"It is a plan with possibilities, little one, but it has a fatal flaw."

"The tundra," he nodded. "I know. There's nowhere to hide out there, and no way an army can approach without being spotted days before they arrive. That is where I'm hoping that Mother can help. She said the gods themselves were going to directly involve themselves in this. I think the best thing that they could do is use their power to transport the army right onto the battlefield. Their sudden appearance should create a nasty shock in our enemies, and if they're set up for attack before they leave, they can literally throw themselves at the enemy army before they so much as get out of their tents." He gave a dry, hollow chuckle. "If the Sha'Kar can Teleport several hundred people, I think the Elder Gods can Teleport an army."

"You are correct," the voice of the Goddess sounded from thin air, and then her animated icon appeared behind Jenna's chair. With her was the black-cloaked Spyder, and the two of them looked the unusual pair. Jenna immediately got up and offered the Goddess her chair, the chair of the ruler of the Tower, and she accepted it with a warm smile and a pat on Jenna's cheek, seating herself with Jenna standing to the left of her chair and Spyder to her right.

"Divine One," Sapphire said, standing up and giving her a surprisingly graceful curtsy.

"I'm not much one for ceremony, Sapphire," she smiled. "And call me Mother. It pleases me."

"As you wish, Mother," she said with an eloquent nod.

"That's a fairly cunning idea you have, kitten," she continued with a light smile. "It certainly would have a good effect for our side. The sudden appearance of the army and the sense of presence the Elder Gods would have over them will definitely get Val's attention, and that will give you the chance you need to escape. Let's not forget the element of surprise that will give us an immediate advantage. And I find that the rest of your plan has merit, kitten. It relies a little too much on luck, but for you, it's a remarkably well thought-out plan."

Tarrin flushed slightly.

"I know, it's a very tricky problem, and sometimes problems like that require a little unconventional thinking. The idea to transport an army right onto the battlefield is clever, my kitten. You've just revolutionized warfare. It's the ultimate surprise attack!"

"And it lets us amass our army wherever we wish," Sapphire added. "Suld may not be the right place for it. There are too many eyes here."

"There's no need to mass the army anywhere," the Goddess told the dragon. "If we do what Tarrin suggests, we can assemble elements of it wherever they may be, then bring them all together right before we move them to the battlefield. That way the disappearances of entire armies don't raise any suspicions, we don't strip any friendly kingdoms of all its protection while we're borrowing their armies, and we can get them all assembled and set up before we transport them to Gora Umadar. All we need to do is assemble the command staff in one place and let them work out the battle strategy. The common soldier rarely knows the full plan anyway. He merely goes in the direction his officers lead him."

"The best place for that would be Abrodar," Spyder finally said. "It is the one place where Val's eyes cannot reach. As Sapphire said, there are too many unfriendly eyes in Suld."

"Agreed," the Goddess said with a nod. Then she looked to Sapphire. "I heard you've called council," she said. "How many dragons do you think will help?"

"You will have all nine of my clan and every blue in my territory," she said immediately. "When I call them to war, they must obey, as is custom. That is some seventy blue dragons. The golds, silvers, diamonds, and sapphires will heed such a call to arms against Demons, and I'm fairly sure we can get a good number of the bronzes, greens, emeralds, topazes, and blacks, but I'm not sure how many of the others will agree. The reds will probably be the hardest to sway. Them and the coppers. Both are very selfish breeds. And you know how much we will have to argue with the steels to get them to agree. Sometimes they fight just for the sake of fighting."

Seventy blue dragons. Just the image of seeing seventy of those massive creatures in the sky would be enough to strike utter terror in the heart of any mere mortal that happened to witness such an event.

Standing up, Tarrin gave the Jenna a steady look. "None of this really concerns me, and I have other things to do," he announced. "Jenna, I'm going to be asking you to Teleport me to Ungardt as soon as I get everything done."

"Why Ungardt? And why leave?"

"It's the easiest route to Gora Umadar, and right now I don't want to be found," he answered. "If they can't find me, they can't deliver any ransom demands that put me in a hopeless situation. So long as I'm out of their reach, they have to keep Jasana alive. And that's what matters."

"Good point," she agreed after a moment of thought.

The Goddess looked at him, and he felt her reach into his mind. It was a gentle touch, almost comforting, but he wasn't sure what she found. He couldn't sense what she was doing, only that she did it. Whatever she found, though, caused her to smile.

He left them without another word and sought sanctuary in the one place where he could find peace, and that was the courtyard. The statue of the Goddess was missing from the merrily bubbling fountain, but the sense of peace, of welcome, that had always been a part of the courtyard remained. It was that sense of peace that made him seek this place out, to calm the turmoil of his mind. He sat on the lush grass near the fountain and closed his eyes, drawing up into a cross-legged meditative posture, closing his eyes and trying to calm his mind and his emotions. He needed to do it, because he could feel the All starting to take an interest in him. It seemed almost alive, the All, attracted by the noise that an upset Druid could cause, almost as if it were curious to find out what had upset the Druid so. It only seemed to be attracted to the stronger Druids, those with a more intimate connection to it, the ones that could make the most noise. Regardless of why it was attracted, he could feel it creeping towards him, the first of the signs Triana had trained him to detect. That feeling of swelling in the All, as if it were building up around him. That was what it felt like when the All was starting to build itself up to reaching out and making a connection with a Druid of its own volition, and his meditative attempts to calm himself caused it to lose interest in him, made that swelling in the All subside.

There was plenty to cause him turmoil. His daughter was the core of it, that much was given. Jasana's abduction was like a knife twisting inside him, an intense pain that he never thought was possible. His mind was consumed with fear and worry over the safety and well being of his daughter, the kind of reaction that only a parent could have for a child. It was all he could do to try to think through that worry, that fear, to maintain his focus and keep his mind on the task of retrieving her safely. It was not going to be easy, and that meant that he had to push that to the side. Like he told Jesmind, they could fall to pieces after she was safe. After he rescued her, he'd let all his pent-up emotions go, finally give them release. But until then, they were only a liability, and as dangerous as this was going to be, he couldn't afford any distractions.

That was only one of the problems facing him. He was very concerned for his sisters and friends, because what was coming would be much worse than what happened at Suld. This time it would be a pitched battle on open terrain, where there would be no fortifcations, no defensive fallbacks. Only army against army, where the one with superior numbers, magical firepower, and leadership was going to prevail. the Sorcerers, Wizards, Priests, and dragons and other magical creatures were going to be countered by the ki'zadun's black Wizards and Priests, the Fae-da'kii that had survived the battle at Suld, and the Demons. The humans, Selani, and Wikuni would be faced by humans and Goblinoids. Unless the Goddess did some serious recruiting, they were going to be severely outnumbered, and that really worried him. In a battle like that, the safety of his friends and sisters was very much in doubt. Even Allia would tire, and after battling for hours, even she would make a mistake that may get her killed. He was very worried that he was going to lose a sister or dear friend in this coming war, because more than ever before, the chances of that not happening had never been so against them.