Tom explained the situation to Kurt. Their forces loosely surrounded Gateway Keep, and there wasn't much action behind the gate from what anyone could tell. Kurt was surprised that they had held back so much until he learned.

Layla was holding the line with Boris. The clan had complete control of the inner castle. And the main problem was do they or don't they blow it up? They didn't exactly have the authority to drill a hole in the wall. So they were in a siege setup until they got someone from Valentine here.

"If we had only brought the rider hawk," said Hank. "We didn't know how far or what trains really were. Very nice actually."

"And we can't just climb up with a rope?," Kurt said.

"I wouldn't advise that," said Tom. And he looked up at Harvey, came a bit closer to Kurt, and whispered "Harvey could do it, but better not let him hear that."

The beginning of the battle was apparently more intense; the introduction of the fires had surprised the clan, and they had retreated quickly behind the gates of the keep.

"What about Earth? Do we know anything?" said Kurt.

"No," said Tom. "The reality is the place could have a lot of people or very little. They could have been escaping."

"So we shouldn't rush taking down a wall," Kurt said.

Kurt thought back. There could just be shadow golems waiting for them in there as well. And that could be tricky. But with proper backup and not just what was around things might work out. At least Lurt hoped so

"Kurt," Layla said. "What happened?"

After a short explanation. Explaining the dangers of the shadow golems. And what might work on them. They figured out that they were basically waiting on the train from where Kurt had come from to figure out what to do. But that didn't mean they couldn't make a few options for them in the meantime.

"We should send someone to check on Talia," Kurt said.

"Do we know anything, should I move there?"

"We can send a crew," said Layla, "tell them to bring her here or a message. It didn't look like she was on the losing side from our angle. I didn't know she had that sword in the sky."

"Yeah," said Kurt, "that's new."

They had waited for a while but they had seen the train turn around and come back in the distance. Kurt was fast but so was a train at full speed. So there wasn't much of a wait.

"So these Shadow Golems are formidable?" asks Tom.

"Especially without some of those flames, I'm worried the shamans' fireballs will have no effect. But we should check."

"We can set that up."

Count Douglas, a few other men, and the Minotaurs and goatman that had gone with Kurt came out of the train cars.

"Count Douglas," Kurt said, "Maybi introduce Princess Layla."

Count Douglas took a knee, a hand, and kissed in a proper, "the pleasure is all mine."

"I'm sure," said Layla, taking her hand back.

"What is the situation?" Douglas said.

"We are waiting on permission," said Layla, "we can take the door down, or put a hole in the wall. Or looking up at Harvey. "Climb, all will cause damage to the keep. We are waiting for the Valentine Clan to allow us to break through their walls."

"Do you think more of those creatures are in there, Sir Kurt?"

"If not there will be."

Douglas rubbed his chin, "The keep isn't mine I wouldn't have the authority, but this is an emergency and I think I can assume the Count here is dead."

"I wouldn't know who that is, and we haven't been inside. He could be captured," said Layla. "But he certainly can't give any orders."

"We can hope. And Talia isn't here?"

"No, she went the other way."

"I'm sorry it's just better for me if I had another person to consult and concur with."

"I would suggest destroying the front gate, it's the easiest to repair. But it is also the easiest to set the trap for."

"What if we climbed up there," said Douglas, " and just took a look."

"A lot of things could happen in this scenario from their side," said Tom. "It's not like we could hide it."

Kurt thought for a moment, and said "I'll be right back."

Kurt jumped completely over the wall and landed in what should be the courtyard. He hit a smaller building he wasn't expecting to be there and tumbled down. He jumped up to his feet. And there were eight shadow creatures there all about to rush him. Kurt leaped again back outside the walls. And went back to the group.

"There are eight shadow summons in there," said Kurt. "Smart too. Well smart enough."

"I didn't see them, from what I saw they just left us the gift. So the plan is easy."

"Easy?" Said, Douglas.

"We wait until Talia gets here. No one rushed out of there. They have left or have a minimal force waiting to leave, keeping the shadow summons up, while we twiddle our thumbs. So since they aren't going to do anything we can get our cards in order. Which is mostly waiting. And figuring out how to kill them all quickly."

"Then I talk to some of the shamans," said Tom. You should come by and explain what we are dealing with.

"Hey, Harvey," said Kurt.

"Yes, master."

"Go get Talia."

"Yes master," and one of Harvey's four heads went high up to the air and made a big sniff. "Hmm, she was that way," turning towards one of the railways, "I can't smell her here."

"Yeah, follow the train tracks," said Kurt, "don't ruin them, next to them."

"Yes master," Harvey turned and started running off into the distance, the dust kicked up behind him. The broken train that was stopped by the sword from the sky was barely visible.

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