The Samutelia still stands as a firm border, but the Veratocracy is pushing in through the fallen south and around the Shakran. Frankly, there is precious little that I can see as a possible action to take to prevent the Veratocracy's spread in the south. What little I have heard from those in the north has said that the Veratocracy's boats are moving more and more notably. The warlocks push in and the self-sufficiency of those in the Shakran has been threatened. It may be necessary for the Wilds to send a force to the north to push out the attackers before they can strengthen and reinforce their foothold. However, if we do so, it will be a time where Narsha'at's daughters and Huldtar's sons fall in great numbers.
Gather, and we shall discuss and decide what we shall do to drive our enemies from our lands.
–Message from the Allmother to all Noonbrights and Bloodpriests of the Wilds.
It wasn't long before Silf's voice was clearly intelligible.
"The plains below, they're becoming much more active! I see wyrms coming up the mountain, and more than just a single pair!"
Ever since we'd first come into this area, we'd come in contact with the wyrms and decided that they were more trouble than they were worth. In fact, we'd never managed to kill one so far. There were plenty of ways that we'd figured would work on the beasts, but as a whole, we just steered clear of them for now. We'd stay up on the mountain, and they'd stay in the valley below. Nievtala had given me some measure of confidence that we'd be out of their range up here in the mountains, but it would appear that wasn't entirely the case. That they were out and about during the day was especially interesting to me.
They'd been averse to light whenever we'd found them, and while it was heavily clouded and pretty dark, it was still light enough that there were clear shadows under the trees we ran beneath. That had to mean something, but I couldn't make any assumptions until Silf gave us his report.
It was less than a minute before Silf and we were in the same space. He'd been sprinting, but even so wasn't fully out of breath. Instead, he breathed deep, controlled breaths as he jogged beside me.
"I apologize, Zaaktif." Silf explained. "I'd hoped that there would be some of the Sik'Tal to pass on the message. There wasn't reason for you to come to me yourself."
"I could hear you as we were working." I waved off his excuse. "Tell me, how many wyrms did you see? DId you see them all today?"
"There were, by my count, sixteen wyrms or eight pairs. They weren't happy with each other, but they weren't fighting as we've heard before. Instead, they were focused on ascending. As you've heard, they hunted many of the thickfeathers, but contrary to our expectations, they continue to be active, even with very little prey down in the valley. It would appear that some are coming up the Shandise to hunt the ants within. We aren't sure how those nearer to the ocean will react to this, I haven't seen any more approach."
I cocked my head to the side, thinking. They'd seemed hesitant to be near the ants during autumn when the insects were much more active, but now they didn't seem to mind the area. I recalled what exactly Nievtala had said to me–"the wyrms do not get along well with those gargantuan ants that fill these peaks and have left the mountains to the ants and keep the plains to themselves."
She hadn't said that they wouldn't ever come up. The few times I'd reached out to her for information, lately, she'd been silent. Whether this was a remnant of her holding back the worst of the winter or just wanting me to not be so reliant on her, I didn't know, though I suspected it was more of the latter than the former. Would this just be another part of establishing and maintaining the Empire? To my surprise, though, I didn't mind that.
There were dozens of problems with creating the Empire of the Saharliard here, but I welcomed each challenge. The mountains were filled with massive ants that would devour us if given the opportunity. We took that as a chance to gain a stone to hone ourselves on, as well as to provide a seemingly unending supply of food. The winter was hard and potentially deadly. That was but a chance for us to experiment and perfect our construction techniques. Now the wyrms were coming in a time where our warriors were stir crazy and new Alphas needed an opportunity to prove themselves? Perfect.
"Alright." I said, turning on my heel and charging through the snow towards the walls of Nievtra. "We'll gather every citizen that has magic as well as Arwa's pack. We'll leave her behind for now since she's getting very pregnant. Remind me, did Percral try his lightning on the wyrms when we encountered them the first time?"
"No." Brutus answered. "He was on the far side of the camp at that time. Before he could arrive at the scene, the fight was over."
"Very well." I said. "Find Vefir as well as any of his healers. We need to be sure that we can heal their magical poison, or, at least, have a good chance of being able to. The only thing that ever got bitten by one of them died, and there wasn't much we could do about it."
As soon as I made the command, Silf bolted off through the forest, and I watched as he ran easily on top of the snow towards the city. As I watched, though, I didn't miss as Brutus didn't try to hide a low growl in his throat. I immediately recognized that I'd reminded him of just how deadly the wyrms were. I chuckled. "I won't be on the front lines for this, my Alqat. I recognize that there are many who would prefer to be put in danger before I am. This isn't a mere fight, but something more risky."
Brutus nodded down at me, his frills scraping the branches of the tree overhead. Then, without further conversation, we continued back towards the city. I wanted to go check out the wyrms, to see how they moved through the snow and how they dealt with more light than we'd ever seen them in before, but it wasn't to be. At least, not yet. The time was soon at hand, though, and I looked back through the forest, down the mountain, towards the incoming conflict.
With an excited grin, I turned to make plans to ensure this time we subdued the beasts.