“He’s coming out!” Fear was etched deep in her wizened features.
At first Oriantha thought the Ulk Bog was speaking of Redden Ohmsford, which made no sense at all. But then she realized Tesla meant Tael Riverine. Moving swiftly through the rocks, she reached their perimeter just as the first ranks of the Straken Lord’s army appeared through the west gates and moved out into the open in a semi-organized procession of creatures that marched, plodded, shuffled, trudged, rolled, and crawled in what soon seemed to be an endless line. There were members of all of the species imprisoned within the Forbidding save for dragons, which she assumed even Tael Riverine could not find a way to control. Even the terrifying Furies appeared at one point, a ragged cluster of them, cat faces contorted, hissing and screeching, prowling this way and that. A phalanx of Goblins, split into two ranks, bracketed them in a way that kept them from straying too far out of line. How the Goblins managed to keep them in check defied Oriantha’s understanding, though she made a mental note to ask Tesla Dart later.
The Straken Lord’s army was so huge that it was still winding its way clear of the gates of Kraal Reach an hour later. Amid the ranks of creatures were wagons of various sizes and shapes, although there was nothing to indicate what was in them. There were no siege machines or catapults or other mechanized weapons, and she presumed this was because an army comprising creatures such as this hardly needed such cumbersome tools. Even without experience of what it could do, she was sufficiently informed of the possibilities based on what she had endured while coming through the Fangs and finding herself trapped in this monstrous world. The denizens of the Forbidding, she had discovered, wasted little time on subterfuge. These were creatures that hunted and fought and killed by getting close enough to look you in the eye. These were creatures that attacked in a barely controlled frenzy, and did not stop until the last semblance of life had gone out of you or them.
“What’s Tael Riverine doing?” she asked Tesla Dart.
The Ulk Bog gave her a look. “What I said. What I warned. He takes his army into your world to destroy it.”
“Now? But how can he do that? The Forbidding isn’t down yet!”
Tesla Dart looked confused. “The wall crumbles. A place to cross will be found. No reason to wait longer. He will begin his search.”
“Search? Search for what?”
“Are you stupid? Her! His Queen! I told you. He wishes the witch Grianne. He demands her return. Give her to me, he will say. If she comes with him, he will turn around. If not, he will use his arm to grind all those who stand in his way to dust and take her anyway.”
Oriantha searched the ranks of the army as it wound its way across the countryside, but there was no sign of the Straken Lord.
“Where is Tael Riverine?” she demanded of Tesla Dart, but the Ulk Bog only shrugged and shook her head.
Then, unexpectedly, a wheeled cage rolled through the gates, surrounded by wolves and Goblins with a lean, feral creature riding in the driver’s seat. As a pair of massive bulls strained against the traces, the driver snapped his long whip and shouted at the beasts, urging them on. Alongside the cage, the wolves snarled and snapped their jaws at both the vehicle and its lone inhabitant.
Oriantha caught her breath.
Redden Ohmsford, chained and imprisoned, hunkered down in a pile of straw at the cage’s center.
“He lives!” Tesla Dart hissed in disbelief.
“Lives and breathes and waits for us to save him. And save him we will, Tesla.”
The Ulk Bog turned to look at her and then began laughing madly. “Should be easy! Only thousands stand in the way. Should not stop big strong shape-shifter you!”