“Good call on the choice of tunnels.” The Gray Master called out. “He had to have circled round here right after he left to get here by now.”

  We all entered the room and saw that it had stacks of crates in places that blocked the views behind them. The necromancer was standing beside a double row of crates at the opposite end of the room. The crates made a wall of sorts, with a central walkspace through its middle right where the necromancer was standing.

  After we formed up along the wall, we could see groups of undead waiting at the left and right tunnel entrances, but they had not yet entered the room. A row of ghouls armed with spears was in front of the crates between us and the necromancer.

  “I’m surprised to see you here, young patron. But you are in time to make a decision.” He stated.

  “Do I play this out or punch out his lights?” I asked Biff.

  “Hear him out. He may reveal something we can use.”

  I spoke loudly so my voice would carry. “And what decision is that, Drogan Leech?” I called out.

  “Lord Drogan Leech!” He screamed back with emphasis on his name. He had changed suddenly from calm and in control to manic and foaming at the mouth in the blink of an eye.

  Bella, if I cast Tornado in this room and on top of the necromancer, what would the effect be? I asked.

  The splinters from all the crates, plus whatever is in them, would become projectiles at the speed of slingstones, and all of you, at this range, will likely be hit. Repeatedly. She advised.

  “My apologies, Lord Drogan Leech. What decision am I facing?” I called out.

  “Much better.” He said calmly and straightened his robe.

  “A prodigy such as you does not come along very often. We have been at odds with one another, which is often the best way to more fully understand the skills and potential of one’s opponent. In the ranks of necromancy, this is where masters often find their apprentices.”

  I had a pretty good idea where this was going.

  “Are you making me a job offer?” I asked.

  “I realize you are reluctant. I was the same way, once. It is not until you fully understand the breadth of power that necromancy and shadow magic offer that you see your true calling.”

  “I had not realized there was potential to join shadow magic with necromancy. That does open channels of power.” I stated.

  “Be ready to hit him with your most powerful spells. We get one shot at this.” I whispered.

  “It is true.” He replied, encouraged by my spoken response to him. “They are not naturally wed. Few practitioners in either will mix them as robustly as I have done. They fear mental strain and loss of self. But the key is to also open yourself to the infernal. It links the two and makes all three complete.”

  He lifted a carved piece of ivory and snapped it in two.

  And I suddenly had the feeling that we were not alone.

  But this time, it was not a good feeling.

  Gwydion, get out of there! Bella shouted in my mind.

  And before any of us could take action, a glow began in the middle of the large chamber halfway between us and the necromancer. It began as a mote of light hovering above the ground and then began to grow in intensity as it spun on some central axis. In seconds, it had grown from a point to a sphere three feet across with a fiery outline of a humanoid shape within it.

  And it continued to grow.

  “Gwydion!” Adriana shouted.

  But it was unnecessary. We all knew what was coming: an infernal beast. It was a demon of Pandemonium, the city whose portal was located somewhere across the vast Wastelands. A city of evil and fiery punishments. It was the City of the Fallen.

  My instinct was to cast the platinum ring’s banishment spell before this creature fully materialized in our realm. I focused on my staff and on the ring the Bishop made for me, and just as I began to push my will toward it, everything froze.

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  The torches that had been alight and flickering in wall sconces looked like statues. My companions were frozen in their tracks. Even the infernal was no longer expanding.

  “What’s happening?” I asked out loud.

  A voice behind me replied, “You are Between.”

  I turned around and saw the Bishop standing in the middle of the passage archway into this room.

  He shrugged, “More precisely, I have been permitted to extend my presence to you and so we are both, after a fashion, in Between.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  He tilted his head. “I guess I am permitted to answer that, but you have to understand that my interruption is only temporary, and because the enemy cheated.”

  “Cheated, how?” I asked.

  “Which question do you wish answered? You have now asked me two questions.” He said with a smile.

  “Both, preferably,” I said.

  He tilted his head back and laughed. It was so pure and real that I started laughing, too. I couldn’t help myself.

  “Of course you would.” He finally said, smiling widely. “I’ll answer both partially and fulfill the spirit of my duties. Quite literally, in fact.” He said mysteriously.

  “The Between is not a place or a time. It just exists. For pure spirits and rare mortal or immortal entities of power, it can be used to travel without movement and take actions without time.”

  I lifted my eyebrows. “That was not a terrific answer,” I said.

  “On the contrary, it was very helpful to one ready to hear the explanation. I had hoped you would be,” The Bishops replied without anger or frustration.

  He continued. “The enemy cheated by manipulating events. Something it does, often. But in a desire to head off certain possibilities that your existence is creating, it overstepped and sent a minion here that was beyond the ability of the dark servant before you to summon himself. The summoning rune stick he broke to bring it here was replaced by another one without his awareness. Hence, it cheated, and I was permitted to balance the effect.”

  “I sort of understand what you are saying,” I said.

  He smiled widely. “Good! Understanding is an important step on the path to wisdom. But what will you do next?”

  “I had planned to banish it with the SUS ring you provided me,” I stated.

  “True, that is one viable option. And I, for one, will not interfere in the exercise of your will.” He said.

  “But here we are,” I said.

  He smiled wide enough that his white teeth gleamed. “Exactly!”

  “And so, if I were to decide, of my own free will, to make another choice…” I said, leaving room open for him to finish my sentence.

  “Then I would neither take action to support your free will nor attempt to thwart it.” He replied with a mischievous grin.

  “That was not as helpful a reply as I was hoping for,” I said, a little frustrated.

  “True.” He replied and rocked himself up and down on his heels as if he was greatly enjoying this little mystery.

  I looked at my battle staff, a slowly developing sentient artifact I had constructed and that had, on occasion, helped me take rapid action with my SUS rings. “Unless I am mistaken, I don’t have any other spells in the staff that would make much of an impression on an infernal.”

  “You are not mistaken.” He replied and became less substantial. He was still there, but I could just barely see through him as if he were just an effect of the light.

  I moved a step toward him, or tried to. I realized suddenly that I was also slightly immaterial and that my body, which I had somehow exited, was a few feet behind me and I was facing the forming infernal with my staff outstretched.

  “My interactions with you are coming to a close, and nearly all permissible questions have been answered.” He replied.

  “What can I use if not my staff?” I asked, desperation leaping into my voice.

  “If only you had some object made to oppose darkness in any of its false representations.” He mused out loud to himself.

  I had potions and rings. Lots of rings. But they were no match for a demon. I had my bracers filled with diamonds, and they were good protection against evil, especially the undead. But they hardly matched the power of an infernal.

  I slapped my hand against my side and felt the rune scrawled sheath of my sword. The Sword of the Servant. And light began to get whiter and mistier around me.

  “Now you have it!” The Bishop called as if from a distance. His presence was a mere wisp of existence.

  “Is there anything else you can tell me?” I shouted, or felt that I had.

  “One important thing. You are not alone, Gwydion. You are not alone, my boy.”

  And with a snap of reality, I was back in my body, and my mind was surging to the Banishment SUS ring on my staff.

  With a surge of pure will, I stopped short of casting the spell. Instead, I walked forward toward the growing menace of fire and darkness before me.

  Steven yelled, “Gwydion, we must flee!”

  Without turning around to the journeymen who were poised for battle. I said, “Everything you have. You will know when.” And I strode up to where the demon exploded into existence. Ash and flame charred everything within a ten-foot radius of its presence.

  I stopped at the very edge of the black circle and smudged my toe across its outer edge.

  The demon snapped its attention to me.

  “You dare, little mortal, to-”

  “Yes, yes. I am sure you had an amazing entry line all worked up. Being stuck where you were, I am sure that there was plenty of time to work up some amazingly dark and foreboding monologue, but you need to leave, and I just don’t have the time to stand around listening to you gloat ineffectively.”

  The room was utterly silent. Not even the wavering flame of the torches gave off sound, just a little light and smoke.

  The silence was broken by the cackling of the necromancer. He liked my wit pointed at the infernal far more than he had when we dueled earlier.

  The infernal turned its massive horned head and snarled, “Quiet, dog. I will deal with your failures soon enough!”

  The necromancer took a step back and quieted instantly. He knew what that threat meant. Pain or death. Or pain leading to death.

  He took a second step back.

  “Stay and feel my wrath quickly, wretch, or flee, and it will be slow and so much more satisfying for me.” It said with a hiss and a growl deep in its throat.

  The necromancer stood still.

  After a pause, I said in a singsong and bored monotone, “Now that you are done intimidating the help. I bid you leave, depart, return to your domain. Thrice commanded, I compel you.”

  It turned its head back to me.

  “No power in your words compels me, little mortal.” And it showed its sharp teeth and fangs.

  “No. I did not.” I said, and I used my sword’s abilities to draw and strike in one instantaneous movement. I leapt to gain height, and my strike arced down and sliced a vertical and searing white gash down the front of its face and chest from forehead to breastbone. The blade cleaved the beast’s chin in two, where it passed through.

  It arched its back in pain and howled as the holy blade left its mark.

  “I first wanted to get your attention,” I stated.