Jeva was looking sorrowfully at Shrodac, "It was supposed to be so beautiful, but I never got to see it before the Haverdash got to it."


    Rumberal told her, "But you can see it after we drive them out. The gas, the vines, the sickness and decay, we''ll drive it out with them. Dismount, everyone; we can''t protect the horses in there, and we want to push together."


    The nominees went forth, and the soldiers waited. A mass of Haverdash could be seen forming on the city’s edge, curious as to why seven individuals were approaching alone, but ready to fight.


    “There are lowly and powerful Haverdash, same as us,” Rumberal said, “Be ready for the real fight when we breach the gates, but take this one seriously.”


    Hanyr lifted his bow, “No point in waiting, is there?”


    “No, no there isn’t.” Rumberal tapped Hanyr''s bow, "Start us off."


    Hanyr loosed an arrow that streaked across the field to pierce through a Haverdash and his shield, fracturing from the impact and spraying the Haverdash behind him with enough deadly force to kill a dozen. Their intentions were made clear: these seven wanted to take on the Haverdash alone.


    Some Haverdash scattered to get weapons, others were satisfied with the tools they had in hand. Andal was reminded of when he was with Salvador, attacked by Haverdash with tools, but he knew the result here would be different.


    Andal raised armor on the nominees, then made a beam of light to stun the Haverdash. Instead of letting it strike a single target, he held it, turning to stun the whole front line as he shouted with determination. Then he dropped swords of light rapidly to kill the stunned.


    "Very nice, Andal!" Rumberal shouted, then he touched Nalia''s sword to strengthen it, "Jeva, Hanyr, let''s try that move!"


    Hanyr picked up a rope off of his belt,looping it around Nalia under her arms with one swift motion. Jeva put her hands on Nalia''s back, "Ready?"


    "Ready, Jeva!"


    A gust of wind erupted from Jeva''s hands, pushing Nalia forward. She swung her sword repeatedly in wide arcs, the cuts her sword made in the air staying where they were made, but thanks to Rumberal, duplicating and extending. Jeva continued to focus a strong wind on Nalia''s back while Hanyr swung her around, giving her a big semi-circular path.


    Then Jeva stepped forward and used a new spell, wind that originated away from her and blew toward her, pulling the surprised Haverdash into Nalia''s cuts and severing them apart.


    Jeva and Hanyr hollered in celebration, and Andal gawked, "You got like forty of them at once! That was awesome!"


    Nalia pulled the rope off, rubbing her sides where it has been especially tight, "Yea, I don''t know if we''ll do that again. It worked well though."


    Grendala tossed a handful of dust in the air in front of Andal, "Keep acting!"


    With a burst of wind, he sent the dust streaming around the outer city. The gas it passed through was neutralized in seconds, becoming brown like a cloud of dust, and gradually settling.


    The Haverdash, who had at first been frustrated at the strength of the nominees, finally and suddenly realized that this attack might take back the city.


    *


    Lars sat on a snowy cliff over the Tubarai city Nalzfarn. His soldiers behind him egged him on, "We''re ready, let''s move!"


    "Quiet!" He barked, "I''m seeing something…"


    In the winds cutting through the frosty air he could see a continuance of his first vision. The figure who his massless particles were shared with stood in the open sky off the cliff side, and the other figure that the first person’s particles were being shared with was there beside them. Until now he couldn''t discern anything about them, except occasionally how close they felt, but now he could clearly see that the first figure was a man, and the second figure was a woman. He couldn''t make out their clothing or faces, but they were right there, if only he could see through the frosty air a little more clearly…


    A Haverdash complained, "What are we waiting for? They don''t know we''re here!"


    Another echoed, "Yea, let''s go down there!" They took a step forward.


    Lars shouted back at them, having seen the one advance, "Freeze!"


    The chill of the air and snow flooded into them, making them like ice sculptures. Silent, above all things.


    Lars focused again on the vision in front of him. He''d first seen this part of the vision several days ago and for some reason felt more connected to those two than ever. He''d been thinking about it ever since, and now he felt like the answer was right in front of him. "Show me your faces…" he whispered. Then the vision disappeared.


    Lars jumped to his feet, searching the sky for a sign of the vision, but seeing nothing. He screamed in frustration. The Haverdash were unfrozen, and instead filled with a burning anger in the likeness of how Lars felt. "Wipe them out!" Lars cried, jumping off the cliff to come crashing down on Nalzfarn.


    *


    Before the nominees reached the gate, it was thrown open from the inside. A Haverdash stood in the opening with hunched posture and closed eyes. The nominees were suddenly lifted off of the ground, and they continued to rise as if gravity had left them.


    Hanyr scoffed, "Now what''s that supposed to do?" He quickly loosed an arrow, with a lower than normal angle since he expected it to rise as well. The arrow streamed across the ground, but angled upward to hit the Haverdash through his lower jaw and lift him four feet in the air before he and the nominees came crashing down to earth.


    Rumberal exclaimed, "We''re in! Scatter the defenders!"


    Grendala threw up another handful of powder for Andal to spread, then she pointed out a Haverdash on the walls, "Get that one! He''s special!"


    Andal made a shield behind him, and Jeva released two quick fireballs. The Haverdash shifted into a hairless, beast-like form, and wailed. The first fireball knocked him back into the shield and silenced him, the second one finished him off.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Jeva gave Grendala two thumbs up, "Good call!"


    "Fairies can see when the Haverdash start changing things, I''ll keep pointing them out!"


    Rumberal strengthened his mace and knocked away all the Haverdash who had filled the gate, and the nominees rushed in.


    Until now they''d only seen arrows coming from the Haverdash, but they''d cleared enough of the gas for the army to get in range, and arrows finally flew over the walls to assault the Haverdash.


    Grendala looked about frantically, "We should back up!"


    Rumberal shouted that down, "No! Advance and drive them out!"


    A wave of cold rushed over them, making it hard to move. Darkness followed next, then the weapons of the Haverdash around them glowed with a sinister light. The nominees tried to move their feet, but found themselves caught in a bog. That bog began to boil, burning their legs as the rest of their bodies froze.


    Hanyr called into the darkness, "Grendala? Grendala! What is this?"


    "There''s too many Haverdash hallucinating, we can''t handle this!"


    Andal yelled over them, "Nalia, use your illusion!"


    Rumberal shrieked as a Haverdash drove its glowing spear into him, and a whip with crescent blades wrapped itself around Jeva.


    The world turned silver, each surface dimly reflecting all others. The hallucinations of the Haverdash were wiped away, and Nalia moved through the ground like a dolphin in a pool of water. her sword arced out of the ground like a springing trap, killing the Haverdash who were next to them first.


    Grendala started pointing out those that had been making the strong hallucinations, letting them target the proper Haverdash efficiently. The Haverdash were confused, not only because their surroundings had suddenly and utterly changed, but because of the internal change that happened in them because their hallucinated perceptions of themselves were wiped away.


    Andal rushed to Jeva first, despite Rumberal needing healing more. Jeva protested, but only once she''d been fully healed (which took seconds, since her wounds were superficial) did he move on to heal Rumberal.


    As soon as he had the strength to, Rumberal put a shield barrier up, and empowered the group''s armor. He lifted his mace by the head and handed it to Hanyr, "I can''t empower your hands, give us some space with this."


    Hanyr nodded, taking the mace and driving back the Haverdash who had been trying to keep the pressure up.


    Jeva hugged Nalia, "Thank you! Goodness, that was close."


    "You''re welcome, Jeva."


    Nalia didn''t sound that genuine, so Jeva pulled back and looked closely at her face, "What''s wrong? What happened?"


    "When I went up in that tower to kill one of the stronger Haverdash I could see the other side of Shrodac. The Haverdash are fighting on two more fronts right now."


    "Oh!" Jeva threw her hands up, "Well that''s great! Right? Why don''t you look happy?"


    Rumberal popped himself up to a sitting position, being mostly healed. "Who else is fighting them?"


    "Human slaves have grabbed tools and started fighting-"


    That''s wonderful! They still had hope!" Andal exclaimed.


    "-but they''re being slaughtered. They''re too sick and weak, they''re just a distraction."


    Rumberal got to his feet, finally strong enough to stand, "Then we won''t let it be in vain, we need to push forward, and engage the brunt of the Haverdash! Where''s Vicid?"


    Grendala said, "I was wondering the same thing. I haven''t seen him since before we passed the walls."


    Hanyr pointed toward the center of town, "He went ahead. You all saw when he fought that hundred by the trees, he can teleport to where people die. He''s been going from place to place this whole time. You notice how few Haverdash are coming to fight us? I bet he''s why."


    "But also!" Nalia interrupted, "There''s the other way the Haverdash are being attacked! There are giant corpses, big enough to climb over the walls, fighting them on the other side of Shrodac


    "What?" Rumberal looked at Grendala, "Did you do that?"


    She sneered, "I didn''t make them, if that''s what you mean. My curse probably brought them here, but they were close. I warned you of this before, old things, dead things, from the belly of the earth, drawn by the scent of death."


    Rumberal took his mace back from Hanyr, "We''ll deal with them when we get to them, hopefully they and the Haverdash kill each other. No more hesitation, let''s move!"


    *


    They pushed to the center of Shrodac, sending any human slaves they met to flee north, the way the nominees had come. The army had cleared the outer city on the northern side and was cleaning up behind the nominees, but the fight wasn''t won yet. The Haverdash had regrouped to the city center, which was once a gorgeous park with fountains and gardens.


    A wave of hallucinogenic effects wiped over the buildings opposite them, and the nominees knew that this was no small force grouped together. Jeva asked Nalia, "If it gets to be too much for us, can you make everything silver again?"


    She shook her head, "No, I won''t be able to do that for days."


    Hanyr shouted in surprise, "Vicid! There you are!"


    Vicid was standing by the cracked base of a large fountain, looking toward the Haverdash. He looked back, "You''re here?"


    Rumberal went towards him, "Yes, we made it. You''ve been doing well, but we can face them together now."


    "Get out," Vicid said, "You have ten seconds."


    Rumberal paused in confusion, but Hanyr didn''t hesitate. He grabbed Rumberal and pulled him back, pushing the other nominees and yelling for them to get back as he ushered them.


    Ten seconds passed, and the bodies of Haverdash Vicid had killed in the area in front of them suddenly rose out of the earth and levitated in the air. Black cords formed between them, showing a pattern in where each of them were killed, and the outer border was a large rectangle with the dimensions of a grave.


    Everything within that grave, Haverdash, buildings, even the air, became dark and heavy looking. Then it began to sink, falling beneath the earth without disturbing any soil.


    Grendala grabbed Tifiliti off of her shoulder and hid him in her dress while she spouted frustrated curses. She grabbed the vine in her pocket that grew off of death and threw it away from her, saving the pocket from being torn as the vine rapidly expanded and planted roots into the ground. "Keep backing off, and hold your breath! This much death energy would make a Haverdash sick!"


    When the black cords finally dissipated, there was nothing left over the ground where that massive grave had been. Air rushed in to fill the vacuum, creating a booming sound like an explosion. More than half Haverdash force that had grouped up there had been caught in the grave, but even those that hadn''t, like the buildings and plants nearby, saw the effects of decay.


    The nominees came back slowly, and Rumberal came to stand beside Vicid. He looked over the empty space in front of him, eyes wide. Then he spoke, “Well done, Vicid.” Vicid gave Rumberal a surprised look, and Rumberal gave him a curt nod. “Alright, forward everybody! Clear what’s left here and the city should be ours!”


    *


    The nominees stood by the defunct giant corpses as the advisors caught up to them. The gas had been cleared from the air, and the Haverdash purged. Shrodac was truly free; the first of many.


    Elder Brunstrog ran in and started hugging them one by one, even Grendala and Vicid, “Haha! You savage, tough, warriors! You heroes of the age! There will be music about you! Bards, sure, but more importantly, pub songs!”


    Wanrod and Tharrow caught up, and they began shaking hands with the nominees. Tharrow looked more proud, but Wanrod was ecstatic, “You did it! This is huge. This was a big gamble, and it paid off massively! We’re going to get way more backup now, oh this is great!” He finally looked at the enormous corpse in front of them, somehow not noticing it until then, “What’s this?”


    Rumberal answered, “30 foot tall corpse, was attacking the Haverdash from the South while we attacked from the North. We counted nine of them. Judging by all the lacerations, it took a lot to bring it down.”


    Wanrod turned to Nalia, “What about you? What is this?”


    She looked annoyed, “I don’t have anything to add.”


    Jeva exaggerated a blink, “Why does it seem like you’re lying?”


    Wanrod told her, “Nalia’s one of those tree-dwellers in those big forests up north. They were here before humans, they have lots of history.”


    Jeva exclaimed, “You’re not human?”


    “And unlike Grendala, she never was.”


    Nalia insisted, “I don’t have anything to add, don’t ask me about it.”


    Seeing that Nalia was uncomfortable, Andal interrupted,“We have to find out where they came from. Grendala’s curse may have brought them here, but they had to be nearby anyway. We haven’t truly freed Shrodac if the Haverdash are gone, but they keep getting attacked by these things.”


    Tharrow disagreed, “Not today you aren’t. That can happen later. You all look awful, I don’t know if you realize that. You’re exhausted, dirty, and you need to take a few days of rest, which you will start now.”


    Wanrod clapped, “Absolutely right, and thankfully, we are in Shrodac! Fire up those bathhouses!”