The Tiran Wars: Liberty, at all Costs

Deleted User - 819397

(Peril and I were talking and we agreed that it'd help to move things forward a bit as there's no point in us traveling for another 50 posts before we reach Jehanna...I'll handle the transition :) )

Joshua nodded, running ahead. His arm pained him a little, but nothing too bad. Mei obviously knew what to do about a wound. He silently willed the rest of the company to hurry, knowing the longer it took to get to his homeland the more likely the queen would be executed. Time was of the essence.

The party made good time, and in 2 weeks Joshua stopped suddenly and waited for the rest of the group to catch up. He turned to them, grinning broadly. Behind him, heat waves shimmered, and the earth turned to sand. "This marks the border of my homeland. The land itself is our greatest defense...unless you know the location of the oases you're bound to perish in the heat. It's roughly 4 days to Jehanna Hall on foot. I brought us as far as I could without entering the desert, but it can't be avoided any longer." He looked around at the group before continuing. "You all ready?" His eagerness was clear as day, and he kept grinning inanely. Clearly he was thrilled to be back in his homeland.
 

DeletedUser28032

Staring out into the vast shimmering expanse of sand that was the borderlands of Jehanna, like her own homeland there was no formal border, no guard posts or convenient landmarks marked its perimeter only the subtly changing of soil to sand and the heat, gods Mei could feel it from here and she hadn't even set foot into the desert yet though for the first time she grateful that she was only wearing her silk Kimono as opposed to the wools and leather the others wore.
Moving over stand beside the swordmaster Mei quietly admired her handiwork, she'd sewn the wound several days ago as they had rested beneath the bows of a oak tree, yet despite her misgivings and trembling hands the wound had healed well and showed no signs of hampering Joshua's movement, all that remained were the neat stitches that she'd made.

Unsused to walking the constantly shifting sands, Mei found it hard going despite the calfskin boots she wore, the slippers that had originally been part of her outfit had long since been thrown away as being impratical, shocked that she had been foolish enough to have worn them in the first place Mei had bought the boots with her few remaining coppers from a merchants caravan before finally joining up with the rebellion, the decision that had led her to this harsh land.
It was at midday just as the heat was beginning to become unbearable that they arrived at the first oasis, a sigh of relief escaping from Mei lips, though unfortunatley the relief was short lived as it became apparent that they weren't the first to arrive as several figure gathered by the edge of the pool, leading the strangest animals that Mei had ever seen behind them "You don't suppose they're just travellers...do you?" she asked quielty hoping that what they were seeing wasn't an enemy patrol.
 

DeletedUser

"Do you want me to deal with them?" Thorin growled in response to Mei's question.
he hated it here, the heat was unbearable.
he watched the group of figures as they began to drink from the oasis.
suddenly a thought crossed his mind; "Joshua, since you're from here, why don't you go and ask them who they are, if they're an enemy patrol, we destroy them, but if they're on our side, then they could hellp us."
 

Deleted User - 819397

Joshua peered at the men leading the camels intently. Unlike his companions he didn't seem to feel the heat, probably partially due to it being his homeland and partially due to his lightweight clothes and hat. "Back when I was living here the only people who used camels were the nomads...most of my people find them too cumbersome to get across sands when we learn to run through without hinderance from birth. However they do help as beasts of burden, which is why nomads like them. I'll go talk to them." He lightly sprinted down to the people and struck up a conversation. The musical language of Jehanna drifted to the rest of the company, sounding poetic without trying.

After a few minutes Joshua signaled for the rest of the group to come join him. "I was right," he stated simply when they had arrived. "They're nomads. As such they're largely ignored by the magi, which is why they seemed so at ease. They don't have much to tell me beyond that the Queen is still alive and the position is largely unchanged. The stagnation is wearing on both sides, but neither group can gain any bearing." Joshua gave a slight grin. "Sounds like the perfect time for a band of mercenaries to get in there and shake things up, eh?"
 

DeletedUser

Ral's hair was plastered to his forehead by sweat. The renegade Belfast had long since shed the mail breastplate he'd worn in the battle against the Magi in Tiran. His armor was now folded up and stuffed in Alexandria's bag. He took off his boot while Joshua was gone and dumped sand out of it, a horrified expression on his face "How does anyone fight in this?"

Standing, Ral looked to Joshua, speaking with a pair of men on sand colored horses with bumpy backs and ugly faces. "Then again, who would want this land?"

That was when Joshua signaled his friends to come to him. Ral and Alexandria made the worst time, their heavy Tiran boots sinking deep into the sand. It was like walking through waist high snow. Alexandria was in as bad shape as Ral, her hair was long enough to blow into her eyes and get stuck there by the sweat so the bard was constantly moving hair out of her face.

"Let us get out of this land quickly, Ral. This is doing nothing for my complexion." Alexandria smiled at him and Ral grinned back.

"Aye, my skin is is tender and peeling in places. Who would wish to live in this place?" Ral went to Joshua. "So now that we know the situation what do you think we should do?"
 

Deleted User - 819397

Joshua shrugged. "I'd say we follow the plan we set up before...get to Jehanna Hall, determine the defenses that the magi have set up, and find a hidden entrance they haven't found yet. The nice thing about the Hall is there's plenty of escape routes and hidden tunnels and the like. In my position before I left Jehanna behind, I was privy to the vast majority of those places. I should be able to get us relatively far in before we're discovered."

He looked at his companions' sweaty, tired faces, the beginnings of sunburns beginning on many of them. "Is the heat really that unbearable for you?" he asked, sounding shocked. "Hmm...we should be able to reach the next oasis by the time it gets dark...that one has better defenses against the cold of night than this one does..." He stopped and grinned at the stunned expressions the others had just made. "What? The desert is cold at night...almost as cold as Thorin's northern lands likely are in the dead of winter! Scorching days, freezing nights...that's the desert for you." He waited a second for the information to sink in before saying, "Ok...let's grab a quick drink and a bite to eat and head out for the second oasis...sound good?"
 

DeletedUser28032

Mei all but fell to her knee's upon reaching the oasis, dipping her hands into the cool clear water she bathed her face, soothing her sun burnt skin for a few moments at least. She was glad to see that many of the others were suffering; both Ral and Alexandria like herself were heavily sunburnt, their skin beginning to peel in large flakes howeveer worst of all Mei had discovered to her disgust that the sun had bleached her hair from its original bright scarlet to a now distinctly copper like colour.
Upon hearing Joshua questioning the heat Mei glared up at him with such intensity that it was small wonder that he didn't melt "I grew up in the mountains Cold i can do" she continued waspishly the desert had put her in a foul mood that wasn't likely to lift any time soon.

True to Joshua's word they stopped long enough to refill their waterskins, Mei despite the strange dialect spoken by the nomads managed to part with her last few coppers and a handfull of herbs from out of her bag in return for a pale green paste meant to sooth her burns or so the dark skinned nomadic woman had told her though whether or not it would work was a matter for debate once they reached the next oasis.
 

DeletedUser

Ral filled his cupped hands with the water from the oasis. It wasn't cold, but it wasn't as hot as the surrounding desert either, he took a drink before splashing the rest of it across his bare chest. Pushing his hair back off his forehead, Ral dunked his head into the water for a moment, before coming up for air. He shook his hair, spraying Alexandria and some of the others, with water from his hair. "Sorry, friends. My hair has grown since we set out. I must have it cut." Alexandria pinched his shoulder lightly and whispered that she would do it when they stopped for the night.

"I would suggest that everyone cut their hair as short as possible. The heat is intense and those with longer hair trap heat better." Ral said, recalling his officer's training. In desert regions it was practiced that a unit would shave their heads completely, of course that wouldn't do for many of the companions, but Ral figured it couldn't hurt to suggest a slight trimming.

Standing, Ral took his sheathed sword from where he had leaned it against a tall, but limbless tree that had hard looking fruit growing from it. Ral put the sword over his back, the strap that secured it there was over his bare chest.

He was making ready to set out, when something came to him. Ral looked around frantically and realized, the men on the camels were gone. They had heard them speak of infiltrating the capital. "Joshua! We have a problem!" Ral yelled "The camels are gone!"
 

Deleted User - 819397

Joshua looked around, concerned for a moment, then relaxed. "Yes, they did, but it was in your native tongue, not mine or theirs. I highly highly doubt that ANY nomads know any tongue other than mine, and even if they did, the odds of us finding the one group that did are miniscule. They must have finished their stop and move on. No big deal at all." He could tell that Ral wasn't convinced, and Mei was still glaring at him for his previous comment about the heat. Sighing, he changed tacks. "There's a quicker way across the sands to Jehanna Hall, but there's only one more Oasis on that path...the one that I think we could make tonight if we left now...that'd mean we'd be for two days without a fresh source of water or food, and also without proper shelter in the night. If you're really convinced they're going to betray us when the odds of them knowing the language we're speaking now...then that's the only course open to us. I'll leave it up to you. I'll guide us whichever way you choose."
 

DeletedUser

"i say we follow Joshua, nobody will find us and it's the quickest route out of this wasteland."
Thorin said, gripping his fathers' dane axe, the heat here was unbearable, he was sweating in droves. he couldn't wait for the night, he was used to the cold and could handle it.
"by the way, since i live in the cold, I'll take watch tonight." he mentioned as an afterthought.
Ral's suggestion to cut his hair short was preposterous, his beard and hair were a matter of honour, and no Tiran woodsman would convince him otherwise.
 

DeletedUser

Ral looked out across the shimmering wastes that lay before them. He bit the inside of his cheek in thought, trying to make a decision upon their course. Their attack depended upon not being discovered until they were inside the Hall. The Magi were tricky, their ears were everywhere.

"Joshua, I've come to my decision. We can't afford to lose the element of surprise, even if they can't speak our language they can speak theirs. They may tell others of us, who will tell their friends and so on." Ral went to Joshua and clasped his shoulder "Take us to the hall as quickly as possible."

Alexandria had filled every water skin she carried and was distributing them out evenly amongst the companions. She smiled and whispered reassurances to them as she did this and then tossed one of the skins to Ral. They smiled at each other, before Ral nodded to his friends "Let's go."
 

Deleted User - 819397

Joshua nodded as Ral gave his decision. "Your reasons are sensible and practical. The direct route it is." With that, he quickly looked around at the sands and found his bearing, then began to run again, leading the company toward Jehanna Hall.

The sun was almost set when the second and final oasis came into view. As Joshua had promised, this one was better suited to protect against the elements, with a rock outcropping that would protect from the wind. As they approached it was clear a campfire was already burning under the outcropping. When they got closer, Joshua signaled to the rest of the group to wait for a moment and ran down towards the fire, careful to not be seen. His trained feet made almost no sound on the sand. After a few tense moments, voices began to drift to the companions, speaking in Joshua's musical tongue. The tones sounded both shocked and joyful. After a short while Joshua came back to them, tears running down his face taht contrasted with the huge grin he wore. "Come on guys! There's someone I want you to meet!" he called eagerly before turning back.

Once the group had arrived, Joshua led a lean, older man over to them. He was dressed like a nomad, but unlike the nomads they had seen before his face was scarred, as though he had been a warrior. "I want you to meet the man who made me who I am today. Meet Zandar, the commander of the Swordmasters." After he had introduced everyone to each other, Joshua explained what was going on. "When the magi invaded Jehanna Hall, no one was prepared for them. The Swordmaster guards were falling like leaves before a storm. If we have a weakness, it's that we must be close to strike. Zandar, however, has a special blade that is imbued with the power of lightning. Therefore he was able to cut down a few magi...however, when it became evident that not only had the Hall fallen, but the Queen had been captured, he fled, knowing to persist would be suicide. He isn't sure if anyone else survived the attack as he's been pretending to be a nomad to escape detection. He says he'll fight with us though, as honor demands he help liberate our homeland." Joshua couldn't remove the grin from his face. Obviously Zandar was a person Joshua had been very close with. Zandar seemed to be almost stunned with shock himself, if truth be told.

Joshua recovered slightly. "Anyway, he can speak a little of this language, and can understand a good deal more...he just wanted me to tell his story because it would take him twice as long."
 

DeletedUser28032

Sat by the small pool of water Mei listened quietly as Ral spoke with some urgency about the missing nomads a fact that she'd also failed to notice, though to be honest her mind had been elsewhere at the time.
"I am afraid Ral's right...they've only to mention meeting a group of strangers....face it we don't exactly look like locals" in hindsight they probably should have found themselves some more appropriate attire though time had been short and they had all been eager to reach this accursed desert.
Taking the water skin offered to her Mei resigned herself to yet another torturous trek through the sun baked dunes, with any luck the nights would be as cold as Joshua promised them to be, anything would be better than this sweltering heat.

The rocks circling the oasis loomed out of the dark like the fingers of some gigantic hand belonging to a long forgotten and buried titan promising them shelter from the icy winds that howled across the open dunes, it was no colder than winter back home in the mountains yet it still caused her to shiver, the dunes offering absolutely no protection to the elements.
As they drew closer the glow of a campfire could be discerned in amongst the rocks, once again Mei's first reaction was that they had stumbled upon an enemy patrol tasked with guarding the precious water source, what she hadn't expected was to find a tearful Joshua introducing them to his old mentor and fellow swordmaster.
Bowing her head in a respectful manner Mei introduced herself to the old man, who smiling returned the greeting in heavily accented and disjointed common tongue. She was about to make a comment in Jehennan when something deep down made her stop, as if revealing that she spoke his language would be a seriously bad, But that’s silly…He’s a swordmaster and Joshua’s friend….He’s also the sole survivor of an ambush the thought that this man may not be entirely what he claimed to be troubled Mei yet she dared not speak them aloud, especially in Joshua’s presence….no better to keep quiet, besides it could simply be the effects of being in the sun for too long.
Sat beside the small campfire Mei listened to the wind as it whistled through the rocks, they’d eaten a small meal of hard cheese and bread as they’d listened to the old mans tales with the steady metallic snipping of shears as Alexandria set about cutting Ral’s hair, once finished Mei herself moved to have her own shortened what with the heat of this place besides which with her hair now turning more and more orange under the sun’s glare she decided it couldn’t hurt though it still didn’t prevent her from glaring across the fire towards the others “If any of you so much as thinks of laughing there will be trouble”
 

DeletedUser

The run had been tortuously long. With each step in the sand his boots sank deep and Ral had to run most of the time as if he were slogging through deep mud. Then there were the sand dunes, which took ages to scale, for each step you took forward you slid back down. His chest and arms were peeling, great flakes of skin falling away with each heavy step he took through this hellish landscape.

Finally the moon beat back the sun and a violent chill fell upon the sands. It was welcome upon Ral's eternally burning skin. Finally, sitting in front of Alexnadria and listening to Joshua relate the old man's tale to them, Ral felt almost good. He sat a hand against his still bare chest and winced when it left an outline upon his skin, before it turned red once again.

"Thank you, my love." Ral said as the final strand of his long hair fell into a pile around the rock he sat at. The bard gave him a quick kiss upon the cheek, as he stood. A smile was upon his face, as Ral took his mail from Alexandria's bag and held it in one hand, addressing Joshua and his friend "Glad to have you here, Zandar, you've provided us information that we desperately needed." Ral threw an excuse of his shoulder, as he turned away from the firelight and went to the oasis.

“If any of you so much as thinks of laughing there will be trouble”

"Oh no, we know how to make our hair pretty." Alexandria motioned to Ral's head, there was still hair upon his head, it was just cut so that none of it could flop forward into his face, or stick to his shoulders and neck "I spent years as a bard, if you want, I can cut your hair short enough not to be a bother, but long enough to admire. What do you think Mei?" She asked, putting a hand on either side of the girl's shoulders.
 

DeletedUser28032

Mei sat for several seconds biting her lip with an almost pained expression on her face before finally answering in a small quiet voice "Ok....just not too short...ok?" she said indicating a height just above her shoulders with her right hand.
As Alexandria set about the business of shortening her hair a thought crossed her mind "Joshua....can you ask Zandar if her knows where they're keeping the dragon" the thought of finding the dragons hadn't entered her mind since Lucas had mentioned them in what felt like months though in fact was little more than a fortnight.
"I only ask because....if we had a dragon aurely it'd make rescuing the Queen so much easier than if it was just us" the oasis went quiet but for the sound of Alexandria's shears, long locks of copper coloured hair falling to the sandy floor of the oasis, it'd been a long time since Mei had had her hair cut any shorter than a few inches and she was somewhat aprehensive about how it would appear.
"It was just a thought" she said her hands making a small gesture to convey as much whilst the rest of her stayed as still as possible so not to disturb Alexandria whilst she was still working it was her hair after all.
 

Deleted User - 819397

Joshua nodded and turned to his old friend. The older man listened intently to Joshua's translation, then replied in kind. Joshua nodded again and returned his gaze to Mei. "He says that not only is he not aware of the location of the dragon the magi have under their control, he wasn't aware any dragons still flew the skies." He shrugged. "It stands to reason, really...Jehanna is typically isolated from the rest of Tiran because of its borders and terrain." He fell silent for a moment, then added, "I will agree with you though...out of all of us, only Mei and Alexandria are long range attackers, and the magi are particularly skilled in killing from a distance. We'd truly have to sneak by them the whole way to wherever they're holding the Queen before our presence became known...however, it's the only plan we have, and if we wait much longer, we may lose the Queen and our only shot at getting any remnants of the Swordmaster army on our side. As I said before there is no heir to the throne as of now because the prince ran away years ago. If the Queen is killed, it will create a massive civil war as factions fight for power. We can't take that risk..." Joshua seemed to become self conscious and stopped talking abruptly, looking down.
 

DeletedUser

Ral stripped his clothing off and folded them upon a rock beside the water. The renegade nobleman dove into the water and paddled around for a few moments, washing the sweat, grime and small pieces of hair stuck to his skin off.

Finally, Ral emerged and got dressed. His mail fell over the top of his head with a reassuring umph that made him feel almost invulnerable. There was something about armor that not only protected a soldier's body, but bolstered his confidence and shielded his conscious from the horrors he was about to see and take part in.

As Ral went back to the camp, he couldn't help but notice the blood mage. Sitting in his drugged stupor, the man didn't look dangerous at all and the horrific scars, from the painful cuts Ral had made across his face and upper body, stood out on his sweaty face. Ral still was not comfortable looking at the man he'd worked upon and so he turned away towards Joshua and his friend "What is to be expected of these secret entrances into the palace? Are they through the city's sewers?"

Alexandria smiled at her handy work, surveying the top of Mei's head with a critical eye. "I believe you are done now, Mei. Go have a look at your reflection." The bard then sat in the vacated seat, holding out the shears to Ral, Alexandria smiled. Ral took the shears and started to snip at the bard's hair.

As he clipped her hair, Ral spoke to the camp "We have little to no effectiveness at long range, when compared to the tremendous might wielded by the Magi." Ral clipped an errant strand of hair from the bard's head and continued "Because of this, as you said Joshua, we must get as close as we possibly can. There has been little talk about what we do after we rescue the queen. Once we have liberated her we will have to get the word out to her faithful, otherwise no one will no to lift their weapons in defiance of the Magi. How will we do this, Joshua?"
 

Deleted User - 819397

At Ral's question about the passageways, Joshua shook his head. "Nothing so mundane. There are certain bricks that can be pulled out to reveal a door handle, pulling certain tapestries can be pulled to reveal a nearby door...other such tricks. The goal was to make the passageways easy to hide and yet be quick to access. No need to get our hands dirty without need, eh?" he finished with a grin.

At Ral's later question, about signaling to the people of Jehanna they had rescued the Queen, Joshua thought a moment before responding. "The possible methods are numerous, but we'd have to use one the magi wouldn't know about. Otherwise it could be perceived as a trick to draw out those loyal to the crown who have power. I'm thinking that although they know of the fire method, they wouldn't know how to activate it...The fire method is a way to set fire to designated troughs of oil around the Hall to get them to shine rainbow colors while giving off the odor of cooking sugar beets. The fire also has a special smoke that crackles with lightning." He turned to Mei as she returned from checking her new appearance. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but such a display would be very difficult to duplicate with magic, right? If so, we have our contact method." Zandar looked at Joshua, confused. He muttered something under his breath in Joshua's native tongue. Joshua simply nodded and said "Ila sunsal," which meant "I must."
 

DeletedUser28032

Brushing a few loose strands of hair from her shoulders Mei knelt beside the pool to admire Alexandria's handiwork. Despite being shorter than she would normally allow, it looked good even the colour wasn't quite so bad anymore though that may just be the current light.
Brushing her hair back with her fingers Mei returned to the others just as Joshua asked "Correct me if I'm wrong, but such a display would be very difficult to duplicate with magic, right? If so, we have our contact method."
Mei paused to consider this, running through all the spells she'd used and witnessed during her studies before replying "Well....the fire is easy enough to do, although making it change colour can be somwhat tricky...." the campfire before them suddenly morphed into a four foot collumn of flame swirling about like one of the dust devils they'd seen whilst crossing the desert causing those nearest to the fire to move back as it showered them with embers. Moving her hands in slow twisting gestures the others watched as the collumn of flame slowly turned from its normal fiery orange to emerald green and then pale blue before returning back to orange, the earth element wasn't the easiest to control but with a little persuasion Mei manage to transmute some of the stone beneath the fire into copper allowing the fire to natuarlly change colour.
"....and Lighting isn't too complex thats just getting the air to move how you want it to" she spoke her voice now taking on the metallic tinge that was synomonous with sorcery as small, thin arcs of bright white lightning shot from her fingertips to dance about the flames. However for those that cared to look would notice that the size and intensity of the flames she'd summoned only a few moments before began to rapidly diminish before disappearing entirely as soon as Mei began casting the lightning, her brow now gathering a sheen of sweat despite the chill winds gusting in from between the rocks "...as for suagar beet.... I wouldn't know where to even begin" as far as she was aware it wasn't possible to replicate scents at least not without item in question.
Sitting down heavily on the sand, her head feeling somewhat lighter than it had a few minutes ago she continued, her voice now back to normal if a little out of breath "I don't think anyone can replicate all that you mentioned at the same time...at least not for very long....no i think your method will be quite safe"
 
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Deleted User - 819397

(At Peril's request I'm forwarding the story to the beginning of the attack)

Joshua stopped short around midday. It was 2 days after they had met Zandar, and the strain of the desert was starting to get to everyone. Even Joshua had been sweating slightly, which he attributed to not being acclimated to the heat anymore. Only Zandar seemed truly unaffected. After standing still for a moment he turned somberly to the group. "Jehanna Hall lies before us. From here on out we'll need to be truly careful. I brought us a way that doesn't get us near the city that the Hall is next to, so we don't have to worry about that, but still...we don't know what the magi set up to warn of intruders." With that he turned back and kept running.

A short time later, a truncated pyramid began to take shape amid the heat waves. It was a glorious fixture, with waterfalls cascading down the sides at various points, the whole thing glittering as if it was made entirely out of precious metals. It was the first sign of grandeur that the group had seen since in the desert. As they got closer, a large wall began to become visible around the Hall, an obvious barrier to keep out intruders. No one patrolled the walls, which seemed odd. Joshua muttered under his breath, "That's not exactly reassuring...why no guards?" He looked at Zandar and repeated the question in his first language. Zandar merely shrugged.

Joshua led the party to a spot on the wall and began searching for something. Zandar also was scanning the wall, albeit in a different spot. After a time, Joshua nodded and beckoned Ral over. Pointing to a specific rock he said, "Hold your hand here please" and ran off to a third area without an explanation. Zandar found what he was looking on and casually leaned against the wall, his hand on a brick in what seemed a natural manner, as though he wanted anyone who saw to think it was coincidental. Joshua rapidly found the third spot and touched the third brick. "Push" he said to Ral, then did so on his brick. There was relatively heavy resistance for a moment, then Zandar pushed on his brick and all three bricks clicked inward slightly. A hidden door in the brickwork silently swung open. "There's our entrance. Let's go." Joshua said, smiling slightly.

From there they covertly snuck across the space between the wall and the bottom of the truncated pyramid that was the Hall. Joshua held a brief conversation with Zandar before leading the group around to a different side of the Hall, about a ten minute trip. "Ok, the path Zandar and I think is the least likely for the magi to know about is relatively simple...We go in, up the stairs, and into the third floor. From there, we need to run down the hall we come out of and into a side corridor behind a tapestry. Halfway down that is another hidden door that has stairs that lead to the top of the structure and the throne room. Quick, simple, and effective. Ready?" He turned to the Hall and then plunged his hand into the sand, searching for something. After a minute he grinned, then pulled backward. A metal handle became visible as he raised his hand, and then a door opened in the side of the pyramid. "Let's go now...let's get my nation back." He and Zandar led the way in. However, upon Zandar passing into the Hall, he crumpled and fell. Joshua cried out and crouched by him. "What on...his heart...it's not beating..." he ripped of Zandar's shirt, then gasped. A horrible wound was present in the center of Zandar's chest. It looked like a blade had passed through him entirely. It wasn't a fresh wound, but rather old. Joshua gaped for a moment, then looked up, horrified. "Necromancy...that's what this has to be...a trap for anyone returning...the magi know we're here...we need to move!"
 
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