The Great Collapse [5]

 "Master."

 "What is it, Vengeance?"

 "The worry was well-based. Before us stands an army of a few thousand. A culmination of elven people, slave-cursed demi-humans, and mercenaries. There are also members of a foreign PMC assisting the general. They're kilometers from Glenda, directly west from Noctis's Hallow on the Liberthan Plains." 

 "They've made their headquarters there?"

 "Right sire. Shall I engage?"

 "No, have Dulah return – the town guards are beyond exhausted."

 "As you wish, my lord." The telepathic exchange ended on a cloudy scape of solitude. The given speech riled the few who'd replaced hope with despair, the very presumptuous sentence of no needing military since they had him, worked. For anyone else, the threat would have fallen short. 

 "Master, are you headed to war?" inquired Alta.

 "Correct," he nodded, an air of dejection and hatred latched onto his back. 

 "Thank you, my lord," said the survivors.