When Elly came outside, the rain had slacked off, and she could see the necromancer standing outside the camp. The ground in front of him heaved and another mudman bubbled up from the wet earth. It stood staring at him a moment before pacing back and forth. Elly was surprised. She had always thought a necromancer commanded every move their creatures made. While she had been watching the golem, Naru had summoned a saturn-like revolving ring of bleached bones, and stood waiting for her and running his thumb along the edge of his dagger. Elly joined him outside camp.

''Isn't that dangerous?'' she asked, gesturing to what he was doing with the knife. ''I mean, aren't necromancer's blades covered in poison? What if you cut yourself?''

''I've built up an immunity to all the poisons I use,'' he replied, but sheathed the blade anyway. He began walking down the path, keeping a swift pace. He seemed determined to leave her behind. Elly didn't let it faze her. The walk was uneventful, as they were crossing territory the necromancer had already cleared of demons. Occasionally, they passed one of their corpses, and Naru would stop and ressurect it as a skeleton. The first time he did it, Elly couldn't keep back a yelp of fear and disgust. The corpse turned inside out and heaved up it's shiny white bones from the middle of a morass of blood and shredded innards. The skeleton rose to it's feet and strode alongside them with an odd combination of mindlessness and purpose, still clutching the weapons it wielded in life.

Naru had smiled at her reaction. ''Some people I've travelled with can't even keep their food down when they see that for the first time.''

''I can't believe you can even sleep at night, commiting these horrible acts all day, and just smiling about it!'' she told him, but didn't go further. To her shame, she felt a lump rising in her throat at the thought of the trapped souls. Sisters of the Sightless Eye didn't cry like children!

Naru half-turned from her, folding his arms as if to ward of a chill. ''I've heard the rogues keep prisons under their compound. Keeping prisoners is the same thing as keeping souls, only I let them go at the end of the day.''

Elly was seething. How dare he compare his dark magics to the laws of the sisterhood? How dare he compare the binding of souls to the imprisoning of bandits and criminals! But she couldn't trust her voice not to crack, so she stayed silent.

The thin thread of comradery that had been forming between them was broken, and they finished the walk to the cave in stony silence. They were greeted by a gaping cavemouth decorated by crude, barbaric paintings of demons. A smell of rot and damp issued from within, riding an undercurrent of what smelled like burnt meat. Naru stood, peering into the darkness. Elly wondered what he was waiting for. Guess he's not so brave after all, she thought scornfully. He turned suddenly, a troubled expression on his face. The concern in his eyes caught her off guard.

''If we continue...that smell is...it's burning flesh, a human burning, you know that, right?'' Elly wondered how he knew what burning flesh smelled like. Before she could ask he had continued speaking. ''Your sisters have disappeared in here. You might...see them...you know...burning.'' His voice was bleak. ''You don't have to come inside. I can survive on my own.''

Elly almost accepted. The flicker of fear in her heart had blazed up at the thought of the horrors she might see within the cave. But she supressed the feeling. ''I'm here to bring glory to the Sisterhood. I'm not afraid enough that it can stop me.'' Echoing Kashya's words gave her courage.

Naru stared at her a few moments before going inside. ''Very well.''

Elly took a deep breath and followed. Inside, the cave was dark, and they could see only about ten feet in every direction. The grunts and sharp cries of demons reached their ears, though none approached. The golem wasn't as cautious. It plunged into the darkness, it's yellow eyes intent on an unseen enemy. Soon, they could hear the sounds of a fight. Naru drew his dagger and headed into the fray. Elly couldn't believe it. He's going to get himself killed, she thought. A knife isn't enough against that mob. To her surprise, he slew the demons with almost frightening ease, slashing their throats and cutting open their stomachs with deadly speed. Blood was everywhere. Elly picked off the stragglers and any that tried to attack the necromancer from behind. It wasn't long before they cleared the first room of the cave, but the snuffles and bellows of some larger creature still echoed in the darkness.

Naru turned to her, smiling, blood still dripping from the dagger. ''This is going to be even easier than I thought,'' he said. He sounded a little too happy. Sure, demons were unholy monsters, but were you really supposed to be so cheerful about killing anything?

Naru lead the way further into the cave, until they came upon hulking, furry beasts with huge hands. They were on a lower ledge of the cave about fifteen feet down, milling about in a rage, unable to reach the rogue or the necromancer.

''I've never seen anything like those before,'' Naru murmured.

''Usually they avoid people,'' Elly said. Their behavior troubled her. She had seen one as a child, for a few awe inspiring seconds, peering out of the bushes at the edge of her village. Often the hunters mentioned spotting them. Never would they act so fierce and bold. Naru, untroubled by such memories, jumped off the ledge and landed silently on his feet. The skeletons and golem next to Elly began pacing rapidly back and forth, lacking the intelligence or perhaps the agility to follow their master. The young rogue barely noticed them. She was focused on Naru, as were the beasts.

''Necromancer! Come back! Are you suicidal?''

Naru was now blocked from her view by the huge beasts, but she heard sardonic laughter that must have been him. Damn it, she thought. Has he lost his mind? Elly had heard of some warriors who became fatalistic and acted foolhardy during battle. Perhaps this was one of them. She fired an ice arrow at one of the monsters, the only skill she had learned, and it's hide was covered in frost crystals. It's movement slowed considerably, but it still turned toward her with a loud, angry grunt. She fired arrows now as quickly as she could, but the creature veered off to the right as she shot at it and was lost in darkness. Fear sprung up in her again, and she realized her heart was hammering. Where would the monster show it's self next? She took a deep, shaky breath and tried to calm herself enough to call upon her inner sight.

A few long seconds later, the monster was illuminated, much too close for comfort. It had come up a small slope that looked like it had been created by a rockfall. She backed up quickly, trying to get enough distance for her bow, and bumped into the wall. She desperately fired Ice arrows into the behemoth, unaided by the skeletons, who seemed to lack volition when Naru was so far away. The golem lumbered forth and was destroyed in two blows, but the short delay was all she needed; with a last arrow, she felled the beast. Turning back to find Naru, she saw him standing over two big, furry bodies. He was looking up at her but it was too dark to see his expression. He summoned different skeletons and a fresh golem, and the ones standing near Elly fell to pieces. She stepped over the bones and down the rockslide to Naru, careful not to get too much of the offal from the fresh skeletons on her shoes.

''Why did you do that? Do you just like watching bodies turn inside out or something? The ones on the ridge were fine.''

''They can only think so much on their own. For things like rockclimbing, I have to instruct them directly, which is difficult when there's so many. It's faster this way,'' he explained practically, then added, with a smirk, ''But I do like to see bodies turn inside out.''

Elly didn't dignify the statement with a response. She and the necromancer met a few demons, a lone or in twos and threes, as the walked through the narrower passages of the cave. Elly could handle these easily; in fact, she usually shot them down before they even got close enough for Naru to strike at them. They camer eventually to a larger cave, lit with torches. The smell of burning flesh was heavier than before, and it was now mixed with the odors of decay, unwashed bodies, and burning wood. Highpitched voices chattered back and forth on the far side of the cavern.

''Damn, it's a colony of Carvers,'' said Naru. ''I recognize the warcries-they must have known we were coming, somehow.''

''But...I thought those were only rumors,'' said Elly.

''No, It's true. I saw some camps in the distance on my way to your hospitable campground, and anyway, where I learned my art, the demons have villages, and eat people. This is nothing.''

Elly ignored the digs. ''Do you have any ideas about taking them down? They might be small but they'll kill us if we're stupid.''

''Keep the little bastards off me while I go for the shaman. He has similar powers to mine. Once we kill him the rest are easy prey.''

Elly nodded and strung an arrow. Naru and his skeletons went ahead. Smaller demons and zombies rushed at them, but what the skeletons couldn't take down Elly killed in two shots or less. The shaman conjured a fireball and hurled it at the nercromancer. He ducked and leapt forward, drawing the kris across the belly of the shaman. He didn't fall immediately and raised one of his nearest lackeys from the dead, then swung at Naru with a small, sharp bone blade. The necromancer was caught by surprise and jumped back only just in time to avoid serious harm; as it was, the blade cut through the laces of his tunic and gave him a long, shallow vertical slice down his chest. Elly couldn't see the extent of the damage from the distance; all she saw was the blood, even more garish on the necromancer's pale skin. Her shortbow didn't have enough range at this distance to take down the shaman. She headed forward, intending to help him, but one of the skeletons got there first and finished off the demon. Elly fitted another arrow to her bow and aimed at one of the smaller demons, but a man limped out of the darkness to her left. Too short to be Naru, and anyway he's on the other side of the cavern, she thought, and then noticed that half the man's face had rotted off, revealing his teeth. A zombie! She screamed and started violently away from it's cold, moist touch as it grabbed her arm. It gave an angry grunt and swung at her with surprising swiftness. One of the skeletons attacked it from behind, systematically hacking off the zombie's zombie fell down, unable to move, but it's empty eye sockets still glowed with an unholy light. With a shudder of disgust, she looked away quickly and shot down another one of the small red demons. She fitted another arrow and looked around for more, then slowly realized that all the monsters in the cave were dead. She remembered that the necromancer had been hurt, and went to join him on the other side of the cave. He seemed fairly unfazed, considering that blood was beginning to drip down his chest.

''It's not as bad as it looks,'' he said, half smiling at her concerned expression. ''Barely an inch deep. Worrying about me, were you?'' He smirked at her and tied the tunic shut again as best he could with what was left of the laces.

''Don't you have any healing potions?''

''No. They're hard to find, and if I did have one I wouldn't waste it on a scratch. Let's get going, we have to kill these things by nightfall, and dark comes early at this time of year.''

Elly found this a little unusual, as the Sisterhood had always had a steady supply of healing potions from Akara. Now that she thought of it, anyone who had sought refuge with them had always bought a lot of healing potions, so perhaps the skill of brewing them was rarer than she thought. They killed more zombies in the next passages. Elly tried to tune out their ugliness and fight as best she could. It was working well, and she was calm and alert enough that their next battle with carvers was quick and efficient. I'm getting better at this, she thought with grim satisfaction. Eventually, the two came to the last section of the cave system. There, Elly saw something that froze the blood in her veins. Four bodies, burnt so badly they were nearly unrecognizable, lit each corner of the cave. The faces and hair were gone, but Elly could see by the armour that they had been rogues.

''Oh my god,'' she whispered.''Oh my god.''

''I warned you about this,'' Naru reminded her harshly. ''Concentrate on the battle or you'll end up joining them.'' He sent the skeletons and golem ahead of them to fight the hoard of zombies crowding the back of the cave. ''Something powerful is back there. It's making the rest of them stronger. I can sense it's energy.''

Elly tore her eyes away from the burning corpses with an effort. ''That's-that's Corpsefire. A zombie. Kashya mentioned it once.''

''Corpsefire...?'' Naru glanced at the burning bodies. ''Does that thing have the power to manipulate fire?''

The skeletons were quickly being decimated by the determined zombies, who seemed to glow with unholy energy. Of the ten that had started out the skeletons had only managed to kill two; the golem was moving incredibly slowly, encased in frost. Partially blocked by it's hulking frame, they could see a bluish rotted zombie, like a corpse from a still pond, with a greenish aura and glowing white eyes, with a sparkle of unusually coherent malice.

''It can wield all kinds of magic. Kashya said it can hurt you with fire or ice, or with a charge, like lightning. Or it can even poison you.''

''Damn.'' There was a hint of envy in his voice. He stood for a moment, his mind racing for a plan. And then the golem crumbled. The zombies turned their eye sockets on the necromancer and the rogue.

''Fall back,'' Naru decided, his voice more serious than it had been in other battles.

Elly backed up and began firing arrows, but the cold only slowed the zombies. It seemed to do little harm to the minions and none at all to Corpesfire. Naru was summoning white bolts of light that looked like fangs; the small explosion when they came in contact with Corpsefire didn't leave much of a mark either. Elly glanced over her shoulder and realized they only had ten more feet before they ran into the wall.

''We're running out of room!,'' she said, her voice coming out scared and breathless. She reached for another arrow from her quiver and was shocked to realize she only had a few left.

Naru threw a quick glance back and swore. ''Cover me then.'' He drew a second kris and charged Corpsefire, before Elly could warn him that she was running dangerously low on arrows. Naru slashed at the zombies, killing the weaker ones first and avoiding their leader as long as he could. Corpsefire continued forward, mindlessly intent on killing the nearest human. Even Naru looked a little disturbed, and Elly wondered why he didn't summon more skeletons. She had used up her arrows in keeping the zombies at bay from a distance. She had a dagger, and though she had little training in using it, it was better than nothing. Drawing it from her boot sheath, she ran forward to join Naru. He heard her and whirled around, knives ready, a cold gleam in his eyes.

''It's just me,'' she told him, but the look was already fading, replaced by one of surprise. He didn't say anything; there was no time. Corpsefire was nearly upon them, a green glow swirling in his rotting hands.

''It's a poison spell,'' Naru warned, but there was no where to run; their immediate path of escape was blocked by one of the burning bodies. Corpsefire's poison mist enveloped them for a moment and then was gone. Elly felt dizzy and weak. She was frightened by the suddeness of the poison, and her stomach was turning. She fought to ignore it. If she vomited, the zombie would take the opportunity to kill her. She lurched to the side as Corpsefire swung at her with a hand that glowed with electricity, ignoring the necromancer's attacks. Elly felt like she was moving in slow motion, but avoided the blow by inches. Her legs gave way and she slipped to the ground. She watched through black rimmed vision as Corpsefire attacked Naru with orange glowing hands. The necromancer's tunic burnt and the flesh beneath it sizzled. He cryed out in pain and recoiled. We're being killed by a dead body, she thought dully. There's got to be something I can do. I can't fail the Sisterhood or myself. It was at that moment that Elly recalled something one of the other rogues had said: zombies are weak at the joints. The heat of the rogue's pyre behind her was scorching her back; she dragged herself away and kicked out at Corpsefire. Her foot struck the zombie's knee and there was a snapping sound as the rotten flesh and cartilage broke. And the zombie pitched forward, flailing, toward Naru, who stepped aside unsteadily and let Corpsefire fall into the flames. Elly was losing conciousness by then, but she had the impression that the cave filled with light.

Next: Aftermath; Arrival of the Paladin.