Tamesis didn’t say anything as they left the room and walked in the direction that everyone else headed. Laz had a good memory and knew where they were, but the princess seemed to not need directions either as she walked by his side and knew what way to go as well.

She was silent the entire way until they met up with everyone else.

"Princess!" Said several of her people as they ran forward to greet here, some of the guards rushing to her side once they realized the other two weren’t coming.

"What did you do to our princess," the six remaining guards asked as the others surrounded her quickly.

"Nothing. She did it to herself. As for the other two... well... there is nothing you can do about regret sadly. Anyway, she’s fine. You’re all fine. Go to your rooms. My people and I need to talk," Laz said before turning to the princess.

"I will honor my promise," she said before turning away.

"Once we survive this, there will be a place for your people in the outside world again. My master can make sure that happens," Laz said with a sigh. He never meant to trick her and he knew she would honor her promise. But on the walk he also knew that some motivation on her part would prevent a lot of unnecessary deaths.

"Your master?"

"Her words, not mine. But she is good for it. You wouldn’t be the first race she has protected that I ended up finding lost in the universe."

"So we go from being prisoners to slaves huh?"

"The Elder Fae don’t keep slaves."

"ELDER FAE? THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!!!"

But Laz had already turned around and began walking, followed by a very confused Pooja, Hera, and her daughters along with Nagi.

"Since when could you speak their language?" Hera asked.

"Yeah daddy. I only kind of knew it thanks to some part of my bloodline and the fact that I feel like I had listened to it before..."

"Well... the black fortress used to house their people, so it’s not surprising you would have heard it before. As for myself? No clue. I’ve never been good with languages but I somehow learned it from listening to you and the princess speak. Weird huh? Anyway. If you’re wondering, her two guards are dead, one stabbed and killed the other hoping to take control of the princess and the fortress. For her part, the princess was going to abandon us and leave here but I convinced her otherwise. We now have a battle ready fortress from a bygone age to help us out."

There was an obvious excitement to Laz’s words as Hera asked,

"What kinds of strengths does this fortress have?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"No clue. The princess was too pissed at me for tricking her to ask her. But she should settle down soon. How long do we have until the fighting starts?"

"FIRST!" Two came running over with the others from the trash legion and gave a quick bow to the Empress.

"The beasts are moving into the canyon now. They should be on us by the end of tomorrow..." Two said, speaking to both Laz and Hera. He had been given an instructor job after the fortress had heard of the success of Laz’s legion. While training and instructing, he had heard the latest reports of the scouts and hunters and had rushed back to inform the trash legion to suit up and prepare for war when he ran into everyone.

"Guess that answers that question. We will need to know what kind of support we can expect from the princess and the fortress as soon as we can. We will defend the passes as they allow us to hold back the hordes with as few people as possible. But once they breach those passes, everything we be up to the gate defenses. One north and one south, if either falls, we will fall..." Hera said, letting everyone know.

"Any idea what gate will have it worse?" Laz asked, thinking things over in his head.

"The North gate will allow more beasts to attack it at once. Anything that’s not a main gate will be closed and sealed. But the air will be an issue. Many of those beasts can fly and there is very little we can do to stop them from the ground if they decide to attack from high up. There aren’t enough gods to patrol the skies and doing so would put them at risk, making them a target. Plus we had no clue as to the number of flying god beasts on their side."

Laz turned to Nagi and she nodded her head.

"We can have the black fortress in the sky above the fortress. With it up there, we will have protection from above as long as we have enough people to man it’s battlements," Laz suggested.

"How long can it remain in the air?" Hera asked, turning to the young girl.

"Forever if need be. Many of the sky beasts will also hesitate to attack it and be afraid of it even if they do."

"That’s some good news at least. Are you still planning on trying to lure out the shadow dragon?" Hera then turned to Laz to ask him.

"If we can destroy it, most of the beasts will be like a monster without a head and will scatter. But it won’t just show itself right away. It’s smart and will know enough to stay, watch and direct. It will only make a move once it’s sure of it’s victory. But when that happens, yes. I will confront it. This all started with the two of us. It will end with the two of us as well," Laz said, a rare and dangerous fire appearing in his eyes, one of violence and bloodshed that her normally didn’t show.

There was no lack of women who reacted very strongly to his words, feeling a fire stirring within themselves as well.

"Well... then the last thing we need to know is what the princess can offer," Hera said, turning to Laz. In addition to that, every one of her daughters, Pooja and Nagi also turned to look at Laz.

"Hey hey. I’m not sure what you all are thinking, but she kind of hates me right now. I’m probably the last person she wants to talk to right now.... and you’re all still looking at me."

"Face it. When it comes to women... that’s something you know how to handle. Or... do you want to act otherwise?" Eris said with a smile, causing the others to laugh.

"You don’t have to fuck her, just talk to her. In fact, she doesn’t deserve your dick anyway considering she was going to betray us... so no dick for her. Just get her to do her job and things will be fine. We have to go get ourselves ready anyway. Mom prepared war outfits that her sisters used to wear back in their raiding days so we all need to prep for tomorrow as well," Persephone said after she finished laughing.

"She won’t respect any of the rest of us, just you. Still, if she makes you angry and you need to relieve yourself, come find me later. Unlike these others, I haven’t had a chance to ride that pony yet and I’m not sure how long I can resist," Pooja said, laughing as she and the rest moved away.

"He has a pony? What’s that? Can I ride it?" Nagi asked Eris.

"You know... I mean... I guess? You’re how old again? A few thousand years, right? So... "

"Enough. Not yet dear. You’re species seems to age a bit slower than ours so it’s best if you wait a while, alright? I’m sure it will still be there when you’re ready for it," Hera said, her experience in dealing with other species showing through.

Laz was left by himself with a rather impossible job.

Laz followed a guard was was lead to a wing where the new people were being housed. One of six guards stepped forward and blocked their way.

"I wish to speak to your princess for a moment or two. Would you please inform her of my request," Laz said, as respectful as possible.

"Our princess wants nothing to do with you," The guard responded before another lady walked forward.

"Haven’t you done enough? You’ve dragged us into this war after we’ve just recovered and now you won’t even let us have a moments peace? In our own fortress I might add?" She said, yelling at Laz.

"It’s fine. Let him in," Came Tamesis’s voice from a nearby closed door.

Laz stepped away from his own escort and told him he could return before walking past the still glaring guard and lady who had shouted at him.

Stepping into her room, he noticed she had already changed from the purple dress to some deep green color night gown. It flowed down her body making a stark contrast to her pale skin and bald head. The faint glimmer of lines on her skin seemed to glow briefly in the candle light as she stood looking out the window, but she said nothing as he entered.

Laz wondered if their people were naturally bald or if it was a side effect from the freezing the underwent, but he held his tongue.

"It’s nothing more than a piece of my world, yet even this mountain brings back memories. And yet all of my family, the people I once loved... have all vanished into the rivers of time. Even the last friend I had was taken from me, right in front of me. And I did nothing to stop it. Now... we face extinction and there is little I can do about it. I know why you’re here. You let me walk in silence so that I might collect myself, but never once asked about what this fortress can do. You don’t need to look at me like that. I might be young, but I was raised since birth to lead my people, even if they number so few. So I will fulfill my part. You knew what that stick was, didn’t you?" Tamesis asked.

"I did." Laz responded, not knowing where she was going with it.

"They once said that the first world tree held up the entire omniverse, but that races got greedy for it’s life and it’s power and began chopping it down, causing all of the planets to float away among the stars. Even back in my day, the Elder Fae were a myth and that one stick would have been enough to ruin empires, even if it was only from a descendant of the world tree. And yet you speak as though your master is one of them."

"I don’t know their history, nor if the ones I am talking about are from the same race as the ones you knew back then. But this is who they are and even at my level, I couldn’t beat my ’master’ if I tried. So while they might not be who they say they are, they are powerful, much more so than you or I."

"And will she really prepare a place for us?"

"Yes. She can be trusted."

"Can I trust you?" Tamesis asked as she turned to face Laz who now noticed her night gown was very clearly see through.

"That’s for you to decide," Laz responded, not fazed in the slightest.

Tamesis then stepped forward, letting the night gown slide from her shoulders and on to the floor.