The forest came into focus slowly. Energy flowed into him from the ground beneath him, especially where the bones of his arm touched the ground. Rian was lying in a small clearing in a forest. He sensed many bones beneath the ground, enough this had to be a burial ground. It was still night, but he felt much better. Eiva sat not far off, leaning against a tree.

Halbert was lying on the ground near Rian, with his cloak off. His clothes were ragged and dirty. He got up and put his cloak back on with the hood up, then sat with Eiva. Rian sat up. Nothing spun or blurred, so he got up and sat with Halbert and Eiva.

“You did well back there,” Halbert said, sounding almost proud.

“The dead lent me their strength,” Rian said. He glanced back at the clearing. “Is this burial ground?” There were no grave markers.

“Likely an old Ectu burial ground,” Eiva said. “There’s an Ectu village in this forest somewhere, but it’s out of our way. We may have passed it already.” She hesitated. “That was quite some magic back there. Are you alright?”

“Better now,” Rian said, though he was still a little tired. “Do you think the villagers will come after us?”

Eiva laughed. “I don’t think they’ll dare.”

“We should stay here for the night,” Halbert said.

Eiva nodded. “Good a place as any.”

Rian lay on the burial ground again and closed his eyes.

“What’s next after the vulture?” Eiva asked.

“A plant blessed by Vitir that only grows in Marlar,” Halbert said.

Entering the village of Marlar was forbidden, but it wasn’t guarded. No one was allowed near it because it was close to Divius, and also because the Sancta didn’t like what had happened there. Rian didn’t know what had happened in Marlar. The Sancta liked to keep their secrets.

“Are you alright?” Halbert asked.

“I’ve begun to have doubts about the Sancta’s view on wild magic, and their view on necromancers,” Eiva said. “Clearly not all who use magic that didn’t come from the gods are evil, and it is the natural magic of the world. Necromancers aren’t all monsters whose existence is an offense to nature.”

Rian tried not to smile and didn’t open his eyes. This was a serious moment for Eiva.

“Then you won’t kill us later?” Halbert asked. Rian thought he heard a smile in Halbert’s voice.

“No,” Eiva said. “Definitely not.”

Rian drifted into sleep, waking to the musty cave. The voices of the dead were arguing. They were pleased with what had happened in Aster, but they still had doubts Rian would become fully undead. The argument wasn’t about whether he could stop Arwel and Norris. Many of the voices of the dead just believed Rian wouldn’t become fully undead.

“You did well,” the voice in Rian’s mind said.

Maybe the voice was separate from the voices of the dead, but then who was he? As usual, he didn’t answer. In the morning, when Rian, Eiva, and Halbert were awake and ready, they continued through the forest. Eiva seemed to know what direction the plains were in. Later in the day, they reached the edge of the forest, crossing the grassy plains again. They reached a village on the plains at night and went to the inn.

The three of them sat at a table in a back corner of the room. There were lots of travelers at the inn that night. Rian, Halbert, and Eiva went up to their room after eating. The voices of the dead argued that night as well, this time about whether Rian would reach the next object before Arwel and Norris.

Rian closed his eyes, but he didn’t try to block out the voices. Would Arwel and Norris reach the shrine before he, Eiva, and Halbert did? Halbert sat with Eiva and Rian while they had breakfast, then the three of them left the village. None of them said much on the way across the plains.

They reached Acra’s main city of Isley at night. The city was almost as vast as Veron. The wall around it reminded Rian of Derwen, which reminded him of home. He missed home and tried not to think about it for long. Eiva seemed to know where they were going.

“Have you been to the shrine before?” Rian asked.

Eiva nodded. “Once. I think I may have seen that vulture carving.”

“Why a vulture?” Rian asked.

“It’s a lesser known symbol of Mortua,” Eiva said. “Vultures carry away the flesh of the dead.” She glanced at Halbert. “She prefers her dead to stay dead. The undead are out of her reach, but your purpose as a necromancer makes it odd she would dislike you.”

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Halbert said nothing to that. Rian thought of what the voice in his head had said, that Mortua’s land of the dead wasn’t the true one. Necromancers sent the souls of the dead to the true land of the dead. What did that mean? How could the land of the dead watched over by the Goddess of Death not be the true one? The voice said nothing to Rian’s questions.

“Here we are,” Eiva said.

The building across the road was made of stone. It had lots of arches and carvings. The two wooden doors were tall and intricately carved. One door was open a crack. Someone cried out, then a man wearing black robes ran from the shrine, running further into Isley.

“Arwel and Norris are already here,” Halbert said.

Rian, Halbert, and Eiva approached the shrine doors. Rian felt something before they even reached the doors. It was like the air was thicker than it should be, trying to push him back. Eiva went in first, closely followed by Rian and Halbert. It was much harder than it should be to follow Eiva inside. It took Halbert even longer to get through the doorway than it had for Rian. Once inside the shrine, Rian had an intense feeling he shouldn’t be there, that he wasn’t welcome there.

The room was long, with benches to the right and left and an aisle down the middle. A stone pedestal with various objects on it stood at the far end of the aisle. Arwel and Norris were at the pedestal, and Norris was holding the wood carving of a vulture. Five skeletons stood between the two and Rian, Halbert, and Eiva. Arwel and Norris escaped behind the pillars, the skeletons moving closer to Rian and the others.

Eiva drew her sword, but there was no light on the blade this time. Rian reached out to the nearest skeleton with his magic, sending it back to its rest. The bones scattered on the floor. Two skeletons had circled around behind Rian, Eiva, and Halbert. Rian and Halbert made quick work of sending the skeletons back to rest, then the three of them ran from the shrine. It was an immense relief when the pressure of Mortua’s shrine vanished.

“They’re gone,” Eiva said, the words almost a growl.

Arwel and Norris were nowhere in sight. Rian was barely staying on his feet, exhausted from using his magic.

“Are you alright?” Eiva asked when she looked at him.

Rian swayed where he stood. “I think I need burial ground.” Part of his left hand had rotted away.

“Using magic takes more energy before you’re fully undead,” Halbert said. “But I too need burial ground.”

Eiva led the way to the graveyard. As soon as they reached it, Rian sat and pressed his hands into the dirt. He closed his eyes while energy flowed into him, feeling better the longer he stayed there. When he looked up, the sun had finished setting. Eiva was sitting against a nearby tree. Halbert sat across from Rian, with his bony hands half buried in the dirt.

“Next is the plant from Marlar,” Halbert said.

“Arwel and Norris will likely go straight there,” Eiva said.

Rian pulled his hands out of the dirt.

“Better?” Halbert asked.

Rian nodded. He felt steady again when he got to his feet.

The three of them left for Marlar, going through a side gate. The main gates would be closed until morning. It was still night when the three of them reached the small, abandoned village of Marlar. The houses, what few there were, all looked about to collapse. Some had partly collapsed. Arwel and Norris stood at the center of Marlar. Arwel slid some sort of vine, likely the plant they had come for, into his pocket.

“Once again, you are too late,” Norris said. The hood of his cloak hid his face. “When are you going to give up?”

The ground churned, skeletal hands reaching out of it. The dead quickly broke free of the dirt, grabbing at Rian, Halbert, and Eiva. Arwel and Norris were escaping back across the plains. They weren’t heading back toward Urvus. Rian and Halbert put the bones to rest, and by then Arwel and Norris were out of sight. The two of them reburied the bones without a word, the dirt restoring some of their energy.

Eiva was pacing. “Shouldn’t we go after them?”

“We might as well rebury the dead first,” Halbert said. “Rian and I need what energy we can get, or we won’t be much help against Arwel and Norris when we do catch up to them.”

“Now what?” Eiva asked. “They have the plant.”

“There’s one thing left,” Halbert said. “On the island of Erita. A carved stone shaped like a crescent that glows at night, blessed by Unris.”

“Why was Erita abandoned?” Rian asked, burying the last of the bones.

“Long ago, it was home to a cult that worshiped Unris,” Eiva said. “It’s one of those things the Sancta doesn’t like to talk about. I don’t know what happened there, or why the island is abandoned now.”

“The Sancta likely wiped out the cult,” Halbert said. “And there would be no knowing who among the islanders was a part of the cult.”

Eiva frowned hard. “You think the Sancta wiped out the entire island?”

Halbert said nothing to that.

Eiva sighed. “So do I.” She started walking, with Rian and Halbert close behind. “Where will we sail from? Erita is out past Caerulis, but walking all the way back to Chayer may not be the quickest way.”

“Wels, the harbor of Acra, is closest,” Halbert said. “That is likely where Norris and Arwel will leave from.”

They reached Isley again early in the morning, continuing toward the shore. The burial ground back in Marlar hadn’t been enough, and Eiva looked exhausted too, but Arwel and Norris already had a head start. In Wels, they went down to the docks, where Eiva got them a boat. When the shore of Acra was out of sight behind them, there was nothing but sea in all directions. There were no other boats in sight.

“Arwel and Norris stole a boat a while before we got there,” Eiva said. “The harbormaster told me.” She and Halbert were rowing.

“Then they are far ahead of us,” Halbert said.

Eiva nodded. “Far enough they will reach Erita first.”