Okay. An update. Finally.

What can I say? A job just takes up way too much time. Something had to give and this story was it. No, it is not consigned to the bin. Just very, very slow updates.

-

Faith and Leoric stared wide-eyed at the scene before them. "By the Light," Leoric whispered in shock. They were in what must have been the Rogue Jailer's dining area. A circle of guttering torches surrounded a long table. Spread-eagled on the table was the naked body of a woman. She had been gutted and slabs of flesh were missing from her limbs and body. From the expression on her face, the actions had been done while she was still very much alive. The stench of stale urine and offal assaulted their noses. The air was chill enough that the body had not started to decompose yet.

The sound of retching brought their attention back to their companion. Faith as the first to reach Liene, who was crouching outside the room. "Maeko," the Rogue finally whispered, naming a scout that had gone missing two nights ago.

Faith fought her own nausea as she wrapped an arm around Liene. She had done many Evil things in her time. She had killed and tortured but even she had not done or seen anything like this. "It's okay," she whispered. "When we find Andariel, we'll take it out of her hide."

"We have to go," Leoric interrupted them. He handed Liene a canteen to wash the acrid taste from her mouth and showed the pair his right index finger. The tip was coated with blood. "The bloodstains are still wet. The demons must have been interrupted in their… meal." Both the women turned slightly greener at that statement. "Something is very wrong here. We must figure out where the demons are and what they are doing and report back to Kashya. I sense that this night could be calamitous for us all if the correct actions are not performed in time."

"Translation, Tin Can?" Faith asked, shooting him a look as she helped Liene to her feet.

"We have a job to do. And we have to finish it fast or I think we are headed for disaster."

"Why didn't you just say so?"

"I did."

"No, you didn't."

"If you two are quite done trying to distract me," Liene said quietly, "there is a secret armoury on this floor of the Jails where we keep our best weapons in times of trouble." Her face still had a slight greenish tinge to it, be she looked a lot better than she did a minute ago.

"I think this qualifies," Leoric replied, equally quietly. He glanced back at the room they had just passed and shook his head. "I think this qualifies, indeed."

Faith gave her a squeeze and let her arm drop from around Liene's shoulders. The Rogue grabbed her hand but just shook her head at Faith's inquiring look. Faith understood. There were times, dark times, when she had wished that there was someone to hold her hand too. "Let's go find it, Pix."

Liene led them to a dead end, a few feet down the corridor where the stairs up to the Inner Cloister was. She felt the wall there until she found the correct brick and pressed it. A portion of the wall slid back with the slight grating sound of stone on stone. The small room on the other side of the doorway contained a few chests and weapons racks. A glance into the chests revealed that they contain armour of some sort.

"Uh, Tin Can?" Faith asked. "Give us a minute?" She glanced significantly at Liene, who had casually started to take off her armour. The paladin turned red and hastily exited the room. "Umm, Pix," she said, turning her attention back to the Rogue. Liene turned at her call, giving her an eyeful before Faith could turn away. "You might want to do that when there are less people around."

"What?" Liene asked puzzled. "Oh. Oh my. I forgot. I- We do not mind about this. I was distracted and I forgot. I am sorry. I did not mean to-"

"It's okay, Pix. I don't mind, not really. I was just afraid you might." Faith turned to look the Rogue in the eye. Letting her eyes drift, Faith grinned. "But I think you just gave Tin Can a heart attack."

That managed to coax a small smile from Liene. But the humour died quickly enough. Breaking the awkward silence, she turned to put on the set of armour she had chosen from a chest. Faith browsed along the weapon racks, appropriating a brace of throwing knives that she strapped to the small of her back. "Done," Liene finally announced. She apologised to Leoric when Faith finally managed to drag the paladin back into the room. In the end, the paladin had to interrupt her babbling apology and tell her it was alright.

Five minutes later, hefting the new longsword that he had taken from the armoury, Leoric led the way into the Inner Cloister.

-

It was as quiet in the Inner Cloister as it was in the Outer Cloister and the Jails.

"Okay. I am so burying the needle vibes-wise," she muttered.

"Why would you want to bury a needle?" Liene asked, puzzled. "But there is a patch of dirt in the courtyard near the waypoint."

"It's just an expression we have back home. It means that something is off the scale."

"Off the scale?" This time it was Leoric that asked the question.

"Nevermind," Faith said hastily. "Where are the Catacombs?"

"Under the Cathedral." Liene pointed to a big building to the north. Leoric immediately went ahead to investigate, while the two women approached at a more cautious pace.

"You know, I was wondering. If the Monastery is the only way over the mountains, how do you get a caravan through the Jails and up here?"

"We used an alternative route to get up here," Liene replied. "Usually, the caravans have to travel through the main gates to the Outer Cloister and then through a series of gates up the pass to here. I did not think that that would be a wise course to take."

"Good thinking."

"There is someone in there," Leoric reported when they arrived at the Cathedral doors. "I saw moving lights and-"

Faith held up a hand, listening intently.

"Is all in readiness?" a voice said clearly over the tumult. It was a feminine voice, but rough and seemed to echo itself.

Instantly, the noise ceased. "Yes, milady," another replied, this one male. It had an unusual clicking effect to it.

"Good. The thorn in our side will be crushed tonight. Go. Destroy the camp and bring me the bodies of their leaders. No one is to be left free."

The trio looked at each other and dashed for the storage room that doubled as the entrance to the Jails. Seconds after they had eased the door shut, they could hear the sounds of the creatures marching through the Inner Cloister to the gate leading down the mountain.

"We must warn the Rogues," Leoric whispered.

Faith, listening intently to the passing army, shook her head. "No use. There's got to be thousands of them out there. Where the heck did she get that many minions?"

"Andariel must have broken the wards," Liene said stricken. "She must have reanimated the dead. The camp cannot survive such numbers."

"We're screwed," Faith whispered.

They were silent as the noises outside finally subsided. Then, Leoric got up. "We have a chance," he said. "It will not be easy, but we have a chance." The other two looked at him in askance. "The living dead need both the spark of magic to animate them and the will of a creature to command them," he explained. "Without both, the living dead cannot exist. That army marching for the camp is mainly of the undead. We cannot unbind the magic, but we can sever the will."

"What are you talking about, Tin Can?"

"He is saying we have to kill the person controlling the zombies to stop them before they can get to the camp," Liene said. Faith merely raised an eyebrow. "Andariel," Liene explained. "We have to kill Andariel."

-

The journey through the Catacombs was a lot easier than Faith had expected. All of Andariel's minions must have been sent to assault the camp. With Liene's guidance, the trio rapidly explored the Catacombs. When they finally found Andariel's throne room, they were at the lowest level of the Catacombs.

They peered through the archway. A great throne was situated near the opposite end of the grand tomb. A creature that must be Andariel was seated in it. Behind her, a great curtain of flames covered the far wall. The flames puzzled Faith. Cain had mentioned that Andariel was not too fond of fire, being quite vulnerable to it. It seemed to be the height of hubris to have so much of the very thing that can so hurt you in such close proximity.

Tearing herself away from the puzzle, she focused on the creatures between them and the demoness. More of the small gibbering demons wandered the hall. Occasionally, one would push another into the flames and shriek with what must be laughter at antics of the burning one as it tried to beat the flames out. Two of their shamans were huddled next to Andariel, conferring with the demoness. Their flags stirred in the breeze generated by the rising hot air.

"Okay, Pix. Those two flag boys will have to go. Tin Can, you take the left. I'll take the right," Faith whispered. "Ready?"

At their nods, she threw open the door with a crash and charged in. The two shamans were dead before she was even half way across the room. Their quick deaths demoralised the smaller demons and they stampeded for the only way out of the tomb. In their panic, none of them realised that that was also the only spot where the arrows could have come from. Leoric and Faith met them half way. The fight was short but it was only a prelude to the one that was to follow.

Andariel seemed stunned at the appearance of the trio in this, the centre of her growing empire. But as the last of her minions fell, she gave a shriek. It was more than a scream of anger. A wave of fetid air washed over the three. They wavered and broke out in a cold sweat. Liene gave a faint moan and crumpled to the floor, convulsing in the grasp of a terrible chill. Faith could feel herself heating up as her Slayer metabolism went into overdrive to try and overcome the poison. Then, the paladin by her side straightened up and fixed a fevered gaze at the approaching demoness. With a shout, he stabbed a hand into the air and Faith suddenly felt much better.

Faith was no stranger to magic. Her calling as a Slayer had brought her into its realm more than once, but here was something that she did not understand. She could feel the forces raging around her in a game of strike and counter-strike. The flow and ebb of the poison was only the physical manifestation of that war. With a cry, she launched herself at the demoness, both blades aflame.

Andariel recoiled from the hurtling Slayer. Used to overpowering her victims with her poison, she was totally unprepared for someone that was not laid low by it. In her millennia of existence, she had never known a person that could withstand it enough to fight back. That was perhaps Faith's greatest advantage as she fought with the demoness. Sanctuary had never had a Slayer before and its villains did not know what to make of one.

Up close, away from the glare of the flames, Faith finally had a good look at Andariel. The demoness was tall, over ten feet in height and beautiful in an icy cold way. Faith ducked a claw and turned that motion into a circle kick. Her foot slammed into one shapely thigh and bounced off. Off-balanced, Faith was knocked off her feet by the force of her own kick. A swipe cut through where her head was a split second ago. The Slayer rolled away from the huge demoness, giving herself some breathing room. Andariel stalked after her, ignoring the writhing form of Liene and the still form of Leoric. The paladin was concentrating hard on something, although what it was is beyond Faith.

Andariel bent down to Faith's level and roared once more, but there was no effect this time. In response Faith stabbed a flaming blade at her face. The demoness quickly drew back, but was not fast enough. A trickle of dark blood flowed down the front of her body.

Oh, thank you, God! Faith thought sourly as Andariel looked incredulously down at the wound on her breast. Of all the places to hit, she had stabbed the demoness in the most thickly padded part of her nude torso. Anywhere else and the blow would have been significant. As it was, it merely made Andariel mad. The demoness charged her little tormentor, both clawed hands flashing.

Faith dived between the demoness' legs. One of them clipped her on the left shoulder, numbing the entire limb. Blindly, she lashed out and felt her blade strike flesh. Trying to wring some feeling back into her arm, she quickly got up to face her opponent. Andariel was faster. Even as Faith spun, she took a step forward, intent on finishing the battle before the Slayer could recover.

Then, she stopped. There was puzzlement on her face as she peered down at her inner thigh and the stream of blood that ran down it. The flow of the blood pulsed in rhythm with her heartbeat. The puzzlement turned to terror as she realised its significance. Both hands clamped over the wound, trying desperately to staunch the flow of blood.

Faith watched as the demoness weakened from the bloodloss, slowly going to one knee as she tried in vain to stop the flow. The sudden end to the action marked the sudden return of the weakness that reminded her of the poison that was still in her system, reinforced by the second dose. Over the crackling of the flames, she heard a soft murmur. It took her a moment to realise that it was in the inhuman voice of Andariel and a moment longer to realise that the demoness was trying to cast a spell. With a wild cry, she sprung at Andariel but her weakened leapt was uncoordinated. Instead of landing in front of the demoness, she ploughed right into her. Both clawed hands came up in an instinctive reaction to the shove. One of the flailing hands backhanded Faith as she rebounded from Andariel. Faith did not feel the ground rushing up to meet her.

A loud, piercing shrieking greeted her ears as she struggled up from the darkness. She was face down on the hard, grimy floor. Blearily, she looked around, wondering how she got there. When her gaze settled on Liene's still form, memory flooded back. She tied to push herself off the ground and nearly fell flat on her face as her weakened arms refused to obey her. Instead, she had to be satisfied with a sort of a rolling crawl that allowed her to sit upright and take stock of her surroundings.

A pair of legs kicked in rhythm to the screams near her. Blood sprayed from the force of the kicks. She could not see the rest of the body through the flames, but it did not take a genius to figure out that her leap had the unintended side-effect of knocking Andariel into the fires that surrounded her throne. Dumbly, Faith stared at the flames. A part of her insisted that she should help the demoness as no one deserved that kind of death. Another part brought up the tormented souls imprisoned in their bodies as undead brought back by the demoness. Her exhausted body gave the final vote. There was no way she was getting off that floor without help.

She looked away as the legs slowed in their final dance. Whether the demoness died from the fire or from bloodloss would never be certain. An average human has thirty seconds to live with a severed femoral artery. With a demon, anything is possible, including survival. In fact, Faith was not certain if she did sever the artery, but the demoness' actions seemed to suggest so. Regardless, Andariel was dead and her undead legions with her.

Faith started shaking, as much from the adrenaline as from the poison that was still raging through her body. Bending forward, she clutched at herself as the shivering seemed to threaten to tear her apart. Then, with a final surge, the invisible battle was over. Leoric relaxed from his pose as the poison's effects diminished. His steps were unsteady as he went over to the nearer of his companions. Liene felt a touch, and then strength flowed into her, banishing the last lingering effects of the poison. With a sigh of relief, she opened her eyes and accepted the hand Leoric held out to her. Together they turned to the Slayer. Liene gave a cry and darted over to where Faith was lying on her side. Beneath her tan, the Slayer was deathly pale. Her breathing was rapid and shallow. When the Rogue touched her, she seemed to be freezingly cold.

Liene looked up at the approaching paladin as she cradled Faith's head in her lap. "Do something," she pleaded in a hoarse whisper.

Leoric nodded as he knelt down to put a hand to Faith's brow. The hand glowed briefly. "That is the best I can do," he said, shaking his head wearily. "I need time to recover my strength." The brief healing had eased the Slayer's breathing a little, but Liene was not sure if it had really helped. Faith's body was still deathly cold to the touch. Suddenly, Leoric shot to his feet. "The waypoint," he said, lifting Faith's limp body from her arms. "Come on."

The paladin staggered under his burden and Liene quickly ducked under Faith's arm. The pair half-carried, half-dragged the Slayer up two flights of stairs to the catacomb's waypoint. With a brief prayer and the hope that the Rogue camp would still be standing, they stepped through.