After the meeting all the animals dispersed into their separate species and pitched camp. By dark, the clearing was overflowing with tents, creatures, and campfires. The representatives had all sent for their troops and now the whole forest was bustling with snickering, murmuring, and fleeting shadows.     
       When all had arrived, their wasn't enough room to hold them all so several camps were set up well out of sight of the clearing and some creatures even had to roosted in the trees surrounding the clearing.
The next day they prepared to discuss a strategy with the generals.
         Drawing the attention of the entire army, Teran called forth all the generals to join Shinx, the children, and himself in the center of the clearing.
        The dwarven general unrolled a map of Muria and the group circled around it.
        As the generals conversed, Arianna, Caleb, and Skyler, with Lilac perched on her shoulder, stood on the out skirts of the conversation observing and listening.
Caleb starred at the map and an intricately drawn canyon caught his attention. "I don't mean to interrupt, but do Scrall live in that canyon?"
"Of course," The dwarven general blatantly stated, "it's a canyon."
"Well, why don't we use them?" Caleb suggested.
         A chorus of murmurs rose up at the suggestion.
"Trying to use the Scrall would be suicide!" It was the elvin general.
          Other generals began to speak out aggressively against the plan.
Shinx leaned over to the dwarf. "Actually, Gorgrim, it could work."
"Really, how?" He announced obviously louder then Shinx had wanted.
         All the generals turned to her.
"We... anger them." At that all the creatures began to rant to their neighbor.
"Quiet!!!" Teran glowered at the group surrounding him. "Let her speak."
         Everyone fell silent.
"We lead them to the battle field in an angered state and let them loose on the enemy."
"But wouldn't it just attack our troops as well?" The feminine voice emanated from the Emo-shifter general.
"We could muzzle them." Caleb put in.
"Then they would be limited in their attack ability," Selene pointed out, "trust me I know."
"Wait a minute," It was the elvin general. "If we do muzzle them, we could tie a rope 'round their neck and ride them."
"That's absolutely crazy!" The voice belonged to the Dryad general. The tall women were all connected to a single tree that if cut down would kill them.
"That could work," Gorgrim, admitted, "the trick will be catching the beasts."
"Is anyone good at roping animals?" Skyler had not spoken a word that day until now.
After talking the plan over and then over again and again, they settled on a group of soldiers to wrangle the crazed creatures.
"We can't rely too heavily on this plan. There is a chance that the team will not return." The Dryad stood and left.
        Only then did everyone realize that the sun was sinking below the horizon. So, the generals called it a night and Teran dismissed them all.
"Do you think we have a chance?" Arianna stood beside Teran, watching the generals disappear into the night.
"Only if we can find a way to penetrate that wall." He looked haggard and worn out. It had been a long day.
"Well, hopefully tomorrow holds more productive than today." Arianna started to walk away.
Teran whispered, "Hope is all we can do."
————
The next morning the children sat in a circle with Gorgrim, Teran, and Shinx.
       Lilac leapt from shoulder to shoulder begging for scraps.
"Are we ready for today?" Skyler handed Lilac a morsel of bread.
"We're as ready as we'll ever be." Gorgrim stood and signaled the other generals with the shrill blow of his horn.
All gathered once again in the center of the clearing. The generals included Dalmen, Gorgrim, Teran, Shinx, Mia, and the elvin, Emo-shifter, nyad, dryad, Rathen, Sprite, dragons - there were five in all, and the griffin generals. The group sat circled around the map.
As the generals discussed, Lilac sniffed at Skyler's face. She petted her on the head and giggled.
         The little creature cocked its head, drew back, and jumped onto Arianna's shoulder.  
         Arianna looked at her then at Skyler and Caleb. She smiled then turned her attention back to the conversation of the generals.
Gorgrim pointed at the mountains on the map. "If we cause an avalanche here, we could take out the wall here." He traced the route with his finger.
"But how would we cause the avalanche?" It was Maldrum, the general of the griffins.
"Wouldn't they just send all their troops to the weakened part of the wall?" The husky male voice came from a general that Arianna did not know.
"What about the lake? We could use it to our advantage and there are almost a hundred innocent nyads and dragons in that lake, we can't just bury it." The nyad general, Nila, interjected from her place in the creek that ran through the clearing.
"I'm not sure we can save it." Gorgrim wasn't going to give up his idea.
"Well, scratch that idea." Maldrum seemed fed up with all this hurried planning.
"If we freeze the snow, we might be able to keep it out of the lake." Matheson, the general of the humans, made the suggestion.
"If you believe it is possible, I am willing to try what ever it takes to save the lives in that lake." Nila showed her thanks with a slight bow to Matheson.
"That still doesn't explain how on earth we will cause the avalanche!" Maldrum was obviously furious.
"You are such a pessimist!" Nila was seemingly fed up with Maldrum's attitude. "We can ask the Snow Wraiths."
         Skyler opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again, not wanting to interrupt.
"Fine, but it will only work if we convince them to help us." Maldrum sneered.
"Oh, be quiet! You know as well as I that the Snow Wraiths hate Ronan as much as any of us." Nila had had enough. "And if you can't see that, you're even blinder then I thought."
Maldrum arched his back like a cat and growled. He was ready to pounce.
"Stop!" Everyone in the circle groaned or yelled as they covered their ears trying to block out the loud, almost deafening, voice. "Fighting will only help the enemy."
"Well I'll be darned." Gorgrim stared at the petite form of Lilac.
"The Helix is right." Teran addressed Nila and Maldrum specifically. "The more we fight, the easier it will be for Ronan to wipe us out."
"You're right, Teran. My apologies." Nila turned to Maldrum. "I'm sorry, I lost my temper, but we can't be questioning every strategy we come up with."
"I apologize as well, I'm just so used to having time on our side."
"Well, now that that's settled. We should head back to our tents and get some rest." Shinx caught everyone's attention and bid the group good night.
————
"A week of planning, and we are no nearer to waging our battle against Ronan." The leader of the elves sat with his head propped against his hand.
"We're planning as quickly as we can," Teran assured.
"Well that's not fast enough!"
"I understand your concern, but if we plan any faster then our fight will be lost before it has started. I will not endanger the lives of the entire army because of your impatience."
"Of course, but it simply concerns me how long it's taking."
"I understand. Many of the soldiers are becoming restless, but they don't know that haste will cost them their lives."
"I only wish we could end this without blood shed."
"I do too, but we lost that option many years ago."
"What about that girl? She seems to remind me of someone."
"Which one?"
"The older one, the one they call Arianna."
"Who does she remind you of?"
"Arial."
————
A full month had past since first the creatures had gathered in the glade near the mountains. They still were no closer to battle.
"We need to find a legitimate way in." It was the general of the Sprites, her short-cropped grey-streaked hair blowing in the gentle breeze of the morning.
"I know. I know." Gorgrim paced back and forth in front of the map, looking at it in what appeared to be disgust.
"Maybe... we could collapse more than one part of the wall." Skyler almost murmured it.
"That's brilliant Skyler! I don't know why we didn't think of it sooner." Matheson almost jumped to his feet as he spoke.
Gorgrim, very excited now, walked over to the map, "We could break an opening in the opposite side of the fortress from the avalanche and start attacking from there while Ronan's forces are distracted. We could..."
"Slow down Gorgrim." Teran stood. "That kind of hasty planning will get someone killed. Firstly, how do we collapse the wall there? I mean we obviously can't cause an avalanche on that side."
"Right. Right. My apologies I simply got carried away." Gorgrim seated himself in the grass.
"Could the dragons break through?" The question was directed to the dragon generals, for there were five. One had gills, fins, an elongated neck, and webbed claws. It was a bluish-gray color like the ocean. Another seemed to be made of light and hard to see. A third had four wings, a long neck, needle teeth, and a powerful tail. Its scales were like solid gray titanium. The fourth, a stout thing, had dark earth brown scales, a short tail with a deadly bouquet of spikes at the end, and thick, tough flesh. And finally, the fifth dragon, the largest of them all, stood in the back never uttering a word. It could easily swallow five to ten grown men in one bite. Its wings were each close to the length of a football field.
"The only way that my people would be able to make a hole would be to blast it with water from the lake side, which wouldn't help us much." The gilled dragon lamented.
"My people could only dig under it, not smash through it." The stout mud-brown dragon replied.
The dragon of light spoke up. "My people will do as little fighting as possible. We are not soldiers."
"Look at me. My people are not strong enough." It was the dragon with four wings.
"Great," Gorgrim murmured.
"Wait Gorgrim," Teran comforted, "what about your people?" He directed the question to the immense dragon in the back.
"To break through the wall would be a waste of strength. My people are few because of Ronan and his minions. I wish to save my strength to fight off his hordes of bedeviled creatures."
"As you wish."
"Then we've got to find another way through." Gorgrim was bound and determined to get through that wall.
"What about the giants?" The Sprite general remarked.
"They declined our initial invitation," Shinx explained, "I don't believe that they want anything to do with this battle. They still believe that peace is possible."
"They are fools." Nila commented.
"Well..."
"Excuse me." A short plump little Sprite appeared, hovering a few feet away. "I believe I might be able to persuade them. I have friends among their kind."
"How long have you been snooping, Aravis." The sprite general demanded.
"Well... long enough."
"Tierra, this brave young girl could be our chance to gain the giants help." Teran offered.
"Fine." The general consented. "Go, find them, and acquire their help." With that, the Sprite disappeared into the trees.
————
As the generals left, Skyler stared after them. "I wonder what's going on in their heads?"
Gorgrim walked up beside her. "Trust me. You don't want to know what goes through a man's mind before battle. You just focus on getting some rest. We have our strategy."
"It's a very rough strategy."
"Yes, well, once we're on the battlefield you'll see why we don't plan every detail." With that he ambled off towards his tent.
Skyler, having returned to the tent and laid down, stared up at the fabric above her, unable to sleep.
"Hey." The word startled her and she sat up. "It's okay Skyler, it's me." Arianna's silhouette faintly showed in the dark tent. "Is something wrong?"
"Well, it's just..." she sighed. "How are we going to do this?"
"What?"
"Defeat Ronan. I mean, we can fight back, but how do we stop him?"
The girls' conversation had roused Caleb. "Together."
        Skyler looked at him and blushed even though she couldn't really see him. "Together." She repeated.