Lillandra

Arai's plan had been to use his new command of the Addish language to trade for food and supplies, and to begin making his way back to Velon with Lillandra. This business with Gringus and his men had complicated things, however -- the villagers were unwilling to trade with him, and just as Tal had suspected, some of them wanted to turn him over to Gringus, in order to appease Erek. Arai made it clear that he had no intention of being handed over, however, and the villagers, having seen him fight, were afraid to take him against his will...especially after the word got out that his companion was a sorceress herself. No one wanted to challenge a sorceress.

So he remained on the outskirts of the village, with Lillandra, trying to think of a way out of this situation. Lillandra herself spent most of her time sitting around, doing nothing in particular.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" she asked him at one point.

"My father taught me."

"Hetsu?"

"You remembered," he said. "He was the greatest swordsman of his generation, a master of the Three Waves school. He taught me everything he knew...well, almost everything."

She looked surprised. "Your father was a swordsman of the Three Waves?"

"You've heard of it?"

She nodded slowly, a faraway look in her dark eyes. "I have." But that was all she had to say about it.

Tal's wife, whose name was Temis, stopped by to chat with Lillandra from time to time. Tal and Temis, along with the rest of the villagers, had apparently decided not to flee after all, but their fear was palpable; they were obviously terrified of what Erek might do to them. Arai tried to speak with the village elder -- the old man with the white beard whom they had met shortly after they had first arrived at the village -- to convince him to organize some kind of defense, but the man refused to see him. So far as they were concerned, this sorcerer was all-powerful, and if he wanted to destroy their village, there was nothing they could do to stop him.

"I'm only one man," Arai said, pacing back and forth. "Silus protects me from hostile magics, but I can't fight off a dozen men all by myself. If this Gringus brings more riders..." He trailed off, glancing at Lillandra, who was sitting in front of the fire with her knees pulled up to her chest. "What about this sorcerer? What do you know about necromancy?"

"Not much," she said, but there was another faraway look in her eyes, and Arai got the impression she was hiding something.

"You don't know anything?"

"It's possible to reanimate dead bodies," she acknowledged reluctantly, "and to make them do your bidding. Walking corpses make for poor warriors, though. They're slow, shambling things, and totally mindless, with no knowledge of the living. I've never bothered with them." She paused. "I imagine they would be rather frightening to face in battle, though."

"I imagine," Arai said dryly. "Can they be killed?"

"You can't kill something that's already dead," she pointed out. "But your sword cancels out magic, doesn't it? Simply striking one with it would likely break the spell."

"That's true," he said. "What about the villagers, though? How can I protect them? I can't fight off a whole army of these things."

He took a deep breath. He couldn't believe it had come to this, but...

"I need your help," he said.

She looked at him skeptically. "Why should I help you?"

"These people are in danger."

"Because of you," she said. "You shouldn't have interfered."

"You expect me to stand by and watch, while innocent people are mistreated?"

"It was none of your business," she insisted.

"Matters of right and wrong, of good and evil, are everyone's business."

She snorted. "Keep telling yourself that."

He took another deep breath, this time to cool his temper. "Very well. I shouldn't have interfered. Is that what you want to hear? The fact is, this sorcerer is coming, and I can't protect these people without your help."

"You could turn yourself over to him. That would help."

"I'm not going to do that," he said impatiently.

"Too bad."

"Don't you have any sympathy at all for these people? For your friend Temis, or her child?"

She looked away. "They're not my responsibility."

Arai turned away from her as well, disgusted. "I should've expected as much. You're the Night Queen, after all -- the witch who conquered Velon, who killed the good King Reemus and Prince Ryal..."

Her eyes flashed, and she jumped to her feet. "The good king? The good king? You don't know anything about Reemus. You don't know anything about Ryal. Were you there? Were you there when Ryal came to my village, when Reemus came with the royal guard..." She stopped there, clenching her fists, and then said, in a much quieter voice, "Yes, I killed Ryal. He begged for his life, you know, on his knees, blubbering like a fool, right in front of me. I had my dragon incinerate him anyway. I can hear him weeping, still, when I close my eyes, but I've never regretted killing him. You don't know anything about Prince Ryal."

"You're sick."

"You don't know anything," she said again. "You don't know--"

She was interrupted by a child's bawling -- Temis's child, the little boy, was wailing away at the top of the hill. Lillandra looked up, concerned. "I wonder what's wrong."

"What do you care?" Arai asked immediately. "They're not your responsibility, remember?"

The Night Queen shot him a dark look and sat back down in front of the fire, folding her arms over her chest and refusing to look at him. Arai watched her for a moment or two, wondering what she was thinking, before returning to his pacing.

* * *

An hour later, just before sunset, Lillandra suddenly surprised him by speaking up: "I'll help."

"You've changed your mind?" Arai asked. She had spent most of the last hour lost in thought.

"I suppose I have. But I'm not doing it for your sake. I'm doing it for Temis, who was kind to me, and for the other villagers."

"Good enough."

"Only, I don't know what I can do. If I had enough time, and the necessary materials, I could fashion a Crux of Illusion, an Ogre's Hammer, or a Dragon's Bit, but this Erek could show up tomorrow for all we know." She frowned. "I might be able to create a few Volcanics, but..."

"What's a Volcanic?"

"A zemi that explodes when you throw it. They only take a few hours to make, but I'd need some glass beads or shards of obsidian, or something similar, to make them."

"Maybe we can find something in the village. How much damage can they do?"

"Well, I wouldn't want to get hit with one."

He nodded. "All right. I'll ask around. Is there anything else you might be able to do?"

"Nothing comes to mind," she said. "I'm not a battlefield mage -- I need time, and preparation, to do my magic."

He nodded again. "Well, let me know if you think of anything." He paused. "And Lillandra...thank you."

"I'm not doing it for you," she snapped.

Arai visited Tal and Temis first, to ask them if they had any glass. Temis, it turned out, owned a necklace made up of colored glass baubles, but it was her only jewelry and had been a gift from Tal besides, and she was reluctant to give it up. "Please," Arai said. "We can protect this village, if you'll just give us a chance."

"It's hopeless," Tal insisted. "Haven't you been listening? Erek can raise the dead." He looked at Arai squarely. "I was one of the men who tried to free Lord Barlotte from Erek's dungeons. Most of us were killed or captured; I was one of the few who managed to escape." He shuddered. "You don't know what it's like to try to fight the dead. He has this vulture--"

"You underestimate me," Arai said. "And you underestimate Lillandra. She's probably the most powerful witch in Iona Magister."

Tal obviously didn't believe this, but he nodded reluctantly and gave his assent to Temis. "Give him the necklace. What do we have to lose?"

* * *

The sorcerer arrived the next morning. Arai was already awake, and fully armored, when they rode out of the woods and into the village; adjusting his breastplate and squaring his shoulders, he climbed up the hill to the village's central square. It was time.

To his relief, Erek had brought with him only a handful of men: the scarred man Gringus, Gringus' two companions from before, and two other men, both of whom were wearing chain mail and unusual conical helmets. These two looked like they knew their business; they were probably castle guards. All of the men, apart from the sorcerer, were equipped with those big butcher's swords.

Erek himself was a short man, in his early forties perhaps, wearing black robes cinched with a yellow belt. He was otherwise quite ordinary-looking, with a receding hairline, a furrowed brow, and small, beady eyes. He was wearing an oversized ring on one of the fingers of his left hand, which was in the shape of a skull.

The men dismounted and strode into the village square, looking around. No one came out to greet them; most of the villagers were either hiding in their homes or within the Lenstable -- the large building with the steel triangle affixed to its roof. This, Arai had learned, was a place of worship -- the villagers, and apparently most of the Addish, were followers of a god called Len. Arai had never heard of this god; he was a devotee of the God of the Monuments himself.

The men soon spotted Arai. Gringus said something to Erek, who nodded and began walking towards him.

"That's a zemi on his finger," Lillandra said into Arai's ear. He was startled; he hadn't realized she was standing there. "A Ghoul's Bit."

"Can you tell how powerful he is?"

"He doesn't appear to be very powerful at all," she said. "The magia flows freely around him. But some mages are capable of hiding their true strength."

He nodded, his eyes fixed on the sorcerer. "You'd better give me some room."

She stepped back, and Arai stepped forward. "You're Erek?" he called out to the approaching sorcerer.

"That's right. I take it you're the one who attacked my men?"

"They were behaving very badly."

He looked Arai up and down. "They told me you were speaking some strange language. Are you a foreigner?"

"You could say that."

"I've never seen armor like that. Where are you from?"

"Velon."

"And where is Velon?"

"A long way from here," he sighed.

The man shrugged. "I suppose it doesn't matter. You understand what's about to happen here, don't you? Gringus and his men are under my protection. I can't allow these insults against them to stand."

"Gringus and his men are robbers," he shot back, "and you're an usurper. You've imprisoned Lord Barlotte, the rightful ruler of this land."

Gringus growled at that, and he, along with his men, drew their swords and started making their way towards Arai. Erek, however, put out a hand to stop them. "I'll need to make an example of this one, I think." And he raised his hand, the one with the skull-ring on it.

Arai heard a loud moan, coming from out of the forest, followed by another, and then another. They began to appear on the road, stepping out from beneath the shadows of the trees -- six walking corpses, in various states of decay, and three animated skeletons, all of them wearing the same chain mail and helmets as the two castle guards. The corpses were awful things, and they made awful noises, moaning and groaning as they marched forward. Their mouths hung open; their tongues lolled out. Most of their faces were badly rotted, with empty eye sockets, and one even had a clutch of maggots wriggling around within the cavity of its chest. The stench, even from this distance, was terrible.

The skeletons were almost more frightening, however, because they were completely unreal; how could they even walk around, with no muscle or sinew? Of course he knew the answer to that -- it was magic -- but that didn't make them any less terrifying.

Six corpses, three skeletons, five armed men, and a single sorcerer. This wasn't going to be easy.

Grimly, he drew his sword, assumed the stance of the Crashing Waves, and prepared to meet them.