A Blessing?

Bell was already highly aware of everything around them. She saw the fire, she didn't see the trajectory though because as soon as the fire left, she had left her horse in a swift single movement and landed on the Prince, bringing him down off his own horse and covering him with her body.

The fire landed several meters away to their right and she blushed slightly looking down into his eyes. She stood to her feet. "I see." She gathers the two horses back and holds them both so that he can remount. "Forgive me Mi'lord for that." She says under her breathe, her eyes darting to Lord Azazel. Perhaps you should not aim so close to the Prince. she grumbled low. She didn't like the idea of the Lord toying and showing off. It only added to her thought that he was to secure in himself.

Dagon adding to that with his comment on the no fear. "Everyone should fear. It's what keeps one on their toes. Perhaps we should do a few unplanned drills to add fear back to your father." She smiled wildly. She loved war games.

"As for vampiric dragon, I disagree. I exist do I not? I am both as well." She looks ahead of them once they are back on their horses.

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Bell's reaction only caused laughter and in that very brief moment of disorder Dagon kissed her and winked. "I could definitely get used to laying upon me." He teased and once they were both remounted the dragon above looked right at Bell and huffed.

We do know fear. Fear that our society will one day fall to a higher power. We are not ignorant of such things but for now we cherish what we do have. Nothing more was said at this point.

Dagon as they continued gazes at Bell. "You have a valid point. You and my father do share that in common. My birth on the other hand was very different so I can not place myself in that category. I was a live birth. Not from an egg." He nods.

The tower now coming into view as the great red dragon and the rest fly off to the tower and the great red land at the highest tower and disappears. Dagon takes a breath and knew what laid within. Was his mother here also by chance? It had been a very long time since he had laid his eyes upon her.

Bell had stared wide eyed at him. "Mi'lord?" She whispered from the kiss.

His father though cut into her thoughts. She hadn't realized he could hear her own. She thought she had proper training to avoid such unwanted invasions. She listened though with intrest and when the voice cut off she simply nodded her head in respect.

She listens as Dagon speaks, her eyes forward though as the tower came into view. The dragons flew ahead. The red one disappearing from view. Probably shifting and heading down to meet them. "I presume there has been a change in plans, as it seems we are not heading to your home but your father's. Were you contacted about the plan change?"

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"Indeed I was at the very last minute. He is very interested in meeting you and in truth I think you may have the luxury of meeting another as well but we shall see. I only say this because of how quickly the change happened." Dagon does pause in their stride and points to the west.

"Our home is 2 hours in that direction looking over the west border." He smiles and then continues on and now they enter the courtyard of the tower. The tower itself a blood red color and several dragons flying overhead as he dismounts and then helps Bell.

The great doors fly open and out comes a woman in red and the power radiating off of her would scream enough who she was. "Mother....." Dagon smiles and walks over and hugs her as she kisses his cheek and smiles.

The woman looks at Bell and walks over to her with such a seductive and enticing smile that would melt even the coldest and most discipline hearts and drive at hidden desires. A gentle caress as the woman studies Bell.

"My my such a beauty my son. Bellona......it is an honor to meet you."

Bell was a but perturbed by the change of plans. She should of been made aware. How can she devise plans and take precautions as the Legate if he does not inform her when changes are made? It was something they would be discussing later.

She nodded as he pointed towards the west. Then the courtyard and she dismounts. She stands slightly behind him as the doors pull open and a woman walks out. Bell heard the stories and could tell without hearing Dagon's word, that this was indeed Lady Lamina. She bowed her head respectfully and looked up as the woman walked up to her.

"I don't kmow appreciate touches." She said under her breathe. Her fingers were clasped behind her back, one hand on her dagger. She didn't like someone making moves on her, no matter how they seemed to effect her internally. The battle inside was kept inside. In the outside, she was doing her best to portray who she was. A warrior.

She bows her head respectfully again as the woman addresses her. "You as well Lady Lamina."

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"She is feisty.....she is perfect for you Dagon." The lady in red smiles and gently removes her hand. "Allow me to give you some advice. You know who I am and what I am.....if you wish my touch then I shall other than that I will honor your request." The lady whispers and smiles and walks over to her son looking him over in such detail.

"You are looking more and more like your father each time I see you Dagon. I do wish you took after me more." She sighs and Dagon just chuckles and smiles. "I assure you mother that I do take after you in some regard." He nods in respect.

"Good then I know you will take very good care of such a fiery warrior then. Now come both of you. Your father awaits in his private chamber." The lady walks in and Dagon looks to Bell and smiles.

"She can be a handful my apologies for not warning you in advance. But it does look that you have her approval." Dagon as he speaks escorts Bell within and the first hall alone and how it was decorated screamed of Dragon and dragon heritage very different then her own father's halls.

Bell only bowed her head once again to Dagon's mother. "Of course My lady." She responds before she makes her way over to Dagon. Bell didn't mean to eavesdrop but it wasn't like she could close her ears. She turned her face away thinking about the fact Dagon had mentioned she trained him. With his response she shuddered inwardly wondering what it would be like, to learn from the son of the woman that was known the world over.

Her thoughts were off balance and she blamed the fact that this Lady of the council brought this ability with her and it caused her to loose herself for a brief moment. Once she departed, she felt like herself again and she looked to Dagon. "Your mother shouldn't always project such things. It is quite disturbing in one's job to protect you my Prince." She wasn't trying to sound harsh but it was simple fact.

She nodded to him as he commented that his mother could be a handful. She quite agreed with him on that regard. She wondered if there was a way to guard against such unwanted reactions. She would write her father about it later. He would perhaps have the best knowledge in that regard.

As they walked into the castle, the dragon heritage was like a shock to the system. It had her stopping midstride to take in the scene around her. Her eyes scanning everywhere. This was part of her, she could feel it deep down. This history was her history and it had been kept from her for so long.

She didn't follow Dagon down the corridor, instead she stopped at each statue every carving and eventually her instincts took over and she shifted. Her massive body fitting well among the room. She climbed a statue, her eyes staring at the paintings. She took them in, her height now giving her a better view point. The wars, the battles, the dragons. All of it took her breathe away. Her bright blue eyes blinked in the scene as a large water drop fell from her face. She breathed out a short breathe of smoke from her nostrils.

How could my father hide all of this history from me? her mind reached out towards Dagon, not taking the moment to hide her emotions or her speaking towards others. She wasn't focused as she normally would be. She clambered around from statue to statue, stopping at one finally and looking at the difference of the build. She stood the same way, her eyes flicking over it. I know this one. I don't know how or why, but I know this dragon. Who is it Dagon? one could hear her plea for knowledge, the desperation at wanting to know more and the pain at it being kept from her for so long.

It was a struggle inside for her. She could feel the urge to rage and she was certain if she had seen her father in that moment, she would loose to the emotion inside.

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Dagon fell very silent watching as Bell shifts her form and goes over everything in the grand hall looking at all statues and murals. They could speak about his mother at a later time for he did not wish to bother her right now about it. The way Bell was moving about it was like a student soaking in all the knowledge they could.

From behind him he could sense his father and the sound of someone in armor could be heard approaching and indeed Azazel was now present and watching all of this unfold. Dressed in a black obsidian armor with a red dragon wrapped around the obsidian he stood next to his son and the resemblance with the exception of the blond hair was so striking to say the least.

Dagon whispers something to his father and then his father approaches Bell. "That very one.....I would hope she would look familiar. She is your mother. And as I have been told she is alive and has been in the care of my sister Ravana." Azazel speaks regally.

"What you are seeing is the last dragon war. The dragons here were allies of mine and I was able to save them from dying. I owed it to an ally of mine that I have not see in many many years. For your mother.....before you ask no I had no clue that my brother had created a child with her until recently when my sister brought your mother to me. I am happy that she is alive and well and to meet her daughter and the circumstance now that you are with my son....it is a very special occasion."

Azazel looks up to Bell. "You are more than welcome to study all of this Bellona. Please take your time." Azazel now steps back to his son and they begin speaking about events going on currently.

Bell sensed the presence change in the room and her head swiveled and lowered until it was almost to the ground. Her eyes level with his. She closed them slowly, a sign of respect. She watched him, her eyelids blinking for several moments before her eyes followed him to the statue that she had just been staring at. She wrapped around the statue again, taking in everything about it. She had never seen her mother in this form, so why it felt familiar she couldn't understand.

Half of what she did wasn't logical in any sense to her if she stopped to think about it but the truth was, she hadn't stopped herself to take that moment to think it all over. She just took it all in like it was faded memories that she should of known.

Her eyes focused back on Azazel as he spoke to her. Though her body was now further away, she heard him clear as day. She growled low in her belly and it rumbled through her chest as her jaw opened and closed several times. She didn't understand the why to any of this. Why she was kept from it, why her father and mother thought it was better to seal away her powers, to lock her away in the dark and make her into what she was, to take all emotion from her accept for the rage. To lead her to believe that her mother had died.

She moved from painting to painting, tears falling down her face, rolling down statues and leaving large puddles on the floor. She growled again as the rage set into her. They took everything from her. From what she could tell, the Dragon as a proud race, she couldn't even claim to be a full dragon, she wasn't. Would they eve accept her? She doesn't eve know things that feel as though they should be natural. She hung her head in shame and her body shifted with the pain and rage inside boiling down.

Back in her humanoid form, she leaned against the closest statue. Her body hidden away from those that had looked on, watching her only moments ago. She needed air. She needed to get away from here and think. She saw an opening in the wall not far off and she took for the exit not looking back. Once the air hit her, she shifted and flew up into the clouds, ignoring the patterns of the lightening around her. She only felt the need for one thing. I can't stay.

As soon as Bell took off Dagon was going to follow only to be stopped by his father. "No....give her this moment. This has been a long time coming for her and her heritage. I only just found out about her and tore my brother a new one for this. She should have been given to me and not hidden." Azazel growled.

Such concern was in Dagon's eyes and Azazel saw this and smile. "So it is true. You do love her then...." Azazel smiles.

His father looks to the way Bell had left. "If you have ever trusted me my son she will come back....let her sort herself. It is the only way for this to work for her and when it does....she will understand because there will be a side of her that will awaken."

Azazel whispers something and outside the lightning stops and the clouds shift a bit and before Bell's eyes were so many more dragons flying here and there and bearing markings on them.

They flew around her and speaking of tale and song of her mother and her place in the war and letting Bell know that she comes from a very proud heritage.

Bell flies, she wasn't even aware at first that the lightening had stopped and the clouds had moved aware until she saw the dragons. Dozens of them appearing seemingly out of no where. She blinked as she flew, she saw dragons of all colors flying around her, though none as white as her. All seemed marked as well, stranger patterns along their scales. She only had the mark of Dagon on her arm, but it wasn't like what they had. They all blew different colors of fire as well and it surprised her.

She flew for over an hour, taking in the stories that they told her. She blinked several times, keeping the tears at bay. She wasn't sure how moving forward from this new history, knowledge would hold with her. One thing was certain though, she held a strong rage inside of her and the more she learned of her kind's past, her mother's past, the more that rage turned into hatred.

She blew fire out of her jaw, torching the ground she flew over. She felt as though she needed a release. The only way she knew how to release was to battle and she turned on one of the dragons and she barreled towards him, her wings folded, her jaw open as fire came out of her maw once more. She was looking for a fight. She couldn't hold herself back any longer.

As she neared the dragon one came right in front of her and it was Azazel in his vampiric red. You do this and attack then you will be shunned. So it is written within the laws of dragons. She would feel the pull of the mark on her and it was making her stop and the voice in her head was now speaking from the mark.

My love....I beseech you. You are better than your father. You have your answers and more to come if you will just calm down. I will release you but know if you attack my father then I will have no choice but to attack you. Please I am begging you my love choose your next choice wisely.

The feeling of being held was now gone from her and she was in full control of herself once more. Azazel remained in front of the pack of dragons and she would see the blood magic flowing from his form and definitely looking very Dracmorian.

What is your decision Bellona?

Bellona came up short and stopped, she couldn't tell if it was she who stopped herself of the magic from the mark that burned on her forearm. Her eyes grew wide and she swallowed the fire in her belly. The words from both Lord Azazel and Prince Dagon echoing in her mind.

She felt even more shame now as she felt the magic release her and she looked away from the Lord of all Dracmorians. The guilt inside her didn't quell her anger but it did do her well to remember her place. She kept her eyes away from the vampiric dragon in front of her and she avoided eye contact with all those around her as well. Forgive me my Lord. She couldn't blame her rage, it would be a cope out and she needed to own her feelings.

She didn't leave her place in front of Lord Azazel either. She hadn't been dismissed. She knew better. She had heard the stories. Everyone in their society heard them, yet she was so lost in her own mind, in her own feelings that she almost broke something that seemed sacred to the dragons. Something she should of known, if only she had been raised properly.

The unfortunate truth though was that, the Dracmorian Unworthy's, they fought for what they had and the Worthy's well they fought also but in different ways. She had seen it all in that society. She knew now that she had overstepped her boundaries. Where only moments ago she had been accepted, the foresight could be that she would loose it all. If the Lord so deemed it. Now she hovered there, as best she could awaiting that what may come.

Return to Dagon and calm yourself young one. You have a lot to learn. No slight has been done for you do not know the laws and this once I will let it slide. But do not let it happen again Bellona. With that Bell would see Azazel fly back to the keep and vanish as he did before as the rest of the dragons look at her for a moment and then fly off in different directions in their patterns.

You will grow to understand Bell. We understand the rage and anger inside of you. A voice came from several of the dragons.

At the keep Dagon needed to sit down. The amount of blood magic he needed to use to hold her dragon form in place for that long was taxing to say the least. He sat in the chair near him with his eyes closed and his father near him looking through some scrolls nearby.

Yes Lord She replies in a calm and quite voice. Somehow this felt worse then a beating from her father when she was younger. She watched as the figure flew away. The other dragons as well leaving her. It broke her heart in ways she could never have dreamed. What had she done?

Then other voices broke through and she shook away the feelings and flew back towards the great hall. Shifting as she landed. The amount of emotion surging through her was higher then any mountain she had ever climbed.

She walked back into the Great hall where she last remembered seeing Dagon. She saw him in the chair not far off and the look he wore spoke of exhaustion. Had she done that? She didn't even see his father there. It was like blinders had suddenly blocked out everyone else in the room.

She went to Dagon immediately and knelt at his feet as he leaned in the chair. "Mi'Lord?" She whispered, the guilt and shame laced in her voice. "Please, tell me what I can do for you." She had a hand on his thigh, the emotion causing her hand to tremble every so slightly. This was her fault. She knew it was, she could feel it. "Let me hunt for you. Please." She whispered a plea with him.

Slowly Dagon's eyes open and gaze down at the woman he loved and gently caressed her cheek. "So....beautiful and so strong of heart." His voice a whisper as he weakly smiles. She was indeed so very strong and he had felt it through his mark and thus why the drain on him was so very strong.

His hand gently coming down as his eyes close. He was so exhausted. So tired from exertion. Bell would feel a hand on her shoulder. "For him to do what he just did for you speaks of his love for you and I can feel yours for him but you still wish to bury it in rage and battle. For you to become one with yourself and your other half...let loose the flood gates and feel for once Bellona." Azazel's voice speaks to her.

"I will speak for my son....to the east is a village....bring two back here for him to feed upon. But be warned his hunger will bring out a darker side of him so be prepared."

She smiled softly up at Dagon, she took his hand in hers and held it tightly. The hand on her shoulder surprised her and before she processed, a dagger came up and stopped just short of stabbing into the flesh that touched her. Her eyes once more met the Lord of the Dracmorians. She took a settling breathe and placed the dagger back in it's place.

"Dark doesn't frighten me, my Lord. I have lived in darkness my entire life. I have known true darkness, I was raised to accept this darkness and use it in the battle field." She stands, letting go of Dagon's hand. "I shall be back shortly." She steps away and stops for a brief moment.

"What you ask of my cannot be done over night my Lord. I have had over three hundred years of hardening around what beats in my chest. I feel, but I do not think it will come the way you or your son wishes it to." She leaves without another word or without turning to look back.

Once outside the front gates, she stands for but a moment. The pain course through her body. It was different then her last shift. Her rage did well to cover the pain, perhaps it was because of the adrenaline that pumped through her system at that moment? Whatever the reason, she could feel her body this time as bones broke, shifted, scales grew, her body growing and changing. She didn't make a sound outwardly even if she screamed inside from the shift.

Once her form was renewed she took to the skies heading east for her hunt. The flight was short. She shifted on the edge of the town and she stalked through the small village. It was understandable why she was sent her. The town smelled of the disgrace of the people that lived here and the horrible deeds they had done to live in such filth. Perhaps this was where they were sentenced to for their crimes against the Lord of their land? Awaiting to be picked off.

She looked around. None seemed to be worth the hunt. It wasn't until a body flew out of a window stopping her short that she noticed at least one target. She smirked watching as the burly man came after his target. Pounding the man in the face. He had spirit. That would do.

As she moved once more, another came up behind her, she could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand on end as the man touched her shoulder. This time she didn't stop herself as the dagger came up before anyone could blink, she stabbed the hand straight through and flipped the man onto his back, breaking his arm in the process. "We don't touch." She snarled.

She pulled her dagger from his hand and sheathed it. Shifting back to her dragon form, she quickly picked off her two targets with ease and even as they screamed and tried to wiggle free from her talons, she flew. Best calm down unless you wish your death to be from this height instead of feeding the Prince She growled into their minds.

She flew the shot distance back to the castle and landed, tossing the bodies through the front of the great hall. She shifted as she landed, the pain masking behind her eyes as she grabbed both of the men by their collars and tossed them at Dagon's feet. "Feast Mi'lord." She looked to him.

The smell of the two men caused Dagon's eyes to fire open and his skin now turned a reddish hue with his eyes as he quickly pounced on both men and blood going everywhere in his bloodlust as it took over and afterwards he ripped the men, both of them apart to pieces.

He remained on all fours growling as Azazel stood next to Bell. "This is his curse. His bloodlust....darker and stronger than even my own. His hunger constantly must be sated or this happens but on a larger scale." The Lord of the Council whispers.

"So when you say that it would take you more than days Bell we all as you can see have our own demons that we contend with." As his father spoke Dagon was moving around like a wild animal sniffing and enjoying the feeling of the blood on the floor with his hands.

"You have no excuse my future daughter-in-law." Azazel nods to her and sighs and looked to his son. "Maybe it is you that could pull him from this haze, his mother and I have never been able to. We always had to let it come to an end naturally."

Bell watched as the skin changed on Dagon. It was clear he was starved. She had seen hunger before but only in battle and never to quite this extent. She let him feed though, it was clear he needed it. Her eyes watched as blood went everywhere. A waste she thought to herself.

When Azazel spoke to her, she listened with interest. "I understand." Was her only response as she watched the bodies become torn apart. She watched as he then seemed to turn almost feral, something she had only seen once before and that was on a nightborn that didn't take to the change well. The nightborn had been killed shortly after.

She walked forward towards him. A small step at a time. She took her dagger from it's sheath and brought it to her wrist and slit it open. "My Prince."She whispered to him. "Come." She replies softly. Her eyes on his and only his. She knew he needed more and she would give her life, but she also had this feeling deep inside that he would feed from her, but he wouldn't harm her.

Something between them had been established the first night they had met. She closed the distance to him and awaited.

Dagon snaps his neck in the direction of Bell after the scent of her blood reaching him and her voice. His head tilts and his feral eyes locking to hers as he slowly stands and the blood of the men dripping off of him. Light growls escape him as she comes closer to him.

Slowly as though he was stalking her as prey he approaches and totally oblivious that his father was in the room right now. Azazel himself watching over the entire situation with such interest.

Firmly Dagon takes Bell's wrist and hisses at her as his feral eyes gaze to her wrist and he sniffs and licks then begins to feed and she could feel his hunger emanating off of him and yet there was restraint and no savagery. Dagon releases and she would see the feral in his eyes fade and quickly he heals her and looks to the aftermath of his bloodlust.

He steps back and looks to his father and then to Bell. Lowering his eyes in shame. He never wanted her to see this side of him. The side of him within this lust for blood and no control. Azazel snaps his fingers and out of nowhere come several nightborne and they begin to devour what was left of the men as others now appear to clean the mess that was left.

"Again we all have our demons young one." Azazel speaks to Bell. "Yet you are the only one that can calm him....that says a lot. The question now falls to you Bell. Do you still resist that you both were created for each other?"

Bell watched as Dagon came to her, his eyes searching hers. She held her wrist. There was no fear in her eyes as she watched him. She knew deep down she trusted him. When he took her wrist and hissed out, she didn't flinch. She let his teeth sink in. The sharp pain coming and the rest after. She closed her eyes for a long moment. Opening them only once she felt the blood slow. She looked into Dagon's eyes as he healed her and released her wrist.

Bell watched as he lowered his eyes and she walked to him. Ignoring his father for the moment. She lifted his head and looked into his eyes. "Don't do that my Prince. Don't hide yourself from me. We have promises to each other." Her voice is a soft whisper. Her lips brush against his before she pulls back hearing his father.

"I never denied it. In fact if you ask your son, I had the feeling that was the exact purpose I was created for. He lived four hundred years before I was even hatched. It makes sense to a degree. The only part I don't agree to is the way each and everyone of you went about it." She turned then, standing in front of Dagon, protecting him. "Now if you'll excuse us, as his Legate, I need him to go to his estate and get some rest."

Azazel stood there with such a smile as the woman in red now joins them and wraps herself around Azazel. "Azazel dear she has a point. I think we have scared them enough and driven home the point all to well." The woman smiles at Bell and nods.

Azazel nods in agreement. "Head west with him. The garrison is waiting not just for its Prince but orders from their new General." Azazel steps forward and really looks at Bell for the moment and smiles.

"It is good to finally meet you in the flesh Bellona. Take that as you wish." Lamaia and Azazel now both head off to another part of the tower to speak alone and Dagon looks at Bell and she would feel his hand around her waist now that they were alone.

"Forgive me for wanting to hide that from you." He whispers. "And yes we need to head west now."

Bell said nothing as Dagon's mother also came back into the room. She let the two speak to each other, letting them prattle back and forth. She bowed her head towards them both. She waited until they both left and then she felt Dagon's hands around her waist.

She turned and looked to him. "We all wish to hide something. Think nothing of it." She sighs softly and leans her body against his. Resting her head on his shoulder for a much needed moment. She took several deep breathes. "I think perhaps I should learn to hold my tongue and rage better. Twice now I have stood ground and made mistakes. I doubt a third would be accepted." She whispers into his ear so that no one else may hear them.

She steals herself a moment and brushes her lips against his. "Red looks good on you." She smiles and then steps back. "Let's head west then Mi'lord."

The way she brushed her lips against his caused him to shiver like never before as he gazed down at the crimson red on him and gazed into her eyes. "You do always bring me the best choice in feedings." He kisses her very deeply and pulls her even closer to her.

After she stepped back he nods in agreement. "Lets go home and we can be alone and away from such.....courtly things." He smiles as he walks with her out of the keep and to the steeds. Once he helps her to hers Dagon takes his and knew that the journey would not be long and headed west with Bell from the keep.

Bell went with Dagon, keeping the rest of her words to herself as they mounted their steeds. The route would take two hours from what she was informed of last. Flying would of saved them tome but they both needed the time to digest what just occurred.

She let the silence flow between them. Her thoughts on everything she had learned in such a short time. The difference in tribes, the war, and the falling. It was a lot of history to take in. She was still angry but she let it bury for now. She would have to learn better control. It seemed she wasn't just built to be a war machine but also made, created even to be Dagon's mate.

Her future was foretold long ago in the meetings of the council. Now the question was, if she was planned, made this way, why was she kept in the dark from her father's siblings? Why did he not allow her to become who she was meant to be then? Something clawed in the back of her mind. She felt like a peice of the chess game was missing.

Her father had a reason for everything. His demeanor was off, regardless of emotion. She hated that image being destroyed for her. How did the council act like this in front of her face? They were plotting something else. They had to be. This was too simple. Something was amiss.

As the silence stretched on she took a breathe. "Has your hunger been sated Mi'lord?"

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Dagon was silent the entire ride and once they entered the valley upon the next hill was their home. Similar to the keep of his father but a lot smaller in size but such a vantage point being on the hill. A rider came forth and stopped in front of them and Dagon nods to Bell as the rider now is in front of her and bows his head in deepest respect.

"We have been awaiting your arrival Legate. The garrison is formed for your inspection and the armory and stables as well." The man who definitely would appear to be her second now moved to her left side and Dagon watched with intensity to see how she would handle this.

As they entered the keep the rider was correct. The garrison of 5,000 strong was formed and the armory and stables ready for her.