Milena, commander of the Portagian military, agrees to aid the Wilders in expelling the Boeruine occupation from Portage, on the condition that once Khorien is removed from power, the military choose the next leader. Cuinn responds with terms of her own-- that if they are allowed to do so, they support her in her quest to rule a united Taeghas. Milena agrees, and they shake hands to seal the oath.
They decide Cuinn will remain behind to conduct sabotage and assist the defense where she can, and Mara and Aerona will return to Wilder's Gorge to summon the military. Aerona begins magically shaping a door through the stone of the city wall, but they are interrupted by a patrol. Mara quickly magically puts several to sleep and Cuinn dispatches several with arrows. They slay the Boeruinese soldiers and dispose of their bodies; after Aerona and Mara depart, Cuinn wakes the Portagean soldiers and informs them of the situation; they return to the city, as does Cuinn, knowing that the vanishing of a patrol will make her sabotage efforts considerably more difficult.
Mara and Aerona reach the border of Wilder's Gorge; Aerona magically sends a message to the seneschal Medwyn bidding her to send both units of soldiers and Mara's magical equipment. Aerona then prays to Cuiraecen, asking Him what they need to do to ensure victory at Portage; He sends a vision of a flock of hawks flying westward, straight, true, and united. They rendezvous with the army; Aerona magically tells Cuinn of her vision across the distance, and they march to war.
Cuinn considers Cuiraecen's omen. He seems to be indicating that valor will win the day, rather than subterfuge; she abandons her plans to assassinate either the Haelynite priest or the Boeruine general, or poison the water supply of the keep, and instead waits.
The Wilder armies approach Portage. Aerona delivers a stirring speech, invoking the might of Cuiraecen to bless the troops. The Boeruinese soldiers manning the walls laugh at the seemingly suicidal charge... yet the veterans among them are wary and not laughing. Then the Portageans turn on the Boeruinese within the city. Chaos ensues. The Portageans swarm the gatehouse and begin opening the gates for the Wilders to enter. Mara summons a unit of firehawks; they attack the defending archers atop the walls, providing some distraction as the billmen rush the gates.
Within the city, Cuinn crouches atop a roof, trying to provide cover for the Portageans. A powerful priest of Haelyn appears and divinely compels the Portageans to drop their weapons; Cuinn is fortunate enough to have a clear shot, and she slays him with two spectacularly well-placed arrows. The Wilders force their way into the gates, though they are not fully open and their progress is slowed; Aerona enters the city and calls Haelyn's wrath of thunder and ice storms, devastating the Boeruinese soldiers. Mara's firehawks are soon felled, but in another stupendous feat of magic, she blinds the entire unit of archers atop the walls, and several plummet to their deaths in their panic.
The Boeruinese troops are better armed and trained than the Portageans, and soon Commander Milena falls, wreaking a heavy toll on the Portagean's morale. However, the billmen, boosted by the blessing of Cuiraecen, enter the city en masse and fight fiercely. The tide turns, and soon the Wilders and Portageans force the Boeruinese to being retreating. Cuinn glimpses the Boeruine commander and fires at him, but one of his soldiers bravely hurls him aside, taking both arrows for his leader.
Aerona urges the billmen to press forward. Filled with the bloodlust of Cuiraecen, she charges past them, attacking the mass of the retreating army essentially by herself. A mob of soldiers break off and make to attack her. They attempt to overwhelm and grapple her, trying to knock her down, but at the last moment before she is overwhelmed, she calls upon the spirits of the most valiant warriors through the ages, and they materialize from the ether and attack the Boeruinese soldiers, cutting them down in swaths.
Cuinn and the exhausted billmen finally arrive. Cuinn calls for everyone to stand down, that they might end the conflict without further bloodshed. The Boeruine general agrees, and the Boeruinese soldiers are allowed to leave northward. Cuinn bids them to tell the Archduke to never return to Taeghas.
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