"It could. Were-kin detest Goblinoids. For the chance to kill Goblinoids, you very well may get some volunteers."
"Speaking of Were-wolves, that's a good place to start. You remember Haley, back in Dayise?"
"Of course I remember him," Keritanima replied, then her eyes widened. "He's a Were-wolf?" she asked in a gasp.
"It's a secret, so don't pass it around," he warned. "See if you can get a messenger to him and ask him to arrange some kind of meeting with a Druid. Haley may be a good place to start. He can get the information to the Druids, who will tell everyone else. That way they'll already know what's going on when I get there."
"You don't want me to try to recruit?"
"You can try, but I don't know if you'll be successful," Tarrin shrugged.
"Diplomacy may be a good place to start," Keritanima mused. "If we can get the Ungardt and the Tykarthians to stop fighting, it'll seriously mess up the enemy's plans."
"My mother may be able to help there. She's the daughter of a very respected Ungardt Clan-Chief. I can get a message to her through Jenna. My mother can make my grandfather do just about anything. Even stop a war."
"This is why I never want to cross your mother," Keritanima laughed. "So, we can hamstring them in the north, and maybe get enough Shaceans to stop fighting with each other and mass an army to reinforce the Sulasians trying to stop the Dals. Maybe even convince Arkis to send some of their troops."
"How will you do that?"
"I'm a Wikuni, brother dear," she grinned. "I'll negotiate. By the time I'm done, I'll own Emperor Barad's entire army." She looked at the map. "If we can get them there in time, anyway. I really need to know what the condition of those passes is. I can't make suitable plans unless I have some solid information to go on."
He was starting to get very tired. He didn't have much time left. "I'm going to have to go in a minute," he said. "It sounds like you can handle things on this side. I'm not going to have enough left to contact Allia until I rest, but don't you dare go and blab all of this, sister. Talking through the amulets isn't secure, else I wouldn't be doing this now. Let me explain it to her when I can talk to her." He looked down, at the map. "We're not going to be able to work like this, so you need to get to Suld as quick as you can. I'll be stepping it up to get there as fast as I can, and Shiika and her generals should be arriving about the same time as me."
"Alright. I'll send every ship available to Dala Yar Arak and pick up your pet Demoness' army," she said with a slight frown. "I'll also send for some reinforcements, but I can't take too many men from home."
"Why not?"
"Politics," she grimaced. "If I strip the army, the nobles may get bad ideas without someone there to keep them in line."
"I thought you stepped on them."
"Wikuni nobles unstep very easily, Tarrin," Miranda cut in. "They'll cooperate until they see an opening. Then they'll exploit it for everything it's worth."
"Kill them," Tarrin said in an offhanded manner.
"I can't do that!" Keritanima gasped.
"It's easy. Send orders for your men to round up and kill all the nobles. Then they won't be in your way anymore."
"That's barbaric!"
"It's effective," he said bluntly.
"It'll start a civil war!"
"If there's nobody left to challenge you, who are you going to have left to fight you for your throne?"
Keritanima stared at him, then exploded into laughter. "It sounds like an easy way out, but believe me, brother, it's not. Not that I didn't think of murdering the lot of them about twenty times a day for five months."
"It's your kingdom," Tarrin shrugged. "I'm about to lose this image, so is there anything else you need to talk about? Just do it quickly."
"It seems like an awful short time."
"I've had a busy day," he said shortly. "If I were rested, I could have stayed here an hour."
"Nothing pressing comes to mind, at least more pressing than anything else," she said. "When can you come back?"
"After I rest."
"Then we'll hammer out the details then. I'll think about this and propose a plan when you come back."
"Alright. I'll tell Allia as soon as I regain some strength, and then I'll figure out some way for all three of us to talk at the same time. Privately." He fretted. "This would be easy if we were in the same place."
"Reality is a pain sometimes, brother," she grinned. "That image of you is starting to get fuzzy, so I think that this is the end of our visit. I'll see you soon, Tarrin. Be well, keep your eyes on that bonesack, and-oh, yes. I love you very much."
"I love you too, sister," Tarrin replied with a warm smile. "Keep her out of trouble, Miranda."
"Always, Tarrin," Miranda said calmly, giving him a gentle smile. She still hadn't changed. Still quiet and inobtrusive, and watching absolutely everything that went on around her. Still one of his dearest friends.
It was hard to go. After so long being separated from Keritanima, he didn't want to leave her, even this surreal image of her. She was his sister, and they should have been together. Months and months apart, and now he had to leave her once again. But now he knew that he could see her whenever he wanted, that she was only a moment away, and it made him feel much, much better. With Keritanima's help, he could find her whenever he wanted to see her.
It didn't feel like a goodbye. It felt more like "until tomorrow."
Tarrin regretfully withdrew from his image, and sent his consciousness flying back to his body back in the desert.
He opened his eyes to a sight he'd never thought he'd see. Sarraya was sitting on Jegojah's shoulder, listening intently as he explained what was going on with their little sand map. "Sarraya!" Tarrin said in surprise. "When did you get here?"
"A while ago," she replied as they both looked at him. "Jegojah here said you went off to talk to Kerri. What did she have to say?"
The curtness of it took him off guard. "Well, she agrees with most of it," he replied uncertainly. "She thinks they'll attack from the north instead of the east, Jegojah. She thinks they'll move across Tykarthia then hook around the Skydancer mountains, then march down the coast."
"Hmm," Jegojah sounded, looking down. "That path, it appealed to Jegojah at first, yes, but the Toothwood, it is in the way. Safer, it would be, to come down the mountain pass and march across Sulasia, yes."
"Toothwood?" Sarraya asked.
"A dark wood of danger in southern Tykarthia," he replied.
"Jegojah, there are no forests in Tykarthia. They cut them all down to make ships."
"Ah. Jegojah, his mind is a thousand years behind us, yes," the undead warrior said ruefully. "Jegojah, he needs a current map."
"That's no problem," Sarraya said, gesturing. He felt her touch her Druidic magic, and a large vellum map simply appeared on the ground before them, a very large map depicting the entire West. "This is as current as yesterday afternoon," she chuckled.
"I take it Jegojah explained things?" Tarrin asked.
"He was filling in the details after a hasty summary," Sarraya replied. "At least that was after we tried to kill each other."
"You didn't!"
"What can I say? I'm a barbarian," Sarraya grinned at him. "You're a bad influence on me."
"The Faerie, she appeared but seconds after you entered the trance, yes," Jegojah said with a calm expression. "She thought I meant to attack ye, yes. When Jegojah, he surrendered his swords, the Faerie, she stood down, yes."