At some point, her father had told her that [Lords] of various families had petitioned the five great families of the north—Reinhart, El, Veltras, Terland, and Wellfar—along with the remaining Walled Cities—Manus, Zeres, Fissival, Oteslia, Salazsar, and Pallass—to relegate the fighting to one spot to prevent civilian deaths.
The Drake was portly, had a skullcap with holes for his neck-spines, and had ocre-red scales. He grunted sourly as he flapped the reins, and his horse plodded forwards, towing a large wagon. He dealt in spices, often imported from Chandrar and through the City of Waves, Zeres, which he brought to the rest of the continent for fine prices.
“Spoken like one foreign to Izril. Liscor’s mercenary army is not ‘small’. They were encircling Oteslia last I heard, and that is a deed few armies in the world can manage. Even your King of Destruction stopped at Zeres.”
The Black Tide of the Antinium began to march once more, sweeping east, south and north with such ferocious speed that any hope of mobilizing a response force was lost. In an instant, the Antinium had captured nearly thirty percent of the southern half of Issrysil and seemed to be poised to sweep across the rest. However, they met their first obstacle as they encircled and began sieging the Walled City, Zeres.
The Antinium had successfully bypassed four of the Walls built by the Blighted Kingdom in Rhir, but they found the superior construction of the Walled Cities a different challenge*. A huge army began to lay siege to Zeres, but after a week of day-and-night warfare, the Antinium found themselves rebuffed with extreme casualties on their sides and virtually no losses by the defenders.
Zeres stood, and the Antinium were unable to abandon it lest the army fall upon their backs. This, along with the sieges of several other Walled Cites occupied a large part of the Antinium’s army, slowing their advance.
This time the censure was accompanied by a slap of the tail. Zel looked up and saw one of the rulers of the Walled Cities had spoken. The Serpentine Matriarch of Zeres stared down at him with icy disapproval, the gemstones around her neck and tail flashing as she spoke.
It was…a chess newsletter. A magazine. A letter to any [Strategists] interested in chess—this one was addressed ‘to the [Strategists] of Zeres’. It was from Liscor.
The great [Shaman] of the Goblin armies came late to the war between the Antinium and Drakes. He began by sacking port cities along the western coast, and then slowly moved inland. The Drake armies were no match for his overwhelming magical might, and he routed armies with contemptuous ease. Drakes across the continent despaired hearing of Tallis Stormbreaker’s advance, because the Antinium were already sieging Pallass and Zeres, threatening to once again cut the continent in two.
