"The first set of wards have been broken." Chantelle said.

The sound of breaking glass continued for several seconds, and then stopped suddenly. The table flashed green, and then returned to normal.

"The next set of wards in the series are active now." She said. "The setup is working as I intended... Though maybe I should set up a status ward to compare the state of things before and after the wards break... It would need to bounce forward to avoid being broken..."

She had obviously stopped talking to me, and was thinking aloud about how to improve the wards. I felt her set her anger aside when the alarm had started. She wasn't done with the discussion, but there were more immediate things that were demanding her attention.

Looking at the display for the detection ward, the winter priests were keeping a perimeter around the fortress, and there was a cluster of them outside of my pavilion at the bottom of my stairs to the north. The one remaining snow worm on my land was to the south, but it was in the same place it had taken when the last army left and didn't look like it was going to be bothering the winter priests there.

I made another mana crystal pendant and handed it to Chantelle.

"Could you enchant this with a relay enchantment or ward?" I asked. "I'd like to have both alarms on the pendant, there are some places in the fortress that are out of range of the relay wards on the stairs or the warding room."

"I want to redo the broken set of wards first." She said. "I'll add them back to the end of the ward series. Then I'll make your pendant."

"Thanks." I said. "I'll go find out where the Fortress of the Gods is."

She nodded and went back to her warding.

I headed up the stairs to the Druid's floor and found two beast people guarding the doorway into their entrance hall. A bear person and an oxen person, both of whom I didn't know. They didn't have any separate weapons, but the horns of the oxen man looked sufficient for him, and as I stepped towards the doorway the bear man put up a very large hand with dangerous looking claws on it to stop me.

"Hello." I said. "I'm looking for Shawn, the summer priest."

"And you are?" The bear man asked.

"I'm Lord C.C." I said. "And this is my fortress."

"You aren't tall enough." He said. "Barr, go get Dael. I'll keep this human here."

The oxen man touched the vines covering the doorway and left through the opening, the vines closing behind him.

I was a bit confused. "Not tall enough?" I asked.

"The Lord of the Fortress is a great warrior." He said. "He killed two Snow Burrowers that were stalking us when we got here. You are too short to be a great warrior. So you can't be the Lord of the Fortress. Dael will deal with you when he gets here."

Interesting logic. Compared to the bear man I was short, he stood at least a head taller than me, and was twice as wide as I was, all muscle. I wasn't really offended, but I didn't like being disrespected by the subject of one of my vassals. He obviously saw himself as a great warrior. I didn't have my sword with me, but that was for the best. I wouldn't want to use it on one of the people under my protection anyway. I set my staff out of the way against the wall.

"I am the lord of this fortress." I said. "And I am a greater warrior than you. Come, you have my permission to fight me without any fear of punishment."

Some part of that was enough to provoke the bear man who let out a roar and swung his hand at my head.

My perception of time slowed down. Hmm. That swing had enough force in it to kill me if it connected. He was also slightly faster than I was, in muscle speed. But he swung with the force of his entire body, so it was easy to predict the path of his swing.

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I ducked just enough for his first swing to go over my head. He stabbed forward with his other hand, and I stepped inside it. I tapped him lightly on the snout, hard enough to show that I could have broken his nose but chose not to. Then I was rolling backwards out of the crushing hug he tried to catch me in, hooking his left knee with my foot at the same time and making him stumble.

Making it back to my feet I thrust forward from my back foot, lunging as though I had a sword I punched him in the throat. I reduced the force of the impact at the last moment, barely tapping him rather than crushing his throat. I heard a stomp on the stairs behind me, I had been aware of someone coming down the stairs but now they were within range to join the fight.

The bear man was winding up for another decapitating swing, but it was easily timed, so I turned to face the new potential opponent. It was the oxen man I'd saved from the snow worm. I really should start asking people their names. He was charging out of the stairway with his head down, his horns levelled to kill someone.

I ducked the incoming swipe from the bear man, having to step forwards as he changed the angle downwards to claw through where my body was. The oxen man had changed his approach, he was going around me. He was going to kill the bear man who was trying to kill me? That was going to complicate things.

Points of danger were the oxen's horns and the bear's claws. The force of the oxen's charge would hurt him if I redirected him into a wall. And I had no way of knowing if anyone was behind the vine door, so that was out. The bear man hadn't recovered from his swing, so I reached out behind me and shoved him so he spun to face away. Which pushed me closer to the oxen man. I grabbed the end of his left horn and pulled him down with my whole weight, sending him rolling along the ground and into the back of the bear man's legs.

I used the momentum I'd gained from the oxen man to make it to within reach of my staff. I picked it up before bouncing off the wall back into striking range of the bear man, who was now on his back and preparing to get up. I looked down at the oxen man, who was winded and stunned. I placed the foot of my staff against the bear man's throat.

"Stay down." I said.

He swiped at my staff with his hand, so I rapped him on the head before placing the foot of the staff back against his throat.

"Stay down." I repeated. "The fight is over."

I saw an oxen man, Brutus, check his charge at the bottom of the stairs, and the vines behind me slithered open.

"What in the world is happening here?" Dael asked from behind me.

"This man." I said, indicating the bear man. "Didn't believe I was the lord of the fortress, so I challenged him to a friendly fight, as he was of the opinion that the lord of the fortress was a great warrior. He was perhaps a little over-enthusiastic. When this oxen man, I apologise that I didn't get his name, when he came down and saw the fight he attempted to intervene. Also perhaps a little over-enthusiastically. I put them both on the ground safely and was explaining to the first man that the fight was over. He seems to be listening now."

I let the bear man up, and offered my hand to help the oxen man to his feet.

"His name is Gaal." Dael said. "He insulted you, so you decided to give him a beating? He was trying to kill you, and Bala, the ox-person on the ground, saw that and tried to kill Gaal first to protect you. Is that about right?"

"Pretty close." I said. "If I'd wanted to give Gaal a beating I would have. I made contact three times in the fight, and each time I avoided injuring him. I also gave him permission to fight me. Bala, Barr, and Brutus? Do all ox-people's names begin with 'B'?"

"They're brothers." Dael said. "If you gave him permission then he is not at fault. I would suggest in the future if you wished to spar that you do so in a sparring ring. That way misunderstandings can be avoided. Bears and oxen are highly dependable and absolutely loyal, but they can be a bit dim and territorial, too."

"He isn't at fault." I said. "But I won't tolerate disrespect, either. This was a simple way to resolve the issue. Your people are safe here, which includes being safe from me. If they wish to fight me, I will do so while also ensuring their safety."

"As you say." Dael said. "Did you have a purpose in coming to see us?"

"I came to see Shawn." I said.

"I will take you to him." Dael said.

As we left I saw Brutus cuff Gaal on the ear and Gaal look apologetic.

Shawn was in one of the first dwellings along the main hallway between the entrance hall and the fields. He'd turned the bottom floor into a simple shrine to the summer god, a table with a gold cloth covered in a sun motif as the altar. Dael left me at the door with a wave and I headed in.

"Hello again." Shawn said. "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you knew where the Fortress of the Gods was?" I asked.

"Somewhat." He said. "I knew exactly where it was in relation to our old village, three months by wagon along the north eastern road. I'm not entirely sure where we are now. We came south from our village. It's on the tallest mountain peak of the mountain range to the north of the forest. If I had access to my priest powers I could give you a more accurate answer, but they failed at the same time that winter got worse."

I was going to ask him more when Brutus knocked on the wall.

"Sorry interrupt." He said. "Keeper back Fortress door. Wait you."