(I will be going on hiatus for a couple weeks to rebuild my buffers and get my head sorted. Real Life has been crazy, and I just need a little time! Do not worry, I shall return triumphant, bearing gifts of new chapters!)

  Dr. Frank steeples his gnarled fingers as he leans in.

  “War? I do not sink you are being disingenuous, Mademoiselle, but… are le Garda not sufficient?”

  I shake my head. “I doubt it. We’re facing the threat of all-out invasion from a nation whose culture and way of life stems entirely from their military. We’ll be screwed if they destroy Vassim. We need volunteers. A couple of us are going round and trying to raise any extra defenders we can. If you have any willing helpers, we’ll gdly accept their aid.”

  The old, sick man furrows his wrinkled brow. “I will… ‘ave to ask, but… I sink a few will be amenable to ‘elping. I will contact you once I ‘ave ‘ad time to inquire.”

  I bow my head. “Thank you, Dr Frank. I’ve gotta go and see who else I can chase up and organize into a militia.”

  “You will ‘ear from me ter, mademoiselle Kettrin. I ‘ave much to do now, sanks to you!”

  The ugh the old man gives is heartfelt, and I smile despite myself as I head out to the wn, spreading my wings. “Aaand… HUP!”

  I spring up, my downthrust unching me upwards, and power through the sky, as I head for Bloodbath & Beyond.

  Filling in Ulged, Trinity and Mur doesn’t take long, and I then head for the Trevalli estate, where I enlist as many members of the DFC Guild as I can. While the numbers are decent, I can’t believe it’ll be enough. Time… to go and speak to the Queen of the Monsters!

  While on the way to Mortis City, I get in touch with Sionnach. She’s been busy helping Marika get her new character in shape, and I smile as the pair immediately agree to help.

  And finally, with Mortis City around me, I begin hunting for the tiny Andromal pyer. It takes almost three hours to find her, since she seems to bounce from pce to pce within the city, dealing with disputes, settling grievances, and organizing whole hosts of other things, with plenty of delegation to prevent any one person from being overwhelmed.

  Eventually, however, I manage to catch up to her as she finishes knocking a troll on his ass.

  “I SAID, you need to stop causing a ruckus, Flint! Now cool off before you break anything else! Seriously, quit pying cards against those cheaters every week, or you’ll keep losing!”

  I pant, wings furling, as I ctter to the cobbles nearby.

  “Mortis! I’ve been chasing you all over the city! You are… VERY hard to keep up with!”

  She grins up at me. “Well, if it isn’t Kettrin! What’s up? You’ve got something important to say?”

  I nod. “The capital, Vassim City, is on the brink of war. The Pesian Dynasty, to the far north, has begun making invasion pns. They took over a mansion in the heart of the city’s residential district, and we only managed to root them out with some difficulty. Some of the mercenaries were pyers, too, which means we may have traitors within the walls. And with other pyers not feeling like it’s that important, we’ll be hard-pressed to raise an army to support the guards. There WILL be causalities…”

  Mortis grins. “A war?! Sign me up! I’ll get together with the Evil Council and tell them they finally have a deserving group of bastards to wage war against! That’ll get them off my back for a while! I owe ya one!”

  I blink. “That easy?!”

  Mortis shrugs. “Hey, you need an army, and I need the Evil Council to quit griping about not being allowed to go around genociding things. This way, we both win!”

  I sigh. “That’s a relief. I can only hope my… my wife… is having as easy a time of it as I am.”

  “Wife??”

  I blush. “O-oh, yeah. Asteria proposed, and I accepted. We’re engaged!”

  I show off the ring, and Mortis beams. Turning to a nearby guard, she roars, “HAROLD! THEY’RE LESBIANS!”

  “Dangit!”

  I blink, and Mortis crifies, “Harold’s been debating on asking you out. I told him it wouldn’t work, but he didn’t believe me until just now. Anyway, how long do we have?!”

  “Four months at most.”

  Mortis grins. “Fun! We’ll bring out the big-boy toys for this one! It’s gonna be great!”

  As I turn back to my menu, trying to think about who else I can round up, Mortis calls, “You might wanna try and wrangle some of the people of your homend! Soldiers from Aerene might be the fight-winner, ya never know!”

  I halt, eyes widening. “Good idea! Let me have a think about who’d be willing, after we utterly humiliated their leaders.”

  After about ten minutes of furrowed brows and deep thought, I shrug. “Ah well. No time to think about that now. Time to call Harvenhaight.”

  With my childhood friend on the line, I expin the situation, and he breaks off to have a furiously-whispered conversation about my information with someone. Then, he comes back.

  “We’re in. The Pesian Dynasty uses a lot of necromancy in cruel and brutal ways, and Lord Elif Thade’s stance on their actions is that they must be stopped. You’ll have a complement of Dark Fools at your disposal, led by me and Jared.”

  I blink. “Dark Fools? What, like… jesters? Clowns?”

  “Sort of. We specialize in… let’s call it ‘erratic warfare’. You’ll see when we get to the messy business.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “Erratic Warfare? Oookay, I guess I’ll wait to see what that even means. Thanks, Harvenhaight. Say hi to your boyfriend for me!”

  I disconnect, and begin pnning my trip to Aerene. The Skyborne there will likely be a pain to deal with, though, thanks to Ulged setting up a private Translocation Beacon in the cave we’d trained Mor to fly, I can zip over there easily enough. Plus, my sudden appearance might put them in a more ‘agreeable’ mood.

  Emerging from the training cave, I adjust my wings, furling them tight as I take several deep breaths, before marching towards the pza where the Heart Crystal stands, the soft glow drawing my gaze. There are Skyborne everywhere, as well as a few Argonauts, conducting business, trading, eating and drinking, or taking quests. A couple of Argonauts recognize me, waving, and I grin and wave back, as a Skyborne bnches, turning on his heels and legging it at full speed, a look of abject, impotent fury on his smug face. I shout after him.

  “Hey, KARRUL! I WANNA TALK TO YOUR DAD, YOU LITTLE WEASEL! GO BRING HIM HERE, OR I’LL COME AND FIND YOU!”

  With that settled, I lounge on a bench near the Heart Crystal, waiting. Luckily, it seems Karrul hasn’t gotten over his fear of me and what I can bring to bear on this entire archipego should I feel justified, and in about twenty minutes’ time, his father and a couple of other important-looking Skyborne are hurrying my way, looking nervous.

  “L-L-Lady Argonaut, you… you’re here. What, err, what seems to be the, um… problem?”

  I stand, adjusting my grip on the haft of my Stormbringer.

  “There’s no problem, YET. I’ve come here to ensure that my instructions are being carried out, as well as to enlist any willing volunteers among your people who consider themselves to be decent fighters. We are about to be at war, and we’ll be recruiting. And don’t think that the Pesian Dynasty will just ignore you. Should Vassim fall, it’ll be only a matter of time before they come after you lot.”

  The headman of Aerene splutters for a moment, then his eyes narrow. “You… need us, then. In exchange, I’ll need something from you. That horrible bone-giant your, um… bck-winged compatriot raised. I know he had it burrow back underground, but… we want to be sure it’s gone. It’s stayed dormant, so far, but it’s impossible to focus when… the thought of that thing erupting out of the earth again…”

  He shudders. “Get your comrade to ‘remove’ it, and you will have your soldiers. I swear it.”

  I smirk. “I’ll talk to him right now, if that suffices?”

  Then, I contact Harvenhaight, asking about the bone colossus he forged while in Aerene. The response I get back makes me snrrk, and I clear my throat to cover it.

  “Alright, he’s dispelled the magic holding it together. It’s gone. A simple task for a summoner such as he. Now, select those who are willing and talented, as well as capable of following orders, and I’ll come to collect them closer to the hour.”

  “By your command. They’ll be ready for you. Do you have… Any further business here, um… My dy?”

  I nod. “I’m going to walk the isnd, see whether you have upheld your oaths to me.”

  I turn and begin heading in a random direction. Once I’m out of sight, I re-read the message Harvenhaight had sent me.

  Oh, that thing’s been gone since I left Aerene! What, they thought it was still there!? That’s brilliant! XD

  I start to giggle, my wings rustling softly as I compose myself, as I check out the situation around. A couple of Skyborne, a male and a female, clearly husband and wife, are heading my way, the woman cradling an infant swaddled in a bnket in her arms.

  “Excuse me, Ms. Argonaut!” the Skyborne man calls, and I pause, curious about what they’re after. They approach, and I smile, an eyebrow raised. Then, to my surprise, the man bows, his wings slightly spread.

  “Thank you, for what you did. My wife and I just had our firstborn, and she’s a beautiful little girl. She’s wingless, like Morrigan was, and now that you’ve decred your protection, she’ll be able to grow up healthy and happy.”

  The woman gently moves her body to show off her slumbering baby, the sight of the sleeping infant melting my heart. I can’t stop a wide, warm smile from breaking over my face.

  “What’s her name?”

  The wife looks at her husband, who nods. “We… thought you should name her. We had a few names in case you didn’t come back, but now you’re here, would you name our daughter? Consider it our thanks for giving her the chance at a normal life.”

  I stare, stunned, before racking my brain for a good name, an auspicious one…

  I then remove my left gauntlet and pce a fingertip lightly on the baby’s sleeping brow.

  “Hope. Your name is Hope.”

  I slip my gauntlet back on, as Hope’s parents thank me once again, their eyes shining with pride. Done here in Aerene, I take off, heading to see if there are any other pces which might be willing to lend us some reinforcements…..

  FOUR IN-GAME MONTHS LATER…..

  The time has dwindled away faster than I’d expected. Contingents of troops from Aerene and Mortis City have arrived, alongside a battalion of Alven archers from the Sunlit Gde rallied by my wife, as well as every single member the DFC guild can round up. Dr. Frank has lent us three dozen of his students to act as communications officers, and we’d filled in Calumny, Retribution, Hydrophobia, and Fyrestorm, who’d promised to wrangle as many of their fans to help out as they can. I’d done the same, and I saw Asteria did the same, too, but… well, even with all we’d done, I hold no allusions that it’ll be easy.

  Lines of armed and armoured pyers, NPCs, and organized ranks of troops fill the fields outside of Vassim. We’d decided that the best way to defend the capital was to take the fight to the enemy. Since the Pesian Dynasty prefers the use of undead, we don’t want them getting close to the walls. If even one zombie or animated skeleton got past, the inside of the city would be a bloodbath.

  The warriors from Darkheart are arrayed beneath a thick bank of low-hanging cloud cover, shielding them from the sun’s rays, brutal spikes and bdes adorning each set of bck armour.

  There’s at least one mountain that wasn’t there before, jutting out from the range that flows into the Bck Peaks, but I don’t really have time to wonder about that now. A magical fre rises into the air and detonates a couple of miles away, and, inside the city, lining the walls, I hear Dr. Frank’s voice, rising with just a hint of his thick French accent.

  “WE WILL ‘OLD ZE WALLS! RAISE ZE MANA SHIELDS! FOR VASSIM! FOR VICTORY!”