Thousands of us suddenly appeared in the center of Amcerlizar's home base in the midst of a swirling snowstorm. There was just the briefest moment of stunned silence before everything devolved into utter chaos. 

Amcerlizar's legion of minions was waiting and ready when my army (and the Paladin army) materialized right in front of them. They were, after all, assigned to guard the Summoning Pedestal into Amcerlizar's camp and had been told to expect such intruders. Each corpse had most likely been standing there for months or even years without so much as twitching,  just waiting for the threat that had finally come. One of the many benefits of an undead army is eternal, unwavering vigilance. As soon as we all appeared on the stone, every minion lifted his weapon and advanced forward through the snow drifts. Like the Academy, Amcerlizar's headquarters was far in the frozen north to make things more difficult for any Paladin army to approach.

I did have a few surprises for them, however. Immediately upon arrival, I sent a wave of fire coursing through Amcerlizar's camp that billowed around my own skeletons and the Paladin army, leaving them completely untouched. But it knocked apart the first few ranks of Amcerlizar's army and torched those minions that still had some flesh on their old bones. Not to mention setting every tent and structure in the camp on fire, sending plumes of dark smoke billowing into the overcast grey sky. Additionally, the Summoning Pedestal that I'd created was a far sight larger than Amcerlizar's, which caused about half of my army and half of the Paladin army to overshoot the mark. There's a good reason that most Summoning Pedestals are the same size: because you never know what objects are around your destination. Some of my minions materialized sticking halfway out of rocks, walls... really anywhere.  I even saw one of my skeletons spliced together with one of Amcerlizar's, all just one big jumble of ribs and limbs jutting out everywhere. It was an inconvenience for my own soldiers, but a tragedy for the Paladins who weren't so easily able to keep on fighting with a scraggly pine trunk through the chest. 

But those soldiers who did appear outside the Stone (and made the trip in one piece) set about causing immediate chaos. The Paladins may not be geniuses, but they sure do know how to kill the undead. Golden-clad soldiers quickly gathered into squads and began mowing their way through Amcerlizar's army. My own minions weren't nearly as effective, but I didn't need them to be: each time one fell, I could instantly bring him back. And every victim of either group soon became an addition to my own forces. My own ranks were swollen after just a few minutes of fighting.

"Very clever, Necromancer," General Fleiros commented. "I suppose that was your plan all along."

I nodded. "As I said, General: I'm here to kill Amcerlizar. I have no quarrel with the Paladins. And once this is all done, I have an interesting proposition for you."

He gave a heavy sigh and received a sword from another Paladin. "Very well. I'll have to put off killing you for now until we resolve this...." he surveyed the battlefield with annoyance, "... little situation."

Without even waiting for orders, his men had established a perimeter and a Cleric-staffed healing station. I caught just a glimpse of poor Bess wrenching an axe from a man's shoulder and re-attaching his arm with a blanket of turquoise light emanating from her fingertips.

"Minions!" I shouted. Each of my soldiers stopped whatever they were doing (even some mid-swing of their weapons) and waited for orders. "You are now under the command of General Fleiros. Do exactly what he commands you."

A chorus of voices erupted throughout the battlefield: "YES MASTER!"

The Paladin general seemed both amused and disgusted at his new reinforcements. "Errr... carry on, I suppose." All of the skeletons went back to hacking away at Amcerlizar's army. 

"Well," I told the General, "I leave this all in your capable hands. We'll chat once I've killed Amcerlizar." Behind me, Mog gave a satisfied grumble and reached for the axe strapped to his back. "Come on, buddy."

We stepped through the line of sword-wielding Paladins, who were starting to tire of slicing through wave after wave after wave of Amcerlizar's mindless minions. To give them a slight reprieve, I sent a storm of Ruby lightning coursing through Amcerlizar's lines and turned a hundred of his minions to dust.  They weren't usable to me anymore, but the shocked expressions on the faces of the Paladins was certainly worth it.

Mog and I wandered the camp as the battle spread. The memory of this time was just a blur for me: the acrid smell of smoke and blood... the clanging of steel, the clacking of bones, and the screaming of wounded Paladins... the chilling wind biting through my robes, and everywhere the bleached white bones of both my and Amcerlizar's armies mixed in with the golden-clad Paladins. I didn't know how much time passed, how many demons and undead soldiers we killed with a quick blast from the Ruby, or how long Mog and I wandered in search of our quarry, but at long last we finally found him.

Amcerlizar stood on a grand balcony carved into a cliff face overlooking the entire camp. Just for a moment, I wondered how many countless hours his minions had spent carving away the rocks to build such a grand monument to his own hubris; part of me was shocked to not find a massive statue of him in the center of camp. 

He was surveying the battle and conferring with some of his generals as they frantically tried to understand what was happening and where the Paladins had come from. For the first time in who knows how long, the cocky smirk had been wiped off of his face. He seemed nervous, pacing to and fro just trying to figure out just what in twelve hells was going on. In his hand, the Dragonheart emitted a glow so deeply purple that it was nearly black. 

"AMCERLIZAR!" I shouted up to him. My voice was barely audible over the din of the battle and the howling wind, so I don't think he heard me. But a scarlet lightning bolt followed, striking him right in the chest. Of course, whatever artifact was protecting him negated the Ruby's power, but it worked to get the bastard's attention. 

He looked over the balcony's bannister; I noticed that each supporting beam was carved to look like a skeleton holding it in place. Amcerlizar didn't seem to have a response at first, and even the battle in the background seemed to grow quiet. "You?" he shouted down.

I nodded. "Me." He couldn't hear my voice, but my expression was enough to make my intentions clear. I was here to make him regret everything he'd done.

The smug tone came instantly back into his voice. "So you managed to live?" I nodded back, and next to me, Mog tightened his grip on his axe. "Well, it looks like that little girlfriend of yours is gone. At least the Golems didn't fail entirely." Before I could think of a response, Mog unleashed a ferocious howl and swung his axe through the air. I had to use the power of the Ruby to hold him back from scaling the cliff face after Amcerlizar right then and there. If there were traps and protective runes anywhere in the camp, they'd be there. And I wasn't going to lose him the same careless way that I'd lost Skip.

Amcerlizar looked back out over the destruction behind us. "This is all you? I knew you were working with the Paladins!"

I didn't care enough to correct him. I didn't really care what he thought of me anymore. "Come down here so I can kill you." Behind me, Mog roared his own challenge in his native ogre tongue; the only word I could pick out was 'Skip.'

He glared at us both. On the balcony, his lieutenants watched, whispered to one another, and waited to see his reaction. I hadn't exactly planned to publicly humiliate him, but I was certainly happy that it was happening. There was no way for him to refuse without being exposed as the coward he was for his little group of sycophants. Far off in the distance, a brilliant flash of white light came from the direction of Paladin lines, causing Amcerlizar to snarl and slam a fist onto the railing. "Fine," he answered. He disappeared inside and emerged from the grand doorway a moment later wearing enchanted armor made from pure ice and still carrying the Dragonheart, now glowing bright red. "You're going to regret coming here," he growled at me.

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I'm really not sure if I like this chapter at all. I want to convey the scene of chaos in Amcerlizar's camp and Winston and Mog's determination. I'm really not sure if it came through entirely. In the movie Children Of Men, there's this one scene (here: https://vimeo.com/92383943, and spoilers if you haven't seen it) where it's all in one take. And it follows the main characters as they search through this warzone for the child with all of this violence around them. That's the kind of atmosphere I wanted to have with Winston and Mog searching through the camp for Amcerlizar.  I think part of what this needs is a more clear description of the setting and the environment, but I can't really think of natural ways to work that in. I'll probably change this section pretty drastically in the final version, but here it is for now. Let me know what you think!