The vision of Tekowariaura went as follows:

A pride of lions, dozens strong, all marching together, a silver lion at their head. A convocation of eagles, in their hundreds, descending to attack. Another lion becomes a snake and silently attacks the silver lion. Lion and snake fall to the ground, swallowed by shadows. The lion's silver teeth remain, shining in moonlight. The grass grows around lions and eagles, smothering them all.

Cafialerasun holds a sword in her right hand. She wears black. The sword is stained.

The snake again, striking without sound. A voice.

'Your blood has seen this too.'

King Arit fre Togr had seen the teleportation spell once before, and he recognised the bright sphere of light which shone around the Queen and the band of unlikely warriors materialising around her.

Recognition quickly became despair as a bright explosion echoed from their arrival point. He spurred the horse into a gallop, swiftly urging the tired horse to the explosion site.

It saved his life, for the Beast behind had not expected such a sudden movement.

The King dismounted at the site, and one of the Aisorbmii survivors took the reins while he knelt beside what remained of the cloak. There was a great pile of ash on it. Lord General Manus iw Elbirt's head was a short distance away, in the hands of a woman he didn't know.

'Your Majesty,' said Baron Dibon de Fifelech. 'Majesties,' he corrected, as Prince Setov ar Inesa brushed the dirt from his trousers. 'Mine apologies for not asking Rekow ar Ilara to provide a warning. We were not expecting an expenditure of magic. It attracts great attention from the creatures,' Dibon said, pointing.

The fortress was surrounded by a magic shield, generated by small alligator-like creatures which walked around the inside of the sphere. The nearest, which had probably been the one to open fire, looked a little frazzled.

'What ist our status, in thine estimation,' asked the King, suddenly weary at the discovery of his Queen, deceased.

'The Company hast taken a lot of casualties during our first assault. When we tried to make camp Trebonaire conjured a fire, and his camp went up in a similar explosion. We have forty men left, and they fear the ways of magic now.'

'Setov?'

'I have brought a few trusted men from Rene Ponit: Paladins Genokefirica and Sazorenigita, who you may know from the Iron Jamtins lacrosse team; Marshals Tedonenilefa, Forogatilidh and Gutomiricatu; Ranger Yanodaginupe.' He introduced them all, though he knew few of the Kingdom officers would remember their full names. King Arit knew
enough about the Aisorbmii to know how their naming structure worked, and remembered what he needed – Gen, Saz; Ted, For and Gut; Yan. Any more was unnecessary.

'Rekow?'

'Jus’ th’ three of us,' said Rekowarilara. He was smiling a little, because when the Prince got around to it he would become a Paladin. He indicated the black-clad woman holding Manus iw Elbirt's head. 'Cafialerasun joined us a little while ago. Says she knows where the Beasts came from. They're human, she says, mutated by sorcery.' He paused for a moment. 'Erica?' he asked.

The form in the hooded cloak stepped forward and chose that moment to take off the cloak. It fell to the floor around a pair of bare ankles. The form revealed was... was...

Erica del Erica.

Original, in the flesh, so to speak.

King Arit fre Togr had been there when Erica had returned, interrogated, wounded and tired, from the raid which destroyed the Anilomes fortress – which now stood, to some extent repaired, within the magic shield. He'd been suspicious of her return, and the means of her success. The Queen had been more suspicious, and they had believed her to be a security risk; potentially a spy of the dark. He'd been their when she died of poison, and there when she returned in the form of the Conspirator Halfglint, which meant Nightfall. She had fought
the dark, all the way, rescued once by Rekowarilara. She deserved to be here at the end, but he never expected she would be here in the same form she'd had at the beginning.

He had a crude thought, swiftly suppressed. Was it the same form?

Erica spoke. It was her own voice, but then her male form had always been capable of it. 'Their magic has been very strong for the last few nights. They've been changing their bodies to what they want to be: Blood Lords. Powerful, superior, strong. And my... Halfglint's body was one of theirs. So I changed back to what I wanted to be.'

She looked at Rekowarilara, and attention shifted to him for a moment, and back to her. It was becoming rapidly clear that not only had he already been privy to the knowledge she was changing, and what she'd changed into, but that she'd chosen to become woman again for
him.

Back at the beginning, he'd been the one who'd interrogated, and wounded, and tired her out. He had been enemy. Now he was not. Things had changed, yet come full circle. It was a strange moment. Arit wondered how the young man felt, seeing again and perhaps loving a
face he'd once tortured as an enemy as part of his job.

A roar from behind him brought all their thoughts back into focus. The Beast was back.

Setov drew the Sword of the Stone and turned and charged. Arit, a little older and slower, followed him in, as did others. That they were all attacking made Arit smile: there was no lacking in bravery here!

The Beast met Setov first, punching aside his Sword, then beat away Arit, who yelled as the long claws raked through the armour and gouged a hole in his side. Marshal Gut received the next wound, and Marquis Dibon the fourth – Holy Pudding the Beast was quick – before Setov used the momentum of the deflected Sword and swung it around.

Instead of being beat away by the force of the Beasts' attack, he kept his arms loose and acted as a pivot, adding his own strength into the manoeuvre, using time bought dearly by the men behind him.

The attack came around again and slew the head clean off the Beast, who collapsed -

- on top of Arit, the long bony back-spikes impaling the King as it landed heavily to the ground.

Arit, suddenly winded, coughed out all his air. Why had he charged in like that... was it because of the Queen?

'Medic!' called Ranger Yan.

'No medic,' said Dibon de Fifelech. 'Too much magic.'

Some of Dibon's Company simply stood there, stunned – who could blame them, the Queen was ten minutes dead, or less, and their King seemed bound to join her – but others immediately pitched in to lift the giant Beast's body, gently, so that the few who could heal could get to the King. It took twenty minutes, and more than twenty people, but eventually the corpse was lifted.

The woman, Cafialerasun, stepped in to help, but Rekow shooed her away, and let the Paladins come closer. They were lacrosse players, used to rough play and injury, so he supposed they might have some talent.

Saz gently removed the King's armour and the two tried to staunch the wounds with cloths, but Arit's fear was confirmed when Gen looked to Saz and shook his head. They both then looked to Setov.

'Setov, my son,' Arit croaked. 'My heir,' he pronounced, so they could all hear him. 'King!' he spluttered.

Setov came to him and knelt by his side. 'Father,' he said.

'It seemeth me my time is short, but I have some requests. Setov, take my throne.'

'The throne is gone, sire,' said Rekow. 'The Castle fell last night to the Beast we've just slain. I saw it,' he added, off the gathered looks.

'Rebuild it, then!' spat the King. 'Setov: give Rekow his Paladin name. Bring Rekow here.'

Rekow approached. 'Sire?'

'How fare you and Erica?'

Rekow blushed properly now, at the direct question. 'Close, sire,' he said in hushed tones. 'We should have observed the first wedding by now, if you see what I mean?'

Setov was close enough to hear, and smiled; Arit saw the visual in his mind as well. The Aisorbmii had two weddings for couples: one when they came together, one when the first child was born. 'Then, if you are willing, Setov can grant you this too, Rekow.'

Rekow nodded, confused. The idea of marriage probably hadn't entered his mind yet, and the idea of the Kingdom blessing such a ceremony was unusual, even for him.

'There was a prophecy once,' said Arit. 'You remember it, Rekow?'

'It was my brothers, sire. Lions and eagles approaching to fight. The part about an assassin already came to pass. The silver lion left behind some teeth... perhaps something the Prime Minister said, we've yet to pick up on. Then the grass covered over them all.'

'The grass. Was it the famine? Or was it this enemy, appearing from beneath us all, unseen, trying to take us all over?'

'It could have been either. I've started to wonder about the voice: 'Your blood has seen this too.' Perhaps it meant me. Perhaps it meant them, the Blood Lords,' he said, pointing at the shield.

'There is hope,' said the King. 'Setov,' he requested. 'I had an idea. A game of cricket!'

'Cricket?' Setov said, not understanding.

But the King couldn't explain any further.

COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!

Sazogenirita saw the light die in the King's eyes, and then watched the uncomfortable Kingdom men standing by, wondering what they should do next. He stepped forward, taking the crown from the head of King Arit fre Togr and placing it on the head of Setovar, who beckoned Rekow and Erica forward.

'First blessing,' he said. 'Rek, son of the man War, son of the woman Lara, declare your

love.'

'I declare it, on life itself, which must continue.'

'Erica, daughter of...' there was an awkward pause. 'Declare your love.'

'I declare it. We will walk the path.'

There was a cheer, which Setovar ended by tapping Rekow on the shoulders. He then did

the same for Erica. 'With the authority of the Sword in the Stone, I dub thee both Paladins,

to fight the Dark.'

Sazogenirita cheered with them all, and posed the important next question. 'Cricket?' he

asked.

'A sport,' said Setovar. 'It was played before my father's reign.' Sazorenigita was

interested, as was Gen, and some of the others, so Setovar explained further. 'You have two

teams. One team scatters around a field, and one of them is a bowler, and the other team

chooses a representative, a batsman to face them. The bowler throws the ball, aiming for

three wooden posts behind the batsman, and the batsman has to use his wooden bat to stop

the ball, and hit it far away. While the first team tries to catch it, the batsman scores points

by running a short distance several times. If they catch the ball, or the bowler hits the

wooden posts, the batsman is eliminated from the game and another takes his place. When the

batting team is finished, or the bowler has done enough bowling, the teams swap places, and

whichever team has scored the most points wins. Basically.'

'Cricket,' Sazogenirita said.

'A bowler throws the ball. The batsman hits it,' said Gen. Sazorenigita smiled: Gen had an

idea. 'The ball could travel very quickly. Perhaps if we hit one of those little creatures, we

could hit the shield.'

Sazorenigita took a ball out of his pocket, and looked around for a moment. He picked up

the King's scabbarded sword, which was a very wide blade. Setovar smiled. 'That will do,' he

said.

Gen took up the ball, and moved nearer to the shield, then turned to face Sazorenigita,

who touched the sword to the ground, holding it with both hands. He stood at angle, aiming

for one of the creatures. It would be a lucky thing, he supposed, if he were to hit one of

them.

'Excuse me,' said Erica del Erica. She moved to Gen, and held the ball for a moment. There

was a pale glow, but the creatures did not react, possibly because her body was recognised

as one of the enemy.

When the ball was blessed, Gen tossed the ball for a moment, indicating to Sazorenigita

that it was about to be thrown. Sazorenigita hefted the sword.

Gen threw. Sazorenigita swung. Ranger Yan, standing too close behind, was struck in the face by the ball.

'Try again,' said Rekowar, throwing the ball back to Gen. Gen bowled again.

There was an almighty CRACK! as ball struck scabbard and then a whistle as it flew through the air, and impacted on one of the creatures. There was a purple crackle of energy, fired from the impacted creature to all of the others, and then the shield around it
collapsed.

Setovar, holding the Sword of the Stone, ran through, as did Cafialerasun, and Gen, and For, and Ted, and some of the Company. Sazorenigita couldn't move.

The shield reappeared, crackling, held by the remaining creatures. They fired a blast of energy against him, and he flew through the air.

His last thought was of success. They were through the shield.

Fyendodas watched the group enter the Psyopalace, and waited for them to gather before him.

'Prime Minister Setovarinesa. King Setov ar Inesa, wielder of the Sword in the Stone. Your star shines in the sky, the first to appear against the Dark. I am Fyendodas, the End of Days, wielder of the Khada Sword, the Dark Shadow. Well met!'

Setov stepped forward, as Fyendodas knew he would. 'I challenge you, on behalf of both the peoples that I represent, to a duel.'

'A Great Duel, Setovar. Your blade against mine. I have seen this moment coming, and known that the fate of this whole land rests on the edges of our Swords.' He lifted his black Khada Sword.

'We will duel, you and I. And now.'

To Be Continued. Next: Riposte and Parry.

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