Dawn swallowed and lowered her gaze.

“I will do my best. But I can’t fight the demons alone.” She said despondently.

“You won’t have to. The Kharlin tribes around here are directly endangered by the monsters, so they will help you. It’s in their own best interests, and I won’t be shy in telling them so. The time for hiding and avoiding the danger is past.” Nuala sighed and rubbed her face, ears lowered.

“Too many of us have already been captured and killed, while we closed our eyes and hoped the danger would go away. It is time to fight back.”

They ate the birds Ankou had brought them and drank their hot tea. Dawn felt better once she had eaten something. Though the task of killing the demons and their queen still loomed as a gargantuan challenge in the back of her mind, she started to think how she could go about it. Obviously, she couldn’t take them on all at once. She would have to fight a war of attrition, try to kill the spiderlings first, one by one or in small groups. And evade their attention at the same time. But one thing was certain. She needed all the help she could get. After her last meeting with the Kharlin’s of Kharma’s tribe, she didn’t really believe they would be willing to help in the fight against the demons, especially if that meant helping her. Would Nuala be able to change their mind?

As she was sitting and thinking, she heard a commotion outside. Startled, she sprang up, heart pounding. Were there demons outside? Looking for Ankou she ran to the exit, activating Shadow Play. But when she cautiously looked out, a familiar and very welcome sight greeted her. Grinna and Teren were standing between the rock formations, talking to a very tense Niko, while Ankou sat in front of the rangers and seemed very pleased with himself.

“Grinna! Teren! I’m so glad to see you both.” Dawn cried. “How did you find us? That gods-forsaken Aaron kidnapped me in the marketplace and dragged me here. He wanted me to show him the way to the ancient city.”

“Dawn!” Grinna looked up and ran to her, gripping her shoulders and looking her over intently. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”

“No, he didn’t hurt me in the physical sense.” Dawn replied. “But he kind of shredded my self-confidence. Did you know he had a charm skill? As long as he was close to me, I found myself doing exactly what he wanted. It was like living a nightmare. I was his puppet. It took several days before I had a chance to get out.” She shuddered in remembrance. “I’m so sorry I wandered off in the marketplace. But usually the worst that could have happened was me losing my way. I didn’t exactly expect to get grabbed by some crazy noble. Your poor mother must have been so anxious when I was suddenly gone.”

“Yasema about tore the marketplace apart,” Teren said, approaching her. “But you were gone without a trace. It took us more than a day to get some information about what happened. Luckily, Grinna has very good connections to some street urchins in Atelang.”

“You might say my mother and me are a soft touch.” Grinna smiled and shrugged. “Sometimes it seems we are feeding half the street kids in Atelang. They know we won’t turn them away if they’re hungry. But it turned out to be useful when you vanished. Sam, one of the kids we feed from time to time, saw your abduction. He made himself scarce at the scene, because he didn’t want to get noticed, but when we started asking questions he came forward with his tale.”

“We were kind of baffled why anyone would want to abduct you, after we heard his story.” Teren added.

Suddenly, Dawn recollected that they weren’t alone.

“Oh, I have such a lot to tell you both. But let’s all go inside first. It’s no good to stand around out here in the open and attract the attention of any demon that passes by.” She said. “And I want to introduce you to Nuala.”

The rangers followed her inside, Ankou and Niko trailing them. Dawn introduced Nuala, Niko and Nestor. Both males were tense in the presence of the rangers at first, eying the strangers warily, but Nuala’s calm presence put them at ease before long. Soon they were all installed on the benches before the fire with mugs of hot tea. And Dawn recounted her journey with Aaron and his men, her escape and the encounter of the group with the demons. When she told the rangers she had followed the demons and their captives into the city, both groaned. Grinna massaged her neck and blew out her breath.

“So, a horde of small and big demons captures these men, and you think it is a good idea to follow them into their lair? Sometimes I wonder if you do have a death wish, Dawn.” Grinna said, exasperated.

“I just wanted to see where they went, at first.” Dawn said, rubbing her forehead. “I didn’t plan to enter the city, but when the opportunity arose to get in unseen, I just went. And it was not all bad. I managed to free some captives.” She pointed at the Kharlins. “But there are still some captives left with the demons, Aaron and his men among them. Though in the case of Aaron, I can’t exactly say I’m dying to rescue him. I encountered some of the spiderlings in the caves, finally, and got out of the fight only because Ankou was there. Afterwards, I felt as if my luck had run out and we got out of the city as fast as we could.”

“At last, some sanity.” Grinna muttered.

“But how did you know to find me here?” Dawn asked. “Someone told you I had been taken from the marketplace. But it’s a long way from that, to you appearing here.”

“That was all Teren. The big lug used to be a soldier, ages ago, and he has a lot of friends and acquaintances in the guard.” Grinna sent a warm smile at Teren. “Though he got nowhere when he asked around if anybody had seen you, they told him Aaron and several of his men at arms had left the city on the same day you vanished. That was unusual, as Aaron almost never leaves Atelang. Combined with his interest in you and your books, we thought it was worth a closer look.”

“You missed some serious fireworks, when Grinna told Madden that we would go in search of you.” Teren added.

“That, that smarmy politician actually told me you had obviously run away again and to forget you.” Grinna bristled with anger.

“As I said, fireworks.” Teren sagely shook his head.

Dawn looked at them both in alarm. “But he is your superior! Won’t you get in trouble?”

“Don’t worry. The day I can’t handle Madden is the day I’ll resign from the rangers.” Grinna waved aside her concerns, twisting her mouth.

“We are here on official assignment to further evaluate the threat posed by the demons to Atelang.”

“Well, I don’t know about the threat the demons pose to Atelang, but fact is, they caught some of the city’s people. Of course these were stupid enough to chase after the ancient city and convinced they could squash some puny little demons at their leisure.” Dawn said, sighing.

“No offense, Dawn, but I’m not going to enter the lair of a heck of a lot of demons with a handful of people.” Grinna said emphatically. “I’m no hero. I like living too much.”

“I may have no choice but to take the fight to the demons.” Dawn said. “Though I wouldn’t go for a frontal assault. More like hit small numbers of them from ambush.”

“What do you mean you have no choice?” Grinna raised her brows.

Dawn sighed and turned to Nuala, who had been calmly sitting on her bench, listening to their exchange with interest. “Maybe you can explain that better than me.”

Nuala mustered them for a moment, nodded and told the rangers about the connection between Dawn and the queen, and the consequences for Dawn.

Grinna whistled. “What a choice for a personal enemy, a demon queen. Madden does look pretty boring in comparison. But seriously, that is not a good situation.”

Dawn shrugged and sighed. “Tell me something I don’t know. I’m not sure what to do. Fight the demons, yes, but I don’t have the faintest idea how to go about it without getting killed. They outnumber and outclass me as fighters.”

Nuala said in her calm way. “First we will go to the Kharlins. I need to go there anyway, and you will come with me, Dawn. I told you that you will need help. Your friends are a beginning. We will see how many Kharlins are willing to fight with you. We collect all the information we have on our enemies. Then we plan. We will take the rest of today to hunt for some food, and start towards their new village tomorrow.”

Grinna looked at the old Kharlin woman askance, obviously wondering who had made her the boss. But in the end she shrugged and said. “Sounds like the beginning of a plan. We’re in. But mind you, no suicide runs.”

Nuala replied. “My task is to help the Kharlin tribes to thrive. To do that, they need to survive. These demons are a danger to their survival. So I will do all that is in my power to fight them. And I can and will be ruthless, don’t doubt it for a moment.”

Grinna looked thoughtfully at the old woman for a moment and said. “Oh, I believe you.”

A moment later she turned to Dawn.

“I totally forgot in all the excitement. I have a letter from your mother, Dawn. It arrived on our doorstep practically the minute we were setting out after you.”

She rummaged in her pack for a moment, pulled out a white square and gave it to Dawn, who tentatively reached for it.

For a moment she sat there with the envelope in her hand, then she stood up and said. “Excuse me for a moment.” Afterwards she vanished inside of a hut. She wanted to be alone when she read what her mother haad written.

With a deep breath she opened the letter and read.

Dawn,

I’m glad to know that you are alive. But I have to say I’m deeply disappointed in you for running away without a thought for your family. Instead of marrying a steady and kind man who would have provided you a comfortable and safe life, now you are living in the city with strangers. I can’t approve of that.

Cord of course, is livid. He does not want to see you again and says you will not be welcome in his home from now on. He thinks you would be a bad influence on your brother. He didn’t even want me to answer your letter. I am his wife and cannot go against his wishes.

So this is goodbye. I wish you well for your new life and hope that you will find what you were looking for.

With love,

your mother Elaine