In the two years that Ezran followed his army to Del Bar, Callum acted in his stead. He and Rayla became substitutes for the reigning couple, promulgating laws, presiding over the council, and administering justice.

The so-called Callumian Regency can be divided into two distinct phases: in the first (from the departure of Ezran until March 1422) the High Magician had an active and important place in the government, personally promoting many reforms. Instead in the second (until the return of the Emperor) Callum devoted himself mostly to his studies, leaving to the other advisors the daily management of the kingdom and limiting himself to intervene in a few exceptional cases. The reason for this change is to be found in the bloody facts of the Banther Lodge: but I digress.

Let's go back to the beginning of the Regency.

The years of continuous wars, the raids of the Neolandian ships, and a series of bad harvests had emptied the coffers of the kingdom, and the population poured into misery. It must be remembered that King Harrow had made the Katolean army the largest and strongest of the Pentarchy, and to do so he had to impose many heavy taxes.

It was therefore necessary first to solve the economic problems of the kingdom: fortunately, Callum proved to be a capable administrator. With the irreplaceable help of Lord Vrigel, he radically changed the tax system, making it more effective and at the same time abolishing the hated tax on wheat, which weighted almost exclusively on peasants. During his regency, the coinage between Duren and Katolis was also standardized: the Katolean Crown and the Durenian Florin were replaced by the Golden Phoenix, so called because it had the imperial coat of arms on the back. This gave new impetus to stagnant trade, so much so that in twenty years the Phoenix became the main currency of exchange throughout the continent.

Another problem that the High Wizard found himself handling was brigandage. As we mentioned, many soldiers who had followed Viren had deserted, taking refuge in the woods and carrying out robberies and violences especially against the Elves.

Not having enough soldiers to use force, Callum resorted to diplomacy. He proclaimed a general amnesty, guaranteeing every bandit who laid down his arms the forgiveness of all the crimes committed, provided that "they give up forever to carrying arms, replacing the swords with hoes and ploughs, and cultivate the land instead of plundering it."

Many bandits were peasants forced to flee because they were too poor to pay the heavy taxes or to avoid the conscriptions of King Harrow, and were happy to abandon the life of outlaw and return to their fields.

The few remaining irreducible brigands could thus be dealt with by the royal militia, which soon brought peace and order back to the imperial streets. It was a great political success for Callum, which unfortunately coincided with one of the most dramatic moments of his personal life.

Rayla had been opposed from the start to the amnesty, which would also have pardoned those responsible for the many elf murders that occurred in those years. Callum gives us the exact words of his wife:

"What good is a ruler if he does not punish, but rewards crimes? Does Justice mean so little to you? Do my people mean so little to you? Do I mean so little to you?"

Callum, however, did not yield. So, when the law saw the light, Rayla abandoned the castle and took refuge with her daughter at the Lodge of Banther.

"Katolis Rock has never been so empty" writes Callum, "Most of all I miss Tiadrin, but I dare not go to Banther: even if I apologize, I would only infuriate my wife more. I still believe I did the right thing for the kingdom, but... what if Rayla was right? What if there are more important things than the good of the empire? Am I starting to think like Viren? It's a prospect that terrifies me. Yet I realize that the more time I spend governing, the more I understand why my predecessor did what he did. It is terrible to have to choose between the good of many and our ideals."

Rayla remained at the Banther Lodge for two months. She would probably had stayed longer, but fate had other plans.

On the night of March 6, 1242, one of the last remaining bandit bands, headed by Barbas (the dark magician who had so stubbornly refused to open the gates of the capital to King Ezran years earlier), assaulted the Lodge of Banther. Caught by surprise, the guards protecting the building were overwhelmed within moments. Rayla was with her daughter in the apartments on the upper floor: she barely had time to hide Tiadrin, before the bedroom door was smashed and four armed bandits entered.

The brigands, however, were underestimating the abilities of a Dragonguard. Although no longer in service, Rayla had never stopped training: he shot down all the attackers one after the other, managing to injure Barbas himself. The magician tried to escape, but was only to take a few steps in the woods before being reached by the elf.

At that point, realizing he was defeated, Barbas used the few energies he had left for a final dark spell: a lightning bolt of darkness shone in the night, but it was not directed against Rayla. The spell struck the Banther Lodge, setting it on fire. Rayla tried to go back, but it was too late: the Banther Lodge collapsed in seconds, devoured by magic flames.

Meanwhile, drawn by the smoke of the fire, soldiers had arrived from the nearby town. A few hours later the same Callum joined them: the magician had flew to Banther as soon as a messenger had brought him the news of the attack. For days on end, he and Rayla scouted the woods, clinging to the hope that the child had somehow escaped the fire. In vain.

To reconstruct those days we have only successive sources: the diaries of Callum in fact are interrupted on the same day of the tragedy, and the records do not start again until eight months later.

It seems, however, that Tiadrin's disappearance had a terrible effect on the Regent and his wife.

Callum had, like his brother, always tried to avoid the use of the death penalty both in his judgments and in the laws of the Empire: but when it came to judge Barbas, he had no mercy. The dark magician was flayed alive, and it is said that Callum himself made sure to prolong his sufferings as long as possible by keeping him alive with magic for weeks.

Furthermore, the High Magician deserted the Council meetings for months, devoting himself only to his studies of magic; Rayla, for his part, even stopped eating. Both were crushed by guilt.

But like all things, even the most terrible moments have an end. Slowly, with difficulty, Callum and Rayla managed to overcome the grief, gaining strenght the one in the other... paradoxically, the tragedy managed to bring them closer.

Despite this period of crisis, we can say with a good margin of certainty that the period in which Callum was in office was a cure-all for the Empire. When Ezran and Aanya returned, they found a peaceful and rich country waiting for them.

We moderns have the immense privilege of observing the past from the outside, and therefore of knowing things of which the protagonists of our events are unaware.

For example, we know that Tiadrin was not really dead at all, just as we know why she disappeared.

His parents, however, would only find out years later, when the Great Western War was long over, and another even greater threat would have risen on the horizon.