[Back then, there weren't. But now it is widely known that Spike has invaded twice and Shadowflash has not shown himself. Therefore, there are now challengers.] Carrie s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably. [We can no longer avoid a showdown. Unless you can subdue them yourself, one of the new challengers will be the new lord. That could be very bad for you and the other humans in this fief, very bad indeed…]

"And how exactly do I challenge them? Single combat?" Remian guessed, grimacing.

[No lord ever stands alone. It will be your pack against theirs.]

"So I get to bring everyone?" Remian gaped. "I can bring a whole army?"

[Anyone willing to fight at your side.] Carrie nodded. [Also be aware that there is no limit to future challengers. To be the Lord, you must not only win, you must defend your rule forevermore. Shadowflash has fought off many challengers over many years, yet even now at just a few signs that he would not return, others already pounce upon his territory.]

"So I'm not only expected to bring the best army, I'm expected to maintain it." Remian understood. "And it's fine if they're of different species, or that they're hired fighters?"

[Not many would fight and die for one not of their kind. Not for mere rewards.] Carrie shook her head. [Digging, tracking and hunting mice is one thing. Fighting for your lords.h.i.+p is something else. I can't ask the packs to do it for me, much less for you. The Lynxmice are even less likely to fight for you.]

"But I have two clans of humans in underground fortresses and airs.h.i.+ps. Plus, I think I can get the Iron Legion to help me out." Remian hesitated. "I'm just wondering… how tough are these challenger Tier 5's compared to Spike? Would the XL Ballista be enough to affect them?"

[We'll see soon enough, won't we?] Carrie sneezed.

Remian did not feel very comfortable with that. Concerned, he went to pay Arnold a visit.

"Kinda busy here, chief." Arnold said, tinkering around with parts from Charlie's airs.h.i.+p.

"Sorry, but this is rather important." Remian said. "If we don't have a weapon that can handle Tier 5's when the challengers get here, all our operations in the Frontier could be at risk."

"Tell you what." Arnold grunted. "You give me a hand with these parts, and I can spare a bit of time to spare to upgrade the Ballista."

"How many workers do you need?" Remian was all prepared for something like that.

"I don't need more workers. I need a mage. I said I needed your help, and that means you, personally." Arnold told him directly.

"Me?" Remian hesitated. "What do you need me to do?"

"Channel some mana into this." Arnold patted a heap of equipment that Remian couldn't even begin to make head or tail of. "Place your hands here, and send enough in to raise the needle in this meter to '5'."

Remian trickled in some mana, watched the needle rise, trickled in some more, then more until it rose to 5, then kept it there steadily until Arnold said, "Stop. That's enough, thanks."

He carefully took his hands off, and glanced at Arnold. Arnold nodded. "That would do. Thank you very much."

"I didn't blow anything up!" Remian heaved a sigh of relief. "For a moment there, I was wondering what I'd do if there was a power surge."

"You don't want to know." Arnold said wryly. "Why don't you get a handle on your powers already? This risky business of surges is getting old."

"I would, but I'm not sure how." Remian confessed.

"Quit being lazy and go find out. Ask your mage friends or something." Arnold shooed him away and went back to his tinkering.

***

As it happened, with Charlie gone south, Mindy was the only other mage left in camp.

"I don't know." Mindy shook her head. "But there's something you should know. Mandy's invited me to join her and the others at Ashdale."

"What?" Remian stared.

"She says it's safer there, plus… Charlie's family has more books on magic. On top of that, there are libraries and Towers where mages work together and learn magic…" Mindy s.h.i.+fted. "If we go to Ashdale, we might be able to learn something. We might be able to learn a lot. Mandy says we can stay with Charlie's family. His mom already said it was okay."

"Mandy's inviting us to Charlie's home, now?" Remian thought something sounded weird about that, but he let it pa.s.s without further comment. "How long will we be gone?"

"I don't know. When is Charlie's next trip home and back here again?" Mindy asked.

"Probably next week when the repairs are done… and back here again next Fryday." Remian figured. "That doesn't sound too long. Do you think the others can manage a few days without us?"

"They should be fine. I could go shopping for airs.h.i.+p parts, and you could go ask the experts on how to manage your magic."

"Right… but first, we have three Tier 5 Wilds to handle." Remian glanced about. "Arnold's going to upgrade the XL Ballista, maybe take it from a 5X to a 6X… can we improve the Wind Blessing on it?"

"Tier 4 is as good as it gets. We don't have the materials for a Tier 5." Mindy told him. "Unless you have a hundred Tier 3 Wind Blessing Scrolls and ten mages more powerful than me that I didn't know about?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of a runic formation." Remian explained.

"Great. You'll be wanting to use the Fire Copper, then? Make it a fire elemental formation? We'll need Andros to work on the runes…" Mindy thought about it. "Do you have a good blueprint we can use?"

"Uh… no." Remian admitted.

"Maybe we can find one in Ashdale." Mindy consoled him. "We are going to Ashdale, aren't we?"

"Yeah, why not?" Remian said at the time.

Meanwhile, he had to deal with a super boar, a burning bull, and this 'ageless' Tier 5.

"Carrie, roughly how big are these Wilds?" Remian asked.

[Ten times my size.] Carrie summarized. [In Jujar's case, more like twenty.]

That was pretty much Spike's size already.

"How tough are their skins?"

[How tough do you think diamond is? Burning leather is also very hard to pierce. Jujar the Ageless has even tougher defenses than the other two.]

"How so?"

[Jujar the Ageless is a Giant Tortoise.] Carrie shook her head. [His back is tougher than even Spike's. I'm sorry, Remian, but while I can ask the wolfcats to dig, asking them to fight these three is more than I can manage.]

Remian thought about it for a while, then finally said, "Well, then, we'll just have to ask them to dig."

***

As the day pa.s.sed, three separate groups of large Wilds began to encroach upon Shadowflash Fief.

Led by the Diamond Bristle Boar, Daring Drum, two strong packs of Bristle Boars charged over the plains. They stopped for nothing and were the earliest to approach the Fief's borders. Following the traditional, well plodded route of Beast Waves, they made their way north right past a well-hidden group of adventurers who had been tracking Spike.

The following day, a second group pa.s.sed Joshu's adventuring team. These were a herd of Firehorn Cattle, led by the Burning Bull, Bellower. They tended to stop and eat a lot, however, and they ate just about everything, sparing no tree or bush in their wake; everywhere they pa.s.sed, nothing was left behind but scorched earth. They were moving much more slowly.

As for the third group they expected to see… well, they simply never showed up. Or at least, Joshu and the team did not encounter them on the way to Craggy Falls.

***

The roars of the Diamond Bristle Boar, Daring Drum echoed through the hillsides as he reached KarGoth. [We will rip out your guts! We will trample you underfoot like the dirt you are! Ten thousand generations of your kind will remember the day you fled from us and received no mercy, no quarter given no matter how you begged…]

It was, to be sure, a very eloquent speech delivered in thundering tones and lavish style, but unfortunately, the humans didn't really understand any of it. All they heard was roaring as Daring Drum approached, and then the thundering of Bristle Boar hooves as the huge packs neared their homes. They hid in the tunnels and caverns, not putting up any resistance, declining to face the challenge of the incoming Wilds, allowing them to trample their way to their front doors unimpeded…

[You will… URGHK!] There was a terrible cras.h.i.+ng sound and Daring Drum's roars and boasts stopped quite abruptly. The thundering hooves stopped and very suddenly, there was a long, awkward silence.

"It can't have been this easy. Can it?" Aren asked his wife.

"I think… it really is." Zania said slowly, eyes wide. "I think we actually did it."

"Signal Remian!" Aren ordered his clansmen. "Blue smoke!"

As they scurried about doing just that, a small boy of perhaps five went over to Aren and tugged at his hand. "Dada? What happened?"

"Nothing much, son." Aren patted him on the head. "We just caught a big boar in a pit."