There wasn’t much room in the rather small room. At one end of the tiny room stood Dren, colloquially known as Klopthjir the Tyrant. On the other end of the exceptionally tiny room, an earthquake-like thumping shook the walls. It was probably a giant war golem named Nancy. Sandwiched between the war golem and Klopthjir the Tyrant, Azog, Rose and I brandished our weapons. For Azog, that was his mighty two-handed sword. For me, that was my skeleton pigeon. For Rose, that was a rather large dagger that I definitely wasn’t envious of. Okay, maybe I was a little envious of it.

Like a child ducking into a cupboard, Nancy squeezed her nine foot frame into the room that wasn’t sized appropriately for a war golem. The angry screeching of gears and the steam and magic residue spewing out of the cracks in her metal shell, indicated that she was very angry. She no longer held a broom, as it was not the time to clean. This was time for sweeping kicks, not sweeping stair steps.

“I don’t suppose you know how to beat this thing?!” I yelled at Azog. I frantically weaved the magic threads into the pigeon bones, trying desperately to create a worthy foe. There was only so much you could do with pigeon bones.

“Well, If we work together, anything is possible. That’s verse three point three-four of the princess program guide.” said Rose, as if I was talking to her.

Azog held a grim expression across his face.

“This’ll be a tough fight. I’m not sure we can beat this thing but, I’ll go down trying. If I die, tell Boris Lariz I’ll be waiting for him in hell.”

“You’ll all be in hell once Nancy smashes your frail bones into pieces!” Dren added, before cackling like a maniac.

Nancy the war golem was more the silent type and didn’t exchange any words as she swiped at Azog who only barely managed to dodge the blow. Nancy’s razor-sharp claws cut through the cold stone exterior of the room like it was butter. The mechanical groan of Nancy’s gears was the only sign of frustration from the goliath. Rose dashed behind the golem, and tried stabbing her dagger into the back of the golem, but her dagger just bounced off the cold metal exterior.

“Charge!” I screamed as I willed my tiny pigeon soldier forward. It moved with speed that was unmatched by any other pigeons. Its wings flapped with purpose. Unfortunately, the beak of the undead pigeon also failed to penetrate the golems metal hide.

As I stood back and watched Azog and Rose throw themselves at Nancy, I panicked. It was a helpless feeling, as if, whether I lived or died was out of my control. As I breathed heavily, my mind raced trying to think of a way, any way where I wouldn’t end up on the floor dead. If I didn’t think of a solution soon, all three of us would be dead.

Nancy did not think. Nancy crushed the ground, cracking to stone below. Azog swung his mighty two-handed sword onto the golem's neck, and squeezed his bulging muscles trying with all of his might to slice through the golem. The war golem only staggered a little bit, before her mandible like claws gripped onto the large blade. Sparks flew from the friction between the blade and Nancy, as she squeezed down onto the metal.

“Nooo! Not my blade!” screamed Azog who desperately tried to pull his blade free. Rose stabbing was relentless but it did nothing to the war golem.

I looked around the room. Maybe there was a loose boulder on the ceiling, or some stalactites that could impale the golem. Maybe fleeing into the darkness wasn’t certain death as we lost ourselves in the labyrinth of the dungeon. Then, I looked at the two guardsmen who stood a good five to ten feet from me. They watched as if they knew there was nothing but death waiting for the three of us. The senior guard looked crestfallen and the manic smile on Dren’s face showed he was pleased. ‘

Dren. Dren was the answer, the monkey atop his head was the answer. I willed my pigeon to pull a tactical counter charge that some people might consider retreating. I pulled the pigeon within my hands and flung it towards Dren.

For the first moments since its death, my undead pigeon felt the wind through its bones, the speed of the air, the flight that it had craved for so long. The pigeon flapped its glorious bony appendages as if making the migration from Nosturdam to Morthar. This flight was a bit shorter and the landing was not quite as smooth.

The pigeon smashed into the monkey hat, gripping the monkey's eyes with its talons. I willed my undead creation to tug and pull, push the hat. The hat wobbled and pigeon screeched as the Klopthjir the Tyrant desperately tried to keep the monkey hat planted on his head.

“Stop it you wretched bird! Your cunning and squawking is not enough to end my waking from slumber and the plans to bring back what was lost!” screamed Dren. He pulled at the undead pigeon who clinged on as if its life was on the line.

It wasn’t enough. The pigeon was slowly being pried off of the monkey hat. The senior guard shook with fear, his hands trembled and his face twitched. This wasn’t the first time he had watched Dren have Nancy pull men apart like they were shredded chicken. But those instances of shredded chicken had been the result of criminals and vagabonds, not upstanding, patriotic men of the church.

Would the gods send him to hell if he stood there and did nothing? That was the question that was racing through his mind. He lifted his hand slowly. Tears shed from his eyes. How had he been so blind from the sin, the evil that lurked inside a little monkey hat?

SLAM. The senior guard threw his palm into the monkey hat, sending it sprawling onto the floor.

“YEESSS!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. I turned back to see how the fight was going. It was going to end. Surely, it would end. Azog was on his knees pushing against the golem, Rose had been lifted into the air like a ragdoll. I felt… great.

“You need to stop it, Dren! Using Nancy on the criminals was fine, but these are men of the gods!” said the Senior Guard as he tried to shake sense into the Dren. The wide eye’d middle aged man was not responding.

‘

“I did wrong. Oh gods, what have I done? When the church finds out…” rambled Dren.

“You need to tell Nancy to back off!”

“Alright. I think I know what I need to do.”

“Nancy, arrest these three and throw them in the cells in the back.”

“You can’t do that, Dren. We’ll go to hell if we hurt holy men.”

“Aye, we won’t hurt them. We’ll lock them up for eternity! That way the church won’t find out about this.”

The senior guard pondered this, and then nodded. It was an awfully convenient answer to an inconvenient situation. Nancy now lacked the killing intent she had before. She cleaned up with pace.

Azog was pinned to the ground. Rose held within the golem arm. I crawled away, but it was useless. I let out a wretched scream of frustration. Nancy came for me all the same, her meandering footsteps thumping closer and closer. She picked me up. I could barely breathe in her crushing embrace. I wept as I watched Nancy carry us into the darkness. They were manly tears.

I wept, because this shouldn’t have happened. I wept because eternity was longer than the meeting in three days. Eternity was even longer than three weeks. It was longer than whatever short span of time George’s soul had before it dissipated into nothingness. I had failed.

So when Nancy gently tossed me into a cell with Rose, I slumped against the cold stone wall. Rose could not see my muddied face, or the look of despair. I closed my eyes as I succumbed to the darkness.