I apologize for this, but you have now reached the boring part of the story. You may have thought some of the earlier stuff wasn’t that interesting but compared to this it was. Even though Kralnik, and Vone, had returned, we were mostly just focused on getting ready for things. We knew the drants were going to attack again so we trained and planned and got ready for that. Winter was coming and we definitely needed to prepare for that. After winter comes spring, of course, which meant an attack on the Kathaldi headquarters and not only did we need to get everything in place for that, I was the one responsible for putting together the entire plan.

Getting ready is not very exciting. It is a lot of training, chores, and meetings. I like to think I am a creative guy and a great storyteller but even I am unable to describe meeting after meeting and make it not be boring. So, I’ll be jumping ahead from now on and trying to focus on the important things and the good stuff.

The next few days were busy staffing up my planning team. I put all of my friends from the trip to Aandarvi on it. After all, who had more experience fighting the Kathaldi than we did? I added Finril, High Priest of Lithrin Krince and General Murock, although they were too busy to join as often as I’d have liked. Thilos, Sir Aryoss and Padral had duties that prevented them from meeting with us every day, too, but we did what we could. The final members were Venzik and Welst. The first thing we did was add to the letters. Everything we knew about the Kathaldi, the fact that the drants had tried a sneak attack, and the plan to attack the Kathaldi headquarters in the spring. We had to use mages to lighten the letters so that the birds would be able to carry them. It took several days to get them written, because we ended up writing one to every temple, the ruler of every city, every warder commander, every spymaster and all the knights we could think of. It took all the birds we had access to in the entire city, including some we had to buy from traders. The day after that Thilos informed us that the drants were finally on the move from the ruins of Drantor’s temple.

Lord Tarin called a meeting in the campaign room and I was ordered to attend. I won’t bore you with the details of the meeting except for one part. Thilos reported on the number of drants on the way, which he and the warders and other scouts estimated at between seven and nine thousand. I mentally doubled that and then rounded it up to twenty thousand based on the sneak attack and how our luck had been running. “They should start arriving here in five days. That is everything I have to report.” Thilos looked to Lord Tarin.

Finril spoke next. “Since we have nowhere near that many fighters with which to face the drants and we need to destroy them if we are to launch an attack on the Kathaldi in the spring I propose we use my mages as much as possible to even the fight.”

Lord Tarin nodded. “Agreed. That is why you were all sent here from Aandarvi, is it not?”

“Yes, in part.” Finril gazed around the room at the twenty or so people gathered for the meeting, most of who I didn’t know. “But our main mission is to defeat the Kathaldi and if we use our powers against the drants we must assume the Kathaldi will know everything we do and attempt to prepare for it before we are able to use the same methods in our attacks against their headquarters.”

Lord Tarin turned to me. “Lord S’Vig, how does that fit into your plan.”

“We all know that the Kathaldi are supposed to have mighty mages. Finril faced them at sea on our voyage from Aandarvi and discovered that the stories from history appear to be true. We must hold at least some things back to surprise the Kathaldi. My planning team will meet with Mage Finril to determine what our mages will use now and which things to keep for surprises during our campaign in the spring.”

That was that. There was a lot more talking because it was a meeting and that’s what happens during meetings. Everybody gave their opinion and felt important but in the end Lord Tarin left it up to me and my team.

Later that afternoon the entire team met to discuss what magic to use and what to save as surprises for the Kathaldi. We were meeting in the conference room closest to my office. There were no refreshments as I wanted to discourage everyone from lingering. “Finril, I think we should leave it up to you what magic will remain hidden. Would you share your thoughts with us?”

I stood at the head of the table but Finril remained seated opposite me at the foot of the fancy oval we were gathered around. So did everyone else. “We should reserve everything we have that is capable of destroying, at least in some part, the mountain that the Kathaldi have as their base. That means anything relating to moving earth or smashing anything. That leaves fire, missiles, acid, shields and assorted other magics for dealing with the drants.”

“That sounds good to me.” I said. “Any questions from the rest of you?”

Padral stood. I suppressed a sigh. “We have been researching magic designed specifically to help us destroy Mount Kathaldi. Now we are called on to help fight the drants. My question is this, which of those things has the priority?” He sat back down.

I was still trying to figure out if Padral was trying to be helpful with his question when Sir Aryoss stood. “Is it not the case that if we destroy the drants as quickly as possible then you mages will be able to spend all of your time on research?”

Finril nodded. “Yes, presuming all of the mages survive the battles with the drants.” For some reason I enjoyed the fact that he stayed seated while everyone else popped up and down to speak. It’s a good strategy. I wished I could sit down now without looking like I was just copying him.

Thilos rose and turned to Finril. “Perhaps we should assign some troops to guard the mages as their sole duty. Or do you have enough guards to accomplish that?”

“That would be appreciated. When this meeting is concluded would you be so kind as to accompany me to speak with General Murock?”

Thilos nodded and sat back down. I cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention back on me. “If that’s everything then let’s get back to work.” No one had any objections, so they all stood and started to leave. I motioned to Thilos to join me. “My brother Jarim tells me that my father has enlisted in the army, as I suggested, do you think you could get him assigned to guarding the mages?”

“You told your father that he should enlist? At his age?”

I shrugged. “I was angry. He asked how he could help, after all these years, and that just came out. I didn’t think he would really do it.”

Thilos laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. “I understand. And I will do what I can to keep him from the front line.”

“Thanks.” I said, thinking about how much my siblings would hate me if I caused the death of their newly returned father. Jarim hadn’t mentioned the fact that I was the one who came up with the idea of him enlisting so I hoped my stupid father had kept his mouth shut about what inspired him to do it. I could only imagine what Val would say if she ever found out.