"The war council will convene in five minutes." Willem had arrived inside the main area of the flee market where the usual hustle and bustle of trade had been quieted by the sound of the massive ringing bell.

To everyone who was gathered, Willem’s presence was both a soothing sight and a confirmation that something big was going on.

"Prepare the war room! Bring the huntress and everyone we need!" Ashkatar was giving orders with seasoned efficiency, a benefit given from his long lifespan.

Willem had already left the main area through the teleportation array and arrived in his Private Sanctum with ease. When his presence was known, all whom had gathered at the teleportation array stopped their work and kneeled before him.

"Magical Beings have made it to the outskirts of the poison fog. The war council will convene in five minutes. Summon Sir Rowan, Sir Kris, the Knight Captain, and the family heads. They can bring one trusted adviser each to the meeting.”

Upon hearing the command, the posted soldiers quickly divvied up the tasks and set forth without hesitation.

Five short minutes later, the family heads and their advisers had arrived in sync with the Knight Captain, Sir Gehrig. Sir Rowan and Sir Kris also presented themselves, fully armored and looking anxiously at the family heads.

"Come, join me." Willem beckoned everyone to enter the teleportation array. As they stepped inside, Willem activated the runic circle and everyone traveled safely to Paradiso Rosso.

For most of the family heads and their advisers, this was their first time in Paradiso Rosso. The Knight Captain, Sir Kris and Sir Rowan had also never gone beyond the forest outside the Bastion of Hope and so they all stood experiencing the natural beauty and splendor of the city.

The looks of amazement and disbelief were quickly curtailed as Willem got their attention.

"The war room is just past these doors." Willem placed his arm out and motioned towards intricately designed double doors.

The door itself looked to be made of wrought iron, with flowing vine patterns from the top of the frame to the base. The two door handles were made of copper but had been artificially colored with black pigment to match the doors.

The first to reach out and grab the handle was the Knight Captain, who had incorrectly assumed he would have to use a little strength in order to force the door open. To his surprise, it slid open easily, throwing him a little off balance.

Re-positioning himself quickly, he stood and held the open door for the other council members as they slowly piled in. Willem was the last to enter, and quiet conversations could be heard throughout the room. Sir Gehrig closed the door and Willem addressed the room.

"Thank you to everyone for coming to this, the first convening of the war council. As I am not accustomed to such matters, I invite both Ashkatar, whom has received the initial report, and the Grand Elder of the Lovejoy family, who previously sat at the war council in the Bastion of Hope, to direct this meeting." Willem smiled as he motioned for both parties to take a seat by him at the head of the table. Ashkatar and the Grand Elder both stood and moved to sit beside Willem. As if in a practiced movement, all the other council members fluidly moved out of the way.

The other council members could not help but smile as they saw their magnanimous leader readily admit his own shortcomings, choosing to delegate to the most qualified leaders available.

For such a young leader, the future was looking quite bright for the Grand Mage's faction.

Ashkatar started talking first, explaining the situation as he was told by the assassins. The four assassins in question were standing by the door in silence, waiting to be called upon should they be needed.

"It would appear that roughly ten-thousand Dragoons have broken off from the main army, and the assumption is that they are trying to reach out and contact me. Most likely, they intend to flank the Bastion of Hope through the mountains on the east and west to while the main army charges the south to ensure no one survives. It seems they have set up camp in the woods outside the poisonous fog and are waiting for me to come near the edge." Ashkatar glanced at the papers in front of him that contained the assassins’s accounting of events.

"They intend to reach out to you even though they know you are unlikely to leave this area. Have they attempted to contact you before?" One of the advisers spoke out and a few others nodded their heads.

"I would allow wandering merchants to sometimes enter, they were usually greeted as treasured guests by nobles who would buy up all their wares before they left. Since the dark elves have been isolated for so long, they are not considered part of the army of Magical Beings anyway. No, more likely they believe I will bless their journey, which is pure superstition on their part." Ashkatar replied.

The four assassins turned towards each other looking confused for a brief moment before putting their heads down again.

This did not escape Willem's attention.

"You. Tell me why this confounds you." Willem pointed to one of the assassins. The assassin stepped forward and crossed his hand in front of his heart as he spoke.

"Master Grandia, all denizens of Paradiso Rosso have acted under the assumption that Ashkatar granted us the blessing of the moon, to ensure our safety. This is a fundamental belief taught since childhood." Once he finished speaking, he stepped back into place.

"Well, I do not intend to interrupt the belief system of the Dark Elves. It is not hurting anyone. This matter will not be revealed to anyone outside this room." Willem motioned for Ashkatar to continue.

"Very well. Typically, when the army was on excursions or military exercises around this area they would send fifty to one hundred men to greet me. This could also be considered appropriate behavior on their behalf." Ashkatar ran his fingers through his lengthy beard.

"The timing is not coincidental, either. According to my sources, the mounted infantry will typically take this long in order to march here. That means that the clans’ foot soldiers will take another two weeks, and any specialized divisions will meet up with them at that time. Since we have secured a secondary position, it is of no concern to us that the Bastion of Hope falls." Willem placed the carved miniature horse head pieces on the map to represent the movements of the Dragoons.

"We made sure not to over-hunt in the area as you commanded, since a reduced presence of natural predators would surely have been reported to the Dragoon Generals if it was noticed." The leader of the hunter group advised the council.

"Well done. The less wary they are that anything is amiss, the more likely an ambush is to succeed if we decide to go that route." Willem tapped his index finger to his chin. "In this regard, I welcome all opinions on a course of action."

"In front of everyone is a piece of paper. Once all the ideas have been presented, we will have an anonymous vote. That way no one can take sides or be attacked for their opinion." The Grand Elder explained.

The Lovejoy Grand Elder was sitting proudly beside Willem. He attempted to join the conversation a few times, but his own musings on the subject had already been expertly covered by others. If he had not personally been called by Willem to partake in the discussion, he would probably have just sat and observed. However, since Willem had been outspoken with respect to him leading the meeting, he had to show some worth.

"Eloquently put, Grand Elder." Willem placed his hand on the Elder's shoulder, as a sign of good will. "Since we are unsure of exactly what they are after, I will have the assassin squadron infiltrate and gather as much intelligence as possible without rousing suspicion. Since we have a couple of weeks at most before the foot soldiers arrive, the plan may change depending on the actions of the enemy. Therefore, the main plan is to be established now, but the details of the missions will wait until after."

"Do we have an accurate estimation of the number of trained combatants in the Private Sanctum and Paradiso Rosso? Knowing our own strength better will make the decision easier." The Smith family adviser spoke out.

"From the original fifteen thousand soldiers of the Bastion of Hope, we have twelve thousand, not including a mix of Hunters and Mages. The other three thousand soldiers decided to stay behind in the Bastion of Hope with their families. On top of that, there are three thousand hunters and warriors in the Dark Elf army left after the recent attack." Willem quickly did the calculations for the type of army they could expect to fight with.

"I mean no offense to anyone here, but will the Dark Elves really fight alongside the people who killed their kin?" An adviser spoke out.

It was by no means a bad assumption, as under ordinary circumstances there would typically be a lot of unrest for years until the capabilities of the ruler could be established. However, in this regards it was a non-issue as many Dark Elves citizens were expecting to be enslaved after their army lost the war. Willem did not enslave his enemies, nor had he killed more than necessary to end the war quickly. He was also transparent in his thoughts and treated everyone as equals, which moved the hearts of the Dark Elves.

"We need not consider this matter, I speak on behalf of the Dark Elves when I say we shall fight to protect this newly developed Utopia." The leader of the hunters spoke with authority.

Many of those in the meeting that hailed from the Dark Elf side nodded their heads in agreement.

"Furthermore, The huntress continued, "To die in battle is considered a great honor for our people. The afterlife is but another transition in our journey through the worlds."

The family heads and their advisers remained silent, despite their own belief that death was the end of their journey. To embrace death was something only a warrior could consider when all else failed.

Willem had wanted to inquire about the meaning of 'through the worlds' but this was not the time nor the place. Therefore, he put it in the back of his mind and reminded himself to bring it up later.

"Now that we roughly know the numbers of our own army, what do we know about the strength of our enemy?" Willem had his own information from Jörmungandr whom had given him the rough estimate, but he needed to rely on confirmation from the Dark Elves.

"Each major clan has a standing army and a reserve army. The standing army has on average ten thousand soldiers each, with an additional reserve of two thousand soldiers to protect the clan members." The huntress flit through prepared papers to confirm the details. "Since there are nine major clans, that means roughly ninety thousand soldiers. This would not include any specialized units like clansmen with preternatural abilities."

"Like the Thousand Eyes Clan..." Willem whispered.

Since the huntress had already finished talking, most of the people near Willem heard him.

"What is the Thousand Eyes Clan?" The Grand Elder looked at Willem in bewilderment.

"I can answer that. We have documents that the Thousand Eyes Clan has the ability to see into the future, enter dreams and create nightmares; each of these abilities has limitations. They are the direct advisers of the Southern King." The huntress continued looking through other parchments as she spoke. "If I may ask, how did Master Grandia become aware of them?"

Before Willem could answer the question, the room exploded into derisive comments.

"How can we fight an enemy that can see into the future?”

"Why have the Gods forsaken us?"

"Damn, we cannot catch a break."

"ENOUGH!" Ashkatar yelled as he slammed his fist on the beautifully made wooden table.

Had the doors not been magically treated to block sound from going out, he might have been heard well into the main area.

"My apologies, I did not realize that not everyone would know.” The huntress bowed toward Willem. "The rules of the Thousand Eyes Clan forbid them from participating in any fight. Any who disobey are stripped of their ability and punished by forced slavery for thirty years or until released by their Master."

"Which is why you believed it to be of no consequence." Ashkatar nodded thoughtfully. "We must all strive to keep a level head at this point and time."

The advisers who had previously been scared out of their wits regained their composure and bowed silently. Normally for de-railing the conversation they would have been made to leave, but Willem waved the offense off noncommittally.

"As far as the document on the army divisions, there should be thirty thousand Dragoons and sixty thousand foot-soldiers. These numbers do not include any advanced scouts or non-combat personnel like slaves or cooks." The huntress finished reading the document. "This was the only reliable intelligence we could gather from the previous nobles’ homes."

"I will assume that most of the documents have been burned?" Willem nodded to the huntress.

"Yes, Master Grandia." The huntress replied.

"Then it is our good fortune to have secured this much information." Willem rubbed his chin.