The room looked to be some kind of office. Stacks of paper and books and alchemical components piled precariously on every available surface. Candles dripped wax. I shuffled through some of the papers by the light of my slate, trying to find anything of note.

  “Into the hall!” yelled Bernadette.

  “What?”

  The floor below me glowed harshly. Bernadette grabbed me by the arm and yanked me into the hall just as the glyph exploded, setting everything on fire. My pants began to burn.

  We pat at my legs, managing to extinguish them before too much was engulfed, but it did leave me with little to cover my right leg. A problem for later.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  “The smoke,” I choked out.

  Papers flapped in the air. I grabbed them, and stood. My hand found hers and we ran back into the darkness.

  She held her slate up in the air, illuminating her face and little else. I walked into the little pool of light.

  “Smart call about the smoke,” she said.

  “I think, I think I got something,” I said, shoving the paper under our faces in the light.

  It was all hard to read but they seemed to be letters. The most readable in the dim light started like this:

  Dear the Witch June,

  We commend you for your service to the Throne of Light, and find your combat performance quite commendable. What is not acceptable is your failure to capture your quarry. Her Most Cherished and Revered is disappointed.

  When asked about your aunt and cousins, my superiors assured me that they are being well looked after. They remain under close watch, and I was impressed upon by those that know that you should not worry for their safety. The throne has their best magical researchers on a solution to your aunt’s illness.

  As for your next steps, you are to continue producing skeletons and…

  I skipped the part where it seemed like they were instructing her to prepare for the invasion. We’d passed the point where that was relevant. It was mostly a list of alchemical components and such. The ending was interesting though.

  On a personal note, my Husband is delighted by your recommendations for literature, and says you have impeccable taste. I was never much interested in such frivolities, but I was assured that he would love to hear more, if you happen to come across them.

  With love and utmost respect,

  M.

  I wondered who ‘M’ was. Could be anyone.

  “You think this is from Princess Mia?” Bernadette asked.

  “Maybe!”

  Behind Bernadette I could see the flames simmer in the distance.

  “Let's get to the tree,” I said, “rest for a minute, then we can go save our friends.”

  I let Bernie finish my water. We sat under the tree, amongst the piles of bones and I breathed the stale air.

  “Can’t wait to get out of these damn catacombs,” I said.

  Bernie just hummed in response. I fiddled with my armor, made sure it sat right after all the ruckus, then searched the weapons on the floor for arrows and a decent shield.

  Arrows were no luck, but I found a good pile of shields. One was a full steel reinforced kite shield. It had a maker's mark and everything on it. The straps were old, but a quick application of Mend Item got it up to speed.

  “You check your slate?” she asked.

  I cursed, and looked at it. It was Rachel. I skimmed the older ones. The newest basically just said that we were needed pronto. Caleb had chased off the dragon but the skeletons were still active. Apparently, they were less coordinated, but since their creator was still alive, they were able to hold positions. And Sofia’s assassin guild, the Marauders, were seeking out resistance and harrying them.

  We had to get going.

  I also saw I had other unread messages, but slid my slate into my pocket.

  “I care about you,” Bernadette said.

  A chill ran through my whole body. I gazed at the tree, adjusted the shield on my arm, and just said, “yeah?”

  “I do. So when I said what I said, that doesn’t mean that you don’t mean something to me.”

  She was tiptoeing around the fact that she sort of said she didn’t love me.

  “Yeah, don’t worry about it,” I said, even though my heart was in my throat.

  “I know I called bullshit on it, but the longer this goes on, the less like bullshit it seems.”

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  I turned to look at her.

  “It’s not bullshit.”

  “I know you said that,” she responded, gazing at Edge, letting its rubies glint in the torchlight. Then she finally looked at me. “But how could it be true?”

  I walked to her, knelt, and said, “If I have to spend forever proving it to you I will.”

  She laughed.

  “Fuck off!”

  “I’m serious. You got me. You got me good. I’m here until you tell me not to be.”

  She grabbed my face and kissed it.

  “We survive this,” she said, “and maybe we’ll talk about this later.”

  “Then, I’ll just have to make sure we survive.”

  Bernie led me through the catacombs, and we popped out at the other end of the graveyard. The fresh air, and the cold was like a gulp of water after running the mile back in highschool. I literally gasped.

  Everywhere was white. No. Not white, grey. Ash fell, and shone bright in the moonlight.

  Screams punctuated the night. We had to hurry.

  Fire belched from the building closest to us.

  I saw Bernadette freeze.

  “You have to lead me,” I said.

  “Right,” she muttered, transfixed.

  “You can move forward because I have your back. You don’t have to look back, because I’m right behind you. Let’s go!”

  We dashed forward. Any skeletons that got in our way, we hacked to pieces.

  Eventually, we came across a pocket of Dead Militia. They seemed real hurt. They did have arrows to spare, which we were grateful for.

  “What’s the situation?” I asked.

  They explained that they’d run into what they thought were us, a group of goodly adventurers. It was the Marauders. They cut down a good number of them as they ran in full retreat.

  What little they were able to tell us is that they were four strong: a woman with twin-tailed blonde hair and an axe, a man with a black cape and a bow, another man with red hair that cast spells, and and their leader, an imposing man in chainmail with a tabard of a purple sun with five rays. The leader seemed some kind of cleric because he had a huge amulet on a chain tucked into his belt.

  I asked if they’d seen any of our party. They said that last they’d heard, Rachel led a small band of guards some half a dozen blocks away.

  Bernadette didn’t even thank them before she started running. I waved goodbye and followed.

  The ash caked our boots. I breathed some in and descended into a coughing fit. Bernie didn’t stop so I had to dash to catch up with her. I darn near ran her over.

  “Why did you st—”

  She held her hand up and I cut myself off. Grabbing the front of my tabard, she pulled me around a corner.

  “What did you see?” I whispered.

  “Skeletons, guarding a building. Some kind of fight on top.”

  “So we need to get on top of that building. Easy, you can walk up it.”

  “You can’t,” she reminded me.

  “That’ll put you alone up there with whatever they’re fighting. Not a bad idea still. Maybe you’ll be enough to turn the tide.”

  “Maybe. I think we should go together.”

  It took us another thirty seconds but we came up with a strategy.

  Then I was pounding up the steps of some kind of meat shop. Roof access was locked, but I was able to kick it down. We ducked down and huddled against the edge of the roof. The fight was just three buildings down.

  I took a deep breath, then stood. Bernie leapt onto my back and cast darkness on my sword. I leapt off the edge of the roof, and cast my last free casting of levitate. Now we were a floating ball of darkness.

  It was about as fast as a walk, and since I was weightless, I could carry Bernie easily. I put my hand on Edge of Nothing, and was granted its darkvision. The closer we got, the worse the fight seemed.

  I could see Rachel yeeting skeletons off the roof with ease. I also saw Captain Wen carving through the guards. By the time we got there, she was gonna be dead two times over.

  I wordlessly handed my bow to Bernie.

  “What’s this for?” she asked.

  “You’re a better shot. See if you can distract her.”

  “Good idea.”

  The first arrow from our darkness bubble sailed over Wen’s head.

  “That was a little high.”

  “Sush, I got it.”

  The second arrow struck Wen’s shoulder. She looked right at us. A guard struck her in the side of the head with an axe. She skewered him.

  “That got her! Hit her again!” I nearly yelled.

  We floated closer.

  Bernadette rained arrows down on her. Wen split her attention between us and those she was fighting, stopping to toss a shining javelin she summoned into her hand. But the globe of darkness did its trick.

  Out of the dozen arrows Bernie loosed, two found their way through the gaps in Captain Wen’s shining armor.

  We reached the edge of the roof. I dropped levitate.

  None of Rachel’s guards were standing, and most didn’t even move. The skeletons had also been dealt with. It was just Captain Wen, and us.

  I had to hope that our advanced levels had made the difference.

  But just in case…

  “It’s over!” I said. “You’re outnumbered three to one. Retreat while you can.”

  Rachel gave a chuckle that seemed equal parts disbelief and exhaustion. Captain Wen’s eyes widened. I looked to Bernie who just shrugged.

  “Do you think any of you are alive because you are skilled?” Captain Wen asked.

  “People are constantly trying to kill us, and yet we stand,” I said.

  Wen pointed at me and replied, “you stand because my queen demands that you live. But then again,” she turned her back on Rachel and walked toward me, “maybe I tell her there was an accident. Maybe you fell off the roof, and there was nothing I could do.”

  Rachel leapt toward the armored woman. Captain Wen whirled around and caught her by the throat.

  “No!” Bernadette screamed. She ran forward.

  I followed.

  Captain Wen spun, and launched Rachel right at me. Dropping my sword, I tried to catch her. I toppled back and her body crushed the breath from my lungs.

  Bernadette leapt high into the air, well above Wen’s head, and lashed out at her with Edge. Captain Wen parried multiple times with her own sword, and ran forward, then turned to keep Bernie from having her back.

  Her massive frame made it hard for me to catch how the fight was going, but it seemed like her huge sword gave her plenty of room to keep Bernie at bay.

  I struggled to my feet, and pulled Rachel up too.

  I scooped my sword up and raised my shield. Bernadette flew off the side of the building. Rachel rushed our enemy, hoping to capitalize on her brief distraction.

  Captain Wen brought her sword down on Rachel, slicing through her left arm. It fell to the snow. Rachel dropped to her knees. Blood gushed like a waterhose from the stump.

  “Rachel, I need you!” I yelled. The blood slowed to a trickle, but I didn’t like that much either.

  My legs froze. I wish it was some kind of magic or spell that made it happen. But it wasn't. It was just pure fear.

  Rachel and Bernadette were both so much better at fighting than I was. What chance did I have?

  I had one spell slot left. If I used it, I couldn’t heal Rachel again. And if I used another healing phrase, I couldn’t get her arm back on. I had to get to her side, and stick her arm back on before trying to heal.

  That’s how that worked, right? Man, why did I have to choose to be the healer?

  There was no other choice for me. No fancy tricks, no sleep spell to bail me out — I just had to fight her on my own.

  It wasn’t the first time I thought this, but I had to admit: I was royally screwed.