Cuinn presents Cathal to the Taeghan command, and leaves to scout the situation at the plaza. It is empty, though Cuinn glimpses soldiers stationed on the walls of Highpoint. Cathal and Dolan go to greet the Wilder troops, and are warmly received. Shortly thereafter, Mara and Dolan step outside for an uncharacteristically tender conversation, and Dorian goes to inventory the magical supplies. It is cut short when assassins' arrows from the rooftops strike all three of them; Dolan shields Mara with his body. None of them are mortally wounded, and Aerona heals them, but morale is shaken.
Cuinn returns and is furious that assassins were able to strike the camp; she insists they can brook no further delay, and the army marches to attack the Zephyros Gate. She attempts to overwatch their route by taking the rooftops, and brings down one assassin; the others evade her as she cannot spare the time to follow them. The army takes the plaza and reinforces it with artillery and spearmen from the rear, fearing an attack from Lowpoint, then presses forward along Errol's Walk to the Zephyros Gate. Mara conjures a mighty earth elemental, and it leads the way.
The assault begins. The enemy priest of Cuiraecen exacts a heavy toll on the attackers with celestial lightning, but the earth elemental manages to damage the gates. The the Dragon appears atop the mage tower, intoning arcane words, and a horrifying sight emerges from the sea-- a massive white dragon, which swoops upon the Taeghan army. Aerona, Cathal, and the majority of the troops are terrified, but attempt to hold firm; Cuinn fires arrow after arrow at it, yelling at the army to hold fast. Its frost breath devastates the army. Only after a dire toll has been taken in Taeghan lives does Mara realize the truth-- the Dragon is not a mage of sufficient power to command this beast; it is an illusion. Demoralized and battered, the Taeghan army retreats to the plaza.
The mood is grim at the Plaza, and it takes Aerona's most rousing oratory to reawaken the will to fight in both the army and its commanders. A small urchin child appears, asking Cuinn to follow to the teahouse; Cuinn realizes it is her old friend Leandra who has survived. Cuinn and Cathal follow the child to the teahouse basement, where to her surprise, she finds Leandra along with a guilder of the Taeghan Outfitters, and to their surprise, Noelen Bhaine's daughter Leonora, who turned against her father and has mounted a resistance within Stormpoint. She pledges half a unit of soldiers to the army. Leandra mentions even the House of Wind has aided the resistance.
The assault resumes the next day, and the Taeghans are met with yet another grim discovery-- the Boeruinese soldiers are holding Taeghan civilian hostages atop the walls. Tychon and Ukko are both horrified, but uneasily state they may have no choice but to attack nonetheless. Cuinn and Cathal refuse to accept this, and discuss treating or attempting subterfuge. A third option is decided upon-- Mara will use the final mystical essence of the caermebhaigl to summon Catriona Fulcairn's shadow ravens to attack the soldiers atop the walls, hopefully giving the civilians at least a few moments to escape.
She casts the spell, and the shadow ravens attack, as the Taeghan soldiers assault the damaged gates with their makeshift ram. The billmen manage to break through the gate, and yet another horror greets them-- hundreds of magical shadow-fiends. Mara destroys most of them with a powerful ball of flame; Cathal's huscarls go over the walls, and the Fulcairns break through the gate and glimpse Balros, Aerona's mentor, and two figures that appear to be the Dragon and the Archduke on the other side.
The fighting continues in deadly earnest. Aerona hammers the enemy with divine lightning and the attacks of her spirit warriors; Mara conjures another earth elemental, and it attacks the elite cadre of knights defending the Boeruinese commanders. Cuinn fires arrow after arrow at Balros as he shouts at Aerona, praising her for executing the will of Cuiraecen so beautifully; Cathal finally breaks through and savagely attacks Balros, immobilizing him and making him vulnerable enough for Cuinn to finish him off.
They advance on the Dragon and the Archduke. The Dragon magically conjures multiples of herself; Mara, suspicious because of her powers as an illusionist, strikes all the multiples with magical missiles, and they all dissipate. Thunderbolts streak the sky above the astrolabe in the mage tower; the real Dragon is evidently undergoing some manner of ritual. Cathal closes with the Archduke, and slays him with disconcerting ease, not before using his newly-acquired mystical ability to steal his bloodline. The Fulcairns shudder in horror, then pleasure, as the power courses through all four of them. Cathal removes the red helm, and it is not the Archduke, but a decoy.
The Fulcairns race to the tower. The illusory forms of the Dragon and another mage are within; the Dragon tauntingly reveals that it was her machinations that had Cullan and Corrac murdered, as she wished to control the caermebhaigl. Cuinn ignores her, and asks Mara to dispel the magic in the entire chamber. She does, the illusion is dispelled, and the last battle begins. The Dragon and her ally wizard attempt to cast spells, but Mara, exhausted from spellcasting, draws her own blood again and again to counter their magic, draining herself to her last iota of strength. Then the Dragon uses magic the likes of which none of them have seen before-- she draws forth the hideous bloodthirsty power within all four of them. Mara falls, incapacitated, and hovers near death; Cathal writhes in horror, unable to move. Aerona and Cuinn withstand it; Aerona heals Mara, saving her from certain death. Cuinn desperately lobs arrow after arrow at the wizards, but it is only when Cathal uses the last of his strength to give Cuinn an opening to attack that she is able to fell the Dragon with a single deadly-placed arrow.
The Taeghan army, while having lost nearly half their number, is victorious; the hosts of both Boeruine and the Empire have been driven out, and Taeghas is a free and sovereign nation once again. The Fulcairns leave to greet them and the citizens of Stormpoint; the people are exultant, but a shadow has fallen on the hearts of the Fulcairns, and it is with great effort that they attempt to muster the cheer expected of them.
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