Morey walked down the stone hall towards the headquarters.

The hallway was not like the other parts of the castle, not festooned with images of historical figures or legends. It's sparse utilitarian stone and tiny arrow-slit windows made it shadowy but that did not prevent the soldiers watching him alertly. He could see the magic dancing around their swords and armour, as well as the stack of crystal shields piled behind a desk.

It looked all Serious Business. He couldn't imagine this man being Queen Amarante's husband. Vorril Ard-Estuk was her exact opposite.

"The General will see you now," the soldier said after checking the medallion around his neck.

Morey nodded and entered the office.

The large office's floor was taken up by a giant map from wall to wall of the entire lands of Inath. Or what used to be Inath, judging from the colours of the territories displayed. More than half of them were grey and most of the borders around the grey portions were red. The General was sitting near one of the borders on a light wooden chair muttering to himself.

"Ah, you are here. "

Vorril stood up and looked at Morey with flat grey eyes. The battle scars on the man's hard face, the tension even when he was relaxed here, even the wiry hard sinews on the man's arm. His appearance reached into the monkey hindbrain and pressed a button that said 'this man is more dangerous than you'.

"Etani, come in," Vorril said.

The battlemage that had been Morey's teacher entered through the door and bowed deeply. "I await your command," she recited, as if from a script.

"She's coming with me?" Morey said incredulously, "I was told that you would send companions but Etani's your second in command!"

Vorril grunted, "I agree. This whole Hero business is, frankly, bullshit. I wouldn't waste ten soldiers on a fool's quest to find the Sword of Legend. Much less you, who has the magical potential to be stronger than even Etani. I could use you, even just the status of a Hero, at the frontlines. But no, the Queen wanted it this way. "

"For that matter, whatever my potential, the fact remains that any one of your soldiers can kick my arse," Morey added, "why don't you send them? "

"If I was going to stage such an expedition to find the Sword, if I believed that it would win the war, I would send an entire platoon with you, with the rest of the army ready to go to your aid," the General said, "but no, the Queen says it will lead our Enemy to the Sword. And so you will go with only a few trusted companions. Despite your misgivings, you're still going to go, aren't you?"

Morey just shrugged.

Vorril bared his teeth in a grin, "After all, what the Queen wants, the Queen gets. "

"And I thank you for not making this a suicide mission," Morey bowed, just like Etani.

Vorril nodded, "Go with him, Etani. Pick three others you think will help. Make him a true warrior and return with the Sword. This I command you. "

The woman bowed again, "I understand. "

"And make sure you both come back alive. There'll still be a war to win afterwards. "

None of them said anything about how hard it would be to find the Sword. For all they knew, it could harder than winning the war in the first place.

Oh, he was back!

Irld rushed to the door to take her husband's shears and soiled clothing. "I've drawn some water, let me help you. "

Arbor rubbed her ears appreciatively. A sigh leaked out almost involuntarily, he knew all her favourite spots after all these years.

They sat together in the shower, the water he ladled onto his scarred body washing away the grime and sweat of a day's work on the fields.

"Danine showed Cato around today. They were talking to Toal about the well and using that pulley for buckets. Cato was talking about this thing called pumps too," Irld's mouth moved as she scrubbed the dirt out of the heavy fabrics.

"Eek!" Irld almost fell off the stool. A wet soggy tail wrapped around hers, gently tugging.

It was a wonder the water didn't steam off her face, that level of intimacy was rare from him. At least after that Reki attack had taken his voice and very nearly his life.

She sat there, savouring the feeling of her husband's tail and the sounds of water from the bucket.

What else was there to say? This was all that was left between them, just gestures and the gentle touches she had so loved. Still loved. He couldn't even sleep with her any more.

Irld could only enjoy what she had left. And if the monsters came back for more, then that was that.

She sighed and leaned against him, not caring if her clothes got wet. Dinner and washing could wait.

Tulore added a carefully measured weight of the white powder. Purifying the poisonous liquid emitting from the indigo mixed with caustic potash was a delicate operation performed in the precious condenser she had inherited from her mother.

One mistake here, even an error in timing, would ruin the resulting liquid, a precursor to the Elder's famous curse-breaker potion.

She ignored the knocking on her door. This required practice and concentration.

A few minutes later, the liquid was collected and she folded up the apron to answer the door.

"You again," she said.

The boy was back to ask his questions. Tulore understood that he wanted to help but what could he do? He knew nothing about farming or hunting, and Toal was far too lazy to take on an apprentice. Besides, the boy might not survive the rigors of blacksmithing. And Tulore had long since given up on trying to teach anyone.

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Far better for him to stay under the excellent care of Irld.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked.

Yes, you are. "What are you trying to do? I have heard of your ideas for a pump, but we do not need that much water. If it even works," Tulore left her annoyance unsaid.

"Toal told me that your fields are dry and the wind eyes struggle to grow. It does sound like you need more water. "

"And what's the point? We cannot travel far from home, our land is limited in this valley within the circle of cleared trees. Besides, there aren't enough of us to farm more land. "

She considered Cato, sitting across the table from her. Wide-eyed and eager to help. Just like she was in her youth.

Cato sighed, "why would you not improve what you have?"

"Why would we have to?" Tulore shot back, "we have enough to eat, to let us live our lives. "

"Surely more food will be a good thing to have?"

"How so?" Tulore said, "one can only eat so many meals a day. Besides, if we grow fat and lazy, we will become food ourselves for the monsters!"

Then, when she imagined that he had run out of excuses to find for his schemes, Cato sighed. "If you have more food, you can afford to have more people hunting the monsters instead of farming. "

What. Was that what he was aiming at? A fresh welling of fury seemed to rise from her gut, "why? Are you going to ask others to sacrifice their lives? Who are you to tell us we should feed ourselves to the monsters!"

Cato blinked in surprise. Genuine surprise. It just made her angrier. "I don't understand. You do have a monster problem, yes? Just three nights ago, you repelled a pack of Rekis from the walls. Why do you not kill them? Send out men with spears and arrows to hunt them down. "

The flashes from her memory, of the teams of men venturing out. Of her own father leading the last desperate attempt to kill the single Night Cryer that had been tormenting them. Of the village that had been crowded in her childhood.

Tulore closed her eyes, both outside and in her mind. She pointed at the door and said slowly, "Go. Speak no further of this- this travesty. We cannot fight the monsters. "

He opened his mouth to speak but stopped when Tulore held out her hand. Wordlessly, he got up and left the room.

Tulore looked around at the empty house around her. So much lost. So much burden on herself as the next Elder. She could barely prepare the curse-breaker as well as her mother and the human boy dared to speak of impossibilities as killing all the monsters nearby.

She took another flatbread, tough and tasteless when made by her own lesser skill. She would prepare no more today, not in this mood that was as likely to create a curse as break them.

Ka shivered on the ridgeline, wrapping himself tighter with the furcoat. The mist around him clung wetly and coldly.

He thought of Ri and her strange fascination with the human boy. She had not known the glory of Clan One, in the days when the Elka were still a tribe and not the single family remaining. Of the other tribes, of their enemies, the two-names, Ka knew not their fate.

Ri, his only and most precious daughter. He had told her nothing of their people. Of the fear their flights had struck into the Inaths when the metal-skinned had intruded into their rightful mountains. Of the loss of their ridge-side villages and the statues they had carved into the cliff sides to claim them for the god of wind.

She knew nothing and so was content with her flying, his own pale shadow of the lessons the greatest of their masters had passed on for the last time. For Ka was not like a Scout or a Winghunter who had mastered the dive and the turn. Ka was not the great flyer like his daughter innocently believed, for he had failed in the tribe's Test.

Even then, Ka was the best of their seven. Mi had broken wings, his wife's left side would forever be furled. Kee, his brother, had never even tried to Test, his body strength was a hindrance in the skies, with the weight of the muscles. His wife was too slow and his two sons had been born only five years ago and not yet grown into their wings. So it was Ka who sat here or flew around the valley, playing at being a Scout.

All that was lost. A time that was already gone. And now dependent on the landbound as they were, Ri would have to find her way among them without the hindrance of their past. The adults had all agreed that they would bury their past with them.

The mist began to clear as a strong wind curled around the ridge. Ka leaned over the edge, watching the land out of general principles. The Fukas had taken them in and fed them, Ka had to uphold his honour and perform as best as he could.

His eyes caught sight of something moving. This far up, he would only see large scale movement, especially under the forest towards the Farside where he had spotted that... there it was again. There was something large, or many smaller ones Ka supposed, moving under the trees. If it wasn't so regular, he might not have been able to spot it.

He narrowed his eyes, bringing the image larger and closer. Yes, there definitely was something there. He should go take a look, even if it was outside the valley.

Ka paused, for whatever unknown reason, before launching himself off the ridge. The hesitation saved his life.

The patterns concealed under the leaves made themselves clear when some of them moved through a gap in the forest. The human figures shuffling slowly, packed into a dense crowd, were not behaving like humans.

Zombies. The Enemy was here.