The night air was moist as Tavis projected his sight around the camp. The sky above was masked by thin clouds that hid the stars and turned the moon into a blurry disk.

They parted ways with Twocrow and the oak tribe that morning. After the deaths on the road, most of his people agreed to aid them in the coming fight. However, they all insisted they complete the horse trade first. Twocrows left early to complete his trade and send the horses back with three of his people who did not want to fight. These three would carry word to the south about what was going on here. With any luck, more of the southern tribes would come north to help.

Ayawa didn't want to reveal where Gams was to them yet. So they arranged to meet in four days at a location further north. There they would all travel together to Gams, and wait for Gersius to arrive.

Tavis struggled to maintain his tone as he tried to yawn. The night was getting late, and he would have to wake up Ayawa soon to take over. Gedris placed a ward as always, but neither of them trusted her to stand watch.

Gedris was a mystery to Tavis. Ayawa took the woman on like she was a daughter and was now training her to fight with short blades. To her credit, Gedris was trying her best, and she bowed to Ayawa's every demand. Ayawa worked her hard every day and made her walk behind the horses in her armor.

Despite all the effort, Gedris was not going to be any use in combat for months. She was a handicap and a burden, and she had nearly gotten them killed several times. Ayawa never tolerated people who put them at risk, yet she mothered Gedris. Tavis wasn’t sure how or why but Ayawa saw something in the women that touched a nerve.

He wondered if this was part of her sudden regret at the life they led. She seemed perfectly happy to work for Gersius as a scout and occasionally special unit. Now however she confided in him that she regretted not settling down and starting a family.

He let the thought go and focused on the task at hand. Pushing his sight in a circle around the hill they camped on. It was a stroke of luck they found a rock outcropping at the top where they could easily conceal the horses and themselves. Gedris caused the trees to grow and thicken, creating a dense canopy above and a wall of thick weeds around. They were hidden well and could see around themselves for miles.

It was from this vantage point that Tavis nearly cried out in alarm when he saw it.

He jumped up and raced to Ayawa. She slept soundly in a bedroll with her hair brushed out and tied back. He knelt beside her and gently rocked her shoulder to wake her.

“Shhhh!” he said with a finger over his lips as she came awake. “Get up, something is out there.”

“What have you seen?” Ayawa asked.

“I don’t believe what I have seen,” he said.

Ayawa turned to her left and jostled Gedris awake.

“On your feet, Tavis has seen something. You stay close to me, and you keep quiet.”

Gedris nodded and stood up, barefoot in only a shirt.

Ayawa quickly put on her leathers and crept to the wall of weeds at the lip of the hill where Tavis crouched down and looked out.

“Where is it?” she asked.

He pointed to the east. “Just on that next hill. It flew over us.”

“Flew?” Ayawa asked.

Tavis nodded. “It’s a red dragon.”

Gedris gasped, and Ayawa shot her a glare that made her go silent in an instant.

“I can’t see it,” Ayawa said.

“It landed on the far side of the hill. It was carrying something with its arms. A black box big enough to be a small house.”

“How big was the dragon?” Ayawa asked.

“Easily three times Lilly’s size,” he said. “It came out of the west and circled the hill before dropping down.”

They all watched the distant hilltop and saw nothing.

“Use your sight. See what it’s doing,” Ayawa said.

Tavis nodded and sat back down quickly falling into his tone and dancing his weave with his fingers. In a moment, his sight left his body, and he projected it out into the fields. He raced toward the hill with a sense of dread in his heart. There was a part of him that didn't feel safe using a weave to spy. He had no idea what dragons were capable of, and he didn't want to find out this one could see his projection. Some weavers could see them using a type of detection, and he was sure dragons knew a lot more about magic and weaves then men did.

As his sight reached the hill, he raced up the slope and crested the top.

“By the Gods!” he gasped when he saw the image below nearly breaking his weave.

He quickly recovered and focused on what was happening.

The dragon was on the ground and beside it was a black metal box with small slits all down the side. There was a bar across the top large enough for the dragon to grab and hold on to. One end of the box was a large door that was now swung open.

He watched in awe as two men in black hoods with silver runes down the lips walked out of the box. They both carried staves with what looked like small horned skulls on the top. He saw their mouths move as the two men raised their staves high. His weave only gave him sight, and he sighed, wishing he could hear what they were saying.

He quickly forgot about listening as a new revelation made his blood run cold. Out of the box came a hoard of dark shapes. They walked as a mass following the two men who led them to the side. One of the men then walked up to the dragon and started having a conversation. The dragon pointed east and slightly north and then shut the door on the box. The man nodded and gestured with the staff, and the dark forms fell in behind him as a mass and followed him.

The dragon climbed back up on the box and spread its mighty wings. With a great flap, it lifted itself and the box into the air and flew right back toward the hill they were hiding on.

“Keep down, it's about to fly over us,” Tavis said, dropping his weave.

Ayawa pulled Gedris down and hid in the shadows as they heard a noise like a great sail of a ship flapping in a breeze. They saw the dark form fly over them and head off to the west.

“That was a dragon?” Gedris gasped.

“Keep quiet, girl!” Ayawa scolded then turned to Tavis. “What did you see?”

Tavis shook his head, unable to believe what he had just seen.

“Bandersooks,” he said. “The box it's carrying is some kind of cage. It had a pack of bandersooks inside, and it turned them loose over the next hill.”

“So there is a pack of feral bandersooks just over that hill,” Ayawa said pointing.

“I don’t think they are feral, and they aren’t coming this way,” Tavis insisted.

“How do you know that?” Ayawa asked.

Tavis shook his head. “Two men in dark hoods got out first. They were carrying a staff with a goat skull on it. The bandersooks were following them like sheep following a shepherd.”

Ayawa had a faraway look in her eyes as she put it together.

“So this is how they are doing it,” she said at last.

“I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it,” he replied.

“We always suspected they could control the beasts, now we know for sure,” she added.

“We also know how they found Gersius,” Tavis said.

Ayawa looked up at him with raised brows.

“His ambushes in the forest,” Tavis clarified. “This is how they got so far to the east and found him. They must have been brought there like these were.”

Ayawa sighed. “Gersius was doomed before he even started.”

“We need to find him and warn him,” Tavis said. “If they are moving forces around like this they could attack from anywhere.”

“We are over a week from Gams, and more from Gersius,” Ayawa pointed out.

Tavis nodded, but the point was made. There was no way to warn Gersius, not yet.

“What I want to know is what they are doing here,” Ayawa said

“This is the Commonlands. There isn't much of important anywhere near here,” he replied.

“Did you see which direction they were going?” Ayawa asked.

“East and a little north,” he said.

Ayawa considered where they were and what was in that direction.

“That puts them at the walls of Mordholm in half a days travel,” she said.

“Mordholm is a capital city,” Tavis said. “It will be well protected.”

“But why attack the city at all?” Ayawa asked. “Of what possible value is such a move to them?”

“I can’t think of anything the order of Astikar would want there,” he agreed.

“I can,” Gedris said with panic in her eyes.

They both turned to look at the woman who broke her silence.

“Well, speak up then,” Ayawa said. “What would they want with the city?”

“The Rose Temple of Ulustrah is there. It is our holiest site and the home of Ulustrah’s emerald bowl, her greatest artifact.”

Tavis sighed as Ayawa shook her head.

“They are going to attack the temple,” he said as if it was obvious.

“If they can capture Ulustrah’s bowl we will have to bow to this Father Abbot’s demands,” Gedris said.

“And they will turn your order against Gersius,” Ayawa said with a shake of her head.

“How did they get a dragon to aid them?” Tavis asked.

Ayawa glanced at him. “Even more, how long has it been aiding them? If your right and this is how they got the bandersooks to Gersius, then that means they had a dragon even before he left to find one.”

“This lie has been going on since the beginning,” Tavis spat. “No wonder they tried so hard to keep Gersius from going. They knew they didn’t need him.”

“He was going to upset their plans,” Ayawa agreed. “If he didn't have a divine right to demand men and time to complete a holy mission, he would never have left Calathen.”

“The Father Abbot beating him to Whiteford means the man either traveled by dragon or left just after Gersius did. He knew there was a dragon in that valley, and he knew Gersius would succeed,” Tavis said.

“So they sent a dragon to kill her, and bandersooks to kill him,” Ayawa added.

The revelations dumbfounded Tavis. He wondered how far back the schemes had begun. How much of what was going on was part of the plan?

“If bandersooks are working for them then that means the war with the Doan is fabricated,” Tavis said.

Ayawa gasped at the revelation. “By the earth mother! It all makes sense. Why Gersius was never given the men he needed. Why the lords refused to help. The Father Abbot is behind all of it!”

Tavis nodded. “This is why he isn't afraid to lose the war with the Doan. He isn't going to lose because the Doan are working with him.”

“For what purpose, though?” Ayawa asked.

“Are we sure the Doan are working with him?” Gedris asked. They regarded her again, and she continued. “You saw two men, but were they priests of Astikar?”

Tavis thought back and tried to visualize the men. “I can’t be certain.”

“Could this dragon be working with the Doan and this is some form of raiding party?” Gedris asked.

“They are heading for your temple,” Ayawa pointed out. “What would your temple mean to the Doan? It only has value to the Father Abbot.”

“I agree it has to be the Father Abbot,” Tavis said.

“But it might not be,” Gedris insisted. “There must be a way to be sure.”

“Would we gain anything from searching the hill?” Tavis suggested.

“Where the dragon landed?” Ayawa asked.

Tavis nodded. “They marched off right away. By the time we got there, they would be several miles away.”

“It wouldn’t hurt then I suppose,” Ayawa said. “Send your site over and make sure it’s safe. Gedris and I will break down the camp.”

He agreed and sat back down as the two women hurried about rolling up bedrolls and gathering up gear. Gedris dressed in her armor, and a few minutes later they were at Tavis's side leading the horses.

“The hill looks empty,” he said as the women arrived.

“We move slowly and watch the sky,” Ayawa said, handing her horse to Gedris.

“You lead the horses. I am going to run ahead and scout the hill,” she said.

Gedris took the reigns, and Ayawa picked her way out of the dense weed barrier and ran down the hill.

Tavis turned to Gedris who looked tired, with sunken bleary eyes.

“Let’s go,” he said and led the way.

“Why would a dragon be helping them?” she asked as they walked.

“Why should I know?” he replied. “Why is any of this happening?”

Gedris could only shrug, and he tipped his hat up to see the distant Ayawa more clearly.

He watched her a moment as they wound their way down the hill and then turned to Gedris.

“Why are you still here?”

She glanced at him with a shocked expression and then looked away.

“I am her rokki.”

“That's a lie, and you know it,” he said. “You wanted her to take you, so you goaded her into doing it. You want to stay near her for some reason, and I want to know why?”

Gedris sighed and looked back at him.

“I like her,” she said.

“Like her? What does that mean?” he asked.

“I have feelings for her. She is unlike any woman I have ever known. She is strong, fearless, and always knows what to do. My whole life, I thought the only path for me was marriage to some farmer. I would raise a family and feed the chickens. She has shown me that I could be strong and capable like her. I have more choice in my life than that.”

Tavis struggled to contain a laugh.

“Why is that so funny?”

“Ayawa wants to be like you. She wants to settle down and be a farmers wife and raise a family,” he said.

Gedris looked at him with a lost expression.

“Why?”

“I suspect she is sick of fighting. She told me she felt like this only a few days ago. I think meeting you made her question her future.”

“So she wishes to be more like me?” Gedris said aghast.

Tavis smiled and nodded. “She has done all the fighting she cares to do. She is ready to hold a baby in her arms. She wants somebody to teach her skills to and pass on what she knows.”

“This is why she is teaching me,” Gedris said with a faraway look.

Tavis nodded again. “I suspect that in many ways, you are a daughter to her.”

He glanced at her to see the frown on her face. “You're not happy about that?”

“I was hoping for something more,” Gedris said.

He choked on a laugh. “Your bold to just open up and tell me that.”

“I meant with both of you,” Gedris said.

He smiled and tipped his hat back down. “I don’t think Ayawa is the sharing type, and I would never betray her trust in me.”

Gedris sighed. “I know you won't. That was why I was focusing on her. I tried you, but you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“Is that what your bath was all about?”

She looked away. “I was being stupid,” she said. “I thought if I could win your favor, you might temper her for me.”

He laughed loud enough he had to cover his mouth.

“All I ever do is make you laugh at me,” she said.

“You can’t temper Ayawa, her family tried, her people tired, heck I’ve tried. Her fire burns too hot to be squelched.”

Gedris made a defeated groan. “I just thought you two might accept another. But you are like this Gersius, neither of you has room for more than one in your heart.”

Tavis nodded his agreement. “I was more open to it in my youth. I often had two girls I fancied at a time, but Ayawa claimed my heart and made me hers.”

“And this Lilly you told me about claimed Gersius’s,” Gedris sighed. “Your sure he would never take another?”

Tavis shook his head with a wide smile. “If Gersius takes another wife, not only will I give you my hat, I will tell Ayawa to take you.”

“You could have just said you were sure,” Gedris snaped.

Tavis laughed again and smiled at the woman who walked beside him fuming.

Half an hour later and they were at the base of the hill as Ayawa crept over the top and then a minute later waved them up.

They crested the hill and made their way down. The far side was a grassland of waist-high weeds and scrub. About a mile out to the east was the edge of a forest where Tavis guessed the monsters must have gone.

“Do you see anything?” he asked Ayawa as she paced around the site. He noted she looked agitated a state she never took unless she was stressed.

“This is the spot where the box was set down?” she asked. She stood in a large area of the grassland where the grass was crushed flat.

“Yes, it was right there,” he said.

She nodded and pointed to the right. “Then, what made that impression?”

Tavis walked closer to see it clearly, and as he did, his mouth fell open. Not ten feet away was another area where the grass was crushed, and beyond it was another.

“These are not the first ones to be unloaded,” he said.

“How many bandersooks did you see?” she asked.

“I don’t know, maybe thirty,” he replied.

Tavis watched as Ayawa stalked through all three of the landing spots and studied the paths left by whatever came out of the boxes.

“So there are potentially a hundred of these monsters heading to Mordholm?” Gedris asked.

“ No,” Ayawa replied as she studied the last path. “This path was made by booted feet. Two of these paths are bandersooks, and this one was made by men.”

Tavis joined her as she looked down the path.

“These were all made tonight, and the men were first,” she said.

“So there are Doan here as well?” Tavis asked.

Ayawa looked down at the tracks and then knelt to run a finger over one. With a shake of her head, she replied. “These feet are two heavy for Doan. These were men in plate armor and metal boots.”

“Priests,” Gedris said.

“Or heavy infantry,” Tavis added trying to sound positive. He saw the look in both women's eyes and knew they didn't agree. He knew what it meant and cursed his luck.

“They are going to use the bandersooks as shock troops to soften them up before hitting the temple with the priests,” he summarized.

“Wear them down, use up their power, and kill some of them,” Ayawa said. “Then walk right in when they can’t resist.”

“What about the city watch?” Gedris asked. “This isn't a small town. There is a wall and a gate.”

“They either have a way in, or they intend to storm a gate,” Ayawa said.

“How hard would it be for a few priests of Astikar to walk right in and then seize the gates from inside?” Tavis asked. “The city guard might not even see them as a threat until it is too late.”

“We have to warn them!” Gedris pleaded.

Ayawa cursed in her native language and stamped a foot.

“We have to warn them,” Tavis said, agreeing with Gedris.

“I know we do!” Ayawa scolded. “But we also have to meet Twocrow!”

“We can slip into the city, deliver the warning, and run right back out. If they know what’s coming they will be able to prepare for it,” Tavis said. “We don’t need to stay and help them fight.”

“We will have to run hard all through the morning to circle and reach the city before them,” Ayawa pointed out.

“We have horses, they are on foot,” Tavis said soothingly.

“We will have to ride hard and recklessly then,” Ayawa snapped. “Every path leads to unnecessary risk.”

“If they capture the temple they will turn Ulustrah against Gersius,” Gedris added.

“We have to try,” Tavis said.

Ayawa looked up at him with angry eyes and nodded her head.

Tavis looked to the east as they set out riding at high speed. He hoped the coming dawn would find the city safe, and they would deliver the warning in time. If not they could be riding into the fires of battle and a desperate struggle to save Gersius. If he lost the support of Ulustrah, his campaign would be doomed. Tavis hoped it wasn't already too late.