The guard sent to retrieve us stopped at Thain and Eberon's tent as well. The pair of them drew attention already, added to myself, Schula, and Spaulder, we were a beacon in the camp.

Schula stuck her head into the tent to say something to Nassir, and I could hear the both of them laughing at what I can only assume was the event that was about to occur.

I reached over to hold Spaulder's large hand and looked up at him, his face pensive and not really looking at anything around him so much as looking nowhere and reflecting inward.

"Spaulder," I caught his attention. "You okay?"

Life sparked in his eyes as he looked at me warmly. He gave me a small smile, squeezing my hand in return. "I am fine, little one. Just collecting myself."

I nodded, then felt the air around me. My fingertips itching as I went to gather the magic around me as if I was going to summon flame. It was all being sucked toward Spaulder, he was probably going to be able to shift into his true form soon.

Schula pulled her head from Thain and Eberon's tent and beamed at the guard. "Okay, ready."

The guard, wearing an increasingly concerned expression with every important fae he gathered for the king, barely had it in him to nod and lead us to the large tent only a short reach away.

The fire outside of Baeleon's tent crackled, illuminating the faces of the many guards that surrounded the tent of the Autumn king. If I had to waget a guess, I would say it was more for their comfort than his. Baeleon struck me as a being who needed protection from very little in the Wyldes.

My eyes darted next to me to the biggest shape among us. His proud chin high and his golden eyes smoldering as he stared into the tent ahead.

Movement in the tent drew my eyes forward again as a big hand threw the canvas flap open from inside.

Eyes that blazed like the Autumn sun raked over the group. Thain, to Eberon, to Schula and I, and then they settled on Spaulder.

"So, you aren't all dead." Baeleon stiffened for a moment, locking eyes with Spaulder and then stepping out of the tent. Every muscle on his hard chest was tense, his trident in hand, gleaming in the glow of the firelight.

Spaulder stepped in front of us, the subtle motion of his hands as he moved his body wide to put himself between us and Baeleon.

"I did not know any would know me in this form," Spaulder said calmly.

Thain, for his part, wore a blank expression as he watched the scene play out before him. Eberon on the other hand, was wide eyed and watchful.

Baeleon's guards were much less calm about it. Reacting to Baeleon's tension, we were soon surrounded by twenty spears leveled at Spaulder's heart. He seemed much less concerned than the rest of us.

My fingers itched, and Schula's icy hand clapped down on my wrist, coating my hand in a thin glacial layer.

"Don't," she whispered, not taking her eyes off of Spaulder and Baeleon.

I glanced down. I had begun burning, the ice was already half melted off.

"Sorry," I whispered, putting out my hand.

And then, we watched.

What finally broke the silence around us was Spaulder. A gentle rumble from his chest as he chuckled, ending in a long sigh. I swallowed and my ears popped from a pressure that had been building in the air without my notice.

"I am Spaulder. Triquetram of Wren the Wylde Witch and Schula the ice fae. If you want them in your squabble with the Winter court, you'll have me on the field as well."

He left no room for question. The tone of a dragon, speaking to an ancient king as though he was a child needing to be told what was about to happen.

And then, Baeleon bowed his head. A small gesture with the weight of the Wyldes in it. Schula took in a sharp breath. Eberon and Thain tensed.

"I welcome you, Spaulder," Baeleon said, and then his mouth opened into a mad grin of teeth and glinting fangs and venom. "My excitement for the sight of DuVarick's face on the battlefield just increased tenfold."

Spaulder laughed, a dark sound with a brutality to it that matched Baeleon's words. Two impossible beings, ready to wage war on one who wronged their people. For a heartbeat, all I saw before me were two kings.

And it made me wonder, who exactly was Spaulder? Were all dragons like this, or was Spaulder leaving things out of his stories?

A horn sounded in the distance, echoed by three more. Baeleon's head turned enough to hear them clearly and growled.

"No time left to plan, they will be upon us," Baeleon snapped.

"Good," was Spaulder's answer.

The air cracked as the spell unwound. Shooting from Spaulder's back was now one impossibly large wing that dwarfed his humanoid body.

Several fae around us screamed, panic flaring up and dying, suppressed, as quickly as it rose up. Baeleon's guard were already tense from whatever they had just witnessed between their king and the strange being, and now that being was spouting body parts.

"Formations," Baeleon said simply, and the fae around him moved into action.

The other wing ripped free, and Spaulder turned to give Schula and I a warm smile.

"I will be watching over the both of you, beautiful little ones," he said.

Then, in a burst of rippling magics, the spell fell away as Spaulder leaped into the air. His wings beating, carrying him up as his body shifted in a flash.

Above us and crashing through the canopy to take to the skies, was now our giant black dragon.

Debris fell from where he broke branches and treetops, falling down and littering over the tents below and shining bright sun where we had been walking in dim light.

He flew in lazy circles high in the sky, and roared for all to hear. Whatever element of surprise we could have had with him was now gone, but I understood. Spaulder was not a being to hide in the shadows and spring forward to surprise his prey. He was a king in the skies over the Wyldes.

Things shrieked. Some were fae, others were more frightening things that lived in the unclaimed depths of the Wylde places. Things that hadn't seen light in centuries. Things that hadn't seen a dragon in longer.

Spaudler was now on display, and without question he was the biggest predator here.

Hopefully that included the Winter army.

"Thain, Eberon, Schula, Wren," Baeleon said our names, drawing attention from overhead down to him.

"To my side at the front," Baeleon said, and he turned to walk around his tent and toward the open area where fae were beginning to gather, facing the call of the war horns.

Schula reached out and squeezed my hand and pulled me to our tent.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Armor," she answered. I glanced back at Thain and Eberon, already wearing their matching scarlet shirts, just as I was pulled into the tent.

Schula got me suited up quickly, then I turned to help her do the same. We scrambled out of the tent and to the space where Baeleon was snapping orders to other members of his army. Uldur was there, and so were a number of other beings I recognized from his war council the day we arrived in Thanantholl to see him preparing for battle.

Thain's eyes met mine, he inspected my armor at a glance and nodded approval. Schula took us over to stand by Baeleon, who didn't acknowledge us but did begin to soften his hard shoulders as he finished instructing his people.

My eyes lingered to the Wyldes where the horns still sounded. A darkness that even elven eyes did not see through crept from a low valley. We were basically at the top of a hill, not that it was easy to tell as we marched through the unclaimed Wyldes with its thick trees and hazardous vines. If my ears weren't playing tricks on me, we were going to have to rush at the other force head on, and meet in the darkened pit below.

And suddenly, all I could picture was a cold cave. Sounds of dripping and movement of rocks the only comfort as I lay nearly naked and bruised on the hard ground. My whole body shivered, remembering my time in Icehold.

My whole body shivered, and a hand reached for my shoulder.

"I'm with you," Schula whispered.

A roar sounded overhead. Many of the fae around me were clearly frightened of Spaulder, but the sound of his war cry warmed me from the inside. A part of me was soaring through the sky with him, and I knew this would be like no fight I'd ever been in before.

I carried the witches with me, the elves with me, and Spaulder, Schula, and I were irreversably intwined. I would never be alone again.

A new horn sounded, low and loud and fierce from the other side of the darkened valley.

Baeleon raised a hand, and in an instant a dozen of the Autumn war drums began to beat. The reverbirating thrum of them hammered the energy of battle into my bones. The same rhythmic stomping, clapping, weapon thumping echo from when we first left Thanantholl now sounded again from all around me.

Loose clusters of what were probably formed military groups stayed together. I even locked eyes with Heyra, standing tall next to Yaz and Uldur not too far away. The only ones that stood out were us, considering Baeleon was in the middle of our group.

Baeleon lowered his hand that had been in the air, the call for the drums. But now his hand was straight ahead.

Forward.

The fae around us began to rush on. I took a step to join them, but Thain reached over behind Baeleon's back and held my arm.

I looked to him with a question in my eyes, and he shook his head subtly. Eberon and Schula weren't moving either. At least, until Baeleon took his first steps.

The moment Baeleon moved, the rest of our little group did as well. It was such an odd feeling, we were picking up speed, but still not rushing in as hard as the rest of the Autumn warriors.

The thick trees that blocked vision began dropping away as the slope quickened. The moment we reached the halfway part of the slope I could tell this was an intentional location for battle.

Screams as fae stepped on nests of wretched things in the dark. Slithering, hissing, biting, screaching things lived in the unclaimed Wyldes. Even if the things were not as dangerous as the wraiths and flesh hounds I had seen before, they were still something you did not want to stir up while fighting for your life with the Winter court.

With every footfall, I slid in fallen leaves. Vines choked my ankles, and I began the practice of burning away the nastier ones from me and Schula before we tripped completely.

Baeleon seemed unfazed, not even looking down as he stepped only where he wouldn't be caught in vines or stirring up something that slumbered in the deep Wyldes. Thain and Eberon looked just as practiced.

My heart hammered as we descended, now deep enough that I was having a very hard time seeing my fingers in front of my face. This battle would be fought in the dark, the only hints at where the enemy was would be the flash of magic.

Making me a particularly easy target.

"Shit," I hissed.

Schula squeezed my hand silently. She had seen it too.

Then, the sounds began. Screams, clashing metal. The sounds of the first strikes of the fight, and they weren't too far ahead.

"Autum court!" Baeleon bellowed. "Forward!"

Screams, drums, and pounding chests answered him. A terrible roar overhead echoed through the valley, the trees themselves trembled under the ferocious beat of Spaulder's wings. The only thing left was for us to reach the warriors and fight at our king's side.

The battle had begun.