Valkyrie Profile:

Lenneth Novelization AU:

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Chapter Twenty-Two:

The Cave of Thackus II

"Where are they? Damn you, Lenneth. Keep searching, my many eyes. They will not catch me unawares."

Answering the command of their master, floating eyeballs the size of a human head with their retinal cords trailing behind them like comet tails searched the bottom of the cave ravine from above. Their pupils glowed green, signifying them as belonging to the Undead Dragon, too. They were many of them, but there were many places to search down in the underground gorge. Along the sides of the ravine floor were yet many more tunnels the Valkyrie and her followers could have escaped into, as well as various nooks and crannies in the walls and even on the ground.

"Blast it," the dragon thought. "Well, at least I have a good search pattern established."

The center of the ravine was peppered with large rocks. The underground ravine was shaped like a jagged oval, as though formed by one who is clumsy with scissors. At one of its ends where the space between the walls narrowed until they met again, there was another large green pool of toxic water and a large cave entrance right where the walls rejoined. It was his lair.

"Yes, in grids, my puppets. Like that," the dragon's mental message moved his abominations into coordinated search patterns.

From bottom of the large pool, the Undead Dragon watched through the many eyes he had searching. The water, charged with dark magics and other negative energies even after so long, allowed the beast to cast without exhausting himself. The Undead Dragon often submerged himself in such pools to rejuvenate himself.

"Come out and play, Little Valkyrie. If you so much as fell a single one of my puppets, I will know where you are. So come out already."

The dragon's eyes slowly searched the ravine top and bottom, front and back, seeking these new intruders from the air while the dragon's reanimated victims walked the floor in their search. They moved almost like marionettes on invisible strings. The dragon's instructions kept their search thorough, but they had not found the goddess nor their einherjar yet, as they had overlooked one small crevice hidden off to the side in an obscure corner of the cave canyon. It was barely noticeable, and the fact there was a long overhang under which Lenneth and her einherjar currently hid from view made it difficult to see them. They sat under it perfectly still and quiet, avoiding being heard.

Nanami stared up at what little she could see around the overhang, clutching a paper ward which gave the crew a little bubble of cleansed air. They all went stiffly still as one of the eye spies floated over the crevice, but failed to see them when it looked into the hole. After it was gone, they still waited several minutes before they dared move too much.

"It has passed," Lenneth announced.

All the einherjar except Arngrim relaxed. He remained alert, scanning the opening above. The rigidness left their bodies as they slumped back. Lenneth sat, poised as ever, listening and feeling for their enemies to ensure the way was clear before they hopped out of their hiding place. Lenneth looked right at Nanami, hunkered, and still clutching the ward and the satchel of books, potions, and chemicals they had collected from the scene of a fight in one of the upper chambers of the cave system.

"Nanami," Lenneth called quietly.

"Yes, Lady Valkyrie," Nanami answered.

"Were any of the bottles containing the potions and alchemic mixes broken in our flight?" the goddess asked.

"Hmm," Nanami looked at the bag uncertainly. She unshouldered and opened it up, and after a moment of sifting from it, she let out of a relieved sigh. "No, everything's intact, Milady."

"Good," Lenneth nodded.

With that, she turned her attention back towards the hole above them. Sensing nothing too near, the goddess decided to chance it and stepped out into the open. Still seeing nothing along the edges now that she had a better view, Lenneth turned to walk up the short slope they had slid down to enter the crevice and take cover. Llewelyn fixed his eye on her intently, as there was a question on his mind.

"Hey, Lady Valkyrie?" he whispered.

Lenneth had been just about to start climbing when the young archer asked. She paused a moment, and then turned to face him.

"Yes?" she answered.

"The Undead Dragon said Lord Odin tasked the dragon tribes with safeguarding a treasure. What treasure was it, Lady Valkyrie?"

"None other than the Dragon Orb," she answered.

Llewelyn and Jelanda both gawked at her while Arngrim scowled, but not at any of his companions. Belenus, Lawfer, and Nanami had no reaction, as they were all well-learned enough to know this already.

"That dragon… thinks Lord Odin wanted to… steal the Dragon Orb? After he entrusted it to them in the first place?" Llewelyn could barely muster the words.

Lenneth shrugged. "The delusions of one who have lost themselves to rage and hate are more vivid than you can fathom."

Beside the archer, Arngrim stared off as he contemplated this. Several thoughts whirled through the large man's mind, and was an itch in its corners. This talk of someone stealing the Dragon Orb pressed itself into the center of his thoughts so entirely that all other notions became subordinate to it. It felt like there was something about it he'd forgotten, and it was important.

"Yes, that was a very long time ago," Belenus told Llewelyn. "When Great Ymir perished and Odin fashioned this very realm from his body, he had the dwarves forge the Dragon Orb. Midgard's own Sacred Treasure which maintains it and keeps it stable within Yggdrasil's branches. If any realm were to lose their sacred treasure, it would fall into decay and eventually die."

That received a pointed look from Arngrim. He swallowed and fidgeted, feeling uncomfortable hearing this. Yet, for the life-after-death of him, he could not discern a reason why.

"And then Lord Odin gave it to the dragon tribe?" Llewelyn asked.

"He gave it to their High Chieftain, Sothis, specifically," Lenneth said. She looked up at the mouth of the crevice. "The Dragon tribe was sworn to watch over Dragon Orb forever in exchange for being allowed to have a realm of their own with the humans. Their charge was to keep it secret. To keep it safe, even from the gods, themselves."

Then she looked Llewelyn right in the eye. "Freya even showed them how to cast a spell which would prevent immortal beings from touching the orb when it was set into a stone dais."

"Huh," Llewelyn murmured thoughtfully. He looked down at his boots. "It doesn't make any sense that the gods would try to steal it back, then, if they went to so much trouble to make sure the dragon tribe could keep it out of even their hands."

"Precisely. His words are nonsense," Lenneth stated.

As Jelanda listened, she found herself with her own question. "Why does he think the Aesir did it, then? What happened to the dragon tribe?"

Lenneth looked at her, and then turned away, sighing. "I wish I knew the answer to that one. It was my sister's era when calamity struck the dragon tribe."

Her solemn blue eyes stared on, seeing things from long ago.

"Oh, there are you, Lenneth! Welcome, welcome! 'Tis good to see you awake again. I just made some of Ozma's famous peppermint tea."

"Thank you, Sothis, but this is just a quick visit. There has been trouble in Southwestern Midgard, and Odin expects me to settle it. I just wanted to see you."

"Odin of course does not know you are here?"

"Never. Our secret is safe with me. Although… you do perhaps extent too much trust letting even one Aesir know your secret routes and settlement locations."

"Nonsense, girl. Well, as you can see. We've fared well even under the watch of Hrist. No offense, but your elder sister is unbearable."

"So, I have been told many a'time."

Lenneth felt a weight in her chest as those times flooded her memory.

Then she continued speaking, "When I next awoke, they were gone. Most of them, at any rate, with only the vaguest of rumors pointing towards survivors. Moreover, it was said that Sothis fell from Yggdrasil altogether."

Most of the group gaped at her.

"You can fall from Yggdrasil's branches?" Nanami asked.

"'Tis only happened thrice in all creation, but… yes," Lenneth answered.

"But… how?" the shrine maiden asked.

"You would have to be between realms, as we are when we travel between Midgard and Asgard, for it to happen. Something must interrupt your journey and destabilize the root of Yggdrasil you would be traveling through, causing a rift out into the void. What Sothis would have been doing between realms or how the root would become ruptured like that, I cannot tell."

Jelanda started to speak, but stopped. She looked between the ground and Lenneth uncomfortably, dwelling on whether to say what was on her mind. Eventually, she swallowed her courage and spoke.

"Could… the Aesir have been taking Sothis to Valhalla to question her?" she finally asked.

Lenneth gave her the most incredulous look they'd seen so far. "Now what in The Nine Realms would they need to take her to Valhalla for?"

Jelanda shrank down, and gulped. She took a few deep breaths before going on. "…With all due respect, Lady Valkyrie."

She looked at Lenneth with uncertain and hesitant eyes. "This is the third time we will be fighting someone who swears the gods wronged them."

Lawfer and Nanami both looked at her on astonishment while Lenneth just scoffed and turned away, turning her chin up.

"Honestly?" the knight asked.

"Mm-hm," Jelanda nodded.

"Yep," Arngrim muttered. "First Lord Forkbeard in Castle Trelleborg."

Lawfer mouthed an astonished "What?" in response.

Arngrim went on, "Then that Lich Knight guy, Willard, or Wylfred, or whatever his name was, in the Forest of Woe. Claims Valkyrie here did in his Papa. And now there's this dragon."

"That's right…" Belenus whispered. "But there was a fourth in the Forest of Woe. A man named Keith, who was among those who were left in the frozen planes of that cursed Crell Monferaigne wilderness. He was convinced the gods had abandoned them all to their fate and took the Lich Knight's offer for an undying half-life before taking up arms against us."

Lawfer could only stare in response at first. "I… I heard of the cursed winter that region had been trapped under, but to think people were still living there."

"Living?" Arngrim incredulously asked, and then shook his head. "Nah. That wasn't living. They were just existing, barely surviving."

"And all these persons all blamed the gods?" Nanami cautiously asked.

"They were unreasonable," Lenneth pronounced. She closed her eyes as she controlled her temper, remaining still other than some deep breaths. "Those here in the mortal realm are not ensured safety from all harm. To blame the gods when hard times come is madness."

Arngrim snorted. "What about blamin' ya'll for a whole region locked in EE-ternal winter for months and then ya never comin' to check on 'em?"

"Someone did check in on them. Us," Lenneth sharply shot back. "The gods did answer their prayers. We freed the Skara region on Odin's behalf. The matter has been settled."

"And this dragon?" Arngrim challenged.

Lenneth narrowed her eyes at him. "You think it was ever uncommon for me to come across delusional sinners who blame their misfortunates on the Aesir? I have always had to endure the slings and arrows of outrageously misguided blame. This is nothing new."

She looked up towards the hole once more to make sure nothing was looking down at them. "When you are in charge of keeping The Nine Realms in balance, there are always going to be those who fall through the cracks."

"Even the whole region of Skara being left frozen for months?" Arngrim again pressed.

"I was informed that the war with the Vanir and the giants worsens when I asked," Lenneth answered. "Lord Thor has not been able to watch Midgard as he once did."

"Whatever," the scarred warrior shrugged.

"Well, at least we know the Dragon Orb is still here, so the dragon tribe has not failed," Jelanda tried to brighten the mood.

Now, Llewelyn had another question on his mind, "Why do the realms need the sacred treasures, Lady Valkyrie?"

"They did not in the beginning," Lenneth answered. "But then Lord Ymir grew them all too quickly and they outpaced Yggdrasil's ability to sustain them. They quickly began to overtax our life tree. Thankfully, the dwarves had a solution. Working with the Light Elves, they forged he original eight Sacred Treasures, infusing them with sap and seeds from Yggdrasil, itself, to empower them with the capabilities to assist The World Tree in holding each land in its branches. The treasures were then placed in key points in their realms. As long as each of the nine Sacred Treasures dwells in its realm, all is well."

Llewelyn was speechless. To think the Nine Realms were in such a precarious position that if so much as one item was removed from its proper place, there would be dire consequences. It seemed almost absurd that any of the branches of Yggdrasil could be brought to its death throes with such hypothetical ease.

"Why make Midgard so big that it needs a Sacred Treasure, too, then?" Jelanda asked.

Lenneth shrugged. "I did ask Lord Odin that once, myself. He said it seemed unfair to give the mortals and dragons a realm smaller than everyone else's."

Arngrim just grunted cynically.

"But enough questions," Lenneth said. She pointed up, towards the exit of their little hiding place. "We still have work to do. We will leave in a moment, as soon as I've finished with my meditation."

Then she closed her eyes and concentrated. It galled her that they'd been forced from their path and lost track of the ethereal trail left by the human party they'd been following. The Valkyrie put that out of her head, deciding that what was done was done. She set herself instead to picking up the echoing human feelings again. The einherjar quieted down and busied themselves setting up a watch perimeter, carefully taking up positions around her while she meditated.

Then Lenneth's eyes snapped open with surprise after not even a full minute had passed.

"Could they really be so close?" she wondered.

"Close?" Jelanda asked.

"Llewelyn," Lenneth called in a low voice. "Climb up and see if the way is clear."

He gave a quiet, obliging answer and quickly scaled up the side of the nook, stopping just shy of poking his head over the top. He sat still a moment listening for any nearby movement as he clung to whatever foot and handholds the rock gave him. Hearing nothing, Llewelyn slowly raised his head over the threshold, making a steady motion.

He didn't need to look behind, because the crevice was next to the west wall of the ravine, but the area in front of him was quite open. Ahead of them about four yards away sat a large rock which looked like it fell from above some time ago. It was tall enough that it'd force them to walk around it, through a narrow space between it and the ravine wall on either side. Every couple of seconds, Llewelyn saw either an eye spy or one of the Puppet Corpses walk past on the other side of it out in the main area of the ravine's floor.

"Well, are we clear?" Arngrim's impatient question came up from the bottom of the little cavity.

"Shh!" Jelanda scolded.

Llewelyn lowered his head again and looked down at his teammates, who stared up intently.

"Just outside, yeah, but it looks like the place is crawling with enemies once we get past the rock out here," he answered.

"Tch!" a displeased sound escaped Lenneth.

She stared down at the ground with a deep-set frown. She knew the dragon could see through all their eyes. If they were seen be even one of them...

She closed her eyes heavily, sighing.

"We will have to risk it," she said with resignation. "Come, my einherjar. Nanami, prepare another ward, but keep the bubble small. Only dispel toxins in the area immediately around us."

A moment later, their heads poked up over the side. Nothing else had entered the little area hidden behind the big rock, so they carefully climbed up. Nanami was the last one up, as she was the only one burdened by any baggage. Lawfer reached down and gave her a hand. She smiled at him in appreciation as he pulled her up over the side of the hole. As soon as she was on solid ground, the shrine maiden readjusted the bag on her shoulder and then held up the ward, which gave them good eight-foot radius of protection.

Lenneth paused only momentarily outside the hole, letting her senses guide her. She was just about to point her team in the direction they needed to head in when Lawfer spoke.

"Lady Valkyrie?"

"Hmm?" Lenneth looked at him.

He was on the far left end of the group, nearest to the ravine wall. He pointed up at a marking that had been scribed upon it.

"Does that mean anything to you?" he asked.

Lenneth lifted her gaze, and it most certainly did. The marking was a circle incased in a square with three intersecting slash marks in the middle. One was perfectly horizontal while the other two crossed through it like an 'x'. None of the group had moved from being crouched just outside their hiding place, and all eyes were on the sigil.

"That's a Seal of Load-Bearing," Lenneth kept her voice low. "It keeps the walls of the ravine from caving in. 'Tis a common way dragons reinforce their lairs."

"So, nothing can make it cave in?" Nanami asked.

"No spell is absolute," Lenneth told her. "If an earthquake occurred or if someone took out load-bearing walls and columns in the cave system to trap a dragon, it might cause enough damage to overcome that seal, but not quickly. The seal is set to alert its master if this happens. Thus, the dragon would be bought enough time to least flee before getting crushed or trapped inside, if not repair the damage and stop the collapse."

Arngrim looked up at the seal intently, and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm…"

Lenneth pointed ahead towards the space between the rock and the ravine wall on the right.

"But that's enough for now. We go that way, my einherjar," she ordered.

She stood and led them over to the rock, which they flattened themselves against and began sidling along it until they were at the threshold between their little isolated corner and the main area of the ravine floor. They peered out and quickly got a lay of the land. Indeed, it was wide open space up ahead. The ground was hardly level, having jagged drops and bumps everywhere, but there were no other obstructions like the big rock the party had been lucky enough to land behind. There were more passages in the walls of the ravine everywhere, like they'd been systematically tunneled out.

It was also like Llewelyn said, though, there were patrols slowly prodding along, methodically looking into each and every possible hiding place. None were too close at the moment, as the eye had just passed over them investigating their nook a short while ago, but they hardly had infinite time. There was a patrol of Puppet Corpses walking along their side of the ravine and would come on them if they lingered too long.

Lenneth's eyes scanned each of the tunnels, feeling the pull of human emotion growing stronger as she came closer to spotting the right direction.

"They did not die out here on the floor of the ravine?" she wondered. "Could they have just fled into a random passageway?"

Then Lenneth's gaze came upon a tunnel almost perfectly across from them and she could almost see an ethereal aura radiating from it.

"There!" she pointed to it. "They went through there."

A look of dread crossed the faces of her team, sans Arngrim's. The thought of having to cross all that open ground surrounded by enemies was a sobering one.

Lenneth added in a low, sardonic voice, "…Yes, just over there."

The mouth of the passage gaped open, as though taunting the Valkyrie with the fact she had a difficult task of somehow getting her team out from their hiding spot, across football stadium-sized area, and into the hole without bringing down the full weight of the dragon's minions on them all at once.

"That's… going to be a problem," Lawfer muttered.

"Feh," Arngrim scoffed. "Bring 'em on. I prefer to a good fight to all this sneakin' around."

Jelanda looked at him with resigned annoyance. "How did you live long enough to reach 26?"

"Bring them all on…" Lenneth murmured quietly. "Heh…"

She looked back at her team, "Getting them all in one place would not be the worst idea, but it will be difficult."

"A distraction?" Lawfer ventured.

"Perhaps…" Lenneth cautiously answered.

"A distraction, huh," Arngrim thought.

He happened to look at Jelanda and after a moment, an idea came to him. His gaze turned to the Seal of Load-Bearing, and then to the walls of the ravine. His glancing examination of them turned his eyes to the other side of the ravine. There! He spotted a load-bearing part of the wall on the opposite side, far to the left. Most of the upper portion of the wall hung out further than the base. His eyes trailed down the overhanging wall until he found a small cave at its base. If they were able to set off a big blast there…

Arngrim smiled evilly.

"Hey, Valkyrie," he quietly called.

Lenneth looked towards him, and his expression gave her pause. "…Yes?"

"You said the dragon's little puppets have no will of their own, right?" he asked.

"Yes. They can only move with the dragon feeding them power," she said.

"How is he controlling them all at once, anyhow?" Belenus asked.

"I suspect the dragon's had them programmed with preset routes at specific times as well as given them a set of automated actions to take against uninvited guests to make things easier for himself," she answered. "So, he really only needs to direct them as a commanding officer or a hunter to his dogs would."

Arngrim spoke again, "So, if all the dragon's concentration was on somethin' else, his corpse puppets would be pretty damn useless?"

Lenneth realized what he was getting at, and a small smile of her own appeared. "Most likely."

"Hey, shrine girl," Arngrim called quietly.

Nanami looked at him. "Yes, Arngrim?"

"Think you could get another ward ready? But for a bird?" he asked.

That made everyone look at him in confusion.

"Pardon?" Lenneth prompted.

Arngrim looked right at Jelanda.

"Goldie?" the ex-princess asked.


"For an Aesir, she has hidden herself surprisingly well. Those arrogant gods usually just cannot walk away from a fight for even their own self-preservation. Lenneth has always had a practicality I've thought lacking in many of her kin."

The Undead Dragon's mind shifted between the many eyes he deployed through the underground. He was becoming frustrated, as he still had not found them yet.

"How hard can it be to find a unit of seven individuals? That man one with the enormous sword was as tall as a tree, how can I miss him?" the dragon thought with a hiss.

Then he felt a psychic presence reaching out to him.

"Oh, no, not him," the dragon thought.

With reluctance, he answered the telepathic connection.

"Hræzlyre. Are you there?" a voice he knew well asked.

Hræzlyre the undead dragon growled at having his search interrupted. "Not now, I'm busy."

"Well, that's too damn bad. My Master demands a report on the seal's degradation. Is it almost ready? She also wants an update on that band of wizards you said were roaming the halls. They weren't able to reinforce the seal, right?"

"They were dealt with. The Sigil-Keeper is dead, and I have his damnable Medallion in my cave. Now go away, Wylfred. I have another band of intruders to stamp out."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Hrazy, old pal. Lady Hel…"

"Will have her Undead stronghold when the seal on the sluice gate breaks. And do not call me Hrazy ever again, Lich Knight. I am Hræzlyre, last of the old blood members of the dragon tribe. Though, that is 'Sir' to you, welp."

"Whatever. When can Lady Hel expect the seal to break? Our recent, eh… loss in the Skara region at the hand of the Silver Valkyrie has put us behind schedule and cost us resources," Wylfred blunted explained.

That confused the Undead Dragon. "You lost The Forest of Woe? How? You had a complete chokehold of that region, and you lost it to them?"

"Hence why Lady Hel is very intent on your little cave of Thackus becoming a fallback point," Wylfred said. "So, when can we expect the flood to happen?"

"Within a few days. Now if you will stop pestering me, I have…" the Undead Dragon's thought was interrupted when he felt one of his eye spies alerting him.

He switched over to its perspective and saw a little golden parrot perched on a small ledge on the east ravine wall, just above a cave entrance. However, even looking at the small avian through his eye spy, Hræzlyre could detect energy from the astral plane, and knew this bird was a Familiar.

"They did have two magi with them," Hræzlyre thought. "They must be in the cave under it."

Then he turned his attention to Wylfred again. "I believe I've found the new intruders."

"In that case, I'll leave you to it. Good day."

Hræzlyre was NOT sorry to feel the Lich Knight's consciousness break contact with his. Now, he could focus on flushing the Valkyrie and her band of honored dead out, as soon as he followed the little bird Familiar to their location. A moment later, the Familiar jumped from its perch and flew into the little cave. He also detected the cleansing power of that dark-haired mage they had with them working within that little cave.

"Gotcha! Come, my puppets. We have them cornered. They were careless and thought they could slip past me using a little scout to guide the way, but I'll show them. Keep your distance before we are ready to close to net, though. I don't want them to know they've been caught."

From all around, several of the patrols diverged from their path and headed towards the cave Goldie had flown into. Hræzlyre had to rein in his eagerness to capture them and force himself to be patient as his puppets began to gather around the small cave, under the overhanging wall which just seemed to stick out more and more the closer to the little cave entrance they got. He'd set three of his eye spies to hover near the cave in case the little Familiar tried to leave again.

Still unseen by his many eyes, Lenneth the others watched from behind the big rock across the way. They were still flat against its side as all the patrolling beasts began to gather where Arngrim said to divert them. Their little trick was working so far. Yet despite the first step working thus far, Belenus looked at each passing creature warily. He was just sure one of them would glance over their shoulder and see them. Yet they never did. Like golems programmed to do only as they were told, their gazes remained straight ahead at their destination.

"I suppose that comes with having no will of their own," he thought.

Beside him, Lawfer grinned.

"It's working. Arngrim called it again," he thought.

Lenneth dared a look away from the legions of puppet beasts to glance upwards. Llewelyn was quietly scaling the large rock and had just about reached the top without a moment to spare. As soon as the young archer reached a somewhat level surface, he laid out on his back and took something from his pocket, a pair of Flare Gems, containing the volcanic wrath of Fire Storm.

He clutched them both firmly in hand, and then pushed himself up and sat on his knees to take a look across the way. Sure enough, the Undead Dragon had taken the bait and his creations were gathering around the little cave. Llewelyn doubled over as he waited for the moment one of them entered to investigate.

"Be the stone," he said to himself, willing himself to not to move even slightly.

All it'd take for disaster to come down on them was for one of those creatures to spot them, and yet, none of them even glanced to the side, he also noted.

"Alright, I've covered the area from every angle," Hræzlyre thought.

He glanced between the perspectives of his beasts again, and was satisfied by the blockade he'd built up around the cave. He quickly checked on the beasts he left on patrol, and spotted nothing, and so he focused back on the cave.

"Now, you three with the spears. Move in," Hræzlyre willed three spear-wielding Puppet Corpses.

As he inhabited the body of the 'leader', he lost all sensation of being in his native draconian form and walked on the two legs of a man he'd taken from his own bed in the middle of the night. The other two followed him, moving only semi-automatically under his influence. Right before he crouched to step through the short cave entrance, he adjusted the spear his current 'suit' held to begin stabbing. Then he stepped through.

"Now, then, Lady Valkyrie, shall we…" Hræzlyre stopped both speech and body as he stepped around the corner into the only room of the cave just to find it empty. Not even the Familiar was still around.

"What?" he thought.

Then without warning, his connection with the undead spearman was cut off by a deafening blast, which caved the ceiling in. The explosion echoed through the ravine, reaching the Undead Dragon even at the bottom of the pool. His eyes snapped open from the shock. Before he could regain control, there was a second blast, and his mind was felt the psychic pull of the alarms he set in the Seals of Load-Bearing.

"WHAT?!" Hræzlyre half-succeeded at shouting underwater, causing bubbles to froth up to the surface.

The sheer ringing of all the alarms in the seals going off as the entire ravine was compromised became a dull, throbbing pain in his head. His squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself back into a meditative state. He absorbed more magic from the pool, and began casting, spreading his influence all throughout the canyon walls, locating and mending as many of the most at-risk places as he could at once.


"Shi-i-it!" Arngrim's entire body rattled as the entire underground canyon began to shake.

Lenneth and her entourage were knocked about by the chain-reaction the Flare Gems caused. The sound of thunder broke out and resounded again and again through the area, as the ravine walls cracked and pieces of them begun to rain down on them. Debris both large and small went flying everywhere. Despite the shaking, Lenneth, Arngrim, and Lawfer managed to stay on their feet while Belenus and Nanami were brought to their knees. Jelanda flopped onto her stomach. Llewelyn cried out from above as he was forcibly rolled across the rock's top and over the side. He fell a short distance to the ground.

Lenneth looked all around, at the walls of the ravine, at the Undead Dragon's puppets, and even the ground, half-expecting fissures that went even deeper to just open up under them.

Crash! The load-bearing wall cracked from bottom-to-top and threatened to fall over.

"Into the cave! Follow me!" Lenneth ordered.

She grabbed Llewelyn under the arm and pulled him to his feet as she began to run across the floor of the ravine. She could hear her einherjar behind her, and even Jelanda's protests at being hoisted over Arngrim's shoulder again. Lawfer ran along, holding Nanami's hand, but she struggled to keep up with him. The satchel bouncing uncomfortably on her shoulder and back was not helping.

As they ran through, Lenneth saw the walls ignite into dark power as the seals began their work of trying to hold the entire ravine in place and retain stability. As the ground continued to shake, they found themselves stumbling around quite a bit. Even the sure-footed Lenneth struggled to stay on her feet.

"Man, that was a way bigger reaction than I thought would happen," Arngrim had shout over the impending cave-in.

"We set off explosions! Inside a CAVE!" Jelanda shouted from his shoulder. "What were you expecting?"

Hearing the group running past, several of the dragon's corpse puppets spun around, hissing at them, but without their master directing their movements, they mindlessly attacked. Lenneth blasted several with her freezing shots as she ran by, but there were simply too many for her to stop them all. One puppet corpse chased after Belenus with a hatchet raised. The noble heard it coming and dared only a quick look behind him. He drew his sword but did not stop. Llewelyn also saw the beast coming in from the side and trained his bow on it. At that short range, he was able to shot it right through one of its eyes, disorienting it enough to make trip and fall.

An eye spy swooped down at Lawfer with its retinas arched over its head like a scorpion tail. The young knight let go of Nanami's hand to grip his halberd in both hands.

"Go! To the side!" he told her.

Nanami wordlessly moved away from him, leaving him to face the eye spy. The eye-beast dipped low to the ground with a visible stinger raised as it rushed him. Its tail jerked forward with a quick snapping movement as soon as it was in range. Lawfer swung his halberd's body across the middle, parrying the tail to the side, and using the motion to push himself to the side as the giant eye barreled right through where he'd been. The eye spy wasn't done yet, though, and quickly u-turned as it kept chasing him with its tail raised. So focused on Lawfer it was that it failed to see Nanami pointing her fingers at it.

"Lightning Bolt!" the shrine girl cried as she unleashed nature's wrath on it.

The eye spy was slammed into the ground and sent rolling with its retinal tails in flames.

As Jelanda bounced around on Arngrim's shoulder, she frantically dug around in the pouches of her belt before pulling out a Holy Crystal, and pitched it at the pursuing mob. It cracked against the ground, unleashing several cross-shaped bolts of cleansing magic on them. She breathed a sigh of relief as the corpse puppets were forced to slow down for a moment under Mystic Cross's barrage. Immediately after, Arngrim had to sidestep a sword stroke from another corpse puppet, but he did not stop. He instead of pushed through, shoulder first, knocking the thing over as he ran.

Ahead of them, another corpse puppet sprang in from the side, aiming to slice off Lenneth's head. She dove under its slice, feet first in a slide. Before the undead thing could recover, Arngrim charged in and pushed-kicked it to the ground, causing its upper and lower halves to break apart on the rough surface of the uneven floor.

From ahead, a recently deceased large man with all his flesh still intact charged Lawfer. The young man ducked into a crouch and threw himself shoulder first into the man's thighs. The puppet's own weight and momentum caused its upper body to snap forward upon collusion and it was sent flying for a moment before faceplanting into the floor. Lawfer shot back up and continued running.

All around them, the mindless creations of the dragons ran towards them, gradually closing them in. It wasn't hard to get past them, but each encounter slowed them down, giving their enemy's army more time to block their escape.

"Don't stop! Keep going!" Lenneth ordered.

They all redoubled their speed for the cave, but there was still too much distance yet. Up ahead, the corpse puppets darted in front of them, completely cutting them off, however inadvertently. Nanami looked around at the pursuing monsters as they threatened to overtake them all and pulled out the barrier ward she had prepared much earlier that day. As she faced the incoming crowd of puppet abominations, she slowed to a stop. The Lenneth and the others saw her fall behind and turned to see what she was doing. Nanami stood, tuning out the impending threat of the dragon's army closing in as she chanted quickly, holding the paper ward up while making hand motions as part of the warding spell:

"Rin, Pyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!"

Then just as she was about to be overtaken by the flood of monsters, she slapped the ofuda down on the ground, causing a ball of pure white light to burst from it which expanded and knocked every shambling corpse and eye spy chasing them back several yards. Lenneth and the other einherjar were left blinking from spots left in their vision.

Nanami stood and began running, "Come! I've bought us a little breathing room!"

The entire party followed her, running past all the corpse puppets as they picked themselves up to continue pursuing the Valkyrie and her einherjar. Lenneth looked both ways as they neared their destination, noting how many creatures would be hot on their heels, now in a narrower space. She quickly decided on a course of action. Lenneth slid to the stop next to the cave entrance, waving the others inside.

"Go, I will be right behind you," she ordered.

The six einherjar raced past, into the cave. Then Lenneth focused, charging up her Divine power as she ran through the threshold last. As soon as she was in the tunnel, she whirled around, digging her heels in as she slid backwards across the stone floor. Between her hands, she charged a ball of pure energy and then released it on the ceiling, causing a chunks of rock to break off and block the cave's mouth.

Instinctively, the Valkyrie jumped back with a protective shield already raised to stop any further debris from coming down on them. After a moment, it didn't happen. Lenneth smiled internally, feeling quite pleased that her gamble paid off.

"I knew I could count on the dragon's Seals of Load-Bearing to prevent a serious cave in," she thought.

Then she turned to the tunnel and her einherjar. Right away, she saw it was a much smaller space than the cave had been so far. It was almost normal compared to the molten, smooth-edged chambers of they had seen previously. The way was crooked, and there were many corners anything could be hiding behind. They would not be able to lower their guard just because they had put a wall between themselves and the dragon's army.

Arngrim, Lawfer, and Jelanda stood off to one side while Belenus, Llewelyn, and Nanami were on the other, obviously making room for her move to the lead position. The shrine maiden was sifting through the bag again, ensuring nothing had been lost in their flight. As soon as she was finished, she closed and shouldered it again.

Lawfer regarded the girl with concern.

"Would you like me to take that for awhile? You've had to carry that satchel through a couple of spills now," he offered.

"That's quite alright, but thank you, Lawfer," Nanami smiled in return, blushing slightly.

Arngrim looked from the smile his friend was giving the shrine girl, then at Nanami who was averting the knight's look with a flushed face. A grin tugged at the corner of the scarred warrior's mouth.

As Lenneth moved between her einherjar, she felt compelled to speak, "That was a difficult task, my einherjar. You each pulled it off well and kept your teammates in mind. I could not be prouder of you. We are not done yet, though. The ones whose footsteps we follow lie ahead still."

"Ay," Arngrim grunted almost enthusiastically.

Then they stepped in line after her, walking in rows of two behind her, quickly but cautiously.


Hræzlyre panted, causing the surface of the water directly over him to foam. That had been exhausting, and he wasn't even sure he'd entirely secured the ravine. He couldn't worry about it now, though. He needed to regain his strength. Whatever the Valkyrie and her band hoped to accomplish from this distraction would have to wait. Besides, he knew they'd be back.

"They always come back," he thought.

After absorbing some of the dark magics, he felt himself somewhat rejuvenated. At any rate, he could reassert direct control of his puppets and begin surveying the damage. His eyes gleamed green as he did just that. He began searching the area through their eyes, and it didn't take him long to discover the blocked cave entrance, as it was very close to where they had drawn his attention.

"That passageway… that's where the Sigil-Keeper fled," Hræzlyre realized. "She will find his spirit and learn of his mission."

For a moment, he almost panicked and came just shy of spending precious magical energy unblocking the cave. However, another thought occurred to him, and he stopped himself. His dried, rotted lips pulled up into the dragon's equivalence of a grin.

"She will learn his mission and come straight to me seeking the Unicorn Medallion to reforge the seal on the sluice gate," his smugly thought with a chuckle. "Oh, and I will be waiting here for her. Or rather, we will. Return to me, my children. We have a pesky goddess to punish."


"Hold!" Lenneth held up her hand to stop her entourage.

They had just rounded a corner to a sudden, but short drop almost directly over a pool with a nine-foot circumference. There was a short place to stand at its edge after hopping down from the tunnel. Along the sides there was plenty of room to walk around it. Lenneth could also detect something dwelling under the toxic water. She shifted her weight to lean to the side allowing the einherjar to look past her. She gestured down to the pool to alert them.

"Pool, inhabited by beasts," Lenneth told them.

Belenus repeated that to those in the back of the line.

As Lenneth heard them getting prepared for a fight, she hopped down and quickly stepped out of the way, allowing them to follow her. One by one, the party hopped down and began to walk around the pool keeping to the right. They kept their eyes on the sickly green pool. Then when four forms rose from its surface, they stopped, turning sharply with their weapons ready.

Two Mire Creepers slid up the bank while the spherical bodies of two Monstrous Glowflies hovered into the air above the contaminated water. They were floating balls of transparent marble with electricity flowing through them.

"Oh, shit!" Arngrim growled at the sight of them.

"Tch!" an apprehensive sound escaped Lenneth as well.

She took a step back at the sight of the worst combination of enemies the cave could have conjured for them in these tight quarters. She had but a second to make a decision before they torrents of acid and electrical shocks were unleashed upon them.

"Split them up!" The goddess ordered. "Belenus, Jelanda, with me!"

Then she took to the air, flying low, taking the two einherjar she'd selected along for the ride. As Lenneth flew them across the ground, she slashed one of the Mire Creepers, which solidified, causing her sword to bounce off it harmlessly. Belenus took a swing at the other one, getting a similar result. Then as they passed over the pool, under the Monstrous Glowflies, the Valkyrie feigned a strike at them, which they dodged. Then Lenneth, Belenus, and Jelanda landed on the other bank.

"Now that I have their attention, at least two of the beasts must focus on us," she thought.

Right enough, one of the Glowflies hovered towards them, making itself spark aggressively while one of the Mire Creepers sped over the pool's surface in to join it. The other two beasts stayed focused on Arngrim, Lawfer, Llewelyn, and Nanami.

"The Glowflies must be slain in one blow, or else they will they fly at you and explode upon collusion!" Lenneth hollered.

Jelanda backed off, casting already, as the Mire Creeper slid onto the bank on their side. It spotted the girl and felt the magics gathering to her, and quickly slimed over the ground towards her. Belenus ran to intercept, but the Glowfly swooped towards him, its body crackling with electricity ready to punish his ethereal flesh. Lenneth shot an icy blast at the Monstrous Glowfly, causing it to discharge its energy prematurely. Everyone, including the Mire Creeper, felt the shock of that, like they'd all been punched in the chest. While the Creeper bubbled and momentarily lost its form, Lenneth and her einherjar stumbled back, with hair standing on end like they were irate cats.

Jelanda nearly lost and miscast her spell, but she managed to hang onto the magic and trained her scepter on the Monstrous Glowfly.

"Earth Grave!" she chanted.

Then several rock spikes shot out of the ground, impaling the black orb, making it first crack and then fall to the ground in pieces. With that creature dealt with, that left only the Mire Creeper which was reforming itself. Lenneth and Belenus both attacked it, impaling it through the eye at the same time, killing it.

On the other bank, Llewelyn killed their Mire Creeper almost immediately with an arrow, which left only the Monstrous Glowfly. It hovered above them, sparking with power, but Lawfer and Arngrim were undaunted. Nanami was also prepared, having a spell prepared. She raised a hand above her head with the first two fingers extended.

"Dampen Magic!" she shouted.

A violet aura whooshed over the Glowfly, and it shook in the air, almost falling to the stony ground with its magic reduced. The electricity sparking from it also weakened considerably. Lawfer and Arngrim both smiled, seeing their chance. Their weapons were insulated, and this just made their job that much easier. However, instead of trying to fight them, the Monstrous Glowfly changed direction began to retreat.

"Pfft! That's disappointing," Arngrim grumbled.

"Oh, no, you're not getting away!" Llewelyn aimed at it.

Both the other men looked at him and reached for him.

"No, wait…" they both started to shout, but Llewelyn had to let fly his arrow.

The energy arrow impacted against the side of the Glowfly and cracked it. From within, energy surged out and the flying orb began to vibrate with a fury so frenetic, it was visibly about to burst.

"You idiot!" Arngrim bellowed at Llewelyn.

Then the Monstrous Glowfly changed direction again, flying right at the quartet of einherjar. Lawfer and Arngrim each dove to a different side. Lawfer tackled Llewelyn to the ground under the Glowfly's path, while Arngrim yanked a surprised Nanami down. She plopped onto the floor under one of his massive arms with a high-pitched yelp. The Glowfly zipped over them all, unable to change its trajectory, colliding with the wall behind them and combusting. The four einherjar were blown away by the blast, and sent rolling almost into the green pool as they were pelted with rocks and debris.

Even on the other side, Lenneth had to raise a protective shield to stop the rain of fragments from hitting herself, Belenus, and Jelanda. The Valkyrie looked up at the ceiling with great care, but there were no further cracks or rumbled to indicate a cave-in. She released a thankful breath and turned to Llewelyn sternly. She was about to hop the pool and unleash a verbal punishment on him, but Arngrim was quicker.

"You idiot!"

Llewelyn heard the pound of Arngrim's angry stomps approach, and he was hauled roughly to his his tiptoes as the scarred mercenary gripped him by his collar. The boy was face-to-face with the nasty visage of Arngrim's scowling face.

"What the hell was that?" Arngrim demanded. "You coulda gotten us all blasted to bits! Valkyrie even told ya we had to kill it in one try, or else it'd…"

Arngrim dropped Llewelyn, spun the boy around, and shoved him towards the pile of rocks which used to be part of the wall harshly. So hard, Llewelyn almost tripped and fell on them. The archer flapped his arms as he struggled to keep balance before finding his footing again.

"Or else it'd do that!" Arngrim growled.

By now, Lawfer and Nanami had gotten back up. The shrine maiden dusted herself and watched the scene with worry for Llewelyn. Lenneth went ahead and hopped the pool, bringing Jelanda and Belenus with her as Arngrim continued to verbally pummel their archer. As he continued, Lawfer simply crossed his arms, feeling the boy needed to hear this.

By now, Llewelyn had turned to face Arngrim again, head turned down in shame, but his eyes still looking at the large man's.

"…And even worse, you just might have…"

But Arngrim was interrupted by a terrible scream from deeper within the cave.

"Alerted something else we're here," Arngrim finished in a low, hard voice.

Everyone turned to face what was coming. Up ahead, there was quite a bit of open area past the pool with a high ceiling. About the length of a one-and-a-half city blocks, the tunnel split to the sides, but both curved down. The flapping of wings and clicking of flaws echoed, but no one knew from where. The resonance sounded like it could be from everywhere. Then, from the darkness of on the left, a face like a woman's, but larger and with a mane of feathers instead of hair, rose into view. It was followed by the torso, from which wings were attached to the shoulders instead of arms, and she stood on the feathered legs of a hawk. And she was followed by a second and third of her kind, as she snarled and snapped at these intruders. They were all at least seven feet tall.

"Oh, swell, harpies," Arngrim groaned.

He noted the high ceiling and ground his teeth angrily. Lenneth turned to Llewelyn, pointing a finger at him.

"No heroics to make up for it," she ordered. "Use your head. Fight smart."

"Yes… Lady Valkyrie," Llewelyn remorsefully replied.

Then she sharply faced the trio of new enemies the blast had attracted. The two subordinating harpies took to the air, flanking the leader, who remained on the ground. She howled first at Lenneth and her entourage and then squawked at her underlings, who flew higher into the air.

"They're gonna divebomb us! Be ready!" Lawfer barked.

Both harpies snapped downwards, flying in a downwards arc with their talons extended.

"EARTH GRAVE!" Jelanda aimed her specter at the ground just beyond the pool.

Several rock spikes shot up from the ground in a row in front of the harpies. The hybrid beasts squawked in panic and tried to pull out, but the faster of the two flew right into the newly formed barrier, impaling itself on those pikes while the other managed to stop itself enough to land on top of the spiked pillars with its talons. The leader shrieked again and also took to the air in retaliation.

"Well done," Lenneth praised Jelanda.

Llewelyn tried lining up a shot, but the harpies were moving around too much for him to get a clean hit on their bodies. So, he adjusted his aim to their wings, but waited. With them flapping their wings and circling around, there'd be no guarantee they'd fall somewhere advantageous for the party. Then the harpies split off from each other and divebombed from opposite ends, keeping high to clear the spikes.

"Any moment… Any moment…" Llewelyn had decided on the harpy on the left. He waited for the right moment.

He knew he'd been told not to do anything extravagant, but he hoped this would start to make up for that last blunder. As soon as the harpies dipped down as they passed the strikes, Llewelyn with intentional obviousness adjusted his grip on the bow. The harpy spotted him and veered to the side.

Llewelyn quickly predicted its next move, and fired where it was about to go. The energy bolt pierced the wing, eliciting a shriek from the harpy and it fell onto the center of the slanted spikes with enough force to break bones. The thing squawked in agony it bounced down them before rolling onto the floor into a broken heap.

The other harpy was now alone in its dive. It dove right for Arngrim, the most dangerous-looking opponent. He saw it coming and swung in a straight up arc, but the harpy was ready and reeled back, spreading its wings apart to slow itself just enough to miss his strike. A sadistic grin crossed its lips as his sword clanged against the rock floor. Then at the same time it dropped towards him, one of the others sprang forward, stepping up onto his back and using him as a springboard to jump at the beast. The harpy retreated further upwards, narrowly avoiding Belenus's blade, too.

The remaining harpy flapped its wings, making itself go higher to the ceiling, where it got a good look of the battle. Both of its compatriots were dead at the hands of this dangerous band of foes.

Retreat, registered in its mind as it spread its wings glided towards one of the many holes in the wall.

"Do not let it escape!" Lenneth ordered.

"Barrier!" Nanami chanted.

The hole the harpy was aiming for began shimmering with repelling power. When the flying creature slammed into what felt like wall, its skull split and spine broke. The last avian creature fell from the air, plopping loudly onto the ground.

"Nice," Lawfer congratulated them. "The artillery really won this fight."

"As well as their own stupid animal brains," Arngrim kicked the harpy which Llewelyn had dropped from the air. "Like we were gonna let that last one go back to the nest and bring a whole clutch down on our heads?"

Lenneth ran past them, scaling the stone spikes and then hopping between two of them as soon as there was enough space.

"Come!" she beckoned.

The einherjar carefully walked up to the strikes and then dropped down on the other side as well. They walked up to the two-way split at the end, pausing only for Lenneth to get a feel of where they needed to head next.

"Right," she said.

Lenneth led downwards into the tunnel. As they went, she again heard the fluttering of feathers behind them, and glanced at Arngrim in the corner of her eye. He returned it. It did not sound like a large wingspan, belonging to the likes of more harpies, but there was definitely something else down there with them. Something small and with wings.

Llewelyn turned his head slightly, discreetly glancing behind. Lenneth raised a finger to her lips, quieting them all. If they were going to catch their little follower, it needed to think they were still unaware of it. From behind them, Truly watched them round the corner before swooping down and lightly landing on a tiny outcropping on the wall of the passage, fit for her little dove body. She peered around the corner and saw the group continuing forward.

Then they quickly dipped into a side passage just a few yards ahead. Truly waited a moment or two before taking off again and zipping towards the hole. She'd just about rounded the corner when an arm shot around the corner with inhuman speed, grabbing the little dove Familiar around the body. Lenneth stepped out, revealing herself to be her captor.

"What have we here then?" Lenneth asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, no! I've been found out!" was Truly's near panicked thought.

She stopped herself from trying to struggle in the goddess's grip and held back an instinctual peck at her fingers. The dove Familiar just froze in place as the Valkyrie's entourage stepped out of the hole, and surrounded her.

"A bird?" the big oaf she knew to be called Arngrim asked.

"No," the small blonde girl in violet robes, a red shawl, and charcoal leggings said. She stepped forward, observing Truly with interest. "A Familiar, and not a demonic one, either. This is just a regular magi Familiar summoned from the astral plane. Light aligned, too."

Truly chirped at them, trying to speak. She knew it was no use, since none of them were her master. Not even the gods' could understand the words of a Familiar if they were not its master. The privilege of speaking to a Familiar was reserved for only their own kind, and spellcasters who contracted them. Truly tried to speak again, letting out another series of loud chirps.

"Enough!" Lenneth barked, rendering Truly silent with just the force of her voice. The Valkyrie turned to Jelanda, holding Truly towards her. "Summon Goldie. I want answers."

"Yes, Lady Valkyrie," Jelanda bowed her own head as she began to concentrate.


"How long have I been down here? My flesh still clings to the bone, but it has gone rotten. The Unicorn Medallion is gone, I have failed in my mission. All I can do now is hope that the Headmistress sends another team, and soon. In this state, I can feel the seal beginning to break even from here."

Henry the Sigil-Keeper hovered in the air over his own decaying corpse atop a tall rock he'd climbed onto despite how busted his broken body was. The entire team had been lost to the undead dragon and its horde of violated flesh.

Henry in spirit form was positioned like he was sitting cross-legged while floating over his corpse. In truth, he was unable to touch anything in the mortal realm without the assistance of being granted a new body by a higher being. Alternatively, he could also give into negative emotions which would turn him into a vengeful Revenant. He lacked the former and refused the latter.

At the moment, Henry was kept safe from the corrupting power of the molten cave system by his last spell, a protective bubble which kept the dark energies out. He had had cast it in his final moments. The spell circle was drawn in his own blood, now dried and dark crimson where his cold, dead finger lay.

Both the body and soul of Henry dwelled in the center of the protective bubble which kept out the miasma and beasts of the tunnels, but only just. Every now and again, one of the aqua-colored crab-giants wandered up and poked at the bubble with its claw to see if they get at the corpse yet. Inevitably, they'd fail and have to return to the contaminated pools they dwelt in.

Henry felt apprehension mixed with despair. He was a dead man trapped in a cave from which there was now no escape. Worse yet, the ruination of Isle Thackus, southern Crell Monferaigne, and his homeland Flenceburg was at hand. His son would never learn of what happened and would get caught up in the slaughter.

"Stop it, Henry!" the ghost of the magi chastised himself. "Calm, breathe, focus."

Henry closed his eyes and meditated, centering himself and letting the negative thoughts flow from him. "I am but a soul now. I am more vulnerable to corruption than ever before. I must be firm, so I can at least impart my knowledge on any who make it here next."

He tried to comfort himself with thoughts of home, but found it hard to stay focused and in the present when he did that. It was so easy to slip away and lose himself completely as a spirit. No wonder angry spirits and undead roamed the land when emotions held so much more sway over this whose flesh had given out on them.

"'Tis the hopelessness of my circumstances," he realized.

Click click click. Henry sighed. The incessant sounds of the crab giants were enough to drive even a living man of the sanest mind mad.

Click click click. He looked down around the sides of the rock where his body rested upon toward a pair of crabs which had entered the chamber and skirted around the edges of the rock. He only hoped his barrier would hold out under their harassment. One of them stepped onto the rock, looking up with its mouth-mandibles moving hungrily.

"Oh, go away," he thought.

He looked down at his spectral hands, wondering if he had any magic left in him. This was extremely dangerous, as the only ghostly magic users he'd ever even heard of were liches and other undead. Dare he?

He hadn't any further time to consider it before something strange happened. The air was filled with an almost humming whoosh sound, and when Henry looked up a second cleansing bubble was expanding into the room. Then it just kept growing until it passed through his little oasis to the other end of the chamber, and at least a little ways through the various passages leading in and out the cave. Henry stared in disbelief as the air was purified in the entire chamber now.

"What in the realms?"

He wasn't the only one confused now. Both the crabs now moved back and forth on their legs in agitation from the sudden and unwelcome change in their atmosphere. The ends of their legs dug into the stone earth with their stomping steps, and they banged their big pinchers against the floor in anger and in challenge, but they could not detect any enemy yet, as the abrupt purification was messing with their senses.

Flip, flip, flap! The flapping of little wings got Henry's attention, and he looked toward the passage he'd entered through on his last desperate flight from the beasts of the caves. It was the third from the right our of seven altogether. Entering through there was a little golden parrot and a white dove, each bearing a…

"…Spell crystals?" Henry questioned.

Then Goldie and Truly hurled the objects, one for each crab, before sharply turning to flee from the forces they just unleashed. Both crystals cracked against the stone floor at the feet of the crabs, and from them erupted several long tendrils of fire which pounded the beastly crustaceans. Henry tried to shield his eyes from the sheer brightness which had overtaken the stark darkness of the cave. From between his phantasmal fingers, he watched as chunks of shell and pincher flew everywhere.

"Ya!" a feminine voice screamed.

Then Henry watched, much to his astonishment, as a woman in blue plated armor ran past one of the crabs, slicing the lower half of one of its legs off where its exoskeleton had been damaged with her sword. She made herself stop by digging her boots into, sliding to a full stop. She faced off against the two crabs as they turned to her, but she did not seem intimidated.

"I am not your only opponent," she told them.

Henry gaped at her. "The Valkyrie?"

In response to Lenneth's challenge, the crab she had injured slammed its claw into the floor and charged her while the other hung back, walking back and forth sideways as it shadowed its partner. Its attention was drawn to the rear when it heard a pair of footfalls coming up on it from behind.

Meanwhile when the charging crab was halfway to Lenneth, a soft, feminine voice suddenly shouted, "Sap Power!"

The charging crab with the missing leg was hit with a force that drained its strength. Its body became heavier, but with Lenneth dead center in its sights, it forced its body to keep moving and dragged itself at full speed after her, even as Lenneth backed up to a wall. Within a couple seconds, she was in striking range, but fled to the right. The crab giant tried to turn sharply to pursue the goddess, but in its weakened state, the crustacean's slowed reflexes caused it to skid into the wall with enough force to rock the whole chamber.

Pebbles fell from the ceiling, but it held. The crab giant paid no mind and picked itself off the floor to keep chasing her. Such was its focus on her, it did not notice the second attacker until he'd slashed at one of the jagged holes in the exoskeleton segments of its legs. The crab's whole body shuddered in pain and its mouth bubbled. Then it turned sharply towards the swordsman, Belenus, who'd tried to cut off another of its legs.

Belenus crouched lower in preparation to move as the crab reached with its big pincher, jerking its arm forward to grab his legs. The nobleman jumped over the claw mandibles, landing on his feet on its big claw. He then ran up its arm in just a couple steps with his blade raised high and pointed at the crab's face. Belenus's thrust came, but the crab protected its face with its little pincher.

Then Belenus jumped off before it could try throwing him off. From the side, Lenneth saw the exposed soft tissue between one of the joints of the crab's big pincher. While Belenus had it distracted, she ran in from the right while charging her sword with power. She leapt forward with a jab, but a last-minute movement of its arm caused her blade to glance off and fire directly against the big claw of the beast. The might of Lenneth's blast caused the crab to stumble sideways and lose its footing.

"Drat!" The Valkyrie shouted, seeing it big claw in attached.

The crab stood and turned to her, quickly raising its big claw like a cudgel to crush her. Lenneth dove under its body in a roll, feeling the ground shake from the impact of claw on stone. The battle goddess came up from her roll on one knee facing the beast even as it turned again to try attacking. As it did, she caught a glimpse of the big claw's exoskeleton and saw her blast had cracked it badly in several places. The Valkyrie gave a determined half-smile. They just needed to another good hit to disarm and kill the beast.

From the rear, Nanami had her second spell prepared, but who to cast it on? She looked at Valkyrie, who she reckoned had everything she needed being a goddess. So, she turned to Belenus and trained her first two fingers on him.

"Might Reinforce!" she chanted.

Right away, Belenus felt power wash over him, more than he'd ever wielded even as an einherjar.

"Much appreciated," he called over his shoulder at the shrine maiden.

"Mm!" Nanami smiled.

Belenus looked at the chinks in the crab's armor, especially the ones in its legs, and decided to try amputating some of them again now that his physical power had been increased. He held his sword in both hands and charged in while it was distracted by Lenneth. She was currently zipping back and forth, dodging its big claw to make it exacerbate the damage to its exoskeleton.

"YAAAAAAAAAH!" in the same instant Belenus's bellow belted through the air, a searing pain erupted in the crab's side and it fell to the ground, leaning on the side.

The crab tried to stand, but found it suddenly only had one leg that side, and all it could is desperately claw at the floor with its remaining appendages to shove itself around. As Belenus slowed down, he looked back in bemusement. Had he really just done that? He looked at his arms, amazed at the sheer strength he'd temporarily possess until the spell wore off.

The crab saw both its opponents look right at it. Lenneth and Belenus trained the ends of their blades on it as they prepared to finish it. Nanami ran in from the side taking up a spot behind them, already having another spell prepared.

"As soon as it parries my attack, you finish it," Lenneth ordered.

"Yes, Lady Valkyrie," Belenus answered.

Then Lenneth zipped ahead with Belenus running as best he could to keep up. The Valkyrie leapt into the air, flying down at the crab's head. With its dwindling strength, it blocked with its big pincher. A mere second later, Belenus jumped up on the claw, intending to heave himself across in just one step. The crab jerked its claw in, whipping it out from under the noble and making him fall onto his back in front of it. The crab raised its big claw to crush Belenus.

"LIGHTNING BOLT!" Nanami belted out pure atmospheric rage, which struck the crab's already damaged big claw, shattering it into thousand pieces.

Belenus shielded himself from the flying bits of exoskeleton, and when he looked again, the crab had only its little pincher. He jumped to his feet, dashed in, and jabbed the sword into the mouth of the creature's mouth with every ounce of strength he possessed. The beast reeled back, ripping the sword from Belenus's hands, and then it sat twitching and thrashing as its muscles splashed. The little claw knocked Belenus to the ground in the midst of the crab's death throes. Then, apart from some twitching, the beast went still.

Belenus looked up at, watching the crab where it came to rest. Lenneth walked around the side of the massive beast, and held out her hand for him.

"Thank you," he took it and allowed himself to be helped to his feet. "Now then…"

CRASH! They all spun around to see a massive flying boulder slam into the other crab and shatter against its hide, burying it under a pile of bubble.

"Retrieve your sword. Looks as though there is might still some work to be done," Lenneth said.


As the other crab watched the first close in on Lenneth, it moved back and forth in anticipation of the kill. Then it heard footsteps stomping up behind it. The crab turned, leading with a backhanded sweep with its big claw. While Lawfer dove feet-first into a slide under the backwards hook, Arngrim was forced to fall flat on his back. Both men felt the whoosh of air as it passed over them. In the back, Jelanda and Llewelyn prepared means to support the two frontline fighters.

As soon as the claw had passed, Lawfer rolled onto his hands and knees, and shot back up with his halberd drawn back to the side, and he unleashed a powerful, single slice across the middle, which imbedded itself into the side of the crab's face. The carb jerked back, raising its big claw to smash Lawfer. The young knight pulled his halberd free and threw himself into a roll, narrowly avoiding having his corporeal form shattered.

Llewelyn, who'd been keeping his aim on one of the crab's eyes, released his shot, and it pierced through one of the crustacean's eyes. The armored monster raised both claws up over its face as it at first retreated, stumbling and running into columns and other parts of the rocky terrain as it did. Arngrim saw their chance, and pointed to its legs. Lawfer nodded and then they both charged the crab.

Behind them, Jelanda finished the chant for her spell and pointed her specter at a large rock the crab had jarred loose from the floor. However, she waited. With eyes on the crab, she wouuld let the warriors and then the beast to make their moves first. The crab lowered its big claw from its face as Arngrim and Lawfer ran roaring up to it, coming in dead center to attack it head on. The crab lashed out with its big pincher, trying to grab them, but both men bobbed to the side and leapt for its frontmost legs with everything they had.

Arngrim plunged Dáinsleif into the joint which connected the crab's front left leg to its body and threw all his weight against the hilt, popping the limb out of its socket altogether. Lawfer ducked under its front right leg, cleaving upwards and severing the limb at the second segment. With both its front legs gone, the crab stumbled and had difficulty maintaining balance, but that did not stop it thrashing around or trying to grab or crush the warriors.

Arngrim and Lawfer both sprinted away from it in opposite directions, running in a big half-circle before reconvening with Jelanda and Llewelyn. The crab glared at them with its remaining eye, moving about as it still struggled to maintain balance. The crab kept the little pincher up to protect its face from Llewelyn's arrows. Then it threw its weight into a forward charge towards them with the big pincher extended.

"Move!" Jelanda ordered the warriors in front of her while focusing on the rock.

Arngrim and Lawfer turned, looked at her, and sidestepped out of the way.

"Levitation!" Jelanda shouted.

Then the boulder flew directly into the crab's path. The crustacean beast tried to turn aside the instant it saw the big rock coming for it, but thanks to Arngrim and Lawfer's removal of its front legs, it could not maneuver out of the way before several tons of rock smashed against its face, hitting it with such force, the rock shattered against the crab's body and the pieces buried it under a pile. Dust was kicked up and filled the chamber like a fog.

"Did I get it?" Jelanda squinted as she tried to see through the hanging dust.

"Uh…" Llewelyn waved his hands around as he tried to bat away the powder. "Maybe? It doesn't sound like it's moving anymore."

Arngrim and Lawfer exchanged looks, and nodded as they slowly began to approach to the pile of rocks. Pounding footfalls came up beside them as Lenneth and Belenus rejoined them. They acknowledged each other with a nod and then fanned out to carefully approach the stone pile. Nanami had rejoined Jelanda and Llewelyn in the rear, and they up positions in the spaces between person in the front row.

When they got near, the crab still hadn't popped out of the pile at them. So, Arngrim sheathed Dáinsleif and approached the middle of the pile's front, roughly where the crab's face had been. He looked the pile up and down, determining which stones he could move without having the whole thing come down on them, and then got to work while the others were kept their weapons in hand in case the crab was only feigning unconsciousness.

As Jelanda watched him work, she was surprised by now meticulous Arngrim was about which stones he removed and where he placed them. Sometimes he'd remove one from its spot in the pile and then jam it under some other stones near the bottom to reinforce certain parts of the stack. Other times he'd toss them aside entirely. Then Arngrim rolled out a particularly big rock from the bottom, found it was soaked with blood. More drops of crimson splatted against the floor in the hollow space in the pile left by its removal. Arngrim exchanged a look with the others and then he quickly got to work uncovering more. Eventually, when he lifted one long, flat piece of stone, something slid out from underneath it and clattered onto the floor.

"Eek! It's the crab's face!" Jelanda squealed.

Or another, half of the exoskeleton plate that made up its face. It lied lifeless and bloodied on the floor. Arngrim grunted and plopped the big stone on it. Nanami's face twisted in disgust as well. The others sighed in relief and put away their weapons.

"Guess that answered that. The thing's dead as us under here," Arngrim turned away. He clapped away from the dust his gauntlets collected from handling the stones.

Lenneth's eyes lingered on the crab's half-face for a moment before she turned to the mound in the middle of the room.

"The one we seek is up there," she pointed to the top.

The einherjar also looked up and spotted both the ghost and the corpse at the top. Nanami quirked her head to the side slightly as she stepped towards the rock.

"I can feel a holy barrier's been erected up there," she said. "He's… kept it up even after death? Wow, I'm impressed."

"I can sense his spirit is still untarnished. Come, let us ensure it remains that way," Lenneth said.

As she started up the side of the rock, the einherjar followed. From the summit above, Henry watched this crew of mismatched warriors and wizards approach him, unalarmed as he saw who led them. He uncrossed his legs and hovered in a standing position. As soon as they arrived, he bent a knee to bow before Lenneth.

"Lady Valkyrie," Henry said in reverence. "Thank Odin you have come. And honored einherjar, too."

"Greetings, human," Lenneth answered impassively.

"Hello, good sir," Belenus politely replied.

"Oh!" Nanami enthusiastically ran up to Henry. "You must be the Sigil-Keeper. You must be a very talented mage to make it this far into this… accursed place. Either way, I'm delighted to meet you."

Henry half-grinned and chuckled awkwardly. "Well, I am, but how did you know my party even had a Sigil-Keeper?"

"We found this," Nanami unshouldered the satchel she'd been carrying and opened it. A moment later she produced the spellbook with the damaged cover. "Belenus here actually found it. Said it must belong to a Sigil-Keeper. Is it yours'?"

Henry stared at it, taken aback. "Yes, 'tis mine. H-How did you even find it?"

"We came on your things following your trail," the shrine maiden said.

Henry blinked and nodded after a moment. "Yes, I suppose we… did leave one…"

"Yes, and we come now for something else you carry," Lenneth spoke up. "We already know of the seal on the sluice gate, and the disaster to come if it is not reforged."

Henry looked at her in astonishment. "Why, yes, but how did you…?"

In answer to his question, Truly flew over and landed on Lenneth's shoulder. The Valkyrie regarded the dove Familiar. "I believe an acquaintance of yours' sent this little one to check on you."

It took a moment, but realization hit Henry. "Truly? Headmistress Lorenta's Familiar?"

Lenneth held up a finger for Truly to sit on and the ethereal avian obliged. The goddess then extended the hand on which Truly perched towards the magi ghost for him to get a better look.

"Her Familiar told us everything," Lenneth explained. "We also know of the tool we will need to keep the abominations born of these toxic waters sealed."

Henry's face fell as he looked sadly at Truly. "I have ill news concerning that."

Arngrim's eyebrows twitched when the ghost old mage said that. "Of course, he does."

"Arngrim…" Lawfer quietly scolded.

Henry gestured to his body lying limply on the rock. "You will find the Unicorn Medallion nowhere on my person. One of the dragon zombie's brutes took it when it inflicted that mortal blow. I had just the strength enough to flee and erect this barrier before I perished."

"Sounds about right for our lot," Arngrim muttered.

Henry didn't seem to hear him, and just smiled sadly at Truly. "I am afraid you will also have to be the bearer of bad news, little one. Please tell Lorenta and my son this was not all in vain."

"Do you happen to know where the dragon's servants took it?" Belenus asked.

"To its lair, most likely," Henry answered. "It's at the far end of the ravine you'd have gone through to get here. Turn left once you return there and go where the canyon walls meet again. There's a cave beyond a big pool of polluted water. That's the beast's lair. The way down to the sluice gate is also through there."

"Wait… the dragon has made its lair right in the path to the sluice gate and seal?" Lawfer asked.

"Ay," Henry nodded. "'Tis what stopped us from progressing. The remainder of my party fell at the creature's claws and teeth and minions, and where I received my mortal wound as well."

"It blocked your path, purposefully?" Lenneth inquired.

"Ay," Henry again answered.

Lawfer gave a haunted look. "That almost makes it sound like the dragon wants to unleash the sealed-away horrors onto the outside world."

Lenneth slowly turned her head to look at him. She didn't like the sound of it, nor want to believe it. Regardless, that would make sense if the dragon sought revenge against the gods. They weren't that far from The Forest of Spirits, relatively speaking. From Northern Flenceburg, the dragon would have a decently good vantage point to lead the abominations born in that cave Southeast and lay siege to the Forest of Spirits. It'd be a disaster.

"In that case, the dragon makes itself an enemy that we must slay," Lenneth said. She turned to Henry again. "What is the spell to reforge the seal?"

"Well," Henry reached for the spellbook Nanami held, but his hand passed right through it.

Dismayed, his hand fell back to his side as he took long, uncomfortable breath.

"Oh, pardon me!" Nanami empathetically turned it over, so it was right-side up for him and opened it. "Just tell me what page."

"Very well," Henry answered. "If you flip to page five hundred sixty-three, I will show you how to perform the hand-motions. You must complete a full holcrum gesture before you begin chanting for this spell. 'Tis a seven-point sigil, too, so it will not be an easy spell to master."

As they watched Henry teach Nanami, Lenneth got lost in her thoughts. She considered the layout of the battlefield the Sigil-Keeper had provided.

"The narrow end of the ravine, with the dragon waiting for us at the entrance of the passage to the sluice gate. 'Tis a tight spot in more than one way, considering the beast has an army protecting him. And factoring in the contaminated pool…" Lenneth thought. She closed her eyes and tried to picture it all in her mind's eye. "Let me see… Nanami's barriers and wards have proven effective, so that can limit how many of the beast's minions can attack us at once."

The Valkyrie took stock of how many fighters she had, then. "I could place two of the warriors and Llewelyn as bodyguards for Nanami while she is maintaining the barrier while the third warrior and Jelanda come with me to confront the dragon, but…"

She considered the pool of toxic water and the dragon, himself. "In this fight, Nanami would be ideal for assisting me with the pool and the dragon. She's familiar with those alchemic mixes in the bottles we collected from the remains of Henry's team. Additionally, since she has mastered exorcism and cleansing magic, Nanami can weaken the Undead Dragon. This makes her preferable over Jelanda in this battle on both fronts even if Jelanda knows some potent Holy spells like Mystic Cross."

Lenneth felt the first pangs of frustration. "But we need Nanami to cast and maintain a barrier to limit the number of enemies on the field. Alas, we also need Nanami for the pool and the dragon."

The Valkyrie looked over at Jelanda. Stroking her chin, the goddess considered a possibility.

"Jelanda, a word," Lenneth called.

"Oh," the former princess trotted over and curtsied. "Yes, Lady Valkyrie."

"You and Nanami have shown each other spells during practice, yes?" Lenneth asked.

"Why, yes, but she's only been with us since yesterday," Jelanda answered. "She wants to learn Frigid Damsel first, and she's showing me some of her holy spells, but I've not really gotten the hang of it, yet."

Jelanda tilted her head to the side curiously. "What is this about, Lady Valkyrie?"

Lenneth glanced at Nanami, who was already repeating the sealing spell back to Henry.

"A long shot. That is what this is about," the goddess answered.


"Now bad if I do say myself," Lezard backed away from his new creation, having finished his work.

The homunculus he'd fashioned from the body of the elf maiden, Lianna, had been programmed and was alive again. Or as alive as an artificial being could be. Her remolded features had held, so she retained the appearance of Lenneth Valkyrie. She no longer floated lifelessly in the tank as a failed prototype vessel for his beloved. She now stood before her master with deep blues eyes just like Lenneth's, staring at him blankly with her hands folded in her lap like a proper lady. The only indication of life were her blinks.

Lezard's eyes trailed down her body, which he'd garbed in a form-fitting, and very risqué maid outfit. As he stared, he told himself he was just making sure her motor functions were all working correctly, and he was indeed able to discern she was breathing by the rise and fall of her chest, where his eyes especially lingered.

The Lenneth Homunculus's tight top had no strap but was held in place by laced up bindings. It revealed liberal amounts of her cleavage and had a skirt which ended halfway down her thighs. Her hair was done in a braid like the Valkyrie she was modeled on, which hung over her shoulder. She wore a maid's cap, which covered her bangs.

Then Lezard's gaze lowered to her legs. She wore black legging which ended just below the bottom of her skirt. She stood with her legs and heels together, and showed no sign of having difficulty standing or remaining still.

"Perfect posture" he thought. Then his leering grin faded slightly. "The high-heels might be a bit much, though. Oh, well."

"How may I serve you, Master?" she asked in a smooth voice just like Lenneth's.

Her limited programming did not allow her to comprehend what her master's lustful stares meant, only that his attention was on her.

"How may you serve me? Heh?" he mentally repeated her words.

He was about to speak to stopped himself.

"No! No," he chided himself. "That's only for the real Lenneth. Control yourself, Lezard. What would she think if you allowed yourself to give into your impulses around an inferior copy?"

"Dust the south wing, Lilly," he commanded. "Your counterpart Belion was supposed to do it, yesterday, but he's been… broken. You will find all the tools you need in the closet just inside the entrance of that wing. It's the first door on the left."

"Yes, Master," 'Lilly' bowed.

Lezard watched her leave, taking notice of how much more pronounced her rump and curves were while walking in heels.

"On second thought. I think I like the heels," he decided. "I wonder if my beloved has ever worn a pair like them."

Then he tore himself away from 'Lilly' as he moved onto his next plan.

"Now, then," he muttered thoughtfully. "To begin planning how to steal another elf from the Forest of Spirits, and not let a single thing go to waste this time."