“What do you mean they aren’t coming?” he demanded with a fist slamming on the table. “You are sure you right?”

“Our spies have watched them carefully,” the woman replied with a bowed head. “The only thing coming our way appears to be Shorri with about a dozen of her Doan warriors. The Dragon Knight’s army has bypassed us completely and is making for the mountain pass.”

He flopped back into his chair with a heavy brow and wondered what could have gone wrong. Gersius had to know the location of the fortress and the prize contained inside, yet he was paying it no mind. Shorri's arrival was even less welcome, as the Doan woman was a disgrace to her people. Better she had died in the battle than try to return with a dozen soldiers. She would be punished for her failure, and her place in the order swept aside. Of course, she was a pretty thing, and he did have some pull in the order. Perhaps he could have her reassigned as a consort and personal attendant. It would certainly be a better fate than what awaited her in the South.

His long fingers drummed on the table as he considered the situation. He and the seal were meant to be the bait in one final trap to lure Gersius in. He had a dozen siege engines armed with black spears to bring down the dragons and a powerful contingent of the raven guard to hold the gates. He even had the dragon's chief witch, that Carigarra dragon who preferred to lair in a cave on the cliffs. She had laid magical wards on all the tower roofs to cripple any dragon who landed on them. Gersius was never going to set foot in the fortress unless the Father Abbot opened the gates and welcomed him in.

“Nervous?” a woman's voice called as the tall, dark form of Carigarra stepped through the door. The woman in attendance immediately bowed her head and fled as the father abbot looked up in ill humor. “Why do you keep the women of Ulustrah around when their power is no more?” she asked as the woman ran out.

“Don’t you have better things to do than bother me?” he asked, not wanting to explain the advantages of keeping a few of the women around.

“Oh, I just wanted to see what it’s like to know your doom is approaching,” Carigarra replied with the dual voice of a dragon. “You know the prophecy, and it's a prediction that you will be thrown from the towers by Gersius.”

“It doesn't say who throws me,” he replied with a tired wave. “And he would never have gotten this far if your kind hadn't kept this human guise a secret from us.”

“It was necessary,” she replied as she slunk into the room wearing a black dress. “We detest this form and don’t even like your kind to know we can take it.”

“You seem comfortable enough in it,” he balked. “To think of all the time and effort we wasted hunting for Gersius by telling our agents to look for a man traveling with a dragon. He probably walked right under their noses with her in this form. You should have told us. It would never have come to this final trap.”

“Remember your place, rodent. We do not answer to you,” she shot back, eyes flaring with light. “You planned this trap and used yourself as bait to lure him, and now the hour of prophecy is upon us.”

“Is that so?” the Father Abbot mused with a pleased smile. “I take it then you have not heard the latest reports?” He smiled wider when her scowl answered the question for him.

“He isn't coming,” the Father Abbot explained. “Our scouts have just reported that he and his army are marching for the mountain past with all haste.”

“What?” she snarled with hands curling into fists. “Why isn't he coming here?”

“He doesn’t seem to care,” the Father Abbot replied. “Or he doesn’t know the fortress is here.”

“Impossible,” Carigarra growled. “The prophecy says he comes here and faces you.”

“I know what it says, but he knows prophecy as well,” the Father Abbot shot back with firm brows. “Perhaps he has chosen to intentionally ignore it.”

“You know he can't do that,” she argued. “He is a pawn of prophecy and fated to this path. He must come here!”

“Maybe Commander Shorri can tell you why he isn’t coming,” he said with a hand to his head to stem the ache. “She and what is left of her army is marching up the path to our gates.”

“The fallen general has decided to return and face her shame?” the dragon woman laughed. “She will be scorned by her people and left an outcast for this failure. They don't tolerate disappointing us.”

He wanted to argue that it was the dragons who were a disappointment but wisely held his tongue. Despite how this woman spoke to him on some measure of equal footing, he knew full well it was not. She could crush him any time she got bored of this game, but she held back as long as he was useful as bait. He even had her to thank for his rescue from Calathen, as she was the dragon who snatched him away. So he kept his silence as the angry woman paced, talking more to herself than him.

“I do not see how she could have lost that battle,” Carigarra ranted. “And all our dragons were slain by his pathetic army.”

“By all accounts, his army is relatively intact,” the old man interjected. “Your dragons don't seem to have caused him any harm, and the Doan army was slaughtered to less than a hundred men.”

“Weaklings!” Carigarra shouted. “The plan was perfect, to attack him when he least expected it and overtake his lines with speed. He should have been overrun with most of his army in their beds! I spent weeks preparing those weaves so she could surprise him, and she still failed.”

“What happened to your dragons?” the Father Abbot dared to ask.

“Obviously, they knew we were coming and prepared a countermeasure,” Carigarra snarled as she turned on him. “But you had better worry about why they aren't coming here. He needs to come to this fortress and face his doom! This trap was our last effort to kill the leadership of the empire. It has to work, or the plan is ruined.”

“His army was never meant to cross the north,” the Father Abbot reminded. “We assumed he would come personally with a small force to investigate. All of the steps were taken to ensure he came here. If he presses on as he is, he will break into the plains behind your armies and wreak havoc. The Doan must breach the empire's walls soon, or all might be lost.”

“I am aware of that!” she barked. “The dragons who died in that fight were meant to help breach the chain of defenses. Without them, we have to wait for reinforcements to arrive!”

“Then our plan has already failed,” he said with a look at the window. “Unless we can think of a way to slow that army and lure Gersius here.”

“I can’t wait for you to dream up another plan,” the woman spat. “I have to fly and report this disaster before the armies are taken by surprise.”

He smiled again as she stormed out of the room in anger. Ever since learning the dragons were keeping secrets from him, he began to doubt their motivations. Still, they held to their promises and did what they said, but only because it benefited them. That Gersius was ignoring the fortress and the prize inside it could only mean that the plan had failed. They went to great lengths to ensure Gersius learned of the seal of Astikar's location. Surely that would bring Gersius running, but it hadn't. The reports insisted that the army was marching right by, with the two dragon knights leading the way. For a moment the Father Abbot wondered if Gersius had grown tired of his steps being measured by others. Perhaps he had finally chosen to do the unexpected and go his own way.

He rose and went to the window, looking over the mountainous landscape. Perhaps he wouldn't be thrown from his stone after all, but what did that mean for the future? Everything was at risk if Gersius raced for the open plains and broke out behind the armies. The plan and the reward he would receive for his part in it would be in jeopardy. With a flash of clarity, he realized that had to be why the army was passing by. Gersius had wisely decided that stopping the plan was more important and pressed on to ensure victory.

“Oh, Gersius,” he said as he looked across the landscape. “I always knew you would be the dragon knight. I should have killed you when I had the chance.”

Shorri walked at the head of her ragged bunch of refugees as the walls of the fortress came into view. The high walls looked sparsely guarded as they wound their way up the rocky path. Gersius came with his wives, and Ayawa brought her family. In addition, came Mingfe, Shadros, and eight of the strongest women of Ulustrah. This group would be all they had to deal with the dangers inside, but if the plan worked, that danger would be greatly diminished.

“You are sure this will work?” Shorri whispered, turning her head slightly to regard the man behind her.

“They have no reason to suspect you,” Gersius said. “Once we are inside the walls, we will have them.”

“Are you sure you are comfortable doing this?” Thayle asked as Shorri turned back.

“You promised to spare any Doan warriors you find inside,” Shorri replied. “And I have no love for this Father Abbot or his ravens. I have met him several times, and he desires to possess me.”

“Posses you how?” Thayle asked, unsure she wanted to know the answer.

“He seeks to bed me,” Shorri explained. “He thinks his station among the dragons should entice me to comply.”

“That should make getting the gates open easier,” Ayawa said as she studied the distant walls. “The place is hardly defended.”

“The remoteness and secrecy is its defense,” Gersius replied. “But we cannot forget they knew we would come here.”

“Nobody is going to suspect you of using a tactic like this,” Thayle said with a smile. “They are probably expecting an attack from the air while our forces encircle the fort to prevent any escape. Who could possibly believe you would resort to subterfuge and dress as Doan refugees fleeing the disastrous battle?”

“He has proven himself sneaky in the past,” Sarah grumbled as she shot him a weary eye. “But I admire his attention to detail. Making Lilly and I blacken our hair with ash and putting Alayse and Jessivel in your dragon knight armor so you can be seen leading the armies was clever. He has a cunning mind that exploits his enemy's expectations, and they most certainly expect a daring assault.”

“There is no guarantee this plan will work,” Ayawa argued.

“It will work,” Lilly insisted and looked at Kathos, who was decidedly uncomfortable with being there. “What does your coin say?”

“It doesn't work like that,” he sighed. “I can't just flip it for a quick answer. I am given visions of a likely outcome for a course of action, but the closer to the event you get, the less reliable the visions are. They become confused by emotion and muddled by random chance.”

“The vision for this course of action was favorable,” Sarah stated as they rounded a rock and got a good look at the gate. “Just let Shorri do all the talking.”

The group approached, dressed in the garb of Doan warriors taken from the stations outside the cave; everyone felt nervous. Gersius hoped the fortress was lightly defended, but if not, the plan was to unleash Sarah and Tavis, fire weaving to quickly devastate the defenders. They would sweep into the inner halls and fight their way up, trapping the man inside. He was gambling that the trap lay in trying to take the fortress, not attacking it from within.

“Hold,” Shorri said with a raised hand not fifty yards from the gate. Gersius heard the familiar sound of mighty wings flapping, and a dragon of red flew over the walls and headed south into the mountains.

“Carigarra,” Sarah snarled. “She is escaping.”

“This is to our benefit,” Mingfe said. “If she isn't here to help defend, the advantage is further in our favor.”

“I wanted them both,” Sarah remarked. “I want her to answer for toying with our emotions as she did.”

“Not to mention trying to assassinate you on your throne,” Thayle added.

“I still don’t see why Tavis had to stab her to prove his point,” Lilly said.

“I had to do something that her warning sense should have alerted her to,” Tavis replied in his defense.

“He's right,” Sarah added as they watched Carigarra vanish over a peak. “He had to inflict some injury to prove my warning sense was being blocked. It was the only way to force her hand.”

“Let's keep going,” Gersius urged. “If we linger here, the guards might become suspicious.”

“What guards?” Thayle asked as they neared the gate to see just two men in black plates.

“Raven guard,” Sarah rumbled. “At least I can console myself on killing more of them.”

Gersius felt her anger rising over the bind as he, too, burned to see the treacherous men of the raven guard. The two smiled as Shorri approached, and one raised a hand, motioning her to stop. He asked her what she was doing here, and she played herself perfectly.

“What do you think we are doing here?” Shorri snapped. “My army is lost, and we barely escaped with our lives. We seek rest and refuge before returning to face the clans and stand judgment for my failure.”

“You might want to visit the Father Abbot,” the man replied. “He will be happy to see you.”

Shorri shot the man a heated glared and waved her group inside. Gersius caught the eyes of one of the ravens as he went by and did his best not to strangle the man.

“Easy now,” Thayle said over the bind as they walked down the tunnel under the walls. “Let's not get so angry. We lose ourselves.”

“I feel nervous,” Lilly admitted out loud.

“Just keep calm and let Shorri handle any talking,” Sarah reminded as they came out of the tunnel into a large courtyard. They were greeted with a long but narrow space that ran inside the walls between the inner buildings. From the looks of it, this fort wasn't meant to house more than fifty men, and the central building was moderately larger than the temple of Astikar. A single tall tower rose above the walls giving a commanding look of the surrounding terrain, and three smaller towers anchored the walls to the cliffs, making it a meager defense.

“I could have dug through these walls in five minutes,” Sarah said as they surveyed the scene.

“Where are all the guards?” Thayle asked as she looked around. “Two at the gate and two at the main doors? That’s hardly a defense for a trap meant to kill us?”

“There must be more men inside,” Ayawa cautioned. “Hiding so they won't be seen from the air by a dragon.”

“Hmm,” Gersius said as he followed Shorri across the yard. There were other smaller wooden buildings built along the walls, but these appeared to be storage sheds, workrooms, and stables. The rest of the yard was quiet as if nobody suspected there could be any trouble. If they knew he was coming, they certainly didn't seem prepared for it.

It all added to his earlier suspicions that Kathos was playing some game. It was strange how quickly he changed sides and how ready he was to cooperate even with Lilly using her charms. He was the one that made them believe they were walking into a trap, but could he have done it to trick them into coming in a small, more manageable force?

“Don’t forget the aura sight,” Thayle said silently in his head. “His words showed up as truth in his light.”

“But could a man whose faith is based on tempting fate and pressing his luck to deceive the aura sight?” Gersius asked.

“Not unless he had a charm of Carigarra's,” Thayle replied, then quickly turned to look at Gersius.

“Did any of you search him?” Sarah demanded over the bind as her hand tightened around her sword hilt.

“I assumed Jessivel did,” Thayle replied.

“Of course, Jessivel did,” Gersius assured. He knew the seekers would have torn through everything the man possessed, but could he have hidden a trinket somehow? Maybe the seekers found something they assumed was harmless and allowed the man to keep it. He glanced at Katho's hands to see no visible ring or bracelet. He wore nothing around his neck or on an ear, and he certainly didn't have anything on his head.

“He must be hiding one somehow,” Sarah snarled.

“What about his boots?” Lilly asked, causing all of them to glance at his feet.

“They clearly know how to enchant boots. It could be like the magic boots the priests of Gorrin used to kill the vegetation beneath them,” Thayle reminded as they grew closer to the main doors.

“We are jumping to conclusions,” Lilly insisted. “He might be honestly helping us.”

Gersius wanted to believe her, but one glaring detail came to mind. They were surrounded by enemies and close to the Father Abbot, so why wasn't the warning sense of Astikar blaring in his mind?

“I can’t feel it either. This has to be the trap! We have to warn the others,” Sarah insisted over the bind.

“How can we warn them without alerting our enemies that we are on to them?” Gersius asked. “Besides, we aren’t certain we are right about him.”

“Maybe it’s something Carigarra did here,” Lilly insisted. “She might have warded the fortress to block the senses like she did the camps of Ulustrah.”

“Then we need to prove he is lying to us,” Gersius replied.

“I can prove it,” Thayle said silently. “Just be ready to act and send the signal.”

Gersius nodded as his hand went around the hilt of his sword. Tavis noticed the gesture, and Ayawa followed suit, carefully alerting Mingfe. When the group was near the door, Thayle ran forward and stopped Shorri.

“What are you doing?” Shorri asked in alarm.

“I am sorry, but we have to establish something before we continue,” Thayle said and looked to Kathos. “Tell me the sky is green.”

“What?” the man said in surprise before stiffening with a dagger in his back.

“Tell her,” Gersius said as he held the point of wind razor against the man’s skin.

Kathos looked alarmed by the sudden switch of mood as Gersius wrapped an arm around the disguised man's throat and held him fast. “Tell her, or I will kill you here and now.”

“They know!” Kathos shouted, causing a chorus of shouts to come from the towers. Doors burst open, and dozens of men ran across the walls with crossbows in hand.

“What is going on?” Shorri asked as armored shapes spread across the walls to pen them in the yard. The gates shut closed, and the two guards came running, trapping Gersius in the narrow space. Gersius drove his dagger through Kathos before chanting in the deep tones of Astikar. Sarah threw a hammer of Astikar high into the air, streaking straight up before joining Gersius in his chant. Together they produced a wall of orange light as a hail of bolts rained down on them.

“What went wrong?” Mingfe shouted as they packed up behind the barrier.

“Kathos was part of the trap!” Thayle cried.

“But we questioned him in camp!” Mingfe cried as she and Shadros hid behind the magical barrier.

“He has shielded his lies somehow,” Thayle explained. “He was part of the plan to lure us here in a small group that is easily defeated!”

Tavis was the first to act, his hands dancing in practiced twists as flames began to wick at his fingers. He raised his voice, the tones of the weave gaining strength as Ayawa used her bow to put pressure on the crossbowmen.

“They have us pinned in this yard,” Shadros growled. “It is too small for a dragon to maneuver in.”

“Even if we did risk changing here, we would risk squashing one of our loved ones underfoot,” Lilly cried before using a dragon's claw blessing to rake at a crossbowman.

“That’s why they chose this spot,” Thayle shouted as the gates to the fortress burst open and out poured twenty men in heavy armor. “Once again, they planned for everything.”

“Not everything,” Mingfe cried and rallied the woman of Ulustrah. She put them to work raising vines and Brambles, tangling the men to buy them time. She was aware of one part of that plan, which was almost certainly in motion. A shadow suddenly passed overhead as Rose flew over the walls and doused the men on it in flames. A moment later, those flames erupted into a much greater inferno as Tavis took command of them, causing them to spread across the walls rapidly.

“Sarah,” Gersius said over the bind without breaking his chant. “Help Tavis.”

Sarah nodded and let her part of the barrier fade before singing out in a weave of her own. She made Tavis's fire leap around a tower, rolling across the next wall in waves. Men jumped from the walls to avoid the fire, but some hurled hammers of Astikar at Sarah. Green shields from the women of Ulustrah absorbed the blasts, but they were still hemmed in and trapped.

“We have to break out!” Sarah shouted as she backed up. “We can’t hold this ground.”

“I am going to risk changing,” Lilly said, but Thayle stepped up with a sword in hand.

“No, I am going to put a stop to this,” she said and plunged the tip into the ground. She opened her voice in song, drawing on both her goddess and Sarah to channel through the weapon. A second later, vines burst from the ground along the walls, crawling up the sides as they cracked mortar and loosened stone. She used the same tactic to break the gates in Calathen, only this time, she was angry. It took only seconds for the vines to reach the top as the thick walls began to crumble, toppling the men with it. A sound like an avalanche was heard as the men fell over the steep slope, rolling with the broken debris of the walls. Thayle spread her vines all along the walls, bringing down two of the towers in a terrible crash of stone and dust.

“By the gods,” Shorri gasped as she watched the awesome display.

Sarah smiled at the accomplishment of her wife but then turned her angry eyes on the heavy soldiers floundering in the thick vines. With a dance of her fingers, she stole some of the nearby flames and tore them through the brambles. Men screamed as the plants ignited, and they were caught in the inferno. Some called on divine strength and came running out, smoldering as they raised their weapons.

Gersius had no need for his shield and let it drop as he drew his weapons. With wind razor in one hand and the mighty sword of Astikar in the other, he waded into the fight with Lilly right beside him. The two fought with a weapon in each hand, cutting down men with a terrible vengeance. The women of Ulustrah rushed into the fight with swords and shields, using the blessings to chain and cripple the enemy. The whole thing lasted only minutes, but in the end, they stood alone among the shattered remains of the fortress's walls.

“You were right,” Sarah grumbled, turning her angry eyes on Gersius. “As usual.”

“I suspected,” he replied with a calm voice.

“You suspected what?” Ayawa asked.

“That Kathos was somehow involved in luring us here,” Thayle said. “It didn't make sense that the enemy planned for Rose's betrayal because that would mean they knew about Lilly's plan.”

“They would never have allowed Lilly to slip through their grasp in a vain hope to snare us here,” Gersius added. “Despite his light showing the truth, we believed he wanted us to come here. He was the one who was meant to tell us about this location, not Rose. He was the one who was meant to bait the trap and send us here, using his coin to ensure we came as a small group.”

“That’s why we insisted Rose stay behind and wait,” Sarah said. “We were fairly certain they hadn’t planned for her, so we wanted her to be our surprise.”

“But she can’t land anywhere in or on the castle in dragon form,” Gersius said. “There is too great a risk of them being trapped to incapacitate her like they did the first time. That is why she will stay high above and assist as needed.”

“And you didn’t think to share any of this with us?” Ayawa snapped.

“I wanted to be sure first,” Gersius replied as he put a hand on the stout wooden doors reinforced with metal bands. “Tavis, open this door,” Gersuis commanded as he stepped aside.

Tavis nodded and tipped his hat down as he began a weave of force. He drew his hand back and made a punching motion, rattling the door as if it had been hit with a battering ram. It took only one blow to tear it from the mountings, and it came crashing down to reveal six more raven guard soldiers inside. Gersius, Lilly, Sarah, and Thayle stood with weapons out and eyes glowing with dragon fire. They rushed in, and the fighting began, men hopelessly outmatched by the heroes of the divines.

Floor by floor, they swept the structure, finding only token resistance. The entire trap was clearly based on Kathos leading them into the yard and being ambushed by the guards. Few men were left to defend the tower if that failed, probably only to slow them down so the old man could escape. But the last time he escaped was with the help of Carigarra, and they saw her leave twenty minutes ago.

Gersius led the charge up the next flight of stairs to find an undefended hall and a collection of stately rooms recently occupied by someone who preferred comfort.

“He's down there,” Sarah said as she pointed to the double doors at the end of the hall.

“How can you be sure?” Lilly asked as she looked into a side room that was a formal dining hall.

“I can smell his fear,” Sarah replied and stormed ahead. She used her dragon strength to kick the door from the hinges, sending it crashing into a well-appointed office. Standing at the window was an old man with eyes full of disgust to see them.

“Oh, such a little detail to overlook,” the man said as he scowled at Shorri. “You did exactly as I intended Kathos to do, but you made me believe our plan had failed. The divines can be funny like that. Using the prophecy in a way you would never expect.”

“You!” Sarah growled as she pointed her sword at him. “Your dragon isn’t here to save you this time.”

“So, the red queen is the one who leads the charge,” he replied with all the calm he could muster. “I should have known Gersius wasn’t up to the challenge.”

Sarah flared with anger but stepped aside as a giant of muscle and brooding death strode into the room. Gersius set his sword on a table as he passed, preferring to face the man with bare hands.

“You are the one who was not up to the challenge,” Gersius said as his eyes blazed with fire. “You failed to break me, to convert me, and to kill me. You failed to hold Calathen and to stop the women of Ulustrah. You failed at everything you put your hand to, and you accuse me of not being up to the task?”

“You should have told us her name,” Father Abbot said as Gersius strode up to him and, without a word, grabbed him by the neck. With eyes of red fire and muscles surging with dragon strength, he lifted the man by his throat.

“What you did to me dishonors everything Astikar stands for,” Gersius growled. “But as I am a loyal servant of the god of mercy, I will forgive you for that.” His hand tightened as the man clawed at it uselessly. “However, I will never forgive you for what you did to Lilly.” He punched the man in the ribs with his armored hand, causing the old man to cry out as his ribs broke.

“Wait! Stop!” he cried as Gersius pummeled him, breaking a dozen ribs as Gedris hid behind Tavis. Gersius didn’t stop until the Father Abbot’s chest felt like punching a bag of sticks then he hurled him to the floor before Sarah.

“Now, I suggest you tell her where the seal of Astikar is,” Gersius said. “Or I will heal you and break your ribs again.”

“This is awful,” Gedris said in shock. “I know this man did terrible things, but to see that kind of anger chills my blood.”

“Gersius is a man filled with pain,” Shorri noted. “He does not care about this man’s suffering at all.”

“This is but a fraction of the pain that man visited on Gersius,” Ayawa replied as she moved to hug Gedris. “He broke every rib in his chest, then healed him so they could break them again. It went on for nearly a full day as that man sat in a chair sipping wine to enjoy his suffering.”

“Such a man deserves far worse than this,” Shorri agreed.

“The shrine below,” the Father Abbot spat as blood poured over his lips. “I. I only did. What had... It had to be… Done.”

Sarah looked down at him with a deadly scowl before reaching down and dragging him from the floor.

“You betrayed your god and the man who trusted you with his life,” Sarah said. “Your foolish actions are what created the dragon knight. You are to blame for Gersius becoming the man you fear.”

“He…” the old man croaked as he tried to breathe. “He could have… could have…. Joined us.”

“Join who?” Sarah asked. “A mad dragon with dreams of being a god?” She was delighted to see the look of shock in the old man’s eyes as he realized how much they knew. Now it was clear to him how much of the plan had come undone and how unlikely he was to survive. “Leave us,” Sarah said to the others. “I will find out where the ceremony will be held, but I do not want you to witness what comes next.”

“Please!” the old man begged as Gersius turned away and headed for the door with the others. He raised a hand to Gersius and tried to cry out though his broken chest swelled with pain. “Gersius!”

He didn’t look back as he shut the door, leaving the fallen Father Abbot alone with the champion of the god he had betrayed. Gedris was in shock by the brutality of what she had just witnessed, but Ayawa kept her in check as they headed down to find the tunnels beneath the fortress. They reached the ground floor and the shattered doors just in time to hear a strangled cry as a body hit the broken stones outside.

Gersius went to the door and looked at the remains of a man he once respected. This was the man he considered his spiritual father for years. Gersius had praised his name and encouraged others to do the same, all while he plotted how best to control Gersius's life. He was a liar, a murderer, and a tyrant responsible for crimes the order of Astikar would likely never be free of.

“So it ends,” Ayawa said. “The mad tyrant has finally been brought down.”

With eyes closed, Gersius took a deep breath before nodding his agreement. It felt as if a long journey had finally been completed, making him confident in his next task. Months ago, he asked for more men to fight a war against an age-old enemy. All he wanted to do was restore the peace so he could retire and raise a family of his own. In his desperate desire to see that through, he sought a dragon to complete the old prophecy and set a terrible chain of events in motion. Now that chain was over, and he was finally back where he started, marching out to end the war with the Doan. There was only one last task that needed performing, and he was eager to see it done.

“Let us find the seal of Astikar,” Gersius said with no emotion. “It is time we stopped our enemies from abusing his power.”