the gates within Sennadar to flee to another world, another material plane, and they would have to start the search for him anew. They knew he could be absolutely anywhere. A material plane had thousands of such gates, and they would have no idea where to look.

In a second, he was within the gate. He was surrounded by blue, and then he felt a sudden resistance. The last time he used the gate it was fluid, fast, effortless, almost fascinating with the colors and the sensations. But this time it was as if someone had tied a rope to his tail and was pulling on it, trying to prevent him from leaving, even as he felt a force ahead try to push him back the way he came. Tarrin felt himself stopped within the nether between worlds, and found that he had to force himself forward by main will, using the same techniques he’d learned to move in the Astral to propel himself forward in this non-space.

Just as the Firestaff, the gate could not resist the indomitable will of Tarrin Kael. He was again moving forward, and then, as if the rope tied to his tail had been broken, he catapulted forward and found himself through and to the other side.

He was in the apple orchard once again. The receiving point of the gate from Sennadar was before him, but it was a place that was radically different from what he remembered. Many of the trees had been cut down in an avenue of sorts leading straight out from the gate, and buildings had been erected at the end of that avenue, all of it lit by torches and campfires in the muggy summer night. Knights stood guard at either side of the gateway, and many more soldiers were milling around down among those buildings. This was the element of the Sennadar forces that were tasked with defending the gateway, so those coming through didn’t find themselves besieged by an enemy army.

He had to pause a moment and wonder what had happened there. Why did the gate try to stop him? He had no idea. Then again, the anger and frustration of being thwarted was still hot in his mind, and it quickly overwhelmed his surprise and curiosity.

Those Knights recognized Tarrin, but were surprised when the Were-cat began to swear sulfurously, so caught up in his rant of venting anger that he didn’t really seem to be paying attention.

So close! He’d only needed one more day, damn them! Why did they have to show up now? Now things would be delayed, because poor Jenna would have to get the ships ready all by herself. It threw everything off kilter!

He took a few deep breaths and calmed down, and began to hear the cacophony that greeted him. Several voices were calling out into this Weave, a Weave he had made, calling out to him. Almost immediately, a wavering Illusion of Dolanna appeared before him, her eyes bright and a beautiful smile gracing her lips. “Tarrin! Dear one, it is so good to finally see you!” she called brightly in Sharadi.

“It was earlier than I intended,” he growled. “I was in the middle of something important when the Deva arrived on Sennadar. I had to leave fast, or Spyder would have found herself trying to hold back an army of Deva all by herself. How—“

He stopped. He could feel them out there. Two of them. Even from that staggering distance, he could point right at both of the shards of his sword, for though the god who had once wielded it was gone, and he no longer had any dominion over them, the simple fact that he created it was enough for Tarrin to be able to sense the two pieces of his sword, an artifact that was crafted by his own paw. He’d thought that he’d have no contact with them at all, but he was clearly wrong.

One of the shards was moving. The other was stationary. He could sense it clearly.

“Did they find the pieces of my sword?”

“I haven’t received word of it,” she told him. “Kimmie’s group is trying to come up with some way of getting their shard off the seafloor, while Keritanima’s group is digging through snowbanks to find theirs. They found the place where the shard is, but it’s under them. It’s been dangerous for them. Already they’ve had to contend with two avalanches.”

“One of the pieces is moving,” Tarrin told her. “Someone has it. It’s not stationary.” He turned, and pointed. “That one.”

“Kimmie’s shard,” Dolanna noted as another Illusion spun itself into existence before him. It was Jasana. Tarrin felt a wave of warmth flow through him at the sight of his daughter.

“Father!” she said brightly. “I can’t believe it! You’re here!”

“Quiet a second, cub,” he said, holding a paw up to her. “It’s definitely moving, Dolanna. Do you think Kimmie has it?”

“Kimmie,” Dolanna called aloud. “Kimmie.”

“Mmph, what is it, Dolanna?” her voice called sleepily from empty air.

“Kimmie, your shard is in motion. Do you have it?”

“No, it’s the middle of the night, we don’t try in the dark because it’s dangerous. Hold on, let me check.”

“Father, what’s going on?” Jasana asked as Tarrin tuned out the other voices, Jula and Keritanima, trying to call to him through the Weave. Neither of them had thought to try to project to him yet.

“One of the shards of the sword is moving, child,” Dolanna answered. “We are checking to see if Kimmie has it, but I do not think she does.”

“It’s moving,” Kimmie called. “It’s moving fast. It’s moving northeast. We don’t have it, Dolanna. Could a fish have it?”

Tarrin shrugged. “I do not believe so, but it would be possible, I suppose. Rouse the others and follow it. Try to scry to find out what is going on.”

“Alright. Give me a little bit, and I’ll contact you and tell you what’s going on.”

“Good, now pay attention to me!” Jasana demanded, her image floating over and putting a spectral paw up to him. “What happened to your fur, father?” she asked curiously as he passed his white-furred paw through hers.

“Long story,” he told her, smiling gently. “How goes it, cub?”

“Slow and cold,” she answered. “The shard’s buried under us. After a ride-long blizzard, the weather finally broke this morning, and we’ve been able to search for it. We found the spot about two hours after we could see more than five spans in front of us,” she laughed. “We had to dig out from two avalanches when we tried to clear the snow, then I got tired of it and melted all the snow around us and above us so it won’t happen again. But once we did that, we found out that it’s buried straight down. I sounded through there with Earth weaves and managed to find it, and it’s in a bad spot. Somehow it went through solid rock, and it’s embedded deep in the bones of the mountain. I decided to rest a little, so tomorrow morning, me and Kerri were going to use Sorcery to dig it out.”

“Cub, do it now,” Tarrin told her. “Right now. I think someone else managed to get the other shard. I want that shard in your paws in ten minutes. I don’t want anyone to have both pieces but us.”

“I’ll do it right now, father,” she told him with a nod. “See you in a bit.” Her Illusion faded, and seconds later, the faint voice of Keritanima also faded, as Jasana told her what was going on.

“Dolanna, I’m coming to Pyros,” he told her. “I’d rather not Teleport blind, since I’m sure you’ve done a lot of work there. Can you send someone for me?”

“There should be a Sha’Kar there already who can bring you to Pyros, dear one,” she told him with a smile. “Guard,” she called, looking past him.

“Aye, my Lady, I’ll take him there.”

“Zorik?” Tarrin asked in surprise.

“Aye, Sir Knight,” the young man laughed. “I’m glad you remember me.”

“They gave you spurs?”

“I’m sure it’s a travesty for the order, but yes, I earned my spurs two months ago,” he answered. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to the Sha’Kar. He can get you to Pyros quick.”

Tarrin felt…uneasy. That was the only way to say it. He knew that it was because of the sudden need to flee, but it was more than that. He stopped along the path the encampment and hugged himself, looking up at the night sky, reaching out with his senses. Something was…wrong. Different. He couldn’t quite explain it. The last time he came to this world, he felt a sense of welcome from this world. But now, this time, as a mortal, this world felt...he didn’t know. Foreboding. Apprehensive.

Of course. The Firestaff, it was in his left paw. No wonder the very world itself recoiled from that artifact, given what it was. The Firestaff was a destroyer, an object of Entropy that sought to unmake that which was made, and the very fabric of this world feared its presence.

And he had little doubt that the world of Pyrosia did not want the Firestaff here.

And then it clicked in his mind. Tarrin had brought the Firestaff through the gate to another world, forcing it to do the one thing not even the gods of Sennadar could force it to do. That had been the resistance. It was the Firestaff, trying to prevent him from taking it from Sennadar, taking it from a world that, should the Firestaff destroy it, would cause tremendous damage to the multiverse. Sennadar was a Prime, one of the material planes close to the center. The loss of a Prime would cause great damage to the order of the multiverse. And as the Firestaff tried to hold him back, the very world of Pyrosia itself could sense what horror was coming through the gate, and sought to stop it from coming to pass.

It hadn’t been quite so resistant when he went into the Astral, he recalled. But then again, it knew that now that it was in Pyrosia, it would never leave this plane. It was a condemned man who had climbed the gallows, and stared at the noose that would take his life. That was why it was so much more resistant. It knew the end was coming. It knew that it was here, in Pyrosia, where Tarrin would destroy it. But it was helpless to prevent it, it could not break free of the indomitable will of Tarrin Kael.

Without thinking about it, because he was so harried, so consumed with the need to escape, that important marker had passed him by. He had upheld his word to Niami, and removed the Firestaff from Sennadar. It would never threaten his homeworld again, but the dark part of the bargain was that he had brought it to a new world, a world that was now in danger. Even now, he knew, the Firestaff was realigning itself to this place, resetting its triggering day to coincide with some noteworthy astronomical or geological event that would take place here, a significant day, but a day that would still be five thousand or so years in the future.

Beginning the cycle again.

“Sir Knight?” Zorik asked, looking back to him.

“Nothing. Nothing,” Tarrin said, shivering his tail. “Let’s go.”

The Sha’Kar male to which Tarrin was led was a small, thin, blonde-haired man that was decidedly old for a Sha’Kar. He was obviously one of their elders, of an age with Ianelle, alive back during the Age of Power. He bowed to Tarrin as he came out of a tent. “Honored one, you must go to Pyros at once!” he said in flawless Sulasian.

“That’s why we’re here, Sevin,” Zorik chuckled. “Could you take him there?”

“At once, at once!” he said, motioning towards him. “Please attend me, honored one,” he said in Sha’Kar. “I will Teleport us to Pyros immediately.”

And he did. Zorik had to shuffle back quickly as the Sha’Kar began the spell before Tarrin had even reached him. In a shimmer of changing terrain, they were transported from the grove to Pyros in the blink of an eye.

Goddess, had they been busy! In the light of the stars and torches and campfires, he found himself looking at a place much different from the blasted wasteland he remembered. The volcano behind them still smoked and smoldered, still erupting from Tarrin’s awakening of it, but the lava that had buried Pyros now formed a foundation for a new military encampment, complete with a wall, breastwork fortifications, siege engines, and thousands and thousands of soldiers. Many of those soldiers were Knights, but he also saw Wikuni, Arakite Legions, Vendari, some Ungardt, Elaran soldiers, and quite a few humans in piecemeal armor that had to be natives of Pyrosia, recruited to defend Pyros after the defeat of the One. They had built three separate walls, each one forming a layer of defense, using the volcano as an anchor. Between those walls were trenches, barbicans, palisades, and fortified platforms for siege engines, making any attempt to reach Dolanna by ground a nearly impossible proposition. She was there, just up the slope, on the plateau where the cathedral of the One once stood, just a short walk away…but even that short walk would require him to pass through two separate heavily fortified positions along the only road that granted easy access to that plateau. From where he was, it was a short walk. For an invader, it would be almost impossible, for he would have to go through a wall of steel and get past some of the most powerful spellcasters on Pyrosia to reach that ultimate goal.

“Wow,” Tarrin breathed, looking around. “Quite a change.”

“Marshall Kang has been busy,” The Sha’Kar, Sevin, said with a nod. “I will return to the grove now, honored one. There is your escort now.”

The fortifications ahead opened, and none other than Jula was racing towards him, laughing, already reaching out to him. Eron was coming up behind her, but he wasn’t running. He opened his arms to her, and she charged into his embrace, knocking him back a step. “Father!” she said joyfully. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Jula,” he said warmly. “I see you’ve been busy around here.”

She laughed, pushing out to look up at him. “Yes, we’ve been very busy. But not as busy as you’ve been, I see,” she noted, reaching down and picking at the snow-white fur on his right arm. “I swear, father, every time you come home from these trips, you always have something different. First it was these,” she said, tugging at his fetlocks. “Then it was the wings, now this.”

Tarrin laughed lightly, patting her on the shoulder. “I guess I’m looking for that look that’s just me,” he joked.

“Well, stop it,” she told him. “You’re just fine as is.”

Eron reached them, and clapped his father on the back. “I didn’t expect to see you here so soon, father,” he said.

“The Deva caught up with me, so I had to leave earlier than I planned. How long have you been here?”

“Two days,” he answered. “I haven’t really figured out what I’m supposed to be doing, though. Dolanna just tells me to do what I can, but nobody wants to give me any orders.”

Tarrin chuckled. “They know better than to order a Were-cat around, cub.”

“Yeah, I figured,” he laughed, scrubbing the back of his head with his claws, a trait he got from his father. “So I’ve just been staying close to Dolanna.”

“Good plan.”

“I’ve really enjoyed it,” Jula said. “I haven’t seen Eron in a while, so it was good to catch up. I’ve missed him.”

“Yah,” Eron nodded.

“Well, we can’t stand here and chat while they’re waiting for us.” She took his paw and started pulling him as she stepped back. “Come on, Dolanna’s waiting to see you.”

Jula and Eron walked with him up the steep roadway, past a heavily defended barricade at the base of the slope bristling with Elaran soldiers, Knights, and even a few Vendari. Tarrin had to stop and look at these Elarans, for he had never seen any from their soldier caste. They were…different. Lorak was thin and willowy, tall but not overly so. The pair of Elaran soldiers before him were more than a span taller than Lorak, muscular, but moved with a sinuous grace. These two wore elaborate plate cuirasses with chain sleeves protecting their arms and plate and chain greaves, and helmets with swans engraved over the eyes, wings rising up from the helms to form ornamental decorations. Much to his surprise, one of these soldiers was male, and the other was female. Just like the Sha’Kar and Selani, the Elara, another descendent of the Urzani line, did not differentiate very much between the sexes. In their society, females also acted as soldiers, where in most human societies they did not…with a few exceptions. Both the male and female put a fist over their hearts and bowed to him as they passed, and the Knights saluted, then waved. Tarrin knew two of them by name, and called out to them as they went by.

They moved through a similar heavily manned fortification at the top, and the plateau was in view. They’d built a heavy wall around the edge of the plateau, the last line of defense, that was nearly thirty spans high and looked to be raised from the native volcanic rock with Sorcery, raised up from the very edge of the plateau so there was no room, forcing any ground assault to come up that road. It was a grim, foreboding black wall, the top of which manned with patrolling soldiers, and several Elaran spellcasters and Sorcerers. The gate inside was not on the same side as the road leading up. That was odd, but it was a sensible defensive decision, forcing any invader to either try to go through the wall, or go down a very narrow throughway between the wall and the steep volcanic slope to reach that gate, which allowed the defenders to rain death down on the invaders the entire time. They went behind the wall and walked that path, making Tarrin feel like he was in a box canyon, and then came through the gate and into the center off all the defenses of Pyros, all of which were designed to protect one woman.

On a raised platform surrounded by tables and shelves, covered over by a sturdy canvas tent with the sides rolled up, was Dolanna. Since she couldn’t move from her place, they had instead built the command center around her. Men and women, human, Elaran, Wikuni, and Vendari, all milled about within this command center, going over reports on pieces of parchment, speaking to the commanders, or attending them. All activity stopped when Tarrin entered the walled compound, and Dolanna turned and gave him a warm smile of welcome.

They gathered around him and walked with him as he crossed the compound and alighted the platform built to accommodate those attending Dolanna, many of them wearing either nightclothes or simple robes; it was around midnight, and some of them had been asleep when he arrived, but awakened in the loud announcement he had arrived. Kang was there, as well as Tsukatta and Haley, and a bevy of Knights and several Selani and Vendari, the cream of the crop, the strongest of the fighters, placed to make any final push to reach Dolanna as dangerous as possible. It surprised him to see Selani here, but in a way, it was not. Every Selani face was a face Tarrin knew personally; they were all from Allia’s tribe. Allia was here, and her presence here probably spurred many from her tribe to come as well and help the daughter of the clan chief. One face in particular surprised him, the shaman of her tribe who had been so militantly opposed to Allyn. She was here, carrying a spear and shield, standing silent guard over Dolanna near the raised circular platform built around the Heart of the Pyrosian Weave.

Many old faces, and for a moment, he was glad to be among friends and family again. But they stepped back and let him step up to Dolanna alone, who just smiled from her prison. She held out her hand to him, and he boldly stepped into the Heart, into the Weave of his own making, his last act as the mortal god, and felt it welcome him. He took Dolanna’s hand in his paw and just reveled in the reunion, rejoined with one of his oldest, dearest friends, a friend so devoted to him that she had thought of him as a god to such a degree that it granted him powers beyond himself. Just as the connections between Tarrin and his children, or his sisters, or his family could never be broken, the connections between him and Dolanna were just as deep, just as important to him.

“Together again, my dear one,” she said in a gentle voice, her face brightened by a loving smile.

“Just as it should be,” he told her.

“Is that the Firestaff?”

He hefted it in his left paw and nodded. “I can’t let go of it, Dolanna. Not even for a second. If I do, it’ll get away from me. And I don’t want it loose on this world.”

“How did you get it through the gate?”

“It can’t deny me, old friend. I can force it where no one else can, since I was once its creation. It can’t control me anymore.”

“I see. Do you intend to use it here?”

“Only if there’s no other way. The Firestaff resists me, Dolanna. It knows what I intend to do, and it’s trying to break free of me. If I use it, I’m calling forth power that it uses to try to break free of me.”

“I, I believe I understand. And what do you intend to do with it?”

“Destroy it,” he said bluntly. The Firestaff writhed in his paw at that statement. “But I can’t do that yet. I have to take care of Gruz first. I might have need of the Firestaff before it’s all said and done. I’d be a fool to destroy it until then.”

“Wise.”

Tarrin brought out his wings, and passed the Firestaff up into their living fire, then put both paws on Dolanna. She looked up in surprise, then laughed. “How do you still have those?”

“A gift from Mother,” he answered. “She took exception to the loss of the old ones. Where’s Fireflash?”

“He’s flying a patrol. Phandebrass, Azakar, Camara, and Koran Tal are riding him.”

“He’s letting Phandebrass ride him? And Camara and Phandebrass aren’t trying to kill each other?”

Dolanna laughed. “Yes, he is, and those two are actually fond of each other, they just enjoy arguing. Phandebrass is testing some spells the Elara gave him that gives him night vision. I will recall them, dear one. I’m sure Fireflash v