“No, no and no.”

Ira steadied herself as another one of the Cultists weapons slammed into the walls of The Keep. The sound of metal and wood grinding through and breaking away stone echoed through the air followed by the sounds of the dying crying out. Without saying a word, Izvilvin began to leave Ira and Bryn; she didn’t need to ask him where he was going she already knew. Those weapons needed to be stopped and if Izvilvin wanted to focus on taking them down he could, her and Bryn would focus on the defence of the city.

“To the Great Hall…”

She didn’t really know if that’s what the place was actually called, but she didn’t care. It was a giant hall where meetings were held as well as large celebrations and feasts. It would be the place where their feast would be held once they pushed back the Cultists and Harpies and perhaps eliminated them as a threat forever. Once they pushed them back, because there was no doubt in her mind that they would succeed, they had to, there was no way around it.

Hurrying down the hall, Ira jogged down the long staircase two at the time and then began making her way down the twisting halls of The Keep to get to The Great Hall. Already there were high-ranking officers standing in the hallway, pacing, waiting for instructions from someone, from anyone, they needed direction and they needed to know what they should be doing. Ira was no strategist and she had no experience with war, plenty of experience with fighting, but this was something completely different. Still, she could help and she could try. If only Messia was here though, she had the brains.

Ushering the officers into The Great Hall, Ira looked down at the map of Irrakam that was spread out on a large and long wooden table.

“Where are they coming in?”

She looked up and down at the five faces of the men and woman before her, one of whom she recognized, Captain Alikam, he was also the first to speak.

“We’ve spotted a large force of Cultist ships coming down the River Attireyi.”

He placed an armour hand on the map and traced their route with his finger.

Someone else spoke up next, “Our defences at the walls are useless, the Harpies can fly right over use and attack our men from the air. Right now there’s a large force of Harpies in The Outlander’s Quarters and a large force of Cultists trying to break through the main gates into the city itself.”

Ira nodded her head as she listened and looked over the map of Irrakam. What should she do?

“Alikam, you take your men and defend against the landing Cultists ships as best you can…”

He nodded his head, “Reinforcements from Corone have arrived, may I take them with me?”

Reinforcements from Corone…Letho? Did he really come?

“Yes…”

“What about the other places that need defending against?”

Ira closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She should not be doing this, there were more qualified people than her who knew the defences of the city and knew how to place troops along it’s walls to help it.

“We need a force to stay and defence The Keep itself. I need one force to go to the main gates and reinforce them there and also push them back as best they can should the gates be breached.” Ira turned to the woman warrior Bryn that Jya had asked to help during this situation, “What are you thinking?”