Halo crouched in a narrow cleft of rock, hidden behind a column which loomed over a dark, damp room at the bottom of a dark, damp dungeon. Hey, that was some good alliteration, she thought. I should work that into the song I’m writing for Blayze. I can already hear the notes on my sitar. The gray-and-brown-mottled wanderer idly composed the tune in her head to distract herself from the danger below her.
The good news was that she had found the object of her quest. Zarina von Mau, niece of Monarch Threnody von Mau, was here and alive. Probably. Her distinctive white fur with the black spot over the eye stood out even in the flickering torchlight as the noble lay insensate on a slab of rough-hewn metal. Halo thought she could see Zarina’s chest moving slightly, but it could have been the flickering of the green flames.
Slightly less good news: A pawful of zombies shuffled around Zarina. Their heads of molting flesh turned to and fro, as if looking around to find any intruders, but even in the dim light Halo could see their eyes were missing. Some bleak, blind bodies in the dark, damp dungeon.
Officially in the “bad news” column, however, was the mancer. He wore the traditional black robes of his profession, but the strange symbols stitched into its fabric seemed to bend and twist in the sickly light. Hung next to him was a large skeleton of some feline beast with two oversized fangs. The cultist murmured chants that Halo couldn’t understand, but they seemed to bypass meaning, sending chills directly to her spine. She distracted herself with more nonsense alliteration: The mysterious, malevolent mancer with the bleak, blind bodies in the dark, damp dungeon.
The chant came to a crescendo, and Halo noticed a thick, oily smoke pouring out of the feline skull of the skeleton. It didn’t expand into the room like normal smoke, but instead oozed into the room and towards Zarina’s face.
Time to go to work, Halo.
She jumped down from her perch, and the zombies turned, their eyeless sockets staring at her. “Stand down,” she growled to the undead minions, “or I will send you onto your next lives.”
The cultist spun to look at Halo. “You are too late!” he screamed, his paws thrust into the air to continue directing the unnatural smoke. “My mystical might has already corrupted this feeble noble. Soon all of House Mau will succumb to the will of Smilodon!”
Halo smirked. “’Mystic might’. That’s a good one.”
“What?”
As the bemused mancer stood dumbfounded by her non-sequitur, the wanderer leapt into motion. Her powerful legs shot her over the head of the nearest zombie, who kept staring ahead as if she hadn’t moved. Tucking into a ball, she rolled through the air before landing on her feet before the mage, one paw touching the cold stone to steady her landing.
Before the cultist could move to note her changed position, however, Halo spun in her stance, her foot glowing blue by the time it reached the mancer’s face. She felt as well as heard the loud crack of it impacting his skull, and she could see tendrils of ice start to form in the cultist’s fur. He fell to the ground with a thump as he landed on his tail.
“Seize her!” he snarled, pointing to Halo. The zombies turned to grab Halo, but she was still in motion. Her spinning kick had brought her in front of Zarina, who was spluttering from the viscous smoke that had entered her mouth and nostrils. Using the momentum of her spin she slashed at the ropes that were keeping Zarina bound. Grabbing one end, the severed rope slithered off the noble’s fur and wrapped around one of the zombie’s heads. Halo pulled on the end, and the captured zombie stumbled into its neighbor, sending both rattling to the ground.
Halo finished her spin and grabbed Zarina. Pulling the cat over her shoulder, she said, “Time for us to go, I think” and broke into a run, dodging around the moldering undead. Her speed and grace allowed her to temporarily run up the cavern wall for a moment, just long enough to reach the column she had hidden behind. On her back, Zarina moved, as if trying to wriggle free of Halo’s grasp.
Halo didn’t have a chance to see Zarina open her eyes. Her mysterious, malevolent, dark, damp eyes.
