'What? How did they get past the scouting teams undetected?' Lena thought.

Her personal guard ran toward them fast enough to give the best sprinters in Cartela a run for their money. He arrived in front of her, gasping for breath.

Seeing his face up close, Lena understood the situation was dear. Her astonishment disappeared. Pondered. Stood up.

"How many?" she said, her gaze stern.

"I saw around a hundred of them heading our way. They appear to be chasing us, but I'm not sure."

"How long before contact?"

"Since they are slow, I'd say 4 to 5 minutes top."

Lena calculated their options.

The horses needed rest. The closest outpost: a two days ride. Running was futile, as fatigue would force them to stop. Undeads had limitless stamina and would catch up. They had only one option.

"We'll have to fight them. Tolbar, hide the horses inside the cave. I'll prepare a barrier."

Tolbar nodded and left. Lena steeled her resolve and assembled the mana needed to cast her spell. The magic power rose from her bosom and spread to every inch of her body.

"Envelop. Shield. Protect. Burn. Obey."

Immediately after she finished her weird chant, a firewall appeared, blocking the cave entrance.

"Good, this should hold out for a while."

Tolbar came back not long after, with the skeleton closely following behind him.

"What should we do with it, my lady?"

'Ah, I almost forgot it... he was here.' she thought.

"Do you need my help?" The Fallen asked.

Lena wondered if she should accept the offer. One more fighter would give them a better shot at survival. However, Tolbar thought otherwise.

"And get stabbed in the back? No. My lady, I'll attach it to a tree outside. Those things won't hurt one of their own. We'll pick it up after we're finished dealing with the undead."

'IF we can deal with them' Lena added mentally.

But Tolbar was right. They still couldn't entirely trust the Fallen. Lena and he may have had a pleasant talk a few minutes ago, but she still didn't know him. In fact, they were complete strangers. Plus, she had a feeling the skeleton was better outside.

She opened up the firewall to let them pass. Before the Fallen exited the cave, he turned towards her.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sorry," Lena said.

He shrugged and walked out with Tolbar.

***

After the guard had chained the captive to a tree branch he deemed solid, he went back inside the barrier. The Fallen didn't utter a single word during the process since it wouldn't serve any purpose. Soon enough, hundreds of stepping sounds manifested themselves. He had to escape. Immediately.

With no time to think things through, he pulled on the chains with all his strength and hoped for the best. He didn't know what kind of wood this was, but as Tolbar deemed earlier, it was solid. The Fallen redoubled his efforts, and finally...

CRACK.

Encouraged by the sound, he tripled his efforts. Fortunately, the branch, despite its girth, yielded under the pressure. He untied the chain surrounding his body and stored it in his baggie bag, as it might come in handy one day. After two weeks of captivity, freedom was his once again.

But now wasn't the time to celebrate. A hundred undeads were approaching, some of them were already stepping out of the woods.

The Fallen climbed up the nearest tree. Hid amidst the leaves. And prayed he'd stay under the radar.

From up there, he had a clear vision of the surroundings. Skeletons poured out of the forest, in direction of the cave. They were nothing like he had fought back in the graveyard. Iron armors. Long swords. Shields. And of course in pristine condition.

Behind them was a skeleton dressed in a black wizard robe, holding a wooden staff. It shouted out orders in incomprehensible language and the undeads swarmed the cave entrance. Firewall or not they walked in, sustaining heavy damage. Inside the cave, the Fallen could hear steel clashing against steel, bones, and armors.

Time passed, and the barrier's flames gradually faded as more undead walked through. The black-clothed skeleton then shouted an order. Its soldiers momentarily halted the attack to stand aside. Their leader walked to the front.

"What is it doing?" the Fallen wondered.

The black wizard stood at the foot of the firewall and plunged its weapon into the barrier. A dark matter spread, devouring the flames. Its job done, the magic retracted into the staff and the skeletons' leader walked back to his previous position.

All hell broke loose once again when the undeads poured inside the cave, now barrier-less. Clashing sounds intensified. Human screams of pain echoed. The black wizard laughed.

The firewall gone, the Fallen could now glimpse inside the cave.

Tolbar was blocking the entrance with his tower shield, using a steeled mace wrap with flames to strike from left to right like a raging tempest.

It surprised the Fallen as he had not seen this weapon before. But judging by the bones covering the entrance, the baldy was proficient with it.

Lena was standing behind Tolbar, casting fireballs at the incoming enemies with such precision that, despite almost grazing him, the guard didn't even bat an eye.

The flames around the baldy's weapon subsided, but Lena saw it and rekindled them.

'Interesting,' the Fallen thought, 'she can temporarily imbue weapons with fire.'

Together, Lena and Tolbar formed a formidable team. The Fallen had no doubts that they could kill a hundred undead—if there were only normal undeads.

The Fallen had particularly been wary of this black-robed skeleton. It looked like a general Tolbar had talked about since it could talk.

He pondered about helping them, but why should he? They held him captive for weeks. Saving them would mean captivity once again. Moreover, he could just stay hidden and wait for the storm to pass. Finally, they were also complete strangers.

"They should have accepted my help. Too late for regrets now! Hehehe."

As he was laughing at their impending doom, an uncomfortable feeling sparked in his chest.  Didn't Lena save his life?

"No, no, no. It was their fault, to begin with. Well, maybe, just maybe I shouldn't have peeped at her."

The spark morphed into a flame, menacing to spread to his entire body. Didn't Lena showed kindness to him despite his skeleton appearance?

"Tolbar didn't. He was a real piece of sh*t!"

However, the flame paved its way to the rest of his bones. Burning, blazing, gnawing at his consciousness, expanding the discomfort to a whole new level.

"But..."

The Fallen dropped from his hiding place undetected, and stealthily walked toward the black-wizard, the flames within him subsiding with each step.

"I did make a mental note to kick his ass myself."