Damien, Jen, and Marie-Bell left the mayor and three other cultists in the town jail. They’d impressed upon the commander of the town guard the importance of the prisoners and what would happen to her if they escaped. When they’d finished Damien doubted the woman would let the mayor out while she still had breath in her body.

Damien sent an update to the archmage and the three of them settled in to wait for a reply. If the mayor had sent Imogen and the others into a trap Damien needed to check in on them. Fortunately the archmage must have been in her office as a reply arrived within the hour. Assuming Imogen and her team had gone to the next location on the list his master gave them they should have headed toward the mountains and a mining town.

They took off from the now leaderless town and turned north. They hadn’t gone far when Jen said, “Is this really necessary? The longer we delay getting to Port Valcane the longer the cult will have to find out about us.”

“That’s true,” Damien said. “But if Imogen, Eli, and Master Shen are hurt or in trouble we’re the closest group able to help them. I know you’re eager to hunt down the people responsible for killing Dad, I am too, but we can’t abandon our allies if they’re in trouble.”

“We don’t even know they are in trouble.”

“Also true, but we do know they were flying into a potential trap. Look, if they’re fine this is at most a three-hour side trip. We fly up there, check in, and head over to the coast. But if they are in trouble, maybe we save their lives. Isn’t that worth a side trip?”

“Of course it is.” Jen slammed her fist on the transport’s rail. “I’m just so frustrated. I thought for sure we’d have found Smyth by now. How can it be so hard to find one grubby farmer?”

Damien laughed. “People that don’t stick out are the hardest ones to find. If he was a warlock or some other sort of evil creature everyone that saw him would have remembered and we’d have found him in no time. Try to be patient. We will find him eventually.”

A little over an hour later the mining town of Last Tailings came into view. Even from hundreds of feet up Damien sensed the wrongness of the place. There was nothing powerful. Instead it felt like the whole town was soaked in darkness.

He glanced over at Marie-Bell. She was biting her lip so hard he feared she’d draw blood. Her already pale skin was dead white.

“You okay?” Damien asked.

She shook her head. “Something horrible happened down there. I don’t know what. I don’t think I want to know.”

“We’re going down to investigate,” Damien said. “I can’t sense my friends’ soul forces from up here. Your skills would be a great help in the search.”

Her expression hardened. “I’ll help. It’s my duty as a paladin to investigate places like this and to help people in need. And if there was ever a place where people may be in trouble this is it.”

“Thank you.”

They descended and landed in the center of town beside a broken fountain that looked like no water had sprayed out of it for decades. The whole place had a worn out, used up feel. The oppressive darkness they’d sensed from above was twice as strong on the ground. Marie-Bell’s lips pressed tight together, but at least she hadn’t run for it yet.

“Where should we check first?” Jen asked.

Damien shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. Marie-Bell, do you sense anything we should check out first?”

“It’s everywhere.” The paladin trembled in place. “So much darkness, pressing down on me. Can’t breathe, can’t think.”

“Okay, I think you’ve done enough searching.” Damien went over and forced her to meet his gaze. “Pull your senses back. Focus on me. Just me. There’s nothing else but my eyes. Come on, focus.”

Her breathing gradually steadied and the trembling stopped. “Thank you. It was all too much.”

“It’s okay. Keep your sorcerous senses drawn in tight. The town isn’t that big. We can search the old fashioned way.”

“Old fashioned way?”

He nodded. “We’ll look around.”

When the dimples reappeared he knew she’d be okay. The three of them crossed the plaza and approached a weathered two-story building with balconies overlooking the town square. The sign outside called it The Dancing Kitty.

They pushed through the swinging doors. Inside bodies littered the main room. Some sprawled on the floor, others slumped in their chairs, mugs of ale spilled in their laps. On the stage to their right four women dressed in ruffly green dresses lay in a heap.

“Heaven’s mercy.” Marie-Bell clapped a hand over her mouth.

Damien sent out streams of soul force, but found no poison in the air or any disease festering in the bodies. Whatever killed them was gone now.

They walked through the charnel house, stepping over bodies as they went. One blond woman lay face down near the bar. Teeth gritted, Damien poked her over with his toe. The unfortunate woman had twisted teeth and a pock-marked face. He sighed. Not Imogen, thank heaven.

Damien crouched down and sent probes of soul force into the body. He was no healer, but maybe if he took a closer look he’d find what killed these people. All the major organs remained intact. He found no wounds, beyond what you’d expect on a body that collapsed to a hard wooden floor. It was like someone had cut the strings on a puppet.

He refined his probe, making the streams as fine as his dense soul force would allow. A minute later he found it, a subtle and pervasive remnant of corrupt soul force. Now that he knew what to look for Damien found the dark energy throughout the body.

“Have you ever seen anything like this?”

I’ve seen something similar. It’s like a crude attempt to create zombies.

“Zombies!”

Jen and Marie-Bell looked his way. “Did you say something, little brother?”

Something struck him with unnatural force, sending Damien sprawling and a table flying. The dead woman shambled upright. All around the room the dead rose to their feet.

Damien shook his head. The blow hadn’t hurt him, just took him by surprise. Jen had her sword out and sliced the head off a broad-chested former miner. The body kept stumbling toward her, unperturbed by its loss.

Marie-Bell struck it with her hammer. White light burst forth and the body fell back to the floor.

Jen hacked and slashed, sending body parts flying. A legless zombie continued to drag itself toward her and a severed hand crawled after it like a spider.

Marie-Bell’s hammer proved more effective. Each blow of the holy weapon sent a zombie to the ground, unmoving. The divine energy in the hammer’s head burned out the corruption in each body she struck. His sister was stuck carving them into pieces small enough that they no longer posed a threat.

Damien blew a hole through the nearest wall. “Everybody out!”

Jen and Marie-Bell accelerated to warlord speed and vanished through the opening. Damien disintegrated a pair of zombies and followed.

Outside dozens of undead poured from every building in the town. Damien conjured a platform, Jen leapt on, and the three of them flew to a safe height.

“How are we going to search now?” Marie-Bell asked.

“We’re not.” Damien looked down at the horde of shambling monsters. “There’s no way Imogen and the others are still in the town and alive. If they were I suspect the zombies would have already been up and walking around.”

“So what now?” Jen asked. “We can’t leave the town like this. Some poor miner wanders in to get drunk and he’ll end up getting eaten.”

Damien drew Lizzy. “You’re right. We can’t leave the town like this. The whole place is tainted with corruption. I need to purify everything.”

He guided the platform higher then walked to the edge, gathering power as he went. Lizzy joined her power to his and in seconds a gold and gray sphere appeared at the tip of the sword. When he’d put half his power and three quarters of Lizzy’s into the blast Damien released it.

The ball struck the fountain in the town square and detonated. The town vanished in an instant. Zombies and buildings atomized and blew away. When the dust cleared nothing remained but a crater.

Jen and Marie-Bell stared at him, their mouths hanging open. Damien knew just how they felt. He hadn’t even used his full power for that blast. Just what were the two of them capable of now?

“Do you sense any corruption remaining?” Damien asked. He didn’t, but he wanted to have Marie-Bell check.

She blinked a couple times and closed her mouth. Her eyes turned white and she flew down low enough for a good look. When she’d traveled from one end of the town to the other she rejoined them.

“There’s nothing left down there, corrupt or otherwise.”