The seven travellers had been journeying through the forest for most of the day. Though Belaen did not want to spend any more time in the dark forest of Dentarn, the sun was quickly retreating from the land, and the travellers were still half a day's walk from the town of Taileth. They cleared an area of ground just a stone's throw from the road, got a fire going, and set up some shelters. Food and plates were brought out of bags, and a meagre dinner began. Belaen did not eat; though he said that he was not hungry, he chose not to because he disagreed with the decision made by the other six to stay the night along a now seldom used road.

As the time passed, the other six travellers made their beds and went to sleep, however Belaen did not feel at ease. Though his eyelids demanded to be shut, his heart would not let sleep take him. So Belaen stayed at the campfire until it went out, constantly scanning the trees for anything unusual.

Generally Belaen enjoyed the twilight, the darkness. He would often feel more at home at night, in places like this forest with friends, than in a town in the heat of the day. However, this darkness did not give Belaen such a feeling. Though the trees were thinly spread, the air seemed dense and stagnant. And these other travellers were little more than business associates, merchants requiring a military member to keep them 'safe' along an uninhabited road.

Belaen blamed this evil feeling he had on the location of the forest. The northern part of the Dentarn Forest was often kept under observation, where civilisation dwelt. But the forest ran very far to the west, to the dry wastelands, where the dark lords hold their hideous rituals.

As the last of the embers went out, Belaen stood up and surveyed the perimeter of the camp. The absolute silence of the forest put Belaen on edge, but he kept reminding himself that these northern forests were like this, in contrast to the forests further south.

Something inside Belaen told him to look towards the road. Though the forest to the west seemed to have a looming shadow to it, Belaen glanced east, to the road. Past a couple of large trees, the road was relatively easy to see. However the growing darkness between the camp and the road made the whole area seem more sinister. The full moonlight illuminated much of the road to the eyes of Belaen. From where he stood, the road appeared empty and dead. Then Belaen heard something press into some of the gravel on the road; something out there had taken a step. The previous silence of the forest and the stagnant air made this noise so unbelievably clear to Belaen. He quietly moved so he could see around the trees between him and the road.

There was a figure, no taller than a child on the road. The shadows of the trees drenched it in darkness. If Belaen had not heard the step before, he may have mistaken it for a tree stump. But it was indeed a child, a young girl, in fact. Her long, dark hair hid her face from Belaen's view. Her torn and slightly singed clothing covered most of her body, only revealing her bare feet and dirty, trembling hands. Her head was fixed upon the road south to the Autumn Citadel, though she showed no signs of any desire to take any more steps on that path.

Belaen felt prompted to call out to the girl, but as he opened his mouth, she slowly turned her head to where he was, as if that slight motion of his jaw had alerted her to his presence. Belaen's blood went cold and his heart froze. It was not a girl, at least not any more. The large cuts on her sickly pale face and the blank stare of her lightless eyes were traits Belaen had recognised previously in others. This girl had been yet another victim of the dark lords, who would have killed her and animated her corpse using their tainted magic some days ago. But even with all his training to combat such creatures, the stare of this dead girl in the darkness of the forest rendered Belaen motionless.

Now the girl turned the rest of her body to face Belaen. Her stare turned to a look of resentment and anger, and her eyes gained focus. She opened her mouth unnaturally wide, and with a ghastly voice, she let out a chilling scream, a scream that made her whole body convulse and shake. The stagnant air of the forest brought back the echo of the scream with sinister effect. The very sound stole the breath from Belaen's lungs and made him flinch in shear terror. What new horror is this, that the dead now have voices for more than the conventional moan?

With her scream finished, the dead girl raised her arms at Belaen, her hands tensed. But with an unnatural and unexpected boost of speed she sprinted towards Belaen; a menacing look on her face. With lightning speed she crossed the distance between her and Belaen, and if Belaen had not acted quickly, her hands would have been around his neck and it would have all been over. But at the last moment, Belaen felt courage again; and lifting his halberd, he struck out at the dead girl, severing the neck and stopping the animation. The head rolled to the right and stopped at the base of the tree, the eyes and moth still wide open. The body, on the other hand, took a few more steps and then collapsed, at less than an arm's length away. If her hands had gotten around Belaen's neck, it would have been impossible for him to remove them. Belaen breathed out a sigh; this undesirable and underpaid job could have been his last.

Even after the dead girl's body was again lifeless, the terror was still coursing through his body, making him tense up. Those dark eyes kept him fixed to where he was. Although the girl had been dead long before this encounter, this scream had given the dead girl a more personal feel, and looking at her decapitated head, Belaen almost felt like he had been the one who had killed her. He shook his feelings aside when he remembered the others back at the camp, but he later knew that it was this pause that prevented him from saving them. The scream had not been a warning, but a call . . .

When he got back to the camp, the others had been startled by the scream and were now awake. One was asking Belaen what was going on when out of the forest came a loud yell. Into the campsite leaped another dead person � this time a man. Much of the right half of his head was missing, and blood stained his mouth and chin. He landed next to the one that had spoken and began chocking and biting. Belaen cut off the dead man's head, but the damage had been done. Their company of seven had just been reduced to six. The forest was no longer safe, but what about the town of Taileth? They could not risk it; they would have to return south. "Back to the Autumn Citadel" was all that Belaen could say before more yells and screams were heard.

They ran back to the road, and from there dashed southwards, the screams behind them. Fighting any more of these swift horrors was not an option for one knight and five merchants. "The sinister art of animating dead bodies has been improved by the dark lords of late", thought Belaen as he ran.

Belaen was unsure of the safety of the long, southern road, but if the population of Taileth to the north had been culled, that road would be their death. But it would still be a good few leagues before they would reach the Autumn Citadel, and the merchants would not be able to run all that way, even with the terror currently filling them.

Something inside Belaen told him to move to the left side of the road. From up ahead appeared another of the dead people, and leaped at Belaen, but Belaen did what his instincts said, and the dead man collided with the merchant behind, toppling the merchant to the ground. Belaen tried to swing his halberd at the dead man as he ran, but he was already to far away, and he dared not stop running. As he looked back, Belaen saw three other dead people chasing their group, which was now at five. No, make that four; another dead person had bounded out of the forest and swiped at the back of a merchant in the centre of the group. The merchant cried out in pain and tripped, and the other dead people were on him in a flash, ripping at his face and strangling him. They no longer pursued the group, but were busy preparing these fresh bodies for animation.

The group ran on. Through the darkness, the run south had been a blur to Belaen. The forest road looked monotonous in the twilight, but as they ran, a gathering mist arose from the forest floor and blanketed the surrounds. In his mind it seemed like he had struck the dead girl only mere seconds ago, but it was fast reaching the morning hour now, and the grey light of dawn was becoming more apparent.

As the light of dawn grew more yellow, Belaen reached the forest's edge, out of breath. Here he breathed heavily and his two companions also stopped to cached their breaths. They must have lost the fourth member of the group to the terrors in the forest as well.

The Autumn Citadel was now in sight, just on the horizon, past the plains before them. Even though the forest was behind the group, Belaen knew that these plains would not keep him safe. And even if the group made it to the Citadel, the dead people would need to be fought; he would need to face them.

They walked down the plains, still gasping for breath. They were now too exhausted for fear now, they had run a good few leagues that night. The two merchants began talking about the events that had taken place, how they should have brought more soldiers like Belaen to guard them, how they'd have to explain the deaths of the other merchants to their families. But Belaen had his own thoughts to keep him occupied. He had counted at least five dead people in the forest, possibly another four, if they had animated their fellow companions. He now realised he could have done more to save them if he had not been paralysed by the look of the dead girl.

Belaen felt that before they would reach the Citadel, he would need to confront the dead pursuing them. Although the dead had stopped chasing them after a while, they would still be aware of the group's movements. But something inside him gave him courage. His five years of training was not in vain; he would oppose this threat from the west.

They were almost halfway to the Autumn Citadel when the dead emerged from the forest's edge. They all screeched as they ran down the slopes to meet the weary travellers. Belaen told the two merchants to run straight for the Autumn Citadel, and he turned to face the oncoming danger. Gripping his halberd tightly in both hands, Belaen issues his own battle cry and ran to meet his adversaries.

The line of the ten dead people staggered out as some ran faster than others, showing the fitness of the bodies' previous owners. This worked to Belaen's advantage, he would be able to deal with them one at a time. The closest of the dead was a large man; he was possibly a woodcutter or similar before he died. This was a dead body not part of the original group that had chased them before. Since the man's death this body had lost much of its former size in a number of areas; chunks of the shoulders and thighs had been ripped off, revealing the bones underneath. Belaen raised his halberd as the distance between them closed and with a well-timed strike; he cut through the showing bones on the body's left leg. As the body fell, Belaen raised his halberd again for a strike at the neck to finish the job.

The next few adversaries had been chasing Belaen through the forest before. The first one leaped at him, but Belaen swung his halberd and knocked the head clean off with the blunt side. As the rest of the body passed harmlessly to the side, Belaen swung through the torso of the next closest. The top half of this body remained animated, and began dragging itself to Belaen, but the bottom half fell over. He dealt with the fourth and fifth abomination with his skill in the halberd as well; a thrust through the neck and a slice down the skull respectively.

At this point Belaen felt a sharp pain in his left leg: the body he had cut in half earlier had dragged its way to him and had taken a bite. With the other end of the halberd shaft he knocked the head away from his leg; flesh from his leg was torn off in the process. Belaen yelled in pain, and with burning fury he smashed the skull of the dead man that had done this to him.

The last four of the dead people were very familiar to Belaen; he had travelled with them the day before. He knew these bodies no longer belonged to their former owners, but were now tools for the dark lords to use for evil. They had been slower as much of their bodies were still essentially whole, which are more difficult for the dark lords to animate. Belaen made quick work of these opponents with his halberd. He had stopped the enemies of the Amethyst Kindred, for a time.

Belaen limped back to the Autumn Citadel, clutching his leg. He pulled out the teeth still embedded in his shin as he went. As he neared the Autumn Citadel a loud shout resonated from its battlements: the other warriors were impressed with Belaen's weapon skill. There was also a man at the gate, but Belaen could not recognise him presently, and his vision became blurry.

The blazing light of dawn spilled out over the land. The blood-loss from his leg and the leagues of running had made Belaen feel light-headed and dizzy. With a wry smile, he collapsed in front of the man at the northern gate . . .