The small ship rocked on the swells as it sped nimbly along the shoreline.  Connor checked one of the lines, trimming the sail slightly and turning the wheel slightly to eke another knot or two of speed out.  He grinned at Callindra, his light complexion having suffered in their week at sea if not his mood. She couldn’t help but smile back, traveling at sea was truly amazing.

The time spent sailing had given her opportunities to think on the strange conversation she’d had with Terevelen.  Much to their surprise, the Necromancer had kept to his word without any hesitation or attempt to change or get out of his promise.  Far from it, Terevelen seemed to respond to her display of power by accepting her as an equal and they had spent two entire days sharing what knowledge of the current state of things.

For all that his aspect was frightening and his manner cold, Terevelen had a wealth of knowledge from being centuries old.  Despite her relative youth and inexperience, Callindra knew a lot more about the goings on in the world than he did. Together, they managed to piece together some important information that she thought might even be clues to slowing the spread of the Abyss or maybe even stopping it.

“There is a place of Power in Starvale.”  He had rasped, “A place that holds a gateway to what I believe is the heart of the power of the Abyss.  There is something wrong with the power I wield. The souls of the dead no longer relinquish their power to the great void.  

“Some remains in the bodies of the fallen, this being the reason I have been gathering them here.”  He gestured toward the door which led to the chamber where he performed his dark magic. “The majority, however, is taken somewhere beyond my reach.  Almost as though the souls have been imprisoned.”

“You think this is a gateway to where they draw their power from?”  Callindra asked, tamping tac into her pipe and concentrating for a moment to summon a flame over it.

“Indeed, but it is not a one-way road.  It is my belief that they do not just draw power from it, they also are sending power to it.”  He glanced at the smoke that trailed from her nostrils with a mild frown. “It is power that does not belong to them.”

“It must be Morde.”  Callindra said through the wisps of smoke.  The name made her shiver as she spoke it aloud.  “He has broken free of his prison, wherever that was.  I saw him kill a Goddess. If something is reaping the souls of the dead, he’s the only thing I can imagine doing it.”

“A Goddess you say?” Terevelen’s voice sounded hungry, pinpoints of brilliant blue light shone from the black pits where his eyes should have been.  He became completely still and the temperature in the room fell several degrees.

Callindra kept her face neutral, not betraying the fear that crawled up her spine.  She blew a fat smoke ring across the table, watching as it broke on the Necromancer’s face.  He twitched and waved a hand to clear the smoke away.

“It must have been something to see that.”  He said in a hoarse voice, “The fall of a divine being.”

“I am more concerned with what we do now.”  Callindra said. She took another deep drag on her pipe and blew out a cloud of smoke.  “I will try and find this prison you mentioned. If there’s anything you can do to help undermine Morde from this side, I’m relying on you to do it.”

“Ah.” Terevelen said, seeming to recover some of his composure.  “Yes. I will give you what assistance I am able. Mayhap we will be able to unmake some of the damage wrought by this Abyssal infestation.”  

“I never thought I would be grateful for assistance from a necromancer.”  She said, smiling as she knocked the dottle out of her pipe.

“Strange happenings seem to have resulted in stranger alliances.”  He said, extending his hand. She blinked, and took it, shaking it firmly, surprised by how strong his frail looking hand was.  “Fare thee well human child, if we are able to survive perhaps we can meet again.”

Callindra brought her blade back to her hand with a tug on his chain and managed to get half a spell cast before she slammed into the expanding pool of mud at the base of the dam.  The winds tried to gather underneath her and cushion her fall but were only partially successful, and she lay stunned and unable to move for a few moments.

She tried to roll over to get to her feet but sunk into the thick mud up to her elbows, planting her face into the disgusting sludge.  A strong hand closed on the strap on the back of her armor and lifted her out of the muck. Vilhylm stood on a solid island of hardened clay, his cloak billowing around him as he set her down.

“We need to go.”  He said and began to run across the mud.  Each time he put his foot down a section of the surface dried into clay.  Callindra staggered after him as best she could, still trying to shake off the shock of her fall.

Groggily, she looked around and tried to find the dragon.  It appeared to have the same problem she was, getting to its feet and sending jets of superheated emerald steam out in random directions.   “Is Connor ready?” She asked, her voice coming out slurred and indistinct.

“Yes you god rotting reckless fool!”  He said, glancing over his shoulder at her in exasperation.  “Which is why I’m trying to get you out of the way!”

The monster seemed to shake off its confusion and began to focus on them.  Whatever was left of its intelligence kindled behind the green glowing eyes and it opened its mouth to unleash its terrible breath.  Then a series of explosions shook the ground and the rest of the dam fell on top of the dragon in a roar, burying it in tons of rock, mud and water.

Blinking weakly, Callindra realized she and Vilhylm were a short way up the valley only just clear of the blast and the flood.  Whatever Connor had used to collapse the remaining structure on top of the dragon had worked better than she had dared to hope.

She sat down heavily, staring over the destruction with numb astonishment.  “Gods and demons. It actually worked.”

Vilhylm glared at her.  “Yes. You’re wounded and exhausted, Holt is completely out of arrows, Connor used all the alchemical and arcane means he has to blow things up, Reed almost died climbing on that dam to set up the trap.  Kain wore himself to a single thread destroying some horde of Taken creatures in the water that would have killed you and I risked everything to drag you out of the path of the blast, but it worked. Glad you were so confident of success.”

Callindra began to laugh, not able to stop even when it became obvious she had some broken ribs and burned at least some of her right side along with severely straining her right arm and wrist where she had swung from Shadowsliver’s chain.  Her whole body ached from falling off the top of the dam, but it didn’t matter. They had won.

“No time to lose.”  She gasped, finally choking down the laughter.  “We have to go right now and meet with Terevelen before the shock of our victory wears off.”

Vilhylm blinked in surprise.  “You’re still planning on going through with that?”

“Of course.”  She said grimly, running her hands over Shadowsliver’s edges to make sure they were still flawless and getting a pair of cuts despite taking extra care.  He was probably just punishing her for using him like a grapnel hook. “I may have taken a beating but I’m far from finished.”

Connor, Kain and Reed approached as she was gingerly testing her right arm and deciding it was good enough.  Reed was limping and Connor looked tired but elated. Kain was implacable as usual but he shuffled along with slumped shoulders.  They had all risked everything for her mad plan and none of them had escaped unscathed, but they all seemed willing to keep following her lead.

Behind them the stones erupted in all directions as the mortally wounded dragon turtle threw off the stone that covered it, roaring in fury and pain.  It charged, breathing out a noxious cloud of superheated steam. They all acted in concert, Vilhylm leaping forward and blocking most of its breath with his shield.  Holt rose up and loosed two arrows in quick succession, one striking each of the monster’s eyes.  

Callindra ran forward with Kain at her side and when she shouted, he dodged in front of her, cupping his hands into a stirrup.  She jumped and he threw with all his strength, sending her flying high over the blinded creature’s head. Landing on the thick shell just behind its head, she drove Shadowsliver into its neck up to the guard.

Reed gestured, shouting a word and a bolt of incandescent golden lightning leaped from his open hand to strike the monster’s shell.  Vilhylm cast his spear with deadly accuracy when it opened its mouth once again and the deadly weapon vanished between its jaws. The monster staggered and fell to the ground.  It didn’t even twitch when Callindra wrenched her blade from its flesh. She was certain that now it was well and truly dead. Dead again that is.

“Right.  Let’s go remind someone of a promise.”  She said and stalked off toward the other side of the rapidly emptying reservoir with a small breeze whipping up the dust in her wake.