Vivica wore simple leather plates, no different from any light infantrymen, and a metal gorget around her neck. Her copper hair was pulled back into a ponytail that shimmered in the light breeze.

　　"Good evening, King Growlack. I`m here for your surrender."

　　"No." Growlack said. Jeremiah drew closer to the window. Steel sang as guards drew swords and moved to protect their king.

　　Vivica smiled. "I expected nothing less!" She gestured, and the giant stepped to the side, revealing the northern thoroughfare. Her barbarians lined the streets, jeering at a parade of nearly one hundred captured soldiers trudging toward the fortress. Even from a distance, Allison`s gleaming armor stood out at the head of the column. Jeremiah`s breath caught in his throat.

　　The captives were stopped outside the wall. The barbarians forced them to their knees.

　　"Surrender. For the sake of your men," Vivica said, a dark edge to her voice.

　　"No."

　　Vivica raised a hand and paused, her eyes traveling over the king`s men assembled in the war room. Her eyes widened when they met Jeremiah`s, but she continued without comment. Jeremiah held his breath, waiting for somebody to do something, for someone with authority to save the soldiers.

　　Vivica threw her hand down. Barbarians swarmed around the kneeling soldiers. Red mist sprayed into the evening air as their throats were summarily cut. Allison slumped in the street along with the others.

　　"No!" cried Jeremiah. His voice was not alone in the war room, nor the courtyard below. King Growlack did not so much as flinch. His eyes never left Vivica`s face.

　　Vivica held her hand up again. "I can save them if I act quickly. You know I can. All I need is for King Growlack to offer me something. Come on, Growlack, what will you give me to save them? Tell me what your men are worth."

　　The room was silent. Jeremiah felt numb. He stared at the motionless silver figure below. This can`t be happening. Not to Allison. He looked to King Growlack, willing him to do something, anything, to save the captives. Save his friend.

　　King Growlack turned away from the window. He scooped up a handful of figures from the map. His eyes locked Vivica`s, then the king stretched out his hand and emptied it. The figures clung briefly to his palm, then clattered to the floor.

　　"I expected nothing less," said Vivica softly.

　　"Wait!" Jeremiah screamed and barreled forward to the window, shoving the dwarf king aside. "Vivica, wait! Please save them, please!"

　　"Hey Thorn, how you been?" Vivica smiled at him like an old friend.

　　"Save them, please! I`ll give you anything you want!"

　　Vivica`s calculating eyes twinkled and flicked to something over Jeremiah`s shoulder. He heard movement in the room behind him halted by her gaze. "Oh look, someone with a heart," Vivica said. "Alright Thorn, you`re twice the man the king is anyways. What do I want from you? Let me think."

　　Jeremiah was aware of every passing second bringing Allison closer to death. He struggled to contain the scream in his chest as Vivica continued.

　　"Let`s see, what do I want from you? Oh, I know!" She grinned wickedly. "While I appreciated that little assist you gave us with the surprise undead attack, I don`t need your talents complicating my plans. What I want from you is your hands. You let me chop them off, and—"

　　"Deal!" Jeremiah thrust his arms toward her, and Vivica recoiled like he had brandished a weapon.

　　"I—what?" Vivica`s gaze became clouded by doubt. One hand slowly unsheathed a shortsword from behind her back. Its blood-red blade was etched in runes, and Jeremiah sensed the magic emanating from it. The giant lowered Vivica to be face-to-face with Jeremiah. Vivica took Jeremiah`s hands with surprising gentleness and held them together at the wrists. She raised a brow. "Pretty stupid of you to do this with no leverage, considering I can take them and still let those people die."

　　"My friend is down there, the one in silver armor! Please save her! Hurry!" He tried not to think about how much blood Allison had lost already, or how much this was going to hurt.

　　"You don`t even—"

　　"I trust you, you`ll do the right thing! I have to trust you! Hurry, please!"

　　The blade swung down. A burning wind singed his face, as hot as flame. The heat connected to one wrist, then the other, lancing white hot pain up his arms. Every muscle in Jeremiah`s body seized in agony. He rose on his toes and let out a strangled scream. For several horrific moments, everything was pain. Then he felt a hand firmly gripping his forearms. The pain blissfully subsided. He forced his watering eyes open and found Vivica`s, soft and pitying.

　　"You`re too good for them, Thorn. They`ll use you till there`s nothing left. They`d feed every man woman and child into the meat grinder to preserve their status quo, their power, their money. You`ll see that soon, if you don`t already. When you do, come to me. We`ll be great together." Vivica straightened up and traced her fingers along his arm. When she reached his hands, the echoes of agony fell silent.

　　The giant pulled her away. Jeremiah glanced down with surprise to find his hands still attached to his wrists. The back of each hand bore a blistering sear that healed over even as he watched, leaving a circular pattern of glyphs etched in his skin.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

　　Vivica`s giant stepped back over the short wall, still holding Vivica aloft. She spoke to the defeated soldiers below, her melodious voice carrying in the silence. "I don`t come seeking your lives. I don`t come seeking your treasures. I come to free you from those men in high towers, that hoard wealth beyond your wildest imaginings. Those that even now are imagining how best to feed you to my army!"

　　The giant lowered her towards the slain captives. Some still twitched even as a river of blood flowed through the streets.

　　"Know that I am merciful! Know that I am the key to a life free of disparity! All who stand against me shall fall, but none who value their lives need perish!"

　　She spoke words that Jeremiah didn`t recognize and raised her hands to the sky, and as the sun kissed the horizon, she lit up with a golden glow. A mist of liquid light flowed from her, expanding to a glimmering golden nimbus that enveloped everything beneath her. The bodies of the soldiers stirred, began to move. Tears of elation sprang to Jeremiah`s eyes as Allison struggled to her feet. The soldiers looked at each other in confusion, then to the golden figure above that had both doomed and saved them.

　　The giant gripped the gate in the fortress wall with his free hand, the metal roaring under his grasp. He crumpled the gate as though it were made of paper and tossed it aside. The captive soldiers looked dazed, unsure about this turn of events. Then Allison barked a command, and they streamed into the courtyard.

　　The flinty eyes of King Growlack sparked in barely suppressed rage. A jab of his finger opened a hidden drawer in the map table, revealing a glass bottle set in purple velvet. He pulled the cork with his teeth, took a swig of clear liquid, then poured the rest over the map table.

　　"Prepare for counterattack. Evacuate leadership." He smashed the bottle into the wooden city, pointed at it and spoke a single word. A flash of red from his outstretched finger, and the miniature Nosirin burst into flames.

　　"Come on!" Jeremiah dragged Colonel Valen out of the war room.

　　Colonel Valen yelled at Jeremiah`s back as they descended to the courtyard. "Do you have any idea what could happen to you for laying hands on the king!? For bargaining in his stead!? Besides the fact that you, a military asset, willingly subjected yourself to—"

　　Jeremiah whirled on the colonel. "Shut the hell up, Valen! This battle is over, and you know it. We`re going to find Captain Allday, and you`re going to order her to evacuate."

　　"Mr. Thorn! Captain Allday will stay here as part of the counterattack and you will be evacuated. This is not a suggestion! Besides, Captain Allday would never leave her soldiers behind."

　　"That`s why you`re going to order her to do it!"

　　Colonel Valen`s voice was low and dangerous. "You don`t get to make demands, Mr. Thorn."

　　Jeremiah was sick of being helpless. Being dragged places, being ordered around, being told what was important to him and what wasn`t. At this moment, his interest in obeying orders was precisely nil. He looked Colonel Valen hard in the eye. "With all due respect, Colonel—" wisps of poisonous green gas began to seep from Jeremiah`s sneer— "I will kill you, the king, and anyone else that thinks they get to decide what I want anymore. I`m willing to bet Vivica would listen to what I have to say. I suggest you listen to me. Consider this your final warning."

　　Colonel Valen shook his head in disgust. "I should`ve known you were only a hair`s breadth from treason, necromancer."

　　Jeremiah couldn`t care less. "Get Allison out of here and there won`t be a problem."

　　They found Allison in the courtyard preparing to mount up, looking for all the world like she hadn`t been murdered moments earlier.

　　"Captain Allday!" Colonel Valen strode toward her. "You are to report to the war room for evacuation immediately."

　　"I`m fine," said Allison, adjusting her horse`s tack.

　　"That`s an order, Captain. Immediately!"

　　Allison made no effort to hide her disgust, but Jeremiah`s relief was impervious to the scowl she wore as she followed them inside.

　　The miniature Nosirin was now black and smoldering, a forecast for the city itself. People dashed about piling chests and boxes together.

　　"Bruno!" Allison said. She and Jeremiah hurried toward a badly wounded Bruno propped up against a wall. Delilah and another medic were trying to stem the blood flowing from his back and chest.

　　"I found him during the retreat," said Delilah, without looking up from her work.

　　Bruno wheezed. "So embarrassing&took a javelin&right in the back." He cracked a half smile at Delilah, blood smeared across his teeth and lips. "I was coming&to save you&you know."

　　"My hero." Delilah said dryly. "He`ll be ok for now, but he`ll need a potion or a healer soon. What`s going on?"

　　"We`re evacuating," said Allison. "First the brass, then the infantry behind us." An assumption that Jeremiah did not intend to correct.

　　"Ready for evac!" shouted an officer. A final few people rushed into the war room and the doors slammed shut. Jeremiah had a moment to wonder for the first time how they were planning to escape the occupied city, then, with a horrendous screech, the floor lurched downward. The walls of the war room climbed higher around them before giving way to a smooth stone shaft. The last rays of sunlight faded further upwards until the moving room was cast into darkness.

　　They descended for several minutes, grinding down the bare stone walls. Finally, a doorway appeared, growing from below, and the room came to a shuddering halt. The king led the way, raising a torch as he shoved open the stone door to cast an orange glow along a long stone corridor.

　　The others grabbed what torches were available along the walls and followed the king into the darkness

　　"How far&do these tunnels&go?" Bruno wheezed as he limped along, supported between Allison and Delilah.

　　"Nosirin was built on top of an ancient dwarven iron mine," Delilah said. "From what I understand, it goes deeper than anyone has explored. There are still miles of tunnels that have never been catalogued." Allison shivered.

　　They walked for so long that Jeremiah began to feel claustrophobic. Their entire world had been reduced to the same few feet of solid rock, rediscovered over and over out of the darkness. Jeremiah knew they must have traveled far enough to escape the city limits, but they continued to plod along the endless corridor.

　　The stone steps were such an abrupt change they startled several people. At the top of the long staircase lay a wooden trapdoor, heavy with the dust of centuries. King Growlack hefted a thick iron bar from the trapdoor and tossed it down the steps behind him, his followers sidestepping just in time. Almost as an afterthought, he snatched the silver crown from his head and tossed it back down the stairs before throwing open the trapdoor to reveal the brilliant night sky.

　　They emerged in the middle of a wood. As he breathed deep with relief, Jeremiah detected the distinct scent of manure. King Growlack soon led them to its source—a dilapidated stable, leaning comically as though every board was either too long or too short. Thick green lichens growing on the structure gave the impression that the forest had built the stable itself from its own fallen soldiers.

　　They heard shuffling snorts from the stable as they approached. From inside, two dozen tacked up horses craned their necks to see who had disturbed their sleep. The travelers wasted no time in choosing mounts.

　　Allison mounted up with Bruno, who groaned as he was lifted into the saddle. "Where are&we&going?" he asked.

　　"South to Dramir," said Valen. "We ride hard through the night. We need to put as much distance as possible between us and Nosirin."

　　"Are the troops rendezvousing with us at some point?" Allison asked. No one answered.

　　"Move out," King Growlack ordered. He set off on a great black warhorse.