This is the conclusion of Dead End with Dana Illwind and Sorcerer Lord Jayden.

*****
Jayden grumbled as he followed. Dana saw him smirk, and before she could stop him he asked, “How is your job hunt coming along?”

Green Peril stopped and glared at Jayden. Hoping to distract him, Dana ran alongside the elf and asked, “What did the tree say to you?”

“She said months ago a great host of undead marched through these woods, destination unknown,” the elf replied. “They had trouble passing through the dense stand of trees and thick underbrush, so a human created the path we walk on by blighting the land. Once the way was clear the undead marched on and the necromancer returned to where he’d come from. She asked me to find this wretch and rip him limb from limb.”

Puzzled, she said, “That’s kind of vicious.”

“Trees are bitter and vindictive,” the elf told her. “Most of the time they don’t get to strike back at their enemies. When she saw me she thought, rightly so, that I was willing to pay back this monster in full.”

Green Peril marched on. “She also said this land has been abandoned and neglected for decades. When I become court wizard, and I will, I shall oversee the restoration of this kingdom. Clearly humans aren’t up to the task.”

“Before we go any farther, Jayden knows a spell to shield you from the whole ‘kill everything’ feeling you get by being close to walking skeletons,” she told him. “I’m sure he won’t mind casting it on you.”

“I have my own shielding magic, child, far superior to anything this wretch could offer. I gather you are desperate to travel with this clod and depend on his outdated spells. It doesn’t speak well of this land that a child should need a criminal’s aid. Never fear, soon enough you’ll be able to go back to your mud hut and live in peace.”

Dana looked over to Jayden. “I tried. I really did.”

“Don’t expect better from him. That we’re not ripping one another to pieces is a testament to your kind nature, but this is all we can ask for.”

Their journey was tense from their grim surroundings and the constant tension between the two wizards. Dana stayed between them as a badly needed buffer, but she had little success in tamping down their hate. After two hours they reached what had to be their destination.

The trail ended in a wide valley flanked by steep hills. Trees had once grown here in abundance. In their place was blackened trunks tipped over at sharp angles. There were no animals, nor signs that anyone had ever lived in the valley. A huge earthen mound two hundred feet long and twenty feet wide dominated the valley’s center. Dana saw a long, deep gash running down the center of the mound.

“Welcome!” an echoing voice called out. Dana recognized the necromancer’s strange accent. She couldn’t pinpoint the voice’s source as it bounced between the high hills. “I see you brought another fool eager to die! You surprise me, sorcerer lord! I’d been told you only traveled with this brat!”

A lone man stepped out from the edge of the long mound. Dana had met several wizards in the last year, all of them flamboyant, like they wanted the world to see them. In contrast the necromancer was bland, with average height and weight, short brown hair, balding in the front and wearing simple leather clothes. He carried no staff or weapons, nor did he have jewelry. If she’d met him on a street rather than a mass grave, she wouldn’t have given him another thought.

“I’m awed you would face me,” the necromancer continued. He walked casually, watching his guests but taking no action against them. “You might as well have walked into a dragon’s lair. The results would have been faster and less painful.”

“Where are his creations?” Green Peril whispered.

“I don’t know,” Jayden answered softly. “He sent two barrow wights against me earlier, but that can’t be the extent of his servants. He’s out of range for my spells. Yours?”

“The same. He planned his entrance well.”

The necromancer stopped and pointed at Green Peril. “You? Ha! This day gets better with every second! I’d heard about the elf sent to kill the sorcerer lord. You thought you were going to be the king and queens official wizard, and you couldn’t kill one man.”

“There were no witnesses to that battle except these two and the Shrouded One,” Green Peril said. “How would you know of it?”

“People in Fish Bait City found a dead plant monster in the streets,” the necromancer told him. “They told their nobleman, he told the king and queen, and when they heard Jayden was still in the kingdom it was clear what had happened.” The necromancer grinned like an idiot. “In case you were wondering, the job offer has been revoked. The king and queen have no need of failures when a better choice is available.”

“What do you mean?” Jayden demanded.

“You are dull, boy.” The necromancer bowed and said, “Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Cimmox Valgor, unofficial court wizard to the king and queen.”

Green Peril bellowed, “They wouldn’t be depraved enough to accept a necromancer into their service!”

“I don’t share your faith in them,” Jayden said softly.

“Accept me?” Cimmox asked slyly. “They sought me out! The king and queen plan a grand and glorious war. Losses promise to be staggering, but I can make the dead serve again regardless of which side they were on. Friends, enemies, civilians, whoever they were, they will fight in my name once they’re dead. The king and queen can lose an army, and I can give it back.”

“Good God,” Dana said.

Cimmox pointed at Jayden. “The king and queen told me much of you, secrets gleaned from those who saw you in battle. Let that be a lesson to you, boy, leave no witnesses. I hear you seek to overthrow the royal couple, maybe take their place. Ha! Do you want to know a secret?”

Jayden formed his black sword. “Do tell.”

“All your years fighting didn’t matter one bit. The king and queen have replaced everything you took from them. They sent word to the dangerous, the desperate and the depraved. Come, they said! Come and serve, your crimes forgotten, your sins ignored, and rich rewards for the taking.

“Come they did. Gladiators from Battle Island, beast tamers from Quoth, wizards of the Inspired and more gather in record numbers, promised gold and positions of power in return for shedding blood in the king and queen’s name. Every foe you bested has been replace two times over. You may as well have done nothing.”

Jayden was silent for a moment, staring at the necromancer in such disgust that even that twisted madman took a step back. When Jayden spoke, it was like the wrath of the underworld being unleashed.

“You heard of my victories against the king and queen’s soldiers. Gargoyles, a chimera, Wall Wolf the iron golem, all these and more fought me and died. I’ve faced your inexcusably foul creations and slew them, as any sane man would. All this you know, yet you’d face me. What madness made you think you’d win? What idiocy made you think you ever stood a chance against me?”

“Oh dear,” Dana said. She could feel an entire year’s work trying to temper Jayden’s rage slip away.

Jayden marched toward the necromancer. “You claim to be one of many degenerates called to arms by the king and queen. You freaks and nightmares came a long way to die. You should have stayed in whatever hole you’d been hiding in, because now you stand before me, and nothing under heaven can save you.”

Cimmox stared at Jayden before saying, “You would have made a fine necromancer. Instead you’ll make fine parts for my next creation. You’ve met some of my followers. Let me show you the rest.”

The great earthen mound heaved like a living thing before the gash in it opened wide to vomit out masses of the undead. Walking skeletons made up the bulk of the unspeakable horde, but Dana saw barrow wights loping like wolves among their lesser cousins. More and more abominations poured forth as if they would never stop coming. None carried weapons beyond their sharp teeth and claws. The crowd of nightmares howled like wild beasts.

“Let them come to us,” Green Peril said. He planted the tip of his staff into the ground and cast a spell. His red staff sprouted roots that sunk deep into the ground before growing forward as fast as a galloping horse. The vanguard of the skeletal army covered half the distance to them when a tree root as thick as a wine barrel and fifty feet long burst from the ground and swept over the undead. Thirty of the horrors were crushed to pieces. The root made another swing and battered apart still more, but the rest of the horde grappled the root and ripped it apart.

The time this bought them was well spent as Jayden finished chanting. Dana recognized the spell and braced for the coming explosion. When he finished a single spark drifted toward the oncoming horde.

Green Peril watched the spark float along. “You must be joking.”

“Wait for it,” Jayden told him.

BOOM! Jayden’s fireball burst among the front of the undead, swallowing them up like so much kindling. Dana had seen this spell before, but this time something was different. The fire grew with each skeleton and barrow wight it consumed, as if they were fueling it. The blast grew and grew until it was double its normal size before burning out.

Jayden’s spell had cost the undead army a quarter of its size, yet more came up from the grave to replenish their numbers. They spread out to avoid being caught by another fireball. Behind them Cimmox laughed like this was a grand joke. Dana didn’t know why he stayed out of the battle, but every second he did gave them a chance.

Green Peril took a jar from inside his robes and uncorked it. He poured out dozens of tiny green beetles and cast a spell on them. The beetles swelled up, doubling in size every second until they were as big as hounds. Green Peril pointed his staff at the oncoming undead, and the beetles charged into the horde, their sharp jaws cutting skeletons apart.

“You have an army of bugs?” Cimmox mocked him. “All things die, elf, even the undead. Let me show you.”

Cimmox finally cast a spell, and ten skeletons in the front of the army suddenly turned black. One said, “Hey, what’s going on?”

BOOM! The black skeletons exploded, destroying themselves, nearby skeletons and all of Green Peril’s beetles. Cimmox laughed again as his surviving monstrosities surged forward.

The horde was almost upon them when Jayden turned to face Dana. She saw the concern in his eyes. Dana held up her left hand and said, “Jayden, wait, I—”

Jayden cast one last spell before the nightmarish horde struck them. He spoke strange words that caused shadows to bend and twist until they formed a fierce suit of black armor with razor sharp edges. Pieces of the suit flew through the air before hitting Dana, locking in place over her until she was covered head to toe in black magic armor.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” she said. The armor was menacing, yet so light it felt like she was wearing only a summer dress. Somehow she could see through the helmet even though it had no eye slits. Her fingers on both hands ended in thick, sharp claws, barely flexible enough to hold her sword.

Then the horde hit them. Dana lost sight of Jayden and Green Peril as skeletons swarmed around them as thick as stalks of wheat in a farm field. She tried to stay close to the two wizards and failed utterly in the face of overwhelming numbers. Dana swung her sword with wild abandon and sliced apart the first two skeletons to reach her.

A hideous skeleton made of both human and bull bones pushed its way to the front of the crowd. “I want the little one!”

Dana charged the mismatched skeleton, hacking apart a smaller skeleton that tried to tackle her. She swung once and took off the large skeleton’s right arm before slicing through its right leg. The skeleton fell to its knees. Somehow looking surprised even without a face, it asked, “Can we talk this over?”

A barrow wight bounded onto the crippled skeleton, crushing it underfoot before leaping onto Dana. It hit her with enough force to knock her over. Once she was down the barrow wight bit her right arm. Its teeth scratched her shadowy armor without penetrating. Dana swung her left arm into the barrow wight’s head, and the wight howled in agony before staggering back. Its head was blackened and crumbling under her blow.

Dana got up and punched it again, watching her blow burn its chest. Jayden’s shadow magic was especially dangerous against necromancy, and that clearly included her armor. The wight tried to flee, but she was on it in a flash and impaled it. The wight howled even louder as its entire body blackened and fell apart.

“What was that?” Dana asked. In seconds she remembered that Chain Cutter had been made in part with Jayden’s shadow magic. It must share his magic’s destructive effect on the undead.

The horde of undead parted as a giant plant with a toothy maw grew up from nothing in their midst. Skeletons to Dana’s right screamed in panic as a giant plant monster leaned down and gobbled them up. It was like the plant Green Peril had used against Jayden in Fish Bait City. The huge plant leaned down to snap up another mouthful.

Fortune turned against them as a crackling black bolt shot through the air and hit the plant monster in the side. It toppled over under the assault, and Dana had to run to avoid it landing on her. Four skeletons weren’t as fast and were crushed beneath it. The plant hadn’t even hit the ground when it started rotting, and in seconds it was nothing more than festering slime.

“Did seeing your plant die hurt?” Cimmox taunted them. “I hope it hurt.”

Skeletons piled on Dana while she was distracted. She braced her feet against the ground and pushed into them, knocking them back. She punched and kicked the skeletons, taking them apart piece by piece. She grabbed one skeleton in a bear hug, and her armor burned it with shadow magic. One skeleton bit her shoulder and dented her armor, only for the monster to be burned away. She finished the last one with a swing of Chain Cutter.

Jayden ran past her with his shield of spinning black daggers in front of him, grinding up skeletons in his way. A single skeleton jumped him from behind and wrapped its arms around his throat. He staggered under the attack before a vine seized the skeleton, pulled it off and crushed it against the ground.

“Jayden!” she shouted.

“Keep away from Green Peril!” he shouted. “He’s using spells that cover a wide area.”

Just then a forest of wood spears shot up from the ground, impaling countless undead on their sharp tips. The spears quivered before launching into the air. They came down on more undead and destroyed scores of them.

That cleared enough space for Dana to see the elf. Vines wrapped around his body grappled skeletons and crushed them. A barrow wight leaped over the vines and tried to claw his face. Green Peril swung his staff and struck his foe in the chest. The opals on the staff flashed, and the barrow wight disappeared in a blast of light.

“The horde is thinning,” Jayden told Dana. “If we reach Cimmox, we can deal with the source of the problem.”

“What about Green Peril?” she asked.

Jayden and Dana turned at the sound of horrid screaming, and saw thick roots crushing two barrow wights and dragging them underground.

“I think he’ll manage,” Jayden said dryly. “Come on.”

Dana and Jayden charged through the scattered ranks of undead. A skeleton lunged at Dana and scratched her breastplate. She swung her sword and took off its arm, leaving Jayden to finish it with a sword strike to its chest. Jayden’s shield of daggers cut through three more skeletons before it gave out under the strain. Once it was down a dozen skeletons mobbed them and fought them to a standstill. Dana struck down two while Jayden cut four more apart. Seconds later a boulder flew through the air and flattened the last six. They turned to see Green Peril pull another boulder loose from the ground with the vines twined around him and hurl it into another skeletal mob.

“You don’t leave your leader behind!” Green Peril yelled at them. He frowned and added, “Admittedly I’ve done so, even robbed a few of them, but it was justified.”

Cimmox saw them coming and laughed. “That fight forced you to use your best spells while I used only two. It’s embarrassing. Doesn’t anyone conserve their magic these days? Let me show you what I saved just for you.”

The necromancer uttered strange, hateful words and made intricate gestures with his hands. Dead trees near him rotten away into a slimy goo from his foul spell. No sooner had he finished then bones littering the valley rose up and flew to him.

“Wait, I can still fight!” a skeleton pleaded before it was ripped to pieces and carried off into the air, as were all the skeletons still standing. Broken bones joined the cloud, as did those reduced to splinters in the fight. Still more bones shot up from the gash in the burial mound to form a dense cloud around the necromancer. The cloud tightened as bones linked together in a revolting mass twenty feet across with the necromancer standing on top of it.

“How do you like it?” Cimmox asked. The huge, barrel shaped skeletal creation stood up on six legs as thick as tree trunks and ending in wicked claws as long as a man’s arm. It had no head or eyes, but the many skulls in it had red light pouring from their eye sockets. “It won’t last long, but it doesn’t need to.”

Green Peril yelled, “You destroyed what was left of your own army!”

“I made them to expend them,” Cimmox replied casually. “I mourn them no more than an archer does for the arrows he fires. The king and queen are eager to have Jayden’s head. Yours means nothing to them. Let’s see if you’re smart enough to run.”

“Go left and I’ll go right,” Jayden said to Green Peril. The two wizards split up. Dana followed Jayden.

“Smart enough to master magic, yet dumb enough to stay in a losing fight,” Cimmox said. He picked a leg bone out of his creation and pointed it at Dana. “This is a battle of wizards. Children aren’t welcome.”

“Get down!” Jayden yelled.

Cimmox cast a spell, and the bone glowed before exploding into a stream of bone needles that flew through the air. Dana tried to get behind a dead tree, but she was too slow. The needles hit without puncturing her armor, instead cutting long grooves across the back and left side.

“Wretch!” Green Peril screamed. His next spell caused plants to grow around him and spray the necromancer’s foul creation with orange sap, gluing two of its legs together.

“Oh be quiet,” Cimmox said tiredly. He spoke vile, hateful words before vomiting up a stream of black liquid, far more than he could possibly hold in his stomach. The steaming liquid hit the vines wrapped around Green Peril and melted them away. The elf avoided the noxious stream only by diving into the mud. “Now then, where were we?”

Cimmox’s gloating expression turned into one of terror when a giant black hand missed him by inches. Instead the blow connected with his skeletal mount and staggered it. Jayden was running to Dana and made a swinging motion with his right hand. The black hand mirrored his movements and hit the huge skeletal monster again.

“That is enough,” Cimmox snarled. “I met an old friend of yours while I was waiting for you to arrive. No introductions are needed for one of his status.”

Cimmox cast another spell and formed a large black sphere behind Dana and Jayden. It was much bigger than the one he’d used to send the barrow wights against them, and Dana could see why when it dissolved to show its horrible contents. It was the Living Graveyard, back from the dead yet again.

“It’s a pleasure to work with one created when necromancers and sorcerer lords fought for this land so long ago,” Cimmox said. “Let’s see which one of us kills you first.”

Dana and Jayden took cover in a grove of dead trees. She turned to him and said, “You and Green Peril fight the wizard. I’ll keep the Living Graveyard back.”

“You can’t fight him alone,” Jayden said.

“A year ago I couldn’t. I can now because of you. We beat him before I had Chain Cutter or you could make this armor. Trust me.”

The giant skeleton brought one of its huge legs down on the grove. It crushed three trees and toppled two more, forcing Dana and Jayden to fall back. Cimmox laughed and the Living Graveyard marched toward them.

Green Peril ran over to them, filthy, out of breath and bruised. He opened his mouth, but suddenly his eyes opened wide in surprised. He looked at them and said, “I can stop Cimmox, but I need time. Can you keep him busy for two minutes?”

Jayden looked at Dana and Green Peril, fear visible on his face. As a boy he’d lost everything, and this fight could cost him what little he’d clawed back. Fear gave way to resolve, and he stepped out from the shattered grove. “Two minutes, elf. Use them wisely.”

“Is this the best you can do?” Cimmox gloated as his monster lifted a leg to stomp on Jayden. “Soldiers spoke of you in terror. Knights trembled at the mention of your name. The king fears you even if he dares not show it. How could a stripling wizard like you, a fool using magic outdated a thousand years ago, earn such respect?”

“By thinking,” Jayden said. His next spell made shadows around the valley shimmered and solidified into pieces of frightening black armor identical to what Dana wore. Black armor pieces flew through the air and struck Cimmox hard, snapping over him and encasing him head to toe.

“What is this?” Cimmox yelled, his voice echoing inside his new helmet. He held up his hands and tried to move his fingers. “I can’t cast spells in these gauntlets!”

“No, you can’t,” Jayden said, his voice low and menacing. He still had his black sword, and the giant hand floated in the air. “Goodbye, Cimmox. You won’t be missed.”

Dana dearly wanted to stay and help him, but the Living Graveyard was almost on them. She needed to keep it away from Jayden for him to finish the necromancer. With damaged armor and a magic sword, she ran to fight a monster that had died and come back three times she knew of.

The Living Graveyard was as hideous as always, twelve feet tall, eight feet across and made of grave soil, human bones, broken headstones and splintered coffins. The nightmare monster had a cluster of human skulls embedded in its chest and two intact gravestones jutting from its shoulders, one reading No Rest and the other No Peace. Dana raised her sword to strike, and watched the Living Graveyard walk past her to Jayden.

It was ignoring her. Over the last year many people had done the same thing, focusing instead on Jayden. Normally she was happy to take advantage of this, but not today. She’d come so far, done so much, owned a named magic weapon, and this monster still walked right by her.

“Get back here!” she screamed. Dana charged the monster and swung Chain Cutter with all her strength. Her sword sliced into the Living Graveyard’s right hand and hacked it off. This brought the monster to a halt, and it tried to club her with its now handless arm. Dana ducked under the clumsy swing and sliced the arm open up to its elbow. She followed up with a strike on its right knee, chopping out a huge piece of dirt and bones.

The Living Graveyard’s next blow sent Dana flying backwards. Her armor was cut open across the stomach, but luckily the damage went no deeper. She struggled to her feet as the Living Graveyard marched after her. It lifted one foot and tried to step on her. Dana rolled aside and cut open its leg. The Living Graveyard howled at her with its grinning skulls, and for a moment she quavered under the awful screams.

Then she saw the edges of the wounds she’d scored on the Living Graveyard were black and crumbling away. Cimmox had said that this monster dated to when necromancers and sorcerer lords had fought to decide who would rule this land. That meant it was made with necromancy, not surprising given its appearance. Her sword was poison to it.

Dana charged the Living Graveyard and drove Chain Cutter deep into its body. The monster tried to claw her with its remaining hand. Instead of fighting it she let go of her sword and fell back. The Living Graveyard marched after her. She kept falling back and it kept after her as bits of it flaked away. More and more of it began to crumble and blacken.

As she retreated she came across Green Peril. The elf was kneeling with his staff pressed against the ground. He spoke, but not the strange words of magic. “All things die, but in dying they leave the seeds for new life. From death new life grows, sprouting, spreading, replacing what was lost.”

The Living Graveyard was going to trample Green Peril on its way to her. She didn’t know what the elf was doing (it sounded more like a prayer than a spell), but she couldn’t let the monster kill him. She charged it and drove her clawer gauntlets deep into its right side. Coffin wood burst into flames, bones cracked and headstones turned to gravel. The Living Graveyard seized her with its remaining hand, and she felt her armor buckling. Smoke rose up as her armor began to dissipate.

Crash! Dana kept clawing the Living Graveyard as she spared a glance at Jayden. The sound came from his giant hand slamming into the monstrous skeleton. He was tearing it apart, and as she watched he tore off one of its legs. The monster hobbled after him, trying to crush him underfoot, but with one leg gone and two glued together it didn’t move fast. Cimmox was still on top of his foul creation, struggling to pull off the magic armor that trapped him. The magic armor was toxic to the hideous creation he rode, and his feet burned into it.

“It won’t come off!” Cimmox screamed. With his accent it sounded like von’t.

“How can you cast spells with that atrocious accent?” Jayden demanded. He plunged his black sword into another of the skeletal monster’s legs. “You sound like your mouth is full of live fish!”

There was an ominous crack as the Living Graveyard broke Dana’s breastplate. Her shoulder guards went next. Broken bits dissolved into smoke, and then intact pieces began to boil away. Jayden’s spell was ending before the fight was over.

Devastating as this was to her, it hurt the Living Graveyard just as much. Her sword was destroying it from the inside out. Touching her armor was killing it as it tried to kill her. Its right arm fell off, then two of its skulls followed. Her armor was almost gone when the monster’s hand wrapped around her came apart. Dana grabbed her sword and pulled it out, then swung again and again. The Living Graveyard howled at her, a halfhearted moan rather than a scream. She answered with a scream of her own as she drove her sword deep into it. The Living Graveyard toppled and fell silent.

That’s when she heard a whisper, easy to hear even over the deafening sound of battle. 'It still lives. Strike again.'

Dana didn’t know what it was, but she did as told and swung Chain Cutter into the fallen monster. She cut off huge slabs of dirt and rotten wood, hitting it again and again. Her third swing tore deep into the monster, and that’s when she saw a human skull with horrible symbols carved into it. The skull had long legs like a crab, and now that it was visible it tried to run away.

“That’s how you keep coming back!” she cried out. “You’re like an estate guard. As long as that part of you gets away you can make a new body. Get over here!”

Dana chased the fleeing skull past Green Peril, the elf still speaking formally. Plants began to grow around him. His staff had white patches, and it sprouted leaves and vines that spread across the tainted landscape.

“From deserts dry to frozen tundra, life struggles and succeeds,” Green Peril said solemnly. “In oceans depths and mountains high, life struggles and succeeds. When molten rock pours forth to make new land, once red lava cools, here too life takes root.”

The fleeing skull ran by the elf and headed for Cimmox. The necromancer still struggled to remove his magic armor. His giant creation was trying to flee while Jayden chased it and hacked pieces off. Dana didn’t know what the skull could do if it reached Cimmox. Could it make another body fast enough to rejoin the battle?

Dana raced after the skull and caught up with it. It zigged and zagged, trying to avoid her. It ducked under a fallen tree and came out the other side, but Dana jumped over the dead tree and came down on top of it. The skull looked up as she plunged her sword into it. A shower of sparks shot up from Chain Cutter as the sword pierced the skull. The cursed thing screeched so loud that Jayden and Cimmox both turned to watch. Dana held her sword in the air, and the skull slid down the length of the blade before splitting in two.

“No,” Cimmox said. “It’s not possible!”

Cimmox threw back his head and issued such a horrible cry that Dana and Jayden fell backwards. Even Green Peril much farther back was rocked by the sound. The magic armor encasing Cimmox was ripped apart. Cimmox’s skeletal monster, already badly hurt, broke apart entirely. The necromancer fell to the ground and landed on his back.

The three of them staggered to their feet. Cimmox was missing what little hair he had. His face was gaunt and pale, his eyes sunken and yellowed. “Cry of the banshee is the only spell I know that needs no gestures. That took ten years off my life.”

With his hands free again, Cimmox cast another spell. Black liquid like tar spread across his hands, and the few drops of it that fell burned the ground. “I’ll get those years back by taking fifty years off your life.”

His next spell knit together shattered bones to form long spider legs that sprouted from Cimmox’s back. He ran fast as a horse with those revolting legs, his hand outstretched as he charged Jayden. Jayden raised his sword while Dana ran to his side.

Then Jayden looked like he was listening to something. Cimmox was almost upon them when Jayden said, “At least your wife isn’t here to see what you’ve become.”

Cimmox halted his charge. He looked confused before his face betrayed a great sadness. He backed away as Jayden continued speaking.

“She loved you. She tried to protect you. She deserved better than for you to ignore everything she said. So many times she tried to save you from threats, only for you to destroy yourself. You can still go back to her, but not like this.”

“I,” Cimmox began. Tears ran down his face. He scowled and raised his hands. “How dare you use her against me! I’ll kill you all!”

He didn’t get the chance. Grass spread across the valley floor as fast as a flying hummingbird. Trees sprouted and grew in seconds what should have taken years. Dana, Jayden and Cimmox turned to see Green Peril standing next to a tall white tree set with opals. The elf stood up and looked at Cimmox like a judge passing sentence.

“Life recovers from all losses. Fire, flood, frost, drought, through it all life survives, prospers and grows. Life conquers death!”

Dead trees sprouted new leaves and shoots. Vines twisted and wrapped around one another. The whole valley came alive in an unstoppable wave that reached for Cimmox. The necromancer blasted the plants with the same black bolts he’d killed Green Peril’s plant monster with. He cut huge gashes into the plants, yet the damage regrew in seconds. Cimmox turned and fled, running away on his spidery bone legs.

The tidal wave of greenery swept over him. For a few seconds he fought back, unleashing magic more horrible than any Dana could imagine. It was useless. The plants bound him and pulled him in, and with a sudden thunderous rush crushed him.

Dana leaned up against Jayden. “Wow.”

“That wasn’t nature magic,” Jayden said. “You cleansed this entire valley of the taint of necromancy, undoing Cimmox’s damage and the atrocities of the king and queen.”

“I had help,” Green Peril told them. He ran his hands over the lush plant life. “I imagine we all did.”

Hesitantly, Dana said, “I heard a whisper during the fight. Jayden, what you said about Cimmox’s wife, how did you know?”

“You weren’t the only one hearing whispers.” He looked at her and said, “Cimmox traveled a dark road. A man who sinks that far into perversion and depravity suffers a cost to his soul. I heard a voice telling me to give him one last chance, and what to say to reach him. He refused.”

She pointed up. “You mean we got help from…”

“Yes.”

“Huh. A bolt from the blue would have been nice.”

“A wise gardener removes weeds carefully, lest he damage his crops at the same time,” Green Peril replied. “We were given what we needed, no more, no less. Do not depend on such gifts, for they are given only in exceptional circumstances and against the most implacable of foes.”

“Where’s your staff?” she asked.

Green Peril glanced at the large white tree. “There. You can still see the opals. I needed a focus for the purification ceremony, and only my staff was strong enough.”

“So you can’t try to kill us?” she asked hopefully.

Green Peril gave her a sincere smile. “No. Nor do I wish to. If the king and queen would employ such a fiend then they don’t deserve my help.”

A thorough search of the area turned up no treasure. If the king and queen had paid Cimmox, he’d either spent it or hidden it. They did find a small camp with a stack of scrolls made of vellum. Jayden identified the as spell scrolls containing secrets of necromancy. He wasted no time in burning them. They tried to bury Cimmox, for even villains deserve burial, but they couldn’t find his body amid the plants.

“Our endeavor was successful, yet yielded little fruit besides defeating Cimmox,” Green Peril said. “I need time to replace what I’ve lost, no easy task when I will go home empty handed yet again. I will return in time.”

“Not as an enemy?” Jayden asked.

“No. You have earned my respect. Take comfort in knowing that no one else has.” Green Peril cast his last spell that day and transformed himself into a giant hawk. He spread his enormous wings and took to the sky, then flew south.

“That was exhausting,” Dana said.

“But necessary.” Jayden hesitated before asking, “Dana, before I gave you magic armor, why did you say wait?”

“I thought you were going to make one of those huge hands, scoop me up and make it carry me away.”

Jayden nodded his head slightly. “That was a much better plan than the one I came up with.”
* * * * *
With Cimmox and his foul army gone, Dana and Jayden headed to more populated parts of the kingdom. They needed days to reach the nearest town where they could buy food and maybe a good night’s sleep at an inn. Both of them still wore heavy winter clothes that helped mask their identities.

“Where do we go from here?” Dana asked as they entered the town.

“Cimmox made bold claims that may have been lies. He’d provided Duke Wiskver an undead army, so he was likely honest when he said he had royal patronage. The question is whether the rest of his tales were idle boasts. We could face threats more numerous and terrible than what we’ve seen to date.”

“The king and queen have money to hire more men, especially after years of high taxes. They may not even need the money.”

“What do you mean?”

“Last summer they promised to hire Green Peril if he killed you. They could make promises like that to other people, making them work before they get paid. If they die in battle, the king and queen aren’t out a single coin.” Dana grabbed his arm and pulled him to a halt. “What’s going on up ahead?”

Over a thousand people were gathered in the town center, so many it seemed the entire town was present. People looked worried and spoke in hushed tones. As Dana and Jayden drew near, a lone man carrying a scroll came to the center of the crowd.

“Settle down, everyone,” the man called out.

“Mayor, what’s this about?” a farmer asked. “I’ve got planting to do.”

“I’ll get you back to your fields soon,” the mayor replied. He unrolled the scroll and held it up for them see. “A royal proclamation came last night by fast courtier, with orders to read it to the entire town.”

“You had to have the sheriff come get us for this?” another farmer asked.

The first farmer said, “The old mayor wouldn’t have done that.”

The mayor stared the farmer down. “That’s enough! The old mayor is gone. I’m here. The king and queen declared a state of war with Kaleoth, Brandish and Zentrix. Quiet that shouting! Mercy, it’s like herding sheep. The proclamation says Brandish and Zentrix are colluding with Kaleoth against our kingdom. We’re surrounded by enemies and have no choice but to fight our way out.”

“Against three kingdoms?” a frightened farmer asked.

“We’ve got no choice but to go forward.” The mayor checked the scroll before speaking. “There’s also been a rebellion by Skitherin mercenaries. One company went rogue and incited the others to rebel. Inform the authorities at once if you see them, because those men are dangerous.”

“This keeps getting worse,” a rancher said.

“Can’t you idiots stay quiet for five minutes?” the mayor asked. “Rumors have been going around about undead in the kingdom. Criminals and madmen have been claiming that walking skeletons were seen not far from here. We can’t have fear mongering during a time of war. Anyone caught spreading lies will be charged with sedition and sentenced to ten years hard labor, so mind your own business.”

The mayor walked up to a message board and tacked the scroll onto it. He stepped away and began, “I’m leaving this here for the rest of the—”

A giant black hand swung down and smashed the message board to splinters. Men yelled and women screamed as the hand grabbed the mayor and threw him into the crowd. Panicking people scattered in all directions until the town was empty. The huge hand didn’t follow them, in part because Dana was struggling to hold Jayden’s right arm. She held on until he let the hand dissolve into a cloud of black smoke. Jayden threw his head back and screamed. He pulled away from her, but she followed him and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Jayden, don’t!”

He kicked pieces of the destroyed message board. “I’ve fought for decades to keep this from happening, Dana! You have no idea the hardships I’ve faced, the wounds I’ve suffered. Twenty years and every day of it a battle for time, for money, for some shred of hope, and it was for nothing.”

He stared at her. “I was supposed to stop this. It was my penanced for failing to stop my father descending into evil. My failure means countless multitudes will suffer the horrors of war.”

Those painful words showed how Jayden blamed himself for the king’s misdeeds, as if a child was responsible for the crimes of his father. In a way it proved his virtue, for he loved these people and would sacrifice himself if it meant saving them, but this self-loathing was destructive. He’d ruin himself, and he could do immeasurable damage to others if he didn’t get it under control.

“You didn’t fail,” she told him. “You haven’t succeeded yet. There’s a difference. You’ve saved lots of people, and you can save even more. Come on, Jayden. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

They left the town as residents slowly began to return. Dana wasn’t sure what they could do in the face of such a terrible threat. Three Kingdoms faced invasion, and people here were at the mercy of the king and queen, plus whatever monsters and madmen the royal couple had invited. What could two people do to stop that, even when one was a sorcerer lord?

Dana looked back the way they’d come, where a necromancer who’d created armies of the dead was gone forever. One threat was gone, yet so many remained.