Vesilde Gaerth, resplendent in his golden plate armor, touched his fingertips to his visor and replied, "Of course, Lord Seiveril."
Seiveril took one last look at the mustering elves then took Ilsevele's arm, leading her to a nearby tent.
"Come, both of you, and your friends as well. I suspect we have some news to exchange. Starbrow, why don't you join us, too?"
One of the elves who had been standing with Seiveril detached himself and followed. He was a tall and strongly built moon elf, his red-brown hair pulled back into a long braid behind his back. He wore a lacquered breastplate with a large kite-shaped shield slung over his back. Araevin didn't recognize him, but then again, in the last hour he'd seen hundreds of elves he didn't know.
They filed into the pavilion Seiveril indicated, and found simple but comfortable furnishings, including light folding stools and a portable table with several maps laid out across its surface. A tray of fruit and bread filled one end of the table, along with ewers of cold water and wine.
"I wish I could claim credit for the hospitality, but I can't," said Seiveril. "Thilesin and her assistants decided to provide me with a valet so that I could devote all my attention to the challenges ahead, instead of fretting about where to rest and when to eat. Please, be seated."
"Father," said Ilsevele, "what are you doing here? Why didn't the queen send the army? Why did she refuse to help?"
"As I said, it is a long story, and it is a story that may not be for everyone to hear. I will only say that the queen has duties and responsibilities that constrain her freedom of action, and that this was the only way for those of us on Evermeet to send any real help to the People in Faerun." Seiveril looked over at Grayth and Maresa. "You have neglected to introduce me to your guests, Ilsevele."
Ilsevele frowned, noting the change in subject, but she did not protest. Instead she introduced Grayth and Maresa, and in turn Seiveril introduced the moon elf called Starbrow. Araevin took the fellow's hand wondering who he was again, and his eyes fell to the sword hilt at the moon elf's hip.
"You are wearing Keryvian!" he gasped in surprise.
"Yes," Starbrow said. He offered a crooked smile. "Seiveril loaned it to me. I have some experience in fighting demons, and he thought I could make good use of the sword."
"I don't believe I have ever heard of you," Araevin said. "Where are you from?"
Starbrow glanced at Seiveril, then back to Araevin, and said, "Cormanthyr. Though I have been away from my homeland for a long time."
Seiveril poured himself a cup of water from the ewer on the table.
"Well, Ilsevele," he said, "you can see what has been occupying my time since we parted. Where have you been? Araevin, did you learn anything more about the attack on Reilloch?"
"We've spent the last two tendays in Faerun," Ilsevele said. She looked at Starbrow, and decided that the moon elf obviously enjoyed some special confidence with her father. "We learned the hard way that the daemonfey are very interested in the lorestones. We found… no, Araevin should tell the rest. The tale is his."
The company gathered in Seiveril's tent turned their eyes on Araevin. He gave Ilsevele a pained look, but stood and faced the others.
"We followed the first telkiira's directions to a second telkiira, lost in an abandoned tower in the Forest of Wyrms…" Araevin began.
He went on to relate the course of their adventure along the Sword Coast, from their arrival in the Ardeep, to their meeting with Grayth and Maresa, their journey through the Trollbark to the Forest of Wyrms, and the fierce battle against the daemonfey at the ancient tower. Then he described what he'd discovered when he opened the second loregem, and what Quastarte and his fellow mages had divined of their secret enemy.
"So, we don't know exactly why the daemonfey want these telkiira. But they must be important to the Dlardrageths, if they are pursuing them at the same time they choose to launch a war against the High Forest and Evereska together."
"I've heard of the Dlardrageths before," Starbrow said to Seiveril. "Their old tower used to lie abandoned near the outskirts of Myth Drannor. I never knew the story behind it, though."
"Where is the daemonfey army now?" Grayth asked Seiveril.
"They are near the top of the Sentinel Pass, the northwestern approach to the city, about ten miles from Evereska's walls."
"What are you up against, and what do you have to stop them with?" the cleric asked.
"We face an army of perhaps fifteen hundred fey'ri, five hundred demons of various sorts, and several thousand orcs, ogres, and other such creatures," Seiveril replied. "Against that stands Evereska's army, roughly two thousand strong, plus our own expedition, which will number close to six thousand by tomorrow."
"They have that many demons?" Grayth asked in surprise. "How did they do that, I wonder?"
Araevin rubbed his jaw, thinking. His human friend had touched on something important, he was sure of it. Demons were not native to Faerun. They could only be summoned from their foul hells for a very short time by battle-conjurations, or sometimes bound to longer service with difficult and expensive rites. If the daemonfey army had so many demons and yugoloths among their numbers, then they were clearly not using short-lived summonings or difficult binding rituals to enslave their fiendish allies.
"They must control a gate of some kind," he said. "The demons are serving of their own free will."
"Evereska's scouts have reported the presence of demons in this army for most of its approach," Seiveril said. "So, the gate must be located somewhere near the place where the daemonfey legion and their orc allies began their march. That would be somewhere in the upper De-limbiyr Vale. Hellgate Keep, perhaps?"
"Presumably, there must be some constraint on how rapidly the demons can enter the world through the gate," Grayth said. "Otherwise all the North would be overrun by hellspawn."
"Wherever they are coming from, the most pressing point is the fact that they are at Evereska's doorstep," Ilsevele pointed out. "Father, you said they were only ten miles away. Will you have time to bring the rest of the army through the elfgates before the battle is joined?"
"I don't know," Seiveril said. "We have two companies of volunteers holding the top of the pass, but we do not expect to do anything more than slow the daemonfey for a few hours. We will try to meet the invaders in the West Cwm at sunrise. We'll be marching soldiers up the track to the Cwm all night."
"Sounds like an even fight. Can you beat them?" Maresa asked directly.
Starbrow looked to Seiveril, then back to Maresa. "The numbers are about equal, but we have the advantage of defending," the moon elf swordsman replied slowly. "We could hold the Sentinel Pass or the Sunset Gate against any number of enemies-if our enemies did not possess the powers of flight and teleportation-but since they do, we can only choose our battleground against the orcs, ogres, and goblins. The fey'ri and their pet demons may choose to simply fly or teleport past the Cwm and either trap us in the Cwm or attack the city directly."
"Why haven't they done so already?" asked Ilsevele.
"I think they're being overly cautious. They know there is strength in numbers, and so they prefer to keep their army together so that we won't be offered the chance to destroy it piecemeal. And perhaps more importantly, I don't think they know we're here." Starbrow offered a fierce smile. "They brought an army sufficient to reduce Evereska by itself, but there was no army from Evermeet here yesterday. By tomorrow morning, Evereska's strength will be more than tripled."