The Emperor and his followers knew that they should see the southern fort on the horizon at any time. Their nerves, a mix of anxiousness, excitement and relief, were bringing an overall tension that was unbearable.

"Junayd?" Devrim called to the general.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" Junayd rode up next to the Emperor.

The grey-eyes man hesitated and inhaled deeply. "Could you, perhaps, sing us a song?" Devrim gave a pained smile.

"Did I hear you correctly?" Junayd's jaw nearly dropped to his steed in astonishment.

"Yes, yes you did. I am probably losing my mind, but we need a way to lighten the mood." Devrim motioned to the travelers, who seemed ready to jump at a moment's notice.

"Do not worry, boss. You will not regret this!" Junayd said as he pulled out a makeshift drum he had composed from animal hide and a hollowed out stump.

"I already do," Devrim responded, rubbing his temples. The Emperor scooted his horse away from the musician. He had no desire for a front row seat.

"Does General Junayd make good music?" Mairwen asked as she watched in curiosity.

"I am not sure that 'good' and 'Junayd's music' have been used in the same sentence, but there is a first time for everything," Devrim tried to sound positive.

Junayd cleared his throat and collected his thoughts. He played a few tentative beats on the drum to get a rhythm before launching into his tune.

"I came upon a maid one time

A beauty to behold

Her lips, they were a cherry red

Her hair was spun of gold

She stood out front just stirring

A cauldron full of steam

I got an idea in my head

How I could court this dream

In my pack, I found a spoon

And sauntered to her pot

I took a sip of liquid

And smiled with all I got

'Delicious' was my epithet

As I tried her stew

'Could use less salt,' says I

'A smaller pinch would do'

She looked at me, bewildered

Confusion in her eyes

She turned her nose up in the air

Much to my surprise

She said, 'the salt you're tasting

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Is sweat and grime and dirt

For this is my laundry

I'm washing my man's shirt!'"

The raucous laughter from the crowd pleased Junayd greatly. He enjoyed the thrill of bringing about the desired emotion in his listeners. He beat the drum a few times for emphasis before pausing for the applause, which were generous.

"You missed your calling as a bard," Okan called. "Where did you get such a crazy idea for a song?"

"Personal experience!" Devrim teased before the general could answer.

"Really?" the princess asked. "How in the world did you mistake a woman's washing for a stew?"

"Oh no, Your Highness. The woman was the one washing my shirt," Junayd answered with a wink.

Mairwen blushed and Devrim gave the soldier a warning glare. Junayd threw his hands up in surrender.

"Forgive me, Your Highness and Your Majesty. Sometimes I go too far," he admitted.

"Are all your songs about getting rejected in creative ways by women?" the Emperor raised one eyebrow in question. Devrim had noticed a theme over the years.

"Of course not! I have an excellent one about a bear who misplaced his honey. And another about a skunk who tried to fix her stench. Or there's the one…" Junayd stopped as a structure appeared on the horizon. It was the Southern Fort.

The crowd whooped with excitement. Their pace quickened amid chattering of what they would do when they were finally behind the sturdy walls of the fortress. Mairwen looked around at the new landscape. The ground had flattened out and become arid, with only the heartiest of grasses able to grow in the cracked ground. The Great River had turned sharply to the west to meet with the sea, so only the water from rain quenched the ground here. It seemed that rain was not frequent in these parts.

"Where are the birds? Do no animals live here?" Mairwen asked. Her curiosity about the new place was obvious.

Junayd shrugged. "If there are any birds, we likely scared them off with all the horses and people."

"And you singing," Devrim reminded him.

Junayd crossed his arms. "My singing would attract wildlife not repel it. Perhaps Okan's stench chased them away." The general inclined his head toward the young archer who rode ahead of them.

"You hear that, Okan?" Eira called with an amused grin. "The general says you smell!"

Okan turned with a wide smile of his own. "I salute the 'King of Stench' himself," the archer said as he brought two fingers to his forehead in in mock honor to Junayd. "I believe we are all his citizens just now even more than the Emperor's."

Another ripple of laughter went through the troops, but this time Junayd was not amused. "I will remember that insult when it comes time to pass out kitchen clean-up duty and horse manure pick-up," the brawny man grumbled.

Okan pretended not to hear him. Hopefully the general would forget before then. He turned his gaze back forward and caught sight of something duck behind a manmade mound of earth to their right.

He pointed, then held up one finger, then made a hill with his hands for the general to see. 'One figure behind the mound,' was the silent communication.

"General!" The scout called from another direction. He made the same motions as he indicated another small unnatural mound off to their left.

"What do you think is happening?" Devrim wondered.

"It is probably just the watchmen on sentry duty. We look so ragged that perhaps they do not recognize us." Junayd responded calmly.

But the hairs on the back of the man's neck stood on end. 'Two men against a hundred is bad odds anyway,' the general tried to comfort himself. 'Unless it is not just two men.'

Junayd looked around for other signs of danger, but there were none. The sky was a piercing blue and the land was peaceful. But what if the land was quiet for a reason other than their passage? Surely it was merely the noonday sun that had chased off the wildlife. All of them were sweating terribly even though it was fall.

"You look like you smelled that skunk you were talking about a moment ago," Devrim chuckled. When the general didn't respond, the grey-eyed man tensed. "What is it?"

"I am not sure," Junayd admitted. "It just feels wrong."

"I feel it too," Mairwen agreed. When the trees were crowded around them back in the forest, she had felt some comfort even though they had been followed by pirates. Now she felt incredibly exposed.

"The faster we get to the fort, the better." Devrim was suddenly anxious. He gave an order, and everyone began to scan for danger. No more sightings like the first two occurred, and the Emperor relaxed. "Perhaps it was just the sentries like you thought, Junayd," he commented.

They approached the massive drawbridge gate, but were forced to stop. The entire fort was surrounded by a deep ditch. Perhaps it had once been a moat, but now it was bone dry. Still, Devrim was hesitant to ride his horse down into the gully. He looked both directions down the wall, which reached as far as his eye could see, but saw no one.

"I would have thought that they would have already lowered the drawbridge when we were approaching. Perhaps in their haste to prepare, they forgot that detail," Devrim tried to reason out what was happening. No one at the gate to see them was indeed strange.

They had seen movement on the ramparts earlier, so they knew that someone must be inside. Why had no one called out to them to at least ask their business?

"Hello!" Devrim yelled up to the top of the wall. "We have come a long way. Will no one greet us?"

Silence met the cry, so Junayd called angrily, "I am

General Junayd. We come from Valiant! Answer your countrymen!"

For a moment nothing happened, and then movement that that sounded like the scurrying of palace mice came toward them at the top of the wall.

Mairwen gasped. The figure that peeked over the rampart was not a soldier. He was not even human. His red skin and green clothing reminded the princess of a tree on fire, and the creature's menacing smile made him look like a demon.

"What is that thing?" Junayd asked in shock.

Devrim tried to recall the information from the back of his mind. "I think it is something like a leprecann, leopard-con… no! It's a leprechaun! What is it doing here?"

"And what has happened to our troops?" The general looked in vain for any sign of the imperial army.

"Uh, father, general, we need to get out of here. The ground is beginning to move." Mairwen pointed to the parched ground around them. Some cracks were disappearing while others were growing wide.

Devrim's eyes grew wide. "Gnomes!"