War of Dark Ages: A Unicorn's Journey

They approach the stables. Fritz, the stable keeper, comes out to greet them. “Hello, here for two horses?”

“Yes, we are.” Riley stands with his hands pressed slightly above the back of his waist.

“I’ll be right back.” Fritz walks inside the stables and yells at Eugene to bring out the two horses requested. More grumbling comes from inside as a couple of noises are heard.

San glances inside, noticing Eugene is pressed up against the wall with a wooden bucket over his head.

Fritz takes off the bucket from his head and makes a comment. Eugene takes one horse out of the stables along with Fritz bringing out another. The first horse is a light brown color with black trimmings on its hooves and part of his mane. The other is a white Mare with grey spots on her ankles and part of her neck.

“They are beautiful creatures,” San watches them trod at them.

Riley moves forward and grabs the saddle, and pulls himself up on top of the horse. “They won’t hurt you. Just reach up to the saddle and put your foot into the strip.” Riley moves the horse forward pointing down to his foot in the strip hanging below the saddle.

San moves forward to the mare and raises her hands slightly to the saddle. Her hands pause, and the mare kneels on the ground. She glances at her and moves forward to sit on the saddle. The mare rises gently and gracefully. She closes her eyes for a second trying to not clench her fists. After a few seconds, she opens her eyes and looks around as the horse hasn’t moved.

“She will not hurt you, San. See, she trusts you. Take the strap and give her directions to move forward like this.” Riley moves his hip slightly forward in the saddle as his hands turn the straps slightly in his hand. The horse turns and moves forward. He gives a motion with his hands and body to let the horse know to stop. “There, now you try.”

San looks down at the mare with a curious gaze and copies Riley in movements. The mare moves forward slowly and stops beside him.

“There see? That wasn’t so hard.” Riley teases and reaches down patting the horse’s neck. “Shall we go and let them run for a bit? I’m sure it will be good for both of them.”

San gently strokes the mare’s neck and gives a nod to Riley. In the next moment they are off down the lane passing the Barracks. They leave town, spotting how nice it feels to see the meadows and clearings without the wall being there. They pass several people planting crops, herbs, and flowers.

They race past the sign turning left heading towards the Cave of Solace.

Riley glances over seeing her enjoy herself.

She lets the mare take the lead and moves forward past him racing ahead.

Riley gives his horse permission to follow in pursuit. A couple of hours pass as the horses slow down to a trot thoroughly enjoying the run.

San reaches down and strokes the mare feeling her happiness. The horse makes a neigh sound causing Riley’s horse to react with happiness.

“Looks like you enjoyed yourself.” Riley glances at her.

“They are happy. It’s strange, I always thought of this as a creature being caged but they seem to enjoy it. Do some creatures like this?” San questions.

“That they do, as long as they are properly taken care of and not being mistreated. Animals can make great companions by their choice. As I’m sure in your lessons you learned about the slavery which some people still practice.”

“Yes, I did learn about that from more than one person. I was worried I would hurt her, but she seems fine.”

“Indeed, let’s move ahead and we should be at our first stop by nightfall.” Riley presses his horse slightly forward with San behind him.

By nightfall they reach a path turning slightly to the right. A campfire resides ahead and they dismount the horses. They remove the saddles and harnesses to let them graze for the night.

Riley kneels before the fire and takes out a gem igniting the stone bark resting inside. It lights up into a bright flame taking the cold away from the descending night. He glances over at San taking out a few pieces of meat sticks from her handmade bag. She passes a couple to him and he sits before the fire. “I’ll take the first watch; You can sleep for a bit before we reach our destination tomorrow.”

San takes a bite of her meat stick, casting a glance at Riley, “Are you sure?”

Riley stares at the fire, bending his knee towards him as he rests his arm across it. “I’m sure. It will be a long day tomorrow.” He glances at San finishing her meat stick and draws a small cloth blanket to rest for the night. He continues to glance at the fire thinking about the report received from Commander Kail at the capital. It seems things may have gotten more complicated which wasn’t surprising. He continues to munch on his meat sticks.

The next morning both rise heading north to the Cave of Solace. With a good start leaving slightly before the sunrise, they make excellent time in getting to the cave slightly before the sun starts to set.

As they reign in the horses, a couple of soldiers approach grabbing their straps leading them to rest with the other horses.

Boah steps out of the cave. “You might want to see this.” He walks back inside the cave and stops in front of a desk.

San glances around noticing several lights inside and stops beside Riley.

Boah places a map of the cave on the desk. “Look there, I’m impressed they actually created a maze this complex with not much room to work with.” He steps away from the desk as Riley and San step forward gazing down at the map.

The map displays a small entrance and a small hallway leading into a room with two separate entries ahead. The entry to the left leads into a large cavern with two small rooms on the side. The other entry leads into a hallway with another closed off room at the end.

“Well now, that is impressive. I take it with the maze traps they made this seem like an incredibly huge area.” Riley places his hand on the map measuring the distance between marks.

“Yes, disabling them has been a constant struggle to say the least. The symbols are combined with other symbols layering them having multiple effects. I have no idea who could actually pull something like that off. The report was sent to Commander Kail yesterday morning.” Boah glances to the left entrance.

“No time to wait then, shall we? I take it there is a bit to look at.” Riley starts down the passage to the left.

Boah stretches his hands upwards, “Still though be careful of the stench once we pass the hallway, it’s quite... hideous.”

Upon approaching the entrance, the smell hits both of them at the same time. Riley covers his mouth and San glances around the room unfazed.

She walks forward as the smell lingering is somewhat familiar to the abominations created by them. “The smell is vaguely familiar to a certain experimentation done. Creatures of all kinds were turned into abominations and forced to fight. I don’t know if this was used in other methods.” San glances around the room.

“Abominations?” Riley asks.

“Yes, they would turn magical creatures into monsters and have me kill them and eat their flesh. I slew them instantly to relieve them of the pain, but I resisted every time they forced me to eat.” San glances at Riley.

He frowns at her and glances down. “That’s awful. The stones they have been gathering here might have a connection to that experiment. But as to what Fallsmhere wants will be something different I imagine.” Riley gazes at the room spotting several holes in the floor and the walls above.

“The more I hear about him, the more I want to defeat him.” Boah gazes wrathfully at the cavern.

San glances at him bewildered by his reaction.

Boah walks over to the first room, beckoning his hand to follow him. “This way, I think you might want to look at these documents. They are all shipments, and it might give us a few leads as to the places we need to check.”

They follow him to the other spotting a lot of boxes with documents spread out across the room. A couple of soldiers are in the room still separating documents.

“I’m afraid this information will take me time to learn. Denzil and Raden have been teaching me about Ship trading and ports but they both agree I need to go to one in order to learn more.” San frowns down at the documents.

Riley walks forward picking up a few documents, “I would agree, and it looks like the Port of Hydamere might be on the list. Might want to check the other port above since nothing is there and yet they are neighbors.”

“I have some documents in piles near the entrance if you want to look through them. At least it might give more insight as to what was being done here.” Boah remarks and crosses his arms.

“I think I will.” San moves toward the entrance leaving both of them behind. She spends the rest of the evening looking over the documents detailing different ports and items contained in each ship. The items mean nothing to her, but will need to remember them as they seem important to Fallshmere and his minions.

Night descends and San watches the soldiers, rangers, Riley, and Boah eat for the night. San spreads out her blanket, closing her eyes. Her mind is restless as something about this place feels off. Hoping tomorrow will give her more thoughts as to what feels strange about this place her mind and body drifts off to sleep.

Morning dawns as the light gleams over the cave slightly repelling the shadows at the entrance. San rises and stretches her hands above her. Most of the guards are awake and moving around. Both Riley and Boah are gone and San stands up walking outside. The wind softly grazes her cheeks and closes her eyes.

San stiffens, “What in the world?” She glances around here and takes a few steps forward and stops noticing a small clearing of rocky terrain.

Riley steps out beside her with Boah behind him.

San immediately marches to the left, not pausing or looking back.

Riley calls her name. Both of them look at her with confusion on their faces as they follow her to the clearing.

San stops and gazes around slightly ahead of her appears the Guardian Carbuncle. “What are you doing here? Is something amiss?”

The Guardian smiles. “No, but I have something, or should I say a couple of creatures who want to accompany you. They are ashamed of not being able to help when HE showed up. They want to help not only you but also their fears. Come forward both of you.” The Guardian looks behind him as two unusual creatures step forward.

Both creatures walk forward standing at least four feet high with fur surrounding them. “They look similar to the Fenrir except they have one tail.” San gazes at them in astonishment. “You granted them the ability to change their appearance!”

“Correct, they are still Pegasus, and they have this form to travel with you easier. They also have the ability to talk, and they have chosen their names. Introduce yourselves,” The Guardian commands.

The black wolf-like creature takes a couple of steps forward, his long tail curls around him while he sits on his paws. “My name is Calleas; I look forward to collaborating with you.” His deep voice resonates with intense sadness while his ears move back.

The white wolf-like creature moves forward standing on all fours, “I’m Gwyneira. Don’t mind my partner, he is shy. I hope you will let us travel with you, Miss San.” Gwyneira perks her ears forward awaiting a reply.

San ponders and gazes at both of them knowing how well that fear can turn on you. “You do realize the dangers will be intense and there will be times I will not be able to protect you.”

“We don’t want protection. We need the will to fight our fears and put a stop to Fallshmere!” Calleas snarls standing on all fours.

Gwyneira rubs her face against Callea’s neck, calming him down. “He didn’t mean to be angry.” she says and sits back on all fours.

“It’s fine. I am sure I will be struggling there myself. Perhaps we can all work on that while we work with them to defeat this darkness.” San glances at Boah and Riley.

Riley smiles and walks forward standing beside San. “I’m sure it can work out for all of us. Are you prepared? It will not be an easy task.”

“Yes!” Both reply in unison.

They walk to San rubbing her legs.

She kneels embracing them in her arms.

“Very well, I shall take my leave then. Good luck to all of you.” The Guardian Carbuncle disappears.

They walk towards the cave. Riley, with the help of Boah, talks to both of them, catching up to the current details.

San rests her head on her knees and keeps glancing at her surroundings.

Riley glances at her, “Is something wrong?”

“I feel something is off here. I can’t quite figure it out. ” A shiver runs down her spine.

“What is off?” Riley looks around the cave structure.

“You mentioned Fallshmere and shipments to him about certain experiments, correct?” San strokes Gywneira’s head resting beside her.

“Correct.” Riley confirms and sits up with both legs crossed underneath him.

“If I remember correctly, Fallshmere always had prisoners on him in whatever location he conquered or had. But nothing here has been found yet.”

Boah and Riley stiffen glancing at each other. “You’re right, at the Town of Isitural there were quite a few people there. That would mean there is another area here that hasn’t been found yet.” Riley stands up and beckons a soldier to his side, “Bring more soldiers in here and look for anything that doesn’t add up.”

“I’ll check the back room again,” Boah remarks.

“What about that small room that had nothing in it, doesn’t that count as strange for someone like him?”

“Let’s go check it out,” Boah stands up and walks to the other room.

Everyone else follows inside, noticing there are no boxes, no papers, and no markings on the wall. San moves forward stepping in the middle of this small room and a circle appears beneath her causing her to disappear in a puff of smoke.

“San!” Riley screams and tries to lunge for her missing.

“Dammit, go get the guards and rangers, I’ll see if I can figure this damn contraption out.” Boah orders. Gwyneira and Calleas stay by Boah sniffing the area looking for anything out of the ordinary on the ground.

San shakes her head because everything is spinning around her and lifts herself off the ground. She looks around spotting several boxes of untold trinkets, devices, and more items up against the walls. She walks forward a bit, taking in how large this room is ahead of her with another entrance ahead and suddenly, a very odd sensation prickles the back of her neck. She turns around and gazes at an exceptionally large lizard creature staring directly at her from the other side.

​​The lizard steps forward and roars causing the ground to tremble. It continues to bare its teeth at her.

San stares at the chains on its neck and tail.

It moves incredibly fast to her and raises its head snarling at her. Next, it lunges down at her.

She slaps the creature in the jaw.

The creature crashes into the side wall and causes a large shudder to spread throughout the area. After a few seconds, it rises and hisses at her.

At the same time, the creature lunges for her, and a few people appear underneath it.

San steps backward dodging the attack.

Riley jumps high above the creature with Gywneira and Calleas beside him.

“Be careful!” Boah darts underneath its tail along with a few other soldiers.

The lizard lunges for her again and she moves to the side, “Aim for the chains on its neck and tail.”

“The cha-” Boah jumps up high.

It kicks out its back feet, sending a soldier flying backward to the wall, while the other two soldiers dodge the attack.

“Dammit.” Riley jumps on a few boxes dodging the tail. “Well get the neck chain, aim for that tail.”

The two wolf-like creatures jump forward aiming an attack at the neck sending sharp wind-blades at the chain.

Riley jumps up behind them using a piercing strike that causes him to appear on the other side of the creature. The neck chain barely cracks.

Meanwhile, Boah materializes a double-edged blade sending a lightning circular attack around the chain on the beast’s tail.

The two soldiers aim their weapons and attack the chain.

The chain partially cracks.

The lizard roars angrily and moves its body quickly aiming at Riley.

“One more strike!” Riley yells.

The creature’s tail moves incredibly fast and hits a couple of soldiers, and Calleas. They are thrown at the wall crashing to the ground.

“Calleas!” Gwyneira screams.

San narrows her eyes at the creature and sends a slight wind attack at its jaw gaining its attention once more.

It turns its head, glaring and snarling at her.

“Make sure to stay on task, the chains are almost broken!” Boah moves to the right reading his attack.

“Help Boah. I’ve got the neck, Gwyneira!” Riley orders.

Boah casts a charged lightning strike blade as the soldier and Gwyneira aim their attacks at the tail.

Riley charges forward to the neck as the giant lizard turns his head, aiming another attack at San. He uses a skill called umbra multi-strike. He vanishes and in the blink of an eye, surrounds the chain hitting it one hundred times.

The chains finally break and the creature halts its attack staring at San. Its eyes grow calmer with each second passing.

The soldier and Boah run to the fallen men making sure they are ok.

Gwyneira runs to Calleas, nuzzling him on his neck.

Calleas shakes his head gazing at the creature in amazement.

The creature stills and lowers his head while the size slowly changes, shrinking down into a smaller form. The tiny lizard trembles in fear, refusing to move.

Riley walks over and picks up the small creature in his arms. “There we go, little fellow. You are going to be alright. No one is going to hurt you again.” The small lizard freezes in his arms and turns its head burying it.

“Never would have thought of you as an animal lover,” Boah comments.

“It’s a growing passion.” Riley smiles down at the creature. “By the way, how did you know the chains caused this, San?”

“I didn’t, but when I came down here, I didn’t sense it.” San sighs with relief. “This place feels huge, what else is down here?”

“One way to find out, Let’s go exploring ahead,” Boah remarks. “Take an instant teleport from here to the town and request help in moving some crates around. Make sure the teleport is set up for large teleportations.”

“Wait.” Riley looks down at the creature cowering in fear. “Something is wrong.”

“I’ll go first.” San moves forward slightly and casts a light spell lighting down the hall. Everyone looks in surprise as there are both animal creatures and other races locked in cages on both sides. The hallway extends down even further.

“Get back to the town and request the help of Lieutenant Knox and request immediate help from the Castle! That’s an order!” Boah orders.

The soldiers and rangers immediately cast a teleportation back to town.

“I’ll start working on teleportations above, you save as many as you can!” Boah moves forward kneeling to place gems around starting a large teleportation circle.

San is already ahead standing at a cage looking around trying to figure out a way to save them. She places her hands together and unlocks all the cages in this area. Some creatures lie dead while other creatures are barely alive.

Riley and the two-wolf-like creatures grab a few of them and bring them to the transportation circle.

San looks around and uses her ability to sense lower. She glances back at the teleportation circle and takes off her necklace forming the mystical katana in her hands.

“San! What are you doing?” Riley yells at her.

San raises the sword with the blade turned downward to the ground and pierces it. Magical waves spread out through the sword to the ground. The walls change from a dark stench to a glowing shimmering spreading light down the hallway. Meanwhile, the cage’s devices on them break with the creatures inside them glowing, removing the afflicting miasma. Several teleportation circles appear down the hallway. She collapses to the ground with the katana reverting to its form on her neck.

Riley rushes over with Boah, “Save as many as you can fast! I’ll take care of her, Quickly!”

They move incredibly fast to take many out of the cages.

Riley takes her outside as more soldiers rush inside. He lays San on the ground, noticing her skin looks incredibly pale. Whatever she did back there, gave them a start. He sits beside her.

Lieutenant Knox appears with more soldiers and citizens of the town. He orders his soldiers to save as many as they can. “Is there anything I can help with?” Lieutenant Knox casts a worried glance at San.

“Save all that you can, the meadows and fields can provide shelter for the creatures, we have the halls and a large mansion for the people. There is a lot in there, Please,” Riley asks.

“We will do what we can.” Lieutenant Knox moves forward with the soldiers and a few citizens taking back creatures and different races.

Any dead creatures were brought to the field by the mountains and given a proper burial.

Several citizens show up within the next few minutes helping relay more people from deep inside the area.

Madam Ura walks forward with a lot of people. She takes off her coat and starts forward.

“Madam Ura, please we can do this!” a young man begs.

“I will not stand by and do nothing! I might be old, but I’m not dead yet. If there is at least something I can do, then I’ll do it. Now are you going to help or bicker?” Madam Ura marches forward.

The rest of the people follow in pursuit.

Riley smiles and hopes for everyone’s sake, they can save as many as they can.

Not even an hour passes, and The Duke, The Count, Commander Kail, Uri, Captain of the Royal Guards, and his men along with the King and his men come to help. They dismount their horses and Uri and Commander Kail order the men to create more teleportations.

The King, the Duke, and the Count march inside the cave to help everyone else save as many as they can. Uri walks over to Riley and spots San looking incredibly pale. “Is San alright? She doesn’t look so good.”

“She bought us a time window. I don’t know how, but somehow she purified the entire mountain allowing it to remove the taint from inside. But their wounds are not healed and most of them are very weak.” Riley looks down at San.

“We will do our best, you watch out for San,” Commander Kail orders.

“You know I will-,” Riley looks towards the entrance spotting Calleus walking out with a soldier beside him.

Calleas groans and collapses.

“Calleas!” Riley moves towards Calleas kneeling. “Easy there friend, let’s get you over near San and both of you can rest for a bit.”

Calleas stands up on shaky legs and walks over lying down beside San.

The soldier remaining states, “He managed to clear a whole floor level of creatures using wind magic and teleportation. Calleas is amazing and Gwyneira isn’t far behind.”

“Good, let Gwyniera know that she needs rest as well. Not to overwork herself,” Riley orders.

The soldier gives a nod and moves back inside the cave.

“Who is Calleas and Gwyniera?” Commander Kail questions.

“I’ll tell you afterward, but they are San’s companions in the fight against Fallshmere and the evil descending again,” Riley responds.

“Very well. Let’s go, Uri.” Commander Kail walks inside with Uri right beside him. They step into the teleportation circle moving down eight floors.

They stop for a moment in shock seeing all the cages of creatures inside. Some from their kingdom and many from outside kingdoms and areas.

Commander Kail moves quickly to the nearest cage spotting a small group of female Kagaries lying on the floor. One female barely opens her eyes while the other two don’t move. “I need a couple of soldiers over here!” He orders and opens the cage. Picking one up in his arms carries it to the teleportation to town. He arrives in town bringing the female Kagary in his arms to the Main Villa now called the Town Hall. As he lays her down on one of the floors inside a soldier comes up to start healing her. He looks around spotting so many different species from different towns. He turns around and marches back to the portal, saving as many as they can.

At the same time, Uri is on the other side and opens a cage with four small sea creatures called Fylopan. They have a small horse-like face with a long body attached to a fin at the end. Four small hooves reside underneath them for deep-sea diving. “I need a couple of soldiers over here!” Uri opens the cage and kneels gently touching one creature on the cheek trying to calm it down. The others are not moving. Uri casts a Wind spell, levitating two of them and moving them to the teleportation circle to Town. A couple of soldiers carry the other two remaining Fylopan to the teleportation behind Uri.

Meanwhile, another hour passes and Boah steps out of the cave with a few soldiers and citizens panting from exhaustion. “Boah, make sure those soldiers rest. Come over here and rest by San and Calleas. I’ll take the next hour and help as many as I can.” Riley rises and forces Boah to sit down beside San.

“Thanks. There are so many in there. I hope we can save them.” Boah groans and heaves heavily, placing his head on his knee.

Riley places a hand on Boah’s shoulder, “We will, my friend. I will return.” He turns around and orders the soldiers to rest. He walks into the cave and teleports down twelve floors and walks forward, spotting the hallway opening up a bit into a large outer dome cave.

Ahead are larger cages for cave creatures all in pain. A tamer struggles to get near the large Boaryx creature standing over two others snarling at her.

Riley rushes over, “Hold on there, I think you’re frightening him.”

“I know what I’m doing!” The tamer yells.

“Stand down, and let Riley try,” Orders the King from behind.

The tamer stands down with a disgruntled look on her face.

Riley moves forward inside dangling both arms and holds nothing in defense.

The Boaryx snarls on his shaky legs refusing to back down.

Riley slowly walks forward and stops right in front of this large creature. The creature has rock scales on its backside with four reptile feet and a Boar-like face with rock scales. “Easy little one, no one is going to hurt you.” He calmly puts his hand on the creature’s jaw and the Boaryx flinches, closing its eyes in fear. He reaches up with his other hand gently stroking the creature’s nostrils. “See, no one is going to hurt you ok? It will be alright.”

The Boaryx collapses and whimpers in pain.

Looking behind the creature spots one of the Boaryx is dead while the other is slightly alive. “I need your help ok? I need you to come with me outside this nasty place so we can tend to your wounds.” Riley gently beckons the creature with a slight movement of his hand and the Boaryx slowly rises and follows him outside. “This way, fellow, just a bit more. That’s it, and we will get your friend back there.” He moves him toward the teleportation and they are instantly transported to the meadows east of town where the other creatures are.

“Let’s help the others,” The King moves forward casting levitation on the greatly wounded Boaryx bringing it outside the cage. As the King slowly moves it forward to the device, the others take the corpse to a different teleportation to give it a proper burial.

Meanwhile, Riley back at town camp gets the Boaryx to settle down with Madam Cartwing and a couple of the soldiers to tend to the creature’s wounds. He continues to work with them tending to the creatures.

A voice behind him startles him, “What happened here, Riley?”

Riley turns around and sighs, “A lot actually. I’m glad you’re here, Skye. Can you help tend to the wounded here? That would help us a lot.”

Skye gives a nod, “Sure. I’ll do what I can. Where is San?”

“At the moment resting up near the Caves. She bought us a bit of time and I plan on making sure to save as many as we can.” Riley smiles with gratitude and extends his hand towards Skye.

Skye grabs Riley’s hand, “We will do what we can.”

Riley returns to the Cave tending to more creatures.

Night descends as the town and surrounding areas are covered with tents having the people rest inside. The King, The Duke, The Count, Commander Kail, Torin, Skye, and the Earl of Garlsteag and his Knight Domar meet at the Tavern.

As they all sit at a large table, Commander Kail asks, “How is she, Skye?”

Skye sitting in a chair beside the window looks down at San resting on the bench, “Still looks pale, but otherwise, I think she is fine. What happened here?”

“I’ll explain that one,” Boah remarks at the entrance. He walks in and plops down on a chair exhausted and places his head in his hand.

“Why don’t you let me finish getting you some drinks and you can start while I make some food,” Torin places a few more finished drinks on the tray.

The Count stands up, “Here, I’ll help pass these around.” He grabs the tray and passes a few drinks around to the people sitting at the table.

The King stands up, “I can help cook, and don’t anyone give me that damn look. I still have skills to use.” A lot of laughter echoes as the King goes behind the counter pulling up his sleeves and helps Torin finish preparing the meals.

Everyone has a plate of food in front of them as Torin heads upstairs for the night. “How is Riley?” Commander Kail gazes at Boah.

“He is fine, won’t leave the creatures alone. Strange to see him like that but in a way makes me a bit envious of him.” Boah takes a spoonful of food in his mouth.

“Good, let’s finish eating and then you can tell us all that has occurred.” Commander Kail starts eating with everyone else. As they finish the food, the commander sits back and looks at Boah. “Alright, start from the beginning.”

“Well, you know I went to the caves instead of helping around with the town hall meeting.” Commander Kail nods his head and Boah continues, “While we were up there, it never crossed my mind that I might be missing anything in all this time. I mean those cages had some sort of devices on them allowing them to die slowly which was torture to them. It makes me so mad that I missed it.” He sighs and stares down at his drink. “Riley and San rode up and came to meet us. I didn’t notice it but it seems she became aware something wasn’t right at the beginning. The next day the Guardian appeared with Calluas and Gwyneira beside her down there to help her fight Fallshmere.” Boah looks down at them for a few seconds lifting his gaze to Commander Kail. “San sat beside them while we caught them up to date with recent events which didn’t take long.”

The Duke glances at the Count.

The Count takes a sip of tea.

Boah takes a sip of his drink. “I didn’t think about it, but when San said that Fallshmere always had victims by his side wherever he stationed himself at and you told me about the Town of Isitural, I just . .” Boah places his head on the table in defeat.

“That’s how you knew there might still be people in the caves.” The King places both hands on the table leaning forward. “We still have a lot of people and creatures to save and return home. Duke of Bringenton, How many were there and how many did we manage to save?”

The Duke brings out a long list of documents and flips to the back page, “The total number of creatures was 1,348 Sire. We only managed to save 937.” He stares down at the numbers.

“I don’t like those numbers, how did we miss this going on right under our nose?” The King questions.

Commander Kail leans forward placing both hands together. “I’ll try and explain but please no interruptions. Otherwise, this will get into an argument leading nowhere.”

The King along with everyone else nods their heads.

“You remember Sire, how we found our two spies in the Court when this all went down? One of them being a person like us, the other being a damned creature?” Commander Kail looks at the King.

The King nods his head.

Commander Kail continues, “The only reason I was able to restrain him was because he was a lower rank. I have a bit of knowledge about the devices they use which gave me, The Duke and The Count the ability to defeat him.”

The Count brings out his orb portraying a chalkboard.

“I’m going to tell you about the different ranks in their systems and about what we know about them.” Commander Kail stands up and walks to the chalkboard and takes a piece of chalk. “Up top, we have a person called The First. Below him are ranks Rivaling The First.” He writes the list of ranks, “Below those are the Generals, Higher Ranks, and Lower Ranks.” He turns around. “Now then, you saw how fast General Menas was when he got revealed?”

“Incredibly fast,” The Earl of Garlsteag comments.

“Since that was just a lower rank, you know how powerful the stories are about Skye the Dragon from the Isle of Dreki?”

Everyone nods in agreement.

Commander Kail continues, “His power is on the same level as a higher rank that includes the devices.”

The King frowns. “How is that possible?”

The commander pauses and The Duke continues, “That we were unable to determine until quite a few incidents occurred. I can fill you up on all we have left out, but for the sake of our kingdom, anything said here must remain a secret. Not just to protect San but this kingdom as well since Fallshmere and other people will use this information against us.” He gives them a stern look even to his King.

“Very well, You have my word. This conversation stays here,” The King replies.

“Your Highness-,” The Earl of Garlsteag starts.

“That is enough, haven’t you figured out by now this is more complicated than it looks? As King, I must protect everything in this kingdom with everyone’s help and that includes you. Do you have an objection?” The King gives a disapproving glare at the Earl of Garlsteag.

“No, Your Highness. Forgive me, it was out of place but I am still not understanding.” The Earl of Garlsteag lowers his head. His knight behind him gives a disapproving glare to The Duke. “Please continue and perhaps this will start to become a bit clearer,” The King commands.

“May I, Kail?” The Duke asks.

Commander Kail gives a nod of approval and sits down.

The Duke starts to tell them everything that has happened, including the Town of Isitural, the Temple of Dierie, and everyone else involved. A few hours pass as he finishes.

“I think this information is a lot to process. First, we need to make sure the people have a way home. The creatures will either need to be given new homes if we can’t find their homes. So can this conversation wait till then, Sire?” The Count asks.

“I agree, It’s late and a lot to take in. We will reconvene tomorrow to follow up. For now, everyone needs rest as we will be busy.” The King rises from his chair and leaves the tavern. Along with him, the Earl of Garlsteag and his knight Domar leave for the night.

Skye looks at Commander Kail. “Why don’t you stay with her for the night? I’ll go help Riley make rounds with the creatures.”

Commander Kail replies, “Of course. Thank you, Skye.”

Skye nods and leaves with Boah to the camp outside with the creatures for the night.

The Duke of Bringenton and the Count of Nesis leave the tavern also retiring for the night to rest with the other soldiers guarding the people.

Commander Kail walks over and lifts San into his arms carrying her to her room. Calleas and Gwyneira follow him and for the remainder of the night, hopes tomorrow will be a brighter day.