The first thing we did when we reached our destination was to explore.

Morning light freely fell over the rare clearing in the Wyldes where the ruined kingdom now rested. While little could be seen above the grass, if you walked along the right spots you could find where buildings had been. If you were lucky, you could even find a cobbled patch where a street once lay.

It was a surprisingly emotional journey for me to walk the ruined land. Teyber and the other elven children did their duty as they scouted, but I could tell they were just as affected as I was. For a stretch of land in the middle of the unclaimed Wyldes, it was calm here. A peace settled over it from lost centuries of care and love.

Liana had built up a fire where we could warm ourselves and provide a central place to explore from. I wasn't missing the Summer lands by any means, but it was certainly colder now outside of them.

Teyber's scouts had brought food with them, which we were grateful for. We left Thanantholl with almost nothing, and my bag of witchcraft was no good for eating. Spaulder went off into the trees alone for a while, coming back with a full belly. I didn't want to ask him what he found in there, all I know is that it put up enough of a fight to land a few light scratches on the great dragon's muzzle, and that in itself was a feat.

Once we were fed and warm, our investigation into the area was well and truly under way. More than once I saw the elven children pausing in awe of something or other they found. Remnants of a heritage long lost. I suppose I did the same, but at least I had the comfort of Puko on my shoulder to ground me. The heft of the large bird was warm and reminded me of loved ones.

The biggest excitement of the morning came when my boots scraped the side of a carved bit of stone. The sight of it caught my attention and I bent down, running my fingers along it as I brushed away the grass that clung to the delicate crevices. The movement caught Teyber's attention.

I pulled at the grass, trying to uncover what the carved stone had been. The motions chased Puko to the skies rather than sit on my shoulder and weather my bothersome digging and pulling. I didn't get far before it was covered in more dirt than grass, the Wyldes truly reclaiming what once belonged to it. Teyber's light steps came my way as he kneeled beside me.

"What do you see?" he asked softly.

"I'm not sure," I murmured. "It's covered, but whatever it was, it warranted a lot of work in its design.

He helped me scrape away the dirt and plants until we uncovered more of the carvings. Teyber grunted as he yanked back a stubborn vine, and he paused to stare at it for a long moment.

"What is it?" I asked.

He hummed, tracing his fingers along a two-sided tree. The carving of a living tree, roots included. But where the roots should have ended, they grew again into a new tree mirroring the first, only this tree was barren and dead.

"This is a grave," he said finally.

"A grave?" I questioned, looking up to see Schula and Liana walking our direction. "I thought they burned the dead here, just like we did back in the mountains."

"We do," Schula said, stopping on my other side to look at what we had found.

"The elves do not," Teyber said. "This is the door to a mausoleum."

I raised my head, looking around the carved stone to see what it might entail. Bits of stone poked out where the raised corners of the door's frame might be, and it was definitely big enough to walk down into if the door were uncovered.

"I've never encountered such a thing," I said. "Why, if you buried your dead, would you want to get into the grave with it?"

Teyber shook his head, brushing the dirt from his knees as he stood up. "No, a mausoleum isn't a simple grave. It is... like a chamber of underground graves. The dead are laid to rest in carved stone beds with lids. There will be shelves with parting gifts and possibly portraits of the dead inside."

I didn't understand it, but I could at least sympathize with a place to visit the memories of a loved one. But after I left Bryn his burning stone offering, I had no more reason to go back to his burning site.

"Why put such a thing underground, I wonder," Schula murmured.

"Hm. My guess would be that the elves of the Wyldes use the underground to their advantage, just as we do in Eidelhein," Teyber answered.  "Cellars to keep things cool in the hot summer, for instance."

I stood suddenly, my eyes flying around us to all the other places a cellar might be. The ground was far too hard to dig in the mountains, and our summers were never so hot, but I had seen the likes of an underground space in Sulls. That meant shelter, very secure shelter, could be anywhere here.

"Thank the Mother..." I began walking around where I could figure out the outlines of buildings, looking for more doors. My movements and our gathering had attracted the other elven children and Spaulder to where we were. Soon, all of us were gathered near the door to the mausoleum.

"What are you looking for?" Schula asked.

"There could be other places dug into the ground," I answered, still waking the edges of buildings and taking guesses where the evidence was long erased. "That means shelter! Shelter, and a place to safely plan an attack."

"You're right," Teyber said. "Scouts! Spread out from here and mark where you find doors that may lead underground. Don't go in alone, work in pairs and call out if you think you've found one that isn't caved in."

The scouts went to work quickly as Teyber joined Schula at my side where we searched for doors.

"This mausoleum," Spaulder said. 'It contains a great number of dead bodies then?"

I stopped in my tracks, my eyes widening as I looked at Spaulder.

"Elves do not practice preserving bodies," Teyber answered. "But bones may be left, yes. This is a holy place, and the practices of the elves of old would have sustained life magic here."

"This is it," my voice waivered. "This is what Bara Khalja is after."

After a heartbeat of pause, Schula gasped and Teyber cursed.

"All these remains, what could he do with such a force?" I asked.

None of us answered. We had enough of an idea of the horrors. How many dead were here? Hundreds? Thousands? Could the bones below our feet turn the tide for the necromancer's army? Double it?

'Then we must defend this place,' Spaulder said. 'We gather here and stand once the necromancer comes.'

"What gathering?" Schula asked solemnly. "There aren't even enough of us to be one bite for the risen dead once they all arrive."

Spaulder snorted a laugh. 'Foolish children. From what I have witnessed, you have allies in numbers that rival the warlock's army. You must simply call out to them.'

I wrapped my arms around my shoulders, pulling the borrowed cloak from Teyber tight. "We could call... Thain. And a letter to Eberon, though he will have his hands full trying to keep Thanantholl in any semblance of order."

"Eberon will come," Schula insisted. "Or, do as much as he can at least."

"The elves will come," Teyber said.

I turned to him with a question in my eyes. We did not leave Eidelhein on good terms, expecting help from them would be foolish.

"What do you mean?" Schula asked.

Teyber sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "You left Eidelhein in turbulence. The council of elves fought for days and nights over what to do with the information you carried across the world to us. Many in the city wanted to prepare a defense. Some even wanted to proactively seek out the conflict. Of course, many on the council wanted nothing to do with the idea."

"Halduin," Schula hissed.

Teyber grunted. "Mostly. But remember, the council kept the city safe this long by remaining unknown. Wren, your very birth shows the Wyldes that the elves are still alive, possibly thriving. They may not be breaking their banishment, but there are some among the fae that wanted more than that, and the knowledge of their survival may yet provoke violence upon Eidelhein. The council is very torn, and so is the city."

My shoulders sank, and I glanced back to the fire that Liana had built, still being fed often enough to remain blazing and warm.

Schula put a hand on my shoulder. "It's nothing you did, Wren. DuVarick found out what you were before you did, there was no helping that."

I nodded, putting my hand over hers.

"Maybe we should sit and write a letter for Eberon," I said. "Puko can deliver it."

A quick whistle called from the other side of the firepit. One of Teyber's scouts had found something.

"I'll go see what it is," Teyber said. "You get warm by the fire and we'll figure this out together when I get back."

"Alright," Schula said, and we made our way to the fire. Spaulder settled in and we settled in on him. He was the warmest thing out here, after all. Why use up my own fire magic when I could curl up with a dragon?

We fed the fire and I watched Teyber and his scouts in the distance, when suddenly the captain begins to wave us over.

"What is it?" Schula wondered out loud.

I sat up, not happy at the fact that I had to leave Spaulder's warm scales, but the curiosity was getting the better of me. "I don't know, let's find out."

When we reached Teyber, he and two of his scouts were looking at something on the ground. As we got closer, I could see it was a hole.

Teyber looked up, an expression mixed in seriousness and interest plain on his face. "We found something we can use."

I stepped over the grasses until I was standing next to Teyber. Liana was inside the opening, a set of stairs leading into the ground. She held a torch that flickered and lit a more interesting interior than I first expected. The stone room below was carved with bold, arching lines. Shelves were dug into the walls and lined with nicer stone. There were still things down there, even after all this time.

"What is this place?" Schula asked.

"Dunno," Liana said, climbing out of the doorway. "From what I can tell, it was probably under someplace important."

"Then let's take a look," Teyber said, and he reached out for Liana to hand over the torch.

Teyber went first, and Schula and I followed after. The other scouts came last.

"This place seems to be standing strong, despite the passing years," Teyber explained. "Good beams, the structure is sound, no collapsing walls. We may be able to use this place, and it keeps our base of operations out of sight."

As we walked down the stairs, I could see more of the room. The rotted wood of what once may have been a table lay in one corner, but other parts of the room that were carved from stone were still good. Rotted books and scrolls lay on some shelves, while useful items like stone bowls and tools survived.

"This is outstanding," Schula said. "I thought this whole place would be long gone after the war."

"It probably survived because it's so well hidden," Liana said. "It was under what I can only assume were once floorboards. I think this place was kept a secret for the most part. Possibly by scholars or leaders."

As we reached the bottom of the stairs into the strange space, the scouts behind us began to light torches from the one Teyber carried. Soon, the room was filled with enough light to get a real look around.

My lips parted as I spotted a mural at the back of the room. I walked forward, reaching out my hand until my fingertips hit the small tiles that made up the picture. Witches.

"What is that?" Schula breathed.

"Is that-" Teyber began.

"The making of the barrier!" I exclaimed, spinning to face Schula and the rest of the room. "It's here! The markings to complete the ritual, it's all here!" 

The mural depicted everything. The markings on the ground, the phase of the moon, the witches holding hands, dancing naked under the stars as they sang. And the song they sang, I knew what it was because it was in the tomes I brought with me from the valley. And the paints on their bodies, I knew what they were made of because those were in the tomes too.

"The last pieces of the puzzle," Schula said. "Wren! Can you do it?" 

I laughed, running into Schula's arms as we clung to each other in excitement. "I can! Well, not alone."

I looked around frantically, then sped out of the underground space. "I need paper!"

Schula, Teyber, and the rest of the elven children followed me as I ran for my pack which I had left by the fire.

'What is it, little one?' Spaulder asked.

"I found it!" I told him as I scrambled through my bag. "How to repair the barrier, the witches didn't form it with the fae alone, they did it with the elves! Aha-"

I pulled a slip of parchment from my bag and a stick of charcoal. Scribbling my findings frantically, I ripped the paper in two.

"Puko!" I called. "Puko, come here!" 

"Caw!"

Puko flew down from the skies, landing on my outstretched arm.

"Puko." I stroked his head feathers. "Mila told me to call her when it was time to come help. It's finally time."

"Caw!" 

"Take this to Mila," I tied a paper to his leg. "And drop this one off to Thain before you leave the Wyldes."

I held the other paper out for him to take in his beak, which he did so firmly.

"Go," I breathed. "Fly swiftly, Mother keep you!"

The only sound that could be heard in the clearing was the flapping of Puko's wings. Even the wind that whistled and roared had died down, as if to send him off.

Onto the winds, carrying our hope.

To the witches.