Thanks to MasterofBones and TehGramarPolise for their help with this chapter.

I woke up and opened my eye, only to instantly regret that decision as I felt something akin to a meat cleaver nail me right in the forehead.

"Glah frah, blergh." I said, eloquently summarizing my condition as I slammed my eye shut again and leaned back in my chair.

Beside me, I heard someone let out an answering groan of absolute misery, I turned my head and cracked my eye open once more to see Winter sitting beside me, her head on the table with both of her hands clutching the back of her head.

I grit my teeth as hammers went to work on both sides of my head and fought past the pain to straighten up in my chair. I was dimly aware as my arm collided with something and I heard the sound of a glass bottle rolling across the table.

I blearily turned my gaze in that direction and then my eye shot open and I froze.

There were bottles upon bottles… whiskey, wine, beer… every single type of alcohol in existence was on that freaking table, at least thirty or so strong.

And as my horrified gaze swept across it, I realized that as diverse as the collection was, it all had one thing in common.

They were all empty.

"Oh… oh shit." I swore as I rubbed my eye, "How did we even do that?"

"Can you keep it down?" Winter groused as her arms fell to her sides, "I'm trying to sleep… or die… whichever comes first."

I swept a hand through my hair and I managed a weak grin as I turned to her, "On a booze-covered table? Some Schnee you are."

"I am a proud and mighty Sssccchnee." She declared, lifting up a raised fist that wobbled a little as she spoke, "And I will have you pay for ssslandering my name."

I lifted an eyebrow, "You know, that would have sounded pretty intimidating if you weren't slurring every other word."

She tilted her head to the side and gave me a bleary-eyed glare, "I am not s-slurring." She protested.

I forced myself to my feet, "Whatever you say Ice Queen." I replied, then I bent over and picked her up in my arms.

We were both silent as I walked her to her quarters, I opened the door with my foot, and then walked over to the bed before gently laying her down.

I thought she was already out, but she opened her eyes to glare at me again, "Why did I let you talk me into that?" She demanded, then she closed her eyes and slammed her head back into the pillow "Oh, oh Dust, my head feels like it's being smacked with a brick."

I shrugged, "But it was fun, right?"

"Go to hell." She growled.

I grinned, "Do it again sometime?"

She let out another agonized groan, then she abruptly lifted herself up, wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me full on the lips before drawing back, her eyes bright, "After we save the world? Hell yes we're doing that again." She murmured.

I lifted an eyebrow, "Looking forward to it." I replied.

I left her to sleep off the hangover, but not before leaving her with a jug of water that I had her drink some of beforehand. Drink water, eat a big, greasy meal as soon as possible, I swear by those methods to get over hangovers.

In that spirit, I made my way to the dining hall to see what exactly was left over for me to chow down on.

When I arrived, it was to find that it was already bustling with activity, and filled with the absolutely heavenly smell of fried potatoes and eggs. The source of the smells was heaping platters of the stuff spread out evenly along the long tables. I immediately parked my ass in the closest empty seat and filled up a plate before going to town.

I had trucked through several heaping mouthfuls of artery clogging goodness when a knife slammed down into the table.

I hacked and coughed as I nearly choked on the food and followed the hand holding onto the knife handle to see Tyrian standing across the table from me, his eyes bright and a small smile on his face.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked politely.

I swallowed and indicated the seat across from me, "Sure, make yourself at home." I answered as casually as I could.

He slid into the chair and splayed a hand on the table; he wrenched the knife out of the table and started playing five finger fillet with it as he considered me.

"So, I've been thinking." He said, "I think we kind of got off on the wrong foot."

"Right." I replied cautiously.

He rolled his head around to stare up at the ceiling and the knife sped up as he continued to stab it between his outstretched fingers, "After all," He murmured, "I was in a dark time of my life, my Mistress under siege and me with no way to reach her. I was… lacking direction."

He slammed the knife down into the wood, barely a hair's breadth away from the joint of his ring finger and I ground my teeth as I only barely managed to stop myself from reaching for my weapon at the sudden movement.

Tyrian turned his gaze back around to me, "And I suppose that I should actually thank you." He told me, "After all, it was you and your companion that convinced me to redouble my efforts to find a way back to her, and so it was that I was able to find her as soon as she returned to Mistral."

He pouted, "After all, it wouldn't have done to have her dirty her own hands with all of the pretenders, that had taken her throne while she was away."

Yikes, I guess that's why I hadn't heard a lot about Mistral's Council.

"And now here we are." Tyrian spread out his arms, "Comrades in arms, fighting to save Remnant together under the glorious auspices of my Mistress."

I lifted an eyebrow, "Something like that."

"Well, I just want you to know." He wrenched the knife out of the table and twirled it around before sheathing it, he then reached across the table and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as he patted me on the shoulder, "You can depend on me."

I eyed him for a moment, "Good to hear it." I replied carefully.

He stood up, "I'll leave you to your meal, we have a busy day tomorrow." He waved at me over his shoulder, "Farewell until then... Qrow."

I watched him go, idly chewing on some more potato and egg which had inexplicably gone tasteless and dry.

"Well, well, well… look who's alive."

I turned my head to see Yang and Ruby, the former of which jerked her head after Tyrian, "What was that about?" She asked.

I grimaced, "He was telling me that I could depend on him."

Yang frowned, "Can you?"

"If I want a knife in my back, sure." I groused.

"He does seem the type." Yang agreed.

I let out a grunt and went back to the food.

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby piped up, "Did you do something to Kali?"

"Hmm?" I asked with a mouth full of eggs.

"Well, it's just that last night she stormed in and when I asked her what was wrong, she said something about my 'good-for-nothing, finch-brained uncle'."

I lifted an eyebrow at her and she held up her hands in a placating gesture, "I'm just paraphrasing." She told me.

"That's pretty specific to be paraphrasing." I grumbled.

"There was considerably more obscenity when Kali said it." Yang explained with a grin.

I let out a grunt and turned back to Ruby, "So, believe it or not, sometimes your uncle is an idiot."

"Not that hard to believe." Yang quipped.

I shot a quick glare at her before turning back to Ruby, "Anyway, this was one of those times and I think Kali was frustrated that she had to… clarify… a situation."

"What situation?" Ruby asked.

The question was innocent enough, but there was something in her eyes that made me slightly suspicious she knew exactly what I was referring to and I sighed.

"Well, if you must know," I began, "Winter-"

"And you are together?" Ruby interrupted.

I couldn't stop a small smile from forming on my face, "You bet." I replied.

"I knew it!" Ruby clapped her hands gleefully, "The way that Winter started asking about you, the way that you talked about her in the clearing…"

I rolled my eye, "Well damn." I muttered, "I'm starting to feel like we were the only ones who didn't know."

"Not the only ones." Yang replied, "Looks like I get to collect on that bet with Weiss."

I snorted, "Seriously?"

Yang put her arm around Ruby's shoulder, "Hey, I trust my sister's instincts."

I let out a rueful laugh, "Well damn, can't argue with that."

Yang turned her sister around, "See you around Uncle Qrow." She called and the two of them walked off. I shook my head and went back to my meal.

After I was done eating, I decided to walk around the city; the whole place was bustling with activity as mortals and monsters carried supplies out of the city to the series of launch pads that had been constructed for the airships.

Right in front of those launch pads were a trio of portals that were being created, checked, and double-checked; those would bring the airships to just outside the Filth corruption around Vale.

There was a ton of logistics surrounding it, but fortunately as the Guardian of Remnant, I was just expected to bring myself and whatever else I needed to kick a lot of ass and take a lot of names.

I made my way off of the main thoroughfares and into the portions of the city that were still decimated from the Filth attack.

It was a sobering sight, seeing buildings that had once stood impossibly tall and solid now nothing more than rubble strewn out on the ground. Something that I suppose I had noticed, but hadn't really considered before was that all of the buildings were made out of stone now. What had happened to the gold and gems they had originally been made out of? Had it been something linked to Ashuna's rule over the city?

It was idle thoughts like this that were on my mind when I saw movement in one of the ruins out of the corner of my eye.

Instantly Harbinger was in my hands and I strained my senses for every sight and sound. It was unlikely that it was Filth, but it didn't need to be to be a threat, there were plenty of beings of mana that had a bone to pick with me.

Thing is that I knew that blasting away with anima and asking questions later was a good way to ensure that the newfound alliance we had somehow managed to construct went up in flames. So I planted Harbinger's handle on the ground and faced the direction where I had seen the movement.

"Alright, whoever's there, come on out where I can see you." I called out, "I have to warn you, I'm kinda itchy on the trigger finger when I'm hungover, so don't make any sudden movements."

I waited for a moment, and someone emerged from the shadows of a collapsed building.

It was Pyrrha Nikkos, her spear and shield held loosely in her hands, when she saw me, she let out a massive sigh of relief and put them away, "Looks like I'm not the only one who's jumpy." She remarked.

I sheepishly sheathed Harbinger, "Yeah, looks that way." I replied.

We were silent for a moment, and then she cleared her throat, "So, what are you doing out here?"

I shrugged, "Taking a walk, clearing my head."

She hesitated for a moment, "Mind if I join you?" She asked.

"Go ahead."

She came up to stand beside me and we began walking down the city street side by side.

"It all seems so unreal." She said, "We're finally going to do it, go right back to where this nightmare all began." She cast a quick glance at me, "Although, I guess it goes back further for you."

I shook my head, "Nah, I think I'm with you on this one; I wouldn't exactly call the world before it took over tame or anything, but the Filth kinda kicked things up a couple of notches." I nodded at her, "You've done a hell of a job keeping everything together in the face of something like that."

Pyrrha cast her gaze down at the ground, "I had to." She said simply, "After Beacon…"

She went silent for a moment, "I've thought endlessly about that day... what I could have done differently…"

She stopped and I did as well, watching her, but she said nothing, her eyes distant.

"You alright?" I asked her.

She shook herself, "I'm fine." She told me, but it was slow coming out, and her gaze dropped down to the street.

I quickly looked around and then turned my gaze back to her, "You know." I said, "I heard a lot about you before the Festival. 'The Pride of Mistral', won tournaments the moment you could pick up that spear of yours. Never lost a real match as far as I'm aware." I paused, "But I know what that kind of attention means." I said softly, "It means that you get put up on a pedestal, and that means that you're forced to be perfect… to never falter, never mess up; because that's all your identity ever is to people."

I shrugged, "I was lucky in a way." I murmured, "At least I had a team that got put in that position, rather than just me. It meant that at least with each other we could be honest… we could be ourselves; but you? You were up there alone."

"And now here you are." I continued, "Leading the survivors of Beacon, planning out strategies with people that could once be considered your enemies… and in the case of the Jade Empress… will probably be an enemy again… especially if you show weakness. You're up on the pedestal again, except this time it isn't just people being disappointed that's at stake… it's whether they live to see another day."

"Thing is, I'm the freaking Guardian of Remnant and lemme tell ya, if you knew less than half of the absolute bullshit luck that went my way so that I'm even still alive today you'd probably be wondering how Remnant hasn't been destroyed already."

I crossed my arms, "What I'm saying, is that I've screwed up more times than you can count, and I also know what it looks like when someone's hurting; and if you keep all that bottled inside then it can affect your judgement later. So I'll ask you again… you alright?"

All the while I was talking, Pyrrha continued to stare down at the stone at her feet, not giving any sign that she had even heard me, but finally she spoke,

The day Beacon fell I lost my entire team." She murmured, "Ren, Nora… Jaune. Every single one of them." She clenched her hands into fists, "I was so stupid… I had sent Jaune to Ozpin, but instead of going with him, I went back to Ren and Nora. Then instead of staying with them when the Filth came, I left them to try and save Jaune." She shook her head angrily, "If I had just stayed with either of them then at least someone from my team might be here today."

She stood there, her fists shaking and I rubbed the back of my neck… geez… this was one hell of a mirror I was looking into right now. The guilt, the anger… the grief…

I sighed slightly as I looked up into the magical, blue sky above us, "You know…" I said, "My team's gone now too… and it was after one of them gave me a stern talking to…"

Pyrrha's eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion and I gave a rueful grin, "Long story… anyway, after that I realized something. They might be gone… but as long as I'm still around fighting…" I put a hand on my chest, "That the team's not gone yet. So in a way, they're not gone either… but that only works if I don't destroy myself over losing them."

I looked down at her, "And now you've got something I never did." I said softly, "A chance to get one of them back; and I would tell you how hard I would fight if I ever got that chance; but I can tell that that you'll be fighting plenty hard. You just can't lose sight of yourself while you're doing that."

She looked away, "I can't let myself fail him… not again," she spoke forcefully, but with an edge of uncertainty, that made me feel like I wasn't the one she was trying to convince.

I let out a small chuckle, "Don't know if you've noticed Pyrrha, but you're not alone in this fight." She turned back to face me and I gave her a thumb's up, "And we're going to get him back." I told her, "Count on it."

She let out a choked laugh and quickly wiped away at the moisture at the edges of her eyes, "Thanks, Qrow."

I shrugged, "Don't mention it, now let's get back; it's gonna be a hell of a day tomorrow."

The airship jumped and I clenched my teeth to stop myself from swearing, "Why the hell is there this much turbulence in a freakin' portal?" I demanded no-one in particular.

"Considering how messed up the ways are with the Filth, you should just be happy that we haven't had to do evasive maneuvers." Roman answered as he calmly pilotted the airship, Neapolitan was seated beside him in the co-pilot's chair, idly twirling her umbrella while keeping her mismatched eyes fixed squarely on the read-outs in front of her.

"When I went through the portal to get to Noradz from the chapterhouse I didn't get anything like this." I shot back at him.

"Yeah? And it took you how long to get there? Face it, if we want to get to the LZ by next week, you're gonna have to be a big boy and suck it up."

I growled something uncharitable under my breath and across from me Winter lifted an eyebrow, "So all I had to do to torture you was get you into a bumpy airship… who knew?" She jerked her head at Hazel, who was sitting calmly in his chair, his eyes closed and his fists knuckle to knuckle in a meditative pose, "Maybe he can teach a few tricks to relax."

"I have a method to relax," I growled back, "It just involves copious amounts of alcohol."

"Alcohol is poison to the body and soul." Hazel rumbled, then he opened a single judgemental eye at our pilot, "As is tobacco." He added, "The way of the Jade Empress is one of purity, only then can peace be achieved."

Roman made a show of taking a huge puff on the cigar in his hand, "I knew there was a reason I thought you guys were assholes." He retorted, "Face it pal, the only peace us mortals ever know is the peace of the grave, and no one lives forever. So let the good times roll!"

"Hedonist." Hazel grumbled and then closed his eyes to go back to meditating.

"Prude." Roman shot back over his shoulder before turning his attention to Neopolitan, "Anything?" He asked her.

She shook her head and made a couple of signs with her hands, Roman let out a grunt, "Nice, that Seydin guy really does know his stuff, wish we had him on our side before this; at this rate, the Filth will have absolutely no idea we're coming."

"That's the idea." I muttered.

"But since when does anything go according to plan?" Winter asked.

I shrugged, "Got me there." I admitted, then let out another curse as the airship lurched.

Winter abruptly unstrapped herself from her seat and stood up to sit in the seat next to mine, then without warning she reached out with her hand and wrapped it firmly around mine.

"What are you-" I started to ask and Winter put a finger to my lips.

"What? A woman can't hold her man's hand?" She asked.

I lifted an eyebrow, "Oh? Are you my woman then?"

She gave me a toothy smile, "Oh no… that's not how it works with Schnees… you're mine and that's final."

I was about to respond when the airship jumped and then fell, causing my stomach to go into my throat, but I was surprised to find that the surge of gut-wrenching fear that usually came with such abrupt motions wasn't present.

Winter must have seen the surprise on my face because she nodded, "Yeah, I used to be really afraid of going on airships when I was a kid." She told me, "But my mom… she would do this, hold my hand and talk to me and it helped a lot."

"You're not afraid anymore then?" I asked her.

She shrugged, "Nah, went on them so often that I eventually just kinda got used to it."

I heard someone clap their hands excitedly and I turned to see Neopolitan had turned around in her chair and she was watching us with delighted eyes that turned mischievous as she turned them to Roman. She punched him on the shoulder and he frowned, "What? Is something up?" He asked.

She held out her hand and he shook his head, "Neo, I'm a little bus-"

She scowled and punched him harder on the shoulder before holding out her hand again.

He rolled his eyes and took it, piloting the ship with one hand, and she smiled smugly before returning her gaze back to the readouts in front of her.

"Looks like we're a bad influence." I murmured.

"Well you're used to that aren't you?." Winter asked.

"Oh yeah, as far as bad influences go, I'm one of the best around." I replied.

"Oh?" She asked as she leaned in closer, "Well-"

"I hate to interrupt." Hazel rumbled, "But we're getting close." He stood up and grabbed onto one of the handholds.

"He's right." Roman called, "We'll be exiting the portal in about a minute… get ready."

Winter and I followed Hazel's lead, standing up to grab onto the handholds and doing a last check on our weapons.

"Just when we were getting to the good part." Winter muttered.

"Pick up where we left off later?" I asked her.

"Count on it." She told me as she tested the balance of her rapier.

There was a moment of disorientation as we shot out of the portal and back into reality. Below us was the coastline just south of the city of Vale, and in the distance the outlines of skyscrapers could be seen over the horizon.

Everywhere was covered with Filth. The beach, the trees of the forest that was beyond the coastline, and humanoid figures that recoiled in shock and surprise as our airship appeared out of nowhere.

Roman didn't give it any time to react and fired a salvo of missiles directly into it, the anima-warheads erupted into golden explosions, erasing the Filth wherever they connected.

"Go, go, go!" Roman yelled out and the ramp lowered down, and I jumped out along with Hazel and Winter.

We landed on the beach, the sand flying as we ran up it, Winter and I with our weapons out, and Hazel with a large chunk of jade stone in his arms.

"Where do you want it?" I shouted.

The man scanned our surroundings and finally he nodded to a small outcropping, "There!" He shouted.

The three of us ran as fast as our legs could go, pounding the sand beneath our feet as we went.

Roman and Neopolitan weren't idle in the airship, more explosions rocked the beach as they fired the last of the missiles and the sound of heavy machine gun fire filled the air as they began firing its secondary weapons.

As devastating as aerial assault was however, the fact was that we were surrounded by Filth, and as soon as they began to attack one area, the Filth would instantly begin encroaching on another. Soon, Winter and I had to go to work, blasting the forms that arose from the Filth with our weapons.

As we got closer to Hazel's spot however, even that wasn't enough to keep it back, and we began hacking and slashing our way forward, the Filth coming in waves to try and stop us, slowing our progress.

I heard a piercing cry overhead that doubled and redoubled and I looked up to see not one, not two… but five large bird-like filth forms circling overhead, preparing to dive down at us.

"Qrow…" Winter said uncertainly.

"I see them." I replied, "Cover me."

Winter stepped forward and I slammed Harbinger blade-first into the ground and concentrated, "Ignis…" I whispered, "Saros vulcanos firaga…" The anima flowed through my arms, through my very veins, all coming together to form a solid, golden fireball that began to burn brighter and brighter between my palms.

The birds let out a collective cry and then shot downward, black flames forming around their wings as they dived down at us, and I slapped my palms together, "Go!" I shouted at Winter and Hazel.

The two of them ran forward and I went down to a knee, "Eat this!" I yelled, "Helkath!"

Anima-infused flames flew outward from me, erupting into a dome that incinerated any Filth that it touched, the birds let out screeching cries as they pulled upward to avoid it.

One of them wasn't so lucky and it slammed into the flames; it gave a single, despairing cry that was abruptly cut off as it burned up in an instant.

Hazel and Winter reached the outcropping and the large man slammed the jade down into the stone and then grabbed it in both hands, muttering under his breath.

I grit my teeth as my vision faded in and out as exhaustion ate away at my limbs; the Filth beat at the dome of fire, throwing itself at it in a suicidal frenzy in an attempt to break it down so that it could consume us.

But it wasn't to be, and Hazel let out a shout as a green light erupted from the jade and I felt a shockwave rip through me as the magic surged outwards.

The ground trembled as a furious roar erupted from the Filth as it was bodily flung back, back, and then further back still. Soon, it was nowhere to be seen except in the far distance.

I let out a sigh of relief as I dropped the dome and the golden flames vanished, leaving the ground scorched in its wake.

The airship slowly lowered down to the ground and landed as I got to my feet. Roman and Neopolitan emerged and immediately began drawing a design with chalk onto a large stone block that they had been carrying on the underbelly of the ship.

Soon, there was a giant circle surrounded with runes, Roman lit his lighter and then muttered something under his breath before snapping it shut.

The air above us was rent open and other airships began to pour through. Roman and Neopolitan began directing them to land as Winter and Hazel came back over.

Penny emerged from one of the airships and began adding onto the design on the stone block and soon the airships were coming in three at a time, all landing around the beach. Yang led a team of her soldiers with their chain-pikes and began slicing down the trees around the area and Ungrost led a team of monsters to carry them away.

Soon, we had ourselves a massive clearing, and Ungrost's team got to work making the logs into barricades to put around it… and like that, within less than ten minutes, we had our forward base.

"Well," Winter said as we watched the proceedings finish up, "That went well."

"Yeah, I gotta admit, that went even smoother than I anticipated." I remarked

She turned to me, "Did you know you could do that?" She asked.

I shrugged, "Not really, but it worked out."

"Can't argue with you there." She agreed.

We walked through the base, the hustle and bustle of everyone getting materials and equipment out of the portals that were being set up on the ground flowing around us.

Finally, we reached the table that had been set up where Pyrrha, Weiss, Seydin, and the Jade Empress were gathered around.

"Good work." Pyrrha told us as we arrived, "Thanks to the Jade Empress' ward stone, we should have the space we need to begin the next phase."

"Indeed." Seydin agreed, "Count Arnau has informed me that our warriors are standing by, we shall be ready to hold down the fort while you assault Beacon itself."

"Excellent." Pyrrha nodded at Winter and me, "We'll be assembling everyone on the forward assault team in ten minutes, will you be ready to assist Penny in the use of the Scepter by then?"

I nodded, "Ready as we'll ever be."

She nodded, "Good, you're dismissed."

The group of them began talking amongst themselves as Winter and I walked towards the rendezvous point, "So the suicidal leap into Filth to set up the ward stone is over." Winter murmured, "Now it's just a matter of using an artifact that we've never even had the chance to test so that we can attack the center of the Filth itself."

"Yup," I agreed, "That's what we in the Guardian business call 'show time'."

Ten minutes later, I was standing with Penny in front of an absolute sea of Filth as far as the eye could see, forms kept rising out, throwing themselves forward at the invisible barrier in front of us, only to pop like a water balloon, the liquid they were comprised of spraying backwards as it was repulsed by the ward stone.

Everyone on the forward assault team was behind us, Yang with handpicked members of her militia, Weiss with several elite squadrons of Atlas' best, and the Jade Empress with Tyrian, Hazel, and a man with a mustache who referred to himself as Dr. Watts. The implication being that those three men were enough to match any number of soldiers.

They were all waiting with bated breath, even the Jade Empress stood with rapt attention as Penny and I worked with the Scepter to bring forth the power that would enable us to forge a path through the Filth between us and Beacon.

So Penny and I were maybe panicking just a little bit as we bent over the Scepter and tried to get the damn thing to work.

"You're sure you translated it right?" I asked in a hissed whisper.

"Of course I'm sure." She snapped back, "Otkin adarab utaalk, that is the activation phrase. You're sure that you pumped enough anima into it?"

"I mean… I think so… you saw how it nearly exploded when I tried to put more in."

"Damnit." She cursed, "And we're certain that it's not an issue of it being used too recently… so what in the world is going on?"

"Um… Uncle Qrow?"

I whirled around to see Ruby standing there, her face a little nervous, "Is everything going okay?"

"Uh… yeah… just fine, we're working out some… technical difficulties." I answered.

She nodded and was about to say something else when Zwei ran past her and with a single leap, jumped up and snatched the Scepter right out of Penny's hands before running straight towards the Filth.

I felt my heart leap up into my mouth and I began to run after him when Ruby grabbed my arm, "No, it's okay! Zwei said he can help!"

I ground my teeth, "Maybe if it involved burying it or chewing on it, but that thing is-"

Then Zwei stopped right at the very edge of the Filth, set down the Scepter and let out a haunting, lilting howl that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

The 'dog' then threw back his head and continued the howl, and it evolved into a melody of sorts, rising to cresting crescendos and falling back down into a rolling thunderous bay.

But it wasn't the fact that Zwei was singing that made my jaw drop, it was the words of the 'song' that did that... 'otkin adarab utaalk'… 'otkin adarab utaalk'… those three words over and over again in a harmony in which the words themselves seem to weave and intertwine into a chant… 'otkin adarab utaalk'… 'otkin adarab utaalk'… Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Argos Hansiet wgah'nagl fhtagn.

I blinked at the sudden shift and Zwei fell silent as that discordant final phrase seemed to hang in the empty air.

Then the ground beneath my feet began to tremble.

There were shouts of warning and a little bit of a panic as most of those assembled stood at the ready with their weapons, preparing for a fight as the trembling grew more extreme until it was difficult to even stay standing.

Then Penny pointed, "Look!" She cried.

I followed her finger and I watched in disbelief as the Filth began to fade away, parting as something massive came over the horizon.

"No freaking way." I muttered.

It was a Yungar, its breathing like a massive set of bellows as it ran towards us, its scrunched-up face open in a wide, doggy smile as its tongue lolled out of its open mouth, its bugged out eyes more or less focussing on Zwei, who was sitting calmly by the Scepter.

Behind that Yungar came seven more, all of them likewise bounding towards us, the Filth practically flying as it retreated away from their massive forms.

"They repel the Filth?" Penny asked in disbelief, "How… why…"

I let out a laugh, "'The Hounds of the Ancients'," I muttered, shaking my head, "I guess that I was expecting something a little more… regal."

"No kidding." She agreed.

"They're adorable!" Ruby squealed.

One by one, the Yungar came to a halt in front of Zwei, then as one, they sat down, in front of him, and then at a single bark from the dog, they laid down, panting happily as they did so.

Then Zwei turned back towards all of us and let out a twin pair of barks.

I lifted an eyebrow and shook my head, "Well then," I muttered, "Saddle up."