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Intermission 3

With the armies of the Franks shattered at the river Seine, the way was clear for Madame Cerise and her followers to travel to the east. Studley followed after them for a short time, trailing in his werewolf form to keep an eye on them and safeguard them from any lingering soldiers, while Idesin trekked to the west, following after the ever fresher trail of their fellow Wonder.

It was not hard for the otter to follow. Every day another sign of their fellow's power surfaced, whether it was the small tribe of centaurs that had once been cavalry officers, or the water spirits rising from the creeks and rivers, or even the birds that had been turned to harpies, it was clear that Rannoi had gone to the western half of Europe before turning towards his final destination. Slowed for a time by the various creatures that he encountered, Idesin spent his time either changing those he could back to their original form, or directing them to a place where they might be safe from those that would harm them.

It wasn't until he reached the borders of Iberia that Studley was able to catch up with him. The stragglers and the hyena had finally crossed the border and were well on their way towards the east. Though exhausted, the two of them pressed into the Iberian Peninsula, wondering what they would find.

The Germanic tribes that occupied the lands had been turned on their head. Rumors abounded as to how the power of the men there had been broken, but the common theme was that a great shadow had fallen over the land, a shadow with wings of fire and a language of the devil. Those that stayed in its path were reduced, broken without mercy, while those that fled and stayed away were spared. The King of the lands had been broken, reduced to little more than a mewling kitten - literally - by the time they reached the center of the peninsula. His army had been broken, transformed into small, harmless beasts.

The show of power worried the wolf and the otter. Such power was beyond most of them, and even with the aid that Mirari gave the dragon, this sort of display shouldn't have been possible. None of them had ever reduced an entire army to nothing like this before. Not that either of them had ever tried, but Studley thought that even his powers would be stretched to deal with half of those numbers. It was why neither of them had used their powers directly to change the armies around the city of Paris. It had been impossible to affect so many simultaneously.

And yet, Rannoi had done it. How, there was no sign, but he had done it, and in so doing had altered the balance of power in the peninsula for decades, if not centuries.

Idesin worried about how any of them could manage to control something like that and not be changed with the very capability of using that power. It was as close to absolute power as either of them had ever seen, and the otter worried that it had changed their friend into something that would need to be dealt with, dealt with harshly.

Studley saw it as a change greater than any of them had ever brought to the world. The transformation had broken the back of the most powerful tribe in the land, and had allowed the weaker ones a chance to live their lives out from under the yoke of the brutes that had been on top. He wondered, how had Rannoi pulled it off? He wondered, how could he do the same?

Neither of them could really answer their questions, so they pressed on, passing the undefended south of the peninsula before passing into the coastal African lands.

The culture was different, and so were the people. Hospitality of the sort that they hadn't seen for months was offered to them. Wanderers and traders would share their water and their tents in exchange for news from the north, as well as for what favors that the pair of them were willing to give. Even though they had to maintain their human forms as they traveled through the sandy north, they found that they were welcomed in a way that nobody else bothered. The paranoid Europeans had sent them away, whether human or animal, while these strangers were willing to share the little that they had in exchange for company and news. It was...strange, but welcome.

They traveled with a caravan, trading their news and their powers for safe passage among other people and food. It was more than that, however. The caravan was traveling towards a great oasis, one that had been raised from the desert through the powers of a great shaman. Water was said to be freely given from the oasis, and a great bazaar had already sprung up around the spring, from what the rumors said, and the people owning the caravan wished to go there, to see it for themselves and see if they could profit from the new exchange.

The pair of Wonders needed to hear no more than 'great shaman' to know they were on the right track. And if they were able to be guided there and fed and watered by giving a little company, conversation and power, they were not going to argue.