Jeremiah descended the dusty stairs to the darkened basement of the palace, too deep for the gilding of the halls to penetrate. The city archives were stored in a single cavernous chamber. The room was lined with shelves, stacked with crates, filled with boxes, packed with parchments. The dusty scent of paper reminded him of (somehow) simpler times in Flusoh`s library.

　　Something skittered in the dark, the scattered torches creating more shadows than illumination.

　　"Hello?" Jeremiah called.

　　"Hello," came a tiny voice behind him. Jeremiah shouted in surprise and whirled. A sallow-skinned halfling smiled up at him. His expression was perhaps a touch manic.

　　"Yes, hello," said Jeremiah, regaining his composure. "I`m looking for information on a citizen of Dramir from a long time ago. I was told to come here."

　　"You were told right, sir! Please, allow me to assist you. May I have the name?" The halfling`s voice was scratchy, as if seldom used.

　　"Viviana Aliwyn. She lived here a long time ago."

　　The halfling`s face brightened in delight. "Ah! The Aliwyn family, but of course. Quite the tragedy. Nearly two hundred years ago, few remember now. Right this way, come along. Yes, they were a name of note at the time, quite wealthy, quite influential. Entire family murdered by the father!"

　　"Murdered&?" Jeremiah hurried after the archivist. The halfling led him down into the shadows, row after row, striding confidently as Jeremiah stooped to squint at barely-legible brass labels.

　　"Yes, yes! Very much so. Though I recall there was some dispute on the verdict. Ah! Here we are! Strong lad, please pull down that box there, yes that one! Let me see. Ah! Here`s the ticket!"

　　Laden with dusty and yellowing parchments, Jeremiah followed the archivist back towards the flickering torchlight. He set them into the thick layer of dust covering a table as the halfling lit a candle for him and then disappeared back into darkness.

　　Jeremiah started to sort through the files. The disjointed pile included crime scene reports, witness depositions, mortician`s analysis, census data, newspaper articles, bills of sale, and court records, all jumbled together and faded with time. Jeremiah read and re-read each page, scrutinizing each detail, and began piecing together the story.

　　"Family murdered by father...but he was also found dead? No motive&.house burned to the ground, one survivor, grievously injured. The daughter, Viviana."

　　"Yes, yes!" The halfling reappeared at Jeremiah`s elbow, making him jump. "That`s the rub right there! Daughter claims the father killed her sister and tried to kill her, but the father was found slain in his bed alongside the wife. Some blamed the daughter. I have my doubts."

　　Jeremiah kept reading. The family`s fortune was claimed by creditors. The investigator`s disgust was evident, choice words used to describe the people who had taken everything from a child who had just lost her family. The girl was sent to a public orphanage. Jeremiah read the words of one reporter with a ghastly chill—"If even half the things I`ve heard about that place are true, may the gods keep her close".

　　"I need more," said Jeremiah. "Is there anything more than this?"

　　The archivist tilted his head. "You need something specific, hmm? If you tell me, perhaps I can help you faster."

　　"This woman is the leader of the army sieging the city. I need to learn everything I can about her. Track every moment of her life, if possible."

　　The archivist practically danced in excitement. "A challenge! A puzzle! Most just look for names and dates, but you want more! Oh yes, oh this will be most exciting! Necromancer Thorn, I ask you to fetch a hearty lunch for us. We will unearth a story never yet told!"

　　Hours later, Jeremiah was poring over more disjointed documents, choosing them at random from the slipshod stack that the archivist had compiled. He continued to flit to and fro, his energetic movements ceasing only long enough to devour a few bites of the smoked fish Jeremiah had procured, before dashing off again with a new jolt of inspiration.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

　　The history the documents told was bleak. Viviana Aliwyn was sold from one orphanage to another. To another. To a work house. Adopted by a man with an unsavory record of violence, drinking, and debt. Removed from his custody when he was yet again arrested on vague charges. She reappeared months later in another shady orphanage.

　　"I`m afraid it only gets darker from there, sir&" the archivist presented a new stack of parchments. His joviality seemed undaunted by the subject matter of his research.

　　Jeremiah read the new pages. "The orphanage was shut down, the owners charged with prostitution and enslavement."

　　"Part of a conspiracy. The legal side becomes harder to follow, but," the halfling traced a slender finger down one line of a court record, "we know that those who were truly responsible for this network` escaped punishment. As we can see in these reports, a number of children were taken up by a company formed the same day the orphanage was shut down." He pointed at another legal ledger. "Several years later, this same company was dissolved when investigated for similar crimes."

　　"Was there no one to protect her? Not one soul who tried to keep a child safe?" Jeremiah felt sick. He tried to imagine the girl whose life was emerging from these parchments as the same woman who sieged Dramir`s walls at that very moment.

　　The halfling shook his head. "Justice is lumbering, ponderous, and often powerless. Those that seek to avoid it need only hide themselves between parsed words of the law. There are countless examples among these records. I believe our trail may be coming to an end, Necromancer Thorn. I hope you have found whatever answers you sought."

　　Bruno, Allison, and Delilah sat around the kitchen table, frustrated and exhausted from a day of chasing fruitless leads through the city, listening to Jeremiah`s account of Vivana Aliwyn`s life. The breakfast Allison prepared was still on the table, cold hours since. Nobody was hungry.

　　"Disgusting," said Bruno. "All the worst things that can happen to a girl in this city happened to her, and I bet we don`t know the half of it."

　　There was a grumble of agreement around the table.

　　"I remember studying this case," said Delilah. "The legal backing behind the asset seizure was valid, but it was the dirtiest kind of law interpretation. A first-year law student could have seen this girl protected, but seems like no one was interested in that."

　　"Well, we`re paying the piper now. That poor girl got herself an army of zealots." Bruno leaned back in his chair.

　　Allison shook her head. "She believes her people follow her out of loyalty, but I don`t think that`s true. I think all she is to them is invincibility while they seek vengeance against people who`ve made them feel powerless."

　　"What is it about you?" Delilah asked Jeremiah. "Why does she keep coming back to you? Beyond the necromancy, what does she want with you?"

　　"I honestly don`t know." Jeremiah spread his hands on the table, as though his scars could tell him the answer. "Maybe she`s looking for someone to tell her what she`s doing is okay. Another caster, one who was pushed to the fringes of society. She keeps expecting me to be angry, to side with her. And I do agree with her a little. I mean, if it weren`t for you guys standing up for me and taking me in, maybe I would have ended up part of her army. Willing to start a war for the chance to change things.

　　"Our system is flawed, it always has been," Delilah said. "The further from the top you are, the less you can look to the law to protect you. But she wants to remove the rule of law completely. I can`t imagine what that would look like.

　　"I can," said Bruno. "I see it every day, in the darkest holes of Dramir. Where the strong possess the weak like coin and barter them in kind. If you want to glimpse the savagery people are capable of, just visit those streets you usually avoid. The rule of law`` just keeps that world conveniently tucked away."

　　"It`s not perfect, but it`s what we`ve got," said Allison. "And change can happen without bloodshed, without killing innocents."

　　"Vivica believes that those with power will go to any lengths to protect it," said Jeremiah.

　　"Not every rich person is corrupt," said Allison. "Not every noble is ruled by greed. King Hector could have kept you under his thumb, could have had you executed just by pointing at you, but instead he honored his word. And there are others like him," she nodded toward Delilah, "who use their affluence to help people."

　　"Yeah, but I never did anything wrong," Jeremiah said. "I shouldn`t have been under the crown`s thumb to begin with."

　　Allison sighed. "What do you want me to say, Jay? We`re all just out here, trying our best. I agree, it`s not fair. Some people suffer more than their share. But I don`t buy that the only solution is to raze the whole thing to the ground and start over."

　　""No. Me neither," said Jeremiah, his heart heavy. "We need to kill her, don`t we?" He squeezed his eyes shut. Vivica knew the truth of Dramir better than anybody, had every right to her fury against it. Yet, Jeremiah had to oppose her. In the end, he would be yet another enemy in her tortured life.

　　"Easier said than done," said Allison. "We can`t reach her. Even if we could, I don`t know if we could finish the job. I don`t know that anyone could."

　　Jeremiah studied the backs of his hands, I have an idea," Jeremiah said. "But I need you all to trust me, without any doubt or reservation."

　　Delilah, Bruno, and Allison looked at each other. "Of course we trust you, Jay," said Delilah. "You wouldn`t be here if we didn`t."

　　"I`ll also need to convince more than just you three. The military, for one, and I can`t imagine Valen and the generals think of me as fondly as you do."

　　Delilah held up a finger to silence him. "The king is the only person you need to convince."

　　"I`ll take point on that one," said Allison. "Just fill me in."

　　"Alright, I only need two things: corpses and money."

　　"We can find corpses, and we`ve got money," said Bruno.

　　"No, I mean a lot of money."