PELAIR. The Gems of the Golden Serpent.

24. March to the South

"Everybody up!" shouted a soldier, awakening the captives. "Every available man is joining the army," he said.

Brannan, Gertrudis, and Toto were translated from their place of detention to another cell, crammed with all sorts of men brought from the remotest corners of Luria, to join by force the army of the Triad now that it had two battlefronts. There were peasants, homeless, drunk, artisans, elders, and even some of those, who looking like men behaved more like women.

Gertrudis had managed to seize a male's robe when their captors finally allowed them the chance to cover their nakedness, after being stripped of their clothes at the throne room. Given her strength and roughness, she very well passed as a man, so once clothed, she was able to stay with Brannan and Toto amongst the men. They knew nothing of Rinna's whereabouts because the females had been set apart.

"Imbeciles," that was all Agneer managed to say when she had tried to locate among the prisoners, the hunchback she now had the certainty of having caused the emperor's death. He had managed to end the life of Guildor with just a throw of a stone. How had he achieved that is what she now wanted to find out.

It wasn't possible to discern between the many old captives imprisoned in the dungeons of Ardel's prison and the new prisoners from the events of the night before that led to Guildor's death.

The soldiers in charge of their transfer from the throne room to the dungeons had not taken care to place them apart, so the witches were not able to search for the killer. The twins could not afford to slain all those hundreds of prisoners, for every man was now urgently needed on the battlefront.

The replacement troops were becoming increasingly scarce. The armies of both the Triad and Terrara were suffering the effects of that long struggle. The war was coming to a turning point in which the slightest slip could cost either side the final victory.

An urgent message had arrived the night before brought from the southern war front by a harpy eagle, notifying the imminent invasion of Luria by a vast army stationed at the entrance of the passage of Orhún.

The army of The Triad could not afford to neglect its southern border to the ambitions of another tyrant, who, coming from the southern kingdoms, aspired to invade the north and take by assault the territory of Luria.

Indeed, King Vonegh of Kaffre had taken hold of the neighboring southern kingdoms of Kersia and Kiria, much as what Guildor had done with the northern monarchies. He had manifested his intention to invade the North through the depression of Orhún. That was the natural passage between the Northlands and the south. Only a formidable bastion of The Triad's forces stationed near the pass had prevented Vonegh from carrying out his threat. This situation had somehow favored Terrara; howsoever, Guildor had had to divide his considerable army into two blocks, weakening his efforts to launch his final assault on Terrara, his old and bitter enemy.

Now, there were rumors that the southern armies finally had managed to break the siege that prevented them from invading, and marched through that natural depression in the direction of Luria.

"We don't have time to mourn the Duke," had told Grisela to the twin. Although Guildor was her son, she didn't feel much sorrow for his death. "There's something you should know that became a reality last night, at the moment your grandfather died. A fabulous power has awakened after many years, and fortunately, it happened at my hands."

Then, Grisela told the twin the story of the Gems of the Golden Serpent, and how its two most powerful gems were now in her hands to use in the final phase of her ambitious plan.

"This is the full opal," said Grisela showing the twins the circular black stone she had managed to set up, bringing together the two halves of the opals that for long had remained detached. "You are my heirs and, therefore, the new carriers. Use them to discover and develop their powers fully," she said while given each twin one of the halves. "Your training was always carried out on the basis that one day, these valuable gems would be your tools to develop all I have taught you. Now, nobody can stop us. We will rule throughout all Pelair," pointed Grisela rapturously. "There is nothing we can do now for the Duke. I will bury him beside Gunter's coffin. You have the power to avenge his death. For now, you ought to lead our armies. Agneer," she said, addressing one of the twins, "you will head south to contain and defeat Vonegh. You will seize all the territories belonging to the kingdoms of the south. Agnees," she addressed this time the other twin, "you will head east and command the forces that will definitively defeat Terrara."