The news first came to the tunnels from the Angels. One of them was flying up to their mountain home when he saw the army of human approaching the Kar Forest. Given the numbers of humans he saw, he immediately turned back to give warning.

Scouts, mostly Ratlings and flyers, were immediately dispatched and they soon came back with the same information. The humans were coming and they were coming in great numbers. Considering the attacks they had launched on the humans since spring began, the Speaker wasn’t surprised by the actions of the humans. What surprised her was the numbers reported by the scouts; 150- 200 warriors with another 100 more between the hunters and the mages.

Given the lessons she had been giving to the Kin, the Speaker had little doubt the scouts were telling the truth but they must have emptied the whole garrison of Yachium to get that number of men onto the field. The question now was what to do about them. After that time when the humans successfully stole from the Creator, the Kin had planned for another attack from the human but none of the plans involved a pitch battle against 300 humans. They never planned for such a big attack.

“Nothing changed,” the Chieftain insisted. “We fight in the tunnels.”

“No,” the Alpha argued. “Too. Many.”

“Many is why we fight in the tunnels,” the Chieftain said. “Tunnel is mostly narrow. Numbers counts less inside.”

The Alpha shook his head and argued. “Too. Many. No. Room.”

The Speaker understood where both were coming from. The first two floors of the tunnels were corridor-like that only allowed 3 men at most to walk shoulder to shoulder. It wasn’t what you would call narrow but it was narrow enough that the overwhelming numbers of the humans played less of a factor. However that overwhelming number was also why the Kin should not fight inside the tunnels.

There were only three floors before the humans would reach the newly minted Red Creator and there was just no way the Kin could stop over 200 men from pushing through the first two floors. The one thing both leaders agreed on was the fact most of the fighting in the tunnels had to be done from the third floor onwards but that didn’t leave them enough room to stop the humans before they would reach the new Creator, which unfortunately brought them to the biggest argument thus far.

“Leave the Red,” the Chieftain said. “Protect the main.”

“No.”

This was something the Alpha was not willing to entertain and truth be told, the Speaker was fully on the side of Treznor on this. The Red Creator may be new and may seem to be separated prematurely from the main Creator but it was still a Creator and the Speaker felt a sense of loyalty to it. Not for the first time the Speaker wondered about the immediate loyalty all the creatures had to the Creator and questioned if the Creator did something to them during the ‘Change’ to make them this way. However their loyalty to the new Red Creator was nowhere as strong as their loyalty to the main.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Main is more important!” The Chieftain insisted. “New one is shiny and new but the main is more important.”

“No.” The Alpha’s tone brooked no argument and the Chieftain threw his arms up in disgust.

The Speaker looked on quietly. She didn’t think it was her place to argue strategy with the two leaders and it wasn’t as if she thought either of them was totally wrong, but she could see things were getting steadily more heated. There was an argument to be made for both sides but like it or not, the Speaker may need to be the peacemaker soon. Luckily for the Speaker, the argument was thankfully broken up when one of the flyers landed in front of the entrance of the tunnels.

It was one of the Crowman and the Speaker saw that it was the young boy from Silentree. The boy whose mother she killed. The Speaker vaguely wondered what his name was and if he remembered her. The Crowman walked up to the trio quickly and informed them of some bad news.

“Leaders, we have a big problem. The humans are being led by The Grand.”

The Speaker’s eyes blinked furiously at the news. By now both the Alpha and the Chieftain knew what this meant and they looked at the Speaker, awaiting her explanation. However it was to the Crowman that the Speaker addressed.

“You’re sure? You’re sure it was Garnock Blueowl? The Magister, Garnock Blueowl?”

“Of course,” the Crowman said. “Wrinkled old man with a full white beard wearing a ridiculous pointed hat; even out here at the edge of civilisation we heard of him! He’s even smoking that stupid pipe of his.”

Well, at least now the Speaker knows the boy remembered her and what she did to his mother. Their problems would have to be settled at a later date; right now they had a bigger problem. “Magister Garnock Blueowl is the greatest mage in the city of Yachium and holds the position of Magister, which makes him the Head Judge of the city. He is the most powerful man in the city of Yachium and one of the most powerful men in this region.”

“Strong? Powerful?”

“Very strong and very powerful.” The Speaker replied to the Alpha. “He widely considered the greatest mage of his generation which is why most humans call him ‘The Grand’.”

“You know him?” the Chieftain asked the Speaker.

“Never spoke to him directly but my mist…former mistress, Kyla Sacredhunt, worked for him so I do know of him.”

“Weakness?” The Alpha asked.

“A few but the most important is the fact he is very proud of his position as the greatest mage of his generation. Most probably this is the reason he is here.” The two leaders looked at the Speaker expectantly which prompted her to continue. “The humans still think this cave is ruled by some dark mage who is conducting illegal experiments; experiments that had been met with some success. The Grand is probably here to find out who this dark mage is, stop him…and if possible grab some notes on the experiments.”

“That’s not really a weakness.” The Chieftain said and the Speaker smiled.

“Oh but it is,” the Speaker said. She faced the Crowman and asked. “Tell me, did you see any wagons?”

The Crowman thought for a moment. “No, I don’t recall seeing any.”

The Speaker nodded. “They don’t intend to wait. Once they reached here, they intend to attack immediately.”

“So?” The Alpha asked. “Why. Important?”

“You need to understand that this is a very powerful mage we are talking about here and like most powerful mages, The Grand is proud and a meddler. He believes there is little in this world that can hurt him and that makes him take chances that most normal people would not even consider.” Seeing that she took both leaders’ attention, the Speaker laid out her plans. “This is what he will do and how we could stop him…”

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