After the initial shock, Daniel took the time to filled Damien in on pretty much everything that had happened ever since he had gone missing. He also told him of their current situation and what their plans were. Damien for his part recounted as best as he could remember all he had gone through, from the first day he had begun to visit Endërland, until the moment Butler had kidnapped him and brought him to this place. But that was not before he had learned from Damien where his portal was and had taken some of his clothes. Daniel remembered his mother’s caution regarding the portal, and found it interesting that Butler had taken Damien's clothes.
While they spoke, Hëna, the oracle and Nemo continued to explore the rest of the castle. Despite appearing fairly small from the outside, the castle turned out to be huge, with countless rooms having been built in the underbelly of the mountain. Yet it seemed most of them had never even been furnished, let alone lived in.
The only area of the castle with any signs of habitation were the dungeons, but what they saw there almost scarred them for life. The whole place - apart from the far corner where Damien had been held - was like a small graveyard for animals, mainly wolves. There were bones and skulls everywhere, rotting corpses and headless torsos. The majority of them were deformed and mutated, making it hard to tell if they were animal or human. Hëna had a strong stomach, but the sight of the carnage nauseated her, and she retreated away from it. The stench of it all was too unbearable and it was a wonder it had not spread to the rest of the castle.
It was clear now what had happened to all the animals in these part of the kingdom, as well as where the wolfmen they killed earlier came from. This is where Winter had been experimenting with the new breed of soldiers for his army, using animals since he knew no men would follow him. Yet, how he was able to do these things remained a mystery. The Lords only had power when it was their season to rule and they were in possession of the Silver Scepter; and even then their power was defined by the nature of their duties. None of them had the ability to perform such feats with the powers given to them by the Great Lord.
They were all discussing this, when in the hall entered Nathaniel, followed by Gabriel and a dozen wingmen. Unlike the first time they met, Gabriel had none of that lordly air about him now. Instead, he appeared humble and more than eager to please. Daniel saw this as a good sign. It was obvious Gabriel did not really believe Winter’s claims of being the Great Lord, or he would have come with a different attitude.
Following the oracle’s advice, upon their entrance, Daniel took his place on the Golden Throne. He didn’t really like the idea of acting as the man in charge, but it was vital that the wingmen, and after them the rest of Endërland, knew and believed that the Great Lord had indeed returned.
Gabriel approached the throne with his wingmen, but did not kneel. Instead he looked at the oracle standing at the right hand of Daniel and asked.
‘Is it true, Far-Seer? Is he the one?’
‘Have you not seen the great star over Arba, Chieftain?’ the oracle asked him in return.
‘I have.’
‘And you’ve seen the light outside, yet, no sun?’
‘Indeed, but how is this possible?’
‘The mysteries of the Great Lord are not yours to understand, Chieftain, nor are they mine to explain. You have the evidence and you have our witness; let that be enough for you and your people.’
Gabriel lowered his eyes on the floor.
‘Forgive me, Far-Seer; of course.’ He then turned to Daniel, kneeling on one knee. His men followed his lead. ‘My lord, we are overcome with joy that you have returned to us, especially at a time like this, when your presence is much needed. We come to pledge our allegiance once again to you as your loyal subjects. Command us as you will.’
Daniel bowed his head in return.
‘Thank you, Chieftain; I much appreciate your loyalty and that of your people. I am indeed very happy to see you again, despite our first meeting.’
‘I do beg your forgiveness, my lord; these are difficult times we’re living in, and one does his best to survive.’
‘One must always do the right thing, Chieftain, whether or not that threatens one’s survival; otherwise how will I know your loyalty is heart-given and true? Nevertheless,’ he raised his hand to stop Gabriel from justifying himself any further, ‘no one is perfect, and in the end, is what we do that actually counts.
‘Tell me; is there any news from your queen? Has the battle begun?’
‘You’ll be happy to know, my lord, that Prince Séraphin arrived just in time to stop the battle between wingmen and mermaids. I was sent word from my queen that the entire army is flying back to Sky-City. Also, your mother, the Queen of Endër, has left the city and is currently staying in New Sotira with the old king. The White Lord’s men stormed her castle, but she managed to leave before they got to her.’
Daniel silently rebuked himself for not anticipating this. Of course Winter would go after his mother, she could lead him to his portal, or at the very least be used as leverage to force him to give himself up. Luckily, she had foreseen the danger and had left just in time.
‘That is great news indeed, Chieftain, thank you. Now, I will need your wingmen to deliver some messages for me.’
‘Of course, my lord, my wingmen are yours to command.’
‘Good. The first message will go to your queen and prince, who of course, you already know where to find. Two more letters will be delivered to the Queen of Endër and the old king in New Sotira, while the last one will be go to the Sea-Queen. I want you to send a pair of wingmen to each destination; this is to ensure their own protection and delivery of the message, should they encounter any problems on the way. Once delivered, they are to return immediately with whatever reply they might have. Can you arrange that for me, Chieftain?’
As the rest of them looked at Daniel with wonder and newfound regard, Gabriel bowed his head again and hurried to answer.
‘Yes, my lord, right away.’
He proceeded to call on six of his wingmen, who came forward from the rest, and split them in pairs. Daniel passed to him four sealed letters, telling him whom each one was for.
‘Once you complete your mission,’ Daniel now spoke to the wingmen directly, ‘you will join us in the northernmost part of the Valley of Destiny; we will head there as soon as we are ready. Fly fast and remember, the fate of the whole kingdom rests on your wings.’
The six wingmen bowed their heads and headed towards the exit without delay. The other six remained behind with their leader.
With Daniel's insistence, two of them accompanied Damien to one of the nearby rooms, where he could wash himself and change into a new set of clothes. The other four took turns standing guard by the entrance of the tunnel.
Standing in the wide hall, Daniel decided it was now time they sat down and talked about their next course of action. The oracle, Hëna, Nemo, Nathaniel and Gabriel gathered around him as he left the throne and sat on the steps in front of it. Lightning observed from the entrance, where he had stationed himself like a faithful guard.
Daniel first asked the oracle to share everything he knew about the situation in Arba so far.
‘As you may know, two days ago the wingmen of Sky-City began flying towards the southern sea to battle with the mermaids, seeking justice for the alleged killing of two of their kind. What you may not know, however, is that while all of Endërland had turned its eye on the south, up north a large army secretly left the confines of the Shadow Forest, traveling incredibly and unnaturally fast all through the night. They reached the city of Arba by dawn, where Winter now has them surrounding it and guarding the gates to prevent entry or exit to anyone the White Lord has not authorized. We do not know the exact number of this army, but what we found here gives us a pretty good idea as to where it came from and what they are. The White Lord has imprisoned the other three Lords and claimed the Silver Throne as his own. He knows his season will end one day, and he obviously plans to hold on to it by force
, which is where his army comes in.’
‘But he must know by now that the Great Lord has returned,’ Nemo spoke out loud what others were also thinking. ‘He cannot still continue with his plans now, can he?’
‘It is not as simple as that, young prince. I believe that the White Lord has always known who Daniel is, or at least suspected it, and that is why he’s been trying to capture him all this time. But even though he failed to do that, I think he’s not afraid to go against him. Somehow the White Lord has grown very powerful, and it’s possible he thinks he can defeat the Great Lord and become the absolute ruler of Endërland.’
‘Can he?’ Gabriel asked looking at Daniel. The oracle began to say something, but Daniel interrupted him, remembering something his mother had told him way back.
‘That is irrelevant, Chieftain, because there is one thing Winter fears more than the Great Lord himself, and that’s the united people of Endërland. This is why he’s been trying so hard to set the wingmen against the mermaids, because if the people are divided, they would stand no chance against him. But I plan to bring all the people of Endërland together; the White Lord has his army, we will have ours. We will march to the gates of Arba as one and demand that he release the three Lords and give up the Silver Throne. And if war is what he wants, war is what he’ll get.’
He stole a glimpse at Hëna, still feeling quite uncomfortable in the role he had been thrust on, but found nothing of what he hoped to see in her blank eyes. She continued to sit opposite him, listening to the conversation, but not really participating. It was like she did not really want to be there.
Nemo on the other hand seemed quite excited to be part of this small council.
‘Forgive me, my lord,’ Gabriel spoke again, being careful with his tone of voice. ‘Wouldn’t it be much easier if you dealt with the White Lord yourself, without involving all the people of Endërland?’
‘This plight belongs to all of us, Chieftain,’ the oracle answered instead of Daniel. ‘Our lives, our homes and everything we know and love is being threatened by one single man; do you really think we should just sit by and wait to be rescued?’
‘I suppose not, Far-Seer. It’s just that, even though we have crafted some weapons and trained some people to use them; we are still rather inexperienced when it comes to battle. I fear of what might happen should things go that far.’
Daniel looked at all of them.
‘I share the same fears as you do, Chieftain, but I promise you that we will face this together. I have already chosen someone who has the knowledge and training needed to lead an army into battle; he will make sure that we are well prepared and able to fight and win. Winter may have a big scary army, but they don’t know war any better than we do and they fight for a tyrant; we fight for our lives and for Endërland. That makes all the difference.
‘Now, once everybody here has rested, we will leave this place and head down towards the Valley of Destiny, where we will wait for the people that will form our new army and their leaders. Then, when we are organized and ready, we will march towards Arba.’
And with that, this short meeting ended.