The Free Plain

In the northern stretch of the Free Plains a long caravan of people and carriages could be seen. The people had a heavy escort from the Phoenix State Grand Army. Two hundred foot soldiers armed with swords, shield, bows, and glaives.

The people were working class people, poor people, and prosperous people such as doctors and politicians. Passing by, they took notice to the ground work for something that had Phoenix State builders there. In the distance they could see the citadel.

At the front, a couple higher ranked men and state representatives were talking, "It's beautiful..It has been so many years since i've seen this much green."

Two of the officers turned to eachother, speaking in an ancient dialect used to send orders without letting the enemy know, "Beautiful land it is... It would be good land for The Phoenix State. With this, we would be self sufficient.." The other responded, "Yes, and one day it could be. But we need to learn from these people first. Knowledge is power, and having ours and theirs, we will have this land without a loss of blood."

The one officer would then speak in common tongue, "It is beautiful. Maybe their women are as beautiful? With what food we have brought, we could stay and enjoy it for a little while."

The conversation rattled on about the land. In a short time, the caravan would cross the plains to the Citadel gates.

Far away from the caravan away from the roads and invisible from sight laid Xl-li hidden in the tall long grass of the native lands. She noticed the guarded caravan, and due to all the guards she kept hidden in the grass rather than ambushing it, it was way to many to take on. She knew something valuable and unique was in there due to the amount of guards and since the guards were of the Phoenix State colors/races. Her main mission was simply watch and monitor enemy troop and trade movements, this would add a nice touch onto her report when she returned back.

"If you were smart, you wouldn't be my captive. I'm taking you to a lands known as The Phoenix State. You'll never know where you are, and neither will anyone else. The better we get along, the easier this will be for you and we can let you go." Sinn spoke to Owa.

The carriage and guards would disappear into the woodlands. It wouldn't take long for them to reach the borders of the Gate of the Valheecius Desert. Thirty minutes max.

Xl-li would follow until the grass started to turn to sand, when her camouflage ran out she'd turn back the way she had came. Back to the Nokari mountains. She didn't exactly know Owa was aboard the caravan, she only knew something special was.

Before they got to the desert Owa grumbled quietly. "You should have killed me." Owa had been slowly tearing at his ropes with his claws since he was first tied up at the Free City. The ropes around his wrists were now weak enough to break with his strength. Owa had did exactly that, he broke his hands free. The first thing he did was rip off his blind fold ready to stop Sinn's sure to come assault.

Owa was not dazed. He expected the impact. Though he was a bit surprised to be thrown out of the carrage. He wasted no time and sliced through the rope around his feet with his claws. He stood up. "We're going to brawl out here in the middle of nowhere?" He removed the metal from his mouth, one of his back teeth were broke from being thrown out onto his face. "You're gonna make me wish I was dead, do it. I know what I'm dealing with now. I won't underestimate your strength. Lets hope you don't underestimate mine."

Owa grinned a bloody smile. "I know Draxis that are uglier than you." Owa had to be smart about this. He backed up closer to the circle of soldiers that surrounded him and Sinn. He crouched down and stood on all fours. He looked like a giant grey wolf with armor.

"Don't worry, they won't intervene. This is between you and me." Sinn spoke.

He would take and make a false jump at Owa. He was trying to entice the beast to leap at him. He'd keep his stance, but he didn't stand still. He would hop, never giving Owa the opportunity to predict his next step. Nothing major, the Grand Army trained styles similar to Muai-Thai and Jujitsu. Sinn trained much more extensively under a few other styles, those of the Royal Forces.

Ildesias led a thousand soldiers out of the Citadel, each armed and armoured as though expecting battle at any moment. He himself, however, wore little more than day-to-day clothes in order to make his arm sling more comfortable to deal with and a longsword that hung from his hip.

"Set up your encampment to the west of the construction site, general," he told a commander by his side after passing through the refugees still working on their homes around the walls of the Citadel. "And immediately set to the task of fortifying it. If the enemy come out of the mountains, we must immediately meet them with a defence capable of protecting the civilians. They cannot be allowed to raid or pillage."

"We can do that, Lord," the commander spoke, pointing to an area of incline further west. "We'll build there. Dig out around the edge of the camp and put stakes."

"Good. Have a trench behind that, then ensure there's hill to make it difficult to reach the palisade wall. I'll leave the running of the camp to you, though I expect patrols and smaller outposts to keep an eye on things."

"Aye, that can be done. What of other soldiers? A thousand men may not be enough to defend if they come down in force."

"I'll be sending more men as soon as we have the organization of the military figured out completely. Though right now I'm thinking we build another one, perhaps two fortified camps, spread out further to the north and south, then connect them with a trench and incline armed with stakes and guard posts."

"That would indeed make it difficult for them."

"Only their infantry, general. They seem to have flying cavalry and I have yet to figure out how to deal with them."