Darryl’s mana was regenerating much faster now, as his undead horde dwindled in numbers. It was the only reason he felt comfortable with what they were about to do.

“Are you sure about this?” Meryl asked pensively, staring out the window.

“Don’t worry, I had way less mana last time I tried to levitate. We should be fine.” Darryl replied, far more confidently than he actually felt.

Meryl shook his head. “I mean I get it but still, we’re three stories up, and you know I’m afraid of heights.”

Darryl shrugged. “Close your eyes. It’ll be over before you know it. Remember we need to get out quietly if we want to do this, and there’s no way the guards are going to let you walk out the front door. Would you rather watch me give a bunch of soldiers air embolisms, or would you rather try flying?”

“This isn’t flying. This is slightly slower falling.” Meryl pouted.

Darryl sighed, and walked up to put his hand on Meryl’s shoulder. “Look, I understand how you feel, but you just need to remember one thing.”

Meryl blinked in surprise. “What?”

“Leroy…”

“Don’t you fucking dare.” Meryl cried, trying to disentangle himself from Darryl’s suddenly firm grip on his shoulder, as Darryl shouted “Jenkins!” Shoving them both through the window with a burst of velocity magic.

“You dick!” Meryl screamed.

Darryl didn’t reply as he focused on regulating the levitation spell. It only took two terrifying seconds that blurred into eternity before they landed on the ground with a loud thud.

“What the hell man!” Meryl croaked, smacking Darryl off of him.

“Sorry bro, it had to be done. Like ripping off a bandaid.” Darryl spluttered, spitting dirt out of his mouth.

“It’s still a dick move.” Meryl muttered, shoving himself to his feet. “I retract our tearful reunion. It was now a casual get-together.”

Darryl shook his head. “Nope, no take-backsies.”

Meryl rolled his eyes, looking around the courtyard. “You realize this still leaves us inside the castle walls right?”

Darryl waved the comment off. “Don’t worry, I have people for that.”

Meryl arched an eyebrow. “People?”

Darryl smirked, and pulled a moderately smushed Fear out of his pouch. “Whoops, sorry buddy. I’ll fix you up.” With that said, he cast “restore undead” which was a spell designed to repair a dead body without bringing it back to life. After a few seconds, he was holding a fully functional rat corpse.

Just for good measure, he pulled out the corpse of his former guide as well, repairing it to full functionality before storing it back in his satchel.

“Um, why are you holding a dead rat?” Meryl asked.

“Undead, he’s undead. At least I think he’s a he. I never bothered to check.” Darryl held up Fear, but couldn’t find what he was looking for. “I don’t know, they might have gotten smushed.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Meryl stared at him, concerned. “Dude, are you ok? I thought it was just because you were happy to see me, but you’ve been a little… manic.”

Darryl shrugged. “I got thrown in jail for a week, treated like shit, ate oatmeal off the floor, faced my own mortality, killed a bunch of rats, created an undead rat army, killed dozens of people, I’m off my bipolar meds, and my stats are super unbalanced, so who knows what that’s doing to me. Take your pick but I’m definitely not ok.”

Meryl nodded, and patted him awkwardly on the back. “Don’t worry bro, we’re almost through this. Then we can go hole up in a cave somewhere and build the biggest rat horde the world has ever seen.”

Darryl smiled. “Sounds like a plan. In the meantime, Fear is going to tell us how to get out of here.”

Meryl groaned. “Did you really name your creepy undead pet after a troll build from pokemon?”

Darryl shrugged. “It seemed a lot funnier when he was soloing high level guards.”

Meryl rolled his eyes, but waved a hand dramatically. “Lead the way, rat friend.”

Darryl pulled the second rat out of his pouch, placed it on the ground, then lifted Fear up to eye level. “Lead us to an exit with no guards.”

Fear squeaked affirmatively. They followed the rat guide for several minutes until it brought them to a solid metal door.

“Locked.” Meryl grunted, giving it a full-force kick. “Damn, that’s tough. I literally bent copper with my bare hands the other day.”

Darryl nodded. “Stand back.” He commanded. Once Meryl had backed away from the door, he cast his prison-breaker spell on it. It only took the magical nanites five very tense minutes to eat through the metal. Luckily, the commotion seemed to be keeping the castle staff indoors.

Meryl gave the door-shaped hole an appreciative glance as they passed through it.

“You better teach me that spell.” He commanded. Darryl gave an affirmative grunt, but his mind was with the rats, reorganizing them, and animating a new wave from the pile of corpses that still remained in the central hub. They strode cautiously through the door as Darryl unleashed a second wave that surged through the tunnels like a silent tsunami.

“It should only take fifteen minutes to make it to town if no one stops us.” Meryl declared quietly.

Darryl grinned evilly. “If anyone does stop us, you’re the hero. Just tell them you’re on your way to deal with the rat problem.”

Meryl gave him an accusing side-eye. “What rat problem?”

“Have I mentioned that I killed half the guards in the castle? Well, a lot of them weren’t actually in the castle when it happened. The town is a bit of a battlefield right now.” Darryl looked away guiltily.

“You didn’t.” Meryl implored, looking at him in horror.

“I made sure the rats ignore civilians, even if it gets them killed. I’m not a total monster!” Daryl announced, throwing his hands up in frustration. “I just needed a distraction to keep the guards busy while we escaped!”

“Ugh, my brother is secretly the demon lord isn’t he?” Meryl groaned, stopping, and staring at him with a complex expression.

Daryl stopped, and met his eye for a moment before looking away. “Better them than me. Would you rather I just sat silently and waited to be executed? And then you get sent out onto the frontlines on the wrong side of a war?”

Meryl looked away. “I was going to rescue you, and then defect. A lot of guards getting knocked unconscious while we ran away. There didn’t need to be so much… death. It’s not right.”

Darryl shrugged off the old argument. “There is no right or wrong, there’s only society and survival.”

Meryl shook his head. “Nope, you’re not sucking me into that one again. We need to get moving or we’re going to sit here debating until we get caught.”

Darryl grunted in displeasure, but didn’t argue. Meryl’s determined gait caused him to walk slightly ahead of Darryl, who trudged behind his brother in quiet reflection. Another kill notification passed his vision, and he winced, giving his brother an apologetic glance that the other man couldn’t see. After a moment, Darryl sighed, firmed his resolve, and placed another point into soul.

“We’ll survive.” Darryl announced to the world.

Meryl fell back, and placed a comforting hand on Darryl’s shoulder. “We will.”