Epilogue
“Vandyria departed the lowland kingdoms much as she had first entered them…
Her black war-skiff drifted silently from the misted shallows while the silver wolf-sigil upon her armored breast caught the first light of morning. Around her gathered the survivors of the Vandyrian war band, moving with the quiet efficiency that had characterized the campaign from its opening days. There were no songs of triumph, no speeches proclaiming conquest, and no ceremonies beyond the practical accounting expected of successful hunters returning from distant lands. The dead belonged to the lowlands. The spoils belonged to those who had earned them. Among the trophies loaded aboard lay the ear of Lord Tulvus, taken as proof that the final hunt had indeed been concluded. His sword accompanied it, together with the many silver ornaments stripped from his household, his ceremonial shields, his sabers, and the armor of those champions whose equipment had demonstrated sufficient quality to merit preservation. What held little value was abandoned where it fell. What possessed craftsmanship worthy of remembrance was divided among the war band according to ancient custom before the remainder was secured within the holds of the waiting skiffs.
By the time the morning sun had fully risen, little remained upon the shore beyond abandoned campfires and the fading tracks of departing vessels. The flotilla then departed the conquered shores, rendezvousing days later with the greater Vandyrian fleet waiting beyond the horizon. There, beneath banners already weathered by campaigns fought upon worlds whose names had long since vanished even from memory, Vandyria recounted the hunt before the assembled captains of her own black-wolf folk. The campaign had proven profitable. The enemy had fought with courage. The trophies were worthy. The worlds themselves had yielded precisely the measure their first reconnaissance had predicted.It is said that among those listening were elder lion-lords of the Primal Empire who had warned that this scattered collection of realms would resist longer than most. Whether spoken in jest or genuine admiration, the account records that Vandyria merely laid the trophies before them and answered that difficult prey was, after all, the only kind worth pursuing.”
