Sorry about the long wait. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Jessa watches the group before them and smiles happily. There's only about twenty, but she has no doubt that they are dragon kin. They are wearing the same uniform that the enemy was wearing in the battle the day before. She thinks that the uniform itself is imbued with armor like qualities, it won't stop her but it will require more energy to get through it.

At her signal her guard and Dhiren's let loose with their arrows. Half the group goes down and Jessa is even happier. Now she gets to play with them.

She runs forward as do the rest of her guard and Dhiren matches her step for step. She is very thankful to Dhiren for giving her the magical boots. It makes it so that her guard doesn't out run her.

It doesn't take long for them to run through the disoriented group. Once they realized that it was Jessa coming after them they seemed to lose the will to fight even though they continued until they are killed.

"Oh, that was nice. Hopefully there will be more willing to play along the way." Jessa says as she cleans her sword off on one of the dead kin.

She then turns her attention to those that were fighting at her side. "Any one hurt?" She is already examining Dhiren to make sure that the blood is only that of their enemy. Then she turns to Jasper as the others tell her that only a few minor cuts they've already cleaned up. Since they aren't screaming in agony she doesn't think any of the enemy blood got into their wounds.

"Great! Let's see if we can find any more playmates before going back to the army." Jessa says brightly.

The guards aren't too thrilled at this but it's far better than having an irritable Jessa. They had enough of that on the trip to Lexin.

They range ahead for a few hours before Jessa tells them to rest and they wait for the army to meet up with them.

"Jessa, if the army is having magical assistance to make it to Silva rapidly then how are you sure that they aren't already ahead of us?" Dhiren asks as he is grateful to sit.

"The travel is compressed, I guess is the best way to explain it. We've cleared out far more than you realize since we were moved ahead along with the army. As I understand it, the deities are taking turns doing this since it is so complicated and difficult. They can't take the army from here to Silva all in one go so they've broken it up into stages. Part of the time we are marching normally then the spell goes off and we are super marching or that's what it would seem like to the rest of the world if they could see us. I think that when the spell goes off that we go so fast that other people can't even see us. We might appear and disappear  if people are looking at just the right times.

"So just how far have we come already?" Dhiren asks but the others are listening closely to Jessa.

"We've come more than half way to Roderick's city." Jessa decides after looking around. "I think we are rather close to where the white king had the ambush ready for us."

That makes all of them blink at Jessa. Weeks worth of travel was reduced to a few hours.

For Dhiren and the other elves this brings a great deal of relief.

"But then, what about the caravan?" Dhiren asks. He'd never cared much about making money before, but now he's a bit more anxious about the loss of what they have.

Jessa gives him a gentle smile. "Josnick and the caravan will be well taken care of. Don't worry, he'll get there intact with the caravan and it will be our job to make sure that there are locations for him to sell the wares that he'll be bringing with him."

Her words bring comfort to those around her but at the same time remind them of how bad things could be if the dragons are indeed attacking Silva.

"Jessa, you are needed," Alaric comes to her. Jessa and Dhiren and their guard get to their feet as Alaric moves forward.

"Where?" Jessa demands with a smile of anticipation.

"Josnick is about to have a visit from some dragonkin."

Jessa smiles even bigger. The elves and other guards pick up their weapons as Alaric does the spell that would take them all to the fight that's about to happen.

Alaric takes her to behind the enemy that is facing towards the humans that are traveling richly.

At Jessa's signal they let loose their arrows and that grabs the attention of the dragon kin. Noticing Jessa they blanch. They are so focused on Jessa and those with her that they don't realize that the humans that they've discounted have also let loose with arrows. 

The humans hadn't realized the group was there, but when they saw Jessa's arrows fly they were quickly able to get into position and attack themselves.

By the time the arrows were through there weren't many of the enmy still standing. Jessa frowns as she and the others go through and make sure that those down are truly dead.

"Not much of a fight." Jessa pouts a bit.

"Don't worry, Jessa, I'm sure that there will be more fun as they move foward." Dhiren comforts his wife. He's more than a little happy that there was so little fighting. But at the same time is happy that there is some or Jessa would be even more impossible than she had been on the way down to Lexin.

Alaric allows them time to confer with Josnick before he takes them all back to where the army will be camping for the night.

Josnick doesn't take any time in bedding down the mules. He smells the dinners cooking and it makes his mouth water. He hears the guards with him saying much the same thing.

By the time they are done the food is ready. It doesn't take long for the soldiers and guards to line up to get their own portion of food.

The leaders eat even as they go over just how much they've traveled and how far they stilll have to go. No one is happy, it seems that although they've cut off weeks of travel that they will still be several days to get to Silva.

Alaric finds her sitting by herself, with Dhiren watching over her carefully some time later.

"Jessa, I need to talk to you about something." Alaric thinks that letting her know and get used to the idea about her taking over as queen now will be smarter than dumping it on her all at once. He doesn't want her coming after him in anger, ever. He knows that he's unlikely to keep her from hurting him and if she's angry enough, killing him.

"Alaric, I would rather be alone right now."

"I know that you are worried about Silva. They are fine so far. The protections Kaiston and Lady Zira have placed are still more than enough. You might be able to break through their combined strength but it's doubtful."

"Yeah, I'm sure that they are protected. But what about Casterock and my cousin Sy? What about Kyron and the people there?"

"The little ones have reported that the dragons are mostly focusing on Silva and don't think much of the humans. They will take down Silva first then go after the humans." Alaric does his best to reassure his granddaughter. "Besides, I've placed protection around Castlerock. It's not as strong as that round my home there, but it will give any dragons without leave trouble if they try to enter."

"Don't fear for Kyron, Jessa. I wasn't able to help with transporting earlier because I was placing protection around Kyron. The humans are in place and have been practicing their archery. Some of them have become excellent and might even be able to take down some of the dragons should they attack." Jethro tells Jessa stepping carefully from the shadows into the light.

"Sy is doing well and although he still aches a bit from some of the tortures he went through, he is strong and leading his people in their defense. The people love him and he's already done more for them than his father ever did. He takes after his mother much more than his father, thank goodness." 

Jessa gives the human god a sad smile. "I just hope that I get to know him better once this is all over."

"Jessa, there is something I need to talk to you about. You should call in young Dhiren to hear this too since it will affect him just as much as it will affect you." Alaric tells her nervously. Jethro raises his eyebrow at this but stays quiet. He suspects what Alaric is about to say and can't wait to see what Jessa's reaction will be.