"Fred, I have news to report," Kumbanaka spoke up.

　　"Great, what`s up?" Fred replied.

　　"The Priestess Sharfroen is angry."

　　"Oh?"

　　"Well, she`s upset about several things. First, she`s angry about that day when she sang with the birds, and the humans became invulnerable for a day."

　　"She`s upset people didn`t die?" Fred wondered.

　　"She felt it made the humans take too many risks. They became reckless, which cost a few their lives, even with the magic. She felt that was outrageous behavior, and she`s been letting everyone know it. Since then, she`s refused to sing with the birds, even though some have asked her to."

　　"Well, I guess I see her point," Fred mused. "And it`s her voice. She can sing whatever she wants. Nobody should be telling her what to do."

　　"She`s also angry about the pilgrims. Of course, she wants to heal them. That`s not the problem. But she doesn`t know how she got so famous so fast, and I think she`s a bit paranoid about why so many pilgrims showed up."

　　"Does she know about the papers with her face on them?" Fred asked.

　　"I don`t think so, but when she does find out, it will confirm any paranoid ideas she may be entertaining. But that`s not all. The kings want her to heal the fighters first. They understand your strategic mission, to make the warriors stronger to fight demons, and as a result, they feel the pilgrims should be a lower priority for her. The kings have also been keeping the pilgrims from sleeping in the towers."

　　Kumbanaka continued, "On the other hand, there are a lot of pilgrims, and they need a great deal of help, and she has great sympathy for them. So she feels that she`s been dragged into local politics, which she never wanted."

　　"Okay," Fred said. "That might make me angry, too."

　　"She`s also been asking the kings for help with the pilgrims. Provisions of food and tents. And they`ve been resisting. They want these pilgrims gone as soon as possible."

　　"Then they aren`t gonna be happy when they find out about the papers, either." Fred said.

　　"I imagine not. They definitely don`t want to share their healing priestess. Finally, there`s some bad blood, personally. One of those worthless princes made unwelcome advances upon the priestess. Even grabbed her inappropriately. This has outraged her and all of her team. And everyone who hears of the incident. Which is everyone. Including the pilgrims."

　　"Oh, boy. I suppose it was the prince who`s been banished to the Forest Temple?"

　　"You mean the compound with the teleport pad?" Kumbanaka asked. "Forest Temple is a good name for it, though the humans have been calling it the New Buildings. Martin looked at the fresco up there a few days ago, and has some new opinions about its provenance."

　　"I`ll ask him," Fred said. "So, she`s mad? Is she gonna leave?"

　　"I would wager not, for now," Kumbanaka replied. "Even if she doesn`t want to get involved with politics, she`s building a power base of her own, here. The kings are well aware of her influence in this town. And if she was thinking of leaving, she`d want to leave before the demon army shows up. I don`t think she will."

　　"This might be the safest place for her. For everyone," Fred mused.

　　"Getting back to those documents that show her face. I spoke with a gryphon rider who saw some of those papers about the priestess. According to her, they were all over Hoffendaugn, the kingdom north of A`wheriwe. She didn`t know where they came from, though."

　　"First I`ve heard of the place. What`s it like?" Fred asked.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

　　"Hoffendaugn is big, and corrupt, and decadent," Kumbanaka replied. "The kings of A`wheriwe and Riversond are here because they are martial and proactive and they take the threat of the demons seriously. The council of merchants and thieves that run Hoffendaugn are none of those things. I`ll wager the demons have infiltrated Hoffendaugn and seized control as a matter of course. It would be trivial."

　　"You think the demons are printing stuff about Sharfroen? Why?"

　　"I don`t have any evidence of that. I just said that Hoffendaugn is ripe for infiltration by the demons."

　　"Oh. Okay then," Fred said. "Anything else to report?"

　　"That`s all I know," replied Kumbanaka. "So, could you replace my token again?"

　　"Yes, I was gonna do that." Fred did so.

　　Morning was generally a happy time for Fred, because he liked the sunrise so much. But this morning was cold and overcast. That didn`t stop the humans from all their activities.

　　First, a large group of humans had gathered inside the main gate. Fred could see that they were all pilgrims, but the healed ones. None were missing a limb; all walked without trouble. They even looked well fed. To say the obvious, they were cheerful. There was a great deal of hugging and backslapping, and Fred assumed they were leaving.

　　He was proved correct when the main gate opened, and the group (of about 400 humans) streamed out, beginning their long walk back down the road, back to wherever they`d come from. Fred wished them well. He was sure that there would be many more groups like this in the near future. He also hoped they wouldn`t get caught up in the demon war, though that seemed unlikely, in the long run. He also wondered if any newly healed humans had stayed to live here, or fight creatures, or enlist with the kings. He couldn`t keep track of them all, so he just shrugged to himself.

　　Throughout the day, Fred saw lots of gryphon traffic. He saw wagons coming and going up and down the road into town. He also saw several smaller groups of sick pilgrims come up the road. The town was a bit more prepared for them, but the newcomers still had to sleep outside the walls.

　　Next, in the early morning, Fred saw the other king gather his forces and go down the ramp and challenge Kumbanaka. "Well, I guess if the first king got a token from Kumbanaka, the other king would want to have one, too," Fred thought. That was how Kumbanaka planned for it to work, after all.

　　The battle was fierce, and entirely too many humans were torn apart (in Fred`s opinion). But finally Kumbanaka lay dead, and the king and his (now smaller group of) escorts left with the token, went up to the front steps, and gave a big speech while holding it aloft, and making a big fuss about it.

　　After thirty minutes, Kumbanaka was back.

　　"What an amazing battle, Fred," Kumbanaka said proudly. "Did you see it?"

　　"Yes, I saw it," Fred replied. "I`m so glad it`s cleaned up now."

　　"I don`t like to brag, but I do believe that this circumstance has given me valuable lessons in combat; I`m more dangerous than ever, especially against groups."

　　"I`m happy for you," Fred said. "And it looks like your token works. Everyone wants one. Are you sure you want to go through this every day?"

　　"I`m sure. I feel like the epicenter of an explosion of change. Sometimes I wonder if any of the old Kumbanaka will be left in this body, once this is all over."

　　At noon, the first king gathered a very large mounted force, and proceeded to the north Town Wall gate. Fred wasn`t sure that an attack on Martin was a good idea; the clouds were very low, pushed off the mountain by a brisk cold breeze from the west. But the king and his cavalry were undeterred. They rode slowly up to the safety line around Martin`s lair. Then the king blew a horn, and the cavalry raced towards Martin`s tower, donning masks, and spreading out as they galloped.

　　Fred noticed that many humans were aware of the upcoming battle, and had climbed the western side of the Town Wall to watch. There were already a few hundred human spectators, and more were joining them by the minute.

　　Fred also noticed that the clouds were so low they partially obscured the figure of Martin, who had been perched on top of the tower. Well, they had been. Now Martin was nowhere in sight, and Fred thought that Martin might have flown into the clouds above. His guess was proved right when Martin`s huge form plunged through the clouds. He pulled out of the dive into a terrifyingly fast swoop, which took him over the riders. His passage was like a thunderclap, and the wind and shock pushed many of the riders and horses over and sent them tumbling.

　　The king`s big charge was now completely disrupted, and he turned his galloping horse around, blowing his horn. Martin had flown away, gained altitude, and was once again hidden in clouds. The king continued to try to lead his group back into some semblance of order, but Fred could see that a few of the riders had had enough, and were speeding back to the town wall to save themselves.

　　And Martin swooped down upon them. He didn`t try to knock them down; he breathed his poisonous green breath overtop of them. Because of his speed through the air, the breath weapon appeared like a dense, swirling cloud he left in his wake. Because of the way the wind was blowing, the green cloud quickly crossed the safety line, and wafted straight over the Town Wall.

　　All the spectators on the Town Wall were instantly enveloped in the green cloud. They fell over choking and gagging and clawing at their skin. Many ran down the steps to get away. Some just threw themselves off the wall. It was pandemonium and misery. But Martin was already past, and back up in the clouds.

　　"Martin!" Fred shouted. "Your green breath is killing innocent people! I told you not to attack over the line!"

　　"Oh, I`m so very sorry, Fred," Martin sneered. "But I was completely within the circle you drew. I can`t control the wind anymore than an Earth Spirit can, you know."

　　"Oh, fuck you, Martin! This is not what we agreed."

　　"I assure you, I`m following your rules to the letter. Now excuse me while I clean up this mess." With that, Martin again came screaming out of the cloud layer. But this time he slammed himself into the earth, squashing as many humans and horses as he could. His impact was like an earthquake. Any riders underneath him were crushed. Any riders nearby were knocked over again.

　　The king, seeing the dragon land near him, stayed on his horse, and couched his lance. The King rode full tilt at Martin, who casually lifted his wing and knocked the king straight off his horse. As the king (in full plate armor, which had to be very heavy) rolled over in the torn turf and stumbled to his feet, Martin`s head moved to hover over him, like a long-necked bird eyeing a beetle it was about to eat.

　　Martin`s focus on the king cost him. Two other knights had ridden up to poke Martin with steel-tipped lances, and he howled as they pierced deep into his side and wing. Martin thrashed, throwing both knights head over heels (and killing their horses). He whipped his head around, looking for his tormentors. He caught an arrow in his wide open eye, and screeched again. All of this gave the king time to unsheathe his sword and stab Martin right in the neck. Martin tried to use his wings to fly to safety, but there was a lance embedded in one, so he just flopped to one side.

　　He then tried to breath his breath weapon all around him, but choked on his own blood (which wasn`t the first time he`d felt that happen). As he died, he chose to throw his head onto the king, squashing him, but the king`s armor was too strong, and the king survived.