“I thought I would find you here, Arisen! And it appears that I was right!”

“I knew you’d still be lingering here, Arisen!”

“As ever, I am yours to command, master!”

“Arisen! You need my help.”

As Lena and Rook set off on their long journey to the Kingdom of Battahl, they were being stopped by wandering pawns wanting to join their party. The greetings ranged from neutral to friendly, to subservient or even to slightly aggressive… But Lena refused them all.

“We shall need someone with us when we get to Battahl,” Rook was shaking his head every time Lena turned down another offer. “That one looked like a capable fighter… why did you refuse?”

“I didn’t like the attitude,” was the usual Lena’s response. “The road is still long, we’ll manage for now.”

One evening they were camping in an out of the way spot as there was really no reason to put themselves in additional danger by trying to walk at night. As Lena was tending to the roast and Rook was chopping some logs for the fire, a voice from the darkness made them jump.

“Fancy meeting you here! The Arisen and her pawn.” A warrior in chainmail armour walked into their circle of light. “So the rumours are true.”

“Mason!” Lena nearly sent the frying pan flying. “What are you doing here? Good to see you!”

“I am walking the roads like any other pawn, and the aroma of your roast led me here,” he chuckled. “You obviously need my help.”

“Eating the roast, for sure,” Rook brought the logs to the fire. “As usual she had to roast the entire pig.”

“Waste not, want not, is it, Arisen?” Mason picked up a half-cooked chop. “This isn’t done yet. As always.” That didn’t stop him devouring it in just a few bites. “I’ve heard what’s gone on, Your Majesty,” he was serious now. “Or is it – Your Majesty no longer? By the looks of things… Talk is, your pawn had run off only to be replaced by an escort… Sitting here, I presume,” he looked at Rook who nodded. “What have you found out?”

“That Scorpio did not run off,” Lena shrugged. “But I supposed you figured as much. He’s being held somewhere in Battahl, and that’s where we’re headed.”

“Battahl…” Mason whistled. “That’s a large kingdom, too large if you don’t know where to look. Too harsh for just the two of you… You’ll get yourself into trouble again. I am not the strongest warrior, I know, but my all is yours to shape, master…”

Lena looked up – she hadn’t heard that phrase in a long time, a phrase normally spoken by the main pawn alone. A phrase so uncharacteristic of the usual slightly mocking tone that Mason preferred.

“You are free..?” Lena sat up. She no longer could bind pawns as that magic had been destroyed with the dragon, and any pawn that offered her help, could be recalled at any moment. “What about your master?”

“Got bored, got tired, lost interest… what do I know,” Mason shrugged as if it were a trifle, but they all knew how devastating such abandonment was for pawns. “Which is why I am stuck at this level, not able to progress. I may not be much use to you in Battahl, depending where you go… The dragon’s roost is beyond my skill, I fear. But if you want me… why, yes, I am free.” He smiled, regaining his self-assured look.

“Have some roast,” Lena piled a stack of well cooked chops onto his plate. “We’ve got a long road ahead.”

…

“There’s a shrine to the Sphinx somewhere around here,” Mason said when they were picking their way through the mists of a dense forest. “Somewhere North West… My master wanted to go there but the Sphinx wasn’t at home.”

“The Sphinx doesn’t just talk to anyone,” Rook nodded. “She only appears if the contender stands a chance to win… either with steel or in a battle of wits.”

“How can she know whether the contender is good enough?” Lena mused. “This seems fishy.”

“Nothing fishy about it,” Mason shook his head. “Say is, the Sphinx is always there. She just doesn’t come out most of the time. Can’t blame her, really. Getting constant assaults is annoying, and talking to idiots is may be even worse…”

“Say, what are we doing in this forest?” Rook suddenly stopped. They were standing in the middle of a small settlement, completely abandoned. “There’s naught here but corpses and skeletons…” He choked on his words as a walking corpse grabbed him around the neck.

“ROOK!!” Lena screamed, dashing towards him, daggers blazing.

“Corpses are hard to kill!” Mason seconded, sweeping several of them with his greatsword, without much effect. “I hope you weren’t expecting mercy!!!” The corpses fell to the ground, only to promptly rise again.

By the time Lena managed to extricate Rook out of the undead clutches, she was surrounded by half a dozen new walking corpses and a small army of skeletons armed to the teeth, which, too, were still intact. “Arrghhh!!!!” She twirled, her daggers extended, but even the fire enchantment could not do much damage to the undead.

“This battle will take everything we’ve got!” Rook noted matter-of-factly. “Hold nothing back! We have to suppress them or else they’ll keep coming!” He stood still for a moment preparing a spell, releasing it just in time to avoid another grab at his neck. “Back off!” He told the corpse, nocking it off its feet with his staff and following up with a gout of fire. “I need to focus.”

Staying on the ground was clearly dangerous, but if there was one thing that corpses could not do, was climbing, not that they wouldn’t try. “Rotten brains make for little intelligence,” Rook muttered, climbing up on the well in the centre of the settlement and just out of reach of the corpses. “Leave me alone.” He froze again, incanting another spell. A sparkling ball was growing in his hands, hovering atop the crystal on his staff, then rising into the air above him and finally exploding into a shower of golden stars shooting down on the undead.

“Wow, what fireworks!” Lena stopped for a moment – she’d never seen such a dazzling display. The corpses stopped too, some fell, but most recovered after a pause. The battle continued.

“Bring them to me, the spell does not reach far enough!” Rook shouted to Lena and Mason engaged at the opposite corners from him. “Don’t let them lead you away! This is how you perish!” From his elevated position he could see them vanishing into the mist, with more and more undead rising before them. “Just turn around and come this way!!” He shouted. “Allow them to follow!” He had to stop talking and focus on incanting his next spell. He could only hope that Lena and Mason would heed his advice, as unlikely as it seemed from their perspective.

“Are we ignoring the enemy today?” Mason scowled, but saw Lena making signs to him to to retreat, he obeyed. “Being chased is not my idea of fun!” The corpses and skeletons followed, now forming a dense angry crowd around the three living being gathered by the well…

“Behold the Holy Star rising!!” Rook finished his incantation, releasing another golden orb, much larger than the first. The orb exploded with blinding light, arresting all movement, permeating every object, every living thing, every bit of undead bone or flesh…

When the light finally faded, the ground of the abandoned settlement was littered with shattered bones and lifeless corpses, and one of them was Rook.

“Rook!!” Lena dropped to her knees when her eyes could see again. “What did you do..?”

She turned him over. He was pale, almost white, as if all of his blood had been drained away. His eyes were open, staring at her without seeing. His staff lay by his side, still sparkling with the Holy enchantment. But no, he wasn’t dead… he could not be dead! It was never meant to be like that! A pawn could not die while his body still lingered…

“I’ve heard of that,” Mason stood behind her. “He gave all his strength to the spell, not just his magicka, but his very essence… He is not dead, but only just. Let’s hope it worked, for if we have to fight again… Every little thing would kill him now.”

They made camp, placing Rook inside a make-shift barricade of broken crates, rocks and rubble. If anything were to attack them, they needed a chance to respond…

Several hours passed, but all was quiet and eventually Rook stirred.

“You gave us a fright!” Lena helped him sit up, clearing the debris around him. “Don’t do this again.”

“I will if I have to,” Rook stubbornly shook his head. “We were getting overwhelmed.”

“That could have killed you,” Mason said quietly. “For good.”

“But it didn’t,” Rook stretched his shoulders. “The Arisen faces such threats every day. This is what it means to be mortal.” He brushed off some dirt from his coat. “But to continue our conversation from before the attack…” He looked into the puzzled faces of his companions, as neither of them could remember what they were talking about before the rise of the corpses. “I was asking what we were doing in these woods? Apart from fighting corpses, that is…”

“I cannot explain…” Lena said in a small voice, blushing slightly. “I hadn’t thought of the danger… the undead… But something’s been calling me here, there is something I need to find…” She looked around the campsite, but there wasn’t anything there but long abandoned houses fading into the mist. “This village looks familiar somehow…”

She got up, walked around. All was peaceful, and nothing could jog her memory.

“A cottage in Witchwood in Gransys,” she looked at Rook. “Remember? An Arisen and her pawn used to live there. The Arisen had died, and the pawn became human… Or rather… that girl had always been human, only now she no longer bore the curse…”

“Yes, I remember,” Rook nodded. “But she still could not make up her mind about aught,” he smirked. “So, what about her?”

“Not her… but her bond to her Arisen… or may be the bond of her Arisen to her… which is not the same thing,” she looked at Mason as if expecting him to object, but he didn’t. “I wonder…” She stopped talking.

“We’ll stay for as long as it takes,” Rook concluded, adding some logs to the fire. “You got your Arisen’s Bond there. Perhaps there’s aught you will learn here as well.”

…

The mist in that forest was everlasting, blotting out both the sun and the stars; time seemed to abandon its flow and merely float without direction. It was unnerving at first, but soon they thought nothing of it. Perhaps a few days had passed, but the undead remained under ground, and all was quiet. One night – they thought it was night but couldn’t tell for sure – Lena started thrashing in her sleep.

“A nightmare,” Rook tried to calm her. “Wake up – wake up!” But she wouldn’t.

“Perhaps it is a vision,” Mason watched her eyes move under her closed eyelids, her chest heave with heavy breathing, her hands jerk. “Leave her to it.”

When Lena finally woke up, she was bathed in cold sweat.

“You would not believe the dreams I had…” she shook herself awake. “That’s it, today we’re leaving. Did you say the Sphinx was nearby? I’ve got a favour to ask.”

“The Sphinx is not known for granting favours…” Rook looked uncertain.

“She will grant a favour to this Arisen,” Mason asserted firmly. “Because this Arisen has to audacity to simply go and ask. It’s this way to the Sphinx!” He jumped up, wrapping up the camping gear. “Follow me! You can trust my sense of direction! This way..!”

Lena and Rook ran after him, not wanting to be left behind.