A/N: Thanks for all the reviews master of gray. Btw anybody who's reading this is a two part thing. So expect a cliff-hanger.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story. Except for some of the villains.

Outside the most popular restaurant in ancliestere four men in trench coats waited in a car. The car was completely unremarkable but was obviously high quality. There seemed to be some conversation going on.

"Dunno why we have to watch this kid. Waste of time if you ask me" the youngest of them said. He was holding one of the new automatic guns that came out. Strangely they all had swords.

"Boss didn't say why we had to mind the kid. Doesn't have to does he? This nick is not one of those government types. Have more those across the wall types. What you think Rufuis?" the largest of them said.

Rufuis was the man who sat just a little bit straighter then the rest and had just a bit more of an air of authority about him. He was tall and slim with a slight scar running down his neck. He had two pistol strapped to his waist and beside them two daggers with dormant charter marks on them. He turned to look at his comrades who looked at him expectantly as though waiting an order.

"Our boss told us to follow nick for a reason. I did hear from my sources in the old kingdom he was there. Unfortunately his stay wasn't his choice. I would dearly like to know what happened. The government is being its usual self by trying to cover it up. That many deaths is hard to cover up and the army of dead walking down the perimeter was hard to ignore. Regardless we were told to keep him from harm and that's what we will do" Rufuis said.

"Whatever you say but I bet nothing-"the young man was saying.

Just then an incredibly right light exploded out from the building. The glass shattered, the doors of the diner blew open, every window in a five kilometre radius shattered and the men in the cart flinched away from the light. There was then a silence louder than the loudest sound. Rufuis who was apparently the leader of the group glanced at the youngest of them who was staring shocked at the building.

"Well boys lock and load. I doubt that's it" Rufuis said as he stepped out.

OoO

"That was a bit more dramatic than I thought it would" the boy commented.

Nick opened his eyes warily. Everybody had dived to the ground when the pentagram flashed. He glanced at his uncle. His uncle was slowly reaching for the gun he always had hidden under his coat. Mr. Goodman was watching the men in robes herding five or six of the diners into the centre of the room. The boy was staring intently at the ceiling. Nick could practically see what was going on in his uncle's mind. He then raised the gun and fired. Nick watched as the trigger clicked uscleslly. He was suddenly raise to the tips of his toes as though by some mad dummy master.

"Bravo for bravery my dear man. But did you really think that normal rules applied here? No sorry that was a rhetorical question" the boy said staring at the ceiling.

"What do you want?" His uncle said. The boy waved his hand and there was a sickening crack from his uncle's jaw. He mumbled incoherently in pain.

"Not really in the mood for threats or promises" he replied.

There were sudden shots fired outside and answered by more shots. The men in the robes glanced at goodman nervously who advanced slightly. They quickly started putting a strange white powder around the people in the centre. They then backed away.

"Barishka its time!" Goodman shouted to the boy. Nick tried to move but he couldn't. There was some sort of pressure keeping him down coming from the pentagram.

"As you can see I'm a bit short of time. Don't worry though I'm a good sport. Ill include you in the main event!" the boy who was apparently Barishka said. Nicks uncle glided quickly to the centre of the room. Nick struggled more fiercely against whatever kept him down.

Suddenly all at once these things happened at once. Mr goodman was hit in the chest with a stray bullet that came from outside, the men in robes drew swords with strange marks on them, and nick felt heat from his chest and forehead. The force over him snapped like a piece of rope held in tension. He leapt up and drew his dagger. Barishka took something from his pocket and threw it up at the ceiling. Time and sound seemed nonexistent as though the world was holding its breath. Then a savage wind battered nick which seemed to originate from the pentagram.

The boy then looked at nick and gave a smile which froze nicks heart.

OoO

It was a lot colder in the paperwing then sam remembered. The speed combined with the height made it very uncomfortable. In the paperwing were Sam, Lireal and Moggot. Lireal was busy guiding the paperwing so she was not a great conversationalist. They were flying for the past hour. Sabrial had thought that if she and touchstone left four hours before them then they would arrive with little time between them. Sabrial and Touchstone had then left with two dozen royal guards and Sam and Lireal were left to wait for an agonizing four hours before they could leave.

Sam thought they must be near by now. He glanced questioningly at Lireal who was guiding the paperwing. Moggot had woken up and was staring around the sky. He was probably looking for gore crows Sam thought to himself. Mind you we don't actually know if it's a necromancer. Why would a necromancer attack a rural town? Actually why would anybody?

"What in the kingdom?" Lireal whispered interrupting his musings.

She was staring down and Sam followed her gaze. Where the village quire was there was just devastation and death. Houses were blackened by fire, fields were scorched, bodies were blackened and survivors were gathered in the centre. They landed on the hill that was least damaged and furthest from the people. Sam was staring shocked at the devastation around him. The death was in stark contrast with the friendly rays of the sun.

"What do you think?" Lireal asked.

"What?" Sam asked tearing his eyes from the horrid figure of a dead boy no more than nine.

"Should we wait for touchstone or go and talk to the survivors now?" Lireal replied.

"I doubt these are survivors of this attack" Moggot murmured after slinking out of the paperwing.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Use what brain you have. If they were survivors why would they just wait around" Moggot said scathingly "Also there is something off about them. Like a disturbance around them. Like heat haze almost"

Sam glanced at the group. There were seven of them. They were all staring at the ground. All of were wearing matching black shirt and pants except for the man in middle. He was wearing some sort of suit that the gentlemen in those moving pictures Sam saw. He was holding a walking stick in one hand and in the other he was holding a book. The haze Moggot was talking about made more description difficult.

"I say we go closer" Sam said "Father and Mother will be here soon also we have an abhorsen in waiting and a wall maker to fall back on"

"Ahem also a comparably more powerful free magic spirit of course" Sam said when moggot glanced at him.

"I think we should wait. What could happen in the time it takes them to get here? " Lireal responded.

A fog started to rise from where they were the people were staring like steam out of a geyser. Contrary to fog it rose up above the ground and formed a small cloud. Even more worrying was at the spot where the fog had come from red sparks were being flung in a anticlockwise pattern.

Five minutes later they were hiding behind a monument no more than five metres away from the group. The sparks had stopped flying but the cloud remained. They had their eyes closed and the man in the middle was reading from the book and gesturing more and more wildly. Curiously they could not hear anything from the group. They were right at the edge of the strange disturbance and moggot was eyeing it with something close to admiration.

"A silence spell, very difficult to do with free magic and over such a large area. I'm actually at a loss at how they managed it. They all have power but nowhere near enough to do this. All but the middle one I can't sense anything from him" Moggot said after a while.

"Then who cast it? " Lireal asked.

Moggot opened his mouth to reply but was drowned out by a sudden sound. A high and incredibly piercing sound was all they could hear. Sam covered his ears and tried to block out that sound. His nose started bleeding profusely. It went on and on until it suddenly stopped. They looked up and saw the group raise their hands while the man in the suit held one hand towards the spot where the fog and sparks had come from and with the other crushed the book in his hands which burst into flames.

The flame was answered by steam and a stream of charter marks from the spot which was now a sizeable hole. They rebounded off some kind of invisible barrier around the group. Sam and Lireal could feel the heat of the charter marks. Some of these marks Sam would not have dared to try and the others he did not recognise. Something shining white was slowly rising from the hole. The onslaught of charter marks increased. The book was growing an even brighter and ferocious flame. Sam and Lireal could not see what was rising through the charter and haze. The haze seemed to be fluctuating. Every time the haze fell a sickening wave of free magic stench rolled out. Once they heard the man in the suit shout "Hold fast!" or something along those lines.

All of a sudden it just stopped. The flow of charter stopped like a candle being guttered out by wind. Sam and Lireal could finally see what had come out. A incredibly white object stood there. It was long and deep but also narrow. It was so white that it hurt sams eyes just to look at it. Now that the haze fell they could see it was absolutely covered in charter marks. Not one space was. Lireal could not be sure but she thought she smelt a hot stench but it quickly disappeared. The only word to describe it was a sarcophagus. Although it was easily nine foot in length.

" I think we should rush the and have the element of surprise" Sam whispered completely unaware that the silence spell had collapsed.

The sorcerers turned around. Six hands rose towards them. On their own or even in pairs they would have been no match for Sam or Lirelal but there was three for each of them. Sam felt all the strength leave his body and his connection to the charter get blown out like a warm comforting fire blown out by a harsh winter wind. The sorcerers were struggling though. Sweat was running down their brow and they were shaking with the exertion. With a sudden urge of will Lireal tore the collar off Moggot. A fire spread upwards in a anticlockwise direction and a wave of free magic fire rolled towards the sorcerers. Only then did the man in the suit move. He held up a hand and the fire stopped. He then slowly balled his hand into a fist. The fire rolled onto itself and disappeared in a small flash. Also yreal was being forced back into cat shape with apparent ease. Sams head was spinning. Darkness was rushing onto his mind. He tried to move but he could not. The last thing he saw was the ground rushing towards him.

OoO

The group with Touchstone and Sabrial had stopped to rest the horses. It was a beautiful day. The sun shined down illuminating everything. Touchstone and Sabrial were sitting by a small pond while the horses drank from it. A soldier walked over to touchstone. Before he could say anything the ground shook violently. Soldiers fell to the ground, the horses ran to the pond while the pond bubbled and steamed, Sabrial and touchstone scrambled to their feet and tried to keep their balance. They looked to the east. A low hanging cloud was a throbbing a golden colour. Suddenly the cloud burst apart and charter exploded out of it. They glowed brighter and brighter and went higher and higher. It was a signal that could be seen across the old kingdom. Family's doing their chores glanced up and stared, Elisimere stopped her fencing training and stared in alarm, and the clayr's glacier shook to its foundations. Deep under the palace the charter stones glowed in response. The rumbling stopped and the charter marks faded. Touchstone grabbed a soldier who was struggling to his feet.

"Gather the guard! Leave the tents! We must hurry!" touchstone said commandingly. He then went over to sabrial and told her it was from quire. Her face clouded with worry for her family.

The soldier saluted and set off at a furious pace. Within a few minutes they were galloping towards quire. The soldiers totally unaware that they were in a furious race against any dead and free magic within a 10 kilometre radius who would all be drawn by the sudden activity.

A/N: Maybe a bit overdramatic but whatever. Please read and review.