Not allowing herself to show too much relief, Queen Louise nodded to Jochi's acceptance of her terms with her mind whirring quickly. She barely nodded as Elizabeth requested to go and inspect the defences; she had anticipated resistance or at the very least some anxiety to her proposals.

"Of course, the moment our alliance is formally signed you may occupy the offered region immediately. As for stepping up your forces... for now that is unnecessary." She could see the confusion in the King-to-be's face. After all, she had just offered a huge amount in exchange for an alliance. "The enemy right now is an expeditionary force and I wish to show that Elianst's might alone is enough to defeat a small force even if their technology outranks ours. My purpose in forging an alliance for what comes after; Lord Henry, if you would." She leaned back to allow Henry to have the attention of the Prince and his companion.

"There would only be one reason for striking so deliberately at the Elianst government and monarchy; they were attempting to remove all centralized control. If they had fully succeeded we would be running clueless and unorganized giving this... enemy a chance to land a much larger invasion force on our Northern shores. In other words this is a pre-emptive strike and a much large invasion will be coming; large enough I fear to try and conquer the entire continent and all four nations." He nodded to the Queen, a sudden pang of sorrow hitting him at the Queen's use of his new title; he had not yet had time to mourn his recently deceased father although he had been preparing himself for it for some months now.

"I intend to try and meet their invasion with a unified force from all four nations; by joining together and working with our individual expertise we will be able to create a much stronger war effort against them rather than fighting and being crushed one by one. As for the other nations... Prince Elaeria is my cousin and will support my actions on this; the King in Fristha is young, ailing and weak and she is his successor as well as popular with the people there. As for Anstarn..." She glanced here at Beowulf and noticed his attire, "I believe they will join an alliance consisting of the other three nations so as not to be isolated. Moreover I believe Elaeria is taking steps to forge a more secure alliance between Fristha and Anstarn." She smiled, the mixture of a young woman's sweet smile and the cold determination of a Queen.

"As you can see, I am well prepared to throw these monsters back into the sea for attacking my country. By any means necessary."

---------------------------------

Elaeria swung her leg over the saddle, the horse sensing her rush had already begun to trot so as to not waste time before she was properly in the saddle. She could sense Gardos communicating with her.

[i]What do you need, Little One?[/i]

A flash of annoyance at the way he addressed her was quashed quickly by her focussing on the pursuit. She had no way of knowing whether the assailant was taking Gwen from the Academy, hiding her somewhere on the grounds or simply killing her and dumping the body to be found later. The splash of reasonably fresh blood on the wall near the Medical Ward had not been at all encouraging.

[i]Take to the air and see if anyone is heading for a gate, either by carriage or on horseback with a bedroll of some kind across its back.[/i]

The dragon assented to her commands and she could faintly see his dark shape against the light from the moon and stars in the sky above. She received no word from him for some time and made it to one of the gatehouses before he contacted her. The guards there stepped into her path.

"We need to see your pass before we can let you go through, my lady." One of them said politely.

"I don't intend to pass. I'm in pursuit of an abductor. Has anyone passed this way by carriage or horseback?" She asked. The guards looked at each other and shook their heads.

"No, my lady. Have the Academy staff been informed of this? Wait, my lady!" Elaeria had already turned her mount around and was galloping back towards the Academy to check another gate when Gardos contacted her.

[i]Little one, there are a multitude of camp fires in the distance. An army is heading this way.[/i]

Elaeria pulled on the reins hard, pulling the horse to a quick stop.

[i]From Elianst?[/i]

The lack of reply told her all she needed to know. She kicked her heels back again and the horse set off towards the Academy. The next target was all those currently feasting, unaware of the danger coming for them on the morrow.