Much later that same night, small groups of warriors began making their way up the Basins of Stars.  The groups gathered two rooms short of their goal for the night and clustered around their leader for last minute instructions.

 

“Remember we’re going in by parties,” Ferdan said, “No shooting at anything till we’re actually in front of the target Heartstone.  As soon as the first shot is fired at the Heartstone, it'll send its defenders after us.  Remember, no one else can see the Sending that attacks you, so the best we can do is try to heal you.  Once your Sending is down, make sure the rest of your party is ok, then start attacking the Heartstone.  Soulmasters will stay here to heal their parties.

 

“Gerrol, you run through first and stand watch two rooms up.  If any GOTE show their faces, give a yell and fall back to the main battle.

 

“Everyone top up your protections and let’s go.  Party One at the ready!”

 

At about the same moment, in Threshold, Davanna cast Sense Dreamers and noticed that the Middle Basin of Stars was second on the list. 

 

“Argen, any reason our people would be clustering on Middle Basin right now?” she whispered to the Ruler standing beside her.

 

Argenor shook his head and whispered back, “Not that I know of.  Locate some Calenturi and let’s see what’s up.”

 

The two of them discovered that a number of their enemy were dreaming but Concealed.  Argenor whispered, “Want to bet who’s got Middle Basin up on Sense?  Let’s see who we can round up to go down there and check it out.”

 

Argenor ran through the portal to the House and Davanna did a quick circuit of Threshold to collect House members and allies who were still dreaming. 

 

She entered the House with her recruits and reported, “We met a hunting party from the Light who were keen on hunting some HC instead of ‘mares.  They’re going to run up the Basins and try to take the Calenturi from behind.”

 

Argenor nodded, “Great!  I’m sure they’ll have their healers stationed a room or two away from the fighting.  If they’re lower on the Basins, the Dreamers of Light can have fun taking them out. 

 

“Remember not to get in the way of the Guardians.  We won’t be able to see them, and we don’t want to shoot them ourselves!  Concentrate first on the dreamers who’ve stopped fighting and are trying to heal.  Everyone get arted up and let’s go greet our visitors!”

 

As a Gatekeeper, Renmur was busy casting protective arts on his housemates.  He paused long enough to salute Davanna, then returned to his casting.  His friend Kalamir, a Soulmaster, helped by Donating Will to keep Renmur supplied.

 

The group sorted itself into parties, each with a Soulmaster for healing, then started down the plane.  Their first encounter lasted only seconds.  Argenor, Davanna and Renmur burst through the portal almost simultaneously and one blast and two chakrams made short work of the Calenturi scout.  As Return tore the scout away, the rest of the Gathering parties entered.

 

“That was an HC scout,” Argenor reported grimly.  “No doubt he’s given warning.  Let’s get down there and find the rest!” 

 

They charged down two more rooms and burst onto a strangely surreal scene.  The Heartstone guardians, invisible to everyone but the Dreamer to whom they’d been Sent, were still putting up strong resistance.  Chakrams flared and blades flashed as the invaders battled the Sendings.  Most of the Calenturians still fought invisible foes.  To the newcomers it seemed that they fired and slashed at thin air.  But this thin air fought back!  The invaders staggered back from blows and screamed with the pain of wounds as their unseen enemies attacked fiercely.  Unable to see the enemy, those Calenturi who had already defeated their Sendings could not aid their comrades except by standing back and casting Restore. 

 

Renmur turned and quickly cast a binding on the portal to keep the Calenturi from attacking the Gathering’s healers.  Then, grinning fiercely, he charged the Calenturi Ruler.  A powerful swing of his Gatesmasher interrupted Ferdan’s healing evoke and sent the Calenturi staggering back.  From somewhere, a healing evoke bathed Ferdan in green light and he leaped back to the attack.

 

For several minutes, the two Gatekeepers, almost equally matched, traded blows.  Renmur felt the relief as Kalamir bombarded him with healing, but gritted his teeth as the same healing glow kept appearing over the Calenturi’s avatar. 

 

Renmur dodged a high slash, came in low and dealt Ferdan a heavy blow to his right leg.  Ferdan screamed, clearly beginning to weaken, and Renmur pressed his advantage.  As Ferdan fell back before his onslaught, Renmur’s grin widened.  No more Restores came to keep Ferdan in the fight.  Clearly, their allies from DOL had found the Calenturi healers and were keeping them too occupied to worry about anything but their own coherence.

 

Dodging the blue flare of an extremely powerful chakram, Renmur swept in and slashed his Gatesmasher across Ferdan’s chest.  The other fell back, fumbling for a Dreamsoul elemen, and Renmur moved in for the kill.  A final swing of his blade robbed the Calenturi of coherence and sent the other’s Soulsphere flashing back to its return point.

 

One foe out of the way, Renmur turned his attention to the rest of the fight.  Glancing around, he saw a Calenturi blink out of coherence under the withering impact of Argenor’s blast.  On the other side of the Heartstone, Davanna was proving her worth as a fighter.  Like most Fatesenders, she fought with arts and chakrams rather than her blade, but unlike many, she was a fine shot.

 

A quick look around the area proved that between the Heartstone’s own Guardians and the Gathering fighters, the Calenturi forces were nearly beaten.  Renmur dashed to the lower portal and threw up a quick binding to block off any chance of the invaders escaping, then turned back to the fray.  A Calenturi, fleeing Argenor’s deadly blast, ran straight into Renmur’s Gatesmasher and escaped the room as a returned soulsphere.  Saluting his Ruler, Renmur turned his attention to a pair of fighters charging him from the side. 

 

One he recognized as a Fatesender, the other was a GK.  The ‘Sender attempted to engage Renmur to allow his companion time to Shatter the binding.  As Renmur swung his blade, a quick volley of ferocious blasts hit the ‘Sender from behind and he lost coherence almost instantly.

 

Renmur turned toward the Gatekeeper who was still standing helpless, his Shatter evoke only half completed.  Another swipe of the blade interrupted the evoke and sent the Calenturi reeling away from the portal.  In a flurry of blows almost too fast to see, Renmur drove his opponent back and reduced him to a floating ball. 

 

He turned back to the room looking for another opponent, only to see the last of the Calenturi lose coherence and blink out as his Return took over.

 

“Damn, Ren,”  said a deep voice behind him, “how do you manage to be so fast with that meat cleaver?  Gatesmashers look too big and awkward to handle that easily.”

 

Renmur turned to Argenor and chuckled, “GKs use our blades from the time we’re new dreamers.  We don’t get sissy stuff like Blast, so we concentrate on a real weapon.”

 

Argenor laughed aloud, but his retort was lost as the group of DOL came storming through the portal behind Renmur.

 

The DOL guardian leading the charge skidded to a halt and looked around, “Where’s the fight?”

 

“All over, thanks to you guys,” Argenor told them, “Taking out their healers was a huge help.  We took them down pretty easily once they weren’t getting restored anymore.”

 

The contingent from the Light sheathed their blades and chakrams and the Guardian replied, “Always happy for a chance to play rough with a few Cals.  Call us any time you’re having a little party like this again!”

 

Argenor bowed and smiled, “Thanks again for the help, folks.  And we’ll certainly call you next time they come to play in the Basins.”

 

The party from DOL bowed and ran off to resume their interrupted nightmare hunt and Argenor and Renmur turned to the Heartstone.  Davanna and the others were already casting protective and healing arts on the Stone and Argenor laid a gentle hand on it.

 

“They didn’t get time to do it a lot of damage,” he reported, “The bond only weakened slightly, and it’s coming back nicely.”

 

Davanna nodded, “We’re just very lucky there were enough of us and the DOL around to beat them.  Any losses now will weaken our Spirit Defenders when Terwin’s Aspirant attacks us.”

 

Renmur, ever cautious, cast Sense Dreamer and then Located for several of the more prominent Calenturi, “Looks like they’ve given up for the night,” he reported,   “Ferdan and Nola woke.”

 

Argenor nodded to both of them and said, “Heartstone’s happy with us again; we’ve restrengthened the bond.  And you’re right, Dava, losing any of our territory now could be a disaster.  We need to set up some patrols to check our key points.

 

“Ren, would you take charge of that?  At least until this current crisis is over, we need to be on the alert.  I’m sure they’d enjoy weakening us at any time, but an attempt to decimate our sphere of influence, and weaken our guardians when we’re under threat from an Aspirant is especially dangerous.”

 

Renmur saluted, “Of course, Argen.

 

“I’m keeping an eye on Terwin too.  He wasn’t here tonight, but I don’t believe he’s really broken his ties with Calenture.”

 

“No, there are a few too many convenient coincidences for us to believe that,” Argenor agreed.