Chapter 178
Part 25
“We have also never before found the demons to wait so long before returning to a world where they
had been defeated and driven off. We have found few cases where a world sessfully resisted the
demons, and in all but one of those few cases the demons were defeatedpletely and killed to the
demons have yet to return to the one world that drove them away without our assistance, other than
this one, but that was rtively recent, and we have no doubt that they will go back there.
“They usually return to a world they have been driven away from in less than a million years, and
always with far more power than they had the first time they were there. On three asions they have
seeded on their second attempt in destroying a world and the outpost we left close by to protect it.
On about half of the rest of their second attempts they were driven away again, and on the other half
they were killed to thest. They have yet to return to a world where they have been defeated twice,
but we think they will if they can, eventually. A world full of life is too great a prize for them to ignore
indefinitely, and they hate to let one of their defeats stand unavenged.
“With all of these factors in the bnce, the nature of the demons we will soon face here is a worrying
unknown.”
Six bowed to First Mauve and told her; “Thank you. It was bothering me being so ignorant of our
enemy, and it feels good to know what is known, even if it isn’t that useful right now.”
“I think it’s time for us to be going home.” Mark announced with a smile. “Thanks again for these
awards, and be well until we meet next time.”
Those all around returned his thanks and farewells, then Fire brought them home to Hilia at her psionic
request.
“Well that was interesting.” Aliliamented as she stretched luxuriously.
Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!
“It was, especially when I was trying to have a serious conversation with a Triax god while my sister
was acting like a clown!” Six stated as he gave Fire a yful shove on her shoulder.
She simply went with it, turning his force into a graceful leap-roll-spring-pirouette sequence, and
the difference that up and down make that far out in the void. But everyone was acting like they still had
weight; keeping the soles of their feet or their bottom sides pointed toward Keran. And I wondered if
it would be disorienting if I just slowly spun in random directions in the void, or just floated there with a
different orientation than everyone else. It wasn’t really, disorienting that is, but it was fun.”
“The fun part was watching Six trying to ignore you!” Karzughed.
“I love that you children can be so nonchnt about it all.” Kragorram smiled as he gave Karz an
affectionate scratch on the back. “But I want to thank you all for including me in the casting of the Gate.
Moving the Triax fleet was in many ways the greatest act of magic ever achieved by any Kerani, and
I’m proud to have taken part.”
“Me too.” Mark chuckled as he put his arm around Talia and admired the impending sunset. “But I think
we’ve been spending too much timetely being told how wonderful we are, and by each other as often
as by everyone else. Let’s try to avoid that for a few hours.”
“Well then, how would you all like to go hunting with me?” Kragorram offered in a sudden change of
subject. “It’s an activity that dragons only share with their closest family andpanions, and we’ve
never hunted together, and it’s time we did.”
“Besides, all three of us dragons are genuinely hungry.” Povon pointed out as she licked her lips and
grinned. “We’ve had too many snacks with you small folk, and haven’t hunted in weeks. We’ll hunt
something you’ll find tasty, like wild cattle in the mountain valleys of western Debivin, and we’ll save
you the choicest parts and roast them to your liking.”
“That sounds fun!” Talia agreed. “While you’re roasting we can fetch the rest of what’s needed for a
good pic supper, and make an asion of it!”
And so they did. The dragons hunted while the rest flew along and watched. They caught seven cattle
without missing a strike, using only their inherent abilities.
On a five hundred kilogram wild buffalo there is only two and a half kilos of choicest, tenderest,
tenderloin roast, but one was all that was needed to feed Mark and his wives and children. As Povon
promised, she roasted it for them to a perfect medium-rare condition with her own fire, and Talia and
Alilia seasoned it with a careful dusting of herbs, spices, and sea-salt. Mark ordered the rest of the
meal from a restaurant in Belinhome, Finitra, choosing some of his favorite dishes from his childhood.
And it was all delicious.
Some families might have found it incongruous to be rxing on a big nket and enjoying a summer
night’s cook-out beside three huge dragons who were tearing and crunching their way through seven
fresh cattle carcasses, but Alilia unobtrusively blocked the smell of offal and entrails, and they paid no
mind to the rest of it.
When they were all finished they ally on their backs together and gazed up at the millions of stars for
almost half an hour, then watched the sune up only an hour and a half after they’d watched it
setting in Hilia.
The exercise for Keran’s Strike Wizards, remote fighters, and most powerful spell-casters was much
like the contest for the dragon-forts on Blenda. The Strike Wizards fought as if they were channeling
the power of almost all the magic-users on Keran, but the multitudes whose power they cast were all
simted by the gods.
Surprisingly, the exercise for the most powerful mortals and the gods of both pantheons was not that
dissimr. A Strike Wizard channeling the power of six hundred million Kerani could strike with as
much raw power as the average god of Keran, after all.
The use of the sun-Gate attack made a huge difference in the Strike Wizard’s exercise, less so in the
gods’ exercise, but it still allowed the powerful Mortals who took part to be as destructive as the gods.
In both cases they faced so many DemonLords that the enemy were able to vent the power of the
sun’s surface baking their rock long enough for them to Translocate out, and they were quick enough
that it was difficult to target them individually.
The goal of both exercises was to destroy all the demons and all the tunnels and passages in the
nation-sized rock they inhabited, though the capabilities of the demons differed in each exercise. In
both exercises the demons triumphed; they lost a smaller portion of theirbative power than their
opponents and were still fighting strongly at the end of twenty-four hours of continuous simted
warfare, at which time the exercises were ended.
Three days after the first exercise they did with the gods, Mark’s family were enjoying an early morning
swim among the reefs outside the cove of The Royal Beach when the on-duty Assistant
Communications Director of Hilia contacted Talia with a Speaking. “Princess Talia, you have a visitor;
Tan of The High People.”
“Send her down please.” Talia responded as she Translocated back to the beach, then informed her
family.
They joined her on the beach, where she was drying herself and re-arranging her hair.
“This is a bit strange.” shemented. “Tan is only thirteen years old, a daughter of one of my
mother’s cousins. I only met her a few times so I barely know her. She wasn’t from First Valley, I’m not
even sure where in The Nine Valleys she’s from. She was quite talented though, especially in music
and wizardry.”
A young blond elven girl wearing sturdy traveling clothes ran onto the beach from the path to the
Translocation circle beside the foot of the cliff. She ran over to within two meters of Talia and stopped
as she looked around at the rest of them, appearing distraught and unsure what to do, not knowing if
she should curtsey or follow some unknown royal protocol. “Thank you for seeing me Princess Talia,
I’m Tan, do you remember me? I didn’t know who else to go to!” she blurted in a panic.