by Joe Solmo

Serius awoke on a soft, comfortable bed. He was drenched in a cool sweat, head propped up on plush pillows. It took him a minute to remember where he was. The woman in the bed with the mesmerizing red eyes…

He didn’t remember anything after that though. What had happened after he pulled back that sheer curtain? He looked on the bed next to him, the woman lay still. Her pale features so beautiful. His eyes followed the curve of her long neck down to where the sheet covered her skin. There was a lot of blood covering those sheets. It soaked right through. What happened, he wondered. Was she dead?

He pulled the sheet off of him slowly and climbed out of the bed to get a better look at the situation. His hands were clean, no blood, that was a good sign. He turned back towards the still form of the woman, such a shame, he thought. She was too good looking to die. At least she died pretty. Slowly, he pulled the sheet back further, until it was completely off the bed, exposing her naked flesh. He admired her form one more time before the realization kicked in. The woman was dead, there was no doubt in his mind now. She had a round wound in her belly, a little smaller than the size of his fist.  He tried to figure out what caused the wound, but he wasn’t sure. What he was sure of, was that the wound was the source of the blood. There was a lot of it. He wondered if there was any left in the woman. It had soaked through the mattress but it wasn’t sticky yet. It wasn’t that long ago that she died.

He pushed the curtain back on the side of the bed and stepped back. There was no sign of a struggle. He ran his hands down over his abdomen and didn’t feel any wounds. He let out a sigh of relief. At least he was fine. That made him feel so much better.

Serius looked down at the floor where he heard the blood dripping and saw that he was still as excited as when he first climbed into the bed, but with two differences. It was a lot bigger than he remembered it being and it was covered in blood, in fact it was dripping off of him. A quick check and he was relieved to find no wounds on his member. So far, so good.

 His eyes quickly returned to the hole in the woman’s abdomen. “Could I?” he started to question, but he heard voices coming from the door behind him.

Serius turned and found all the statues that were there when he entered the chamber we missing. There were small piles of gray powder in the spots they had occupied. That wasn’t the biggest surprise for the Dontu, though. Standing in the doorway to the room was his Lord, Drejnin and the companions they had accrued since arriving in this world. He looked down at his swollen blood-soaked member and then at the dead woman on the bed.

“It’s not what it looks like, I swear!” the Dontu said and gave his friends a half smile. No one moved.

 I don’t know how everyone else was feeling but I found it hard not to crack a smile, myself.

“What?” asked Serius with a look of indignation. “You have never been in a situation like this before?”

Well it might not have been how any of us had pictured it, but we found our Dontu. It paid to back track and find that hidden door. I was surprised that Drejnin wanted to go back, knowing that finding the Moon Door couldn’t be that far off. I guess he was as loyal to the Dontu as it was to him.

Hall went to check on the woman and told us indeed she was dead. No surprise there. He said she died from trauma ranging from her sexual parts and right through her abdomen. Serius claims he had no idea what happened to her, but his condition when we entered the room pretty much explained it, I think.

“I swear, my Lord,” the Dontu said to Drejnin. “I don’t remember a thing. I entered this chamber and heard her voice coming from the bed. I went over to investigate…you know for danger, like a good bodyguard would do…and then I woke up. She must have put a hex on me,” he said incredulously. “Yeah, a hex. She was a witch!”

“I believe him,” Dead-Eye said looking at the corpse on the bed. “I’d bet it’s a shame you don’t remember that,” he said nodding at the woman.

“It must have been instinct, Serius continued to explain. “I bet while she had me drugged, my body, having a mind of its own, mind you, went into defense mode. It’s the only explanation,” the Dontu finished his explanation looking back and forth between his companions.

“I can believe that some part of you had a mind of its own,” I said, adding my sarcastic two bits into the conversation. It’s my calling.

The Dontu rolled his eyes at me. “I swear it was self-defense,” he repeated.

“Regardless, you have done your Lord a favor,” Drejnin said placing a sheet over the body and thus getting all of us men to pay attention to him. “You have defeated one of the seven by yourself. I commend you,” the large Dreymorian said.

“Thanks, my Lord,” Serius said and made a rude gesture towards me, but smiled after so I knew he didn’t mean it.

“Now find your clothes. We must continue,” Drejnin said.

“Can we go to that food room? That sounded interesting,” the Dontu asked.

“It is on the way,” Jarris said.

“Yeah!” Serius cheered.

I turned towards Hall. “It’s like having a god damned kid with us, isn’t it?” I asked the medic. He looked like he heard the funniest joke in the world. I am no slouch but I didn’t think my comment warranted the expression that crossed the medic’s face.

“More than one,” he said and grabbed the wineskin from Dead-Eye’s hand. “I should get paid extra for babysitting,” he finished.

“Who said you’re getting paid?” I retorted. We all had a good laugh at that. Well maybe not Hall.

We made our way back through the cemetery, looking at the carnage we had caused to these creatures of evil. I wouldn’t say anyone of us felt compassion as we glanced over our handiwork. The night sky didn’t seem like it changed since we entered this accursed place.

When we arrived at the “food room” as Serius named it we came across a grizzly scene.

Both of the servants of the big guy were eating his corpse. They were crouched down, blood dripping from their faces. We startled them and they jumped when we entered. “Please, don’t judge us,” the nubby servant said.

“Why would you eat that when you can…” I started to say but lost the words when I realized the tables were all empty.

“Is this the food room?” Serius asked, pushing past me.

“It was supposed to be. What happened here,” I asked.

“The food here was conjured by magic. The same magic that sustained his life. Once he died the magic was gone and the food disappeared. You have to understand he didn’t let us eat, just enough to keep us going for another day. We haven’t the strength to leave here,” the servant explained.

“Well shit, I am sure we have rations here somewhere,” I said and took off the pack I was wearing.

“Leave us be!” the servant hissed as his face contorted in anger, no not anger, something else. Something primal. He transformed, his features becoming bestial. Another evil to face!

“Be gone, demon!” Jarris yelled out and pulled his sword free from its scabbard. He ran stubby through without another word. The other servant also changed. His teeth grew long and pointy, predatory. He charged us but Serius jumped in and grabbed the would-be attacker.

“What shall I do, my Lord?” he asked.

“Kill it,” Drejnin replied.

Serius twisted the foul creature’s neck and I heard the crack. I could tell by the look on Hall’s face he was fighting back the urge to throw up. It must be hard for someone who took an oath to preserve life in this line of work. Wait, did I just relate to someone? Personal growth, who knew? Time to make mamma proud.

We took a few minutes to gather our composure before heading further into the cemetery and whatever horrors we are going to find inside it. Skrat enjoyed the break, he wanted to explore some of the books that caught his eye while searching for information for us. Zeeg and Moose had me check on him every minute or so. I know what they are going through, being separated from their brother. Well not really. I mean Dead-Eye is the closest thing I have to family so I guess you could count him. But then again, we don’t get separated very often.

We have been through a lot together, even more now since Drejnin and the Dontu showed up. I looked over at my friend and wondered how much I really knew the guy. I had no idea about his father until he told me the other day. We have worked together for years now and I never once asked him about family.

It is kind of weird to think all this time I looked down on him for being a drunk and lazy piece of crap and maybe I was the piece of crap all along.  That was a sobering thought, and not just because I haven’t had a drop to drink in a while, either. This path of thoughts was going to ruin my pride at the personal growth. Time to change the subject.

I looked over my companions, one at a time as they sat there, deep in thought. I watched the dwarf, Weebly who I haven’t given much attention to at all except in insults, sit there holding something small in his hand, with a sad look on his face. I got up with a groan from the stone floor and made my way over to him.

“Weebly, what do you have there?” I asked as I sat down next to him. The dwarf looked up at me with eyes that looked not just sad but tired. He held out his hand to show me the small woodcut. It showed a female and some smaller dwarves. I guessed they were his children.

“It’s my family. The wife, Burina and the wee ones, Jacen and Musoni,” he said and then flinched. At first, I didn’t know why, but then I realized he was waiting for me to make fun of him for calling his children wee ones. Was I that much of a monster?

I handed the woodcutting back to the dwarf. “Nice family,” I said. I hope that was the appropriate response. I have zero experience dealing with this kind of thing.

“Thank ye,” he said with a nod and put it back into a pocket on his shirt under his leather armor. One point for me.

“You know we are friends, right?” I asked him.  The dwarf looked me over for a moment before he let out a sigh.

“Are we?” he asked.

“Yeah, I have your back, if you have mine. That’s what friends do. We all here are friends,” I said.

“Good to hear, lad. Let us lay this evil to rest together,” he said. I was taken back a little about his drive. I didn’t remember him ever being vocal and vanquishing evil. Maybe I just didn’t pay attention enough to those around me. Once again, my eyes went from companion to companion and my mind still wondered if I knew any of them.

“Hey Marsh,” Hall called out. I turned towards him.

“What is it?” I asked.

“What’s the next evil we have to face?” Hall asked as he tucked away some small vial into his worn canvas pack.

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