To Her Imperial Majesty, the Matchless and Eternal, the Gift of the Jabal and the Heart of the Desert Sands, Greetings;

And to my eldest sister, whom I love no less than I adore my beloved Sundarya...

Azhra, this letter comes to you via the magical works of the Pathmages of the Ivory Tower. I have been their guest for two days in company with some others whom I have joined on this quest, and I have much to tell you. I realize this may be only the first or second missive you have received from me since my departure -- I have sent one from Portsdale, one from Per, and a very brief one from the Vale of the Oracle, in Northreach. Since I cannot know if any of them have reached you safely, I will do all I can to describe what has happened to me since I left Char at your command.

In brief: I was led to the disciple of Goentryx, the Archdruid of the West within hours of arrival in Portsdale, Janus of Beldrem by name. He was in the company of one of the old High King's Justifiers, Tob ap Huwyll -- they were childhood friends, I have since discovered. Also led to this was one Aislinn of Mathern, who was sent to Goentryx with questions about the mysterious circumstances of her birth and fostering. Goentryx, however, was missing and the Grove closed to Janus and everyone else. And Janus was having horrible nightmares, every night, about the waking, walking dead, rising to destroy the world.

It was decided to seek out the Oracle for advice on Janus' nighthaunts, and we sailed to Per as the first stage in that journey. In Per we met a huge Northern warrior named Coren dan Balor and his employer, Li-eira, a Silver Pathmage. Since they were also headed to the Oracle we joined forces and ventured inland together. We paused only to dispatch one party of slaver dolfanc (goblins and ogres, my sister, the first I'd ever seen -- they are more horrible than stories can properly convey) and rescue a Derugarian bard from their pool of captives. He calls himself Giacomo, which is an assumed name, I am almost sure of it. He joined us on our quest and accompanies us even yet.

At the Vale, I learned that by choosing to send me to find out the nature of the Daghasi vision, you made me the "fox" in Janus' vision, which grew with time to include each of us, as we commited ourselves to his cause. There is another prophecy at work, I'm enclosing a copy of it for your scholars and advisors. It begins, "A thousand lives meets sightless eyes and summons the fox to guard the tree." That was you, the Daghasi seer, me, and Janus, in that order.

That I am also the "horse" of the Daghasi vision gives me no end of private amusement, I assure you.

The rest of the vision involves the Lord of Lies, my sister. He is moving again, his Dragonlords are poised to attack Freehold and his wretched dolfanc are moving freely through the north. You remember the names of his trusted minions? Well, Aislinn of Mathern turns out to be Tech Loch's daughter (through dark sorceries I am sure we are better off not understanding) and promised to Traugur for some wretched purpose. Li-eira in turn was to have been Tech Loch's bride, though I still cannot fathom why a lich would wish any such thing. I suppose we shall discover it in time, but I admit I am not looking forward to the revelation.

Goentryx made an other-worldly appearance to assure Janus he was among the living, merely shut out of participation from the rest of this matter. He is on another plane of existence, an elemental one, from what he said and did not say. Perhaps your own scholars can look into this; we can spare no further energy to ruminate over it.

That night, Verengaard's face rose and crossed the night sky, leaving the face of the Child in its wake. I'm sure you and your astrologers noted the passage. The Prophecy says we must find this Child, for he is the one destined to lead the armies of mankind to victory over the loathesome forces of Arluth Traugur -- whose forces are, of course, also searching for this child, but for less kindly ends.

We left the Vale of the Oracle and journeyed toward Northreach but detoured to the Ivory Tower for Li-eira's sake and to share information with them, see what help they could give us. There we also met with Atreus of Verengaard who is also Aislinn's uncle, who had news for us of Northreach and further information of our quest. We must now go to the Guardians' Isle and to the catacombs below Castle Northreach and find and entrance to the wild caves below them, which were delved by no other than dolfanc. The catacombs are now said to be the home of undead under Prie Mosh (aren't we just so lucky!?) and in all likelihood other fell beasts that befoul the earth with their presences.

I spoke with Lord Atreus at some length after dinner, Azhra. He revealed to me that Praelatus Jovenus has been requesting a meeting with you for months and has been refused each time. Knowing how you revere Verengaard and his church, I can only assume these requests were not received by your Imperial person. Your traitors may be closer than you knew -- the time for a thorough housecleaning at hand!

My dearest sister... I have never meddled in matters of state and you know I would not if it were not of world-shattering importance... but if you cannot muster some help for Freehold, and Northreach, it will go ill for all of mankind. It is not too late if you move quickly -- if you can move without jeopardizing all you've worked for -- and move quickly you must. The attack will begin in mere days -- the sooner your troops can arrive, the sooner the dark forces will be repelled.

I pray that my advice comes late and that in the months since I last embraced you, your traitors are already staked out on the sands, and troops under sail. Please Verengaard that it be so -- for I am going in to Freehold on the morrow and I do not wish to be trapped there, waiting for succor from my countrymen that is too late in coming.

I can almost see your face blanching, in my mind's eye, as you read these words. Yes, it is necessary -- we must know more of our enemy's movements than we do now and Freehold is a hot bed of activity in these days before the attack. I will be accompanied by the Derugarian ranger Tob, he I named earlier. A fearsome warrior, a good man, and no stranger to the arts of covertcy. I feel better about going, knowing he'll be watching my back.

I have agreed to convey honor and obedience to you from one Sanyangia shal'Asharad, who is one of the Ivory Pathmages. I hadn't known a Sundar was among their members but she has been most gracious and helpful during our too-short stay here. Now you know you have a subject here on the Council, one who is anxious to do you honor, or so it seems.

Also, the Conclave has gifted me most handsomely -- a set of four beautifully crafted daggers, enchanted to be thrown at lengths and with accuracy. I was nearly beggared for words when I opened the case -- I hope to be able to show them to you soon, after they have tasted deeply of the blood of the enemy.

Azhra, I am nearly out of paper so let me close by reminding you of that which already know -- how very much I love you and miss you, how worried I am for you, my other sisters, their children. I am in harm's way or will be, there is no use pretending otherwise and I would not lie to you. But, if I am to be in this kind of danger, I am in good company for it, my sweet sister. The best this planet has to offer, I do believe.

And... there is nothing I would rather be doing than this thing, right now, fighting on behalf of my beloved Sundarya. Be well, be careful. Pray for us as often as you can.

In love, devotion, duty, and adoration...

Yasminna al'Sundarya