Andal made a flurry of light-swords to stream at Moxey, running forward to engage him at the same time the light-swords would hit.


    Moxey stepped to where only one would hit him, and tossed the metal rod forward. It oriented itself in front of the sword, acting as an impenetrable wall. Moxey ran forward to meet Andal, plucking the metal rod out of the air as the sword of light it was blocking disappeared. Andal started a cut at Moxey''s neck, forming a shell of light around himself. Moxey let go of the rod, a grin on his face, stretching his opposite hand towards Andal''s face.


    Then they suddenly smashed together, Andal being blown forward by Jeva. Moxey''s rod shot up behind Andal, where he would have been, and Andal''s arm with his sword went over Moxey''s shoulder. Since Andal was shielded and armored, his head smashing against Moxey''s broke his nose.


    Both were caught off guard, but Moxey reacted first. The rod returned, shooting at Andal''s back, but Jeva yanked Andal to the side with another gust of wind and shot a fireball at Moxey. The rod spun, dissipating the fireball, then returned to Moxey''s hand.


    Andal expressed his frustration at her, "What was that? You made me miss!"


    She formed her starry field around Andal, making the metal rod veer off target and hit the wall. "You''re not paying attention, we beat Manier by thinking, didn''t we? This guy''s manipulative, we have to fight him the same way!"


    Moxey touched the blood that was coming out of his nose, looking at Jeva with contempt. "I see, I had the wrong impression of this fight." He took a large swig of wine, then caught the rod. It pulled him through the air toward Jeva, then he raised his feet and jumped off the wall towards her while letting the rod fly behind him and block a sword of light that Andal had flung.


    The little house lifted up and started floating towards Jeva, and something pulled her arm up towards it. The way the house was moving was strange, it had tilted forward when it lifted, and it wasn''t moving smoothly. It was as if something unseen was carrying it. Jeva gasped in realization, raising her arms and yelling the magic word out loud in exertion, "Sacheis!"


    She sent a wave of fire in every direction hitting Moxey and anything else nearby. Just as she''d thought, several dead fairies became suddenly visible as their burnt bodies dropped to the ground.


    Moxey wasn''t blown away though, he stopped his backward movement with the metal rod. When the fire ceased he dropped and caught the house, unfazed by the initial blast or how his skin continued to burn. When he dropped the rod went over his shoulder and hit Jeva in the stomach, piercing through to the other side. While she was in shock, he grabbed her hand and made her open the little door on the house. She disappeared. Moxey caught his rod and spun, blocking Andal''s sword.


    Andal cried out in grief, "Jeva! Jeva!"


    "She can''t hear you where she is now. Now go on, rage against me!"


    Andal dropped his shield and gripped his sword with both hands, continually making swords of light as he swung fiercely at Moxey.


    The metal rod moved swiftly and accurately, blocking each sword of light as it drew near. Moxey backed out of reach of Andal''s first swing, sidestepped his second swing, and caught his wrists on the third. Andal tried to yank his arms away, but couldn''t break Moxey''s grip. He was too focused on trying to get control of his arms back, and stopped making swords of light, so the metal rod wasn''t preoccupied with defense anymore.


    Andal barely raised a shield in front of his face before the rod hit him, but it changed direction to slip around his shield immediately. He raised another, and another, fixated on stopping the rod from hitting him, and not trusting the shell of light alone to defend him because of how confidently Moxey seemed to be attacking it.


    Then Moxey yanked on one of Andal''s arms, pulling him close. Moxey had his bottle of wine in his right hand, and Andal''s mouth was open from breathing hard.


    He smashed the bottle in the shell of light over Andal''s mouth, but while the glass was deflected, the wine went right through. Andal froze in terrified anticipation of what was about to happen to him. Moxey picked him up and leaped forward, ramming Andal''s neck against the table and holding his head against it while he waited for the wine to do the job. And waited.


    A full minute passed of both of them wondering when it was going to happen. Andal was afraid, yes, but it was fear of what the wine was going to do, not from the wine itself. Moxey forced Andal''s mouth open and looked inside, confirming that the wine had got in his mouth.


    Andal was the first to realize that he could be fighting at this moment. His sword was still in hand, so he cut at the nearest part of Moxey''s body, his thigh. He lifted slightly then struck with a draw cut, pulling the whole length of the blade through the muscle.


    Moxey leaped away using his other leg, grasping the wound. Looking down, he could tell it was bad. If he didn''t finish this fight quickly, he would probably bleed out.


    Andal got to his feet, finally having a gleam of confidence. Moxey''s look was just confusion. He asked Andal, "I can see that surprised you too. If you can, please tell me, why aren''t you dead?"


    Since he was just as confused, and possibly because he was caught off guard by Moxey saying "please," Andal answered. "I truly don''t know. I can only guess that Nishir saved me."


    Moxey rolled his eyes at that suggestion, and came to the only possible conclusion he thought he could, that Andal had even more willpower than Lars. "Young templar, what''s your name?"


    "Why? Want to know the name of the one who is bringing you to justice?"


    "We don''t have to fight."


    Andal''s eyes went wide, "What? You killed my family, then the templars, both as I was running away! You think I''m going to stop now, just when I''ve got a good hit in?"


    "You have a lot of potential, which shouldn''t be wasted. Willpower like I''ve never seen. I could help you make use of it, show you a world beyond your world. You, could be a Haverdash like no other, a glorious Haverdash."


    Andal couldn''t process that statement at first, but he saw that Moxey was serious. He still couldn''t process it, but at least he knew how to react. "What?! You… that… you''re dumb."


    Moxey cocked an eyebrow, but Andal wasn''t going to talk anymore. He ran toward Moxey, making a couple swords of light to occupy the metal rod.


    "Don''t make me fight you! I can make you stronger!"A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Andal ignored him, stabbing at his good leg.


    Moxey snarled, "Fine!" He knocked the sword away with the back of his hand, not flinching from the cut, and grabbed Andal''s chin with his other hand. He turned and slammed Andal against the wall, then grabbed the pommel of Andal''s sword with his cut hand and wrenched it away to clatter on the ground.


    Andal made a sword of light in his hand to use, but Moxey pinned both his arms against the wall, then spit in his eyes with saliva that felt like burning venom. The metal rod whistled through the air, but Andal couldn''t tell from what direction. Then it stopped.


    Andal blinked furiously and shook his head, and was able to force an eye open. The rod was suspended a foot in front of his face, and Moxey was looking at him with deep concern.


    Moxey asked again, "Last chance, work with me?"


    Andal made a burst of air that knocked Moxey back into a sword of light Andal made behind him that pierced his heart.


    Moxey fell to the ground, dead at last. Andal wiped the saliva off his face and ran to his sword, raising it above Moxey''s neck, and dropping it like an executioner to cut off Moxey''s head.


    He ran to the little house and opened the door.


    *


    Andal found himself in a one room house of sorts, which was totally on fire. Jeva was unconscious on the ground, bleeding out, and fleshy tentacles with teeth coming up from in between the floorboards were sizzling beside her. There was a melting eye on a candlestick where the fire would be, and the whole room was reverberating with an alien moan of pain.


    Andal made a burst of air to clear the fire away from Jeva, and started healing her immediately rather than wasting precious time moving her. She''d lost a lot of blood, and barely had a pulse, but Andal was able to keep it from fading.


    After a couple of minutes the fire had started to die off. The fleshly portions of the house had enough moisture to put it out, and whatever creature it was had died. Andal, however, was still struggling with healing Jeva. He hadn''t been able to strengthen her pulse, doing more to maintain her life than actually heal her wounds. It was always more difficult to heal an injury the later the response, and the severity of this injury coupled with how he had been delayed fighting Moxey meant he couldn''t just wipe it away like he had with many of their injuries before.


    He tried to put more effort into the healing, but the technique requires more finesse than willpower. When he healed over a distance while fighting Manier, then effort was a major component, but not so here. Try as he might, Jeva''s condition wasn''t improving.


    A fear crept over him that he would lose his closest friend, like he had lost his family and the templars years ago, and he began to weep. "Don''t die, Jeva. Please don''t die. Don''t die, Jeva!"


    He heard a tenor voice with a slight buzz in it, "Keep going, you''re doing great. That''ll work soon enough!" Andal looked up at a broken window and saw a shirtless man with a cow skull on his head looking through. He looked a little sickly, but also nimble. He continued, "Everything comes to life here sooner or later. If you let her die, her body will come back to life at some point, but it wouldn''t be the same person. If she stays at the brink of death, proper life will find its way to her soon enough."


    Andal focused on healing with a newfound, and weird, hope. "What is this place? Do you live here?"


    "This is the Edezar, or just Edezar, and yes we do."


    "''We''?"


    He raised his hand and spoke in a different voice, "Don''t tell me you didn''t notice me here?"


    The buzzing voice spoke to the normal voice, "No, silly, he didn''t realize I was the one talking."


    "Oh, right. Hello, I''m Noric. I''m the human. This is-" he pointed at the cow skull on his head, "-Heffer. He came alive in Edezar, just like everything else that spends much time here."


    Andal just focused on continuing to heal Jeva, finding that much easier to make sense of than a talking cow skull. Then Jeva lurched up with a big gasp, alive and well! Her wound was gone, and there was color in her skin.


    Heffer told Andal, “See, what did I tell you? That didn’t take long at all.”


    Andal wrapped his arms around Jeva, weeping again. "Jeva, I''m so glad you''re still alive! Thank goodness. I thought I was going to lose my best friend again."


    Jeva hugged him back, "Aww, it''s okay! I''m completely fine. Thank you for saving me!"


    Noric started clapping, and Heffer made a little "woo hoo!" sound.


    Jeva looked up at them, "Oh, hello. I''m Jeva.”


    "Noric,"


    "and Heffer."


    She looked to Andal for an explanation, since it just seemed like the cow skull had spoken.


    Andal nodded, "Heffer is the skull. Everything comes to life here it seems. You too, I couldn''t have saved you if it weren''t for that."


    "Wow, okay. Hi Heffer!"


    "Hello again."


    Andal got up, "Can you stand?"Jeva hopped up, "Yep, right as rain!"


    "Great, we should get back to Tiermac and tell everyone what happened."


    Andal went to open the door, but Jeva stopped him, "What about Moxey? Is he still on the other side?"


    Andal beamed, "His dead body is, yea."


    "You got him?" She exclaimed."


    "Sure did. That was a long time coming, and much deserved."


    Noric butted in, "Excuse me, did you say, you killed Moxey?"


    They both looked at him in surprise, and Andal asked, "You know who Moxey is?"


    "I was a soldier in Tubarai before the Haverdash invaded, Moxey spent a long time governing the city where I was a slave!"


    "We know Tubarai," Jeva told him, "What city was it?"


    "Mavozshidog. We thought we were invincible, being in that snowy fortress and having such an overabundance of defenders, but Moxey has this champion that he orders around that just ruined us. Oh boy, I can''t believe you killed him! You''ve done a good thing you know."


    Andal nodded, "I know. He''d ruined my life a couple of times, he was pure evil. Now the world is a little better for everyone.” He looked around the room, “Noric, or Heffer, did you see someone pass through here before us? We were supposed to be protecting him.”


    Heffer sighed. Noric told them, “Eaten for sure. That’s what these houses do if you don’t know how to evade them, they eat people who dawdle.” He held one of his legs into the window, revealing a nub where his foot would be.


    Andal would have been disappointed, but he was still just glad Jeva was alive. He nodded, understanding of the situation, “We had better be going, you''re welcome to come! It''ll be Donfas on the other side of this door though."


    Andal opened the door, revealing the same grassy plain you could see through the window on the other side. He closed the door and opened it again, which didn''t make a difference. He looked at Noric and Heffer, "Why isn''t it working?"


    Heffer told him, "Jeva killed the meadanim, so there''s no connection to the other world now. You''ll have to find another meadanim if you want to get back, but of course, it won''t be tied to the same spot."


    "But we have to get back! Can you help us find another Meadanim?"


    "Sure we can, right Noric?"


    "Of course, I''d be happy to help fight the Haverdash again. We''d be able to spot one a lot better than you, due to their camouflage and all. Follow me you lovebirds! We''ll get you out of here!"


    Heffer interrupted, "Wait, you can''t just assume that, that''s rude! Are you two lovebirds or just friends?"


    Andal and Jeva looked at each other, and Andal said, "Uh, we''ve never really discussed it."


    Noric told Heffer, "Ah, so I wasn''t wrong or right, I was ''to be determined.''"


    "I guess so, you got pretty lucky there. Anyway, off we go!"


    Andal went through the doorway and around the corner to follow them, but Jeva climbed through the window. She asked, "Where are we going? Is there a spot where meadanim congregate?"


    "Meadanim don''t move at all," Heffer answered, "We''ve just got to wander until we find one, while avoiding the most dangerous places. Also, a lot of weird stuff is going to happen while we walk, so be prepared to do as I say at a moment’s notice. Noric and I work so well together because I know my business, and he has legs. You all have legs, so you all can rely on me to know my business too."


    “What is that?” Jeva pointed in the distance, “Is that a flying slug?”


    “You’re gosh darn right that’s a flying slug, the best slug in the universe. We can only look at him from this distance, but when he’s above you, you know you’re safe.”


    Andal remarked, “He’s so far away, but he doesn’t look that small. He must be enormous.”


    A strange wind blew over them, and even stranger still was that they could see exactly where it was blowing. It blew from every direction, spinning when it reached the central point and congregating into a dark mass.


    Jeva looked at Noric in concern, "Hey, is that a tornado?"


    "I''m not sure, we should move though!"


    They started running away, but then a voice came out of the dark mass, "Andal, Jeva! Wait!" It was a heavy voice, with a disturbing clarity to it that came from it not echoing at all.


    They stopped, and Noric asked Heffer, "What''s this? We run from this?"


    "I''m not sure, I haven''t seen this before."


    The dark mass took the shape of a humanoid sillhouette, and the wind ceased. Bugs flew and crawled in from every direction, being fascinated with the dark form but unable to touch it.


    It spoke again, "Moxey is still alive, he''s here in the dreamscape!"