Several miles outside of Ceres, a lone horseman was scouting the area. The Faholgan soldier was a red stag dressed in Faholgal uniform with a heavy, black cloak over his shoulders.

Evening had darkened the lands, the only light given was the pale blue reflecting from the full moon in the sky. Dark forest surrounded the soldier as he scouted the forest area, the trees hung low and grew close together.

Faint noises alerted the stag's ears to perk up, intently listening to what may have caused it and what direction it came from. A hand shifted from the horse's saddle to the sword at his belt as he moved his horse forward; readying himself for an attack.

Widened eyes surveyed the area intently as he moved forward, heading into the direction where the sounds came from. As he moved forward, more sounds were made clearer and ruffled voices of men made known.

As the soldier approached a hill's edge, he slowed the horse's pace and dismounted before lowering himself to a crawl to see past the hill's top, looking over the cliff's edge.

Before the cliff's edge was a wide clearing of scattered trees and boulders which was surrounded by dense forest. Within the clearing resided a massive encampment of soldiers and tents. Small fires and lamps lightly illuminated the clearing, revealing hundreds, if not thousands of tents that were tightly enclosed. Posted all around the encampment were also the red banners of the Eye of Michael.

From the height the stag was watching from, the stag could see the army before him stretched as far as he could see. This lead him to believe this army held thousands and being so close to Ceres it could only mean they were to march against the city.

Realizing he's lingered too long, the soldier crawled back from the hill and ran to his horse. After reaching his horse, the stag mounted the saddle and galloped as fast as he could toward the city.

-----

After riding hours into the night as the dim, blue light of the morning sky began to illuminate the sky, the rider finally reached Ceres, a city surrounded by a tall, stone wall with a high mountain to the east and a large lake to the south.

Compared the capital or other large Faholgan cities, this city seemed small. But Ceres was farely large for a town, growing each passing year as merchants, traders, and vast farmland made its people prosperous.

The stone wall surrounding the city was tall and thick. Wide enough for the city's officers to patrol the borders and tall enough to help protect the city from attackers. At the city's center was the lord's mansion, over looking the city as it was the tallest structure within the city aside from the cathedral which was just a few blocks from the mansion.

To the west of the city, the soldier galloped as fast as his horse allowed after riding for so long into the night. Wide farmlands blanketed around him as he rode down the dirt road. After a guard noticed the galloping rider, the gates were quickly ordered to be opened to allow the stag to ride inside.

"Wake the captian and sergeant!" The stag soldier ordered, his voice echoing past the gate. "Make haste!" he directed toward the soldier closest to him. "This news cannot wait!" After giving his command, the stag quickly turned his horse and looked back toward the gate. "Secure the gate!"

---

After moving his horse to the stables, the stag quickly made his way to a tall building near the guard's post. There, Viggo was loosely dressed in his uniform, being abrubly awaken just minutes before and not given enough time to perfect his uniform or hair. The city's sergeant, a black mouse, was in the same state; entering the main hall the same moment the stag did from outside.

"What's the meaning of this?" the mouse stated, moving his hand back through his messy hair to try and smooth it down. "Do you realize the hour you've awaken us?"

"Forgive me, Sir." The stag quickly said, straightening his back while breathing heavily. "But the news I bring is of the utmost importance."

Viggo lowered a brow, finishing buttoning up his uniform jacket. "What is it?"

The stag first looked to the mouse, then sternly to Viggo. "Several miles west from the city a large army has gathered in the western forest in the Preven clearing." he sternly said, turning his gaze back to the sergeant, who's eyes were widened in unbelief. "Their tents and horses bearing the banner of the Eye of Michael."

The mouse was quick to speak before Viggo. "How can this be?! They cant attack our city! How can such a large army muster unnoticed?!"

Viggo arched an eyebrow, but quickly lowered it as he kept his gaze on the stag soldier. "How large of an army?" he asked sternly.

"Three thousand strong, Sir."

Viggo's eyes quickly widened with both ears folding back. "Three thousand?" He asked, lowering his gaze to the floor in thought and surprise.

"Three thousand?" the sergeant repeated. "We have no more than three hundred here. How are we supposed to defend against an army of that size?"

"Seedle." Viggo said, keeping his gaze lowered with a wrinkled brow. After another soldier approached him from behind, Viggo continued; rubbing his chin lightly. "Retrieve Antonis and his company from the east inn just outside of the city and tell him to meet me here as soon as possible." After the soldier quickly acknowledged his order and left, Viggo stood up straight and faced the stag. "Alert Lord Bennett and tell him to meet here as well."

"Yes, Sir." The stag sternly replied and quickly turned around to leave the building.

"Alert the guards on duty to keep watch on the west gate. Don't tell them the situation, only have them ready." Viggo ordered the mouse.

"Don't tell them the situation?"

"Until we have a plan of action with everyone here, I want the soldiers to know as little as possible to avoid panic. You have twenty minutes, Sergeant."

"Yes, Captain." The mouse sergeant replied and left the main hall.

After the soldier awoke Antonis, informing him of his required meeting with Carvahall, the others soon followed in a sleepy daze. Antonis would have preferred to keep them at the inn, but if Viggo had requested they all come, then it was no matter to ignore. He laid instructions with Debalora to meet them with the others soon before he hurried off. Murdoc was quick to follow, this time in his normal state of appearance, much to Antonis' surprise. It seemed quite a while since he's seen Murdoc like that.

"What do you think?" Antonis asked, looking forward as the two of them walked through town.

Murdoc rose a brow, turning his head to look over his shoulder, seeing the soldier that woke them following just out of earshot. A suspicious glance was given to Antonis, knowing the dog wouldn't have brought up conversation if it were to be heard by others. Yet Murdoc never saw Antonis look behind him to check.

"At this hour? With a soldier and a summons straight to the conference hall? Heh. I don't have to reassure you that something is going to happen. Why ask then?" Murdoc smirked.

Antonis lowered his brows thoughtfully. "Can you also predict what I think the reason is?"

The wolf stiffened his neck, keeping his maw pointed forward with a hard look, "Sometimes I like to doubt."

"Not this time."

"I see you've lost hope in coincidence."

"No such thing."

"There you have it."

That said, the two reached the building, each with their own personal look of discontent. They stopped just before the door, allowing the soldier to catch up and escort them inside properly. Led down a few hallways, the soldier finally opened the pair of double doors and stood to the side, allowing Antonis and Murdoc to enter through and saw Viggo seated inside.

Viggo's brow rose as someone entered. Seeing it was Antonis and Murdoc, he stood respectively but stood at his seat. "Antonis, Murdoc, thank you for coming at this inconvenient hour. You will have to forgive the inconvience, but something has come up that requires all of our immediate attention."

An angered voice could be heard just behind Viggo, and came in through another door along with the stag soldier. "I will be told what is going on at once! Do you realize the hour?! I will not be hurried around like this!" A short rabbit dressed in loosely worn clothing with a thick, fur robe quickly appeared through the door. The sight of Viggo already in full uniform and the other two canines in the conference hall quickly silenced him momentarily.

Viggo arched a brow and watched the rabbit enter. "You will have to forgive the hour, Lord Bennett. This requires all of our attention." the cougar said before motioning to one of the chairs at the table.

The rabbit sneered and entered quietly. "This had better be important enough to force me here so early in the morning. Or I'll see to it you lose your position, ..Captain."

Viggo arched a brow to the rabbit, but quickly looked back as he heard the black mouse enter the room. "Alright, now that we are all here, I'll explain why I have summoned you here. You will have to forgive the manner in which you were invited, but given the situation I had no choice."

After the Lord voiced his opinions, Antonis looked as the rabbit sat, giving the back of his head a squint of the eye. Murdoc noticed the look and smirked just gently, knowing the Lord was immediately taken as an irritation to Antonis. Murdoc moved his hands behind himself, casually stepping around until he was just standing to the right of the Lord's chair. From the rabbit's perspective, Murdoc seemed to loom over him, but with more careful detail, this was not the case...at least to others.

"There is no inconvenience if the matter is of such significant importance." Murdoc said as though he spoke for all of them. Both Antonis and himself had no patience to deal with the bumbling Lord.

Viggo gave Murdoc a nod before he straightened his back and looked to each in the room. "One of our scouts..." he said as he motioned toward the stag, who stood next to him, before turning back to the group. "has spotted a massive army encampment in the Preven clearing several miles west of the city. An army bearing the banner of the Eye of Michael... An army of three thousand strong." Viggo ended with a stern gaze, awaiting the reactions of everyone in the room.

Lord Bennett instantly sat up in his chair and glared at Viggo. "Three thousand?! And they're coming here?! Your scout must be mistaken!" the rabbit protested.

Murdoc placed a hand on the Lord's shoulder, ushering him down back to his seat as he could feel Antonis' eyes on the rabbit. Things could get messy at this rate.

"Please calm yourself, Lord Bennett." Murdoc patted the rabbit's shoulder while he was given a questioning look. "We don't want to lose our heads." The rabbit tensed as he strained himself to turn his gaze forward towards Viggo, having caught the glint of teeth from Murdoc. He knew enough that the wolf was true to his word.

Seeing Murdoc subdue Lord Bennett, Antonis stern gaze fastened on his features as he stared with crossed arms, as though just staring at Viggo would give him all understanding. But there was a quality to Carvahall that related to this. The cougar could just stand still in a room and all attention would gradually turn to him. It was as though Viggo unconsciously demanded it.

"If I may ask the state the camp was in." Antonis said, his eyes drifting to the stag soldier. "What did you see them doing?"

The scout's ears angled back after Antonis gave him his question. But being addressed and put in the spot light, the stag moved his hands behind his back and raised his chin slightly. "It was late in the evening, from what I saw, most of the camp was in their tents. But I believe they were readying themselves for battle. The camp wasn't illuminated very well from what I saw, but toward the back of the camp I swore I could see large catapults."

Murdoc frowned with distaste to this information, turning his head to look at Antonis. The dog barely changed his features. Something Murdoc found somewhat irritating was that whenever Antonis didn't want to be predicted or sensed, no one could ever tell what he was thinking. It was a terribly useful skill.

"That's not right." Murdoc began with a lowered brow. "Three thousand men and such heavy artillery? One only needs at most a few hundred soldiers to overrun this feeble town."

The rabbit was seen giving Murdoc an offended glare.

"It must be General Boursault..."

"From Yulen? How has he moved his troops so quickly?"

Antonis thought for a few moments before his gaze rose to Viggo pointedly. It was clear he had a theory, but he awaited Viggo to speak first.

Viggo's brow lowered as he heard everyone's responses, and arched a brow to Murdoc's question. "Boursault destroyed Yulen with an army of only a couple hundred, am I correct? I would have to assume this massive army is a collection of smaller armies that have built up over time. That would be the only explanation for being unnoticed until now." He paused to look at each person individually, more so to Antonis with the look Antonis' face. "These other armies must have been waiting for Boursault's smaller forces to arrive."

"But that still doesn't answer the question of why they would need such a large army for this city." The mouse stated.

"It isn't." Antonis replied, glancing away to the window. The sky was pale with the morning clouds clearing. "It takes resources to move such a vast army all at once. The number sent here will still be significant, but it will not be the entire amount."

His eyes pointed back to Carvahall sharply. "I want word sent to General Valcian immediately. His forces lie to the East of Boursault's position. If even half of the army comes here, that would give Valcian the option of surrounding them with two others."

Viggo gave a stern nod to Antonis before turning to the stag beside him. "Find the fastest rider and..."

Lord Bennett's scowl never left, only grew as more frustration held him. "I cant believe this." He interrupted, looking to Antonis then to Viggo. "You're all talking about why this is happening, when you SHOULD be bringing up 'when' or 'how exactly are we going to defend ourselves'!" The rabbit stood abruptly. "We should all just flee the city before we're all killed."

Viggo's calm features hardened and turned to the rabbit quickly. "Defending the city is our only option, My Lord. Not only are there too many against us to just 'flee', they would catch up to us before we met the nearest town, but the population of this city is too great to just evacuate on a whim."

"Those who cannot fight must be taken to a safe place." Antonis said, completely ignoring the rabbit. "Otherwise we will fight."

Murdoc frowned as he looked at Antonis. It was clear that the oncoming army was taking its burden on Antonis with the number of available men so low. And of course, Murdoc could see that Antonis was doubting the situation. But it would not last long.

"We can't have panic flowing through the town as some had already done..." Murdoc said, glancing down to Lord Bennett momentarily, who shrunk back at the stare. "We may have a chance if we can get to Boursault. The Ministry's armies are only as good as the leader."

Antonis was seen giving a light, humored smirk.

"The army is only frightening in the aftermaths of a successful battle. Thanks to the scout, we have time to prepare, and in my professional opinion, we have a day." Murdoc ended, looking to Viggo for his thoughts on the matter. Antonis and he were only here out of courtesy. When all was said and done, it was Carvahall's decision that would make things occur. They only provided the options.

Viggo, personally, was glad to have Antonis and Murdoc here to help and give their advice. Viggo has lead his own forces against his enemies, but never against one of this size with so little men. He could say he wished Draco was here to advise him on what to do, but he wouldn't out of pride. But since his friends were here, it gave him confidence. Plus, it helped that Antonis and Murdoc were giving him the respect he needed to be able to lead his men now.

"Sergeant, I need a layout of the city." he said, glancing over toward the black mouse.

"Yes, Sir." The mouse replied and quickly left to another room.

Viggo then turned to the stag beside him. "Send the fastest rider to Draco's forces, he must be alerted as soon as possible if we are to have any chance."

The stag gave a stern nod and quickly turned toward the table. After giving a respectful bow to each at the table, including Lord Bennett, he quickly turned and departed through the front door.

By the time the scout had left, the mouse sergeant quickly returned with a long, rolled parchment before rolling out on the table in front of Viggo.

The parchment held a very vague painting of the town's layout, appearing to have been drawn out long before some recent developments of the town. But it would fill its purpose now as Viggo looked over it.

Feeling obligated to help inform Viggo about the town's layout, the mouse stepped forward and pointed toward the map. "To the south of the city, Lake Gotame. To the east, Mount Aromar." The mouse moved his finger toward the west on the map. "All of the western and northern areas are wide farmlands."

Viggo's features remained stern as he studied the map. "The farmlands will be both a disadvantage and an advantage. The lands will be wide enough for this army to approach, but it will give us more clear sight of them than if were surrounded by forest."

"Yes, Sir." The mouse said before continuing. "The city's wall surrounds the city minus the south side. The lake is right beside the city and prevented further wall to be built that way. But the wall extends a good distance into the lake to prevent intruders from simply walking around the wall. They would need boats if they were to enter the city through the lake."

Antonis stepped forward, standing near the table as he peered down at the map. "Those catapults mentioned would damage the wall before the army reaches the city..." he began to say while Murdoc looked at the three of them.

Quietly, he stepped back, turned, and walked out of the room. Any soldiers lingering in the halls would step aside to allow him to pass. He wondered what they heard about him.

Once he came outside the building, he saw the others lingering curiously. He noted that Tamil was there and Debbreh was not. She must have gone somewhere for the moment.

Aidan was the first to approach him, tired, worried eyes looking up at him and making Murdoc feel numb. "What's going on?"

Murdoc hesitated, looking away to find the words. He knew the others were looking at him now. "The...The army that went through Yulen is coming here." he informed a bit quietly, knowing soldiers were around as well. He saw Aidan's brow lift in shock. "The scout reported seeing a number of three thousand soldiers just a half a day's journey from here."

"Our walls are thick and can withstand a catapult attack for a time." The sergeant stated, looking up to Antonis.

Viggo brow raised lightly, as if recalling something, and pointed at various points of the wall on the map. "We have trebuchets of our own... Two near the west and north gates. That gives us four trebuchets to our advantage. Although, being designed to fit within the wall, their range is limited."

----

Tamil's brow sternly lowered as he approached and stepped up to Murdoc seriously. "Three thousand?" he repeated quietly.

Debalora's ears quickly folded back as she heard Murdoc and the others. A worried look came upon her face as she first looked around then to Murdoc. "Do we know what we're going to do?"