“Don’t worry about my helpers.” Brianna gestured to the zombies with a reassuring smile. “They’re friendly, though I know it sounds strange.”

“Yes, well, we’ve met peaceful vegetarian zombies before,” Britina said, rubbing her temples to ease her massive headache.

"A vegetarian zombie? Was his name Jerald?" Brianna asked, eyebrows raising in surprise.

"Yes!" Britina exclaimed while Prunhiline crossed her arms with an exasperated huff.

“I know him; I interviewed him for a paper I did at the university,” Brianna said. As they passed, the zombies never moved.

“What are they doing?” Purnhilin asked.

“Resting. They get breaks just like everyone else.” Brianna explained casually.

“I’m so confused,” Prunhiline admitted, glancing at Britina, who nodded in agreement.

The dense forest thinned as the trio emerged at its edge. Before them lay a sprawling ruined city dominated by a massive temple. Nearby, Brian was still carrying the Prince.

“This is why I’m here, to investigate these ruins.” She halted, gazing at the temple in awe. “They predate the dwarven kingdoms. Even the oldest architecture in Nagitha is young compared to this.”

“Okay, so why the zombies,” Britina asked.

“I found them there.” Britina pointed at the temple. “They were slaves.”

“So, even in death, they remain enslaved?” Britina hissed, her disdain for necromancers clear.

Britina didn’t like necromancers. They had one in the dorm while they were in university. She was so disgustingly chipper all the time. She said she knew what death was and didn’t mind it. Britina shivered.

“No!” Brianna exclaimed, her face pale with horror. “I would never do that! I commune with the dead and ask them if they want to join me. Some do, some don’t, and the ones that do help me. The ones that don’t, we move them to a place of resting not far from here.”

“You re-bury them?” Prunhiline asked her tone a mix of curiosity and skepticism.

“Well, no. They were sacrificed, so they were never buried. We give the ones that don’t want to help a proper burial.” Brianna said.

“That’s... surprisingly noble of you,” Britina said, her voice softening slightly.

“Thank you, and it’s just creepy having dead bodies lying around,” Brianna said. The two adventures looked at each other and didn’t know how to respond. “Besides,” Brianna continued, “I want to understand this place.”

“Like, why are there fairly complete corpses in a city that is older than the dwarven kingdom?” Britina asked, now becoming worried again.

Prunhiline looked at her companion, ”That’s true. There shouldn’t be much left of them. Decomposition would have left their bones to dust.”

Brianna stopped walking, standing still for several moments before whispering, “I don’t know. And that’s what worries me. None of them know how they died or how they got here. I assume they were slaves, but to be honest, I don’t know. That’s why I want to investigate this place. Something is going on here.”

“There is a strong magic here.” Britina said, “Maybe we can help.” Prunhiline looked to her companion and then nodded. “Now, what about the missing prince?” Britina stared at the back of Brianna’s head.

Brianna kicked a pebble. “Uh…”

“Why did you abduct him?” Britina was unsure how she felt about Brianna, the not necromancer.

Brianna turned quickly, “I didn’t abduct him. He came here looking for me. I told him he had to go back, but the fool won’t listen. His father..” She stopped. “Never mind.” She turned and began a fast pace, “We should check on him and make sure YOUR fireball didn’t do any harm.”

They found the Prince awake and sitting in a large tent. Brianna ran to him and kissed him. She began to check him over.

“Awk, I’m fine. It was just a bit of a fireball, that’s all.” Darren said.

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“How ya doing, prince?” Prunhiline asked.

“Burnt,” Darren said.

“Your majesty, I apologize for the incident.” Britina bowed.

“It’s okay. It was an accident.” Darren said, eyeing the two adventures. “I take it my father sent you?”

“Yes,” Britina said.

“I’m not going,” Darren said firmly.

“Look, I get it. Your father wants you to rule, and you don’t want to.” Prunhiline said. “It’s a classic issue, but I’m sure we can help you.”

“Wait?” Prince Darren said, “I’m seventh in line for the throne. My oldest sister is in line for the thrown. If not her, I’ve still got two older brothers and three older sisters for that.”

“Oh, I understand. Your father disapproves of you and Brianna.” Britina said, nodding with understanding.

“What? Your father doesn’t like me?” Brianna shouted.

Prince Darren held up his hands, “No! That’s not it. He hasn’t even met you yet, remember.”

“Well, then, what is it?” Prunhiline asked with some impatience.

“Well, you see,” The Prince looked down at his feet and kicked the ground with his boot, “I um.” He mumbled something.

“Go on, tell them! It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” Brianna said with a bit of a smirk.

“Well,” the Prince began again and mumbled a little louder.

Prunhiline was shocked as Britina was still working out what he said.

“No!” Shouted the warrior, “NO!” she shouted some more, “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

“What?!?” shouted Britina.

“He, he.” Prunhiline pointed at the Prince, “No! No, it can’t be!”

“Yes, I’m afraid it is.” The Prince looked down at his feet, blushing with embarrassment. “I don’t like beer.”

“NOOOOOO!!!” Screamed Prunhiline.

“What?” Britina said. “So? I don’t like beer either.”

“And you are my wife!” Prunhiline shouted. Then, with wide eyes, she cast her eyes down to stare at the Prince’s boots. Britina’s glare said enough. “Sorry,” Prunhiline whispered, “I got caught up in the drama.”

“Fine.” Britina turned her attention to the Prince, “So?”

“You see, in my family, every royal is expected to create their own unique beer. My older sister made an after-dinner dessert beer. It was a hit. My father made a bold beer that made the warriors fight harder. I don’t like beer and don’t want to make any.” The Prince said.

“It’s a silly tradition. It’s the royalty line of beer.” Brianna said. “It’s silly, and they shouldn’t expect you to do something like that.”

“Well, I did make a rather nice blend of herbal tea,” Darren said almost sheepishly.

“NOOOOO!!!” Prunhiline wailed dramatically.

“Oh, shut up!” Britina laughed. “You are getting out of hand.” She turned back to the Prince, “I enjoy a good tea. Could I try it sometime?”

“Well, yes. How about a cup now?” Darren said.

Darren left the tent and began work on the kettle while the three women watched.

Britina reached up and slapped Prunhiline on the arm, “Drama queen.” The three giggled. They left the tent to sit around the campfire with Darren.

Once the tea was ready, Darren poured four cups. He passed out one to each of the ladies. Prunhiline wrinkled her nose at it. She didn’t like tea. Maybe beer-flavored tea would be okay, but only slightly okay.

Britina inhaled the aroma of the tea, “This smells wonderful.” She took a sip and gasped, “This is delicious! I love the mixtures of herbs. It’s like I’m drinking a bouquet.”

Prunhiline took a sip, looked down with wide eyes, and took another sip, “This is pretty good for tea. Kinda reminds me of the plains.” She tilted her head back and gulped the tea down. Britina sighed.

“So, you, too, are married?” Darren asked.

“Yes,” Britina said flatly.

“Ah, well, uh.” Brianna was at a loss for words.

“It’s my fault,” Prunhiline said, staring into her empty cup.

“Not entirely, but mostly,” Britina said, elbowing her wife.

“How?” Darren asked, tilting his head.

“Well, we went on an unofficial mission while still students. Let’s call it extra credit,” Britina said.

“Yeah, and we…” Prunhiline was interrupted by one of the zombies.

It spoke what appeared to be words, but neither the mage nor the warrior understood it. Brianna did. She jumped to her feet and grabbed her axe. Darren did likewise. The two adventures blinked, and then one grabbed a war hammer, and the other readied a spell.

“What’s wrong?” Darren asked, his tone alarmed as he followed Brianna.

“We have intruders. They are making a mess at the temple entrance. We need to stop them before they damage any of the artifacts.” Brianna said as she began to run off.

Darren, Prunhiline, and Britina ran after Brianna. She was quick on her feet. They raced from the tents to the main road that led to the temple in the middle of the city. They arrived to see…

“Bob!” Prunhiline shouted.

“Randle!” Britina shouted.

The bear and the hunter stopped tossing zombies about to look at their two friends. Prunhiline ran up to them, followed by Britina.

“Oh, I’m glad you are safe. We'll make short work of these undead.” Randle said with an encouraging roar from Bob.

“No!” shouted Britina. “They aren’t a threat.”

Randle stopped and gave Britina a stange look, “What? They are undead.”

“Not all undead are bad.” Shouted Purnhiline.

Even Bob gave a confused grunt and looked at the tall warrior. He didn’t believe his ears, and neither did Randle.

“Stop! You are hurting my crew, and you are damaging the artifacts.” Shouted Brianna.

Bob and Randle stopped. The zombies made their way slowly away from the bear.

“Explain?” Randle demanded, confusion etched across his face. The group quickly filled him in.

“So, you don’t like beer?” Randle said.

“Is that what you took away from this?” Britina asked. Randle shrugged. “Okay, we need to investigate the temple and take the prince back.”

“No!” Darren and Brianna said together.

“No to what?” Randle said.

“No to going back,” Darren said.

“I’m with Britina on this.” Randle said, “That temple could be a big problem. Also, Prince Darren, you need to talk to your father about the beer thing.”

“Oh? As if he’d listen,” Darren said, slipping into a mock kingly voice, “Oh, I’m the king, and I love beer. Beer is the best, and all I need is more beer.”

“I agree with the King,” Prunhiline added with a chuckle. “And, honestly, I could use more beer too.” She lowered her voice, “But that tea was pretty good too.”

Britina arched her eyebrow and looked at the others, “Fine, let’s investigate the temple and then discuss going back to the king later.”

“Agreed.” Prince Darren said.