Mission in the East (Book 14)

## Description

The Royal Eagles must go on a mission in the east. It is a personal and dangerous commission from King Thoran. A mission on which the immediate future of Norghana is in risk.

The mission in the far eastern lands will be complicated and full of dangers. Will our friends be able to solve all the situations and return with the objective accomplished?

Meanwhile, rumors of an apocalypse and the end of the world continue to spread throughout Tremia.

The Panthers want to solve the mystery of the dragon orb and will try to discover what is behind the mystery that surrounds it.

Will they manage to survive the mission? Will they solve the mystery?

## Plot

The Snow Panthers have been given a mission from King Thoran himself to go to the kingdom of Irinel, with a noble called Malthe Larsen. On the trip, Larsen, who is an Ambassador of the King, explains that he has business with the ruler of Irinel, and that they are going to the city of Kensale. Suddenly they are attacked by three pirate ships. The Snow Panthers burn the sails of the first pirate ship, as well as killing the archers on board and many of the crew. Then Astrid kills the captain and helmsman on the second pirate ship while the others are attacking with Earth Arrows, setting the ship adrift. The third pirate ship, however, rams into the Norghanian ship. The Zangrian pirates board, and the battle is not going well for the Norghanians. Astrid then boards the pirate ship, sneaks to the area where the captain is waiting, kills his bodyguards and forces him to surrender. The pirates withdraw to their ship, and Astrid goes back to the Norghanian ship.

Unfortunately, the Norghanian ship is about to sink from the damage caused when the pirate ship rammed it. Lasgol and the other Snow Panthers manage to plug the hole temporarily, though it will need a more permanent repair once they get to port. Ulmendren decides to stop at the nearby Fish Island, inhabited by a Zangrian tribe called the Zantos, to complete repairs. Since the island is somewhat isolated and there are not many Zantos, he hopes their ship will go unnoticed. The ship is beached while the crew carries out repairs.

Soon a group of Zantos comes to investigate, led by their chief, Dorgaton. Luckily he only comes to tell the Norghanians to stay on the beach, not to fight. That night though, a gigantic crab, which the Zantos call a Karramarro, attacks. Lasgol stops it from reaching the ship by shooting its eyes, and the sailors manage to get the ship into the water and escape. Luckily the rest of the journey goes without any trouble, though Ambassador Larsen is constantly complaining because of how long it takes.

When they arrive in Kensale, Larsen tells the Snow Panthers to behave and not to start any incidents. They are met by a force of Irinel soldiers under Commander Gared, who seems to know a lot about the Rangers and is happy to see the Snow Panthers. Larsen tells the Snow Panthers not to touch any white flowers with six petals, as they are considered the sacred flower of Irinel, and if foreigners touch them their hands are cut off. The flowers are called White Seiburu, and they have some healing properties. As they are going through Kensale, Gared tells them they must leave immediately for the capitol, Blindah. Larsen tells the Snow Panthers that there is nothing to be concerned about, and that they are on a diplomatic mission agreed on by King Thoran.

After about a week of traveling, during which it drizzles most of the time, they arrive at Blindah. Egil is impressed by the massive moat, which is very wide and fifteen feet deep. Then they are taken to the Royal Castle of Irinel. The throne room is impressive, with stained glass windows, murals, paintings and portraits. They meet King Kendryk and Queen Gwyneth, as well the Irinel First General Reagan and Kacey, the King's advisor. Larsen presents the treaty to the King, who has Kacey go over it before signing it. Lasgol tries to read the treaty with his Hawk's Sight skill while Kacey is reading it, and he sees a mention of joining the royal houses of Irinel and Norghana.

The King tells Larsen that the mission for the Royal Eagles is to find and bring back the Princess of Irinel, Heulyn. She is currently living with the Druids, who live in the southern part of Irinel. Then the prince Kylian returns with a Druid named Aidan, who tells the King that he tried to negotiate with the Druids, but that Heulyn has invoked the right of sanctuary, so the Druids can't let the royal forces of Irinel take her. It becomes clear that the King wants Heulyn to marry Thoran, but she doesn't want to do this, so she has fled to the Druids for sanctuary. The next day, Ambassador Larsen is busy with meetings, so the Snow Panthers walk around the castle, watch the Irinel soldiers training, and have a big dinner, where they try the local beer that Viggo was very much interested in. Then Larsen and Aidan tell them the details of the mission: they have to go into Foraoise Naofa (the Druids' sacred forest), and rescue Princess Heulyn while making sure she is not harmed in any way, otherwise the treaty between the two kingdoms won't be signed. Aidan tells them that the Druids have Magic of Nature. He also says that he is the Druids' ambassador at court, and that the Queen is a Druid.

The next day the Snow Panthers go out into the city to shop and explore. Egil and Lasgol encounter another crazy man talking about the end of the world and the arrival of the "new era". Later they go to a shop of enchanted objects, and they meet Eicewald. He tells them that he received a message from Larsen saying he is needed on a mission, and the Snow Panthers guess that he is going with them. There are some armed men with Eicewald, who he says are members of the Brotherhood of Custodians, an organization devoted to searching for Objects of Power and keeping them safe. Eicewald tells the Snow Panthers to meet him that night in the tavern called the Jolly Dancer. At the tavern, he shows them his orders, which are to assist them on the mission and then return to Norghana to resume his duties there. Then they tell each other what has happened since they've been separated. Eicewald tells them he has recently been looking for an Object of Power called the Hand of the Master, said to have been the hand of a god. Lasgol asks for help with his Gift, and Eicewald agrees to help when they have time.

Then they set off on the mission. When they arrive at the Foraoise Naofa, Eicewald uses a spell to show the Snow Panthers the magic in the forest, which emanates from the ground like a green fog. They move on to the meeting point, where they meet Aidan; he scares them slightly as he had shapeshifted into a boar to travel there, before returning to his human form. Aidan leads the Snow Panthers and Eicewald to the place in the forest where the princess is living. Aidan also cleared a path through the magic of the forest to allow them to pass through undetected. Aidan shows them a secret door to a chamber underneath a giant tree, where he says they will find the princess.

Along the way through the underground tunnels, the Snow Panthers are attacked by giant wasps, which have a powerful venom that causes Egil, Nilsa, and Ingrid to be too weak to go on. The others continue, and fight Colin, the leader of the Druids in this part of the forest, and six of his Druids. With Camu's help, they manage to defeat the Druids and continue. They break into a room with many traps, a Druid, and an archer, who turns out to be Valeria. The Princess is also in the room. Viggo and Astrid tie up the Princess and Valeria, and the Snow Panthers leave the underground chamber. When they get out, Aidan is missing.

Eicewald tells them to head to the south of the forest, as there is an area there where the magic doesn't reach, since Aidan's spell to hide their trail has already faded. They are attacked by a group of Druid Mothers, powerful forest witches. Eicewald and Lasgol stay behind to deal with them. The Druid Mothers summon six walking oak trees to attack. Eicewald and Lasgol manage to delay them using an ice wall and fire traps, but the Druid Mothers put out the fires eventually and more Druids join the pursuit. Lasgol and Eicewald keep going until they reach the meeting point, a large clearing in the south of the forest. Camu tells them that there is Drakonian magic in the clearing, and Eicewald guesses that this is why the Druids don't go into this area. Eicewald also determines that this is the location of an Object of Power that he was looking for, and with Camu's help, he finds its exact location. Then he decides to remove it from the ground using magic, telling the Snow Panthers to keep going to the south of the forest, as once the Druids have assembled a large enough group they will come into the clearing.

The Snow Panthers escape from the forest, fighting a group of Druids on the way, and return to the hollow where they left their horses. After they have been waiting some time, Eicewald returns with the Object of Power, which resembles a White Pearl but much smaller, about the size of the orb. Then the Snow Panthers return to Blindah with the Princess and Valeria. The King and Queen are pleased at their safe return, and tell Larsen that the treaty will be completed. Astrid and Viggo want to kill Valeria, but Larsen orders them not to touch her. Aidan returns to the palace and meets with the Snow Panthers. He apologizes for not helping them more, but says he has to be very careful not to jeopardize his position as the Druids' ambassador at the court. He tells them that the Druids are furious at what happened, and he will need to conduct negotiations between Irinel and the Druids to avoid a war.

Then the Snow Panthers return to Norghana. On the way, Eicewald talks to Lasgol about his Gift, telling him that developing it would be a full-time effort. Eicewald also tells him that people with the Gift can, over time and study, develop any specialty of magic, from Nature to Ice magic. However, there is usually a single type of magic that the person is more inclined to, in Lasgol's case, it is Magic of Nature, while in Eicewald's case, it is Magic of Water. Over the trip, Eicewald works with Lasgol and Camu to develop their skills. Nilsa also works on developing anti-Mage arrows.

When they get back to the capitol in Norghana, they are met by Orten, who says he hopes the mission has been a success and scolds Eicewald for being away for so long. Then the Snow Panthers report to Gondabar, who is pleased with their success. He tells them that the Zangrians have been conducting military maneuvers on the border, and there are rumors of trouble in the Frozen Continent, so Thoran will be glad to hear that the military alliance with Irinel is complete. Gondabar gives them a few days of leave, but tells them to stay near the capitol, since there will likely be a new mission for them soon. They receive a letter from Gerd, who tells them his recovery is progressing very well thanks to Edwina's magic.

The next day the Snow Panthers go out on some errands, and Egil, Lasgol and Astrid meet another crazy man preaching about the end of the world and the new era of the all-powerful lords. The city guards order the man to leave the city, and Lasgol, Egil and Astrid decide to follow him. They meet him in his shack, and find out the man cannot remember his own name or how long he has been preaching. Egil interrogates the man using Ginger and Fred and finds that he really can't remember anything about how he learned the message he was sent to preach, the only thing he remembers is an Object of Power like the head of a giant snake. Egil guesses that a Mage of Domination or Illusion might have altered the man's mind. Then, Egil goes to meet two of his agents, one of whom brings information about the Western League's reaction to the new alliance between Irinel and Norghana, and one of whom has been assigned to search for Drugan Volskerian. Unfortunately the agent hasn't found any information about Drugan. The next day, Egil, Lasgol and Astrid go to the Ice Temple to talk to the clerics there about the strange preachers. They meet with Helge, the high priest, who tells them one of the preachers told him that he was commanded to preach his message by the head of a giant snake. The preacher also told him that the head of their order carries two swords with snake heads on them. However, Helge didn't think much of all this at the time, because the preacher was wounded and delirious. After they leave the temple, Egil guesses that the leader of the order of preachers must be Drugan, because of the similar swords he carries, and since it would be easy for someone without much knowledge to mistake dragon heads for snake heads.

A few days later, Princess Heulyn arrives in the capitol. Egil tells the Snow Panthers that this means a royal wedding will soon take place, as this was part of the treaty. Valeria arrives with her, and Viggo and Astrid want to kill her. Egil tells them that Valeria, as the Princess' confidant, has diplomatic immunity until the wedding, and Astrid and Viggo want to kill her after the wedding. Lasgol begs them not to do this. In the time before the royal wedding, Viggo and Egil go to search for information about Drugan, Lasgol keeps helping Camu with his flying, and Astrid, Nilsa and Ingrid go to Viggen's castle to see what they can find.

Lasgol and Camu work with Eicewald and manage to develop new skills to put out a candle, Camu uses a magical tail extension and Lasgol uses a magically created breeze. Astrid, Nilsa and Ingrid arrive at Viggen's castle, and Astrid is met by Albon and Bestand. She asks to see Alvis, but they tell her he is sick. Astrid insists, and eventually they let her go in; in the stables, she sees a horse from Erenal, which seems to have been ridden recently. Astrid asks Alvis if he knows where Viggen is, but he doesn't know. Then she asks Albon, who lies and tells her he doesn't know, but Astrid then asks to see the rider of the horse from Erenal. When she tries to leave to talk to the rider, Albon attacks her and calls for more guards. Astrid manages to fight her way out of the room and catches up to the rider, who drops one of the Quills of the True Blood as he tries to escape.

Meanwhile, Egil and Viggo are attacked by two of Drugan's followers, the Visionaries, after asking for information about Drugan in the Blue Parrot tavern. Viggo manages to disarm them, but before Egil can interrogate them the Visionaries take poison to kill themselves. The next day Astrid, Nilsa and Ingrid return to the capitol and tell Egil about the incident at Viggen's castle. Astrid gives Egil the Quill of the True Blood that the rider dropped. The Snow Panthers go out to the Forest of the Green Ogre, where Eicewald, Lasgol, Camu and Ona are practicing. When Egil shows Eicewald the Quill it starts vibrating and whistling. Eicewald is very interested in the Quill, and Egil says he will give it to him after letting Camu investigate it. Eicewald leaves, and Egil has Camu use his magic on the Quill to make it show the way to the orb.

The Quill leads them to the ruins of Osluren, a city destroyed in a war with Rogdon. They find a group of Visionaries led by the warlock Vingar Ronanef, and manage to defeat them. Ronanef had the dragon head Object of Power that the group were using to drive the men insane to become preachers for them. However, Drugan and some more Visionaries arrive, and at the same time a group of Viggen's men attack the location. When Viggen arrives, Drugan tells him and his men, the Defenders of the True Blood, to leave. Then a battle erupts, with the Defenders of the True Blood and the Snow Panthers fighting the Visionaries and the three warlocks. The orb emits two massive pulses of magic which knock out all the Snow Panthers except Viggo, who is protected by Camu. Then the orb commands both the Visionaries and the Defenders of the True Blood to kneel, names itself as Dergo-Sho-Blaska, the immortal dragon, and tells them to serve him together, as well as to find a new body for his reincarnation. Then both the groups leave, with the orb hovering and following along. Afterwards the Snow Panthers recover and return to the capitol.