"You're a good scout, Eltharian. Thank you. Stay up here next to me for now." Anorath knew that what he was about to do was just as likely to make the scout remove his head as it was to embolden him. "And thank you as well, Iorelle." The prince stood silently for a moment as the crowd gathered and then looked off into the distance past the great wooden palisade that they called a wall. [i]What I do, I do for Amenor.[/i] he thought bitterly.

"Citizens of Mithreal," he began to address the wide crowd of soldiers that had amassed before him. "Your city is under attack. Nay, [i]our[/i] city, [i]our[/i] lands. Elvenkind has been united for thousands of years so I dare say that this city belongs to all those who share your elvish roots. I may be of Amenor, a place many of you may never see, but I have grown with you all over the past months and I must say that the tenacity of your people is profound." Anorath pointed at one of the soldiers in the crowd. "I remember you. Raenor? Yes, that's right. You carried a bag full of rocks up the hill to the temple on your sick day. That bag must have weighed two hundred pounds. And you," he pointed at another, "you were the first one I saw leave the treeline today when the fighting commenced. That's bravery." Anorath had come to the difficult part. Any leader could compliment a soldier or remember a face, but asking them to do something they didn't want to do was what would make a king out of him. He paused for a moment.

"That is bravery beyond that which I show now. I am leaving. And what I ask of you now is likely the most difficult thing I shall do as I walk this earth. I need volunteers to come with me. We will head to Amenor and tell my father, the king, of the happenings here. He will raise his armies and we will come back. We will come back and save this city." Anorath made sure to make eye contact with every elf he possibly could. Anorath turned to Eltharion. 

"Eltharion. I know this is your home. I need you to come with me." It was not command but sincerity in his voice now. "Who better to represent your people than one of those who stands as their first line of defense? And you'll know the quickest ways out of the country. I need you. And you," he pointed at Iorelle. "I need you too. You represent the college, if you attend council with my father and I it will give much more credence to my word. If he sees that even the combined might of all the mages in Mithreal is not enough to quell this foe he will have no choice. And as for the rest of you, any who wish to accompany me on this journey will be more than welcomed. The rest shall remain here to..." [i]die[/i] he thought, "defend the city. What say you all?" Anorath raised a mailed fist into the air and waited for a reply.