Chapter Eleven:
Elder Afrin's Miracle

Alinqua's POV:

"So are we really going home, or was that just a figure of speech?" I asked Altoda.

A shadow appeared next to Altoda. "Yes," it spoke, "you go to Chilaquand."

"And how do you know where we are going?"

"Because I foresaw it."

Altoda turned." Well received, Elder Afrin."

"I bring you a choice, Patriarch. You have been chosen to receive a... gift, as you might call it."

"Gift? I need nothing, except..."

"A better form? A second chance?"

"Exactly."

"The High Elder bestowed a choice to Elephande. He was to pick one who deserved a second chance, and he has chosen you."

"He chose me over Zambiandë? How is that possible?"

"He knew all that has befallen here, and chose based on the fact that Istean will be catapulted back into glory on the shoulders of its' greatest patriarch."

I started. "OK, I'm confused... A second chance? You're resurrecting him?"

"In a sense..."

"The debt is returning now," started Altoda. "Zambiandë sacrificed himself to destroy me. Now I shall return!"

-----------------------
Allysuntis (the Younger's) POV:

"Where in the name of the High Elder is Afrin?" I shouted.

"He'll get to us!" called Zambiandë.

We were surrounded by Askinqua's troops, who were assaulting our position relentlessly. Afrin had said earlier that we would get aid, but as I looked towards the plains, I saw the mass of the main body of the Indosyne Union army also surrounded.

"You need some help?"

"By the High Elder! Suligan!"

Suligan's Suisane fleet unleashed a deadly barrage on Askinqua's men, while he himself led a compliment of troops down the hill.

-----------------------
Afrin's POV:

Our perimeter was falling to wave after wave of Askinqua's forces. I had promised aid to my cousin, but now, I needed aid.

"Brace yourself, Patriarch!"

"Sulit-Aladan!"

He opened fire at point-blank range. I had been on the opposite side of Dreg gunners before, and it wasn't very pretty. Blood flowed down the hills we were on, slowing the next wave of Cladlen. I acted.

"Forward, my friends, and let's find Allysuntis!"

My father let the war cry of Allysulia ring in its' old home once more. "Morte delqune emite toqune Martos!"

Many of the Cladlen were frozen into place, as what the remembered from legends of that cry flooded their mind. Many simply fled back towards Askinqua's artillery. Others just stood there while Sulit-Aladan's gunners made short work of them.

-----------------------

"Well?" asked Chris, after Reno had thawed them all.

"Our job here is done," said Richard. "We must get to Elephande immediately."

"I agree," said Reno. "Besides, we don't know where Mute will pop up next, and do we really want to be here when he does?"

-----------------------
Altoda's POV:

"So you want us to go to the center of the problem to find the solution?" asked a skeptical Alinqua.

"And what will we find on Cladlenia, Elder?" I asked.

"The solution, naturally."

Alinqua erupted. "So we're following the words of a deranged old windbag, traveling to the heart of the enemy, and looking for the High Elder knows what? Perfect..."

Elder Afrin smiled. "Doubt not the words of the High Elder's enlightened one," he said, and promptly disappeared.

The pilot spoke up. "Look! Down there!"

-----------------------

Ryan spotted something. "Up there!" he yelled.

"Who is that?" asked Mekae.

-----------------------
Altoda's POV:

"Land over there."

"As ordered, Patriarch."

Our ship headed down to the group of Adepts. They would indeed be a great help, but they weren't the mythical army Elephande spoke of with reverence. After they boarded, Richard asked me what I knew of Elidion.

"The Adepts of Elidion are legendary, and are known to many of us. Elephande said that an army of Adepts from Elidion helped him beat Askinqua the first time. A few dozen of them, and we'll have this fight before it starts!"

Richard laughed. "A few dozen? Try about twenty thousand."

At those words, everyone's heads turned towards him.

"Elidion? Have Adepts? Impossible!" said Chris. "Anybody who sets foot there is never seen again. Elidion is nothing more than a haunted ruin, a ghost of what it was."

"The Army of Elidion is not made of ghosts," remarked Reno, very quietly. "Care to see?"