Arys glared at the muscular woman hogtied on the tent floor beside her. Fa’rah, who had been the bandits’ prisoner for at least a week, had rope around her ankles and above and below her knees. More of it bound her wrists behind her back and pinned her arms, framing her chest with a harness of rope. Finally, her wrists and ankles were connected and the strong warrior wrestled with bonds day in and day out, grunting into her multi-layered cloth gag; a cloth stuffed in her mouth, another tied on between her teeth, and a third over her mouth and nose.

But right now, she was laughing at the smaller, lithe mercenary. Arys, through the glowing purple ball harness ball gag in her mouth, could not get the bandits to understand that Taria was in trouble. Worse, they thought Taria had tied her up and left her to be another of the bandits prisoners.

Strong rope, purple and glowing that nullified any attempt to use magic, kept the small mercenary in leather armour completely helpless. Binding her legs in four places from her ankles, calves and thighs, another around her waist, pinning her crossed and bound wrists to her back, and a tight harness of rope that framed her chest and kept her arms tightly pinned to her sides... now sitting on the floor of the tent. She was then tied with one final coil of rope used by the bandits. This one wasn’t enchanted my a necromancer but it didn’t have to be to do its job. It held her tight to the tent pole, staked into the ground, and kept her in once place.

Though the caramel-skinned mage with dark blue hair and pale eyes didn’t necessarily resent the bandits for making the mistake they made, they could not have chosen a worse time to haul a prisoner back to their now rather crowded prisoner tent. Taria and Brina were still at the mercy of that awful necromancer and Arys just had to save her! Now she knew that she was the only one who could do it...

But tied up as tightly as she was, it would make things difficult. Perhaps nigh impossible. Still, she had to try.

The ropes had no knots, unfortunately, and there was no slack in them. So there was no real chance to just slip out of them. And though Arys' crescent moon shaped scythe had been nearby when the bandits decided to capture her, they of course didn't leave it in the tent. It was somewhere outside, stashed with all their other weapons.

She squirmed against her bonds, doing everything she could to try and reach the only knot on her; the one the bandits had tied in the rope attaching her to the tent pole. But with her hands behind her back, and the knot in front of her, that was proving an impossible task.

So all Arys did for the time being was wriggle and writhe helplessly while her ropes didn't get any looser.

Fa'rah struggled mightily in the hogtie beside her but, as had been the case for several days, she made no progress. Though she did laugh behind her gag and mock Arys.

"Hmmm hmmm…" Fa'rah said. "Lmmkmmph lmmk ymm stmmkk…"

Arys was ignoring her, though she was getting frustrated each time she failed to reach the knot.

"Mmmrrghhh!!" she growled into her ball gag. "Dghhmnn igghht!!"

"Stmmk, gmrlmm?" Fa'rah asked, smiling beneath her gag and giggling away in her mocking tone.

Arys ignored her still but stopped her struggling when she heard a commotion outside. The bandits were screaming and running, by the sounds of it, and then she heard the growls. The undead…

"Mmpphh!!" Fa'rah shrieked. "Nmmpph!"

"Gghtrrt! Cghrghpp!!" Arys grunted, struggling even harder now. Though it didn't sound like any of the creatures were near the tent just yet, Arys knew it was only a matter of time.

An idea struck her just then. She had good balance and if she could hop to her scythe… But she still had to detach herself from the tent pole.

Instead of trying that, however, she gripped the wooden pole tight in both hands and began pulling up on it. It moved gradually, coming out of the ground, but she was succeeding this time.

Though it did mean the tent would collapse on top of them, Arys kept her eye on where the flap was so she could crawl out when the tent fell.

Pulling harder, with as much strength as she could muster, the pole moved about an inch upward and was now feeling loose in the ground. So she took in a breath, closed her eyes… and pulled as hard as she could again.

This time the pole came loose and, though it was still attached to her back, Arys was no longer anchored to the ground.

She fell back to pull the tent flap toward her, trapping Fa'rah in a tangled mess of canvas. But now, with the firelight of the camp as her guide, Arys shuffled her way free of the tent and rolled onto her back, struggling to sit up.

She just about managed it, taking in the sight. The camp had been abandoned for the time being as the undead creatures had chased the bandits into the surrounding woods. That meant she had time…

It was a struggle but Arys pushed herself up to her knees and then deftly hopped to her feet.

With Fa'rah struggling and shouting into her gag behind her, Arys spared no more thoughts to the trussed up former bandit leader and began hopping forward, spotting a pile of weapons leaning against another tent. Her scythe was among them. Keeping her eyes on her prize, Arys continued hopping forward, determined to reach her scythe and finally cut herself free of her bonds.

The scythe, bronze in colour, had its crescent moon blade on one end pressed flat on the wide end while the two points of the blade jutted outward like a sort of reverse axe. It was a strange weapon but it had been with Arys her whole life. She didn’t know where it came from, nor even where she came from, but that scythe was her constant companion. Even when she was captured, which was many times unfortunately, the blade always found its way back to her. And, just like always, Arys reached it without too much trouble. She shuffled herself around, spinning in place, and reached down with her bound hands to pick it up, having to bend her knees.

Arys fumbled with some other weapons for a bit but as soon as the handle was in her hands, she knew... that was her scythe.

Just as she stood up straight to pick it up, two of the bandits who had captured her came running from out of the trees with an undead creature trailing behind them, snarling and snapping.

They paid Arys almost no mind as they ran past her and the undead creature started to come at her...

Thinking quickly, the agile mercenary took scythe in hand and squared her stance, trying to plant her bound legs on the ground. Her eyes narrowed and she did her best to channel Taria in that moment...

Though she had trouble with these creatures in the past while not bound and gagged, this was a desperate situation. She got a grip on the scythe and held it horizontally in both hands, waiting until the creature was within reach. With incredible grace. Arys stood on her tiptoes and did a pirouette like a ballerina, swinging her bound arms around with as much force as she could muster and caught the creature in the stomach with the blade.

It let loose an unholy scream and when Arys turned around, her eyes went wide at the smoking and burning wound her weapon had left in the creature. She gave her head a shake and remembered that this creature was still moving so she had to do more.

Keeping her balance, Arys kicked out with both of her bound legs and hit the creature in the chest with both feet, knocking it off balance and sending it sprawling to the dirt. Deftly landing on her feet again, Arys quickly propped the blade of the scythe against her shoulder, pointing outward, and threw herself down onto the creature, aiming for its head. The pointed blade sunk into the side of the undead’s skull and it hissed once before it stopped moving.

Arys rolled off the creature and struggled to pry her scythe loose, having trouble in her bound state. The two bandits, stunned at her unbelievable display, approached her and helped Arys get back to her feet. One of them was the short older woman, Gwynna, who Arys knew was not fond of her.

“I don’t know what wizardry that was...” Gwynna said. “But there’s more of them coming. Here.”

Gwynna bent down and cut the ropes binding Arys’ legs but left her arms tied and the gag on. “If you can fight with your legs tied, you can fight better with them free. But you’re still a prisoner, understand?”

Arys sighed and grumbled into her gag but she didn’t have time to complain. Three more of the creatures emerged from the surrounding trees. Gwynna backed away, a heavy axe in her hand, and Arys shook her head at the sight. She was usually so tough but with these creatures, Gwynna was a quivering mass of jelly and looked... weak.

But Arys, having already killed one creature while completely bound and gagged, found herself actually feeling confident now that her legs were free. Gwynna was right. If she could fight with her legs tied then she could fight pretty much no matter what.

She moved like a dancer, spinning and twirling in place, spending most of the time on tiptoes and moving in light, quick steps as the creatures came at her. The first had its head lopped off as Arys twirled in place, stopping flat on her feet, with the axe held behind her back. The sharp end of the curved blade caught the creature’s neck and took its head clean off.

The second had the scythe buried in its forehead, though Arys had trouble prying it out again. The third creature chased after her and she kept it at bay with quick, deft kicks but glowered at the bandits and nodded toward her scythe.

“Igghtmmph stgghmmck! Ighh nghhd hgghhllmmp!!”

They had trouble figuring out just what the mercenary had said into her gag but her nodding toward the axe did help. Ria, the taller of the two who was even less fond of Arys, decided to pry the scythe loose and shove it back into Arys’ hands.

“Good luck...” she said.

“Rghhmmmph...” Arys growled as the bandit backed off. Though Ria was heavily scarred and had seen her share of tough battles she, too, was reduced to nothing at the sight of these creatures. Arys suddenly had even less respect for them than before. And that wasn’t much to begin with, though they had earned some respect for following Taria’s orders and doing their best to maintain her new ideas. But that was fading fast.

The creature screeched and ran at her again. Arys, up on her tiptoes again. Spun around and lashed out with the scythe, gripping it tightly behind her back. The blade sliced a deep gash into the creature’s face and it screamed in pain, gripping at its face with both of its decaying, putrid hands. It stumbled and collapsed and, to her surprise, turned to dust at her feet.

The camp fell completely silent as the two stunned bandits stared at the mercenary with a newfound awe. They were beginning to understand why Taria had found her help so valuable. But Gwynna snapped out of her reverie and snatched the axe from her hands, turning her around so Ria could get in behind her.

“Well, now that’s taken care of... back to the tent with you!”

“Nghhmmm! Stghhp tghhmphh! Tgghrighh igmmph igghmnn trgghblll!!”

Ria, grabbing her by the arms and beginning to lead her away, sighed. “What’s she saying?”

“Stop for second,” Gwynna said. “I heard something about Taria in there.”

“Gwynna, she’s probably just cussing her out.”

“Still, I have a feeling. Take that gag off and let’s make sure.”

Arys rolled her eyes and sighed with relief. Finally! she thought to herself.

Ria managed to unbuckle the straps and finally had the gag loose and out of Arys’ mouth.

“Taria is in trouble, you morons! That necromancer has her!”

“What?” Gwynna said. “Are... are you sure?”

“Did you see here around? Why would Taria tie me up and then just leave? Does that sound like her? If I had betrayed her she would have stuck around to make sure you know. Or, hell, she probably would have just dragged me back to camp herself, don’t you think!?”

Ria nodded. “She does have a point...”

“So what happened to you?” Gwynna asked.

“The necromancer grabbed me. Brina, too. Where do you think these magic glowing ropes and gag came from? Taria doesn’t know anything about magic, does she?”

“Another good point...” Ria said.

“The necromancer... weren’t you three trying to find her?”

“Yes but she clearly got the drop on us. And she used Brina and me to lure Taria in. Now she has both Taria and Brina. I don’t know how we’re going to get there but she’s underground, somewhere, and we have to save them, damn it!”

Gwynna approached her and tried her best not to look sheepish. “That’s what you were doing out there?”

“Yes! After she knocked out Taria with whatever weird magic she has, she just tossed me out in the woods like that. Then you three idiots found me and tied me to that damn tent pole!”

Gwynna rubbed the back of her neck. “Idiots... yeah, that’s fair, I guess...”

“So untie me and let’s go get Taria! She’s in serious trouble!”

Ria nodded. “Much as I don’t like to trust sellswords.... you did kinda just save us. A bit.”

“A bit!? I killed four undead while I was tied up, and gagged, while you two cowered in the corner!”

“I did get your weapon for you...”

Arys just scoffed. “Come on and untie me already!”

“All right... Jeez... impatient much?” Ria said.

Arys just closed her eyes, trying not to further lose her temper with the bandits, as Ria cut her free of her bonds. Finally able to move properly, and taking her scythe back from Arys with a quick glare, the three women headed off into the woods again back to where that strange portal had been. Arys just hoped she could figure out how to open it again...

...

The unholy sounds filling her ears struck her with such terror... but Taria kept it at bay. Beside her, however, Brina was not faring as well. The young warrior was almost in a panic, breathing hard behind the ball gag, chest heaving... but Taria did her best to get her attention.

“Brghhnnghh!!” Taria said into her gag, ignoring the ungainly, spectral beast currently snarling at her. She knew it wasn’t real but everything about it felt real. And seeing Morrina sitting back there behind a wooden table, jotting down notes and staring at them, didn’t help matters.

Brina was currently bound and gagged beside her, resting against a cold wall of stone bricks. The ropes around her were red and glowing, designed to sap her strength and make her even more helpless against her tight bonds. The ropes framed her chest and pinned her arms to her sides, holding her arms crossed and bound behind her back. More of the ropes tied her legs together in five places on her legs moving up her ankles, calves, and thighs. Finalizing it all was the harness ball gag, also red and glowing, strapped into her mouth with straps going around her forehead, under her chin, either side of her nose and then of course the back of her head, holding the rubber-like ball in her mouth. A studded leather collar was then placed snugly around her neck and chained to the wall behind her with a chain only a few feet long so she couldn’t move very far from the spot she was sitting in.

Taria was bound in almost the exact same way. The main differences were that her bonds were glowing bright green, shackles held her wrists behind her back and her ankles and chains did the rest of her legs and tightly hugged her arms. Her collar, as well, was made of steel and likewise chained to the back wall. Aside from being green as well, Taria’s ball gag was identical in every way to Brina’s. It seemed Morrina was a creature of habit when it came to keeping prisoners.

Brina didn’t seem to hear Taria’s voice. Her sheer terror was focussed on the lurking horror that shambled toward her, screeching violently. All she could hear was the screech of the creature as it snarled and opened its malformed maw, baring its asymmetrical, pointed and ragged teeth. Her mind couldn’t comprehend that it was just an illusion... until a muffled, garbled woman’s voice broke through.

“BRRGHHNGHHH!! LLGHHKK GHHTT MGGHH!”

She couldn’t quite make out the last three words. The first was her name, she was sure of it. But then... what was that sentence? ‘Look... look at me...’ Taria Brina thought to herself.

Still shivering in fear, Brina’s wide, bright blue eyes gazed into the strong, stoic gaze of Taria’s hardened, purple eyes. One of her oldest friends, the woman who took her in as a young orphaned girl and helped raise her to become ‘Brina the Strong.’ How was she bearing this?

In truth, Taria could barely hold on herself. She felt like she had experienced something like this before, bound and gagged and tormented by vile spirits, but that didn’t make it any easier. The illusions Morrina concocted for them were beyond even imagination. Unrecognizable by human eyes and struck every basic, animal instinct of fear in the very pit of her soul... but Taria remained resolute in the face of these illusory creatures.

Taria nodded to the younger woman, noting the sweat dripping from her brow and the matted, damp look to her sweat-soaked blonde hair.

“Ghhtph ghhkghh..” Taria said into her gag. Though Brina couldn’t understand the words, Taria’s strong, reassuring tone relieved her terror somewhat. At this, Morrina stood from her chair and crossed the room, looking down upon her two captives.

“You truly are the Warrior. Staring deep into the eyes of fear... and yet your thoughts turn to another. To help another. Fascinating!”

“Mmmmmrrrrrggghh!!” Taria growled.

“It seems the source of your fear is not in your own peril but in that of others, Warrior,” Morrina said. “Would that be true?”

Taria remained silent and just glared at her captor, struggling and rattling her chains.

“Helpless and yet still you fight... truly the Warrior I seek.”

“Mmmnnpphh!” Brina said from beside her, fighting against her own bonds.

“And you succeed in spite of me. She fights just as you do. Truly fascinating...”

Taria and Brina continued to fight their bonds and Morrina paced back and forth, eyeing them both. She knelt down to meet Taria’s gaze and the lithe warrior growled into her gag again, still rattling the chains that bound her.

“Allow me to share something with you, Warrior. Your leather clad friend... the mercenary... she may have been valuable in bringing you to me. But I can say that is where her value ended. So she had been... cast away.”

“Wghhmmnnt!?”

“Nothing serious, of course. Just left, bound and silenced, within the woods your clan of bandits so fear to tread. Perhaps to be found by wild animals, my minions... or some bandit women with and incorrect idea in their puerile minds.”

Taria just furrowed her brow and let Morrina continue, still fighting her chains.

“It seems the very bandits you lead mistook the girl for a prisoner of yours. And left her bound within a tent. Worse, it also seems my minions happened to attack the encampment and chase them all off. Shame none joined the dead... though I fear what will become of your dear friend.”

“Nghhmmmm!!!” Taria said, thrashing against her chains.

“Indeed, Warrior. The very source of your fear. Not fear of harm to yourself. But of to others. The fear of losing ones about whom you care. And this mercenary, well, I would not bet on her chances of survival tonight, Warrior.”

“MMMPPHHH! DDGGHHMMMT YGGHHMM DGHHMMRRR HGGHHRRTT HGGGHHRRR!!”

“Scream all you like, Warrior. You cannot save her...”

Taria continued helplessly thrashing against her chains, eyes wide, the fear finally beginning to take her.

“And there it is. The terror... let us continue.”

Morrina left them again and let her illusions do the rest, eliciting muffled shrieks and garbled curses from her two captives. She smiled to herself as she started taking more notes at her desk again. It seemed she had finally found her way to break the Warrior...

...

Arys and the two bandits had been circling the same spot in the woods for several minutes.

“Hey, merc,” Ria said. “What the hell are we doing here?”

“This... this is where the portal was. I need to find... some way to...” Arys couldn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t know how to get underground and rescue Taria. But she did know that this where Taria and Brina had been taken and where she had been headed before Morrina dumped her in the woods.

“Portal?” Gwynna asked.

“That’s... that’s what I saw. On the ground. Big, swirling dark thing. Morrina just drew us all in like moths with it and hid herself away.”

Ria shrugged. “She is a necromancer. They’re not exactly known for fighting fair.”

“So how do we open it?” Gwynna asked.

Arys had to think about what Taria had told her. She had mentioned something about the necromancer and this whole ‘Warrior’ prophetic business. The necromancer... Morrina... that was her true name. Taria had mentioned something about how the necromancer was surprised at the use of her ‘true’ name when she and Taria had first met. So she had an idea.

“I have to say her name...” Arys said.

“What?”

“Her name, Gwynna. She’ll hear me if I call her. And maybe open the portal and come out. Then we sneak inside and... save them.”

“How do we get out?”

Again, Gwynna was asking the tough questions. And Arys didn’t have the answers. “We’ll... cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now we have to get in first.”

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Ria asked.

“No... but do we have any other choice?”

Again, she shrugged. “Gotta save Maateni...”

“True enough...” Gwynna agreed.

“All right. Here we go...” Arys took in a long breath. “Morrina!” she said, half-shouting the name. “The necromancer, Morrina! I... I call to you! Morrina!”

At first, nothing happened and the three of them stood in silence.

“You sure she heard you?” Gwynna asked.

“I’ll keep trying...”

Meanwhile, within the catacombs beneath, Morrina continued studying her captives. Despite delivering the distressing news to Taria about her mercenary friend... the warrior had regained her composure and kept herself focussed on Brina. Incredibly, through her gag, she had yet again managed to keep the bandit calm and sane. It was baffling. But what was more baffling to Morrina was the sudden voice, from the ground above, that was calling out to her...

“No...” she said to herself. “She escaped... I shall get to the bottom of this.”

Back on the surface, Arys continued calling out Morrina’s name and didn’t see the ground beneath her begin to shift. Gwynna rushed forward and pulled her back.

“Watch yourself!”

Arys stumbled a bit but retained her balance. She saw the spot where she was standing turn black, collapse a bit, and then the darkness widened until a glowing, green rim appeared around it, swirling around endlessly. Arys was rather dumbfounded...

“It... it worked!”

“Better be quick,” Gwynna said. “Get down there before it closes.”

“This... seems wrong...” Ria said. “I don’t like the look of this thing.”

“I don’t either,” Arys said. “But it’s where she’s holding Taria and Brina. We have to risk it.”

Gwynna and Ria both let out short, exasperated breaths. “Right,” Gwynna said. “But you lead the way.”

Arys scoffed. “Babies...” Though she mocked, she wasn’t so sure about stepping into the portal itself. But, to save Taria, she had to do it. So, tentatively, Arys walked forward and found herself descending into unnatural darkness with the two bandits slowly following suit.

A slight shimmer in the woods around them suddenly materialized into a shape as they descended downward though none of them saw it. Morrina smiled to herself as the three women walked down into her catacombs.

“Insects crawl their way into the spider’s nest... Perfect.”

Morrina faded away into invisibility again, following them into the intense darkness of the portal and the ground below.

Arys and the two bandits kept walking downward until Arys felt her feet touch solid ground and the darkness cleared into a dimly lit, narrow corridor. She stepped forward to allow the bandits down and they heard the portal close above them. Before they could even react to that, Arys whirled around when she heard the sound of muffled voices.

“Taria... It came from this way!”

Arys charged forward, leaving the stunned bandits behind for the moment. But they quickly composed themselves and followed after her. Arys weaved through the tunnels, ignoring that the tiny alcoves were filled with what were clearly human remains; bones and skulls remaining still in their final resting place.

Turning corners, losing track of where she had been going, Arys just followed the sound of the voices. Finally, after winding through tunnel after tunnel... she saw them. Both tightly bound, gagged, and sitting on the floor against a stone wall. The bandits were beside her in seconds and stopped at the sight.

“Boss!” Ria said, not sure which woman she was referring to. But she rushed forward anyway, Gwynna following her and trying to figure out how to unlock all the chains or untie the ropes. Arys stepped forward, noticing both women had their weapons stashed nearby. All they needed to do now was get them free, armed, and find a way out of there.

The bandits had moved on to Brina for the time being, cutting her free of her bonds and the leather collar around her neck. When she was free, they had her armed and moved to Taria. But as Arys watched them, someone grabbed her from behind and she felt something cold and sharp pressed to her neck.

“Nghhhmmmm!!” Taria squealed.

Brina was standing by this point and brandished her short sword and shield, planting herself... but didn’t move. Morrina had a hold of Arys, holding a curved knife near her throat.

“Now we see the fear, Warrior. The fear that so controls you... the fear that will make you mine.”

“Brina, we can take her,” Gwynna whispered. “Let’s just rush her.”

Remembering their ordeal and looking back and forth between a frightened Taria, still chained and gagged on the floor, and the young mercenary fighting her own fear as the knife was held to her throat... and sheathed her sword. “Stand down...” she said.

“Brina... are you sure?” Ria said.

“You want this girl to get hurt?” she asked.

Ria sighed. “She did save our asses...”

“Then stand down.”

Ria and Gwynna both sheathed their weapons and Morrina let out a low chuckle. “Noble... but pointless. Warrior, your friends cannot even save your dear friend. Witness that which you fear most.”

“Dghhmmt hgghrrt hgghhhrrr!” Taria said, still rattling her chains and thrashing wildly.

“Hey... Morrina...” Arys said, fighting off her own fear and slowly raising up her right hand. “You talk too much!” Before Morrina could react, Arys reached up and grabbed hold of her wrist. No longer suppressed by Morrina’s restraints, what little magic she could use came to her and electrical energy arced from her hand as she tightened her grip on Morrina’s wrist. The shock made Morrina gasp and open her hand, dropping the knife, while Arys shoved her back and broke free of her grasp.

Pulling the scythe from her back, she swiped at Morrina with it. Just as she had done with Taria, Morrina crossed her arms and blocked the weapon with some unseen force... but reeled and stumbled backward, shrieking in pain. Her grimaced and glared at Arys, focussing on the crescent moon blade of her scythe.

“Where did you get that weapon!?”

“I’ve always had it... not that I would tell you!”

“So you... you are of the Tribe of the Moon?”

“The... the what?”

“You carry the Moon’s Blade... how!?”

Arys swung it again and Morrina backed away again. The necromancer was starting to panic, Arys could tell, but she couldn’t fathom how it was her scythe that had caused it. Morrina raised her hands to the ceiling. “I cast thee out, all of you! Begone!”

In a flash, all of the women were transported back to the forest above, surrounded by the silent trees, with Arys still tightly gripping to her scythe. She suddenly remembered Taria and turned around to her... but the chains had all fallen away as Morrina had sent them out and she was able to stand again, picking up her sword and attaching it to her belt once more.

“Arys... thank you,” Taria said.

“Hey, it’s what you would have done.”

“So... anybody want to explain what that was all about?” Gwynna asked. “Why the hell was that crazy witch afraid of her little axe... thing?”

“I think I have an idea,” Taria said. “Arys... you don’t know anything about your parents or where you came from, right?”

“No... not really. I just know I’ve had this scythe since I was a baby.”

Taria placed a hand on her shoulder. “Sounds a bit like someone else I know. A good friend. A Pamest Mage, actually. Ice wielder. She’s a member of the Order.”

“The Order of Ikaatan?”

“Yes. I think you two should meet. She doesn’t know much but she knows a bit more than you do. And she... she’s from the Tribe of the Moon.”

“She... what?”

“It explains a lot. The blue tinge to the hair, the pale eyes, the mysterious past...”

“I mean, that almost describes you,” Ria said.

“Aside from the blue tinge to the hair... not really. I know my past. But you two should meet. I’ll see what I can do to set that up. Because I think we’ve finally got the key to beating that undead witch.”

Taria’s eyes shifted to the bronze, crescent moon blade of the scythe. It did seem to... shimmer when the moonlight hit it. “We’ll have to find out more about it. And Luna might know something.”

“I hope so. That’s just... I never expected this.”

“I don’t think anyone expected this, Arys,” Taria said. “Now, if you don’t mind, could you lead us back to camp?”

“Oh... um... yeah. That’s another thing.”

Taria heard the distant growls and screams. “Right. Morrina did mention something like that. Guess we’ve got a fight on our hands. Best bring that scythe. Seems it works wonders on these undead things.”

“I guess so...”

“Also... I should mention... Fa’rah escaped in all that confusion,” Gwynna said. “I saw her cutting ropes off her body and stealing her mace while we were running.”

Taria shook her head. “That idiot will get herself caught again eventually. Best not to worry about her for now. Draw your weapons. Let’s get these undead taken care of.”

Taria drew the silver sword at her side and let Arys lead the other two bandits away toward camp. She and Brina paused for a moment to look at each other.

“Um... Taria I... uh... I wouldn’t have made it if you hadn’t... I wasn’t strong enough to-”

“You were. I just had to remind you,” Taria said, flashing her a quick smile.

“How are you not... shaken?”

“With a past like mine, you learn to bury that stuff,” Taria said. “Now, how about we make them afraid of us for a change?”

Brina smiled and drew her sword, slinging her shield from her back. “Sounds better than that hellhole we were trapped in.”

“Sure does. Let’s go.”

Soon enough, Taria was leading the charge and cutting down the undead beasts as they chased the bandits all over the forest. Brina, spurred on by Taria’s courage, fought beside her and proved the worth of her name Brina the strong. With the creatures dead and the camp finally inhabited again, the job of cleaning up came next. But all the while, their ordeal left them with one lingering thought. Just what were the roots of Arys the Mercenary? Whatever they could learn about the Moon’s Blade, her scythe, it could be the key to finally beating back the horrific undead menace. Until then, they had to get Arys back to her roots. And Taria knew only one person who could help with that.

Story Theme Song: Swingin' Hammers- Roots