Spaulder flew high over the Wyldes, ducking in and out between the clouds as we rushed to the marshlands.

My stomach sank with anxiety the more we flew to the possible conflict. Would Bara Khalja be there? In an ancient battlefield, what dark magics could he reach out to? The horror of what he did in the valley in the battle where he nearly decimated the Autumn court still haunted me, and I couldn't imagine what else he was capable of.

I grabbed my tunic over the pendant from Thain, holding tight to the stone through the fabric. Whatever we found here, whatever I had to do to protect my loved ones, I would do it. Even if that meant trying to drain more of Bara Khalja's horrors of their life magic. Even if whatever ill effects I had before were amplified tenfold.

Bryn was enough, I would not lose more today.

'Mm. We approach.' Spaulder's words sounded in my head and I peered below. The clouds thinned and from what I could see we were indeed over a brown and dreary marsh. 

'What can you sense?' Schula asked.

Spaulder was silent as he flew on. He dipped a bit lower, not quite breaking the cloud line but coming close as the tips of his long black wings scattered thin trails as we went.

Unease shuttered through me as I felt the shudder of the Wyldes below. Something was off, very off.

'There are powerful things here,' Spaulder said. 'And shades of long ago death.'

My face was strained as I peered down into what I could see below. It seemed so still, the waters and grasses of the silent marsh went undisturbed even by the breath of wind in the unclaimed Wyldes. Whatever lay beneath the glassy surface that Spaulder could feel, would Bara Khalja be able to sense it too? Or perhaps he was already down there somewhere.

It didn't matter. We were supposed to be here to observe, but if something happened we may have to intervene anyway.

I looked down at my open palm, bringing forward a small flicker of fire. First orange, the color of the element itself. Then I let the orange die in my hand as I called forth a purple flame. I stared at the flame licking my hand. I had combined them before. We fought Bara Khalja and I had them entwined without even really knowing it until after it had happened.

I stared at my palm, willing the orange flames to come forth and combine once again. It didn't work. The purple went out as the orange surfaced. I tried again, only to go back to purple.

With a sigh I dropped my hand. There was no other way, I would have to try to take the life magic out of Bara Khalja or whatever monstrosities he animated with it.

I could only pray I would be enough.

'What are you doing?' Schula asked.

I smiled weakly, shaking my head. 'Just anxious.'

She stared at me for a long moment. Her tattered red clothes no better than my own at this point. Tired, stressed, I saw Schula for what she was. With all the love I had for her in my heart, it ached to see her in this state. What her childhood was like, what she had endured to find peace in Thanantholl, and now she was caught in a war that partially blamed her for no reason beyond her birth. The sad expression on her face was reflected back at her from my own eyes.

This would end, I would make sure of it, and I would find hippieness for my triquetram.

'There, below,' Spaulder said.

Schula and I both turned our attention below as Spaulder lowered our altitude.

The marshlands would be a miserable place to cross on foot, but there was an entire army struggling to do so. I looked down in horror at the procession wading through thigh-deep water, only to climb out into the grasses for a brief reprieve before wading through the water again. Stretching for so very far into the distance.

"What?" Schula hissed out, her hands holding tight to the scaled ridges on Spaulder's back. A hint of ice splintered around her fingertips in anger.

'There are so many of them.' I reached out to cover Schula's hand with my own.

Spaulder moved, shifting from his straight path over the marshlands to a lazy circle that would keep us over the head of the marching army. My eyes scanned the bodies, but even with my elven sight I couldn't see where Bara Khalja might be.

'At this rate he could be at the lost city in a day or two,' Schula said.

'Only if he has discerned the correct location,' Spaulder added. 'It is as our allies said, he searches for it and yet has not found it.'

'That's...true,' Schula added. 'So we just leave him here?'

'We're only supposed to be gathering information,' I said, balling my fists in my lap.

'Wait,' Spaulder interrupted. 'I see the warlock.'

My mouth went dry as I scanned the lands below with fervor.

Where? Where was he?

My eyes swept over the figures near the front until I found him. Mostly the ghostly bone armor and paint was what made him stand out. He didn't ride his horse this time, if the beast was even still alive or risen or whatever was keeping it on its feet. Something told me that even a beast like that couldn't make its way through the marshes without great strife.

Bara Khalja had paused, standing on a grassy knoll surrounded by muddy water. He could have been doing anything as he raised his hands, fingers splayed out in front of him. He could have been chanting magic words or humming for a ritual. What was clear, was that he was up to something, and the rippling of the waters around him were evidence that I was not going to like what I was about to see.

'We have to get down there,' I said, my stomach twisting in knots.

'What about observing?' Schula asked.

'Do we have a choice?' I asked back. 'He's gathering power to do...something. Something big.'

'You can feel it?' Schula paused, staring down below.

Spaulder jerked suddenly, his movements erratic as he bucked in the air. A force that knocked the breath from my lungs pulled at me, sucking me right into the air off Spaulder's side.

"Wren!" Schula's voice cracked as she nearly lunged after me, but Spaulder had regained himself and was twisting in the air to dive in my direction.

I glanced down, my heart hammering as I locked eyes on Bara Khalja. Whatever he was doing before was done, and he was now watching the skies. Watching us. With one outstretched arm aimed at me, I knew what made me fall from Spaulder's back.

Around Bara Khalja the waters moved in a volatile dance. It nearly looked as though it was boiling, but I saw what caused the movements only a heartbeat later. From the depths of the marshes, bodies rose.

Somewhat preserved with tight skin and empty eyes. Many had injuries or missing limbs. These were...bodies. Bodies resting in the marshes from a long ago battle, according to Nassir. And now they rose once again at the hands of the necromancer.

Terror gripped my heart. Not only was I falling from the skies, Bara Khalja was building his army even further as he dredged through the marshes on his way to the lost elven city. Bones, he was doing nothing more than collecting bones for his pile as he went.

Down I fell, the wind whipping my clothes and my braid, tearing at me as I rushed downward. The roar above me thundered through the air as Spaulder shook the heavens in his wrath.

I did what I could to twist my body around to see him. I barely managed to twist myself halfway around when the great black dragon slid his wing beneath me at the last second, cushioning my fall.

The impact was still terrible, and I was bounced on the leathery black wing and flung into the murky waters of the marsh.

I choked, panic nearly overtaking me as I relived my near-drowning from Silver lake. My lungs didn't have any air in them when I went into the water as it was, and they burned as I pushed myself out of it.

I could see Spaulder and a white form out of the corner of my eye, but that wasn't what had my focus. Just a stone's throw in front of me was Bara Khalja, a wicked smile on his face and he was surrounded by his puppeted bodies.

No. No. None of this was right. It wasn't supposed to be like this. We were supposed to battle the warlock at the lost elven city! 

There we had plans, there we were ready, but here we had nothing. 

Thain, Nassir, Teyber, the scouts. This was wrong, it was all wrong.

I lurched to my feet, grasping at the grasses and reeds to pull myself out of the horrid waters. Even now I could see more disturbing, writhing bodies or at least parts of them under the surface.

What had I landed on? Who's ancient rest had my impact disturbed?

Bile rose in my throat, burning it as I clawed onto the muddy but reasonably solid land closest to me. On my hands and knees, I threw up before I could stand.

"Wren!" Schula's scream cracked as she scrambled over to me, shoving ice onto the ground to firm it up beneath us. She reached me about when I managed to steady myself on the land and the ensuing collision of her body to mine, wrapping her arms around me, nearly tumbled us both back into the muddy waters.

Spaulder roared, a fierce challenge as he pulled himself onto his feet. Giant wingbeats rushed air over the water, pushing at Bara Khalja and his legion.

His legion. That's what it was. An endless sight of things that would not flee in fear, that would not be cut down but by the deadliest of blows, that would not falter at the warlock's command.

I stood my ground next to Schula who had already begun forming ice at her fingertips. I held out my palms, one blazing to life with orange fire, the other with a smoldering purple. Spaulder just a short ways behind us.

And we faced an entire field of enemies alone.

Or at least we thought we were alone, until we heard the horns.