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son and daughter.
    They all sat at the U shaped table, with Mkel on the left and Colonel Wierangan on the right. Jodem and Toderan sat beside them. Senior Sergeant Pekram, Dekeen, Ordin, Lupek, the Weir cleric Watterseth, and Deless sat in the middle seats, all facing Gallanth’s immense head, which was now resting on the ground. “Sir, are you ready to begin?” Mkel said to Colonel Wierangan, as a courtesy for being the highest-ranking officer at the meeting, even though he was the Weirleader and did not have to answer to him.
    “At your and Gallanth’s pleasure, Captain,” Wierangan replied.
    “Gentlemen,” Mkel said, drawing his sword as all present raised their dragonstone-empowered weapons, “to the Alliance, Draden Weir, Gallanth, the regiment, honor, and each other.” They all saluted Gallanth, who gave a small nod with his colossal head, and then laid their weapons on the table, pointing toward the center. The dragonstones in their weapons glowed intensely, indicating the incredible collective power of the swords, bows, javelins, hammers, and staff of the Weir’s most powerful members.
    This also represented the idea that all Alliance citizens and civilians were granted the right to possess and bear arms and were encouraged to do so. This was the central premise of the Articles of the Alliance, along with personal freedom and freedom of open talk. Misuse of these rights, however, carried a heavy penalty, for freedom without responsibility was a recipe for disaster.
    “We will first start with the ranger leader’s briefing and will then discuss the exercise tomorrow, followed by a few Weir matters. Lupek, Deless, at your leisure,” Mkel directed to his ranger companions.
    “Yes sir, Gallanth, Colonel Wierangan,” Lupek said, giving the gold dragon, Mkel, and the regimental commander a courtesy acknowledgment. “Deless, if you would,” Lupek added, motioning to his elven comrade. Deless placed his bow in the gap in the U shaped table, and a three-dimensional map projected from the centrally mounted dragonstone appeared, representing the terrain of the area between the Weir and the southern chain of the Gray Mountains.
    “We first tracked the orc scouts here at the base of the third mountain, just out of sight of Lucian Forest,” Lupek began. “They were making good time across the plain at dusk when we attacked. We killed six of the riders and their hellhound and dire wolf mounts and let the remaining one escape. We followed him for eighteen days back across the mountains. He made sure not to get anywhere near Lucian Forest, so we know that the elf clan under Haldrin is alive and well and protecting his borders. We crossed the mountains undetected by the rider while still watching out for any other unfriendly eyes.”
    Lupek continued, “We finally emerged on the east side of the Gray Mountains and had to track him from the ground so as not to be compromised by them or any other lookouts. Deless used a seeing eyes spell to great effect, enabling us to keep out of sight and still track them. We stopped him just short of the northernmost fire giant kingdom border, when he spotted us. We then killed his mount but managed to keep the orc rider alive long enough to get a little more information out of him. Apparently a large gathering of fire giants is taking place, with a merging of several tribes for some purpose. We scouted a little further and observed a great deal of activity in and around the westernmost fire giant crude mountain castle. We must have counted well over a hundred giants and several thousand orcs, with multiple red and other chromatic dragons. There were also at least three Morgathian death knights and a sorcerer. The orc could not give us any additional information other than that he was to scout the defenses of Keystone and Eladran Weirs and attempt to ascertain our troop strength, our capabilities, and the number and type of dragons that are stationed here,” Lupek