The giant spider turned and vanished into the forest. As Britina and Prunhiline followed, the skittering noises from the smaller spiders sounded oddly like applause.

As they walked, the warrior gripped the handle of her war hammer, while the mage kept a small charge of magic ready. In the forest's dense darkness, Britina’s eyes glowed faintly blue. If the Mother Spider noticed, she showed no concern.

The two women lost sight of the Mother Spider in the shadows. Quickening their pace to catch up, they abruptly emerged into a large clearing where the moonlight’s brightness momentarily blinded them.

The first warning came as a low, unsettling sound, countless feet scraping against the ground. The horrifying sight became clear as their vision adjusted: a zombie horde.

Britina lowered her arms, palms outward, and tilted her head back as she summoned a massive surge of power. Her entire body glowed blue. While most mages relied on slow, steady charging, Prunhiline’s training had taught Britina to master quick, explosive surges. She braced herself for combat.

Prunhiline swung her war hammer from her back, twisting her body into a practiced defensive stance: right foot back, left foot forward. She braced herself for the first wave of attackers, knowing Britina’s spell would bring the fire. Heat would soon engulf the clearing, but Prunhiline was ready.

Britina focused her gaze beyond the warrior, her lips moving as she cast the spell. Heat surged within her, rising rapidly. This wasn’t a precise attack but a devastating spell meant to engulf the entire clearing. They could handle any remaining undead afterward. Britina’s glowing blue eyes widened as she prepared to unleash the power. But…

“Stop!” a voice shouted from the horde. A young dwarf emerged, breaking through the undead ranks, frantically waving his arms.

Britina’s heart sank as she realized the living dwarf was directly in her spell’s path; he wouldn’t survive. Dropping to one knee, she redirected the energy while Prunhiline rolled to the left. The fireball soared harmlessly overhead, singeing nearby trees but sparing everyone.

Britina had once thought Prunhiline was crazy for drilling her on last-second spell diversions. Now, she was grateful for it. But the effort had drained her, leaving them vulnerable to the zombie's attack. The edges of her vision darkened as exhaustion overwhelmed her. She couldn’t hold on.

“Bri!” Prunhiline shouted as the mage collapsed. Dropping her war hammer, she caught Britina just in time, settling her gently across her legs. With her hammer out of reach, she drew her daggers, ready for a fight. A grim thought flickered through her mind: Britina and Prunhiline’s Zombie Adventures. She smirked. If this was the end, at least she’d go down with her best friend and wife, partners in death.

The dwarf had been knocked from his feet. He looked up to see the mage lying across the giant woman’s legs and the giant woman holding what appeared to him to be two swords. He could tell they were swords, but in her hands, they appeared to be daggers. He slowly climbed to his feet.

Throwing out his hands, he yelled, “Stop!” The zombie horde didn’t move, and it hadn’t moved at all. Prunhlinie realized he was ordering her to stop (as if).

“Who are you?” Prunhiline yelled across the clearing.

“I’m a friend.” The dwarf said.

Prunhiline responded with a loud, wet raspberry. The dwarf was slightly taken aback by this. “Try again!” yelled Prunhiline.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Britina began to stir and mumble. She would regain consciousness, and then the two would wreak havoc. Prunhiline smiled at the thought of havoc—one of her favorite words.

“I am Prince Darren of the Dwarven Kingdom of Nagitha.” The dwarf shouted. He stood a bit taller after saying his name. Or at least tall for a dwarf.

Britina started to push herself off of the warrior. “What,” she mumbled. She rolled to a sitting position on Prunhiline's left. “What happened.” The mage looked up and tried to focus her eyes. She could see a shape walking toward them. She couldn’t concentrate enough to see more details, but words kept nagging her pounding head. It snapped into focus: ZOMBIE! Britina reacted without thinking. Power surged through her hands, and she swept them forward, shooting a fireball at the oncoming zombie. In her haze, she could see she hit the abomination square in the chest, knocking it off its rotting feet.

“Whoa, good shot, Bri. I bet the prince is out cold now.” Prunhiline said, getting to her feet.

Prunhlilne’s words swept the fog away from Britina’s mind. She was now looking at a zombie horde standing still in front of her and a dwarf lying flat on his back. He appeared to be smoking.

“Oh shit!” Britina yelled, trying to climb to her feet.

Prunhilne grabbed her under her arms and helped her up. “Language, my lady.” Prunhiline hissed with enjoyment. It was one of the few times she had ever called the mage my lady.

Britina looked up at the warrior. “Do you know who that is?” She pointed at the smoldering, passed-out dwarf. “That’s the prince.”

“Yeah, that’s what he was telling me,” Prunhiline smirked down at her companion.

“Did I kill him?” Britina eyes were wide. Great, with all that happened, they assassinated a prince while trying to rescue him. It would be on par with their adventure so far.

“Nah, that wasn’t enough to do serious harm. Good thing you were still stunned, or you would have fried him.” Prunhiline said over her shoulder as she walked toward the now unconscious prince. Britina quickly caught up with her.

They both stared down at the prince. He looked fine. They could see him breathing. His beard was in bad shape, and he had lost his eyebrows. They knew that would be a problem, but at least he was still alive. The two looked at each other.

“Mission accomplished,” Prunhiline shrugged and reached to pick up the prince.

“Get away from my boyfriend!” Came a shout from the zombie horde.

The two shocked women looked up to see another dwarf walk through the zombies. They both thought maybe these weren’t zombies but some weird statues. Prunhiline stood up and watched as the new dwarf ran towards them.

“What?” Britina said. She was still foggy from passing out.

The female dwarf fell to her knees and began to check on the prince. The two adventures felt awkward that they weren’t as concerned as she was.

“He’s breathing.” The female dwarf announced. She looked up and said a word. Well, it sounded like a word, but it wasn’t. The noise was a cross between a bear and a moose with a goose squawk. One of the zombies, yes, they really were zombies, began a slow shuffle towards them.

Prunhiline reached for her war hammer only to remember that she had left it at the edge of the clearing. She then grabbed her daggers. It was stabby-stab time. Britina, still trying to regain her full focus, gathered a small amount of energy. She didn’t want to have another incident like before.

The female dwarf looked up at the two. “That’s Brian. Don’t hurt him.” She stood up and said to Brian, “Take Darren to the temple and put him in our tent, please.”

“Wait,” Britina said, holding up her hands, “You're a necromancer?” This was starting to make sense: the zombies, the kidnapped prince.

“I’m not a necromancer.” The dwarf said as Brian finally made it to the prince. It slowly bent down, picked him up, and began the slow walk back the way it had come.

“You hang out with and command zombies, lady,” Prunhiline said. She didn't know what to do with her daggers. She hated when she had the dilemma of stab or not to stab. She liked the stabbing part.

“Well, yes. They help me.” The female dwarf turned to the two adventures. “I’m Brianna; I’m an archaeologist. Well, I’m actually a Necro-archaeologist.”

“A what?” Prunhiline blinked a few times. Now, they have to deal with a dwarf with a vocabulary.

“I’m not aware of what that is either,” Britina said. She didn’t think she would need a dictionary on this adventure.

“I’m technically a necromancer. I can communicate with and raise the dead.” Brianna said, then rolled her eyes. “It’s terrible, and I hate it. I’m an archaeologist.” Britina turned and began to walk toward the zombie horde. Britina began to follow her with an uneasy gaze at the zombies.

Prunhiline ran back to grab her favorite war hammer and quickly caught up with the other two. A single stride for the warrior was several for both the dwarf and the human.