"You said there were other ways. Other possible ways to close the gates."

　　Yes, there are several& Fred, look at your forts. What do you see?

　　Fred looked at the forts. The northernmost one, the one near the road, was very active. As Fred watched, a huge train of wagons and walking humans passed by the fort, traveling up the road towards the town. A few of the humans stopped to talk to the people inside the fort. But the vast majority of them kept walking up the road, and more came into Fred`s sight by the minute.

　　The group of humans was so big, it didn`t even fit on the road; many walked beside the road. There appeared to be very little organization. As Fred continued to watch, he noticed that the people coming up the road were in bad shape. Many had missing limbs, pained gaits, walking sticks, or limps. Many were holding each other up. Every wagon was filled with people who couldn`t sit up. Others carried people in litters. It was a vast pilgrimage of sickness and infirmity, casting long shadows up the road, in the light of dawn.

　　Oh my, Fred. They come for healing. Your healing temple. And your healer. The word is out.

　　"Wow. Well, I guess if I heard of a magical healer, and I really needed one, I`d travel too."

　　Martin spoke up then. "Oh, Fred. Why do the humans plague you so? And why do they plague my nose?"

　　"Hush up, Martin. Your lair is nowhere near these humans, and they came for healing, not dragon gold," Fred shot back.

　　"I can still smell them. Yes, they smell very sickly, and diseased. If you want, I can put them out of everyone`s misery. One good swoop down the road would do the trick."

　　Fred realized that Martin wasn`t really going to do it; he was just saying normal Martin stuff. "No, you can`t kill these humans unless they attack you. You know the deal," Fred said anyway.

　　Yes, and& Oh, you built some new towers, too. Very lovely. Suddenly not enough for this crowd, I suspect, but if your healers are quick and effective, these& pilgrims might leave almost as soon as they arrive.

　　"Hey, Jim, before you go," Fred hastened to add. "Some demon guys brought another bomb. Last night. After a big rainstorm."

　　What did you do?

　　"I made another one of those big hand things. Avatar. And I threw it away. The humans actually stopped the bombers at the wall."

　　That`s wonderful, Fred. Your walls work with your humans, and provide for mutual defense.

　　"Yeah, I guess. So tell everyone the walls work. If the humans will guard the gates, anyway."

　　I will. I`ve got to go, but I`ll be back to see how your healer deals with so many people. Stay strong, Fred.

　　"Okay, bye."

　　Fred watched the pilgrims come slowly up the road, but he also noticed that one of the kings had gotten a large group together, and they were leaving through the north gate on horseback. The group seemed to give Martin`s tower a very wide berth, but they made their way quickly to the treeline and into the forest. "They`re going for the teleporter," Fred thought. "Good luck with that, guys."

　　For the rest of the morning, Fred watched the two groups. The king and his riders explored the Forest Temple (which is what he`d finally decided to call it). They spent a lot of time at the teleport pad, and also at the fresco. But they explored every nook and cranny, as far as Fred could see. They didn`t leave until midafternoon.

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　　In the town, the whole town seemed to come out for the pilgrims. Well, not the whole town; many fighters were still battling creatures. But everyone else moved to help the pilgrims. At least, that`s how it seemed to Fred. Of course, Priestess Sharfroen and her team were everywhere, and seemed to be bossing everyone else around.

　　They apparently didn`t want to take everyone down to the healing temple, so they set up a space outside, in front of the doors to the maze. It was quickly overflowing with ill and suffering people. Priestess Sharfroen herself stood in the center of it all, on the damp, almost muddy ground, constantly singing a healing spell. Her people switched off, and three of them were always singing with her, and giving her something to drink or eat. The rest of her team were working with the patients directly, except for one, who was busy directing a larger force of regular citizens, managing the mass of pilgrims who had to wait their turn.

　　The whole day was tumult and chaos for the humans. As Kumbanaka had said, there didn`t seem to be a shortage of officious people in silly hats trying to maintain order. But they were simply overwhelmed by the huge group of pilgrims.

　　Smaller groups of pilgrims kept arriving throughout the day. Apparently the original pilgrim group had left many behind, or perhaps the large group had inspired smaller groups to follow. Either way, by evening the town was packed full of pilgrims, and Priestess Sharfroen was still singing. Fred saw her slowing down, and then he saw her wobble.

　　And then she fell over. Pandemonium ensued. Her inner team immediately picked her up and ran into the domain, to get her to the healing temple. It was also full, filled with the most critical patients. But they made room for the Priestess.

　　Outside, the loss of the Priestess led to a huge outcry, and wailing and shouting and hand waving. "Yeah, you pushed her too hard, you ungrateful jerks. Whadda you gonna do now?" Fred thought to himself. As he watched, one of the kings got out into the city center, and started jawing in a loud voice. Soon, the other king joined him, and they started praying. Then everyone was praying, and it was a big prayer fest.

　　Then one of the town bands started playing some sort of hymn. And everyone apparently knew the words, so everyone started singing.

　　"Ugh, not only do humans smell, they also butcher the very essence of music. Do my ears or my nose suffer most?" Martin grumbled to Fred and Kumbanaka.

　　"Think of it this way, Dragon. These people have no training or ability. If they don`t leave soon, they`ll be killed by demons. Is that not a cheery thought?" Kumbanaka cracked.

　　"Why yes it is, my orange striped friend. It`s a very cheerful thought. He he he."

　　"You guys know for a fact that the demon army is coming?" Fred asked.

　　"It`s simple logic, Fred," Kumbanaka said. "The demons are attacking you, thus they think of this place as a strategic threat. An army will eventually be dispatched to such a strategic threat. If I controlled the demon army, that`s what I would do."

　　The hymn was over, but the band had kept playing, switching into a cheerful dance number. Very few of the pilgrims wanted to dance, but the tension had been broken, and everyone seemed to be preparing to settle down for the night.

　　Fred had been keeping a small part of his attention on the new Celestial Wurms, which is why he noticed the Black Mamba woman sneaking into their lair. She had her invisibility working, as she crept through the tunnels that led to the den. But these celestial wurms were apparently not fooled. One of the silver ones moved swiftly to intercept her, and met her suddenly in a curved tunnel.

　　The silver wurm stopped, and then started creeping closer to the Black Mamba, as she crouched in the tunnel, hoping she wasn`t seen. That hope was crushed as the wurm moved forward, and shoved her backwards with its nose. Shocked, and splayed out on the floor of the tunnel, she waited to be eaten, but the wurm didn`t want to attack. It just kept stepping forward slowly, and shoving her, until she got the message that she needed to leave. She was smart enough to do so.

　　"These Celestian Wurms seem to be smart," Fred said out loud.

　　"Celestial Wurms? Is that what came inside last night?" Martin asked.

　　"Yeah, they`re in the Cave Zone now."

　　"They? More than one?" Martin asked.

　　"Well, the golden one, the queen, has two silver& guards, I guess. So three in all. Sharing one lair."

　　"Why do you think they are smart, Fred?" Kumbanaka asked.

　　"You know the lady in black, who`s always around, investigating the lairs and creatures?"

　　"Yes, I do," Kumbanaka replied. "She`s called Kalia Koude, a highly skilled assassin. She works for the kingdom of Riversond. And investigation of your domain is her current job."

　　"Wow, I`ve always just called her Black Mamba," Fred said. "But it was obvious what she was doing around here."

　　"Stay focused, Fred," Martin interjected. "What makes these wurms so smart?"

　　"Well, I just saw Black Mamba, ah, Kalia Whoever, try to get into their lair. But the silver wurm found her right away. And it didn`t eat her, it just shoved her til she left."

　　"She wasn`t eaten? Interesting," Martin mused.

　　"Yeah, the wurms wanted a lair made up of tunnels. Lots of tunnels, like a maze. Hardly any space to fight in," Fred continued. "I wonder if these wurms have breath, like the drakes?"

　　"Frankly, I`ve never heard of Celestial Wurms before," Kumbanaka admitted.

　　"They live high in the caves of mountain ranges. Like this one. They are highly magical, even more than the drakes, even more than I, actually. A Golden Celestial Wurm, which is always female, breaths fire. Her consorts, the Silver ones, breath lightning," Martin lectured. "They live deep in tunnels, high on cold mountains, so it`s natural that you haven`t encountered them."

　　"I`ve got a lot of creatures that look like you, Martin," Fred mused. "The drakes, the, uh, dragon turtle, the front lizard twins, and now these wurms."

　　"I`m fully aware that my bestial cousins are innumerable and varied. The draconic form is perfect, of course, so it makes sense that nature copies it constantly," Martin preened.

　　"Well, Jim`s really excited about them. He says they lay eggs that can close the demon gates. And the golden one is gonna lay some."

　　This admission seemed to shock Kumbanaka and Martin into silence.

　　Finally, Martin said, "The little voice in your head says some outlandish things, Fred. But I`ve never heard such nonsense. Magical eggs that can close demon gates? Preposterous!"