I finished dressing and stood, which was more of a trial than it ought to have been. A soreness around my nethers made it difficult to walk straight, for the moment. As I cursed Indsamling for his personality ruining what would otherwise be a fine encounter with a magnificent weapon and one who knew how to wield it, I looked around, and saw that ‘Castle Faydark’, as the sisters called their flying island, had settled into place outside Indsamling’s domain. I couldn’t see the Will of Winter or Kobold’s Guile, but that just meant that they were on patrol, most likely. The tundra was not a safe place, at the best of times, after all.

Clearing the area of local monsters did more than just secure the area while we waited for the enemy to come to us, naturally. A clever or savage foe could drive monsters before them. Even if they were little more than fodder, they still had to be dealt with, and drained resources that would otherwise be used to defend against the real threat. The less potential shields out there, the better.

Fatigued: Cannot run or charge. -2 Penalty to STR and DEX. Doing anything that would cause Fatigue will cause Exhaustion. This condition will be removed after 8 hours of complete rest.

I took a deep breath, and spread my wings. I could feel the fatigue in my bones. It wasn’t to the point of exhaustion, not yet, but I would definitely need sleep before I did anything too strenuous. Another breath, and I took to the air, flying up to the island before me.

The spectral archers on the walls nodded to me as I glided over the walls, and came to an easy landing in the keep’s courtyard. That was about all they could do, given the limited nature of their ‘programming’. It wasn’t strictly programming, like a computer drone would be, of course, but the idea was the same. The archers were not complex enough constructs to do more than nod at friendlies, and fire at foes.

Ebonheart trotted up from where he had been resting in the sun. “Well, you finally came back! We were starting to place bets on whether you’d be finished before the archons got here or not!”

I shrugged wearily, and said, “Well, you know how it is. Immortal primordial fey have far greater stamina than mere mortals like ourselves. So, how long have I been gone?”

Ebonheart laughed, and swished his tail at me. “It has been a full day and night since you left with the fey. This is the second day since we came to this place. If you’ve been doing nothing but fucking that whole time, I’d say you’ve got quite a bit more stamina than the normal person, yourself.”

“Oh, gods. Siora and Vestele are never going to let me hear the end of this.”

“Damn straight we’re not!”

I sighed as Siora’s voice came from behind me. Turning, I saw the two fey’ri standing there in the door to the keep, with smug looks on their faces, with Fartooth between them, trying not to laugh. With a weary wave, I said, “Well, that’s just great. I trust, since we’re all standing around like this, that nothing’s happened since I was gone?”

“Yes,” Siora nodded. “It has been fairly quiet around here. A few monsters have been seen, and dispatched by the ships. But the area is pretty barren, despite the fact that water is close by. I would have thought that more life would be around here.”

“No,” I shook my head. “The herds of elk move south at this time of year, and the predators follow them. Including the tribes, since that is how they get their food. The only ones who don’t follow the herds are the people of the Nine Towns, and a clan of dwarves who live in some mines near the base of the mountain.”

“The towns have fish from the lakes, as well as whatever food they can grow in the cold ground, right?” Vestele asked. “What about the dwarves? Are they the same?”

“Yes. The joke in Sleetmouth was that that they ate rocks, since they didn’t ever need to trade for food, more than a few bits now and then. But the truth, at least according to the priestess who trained me, was that they had orchards of mushrooms and other such things from the Underdark growing in their caves, as well as a source of water from an underground spring. She said that the whole of the Dale could be overrun by monsters, but those dwarves would be able to outlast any siege, save for ones where the enemy could literally part the earth to get at them.”

“You never met them?”

“No, they did not trade much with the towns, save for during the season, when the caravans came. I left upon the first caravan heading south, which had left earlier than most to try and get a jump on the trading season. Almost cost them everything, when goblins attacked, but we survived.”

I sighed, remembering those days that felt so long ago, and then shook my head to clear away the memories. It was not time to reminisce about the past. We still had enemies ahead of us. Maybe later, there would be time for such things, but not now.

“So, what of our archon ‘friends’? Since we’re speaking so easily, I would hope that they are not almost upon us, and I’ll have plenty of time to rest? Not to put too fine a point on it, but I’ve spent the last day, it seems, getting my guts rearranged, and I would appreciate some time to rest before the fighting starts.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Sanvi has been keeping tabs on them with her scrying magic. They are actually taking this seriously, so we’ll have some time to rest and prepare ourselves.”

“What do you mean?”

“The archons did not just rush out of Sleetmouth the moment we cut off communication with them. Instead, it seems that they called out to the rest of the ‘family’, to spread the news. Apparently, Zadkiel then tried to contact his missing trumpet archons. Including Sanvi.”

I chuckled. “How did that work for him?”

“Not well,” Siora grinned. “The two dead archons aside, Sanvi is changed enough from her old self, and no longer has the bindings she was trapped by. The spell did not connect. Whether Zadkiel is intelligent enough to understand that this is due to her having changed, or assumes she is dead, I cannot say. But he knows that three of his wives are not coming back from the mortal plane.”

“Good,” I nodded. “It serves him right to have some suffering. I hope he can suffer much, much more in the future. So, with the enemy finally alerted to the threat we pose, what will they do?”

“Well, Sanvi was about to come back, after finishing her latest bout of scrying.” Siora looked up, and grinned. “In fact, I think I see her now.”

I followed the beguiler’s gaze, and saw Sanvi gliding down from the clouds above. Landing gracefully next to me, the fallen archon fell to one knee, and said, “My Queen, I am glad to see you safely returned. I trust that your meeting with the leshay proved… fruitful?”

“Ahem!” I cleared my throat, suddenly aware of the renewed leers of my friends and companions. “Yes, well, obviously it is too soon to say whether things are completely settled, but I will say that we made a very solid effort to lock that in. Everything blurs together a bit, but I do remember him being quite… overpowering. To the point where I required healing magic more than once to keep things moving.”

“Details! I need details, damnit!” Vestele grinned. The rest also nodded vigorously, clearly spoiling for the sordid details of my tryst with an immortal being.

Seeing little choice in the matter, as they wouldn’t let things go until I gave them what they wanted, I caved, and told them what I remembered of the experience. Of course, I also made sure to leave in all the conversation, and the way we parted. No sense in giving them the wrong idea, after all.

The result was, as I had expected, a mix of scandalized tut-tutting and schoolgirl giggles, depending on what part of the story I was at. Siora and Vestele were practically salivating when I described Indsamling’s size. They both said that they’d had bigger, but admitted that being fucked hard enough that actual magic was needed to heal someone? That was almost unheard of, save for instances of an ogre splitting a poor gnome maiden in half, or similar. No matter how accustomed you were to larger sizes, the body had its limits, after all. But to reach those limits in a creature the same size as you? That was impressive indeed!

Fortunately, their admiration cooled when they learned more about what Indsamling had wanted out of me. Siora sighed, and said, “You see a lot of that, when dealing with powerful immortals. Some of the demons that sired our line have tried to claim House Faydark as their thralls in the past, you know. They just assumed that we would fall in line, and do as we were told, all because they had been summoned to breed a new generation!”

“Yes,” Sanvi nodded. “My father is the same way. As are many of those who dwell in the higher planes. They just assume that, because they have power and status, they can do as they please, so long as it remains within the strictures of their lord’s commands.” She paused, and then said, “And that arrogance passes on, beyond the simple bounds of claiming those they bed as their women.”

“You mean like how those three hounds couldn’t fathom that we already beat the two trumpet archons,” I grinned. “They were talking about how ‘mere mortals’ couldn’t do such a thing. Even now, I bet that they’ll set the blame for their defeat on your betrayal, rather than our abilities. Even if they drag back those archons from the dead and question them, they’ll still assume that it was your doing.”

“The hounds will, for certain,” Sanvi nodded. “But the solars and my father? I am not so sure about them. Zadkiel certainly won’t, since he’s suffered under your blade before. He will be cautious, and he won’t be alone. He will most certainly come with allies to help spread your attacks out, and keep them from focusing on him.”

“Damn it, I hate it when enemies start trying to get smart, and stop underestimating me!”

“Then perhaps you should not have shamed him so greatly in your last encounter?” Sanvi giggled. “Zadkiel’s hate has driven him past the point of his usual arrogance, at least where you are concerned. Even if he was in a mortal shell for that fight, and could not draw forth his true power, that loss struck deep, especially when Tyr forced him to carry the scars as a token of humility until he defeated you.”

“So, it is the same arrogance, but tinged with vanity and wounded pride, rather than resting solely on his being an immortal being of the higher planes? I can deal with that. He may be coming in his full power, but I’m no pushover when it comes to fighting, myself. And I’m not stupid enough to try and take him on by myself.”

“Ah, speaking of which,” Sanvi said, just remembering what she was about before the conversation took a twisted turn, “I have the latest from the attempts at scrying. There is good news, bad news, and worse. Which would you like first?”

“The good.”

“My father and his remaining brides will not be teleporting to the Dale to help them in this fight.”

I nodded slowly. “That is good. But I assume it is directly linked to the bad, or the worse?”

“It is. The bad news is that the hound archons have managed to recruit reinforcements of their own: a flight of dragons from the higher planes. Individually, they may pose no threat to you, but they are lead by Kulrys, a half-celestial red dragon in the service of Torm. He leads by virtue of being the eldest, and having the strongest magic, but the other dragons with him are all Gold or Brass in color, and not one of them is younger than an Ancient, in their own right. And there are twelve of them, in total. They’ll be here on the morrow, ere noon.”

I whistled softly. “That… is pretty bad, yes. Yes, I can definitely see how that would count as bad news. But it also makes me wonder what is the worse news you mentioned?”

“You revealed yourself as Queen Rimedancer when you taunted the hound archons. And, while you did not give away the land you ruled directly, that was more than enough for Zadkiel and his connections to link you to Frostreach, especially with how you set up your reign, and it being a stronghold of Auril in the world. Zadkiel is gathering an army to march upon Frostreach, and crush it. By my reckoning, the army will be ready to move in two tendays.”

“Well, fuck. Guess I need to send a message to the palace, so that they can begin calling up the army. And then I’m going to sleep, and hope that I’ve regained the ability to walk straight in the morning!”