Mira and Bandit walked down the street close to Stonekeep Castle after the prince was again in residence. Prince Kimorel was standing with some guards in front of the keep’s gates addressing a small crowd of around two dozen townsfolk. Mira didn’t get close enough to hear, but by his open handed, calming gestures, he looked like he was trying to placate the crowd before they became a mob. It was getting close to dinner time, and she wanted to get to the Smiths’ house before they sat down to eat and get the news of the day. Hopefully some gossip Samirah heard would point her in the right direction.

  When Mira and Bandit got to the smithy, Mira tried the door and found it to be locked. She knocked loudly on the door. She heard an armored person coming down the stairs, and in a moment the door opened to reveal me. My face was pale and eyes red, and she knew something bad had happened. Mira’s face drained of color.

  “What happened?” Mira asked.

  “Juleen was taken today,” I said softly.

  Mira’s knees went weak, and I grabbed her upper arm to steady her. Mira swayed, looking like she was about to faint, so I wrapped my other arm around her as her head swam. After a moment, Mira strengthened her resolve and steadied herself on her feet. Her lips formed a thin line as she looked up to me.

  “I’m all right. What do we know?” Mira asked as she stepped back.

  “Bran and Darek were patrolling the block. Elric and I were guarding mom when she was doing her shopping. Dad was at the keep talking with the Elder Council. Juleen was home alone, and someone took her right out of the kitchen,” I said. “A plate was broken on the floor next to a couple of forks. Juleen would never leave things like that.”

  “No one gets taken out of their homes,” Mira said with confusion. “Have you ever heard of that happening?”

  I shook my head negative.

  Mira had a thought. It was like Juleen was targeted specifically. “I think the attacker knew Juleen. Who do we know that has a grudge against her? Only Kromwell and his gang. I’m gonna check their houses again, this time a little more carefully.”

  “Be careful, Mira. If he’s behind this, it’ll be dangerous.”

  Mira punched my pauldron softly. “Of course, it will. He’s a crime lord’s son. Be ready. I don’t think we have much time to find her.”

  “All right. I’ll let the others know what you’re doing.”

  Mira walked quickly back to her apartment to prepare. After she’d changed into her dark clothing and armed herself with her knives, crossbow, and a quiver of bolts, she turned to Bandit.

  “Are you ready for this?” Mira asked her.

  “You bet. You gonna shoot him this time?”

  “I’d love to. But we need proof before we can just shoot their ass.”

  “Let’s see what that worm Kromwell’s up to first,” Bandit said. She faded into invisibility.

  Mira cast her Shadowmeld spell and slipped out the door into the day’s lengthening shadows. She took a shortcut by walking up the shadowy side of the closest aqueduct and then running across it for a few blocks. That got her close to the Surekeel residence. She noticed right away that those drapes she saw on her earlier patrol that month were now in the windows of two more houses on that block. She knew right away something was definitely not right there. Mira jumped across the street and landed lightly on the roof of the house to the right of the Surekeel residence. She softly sneaked across the roof, around to Kromwell’s mother’s room, and peeked inside with her little hand mirror. Through the embroidered curtains Mira could see that Mrs. Surekeel was seated in her chair with her back to the window. The chair she saw Kromwell sitting in before had the book lying in it, but Kromwell wasn’t there. Mira snuck around the house to the back side of the house where she thought Kromwell’s room was. She heard a deep voice coming from within.

  “I know what you want, Kromwell, but we’re not ready to enact the final part of my plan yet, so we can’t reveal a motive by striking the same family twice,” Sivash Surekeel was saying. “Young Raynold has made great progress, but he’ll need to make a lot more before we’re truly ready. Keep him busy down below. The sacrifices make great raw materials, but we need a lot more. With each sacrifice we strengthen our followers and we gain more fodder to boot. Still, we’re not ready yet. You’ll have to be patient.”

  “Yes, father,” Kromwell said.

  “Gather the faithful. I’d like to get started early tonight.” They left the room together.

  Mira’s mind whirled and she had a bad feeling in her gut. What family were they talking about, and what did striking them mean, exactly? What sacrifices? What were they sacrificing? How did a sacrifice give them fodder? She had to know more, and fast. Mira now knew that Raynold was a piece of the puzzle, so she decided to see what he was up to. Mira crept through dusk’s shadowy rooftops towards Raynold’s house, leaping from roof to roof. She took a less direct route than Kromwell did, and she got there as Kromwell and Raynold were leaving. Kromwell made some threatening gestures with a low voice as they left, going back towards the Surekeel house. Mira crossed over to Raynold’s house to take a peek for herself. Maybe he left a clue behind.

  Mira came to Raynold’s window and tested it. It was locked. She looked in the window below her to look inside the kitchen and living area. Raynold’s mother was doing dishes, and his father was in his chair reading a book. Mira went back over to Raynold’s window and slid her knife between the panes to unlatch the lock, then slid the lower window up and open. She quietly slipped inside and stood next to the window to let her eyes adjust to the darkness within. It was getting darker outside, too. There was just a bed, footlocker, bookshelf, and small table with one chair in the room. The book Raynold was last reading was open on the table. She looked more closely at it and saw that it had strange writing in it that she couldn’t read. The writing squirmed, making her heart skip a beat. Being careful to keep Raynold’s page open, she flipped over the front half of the book to see what the title said and gasped out loud. The cover of the book was made of black leather that had bird bones sewn into it in the shape of runes and magical patterns! She remembered her spying and from what Whizzbang had told her about the books the necromancer had, and she suddenly knew there was only one book like this she’d ever heard of.

  “Holy flyspecs! This is the necromancer’s spellbook!” Mira whispered to bandit a little louder than she meant to.

  “Sssshhhh! You’re gonna get us caught!” Bandit whispered. “Are you sure?”

  “Damned right I’m sure. There was only one thing he’d be doing with that.” Mira put the book back the way she found it. A terrible thought occurred to her. “For this book to be left carelessly open on a table, Raynold’s parents would have to be under his control somehow. Maybe bribed or intimidated or something.”

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  “Maybe they could tell you his plan if you threatened them with informing the prince.”

  “Worth a shot.”

  Mira crept out of Raynold’s room and down the stairs to the living area. The smell here was awful. Mira used her mirror to peek around the corner and saw his parents right where they were before. His mother was polishing a plate with a dirty rag, and after a minute or two, she didn’t change the plate when it had to have been dry. Mira peeked around the corner and saw his mother with her own eyes. She stared forward with dead eyes as she polished. There was a dark brown stain on the front of her dress that had to be dried blood. The bloody kitchen knife was sitting on the countertop next to her. Mira had never seen anything so horrible in her young life, and a gasp came out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

  Raynold’s mother slowly turned her head to gaze with her dead eyes at Mira but kept polishing the plate. Mira’s hand shook as she reflexively brought up the crossbow from where it was strapped to her back. She put a bolt in it, took aim, and fired it right through the dead woman’s heart. It had no discernable effect other than to make the corpse stumble a little bit. Mira stepped back, worked the crossbow’s arming crank as quickly as she could and put another bolt in the crossbow. This time she carefully aimed at the corpse’s head and pulled the trigger. The bolt flew true and struck Raynold’s mother’s corpse in the forehead with a loud crack. The corpse pitched over backwards and lay still on the floor. Knowing what had to come next, Mira readied another shot in her crossbow, then silently padded through the room to see Raynold’s father. He was dead in his chair, his throat cut from ear to ear. His dried blood covered the front of his shirt and pants. He looked up from his book at Mira and a little groan escaped his desiccated lips. Mira immediately shot him in the forehead, ending his torment. She only had seven shots left in her little quiver, but she’d sooner shoot herself than retrieve one of those quarrels from the corpses.

  “Bandit! We’ve got to get back to the Smith’s house and warn them!” Mira exclaimed.

  “Oh, yeah. This is as awful as it smells!” Said Bandit’s disembodied voice. “Let’s get out of here!”

  Mira left the way she came, through the upper window, and slid it closed. She raced back to the Smith’s house as fast as she could go and still remain unseen. When she got there, she threw herself at the door and pounded furiously. It was me who opened the door for her again. Mira pushed past me and rushed up the stairs. As Mira stormed into the living room, she saw that Dortham, Nora, Elric, Darek, Bran, and Elle were all in the room, and that the men were all wearing their plate armor.

  “I know what’s happening!!” Mira almost shouted. I came up the stairs behind her in time to hear. “I heard Sivash and Kromwell talking. Sivash mentioned sacrifices and fodder, and something Raynold was doing… Oh, God!” Mira started breathing really fast, like she was about to faint.

  Nora put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Steady, Mira. Take a couple of deep breaths and tell us,” Nora said gently.

  Mira was trembling a bit, and she put her hands on her knees and took a few deep breaths as Nora suggested, which helped a lot to pull her together. “Raynold’s a necromancer. He has a spellbook of black magic, a book I’ve seen before in the hands of the necromancer whose house a wizard blew up a few of years back. I don’t know how Raynold got it, but he did. I went to his house and saw everything. Raynold killed his mother and father and animated their corpses with some dark magic, making them do dishes and read like they were alive. I shot his mother’s corpse in the chest, and it didn’t even notice. She had to be killed again by a blow to the head. Same with his father. He murdered his own parents and made them into undead!” Mira nearly shouted with horror.

  This was an abomination that was forbidden in every land under the sun. Everyone was shocked to hear that this evil was being done in our own little town only a few blocks away from our house. It was almost inconceivable.

  “Oh, God, Juleen.” Dortham said with his hand over his eyes. He took a breath, then looked to Mira again. “What do you think’s happening, Mira?”

  Mira took a breath and continued. “From what I heard Sivash say, I think they’re taking people and sacrificing them somewhere close to the Surekeels’ house. They’ve got followers of some kind, and the sacrifices make their followers stronger somehow. Then I think they’re turning the corpses into undead minions. I also think the houses close to the Surekeels have been taken over and could be full of cultists or walking corpses, but I don’t know for sure. The drapes all match. I know that’s weird, but all the drapes of the surrounding houses match now, and that only happened in the last few months. God only knows what he plans to do with the undead he’s creating!”

  Dortham had an angry set to his face. “Are you sure, Mira? No chance you’re wrong?”

  “I’m sure! I’m so sure! Sivash told Kromwell to get Raynold back to work below when they were talking at their house. The only thing below them is the basement. I think something terrible’s happening there, and that’s where Juleen will be.”

  “Boys check your armor and arm yourselves. We’re going right now,” Dortham said.

  “Shouldn’t we get the prince first?” I asked. “We’re only five men.”

  Dortham looked at me steadily and sternly, like his face was made of stone. “Son, you’re right to be afraid. We have no idea how many men we’ll be facing, but whatever maniacal ritual they planned to perform might be underway right now, and your sister needs us.”

  “But what if we fail? How will that help Juleen?”

  “The sooner we get there, the more likely it’ll be that we’ll be in time. We’re ready now, and the prince may take too long to respond, if he even believes us at all. We need to act now. We’re a family, and we have to be able to rely on each other,” Dortham said. He took hold of my pauldron. “Can we rely on you?”

  At that moment, I was ashamed of my cowardice. That’s what it was, and I hated it. My brothers wouldn’t look at me. I was thinking of myself, not of what my sister needed. Firming my resolve, I looked up at my dad.

  “You can rely on me, dad. No matter what.”

  And I meant it.

  “Nora, dear, go to the Baker’s house and get their help to spread the word of what’s happening. Elle, you’re the fastest runner we have. I need you to go to the castle and rouse the prince and his guards. Send them to the Surekeel estate, and don’t let them laze around. Beg, plead, cry, scream, do whatever you have to do, but get them to that house right away. Can you do that?”

  Elle nodded firmly. “Yes, sir.”

  She didn’t waste any time, either. Elle ran down the steps immediately and sprinted for the keep.

  “I know someone that can help us,” Mira said. “I’m going to ask for his help.”

  Dortham nodded grimly. “Be quick. We’re not waiting for anything.”

  Nora and Mira turned and hurried down the stairs and out the door as we grabbed the rest of our gear and checked everything over. After less than a minute of frantic activity, Dortham faced us and stood tall. His face was white with anger. Deadly calm.

  “Let’s go to war.”

  -----

  Elle ran with everything she had in her. Juleen needed help, and she needed it right now. She navigated the cobblestone streets in the deepening darkness as quickly as she could. She turned the final corner in a dead run and passed through the marshalling yard outside the keep’s gates in seconds. The chainmail garbed guards on duty turned to watch her approach, having heard her bare feet slapping the cobbles.

  “Halt!” the sergeant on duty said sharply as he raised his mailed hand.

  Elle ran right up to him, trying to catch her breath.

  “What’s got you in such a state, lass?”

  “I must,” huff, “see,” huff, “the prince,” huff, “at once!” Elle got out as she waited for the inevitable question while breathing heavily.

  “What’s this about?” the sergeant asked.

  “We know who’s behind the abductions. It’s Sivash Surekeel!” Elle said in a rush, then took a deep breath and continued, “He is sacrificing people, then turning them into undead minions. He has a cult of people to do his bidding, and he’s gotta be stopped!”

  “What? Councilor Surekeel’s behind this madness?” the sergeant asked with the beginnings of a smile on his scruffy face. Two of the other guards looked at each other dubiously. Elle stood tall and glared at him with intensity. He saw in her eyes how serious she thought this was and changed his mind. The sergeant’s mirth faded at once, but he still wasn’t convinced, and Elle could see it in his face.

  “You listen here!” Little Elle shouted. She advanced and jabbed a finger in his chest, the other fist on her hip. “Sivash Surekeel’s a vile man who plans to take this city with a plague of undead! He took my sister Juleen today! If you don’t tell the prince about this right now, then Juleen’s blood will be on your hands, you worthless oaf!”

  The sergeant knew then that he had misjudged this one. There was something about the displeasure of a beautiful young woman that made him want to fix it right away. He turned to his troops. “Kurth! Go tell the prince, and hurry! Raff, rouse the Warleader!”

  The two men ran off inside the keep. The sergeant turned back to Elle. “I see you’re not joking around about this. You’ll get your audience with the prince. God help us both if you’re wrong.”

  “God help us if I’m right.”