Before Craven could say anything, the doors flew open and slammed into the wall on either side of the Council Chamber. Since no orc in their right mind would've entered the King's Council Chamber who wasn't a member of the Council, he was not that surprised that those who entered weren't orcs. Craven was standing and his eyes met the eyes of 'Feuryn', leader of the Duvendis, and the unknowing mother of his mate. She looked angry and her silver-blue eyes had gone straight to him.

"Why have you called a meeting without including me?" Her voices howled like the wind making all but two or three in the room shudder. She tilted her head a fraction of an inch when she saw the orc that was standing had not reacted at all to her voices. She waved a hand and the guards closed the doors behind her and her Duvendis companion.

"I apologize, Feuryn. We had unexpected guests. Our riders from the mission have returned with urgent news." Kakaroth told her as she still stood facing Craven. Her eyes only glanced at the other female Valkyri, who were the only ones out of place in the Council Chamber, before refocusing on the male. He bowed politely, but didn't sit and she was surprised by his bold gaze especially for an orc so young. The Noble closest to the Feuryn got up quickly and offered her his seat with a deep bow, as he backed quickly to stand closer to the King. She put out her hand to stop the Noble on the right side of her from trying to offer his seat to her companion, who instead elected to stand behind her.

"Continue, orc. How goes your mission?" Feuryn hissed with her voices and her familiar silvery blue eyes on Craven.

"We made it to Akilineq." Craven started, looking away from the Feuryn to be able to think back clearly. "The Dagda was able to give us the spell, but not all of the ingredients." Craven almost smiled as the Feuryn let out a Duvendis hiss and it sounded identical to Sephira's. "She told us we need the blood of the one to banish as well as ingredients on the other side of the continent. We were on our way back over the Nautic sea when our ship was hit by a storm and we all got pulled through a portal to an island called Hesperides." Craven glanced at Feuryn to see if she looked familiar with the island, but he noticed the orcs all looked shocked or skeptical and she didn't give away anything in her eyes. "What we had of the spell was lost in the wreck, but all the riders survived. The portal to get off the island led us to the Hessian desert. We traveled North to Arcadia before sending our human companions away to send word to the Alliance about the Dagda's spell and our plans to infiltrate the Nimbi army."

"You sent the humans away?" One of the Nobles started to complain.

"Shut up!" Feuryn demanded with her voices.

"S-uh, soon after we arrived in Arcadia, we were given orders to travel North to Thule by one of the Lieutenants. The dragons stayed far away and we made our way to Thule on horseback." He said, unable to stop himself from glancing at Feuryn, who sat calmly with her hands folded over her mid-section as she sat back in her chair with her elbows rested on the arms. "We captured a turned orc on the road and the naiads attempted to reverse the curse on him. It was harder than we expected and the orc was not right in the head. He had hallucinations and nightmares before he killed himself." Craven announced. Many of the Nobles gasped and a few murmured to each other about how strange that would be since orcs very rarely committed suicide since it was a sign of weakness in a culture that prized strength above all else.

"When we arrived in Thule..." Craven searched his mind for how to tell them only the important information.

"Azaesel arrived in Thule not long after we did." Rauka said, motioning for Craven to sit an relax before he said something he shouldn't. "He spoke about making a weapon to turn Duvendis. He wants to use a type of crystal from the Morian mines that may 'disrupt their wards'?" Rauka said carefully, with a nervous glance at Feuryn, who sat listening intently but not reacting. "The Grey Council arrived all together soon after Azaesel and we were able to attend a meeting with all the members and their Generals. They spoke of their attack on Gundam and their fear of getting too close to Duvendis territory." Rauka was treading carefully while trying to remember all the most important pieces of information. "We went with two members of the Grey Council to Gundam. One was assassinated during the night and Craven and I went to warn Gundam about the attack. Craven was able to kill the remaining member of the Grey Council, but two others joined the battle. One more was killed in the battle and the last one performed his curse which was when we decided to retreat."

"So there is only one member of the Grigori in Gundam?" Feuryn probed.

"Three more, including Azaesel, have been summoned and will likely bring legions of Nimbi with them." Craven explained.

"They will be planning to go further into orc Territory if they summoned that many." One of the Nobles announced.

"We need to gather the Red Army before the other Grey Council members arrive!" One of them said.

"No, they won't attack while there is only the one. We may have time to coordinate an attack if we can appeal to the Alliance for aid..." One of them said with a nervous look at Feuryn, who sat quietly and Craven felt like her eyes were on him.

"But more of our men will be turned. Even with the whole Red Army, three Grey Council Members and Azaesel are too much. We could lose our whole army in one battle!" Another one argued. Craven saw Kakaroth stifle a cringe on his other side as the Noble gave away their weakness to the Duvendis.

"The Grey Council plans to attack Duvendis Territory. They are expecting Duvendis to attack if they make it to Tartarus." Craven spoke up carefully, looking up and making meaningful eye contact with Feuryn before continuing. "Even without the Alliance's help, six Duvendis may be enough to rid us of Azaesel and the three other Grey Council members if we were to attack without warning during the night..." He said slyly, trying to challenge Feuryn rather than beg like some of the Nobles would. He could see her eyes considering it and he couldn't help smirking at the look that reminded him so poignantly of Sephira.

"Very bold, orc." Feuryn said with a smile in her voices. "Perhaps we'll consider it if we get something in return..." Feuryn answered with hissing voices, before turning her gaze on Ruichon.

"We will reconvene tomorrow with a proposal." Kakaroth said for Ruichon as he stood up and bowed to the Duvendis. Feuryn shoved her chair out and her companion opened the door for her while the Noble that had been standing opened the other.

When her authoritative footsteps had faded down the long hallway, many of the Nobles sighed.

"Rauka, you should go see your family. It's been a long journey." Craven murmured to her, feeling a little defeated.

"Thank you, Craven. Good luck." She told him with knowing brown eyes. She could tell his worry was not only for his people and his home, but for Sephira in Gundam.

"Do you think she wants land?" one of the Nobles murmured to Ruichon, whose eyes went to Craven. His eyebrows pushed down.

"Don't look at me for answers! I'm not even on the King's Council." Craven growled, standing to his full towering height as he started to leave. Ruichon caught his arm.

"Craven, I'm sorry I didn't tell you..." He murmured, his voice reminding Craven of what it sounded like when they were young.

"It doesn't matter. Just focus on pleasing the Duvendis, or we will lose more than Gundam." He urged, before leaving the room.

It was Karsus that caught him this time right outside the Council Chambers.

"Craven, I'm glad you've returned safe and very proud that you have accomplished so much on your mission." He told him fondly.

"I had help..." Craven told him, shaking his head.

"Look, I know you're not a part of the King's Council officially, but Ruichon would surely appreciate your presence, especially with the dark elves." He told Craven in a hushed voice. Craven nodded and his father could see he would oblige by the look in his golden eyes. "Thank you, son." He said with a smile. "Get some rest." He told him, before relinquishing him finally.

*

"You have sharp eyes, orc. What have you seen?" Her voices demanded. Feuryn had appeared in his way on his way to his chambers to get some sleep. He didn't answer at first and then he guessed she was using a spell on him because he felt very compelled to tell her everything just by the look of her eyes.

"Your female wraith has infiltrated the Grey Council. It was her that killed two druids. I only helped her dragon kill the third. She's planning to move against Azaesel, soon." He said, trying to be vague and not let the worry about his mate show in his expression. He thought he failed when her eyes narrowed.

"And the male, isn't he with her?" She asked, seeming worried for Sorin despite her level voices.

"Both wraiths are alive, but I fear they're alone in a sea of enemies." Craven told her in a low voice, trying not to show his feelings for Sephira in his eyes. "Each Council Member has more than four dragons linked psychically with them and Azaesal has seven including one with three heads." He wanted to tell her about the wards, but worried that wasn't information that Sephira should've shared and he didn't want to get her in trouble.

"How do you know they're 'linked'?" Feuryn asked, concealing her shock that an orc would have any inkling what it meant to be tranced with a dragon.

"They heed unspoken commands. Their dragons bond much easier than ours." Craven announced.

"How do you know it's easier?" She didn't seem to comprehend that he was able to trance with a dragon.

"Because I was able to gain a Nimbi dragon myself. I've sent him to aid Sephira." Craven knew his mistake as soon as he said it and he could see the outrage in Feuryn's eyes. His heart beat hard in his chest as his body got ready to fight or run. He could see the same set to her shoulders that told him she was ready to kill him. She took out her dagger and stabbed it hard into the stone by his head before he had a chance to take a step as Crow's screeching call sounded through the nearest window.

"How much has she told you?" Feuryn hissed. Craven looked down on her as he had a sudden clarity come to his mind. His eyes went black suddenly as he found himself reaching out to Crow who he directed quickly before his eyesight came back. Feuryn doubted that she saw what she saw and her momentary complete shock was enough for him to grab both of her arms and switch places with her, pinning her to the wall. She tried to kick him with the dagger he knew she kept in her boot that was the same as Sephira's and he pressed his knee into her thigh to prevent it. Her eyes were wide and her mouth dropped open as Crow got the upper hand and was able to pin her dragon down.

"You're bonded to your dragon." She breathed, her eyes searching wildly for answers about what Sephira could have possibly told an orc to teach him to trance with his dragon.

Two other wraiths descended on Craven and he let go of Feuryn and put his hands up before it got any worse. He thought he had lost as their blades went to his throat, but Feuryn called them off with a flick of her finger before she removed her dagger from the wall and Craven gave Crow the okay to let her Vulpina go. He was surprised to think Caius would've been harder to pin down than Feuryn's Vulpina was.

"Perhaps you'd make a better leader of your people than your foolish King..." She murmured, before striding off with the other two Duvendis males following her. Her voice wasn't cloaked and it was different from Sephira's, but no less beautiful.

"You're lucky you're high-born." One of the wraiths said with his voices filling up the hallway making an orc coming the other way flinch and flatten to the wall as they strode by.

"Pissing off the Duvendis?" Hade (Hay-dee) accused Craven with a cringe.

"No, I'm more of a bystander." Craven muttered, shoving the door to his room open and ripping his armour off with his bed in sight. Crow was on his balcony and his red eye watched as Craven flopped face first onto his bed and was asleep in seconds.

Lhaethel paced as she got back to her chamber and wasted no time in shoeing her companions away as she tried to figure out what Sephira was up to. On one hand, she was glad her daughter and son were both alive and trying to take out the Grey Council, but she couldn't begin to figure out how an orc knew Sephira's name, bonded psychically with his dragon, and bested her without fear. She stopped pacing when she had a dark thought. The look in his eyes when he spoke her name. Could she have been daft enough to mate with an orc? Or maybe just one glimpse at that Undine face of hers was enough that the beast was just infatuated with her. She hoped it was the latter, though knowing her daughter, she wouldn't be that surprised if the former were true. The more she thought about it, the more she couldn't decide which she would prefer. Maybe he'd be more loyal if she had mated with him, than he would if he had only gotten a look at her...

Her thoughts moved to her son and daughter both alive and doing well on their mission considering the unfortunate shipwreck and loss of the Dagda's spell. She thought the human witch was a ridiculous idea anyway and had wanted to just kill the druids rather than waste time on far-fetched magick. She wasn't sure, even knowing her daughter and son were both in Gundam, if she wanted to risk her murder of six to attack four druids that they didn't know much about. What was to stop the druids from turning all the Valkyri against her small group with their strange magick? If she did attack at Gundam, there was a chance of failure and Sephira would have to reveal herself. It seemed she was having luck staying hidden and managing to assassinate the druids without her help.

She was leaning towards speaking with Celebria about reconvening the Alliance and wanted more information about the spells the druids were able to use before staging an outright attack on them. She guessed Sephira and Sorin would know more than the two orcs about the Grey Council's magickal abilities and wished she could speak to them. She had no idea what crystals were in the Morian Mountains in naiad territory, but guessed if there really were crystals, the naiads would've used them in the war. She wasn't very concerned about their magick affecting Duvendis, but if the orcs were overrun and were all turned to Nimbi, they would be a threat to the dark elves. She didn't know the capabilities of the Red Army, but guessed if Ruichon would just find the courage to gather his forces and fight back, the orcs would have the ability to push the Nimbi out of Gundam. She had sources that said goblins were putting pressure on their most southern borders despite the mountain ranges there, and she knew many of the Red Army forces were trying to hold back the many hoards.

She guessed that unlike his father, Raphus, Ruichon would hesitate to send the Red Army to the Duvendis' aid and that was the reason she didn't think sending her precious warriors to fight his battle was a good idea. It seemed like Ruichon had started to retreat from Azaesel instead of staying strong and just sending more warriors. It was not like the orcs to have such a non-committal, almost fearful leader. She guessed Sephira's orc would've already sent more units to Gundam to push back the last remaining Grey Council member or at least made a coordinated attack with Cain to protect both of their nations. She couldn't understand why Ruichon hadn't reached out to the humans. They had a shared interest in regaining their lands from the same foe. Why couldn't they just join forces? Did they hate each other enough to doom both their Kingdoms? Maybe it was because they were men?

Lhaethel was aware that if the orcs fell, her territory would be next, but perhaps if she was going to be forced into another war to protect the orc's territory, she should enlist the help of the Undine and Naiads. It wasn't fair that they claimed to be part of the Alliance yet it was her warriors that had stayed alone in Gundam while all the others had retreated and abandoned the mission. She spent hours deliberating and whatever Ruichon's council could come up with for a proposal didn't matter. If the Duvendis had to fight another war, the Undine and Naiads were too and this time they could be on the same side. She would refuse his proposal or change it. Even if the orcs were overrun, her plan was to use Undine and Naiads to reverse the Nimbi curse. If the rest of the Allied nations agreed to send their armies, she, Lhaethel the Feuryn, would send her warriors to aid in destroying the petulant Grey Council and she guessed by then Sephira would have killed more of them from the inside.

*

After one of the Nobles had delivered a proposal including crystals from the Southern caves, a small amount of land South of Eden, and all the crops that they could recover from Gundam after the battle, Craven could tell by Feuryn's posture she had no intention of taking the offer.

"Sending my murder into a battle with a largely unknown enemy isn't the answer." She said eventually with her voice cloaked.

"And what is?" Craven found himself speaking up, getting a kick from Kakaroth to tell him not to speak to Feuryn like that if he wanted to keep his head.

"Send troops to gather information about the druids while also reaching out to Cain asking him to join forces against your common enemy." Feuryn said boldly.

"And what about when they choose to take more of our Territory, they slaughter civilians and enslave our warriors." Craven growled, seeing almost an amused look in the irritating Feuryn's eyes.

"Move your civilians back and use your dragon riders to hold the Nimbi back." Feuryn said, with her eyes only on Craven and oddly, not on the King.

"You've shown no interest in our proposal." Craven said, trying to keep his voice calm as he tried to figure out why she would let a nation she considered her ally suffer. "You must have a plan to prevent your Territory from being affected." He accused, seeing still a hint of very irritating amusement in her eyes. He had narrowed his eyes as he peered down at her where she had lounged back in her chair and he found himself trying to picture her face, but only seeing Sephira's.

"We will accept the crystals, lands, and some crops, and in return, we will speak with the Undine and Naiads about returning your turned soldiers to normal." Feuryn said with something like victory in her voice. Craven sighed, and was about to accept her offer when he realized it wasn't his place to. He turned to Ruichon who to his surprise, was watching him. He guessed getting Cain's aid would be the only way they could prevent losing half their territory, people, and crops, but Ruichon was too embarrassed or frightened to try.

"What do you think, Craven?" Ruichon asked. Craven looked back at Feuryn who he could tell was smiling just by the shape of her beautiful reflective eyes.

"We will lose the lives of many of our people, not only our warriors fighting, but the Nimbi we fight are our own warriors." Craven said, seeing the smile fade from Feuryn's expression and seriousness return to her eyes. "We will agree to give you what you want, but what's important to us is keeping our people alive and returning them to their homes. If the spells the Naiads and Undine produce are not enough to return our warriors to normal... We need the Alliance to agree to help us save our people before our race is crippled." Craven's careful words had caused everyone in the room to go quiet. He was struggling to come up with a concise way to ask for their help in the war and felt like he was just rambling senselessly. He was still trying to phrase the deal, when Feuryn spoke.

"We will send aid if the Nimbi try to invade Tartarus, likely before that if the Undine and Naiads agree to help." Feuryn said calmly, making Craven nod. Craven didn't realize they were all waiting on him until nobody spoke.

"We will have a new contract written with those terms." Kakaroth spoke when he could tell Craven agreed. Ruichon nodded somberly.

"We must send Valkyri to Cain and perhaps forces to lie in wait outside of Gundam." Craven implored to Ruichon, who looked angry that Craven had brought it up in front of Feuryn to prevent him from voicing his reluctance again. Lhaethel had been about to leave the meeting, when Craven's demand of his own King made her stop to watch. Kakaroth had stood up and gone with a few others to the drawing table to start writing the contract and most of the others were still sitting, but looked like they were about to get up and leave.

"Why don't you go to Earth Kingdom?" Ruichon growled back at Craven.

"It doesn't make sense to send your best warrior to Earth Kingdom when you have Nimbi bearing down on us here!" Karsus spoke up before Craven could, making Ruichon scowl.

"You seem to know everything... Why don't you figure out who to send..." Ruichon grumbled. Craven raised an eyebrow as he thought of exactly whom he would send and Ruichon didn't look very happy about it.

"I think the Council should decide. Isn't that what we're for?" one of the older Nobles croaked.

"Yes, let's wait another day for the gorram Council to decide!" Craven burst out as he stood up. Lhaethel almost laughed at the same words her daughter had said many times before, that she was surprised came out of the orc that seemed drawn to her. Had she rubbed off on him, or were they just similar souls?

"Craven, my son. Relax." Karsus said, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"You don't know what I've seen, father." Craven growled, with his thoughts on all the soldiers that had just marched from Gundam and were most likely headed for Icharus or a similar place in Gregoria. "What do sources say is Earth Kingdom's status?" Craven asked suddenly, his father and King not missing the spark of an idea in his eye.

"Their status?" one of the Nobles asked like his question was crazy.

"Yes, how far have the Nimbi gotten into their Territory?" he asked, with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Why would we have that information?" one of the Nobles laughed.

"If four of the Grey Council are all here and we had left two in Thule. They aren't attacking Earth Kingdom..." Craven's eyebrows were furrowed as he tried to figure out if maybe the Earth King had made a deal of his own.

"You think the Earth King would betray the Alliance?" Feuryn asked sharply.

"I don't know." Craven murmured, worrying about if the humans were to work together they would be able to take all their lands.

"The humans joining forces... That would not bode well for us..." Karsus murmured.

"I was thinking, if we were to send a number of Valkyri to aid Cain as a show of good will, perhaps we'd be able to borrow some of his forces to aid in regaining Gundam..." Craven said softly, feeling tightness in his chest at the mere idea of the Earth Kingdom turning against the Alliance. Even with the elves, the Earth Kingdom and Lightning Kingdom would be arguably stronger forces, both having larger armies with more dragons than any of the other nations combined.

"Cain is not the type to make deals to stop war." Feuryn spoke. "He knows only war and if he made a deal with the Grey Council then you would've seen his men in Thule." She pointed out to Craven's relief.

"You're right." He said, his gold eyes still away in thought.

"It could be a waste of Valkyri to send too many units to aid Cain if he doesn't need aid." One of the younger Nobles spoke, with his eyes pointed at Craven.

"The Nimbi are deliberating. I don't think they know where to attack first. Their goal isn't really which Territory, it's which place they'll be able to get the most orcs to turn and use against the Duvendis." Craven said in disgust, as he looked down at the table trying to decide if taking Valkyri South made more sense than bothering with Cain.

"They want soldiers... so then instead of giving them soldiers, we should pull back all our footmen and cavalry and ambush with only dragon riders..." Ruichon said.

"But we don't have enough." One of the nobles pointed out, glancing at Feuryn, who had all but tuned them out as she sat like a statue.

"Well, this is a horrible idea." Craven started with a bit of smirk. "Their Nimbi dragons are very easy to control... We could try to gain dragon riders by using their dragons..."

"That is a horrible idea." One of the Nobles muttered. Craven almost brought up Sephira having six dragons, but still wasn't sure if he wanted them to know that.

"I was able to gain a dragon mid-battle. If we kill the riders, the stupid thing will follow you easily. They don't have reins. Their masters use voice commands, but I guess I don't know any of their voice commands." He realized.

"How'd you take the dragon, then? Won't it try to attack Valkyri?"

"Nooo, I used it to attack the Grey Council member..." Craven mumbled. "Nevermind." He waved his hand, knowing if they weren't able to get dragons, they'd end up weighing down their dragons with non-dragon riders that would be too frightened to jump onto the other dragons to claim them.

"We will focus on training as many Valkyri as possible." Kakaroth said resolutely as he came over to place the document in front of Feuryn with the quill pen. "Any dragons with no riders will be placed with a rider and we may have to send some of our younger riders." He continued as Feuryn read the agreement carefully, and Craven found himself admiring her eyelashes that had been lowered with her black-painted eyelids as she scanned the document with her eyes darting back and forth. He watched her sign her signature in elvish and found he had a new interest in the alluring script.

"Good luck with your plight. I'm sure we'll speak again." Feuryn said, glancing at Ruichon before making eye contact with Craven, who stood up and bowed to her before she left the Council Chambers as Kakaroth bowed while he held the door for her.