Aid arrived on the third day. The General had started his troops marching the moment we confirmed there was indeed trouble in Andor’s Hall. When the extent became known, he kept the army marching late and set them out with the dawn the next morning.

Such a pace would have worn down even veteran troops used to long campaigns. Even veterans can only walk or ride so long in a day before the fatigue begins to dull their senses and slow their sword arm. However, wars have been won or lost by how quickly soldiers could get into place, halting an enemy advance or taking advantage of a weakness. Even tired troops were better than well-rested troops a day too late.

Of course, the elves knew all this. Which is why they had prepared against the idea that their armies would need to rapidly move to respond to an enemy threat. With the use of a special magical item, a general could allow his troops to travel up to twelve hours each day without suffering the normal fatigue of travel. In addition, the troops all got a slight increase to their speed, making this item very useful for getting a large number of troops across the country in a hurry.

However, this was at the cost of all men and beasts requiring double the normal rations of food and water that they might normally use. So, unless one could be certain of their supplies, the item was only of limited use outside the elven land’s borders. But for defensive wars, like the elves preferred? It was perfect.

Thanks to that, and our reports, the army knew how to respond to the mobs of people that were still clawing at the stone walls around the enclave. Bombardments of spells and arrows rained down upon the mobs. Those of us inside the enclave who could joined in the fighting, blasting away as we could, and targeting the remnants that tried to flee when the mobs lost cohesion. Soon, the town was free of the corrupted souls that had besieged it.

Before noon, there was a stirring in the army as the General and Crown Princess approached. As they drew near the wall, Nindrol used his magic to open up a gate in the hastily made bastion. With the threat passed, there was no need for the wall to be completely without exit or entrance, after all.

This did not go unnoticed by the refugees who had huddled in the enclave, of course. The freedom to leave meant an end to the terror, and there were many cries at the sight. Most were joyful, as rescue was at hand. Some, however, were cries of grief, as terror and danger melted away, allowing those who had lost loved ones to truly feel that loss.

I stood at the Mayor’s left hand, with Nindrol at his right, as the General and Crown Princess made it to the gate. The elves bowed to the princess, though I just nodded. I wasn’t her subject, after all.

High General Daephyra took a breath, and said, grim-faced, “I will admit that I had doubts before whether the Crown Princess’s tale was true. Oh, I did not doubt that she believed it, but there are many ways to convince someone of a false truth, with or without magic, and my duty to my people would not allow me to take her claims at face value. Now, however, there can be no doubt. The Queen has betrayed her people.”

The Mayor nodded once. “Indeed, my lord. But the danger goes beyond the fate of Andor’s Hall. Once we knew what to look for, we were able to tell that grain tainted by the solutions the Queen bade the farmers use in the fields belonging to her has been shipped to the capitol.”

Daephyra sighed. “I had hoped it hadn’t come to that point, yet. We will need to march on the city, and ensure that no one eats the tainted grain.”

Findelye shook her head. “I just don’t get it. What can my sister possibly hope to achieve by spreading this taint? She is the ruler of Silverwood already. Destroying the nation from within would only weaken her position, wouldn’t it?”

Vestele stepped forward. “If, as we now believe to be true, she has formed an alliance with the church of the Demon Lord of Treachery, if not becoming his thrall directly, then it is possible that she is not attempting to achieve a goal that would make sense to mortals. Instead, she may be hoping that the chaos and upheaval of the betrayals she has wrought play into a grander scheme of her master’s. Especially if the recent prophecy is at play.”

Nindrol nodded. “If betraying and enslaving one’s own kin does not count as ‘siblings rivaling’, then I don’t know what would. And the Queen’s accident happened the same day, or near enough. So, then, this is all to induce an age of inhumanity and justice?”

Vestele shook her head. “It is impossible to say with the information we currently possess. With a prophecy, you can never be sure. Trying to play to the prophecy can lead away from it, and trying to avoid the prophecy can force you into its jaws. And there is no guarantee that the events here in Silverwood, even if they are part of the prophecy, will have the prophesized outcome take place here.”

Findelye frowned. “What do you mean?”

“It is simple,” I cut in. “The age of inhumanity and justice need not happen in the same place, and neither place needs to be the one where the betrayals happened. When we left Breledo behind, their mayor was killed, along with several of his elite guards. The temples in the city were warned about his private warehouse, and how he was keeping Thedran slaves and consorting with necromancers, even bringing undead into the city. I expect there will be some upheaval in that town for some time, perhaps leading to an ‘age of justice’, if the paladins have their way.

“On the other hand, the tainted crops are designed to be as deadly and as destructive as a plague of undeath, but there are many easily cast wards to stave off the hungry dead, or to prevent those slain from rising again as part of the horde. This makes it markedly tougher for defenders to fight against. The most effective way at dealing with the mobs, once they form, is to destroy them at range, and with spells. But you can still see the faces of the people. They’re still alive, and even though they are beyond any help we can provide, killing a lifelong friend, or innocent women and children, is not something that most can stomach.

“That kind of grim action can lead to an age of inhumanity, as hearts hardened by grim necessity are loath to soften once more and face the realities of what they’ve done. Indeed, it would be all too easy to take the hand that had been dealt, and cry out for vengeance. To say, that you would do whatever it takes, pay any price, if only you can save your people from that horrific fate.”

I looked at the expression on the elves’ faces. “Yes, you see it. You know where that path can lead. That is the danger of this situation, and Vestele and I believe that it is the true endgame behind the manipulations here. For, there is power in corrupting a pure soul, just as there is in the purification of a corrupted one.

“The Demon Lord’s aim, we believe, after discussing amongst ourselves and casting what auguries we could, is to corrupt you, Princess. That is why your sister didn’t just kill you, but instead went to such lengths to get you out of the country alive, but bound so that you could not swiftly counter any plans she had in motion. That is why she is doing all of this, to force you into making the terrible decisions that can lead someone pure of heart and strong of will to throw themselves into the abyss, and become that which they hate.”

The General froze, considering the bombshell that we’d just dropped. Slowly, he nodded. “Yes, the Princess is widely known for being a pure soul. The entire country knows the vows she’s taken, the way she is protected and enhanced by the power flowing through her simply due to her conviction and faith. Corrupting her would remove a powerful force for good from the world, certainly, but how would that lead to inhumanity?”

Findelye spoke, her words heavy. “You are assuming that, if I fell, it would be to evil, using it to combat a greater evil, just as I am employing Melinda and her companions to do what I cannot. But there is another possibility, one far more damning not just for me, but for the Silverwood as a whole: the path of the zealot.”

Nindrol grunted. “The Cathran Theocracy.”

“Exactly. If, instead of turning to evil, I instead clad myself in righteousness, and went out seeking to smite all who harbored darkness in their hearts, then it would be so easy, so very easy, to do terrible deeds in the name or faith. To call forth an Inquisition that would purge the heathens and heretics from my path. But that is not the way of the elves, or of Corellon. It is more like to the ways of our most hated enemy, the servants of the Spider Queen.”

The General shook his head. “Even if things did not progress to that point, where you became so fanatical that it mirrored the ravings of the drow, the damage to Silverwood would still be extreme. Perhaps more than we could survive. A purge of all but the true believers would weaken us greatly. Even if it did not turn into a crusade, forcing the faith of our pantheon upon the rest of the world, we would be too weak to resist if another group sought to take advantage.”

“It could even go deeper than that,” I said. “When we set off from Breledo, we were initially going to check upon Thedra, where a stable planar gate has opened, unleashing the planes of Celestia into that realm. We still do not know how that gate happened, but if there was treachery involved, then it could be another aspect of the greater plan in motion.

“Now, if an elven theocracy linked up with those celestial forces, then it would prove a threat that other nations simply could not ignore. Even nations that would be neutral in the fighting would unite, to keep the armies of zealots from marching on their doorsteps. If enough rallied to that banner, then the resulting defeat of the celestials would push the entire region towards the worship of darker powers. Perhaps even the power that arranged it all in the beginning.”

Findelye shuddered at that thought. “Then, what is it that we are to do?”

The General replied, immediately, “First, we move upon the capitol. We capture any of the tainted grain, and isolate those who may have eaten it, until we can figure out who may be turning. And then, we take the palace, and overthrow the Queen, before she can enact any other plans and bring more harm to the people of this land.”

Nindrol nodded. “Isolating the ones who’ve eaten the grain will depend on how widespread the tainted grain has gotten. If we are lucky, then it will not have worked its way into the food supply for the majority of the city. Unfortunately, our records only have who the shipments were going to in the capitol, not what they were doing with those shipments.”

The Princess nodded slowly. “But what if the tainted grain has already made it to the people?”

“Then, Princess,” I replied, gravely, “you will have a terrible choice to make. One that will threaten to cast you down those two paths we were just talking about.”