The Conquest of Mytheyr

“I’m glad you lot are okay.” Morgan said to Teren and Asa as she approached them, “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to take you all the way to Rimcenter, but at least we’re all here now.” Teren gave her a bow and smiled.

“I am glad that you are safe as well, my lady. I was deeply concerned when we lost you after that battle.”

“Please Teren,” Morgan laughed, “You still don’t have any need to be so formal. In fact, I like you better when you’re not.”

“I apologize, my lady.” Teren responded with a teasing smile. Morgan was about to make a snappy comment when Asa cut in.

“Lady Morgan.” Asa said impatiently. “I have a deep concern and it is of the upmost importance that it be addressed.” Morgan internally rolled her eyes. She had figured out a while ago that unlike Teren, Asa wasn’t just being formal, or to be more accurate teasing her with his formality, that was just how he talked to everyone, all the time.

“Yes, Asa?” Morgan sighed.

“Please, walk with me.” Asa said, offering his arm. Morgan reluctantly laced hers through it, and Teren, seeing as he was not welcome into this conversation, went to go find something else to do.

Morgan and Asa toured through the ancient ruins, Morgan noticing a lot of Raven’s magical handiwork in stabilizing what was left of the stonework and making it safe to walk on. She also caught glimpses of some of her own kind, easy to spot among the Dark Elven crowd by their pale skin and colorful wings.

“That boy, Vath.” Asa began. “He knows nothing of magic, and he has a strange aura. Do you even know where he came from? Do you know the reputation of the name Burntbush?”

“I would suppose the answer to both your questions would be no.” Morgan said. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw both Bane and Marine following them and she knew they were at a distance where they could most defiantly hear them. Even if they couldn’t, Timbltin was still sitting on Morgan’s shoulder, and he could have recited their conversation from heart like an actor reciting Shakespeare.

“The Burntbush are all Rangers.” Asa said, “They are odd folk. Reclusive, sneaky, secretive. Secrecy leads to falsehood.”

“Look,” Morgan said, taking her arm out of his and turning to face him, “Just tell me what you want to say.”

“That boy cannot be trusted. He could easily be a spy for the usurper.”

“I know more about Rangers than you think you do. And if Vath didn’t have a reason to hate Semele, he does now.” Morgan told him fiercely. “If he had been false, I would have caught that long ago. It isn’t easy to lie to a dragon. Excuse me; I have other matters I must attend to.”

She turned away and walked quickly towards her dragons. Bane and Marine stood and walked with her as she reached them.

Morgan was still trying to get a feel for the kind of people they had on their side. Their were many who looked skilled, who knew what they were doing, but there was an equal amount of elves who looked like they didn’t know one end of a blade from the other. It didn’t help that Morgan didn’t know how many thralls Semele had, and there were the golems to consider as well. Morgan thought it was best to assume there were more than the two she and Raven destroyed. Well, technically Raven destroyed them, but not the point. If there was to be a battle, the golems would have to be taken out first. Dragon fire could melt the Blood Iron, fusing the golem’s joints and making them unable to move. With the ten Dragonkin Elves leading, thralls would be a small problem… what if there were more undead sand snakes? Spears seemed the most effective weapons against them, but probably a dragon could-

“Morgan!” a familiar voice called, and she turned and smiled brightly.