With all haste the fleet carrying Yorun, Golanier and the undead return faster than when they left for the Zeilna Islands making the journey in just two days, the people of Kelinrask recognise the ships coming to the city's port and quickly make their way to their homes to avoid the undead forces disembarking once the ships have dropped anchor. Yorun quickly gets off the ship and teleports to the fortress with Golaniers body which Golanier quickly re-enters just as Sunhale walks to them and notices the dead Koralin in Yoruns arms.

"You two are back so soon, what the hell happened?" Sunhale asked concerned

"We took the Zeilna islands and promptly abandoned the islands" Yorun said

"What why?" Sunhale asked now very confused

"Honaril Ghohalan and the imperial navy's main contingent under him" Golanier said making Sunhales eyes immediately shoot wide open as the shadows around them rumble

"That... is not good" Sunhale said

"Indeed, not only is he himself incredibly strong but he has a far larger force coming for us than our standing force now stationed in Kelinrask with out ships" Yorun said

"And I assume hes the one that did that to Koralin?" Sunhale asked looking at the dead bird

"Correct, which speaking of, Golanier we're going to go fix up and raise Koralin again then figure out how to work with this numerical disadvantage" Yorun said

"Fine with me, we will be lucky in that we have a week if not maybe a little more till they get to Kelinrask since with the larger force it means it's harder to keep them all moving with the rest" Golanier said

"Good to have one point in our favour" Sunhale said

The three of them head out to the giant corpse of Ghairlakriar where Yorun using what he learned when making the dragons to be able to fix the damage to Koralins wings and body with parts from Ghairlakriar, the crow known as Koralins body has parts more resembling a dragon rather than the feathery kind the bird will have always known yet Yorun feels it'll be fine. Yorun then brings the small bird back to life before gently brushing his fingers along the birds head to pet it.

"Welcome back Koralin" Yorun said happily despite his worry of the situation

Koralin cawed back in response immediately recognising him as if nothing had killed the undead bird again.

"Good, we really should stop just relying on you Koralin, you need a little group of your own so we have more eyes" Yorun said

"Not a bad idea but we need to figure out our defence first, with the forces we managed to get from those that died in the Zeilna islands as well as those in Kelinrask due to the merchant ships and the ones left in the city we're sitting around forty four thousand soldiers whereas the enemy have more than double that, the Zeilna islands themselves had that sure but most surrendered due to our strategy which we don't have the means to do here" Golanier said

"That is the worrying part, we could outthink them there due to the nature of the islands defences and structure but Kelinrask won't be so easy it'd be open combat in a city that is still rebuilding at that while still having a smaller force, had we our border forces in the battle we'd more than outnumber them but doing so would leave the borders undefended leading to loss of territory and other army contingents attacking" Yorun said

"There are two points we could probably pull some border soldiers from, Kelinrasks part itself bringing them to the city instead of the border and the ones stationed in and around Deranel due to the city having its own forces to patrol and keep watch" Sunhale said

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"That'd at most be ten thousand soldiers, a not insignificant force but against our enemies it merely makes it a basically two to one fight for them" Golanier said

"What about creating more soldiers or dragons?" Sunhale asked hopefully

"With the time limit we have its not a great idea, remember these created undead don't have the muscle memory and as such training previously living soldiers had meaning we'd have to train them and tens of thousands of created undead can't just be trained in a week or so" Golanier said dismissively

"Sunhale, how is the elven army sieges going?" Yorun asked

"At least one of them is close to finally breaking, I believe its the one at Colstarn Castle, why?" Sunhale asked

"We can help end the siege and simultaneously get many new undead both elven and human while hopefully asking the elves there for help, Honaril and his fleet are a threat to the elven war machine as well so it'd be in their best interest" Golanier said

"Think we can end it in the week?" Yorun asked

"It's possible, our army has been lucky with siege matters especially if we bring it to bear with the ferocity we have been thus far plus the already weakened forces won't be ready for the undead dragons and our giant" Sunhale said

"Then we'll do it, either way we get more forces even if the elves don't aide us, Golanier I want you to stay here. Despite certain things we can still make the group of birds or whatever for Koralin so we have more eyes as well as at least some soldiers or dragons, as they'll be more difficult to deal with" Yorun said

"In terms of soldiers how many?" Golanier asked

"Not many, make giants" Yorun said as he turned his attention to Golanier

"Giants? Got a plan there?" Golanier asked genuinely curious

"They won't expect giants from under the water, it'd give us a way to destroy multiple ships quickly even if the giants are also dealt with quickly" Yorun said

"No guarantee the soldiers would be killed on those ships" Golanier said

"And they'd be stuck in the water forcing mages to protect them slowing the advance of those mages to protect the soldiers plus the giants would be bigger targets allowing for at least some distraction during the battle" Yorun said

"Well thought out there, I'll work on all of that, think you can handle the siege alone?" Golanier asked

"Oh, Sunhale will be coming with plus even without him I'm hardly alone" Yorun said as he looked to Sunhale with the souls being somewhat visible around Yorun

"Want to go now?" Sunhale asked

"Not right now, given the last few days we have not had the time to rest even when on the ocean as we had to keep an eye out" Yorun said

"I'll wake you in a while, best we do it soon after all" Sunhale said before walking away

Just as Yorun it about to walk out Golanier quickly grabs Yoruns shoulder with a conjured hand forcing him to turn back to him.

"What is it Golanier?" Yorun asked looking at him somewhat annoyed

"Celantriak, we could make use of him in the fight as well as some other demons. A small number of them have come to our part of the demon realm once more given my presence again and all that you've accomplished too" Golanier said while getting to work on what Yorun set him up for

"We'll see about the elves and such first, I'd rather not work further with the demons unless necessary" Yorun said

"Y'know we did tell the people of Kelinrask we weren't working with elves" Golanier said

"I specifically said we weren't directly allied and that we were aligned when it came to the Fiernian Empire, our interests are aligned here" Yorun said

"Fair enough then, oh and good luck with finishing that siege, don't fuck it up" Golanier said with a smirk while confident in Yoruns abilities

Yorun rolled his eyes before heading away to his room and laying down, Koralin follows him to get used to the non-feathery parts of the wings before flying back to Golanier in case he is needed. Yorun while lying down teleports the draconic armour off and holds the remaining upper part of his left arm then looks around the room before sighing.

"I... do not know if you three are around, if you see me right now but every day without you here where I cannot see your faces and know that you are okay is pain more than this arm could ever have been and more than the day you were taken from this world. Please even if it will not be pretty, be there so that I may see you even if we cannot talk... I need this, I love you all" Yorun said to the air

Unbeknownst to Yorun his family were indeed there and heard ever bit, they know they will follow and will beyond happy to see him even in a place where corpses will be piled high before the day is done. Yorun rests under his family's watchful eyes while the looming threat of Honaril Ghohalan closes in on Kelinrask...