"We''ve returned," gasped Reckless. She let go of Urt''s hands and staggered back.

    "From where?" asked Horace.

    "Didn''t you miss us?" Urt asked. "We were visiting the home of the gods! Well, Ombibubs''s house anyway."

    "Ondeus," corrected Reckless.

    "Really? When did this happen?" asked Reginald.

    "Just now!" Urt insisted.

    Reginald looked at Samantha, who made a face and shrugged.

    "It''s true!" Urt said.

    "If you say so," the were-sheep said. He looked at Bon, who was still dead. "I thought you were going to wake this chap up?"

    "But the gods..." Urt said. Reckless put a hand on his arm and shook her head.

    "Never mind," she said. "Now, come on." She indicated the body of her friend.

    Sighing, Urt rolled his sleeves up. "Fine," he said. Fishing the Lexicon out of his robes, he flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for. After a few minutes of mumbling to himself, and with Reckless frowning at him, he stepped forward to the body of Bon, who had been laid out on the ground.

    Taking a deep breath, he raised his hands, and, as Reginald and Samantha took several steps back, he started the incantation.

    Returning a soul to a body, and ensuring that the body was restored and alive enough to accept the soul was, Urt happened to know, one of the hardest spells there was. It required a vast amount of energy just to pull the soul back from the afterlife, and that was ?ssuming it hadn''t gone too far. Then there was the matter of healing the body, which wasn''t quite as hard, being roughly along the same lines as raising an undead, but still not all that easy. Finally there was the merging of the two, and the use of enough power to, essentially, kick start the whole affair and ensure it lasted long enough for everything to turn on and start functioning again on its own.

    His Words grew louder as he progressed, and a cold breeze sprang up, coming from a direction that wasn''t earthly. Moans and shrieks could be heard, right on the edge of his hearing, and the sky darkened as clouds gathered over them with frighting speed.

    Urt began to sweat as he reached out with his senses and searched for Bon''s soul. He gritted his teeth as the pleas of the dead surrounded him, begging him to let them return to the warmth and comfort of life.

    Ignoring them, he pushed on, deeper into the spirit realm, following an almost invisible trail. A swarm of spirits pounced on him, and he nearly fell. Heat began to drain from his body as the dead su?k?d at his life force. "Dreg''s balls," he ?r??n?d trying to push on. He could feel his strength leaving him...

    And then there was someone else there, supporting him, replenishing his energy. Refreshed, he pushed back at the dead, scattering them, and in a surge of power, finally located the soul he was after. Dragging it back, he returned to the world of the living, and thrust Bon''s soul back into his corpse.

    Panting hard, sweat dripping from his brow, Urt finished off the incantation, refreshing the body and pulling it back to life.

    Finally, with one enormous burst of energy, he thrust both hands out and said the final Word.

    Then he collapsed.

    ~ * ~

    Redthorne stopped with his spook halfway to his mouth and gasped.

    "What is it?" Prudence asked, looking up from her own meal. Whatever else she was frugal in, Redthorne had discovered, it wasn''t food. Her plate was piled high with meat and vegetables.

    "It''s Urt, he''s... I don''t know. Changed somehow."

    "How do you know?" asked the paladin, stuffing a chicken leg into her mouth and stripping it to the bone in one clean action.

    The small group were resting in an inn for the night, Redthorne having enough of camping under the stars for the moment. Yu Sod had eaten already, he b?r?ly ate anything as far as the wizard could tell, and had gone off to do whatever he did, leaving the two of them to dine.

    "I put a spell on him when he was a babe," Redthorne replied, distractedly. "It means I can sense his whereabouts, at least to a point, and major changes, like if he was badly injured or died even."

    "So, he''s injured or dead then?"

    "Don''t look so hopeful," the mage admonished. "No, he''s changed in some manner that I can''t tell. He seemed to vanish for a moment, and then..." He trailed off and shrugged. "I can''t explain it."

    "So he''s still alive then. Our mission to rid the world of evil goes on," Prudence said, almost triumphantly. She bit down on a potato hard, perhaps symbolically.

    "Yes, it goes on," Redthorne said. He looked at his soup. "I suddenly don''t feel hungry. I think I''ll make a night of it. We should be off early in the morning."

    "May the Lady bless you," said Prudence as he stood up.

    "Aye," said Redthorne, "may she bless us all."

    For once he was totally sincere.

    "Look who''s awake then!"

    Horace''s cracked tones woke Urt, who ?r??n?d and put a hand to his head, which was throbbing.

    "What happened?" he asked.

    "My Lord Mage, I wish to thank you," said another, unfamiliar, voice.

    Urt opened his eyes and looked around. He was back at their campsite, laying on his cloak. Next to him was Horace, grinning like, well, like a horrifying undead head. And kneeling beside him, looking a lot more colourful than that last time Urt had seen him, was Reckless''s friend.

    "Think nothing of it," Urt said, sitting up slowly. "I don''t think I had much choice in the matter. What''s going on?"

    "We''re going to go back to Groan apparently." Samantha, noticing he was awake, strode over to him. As usual, her presence seemed to both stimulate Urt and take his breath away.

    "Are we now?" he asked, struggling to his feet. "Who made that decision then?"

    "The Lady Nothing decided it would be a good place to regroup," Bon said.

    "Did she now? I think I need to have a word with my sister about who''s in charge here." He looked around, spotting Reckless. He located her a little way away, talking to Reginald, who looked like he wanted to run away but was too scared about what would happen if he did.

    Striding over, Urt rescued his friend. "Sister," he said. "What''s this I hear about you making plans without consulting me?"

    Reckless turned to him and smiled, which allowed Reginald to beat a hasty retreat. "Well, brother dear," she replied. "After I rescued you from the spirit realm, I thought someone should be at the helm whilst you napped. Where were you intending to go next anyway? I suspect you don''t wish to go back to Banesville, or this small place you came from before, Buthut?"

    "Mudrut," Urt corrected her. He scowled because, frankly, he wasn''t sure where he had to go next. The devil blade linked to this woman he had to kill apparently, but he had to cast a spell to link the two. After a little research in the Lexicon, he''d discovered that, whilst usually it would have been fairly straightforward to cast such a spell, the fact that the blade was highly magical would make things a lot harder.

    "So then?" Reckless gave a gentle smile. "How about you visit my little home for a while?"

    Urt gritted his teeth. Somehow the suggestion rankled, and yet it was probably about the best option for the moment, it would allow him time to research and plan. And he could use a rest.

    "Fine," he said. "But I''m in charge of this group alright?"

    "Wouldn''t dream of contradiction you," she smiled back. Somehow, Urt didn''t believe her.

    "How do you manage to end up living in a castle anyway?" Urt asked, as they started walking towards their horses.

    "Our parents sent me away when I was young, they said it was for my own protection. They even changed my appearance to make me look human." She indicated her ears.

    "Our parents!" Urt stopped. "I''ve... I''ve never even seen them! I didn''t consider..."

    "Never fear dear brother, they aren''t going anyway, ?ssuming we can stop the end of the world of course. We elves live a long time. I''ll take you to visit them sometime."

    "Wow." Urt shook his head. A lot had changed in a short time, and he''d not had time to process it all. A sister, being an elf, parents, not to mention the whole saviour of the world deal. Maybe some time at Reckless''s castle wasn''t a bad idea.

    "Are you coming then?" Reginald asked. He was already mounted on his stolen horse. Urt noticed that they''d gained a couple of new mounts, no doubt recovered strays that had survived the battle here.

    Taking a deep breath, he nodded. "Let''s go then," he said, and strode forward.

    It was time to face his destiny.

    END OF BOOK 1. - Please read the Author''s thought below!