“Not surprised she’d say that,” Kire commented. At his question, she paused, then sighed, tilting her head back a bit as she did so. “I’m already tired. Or maybe it’s just in my mind, since I know I slept pretty deeply last night,” she added, smirking, if only briefly. “I’ll be alright when we’re home and this is all over,” she said. She looked over at Myka and the [i]Wench[/i] crew, then back to Ruli. “If you need a clearer picture of the Palace let me know.” She paused, looking like she wanted to say more to Ruli, or something else, at least, but thought better of it. “Get plenty of rest, all of you. We’re marching at first light, and we’re expecting their reinforcement army to arrive to try and break our siege.”

They crossed the mountain pass the next day, which took a couple of hours. Though Gavin had been used to working at Uvano very early in the day, journeying with an army for a whole day prior and continuing again today was something else. The first hour he spent almost asleep on his feet, but as the sky brightened with the coming day, he grew more alert. Narda, Myka, and their crew, too, looked eager, speaking to each other in Taakalon. “It’s been a long time since we journeyed like this on the other side of this pass,” Narda told the off-worlders. “We’ve sent forces ahead to secure our position and surround the Capital, and also to send word back on whether Gemini reinforcements have arrived.”
“Nard,” Myka said, grinning as she nudged the giantess. She looked to the other three and gestured to them. “Look.”

Standing on a high point in the mountain pass, they could see the rest of the countryside spread out before them. Rocky hills, forests, fields of wildflowers. Far off in the distance, bathed in golden morning light, surrounded by a city and raised on a hill, was the silhouette of a great Palace, casting a shadow on the city beneath it. Though still far away, Gavin stared, transfixed. He could tell the Palace was enormous. Even Lord Ulrich’s castle would have fit in the grounds. He had an idea of how big it was from the maps they had studied, but to see it from this vantage point was something else. Anxiety rolled in his stomach. [i]Holy gods[/i], were they really going to cast a ward around [i]that[/i]?
Narda grinned. “Almost there,” she said, looking down at the off-worlders. She turned behind them to see Kire and Ed looking on, too, halting their horses side by side. The Wyverns were silent, but the expression on their face was plain enough. Longing. Anticipation. Hope that they would finally be home again soon. Even the thought of an army waiting behind the Capital walls and whatever lay within the Palace grounds didn’t dampen that bubbling of hope inside them. The tiredness that had been on Kire’s face the night prior disappeared, and her eyes were bright. Ed reached over to rest a hand on Kire’s shoulder, and Kire patted it, no words needed between them at that moment. She caught Narda looking and nodded. The giantess returned it. “Let’s keep moving then.”

The weather did cooperate, and the army made good time. Gavin was more nervous now that he had seen the end of their journey ahead. Soon after sighting the Palace from a distance, they left the mountainous region behind. Another hour later, scouts have returned to let them know that there was a standoff at the gates between the advance guard and the Gemini army. The Wyvern army had sent forth terms of surrender, which the defending army refused. Raring to join the battle, Kire was eager to quicken their host’s pace, but they kept steady. [i]Be patient.[/i] Sieges took a long time, but with their gambit with the wards, hopefully not too long this time.
Soon, they sighted the camp prepared for them by those who had marched ahead. No longer just a sight from a distance, the Capital walls could be sighted from where Gavin was standing. Their arrival was greeted with a roar from the advance guard, and soon they took up chanting Kire’s name. Kire was quiet, but the hunger in her eyes shone bright in her features as she rode forward, followed by Edward, Ulrich, and the other lords and officers. “Alright. It’s time for the final preparations,” Narda told them. “Come on.” 

Kire was waiting for them in the tent with the other noble lords. “That standing army outside is trouble, but their numbers aren’t a match for ours,” Ed said. “And we know the Capital enough to figure out their defenses. There don’t seem to be any dolls among the massed army, so safe to say they’d probably concentrated that on the inside.”
She nodded, then looked up as Ruli, Gavin, and Ysaryn joined them, followed by Narda and Myka. “How long will your final preparations take?” she asked Ruli.