The Sphinxes were invited to the Manticore Kingdom to negotiate how the Manticores would make amends for what they did, regardless of whether or not Oyed had ordered it. The meeting was going to take some time, so the fleet was ordered to make their way to the Falchineve Drider Colony in the Over-realm\u2019s Southern Continent. On the way, Arsha had rediscovered Mordek in his quarters. \u201cMy Lord!\u201d she yelped. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect you to come back!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had to come back when I felt a Candidate\u2019s Aura,\u201d explained Mordek. Arsha\u2019s face fell. \u201c\u2026You fear that power, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, big time. It\u2019s too much power for one person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWould it ease you if I said other groups of Divine Ones felt a Candidate\u2019s Aura from your lovers?\u201d Arsha then gave Mordek her full attention. \u201cYes, you\u2019re not alone, neither in power, nor fear of that power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou mean\u2026any of them can cause physical damage to Oyed?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the perks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut\u2026but I thought\u2026I mean, the prophecy said only one person can be the Champion!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not entirely correct. Yes, historically, one person has become our Champion, but we made it possible for multiple Champions. In this war, I\u2019d say we need all the Champions we can get.\u201d The instant his sentence finished, Arsha beamed. \u201cJust keep this between you, your lovers, and me and my brethren.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOf course, Lord Mordek.\u201d Arsha bowed before she headed off to her quarters to tell her lovers what she learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the fleet made its way to the Falchineve Drider Colony, Oyed was listening to a report about his forces. \u201cMy Lord, there\u2019s no use arguing facts,\u201d muttered Dr. Borg, \u201cwe don\u2019t have the numbers to fulfill your goals. And with an enemy fleet on the way here, we don\u2019t stand much chance!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey wouldn\u2019t dare bombard the Falchineve Colony,\u201d replied Oyed. \u201cThey would have to destroy the mountains to get to us. This is no retreat; this is us taking the Colony hostage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd suppose Arsha gets a better handle on her Candidate\u2019s aura?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have a plan in mind to prevent that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hope so, morale\u2019s dipping drastically. Our troops are at risk of losing their blind loyalty to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026I really wish you didn\u2019t say that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the Endeavor<\/em> entered the Over-realm, Arsha made her way to the conference room. She had been told by Falnii that the All-realm Royals wanted to speak with their children and Aldarval. She had been held up as an Engineer needed something signed off. When she finished, she entered the conference room to see Aldarval putting her foot down on something. \u201cOut of the question!\u201d she barked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAdmiral, that isn\u2019t your decision to make,\u201d replied Orbak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDaddy, you can\u2019t be serious!\u201d argued Malnar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAh, there\u2019s my daughter!\u201d called Elgrad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEveryone, what\u2019s going on?\u201d asked Arsha as she took her seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur parents are joining us on the front lines in the Falchineve Colony!\u201d replied Lardeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSays who?!\u201d argued Arsha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSays us!\u201d replied Elgrad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd you\u2019re in charge?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cElgrad, King, yeah!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cArsha, Princess, no! You\u2019re painting a big, honking, red and white target on your backs! You really think Dr. Borg won\u2019t catch wind of this and order her soldiers to target you guys?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy arguments against this exactly!\u201d supplied Aldarval. \u201cYour Majesties, I must insist that you stay in the castles!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been conducting this war from the sidelines for too long!\u201d shouted Emfam. \u201cWe need to join our troops!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve already made the decision! Whether or not you approve makes no difference!\u201d snapped Elmpam. \u201cWe\u2019re joining you, end of discussion!\u201d Their part of the call ended, leaving Aldarval and the heirs alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026I say this with all the loyalty I have for them,\u201d growled Aldarval, \u201cbut your parents are being stupid!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s putting it mildly, Admiral,\u201d remarked Malnar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, there\u2019s nothing for it,\u201d sighed Arsha. \u201cThey\u2019re probably going to be deaf to any arguments we have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI hate to admit when you\u2019re right on matters like this,\u201d muttered Lardeth as he folded his arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the meantime,\u201d interjected Aldarval, \u201cwe know why the enemy\u2019s retreated to the Falchineve Colony. Apparently, the Gryphons and Gorgons pledged their allegiance to Oyed a while ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut they aren\u2019t extinct! We\u2019ve had interactions since the First Age!\u201d reminded Arsha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019re also isolationist societies,\u201d recalled Malnar. \u201cThey don\u2019t like to interact with outsiders, not even those loyal to Oyed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo their ancestors may have pledged their loyalty to him,\u201d mused Lardeth, \u201cbut not their current descendants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot according to intelligence reports,\u201d sighed Aldarval. \u201cThey\u2019re threatening to join him unless we \u2018remove our property\u2019 from their lands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur property?\u201d asked Arsha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, a Realmfleet fortress is trying to encroach on their lands, according to them, and there\u2019s something invisible that\u2019s preventing them from expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe better take care of it,\u201d mused Arsha. \u201cDo we have any idea who\u2019s in charge of the fort?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cReports say it\u2019s a two-headed Troll,\u201d answered Aldarval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTwo-headed?\u201d asked Malnar. \u201cUsually those with two heads argue constantly with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah, well, it\u2019s rumored that this one\u2019s wicked smart and agreeable with themself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo we have any two-headed Trolls in our ranks?\u201d quizzed Lardeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe had one, my brother. He died defending Rokanth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThen who\u2019s the mystery two-headed Troll?\u201d mused Arsha. \u201cLike I said, we\u2019ll take care of the fortress and the invisible thing. \u2026You know, this might be what keeps our parents off the front lines!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think you got something there!\u201d replied Lardeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDarn right, she does!\u201d agreed Aldarval. \u201cCaptain Royana, make a pair of teams and inform your parents of the situation! By taking care of this, they\u2019ll still be fighting against Oyed!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWill do! Arsha out!\u201d The call ended and Arsha breathed a huge sigh of relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cArsha, you just saved us from an early coronation!\u201d breathed Malnar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo kidding!\u201d agreed Arsha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, how shall we do this?\u201d mused Lardeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got two hours to plan this out,\u201d declared Arsha. \u201cWe need to decide who takes care of what.\u201d Arsha, Lardeth, and Malnar then spent the rest of the trip planning out how to take care of the situation with the Gryphons and Gorgons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Sphinxes were invited to the Manticore Kingdom to negotiate how the Manticores would make amends for what they did, regardless of whether or not Oyed had ordered it. The meeting was going to take some time, so the fleet was ordered to make their way to the Falchineve Drider Colony in the Over-realm\u2019s Southern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,237],"tags":[482],"class_list":["post-4095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-three-realms","category-the-three-realms-book-4-trials-of-light-and-dark","tag-fantasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4095"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4096,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4095\/revisions\/4096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}