Elanor didn't feel the power directly from West Reaches, but rather the strain of having the kingdom fight through her. It bore a similar weight upon her as when she'd channeled Sandwalker. She struggled and fought, keeping from being crushed by the power needed to wage a fight that no one else seemed to be able to. "It's so much stronger than the others."

"West Reaches is an old city. Almost as old as Home. She also isn't happy we're here." Stewart was somewhat in awe of Elanor, since she barely seemed to show how much power was pouring through her. "Thank you… for sharing this burden."

"That's part of why I'm here. My former family is making a mess of the kingdom, and it's only right that I help deal with it." Looking around the courtyard as soldiers rushed in and took up positions while others filtered out into the city, Elanor rolled her shoulders and felt her right hand itch to draw her pistol. "I guess Astrid and her pack have made a lot of work for you."

"What they did was save a lot of time and lives. If we can move fast enough, we can overwhelm the city's defenders and push them all the way to the keep. This resistance from the city changes my plans. I'd originally expected the city to be neutral or on our side. It's going to complicate everything." Stewart had a sinking feeling in his stomach. He didn't want to say what would happen in the worst-case scenario, but all the same he knew he would do it for his kingdom.

Elanor, though, had connected the dots. "When was the last time a city was sanctioned?"

"Never. No one has ever had to do that. We know how to, though. Even then, it may not repair what has been done. If the city instigated this—I'll order it evacuated." It was unconscionable. A city took so much time and work to build and grow. What also worried him was the cities of his kingdom being introduced to his leadership by him killing one of their number. "But, I want to see if it can be reasoned with first. Maybe David talked her into this."

"Should I try to talk to West Reaches now?" Elanor, still doing her best to channel the kingdom to fight against West Reaches, was almost in a panic about making such an attempt, but she kept that to herself.

"If you do, I want to make sure your god is close. A city can be a force of nature when they're angry, and I think West Reaches is pretty pissed off right now." Stewart paused his conversation with Elanor as pages came with reports. He needed to do a lot, and much as he wanted to know the city's intentions, he didn't want to surrender the huge advantage the wolves had given him.

While Stewart was distracted, Elanor caught sight of Hreti and felt a small burst of relief. Still shouldering the weight of the kingdom as it fought the city to prevent it driving back Stewart's army, she walked over to him and said, "That was amazing." As he turned to face her, Elanor was aware that his tail was swaying side to side.

"Astrid didn't make it, but she will be back." Hreti was excited to be approached by Elanor, particularly with the King having left her alone. "Are you fighting in this?" He gestured to the squads of soldiers filtering out into the city and along the walls.

"My own battle is…" Waving a hand, Elanor completely failed to come up with a good word for it. "The kingdom is working through me to fight the city. If I wasn't here letting it use me to reach the city directly, West Reaches would be free to use its full might. We haven't had a need for our largest cities to defend themselves often, but if it weren't for the kingdom, most of our soldiers would be driven out."

Nodding his head, Hreti closed his eyes and thought back to their invasion of Northridge. "I have felt that, a little, but I have felt it. That's probably why they feed us the berserker brew before sending us in. Northridge didn't like our pack back then. I can't say I blame him." He laughed at his own comment. "And here we are again to break a city."

"Actually, we might not have to if I can convince West Reaches to help us. I need someone to guard me while I talk to it, though." The way Hreti seemed to straighten and look interested heartened Elanor. All the wolves, she knew, were eager to assist Travis and his causes, but Hreti seemed particularly enthused.

Tilting his head back, Hreti howled into early morning light, calling out his need for his family. As they gathered, one by one, he nodded toward Elanor. When Skarde brought them up to their full complement, minus Astrid, he explained that she needed guards while she talked to the city.

Elanor was acutely aware of the other wolves giving Hreti strange looks. Their social dynamic was beyond her, though, so she decided it was best to let them figure that out for themselves. "I need you to guard me while I talk to, and maybe fight, the city."

Their attention snapping to Elanor, each of the four wolves nodded and moved to stand around her, putting her in the middle of an adamantine and scale wall of bodies. She had a moment of worry about their draconic tails, but they each seemed to tuck theirs to the right, leaving her a clear circle.

Sitting down on the ground, she felt the paving stones under her rump even through her custom armor. She reached out to the kingdom, feeling it forming a growing wall of protection for the army as it spread into West Reaches. The kingdom, too, protected the citizens who were fleeing the fighting. "Let me talk to the city, please?"

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The kingdom was flabbergasted. Its primary link to the field of battle was asking to fight by its side in a war she was ill-equipped to fight in. Still, it trusted its inquisitor and hadn't had any reason to doubt her yet. Slowly, carefully, it removed its protection from her and lifted her spiritually to an even footing as itself.

Her body was gone—now loosely connected to the entity that was Elanor. She hovered above the city of West Reaches, power pouring through her to the kingdom, and watched in awe as a bigger battle was waged. The pair of genius loci were blocking, thrusting, evading, and trading ground in a thousand ways in a thousand little fights along a huge front.

"I can't help with that." It was obvious, given Elanor couldn't even track a fraction of what was going on, let alone form the myriad variations in attack and defense that both were using, that she wouldn't be useful directly in the fight. "But I want to ask West Reaches to stop."

West Reaches was frustrated. She was here, in the focus of her power base, and yet the kingdom had stymied her and held her from scattering its army. When the kingdom firmed up its defenses and sent a missive, at first, she dismissed it. When no attacks continued to strike her, she backed off her own offense into a stout wall. "There is nothing to discuss! You attacked me!"

"You cut yourself off from me!" The kingdom's voice was the stronger of the two. "You tried to kill me!"

"Can we talk this over without yelling?" Elanor asked, her voice infinitely softer than the two titans, but with a deep thrumming sound underpinning each word. "Please?"

Grumbling to herself, West Reaches relented. "Very well. Why are you attacking me?"

The kingdom, still feeling the wounds that had nearly cost it its very existence, growled a little. "You almost killed me."

"Did David tell you to do this?" Elanor asked into the silence.

The question was so fundamentally at odds with her current situation that West Reaches had to check herself from immediately replying. With the odds stacked against her, she could see the writing on the wall. An intense feeling of loss permeated her as soldiers and citizens were removed from her walls. David was like a son to her, in many ways, but he was still human.

She needed to think, though, and do it fast. Would the kingdom welcome her back if she denounced David? Would the truth come out? She was one of the oldest cities that'd been in the kingdom—could she hoodwink them all? Gathering all her thoughts together, she counted on one sure-fire thing that she knew might have a hope of saving her. "This has gone too far."

It was what Elanor hoped to hear. She felt relief flood her as West Reaches relaxed and slumped, all her defenses folding—though, with the kingdom not attacking, nothing about the front between them changed. "It was David, my former uncle, wasn't it?"

If West Reaches had purred at this new information, it would have given the whole game away. "If you make it fast for him—if you can promise you will dispatch him the moment you see him—I will ensure you have a path to reach him and he has no active talismans." It would be the ultimate betrayal, but West Reaches could live with that.

"I'll have to tell the King," Elanor said, still feeling far too small for her present company. "How will you make sure I can—?"

"You will see. Assemble yourself and some guards to escort you." West Reaches drew back from the parlay, her faculties in disarray. She had committed herself to this. If she did nothing, her walls would fall and, as she could see in her streets, people were being escorted out of the city—and she would die. If she fought back against the army attacking her, likewise, because she wasn't blind to the fact they were far outnumbered. No. Her only path forward was to give up David and bide her time until this was all a lost memory.

Stewart felt the exact moment the truce began, and then when West Reaches surrendered. He gasped at the weight easing completely, and the joy the kingdom felt was palpable.

"Sire?"

The question snapped him from the daze, and Stewart looked at the man asking for his attention. "A slight change in plans. I'm waiting for a report, but I believe West Reaches—the city—has withdrawn her support of the traitors."

The air seemed clearer, and Stewart could tell it was a relief for all involved that they wouldn't have a city's avatar to fight. He focused on giving orders and checking reports. The evacuation of the city was proceeding, with only a small number of citizens estimated to be around the keep left to move.

He had finally gotten everyone dealt with when Elanor approached. Behind her were the four remaining wolves, though Stewart had to concede they were far more draconic now. Thick muscular tails swayed slowly behind them with each step, and with their helmets removed and hanging on their hips, they showed off scales as much as fur around their long muzzles. "You talked to West Reaches?"

Elanor nodded. "I tried to get her to see eye to eye with the kingdom, but they kept yelling at each other. Eventually, though, she admitted that David talked her into all this madness, and she promised to get me through to kill him."

"But? I'm hearing a but there." Stewart had spent enough time around Elanor that he could tell when she thought something wasn't right.

"She's hiding something. I can't tell what, though. There was too much happening and they were both too big for me to get a good read on her." It surprised Elanor how far she'd come from the scared girl terrified that her uncle and parents had sent her to her death. "West Reaches is one of the oldest cities in the kingdom—if there's any that could lie convincingly, she'd be among them."

"We don't have another choice, unless…" Stewart's mind spun as he assembled the outline of a plan. "I need to speak to Lady Penelope. If Sir Travis can still open one entrance, I believe I would like it to be here. If for no other reason than he would be the best of anyone to ensure West Reaches keeps her word"—closing his eyes, he fought the urge to rethink the plan—"or end her if she tries to break it."

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