Tired Of Death

Harold's elite SES squad rushed forwards, Wilbur, his wizard, began chanting, and Harold himself raised his own black blade and strode into the fray. The necromancer raised a finger and began a spell.

"It's an old fashioned head to head!" screamed Percy, and kicked one of Harold's men in the groin with his robot leg, sending the warrior flying into the man behind him.

"Delicious!" said Cuthbert, biting into the neck of another warrior and pulling back, his mouth full of meat, spraying blood everywhere.

Tybalt stood in front of Frumble and the witches in an attempt to fend off Harold, who smiled. The magic users began to cast spells in an attempt to counter the necromancer and Wilbur. Emerald screamed and danced backwards, trying to hide behind a chair which the seer was already crouching behind.

A fireball flew overhead and was met with a counter charm, forcing it off course so it hit the ceiling in a bright explosion of flame.

Dreth stood in front of the Overlord. They eyed each other warily. 

"You know what happened last time I fought someone with a devil blade?" asked Dreth. He ducked as a black ball of fog the size of a man's head erupted from the necromancer. The spell flew past his ear, bounced off a far wall and headed for Emerald, who screamed as it enveloped her.

"I think I have the upper hand this time," said the Overlord. He swung his blade, and Dreth countered with Darkblood, which cried in rage. 

The two swords met with an explosion of blue sparks, and Dreth winced at the blow. 

"Not so confident now eh?" 

Another attack drove him backwards as the Overlord swung horizontally. He countered with a lunge of his own, but his foe blocked, the two black blades scraping together with howls of pain.

A blast of purple light stabbed forth from Wilbur, to be counted by a yellow ball of energy from Frumble. 

"ONCE MORE I'M FORCED INTO THIS WORLD TO DEFEND MY INTERESTS!"

The voice echoed around the room, making all within wince. Dreth glanced backwards quickly, to see Emerald, eyes glowing red, hanging in the air.

"WHO DARES?" She swivelled around to face the necromancer, who stepped back a pace. 

"I didn't mean…" the dark wizard started.

"NEVERTHELESS…" Emerald opened her mouth, impossibly wide, and a black beam of energy shot across the room, striking the necromancer, who raised a palm to defend himself against the demonic attack. 

Dreth saw no more as the Overlord was upon him once again, taking advantage of the distraction to press forth a renewed assault, hammering away with his powerful blade, forcing Dreth to defend himself with his own weapon, which screamed ever louder under the blows.

As he ducked another attack Dreth saw Cuthbert take a blow to his arm from one of Harold's men, who promptly went down as Sprat attached himself to the man's leg.

Spells flew about, deflecting each other as the magic users blasted away, trying to overcome the other's defences 

Dreth whirled in the midst of it all, ducking, diving, dodging as he tried every trick he knew to fend of the Overlord's assault. Still his enemy advanced.

There was a brief cry as something finally penetrated Wilbur's wards. The wizard literally blew up, splattering blood and gristle over the surviving combatants. 

A moment later one of the witches screamed. Dreth didn't see what happened, he was too busy trying to avoid getting gutted as the Overlord pushed him steadily backwards. A wind had blown up from nowhere, and was enveloping them in the middle of a miniature typhoon. Darkblood was glowing a dull red and m.o.a.ning in agony as the other sword beat upon it mercilessly. 

There was another explosion, a cry of pain and a dull thump, but now Dreth didn't dare even glance about. The Overlord's attacks were coming faster, his devil blade trailing silver sparks as it crashed against his own, which howled louder and louder. He no longer attempted to attack, concentrating on simply surviving.

"Now we shall see who deserves to rule!" The Overlords' form had shifted. His skin was red, and small horns protruded from the scaly forehead. The comb-over hadn't quite gone though, which spoiled the effect a little. 

A detonation from somewhere near the necromancer shook the room and brought down chunks of rock from the ceiling. Dreth stumbled, and the Overlord nicked his arm, sending waved of pain through his body. The enemy blade laughed, and silver runes glowed upon the surface. Darkblood, by comparison, was howling and hot to the touch.

Dreth tried to step back further, only to find his way was blocked by wall.

"So, now we finish this!" The Overlord hissed, a forked tongue fl.i.c.k.i.n.g between thin black lips. He redoubled his speed, forcing Dreth down onto one knee as he attempted to defend a flurry of blows.

Finally, as a result of an enormous sidewise sweep, Darkblood was smashed from his hands, flying across the room to embed itself in the stone of the far wall. The Overlord loomed over him, raising his weapon high over his head.

"Hey Reginald!" Dreth said, as he cowered on the floor.

"What?" hissed the Overlord, ready for the death stroke. 

"Remember this?" Dreth pulled something from his robes. The Overlord's eyes' widened. 

"No!" The sword came down.

Dreth spoke fast.

~ * ~

"I can't feel my legs!" 

Cuthbert bent over his friend as Percy writhed on the floor. "Don't worry!" he said in a reassuring tone.

"But I can't feel my legs!!"

"Here! Here they are, right next to you." Cuthbert pointed.

"Am I going to die?" Percy looked up at his friend from where he was lying on the floor.

The zombie shook his head slowly. "That's not very likely."

"Oh, thank Dreg."

"…because you're dead already."

"Is he going to be alright?" Dreth staggered over to the two.

"He's a zombie, barely un-alive," said Cuthbert. "We can rebuild him, we have the necromancy."

"Yes, what happened to the dark necromancer anyway?" asked Dreth. He looked around. 

The room was a battlefield, literally. Bodies lay strewn about. Magical blast and burn marks peppered the walls, counterpointed with a liberal spattering of blood. 

Emerald was crying as she knelt over the body of Tybalt, who had finally been cut down by Harold. The king himself was locked in a death grip with the tall thin witch, who had evidently cast some kind of fatal spell on him even as she had been killed. Belladonna, the sole surviving witch, stood over their bodies, scratching her nose. 

Sprat was taking a light snack from one of the dead men, and the seer was bandaging Frumble's side. 

There was no sign of the Extremely Dark Necromancer.

"What about the Overlord?" asked Cuthbert. "What did you do? Last I saw, you were being handed your a.s.s on a plate."

Dreth smiled and held something up. 

"What's that?" asked the zombie.

"Remember the dungeon?"

"How could I forget it?" Cuthbert sounded bitter.

"Well, what did we finally get at the end?"

Cuthbert frowned. "The… treasure? The treasure! The wand! The wishing wand!" 

Dreth nodded, waving the now depleted stick about. "It turned out to be useful after all."

"What… what did you do to him?" asked Percy. The zombie was in a bad way. At some point in the battle he'd been cut, literally, in half from the waist down. He was lying on the floor, cuddling his lower limbs.

Dreth looked around. According to the ex-Overlord, this was all his. He had some catching up to do.

Smiling, Dreth placed the wand back in his robes. 

"Justice," he said.

 ~ * Epilogue * ~

Seth the Sneaky hacked at the last creature, cleaving it in two easily.

"Take that!" he gasped in triumph, leaning on his sword and trying to recapture his breath. All around him the remains of zombies lay scattered about. The rest had shown unusual sense for undead and fled. 

As he straightened up he considered that he'd been lucky really. The slab that had dropped down behind him, separating him from the rest of the party, could have crushed him. Instead all he'd had to deal with was a group of zombies. Easy prey for him.

Picking his torch up from where he'd dropped it, and keeping his sword unsheathed, he stalked down the narrow passage, which was constructed with the same smooth, dark stone as it had been since they'd entered the dungeon. 

Taking care to scan the dark stone floor for traps as he went, Seth slid along, holding his torch high to illuminate the way. At some point, he was sure, there would be another exit, and he'd be able to find the route back to the others. There hadn't been anything in the dungeon so far that had been really challenging, almost a disappointment really, considering its reputation. 

He stopped. Ahead, blocking his way, was an ancient door, the wood almost black with age. To his left there was another one, almost identical in style, but a little newer perhaps. 

"Which way?" he mused, checking the portals for signs of booby traps. Nothing was evident and, on a whim, he turned left and pushed at the door carefully.

It swung open with a suitable creak, and he stuck his head into the chamber beyond and looked around.

There wasn't much to see. A mid-sized room constructed of black stone blocks with two doorways leading out. To the right was a large white chair. He squinted and held the torch up higher. The chair was made up of bones. 

"Classy," he said, stepping further in.

"Welcome to your death mortal!"

Swinging round, Seth brought up his sword and dropped the torch at the same time, leaving his other hand free to pull forth a long dagger.

Standing in front of him was a large, red-skinned humanoid. Small horns protruded from his head, and red eyes stared out at him above a grinning mouth full of sharp teeth. 

"You'll not defeat me beast!" He lunged at the thing with his sword.

It skipped to one side easily, moving far faster than he'd ever seen anything do before, and grabbed his arm, yanking him forward. 

Stabbing at the beast with his dagger, Seth tried to recover his position, but it pulled him close and encircled him with its arms, which felt as if they were made of iron.

Foul breath washed over Seth as the creature came face to face with him.

"Welcome to my lair!" it hissed. "You are honoured!"

"H…honoured?" Seth gasped, struggling for breath as it squeezed.

"Indeed! For you are the first of my victims! Yet not the last." With a loud laugh it lunge forward and Seth felt an agonizing pain as those sharp teeth ripped into the side of his neck, tearing his flesh away.

Blood spurted and his vision started to fade. He throat clogged with liquid and his body shuddered. 

"Nnnn…" he gurgled.

"Oh, but yessss!" it replied, blood dripping down its chin. "Reginald shall feed!"

So saying, it opened its mouth impossibly wide and bit down on his face.

Everything went black.