As the moon rose over the Black City, the sound of syncopated footsteps filled the air outside Thoth. To anyone unfamiliar with the approaching horde, it would have been a terrifying sight. One hundred fierce and tattooed wolves with braided manes and blackened teeth made their way to the northern gate of the city. These were the Lokians and at their head was the greatest of their warriors, King Frega Tarchak, first hereditary monarch of all the Lupine clans.

Word of their arrival quickly reached Castle Thoth and by the time the wolves passed the gates into the city, Chumley Bilgespike, Governor Emeritus of Morgaard and the present Governor, Deerdor Barus, himself a Lokian as well as Frega's cousin, were preparing to greet them at the entrance to castle Thoth.

The Lokians marched through the gates of the city four abreast with King Frega in the lead. The black cobbled streets were soon lined with Thothians craning their necks to get a view of the impressive northern warriors.

Each member of the royal guard was bedecked in full parade regalia. Their heads were covered in a crested metal helmet which extended from halfway up their snouts to the base of their thick necks, with openings for their ears and eyes. The crests, which would normally be filled with long feathers, were instead bedecked with foot long metal needles, like porcupine spikes, slightly curved and attached on rivets, allowing them to move freely back and forth. The needles gently struck the back of the helmets as the wolves marched, mimicking the sound of a hundred snare drums with each step the warriors took.

Their bodies were covered in a shining steel coat of fine mail, over which an armor breastplate bearing the coat of arms, a silver war-hammer over a golden moon, of Frega Tarchak. At each warrior's waist, a battle ax with a double crescent blade hung dangerously.

At the head of the columns, King Frega walked proudly. Unlike his warriors, he wore no helmet, only a laurel-shaped golden coronet signifying his kinghood. Above his silver-mail frock, he sported a black enameled breastplate. In the center of the armor, a scarlet cloisonné moon bearing the mark of Frega's family stood proudly. Unlike his soldiers, he wore no weapon at his side, instead, a massive war-hammer was slung on his back, its handle rising two feet above the top of his head.

As Frega approached Castle Thoth with his wolves, a familiar voice called to him from the base of the drawbridge.

" 'Ow's mah favorite wolfy doin? It's about time you showed up!"

A big grin spread on Frega's features. He signaled his troops to stop and walked quickly to where Chumley and Deerdor stood. Deerdor bowed. Frega then swept Chumley up in a tight bear-hug.
"Chumley, you old reprobate! It's been far too long!"

Chumley struggled in the wolf's grasp. When Frega released him he caught his breath and answered cheerfully.
"And this is why, ain't it. Your greetin's more dangerous than a dyspeptic viper, ain't it. Ah can only survive so many in a year."

Frega and Chumley were very close. The wolf had saved the rat's life several times and Chumley for his part had rescued Frega's family during Khalis' reign as well as securing the monarchy for his friend.

Chumley clapped the wolf on the back.
"Ah am so glad you got here. We're gonna be needin' your help, we are. Matter of life and death and all that. Ah figger you're as bored bein' king as ah was bein' governor, so ah got a little offer of adventure for ya, don't ah? A little bit of savin' the world and all."

Frega laughed loudly.
"I can always count on you my friend to make life more interesting. Of course I will help you, whatever the task."

"That's right nice of you, Frega, but you don't even know what ah'm askin'."

"Well, apparently the world needs saving, that seems a worthwhile task," Frega smiled, "helping seems the kingly thing to do."

Chumley smiled.
"Ah knew I could count on you. Ya got some pals here too that are gonna be very happy to see you."

"Who is here?"

"Well, the usuals of course, Belinda and your chess partner Dema. Then there Thoris and Robbi..."

"Robbi is here?" Frega interrupted.

"Yeah, she is. Some new friends too."

Frega became serious.
"If Robbi is here then there really is serious danger."

"That's what ah said, didn't ah? Weren't you listening to what ah said?"

"Not if I can avoid it," The wolf chuckled, "it will be nice to catch up with everyone."

"You'll have plenty of time. Ah got the barracks set up for your wolves and a nice room for you. Don't go messin' it up now or you'll have to answer to Belinda." Chumley smiled.

"I will bear that in mind. Should we meet after I settle down my troops?"

"Ah think that's a good idea. Ah'll take you to your quarters and let yah rest after your journey. We'll talk at supper, everyone'll be there. This is quite a bizarre situation, it is. Ah suspect you'll need your sleep so yer 'ead don't explode when ah tell you what's goin' on. Truly strange it is."

"From you Chumley," The mighty lupine laughed, "I would expect nothing less."

Herman spent the night sleeping by the cooling glass furnace. A light snow had fallen during the night covering everything but the ground around the fissure and the furnaces which lined it.

After leaving his tent he quickly made his way to where the large structure covering his glass was already being disassembled by members of the stone-workers guild. The arched roof had already been removed and Herman, anxious to check on his work, scurried over the short wall into the cool furnace's interior. As he did so he dislodged one of the heavy stones of the wall. It teetered, then fell sharply on to one of the finished panes.

Herman winced, fully expecting the thin glass to crack under the impact of the projectile. It didn't. The large brick actually bounced a foot into the air, falling and settling on the massive pane. Herman quickly removed the stone and carefully examined the glass under it. There were no cracks, chips or blemishes on the pane other than a few pieces of stone which had crumbled on impact. Herman sat back on his haunches in relief. He shook his head, grinning broadly. Winnie, who had spent the night in the castle popped his head over the furnace wall and addressed his brother.

"How'd we do, Hermie?" he asked anxiously.

"Looks like we done right good, me liddle buddy. Even kinda tested it just now. This glass is a marvel, liddle gaffer. I ain't never seen nuthin' like it. I think she's a gonna work....hold all the water and she ain't but a quarter of an inch thick."

"That's great! I always knew we could do it." The small hedgehog said excitedly.

"Then you was a lot surer than me," Herman smiled.

"How you fixin' to put 'er together, Hermie?"

The large hedgehog thought for a moment while gently stroking his right paw over the surface of the glass. Finally he looked up at his brother, who was now sitting on the top of the wall, and answered.

"I got me a piece of the web left, a small patch what fell off'n the main bunch. I was hopin' to make another batch of this here glass to glue the edges. I'll get it nice and soft and work it inta the bottom and edges...to seal 'em and such. We got a frame built to hold the pane in place, so I'll just climb on into the tank and work a log string of glass inta all the edges. I ain't sure that that'll be secure enough, so the metal-fellas made the frame outta steel to make sure the damn thing holds together."

Herman reached into his frock pocket and pulled out a small patch of Arisha's web. He handed it to Winnie. "Here ya go me fine hog, mix me up two more cauldrons. I'm gonna see to getting' these panes into the frame. Bring the glass over when she's properly cooked."

"Will do, Hermie," Winnie said brightly and added in a meek voice, "would it be alright if I used a coupla pounds of the special glass for a project?"

"What project?"

"It's a surprise. I got a new pal in the metal guild and we want to try something. It ain't nuthin' bad, I promise. What do you say, Hermie, can I get a bit?"

Herman looked his brother in the eye and nodded.
" 'Course you can, it's your glass as much as mine. I trust ya, besides, that ain't much of the stuff to ask for...two cauldrons is way more than I should need."

Winnie jumped off the wall and ran up to his brother, giving him a hug.
"Thanks, you won't regret it!"  he reached over the wall and held up a small haversack, "I brung ya some chow from the castle."

Herman smiled.
"That's a fine gift for a cold morning," Herman said climbing back over the wall and walking with Winnie to a small table set up nearby. He unpacked the haversack and served himself some oatcakes with honey, while Winnie picked out some biscuits. Herman chowed down heartily while Winnie gave his account of breakfast at the castle.

"I met me another king, Hermie," the small hedgehog said proudly, "that makes two plus the high magus just this year. This here new king is a wolf! He's real scary lookin', but a real nice beast...he patted my head and laughed at a joke I told 'im. He did get real serious though when everybody told 'im about the stuff what was goin' on. Him and Chumley went off and talked real serious-like, then they come back and pretended to be happy and stuff, but I knew better."

Herman looked up from his meal.
"How'd Chumley seem?" he asked.

"Chumley was real happy to see King Frega, that's the wolf. I think they was old friends, but it looked like he ain't slept much lately."

"Who else did ya meet, me fine hog?" his brother inquired.

"I met Belinda, she's swell...she was real nice to me and gave me a bunch o' sweets. I met Dema, too, that's Belinda's mama...she's a toad though. She was nice, 'ceptin' she made me take a bath and clean my paws. These are real fine beasts, Hermie, I like 'em a lot."

Herman smiled warmly.
"I'm fond of them too and I'm right proud we can help 'em. We ain't gonna be stayin' long though."

Winnie looked surprised.
"We ain't?"

"When we gets this tank built, we'll be headin' straight back to Seth-e."

"Why? Can't we help here?" Winnie asked.

"It's kinda a secret, but we gots to go back and do an important job for the High Magus. Vattus told me not to tell no one till we left, so I'm expectin' ya to stay hush-hush."

"Sure, Hermie, but why?"

"I can't tell ya that now, but it's partly so these fine beasts don't have too much on their minds. Are we square, liddle gaffer?"

"You got it Hermie!" Winnie said brightly, "My lips are sealed."

After his welcome breakfast, Herman set about supervising the assembly of the tank. The first step was removing the massive glass panes from their molds and examining them. The spider-glass was a wonder. The three largest panes, each measuring seventy-five feet long and fifteen feet wide, were the first to be extracted. They were only a quarter inch thick and the workers were extremely gentle and careful in moving these seemingly delicate creations. Herman watched for a while as the panes were handled with painstakingly slow and deliberate motions. Finally in frustration he addressed his helpers.

"You fellas got to get a move on. This here glass shouldn't need such care...it ain't a baby nor an eggshell. This glass figgers to be a hundred times stronger'n the ordinary stuff if I cooked it right. Now I ain't no mathematics feller, but I reckon that makes this glass as strong as if it were two feet thick, so get a move on...if it breaks, it's my fault, not yours, so you ain't got no concerns...now go on and speeds it up."

The helpers looked at each other, a few shrugged and soon they were moving the large panes at a brisk pace. An enormous metal box-shaped frame had been constructed nearby to the exact dimensions required to hold the finished glass. It consisted of twelve L-shaped beams connected at the tops and sides.

It looked like the outline of a box, a metal skeleton to contain the spider-glass. The base pane was inserted first. Next the large side panes were levered into place and finally the side paneled inserted.

The four glass walls were securely shored up with timbers in the interior of the crystal enclosure in preparation for the sealing and joining Herman would perform once the last batch of the spider-glass was produced by Winnie. Ladders were set up to allow safe passage into and out of the tank and a block and tackle rig spanned its top to allow transport of equipment and glass into the interior. 

Winnie was in the process of removing the two cauldrons of melted spider-glass from his furnace. A smaller portable forge had been set up in the interior of the tank. It stood on a slab of heat-resistant stone to prevent the base glass beneath it from melting and would serve to keep the glass soft while Herman used it to join the seams along the interior of the enclosure. A fire-proof hose directing volcanic gas from the fissure draped over the top of the tank. It split into two parts, one fueling the furnace and the other narrowing to a stone nozzle and laying curled at the center of the tank. The nozzle pointed skyward and sent a plume of flame toward the clouds.

Before sending the melted glass to his brother, Winnie ladled several pounds into a shapeless plaster mold at his side. When he was satisfied, the small hedgehog reinserted the mold into the hottest part of his furnace and sent the remainder of the glass to the tank for his brother.

When he had completed his small task, Winnie scurried over to the tank and traversed the ladders to join the larger hedgehog. The two cauldrons had been put into the small forge to keep the glass hot and Herman was pulling a thread of glass from one of them, hurrying to the edge of the enclosure while a helper ran up and down along the ever larger rope of glass holding the flaming nozzle in gloved paws, bathing the glass in flame to keep it soft. When the edge was reached, Winnie used shears to cut the glass thread and quickly maneuvered his end to the seam.

As the helper kept the glass pliant, the two hedgehogs pressed it securely into the interior seam, Herman from one end and Winnie from the other. This process was repeated until the base was completely sealed. The upright walls were done next and proved easier, being shorter than the large base piece. When the process was complete, the interior was stripped of its shoring and the equipment removed. Herman and Winnie exited the tank and sat in the snow, exhausted, admiring their creation.