One hundred skeletons with axes leapt from the floor simultaneously. Another hundred followed. Then two hundred after that. And more and more.

It was good that Caleb’s kids could fight because it was everything we had just to keep from being overwhelmed. There were no choke points like last time — just an open ballroom intermixed with civilians. Guards tried to get them escorted into the side halls or out the doors, but the people toward the center, closest to the fighting, couldn't get out in time. They fought with their hands, with improvised weapons like candlesticks. Those that couldn’t, were cut down.

It was chaos. It was misery.

Our spellcasters — Braelyn, Mark, Ara’alyne, and Queen Cerelia — couldn’t drop big spells on the skeletons without hurting innocents, and spent most of their time trying to keep Sofia occupied. She seemed like she was barely trying. Four powerful spellcasters, and they were just able to keep her attention.

Sofia sent large gouts of dark fire at civilians, killing them. The dead rose, wrapped in flame, to fight for her.

She didn’t want to kill us. If she had, she’d be sending the dark flame at me. No, she wanted to destroy everything Caleb had built first.

Where did this hate come from?

I had no time to think about that.

Braelyn had Rachel’s bag, and she’d tossed me a shield. Good thing too, because it was all I had just to keep from getting stabbed or pummeled many times over. As long as I could keep the blows away from my face, my armor was doing a decent job protecting me from the worst of it.

I tossed a low level Bubble spell over Braelyn, knowing that she needed the AC increase.

I couldn’t be reactive. I had to bring everything I had to the skeletons to keep them off of us. I lashed out with my shield, and hacked with Redeemer. I swung one arm then the other a hundred times over. Fast, faster, as fast as I could. Always moving, always keeping the worst of them in front of me, and one of his kids at my side. Eventually we were able to make it close to Caleb’s line.

“Hold fast!” he yelled, sword clanging against Captain Wen’s.

He’d wrangled his forces into a U shape. Civilians could get around them and to the exit, but skeletons caught on their swords and spears.

It wouldn’t last. They were doomed. Caleb could keep Wen’s attention but she had two other knights with her that were methodically, and systematically taking his knights down one by one.

The skeletons became a sea of glowing red. I sent out inspiring words to Bernie, then to Queen Cerelia.

The Queen’s hands moved faster. She ducked behind Caleb and completed her spell. A flock of birds, first a dozen, then a hundred, swirled above her. Leaves and thorny twigs fell from their wings. She pointed at the skeletons and the birds dive bombed them all at once, exploding into a mess of thorns where they hit, wrapping skeletons, and tearing some apart where they stood.

Bernie leapt into the air and collided into the back of a white knight, stabbing through the gaps in his armor, first one, then another, then another. He fell soon after. We were beginning to turn the tide.

Braelyn stopped counterspelling for a moment, just long enough, to send a wave of energy at Captain Wen. She launched across the ballroom.

Mark finally got a spell off. A translucent bubble, a dome of force, encircled the party. Only a dozen or so skeletons remained. We mopped them up.

Outside the bubble there were no more good guys. Any civilians that didn’t escape were now dead and under Sofia’s control. A thousand or more skeletons, a sea of them, waited for the bubble to drop. A dozen hit the bubble ineffectively.

“How long is this up?” I asked Mark.

Mark sighed, wiped his brow and said, “she can burn through it with a high spell slot. So, she could drop it at any moment.”

“Make the circle,” Caleb said.

“So demanding,” Mark said.

“Now,” Caleb urged.

Mark swept his arms in wide gestures and a symbol began drawing itself in glowing lines on the floor.

“I’m staying here,” Pelas said.

Caleb grabbed him by the gorget and pulled him close.

“Your mother needs you.”

“I’m hardly leaving,” Queen Cerelia said.

Caleb’s eyes snapped to her. He didn’t need to say anything. She saw his face.

“There will be no discussion,” he said. “My sons go with the queen to safety. Ara’alyne, and Sir Jameson go with them. If they refuse,” here he pointed to two of his knights, “Uther and Grosnan will escort them. Xander?”

“Yes, father?”

“You are the eldest Prince. You will make sure your brothers and mother are safe.”

“I will.”

The two knights named, stepped close to the Queen. And Xander put his hand on her shoulder.

“Mark?”

“It’s finished.”

Caleb gave Cerelia a passionate, if brief, kiss.

“Do it,” he said.

The teleportation circle flashed. Pelas pushed a knight out of the way, grabbed another, and shoved him into place at the last second. Queen Cerelia’s scream was cut off, and she vanished alongside Fala and Xander and the rest.

“You insolent, foolish boy,” Caleb admonished.

“One of us needs to watch your back,” he said.

“Keep your sword up,” Caleb said. Then, pointing his sword at the position of Pelas’s hands continued with, “and not too tight on the grip.”

“Yes, father,” Pelas said.

Sofia laughed from her position floating above her army. The two white armored Knights of the Word stood at the head of the horde. Captain Wen’s face was unreadable, but the other was furious.

I looked at the force that was with us in the bubble. After the six or seven knights I didn’t know, it was just us and Caleb’s people.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The Kill Crew was here, me Bernie, Rachel, and now Cal. He had that axe we’d gotten off the ogre through his belt. He had less than a dozen arrows in his quiver. Rachel growled and slapped her own face, trying to keep her rage lasting. Bernie’s eyes searched for hidden threats.

Caleb’s master of arms, Lieutenant Gru’ulna, fought with us. He had a massive axe in one hand and a sword in the other. Braelyn was next to him, blood pouring from a nasty head wound. I hit her with a Heal Light Wounds. Pelas and his father were up front, both with massive greatswords. The king looked resplendent in his stylized lion regalia. Pelas’s armor seemed rather plain in comparison.

Oh, and Mark was there too, but who knows how effective he’d be.

All together, it was less than a score of our men versus over a thousand skeletons. More climbed from the holes in the floor by the second. The dead ballgoers, the zombies, had black fire that poured from their eyes. There was no menace from the undead, just a cold countenance of subservience. The skeletons were well equipped.

I grabbed Bernadette’s elbow, and led her to a position behind the King and next to Gru’ulna. Upon seeing who we were fighting beside, she gave me a nod.

I pulled the monocle out of my pocket, and shoved it on, real quick. The information I got was fairly unsurprising. Mark was level 16. Pelas was level 8. Captain Wen was only five skull and crossbones now. The white night next to her was two skull and crossbones. I quickly looked to Sofia. The stats I got were more detailed than I expected.

The monocle read: Inara the level 32 Sorceress Queen, HP 296, CON 26, STR 12, Voidplague Ability.

So, strength was her weakness. Not sure how we could exploit that, what with her ability to fly and all, but maybe we could somehow pin her down?

“All this time, and I bet you don’t even remember me,” the white knight said. Unlike Captain Wen, who had a huge two handed sword, this knight had a sword and shield.

“I remember you, Justinian,” Caleb said solemnly. “And I am sorry for what you must have gone through.”

“‘What I must have gone through?’” Justinian responded mockingly. “You have no idea, do you? She took me in immediately. When you refused to call a retreat, and then left us to die, the Queen, the real Queen, took us in, no questions asked. And when she bid that I come with Captain Wen, I jumped at the chance.”

So, that was it, huh? Caleb refused to call for retreat. That was the unspoken word. Well, shit.

“I’m sorry,” Caleb said.

“Not yet,” he said. “Not until I give you what you’re owed.”

“That’s enough,” Captain Wen said. “We must give him a chance to surrender.”

“Fuck that,” Pelas said.

“My son is right,” Caleb said. “A King does not yield.”

“So be it,” Captain Wen said, a hint of glee in her voice.

“Do you see, Caleb?” Sofia’s voice called from on high. “Do you see the face of true loyalty? This is what a real sovereign inspires in her people.”

“All I see are the dead, and the strings of your puppets. And here,” he glanced at his massive two handed sword, “I got just the thing to cut them free.”

“Cute,” Sofia said. She pointed a finger at us and a ray of black energy hit the bubble. In a rush, a ring of embers spread across the bubble of force, like a hard drag on a cigarette. It burst.

Suddenly, there was nothing holding back the horde.

“Show them no fear!” Caleb yelled.

The horde rushed in. Caleb locked swords with Captain Wen. Pelas swung at Justinian. That left the rest of them to us.

We took the mob to the left of Caleb. I’d sparred with Gru’ulna, so I knew his fighting style. He came in with huge, big swings, then brought his weapons in close after a swing, so I had space to jump in and keep them from exploiting those moments. Bernie hung back and made sure none of them got us from behind. Rachel did her hulk smash thing a little further up, to the right of Caleb, keeping the pressure off the line of knights there.

Mark and Braelyn were just able to keep the pressure on Sofia, tossing lightning and fire and everything they had at her to keep us from getting torched.

Redeemer sliced through bone and ceremonial armor very easily. And now that we were in the light of Caleb’s aura, I barely felt their blows as anything more than getting hit with a paintball, jarring, but hardly painful in the moment. It was kind of wild. I felt like I could do this forever, fight at his side.

A slash from a rusty sword swooped in and I parried it easily. My swordpoint crushed through its eye socket. It cumbled. Another took its place. The shield turned away its blow and I lopped its head from its shoulders. A zombie grabbed my leg. Bernie stuck her blade through its spine and it went limp.

We were doing well!

They just kept coming.

Rachel took a sword through her chest.

“Rachel, I need you!”

She kicked the skeleton across the room.

I lopped the head off another skeleton. Two more stepped in to take his place.

Mark waved his hand and Captain Wen’s arms stuck to her sides as if she’d been grabbed by an invisible hand, then she rocketed through the air and out a window. Sofia snarled and struck him with a ray of blackness.

Mark fell. I rushed to his side. The line of knights circled us to give me space. I hit him with a Heal Light Wounds. His eyes snapped open.

“Your healing spells itch,” he said after coughing up blood.

“I’m the best you got,” I muttered. “Are you okay?”

Mark patted his clothes, tried to stand but fell. I caught him.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“She cursed me,” he said.

“Shit.”

“I have to return to the tower,” he said.

“No you aren’t,” I growled.

“I can’t fight like this,” he said.

“Caleb!” I yelled.

Pelas stepped into the circle. Caleb must be fighting that last white knight.

“I can remove a curse,” he said.

“Do it.”

Pelas put his hands on Mark, and they glowed. Mark stood straighter. Pelas dashed back to his father.

“You’re the only thing standing between us, and joining her army of the dead.”

“Of course,” Mark said.

I cast Bless on him and two other knights.

“Stay on his ass, and make sure he can just focus on the Sorceress,” I said to them.

We continued the fight.

My sword swings felt heavier, my arms burning, my breathing ragged, but I hacked at them with everything I had. We had to win the day.

Caleb raised his sword in the air. He burned brighter. When the light of his aura hit me I felt the pain drain from my limbs. I felt stronger. He’d cast a spell.

Until this moment, I had never known what it was like to fight in the company of heroes, to be a hero too. This was true evil we faced, and they stood no match for us. Suddenly, we began to chew through the horde.

Bernadette was a panther, leaping six feet into the air, lopping a skeleton’s head from its neck, landing on her feet then leaping back into the air toward another, spinning and twisting above blades always just too slow to reach her. Rachel battered them apart with her fists, punching through the ribs of one, then bursting the skull of another, moving ever forward, steady on her feet. The knights next to me swung their swords with renewed vigor. I didn’t need to heal because we were winning.

Pelas locked blades with Justinian. Caleb walked toward Sofia.

“It is over now, Sofie. Your dark powers are no match for the light of the righteous.”

Sofia tossed a ball of fire first at Mark, to keep him on his toes. He absorbed it with some kind of amulet. Then she threw fire at Caleb, who batted it aside with his sword easily. Sofia screamed in rage and frustration.

Justinian threw his sword into the floor, and cast a spell from a scroll. A wall of ice bisected the room.

We cut down the remaining skeletons, then had some room to breathe.

“What are they doing?” I asked Mark.

“I don’t know,” he said.

Dark shapes moved behind the semi-translucent ice. I could see zombies fall to the ground as the fire was pulled from their bodies.

“She’s doing something,” I said.

“She’s making a void demon,” Mark said with dawning horror.

“Why?” I asked.

“I made her angry,” Caleb admitted.

“How?” I asked.

“If I knew, we wouldn’t still be doing this!” he said.

“Counterspell it!” Bernadette yelled.

“I can’t see her! And even if I could,” Mark explained. “If I use a spell slot of this level, we won’t be able to teleport.”

“Get ready!” Caleb warned.

The ice exploded as a ten foot tall monster made of spikes and inky blackness surged through it. Caleb met it head on. More holes in the ice appeared where skeletons caved it in.

Well, at least we had some choke points.

It seemed as if the fight had only begun.