“I take it Heidi’s no longer with us?”

“Indeed she is not, Sanctullator. If what the ones on the last barge were telling was the truth, she passed into the afterlife from the blast. Her sacrifice was not in vain. Some of the bastards had reached the port and were blown to smithereens, and are now being twisted asunder in the abyss as we speak.”

Sanctullator folded his hands over his mouth, and leaned forwards over his desk. “Well, that’s good to hear, I guess.”

His counterpart’s eyes narrowed; he hadn’t been particularly impressed to begin with, let alone now. Sanctullator’s promise of victory at Whitestream had come up short, even if the evacuation had proceeded as planned.

“I hope for your sake that you have a solid explanation for not being able to hold Whitestream. That’s the second defeat now. Have you lost your touch, Stefan?”

“No, I’ve not lost ‘my touch’, and you shouldn’t go along with all the fools back in the Core worrying over nothing. I have the situation under control-”

“Stefan. You promised you were going to deliver the killing blow to the cult at Whitestream. You’ve said so many, many times,” Gallie retorted. “Instead you’ve handed the empire another defeat.”

Sanctullator gave a muffled groan in response. “No, I said whatever would happen was going to weaken the cult enough to halt them dead into their tracks. And I did accomplish that. Open those ears of yours for once. If you had done that, you wouldn’t have forgotten that so easily, and you also would have remembered that the enemy’s lost uncountable amounts of men. They’re weak now. They won’t be trying anything else in the coming months, if not years.” Damn this old sham of a general! Everytime he finds a new way to get on my case, damn it. Why hasn’t he been discharged already? He’s done nothing for twenty years straight except whine and complain about others.

“Hm. I sure hope you can explain that to the emperor and his council. You know that they have no time for these games of yours, right?”

“Of course I can. The council’s filled with idiots, and the emperor’s a lame duck. He can’t even keep his butlers in line, let alone anyone who runs his realm for him. Trust me, I’ll have won their trust over within a day if it has to come to that. But I doubt it.”

Sanctullator proceeded to stare out of the large window behind his desk. The streets and canals of the Citadel had noticeably bloomed in the past few days. The citizens looked as vibrant as they had prior to the onset of winter: That is to say, not at all. The joys of living in Lokahn, laid bare for visitors the world over to see.

“I hope that you are not underestimating the problem. The troubles in the east have still not been wrapped up. And we have many other frontiers to worry about. Then again, that’s not our responsibility.”

“Indeed it isn’t.”

“I suppose then that if the situation deteriorates to that extent… That when this… dragon cult proves to be quite the thorn, we could always ask for some reinfor-”

“Enough of that, Philip.”

“Stefan...”

“I said enough of that, Philip. I’m not asking for any more reinforcements. We have enough here. We can deal with this mess here with what we have. I’m not asking for more meat for the grinder. End of.”

Gallie scoffed. “If you say so. Then I suppose we have no need for that… ‘special programme you’ve come up with either, do we, Stefan?”

Sanctullator’s brow twitched. “Are you questioning it, Gallie?”

The old general chuckled. “I thought you had no use of reinforcements. And here you are, sending Lokahn’s most vulnerable off to the camps to be used as weapons. I didn’t think you had it in you to arrange something of that nature. Not after what I’ve seen and read about you over the years.”

Sactullator pressed his arm against the window to block some of the daylight from coming in; the sun had manoeuvred past the clouds and shone fiercely into his eyes. “You’re forgetting something important here. I didn’t ask for the inquisition to take children off the streets all willy nilly. All the children in the programme have lost something because of the cult and their pet terrorists, remember? Their parents, their homes, their friends… it doesn’t matter. What matters is that they are out for revenge, and it is the right thing for us to give them the opportunity to enact that revenge. It’ll take some time. But when the time is right, and they have several years under their belt? The bastards won’t know what hit ‘em!”

* * *

The full moon shone across the valley. For the locals who had been forced out of their homes at the tip of a claw, it was an eerie omen. Their lives had been disturbed by creatures many of them did not even believe existed.

From every village, the residents were escorted by a caravan of dragons to a clearing touched by the moonlight. An ancient stone terrace, whose purpose had been long forgotten. But the dragons knew the answer behind the riddle, and now it was the time for the residents who had so cluelessly trotted over hallowed grounds to be shown a light long forgotten.

“Peoples of the vale, listen to us. We stand on hallowed ground. In the past, your ancestors worshipped Divinity with their heart and soul for centuries. Alas, thanks to indifference and heresy at the hands of cretins, the ways were forgotten. But today, they return to this vale. See for yourself! We dragons, children of Divinity, have returned. In his name, we will take back what is rightfully ours, we will crush all sin that dares tread on these lands, and we will vanquish the Justitians back to the abyss!”

As Merahn spoke, several of the dragons in attendance roared, much to the fright of the locals. Her words were full of passion; a passion which burned bright enough to make whole villages disappear in a haze of smoke. For those who had an hour ago laid in bed, to being dragged out into the night air in their bed clothing, being confronted with the bodies of the town guards they had wished a good night to several hours earlier, and being confronted with words bitter enough for the saliva to burn on one’s skin… the message couldn’t be any clearer. From today onwards, they were no longer free. From today on, they were servants of the Hallowed Army, and may the gods almighty have mercy upon them.

They weren’t alone. Chalroth and his lone friend too were in attendance, flanked on both sides by two dragons who both had scars running across their faces. Even though Chalroth had grown a little in the past few months, it would be suicide to attempt to resist whatever their will may be. Both were as scared as they had been over the entire trek eastwards. Now they were further from Westedge than ever. It was questionable whether or not they would ever see that city and its surrounding mountains again.

* * *

“We lost… that many…?”

“Yes, my lord. It is as bad as I say. A quarter of the dragons, and well over a hundred men.”

Lothar’s jaw hung open in disbelief. “No... ” He spoke with a weak voice. “Tell me… Tell me that my son is not among them.”

Raghes shook his head. “No, he is not. I saw him and his friend talking myself.”

The gold dragon breathed out. “Thank Divinity...”

“We have other things to worry about, my lord. The imperial reinforcements have arrived from the east, and they’ve destroyed the force we left on the other bank of the Steyer. The bridge is out, but I’ve had to order half the troops to keep an eye on the river,” Raghes said, before wincing and clutching at the scar on the bottom of his neck. “This damned cut...”

“Yes, very good,” Lothar replied. “They are not attempting to cross the river yet, are they?”

Raghes shook his head gently. “No, they are not. For now, anyway. No cloudbusters to worry about for now, and we have enough dragons to make them reconsider anything they try.”

Lothar sighed. “I never thought these cloudbusters could be such a thorn in our sides. How many of our kin have been lost to them? They are termites in a saw mill.”

The blue dragon clicked his tongue. “If it’s any consolation, I’ve received word from Flaratia that more are volunteering to receive the Blessing. We have a lot of fight left, that much is certain.”

Lothar grunted. “I hope you are not merely saying that to cheer me up, Raghes.”

“Is there a problem with that?” Raghes stared beyond the gold dragon.

“Oh, not at all. But we must remain open minded to reality. If the situation is not in our favour, it would be foolish to pretend otherwise. I remember far too many fools did precisely that eight years ago… nine years ago,” Lothar said.

“Fair enough,” Raghes replied. “Speaking of reality, I’ve had some junior Illusionists come and take a look at those cloudbusters after an anonymous suggestion. If their thesis is correct, magic is why these cloudbusters are so lethally accurate.”

“Hm?”

“Yes, magic. The Justitians use some sort of illusionry to guide the projectiles to their target. We don’t know entirely how it works, but that’s how things look.”

Lothar sighed. “Well, thanks for letting me know that much, Raghes.“

The blue dragon lowered his head. “I wish I had better news to tell you of, my lord.”

“It’s alright...” The gold dragon craned his head up towards the faltering darkness. “At least not everything has been lost. But we cannot move beyond this city for the foreseeable future. Not while we have been so perilously struck by the enemy. I was not expecting that they had this much fight in them, not after Westedge.”

“My lord-”

“No need to excuse yourself, Raghes. The only one who has to feel any guilt is myself. I am not certain anymore if I am truly cut out to lead anymore. I had assumed for so long that I could save our country with my two claws alone, but that was nothing but a fever dream.”

“My lord...”

“I… I need some time to think, Raghes. If you allow me to excuse myself.”

Raghes watched on as the gold dragon turned tail and flew off in the direction of their old camp. For a slight moment, it seemed to the blue dragon as if the gold one was about to start crying.

“What has gotten into you, Lothar...”

* * *

“Oh, there you are, Victor.”

Victor and William both looked up from the quiet corner they had made their own. Celesta stood at the mouth of the street, some eight paces away, eyeing them with suspicion as she closed in. “I was wondering where you had ran off to. I thought you were behind me the whole time, then I turn my head around and you’re gone.”

“Well...” No point in keeping a lie now, right? She’ll see through it as usual. “We were talking about the fighting, yes? Let’s just say I had the idea that you weren’t too happy with my opinion, and that I was better off leaving you alone for a while.”

Celesta tilted her head. “I’m sorry Victor, I don’t understand you. Are you referring to you not liking having to fight, or?”

“Well, you didn’t seem very pleased when I said what I said.”

“I wasn’t upset though. Maybe I might have come across that way, but I wasn’t upset,” Celesta said.

“Oh.”

“You worry too much, Victor. You know I wouldn’t just leave you like that.”

“Yes.”

“Just keep calm, alright? We’ll get through this all eventually. The three of us certainly got through this, didn’t we?”

“Hey, not to be rude or anything, but I’d rather not be left out of this,” William spoke up from Victor’s side.

“Of course we’re not leaving you out of this,” Celesta said, patting William on the head with one of her claws. “My, my, what has gotten into both of you? Suddenly you’re both second guessing yourselves and everyone else. Did the imperials knock something into you, or what?”

The dragoness laughed at their expense. William’s cheeks colored red. “No, it’s just… It’s stressful enough having to shout orders at people and get them to listen, getting a break from that is important. But sometimes I get the idea that that is no longer possible now.”

Celesta shook her head. “No worries, Will. I’ll always see you as Will, no matter what. I’m sure Victor does too.”

The lavender dragoness nodded towards Victor, prompting William to stare him straight into the eye much like a child seeking approval from their parents. Victor gave an awkward smile in reply.

“Well, I’m glad I’ve got you both on my side. So… what now?”

“We can enjoy the peace while it lasts, right?”

“Peace? But-”

“I know. The war’s far from over. And it’ll be hard having to bury our dead. But for now, we’ve won peace. Just like in Westedge. We can worry about the war some other time, for now we can celebrate the fact that we’ve won, and care for the people that have been left behind here. Just like Westedge, and Frontier Harbour, and the people of the Snowcap and those in the villages we’ve liberated. Right?”

“Fair enough.”

Celesta smiled. “Great! Come you two, look, the sun’s about to rise!”

As she finished speaking, the first ray of light poked out between the clouds. Driven on by Celesta, the trio hurried their way to the harbour, where the lone ray was joined by its brethren. The sun wasn’t strong yet; that time had to come still. But the long winter had finally come to its end, and they were prepared and well to greet the summer with a smile on their faces. At last, the long winter was coming to an end.