Walking, plodding, and flying in bursts, at least. So went our next two days of sublimely peaceful travel, crossing the grassy plains. We were all nervy of course. Expecting trouble to jump from the long grasses, or appear at any instant through a portal. Yet, for those blissful two days, the only hint of trouble we saw was far on the horizon, only visible when we edged westward in our airborne scouting.

Danivra, Alial and Grigor took every opportunity to fly with Sania, Olata and me, and I must say it was a nice feeling to have more company up among the clouds.

On occasion I walked too, not because I was likely to run out of Neuma these days, but because I had things to practice.

The one thing that toyed on my mind, a mystery to unpick, was undoubtedly the frequency issue with neuma. Focusing on my Dark Neuma first. I endeavored to change speed it up. See if I could get a nice dirty brown shade out of it. Yet, no matter what I tried with the damn power, I found it rigid and unyielding. After half an hour, I was ready to give up and move onto the Ethereal energy, which would constitute my last hope. Before I did that, I would give my light Neuma a chance to prove itself.

A minute later, I’d moved on. Disappointed but unsurprised, I focused on a small ball of Ethereal Neuma in my palm. Not condensed into a weapon at this stage, though if my efforts went unrewarded, that would be my next step.

Fortunately, Ethereal Neuma reacted very differently. Notably more malleable. I attempted to lower the frequency, but as I zoned in on its nature more deeply, I realized it vibrated on a number of levels. It was like a damn orchestra where the other colors were like a one note horn.

I nodded at the ball of energy. “Time to give up some secrets, then.” I muttered to it, drawing odd looks from Grigor who walked beside me.

All I could think to do was to pull out a different frequency. The only ones I was really familiar with were dark and light.

They sprung from the energy ball easily. After that, I pulled out the Nature Neuma and smiled when it appeared, with only a little more concentration.

Sadly, that was where my success ended. As I didn’t have an innate understanding of the other energies and wasn’t able to produce them. That was something I intended to change that evening in camp. Thinking about the limitations of the standard powers suggested to me at least, that it wasn’t the triumvirate or specifically the Voice of Justice who had added the alterations to the different Neuma skills. It must have been Justice himself.

Not that it mattered. What did matter was that I wouldn’t be able to alter the frequency of the different colors. I could target the anchor powers though, and that should do the trick if I worked quickly enough.

Of course, that second day of travel out of the forest wasn’t special because I had clarted about with minimal success on my powers.

Around mid-afternoon, Danivra taking her half forty minutes in the air with us, she seemed distracted. It was rare for her not to be utterly focused, yet I noticed her eyes wander east continually.

I said nothing about it. She clearly didn’t want to discuss it again. But it was obvious she was keeping an eye out for a sight of her home.

She pointed out smoke before any sight of a city came into view.

“We should pass well wide of it, on our current course,” Sania assured us. Clearly oblivious to Danivra’s pain. I waited for her to say something, but the regal Dokalfar Queen remained stoic.

As hard as it was not to quiz her on her thoughts, I remained silent. It wasn’t my place to unpick old wounds. We would just fly by, get back home, eat a shit load of tasty food and sleep in comfy beds. Though, a quick look with my Protectorate map wouldn’t hurt anyone. Best to scout out potential dangers.

I had enough wherewithal to look and continue flying in a straight line for a few seconds.

Casting my vision twenty miles to the east, I found the smoking ruined city in question. Concealed in what looked like a crater in the lower hills of the Craster’s lay Helvien. Danivra’s home. The whole place had been leveled as she had promised. With only four large buildings still intact in the center. I zoomed in on them as best I could.

Though the Protectorate map was pretty poor for details down on them, it was clear enough to see the battle taking place within the city. At first I couldn’t work out what I was seeing. It appeared to be the forces of Destruction fighting themselves as there was only dark armor and a number of more monstrous looking creatures fighting each other. It wasn’t until I saw a group of warriors that were unmistakable, driving into the center of the demon line.

Dwarves! They were taking the city from the occupying demon force. I watched in awe as a flying race that looked like giant bats attacked the demonic Ferthur in aerial battle. Large misshapen creatures, only barely humanoid in appearance, taking so much damage yet barely slowing their inexorable march toward their opponents.

Questions came to mind, as I watched mesmerized. Did this mean their occupation of the surface was finally happening? What did that mean for us?

“Clive! What’s going on?” Sania asked loudly in my mind. Interrupting my investigations. I pulled back from the battle and the Protectorate vision to find her holding on to my arm and flying tightly alongside me. Evidently keeping me aloft. “You were starting to fall,” she said with obvious concern.

“Sorry,” I said, regaining control of my flight. “I checked on the smoke with the protectorate ability and I may have gotten a little over interested. There were Dwarves and other creatures fighting Destruction in Helvien.” I said, glancing over to Danivra as I spoke.

“So does this mean they are coming forth from the Nideland? To take Kalabri now?”

“No idea, but it sure looks like it from what I just saw.”

I must return to the ground now. Will you tell me what you saw across the bond as I walk?”

“Sure. I want to go back and watch, so it might be better if I walk for a while, anyway.”

“I will bear you as you investigate. I feel this will be of the utmost importance to us in the immediate future,” Danivra said quickly.

My initial reaction was to say no, but there was no real reason to refuse. It made perfect sense.

“Let’s do it,” I replied. Trying my best to not show my discomfort

She dropped quickly to the ground, morphing into her Dokala form as she plummeted.

I descended more slowly to come alongside her huge, heaving spider torso.

“Where do you want me?” I asked casually.

“One of her spider legs somehow did a full rotation as she continued to walk, and pointed to a spot on her mid torso.

Swallowing my reluctance, I moved to where she indicated and gently landed there. As soon as my butt touched down, a web shot from somewhere underneath her, over my legs and stuck to the right of my waist holding me firmly in place. All the while she never stopped walking.

I marveled at how comfortable she actually was to sit on and how smooth the ride was. None of the jolting I’d expected. If I couldn’t fly, I could definitely see myself charging into battle on Queen Danivra’s back.

With a brief glance across to a smirking Sania, who had dropped lower to fly alongside me, I spoke to them both.

“I’m going back to check what’s happening.”

With that, I closed my eyes and swiftly appeared - mentally at least - above Helvien once more. The streets were filled with bodies. The troops of Darkness moved methodically toward the center, ruthlessly finishing off any who still moved.

I estimated there to be around ten thousand fighters in Darkness’s army and from their size ratios, around seven thousands of them were dwarves.

After around fifteen minutes, the army began to enter the buildings in the center. From a nearby Nideland entrance in the mountains a half mile away, more people began to appear. A stream of them which seemed to never end.

My curiosity piqued. I waited longer than I’d intended to see why they’d bring more soldiers out now after the battle. The answer soon presented itself.

They weren’t to fight. They were here to clean, in various different ways. I watched as some dug pits a mile or so away from the city with remarkable speed as others began to drag the bodies out toward them. Other non-combatants began working on the destroyed buildings. Piling the rubble and rocks from them into neat piles.

I ended up watching for an hour, truly amazed at what the forces of Darkness could achieve so quickly. And more importantly, the numbers they could spew out of the Nideland.

Deciding it was time to leave, I had one last look around making sure I hadn’t missed anything when I saw a ragged line of people led from one of the buildings. They were clearly not part of Darkness’s forces, and I had a horrible suspicion that they were Dokalfar. I reckoned there to be about three hundred of them all told.

Danivra would be over the moon to have this many Dokalfar returned to her, and I wanted to make sure they made it to their queen. I waited to see where they would be released so we could go and collect them. I’d doubt they’d be much use for fighting for a while if they’d been kept as prisoners by Destruction for so long, but I had no intention of letting them wander this shit-hole unprotected.

They were led off by around five hundred dwarves to the north of the city. When they weren’t released outside the city, my heart sank as realization hit home. They were being led in the direction of one of the mass graves that had been excavated.

I snapped open my eyes on Danivra’s back.

“I need to go,” I said, though it came out shouted.

Danivra didn’t waste any time in undoing the web strapping over my waist.

“What’s wrong?” Sania asked through the bond. Followed immediately by Danivra’s concerned question.

“I need to go. Just keep going forward, but I might need you all to come west if things go bad.”

“Why Clive?” Sania asked. “I… just trust me. Please. I don’t expect to fight. I’ll keep in touch.”

I didn’t wait for a response, re-finding the line of Dokalfar prisoners in my Protectorate map and transporting myself there immediately.

There was no sound or sense though my protectorate map, so when I appeared to the east of Helvien to the side of where the forces of Darkness and the prisoners of Helvien walked. The sounds, and in particular, the smells of the Dokalfar came like a slap in the face.

The scent of blood and smoke filled the air, mixed with the shit, piss and rotten wounds of the bleating pleading Dokalfar prisoners.

Threats and demands of silence came from the grim looking dwarven escort. Though not only dwarves walked at their side. Soldiers with builds similar to humans with skin like multifaceted amber, walked with them in long black cloaks. A brief glance at their identifiers named them as Aragites.

I shouted over to them. “Stop! What are you intending for these Dokalfar?”

All heads turned towards me. Naturally I heard the hiss of “Demon!” Followed by a wave of attacks. I wafted away the Neuma projectiles. Having not faced Aragites before I was in no way prepared for their Neuma attacks to be backed up with shards of amber, which hammered into my skin. My Constitution certainly helped out, but there was no doubt a few of those shots bloody hurt.

They didn’t stop to let me speak, either. Leaving me no choice but to fly up into the air to avoid the approaching Dwarves and their eagerly brandished axes and hammers.

“What manner of creature are ye?” A dwarf finally asked. Opening up a route to discussion, finally. By his attitude and the deference of the others, I surmised him to be the leader of this group.

Fusselbraker: Level 58, Paladin of Darkness, Dweml (Dwarf II).

“My name is Clive, and I have an agreement with Darkness. We’re allies and I am to protect the neutrals of Kalabri where I can. So unless you’ve got orders to kill this lot, You should let me take them off your hands and save us both a lot of trouble.” Fusselbraker eyed me warily, snorted back snot in his nose, hocked and spat a black and bloody wad of phlegm to the ground before muttering to the Aragite beside him.

Teniar : Level 61, Elemental Warlock of Darkness, Crysol (Aragite II).

After a short exchange, he turned back to me. “We know who you claim to be and I’m fairly sure stopping us carrying out our orders isn’t part of your Deal with our god.”

“I’m here to help all neutrals of Kalabri find refuge, as Darkness well knows. Now is killing these Dokalfar, Darkness’s idea? Or is it the Dwarves of Agorak’s?”

Fusselbraker looked uncomfortable at my question. But Teniar took over and pressed on in defense of their actions. “What the dwarves of Agorak, or any followers of Darkness do of no concern to you, despite whatever agreement you claim to have with our dark lord.”

“If you’re worried about getting in trouble with your superiors, then you need to get them out here or ask them if they’re willing to have a change of heart.”

“And if they are not?” Teniar asked with a sneer.

“Then it's bad news for everyone involved I reckon. If you can get in-touch with Egard, or even Grimstrom from Nuinaer, that might be an idea as well. I don’t want to be at odds with Darkness if I can help it, and either of those two should clear this up nicely.”

Fusselbraker laughed. “You think I’d be allowed to disturb Egard, for a routine mission like this. Dokalfar are traitorous wretches and you’re clearly mad. Now clear off afore we kill you.”

“I’m not mad. And you really need to speak to Egard or someone else with a bit of authority, so we can sort this out.”

Fusselbraker's expression turned to one of pure malice now. “Oh! You question my authority do you now? Well, I question why we’re wasting our time with a suspicious half demon claiming to be a friend of our god. If you really were, I reckon we’d have had a sign by now.”

I shook my head. “For fuck’s sake, just go and get someone with a goddamn brain cell, will you?”

“I was about to let you go free, but now. Now you can join your Dokalfar friends you love so much.” Fusselbraker snapped. Before shouting for his soldiers to attack.” I just couldn’t work out his game plan. There were five hundred of them and over four hundred of them were dwarves without either the ability to fly and limited ability to produce projectiles. There were around eighty Aragites who could attack me in the air, with Teniar as the most powerful among them

He reacted the instant Fusselbraker shouted, throwing a spear of crystal coated in dark energy from the palm of his hand. I knew his attacks hurt without the power of Darkness, but it was traveling too quickly to get out of the way with everything else going, that I only had time to get my Immortal Shell coated arm up to protect myself.

The projectile disintegrated into a shower of fragments that blinded me for a moment. I made an effort to back up, returning an instinctive Ethereal bullet back at the Aragite. As my vision cleared, I was in time to see his head explode like an overripe melon being hit with a firework.

Cursing myself for a fool, I shot higher. At no point did I actually intend to retaliate, as I was convinced I could negotiate the prisoners release. Now this awkward situation had potentially just started a war with Darkness.

The attack prompted greater urgency from my opponents, firing at an even faster rate. I dodged what I could, deflected what I was able to with my cleaver and my invulnerable arm, without returning fire. Trying to demonstrate I didn’t want a fight.

“Will you knock it off and go and get someone, you assholes!” I shouted down. “I really don’t want to kill you all, but I’m not letting you kill those people.”

“If you could kill us, you would have done so by now,” Fusselbraker shouted up.

Before I could answer, Sania’s voice spoke in my mind. “You’re very agitated. Would You please explain what’s going on?”

“Dwarves. They’re gonna kill around three hundred Dokalfar from Helvien. I’m trying to get them not to.”

“I see why you didn’t say anything to Danivra.”

“Yeah, I’ll have to tell her whatever happens but…” I paused for a moment to navigate a flurry of attacks. “I think I’m going to save them whatever, but this could cause a lot of problems.”

“Is it the right decision, then? Are we putting ourselves and Far Reach at risk in doing this?”

“Yes. And from a common sense point of view. This is a ridiculous idea. From a moral sense, it’s absolutely the right thing to do. I don’t want to be that guy who only fights the good fight when I know I can win. That’s how assholes thrive.”

“Don’t worry, Clive. No one will ever think that of you.”

“Yeah. They’ll think what a fucking idiot! Why did he attack his strongest allies' troops for a few near half dead prisoners?” I laughed bitterly. “Anyway, gotta go. I’ll speak again soon.”

“Good luck. I have faith. I hope you’re able to rescue them.”

“I’m gonna try my best.”