39: The Final March

The trail led them to a place of low cliffs, and beneath those cliffs the ground opened up into a maze-like series of tunnels and caverns. It was impossible to tell direction down there in the dark, and the dry rocky ground meant the prisoner caravan trail faded into nothing almost immediately. The Pact spread out through the caverns, trying determinedly to brute force their way southwards. They came across more crashed Pact ships and gladly added them to their forces, and they came across hylek of the Nuhoch tribe whose massive size made Norn look like children, who did not mind allying with them.

But there were dangers other than Mordrem and getting lost here. The greatest of them all was a horde of horrible bugs named chak. They were of many, many varieties, or perhaps they were all one species that differentiated based on the stage of their life cycle, but they ranged from the size of a large hound up to the size of a small cottage. They were fast, and poisonous, and entrapping, and they did not stop coming. No matter how many they slew, there were always more, and their nests were made of such a hard material that no amount of explosives seemed to have any effect. Caoilfhionn very rapidly grew to hate them with almost more passion than Mordremoth.

He could not hate anyone more than Mordremoth. The voice was stronger in these caves, as they drew closer to the Dragon's hidden lair, no longer whispering in the back of his head but muttering, muttering loudly. It was difficult to tune out, and to watch Laranthir, and Eithne, and Mabbran, he knew they were struggling too. Yet when he saw their faces, when he gripped his ring, he remembered the Pale Tree, and he remembered Trahearne, and he knew who he was. He would not fall here, so close to his goal.

His goal was slipping away from him, though. Though Rox was skilled, and the others were eager to back her up, she did not know the way forward, and the Mordrem did. After a day or two, it became clear – they were losing ground on the prisoner caravan. It nearly drove Caoilfhionn to distraction, but there wasn't anything he could reasonably do about it. He did not know the way, and the chak swarmed in their path, slowing them further.

He had showed Malyck's blade to Annhilda, who looked at it curiously. "You're thinking of taking up the sword?"

"Yes. Do you know who might have time to teach me?"

"I wish I had time to teach you, but I don't right now. And this single-edged blade isn't the type of sword that I'm familiar with... Why don't you ask Bongo? He managed to put up with Faren long enough to get him competent, I'm sure he'd love a more cooperative student."

Bongo was a bit skeptical at first, indeed, but Caoilfhionn was, at least, a quick student, and practiced diligently, and the Human swordmaster was pleased by it. It wasn't too long before he felt he wouldn't hurt himself with it, and after fighting the chak in their brutal, unrelenting swarms several times, he learned quite well how to channel his elemental attunements through this new weapon. It naturally affected his casting, but the spells that developed organically from wielding a longer blade worked quite well for him.

The Pact eventually found great tunnels, ley-line caverns, pointing south, which sped their progress considerably – until they reached a dead end at the southernmost point, where the tunnels converged. There was a cavern so massive and awe-inspiring Rata Sum would nearly have fit into it, but the south end was simply rock and stone.

Caoilfhionn was surprised by Rhyoll's optimism. "No, I don't think we're stuck here. Occam, give it a big whack, would ya?" Occam obliged, and Rhyoll cupped his right ears towards the wall. "Yeah, this isn't solid stone. It's all fractured, and there's space behind it."

"That's great, but we don't have any heavy equipment to break it, and getting it will take time," Annhilda said.

Rhyoll looked offended. "Give me some credit, Annhilda. There's not too many airship wrecks in this area, but there's two or three. If we can salvage... oh... four cannons and set them up in each of these ley-line tunnels, we should be able to channel enough energy to bust through."

"And how long will that take? Where are we going to get the power from? What about the chak?"

"Couple days, I think. I've got plans for the generators, we've lost a few copters we can salvage from. And the chak is your problem."

"Right. Rox, over here."

"What do you need, boss?" Rox asked.

"I'm going to go with Rhyoll's plan. If it works, we should be able to get the army through much faster than wandering these tunnels for days. But I want you to keep looking for another way through. The Mordrem got through, you can too."

"Sounds good!" Rox said. "I'll take anyone in the guild who you don't need."

"All right. Damara, I'm going to need you to help lead defense against the chak, but Caoilfhionn, Marjory, Kasmeer, and Rytlock, you can go with her."

"Good luck, everyone!" Damara said. "See you on the other side of this wall!"

It took them another day of searching to find a way south; hours of running screaming through a chak hive, hours of wriggling through narrow, wet twisting passages where the only light was Rox's lantern and Kasmeer's mesmer glow.

It was a relief when finally they saw the light of day before them, for the first time in nearly five days for Caoilfhionn, and heard the sound of wind again. And with the wind came renewed rumblings of domination and hatred. In the tangled depths it had risen and fallen from mutterings to mumbles, but now it was clear and sharp as his friends beside him, and it dragged at his will. Caoilfhionn stumbled as he stepped into the light, growing dizzy, and he needed a minute to adjust before he could move on again, gripping his ring tightly.

Kasmeer noticed. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," he said, but even to himself he sounded strained. "I won't succumb." But the Dragon was near. Almost near enough to touch.

There was an airship wreck to their southeast, and they headed towards it. They only made it partway when a shadow popped out of the undergrowth. "Hey there."

"A-Agent Zrii!" Caoilfhionn cried. "I'm glad you're alive."

She nodded grimly. "Me too, though a lot of others didn't make it. What are you doing here? I thought you didn't make it to launch. You look terrible."

"We didn't make it to launch," Caoilfhionn said. "Hope's Legacy has been fighting their way here virtually from the Silverwastes."

Zrii's eyes opened wide. "Much respect to you, then. But for what? You don't think you're actually going to attack the Dragon, do you? With the five of you?"

"Oh yes, we're going to attack the Dragon," Rytlock growled. "The Pact went down hard, but we're not giving up."

"There's a lot more than five of us," Braham said. "The rest of the army is back with Commander Annhilda, trying to blow an alternate route out of the caves they're stuck in. They should be here tomorrow."

"We've managed to collect maybe a thousand, twelve hundred soldiers," Marjory said. "The Sylvari are having a hard time of it, but we're still here to do a job."

"That's what we said when we saw the fleet going down around us," Zrii said, turning and leading them towards the wreck. "That's why we pushed on anyway. I think we should have turned back. It's been hell out here, and we haven't been able to catch our breath enough to think about trying to escape. I was sure we were all going to die here."

"That could still happen, but it'll be as part of an army, and we'll go down fighting," Rytlock said cheerfully.

"Zrii, have you seen a prisoner caravan go by any time in the past week?" Caoilfhionn asked urgently.

"No – well, not to know it was prisoners. We kept our heads down if we heard Mordrem. No sense dying unnecessarily. Who's in it?"

"Trahearne, and Logan and Zojja," he said.

"We rescued Eir!" Braham put in.

"Oh my. No wonder you look half-dead," Zrii said, and patted his leg. "Sorry, I didn't see him. Them. There were some Mordrem going by about five days ago. Could have been them."

Caoilfhionn took a deep breath and touched his ring. He was late, but he had to get there. A brown leaf fell from his head, fluttering past his nose. He paid it no mind.

"Well, here we are," Zrii said. "There's fifty-two of us left, hidden under this huge tree."

"Listen up!" Rytlock boomed, striding forward into the little Pact camp. "You've done well to survive this long. Tomorrow the Pact Army should be arriving, so get ready! We're going to need mess facilities, repair facilities, a space for command HQ, and barracks. Who's your leader? Move!"

Kasmeer looked at Marjory. "What if it doesn't go according to plan? What if they get stuck behind that rock wall and can't make it on schedule?"

"Then morale falls a little lower," Marjory said. "But we've got to prepare for the army's arrival anyway."

"Ah, Charr efficiency," Rox said, smiling. "The Tribune will have this camp ready in no time."

Caoilfhionn went to look southward, but there was not much to see. The jungle seemed... lower, here, the vegetation and foliage more sparse than they had been further north. There were many rocky outcroppings and gigantic stumps. And faintly, on the edge of his sight, something that towered high into the sky. Why should the jungle seem to be dying here, when they were closer to the Jungle Dragon than ever? Was its influence too corrupting for normal plants to live? If he headed out there, would he only find grasping thorny vines and poisonous Blighting Trees?

If the army had not arrived on the next day, he was going on. With the others if they wanted to come. Alone if they did not.

Breakfast the next morning was interrupted by a bright light coming from the northeast, as laser beams blasted into the sky. There was a distant rumbling crash, and the lasers ceased.

"Guess they did it!" Rox said. "Now the Dragon ought to start feeling scared."

Rytlock took a small team to go see if it really was Annhilda and the Pact, and to guide them to their camp if it was. Caoilfhionn waited impatiently in the lower branches of the camp tree, staring at the distant tower. It was at least a couple days' journey, he estimated, without running into trouble. And if Trahearne were five... now six days ahead... "Hold on," he whispered. "Wait for me. I'm coming for you. I swear it."

The mocking laughter of the Dragon was his only answer.

The Pact began arriving in an hour, a bit bedraggled and covered in chak guts, but Annhilda was in good spirits. "Too bad those laser cannons are too heavy to lug all the way to the Dragon! What's the situation, Tribune?"

"We don't have much of a map yet," Rytlock said, and handed over what the crashed Whispers agents had pieced together. "Blighting Trees here, here, and here, and this other... tree... thing that sits in the middle of a lake of magic. Pretty sure that's the Dragon's lair. Chak here. A 'golden structure', which I'm guessing means Exalted tech, here."

"Hm," Annhilda said. "We'll have to burn all the Blighting Trees simultaneously to deprive Mordremoth of its minion production. Trahearne, Logan, and Zojja?"

"No confirmed word. What did you find at Rata Novus?"

"No living Asura," Phiadi said. "A lot of obsolete tech. But there was a hidden lab specifically for studying the dragons, as Taimi guessed there would be. We left Wegaff and Taimi there to study up to their hearts' content."

"Any immediately applicable information?" Rytlock asked.

"Not a whole lot," Braham said.

"They determined every Elder Dragon has a specific weakness," Phiadi said. "They didn't figure out what, and they were mostly focused on Primordus, of course. But doing here what we did against Zhaitan was doomed to failure before it began. With Zhaitan, we at least had the benefit of Trahearne having studied the thing for twenty-odd years."

Annhilda smiled. "We'd been charging headlong against Mordremoth not even knowing if it could be beaten, only that we had to beat it. Now we know it's possible. We just have to find out how."

"That's it!?" Caoilfhionn demanded, unimpressed and angry. "Thorns! I didn't need the hope that we could defeat the dragon. That was always an inevitability for me, whether in hope or despair." His Wyld Hunt agreed vehemently. At least they hadn't wasted more than five people on such a futile trip.

"Not everyone is a romantically stubborn try-hard," Rytlock said. "This will be useful for future Dragons as well. We'll know not to try the same tactic twice again."

Caoilfhionn turned away. "It's not time yet to think of other Dragons. This one is before us and any others are only a distraction." There was always the possibility that they all died against Mordremoth, but he refused to consider that.

"Hear, hear," Braham said.

"All right, settle down," Annhilda said rather sharply. "Go away and prepare to get moving. Damara, Phiadi, we're going to each head to a Blighting Tree. I'll go for the western one..."

Caoilfhionn left; Braham and Canach followed him. "I wonder if Zojja or Logan knows anything about the Dragon's weakness," Braham said. "Since they've been with the Mordrem this long."

Canach glanced at him. "I have to say, I'm still a little surprised you'd consider that instead of just trying to bash it with your mace."

"I'm not counting that out either," Braham said. "Hey, Caoilfhionn, when did you start wearing a sword?"

"About the time you went to the useless Asura city," Caoilfhionn said, still irritated.

Canach raised an eyebrow. "You might have benefited from a visit. The Dragon's call was but a whisper again there. He's quite fussy here, isn't he?"

"Was it becoming too much for you?" Caoilfhionn asked without rancor.

"Is it for you?"

"No. My resolve is stronger than that." He touched his ring.

Canach saw, and smirked. "Mine as well."

"Spirits, I'm glad I don't have to deal with that," Braham said. "We did meet a Mordrem who almost turned back... but then he didn't."

Caoilfhionn looked up sharply. "Tell me more."

"Hm." Canach thought back. "He said giving in was a 'relief'. He knew the things he did were wrong, but he could only watch. But he still heard the call, and it took him again as we watched."

"I wonder..."

"You wonder if we could be saved, should we fall? Perhaps when the Dragon is slain, perhaps not. It felt like he had lost his grip on reality even when he was begging us for help."

"Not for us," Caoilfhionn said. "For another."

"Trahearne?"

"No. I... had a friend, once, who was Sylvari, but not of the Pale Tree..." And he told Canach the entire story.

Canach, to his credit, did not mock him even once. "You have to remember that we have the protection of the Pale Tree. Your friend does not and did not. The Dragon will have drowned anything left of him a long time ago."

"But he remembers!" Caoilfhionn cried. "He remembers me."

Canach put a hand on his shoulder, and Caoilfhionn stared in surprise. He hadn't expected this much compassion. "He has tried to kill you or turn you twice. Even if he can be saved, you may not have the option."

"I know. And I will not die before I have saved Trahearne... even if it means killing Malyck. But I can't help hoping..."

"We could take him prisoner?" Braham suggested.

Canach shook his head. "Too risky. Especially if your friend is as bold and clever as you say. Would you feel comfortable caging me, if I turned?"

"Good point," Braham said, but Caoilfhionn hesitated.

And turned suddenly, looking into the jungle. "Who goes there!?"

A blue-green hand parted the ferns and a tall, beautiful Sylvari stepped out, clad in ornate leaves. "You have nothing to fear from me."

"Nightmare Court," growled Canach. "What are you doing here? Come to follow your Grand Duchess?"

"Most assuredly not," retorted the woman. "I am Duchess Chrysanthea and I am here to pledge alliance with your Pact."

"What?" Braham asked. "Why should we trust you?"

"Let me explain this in small words you'll understand, little boy," Chrysanthea said. "The Nightmare Court seeks freedom. The Dragon obliterates that freedom far better than anything the Pale Tree could ever do; it threatens us just as much as it threatens you. Grand Duchess Faolain... is dead, and turned, and is no longer our mistress. The Court follows me, now. We came here only to slay the Dragon. We can certainly go back to making small war upon each other after it is gone."

"Where are your followers? How many are there?" Canach asked.

"A hundred, and I don't think you need to know where. We shall join in the fighting, not your silly camps."

"I suppose we can let her make her case to Annhilda," Caoilfhionn said.

Canach cast an amused look at him. "Caoilfhionn, I'm shocked. So quick to trust the Nightmare Court, are you?"

They had all sorts in their army, not only Vigil, Priory, and Whispers; not only Valiants and Seraph and Legionaires and hunters and Peacemakers; there were also skritt and ogres and Itzel and Nuhoch. The Nightmare Court might be more wicked than any other ally they currently had, but Chrysanthea felt sincere, and her plea was sensible. "I don't really care as long as her word holds. You do speak for all your followers, don't you?"

"If any of them disagree, they can speak to my staff," Chrysanthea said with a wicked smile. "But I do give you my word, you can trust me until we have all made it out of this dreadful corrupted jungle again. And that is the best I can offer you."

"I'll go get Annhilda," Caoilfhionn said.

Scouts went out and mostly returned; the way ahead was heavily fortified by great Mordrem plants and defended in great numbers. Annhilda looked at her forces. "It's been a long road to come here. None of us thought it would happen like this. But we have made it to the last push. We will do what we have come to do! This Dragon will not threaten our homes, our families again! We just have a little farther to go, and by the Spirits or the Gods or the Eternal Alchemy – by whatever you believe in, we will triumph! So steel your hearts and your minds, and follow me!"

It was a long, slow pitched battle to move south. Caoilfhionn had joined to Phiadi's group, the one going directly south first. She was delighted to find some Asuran ruins – less delighted to find the Inquest were already snooping around – and not nearly as fascinated as Caoilfhionn was to see Rata Sum in the distance. To him it really hammered home how much danger Tyria was in; if the Dragon had turned its attention to Metrica Province, the Asura as a nation would have been hard put to it from the beginning.

"And the Arcane Council would still sit on their fat bottoms and pretend that nothing's wrong!" Phiadi said acerbically. "Believe me, sometimes I think a dragon attack would do them good. Why couldn't we have had that summit in Rata Sum and woken everyone up?"

"You would wish a dragon attack on your own people?" Caoilfhionn asked.

"Look, you met Phlunt."

"I admit that the Arcane Council is dislikeable... but I still wouldn't wish a Dragon upon all Asura. I'll fight to my death to defend even Phlunt from Mordremoth." To do otherwise would be dishonourable. No matter what they had done to his people, no matter the Inquest's crimes.

"I don't really understand," Phiadi said. "You seem to think that your suffering matters to the Eternal Alchemy. Mordremoth wants you to suffer, probably, because it's an arrogant git, but you know it really doesn't do Trahearne any good."

"I know it doesn't," he said. "I know that I cannot bargain my sap for his. But I feel so useless else. I'd endure any pain, take any wound – I'd fight to my last breath as Riannoc did, if only he could be spared."

"And you're still saying that after more than a month of this slog," Phiadi said. "You know, I'm fond of a few people. I'm not saying who and I'm not saying how much. But to me, it's much more practical to focus on how much violence is necessary to protect your man rather than how much blood you'd shed yourself. Ideally, you'd shed no blood at all."

"I am his knight," Caoilfhionn said. "Violence is a side effect of my duty, not its focus. To shed my sap for those I defend is my honour."

"I think we'll have to disagree there," Phiadi said. "I'd go berserk if- well, I'm not saying for whom. But I wouldn't take a scratch while doing it. Or at least not a big one. At some point, he's only a man. They can't be replaced, but they're not worth your entire life."

"We will indeed have to disagree," Caoilfhionn said, already displeased with the turn of the conversation. "No sacrifice is too great, for without him, my life has no meaning."

"You're so dramatic," Phiadi sighed.

He frowned at her. "Pot, kettle."

She chuckled. "Nice one. Well, we've wasted enough time. Let's get back to it."

It was three days later that the Blighting Trees burned, their champions laid low, and the way to the Dragon's lair cleared. The three Pact divisions halted briefly, on the edge of cliffs overlooking a mysterious lake of fog that stood between them and the massive tree trunk where the Dragon dwelt. While the army counted their losses and tended their wounded, Annhilda summoned Hope's Legacy and Rytlock to her. "This is it, everyone. I'm going to stay here and lead the army. Phiadi, I need you with me."

"Of course you do," Phiadi said. "Was there a question about it?"

"I'm sending the rest of you out to rescue Trahearne, Logan, and Zojja," Annhilda said. "Damara, I'm sending you too. Laranthir will take control of the western division."

"Okay!" Damara said. "Works for me, he's still technically my boss anyway."

Annhilda turned to him. "Caoilfhionn."

"Yes."

"Can I put you in charge of this?"

He was a little taken aback. He had not commanded a mission in a long time, not officially. But he knew why Annhilda asked. "Yes. I can lead us. With Damara's help."

"Is that a good idea?" Rytlock asked. "I don't want him so focused on Trahearne he blunders into a trap."

"That is an excellent point," Caoilfhionn acknowledged. "But I will not fail him... and I will not fail you."

"That's not the most reassuring thing you could say," Marjory said. "But I know how you feel." Her eyes were distant, and Kasmeer squeezed her hand.

"I'll help, no question," Damara said.

"Me too," said Kasmeer. "We're all here to get this done."

"I have faith in you," Annhilda said. "You've grown to be wise and thoughtful, pup. And if the chance comes that you can hurt the Dragon from another angle, you take it."

Canach smiled grimly. "With pleasure."

"Will do," Caoilfhionn said. "One way or another, it dies today."