Triss wanted to run. Wanted to move. Her body refused to respond. She was beyond terror now, her adrenaline fueled flight from the battle and through the forest taking everything she had and more. She lay helpless on the ground, gasping for breath as the dark wizard loomed.

"Ssheee may have ussseful information masster." Reginald spoke up from behind Percival.

Percival sneered at Triss. "What could you possibly know."

"Spikewalkers." She managed to say between gulps of air. "Groundlers."

"Spikewalkers? And groundlers?" The old man looked at Reginald. "And the bereaved? This is ridiculous. It's like someone put half the gods damned Hordelands on a boat." He shook his head. "Ridiculous." He repeated. He straightend up, and looked at Reginald. "Fix your mistake, then come along."

Percival made it two steps towards the forest before Reginald spoke.

"No."

Percival stopped mid stride. He stood stock still for several seconds. Finally he turned to Reginald. "We'll discuss this later. Bring your pet if you must. We can feed her to the horde or something." He strode off without another word, heading straight down the forest path.

"Can you walk?" Reginald asked as he helped her to her feet.

Triss nodded and accepted the help, her body slowly recovering. Questions swirled through her mind as she stood, too many to choose from. Reginald pulled his wand and waved it over her. She froze as a wave of warm energy coursed through her body. It only lasted a few seconds, and when it faded she felt much better, the agony of her screaming muscles quieted to a dull murmur. "Thanks." She said after the heat had passed.

"Be careful." Reginald warned. "That spell reduces the strain of overexertion, but your body is still tired. If you overexert yourself again you may find yourself bedridden for a week." He turned and strode towards the forest. "Come along. We must catch up with Percival."

"Wait, what? Why?" Triss followed Reginald, her fear of being alone outweighing her fear of the forest. "The castle is safer, isn't it?"

"We have citizens to protect." Reginald said without looking back.

"Yeah, but Percy is a dark wizard."

"Percival. Your point?"

They were nearly under the forest canopy now. "Why would a dark wizard care about people?"

Reginald didn't pause, continuing on down the path. "I believe you have misunderstood what a dark wizard is. A dark wizard, as I explained last week, is any wizard that doesn't follow the council rules. You drink coffee and are an apprentice wizard. Technically, that makes you a dark apprentice. If the council knew of you your life would be forfeit."

"Ok, so I'm technically dark too. What does that have to do with saving the town?"

Reginald turned off the path suddenly. Triss hurried to keep up, making sure to take the turn at the same location. Obviously Reginald knew the safe path through as well. "Would you save the town if you had the ability?" Reginald asked as he made his way through the dense forest.

"Well, yeah. But I'm not a dark wizard."

"No, just a dark apprentice. This is the point, miss Triss. Dark does not mean completely evil and uncaring. We depend on this town for supplies. They depend on us for protection. Had I not been in town when the bereaved were first spotted, I'm sure they would have sent someone to fetch us. Jonal's son most likely."

"So we're saving the town because they give you free food?" Triss asked.

"Who said it was free? We pay for our food. We are not thieves. That's actually why you were summoned. Our supply of coin was running low, and Percival decided that summoning the princess of Gastonia to hold as ransom was the best solution. That's why I modified the symbols. They should have sent whatever was summoned to Gastonia. I'm not sure why you ended up here. The last thing we needed was to draw the attention of another kingdom."

Triss took a while to process Reginald's statements. Then she walked face first into a tree. "Ow." She decided that it would be best to think about all this later, and to focus on making it through the dangerous forest.

They eventually turned out of the trees and back onto the path, walking quickly. A shadow darted across the path behind them, and Triss hurried to catch up to Reginald. She almost ran into him when he stopped suddenly. They were just outside the forest now, and Percival stood just a few feet beyond. He and his wand out and was drawing something in the air. With a final flick the symbol formed. The symbol collapsed in on itself, growing brighter. It suddenly shot upwards, flying over the town, glowing red like a single firework. It hung over the city for several seconds, casting a red glow over the buildings. Then it slowly returned, fading out of existence just before reaching Percival.

"What was that?" Triss asked quietly, but Reginald shushed her.

"No talking. At all. Be silent unless I tell you to speak."

They stood there, waiting for several minutes. "What are we waiting for?" Triss whispered.

Percival swung his wand back without looking. A dart of flame shot out and hit the ground right in front of Triss's feet. She took the hint, and remained silent.

Eventually, she saw some creatures coming out of the back gate of the town. They were hard to see clearly even with the moon full in the sky, but she recognized what must be a spikewalker near the front. It had a body similar to a bear, if bears had three foot long legs that ended in in a foot of spiked bone. The head of the creature was small by comparison, with a furry dog-like snout and three eyes, one on each side and one dead center of the forehead. Triss shuddered and took an involuntary step back.

The bulk of the group was made up of five foot tall grey-skinned monsters that walked on two bent legs, like a bipedal goat. They looked a little like giant grey hairless rabbits, with two long ears that stuck out sideways.

As the group approached, they slowed and seperated. Two humans walked out of the center of the group and came to stand in front of Percival. One was tall and dark haired, and looked exactly as Triss imagined an evil wizard would look. The second was shorter with sun darkened skin, and he stood nearly cringing beside the taller man.

"Yorun? Is that you?" Percival asked in surprise as the other man approached.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Percival? By all the gods. When I saw the challenge I never imagined it would be you. I thought Terek was lord here."

"He was." An evil grin spread across his face. "No longer."

"Obviously. If Terek were here he would have hid in his castle. The man was a notorious coward."

LIES! I would have torn him to shreds! The voice in Triss's head raged.

Both wizards suddenly glanced at Triss. She shrunk back, and they turned back to one another. The voice in Triss's head muttered a little, then fell silent.

"This is quite the impressive collection of Hordelanders." Percival said. "I hear you've even managed to collect a pair of bereaved."

"Oh, not a pair." Yorun snapped his fingers. Two monstrous creatures came out of the group. They were shaped like oversized deer, though each leg ended in claws instead of hooves. The bulk of their face was taken up by a large circular mouth filled with rows of needle-like teeth. They walked up to Yorun, and he petted one like a dog.

"A pair is two, if I remember correctly." Percival said.

Yorun's smile grew wider. "That is correct." Some movement to the side drew Triss's attention, and she jumped as another of the horrors walked five feet beside her, coming from the woods. She spun and saw another on the opposite side. Suddenly, she felt a hand taking hers. She looked down, and saw that Reginald had come to her side and taken her hand. She clutched onto the scaly claw tightly.

"Four, to be precise. A full hunting pack. Of course, you would know all about bereaved hunting packs, would you not?"

"An impressive feat. Since you have such excellent control over them, I would suggest leading them elsewhere."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Because you value your life, I would imagine. And the lives of your army." Percival had an evil grin now.

Yorun laughed. "I admit, of course, you could easily destroy these lesser creatures." He gestured to the small army behind him. "But unless you've become a master swordsman, I see no way for you to defeat my bereaved."

Triss couldn't contain herself. "Why can't he?" She whispered as quietly as she could.

"Immune to magic." Was the whispered response.

Well, shit. Triss thought.

"And let's not forget, you'd have to deal with me." Yorun's voice took on a harsh tone. "You don't have the opportunity to hide in the shadows to stab me in the back this time."

Percival laughed. "I had forgotten about that. How did Gerald take it?"

"Poorly. I had to kill him. The miserable council sent five wizards after me for that." Yorun chuckled. "Not exactly their best ones. It was almost insulting."

"Yes, well. I find that an abundance of training like the council orders can be quite detrimental. Leads to rigid thinking, which is unhelpful in many circumstances. For instance." He opened his robe with one hand while waving his other. Four small daggers rose into the air, then flew off rapidly in different directions, one at each bereaved. The daggers flashed in the moonlight as they spend towards their targets. Each one slowed suddenly before reaching the monsters, then fell uselessly to the ground.

Yorun rolled his eyes. "Did you really think that would work?"

Percival was still smiling. "Rigid thinking. Spells don't work on bereaved directly. Arrows and other missiles are stopped short. Most people think that bereaved are therefore immune to magic.

Yorun was still smiling, but there was a hint of tenseness there now. "They are immune to magic."

Percival walked right up to one of the bereaved. He placed a hand on the creature. "If they are immune, how do their shields work?" He asked. He didn't wait for an answer. "They are, of course, completely magical creatures." He patted the creature on the neck, then turned back to Yorun. "Rigid thinking. We assume they are immune to magic because they cannot be directly affected by spells." Triss noticed that the wizard had his wand out, hidden behind his back. It was moving in small, surreptitious motions, drawing a symbol in the air. He walked back to stand in front of Yorun.

"Yes. They are obviously magical creatures. And of course they're immune to magic!" Yorun snapped. "What is this foolishness? Have you become senile in your old age?"

"There is one thing a magical creature needs to survive, of course." Percival said, lecturing like a college professor. "They must have magic to survive. One wonders what would happen if they suddenly found themselves cut off from all magic." He flicked his wand one final time.

All four bereaved dropped. They spasmed on the ground, horrifying wails filling the air before falling silent. Yorun had an absolutely shocked expression. "You can't!" Was all he managed to say.

Percival gave the other wizard a disappointed look. "Rigid thinking." Was all he said.

Yorun reached quickly into his robe, obviously going for his wand. A sudden flash of light erupted and Yorun flew backwards. Reginald stepped forward, wand held out. "None of that." He said calmly.

Percival walked forwards calmly, hands still held behind his back. "Disappointing. I had hoped you had improved. It seems you still believe that one good trick is all you need." He stopped two steps from the fallen wizard. Yorun got to his feet, swaying slightly. His face was nearly purple with rage. Reginald stepped up beside Percival, wand at the ready. Yorun glared at the two. "Do you really think you are a match for me?" He snarled.

"More than." Percival replied calmly. "But I would prefer not to have to clean up the mess." He gestured at the group of monsters. "It would take days to burn all the corpses. No, I think it best if you take your little army and go cause chaos elsewhere." Percival yawned, then turned and began to walk away. "I don't appreciate having my sleep interrupted. I believe I will go back to bed now."

"Don't you turn your back on me!" Yorun screamed. "I will burn this town to the ground and cast your castle into the sea!"

Percival stopped. He sighed, and turned. "I am giving you an opportunity to survive. Do not reject it again." He said flatly.

"You're a fool! An ancient and failed wizard!" Yorun screamed. He waved one hand and a shimmering blue shield formed in front of it. He drew his wand with his other hand, the motions taking less than a second. He waved his wand at Percival, and a head-sized ball of orange flame erupted towards the older man. Percival waved his wand lazily and the ball suddenly changed course,exploding in the crowd of monsters.

The night was suddenly filled with the sound of screaming. Dread creatures howled and cried as their bodies were covered in flame. The whole group broke, fleeing in all directions. Most went towards the forest, the sticky flames lighting up the trees as they ran through. Within seconds, the flaming monsters disappeared, taken by the greater horrors of the dark woods.

Percival looked at Yorun with confusion. "That was the dumbest thing I think you could have done."

LEFT! The voice screamed in Triss's head. She looked to her left, and saw the other human. He had a wand out and was quickly drawing a complicated symbol in the air. He was staring right at Percival. Triss realized with horror that neither Percival or Reginald had noticed the other wizard. The man completed his symbol, and it began to shrink.

A symbol suddenly blazed in Triss's mind. CAST IT! The voice screamed. An image of a hand gesture came to her as well. She didn't hesitate, redrawing the symbol and copying the gesture. It was so vivid in her mind that she was certain it was copied correctly.

The other man's spell from shrank until it was just a tiny point of light spinning in front of him. Triss finished her own spell, and a beam of blue light flew out from her hand, flying directly towards Percival. At the same time, the dot in front of the other man shot forward. The blue beam reached Percival first, the blue light instantly enveloping him. The dot of light touched the blue aura and stopped it’s forward motion, spinning in the air against the shield. Then suddenly it reversed course, flying back and slamming into it’s caster.

The man looked horrified as the light disappeared into his chest. He screamed as it pushed in, leaving a smoking hole in his chest. "Eric!" Yorun screamed.

The man, obviously named Eric, looked over at Yorun. "help m-" he started to whimper.

Before he could finish his plea, Eric exploded like an over filled balloon. Blood, guts and other gore went everywhere. Triss screamed and ducked, covering her head with her arms to protect herself. She huddled for a moment before realizing the nothing had hit her. She looked and saw the explosion of blood and guts had only spread out about ten feet, and she was nearly twice that distance away. In the center of the circle of gore, two legs stood, cut off just above the ankle.

Triss threw up. She was on her hands and knees in the grass, her head swimming and tears running down her face. I killed someone. You made me kill someone! She thought at the voice. The voice didn’t respond.

“I’m going to kill you! You miserable stupid girl!” Yorun was screaming. At her, she assumed. She looked up. Yorun was standing, facing her, a purple glow enveloping his body. She saw Reginald flick his wand at the wizard. There was a flash, and Reginald went flying backwards.

Yorun raised his wand and pointed it directly at Triss. His eyes were wild and his face screwed up with rage.

“DIE!”