text: With the aid of their Icons, the armies of the Woadlands were able to gather in just over two weeks. By some Earth standards, the army wasn't very large. The total number of warriors, including Woadfolk, fairies, and elves, were just under ten thousand, well below the hundreds of thousands of soldiers thrown about in late medieval Europe or in some of the World Wars. Merada said it was because the Woadlands was still an underdeveloped world, and because the Icons had focused on gathering the champions of each tribe. It would have to work, I decided. For my plan to work, all we really needed to do was to seize one of the ice palaces and one of the Hoarfolk lords. That second one was going to be the hardest part, actually, given their teleportation power. But Merada said there was a way to lock it down, so we made a plan for it.
  
  Taking over two weeks was a much slower pace than my recent escapades had been, but it still felt like I barely had time to blink before the day of battle came. The next thing I knew, I was at the edge of another forest, staring at the gentlest part of a wide river. Behind me, hidden in the trees, were several hundred lightly armored and painted warriors, hooded elves, and dimly lit fairies. My dagger was drawn, as Great Pan poured his energy into it to conceal our presence. As he did so, Lady Titania coordinated logistics using her sprites as messengers and support staff (apparently a bunch of brownie sprites had been the ones to repair and clean my gear, for instance), Mother Glade used her magic to help protect our armies from the cold, and the newly healed Stag Lord stood ready to personally battle Fuar or any Dark Icon vestiges under her control.
  
  Directly across the river was a frosted bank, with white crystals covering the tops of grass and shrubbery. Patches of snow peeked from tree branches here and there. High above the bank was a wall of massive clouds that darkened the other side of the river.
  
  Beyond all of that was our target. It would come into view shortly.
  
  <Final ready check,> I called through the mindlink. Various murmurs of assent came from my team directly behind me.
  
  <Lady Titania says the tribes be ready,> Merada sent to me. <I wouldn't make them wait any longer,> she added respectfully. I appreciated that. Technically, my status as Challenger made me formally the commander of this battle, but there were a number of leaders behind me with far more experience than myself. I did my best to make use of it while still being the figure for morale.
  
  <Speaking of battle,> I thought to myself, closing my eyes and reaching for the powers granted by my Art and Path of War. A hazy sensation of the total number of warriors behind me manifested in my mind. To my surprise, a second, hazier sensation of the mass of total enemies ahead of us manifested next. As far as I could tell, it was roughly where the sprite scouts suspected.
  
  I concentrated further on that sensation, knowing that my abilities were not unique. Anyone with enough Rises would eventually gain an Art, Saga, and Path, so I knew I wasn't the only one with War-related powers. But I was the only recognized leader in Stellar War, which had begun as soon as I had killed the first projected body of a Malus Member. I had gained more power and more resources as I slaughtered more and more Malus Members, and while my basic mindlink was still limited to roughly ten people that were around my own personal strength, I had just recently discovered options to add other functions to it.
  
  A few days ago, I found a function that let me link Paths with allied forces.
  
  <Battle with me, brethren,> I sent to the chiefs and leaders of every tribe in the army behind me.
  
  I gained an image of multiple people all walking down the same road, except that these people were all warriors, and the road we were walking down was War itself. I felt us all link hands and brace each other, dividing the weight of whatever baggage we were carrying, and then continue traveling as we helped each other.
  
  To my surprise, I recognized some of the faces on this Path. Alum's image grunted in acknowledgment, and Merada grinned and winked at me in pleasant surprise.
  
  <Battlelink successfully activated,> my mindscreen informed me. <Transferring appropriate Path power through the new link.>
  
  <Now that be a nice trick,> Merada thought at me, and the power of my Path suddenly left me, circulated, and came back stronger by over a hundredfold.
  
  My awareness over the army behind me sharpened. I had a dim concept of the health and vital guard of every warrior under my command. I felt a general sharpening of skill in my own fingers, as the axe and shield I was holding suddenly felt more familiar. The impressions in my mind told me every other warrior was feeling this sensation as well. Finally, the hazy impression of our enemies solidified to where we knew they were exactly a thousand yards ahead of us, and completely unaware of our presence.
  
  <Ready?> I sent to a now-larger audience.
  
  <Ready!> a mass of voices answered me, along with mental shouts and whoops.
  
  <Bridge team, go,> I sent.
  
  A cluster of tiny brown, green and blue lights drifted forward along the bank. They moved quickly, stretching all of the water I could see, settling directly on top of the water's surface. I saw the already-quiet stream slow down. I saw large patches of earth raise up out of it, long and large enough for people to walk over. Finally, I saw the remains of the water freeze, giving us a dirt and ice bridge wide enough to move large groups of people quickly.
  
  <Hurry,> the sprite in charge of the bridge team sent tensely. <We can't hold this up for very long.>
  
  <Charge,> I commanded silently, and a chorus of whoops and cries sounded in my mind as we drew weapons and dashed across the altered river.
  
  Weapons and armor rattled softly as Great Pan's magic still poured into the white-hilted dagger I gripped in my left hand under my shield. I felt my new tattoo pulse warm under my skin, somehow reaching into the connection I had formed between all of the warriors in my army walking down the same Path.
  
  <King them,> the voice of Avalon's Kingtree said as my tattoo glowed. <King them. Queen them. Crown them. Let me crown them for war.>
  
  Granted, I nodded, and as the army rushed across the bank I felt everyone's limbs heat up.
  
  We made it across and dashed into the frosted woods beyond. I felt everyone keep in step. The Woadlands may not have much in the way of organized armies Earth had back home, but these people raised themselves on guerrilla warfare. Rushing through trees to ambush their enemies was second nature to them, whether they were Woadfolk humans, elves, or sprites.
  
  Our enemies just began to come into view when Pan's magic began to sputter out.
  
  <That's as far as I can get you,> the trickster Icon sent, as a Hoarfolk goblin looked at me with wide eyes. <The rest of your steps will draw blood.>
  
  <Well it's about time then!> I roared through the mindlink, and over a hundred bloodthirsty voices shouted in agreement. I dispelled my dagger and raised Toirneach high over my head. I felt my tattoo reach into my Ideal of Fire and pull out a spell Merada had recently taught me, Burning Blades. Then I felt that same tattoo reach into the common Path shared between me and those putting their lives in my hands. The Kingtree poured the spell down into that Path, letting everyone behind me gain the same benefits of that spell.
  
  The result was that swords, spears, axes, and arrowheads all around me began to glow with heat. Toirneach itself burst into flame, and I let out my angriest roar as I brought the burning weapon into and out of the panicked goblin's throat.
  
  A frightened cry sounded out a dozen yards ahead of me, as a host of other horned goblinoids rushed forward, and battle was finally joined.
  
  War was nothing like my video games had taught me. I had known that, but it was still a shock to see a rush of chaotic images all around me, screaming, slashing, and dying, and on the greatest scale I had seen so far. I fought off the panic trying to throttle my focus and let my rapid cognition take over the work in front of me, recognizing and killing small blue shapes before the rest of my brain could realize those shapes were enemies and that it needed to figure out what to do about them.
  
  I slashed my flaming axe through a horned head. I darted around a human shape and killed a smaller shape trying to stab at his back. Another snarling horned shape leaped out and onto my shield, trying to grapple it off of me. I let him stay there as I slammed my wooden barrier into the goat-horned face of another monster, and both monsters screamed as their bones cracked apart.
  
  A loud, cold voice shouted out at me, and the rest of my brain perked up to process the words.
  
  "Brytenwalda!" the voice shouted, over and over. "Brytenwalda!"
  
  My eyes locked on a man-sized shape, with long, ice-colored ears and longer, snow-colored hair. He was garbed in crystalline mail with pieces of glacial-like plates over his shoulders, wrists, and legs. His head wore a light, tiara-like helm of similar metal and he was pointing a sharp, clear sword in my direction, still shouting.
  
  "Brytenwalda!" the Hoarfolk noble shouted again. "Maróidh mé thú!"
  
  <Translating,> the mindscreen informed me. <Enemy leader, I will kill you. Subject appears to be challenging you to a duel.>
  
  "Come then!" I roared, as a pair of Merada's burning arrows fired into the goblins between the noble and me. Dueling was usually stupid, but right now I needed to keep our momentum going. I slashed apart two more goblins in my way as the Hoarfolk commander ignited his own weapon with blue flame. He shifted his feet, and in the next blast of cold air he was suddenly in front of me, dancing his blade over my shield and inches away from my face. I gave ground as he pressed the advantage, darting around my flanks and nicking at my mail and warding spells, until I planted my feet, arrested my backward momentum, and slammed the rim of my shield into his mailed stomach. I heard ice crack and saw him double over in pain. I also saw his eyes widen in shock as he realized the force of my blow lifted him off his feet. Then I darted to the side, far faster than I had been moving a second ago, and slammed my burning axe under his chin. The winter fey shrieked in shock and pain as my blow sent him whirling and smoking through the air, his vital guard barely holding his neck and jaw together. I heard Woad warriors cry out in triumph as I leaped through the air and after him, raising my axe to finish him off. He landed, rolled, and looked up to see me descending upon him. His burnt, crushed mouth snarled in contempt as he disappeared into a plume of frost and blue fire just before I landed, axe slamming harmlessly into the ground his wounded neck had occupied moments ago.
  
  "Coward!" I shouted for the morale of my warriors, who cheered in agreement as they stabbed and slashed into the smaller Hoarfolk with burning weapons. "Don't let the rest of them get away!"
  
  <And form up, my team,> I sent to my personal warband. <Because he just went to go get everyone else out of bed.>
  
  <Winter fey don't really sleep,> Breena pointed out, <but yeah. This is about to get tougher.>
  
  A loud bellow sounded out from further in the trees as something other than goblins finally decided to engage my warriors. Nearly fifty of the woolly yeti-men I had seen before charged into view, hurling javelin-sized icicles into my warriors. Several warriors screamed behind me, but I couldn't afford to look back and deal with it. I just had to trust that the healers would save whoever they could, because the yeti-men were heading in my direction anyway.
  
  I grinned, because that was what I wanted.
  
  I was a target in every sense of the word. Loud, clearly some kind of leader, and with far fewer Rises than a lot of the older warriors behind me. The shaggy giants formed a wedge and headed straight for me.
  
  "No!" I shouted in mock fear, at the same time mentally sending a series of commands, projecting a sense of confidence through the massed battlelink.
  
  <Give them one volley, then let them come to my band. Clean up the ones that survive contact with me.>
  
  A dozen different chieftains silently acknowledged my command. Flaming arrows and fiery darts whipped over me to strike into the yeti-men rushing at me. A few of them fell dead, a number of them grunted in pain, but most importantly, all of them halted as they stumbled away from each other to avoid more of the volley. That brought them out of formation just enough for my own team to slam into them.
  
  The fifty or so scattered, giant yeti-men found themselves face to face with a team of nearly a dozen Gaelguard and fairies, three Testifiers, two Earthborn Challengers, and a pair of Starsown Satellites, all working together and augmented by magic. I lowered my shoulder and slammed as hard as I could into the lead yeti. I heard the monster bellow in defiance, brace to pit his strength against my own, then shriek in surprise as I knocked him clear off his feet and into the monster behind him. As they went down, I hurled Toirneach into the face of the next yeti I saw, then I summoned my mace, leaped onto the two downed monsters and took four quick swings to smash their skulls in. I dismissed the weapon to catch Toirneach as the weapon returned to my grasp and the rest of my team slammed into the throng of shaggy beasts.
  
  I fell in step with Merada, Breena, and Val as we all went to work. Merada had switched back to her spear and began thrusting and slashing the now-burning weapon over our heads, cutting and distracting the tall monsters. As she did that I would duck under to hack and bash at their kneecaps. Their lower limbs gave way to my newly increased strength, and as they went down Val would leap and phase on top of their chests to open up their throats, then flit away before they could catch her in their death throes. Breena drew her Boomstick and flicked it once, suddenly creating a controlled stream of lightning at the wand's business end. Whenever one of the giant monsters came close enough to hurting us, the fairy would dart over and stab at their limbs, scorching or shocking them just long enough for the three of us to dodge free or finish the monster off.
  
  <I!> she sent me as she continued to flit, blast, and taser enemies. <Love! This! Weapon!>
  
  <Glad it makes you happy,> I sent as Toirneach cut clean through another giant's leg.
  
  Ten seconds later, my team's charge had carried everyone completely clear of the monsters. The fairies had kept my Gaelguard healed enough to keep fighting, and I was starting to see the benefit of assigning every single warrior a fairy companion.
  
  Speaking of which, my fairies all turned and fired one final volley back at the shattered unit of monsters behind us. More went down, with one losing its head to a blast from Breena's new Boomstick, and then the rest of the Woadlands warriors tore into them, shredding the handful of yeti-men still on their feet.
  
  <That went well,> Merada sent me as we kept advancing. <Usually a band of those beasts can scatter or slow an attack like this.>
  
  <They still did some damage,> I thought grimly, remembering the javelins that tore into my army. <But we're attacking a disorganized army close to our size with the element of surprise and all kinds of other benefits. If the fight gets a lot harder it means I'm doing something wrong.>
  
  <We'll help ye fix it if ye do,> she said supportively, and I loved her for it.
  
  Again, we kept moving forward, trusting the fairies and other healers to make sure the wounded could still keep up. More goblins and yetis emerged and more javelins fell among my people. The only thing I could really do was to order concentrated volleys of magic onto the small packs of yetis and trust that everyone's armor and wards would protect them from the small goblin arrows.
  
  I continued to hack and slash and shout encouragements to the warbands following me. Goblin heads crunched, yeti kneecaps shattered, until finally we had reached the main camp of our enemies.
  
  This far in we began to see snow line the ground. Every few moments a single flake would fall from the sky. The ground directly ahead of us was clear of trees, covered instead by a much thicker coating of snow and igloo-like huts, stretching out for half a mile. The end of the camp farthest from us was almost completely dark, but I could still see outlines of a massive, unfinished structure at the very end.
  
  I would have to worry about it later, though. Right now a number of horned shapes were crawling out of ice huts or just popping out of the deeper patches of snow. I started to shout a command, but most of the chieftains were already acting, sending me messages of what they were about to command their bands to do.
  
  Namely, charge and burn everything down.
  
  I deferred to their experience and acted as if they were acting under my orders. The Hoarfolk rising up to attack were quickly pounced on by teams of painted warriors as flaming arrows began volleying all over the frozen structures. I left them to it. My battle-view let me tell that their numbers were evenly matched by now. Furthermore, the warriors I had brought with me were the tribes' best, and had been further enhanced by magic and the merging of our Paths. They would be able to handle things on their own, even if more Hoaryetis emerged.
  
  But I had to get my people to the half-formed ice palace as fast as I could, and keep at least one Hoarfolk noble from escaping.
  
  If our idea didn't work though, that second one was going to be impossible. Either way, though, we had to try.
  
  The sky began to darken further. Thunder rumbled as small shards of ice began to fall from the sky and onto the Woad tribes. On the ramp leading into the palace entrance were five elf-like figures. Three of them wore long, snow-white robes, while the two in front of them were clad in armor similar to the dancing wuss I had axe-slapped earlier. The three in robes were moving their mouths as they looked up at the sky, probably bringing about the hailstorm on my people.
  
  <Those are our targets,> I sent to my team. <And I think they're about to kill our army.>
  
  <On it,> Merada answered. <As soon as we get close I'll open up on them.>
  
  <Same,> Weylin and Karim sent at the same time.
  
  But as we charged headlong for them, one more bellow to our left sounded as a last group of goblins and yetis tried to intercept us.
  
  Green fire ignited behind me as my Gaelguard activated the full power of their tattoos.
  
  "Go!" Alum shouted as his people shifted to engage a force several times their number. "We will handle these!"
  
  Thunder cracked over our heads and the hail began to grow larger. A lightning bolt crashed down somewhere behind us, and I heard a Woadfolk warrior scream in pain. I had to take Alum at his word and sprinted onward, my now-smaller team keeping pace behind me. As we grew closer I saw the Hoarfolk knights lock eyes on us and advance forward, crystal swords drawn. The one on the left suddenly started shaking, and now I could notice the fresh burn-scar under his chin.
  
  <I'll take the one on the left,> I told my team. <Artillery, fire at will.>
  
  <Aye,> Merada sent back, as she, Weylin, Karim, and Breena all stopped running forward and opened fire at the three Hoarfolk mages channeling the hail storm. The arrows and arcane missiles streaked forward before they were frustratingly and predictably stopped by a shimmering barrier just in front of the fey wizards.
  
  <That's no problem,> I heard Breena say to the other archers. <Keep hammering at it. I'm gonna go around.> Then as Merada and the others kept firing, she dimmed her glow and began to shrink smaller than she ever had before.
  
  Eadric, Val, and I continued charging. The two fey knights advanced to meet us, the burnt one moving just a step slower as he looked at me.
  
  <You sure you're okay with both of us taking on the other one?> Val asked carefully.
  
  <Oh yeah,> I replied, as the two ice-clad warriors leaped to engage us.
  
  I needed to give him credit, because my opponent had been wise enough to realize that the burned hand teaches best. When I tried to slam him again he leaped up and kicked off of my shield, landing back on his feet and darting toward my unshielded flank. I swung my axe to intercept his weapon, wincing as he still slipped past my guard to strike my mailed sleeve. His next swing went high but I ducked under it, stepped into his reach and struck him in his mailed stomach with my elbow. The blow knocked the wind out of him again, but he leaped with it, putting distance between me and him.
  
  He must not have seen me throw Toirneach yet.
  
  My flaming weapon went hurtling after him, and to my brief surprise the fey swordsman caught it. He did not catch the five finger bolts that followed after it, however, and as he jolted in shock for a few seconds I ran up, summoned my mace and brained him in the temple with it. The force of the blow cracked through his helmet, exhausted the last of his vital guard, and sent him whirling off of his feet and into an unconscious heap five feet away.
  
  <Guess they do sleep after all,> I thought as I rushed forward, leaving Val and Eadric to handle the remaining warrior.
  
  The left wizard took his eyes off the storm overhead to glare at me.
  
  "Tá Éire seo chomh fada agus a thagann tú, Brytenwalda," the Hoarfolk noble muttered, stretching out his hand. My mindscreen started to translate his words, but it became unnecessary as he unleashed a blast of ice and cold air into me. My feet skidded backwards from the gale-force wind, and I became painfully aware just how much one fey noble could differ in power from the next.
  
  I got my shield in the way of the blast and began to slowly walk forward, inching my way step by step to my enemy. I heard him gasp in surprise, and then I felt the force of his spell intensify, making it hard to even look beyond my shield. A few moments later, I heard a gurgle and a crunch as the other fey knight went down, then the rightmost wizard released a blast of his own to try and stop my companions, all while fiery darts and arrows slammed into the shield just in front of their faces.
  
  From my mindlink, I sensed Eadric cover Val with his shield, taking most of the icy blast, and digging his heels into the ground to keep from blowing backwards. Then I felt Val vanish from the link and reappear a moment later, on the other side of the three wizards. That was enough to make the middle one stop channeling the hail storm and turn to defend himself.
  
  Before he could, though, a tiny light appeared next to his head, expanding into the shape of my fairy companion, magic wand pointed right at the wizard's temple.
  
  "Boom!" Breena shouted. "Headshot!"
  
  Before I could even begin to shout out 'hey we might need him alive,' the pink fairy had fired off a lightning bolt thicker than both my arms into the side of the frost wizard's face, knocking him clear off the ramp. Val leaped at the right Hoarfolk noble, grappling with him until Eadric slammed his hammer into the back of the ice fey's head. The last one stopped casting a spell at me and suddenly vanished into a puff of blue fire and snow.
  
  I guessed at where he was going and raced inside the unfinished palace. I felt the temperature drop dozens and dozens of degrees as I ran inward, passing rows and rows of unfinished sculptures that I wouldn't have had time to look at even if I wanted to.
  
  Finally I reached a large, round chamber that looked a little more finished than the rest of the palace. In the middle was a human-sized, floating crystal that the Hoarfolk mage stood to the left of. He appeared to be working some kind of spell that drew lines of blue energy from the nearby crystal and into a large, doorway-sized oval in front of him.
  
  <Perfect,> I thought as I ran forward. We had suspected that they would only be able to teleport back to their closest ice castle. Since this one was still mostly intact, the nobles wouldn't be able to instantly get away if we chased them here. Even better, they had some other, more complicated means of escaping to deeper into their territory.
  
  That was just what we were looking for.
  
  The Hoarmage looked over his shoulder and saw me running toward him. His eyes widened and he began moving his hands and chanting more rapidly. I leaped to the side with the help of my enhanced agility. Once I had a better angle, I blasted at him with my stored lightning bolt. The spell cracked into him and knocked him away from his half-constructed portal. He smoldered, tried to get up, and was knocked down again by my stored fireball and last five fingerbolts. He landed some distance, groaning in pain, vital guard largely depleted. I rushed forward and punched him in the face, knocking the back of his head into the floor. He went limp after that, barely breathing and probably not in good permanent condition.
  
  <Other nobles are all bound,> Breena sent me. <Val and Eadric had to kill the other knight, but the other ones out here were secured for now. I don't know if they'll survive their wounds without help though. Right now we're helping Alum's team with mopping up the minions.>
  
  <Alright,> I answered. <I got the last noble in here. Coming to help.>
  
  <Don't think you'll make it in time,> Breena sent back, and I got the impression of another powerful lightning bolt discharging. <They had to go all out with their tattoos, but they held pretty well. Just don't expect them to fight again right away.>
  
  <That's great news,> I thought back. <Let me check on the rest of the army and we'll go from there.>
  
  I reached into my battlelink and found that the Woadlands tribes had done perfectly well without my leadership. Apparently the loss of an eighteen-year-old commander didn't count for much with a group of seasoned chieftains, especially since my battlelink had let them coordinate with each other with the same ease it had given me. There had been a few casualties, mostly due to the lightning from the hailstorm and the javelins from the larger yetis, but by and large the battle went perfectly. The people of the Woadlands could finally focus on one problem at a time. They made full use of that fact to throw the hammer down on Fuar's weakest link, an unfinished ice palace she had thought to still be a well-kept secret.
  
  That kind of battle was supposed to be a rout, but I could tell that the army enjoyed the victory nonetheless. Wild cheers ran all the way through the battlelink, along with the chants of 'Challenger! Challenger!' or 'Malcolm! Malcolm!'
  
  For a moment the praise almost went to my head. I shook to remind myself that this was only the first stage of the attack.
  
  I let the chieftains secure the area while I went back inside the palace. By now I found that my team had returned, and the unconscious ice fey nobles had all been bound with manacles created by Karim's script magic. We dragged their bodies into the interior so that we could study the inside and enact the second stage of the plan.
  
  <You're sure this will work?> I asked Teeth.
  
  <Yeah,> he responded confidently. <Especially since we have four bodies to work with.>
  
  <If you're wrong…>
  
  <Then you just do what you were planning earlier and wage a slow, careful war, knocking down the Tumult palace by palace.>
  
  <Ugh, fine,> I thought, turning my attention over to Breena, who was still examining the crystal floating in the middle of the room.
  
  "Should I assume that gem is the power source for this place?"
  
  "Pretty much," the fairy said as Karim came over and helped examine the structure. "That's the problem with using magic to just whip a building together in a short period of time. They can be destroyed just as quickly, as long as you know their weak point. Like this, for example." She pointed to the floating crystal, her eyes hardening. "There's a person in there, in suspended animation. They're being slowly drained of heat, and their loss of heat is what's powering the creation of this palace. The palace itself is doing a similar thing to the land itself, which is increasing the strength of the Hoarfolk and their Dark Icon."
  
  "Why does it feel like every one of our enemies gets ahead by turning another person into a prisoner, fuel, or resource?"
  
  "That's just how monsters like to build their empires." Breena shrugged. "Does it work differently on Earth?"
  
  Silence.
  
  "No," I finally said, wincing as I thought about just how many empires on my planet had sprung up through variations of that same idea. "Can we still save this person?"
  
  "Yes." Breena nodded firmly, flying around the crystal as if she was looking for a weak point. "That's a thing almost every monster in the Expanse realizes. Your slaves stop being useful after they die." Breena looked outside. "They are pushing this one to their limit, though," she added worriedly. "We should hurry up and get them out."
  
  "Go for it," I replied, and Breena began pointing to spots on the crystal for Karim to write script over. I turned my attention to the unconscious bodies on the floor. "I'm going to work on phase two."
  
  "Um, good luck," Breena said awkwardly, sparing a glance in my direction. "Be careful."
  
  "Aye," Merada agreed as she stepped over. "I'll watch him."
  
  "Me too," Val volunteered, opening her backpack to let Ball-ee peek out. As far as I knew, the other two new Ball-ees were currently working with the healers in my army. But the primary Ball-ee had insisted on staying close to my team. The little jelly was peeking out at me from Val's pack.
  
  "Di-rec-tive?" it asked, cocking its head-appendage at me.
  
  "Help the person inside the crystal recover when he or she gets out. Do the same for any other prisoners here. And, uh, keep me alive if I do something stupid."
  
  "Di-rec-tive!" The little jelly nodded confidently.
  
  I turned one final look at the dark blue portal still sparkling next to the crystal.
  
  "That should hold, too," Breena said without looking. "For now, at least. That kind of spell can be paused before it's finished casting."
  
  "Can anything come through it yet?" I asked carefully.
  
  "No, and it's just a one-way portal anyway. They can't pull reinforcements here until the palace is finished."
  
  "We'll watch it anyway, just in case," Eadric said as he and Weylin walked in front of it. "Go ahead and get to work, Lord Challenger."
  
  I knelt down the first unconscious body, the knight I had battled before, and had Teeth help me cast Vein to Vein.
  
  Blood was a far more feared Ideal than the Foundational or Connecting Ideals. It wasn't that it was a more powerful Ideal, not exactly. A Master of one of the four Foundational Ideals could do things blood magic just couldn't, such as napalm an entire city with Fire, reposition one of the global jet streams with Air, reconstruct that napalmed city with Earth, and cause or stop a tsunami with Water. Blood magic couldn't do any of those things on its own, and it didn't need to for people to fear it.
  
  Because it could save or end lives far more subtly, and in some ways far more easily, than any of the Foundational Ideals. An experienced Blood mage could walk into a room of sick people and immediately both reinforce their vital guards and reconfigure their bodies so that they could recover and never get that same sickness again. That same Blood mage could walk into a room of healthy people and suck their vital guards completely dry while imparting a blood-based sickness that they'd probably never recover from. It took time to reach that level of power, but the reality was that a Blood mage could do either of those things far more subtly than an equally powerful mage versed in destruction or healing magic. Partially because of that, it also had a number of abilities at the more basic levels that even scholars didn't know about.
  
  For instance, at the Journeyman level, it could borrow memories and magic.
  
  And although my Blood magic had lagged behind the rest of my Ideal magics, the last Rises had been more than enough to push it into that rank.
  
  I knelt next to the first Hoarfolk and cast Vein to Vein, letting its Journeyman signature power take from the knight's mind, consuming part of the monster's brain in the process.
  
  Before I broke out of the dungeon, this act would have horrified me. It gave me all sorts of 'evil necromancer' vibes. Now, though, I realized that I was going to have to kill these fey anyway. Letting them die painlessly in their sleep, and in a way that would help me save hundreds of thousands of lives, was an opportunity I couldn't pass up in good conscience.
  
  The fey's brain matter passed into me, and I found I couldn't take most of it. A lot of the Hoarfolk's nature was just too alien to me, and the information passed by in a confused jumble. I did learn a few useful tricks, mostly about combat. I wouldn't be able to keep the memory of his specific techniques but interacting with them still let me refine my overall swordsmanship, even though I eventually would forget the cause for it.
  
  More importantly, however, I was able to glean what he knew about the rest of the Tumult. Locations of the other ice palaces, numbers of troops, names and faces of higher-ranking Hoarfolk nobles. That was about all I got from him before his mind went silent.
  
  Grimacing but determined, I moved on to the next one, the one I had knocked out inside the palace. This one had more memories to him, whether because he was more trusted or just older, I didn't know. But in addition to refining my Water and Air magic slightly I was able to get a much better idea of how many total Hoarfolk warriors I was dealing with. The knowledge made me happy, because I was able to confirm that the army wiped out here was a noticeable percentage of their overall force.
  
  Even more importantly, I learned the portal spell he was trying to cast.
  
  That almost made this next phase a success then and there, but the truth was that this particular Hoarfolk wasn't able to cast the spell on his own, which meant he had to borrow power from the slave in the crystal to complete the ritual.
  
  That was something I still had a problem with. I'd kill an enemy combatant to save my own people's lives, but if I had to start killing some of the people I needed to save things would get awful and confusing very, very quickly. I moved on to the next wizard, the one Val and Eadric had knocked out. This one had much of the same information, and wasn't much more proficient in magic than the other guy had been. That left the senior mage, the one Breena had somehow managed to knock out, instead of char to a crisp, with her massive lightning bolt.
  
  This one's mind was much more difficult to take in. He was further along than the other three in all areas: age, intellect, and overall knowledge. If I hadn't started with the three easier leaders, I wouldn't have been able to grasp this last guy at all. As it was, though, I was able to learn the name and faces of the Hoarfolk inner court, the precise location of said court in the Woadlands, and—best of all—the procedure to cast the teleportation spell without sucking the life out of an innocent bystander.
  
  That was all I got out of him before I destroyed his mind. Well, almost everything. I did get images of him performing all sorts of horrible torture on captured Woadfolk and elves, so good riddance to the bastard. I stood up and looked over just in time to see the crystal cracking apart under Breena and Karim's careful use of magic. As the crystal shattered a shivering elven woman fell to the floor. Merada caught the woman before she could land and wrapped her with a cloak, whispering gently to her as Ball-ee hopped over and began releasing a warm, soothing vapor all over the place.
  
  A few moments later, cracks appeared all over the unfinished walls, and chunks of ice fell from the half-finished roof. Light shone through the windows as the clouds overhead dissipated.
  
  "Do we need to evacuate?" I asked, looking around worriedly. Breena shook her head.
  
  "The ice over our heads is thin. Most of it will evaporate before it even hits the floor. See?" She tilted her head upward as the ceiling hissed from the sun's heat.
  
  "Let's have someone come help us check for the prisoners," I said next. "Phase two was a success, by the way."
  
  "Really?" Breena asked. "You got the location of their court?"
  
  "And the means to strike there immediately." I nodded. "I can only bring a small force, though."
  
  "I'm not sure that's a good idea, Wes," my fairy adviser cautioned. "The source of a Tumult isn't as easy to deal with as the source of a Trial. And even then, we were pretty lucky last time. If you had a dozen more Rises I wouldn't worry so much. I'm serious, Wes," Breena added worriedly. "This isn't going to go like the fight with Raw-Maw went. Even if the Dark Icon stays out of it this time."
  
  <Avalon,> I sent. <Status report.>
  
  <Status is ready,> the planetary computer replied. <Shelter is standing by for final phase of the Challenger's plan.>
  
  "It's okay, we won't be alone," I said carefully. "I'll be able to open up another front as soon as I get there."
  
  "You sure?" Breena asked suspiciously. More ice cracked and evaporated over our heads. "What do you have planned, Wes?"
  
  "Avalon showed me a new way to draw in power," I replied, trying to tell her just enough so that she wouldn't yell at me later. "I'll be able to bring in all kinds of help after I get there. I know it's risky, but," I added quickly, as she started to summon her 'mad Breena' face, "I just saw inside these guys' heads. According to what Avalon's telling me, we should be able to handle the risk."
  
  "Wes, I'm not sure we even have to take this risk," Breena cautioned. "Now that we've won here, we can just draw this Tumult out the normal way. I can help you get stronger, and the Icons can help us coordinate the overall war. If we can advance to destroy enough of these palaces, we might even be able to let the Icons finish off the White Witch directly."
  
  "That all sounds really smart," I admitted, "except for one thing. In the weeks we've spent here so far, how many new Challenges have cropped up in the other five worlds? How much time has passed in those places? Have Rhodes' people managed to create more Trials and Tumults? Are they already influencing existing ones? How much are they Descending, by causing all of this devastation? And, is there a way they can find themselves back on this world? What trouble would they cause here while we're dealing with the Hoarfolk invasion?"
  
  Stell had obstructed some of their portals, but if we could find Pathways and new routes, so could they. Breena blew out air in frustration.
  
  "Knit and darnit, Wes," she swore fairy-style. "I hate it when you're right. Okay, let's go over exactly what you're planning. So that we have enough time to be mad about it."
  
  "Hear, hear," all three Testifiers said in agreement.
  
  Grieved and wronged, I laid out my master plan…