Clerical Errors

Wearing a blue sweater over a blue t-shirt with black skirt and bike shorts underneath it and a new pair of white tennis shoes on her feet, Victoria was heading back to the Haunted Guild. She brought a backpack full of food and water because she would be operating so far away from civilization. Maybe coming back to Haunted Guild so soon after recovering from her torture at the hands of the Corlones was a bad idea.

Victoria had been hired by the Order of Lightbringers to find and retrieve a young female cleric who had foolishly rushed off to the Haunted Guild by herself to try and purify the place. Victoria could have told her that going in alone was a mistake. Her adventure with Haruyuki and Zhuu told her that traveling with a partner was a prudent idea.

Victoria found the one-eyed militia member from last last time standing just outside the guild hall. They were bathed in moonlight and armed for bear. He also had nine other militia members with them.

"Hey there kid, back for another tour of the place?" The one-eyed man asked jokingly.

"You could say that. The Order of Lightbringers sent me to rescue one of their clerics. A young female. Have you seen her?" Victoria asked the one-eyed man wearing armor.

"Yeah. She went inside the guild a few hours ago. She was talking about how she was going to prove the other clerics wrong about her, about how wrong they were to believe that she only got into the order because her mother was a famous cleric who was high on the totem pole." The man answered in the affirmative. Victoria sighed. This was going to be a long night.

"Thanks Mister. How's it going with the militia?" Victoria asked the man.

"It's going pretty good, kid. We picked up eight new recruits a week ago. We kept them all alive through training, so our little militia's growing. The Cursed Lands aren't getting any safer, though. Werewolves have been on the hunt lately... merchant caravans have been getting hit hard." He commented. Victoria did not press the issue. She had not run into any werewolves yet, so she had no reference to compare it to. One of the female militiamen signaled that it was time to go.

"Well kid, we'd best be getting back to the camp before it gets too late. Good luck finding that cleric girl!" He called out. Victoria waved to him before he and his men began the trip back to their camp. She watched them walk out of sight, then turned to the guild hall door. Her own trip was just beginning. She would have to go back into the guild hall, but this time she did not have Haruyuki and Zhuu to help out.

Victoria took a deep breath, opened the door, and walked into the deserted place.

-Inside the Haunted Guild Hall-

Victoria shut the door behind her and looked around. The place looked as decayed as it was during her first job here. Victoria heard screaming nearby. She brought out her shotgun and waited. Moments later a brown-haired girl in a white hat and black-and-gold clothing burst through the side door and fell onto the floor.

She looked up and saw Victoria. She screamed and scrambled into the corner near the bookshelf. Victoria put away her shotgun and talked to her.

"Hey, are you from the Order of Lightbringers?" Victoria asked the girl. She nodded fearfully. The mage produced the job notice and handed it to the girl. She read it and looked up at the Sabertooth member. The brunette jumped up and hugged Victoria.

"Sorry about that. I'm Serena. Serena Anderson. I'm a cleric in the Order of Lightbringers!" She cheerfully introduced herself to a surprised Victoria. The mage was wary. There was no way that the job could be this easy.

[Word Count: 650]
[Total Word Count: 650/7,000]

Serena Anderson's Appearance:

"OK, I found you. Now let's get outta here." Victoria said to Serena. Serena looked dejectedly at the floor. The mage sighed. Of course it would not be that easy. There was no such thing as a free lunch.

"What is it?" Victoria asked the young cleric.

"Ummm... I left my book and staff downstairs. I dropped them when I ran away. I... I got scared by some noises." Serena admitted sheepishly. Victoria sighed again. She had a good idea of what was coming next.

"Could you..." Serena started before Victoria interrupted.

"Help you get back the book and staff? Sure. I'll help." Victoria said to the youth. Serena gratefully hugged her. Victoria gently eased the enthusiastic girl off of her and turned her attention to the side door. She had not gone that way during the mission to find and kill the necromancer. This was going to be an interesting trip.

-Through the side door-

Victoria had her shotgun ready as she and Serena walked down a short and dimly lit corridor that led to a descending staircase. She did not know if any of the necromancer's experiments were still active. It was possible that some of them were still active and were waiting in vain for instructions from their creator. The pair had to be ready for anything. "Everything" included the necromancer himself coming back for a second attempt to kill Victoria and draw the ethernano from her corpse.

"It's so creepy here." Serena commented.

"Why did you come here by yourself?" Victoria asked.

"I came here because I was tired of the other clerics talking trash about me. They said that I was only accepted because my mom was a high-ranking cleric and the order wanted to curry favor with her. They also said that I was using my connections to get one-on-one training with the order's best clerics." Serena explained in a pouting tone of voice. Victoria was not sure what to make of that motive.

"I wanted to purify this place by myself to prove them all wrong, but it's beyond my power. I shouldn't have come here. Now they'll make fun of me even more!" Serena lamented. Victoria was listening to the girl's complaints about being disrespected and could partially identify with them. The mage had been talked down to and treated like trash because she did not know who her parents were and because she was a poor street kid. Now Victoria had been a member of two respected Legal Guilds and was building a reputation as a fairly respected mage and a hero of Rose Garden.

"It'll be OK, Serena. You made a mistake. But that's not the end of the world. Let's get your book and staff back. Then we'll get outta here." Victoria tried to comfort the cleric. The pair came to a halt in front of the stairs. It was impossible to see down them due to the darkness, so they would just have to go down to see what was waiting for them at the bottom.

"Ready?" Victoria asked her companion.

"Yeah." Serena affirmed.

"OK, I'll lead the way." Victoria said before carefully starting down the sturdy wooden stairs. It was dark. Victoria should really look into buying a flashlight to secure to her shotgun with duct tape.

[Word Count: 550]
[Total Word Count: 1,200/7,000]

-Down the stairs-

Victoria and Serena shuddered in the cold as the pair walked to the bottom of the stairs. The pair heard low shuffling noises coming from the darkness. They were not alone down here. Victoria had forgotten to bring out her flashlight while she was upstairs.

"Do you have a light?" Victoria whispered a question.

"Hang on, Victoria. I've got this!" Serena asserted in a whisper. She raised a hand and whispered an incantation. A tennis ball-sized golden orb hovered above the pair, lighting the darkness up to fifty meters in front of them. What the pair saw did not comfort them.

"Oh dear." Serena muttered in understatement. There were large bloodstains on the concrete floor, including a few long bloody streaks that looked like a body had been dragged down the hall. Victoria did not like the look of this basement. Something told her that she should just grab Serena and get the hell out of this forsaken place. However, the cleric needed to find her book and her staff before they could leave.

The brunettes walked slowly down the hallway, listening for the shuffling sounds from earlier. They saw that they were walking past metal doors with bars on the windows. A few of them boasted dried bloodstains that looked like blood had leaked from inside the cells onto the front of the door. This was some Grade-A Malevolent Tenant stuff. Why did Serena think it was a good idea to enter this place by herself?

Something that looked like a golden staff with a giant golden cross on it gleamed in the light lying next to a metal door. Serena clapped her hands over her mouth to stifle a gasp. Victoria was quick to notice the gesture. Either that was a very good sign or a very bad sign. Serena ran over to the object, the light following her as she ran.

Victoria walked briskly to keep up... she did not want to be alone in the dark. Even after helping kill the necromancer who had called it home, the guild hall still felt... evil. It felt like nothing could exorcise the place of the evil that had accumulated over its long and dark history.

"I found my staff!" Serena triumphantly whispered while clutching the item. Victoria was relieved. Now they needed to find her book and get out of here. The shuffling noises sounded again; this time they sounded fairly close. Victoria did not like how close the sounds were.

"Where do you think you dropped your book?" Victoria whispered a question.

"I'm not sure where exactly it was. I know it's down here. Down somewhere in this hallway." Serena replied. Victoria sighed. That was a big help.

"The whole place feels tainted. There's so much sadness and suffering in this place. The feeling's especially strong down here." Serena whispered ominously. It did not take a medium to determine that the Haunted Guild was bad news. Victoria could tell from all the bloodstains that nothing good had transpired in these halls. Whether it was an underground prison or a makeshift crypt was something the mage could not determine. All she knew was that she wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible.

"Let's get moving and find your book, please." Victoria whispered her request. Serena nodded in agreement. The pair had barely walked five steps down the dark hallway when the metal doors began to rattle in unison. Victoria's face went pale.

The pair stood back-to-back as loud moaning emanated from the cells and the rattling turned to pounding. The metal doors looked like they would not hold out for much longer. Soon the pair would have to fight for their lives.

[Word Count: 620]
[Total Word Count: 1,820/7,000]

The pair tensed as the metal doors finally broke down, disgorging their rotting occupants into the hallway. Victoria aimed her shotgun by the light at the head of the first zombie and squeezed the trigger. It went down in a heap as six of its teammates stepped over its body. Victoria fired again and again as Serena began using a spell that flung golden daggers at the enemy.

There were about fifty zombies clogging the hallway and all of them were shambling towards the brown-haired pair. They killed off the cluster of zombies closest to them, then the pair focused on the groups at the end of the halls closing in on them. Serena's hands began glowing gold as she raised them above her head and chanted, then brought them together in front of her with her palms out. She fired a golden beam of light that instantly disintegrated all the zombies in front of her without damaging the hallway.

Since they were shambling shoulder-to-shoulder, it was easy for the powerful spell to make short work of them. Serena collapsed to her knees and clutched her staff for support.

Victoria did not have such powerful magic at her disposal, so she continued to blast away at the undead menace with her shotgun. She had killed ten already, but twenty more were closing in. Victoria kept shooting and would not let up until all the zombies were dead... again. She had killed six more by the time the survivors closed in on her. Serena rolled a golden orb that went off and turned the horde to ash.

"That was a close one. Thanks Serena!" Victoria thanked the cleric. The latter had some seriously powerful Holy spells at her disposal. Those spells helped save the pair from becoming shambling corpses themselves. Victoria helped the mage to her feet and looked around. All of the zombies were either turned to ash or were dead on the floor.

"No problem, Victoria. I'm glad I paid attention in class." Serena commented. She looked regretful. Victoria kept quiet

"I wish I could have saved them from becoming zombies." Serena commented regretfully.

"Me too." Victoria replied without much elaboration. She had one person she really wished that she could have saved from that fate. She wished that she could have saved her old friend Gerald from zombification. At least she was the one to kill him before he could hurt anyone else. She was thankful that she had at least been in time to end his suffering.

"There are some twisted people in this world, Serena. I helped kill one of them a few weeks ago. He was a man who wanted to bring back his wife by draining the ethernano from dead mages. There's no telling how many people he killed before he was stopped." Victoria added. Serena began to whisper something that sounded like prayers as she began disintegrating the corpses with a touch of her glowing gold staff. Victoria watched in silence as the zombies were laid to rest... maybe they could finally be at peace now.

"Some forms of magic should never be used. It disrupts the natural order." Serena said sternly. Victoria knew what magic she was talking about. Necromancy. Victoria may not have been the most moral person on Earthland, but she knew better than to tamper with the dead. The dead were not playthings and using such magic was morally corrosive.

"Let's find my book." Serena said as she began walking forward. Victoria followed behind her. The mage wondered what other obstacles lurked in the dark.

[Word Count: 596]
[Total Word Count: 2,416/7,000]

Victoria followed behind Serena, watching their backs for any more unpleasant surprises. Serena was motivated by something beyond proving her detractors wrong or making up for the mistake of coming here by herself. She wanted to find that book badly, so badly that she was tromping down in the basement of a long-abandoned guild hall, a hall that until recently had served as an underground prison for a small army of zombies. Something was up.

"What's so important about this book?" Victoria asked Serena.

"It's a book of Holy spells. It's been passed down to all the women in my family starting with my great-great-great-grandmother Isabella, who was one of the clerics who accompanied Thomas Beckett on his quest to cleanse the Cursed Lands of evil. My family's been part of the Order of Lightbringers since its founding over four hundred years ago. My mother passed it onto me two years ago when she retired from actively hunting the undead in order to join the healers." Serena explained to Victoria.

"What does the Order of Lightbringers do?" Victoria asked Serena another question.

"It's devoted to fighting necromancers, werewolves, vampires, and the undead in all their forms. It's also devoted to healing the victims of their attacks." Serena answered. Victoria listened with genuine interest. A group that was dedicated to fighting the undead and caring for its victims was of interest to the Sabertooth mage. She wondered what it was like to be part of a crusading order. The pair kept going and rounded a bend in the hallway.

In front of them was another set of stairs leading down. Serena and Victoria looked at one another with trepidation. Going deeper into the guild hall was not something that either brunette really wanted to do, but they were committed to finding Serena's book. Leaving without it would simply not do. The pair looked at the stairs again.

"My family's book is down there. I can't leave here without it." Serena said with resolve in her voice.

"Then let's go get it." Victoria replied laconically. She took the lead and Serena followed with staff in hand. The glowing golden orb that lit their way followed after them.

-Downstairs-

Victoria reached the bottom first and looked around for any new threats such as ghost girls, zombie butlers, or spear traps. No threats presented themselves, at least not right away. That was fine with her. Serena walked beside her and tapped the end of her staff on the floor. The staff began to glow gold and lit the entire hallway.

"Let's shed some light on this place." Serena gave a grin after making a lame pun. Victoria gave a grin back. It was an awful pun, but she did not want to hurt Serena's feelings by being rude. The Sabertooth mage could appreciate the cleric's tenacity in reclaiming family heirlooms and in upholding her family's legacy. Victoria was similarly tenacious in clinging to memories of Black Rose despite the guild and its members being long gone. She too was upholding the legacy of Black Rose by fighting for the little guy, but she was simultaneously building a new legacy with Sabertooth.

"It's not too much further. I remember running away from something down here, but I didn't really see what it was. Be ready for anything!" Serena warned Victoria. Victoria was ready. She was not going to leave here until Serena got her book.

The pair kept walking until Serena paused in place and gasped. Victoria knew what that meant. The item they had been searching for had been found. Serena ran ahead and excitedly crouched down. The cleric soon ran back with the book in hand.

"I found it!" Serena exclaimed in excitement while clutching a leather-bound book with a gold cross emblazoned on the cover. It was exactly like the one on the end of Serena's staff. Victoria was pleased. Now they could get out of this place.

[Word Count: 656]
[Total Word Count: 3,072/7,000]

-Outside the Haunted Guild-

Victoria and Serena decided to leave the Haunted Guild behind once they got what they had come for. Victoria had rescued the Order cleric. Serena had regained her staff and her book. The cleric concluded that purifying the guild hall was beyond her power and wisely opted to leave while they still could. Now the pair had to get back to the Order's home base in Holy Castle... whatever that was.

The pair were resting outside the guild hall, doing their best to ignore the periodic screams that came from within the forsaken structure. Their trip to safety would be a long one and one fraught with peril. The warning of the one-eyed militiaman came to mind.

"We're not outta the woods yet, Serena. We've gotta get through the Cursed Lands first. A guy I know said that the werewolves have been attacking merchant caravans, so we need to be ready to fight them. Do you have any magic that's good against werewolves?" Victoria asked the cleric. She nodded and produced a silver dagger. Along the blade was an inscription of some kind.

"Ive also got this silver dagger in case they get too close. Werewolves HATE silver. Silver weapons are all but a guaranteed kill against them, but getting close enough to use one without getting mauled is the trick." Serena said in the affirmative.

"I've never fought a werewolf before, but they sound like bad news. If you're going toe-to-toe with one, you've done something wrong, huh?" Victoria asked rhetorically.

"Well, Thomas Beckit did it with Lifebringer. He once killed an entire pack of werewolves in one night, all fifteen of them. He even killed the alpha in single combat." Serena said confidently. Victoria knew very little about Thomas Beckit and did not know what Lifebringer was. Those references were lost on her.

"Thomas Beckit was a paladin who went on a crusade to cleanse the Cursed Lands of all the forces of darkness. Lifebringer was his holy longsword. He fought necromancers, werewolves, vampires, zombies, skeletons, cultists, and even demons during his four-year crusade. He's held up as the shining example of what a paladin should be." Serena patiently explained the significance of Thomas Beckit and Lifebringer to Victoria. Now the references made more sense. A man who wielded a holy longsword going into the very heart of darkness in order to fight it... it sounded dumb, but the Sabertooth mage could respect that kind of determination. This Beckit guy was willing to give his all to cleanse the Cursed Lands, just like Victoria herself was willing to give her all to end the Corlone control over Rose Garden. She was not fighting vampires and other undying servants of evil, but the intent was the same.

"OK. I get it now." Victoria commented. Serena smiled and stretched her legs. Victoria followed suit.

"C'mon, Vicky. Do you mind if I call you Vicky?" Serena asked. Victoria shook her head. She had been called a lot worse than a nickname.

"OK Vicky. Let's go! We're going to Holy Castle!" Serena declared, taking the lead with gusto. Victoria followed behind the cleric. The moon was out and so were the werewolves... the pair could hear howling in the distance.

[Word Count: 542]
[Total Word Count: 3,614/7,000]

"I'm starting to think that walking through this area was a big mistake." Serena said with apprehension as howling sounded in the distance. That was an understatement. However, it could not be helped. It was that or wait and see if someone willing to help just happened to come by. Victoria was not banking on the latter happening any time soon.

"There's not much choice, Serena. If we stayed at the Haunted Guild, who knows what would have happened." Victoria argued. The screaming coming from within the place was bad enough. She did not want to hang around and see if something came out and tried to drag them back inside to become permanent residents.

"Maybe not. But I'd rather hole up somewhere and wait for morning to come than risk traveling in werewolf territory at night." Serena countered.

"If we hung around the guild hall, I don't think we would have lived to see morning." Victoria responded. What she saw inside the hall was bad enough. She had no idea what lurked outside the hall. She had no desire to find out either. She just wanted to deliver Serena to the Order headquarters, get paid, and go home.

"How do you know that the Haunted Guild is so dangerous?" Serena asked out of curiosity.

"I ran a job there once with two other mages. Only one of us could even fight the ghosts because my magic and weapons were useless against them. Ghosts weren't our only problem. We also ran into falling spears and a zombie butler before fighting the necromancer who had taken over the hall." Victoria recounted the adventure that she, Haruyuki, and Zhuu had went on. After much effort, they managed to locate and kill the necromancer who resided in the hall. His plan was to resurrect his wife and he theorized that the ethernano from mages was the only thing that would do the trick. He never got to find out if that theory would work because Victoria killed him before he could kill the mages.

"Besides, what we saw in the basement was pretty dangerous. Dealing with fifty zombies was hard enough. Imagine what would have happened if they had gotten loose and we weren't there to stop them. They could have bitten another explorer, who would probably flee to a town and spread the virus after they died from their wounds and came back as a zombie themselves." Victoria added to her argument. Serena was slowly starting to come around to the Sabertooth mage's point of view. She did not seem entirely convinced just yet.

"Yeah, but I still think we should have stayed in the surrounding village." Serena continued to opine. The pair thought that they had heard galloping coming from down the path that they were on. They paused in place and prepared to fight.

The horsemen gradually came into view. They had their heads on their shoulders and were very much alive. They all wore armor and had silver longswords or silver-tipped spears. It was a team of twelve mounted militiamen led by the one-eyed man!

"Need a lift, kid?" He asked Victoria and Serena.

"We sure do, Mister!" Victoria exclaimed gratefully. Victoria and Serena got on separate horses and wrapped their hands around the waists of the female militia members. The one-eyed man wheeled his mount around and started galloping for safety. The rest of the cavalry followed suit.

[Word Count: 570]
[Total Word Count: 4,184/7,000]

-Militia Camp, two hours later-

"Well, here we are. Our own little slice of the Cursed Lands. It's not much to write about, but it beats camping in the open." The one-eyed man informed the brunettes. The camp was surrounded by a waist-high stone wall lined with burning torches and patrolled by sentries who traveled in groups of four. There were a few canvas tents and three more substantial wooden barracks buildings dotted within the confines of the camp. However, the barracks looked like they had seen better days. They had tarps for doors and the roof had holes the size of a human fist in them.

"We don't have enough resources to build a full-scale defensive wall. So we have to run regular patrols all throughout the night. It's rough on the men who have to pull six-hour shifts, but we live to see what passes for daylight, so it all pans out." The man quipped. Victoria and Serena looked at one another. These brave men and women had it rough. They had some serious guts to stay out here of their own volition and try to save other travelers from the dangers that lurked outside.

"Why don't you guys join the Order of Lightbringers?" Serena asked the man. He appeared to consider it for a moment, but then shot the idea down.

"They don't want people like us, kid. They want the recruits from the wealthy families, families with big names. They don't want homeless people stinking up the place." The man turned down the offer. Serena looked indignant. The bow-wielding woman walked up to them.

"The Order always accepts those who are willing to fight the darkness. You'd have better armor and better equipment and access to maintenance for your arms and armor. You'd have official recognition!" Serena continued. Victoria was quietly hoping that the one-eyed man would take the offer. He and his people were brave for what they did. They were homeless people who had no obligation to form a makeshift militia. They could simply sit back in the safety of their camp and let people die, but they did what they could to protect the people of the Cursed Lands from things that went bump in the night.

"Just take the offer, Erasmus. We're starting to run low on repair supplies. We could also use some new weapons." The woman counseled the one-eyed man. The man's face hardened, but then he looked over the camp. The "walls" were not even worthy of the name. The barracks were in dire need of repair. The stables were not too far behind.

"I don't know. We've fought hard to keep this patch of land under our control." Erasmus said warily.

"But is it worth dying over?" The woman asked.

"I... don't know. I don't know if the Order would want us. But we could use the help." Erasmus said. He was beginning to waver. He looked like a proud man who did not want to give up his independence.

[Word Count: 502]
[Total Word Count: 4,686/7,000]

"Let's just go, Erasmus. We're running low on supplies. We can't even repair the barracks." The woman urged him. The burly man with the mace walked up to the quartet and spoke up.

"Erasmus, we've held this patch of ground long enough. I think we should get out while the going's good. We should take her offer and join up with the Order. Then we come back with better equipment and official support for our mission." The burly man suggested. Erasmus closed his one good eye and looked at the ground. He was obviously conflicted about what to do. He sighed and looked up again.

"Joan, Carl, you're right. There's no point holding this patch of ground without enough material support to do it with." Erasmus conceded.

"What do we do about the camp?" Joan asked.

"Leave it. We'll retake it later." Erasmus answered confidently.

"I know it's hard, but it's for the best." Carl tried to assure his friend.

"We've been here for over five years. It's going to be hard to leave." Erasmus said to no one in particular. In the background the militia were busy packing up tents and tearing down the camp. They wanted to deny anything useful to the denizens of the Cursed Lands.

"We'll be back, Erasmus. We'll be back with enough support to hold it next time. We'll take it back and take it for good." Carl assured his friend.

"C'mon, Carl. Let's get the cleric back to her order. We also need to get the kid back to her guild." Erasmus said, regaining confidence and purpose. Carl hurried off to the stables and began hitching horses to an uncovered wagon. Victoria and Serena watched the militia members finish tearing down the camp and preparing their gear to move out.

"We're gonna be in for a rough ride." Serena said to Victoria.

"Yeah. They've already torn down their camp and the barracks, so at this point they're all in. Let's hope the Order accepts them." Victoria said. The wagon pulled up to them. Carl motioned for them to get on. The cavalry escort formed up, all thirty-six of them.

"Come on, guys. We're leaving!" Carl said to the pair. Joan hopped onto the seat beside Carl and drew her bow. Victoria got onto the wagon first and turned around to help Serena get on board. When the cleric was settled, Victoria called out her magic shotgun. She had a feeling that it was going to see plenty of action on the road.

The remaining militia members climbed onto the wagon, filling it to capacity. They had silver longswords or silver spears at the ready. They were going to need them because howling sounded nearby.

"The werewolves are out." An older man commented.

"All right, here goes nothing." Carl stated before getting the horses into motion. Victoria kept her shotgun ready. The militiamen kept their weapons ready. This was going to be a harrowing trip.

"Are you ready?" Serena asked Victoria.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Victoria answered. This would be her first encounter with werewolves. She hoped that it would not be her last. Escorted by the cavalry, the wagon lurched out of the destroyed camp and into the woods. Here went nothing.

[Word Count: 538]
[Total Word Count: 5,224/7,000]

-On the road to Holy Castle-

"It's quiet. Too quiet." Carl noted.

"Maybe they've been scared off." Joan said hopefully.

"Nah, werewolves attack and rip apart merchant caravans all the time. The size of the caravans doesn't scare them. If anything, they LIKE big caravans. They mean more food for the pack." Carl replied. Joan sighed.

"Thanks for the uplifting message, Carl. I was hoping that just once you'd have something-" Joan started to complain before she was interrupted by shouting.

"Werewolves, in the bushes!" A mounted militiaman warned everyone before being pounced on by a lycanthrope and having his throat torn out with its jaws. Joan cursed and loosed an arrow at the werewolf, hitting it in the side of the head. It howled and flopped to the ground. Soon more wolves came thundering out of the brush to threaten the convoy.

"WOOOOOOLLLLVES!" A female militia member huddled beside Victoria screamed. Victoria jumped up and turned around to aim her weapon at the furry attackers. Victoria was just in time to see another hapless cavalryman knocked down and killed with a swipe of a heavy paw to the face. The wolf turned away from the man and faced her.

Victoria wordlessly leveled her shotgun and fired a Solid Slug which punched through the center of its chest and killed it. She saw the cavalry begin to fight back with silver longswords and silver spears. Erasmus had killed two werewolves himself and cut the arm off of a third with his longsword. Joan fired an arrow that lodged in the forehead of a wolf trying to sneak up behind the one-eyed horseman.

"We need to get the wagon moving!" Joan shouted. Erasmus finished off the one-eyed werewolf. The other horsemen were forcing back the other wolves, clearing a path for the wagon. However, the path did not come without cost... nine men and their horses lay dead on the road.

"What do we do about the dead?" Joan asked.

"Leave them!" Carl said. Serena closed her eyes and stood up. She raised her staff and muttered an incantation. A large rectangular shield formed on the road.

"Gather your dead, quickly!" Serena commanded.

"What?" Carl asked.

"I cast a protective incantation. It'll stop the wolves. Gather your dead while I can hold it!" Serena commanded. The militiamen hustled off the wagon and gathered up the dead men and their arms, leaving the dead horses. After five minutes all the dead men were retrieved and Serena sat back down, exhausted by the effort.

Once the shield dropped, Victoria spotted a werewolf coming right at her with claws extended and put a Solid Slug through its head. The running wolf toppled forward and slid to a halt under the wagon. Another wolf charged and a militia member beside her stabbed it in the left shoulder with his spear, causing it to clutch the wound and stagger backwards before turning around and retreating back into the brush. A pair charged at the wagon but were killed by a swing of Carl's mace to the head and an arrow from Joan.

"OTHER SIDE!" A militiaman shouted. Victoria stood up and fired a Solid Slug at a wolf chasing a cavalryman, hitting it in the chest and causing it to fall, where Joan shot it with an arrow to the head. Serena looked exhausted. She would not be contributing to the fight any time soon.

"GET THE WAGON GOING!" Erasmus commanded.

Carl soon got it in motion and the wagon rolled over the dead wolf, crushing it beneath its heavy wheels. The wagon was on its way. Joan, Victoria, and the other passengers kept a watch out for any more wolves as the wagon rumbled down the road. Other than a couple of brief sightings that did not escalate into attacks, there was not much action. It was almost a letdown, but Victoria witnessed firsthand how werewolves could take down armed men on horseback without much trouble.

The wolves trailed the wagon and its escort until the end of the woods, where they howled and darted back into the brush. Victoria was glad to see the end of them. Now came the long ride to safety, which she hoped would be uneventful. Victoria put away her shotgun and sat back for the ride.

"We made it!" The female militia member beside Victoria said with relief to no one in particular. Victoria turned to Serena.

"Hey, Serena, are you OK?" Victoria asked the cleric. Serena did not respond for a moment. Was she simply tired from casting the protective spell or was she afraid of the werewolves they had just fought?

"Yeah, I'm fine. Manipulating that protective spell was exhausting." Serena answered, a faint smile coming across her lips.

"You saved our lives, cleric. Thanks." Joan turned around and thanked Serena.

"It wasn't just me. Everyone did their part." Serena claimed.

"Yeah. We sure did, cleric." Joan said before turning around to face forward again. Victoria kept looking for trouble, but the coast was clear. They were getting close to reaching the exit of the Cursed Lands. Victoria could not wait to get out of this place.

[Word Count: 860]
[Total Word Count: 6,084/7,000]

-Holy Castle-

Victoria, Serena, and the remaining militia arrived at Holy Castle none the worse for wear. They had survived the journey out of the Cursed Lands and were glad to be away from there. The wagon pulled up to Holy Castle and Carl spoke to his passengers.

"Well kids, we made it." Carl said to Victoria and Serena. All the passengers stood up and stretched their legs, then slowly climbed out of the wagon. It had claw marks gouged into the side where some werewolves had tried to climb on board, but otherwise the transport was none the worse for wear.

"Yeah." Victoria answered tersely. She was glad to be away from that place because she had rescued Serena from herself, survived the zombie attack in the basement, and survived the werewolf attack on the way out. Victoria had had enough of the Cursed Lands for awhile. Serena looked like she felt the same way.

A middle-aged man with blond hair and glasses exited the glowing white castle. He wore a gray longcoat and black priest attire. He greeted the gathering with open arms and a wide smile.

"Welcome to Holy Castle! Here you will find safety and peace!" He greeted them. Serena walked over to the man.

"Hi." Serena said awkwardly. Victoria could tell that the cleric was not looking forward to what was coming next. It was probably not going to end well for Serena.

"I must express disapproval over what you have done. You ran off to the Cursed Lands by yourself without having completed your training. Running off was utterly foolish. You could have gotten yourself killed, not to mention killing the mage and these people who brought you back to us! Your mother would disapprove of such a foolish deed!" The man sternly lectured the young cleric. Serena did not bother looking up at her lecturer because she knew that his words were true. Victoria stood by in silence. So did the militia.

"Thankfully you have returned to us, Serena. I hope that you have learned from this experience. You are not yet ready to take on the trials of the Cursed Lands. Only when your training is complete will you be able to stand against the darkness." The man said to her, softening his tone. Serena still did not look up. Her face had a combination of regret and disappointment.

"Why bother training? I'm just a showpiece that you trot out to put on a show for the higher-ups. I'll never get to leave here. My last name's nothing but an albatross around my neck." Serena replied. The man was stunned. Serena then shifted her tone.

"I want to fight the darkness. I'm tired of innocent people dying in the Cursed Lands. All those merchants, all those travelers... they shouldn't have to die! They don't have to die when people like me can stop it!" Serena asserted. Victoria saw that Serena was more than a cleric. She had passion and devotion to the Order of Lightbringers that would be foolish not to harness.

"And you will fight the darkness one day, Serena. Your mastery of Holy spells is astounding... you learn in weeks what takes others months to learn. But first you must complete your training. You must also learn to think before you act." The priest assured her. Serena frowned.
She must have heard that song and dance before.

"You said that same thing last year. But fine." Serena huffed. The priest then turned to the gathering of a mage and a militia.

"You must be the mage who brought Serena back to us! Well done! You were brave to enter the Cursed Lands without Holy magic or silver weapons!" He complimented her.

"I'm just glad Serena made it out OK. But I wouldn't have gotten here without these guys helping us." Victoria answered, sweeping a hand to the men and women standing behind her.
The priest looked pleased with Victoria's humility. Erasmus strode forward to speak.

"We've been fighting werewolves, zombies, and vampires in the Cursed Lands for some time now. Our supplies were running low, so we were forced to abandon our campsite. We heard that your order needs some extra hands. Do you have any room for us?" Erasmus asked. The priest looked to the gathering, then back to him.

"We have need for you and your men. We in the Order have been looking to form a lay militia to go out into the world and fight darkness alongside our clerics. Unfortunately, we have not had many willing to heed the call. With your group joining us, our goal may yet be achieved." The priest said to Erasmus. The one-eyed leader looked pleased.

"Thanks Mister. We were in a bad place until Serena came along and suggested that we look into joining. We'll do our best to earn our keep." Erasmus assured the priest.

"Please. Call me Father Morris." The priest said to Erasmus.

"Thanks Father Morris." Erasmus said to his benefactor. Father Morris turned to Victoria.

"Thank you, my child. We in the Order of Lightbringers owe you a debt greater than money can repay. You have returned to us a leading talent in our order. She simply needs to learn to think before she acts." Morris thanked Victoria.

"I wouldn't be too hard on Serena, Father Morris. She's definitely got what it takes to be a cleric. She's got the courage and the skill to go far. When she needs to take on a challenge, she steps up." Victoria complimented Serena. Serena might be a bit goofy and might act afraid of her own shadow, but when push came to shove she proved that she could rise to the occasion. Victoria would not mind having Serena at her side for future trips through the Cursed Lands.

"Perhaps you should look into becoming a part of our militia..." Father Morris started.

"Victoria." Victoria gave her name.

"Perhaps you should join the militia. You strode into darkness to bring Serena back into the light. You have the mettle to bring light to the darkness." He tried to recruit her. Victoria was not sure that the Order would want her. She was not exactly good material for a holy militia.

"I'll have to think about it. I hate to run, but I have to get back to my guild. Good luck, everyone!" Victoria bade them goodbye. She then turned to walk for Sabertooth territory. The journey was going to take awhile, but at least werewolves would not be after her in broad daylight.

Father Morris:

[Word Count: 1,094]
[Total Word Count: 7,178/7,000]