The battlefield was still smoldering as the sun rose on the next day of what was a titanic fight. Gersius stood among the dead, looking at tens of thousands of Doan warriors. Many had been burned beyond recognition, caught in Tavis's or Sarah's fiery wrath. Final tallies of his own dead were being counted, as some were delayed due to the death of the unit's leadership. So far, it appeared that the women had borne the brunt of the death, with Ulustrah once again paying the highest price. However, the dove shields had valiantly tried to hold the right flank dying in their tight formations as they refused to give ground.

Every faith had been mauled, and his regular infantry had been decimated. Now that there was time to make an accurate count, it appeared the Doan had outnumbered him nearly ten to one. If not for Tavis's mad rage of fire and the timely arrival of Alayse, he would have lost this fight. They would have died in their tents if Lilly hadn't delivered the warning in time.

Lilly had been the topic of the hour as Sarah raged about her safety. The Doan command would soon know of this defeat, and Lilly had relayed to them that they were planning to betray her. So it only stood to reason that they would vent their rage on Lilly, and she would pay with her life. The only reason they weren't already on the way to save her was that Lilly felt closer. All night they could feel her presence growing as it came steadily east. He hoped and prayed it meant Lilly had fled the Doan and was on her way home as quickly as possible.

Sarah wanted to fly out to meet her, worried Lilly might be pursued, but she was needed in camp. Every man and woman in the camp was asking the same questions. Why hadn't the enemy used any dragons? It came up in every meeting and was debated at length to no avail. It simply didn't make tactical sense that the Doan had gone to all this trouble to ambush him and yet hadn't used a single dragon to ensure victory. Even now people watched the skies expecting a flight of dragons to appear to finish the task. They simply couldn’t accept that they had been spared that terrible wrath.

“If they had used dragons, we would likely be dead, even with the arrival of Alayse,” Sarah said as she walked up behind him, still in her dragon form. “They have made a grave tactical error.”

“Have they?” Gersius asked as his gaze swept the carnage. “Something is wrong. Something I can not place or grasp, but I know it is wrong.”

“You are just upset over the casualties,” Sarah insisted, but Gersius shook his head and pointed to the distant mountains.

“They came from the mountains, using weaves and magical aid to cover the ground so fast our scouts and outer sentries were overrun and unable to report. According to Lilly, they used tunnels carved by dragons to hide their passage and allow them to attack where they were not expected. They planned this to the finest detail, yet when the trap was sprung and the moment of decision came, they held back. Why go to all that trouble and fall short on something as simple as a few dragons?”

“I can see why this thought troubles you,” Sarah agreed and closed her eyes. “But we do not have time to figure it out. We should press our advantage and take our army directly to the keeps where we can finally take the war to the Doan.”

“The army is mauled and unable to march,” Gersius replied. “They need three days minimum to recover, and even then, the march must be light.”

“And what about Lilly?” Sarah asked.

Gersius reached out over the bind to feel for her, and she felt closer still. He hoped that she would arrive sometime later that day and that he could finally stop the terrible pain in his heart. Sarah nodded as she read his thoughts and looked out over the hills.

“Do you think many got away?” she asked.

“A few thousand at best,” Gersius replied. “But the vast majority of their army is dead. They will need years to recover this level of strength, and I do not intend to give them a month. As soon as I can put this army in the field, I am turning it over to Alayse to go on the attack.”

“Here you are,” a stern voice said, alerting him to the approach of Ayawa. She had a shaken Tavis at her side, dressed in light clothing and wearing no hat as his was burned away in the battle. Gedris held him up as he walked with a faltering step that showed he was still weak from his ordeal. Thayle and Alayse came with them, the two looking as if they had just had another argument judging by their icy glares. They walked up to join him as he surveyed the carnage and the terrible loss of human life.

“I still can’t believe we won,” Thayle said. “If Lilly hadn’t warned us.”

“We all know the part Lilly played,” Sarah said with a nod. “But do not forget the solid tactics our husband displayed. He stalled that battle long enough for Alayse to arrive. If any of it had gone wrong, we would not be here to talk about it.”

“This army is broken,” Alayse said flatly. “It needs a good long rest.”

“It isn't broken,” Thayle growled. “I wish you would see the triumph we accomplished here.”

“No, Thayle,” Gersius said in a soft tone. “Alayse is right; it will take time to recover from this.”

“Time is the problem we have had all along,” Sarah rumbled. “If only there had been more time to train Tavis, or Ayawa, or our own soldiers, much of this carnage could have been avoided.”

“No, we have not had the time we needed,” Gersius agreed. “And we only won this fight because we risked everything and made terrible sacrifices.” He looked at Tavis with those words, and everyone knew what he was referring to. However, Tavis did his best to stand tall and looked him back in the eye as he spoke.

“You did the best any man could do under the circumstances,” Tavis insisted. “We all did because everyone knows there will be no peace anywhere in the world if the Doan aren't stopped.”

“We still don't know what they want,” Alayse interjected. “And don't say they want to resurrect Solesta because they don't even agree on that.”

“No, they don't,” Gersius said as he turned to regard Alayse. “Did we capture any of their wise ones?”

“I have no idea,” Alayse replied. “Jessivel has four women of advanced age in binds that he suspects are wise ones, but all they do is hurl insults.”

“You’re hoping one of these women might shed more light on what they are planning,” Thayle said as she saw why he was asking.

“It would be of great use,” Gersius replied. “Lilly didn’t seem to get much from the women around her. Though they did mention the eclipse.”

“Yes, and they needed to be in Calathen when it happened,” Ayawa reminded them. “But she didn't know why, and I lost the connection shortly after she told me.”

“None of it makes any sense,” Thayle said in a tired voice. “Just like it makes no sense that they didn’t use a single dragon.”

“Let us not debate that any further,” Sarah said. “We all agree that they should have sent several to ensure victory, but I am grateful they did not.”

“As am I,” Gersius agreed.

“Perhaps they were needed elsewhere,” Gedris offered. “Surely they can't have many, and they are spread thin.”

“More likely they betrayed their slaves,” Alayse retorted. “I doubt they see the Doan as anything more than fodder for their plans.”

“No more,” Sarah insisted. “We will learn nothing by speculating.”

“No, we will not,” Gersius agreed. “But maybe Jessivel will find something.”

“Is that why you sent his entire formation to scour the north?” Alayse asked.

“That, and to run down any Doan, they could catch,” Gersius replied.

“They will run straight for those tunnels,” Sarah said. “And flee back across the mountains. We should make an effort to locate the tunnels and seal them so they can’t be used again.”

“Why seal them?” Ayawa asked. “The lands immediately north of the mountains used to be part of the empire. If you could control the tunnels, you could have a route through that would take weeks of the time needed to travel around them.”

“A valid point,” Alayse agreed. “But those lands are the northern wilds now. We would have to reclaim them by the point of a spear and station garrisons all along the borders.”

“We can worry about that later,” Gersius said as he considered a use for the tunnels.

“A rider is approaching,” Sarah said, lifting her head high. “And he looks distressed.”

The group turned to the north to see a dark shape coming over a hill. He was ten minutes out but pushing his horse hard as if being chased by some unseen danger.

“Maybe the missing dragons are about to appear,” Alayse suggested as they began to worry.

“Can you make out who he is?” Gersius asked.

“He has the white armor of a seeker on,” Sarah replied.

“Jessivel has found something,” Thayle said as the tension began to mount. They waited patiently for the rider to come and heard him shouting for Gersius as he reached the far edge of the field of bodies. He had to slow his horse to avoid stumbling through the carnage, but he eventually rode up to the group with his horse panting for breath.

“Lord Gersius, and Empresses, I come to report,” the man said and dipped into a bow from horseback.

“What have you come to tell us?” Gersius asked as his nerves began to tighten.

“My lord, there is something several miles north that we cannot explain,” he said in a pant. “Jessivel has been trying to understand it, but it defies understanding. You must come see it for yourself.”

“You have to tell us more than that,” Alayse balked. “The empire's leadership doesn't come running at every odd occurrence. So what did you see?”

“Dragons,” the man replied. “Seven of them torn apart and lying in a field frozen in ice and snow. It looks like they were in some form of battle, possibly with each other, but the wounds. I can't describe them.”

“Dragons?” Sarah asked as she looked up as if to see the distance. “I will get my saddle and carry us to see this carnage.”

“How could there be seven dead dragons just north of here?” Thayle questioned.

“And why is the ground frozen?” Ayawa asked and looked up at Sarah. “Does this not remind you of when you were attacked in the dream?”

“And the ground frosted around her and Numidel,” Thayle agreed.

“It reminds me of when we were trying to link up, and that dragon attacked,” Alayse said. “It flew into the clouds, and it started snowing just before its broken body fell from the skies.”

“We can learn more by seeing it ourselves,” Sarah insisted, heading off to get her saddle. She returned a few moments later and urged them up the ladder and into place. They climbed to her back and settled in to follow the man's brief instructions on finding the site. An hour later, Sarah spotted the site from the air and touched down just outside a massive ring of snow and ice.

“This place looks like a blizzard has raged here,” Thayle said as she climbed down into snow nearly knee-high.

“But it has only snowed in this area,” Ayawa said. “How does that happen?”

“How did it snow far to the south in late summer?” Alayse asked. “Yet I and my entire company saw it.”

“Something unexpected is happening,” Gersius replied as he approached a red dragon nearly half the size of Sarah. The beast was crushed around the shoulders, his bones broken, and a gouge that went through his body to the other side. The others were the same, with the exception of one blue that was torn in half. Jessivel was on hand with his seekers looking for tracks or signs of battle, but everything was hidden in the snow. He reported that there were two more dragons further north, also dead and lying in frozen patches.

“Nine dragons,” Gedris said as she began to feel the chill. “If they had come in numbers like this, we would have been slaughtered.”

“What happened here?” Ayawa asked as she took in the sight. “Were these dragons meant to support the Doan?”

“I do not know what happened,” Gersius replied as he stepped away from a body. “But it is safe to assume these dragons were supposed to help. However, something got to them first.”

“Could it have been another dragon?” Thayle asked as they stood in the snow.

“It would have to have been a dragon larger than me,” Sarah said before rolling a body over. “These punctures are bigger than my whole hand.”

“But no dragon that large exists,” Thayle stated, looking to Sarah for support. “Do they?”

“This has to be the work of a divine,” Sarah said and looked skyward. “They are breaking the vow to not manifest in the world to save us.”

“I do not believe this was done by a divine,” Gersius said as he looked at Sarah. “It has to be another dragon.”

“Gersius,” Sarah said as she lowered her head to look him in the face. “We are talking about a dragon of titanic proportions. One that makes the size difference between Lilly and me trivial. Look at how these dragons were torn. Those claws would be nearly as big as my body. This would be a dragon so large it could snap up a dragon three times my size and swallow it hole.”

“That’s not an inviting picture,” Thayle said.

“But is such a dragon possible,” Jessivel asked as he walked through the snow to join the conversation. “Because I have checked every body, and I can assure you no weapon or weave killed these beasts. They were torn apart by something so large it made them tiny by comparison.”

“Yes, such a dragon is possible,” Sarah said. “We called them ancient leviathans, but rarely did any dragon live to reach such an age. Most vanished long before they ever got that far.”

“How old is an ancient in a dragons reckoning?” Thayle asked.

“Thirty thousand years or more,” Sarah said. “The average dragon lives to be five to ten thousand years. A few rare ones get close to twenty, but only in legend do they go beyond that. When I was young, there were supposedly two dragons of that age, but I never saw either. Nor do I know of any dragon who did.”

“So it could be a legend,” Tavis offered.

“Or it could be the truth, and those two dragons are still alive,” Gersius said.

“Even if they were. They wouldn't care about human affairs or anything of this world,” Sarah said. “Old dragons spend more and more time sleeping, often spending three hundred years in a single nap. At that great age, they would be asleep far more than they were awake. The dream is where they would spend the vast majority of their time.”

“You mean like the monster you and Numidel encountered in the dream?” Thayle asked. “The one that nearly killed you both.”

“Surely that was a divine,” Sarah protested, then took a moment to reconsider. “It couldn't have been a dragon. Could it?”

“How powerful would a dragon of that age be?” Tavis asked.

“Apocalyptic,” Sarah replied. “We’re talking about a dragon who could step over the walls of Calathen. A swipe of its tail would shatter them and send the debris flying for a mile. A single sweep of its breath would devastate half the city.”

“And that never happens?” Alayse asked, desperate to be told such a thing wasn’t possible.

“As I said, there was a legend that two such dragons existed when I was younger, but they have to be long gone by now,” Sarah insisted.

“I hate to say this,” Ayawa cut in as she approached the nearest body. “But these wounds look very similar to what we saw on Numidel.”

“I agree,” Tavis said before coughing. “He was torn apart just like this.”

“So it could be the same creature that killed him and these dragons,” Alayse suggested.

“Then it can’t be a divine,” Thayle said. “Why would a divine kill dragons from both sides?”

“We don't know enough to make that connection,” Jessivel offered. “All we know is something used its bare hands to crush these creatures and hurled them to the ground.”

“And what about the snow?” Gedris asked. “Why are they frozen in it like some giant ice dragon breathed on them?”

“The first thing to consider is this is just snow,” Sarah pointed out. “Had a large blue dragon used its breath, this would all be sheets of solid ice. The second thing to consider is that breath is so cold that trees shatter and plants instantly die. None of that has occurred here. So it wasn't a dragon's breath that did this.”

“Yet snow seems to keep appearing around us,” Gersius replied. “Almost as if it is following us.”

“It must be a divine,” Sarah insisted. “Perhaps one we have long forgotten.”

“That would be playing a dangerous game,” Ayawa remarked. “My people believe the Earth Mother banished the divines from setting foot on the world. If any of them were doing so now, even to save us, they would be risking her wrath.”

“And we know what happened the last time she woke up,” Tavis reminded.

“Let's focus on what we do know,” Sarah said as she looked around. “These dragons were clearly meant to aid in that battle, but something intervened and tore them apart.”

“We suspect the two further north attempted to flee,” Jessivel added. “Whatever attacked them terrified them.”

“Can we please get out of this cold?” Alayse asked as she started to shiver.

“Of course,” Gersius replied with a nod and turned to Jessivel. “I need the location of those tunnels found. I might need to garrison them so they can not be used again.”

“We will trail the Doan until they lead us to them,” Jessivel said with a salute.

Gersius bid him good luck and suggested they return to Sarah's back. A few minutes later, Sarah took to the sky and returned to the terrible battle site. From the air, Gersius could see the devastating scale of that conflict and the sweeping piles of dead stretching across the landscape.

Sarah carried them beyond the bodies and nearly to the camp, where she touched down and allowed the others to climb off. They then spent the next hour debating what they had just seen as final reports of the dead came in.

“The women of Ulustrah have suffered terribly again,” Thayle said with tears in her eyes.

“Of course they did,” Alayse was quick to reply. “They make up more than half the army.”

“We aren't made to be soldiers,” Thayle argued. “We can barely heal, and we don't have the ability to draw on divine strength.”

“Your shields have a huge impact on the battlefield,” Sarah insisted.

“We make great support units,” Thayle replied. “We work best as Gersius uses us to support the heavy infantry.”

“We are every bit as capable of fighting as a man,” Alayse insisted. “I have won several major battles in the east where my women defeated armies of all men.”

“Yes, with heavy losses, just as we had here,” Thayle sighed.

“You two need to stop this,” Sarah insisted. “We paid the price. There no reason to argue about why the cost was so high.”

“Of course,” Thayle agreed. “I am sorry. I can't help but feel the loss of so many of my sisters.”

“I understand your pain,” Gersius said as he put a hand on her shoulder. “And you have every right to grieve.” He paused as something pushed into his mind, and the three of them suddenly looked west. He could feel Lilly like he hadn’t felt her in days, even feeling a sense of tension from her. She was close now and rapidly closing from the west.

“I can feel my baby,” Sarah said with a sniff. “Oh, please, Lilly, come home.”

All eyes looked west and watched the skies until, at last, a dark form was seen flying low, well below the clouds.

“Is that her?” Thayle asked as she squinted.

“No,” Sarah said with a threatening growl. “That is a red.”

“But it feels as if it is Lilly,” Gersius insisted. “Is the red chasing her?”

Sarah studied the sight with her keen vision and insisted there was no other dragon to be seen. The red was coming alone, but with her came the ever-growing sense of Lilly's presence.

“Should we alert the camp?” Alayse asked as she drew her sword.

Gersius wondered the same thing as the dragon turned and headed straight for them, even letting out a short roar.

“Well, the camp knows now anyway,” Tavis said as Gedris helped him stand.

“Wait,” Sarah cried as she saw the dragon more clearly. “It can’t be.”

“What?” Thayle asked as she tried to understand what was happening.

“It’s Rose,” Sarah said as she raised her long neck. “She has come home.”

“Rose?” Gersius said in surprise as the dragon flared its wings wide and slowed to descend. They watched in stunned silence as Rose touched down a hundred yards from where they were standing and said nothing. Instead, she reached out with a single hand and released something she was holding. Two women stumbled from her grasp, and Lilly's blue hair was immediately recognized.

Rose stood her ground as the two women crossed the gap between them, heading closer to the group. Gersius studied the scene expecting some trap, but nothing unexpected happened. The two were dressed like Doan women, with skirts made of colorful stripes. One was Lilly, but he didn't recognize the other until she was closer. When he saw the eyes and the way she looked at him, he suddenly felt a cold chill. His heart twisted in shock and pain as months of guilt suddenly welled to the surface. His wives felt his sudden swell of emotions over the bind, and Thayle quickly took his hand.

“Gersius, what is wrong?” Thayle asked in alarm.

“You look pale enough to be ill,” Ayawa interjected.

“That woman,” Gersius said and pointed to the dark-haired woman approaching beside Lilly.

“What about her?” Thayle asked.

“I thought she was dead,” he replied as the two finally closed the ground.

Despite Gersius's sudden surge of painful emotions, Thayle couldn't hold her emotions anymore. She ran to Lilly and swept her into a hug and a long kiss. She clutched the dragon woman as if determined to prevent her from fleeing again. Sarah was elated to see Lilly back, but she kept a wary eye on the dragon that sat across the way. Soldiers were running from the camp, not certain what was happening. Sarah commanded them to stay back, then turned her attention to her husband.

Gersius stood motionless as the dark-haired woman approached and smiled at him slightly.

“I thought you were dead,” Gersius said with a shake of his head. “I thought I had failed you.”

“Why do you always blame yourself for everything,” the woman argued as she stood before him.

Gersius moved and took her into his arms, hugging her tightly as Thayle and Sarah looked on in surprise.

“Should we be jealous of this?” Thayle asked.

“No,” Lilly said, playing with one of Thayle's hands. “He is just feeling the pain of his guilt washing away.”

“Guilt over what?” Sarah asked as she looked down, trying to understand the scene. “His mind is so chaotic I can't even read his thoughts.”

“Gersius blames himself for what happened to her,” Lilly explained. “He thinks his inaction led to her death, and it has haunted him since before I met him.”

“But that would make her….” Thayle said as her words trailed off.

“That is Sophia Udwan,” Ayawa answered for the rest of the people who didn’t understand. “She is Gersius’s sister.”

“I thought the letters we captured said she escaped and was headed east?” Sarah asked.

“Clearly, they were wrong,” Thayle said as the hug between them went on.

Everyone went silent as Gersius finally held her out and took another good look at her, unable to believe his eyes.

“I thought I would never see you again,” he said at last.

“I thought the same,” Sophia replied. “But thankfully, I was saved by an honorable Doan man.”

Gersius nodded and finally turned to face Lilly. The swelling of his light that raced out to embrace her made Thayle and Alayse smile. Lilly ran right to his arms and shed tears of her own, apologizing for not listening to him. She cried profusely about how the Doan want nothing but to wage their war and believe it will lead to great honor. She told them about the Doan's single-minded pursuit of their traditions and how the dragons shaped every part of their culture.

Gersius took it all in without judgment or accusation. He waited for her to finish and then reached up to touch the metal ring around her neck.

“They tricked me into putting this on so I couldn't escape,” Lilly said, looking away. “I am so ashamed of myself.”

“Do not be ashamed,” Gersius said and stroked her cheek. He then drew a dagger from his side and held up the runed blade of wind razor.

“Dahsk,” he said to the blade as it began to glow blue and produce a shrill whistle. He then used the blade to cut through the lock as if it was paper and tossed the collar aside.

“Now you are free,” he said, putting the knife away as Lilly swelled with guilt and shame. “Now, tell me about this man you married.”

“Married?” Alayse repeated as Thayle turned an angry gaze on her and shook her head.

Lilly broke down and explained how the Doan were boasting about the beauty of their songs. She set the scene of women standing before the gathering to sing for the masses. Lilly only wanted to show them the beauty of the songs she learned in the east. She had no idea it was part of some ceremony and before she knew what was happening, men were fighting over her. She had no choice but to go with the victor but swore on her honor that nothing happened between them.

“I can attest to that,” Sophia said. “Hurrock fought for her honor and kept her safe, but there is something you should know.”

“What?” Lilly asked as she looked Sophia’s way.

“They set you up,” Sophia admitted. “They only held that festival to trap you. They knew you could see their aura, and they carefully arranged that moment to entice you into challenging them. They kept dangling the hope that you could avoid the war before your face while saying that if they lost power, the war would begin. They tricked you into singing so that Grelm would make a claim to you, and they could feign that their control would be lost if you resisted. It was all part of a plan to soil you and use the news to hurt Gersius. Thankfully Hurrock spoiled their plans.”

“They did this to me?” Lilly gasped.

“Do not let them fool you,” Sophia said with a stern look. “They carefully calculated how best to manipulate you the moment you appeared. They even let you fly back, hoping you would return with the much bigger prize, Sarah.” She looked up at the red and nodded to her as the entire group listened to the explanation.

“So, even this was a trap, and I played right into it,” Lilly gasped. “I have been a fool. I even tried to guilt Sarah into going so they could kill her instead.”

“Do not blame yourself for caring,” Sarah was quick to say as she lowered her head to Lilly. “What you did was foolish, but it proves you have what it takes to be an empress. You care about the lives of those you lead and were willing to risk your own to save theirs.”

“But what about her?” Alayse asked and pointed her sword to the distant dragon.

“She has something she wants to say to her mother,” Lilly said with a smile. “She is ready to talk.”

“My daughter is ready to talk?” Sarah stammered as she turned her gaze back to the dragon that hadn’t dared to approach yet.

Lilly nodded and explained how two dragons had come to claim her, but one of them was Rose. She refused to allow the other dragon to harm Lilly and then fought to protect her. When Lilly couldn't get the collar off, Rose abandoned her cause to bring Lilly and Sophia home.

“She did all that?” Gersius said and looked at Sarah. “You need to talk to her.”

“Indeed,” Sarah replied and stepped over the group to approach the smaller red, who did her best to look defiant.

Gersius and the others watched as Sarah sat before her daughter, and for the first time, the two had a proper conversation. Rose admitted that she felt pain inside whenever she thought about Sarah, and it was tearing her apart. She needed to know why she was hurting and just wanted her mother to tell her it would be alright.

Sarah responded by reaching out and pulling Rose into a hug, holding her child for the first time in thousands of years.

“Welcome home, my daughter,” Sarah said with her eyes shut as she struggled not to cry. “Welcome to where you belong.”

“I can’t believe what we are witnessing,” Thayle said. “She’s free of the curse without a human bind.”

“It’s a miracle,” Gedris agreed.

“This is a moment of great triumph,” Gersius agreed and looked at Lilly. “And it is all thanks to you.”

“But I failed,” Lilly said as she looked down. “I was wrong about everything and caused you all terrible pain. I shamed myself by being forced into a Doan marriage and made a fool of myself for believing I could trust the wise ones. I failed at everything I set out to do.”

Gersius took her by the arms and shook his head as he started to smile.

“No, you didn’t fail. Thanks to you, we defeated the largest of the Doan armies, recovered my sister, and brought back Sarah's daughter. You have healed a wound of guilt in my heart and given me new hope for the future. Never in the history of struggle has anyone accomplished so much in so short an amount of time.”

“So, you’re not mad at me?” Lilly asked.

“Lilly, I have never been more proud of you,” Gersius replied, sweeping her up. “And you have no reason to be ashamed. I know I am your husband, and no man can claim to share your soul as I do.”

“I love you,” Lilly said as she hugged him tightly. “Please, take me to our tent. I need to prove to you I am your wife.”

Gersius nodded and carried her away as Sarah still hugged her daughter. It was a moment of triumph and change as old wounds were wiped away and a new era began. Soon the war would come to the Doan, and the tide would finally turn, but tonight he needed to soothe Lilly's pain and remind her who her true husband was.