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Chapter 109

I wake with a start.
I yelp a little, and Blarg snorts and looks back at me, and I can read plainly on his exasperated furry goaty face; Humans.
I orient myself quickly. The moon is still high in the sky, glowing with the light of a pale sun in it's fullness. In the still night air around me, I hear the thumping of the creature's wings. Evidently we haven't reached the Old City yet. After all, Blarg, loaded with ten people, was only able to make it there in over a day, so at this speed, I estimate it will be a few more hours, depending on how long I've been sleeping.
But what I can't seem to recall is why the forest below is moving.
I blink the sleep away from my eyes and, squinting through the fog at the ground far below, I realize the forest itself isn't moving. It's inhabitants are.
Hundreds, upon thousands, upon thousands of thousands of Beasts are moving through the Wold below. They crawl, skulk, fly, leap, slither and slink through the high branches, the brush beneath, skimming the canopy. Slow and fast, from the tiniest fanged mouse to a hulking black lion-bat thing that leaves a trail of trampled trees in it's path, they all surge forwards, towards the east, the same direction me and my army of giant goats are heading.
I scratch behind my ear, wondering if I'm still asleep. Blarg roars, then, like a clap of thunder, and I know even I can't sleep through that.
At the sound of the roar, almost like it's some kind of signal in Beast-talk or something, more creatures gather below, striped and leathery and furry and feathery, they swarm inwards, streaming in from all directions to join the building pack, until in every direction, as far as I can see, there is a river of Beasts.
The remarkable thing? They don't fight. They don't seem to realize they're surrounded by their former predators or prey. They don't even seem to notice one another! They simply tramp in one collective group in one direction, not even looking to their left or right, ignoring the thousands of other Beasts around them.
I glance at Sir Blarg, and I swear he's grinning like he knows something I don't. Seemingly, he does, and I just push the thought from my mind, because I'll probably never figure it out.
Whatever my goat friend told them, the Beasts of the Wold are massing together, building an army. It remains to be seen how that will go over with Purr and the soldiers of the Old City. Hey, I'll take what I can get, and I'm sure they won't mind extra help, as long as that help doesn't want them for lunch.
Then it hits me. Like, oh my God. It's really happening. This really is an army of Man and Beast, and when the sun rises, we will attack the City. And I know, with crippling certainty, that whatever the outcome of the final battle, it will be the final battle. Whether we live or die, it will all be over before the next sunset, that I'm sure of.
The end has arrived.