They positioned themselves around the table inside the palace.

"Where is Father? I demand to speak with him!"

"That will be difficult, as he is no longer with us," Ormas growled.

Theuses's face went pale. "You..... You can't mean..?"

"I am sorry my lord," Aeran said sincerely, glaring angrily at Ormas. "After they fell upon us the rangers in the watchtower sent word. They over powered the guardian and marched into the city. Our soldiers marched forward and prepared to meet them, but they had come so suddenly. You father demanded to lead them and he did so bravely. It did not take long for the Argles to push your father back, though he held them at the palace. He was cut down by an Argle. I am sorry."

Theuses was speechless. A single tear ran down L'arch's face.

"Our forces managed to hold them until they retreated. We lost many. Again, you have my apologies."

Theuses was silent.

~ ~ ~

The ceremony, if you could call it that, was the following morning. All the remaining elves stood in two, single file lines that stretched from the entrance to the palace, to the river. The white marble coffin was carried by four knights. As it passed by the elves laid blue and white roses on it. Everything was silent. When it got to the place where Theuses and L'arch stood, Theuses knelt, dropping his eyes to the cold stone of the coffin as the knights stopped.

"Sra yeth flrlria, sra ilrem simurse ov i thrismi strules," He murmured. Go father, go into the light of a thousand stars.

Castor could barely hear him. All the elves bowed their heads and the knights gently dropped the coffin into the river. It sank remarkably slowly, resting at the bottom, out of sight. No one was quick to leave; one or two elves leaving at a time. Finally all that was left was Theuses holding his quietly crying sister. Castor chose to simply leave instead of giving his condolences. There would be plenty of time for that later.

Wordlessly he walked back to the palace where he had been housed the night before. The elves barely glanced at him. He sat on the soft bed and ran his fingers through his hair. A knock came on the door.

"Come in," He said hoarsely.

It was Merric.

For a while neither said anything. There seemed nothing to say.

Finally Merric spoke. "You were right, though I don't know what made me change my mind." There was no sarcasm in his voice. "I'm sorry about not believing you. As of right now, Theuses is king. I predict we will have no problem convincing him to let us help.

Castor nodded.

"Should we have the army come and help defend Ilesmatr? After all, they surly lost many warriors in the attack and will need help to hold the city in case the empire comes back.

"Good idea Merric. Don't bother Theuses; ask Aeran." It was not much, but Castor could tell that Merric was sorry, though what for he did not know.

~ ~ ~

"My men have retreated from Ilesmatr. The Lord Elrin his dead, just as you wished."

"Acceptable work, Tarris. Now that he is gone we can withdraw from Valdraermisr. We have made enough of a point braking into their heavily guarded city and killing their king. The prince, Theuses, will not stand a chance against us and will surely stay away after the death of his father.

"Meanwhile, move the Argles to the Saber Pass and keep them there until further orders. Also send two thousand to the cities in the empire. One hundred to the mountain peak to free the Fire Maith, Fearior, and the others to free Tarnagh. It his high time they were released. Send Tarnagh to the Saber Pass with any remaining Argles and send Fearior to collect the Urki from Ilmara Mountains. Once he is done there he will travel to the Saber Pass and join armies with us. The Dark Lord will be most pleased.

~ ~ ~

Castor, Aeran, Theuses, L'arch, and Ormas stood around the table in the Palace of Elorion. The chandelier cast light in all corners of the room, pushing the shadows away to the now dark and rainy outside.

"We must put are men here," Aeran pointed to a clearing in the eastern sections of the forest, "so we will be able to repel the attacks, keep tabs on the forces of the enemies, and easily shift our soldiers around."

"No," Ormas argued. "We can just as easily do all those things from closer to our cities, without risking our hides."

Theuses pointed to the north where the forest began to thin toward the Mountains of Ilmara and the Saber Pass. "We need to garrison the primary force of our men here. Then if the forces in the Saber Pass attempt to come south, we can stop them."

Aeran shook his head. "The city of Lesri has a more than capable military force. They will be able to hold out against a potential threat at least until more soldiers can come."

Theuses shook his head. "You may be right, Aeran, but think-,"

He was interrupted by a scout bursting through the doors, dripping wet. "Sire, King Theuses! I have word of the Empire!"

"The Empire? Speak; be quick."

"Yes sire, the Empire has retreated from the northern sections of the forest, as they have in the southeastern front. Their men remain in the heart of the forest, though other than that we have seen no more, save groups moving for the northern edge of the forest."

"Everything is from the north....."

"Near the Saber Pass," Castor noted.

"Very true. Send more scouts to the eastern front to figure out what they are doing, in the meantime, send a force of three-hundred to patrol the area."

"Three-hundred? A force so large just to patrol?"

"We made the mistake of underestimating them once; I wish to avoid the folly this time." The scout nodded and left the hall.

Ormas rolled his eyes. "'We'? As I recall it wasn't you who fought to protect this city. You left that to your father and to us." Aeran shot him a warning glance, but it was too late. The damage had been done.

Theuses turned to stare daggers at Ormas. "Excuse you? You think I wanted this to happen?!"

"Why not?" Ormas retorted. "You're too busy gallivanting through the woods to even pay attention to your own city, let alone your father."

"You better shut your mouth I might have to for you," Theuse.

Ormas sneered. He was not serious, but he had intended for Theuses to take it so seriously. "Is that so? Then why don't you prove it by going out into battle yourself? Or are you too scared to actually fight to protect the city. No, you instead want to send three hundred others out there to die."

Theuses stared icily at Ormas. "You will do best to keep you thoughts to yourself, Ormas. If I recall the last time you were in active duty you led a group of soldiers to a massacre and were cowardly enough to run from it."

Ormas glared loathingly at Thesues and left the hall. Castor took note of this and reminded himself to ask Theuses about it later. He hardly thought such an argument was necessary.

He nodded. "Your help will be appreciated. Aeran, send messengers to the cities of Certis, Ilr'en, and Vadrael. Request them to send as many spare able warriors and knights to Ilesmatr. Here we will assemble an army and face the Empire. We have waited in our forest far too long. The time has come for war.

"Speaking of the Empire, you will wish to see this." Aeran said, reaching into one of his pockets and pulled out a silver necklace. It was made of silver chain links, connecting to a medallion. The sight of it was familiar but he could not put a finger on it. It was an eye. Small, only about an inch in size, but terrible nonetheless. The eyelids were silver, like the rest, but where the whites should have been it was a dark, mysterious purple. The rest of it was black: a deep, hateful black.

L'arch gasped. Theuses squinted and his face went pale. "Where did you get this? You know it is illegal to carry such things in the city."

Aeran nodded. "After the battle, one of my men took it from the neck of the commander Argle's throat. I thought you of all people ought to see it."

Theuses slowly picked it up as if he feared the small necklace. "This changes much," he whispered.

"What is it?" Castor asked.

"It is a symbol." Theuses looked up from the trinket to look at him. "Do you by chance remember a sorcerer by the name of Morgorath?"

The name hit Castor like a sledge hammer. "Who doesn't? For nearly a century he fought and reigned over most of Unisus, before an alliance of elves and humans attacked his fortress and banished him bellow it."

"Correct. This symbol," He said, lifting the necklace, "is the symbol of his power. All of his generals and commanders were either branded with it or wore a necklace such as this. Whenever he took over a kingdom, he would raise a flag with the Eye over its capital to show that is had submitted and that it was literally beneath him.

"That battle was the turning point against his rule. If the alliance had failed, the rest of Unisus would have been his for the taking. The elves lost almost half of are men; fifteen-some-thousand. The humans did suffered just as greatly. Morgorath was more than a sorcerer. He was a necromancer and also some called him The Dark Wraith or Dark Lord. He practiced the darkest of magic and the most horrible of spells. He was a master of torcher and death."

Castor nodded. "That's all true, but Morgorath was defeated, as you said, hundreds of years ago."

Theuses shook his head. "That's where it gets misty. It is true the elves locked him in a pit beneath his fortress, but the first time we locked him in the pit the Urki were breaking into the throne room and we were short for time.

"We cast a few weaker spells to harness him until we could defeat the army. Later are warriors returned and sealed the pit with even stronger spells. Since then there have been rumors. Rumors of shadows in the fortress and rumors of the Empire freeing him, now this? Plus, it all fits: Bantu is holding his men at the entrance to the Saber Pass. What if he is just holding us at bay until Morgorath is back and he will push us into the west coast? What if the Empire has planned more than just our demise? What if they plan to bring Morgorath back and give him the Empire? He would be able to sweep through and conquer even more territory than before. He would have the complete resources of the Empire to back him.

"Aeran, you said almost all of the Argles have left the forest, but not all. What if they are just keeping enough to keep tabs on us? The mountains are also his home turf. Before Morgorath was emperor of Unisus he was banished by all nations. He was cursed for his dark practices and locked in the Mountains of Ilmara. For years he sat and planned his escape. His heart turned to stone and he swore the destruction of the other races. During this time he rallied the Urki and Argles. By the end of his imprisonment he had an army. He broke from the mountains and began to take over Unisus. Imagine what would happen if he had the Urki, the Argles, and the Empire?"

Castor wasn't convinced. "Theuses, you don't think you are over doing this a little? I mean that Argle could have just kept the necklace from the days of Morgorath."

Theuses was already shaking his head. "Argles only live for hundred years maximum. A necklace could never stay on an Argle neck that long. An Argle's life revolves around fighting and war. The necklace would have been torn off long ago. Also, a necklace of that price; pure silver; would not have stayed in that condition for a year, let alone a hundred years or so. It would have been ripped into separate parts and sold. This Argle was working for Morgorath."

The room went silent for a moment; broken only by the heavy rain outside. Surprisingly it was L'arch who eventually chose to argue. "Are you sure of this, brother? This is not something to be taken lightly."

Theuses shook his head. "No. But this necklace is like a piece of a puzzle that doesn't make sense until it is put in. Aeran, what do you think?"

"A threat as large as this is indeed surely grave, as your sister has said. However, we have no proof of the matter and if this is not as it appears you would be taking a great risk. In this matter I cannot advise you." He was silent after that.

"Castor?" Theuses asked.

"I don't know, to be honest. I suppose the Empire is already against us. Fighting against them would be the same, even if the reason we did so changed. I think we need to be careful, though, if we are in fact choosing to fight. If Morgorath or even his minions are involved in this, the danger will be extreme. Then again, just waiting until the Empire's plans succeed to find out what they are planning would most likely be much more dangerous."

"Then we will fight," Theuses responded. "Our armies will once again become the greatest force in Unisus. It is time we make the Empire remember the days that we waged war against them. Aeran, ready the army and assemble a group of Aurtha Ra to accompany us. I have a feeling we will be in dire need of some guardians. Make it at least fifty strong. Unfortunately, you will not be able to accompany us. We will need someone with sense to rule in my absence."

Aeran nodded. "What of Ormas? Shall he accompany you?"

"No. He is rash and will only be a hindrance. Give him warriors and tell him to guard the forest with his life. If it is true that the Argles are fleeing from the forest, I wish for them not to come back. I want for us to leave in four weeks' time."