Victory on Janus I A winter sun was sullen red over Janus. Its bleak rays lit up the Forest that was being destroyed.Flame bit grinding machines tore life from soil-deep roots. Quivering branches clicked together awarning that reached into Iftcan-of-the-trees the city that once had been. And in the heart of a mighty tree Iftsiga the last of the Great Crowns that still leafed and had sapblood the in-dwellers it sheltered stirred from the depths of hibernation. Larsh Out of memory nearly as old as Iftsiga itself came that name. Death by the beast men. Outbrothers defend Iftcan with sword and heart Face the Larsh— Ayyar struggled wildly with the covering over him forced open unwilling eyes. It was dark here inthe core of the giant tree. The summer festoons of lorgas the light-larvae were missing. Like all else theyslept snug in the crevices of the sheltering bark. But it was no longer quiet. About him like a wall was atrembling a throbbing. And though Ayyar could not truly remember having heard it before he recognizedthe alarm of the Forest Citadel. quotAwake Danger comesquot Every throb of that great pulse beat through him. But it was so hard tomove. The lethargy that had gripped him and his kin in the fall that had brought them to shelter and sleephad not lifted gradually as nature intended. Ayyar was not yet ready to face the new life of spring.Painfully he crawled from his nest of mats. quotJarvas Rizakquot His voice was hoarse and rusty as he called to those sharing this chamber. Theforce of the warning grew stronger urging him to—flight Flight—not battle— That from Iftsiga the stronghold that even the ancient Enemy could notreduce Had the great tree not been seeded in the legendary time of the Blue Leaf been grown to shelterthe race of Iftin in the day of the Green and of the Gray of the last disaster outlasting the wrath of theLarsh preserved to help awaken the Iftin anew This was Iftsiga the Eternal—yet the warning was— quotFlee