The work on the channel continued all day the next day and the day after. Yet by the fourth day they'd completed the whole length to the spot where Shyla and Asbiorn swore they'd found the secret pipes that led down to the reservoir in the mountain. Jake could see no sign of them, so cleverly had the dwarves fashioned them, but he had no doubt that Shyla and Asbiorn would be proven right in the end.

Once the main channel had been cleared, they started work on some of the smaller ditches that would lead to the fields. Like the main channel, they made the ditches seem natural creeks and outlets, adding bends, twists, falls and such stones as they found to create a bed.

On dawn of the sixteenth of August, everyone stepped outside to see a change in the valley. Storm clouds rolled across the ground, throwing bolts of lightning like an angry toddler with his toys. Sheets of water were clearly visible hammering the desert floor below, while the banks of the river and channel trembled.

Suddenly, a gray shape in the distance resolved itself into a wall of water hurtling down the river, smashing everything in its path.

Jake looked at the dam they had constructed across the main channel, wondering anxiously if it would withstand the onslaught. Evidently his fear was shared by the others.

"What on earth was Tom thinking?!" Rachel gasped in horror. "We didn't want a flash flood, but a steady return of the water!"

"Will the dam hold?" Jake asked.

"I don't know! We didn't expect this..." she trailed off, biting her lip. "I think it will." She said at last. "Our calculations weren't for this much force so soon, but we anticipated that upheavals would happen and the dam would need to withstand them. Let's hope that we build strong enough!"

Everyone watched on tenterhooks as the water came closer. With a rushing roar dimly heard on the slopes, it hit the dam and found itself temporarily blocked. The hissing, angry, roiling water foamed as it pushed against the earth and stone, until it discovered the outlet of the irrigation channel. It poured through the opening with an indescribable din. Hundreds of wild lions, savage tigers and fierce bears roaring in a tiny room all at once would not have compared. It smote the mountainside, forcing many people to wince and stop their ears even despite the distance.

The full fury struck the mountain and rose in a plume of spray almost a thousand feet high. Dark, muddy water swirled angrily, but did not spread farther.

Jake watched silently for a few minutes before commenting, "It looks like Shyla and Asbiorn's guess was right on the money."

"It looks that way." Volgelson agreed, looking down to the maelstrom. She seemed shaken, her knees slightly wobbly as she struggled to comprehend the full force unleashed against their home.

"I thought it wouldn't be this strong." She finished lamely.

"I don't think it was intended to be." Jake said very quietly, better controlling his voice this time.

Volgelson looked up sharply. "What do you mean?

"There are bodies in that water, of a kind I've not seen before." Jake told her. "They'll need to be fished out for study and to keep from poisoning our water, Serena will aid in that. But while they appear superficially to be Brisson, they are clearly something else entirely."

Jake found himself correct. After the river had abated and become a steady flow that poured into the mountain to refill the lakes beneath and who knows how many other reservoirs, he and perhaps fifty others made their cautious approach and sought to recover as many bodies as they could. There were many, and all were bloated from the water, but even through the distortion they could see a similarity to Annabel, Matcha and Gavin. These creatures, however, were, as a rule, shorter and broader across the shoulder, with green fur and large eyes, and a mouth full of sharp, pointed fangs. Jake's initial thought was a goblin of some sort, and in fact, they were soon called goblins by men.

Gavin looked at the creatures grimly when shown them (he'd insisted his sister and her maidservant remain in the tunnels), and showed little emotion.

"You do not seem to be surprised to find them." Jake observed, watching his face.

Gavin shrugged. "They are a common threat here, and elsewhere through the world. They are..." he paused, at a loss for words, "Night demons? Dolna, is our word for them at least. They like mountains and swamps, wherever they can find a deep, dark hole to hide from the sun. They come out at night and do great damage to towns and villages, or wipe out any isolated farmstead they come across. The captives are taken away and never seen again--eaten or enslaved usually, though there are reports that some of the Dolna tribes can turn a victim into more of themselves."

Jake listened to his words grimly, meeting Rachel's horrified ones.

"That is a grave advantage on their part." She murmured.

"Fortunately, their magic users are relatively few for the numbers they possess." Gavin hastily assured her.

"Hmm." Jake growled noncommittally. His eyes turned westward, in the direction the bodies had come.

"Tom is responsible for this." He said at last. "Obviously, the party ran into a fight, and Tom raised a flood to throw back the enemy. They were swept away and drowned, coming at last to here."

Rachel moaned anxiously. "We have to check to see if they need help." She insisted firmly.

"Yes, let's check the pool and see." Jake agreed.

Everyone hurried to the pool where Serena had already cast the spell. The water darkened to a shade of midnight, becoming flat and smooth as polished marble. On its surface, dim shapes could be made out moving around. Suddenly lightning crashed, lighting up the entire scene for a brief instant, showing Tom and Stacey engaged in magical combat with hundreds of the Dolna around the mouth of a mountain stream.

Lightning flashed again and again, hurling bodies away from the impacts. While striking only the goblins, Jake didn't think that Tom was actually controlling the lightning; rather it seemed to be a side effect of the moisture boiling in the air at his command as he moved water out of the stream to the sky and back to his hands as he needed, bathing everything in dense fog. The vapor and smoke clearly made it impossible for the enemy to see anything, and they blundered into each other as often as not, as scores of bodies on the ground showed. Most of the dead, however, were not caused by blades, but showed signs of drowning, crushing, smashing and rending. One of the goblins came in brief focus; he stood taller than most, with a red cape tied at the neck and secured with a black brooch, black armor painted with red adornments and a broad staff that had a flaming tip. As he stood obviously casting, the ground in front of him abruptly exploded upwards, casting dirt and rocks that rained down on the surrounding troops. Thick roots wound around him, lifting him high into the air and shredding his screaming corpse as they pulled him in twain.

The scenes of battle and destruction went on, but with the death of their sorcerer in such obvious and painful fashion, Jake could see their desire to continue the fight against such powerful foes wane. The edges of the mob began to tatter, as in ones and twos the goblins started to flee. Tom made a motion with his hands, and the clouds in the sky parted, letting the sunshine pour down from the heavens, driving the shrieking, cursing, wailing, and snarling goblins into the shadow of the forest. Stacey gestured imperially, bringing the forest to life. The boughs shivered as trunks moved inwards. Jake had no doubts now that the goblins that had fled to the safety of the trees had found only death there.

"It seems the battle is over." He commented.

The others clustered around the pool looked at him like he was nuts, before going back to the water.

"Tom and Stacey have never exhibited that kind of power before." Brian commented. His voice was full of curiosity and concern. "I hope it didn''t tax them too sorely."

"I don't think we've seen all that Tom and Stacey can do just yet." Jake said. "I think there are going to be more surprised out of them. But it heartens me to see that they've managed to beat off such a large attack. They should be able to have a peaceful return trip now. They've given us much to think about, however. New plans will have to be drawn up."

Everyone looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?" Several voices asked at once.

Rachel spoke before he could. "It's rather obvious." She said peevishly. "The goblins are going to be a serious matter to us, and a threat. With those numbers at their command they could easily overwhelm most conventional defenses, and our weaponry is currently extremely limited. We have to build up arms and strengthen defenses as quickly as we can."

Volgelson looked down at the water absently, working things out in her head.

"We can't feed as many people as we'd need." She said softly. ""We're pushing it hard now. If we tried to bring more people out, they'd go hungry and perhaps starve. We need more of them to man our defenses. The mountain's just too big, there is only one entrance, but can we hold for as long as we need to?"

"You forgot about me." Jake rumbled. "I am a dragon, and the mountain is my home."

Volgelson nodded. "I hadn't forgotten, but what if you are hurt again, or are away from the mountain for whatever reason? We would be vulnerable."

Rachel looked appreciatively at her. "Well put." She applauded. "We obviously need a plan, and some sort of defense that we can employ."

For some time as they talked, Jake got the uncomfortable feeling that told of magic gathering around them, so subtly that it didn't register as danger, but now the feeling came in sharp focus and he snapped his eyes to where Serena had been only to discover that she had slipped away while they'd stood talking. He looked to the source of the feeling standing a hundred yards away, her horn blazing with light, washing out the sun until it seemed feeble and frail.

"I think..." Jake began, but never finished.

Trees and bushes sprouted from bare earth, especially near the water. With such a river at their disposal, the trees drank thirstily, fueling their growth to such an extent that the water actually dropped a little. Meanwhile the trees grew thick and strong, reaching for the sky. In minutes, where there had been only a handful of trees standing in the desert sun, now stood a young forest, hale and healthy, standing tall in the light. For several hours the magic would continue, allowing the forest to achieve a mature status while around Serena's pond a great oak--nearly a mirror copy of her Great Tree from ages past (Jake suspected she had brought seeds from that tree out of the mountain previously and had planted them, hoping for them to grow). Smaller sentinels ringed the tree, each thicker than four men abreast, tough and gnarled as any ironwood. Jake thought they might be a species of beech (actually a very close relation of Blue Beech, though never before encountered), but of course, they grew too lofty heights never dreamed of by their ancestors.

As Serena's power ebbed, everyone could only stand around in chock and stare. In the quiet, Jake heard the branches rustle and shake, though there was no wind. He knew the trees had to be talking to each other, though what they were saying he could not tell.

Rachel and Brian shook their heads. "I never get tired of seeing this." Brian told Jake quietly. "The amount of power she has when she puts her mind to things is scary."

"Perhaps a little." Jake admitted. "But overall I am very glad that she has such strength. It will be enough to deter any attack from the demons, I am sure."

"We will have to remind people not to take any living wood." Rachel pointed out. "These trees are not like the trees back home, they will defend themselves, violently if necessary.""

"Good point." Jake agreed. "We will tell Volgelson, and then address a town meeting."

"Well, perhaps in a couple of days." Brian demurred. The others looked at him and he explained himself. "The forest has lots of trees, but I've noticed some fruiting trees, as well as edible roots. With gatherers we could bring in enough food to feed the people we have now and some more. We should talk about freeing more people."

"Patience!" Jake laughed. "Curse the impatience of centaurs! But we aren't going to be ready to release anyone else for a while yet. We haven't even gotten this group on its feet yet."

"True." Rachel agreed, popping Brian lightly on his shoulder. "I know that you are going to be worried about keeping so many people in stasis for so long, but they've survived three million years or so in just such a fashion. Another few months or even a year isn't going to faze them in the slightest."

Brian shrugged his shoulders. "Managing everyone at once is going to be just as difficult as trying to manage them piecemeal." He pointed out.

Jake shrugged. "Don't know, never tried myself." He admitted. "But I can't help but think that starting with a few people and working out the kinks in small-scale is better than trying to jump in all at once and figure things out on the fly."

The centaurs quickly nodded. "Of course you are correct, in normal circumstances." Brian argued. "But humans are not logical, nor necessarily predictable. What a small group will do does not always represent a larger group or even a country. No matter what size groups we do, as we add more people we are going to have to come up with new rules and new procedures each time."

Jake shrugged. "Noted." He said. "But we would have to do that anyway, and at least in small scale we can build up stocks and supplies easier and keep people from going hungry."

"We shall see." Brian said.