Stathis took a sharp step backwards as the darkness swelled, not wanting to get caught up inside it. From the screams and shouts inside, the necromancers weren’t having a good time of it. What was Janaxia doing? And since when could she teleport? She carefully stuck her sword into the deeper darkness, feeling the familiar cold penetrate down her sword.

Semari moved next to her, picking up a stone and flinging it into the darkness. ‘So, did not see that coming. That was Janaxia, right? Not, like, an evil demon twin or something?’

‘No damn clue. This feels like her spell. Someone that could dispel the darkness would be really useful about now!’ Was it worth the risk of plunging into the darkness to try and haul Janaxia out? But she’d be blind in there, and there were the other necromancers to worry about.

The darkness suddenly shattered, shards of it solidifying and falling to the ground, sitting there like broken glass. Janaxia was still there, red lash-light reflecting off the shards, her eyes pits of darkness. She reached towards the leader, taloned hand touching his staff as she gave a chill grin.

‘Brother, it has been quite some time.’

His staff started to disintegrate, power spilling out and getting absorbed into Janaxia. Her armour was now a shining, glossy black, like it was forged from obsidian, curved spikes protruding from her shoulders, a cape as black as night fluttering between her shoulders. He crossed his arms in front of himself, some shielding spell shimmering into existence. She flicked her hand, bolts of darkness leaping out, knocking him a step backwards. The other necromancers looked between the two of them, uncertain of how to intervene.

Semari and Vrintar took advantage of their distraction to attack, laying them out easily, Semari’s hands a blur. Stathis stepped forward herself, blade at the ready, the barrier of the darkness now gone. Janaxia and her apparent brother were engaged in some kind of magical duel, energy streaking between them, red-tinged darkness from Janaxia, contrasting with thinner, more ghostly black from the other one.

This close, she could see a family resemblance – they both had similar features, with sharp, narrow faces, although Janaxia had more colour to hers, even without the makeup. And she was far better dressed, her chainmail gleaming with an ebon sheen. She clapped her hands together, like she was calling for attention before a speech. A sphere of crimson light flared between her hands, before shooting forward, smashing into his chest and knocking him backwards, sending him smashing into a wagon.

Janaxia stepped forward, hand extended into a grasping claw, nails deep crimson, the same colour as her hair-lash, starting to glow with the same light. Stathis stepped forward, ready to intervene, as he desperately tried another spell, energy just starting to form about his hand before Janaxia attacked with a bolt of energy, disrupting his spell.

‘Janaxia, it might be useful if he’s alive, to tell us what’s going on.’ She touched Janaxia on the shoulder, then recoiled as blistering cold shot up her arm, a mote of light getting pulled from her fingers, vanishing into Janaxia. ‘Hey, Janaxia?’ She winced through the pain, grabbing Janaxia by the shoulder and shaking her. Janaxia turned to look at her, the swirling tattoo-mark on her armour shifting around to look at Stathis, her own expression hungry and savage.

The armour suddenly shifted, black sheen vanishing as it reverted to its true form, worn metal replacing the gleaming rings. Janaxia sagged to the ground, lash dimming, the cold sensation gone. Stathis caught her before she hit the ground.

More magical energy blasted towards the leader, rings of energy binding him, his body stiff and paralysed as a gleaming silver gateway opened in mid-air. Hakara and two of the other mages stepped out. Hakara stumbled forward, her face drawn and tired, as the others ran forward to secure the necromancers, drawing ritual lines of chalk around the leader, which then flared with dark power.

‘I will be glad to rest, once this is dealt with, but we should be able to wrest control of the creatures from him, and break the magic binding them.’ Hakara sagged, tiredness overcoming her. ‘It will be nice to put this down.’

She pulled out the orb, purple glow fighting against a surrounding blue barrier. A thin stream of power could be seen coming from it, towards Janaxia. Stathis resisted the urge to poke it, instead letting Semari do that, watching her wince as her finger pushed into the trickle of energy.

‘Ow! Cold!’

‘I’m guessing that’s a bad thing? What’s going on?’ She dragged Janaxia up, checking her over – other than being unconscious, she seemed fine, her lash now dimmed to a normal tint, armour thankfully mundane again. Her arms flailed as she clamped herself onto Stathis.

‘I have some theories, but I believe we should deal with them first, should we not?’

The leader had toppled to the floor, trying to retain some measure of dignity despite the bands of magic binding him. The formation caught up, breaking apart into individual soldiers. ‘Not too rough, follow standard procedures! See what we can find out from them.’

The other necromancers were bundled to the ground, thick sacks thrown over their heads, lots of rope used to bind their limbs and fingers, and to gag them through the sacks. The thin wisps of shadow still in the air suddenly blinked out as the mages finished binding the nearby magic or whatever they were doing, splashing holy water around for good measure.

Stathis shouted orders. ‘Everyone, spread out, find anything suspicious! If you find a gemstone set in metal, smash it! No looting, or Herith’ll string you up!’

The soldiers spread out, heavy axes smashing apart the wagons. She could hear the slow, greasy sound of the undead disintegrating nearby, and the dry rattle of bones hitting the floor. Having to lug Janaxia was a pain, her horns scratching Stathis’ armour, until she found a large rock to put Janaxia on, trying to arrange her in a vaguely comfortable manner.

She helped the soldiers search, going into the largest wagon, finding it full of magical gear, vials of powders and liquids, bodies preserved in jars, floating amidst thick brine. These were piled together outside, along with anything else that looked suspicious. By the time Herith arrived, it was quite a large heap, occult bric-a-brac and magical reagents, piled up with wood from the wagons. Janaxia was laid atop a stone next to it, looking like she was going to be sacrificed.

Herith ordered the rest of the men to help with the search and to drag out anything else suspicious. ‘Torch it all. And stay upwind of it, I don’t want anyone breathing that stuff in!’ She looked at Janaxia. ‘What happened to her? And how did she get here?’

‘I’m not sure, she stepped through a gateway or something. I’ll keep an eye on her, she has funny turns sometimes. We’ve captured quite a few of them though, so we’ll have to dump them somewhere. I think you mentioned an oubliette? Hope there’s several, we should keep everyone separate.’

‘Standard practice, yeah. Now that the barrier is down, we should be able to call for help, get them somewhere with the facilities to properly deal with them.’ She paused. ‘Gods, I can’t believe that worked. Although we took losses.’

‘Properly a lot less than if we’d hunkered down!’

A chill wind blew, a skeleton running out from a wagon, a blade shining with magical power in red, eyes burning red. Herith and Stathis both turned to face it, weapons at the ready, attacking in unison. The energy around it served as a shield, deflecting their blows, its own swing biting into Stathis’ shield, easily slicing through the wood. Other soldiers ran to help, heavy axes swinging, managing to smash through the aura, cutting at the bone beneath. It turned and attacked one, blade cutting through their shield, but giving Herith an opening to stab forward, catching it between the ribs, pinning it in place. Then Stathis attacked, stepping in close, abandoning defence and hacking and smashing away.

The mist bent under the force of her attacks, before disintegrating entirely. The red eyes burnt for a moment, before winking out, the body falling apart, mist streaming away.

‘Shit. Has anyone found that thing’s relic yet? Otherwise we’re going to keep fighting it until it runs out of bodies. Everyone, look for a suspiciously magical gemstone!’ Herith ordered the soldiers to search, as they kept an eye out for another attack. The bonfire was now raging, sparking with strange lights and colours, the smoke bursting with unhealthy greens and yellows.

Another skeleton attacked, weapon striking a soldier before Stathis ran over towards it. It was close by Janaxia, looking down at her, raising a sword to strike down at her. Almost innocently, she rolled over, reaching out and stirring in her sleep, touching the thing’s leg and grabbing hold. From past experience, Stathis knew how weirdly strong she could be when unconscious, but energy flared along Janaxia’s arm, running up into the skeleton. She mumbled something in her slumber, before the skeleton faded into dust, a scarlet mist pouring into her, her lash brightening.

As the bonfire raged, everyone retreated to a safe distance, not wanting to inhale any of the fumes or get too close to Janaxia. Stathis moved amongst the men, checking them for injuries, trying to draw back those closest to death, using the last of her power to keep them from death’s door.

They headed back, Stathis carrying Janaxia again, her lash now glowing with a slow, steady beat. Hakara was being supported by some of the mages, before separating herself and walking next to Stathis, still clearly tired and drained.

‘Thanks for the save! Uh, any idea what was going on?’

‘I believe I have a theory. When I was shielding the sphere, I noticed that it seemed easier than I anticipated. It seems that the energy was being drawn towards Miss Janaxia somehow.’ She looked nervous. ‘Um, I don’t suppose you have any idea as to quite, uh, what Miss Janaxia is? A living being shouldn’t be able to withstand such energy, at least without heavy preparation and on-going magical effects. I find it somewhat concerning that she can withstand such energies without, um, dying, in a rather unpleasant fashion.’

Janaxia stirred in her arms, gripping even more tightly around Stathis’ neck, making it hard to talk until she twisted partially free. ‘I’m guessing some weird magical heritage, possibly strange magical artefact stuff? I hoped Cormontara had sorted it out. You can probably explain better though. And what we should do about it.’

‘That would require much research. And I doubt that Miss Janaxia would be entirely cooperative, and she has sufficient power that restraining her may present certain difficulties. Especially if she can replicate that teleportation technique; I haven’t seen her do that before.’

‘Me neither, although I’ve heard of people that can step through shadows.’ She shifted her grip on Janaxia, ignoring the scraping sound of her horns against armour. ‘So is she a threat now?’

‘No more than usual, I would suspect. You seem to be a stabilising influence on her. I would try and keep her away from any powerful magical items, especially those with dark attunements.’

‘I’ve been trying to do that, not that I’ve had much bloody luck! Need to try and find some more holy items to drop onto her.’

Semari walked past, mouth stained with berry juice. ‘Into her, you mean.’ She took two fingers, grinding them backwards and forwards. ‘Nice and full of holy power, know what I’m saying?’ From her expression, Hakara didn’t, providing at least some mercy. ‘Just finger-blast the darkness out. I’m sure it’ll make her gasp and groan a lot, she’ll probably enjoy it.’

‘Let’s keep that as a fallback plan, OK? If we can get her to a cathedral or something, that might help. Where’s Vrintar?’

‘Smashing stuff. She kinda goes, like, slightly on fire when she does that, that’s pretty cool to see. Be nice if she talked though. Makes it hard to plan stuff when she just points and things. So, you going to execute them?’ She ran a finger over her throat. ‘Get the job done, while they’re down and out?’

‘Tempting, but no. Herith should be able to call for help, and then we can find out what was going on and why they were here.’

‘Ooo, they going to be tortured? Put on the rack and broken?’ Semari contorted her body into a painful-looking shape.

‘No. It’s a lot easier just to use spells, and you can be more certain the information is correct.’

They were walking through the remnants of the undead bodies now, the grass strewn with bone and body parts. Now they weren’t all trying to kill her, it was obvious the vast majority of them were elven, bodies carefully prepared and preserved. Stathis handed Janaxia over to the soldiers, letting them carry her, along with the other wounded. The captives were closely guarded, kept as disorientated as possible even with their heads hooded, shaken and spun to stop them focusing.

Hakara stumbled, eyes bleary, Stathis helping to support her. ‘Don’t push yourself. You’ve done a lot already, and you’re not as used to this as the rest of us. Thanks for the save, you timed that well.’

‘I sensed a massive amount of power, and then Janaxia went, um, spiky. I thought she might be drawn towards any nearby sources of dark energy, and was able to piggyback on the passageway she made and disrupt the magic forming around her. It seemed quite overtly malign.’

‘Yeah, she was, like, all evil empress and super-spiky and stuff.’ Semari nodded at Stathis. ‘You’d probably be leashed and kneeling at her ivory throne or something. So, do we kill her now?’

‘We’re not killing her! She’s gone back to normal. Well, as normal as she gets. Just keep an eye on her. Hakara, is she still absorbing that negative energy stuff?’

‘I believe so, yes. It would take sacred spells of warding to block the transmission, something I lack. Perhaps Specialist Jamara can do something about it?’

‘I’ll ask. I think that normally takes a powerful cleric though. Is there anything else we can do?’ She ignored Semari’s increasingly vulgar gestures.

‘I’m not sure. Since Miss Janaxia is currently impaired, I will take this chance to look at her book, I think. Assuming she hasn’t trapped or protected it.’

‘I doubt she will have, she doesn’t really seem to care about it. Just be careful, we’ll never hear the end of it if she goes mute again, or you accidentally give her an icy touch or something. I’ll go grab it when I dump her in her room. She doesn’t need healing, just rest, I think.’

She shifted Janaxia around, wincing as arms clamped tightly around her, trying to shift them off and get some space. After prying Janaxia off, stepping smartly away before getting grabbed again, she looked around for the book – it was dumped in one corner, without any particular care.

She picked it up, and the world dimmed, as though night had suddenly fallen. The room was suddenly filled with grey, ghostly shapes, crowded in, some partway through the walls and ceiling. There were harpies, feathers the colour of ash, bodies blasted and smashed. Skeletons, bones gleaming and black, and other, stranger shapes, the warped bodies of the demons from Redcastle. They looked towards her, eyes like black pearls, gleaming in the low light.

Stathis felt her body freeze, her hand clutched tight around the book, unable to put it down. A sound creaked from her paralysed throat, the scent of dead ash thick in the air. Sunlight was pulled from her hand into the book, feeling like nails of cold iron were being jammed into her hand.

Something slapped against her back and she dropped the book, world suddenly colourful again.

‘You OK? You were, like, spaced out.’ Semari wandered past, as the book thudded to the floor. Stathis felt her hand – it was physically uninjured, but what the hell had that been?

‘Semari, could you pick that up?’ She pointed at the book, watching as Semari bent over and lifted it. There was a metal band on it that sealed it shut, that definitely hadn’t been there the last time Stathis had looked at it. There was a brief spark of lightning from Semari’s hand, but she seemed otherwise unaffected.

‘You want to take it?’ Semari held it out towards Stathis.

‘I’ll pass, thanks. Don’t think it likes me.’ It was definitely fatter than before, more pages stuffed between the covers, the metal banding more ornate, black and red gemstones set into silver mounts. Semari thrust it forward, Stathis dodging backwards. ‘Let’s go find Hakara.’ She hung back, letting Semari go out first, to make sure she wasn’t smacked with the thing from behind. What the hell had that been? And what was going on with Janaxia this time?