King Frega Tarchak sat in the central barracks of Castle Thoth surrounded by his royal guard. Next to him, his commander, a relatively young wolf named Pretor Barus, was chuckling loudly as Frega related some tales about Pretor's grand-uncle, Memza.

Memza Barus was the soul of the Lokian wolves. He had recorded all the ancient tales of the Lokians, all of their history. He did so after Khalis had forbidden them in an attempt to recreate their religion and beliefs in a way that would have suited her dark pursuits.

Memza had been at Frega's side for the entire Khalisian wars, not only helping in the battles, but constantly scribbling in his journals what would later become the complete history and legends of the Lokian race, a massive ten volume work which was considered one of the great achievements of scholarship in Arishamal.

Memza was a modest beast with a great joy for life and it was to his high chagrin that Frega named him a Lokian national treasure. The king had asked Memza to accompany him to Thoth, but the old wolf was busy with his second ambitious work, a history of Arishamal itself and he preferred to work in the comfort of his childhood home on the Northern Tundra. Frega knew better than to try and change his mind.

Pretor listened intently as Frega concluded his account.
"...It is just like the old scoundrel to ignore my requests, but woe unto him who goes against Memza's council. I suppose it is a benefit of age, though he was always contrary, even in his youth as my father often reminded me," Frega lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "but I may well have the last laugh. I sent Queen Almunda and the two young princes, Baldrun and Hagris, to visit him. I'm certain they'll drive him a bit crazy. They are at that age now when everything out of their snouts is a question."

Pretor laughed.
"I fear that you may have miscalculated, my liege. Memza will fill their heads with tales upon tales, which they no doubt will repeat to you, asking you even more questions, until it is you who are driven a bit mad."

Frega slapped the younger wolf on his back.
"I should have thought it through more carefully...ah well...it would serve me right trying to outsmart Memza. However, as king of the Lokians, I will not admit defeat so easily. I think I will commission a marching song for our troops celebrating the old villain, that should annoy him to no end."

Pretor perked up.
"I consider myself not only a warrior, but a poet as well. I would consider it an honor if you allowed me to compose the march."

Frega grinned broadly.
"Better you than some poor wolf who will suffer the indignity of Memza's annoyance. Since you are his nephew, he will doubtless be less virulent in his objection, though possibly more persistent in his protests. I made a good choice for Commander of my guard, Pretor, you are indeed a brave beast."

Pretor chuckled.
"We both know that despite his protests, he will consider it an honor. He won't admit that, of course."

"No he won't," Frega sighed, "I truly love and treasure that old wolf, he deserves every accolade he receives. To be completely forthright, sending my sons to visit was not an act of revenge. He will teach them of our race, of honor and of many more things a future king will need to rule wisely and well...if it annoys him...well, that's just a bonus. Write your song and teach it to your men, I will enjoy hearing it on our march home.

"I will do that, your highness, with pleasure."

Frega stood and addressed Pretor as he headed to the barracks door.
"I am going to go meet my friends and find out what exactly is happening beyond what I was told. Keep your wolves ready for when they may be needed, but let them enjoy Thoth as well. Remind them that they represent their king, so have them watch their drinking and not get into any unnecessary fights...other than that...well tell them from me to have a good time."

The Governor's quarters were located at the summit of Castle Thoth. Originally they had served as the Royal Chambers of kings, queens, and conquerors. The main room had served as the throne room, used by every ruler from Shana-thoth-Meris, Morgaard's first king, to Khalis, its last monarch.

When Chumley became Morgaard's first ruler who was neither king nor queen, he rejected the Royal Chambers as his quarters because of the horrible memories it contained, choosing instead a more modest suite of rooms which he still occupied. Deedor, the present governor was urged by Chumley to take up residence in the royal quarters and having no previous experience of them, he agreed.

The Throne Room, situated in the highest spire of the castle was transformed to a council chamber and it was to there that Frega proceeded after leaving the barracks to meet his friends.

Frega was the last to arrive. A large snow-oak table, twenty feet long and six feet wide stood in the center of the space, surrounded by simple carved chairs. At the end closest to the entrance, Chumley, Robbi, Thoris, Belinda, Herman, Winnie, and Deerdor sat. Gladiverserac was next to the table, comfortably resting on the marble floor.

All the creatures were listening to an ancient ermine named Wirress, the head of the engineering guild in Thoth. Bemar, the master of the metal-making guild stood by his side. Frega entered quietly and took a seat, listening to Wirress's comments.

The ermine was shaking his head sadly.
"I have calculated the numbers again and again with the same unfortunate result. There is simply no way we can devise a rig which can lower the tank into the Circe Sea and lift it after it is full of water, so the problem of trapping the Asherouboros within it is moot. Full of water, the tank will weigh nearly a million pounds. The bridge will hold easily, but the crane will need to extend over the side and the bridge is too narrow to adequately anchor the machine under that amount of weight, it will simply be pulled into the sea."

Chumley spoke up.
" 'Ow much can ya safely lift then?" he asked.

Wirress looked down at his pad of calculations. He quickly scribbled some figures, then looked up.
"By the numbers, we can lift about a quarter of what is required. For safety's sake I would place the maximum weight at a bit less, let's say a hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds."

Thoris spoke up.
"There ith thome good newth though. The cart we needed ith fully built and I'm pretty sure it can hold the million poundth. Ith a big one, a hundred feet long with thixty wheelth. It will take quite a few beathth to move."

"My wolves will move it wherever you need it to go," Frega said confidently.

"That's all well and fine, mah lupine friend, but there ain't much use movin' it if old Ashy ain't aboard, is there?" Chumley said.

"Why can't we just lift up the Asherouboros and put him in the tank on the bridge?" Robbi asked.

Chumley smiled.
" 'E might be me pal, but ah ain't certain the feelin's mutual, am ah? Ah strongly doubt that 'e'll climb into a net just 'cause ah asks 'im."

Dema snorted loudly. Chumley smiled and addressed her.
"Ah know that snort anywhere. It usually accompanies me mother-in-law tellin me 'ow ignorant ah am, don't it?," he chuckled, " 'course she's mostly right. You got an answer to our dilemma, luv?"

Dema smiled warmly.
"Not ignorant dear, simply not thinking correctly. I think I may have the answer. Robbi asked me to see if I could determine the poison that was used to paralyze Arisha and while I could not discover the specific substance, I have a very good notion and believe there may be a way to cure her..."

Robbi shot up from her chair.
"Is it true Dema? Can you cure her?"

Dema put her paw on Robbi's shoulder.
"Possibly, but we will discuss that later, presently we are concerned with securing the Asherouboros," she turned back to the other creatures seated at the table, "as I was saying, I was researching poisons and I came upon one which was very similar to the one used on the Golden Spider. It is terribly strong, but not fatal and unlike the one used on Arisha, it causes a short paralysis whose duration can be controlled by dosage based on body weight. If we could get the beast to ingest the right amount, he would be helpless long enough to give us time to remove him from the boiling sea and into the tank which we would have filled with water on the cart, on the bridge."

"How much poithon would we need?" Thoris asked.

"As I said, it is very strong. Even for a creature of the Asherouboros' size, an ounce or two would knock him out for several hours."

Chumley stood and slapped the table.
"Outstandin'! That's it then, we'll spike Ashy's fish with the poison and when 'e passes out, we'll rig a net on the crane and lift 'im to the tank. Where do we go about I' this juice, Dema?"

Dema looked slightly embarrassed.
"That is a small problem, but there is both good news and bad news."

"Well?" Chumley insisted.

"The good news is that the source of the poison is right here around Thoth."

"And the bad news?" Frega asked.

"The source is the blackwater centipede. It lives in the rocks along the shore of the Circe Sea. They are small creatures, no more than an inch long. They use their poison to paralyze small fish and crabs which they then consume."

"Why is that bad news, Dema?" Robbi asked.

Dema put on a serious face.
"As I said, they are small. To produce enough of the poison would require at least two thousand of them."

"That's a lot of creepy-crawlies, ain't it?" Chumley asked.

Deerdor spoke for the first time.
"I think we can do it easily enough. Between Frega's wolves, my police and volunteers, we'll have four or five hundred beasts who can scour the shoreline. With any luck, we can get the necessary number of insects in a few days."

"Get it in motion then, my fine Governor." Chumley said optimistically. He turned to Dema, "We'll deliver all the centipedes to your quarters to prepare the potion."

"Oh joy," Dema said drolly, "if I can bear you, what's a few thousand poison insects?"

"Dema," Belinda said, laughing, "what a mean thing to say."

"You're right, child, I should not go around insulting insects who know no better." Dema sniggered.

Winnie leaned over and whispered to his brother.
"The liddle fishies and crabs will be right happy not to get et as much once those centi-things are gone."

Herman smiled and ruffled his little brother's head spikes.
"I reckon they will."

Early the next morning, Herman and Winnie said their farewells to their friends and boarded the coach bound for Seth-e-Raman. Herman was dejected and Winnie tried his best to cheer him up.

"Don't be sad, Hermie, we'll see everyone again soon." He said comfortingly.

Herman smiled.
"I'm the one what's supposed to make you feel better liddle brother. Don't worry about me, Winnie, I'm just feeling a little flummoxed is all. These are all fine beasts and I just feel guilty leavin' while all this stuff is goin' on. Also, it ain't doin' my conscience no good to be keepin' the truth about Vattus from them. They all figger he's fine. They don't know how sick he is."

Winnie scrunched up his face, trying to look
serious.
"Mister Vattus told you we wasn't to say nuthin' and that's what we done. He just don't want no one worryin' about him is all. It's up to us to help him."

Herman reached over and smothered Winnie in a hug, wrestling him lightly until both hedgehogs were giggling uncontrollably. After catching his breath and releasing his brother, he looked Winnie deeply in the eye and spoke in a firm, but gentle voice.

"What you said about it bein' up to us to help Vattus...you are righter than you know. We gots to help him get better...we gots to work harder'n we ever done before. We ain't just gaffers no more, Winnie, we be those fellas I read to you about in them stories when you was younger...the ones what put their lives on the line for good folk like our friends...the ones what fought the evil beasts so that the good beasts could have better lives. That's who we gotta be."

Winnie's eyes widened and a hopeful smile spread across his face.
"You mean that we gotta be heroes?" he said anxiously.

Herman smiled gently and patted his brother on the head.
"I guess so, liddle gaffer. The world is a strange place, but it's the only world we got."