MotherLand Vol. I, The Distant Moon

CHAPTER 9:  Unnamed...

     Wallace called John up by him as the party cut their way
through the vines.  When the Half-dragon got by him he said, "It
has been three days since you said that it would be two days to
the clearing."
     John hacked a vine with his sword and said, "I know.  I
thinkst that it should not be much further."
     Wallace took a swig from his water skin and said, "I hope
so.  I do not even think that I will be able to take much more of
this endless darkness."
     John smiled as he said, "True.  I wish there be some way we
could travel just above this underbrush.  Not ten feet up there
be nothing but open limbs."
     Wallace shook his head, "Yes, but the going would be
dangerous."  He cut through a patch of vines and looked up to the
dragon's head and said, "So, why you be heading South?"
     John looked to the East at a call of some animal, then
looked back to Wallace and said, "My mother went South after
birthing me.  According to an old friend of hers, she went in
search for the MotherLand."
     Wallace creased his brow as he stepped over a large root,
"MotherLand?  I have never heard of it."
     John shook his serpent like head and said, "It be an old
legend that has fading in the mysts of time.  I only just learned
of its story myself."
     Wallace decided to wait for the others on the side of the
root and said, "Tell me this story."
     John looked at Shawna as she crawled over the root and said,
"In the beginning of the world, there was a forest in a valley. 
The valley was surrounded by mountains.  Thus protected, a god of
some sort made an oracle.  This oracle was given an all knowing
soul, and presided over the creation of all life."
     Jeade walked up beside Shawna and smiled at the woman who
was listening intently.  Jeade turned to the Half-dragon and sat
back to wait for the rest of the group.
     "All life left the valley, and they named the valley the
MotherLand to give it a holly quality.  Over time, different
forms of life ventured back into the MotherLand to ask the oracle
about certain matters.  The oracle soon decided that it would be
best to protect itself, so it set guardians in the mountains, and
set certain conditions on entering the MotherLand.  If you met
the conditions you could enter, and ask any question you wished."
     Riathna then said, "It seems to Mineself that it be too much
knowledge to let someone leave with."
     John looked down at the Half-dwarf and shook his serpentine
head, "Indeed it be.  Certain questions have certain penalties."
     Cur pulled a twig that connected her beautiful auburn hair
to her cowl and asked, "What be the questions and penalties?"
     John shrugged at the Half-elf, "I know not."
     Wallace then said, "Well, we need to keep moving."  Everyone
agreed, but stayed close together.  The foliage seemed to be less
in this area.
     Soon Shawna said, "Your cause be a noble cause, Dragon."
     Jeade shook her head, "Finding your mother whom you have
never seen."
     Luc looked up into the trees and said, "Luc should like to
meet this oracle someday."
     Jeade bumped the mage with her hip and said, "You would."
     Everyone shared a laugh as Wallace cut through some vines. 
Ria helped him with his axe.  Wallace stopped when he heard a
whistle.  He replied back with a whistle, and within a minute
Percluminan burst through some foliage.  "I found John's
clearing!"
     Wallace wondered about Perc's excited state.  Something big
was in this clearing to get the thief so worked up.  The walk was
short, but the vines were not.  The General had to help Ria with
his own axe.  Soon they had cut a way through the entirely too
think underbrush.  They pushed their way through, and Wallace
stepped through right behind them, with Perc on his heels.  He
entered the North-East corner of the clearing and took a deep
breath.  In the middle of the clearing stood a castle.  The
castle was made of a black stone.  Four small spires rose from
the four corners.  Wallace turned to Perc and Tyrek and said,
"You two go scout the perimeter quickly, Li'lDragon, the roof
looks closed, see if you can fly up and prove my assumption. 
Ria, you and Krash help the others through the brush."
     Andre came up and said, "Looks to me to be inhabited, from
the looks of the grounds.  The Southern part looks to be
farmland, but it be hard to tell because of the slight hill that
the castle sits on."
     Wallace shook his head and said, "We are all going to stay
here by the opening and wait for the scouts."
     Ria looked up and said, "Suns are going down, it would be
nice to have the hospitality of a bleeding bed."

CHAPTER 10:  The Black Castle

     John squinted his eyes into the setting suns.  The forest he
had just stepped out of had been thick and dark.  A sudden small
pain in his left wing made him aware that it had been cramped in
the forest also.
     Shawna nocked an arrow in her bow as Percluminan and Tyrek
ran back from the small castle on the hill in the center of the
clearing.  She glanced at the Half-dragon and saw him stretch his
wings.  He had been the last out of the forest, and probably the
most thankful to be out of it.  She looked back to Perc and
Tyrek.  From the look on Percluminan's face, the thief was not
happy, and the way Tyrek moved, she could tell that the assassin
was not either.
     Wallace received Perc and Tyrek a little ways away from the
small party.  The leader grimaced as Perc related what he had
seen.  Ria leaned in and whispered something to Jeade.  Jeade
smiled back.  Shawna was pretty sure what the Half-dwarf had
communicated.  The way the thief and assassin acted, the castle
had to be occupied.  And humans, of any kind, did not live out of
the Plains, let alone this far South.
     Li'lDragon landed on Wallace's shoulder and all four were
apparently deep in conversation.  Finally, after thinking for a
moment or two, Wallace turned to the small group and said, "Okay,
we have about one hour of time left in the day, and I personally
have no wish to sleep in the forest for another night.  As I see
it we have three options...."
     Thunder broke the night's sky tearing away what silence
there had been.  Li'lDragon and John looked up to the Northern
sky and the John said, "We have about two till a serious storm
rolls in."
     Andre shook his head, "That would be my guess also."
     Wallace sighed loudly and said, "Wonderful, that doesn't
really effect the options that much.  Okay, one, we ask if we can
stay in that castle over there, which Tyrek says is inhabited. 
No one is sure by how many people, even if they are people.  Two,
we sleep out here in the rain and get wet.  Three, we continue
on, mainly because none of us is tired, but we'll still get wet. 
Okay what be the vote?"
     Shawna grimaced as everyone said they should go inside.  A
feeling in her gut moved her intestines around and she said, "You
guy's go on in, I'll stand guard out front."
     Wallace turned back from throwing on his pack and said, "You
don't mind getting you're hair wet?"
     Shawna smiled at Wallace in a coy way and said, "Something
feels not right about this place."
     Wall smiled back and said, "Okay, but be careful.  There be
no telling what lies out here."
     Shawna shook her head as she started walking towards the
castle.  "I shall sleep at the East end of clearing, straight in
front of the opening in the castle."
     Wallace shook his head, "That be a good idea.  Well, we
shall meet again in the morning, have a good night."
     With that Wallace jogged to catch up to the others.  The
entire party arrived at the gates to the castle in quick time. 
John walked up behind Shawna and said, "You gonna be okay out
here?"
     Shawna smiled up at the snake like head and said, "I've got
Li'lDragon to protect me."
     The small rat-dragon landed on her shoulder at the mention
of it's name, then puffed up showing off it's muscles.  John
smiled at the little muscled up dragon as Shawna laughed at the
funny creature.  Li'l smiled under the attention, then watched as
John turned and walked into the castle entrance to catch the rest
of the party.
     Shawna sighed heavily and then petted the purple rat-dragon
companionably and said, "Looks like its just me and you, Li'l. 
You want some mutton?"
     Li'lDragon smiled back at the pretty human woman and barked
once.

BREAK

     John caught up to the rest of the group just as Wallace
started dialog with what looked to be a servant, a very old
servant.  There was a musty scent to the air.
     The old man blinked at the sight of the half-dragon but then
settled into conversation with Wall.  Perc walked closer to the
chatting couple to hear what arrangements Wall could arrange.
     Cur walked close to Riathna and said, "Ria, did you notice
that this servant did not even give Bloodstone a second glance?"
     Riathna sniffed the musty air then says, "Yes, anyone else
would have near enoughly jumped outta there skins or ran
screamin' at the sight of ol' Johnny boy here."
     Tyrek walked up behind the two and said, "True enough.  I
think the be not a good sign."
     The old servant said, "Sorry, the Master is not in right
now, but I be sure that he shall not mind if a few persons stay
the night."
     "If you are sure it be okay, I would not want you to get
into any trouble," replied Wallace.
     "No sir, no trouble at all.  We have more rooms than we know
what to do with.  If you don't mind the dust and all, we can set
you folks up real nice."
     "Excellent, how much shall this put us out?"
     The servant blinked to himself trying to understand, then
said, "It shall not cost anything sir.  The castle is self
sufficient and is in no need of funds.
     John smiled at the human's reaction to the thought of no
money.  Wallace then said, "Okay, show us the rooms if you will."
     "No supper, sir?"
     It was Wallace's turn to blink to himself.  He finally said,
"You sure it shall not interfere with the normal workings of the
castle at all?  I feel that me and my friends are imposing to
much."
     The servant smiled to himself, a dark sickly smile, and
said, "I insist."
     Wall then turned to the group and said, "We shall see our
rooms first, then we shall come down to eat."
     The servant bowed and said, "Very good sir.  This way, sirs
and madams."
     John stopped trying to make a map in his mind of all the
different corridors.  He finally had to assess that it was
impossible to try to map something a human made.  Finally they
got to their rooms, and Wall called a conference in his room.
     John ducked under the door and entered the large room.  It
was only slightly larger than his, but he was sure that it was
very much larger than the other rooms.
     Riathna patted the dragon on the small of his back as the
dragon tried to adjust his wings around his body so as to not be
an annoyment to anyone else.  "'tis not too cramped in here for
yah, is it Johnny Boy?"
     John smiled and crooked his neck so he could look at his
short friend, "I shall manage, Ria."
     At the sound of the growling voice of the half-dragon, Wall
said, "Good, you all made it.  Okay, I'm sure everyone feels
there is something wrong here, I want input.  What is it that is
it that is making us jumpy?"
     Ria stepped forward, "No humans have ever gone this far
South, these people should not be here."
     John craned his head around, carefully avoiding the ceiling
and listened as Jeade spoke.  "This place must be diseased.  The
head servant was sickly looking, and so were the three other
servants we've seen."
     Luc looked from under his cowl and said, "Luc has cast a
spell, this place is not diseased, but Luc shall continue to
monitor."
     Cur had looked up from at the same time from her cowl, then
says, "Cur has found no traces of disease, though there is a non-
repressed feeling of evil radiating from those inside the
castle."
     John looked at Percluminan as he stepped from the wardrobe
and said, "Wall, I'd like a chance to walk around.  I have a
feeling I might find something important."
     Wall looked over to Perc and said, "That's probably a good
idea, Perc.  You and Tyrek willing to skip eating and lunch on
your own rations?"
     Perc and Tyrek both nodded and then looked to Wall and
Percluminan said, "Wally, you know how I hate to eat a well
cooked meal."
     Riathna smiled at the thief and John looked to Wall and
said, "Wall, I suggest we try sleeping in the same room tonight,
with a watch.  Cur be right, this bleeding place be evil."
     Wall looked around the room and said, "Alright, everybody
move their packs in here, and we shall meet in the hall.  Hurry,
the servant shall be here quickly.  And you two, meet us here
after your search, have something to tell us."
     Perc and Tyrek jumped out the door almost instantaneously,
John amazed at how Perc had moved from the other side of the
room, without being noticed.  John was right behind the two men
out of the room and the first to wait in the hall for the others. 
The instant Wallace walked from his room, after having removed
his leather jerkin, the servant arrived.
     They followed the old, sickly man to the dining hall.  John
marveled.  It was tall enough for him to fly freely in.  The
table was probably big enough to sit everyone in the castle, it
sat in a 'U' configuration, the lord of the place probably
sitting in the ornate chair at the middle of the bottom of the
'U'.  The party took up chairs by the door, which gave a
spectacular view of the chandelier.  John then noticed that the
chandelier was specifically designed, there was a hole in the
ceiling, covered by glass.  The crystal in the chandelier
specifically cut to reflect and refract light.  It brightened the
entire room by star light.  He then pointed it out to Cur.
     Cur smiled at the beautiful chandelier and said, "That be
amazing.  And not magical at all."
     The old servant then shook his head in agreement, "True.  It
be ancient, also."
     Cur pushed her long hair over her shoulders to as to not get
it in her food.  Luc and Jeade soon did the same.
     John was not the first to notice that all of the servants
who brought out the food were old, very old.  They all walked
slumped over, like typical ninety year olds would be.  To John's
amazement the food was perfect looking, the bread looked freshly
made by skillful hands, and the meat and vegetables were ripe and
well cut.  It was a big contrast to the servants, the fruit and
vegetables had to be picked just that very morning.  And the meat
had to be killed just this morning and cooked to perfect.
     It was all looked to good to be true.  That is probably the
reason everyone turned to Luc to give his okay.  Luc held out his
hand and moved it over the food, his eyes were closed and his
lips moved.  John waited patiently as the mage worked his spell. 
Finally Luc opened his eyes and said, "Luc finds that the food
was magically prepared, but there be nothing wrong with it beyond
that"
     Wall smiled at the mage's third person talking and said, "So
I guess we eat."
     John and the party ate lightly.  The food was as good as it
looked.  John was very amazed, and was engulfed in conversation
with the spell of food creation with Cur and Krash joined in the
conversation, while they ate.  He found that the only draw back
of the spell was that the caster cannot partake of the feast, for
the food shall turn to dirt in his mouth.  He also found it odd
that Krash ate the least of the group.
     The meal was a quick one.  They all soon retired to go back
to Wallace's room.  The view outside the window showed that the
storm had slowed it's progress.  John looked at the clouds and
said, "It will be two hours still."
     Andre was about to voice his agreement as Percluminan walked
into the door.  Wall turned to the thief expectantly and Perc
smiled.
     "I was searching around and I found that the mustiness
increases the deeper I got.  Then I came upon a downward
staircase, apparently leading to a basement.  I followed it down
and it came to a hall.  I walked for about five minutes and came
upon some door.  I reached out for a door handle this man
suddenly just walked out of a shadow...."
     Wall put on a perplexed look, "Someone snuck up on you?"
     "That's what I thought also.  I dismissed it when he said,
'Good sir, please leave this part of the castle.  I fear that
these corridors are full of valuables, and I feel that the Master
will not like it if an outsider was to go through them.'"
     Tyrek then walked in as Wall sat down on his bed trying to
figure out what the odd feeling in his gut was.  "Wallace, I
checked the towers.  It be odd up in them.  There be magical
equipment of some sort, with glass beakers with a dried red
substance in them."
     Cur shook her head, "Probably has something to do with the
food making."
     Tyrek looked at her, and she guessed that his brow was
creased under the mask.  Andre then said, "The food was magically
prepared."
     Tyrek pulled a small glass vial from a hidden pouch and
said, "This be the color of blood."
     Luc took it and said, "Luc shall do some tests on it, just
to be sure."
     Wallace shook his head, "That probably be a good idea, Luc. 
Because, why would these old folk keep blood in vials?"  No one
tried to answer him as he laid down on the bed.  "Perc, you got
first guard duty.  Then Bloodstone, Ria, then me."
     Everyone started preparing for sleep.  John had curled up at
the side of the bed, and Ria was getting in the bed.  Jeade was
by the wardrobe, Cur was meditating beside her.  On the other
side of the room Luc was meditating also, beside Ria and Krash. 
Andre and Andrea got into the bed with Wallace.  Ria was probably
the closest to the door.
     Perc took the first watch outside the door while to everyone
inside, sleep came very quickly.  To Perc, the night passed ever
so slowly, as he paced the hallway in front of their doors.  From
one corner, all the way to the other corner.

CHAPTER 11:  The Darkness of Night

     John was awakened by slender hands on his shoulder.  Without
moving his body he maneuvered his neck and head to where he was
looking the kneeling Perc eye to eye.  He tried to quiet his
rumble of a voice, but to Perc it still vibrated the walls and
floor.  "My watch?"
     Perc whispered back, "Its time, but I need you to come look
at something."
     John slowly stood, then found it a hard battle to keep from
stretching.  His wing tips would have touched the corners of the
room, but he kept his wings furled around his torso, and his neck
low as he followed human thief out of the room.
     In the hall, John took a quick opportunity to stretch, then
quietly jogged to catch up to Perc.  They both stopped at the
corner to the hall, and Perc signaled John to look around, John
then swiveled his head up to the ceiling, and moved his head
around the corner.
     Twenty of the old servants were in the hall, dressed mainly
in rags.  He could not tell much more than that because the
hallway was dark.  They were making hissing noises and their
nails seem to be elongated, like claws.
     John pulled his head around from the corner and they walked
back to their door.  Perc then looked to John and whispered,
"Well, what do you think?"
     John looked at the thief and replied, "I think we should
wake the others."
     Perc shook his head in agreement, and John walked into the
door and said in his normal voice, "Wake up everybody, we've got
a problem."
     Wall sat bolt upright, as everyone else started rubbing
their eyes.  "Problem?"
     John picked up his pack and scabbard and said, "There is a
massing of some kind around the corner at the end of the hall.  I
think they mean to take us."
     John finished strapping on everything outside the door, and
then followed Perc to the corner, where Wall and the others took
their own good look.  Wall gave Riathna a signal and Ria lit a
torch and Wall stepped around the corner.  "What are you fine
gents...."
     Wall cut off his sentence as thirty corpses turned to him at
the same time.  The light from the torch was not the only fire in
their eyes as Wallace simply froze from fright.  Krash quickly
turned to Perc and said, "Is this the only way out?"
     Jeade grabbed Wall from the corner and started running the
opposite way down the hall.  As everyone started running and
started pulling out blades, Perc said, "I believe there is
another stairway around this corner here."
     Tyrek replied back, "There do be one."
     John, who was running in the rear, chanced a quick look over
his shoulder at the advancing corpses.  Their movement was clunky
and their hiss was menacing.  John could make out holes in their
skin where skin and muscle had rotted away.  He could see bones,
and in some cases, he could see the cloth they were wearing
behind the bones.
     John was the last around the corner and let out his sigh of
relief at the empty hall way just after the others did.  The
stench of the animated corpses was catching them, although the
corpses themselves were getting a fair distance behind.
     Perc quickly ducked down another corridor, and hit the
stairs downward at a dead run.  Everyone lunged down the stairs
at a blazing pace, except John.  John stopped after two steps,
the way his dragon feet were shaped, he could not transverse the
stairs like the others.  "Hurry!  I shall meet with thee at the
bottom in a second."
     The others kept going, not questioning the half-dragon. 
John balanced himself to swing at the first corpse that came
around the corner.  He found he had to do so more quickly than he
expected.  He hacked off a head and arm in one swipe.  He hacked
through rotted skin and bone quickly and without remorse.  The
stench was almost unbearable, but the dead flesh parted easily,
and the parts the fell off hit the ground loudly.  As John
continued to hack, he notice that the creatures missing parts
continued the attack until he had almost hacked the bones to
pieces.  He continued his attack, though, undaunted.

BREAK

     Perc and Wall burst out of the stairwell onto the main
floor.  Both had weapons drawn, and both had to use them.  Ria's
torch illuminated two corpses on the main floor as Krash's
broadsword shattered bone, Wallace's bastard sword hacked off a
head, Jeade's long sword stabbed the decapitated corpse, Andre
hacked off a leg, and Andrea kicked the one legged corpse into
one behind it.  Two of Perc's daggers sunk into a corpse's
forehead as Tyrek flipped behind the corpse, stabbed it through
the back with both swords, and flung it back over his head when
he landed, sending the bag of bones crashing into two oncoming
corpses.  With the way cleared, all started a slow jog to the
wide open doorway to the castle, waiting to see what was just
ahead of Ria's torch light.
     A ball of light flashed from Luc's fingers, just as a ball
of ice flew from Cur's outstretched hand.  Both struck their
targets in front of them.  Krash's sword slammed into a bare
skull so hard it shattered into dust.  They started to pick up
the pace, because the corpses were multiplying.  Ria was having
problems with his short legs, and breathed in a rush, "Where in
the starlight is that flamin' drake?"
     John hacked one last time, then turned his back to the
corpses, and jumped down the stairs head first.  As he plummeted
down the stairs, falling towards the stairs themselves, he
unfurled his wings.  The stairwell, was wide enough for five
humans to stand shoulder to shoulder, and be comfortable.  John's
wings were cramped, and actually folded in a painful way to fit,
but got enough air for a downward glide, the tips only a scant
distance from the walls.  He prayed to any god that would listen
on his blood curdling descent down the stairs.
     One of Perc's daggers flashed past Ria's torch, catching the
fire light just well enough to glare into Jeade's eyes.  That
sparked a thought in Jeade's mind, and she started yelling. 
Jeade's voice could be heard over the moaning and shuffling of
the dead, "Shawna!  Awake!  Li'lDragon!  Awake!  Trouble!"
     John burst out of the stairwell into utter chaos.  The dead
by the stairwell had apparently not known of his descent, and
paid for it with their partially bare skulls.  John unfurled his
wings to the full length and flapped as hard as he could.  He
tried to concentrate past the pain of hitting the bones of the
creatures.  Somehow his wings caught a few of the dead beings on
the downswoop and John launched into the air.  A few flaps later
he was speeding towards the exit his friends were almost at.
     Shawna was awakened by Li'lDragon's constant nudging.  She
awoke just enough to push the rat-dragon aside, and apparently
she also awoke enough for Li'lDragon to get thoughts into her
mind.  She caught the warning and jumped up and strung her bow
and ran towards the entrance of the castle.
     John could make out the grass outside, as he past over his
comrades.  A huge clanking sound arose as he put a smile on his
face from the fresh air that was drifting in from the outside hit
his face.  He closed his eyes for a second to savor the scent,
then felt an extreme pain as his face slammed into something.

BREAK

     Ria yelled a curse as he watched the half-dragon crumple up
like a rag doll and fall to the stone floor that was well below
him.  Wall muttered his own curse at the huge portcullis that had
fallen cutting off their escape route.
     Shawna got to the portcullis and saw her friends coming
towards her.  She looked down and saw the half-dragon and almost
cried out.  Keeping her from crying out was the sight of many
corpses stumbling right behind the party.  She then pulled out an
arrow and knocked it, and then got a message from Li'lDragon.
     Wallace turned to the on coming corpses as he reached the
portcullis.  Jeade then turned to Luc and said, "Can you magik
this portcullis up?"
     Luc shook his head no, but Cur said, "Yes, WE can."
     Luc turned to look at his half-sister for the first time in
many months.  Luc then said, "You mean for Luc to assist you in a
coop spell?"
     Cur shook her head yes at her half-brother.  Luc let out a
long sigh as he closed his eyes and began to concentrate.  Cur
looked to Jeade and said, "It will take US a good little while." 
Then closed her eyes and concentrated on the intricate flows that
she and her half-brother were about to manipulate.
     Perc looked at the on coming dead and started his lips
moving.  Wall looked over at his comrade who was clutching his
chest.  "Perc, what are you doing?"
     Perc looked to his friend and said, "My god will protect us
from the dead."
     Krash gave the thief a wierd look as he set his crossbow. 
Jeade touched the big man on the shoulder and said, "He used to
be a priest."
     Krash looked at the tall woman and said, "Abandoned his
faith?"
     Andre smiled at the General and said, "Now be not the time
for a story, my think."
     Krash shot a bolt at a closer corpse and watched as it had
no affect.  "Me thinks you be right, Dreemdrek."
     John let out a groan as Tyrek shot an arrow through five
corpses, and did no visible damage.  Wallace then said, "Save
thine arrows and bolts, your arrows are having the same impact as
Perc's daggers."
     Krash shook his head and said, "Set up a perimeter around
the portcullis and prepare to stand thine ground."
     Shawna finished with Li'lDragon's instructions, and knocked
the arrow in her bow.  She had problems sighting the arrow to
fire through the bars of the portcullis, especially with a silver
dagger tied onto the tip of the arrow.  She let it fly.
     John rose to his feet and motioned for Ria to come to him as
a corpse streaked in pain as silver entered its dead flesh. 
Neither John nor Ria watched as the soul that was trapped inside
the shell of a dead body escaped into the night through the
silver dagger.
     John looked dazily at Ria and said, "Put the torch behind
me, about two inches from my skin and about five inches above
where my wings attach to my back."
     Ria put on a dumbfounded look as John turned towards the
still oncoming dead and waited for the dwarf to comply.  Ria
said, "In the center?"
     John growled a yes as he prepared for the extreme heat he
was about to channel.  Ria held the torch where he was told to
and watched as the half-dragon adjusted his wings.  Ria suddenly
closed his eyes against the reflected light that was being
amplified.
     Wall looked at Krash, who had given up on the perimeter
idea.  Andrea then tapped Wallace on the shoulder and pointed
towards the Half-dragon.  John's eyes were glowing red.  Jeade,
Wall, Krash, Tyrek, Andre and Andrea looked watched as the Half-
dragon's eyes continued to get brighter.  Ria hold the torch
behind the dragon with one hand and using his other arm to guard
his eyes against the brightest light Wall had ever seen, except
from the suns that is.
     Another dead shrieked as its soul escaped through the silver
dagger, tethered to an arrow, sticking out of its chest.  Cur
ignored the sound, Luc did not even hear it.  The two were in a
battle against each other, and against the world.  They could
feel each other and the portcullis and the air surrounding it. 
That was all the world was to them, and they had the impossible
task of moving the world.  Cur could feel her brother's hatred
for her also.  It was deep down, and radiated from within him. 
They joined hands, and put their foreheads together as the air
started to become denser around the base of the portcullis.
     John was burning, his insides were melting it seemed.  The
moisture in the air around him was turning to steam.  His eyes
were red beacons against the dull foggy color his skin had
turned.  He took one last breath.  In.  Then out.  As his breath
escaped his mouth, he simply...Focused.  The intensified light
from the torch had been refracted by his wings and reflected into
his body, in which they where amplified more and sent to his
mouth, where beams bounced around his mouth, and ignited the air.
     Wallace and Tyrek jumped back as they saw fire simply burst
from the dragon's mouth.  The oncoming dead simply caught on
fire.  The heat was intense.  And the stench quickly got worse. 
Burning corpses, walking into each other, catching the wall
tapestries on fire.  John breathed again.  In.  Then out.
     Shawna had another arrow knocked when all hell broke loose
inside the castle.  Burning corpses.  She aimed into the burning
mass of dead flesh and loosed.
     Jeade then yelled, "It's moving!"
     Wall turned to the woman and looked at the bottom of the
portcullis, it was an inch off the ground and rising, slowly. 
Krash smiled at the wizards then turned back to the carnage of
dead bodies.
     Perc was undaunted in his task.  He had turned his back on
his God because his God simply left him for dead.  In a city
where people had to steal to survive, his church got nothing.  No
tribute or anything.  Helpless people would approach the church
and he had to turn them away because he did not even have enough
to feed himself.  He turned to the only thing that he saw that
would save him.  He stole some food, just once, but it was
enough.  The next day a Rumble occurred.  There had never been a
Rumble inside the city, but there was one that day.  And one of
the buildings destroyed in the shaking of the ground, was his
church, built by hands blessed by his God, meant to last forever. 
It was said that the building would never fall, never crumble,
but it did.  Obviously his God had destroyed the place, because
the one trusted with its care committed sacrilege.
     But now, his God was needed.  After the church was
destroyed, he became a thief to spite his God.  It was a good
living, and not a day was regretted.  Even now.  His God was
deemed to protect the populous of the world.  His God made him
into what he had become.  A man that could survive totally by
himself.  But if anyone needed protection by the God that
protected the world, it was his friends.  "Please, Almighty,
grant me the power to protect these people."
     Wall watched as Perc's prayer simply stopped, his eyes
opened, and Wallace could see that they were totally black.  He
took out an amulet from under his shirt, and held it up.  He
pointed the amulet to the closest dead and yelled, "UNDEAD! 
DIE!"  A bright flash emitted from the amulet and struck the so
called UnDead.  The UnDead was simply obliterated.  Dirt and dust
simply flew all over Wallace and the party.
     Shawna looked under the three foot high opening in the
portcullis and watched the utter chaos inside.  Flaming corpses
exploding into dirt and dust.
     John breathed again.  In.  Then out.  Perc continued
pointing and obliterating.  Wallace, Krash, Jeade, and the
Dreemdreks, and Tyrek were all simply dumbfounded.  Ria was
simply blind.  Wallace then felt a hand on his shoulder and was
jerked ruthlessly out of the castle.  He found himself standing
outside the portcullis.
     Perc, woke from his trance seemingly by some unheard voice. 
And grabbed Ria as he ran under the now five foot high
portcullis.  John turned and saw that the entire party was
leaving.  He then looked at the two wizards.  He yelled to the
rest of the party, "Run to the trees, I'll meet you there with
these two!"
     The rest of the party complied, everyone hitting a dead run
towards the trees.  John was burning up.  The fires behind him of
the dead bodies were not helping.  Steam rose from his body as he
watched as the portcullis raised past six foot.  The UnDead had
stopped their slow march towards him, mainly because of the pile
of burning dead UnDead laid in the way.  John walked up to the
two wizards and said, "I will step back and grab you two on the
way out, drop the spell as soon as we get outside."
     He got no response, as he figured.  He took six steps back,
unfurled his wings, took three steps, picked up his feet, flapped
once, grabbed the siblings, and flew under the portcullis.
     John winced as the portcullis slammed down right behind him. 
He glanced back to see his tail slither out from between to of
the bars.  He let out a sigh and flew towards the forest where
his friends had entered.
     Thunder and lightning broke directly overhead as Shawna
rested against a tree breathing hard.  She looked up to see the
half-dragon coming towards them with the wizards in his arms. 
She then turned to Wallace and asked, "What happened in there?"
     Wall shrugged and said, "Damned if I know.  I do know one
thing.  When that damn dragon gets back, we're not going to sleep
till we get out of this forest."
     Ria smiled at his friend and said, "Good idea Wally. 
Starlight, I doubt I shall ever sleep again, after that."
     Jeade smiled at the dwarf, "I hear you there."  She then
looked to Shawna and asked, "How did you know to use silver?"
     Shawna looked at the rat-dragon sitting on a limb above her
and said, "Li'lDragon here told me, 'UnDead will die by silver.'"
     Jeade looked up to the rat-dragon and petted its head.  Perc
then said, "Thank the Lord we're all safe."
     Krash then said, "Remind me to pay tribute to Hokindo, next
time we get back to civilization."
     Tyrek laughed at the big General as John landed, letting the
two wizards down on the ground.  They limped away from the dragon
and leaned against separate trees.  Steam rose heavily off John's
body and Shawna said, "You okay, John?"
     John smiled at the beautiful human woman, "Just a tad hot. 
Normal dragon bodies have the same Focusing chamber that I have,
but they have bigger bodies to compensate for the heat."
     Shawna shook her head in the darkness, as a rain drop hit
John on the shoulder, and hissed.  Wall looked to the party as he
straightened up and said, "Everyone ready to get moving?"
     The steaming dragon looked up to the agreeing party, and
agreed himself.  Soon the entire party climbed into the
underbrush and disappeared into the darkness of the forest.  The
rain fell from the sky in great amounts, and lighting flashed
overhead.

BREAK

     A great force landed on the green in front of the castle in
the predawn hours.  The shower of the night had passed on.  The
force took shape, a young man.  The young man walked towards the
castle and entered the gaping entrance, to see all the dead
bodies on the floor, and other dead bodies carrying them off.  An
old man scurried up to the young man and said, "We had flesh for
you master.  But they escaped."
     The young man sniffed the air.  "Yes humans, some smell of
elves and dwarves.  There even is a smell of Dunab, though faint. 
What is that other smell?"
     The old man looked to his master and said, "There was a
dragon with them.  It blew fire from its mouth and had shiny
skin.  But it was smaller than the legends say.  The size of a
normal human."
     The master sniffed the air again.  "No matter.  It has been
so long since I have had the pleasure of dining on human blood. 
My race was foolish to hunt them into almost extinction, maybe
this is an omen that there are more humans than they knew.  No
matter either.  Drakma, I will hunt these humans tomorrow and
make them pay for the fatal mistake of dealing with a Vampire."
     Drakma, the old man, looked to his master and said, "Yes,
Master.  Excellent, Master."