You guys decided split it up and publish part of it every week, so that's what I'm doing. I may or may not combine them when this story is done. But this has extended it from two more chapters after this to seven or possibly eight more chapters.

Sophie swung at the target dummy and her sword slashed straight through the wood, slicing it in half. Sandor sighed. "How many more of my training dummies are you going to destroy before you deem you skill up to your former level?"

"That should be it. I've done all I can with the time I have. Besides, I have to make a few stops on the way." Sophie sheathed her sword and sprinted for the sheer drop that gave Cliffside its name. Teleporting was a piece of cake. She dove headfirst for the rocky shoreline, battered by waves. Reality split in front of her and she landed on her feet in a stone courtyard. There were dwarves bustling around her and only a few, mostly children, stopped to look when she landed. Most of them simply moved out of her way.

The great cobble courtyard was lined by market stalls and shops. Many dwarves, mostly mothers with their children, were out early to get the best deals, squinting at prices in the pale rays of sunlight making its way though the mountaintops.

The guards at the gate let her pass without a word, slapping a closed fist over their hearts in a salute as she passed.

The dwarves of the Majestachyny Mountains were old friends of hers. It was they who had made their weapons and armour, years ago during the first war. Now she was here again for a new commission.

"Commander Ruewen! How good to see you again!"

"Lord Lishi, the favour is returned. Do you have my order?"

The dwarf grinned, stroking his elaborately braided beard. "Do I have it! When you told me you needed a battle-axe for the ogre princess Romhilda herself, I took it upon myself to return to the forge and oversee its creation. Sadly,"-he patted his ample belly-"I am no longer fit enough wield those massive hammers. But it is done!"

Sophie smiled. "If you will show it to me?"

The older dwarf-lord lead her to one of the weapon storage rooms. On two metal hooks by itself was a massive battle-axe, easily six feet from the knob of metal at the end of the pole to the hooked barb facing the opposite direction from the head of the axe. The actual blade was nearly a foot square of three or four inch thick steel. Delicate engravings ran down the length of the hardened oak pole with metal poured into the grooves to strengthen the wood.

"That's technically a halberd, not a battle-axe."

Lord Lishi laughed. "I do not think Princess Ro will much mind. She can bash things with the flat of the axe, slice things with the edge, and stab things with the bayonet on the end. I would not suggest attempt to lift it yourself. It is not made for elven capabilities and might weigh as much as you do."

She grinned. "I will take that into account. How long is it?"

"Longer than you are tall. It's an impressive weapon. It has all the right enchantments. Anyone who swings hard enough can cut right through a Titan dragon's scales."

"That is exactly what I need. How does one remove it from the wall?" Sophie leaned one fist on her hip. "It seems a bit high up for a dwarf."

He laughed, rotund form jiggling. "We use stepladders and elves' fancy powers to get them up and down. You have telekinesis, no?"

Sophie slowly lifted the axe off its pegs and down to the floor. "That I do, Lord Lishi, that I do. Well, you have done me a great service that will not be forgotten."

"Don't worry about it. Yer getting rid of those massive bloodscales that have been a blight on dragon kind for thousands of years. It's thanks enough."

"Regardless. I will be sure to mention to Queen Emela your involvement and see to it she rewards you in some way. I must be on my way rather quickly, so I'm afraid I cannot stay." They walked back out to the gates, Sophie floating the battle-axe behind them.

She pulled the air around her up and launched herself up onto one of the mountain peaks. She never had to fall as far in Adeala before the tug inside her mind activated and split the sky in front of her, dropping her into Cliffside's training ground.

Everyone else was out of site, even though she could hear voices. Sophie followed the sound to the archery range, where Biana was showing off her skill with a bow. She waited for them to finish before she tapped Ro on the shoulder.

"Got something for you."

Ro jumped. "I forgot how quiet you are! You scared me."

Sophie grinned. "So much for your 'superior ogre senses'."

"Is the giant battle-axe that's bigger than you are for me?"

"As a matter of fact, it is." Sophie floated the axe over to Ro. "It's too big and awkward for me to hold, but it should suit you well."

Ro took the weapon out of the air and grinned. "I don't think I've ever held an axe so well suited to me. And I'm a bit of an axe expert. Where did you get this?"

Sophie stepped out of swinging range to give the ogre princess room to test her new plaything. "It was a commission. When we're fighting giant dragons, you're a bit of a squishy target and someone, usually Keefe, ends up babysitting you. So I thought I'd give you something that would allow you to hold your own. That'll give us two more fighters and make the odds a little more even."

"I would complain about that comment, but you are totally right. When it comes to fighting mountain size dragons, I don't have fancy element powers to sock them in the face with, but now I have a big fancy axe! This will be awesome. Can it get through their scales though?"

"Yes it can." Sophie twirled her own sword around her hand. "I'd offer to spar, but I think you have the upper hand again."

Ro gave the axe a few test swings. "Man. The balance on this is superb. I think you're right! I get to keep this after the battle right?"

"Of course! It's a gift."

"Sweet. My dad is going to be so jealous." Ro set the end against the ground. The tip of the bayonet came up almost to the top of her head. "I'm gonna need to make a sheath or something for this. Carrying it around will get tiring. Hey, where'd everybody go?"

Sophie looked around. "Probably still have things to do. We want to make the odds as even as possible going into this. As long as we take out Tyrginth, we'll have removed their seat of power and influence on the Council. And since they'll have revealed their identities to us, we'll be able to fight and cripple or kill them one by one."

"Do we know which one is the big guy?" Ro started walking back toward the house.

Sophie matched her pace. "Kesler will take care of him. Our job is to keep the other six away from them and kill them if we can. I do know that he looks similar to Kesler, which makes sense since they're brothers. But even with a century or two difference in age, Tyrginth's been sitting on his butt for a lot longer than Kesler and so will have lost a lot of his skill and a lot of his strength. Possibly his ability to fly."

"Which one should I take?"

"Probably Eiommod. As the youngest and weakest dragon, who, if I recall correctly, hatched with a deformed wing, she's grounded and your closest match. She's also the only one who can't cause much damage if she survives and escapes."

"Okay." Ro grinned, looking up and down her new weapon. "I hate to kill a cripple though. It's not super sporting."

Sophie shrugged. "Just because she can't fly doesn't mean she's not dangerous. Dragons still have claws and teeth and fire. And we have to hold this during the day, so she'll be able to draw power from Everblaze since the sun will be out. So expect a good fight."

"Cool. Even if I don't kill her, I still want some sort of trophy to prove that I did it, like a scale or a claw. For bragging rights, ya know?"

"Feel free to take one. I'd go for a tooth. They're not super tough since a lot of their strength comes from the jaw strength, which is no laughing matter on a Titan dragon. Give one of the front fangs a good hard whack and it'll probably snap. That alone might be enough to stop her. For all the biting and fire breathing they do, dragon's mouths are stupid sensitive. Whenever Biana or Dex hit their mouth on something or bite down too hard, they can't do anything with their mouth for hours."

Ro nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. Have you seen Ry yet? I know you guys were wanting to wait until after the battle, but…"

Sophie let out a wistful sigh. "No I haven't. I can't wait to. How big is he now?"

"About to your ribs. He's not going to be super big and bulky, but an ogre kid tried to pick a fight and Ry mopped the floor with him, without using any fire. It was like 'no, bad child, no fighting' and 'That's my boy!' at the same time. The other kid's mom told him to not pick fights he couldn't win. I think he's got a new opinion of elves now."

She laughed. "I don't want him getting into fights, but that's funny. How is his fire bending going?"

"I don't know, I've been too busy to watch. Marella told me it's going well, but I'm not sure what that means. The forms I've seen him do are amazing. Some of them are ogre fighting forms modified for his size and he does them as well or better than I do. You've got a powerhouse of a kid on your hands."

"I have seven of them!" Sophie laughed. "I'm glad he's doing well. I was always nervous about sending him to the ogres, especially so young. I'm glad he turned out so well. How did you manage to raise such a quiet child in a war-oriented culture?"

Ro switched her battle-axe to her other hand and opened the door. "Mostly limited contact. We had me, my father and two or three other guards that understood the situation, plus Marella. Anyone else that came in contact with him, outside of when he wanted to run around and have fun with other kids, knew that they were to treat him with exaggerated care. And a lot of the moms and kids figured it out with minimal issues."

"I'm sure he'll have lots of stories to tell me."

"He's actually not very talkative. Well, you're his mom, he probably talked to you a lot more, but even at his most social, he's not a loud kid. Most of the time, he'll let other people talk and just listen."

Sophie nodded. "But when he wants to talk, he'll go on for hours. It's nice when you hear him excited about something. Updates on anything else?"

Ro shook her head. "I'm assuming all this Banished Seven stuff is classified? I haven't mentioned any of it to my father. And anything ogres can provide would probably just end with lost lives. As tough as we are, this is not someplace we can be useful. I don't think anything important happened while you were gone. The Council didn't do anything out of the ordinary besides suddenly kick Oralie and Bronte off the Council and replace them with two people no one's heard of before without a vote. But that was right before your funeral and nothing's happened since then. So I'm not sure how important that is now."

"That makes sense and it doesn't. They've removed my sympathisers, but people aren't going to like that there was no vote."

"Uh, what about Councillor Terik?"

"He stepped down several years ago. He felt it would be in the best interest of the Lost Cities to have a Councillor with greater mobility and dexterity than he has. Which left Oralie and Bronte as my only reliable supporters. Since they've been removed, I now have no support from them. But you said that was after my funeral."

"Right."

"I don't think it's important for us right now, but it's rubbing me the wrong way. I'll take it up with everyone else later. If you want to test that thing out, you should do it now. We'll run out of time for that quickly." Sophie turned and went upstairs, leaving Ro to get to know her new weapon.

Fitz was sitting on their bed, sharpening his sword. He looked up when she opened the door.

"My love." He stood, meeting her half way and hugging her gently.

Sophie returned the embrace, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Hey handsome."

"Did Ro like her new toy?"

"Mm hm." She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. "Are you doing okay?"

"As best I can." Fitz sighed. "I want all of this to be over. We were supposed to be done with this years ago. And now it's hurting our kids. That's what I can't stand. They can hurt me all they want, but as soon as they touch our kids…"

Sophie placed a finger on his lips, silencing him. "I know. But it's just this last time. Then we're done. Forever. We can go do whatever we want to do without constantly checking over our shoulders. Jolie and the quints can go to Foxfire next year. Ry's got a few more years before he gets there, but he'll go too, and he won't have to be considered Talentless just because he's a Pyrokinetic or be treated differently because he's blind. We won't owe anything to anyone. We won't be obligated to fight back just because we are the only ones with the guts to stand up and say no. Our lives will finally be our own."

He smiled, gently kissing her finger. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Battle starts next chapter. If any of you somehow still like the Council, you won't for very long.

I won't be giving normal teasers until we're through the battle, I'll be giving the name of the next chapter instead. As always, let me know if you don't want it.

Shine brightly!

Ruby