Redwing descended into the crypt. As he passed through the catacomb section a naked man crawled out of a rectangular tomb and kicked skeletons onto the floor. It was Kulju but he was younger and looking in far better health than he normally appeared. 

"Defend me!" hissed the double as he ran into the next chamber. 

Out of every burial chamber, bones tumbled out and from each side of the room, zombie corpses rose from the dead and advanced on Redwing. He quickly counted twenty in all and moved back toward the stairwell. From the recesses of his mind, he brought up the powers from Luculentus Dicax's spellbook that would best deal with these creatures. 

"Incendiary blast!" 

From the center of the room, an explosion of flames burst forth igniting the walking corpses but it didn't stop them. The burning bodies continued to advance. The temperature of the room rose like an oven and the reeking smell of burnt flesh filled the chamber with toxic smoke. 

Redwing gestured his hand in a shoving motion and sent the burning monsters tumbling to the opposite side of the room. Some fell into the next room and the rest slammed into the back wall in a pile of melting flesh. They quickly smothered out and most of them got back up and staggered forward. 

"You make me wish I had brought Øregård." His father's words of warning echoed in his mind.

He reached in his pocket and took out a handful of three-inch-long steel obelisks. The simple elongated octahedrons were solid geometric shapes about a half-inch thick at their center and pointed on each end. He dropped them on the ground in front of him. 

"Seek and destroy, my pretties." 

The little metal spikes flew off the floor and began to rip through the smoldering undead. The first five took ruthless punctures to their heads and dropped to the floor. The spikes turned in mid-flight and tore through shoulder sockets, knees, wrists, joints, eyes, necks, and ankles. They shot in one side of a creature and out the other; ripping flesh, shattering bone, and lacerating muscles and tendons. 

When several still burning zombies returned from the next chamber they received the same immobilizing treatment. Twenty undead lay in squirming useless piles on the ground moaning in disdain. 

Redwing walked carefully through them into the next room. The little writing desk with the green lamp was turned over and partially burned. He opened his hand and the spikes flew to a soft stop and landed gently in his palm. He tucked them back into his pocket and entered Kulju's lair. 

"Master, he is here!" warned the little hunched man. 

The reborn Kulju pulled the hood of a black robe over his shaggy black hair and lifting a small crooked dagger stabbed the point into his large glowing crystal ball. For Redwing, the room grew dark and he felt a sharp pain in his side. The air was forced out of his lungs and he doubled over in pain. 

"You can't resist all my curses. The old ways always work best." 

Kulju slid the dagger around on the surface of the ball and Redwing felt as if a blade had cut him across the chest. He felt warm blood soak his shirt but couldn't see it in the darkness. The only light he could see was that of Kulju's glowing orb. 

Kulju pulled the knife away from the orb. Redwing's vision came back and he sucked in a much-needed breath. He grabbed his left side where it throbbed with pain and looked around the room. The crypt was the same as before, torch lit from the corners, Kulju stood between his chair and his crystal ball, the small table next to him was stacked with magical components and an open spellbook. He hadn't noticed the book before. The little hunched man lurked in the corner holding a black-bladed sword and did his best to stay out of sight. 

Kulju turned his twisted dagger and tapped it along the surface of the crystal ball again. Redwing felt like he was being shot with arrows. Every tap sent a sharp stabbing pain in a different part of his body. He doubled over again and screamed out in agony. Kulju stopped. 

"Now that I have your undivided attention." He tapped the globe again to prove the point. "Your complete undivided attention." He tapped it again to watch Redwing squirm. 

"I'm going to let Reginald stab you with his poison dagger and we're both going to sit here and watch you die." 

He tapped the crystal ball again. Redwing groaned in pain and he saw Kulju's eyes dart over to the book for just a moment before returning his attention to the matter at hand. The little man immerged from the shadows in the corner of the room with a devious grin on his face. 

Redwing reached forward with his hand and Kulju's book closed itself and flew across the room. He caught it, tucked it under his arms, snapped his fingers, and vanished. 

"Nooooo! Find him! He can't teleport out of here, check the other rooms!" 

Reginald ran out toward the catacomb section of the tomb. Redwing was catching his breath in the quietest way he could; invisible in the corner of the room. He would have to break his invisibility to cast another spell. 

"The hammer of the gods!" Redwing reappeared. 

Kulju stabbed his crystal ball causing Redwing to scream but it was too late. A glowing hammer of blue lightning appeared in a thunderclap directly above him and with a mighty swing fell upon his crystal ball. The shattering of which freed Redwing from the immediate stabbing pain in his back. He was still injured but he could focus again. 

Redwing lifted his left hand and a white crossbow reappeared. He fired and Kulju rose an arm in defense with a stopping force. Dicax Sid's Arrow of Righteousness couldn't be stopped by his evil force shield and the bolt pierced his hand and tore through tendons up into his arm. 

Kulju threw his dagger with his still good hand. 

"Seek."

The blade shot across the room with a trail of fire behind it. Redwing dropped the bow, it vanished, and he curled his right arm forming Sid's Shield of the Holy Warrior. 

A white light half dome surrounded him and the dagger bounced off it like it was made of rubber. The fire that followed scorched half the room but didn't harm Redwing. 

"What is this magic?" demanded Kulju. 

Redwing dropped his shield stepped forward into the smoke and said, "you need to go in the box for a little while." 

A huge iron cube materialized in the space where Kulju, his throne, and his shattered crystal ball once were. It had four-inch-thick steel bands wrapped around it and was riveted closed with no visible way to open. Thuds and muffled cries of revenge could be heard from within. 

"Best save your breath, there's only so much air inside." 

"At least I know this trick, I'd rather be bested by evil than good," said a stifled trapped voice. 

Redwing walked over to Kulju's table and dumped the contents on the floor, breaking all the glass bottles. He sat down on the table and examined Kulju's spellbook. It was metal wrapped in black leather and when he tried to open it, it wouldn't budge. 

"How do you open your book?" asked Redwing. 

"Eat shit and die!" replied the black box. 

Redwing lifted his hand and with his fingers far apart brought them closer together. The box reduced in size by 50%. Inside the total darkness of the cube, Kulju got a splitting headache from the pressure and climbed on top of his smashed throne in a squatting position. 

"Crush me if you will. I'll never tell."

Redwing looked at the book some more and at the now four-foot square box. Just then Reginald came back into the room.

"Master, he's not in the..." He stopped with his mouth hanging open at the metal box and the sorcerer sitting next to it. 

Redwing reached forward with his gripping hand and Reginald felt as if a huge beast grabbed him by the throat. The invisible hand dragged him across the room, dropping his sword on the way, and forced him to his knees before Redwing. 

"Now, Reginald, I'm only going to ask this once and I'm going to cut off a few of your fingers so you know I'm serious." 

Redwing grabbed the little man's hand, pulled out his dagger, and sliced off three of his digits. Reginald screamed in horror and was too frightened to notice that the grip around his neck loosened ever so slightly. 

"How do you open this book?"

"Death is the solution to all problems," said the little man holding his bloody hand. 

The book popped open. Redwing flipped to the first page and read aloud.

"It is man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways." He knocked on the side of the metal cube. "Well said, Kulju."

Silence was the only response. He lifted a hand and narrowed his finger shrinking the box another foot. Still silence. 

"Reginald, does he have another copy of himself somewhere around here?" 

Reginald looked side to side nervously as banging and cursing and muffled death threats erupted from the cube. 

"Where is it at, Reginald?" 

He gestured timidly out toward the catacombs. 

"Where is it really? Tell me the truth."

Reginald felt his will struggle against the magic. 

"It's in the corner, there. I'm sorry, master. I'm so sorry!" 

He fell to the floor sobbing and the pounding inside the cube stopped. Redwing walked over to a trunk in the corner of the room. There was a large latch on it. 

"Regi, I want you to come open this." 

"No, I can't. I won't."

"Reginald, I command you to open this trunk." Redwing's voice took on an ancient evil command. 

The little wounded man crossed the room and with his good hand opened the latch. A flash of dark purple light erupted from the box and Regi fell dead to the floor. The lid of the steamer trunk opened and curled inside was yet another Kulju.

"You speak the voice of command. I admit you have bested me. I submit to being your servant," said the muffled voice of Kulju from within the cube. 

Redwing rolled the fetal positioned inert body in the box on its back, took out his dagger, and sunk the tip into its heart. The body didn't react. He looked back at the cube and gestured with his free hand. The box shrunk to a one-by-one cube. Dull screams of a quick death were followed by the eyes of the body in the box opening. 

"Stop! Don't kill me! Don't take my last life! I'm your servant! I'll teach you all I know. I'll..."

Redwing shoved his blade into his heart and watched him die.