Valard sat in his echoing throne room. His Fae were in open rebellion, his Tower emptied by the snake that he’d long held to his breast, that useless moron Harcur had failed him and he was now totally alone. Exposed as never before to the hungry gaze of his brethren.

And the scavenging vermin were already circling him, Ireen had contacted him to tell him that he would be coming with a dozen hand-picked Fae Chanar. His supporters all, all nearly landless and salivating at the thought of carving a holding out of what was HIS, that he’d held for thousands upon thousands of turnings.

Most galling though there was little he could do about it.

Ireen’s hand picked scavengers were trash and their forces were trash, if Valard was even at a tenth of his normal strength his troops and his monsters would eat those forces and he could enjoy grinding their faces into the dirt before driving them out of his lands. But he had nothing left.

He could personally see off most of them but Ireen would not allow him that opportunity and as annoying as it was to admit he probably could not contend with even Ireen, alone.

All he had left was his Tower and no other Fae Chanar would dare try to inhabit it, it had been his for far too long to ever trust so if they won, his Tower would fall. Ireen would see to that as a final insult. But he knew something Ireen didn’t, in truth he knew much more than that simple brute and he could still force Ireen to fail in taking down his Tower.

Standing he walked to the great sigil on the ground floor of the main Tower, the heart of it.

He stood in it’s dead centre and threw his arms wide, the air distorted as vast quantities of magic heeded his call. Rushing through his wide open gate, bucking and fighting his control as he expertly fed it into the wards. A hum built throughout the empty lifeless Tower from it’s deepest basement to the very peak of it, small sparks of loose magic grounded themselves as the flood continued until the wards blazed with enough power they were visible to the naked eye.

Very very carefully Valard closed his gate and tied off the ward’s structures as they faded from view again, he couldn’t wait to see Ireen trying to deal with them now. It would be most delightful.

He wandered outside and sitting down on a chair taken from his waiting room waited for his brethren’s arrival, he was sure it wouldn’t be long.

Darkness lapped against the wards as Ireen teleported in with a few Fae retainers, scanning the area he nodded and a wide shimmering doorway appeared beside him, a dozen Fae Chanar led more than two hundred Fae and their baggage trains through the gateway, a single High Fae Chanar woman followed behind.

She walked over to Ireen and said, “As requested, now you owe me.”

Bowing his head he said, “Of course Emili, I thank you for exercising your considerable and well trained skills in transporting our brethren and their forces. Truly none other has the knowledge and skill to do so, you are gifted beyond compare.”

Valard was waiting for it, she said, “Save your empty flattery Ireen, I don’t care. Just give me what I’ve told you I want when I ask for it.”

She turned her back on him and stepping back through the shimmering doorway was gone

Valard grinned and there it was, Emili was always a prickly one who didn’t play the grand game. But none of his brethren tied to play her, unlike many her strength was not in her troops or her political manoeuvrings. No her strength was in her magic and she was likely the strongest of them all in that, none dared offend her.

Looking a little annoyed Ireen turned to Valard where he sat and said, “Valard! I expected you to be cowering like a trapped rat, we all know your creations were your true strength and you have none left. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way and I truly hope you choose the hard way. The easy way you drop your wards and walk away, the hard way I’ll break them then you and leave you to heal over a hundred hundred turnings. Either way you are done as a power among the Fae Chanar.”

Valard sighed and said, “You truly are an idiot aren’t you? As if I would leave myself at your mercy ever, I know full well even if I dropped my wards you’d still attack. But you are much too late, go ahead try my wards.”

Narrowing his eyes Ireen said, “What have you done?”

“Something far beyond your meagre skills, you are a brute with no finesse. You rely on your strength to overwhelm your opponents and I cannot deny you are strong enough to do so, usually anyway. If you try it now those hungry curs following you will have no trouble taking you down once you’ve exhausted yourself, everyone knows they hold no loyalty to you and it is only on account of that strength that they follow you at all. You should ask Surore what I’ve done but in short I’ve bought myself a dozen turnings at least before anyone other than he or someone similarly skilled can breaks these wards and we both know none of our other brethren are. Isn’t it a shame, for you, that he holds you in so much less regard than even me?”

Ireen sneered and said, “Surore? You say that only Surore can break these wards? I say you are in much error and will enjoy proving that.”

Bolts of opalescent chaos surrounded by squealing void slammed into the suddenly visible wards between Ireen and Valard, who didn’t even flinch.

Shaking his head Valard said, “A simple brute force attack, really? When I just told you strength would not suffice? Are you truly that much of an idiot? Clearly you are. Pathetic.”

A dozen more bolts struck the wards their squeal growing and their cores screaming with hunger.

Calling to the Fae standing with their troops behind Ireen Valard said, “Deiron, Kreat, Alcod, Hareel, Nutres, Fordromonouses, Py, Swe, Malik, Sterling. My brethren, soon Ireen will exhaust himself, uselessly. I make you an offer, the one who takes him down I will share these lands with freely once my strength returns and do not for a moment think I cannot drive any who remain here from my lands once I am recovered. But if you aid me now, instead I will offer support and aid to drive the rest from the lands and will share them equally with you. Uykless, Odeberon, you I do not make this offer to and I can only hope you are still here once I am recovered, simply so I can drive your faces into the dirt once more.”

He saw some thinking his offer over but unfortunately not many, most just continued watching Ireen throwing his strength at the wards. Apart from Ukyless and Odeberon that is, they were too busy glaring at him with hatred.

“No one? Pity. This brute will never get through the wards like that, so run along and do whatever it is you feel you must to put the rebellion down and remember whatever you take I will take back once I recover. You will be driven from this land naked, bereft of all dignity, bereft of all goods and injured almost to the point of death then I will raise your dead Fae as my new army. Ta-ta I will see you in a dozen or so years.” He waved jauntily and turned to walk back inside.

The fusillade of bolts stopped and Ireen shouted, “You coward, drop these wards and face me!”

Looking back over his shoulder Valard said, “Coward? Me? Why would I ever face you when I’m at a disadvantage? You certainly didn’t face anyone when Feroun sealed your magic for a turning, you hid and relied on others to save you. I at least saved myself. So farewell for now, I’ll see you in a few turnings and I will remember your actions this day. I have not been overly caring about your airs as our ‘natural leader’ but now when I come out of here I will come out for you, prepare yourself. I declare Grand Game against you.”

Ignoring the scream of rage and renewed assault on his wards Valard walked inside to wait out the time it would take for his magic to recover. That would be turnings before the overcharge itself faded and he’d best have some way of actually living up to his boastful words when it did.

Hurrying off to his workrooms he planned to have just that.

*******

Shining brilliantly the sun beat down from the pure blue vault of the sky and struck spears into the eyes of the Fae troops hidden in the snow but the undead didn’t notice. There were more undead here now than Corvus had held under his command ever before, he’d visited the writhing wall and commandeered a surprising number of still active corpses from there, he’d also visited the tunnels above Olive Grove and raised the rest of the dead he’d hidden there.

Those sixteen hundred corpses were just lumps under the snow around the four hundred Fae, he’d gutted every camp and brought them here because the Fae Chanar had finally finished their trials and were hunting the rebellion in earnest now. The arrogant fools had fought each other for the right to attack the rebels, for the right to make first claim to Valard’s lands.

Kreat had won the right to make the first strike. Which was why Corvus was here above the treeline in the snow, Kreat was a Druid and the less vegetation there was around when they fought him the better.

The Fae Chanar had tried to keep Corvus’ spies under control but spirit ridden birds were far too easy to make and the rebels knew everything. They knew Ireen was still trying to break into the Tower, unsuccessfully and obsessively. For which Corvus thanked any Gods who’d listen. If Ireen got over his obsession with defeating Valard, the rebellion was basically over, Corvus was sure he’d be able to destroy this army and Corvus himself without no effort.

He had a plan to deal with the High Fae Chanar it required some luck but it required far more of something that they could rely on, Fae Chanar overconfidence and arrogance.

Like now, Kreat had set his foot to the path up to where Corvus would ambush him in an environment that was extremely unwelcoming for him but he walked this way as though he was lord of these lands already. Corvus’ lips twitched into a smile, so be it then.

Sending spirit-ridden mice and birds he had them warn the Fae to get ready to attack. It had been a very uncomfortable few nights as they let the snow settle over them but the valley they lay in looked entirely undisturbed.

Teleporting lower down Corvus joined the bait, forty Fae who all had magic that increased their speed they would fight briefly then run hard and fast along narrow hardened paths through the deep snow to the ambush once Kreat joined the fight.

Then Corvus had to wait again, cold, bored, uncomfortable.

But at least it wasn’t a long wait.

Kreat’s hundred or so Fae walked along the top of the snow as some of their number froze it solid. The Fae Chanar himself walked at their rear his hulking tree-like form covered in rippling flames, the heat they gave off was enough to melt the snow so he walked on steaming wet bare rock, small tendrils wriggled around his feet soaking up the water.

Corvus started the attack by hurling a bolt of lightning into the chest of one of the leading Fae warriors and chaos erupted as her shield broke and her smoking body fell to the ground.

Kreat shouted, “Ah there you are Corvus! I want your head!”

His troops pelted Kreat’s with spells and ranged weapons taking some down but mostly making them unsettled and unwilling to press the attack.

Then Kreat roared and started walking forward, Corvus shouted, “Run! We can’t take him!”

They sprinted away, a wash of Realm colours covering them as they accelerated fast along the prepared paths closely pursued by Kreat’s Fae, Kreat himself was a bit slower having to push his way through the snow.

They ran up the mountain drawing out the distance between the troops and Kreat until they reached the bind canyon where the troops were hidden. Running past them they reached the sheer cliff at the back they’d camped under, turning around they saw the pursuing Fae grin maliciously as they thought they had them trapped.

Malicious grins turned to fear as the hidden troops surged out of the snow and quickly took them down.

Corvus said, “Hide yourselves, Kreat will kill you if he catches you. I’ll take him.”

As the Fae burrowed back into the snow Corvus waited for the Fae Chanar, his golden shield up around him and sword crackling with lightning.

Kreat rounded the corner and frowned when he saw the blood on the snow, in a voice like splintering wood he said, “What have you done? And how? Ahhhh!”

Flames burst from him, melting snow and exposing the hiding Fae.

Corvus saying nothing hurled a pink bolt of lightning at the Fae Chanar, it impacted on his shield of flames.

He recoiled as it flickered and said, “What?! You can’t be that strong!”

Corvus said nothing and threw another, following it himself with a streaking cut from his lightning sheathed golden glowing sword.

The lightning hit only barely before Corvus himself, the shield failed under the lightning and then the unimpeded sword carved a deep groove into his bark covered skin.

He howled and a huge fist swung at Corvus much faster than it should have, he flickered, a golden mist covering him and he moved faster than the eye could see swinging his sword again.

This blow tore into Kreat’s side. Carving a path through bark-like skin and embedding itself deep into his flesh, a titanic crack sounded as lightning discharged directly into the wound.

Kreat stiffened and his tree-like features left him, he toppled face first into the slush.

Corvus stepped forward. Kicking the body over he drove his sword into the fallen Fae Chanar’s heart then twisting it pulled it out in a gout of blood.

“I’m much stronger than you know.” he said to the corpse then raising his voice he shouted to his Fae, “Collect the dead and pile them up for raising! Keep Kreat separate there’s something I want to try.”

*******

Much later at the eye of a storm of small blue bolts of lightning Corvus was just about done, his magic was stretched to it’s limits, his focus was frayed, his soul was cringing under the strain of the binding he was building.

But, Kreat had stirred.