Oh yes, kingy boy.  You're right about that.  No one from Amali sent [i]him[/i].  Certainly not.  It seemed as though he had passed himself off well enough as just a traveler, which for Garlock was fine.  After all, the Cathedral was hardly in any sort of danger if a load of soldiers just saw him and were like 'He's just a wandering lunatic', and that would be just fine.  Besides, making the acquaintence of a battle-hardened king was interesting, right?  And he was just on his way back from a bit of bloodshed against some others in what he could only assume was some kind of war.  What?  You don't bring six hundred to a mere raid or rounding up of bandits for the slaughter.  Well, unless you [i]do[/i], in which case, what a waste.  Now, Garlock was having trouble deciding if these were the kinds of people that the souls of the dead would ask him to revenge upon or simply kindred spirits with horns and tails when...they all formed wings and began to take off.

[i][color=9e0b0f]Uh oh.[/color][/i]

Let's understand something here.  This army had been content to trudge along before he intersected their path.  Now, after some quick banter, they were all going to fly away.  That was not normal...  At least, he was pretty sure of this fact.  Nobody changes tactics without good reason.  But then, that is not really why Garlock thought 'Uh oh'.  It wasn't a case of 'Oh, I may have made an error in telling these people [i]anything[/i]' or 'I seem to have caused a stir and now they're making a break for it'.  No, this was a [i]different[/i] kind of reaction, on his part.  This was 'I'm pretty sure that Star could see that.'.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Way on up in the sky, Morningstar had been watching.  There wasn't exactly much TO watch - Alot of dark little shapes moving around - but she could most-certainly see down there.  For instance, when the whole 600-strong army of dots came to a halt, she noticed that.  And when the black flame erupted and that she could see a blackish dot, she knew that that had to be Garlock.  Oh, what was [i]wrong[/i] with that cat?  He was revealing himself to a huge load of strangers when Volaris had asked specifically that they prevent anyone from learning of their presence!  He must've been playing one of his cat-and-mouse games or something, but then Star saw something [i]else[/i] of interest.

They were lifting off of the ground.

That made some very clear connections in her head.  People - armies, it seemed - could gain flight en masse, people could fly up and spot the Cathedral with ease, and they were now trying to leave the presence of Garlock in a hurry, which was surely a bad sign.  If this army had been the cause of whatever happened up north that she noticed before, then they were at war and in a campaign of conquest.  That put Dead Moon Cathedral in the middle of something, and it also meant that if these people had pushed this far, they would be coming farther, perhaps to their doorstep.  This was not acceptable.  It must be stopped.

So saying, Star pulled out her mace and her shield and prepared her opening attack.  Probably better start with whoever had that silvery, sniny glint down there.  That could be a leader, and without leaders...armies lose their focus.  Prepare to dive!

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[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFgNyCItmcE[/youtube][/center]

They couldn't possibly know what was coming, but Garlock had glanced up and seen the tiny little speck up there moving all of a sudden.  He saw that speck getting [i]a whole lot closer[/i].  The army was airborne in their triangular formation, and as Morningstar came down, Garlock could see she had gone Heat Riser as she wound up to smash right at King Lucius!  She must've seen the glint of his crown in the sun from way up there.  It would have stuck out especially, giving Star a definite target as she made to slam her Shockwave Assault right into him and let the blastwave fan out amongst all the troops that were nearby!

Garlock acted shocked and taken aback, before shouting in bloodthirsty manner...

[color=9e0b0f][b][i]"Demon, you shall face my wrath!"[/i][/b][/color]

A huge ball of flame flew out of his hands, in Star's general direction.  He was putting on a show to make it look like it was helping, and he WAS actually aiming for Morningstar.  However, there would be loads of soldiers in the way...and it was Hecaton Pyrum that he let loose in all their direction...and Star was immune to fire.  And with that spell being high-explosive...followed by the deployment and explosion of alot of other fireballs...this was going to get very messy, and in a bloody hurry!