At mid-morning, Yradmin led our party out of Southampton. We had to wait on line at the gate for a brief inspection by the guards but the hunter's presence, along with our lack of carriages and goods, smoothed our exit out of the city.

When we were safely out of the city, I asked him, "Do the guards check everyone leaving the city? That's pretty unusual, isn't it?"

Surprisingly, Sanhewa answered my question. "Milord, the Magic Guild prides itself on knowing who is entering and leaving the seaport. We keep an accurate record in order to detect and catch slavers transporting slaves. Southampton prides itself as a port of entry for a wide variety of goods. But we absolutely abhor slavery and we wish to avoid being used as a route for the transfer of slaves," she explained.

"I thought slavery is outlawed in Britannia?" I wondered aloud.

"Yes, it is," the blonde haired mage nodded. "But there are certain races, such as orcs and the drow, which enslave humans and the animal people. Since the Church does not have an official presence in Southampton, slavers have tried to use our city as a slave route."

"What happens if slavers are caught at the gate?" I asked.

"The slavers are imprisoned in another dimension while the slaves are freed. We also try to heal their injuries. But their mental wounds may be difficult to treat," Sanhewa admitted. "We also seek to resettle them either in our city or elsewhere."

"Is this why you have so many white mages in the city?" I noted.

"Correct. Our Leadership Council quietly put out the word to other branches of our urgent need for practitioners of the White Arts and many mages have answered our call. They work quietly in the mage tower," she explained.

I had to admit that I was surprised by this revelation. Until the pirate raid in Southampton, I had not encountered a single slaver in this world. The alien's attempt to capture slaves from the city was certainly ironic in light of the city's active role in preventing slavery. Additionally, I was very impressed by the Magic Guild and its active role in preventing slavery within its borders. I doubted that the Church would have cared as much if they were governing Southampton, particularly if it involved the enslavement of the animal people.

As we walked along the trail, I was regularly activating my Spirit Sense and Magic Sense. I didn't expect us to be ambushed because we had a decent-sized party and animals would not normally approach us. But I was concerned that the Black Jester or an assassin may appear to target me personally. Thus, casting my detection net was only prudent. However, while I did detect the auras of animals, I did not sense any malevolent presence in our vicinity.

As expected, Yradmin took us due north toward the first set of mountains at a place known as Bassett. Our guide actually took us to a small cabin on the hill after a strenuous, two-hour trek. The cabin was in the middle of the woods. The area near the cabin was cleared. A man was cutting a tree into smaller pieces. "Hail, Rystole!" the hunter yelled and waved his hand.

The man stopped working and looked up. He had a long, gray beard. His hair was equally long and tied back with a string. He slammed his ax into the tree trunk with a loud "THUD!" "Hail, Yradmin!" the lumberjack waved back. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon." He looked at our party quizzically as we moved closer to him.

I saw that the man was at least a foot taller than me. His sleeves were rolled up, revealed thick, massive forearms. He wore a red shirt and dark green pants over black boots. Sweat was dripping down his face and he wiped it away with his right hand. I quickly stepped forward and introduced myself. "Well met! My name is Lawrence Eugene Mulligan. I hired Yradmin as a guide. I am seeking to locate some ancient ruins in these mountains. Have you come across them?" I asked.

Upon learning that I was a nobleman, Rystole bowed deeply. "Lord Mulligan, I regret that I have not come across any such ruins." He did not expect to meet a nobleman right in his home. He wondered if he should invite me inside. At least as a courtesy.

"How long have you been here in Bassett?" I asked.

"I was born and raised here," the man replied. He turned and pointed at the cabin. "My parents built this cabin to be near the forest for our lumber trade. I explored Bassett for some four decades and I have never come across any ruins," he answered with great pride in his heritage.

"Do you mind if we look around, anyway?" I asked.

Rystole shrugged. "If you insist, milord."

"Thank you," Yradmin added quickly. The hunter wasn't sure how his friend would react to the visit by me. Rystole was a loner and entertained very few visitors in his cabin. A part of him was concerned that the lumberjack would chase me away with an ax. Thank the Gods this did not occur!

"Thank me by bringing a barrel of beer," the lumberjack joked. Rystole went into town regularly to sell his firewood and purchase some food and spices. He would then drink a beer or two at The Trade Wind before returning to his mountain cabin.

I looked at him and then turned toward Yradmin. "Please make arrangements to do so and put it on my account," I requested.

"Yes, milord," the guide bowed.

"You are most generous, milord," Rystole bowed.

I waved my hand dismissively. "Not at all. Think of it as fair compensation for permission to walk around your property," I replied.

The man bowed again. Seeing that there were three mages in our party, he surmised that we were on a mission sanctioned by the Magic Guild, which governed the city to the south. As such, we didn't need his express permission to sniff around Bassett. But the fact that I recognized his property rights and was willing to compensate him for use of his property was a point in my favor. Especially in light of the fact that I was a nobleman and could simply take what I wanted without providing compensation.

I turned around to address my party. "We're going to walk around these mountains and try to find anything resembling an entrance. The ruins would be located underground and reached through a tunnel or a cave. We'll separate into three groups and search for an hour. Then we'll come back to this cabin for lunch."

My companions nodded in acceptance of my order.

However, Yradmin raised his hand. "Who should I group with?" he asked.

I pointed at Van and Sanhewa. "You'll go with them. I'm with my two bodyguards. Rijana will be with the two Elf siblings. So each group will have three members. If you run into any trouble, just yell out. Any other questions?" Seeing there was none, I clapped my hands. "Let's roll!"

I quickly chose to head north and the cat girls remained close to me. As we walked further away from the cabin, the trees became thicker and taller, covering bigger portions of the bright sky. As a precaution, I activated my Spirit Sense and Magic Sense every five minutes or so. My surroundings were full of life and I felt many small auras within my vicinity. However, my high-level mastery of the Spirit Sense allowed to distinguish and ignore the auras from wild animals that posed no danger to me. I was also able to keep tabs on my companions as they searched the areas to my left and right.

The three of us continued our difficult and torturous trek northward as we wrestled with thick shrubs, errant tree limbs, and insects often the size of my fist. As a result, we were forced to slow down our pace dramatically to avoid ripping our snagged clothing.

"I think we should turn back," Kalistra said suddenly. "Our hour is almost up," she reminded me.

"Okay," I agreed readily. If the other two groups came up empty in our search for the ruins, I was prepared to move on to the next location.

We turned around and started moving south. Suddenly, the birds screeched and started flying away.

I immediately activated Spirit Sense and took note of several malevolent auras moving straight for us! "Incoming!" I warned.

Soon, we heard a rumbling noise directly in front of our path. I saw the Black Jester riding on his undead horse while being accompanied by a half-dozen Skeletal Knights again. I was surprised to see that they could ride through the forest. But the Black Jester simply had his knights riding in front of him to clear a path. I started to unbuckle my scabbard when Kalistra grabbed my hand to stop me.

"I want you to climb up a tree and cast magic at them. Bila and I will attack them on the ground," she said.

Before I could protest her plan of action, the evil minx grabbed me by my armpits and tossed me straight up in the air! "Whoaa!" I cried out in surprise as I crashed through various tree branches. Purely on reflex, I reached out and grabbed the tree branch in front of me before I fell to the ground. With great effort, I pulled myself up climbed on the tree branch. "I'll punish her later," I grumbled.

"No, you won't!" Kalistra smirked and stuck out her tongue.

I smartly ignored her and focused instead on the approaching riders. They were about fifty feet away from us and still out of range of my spells. I pulled my Mana Potions out of my messenger bag and tucked them into my belt for easy reach. Soon, our enemies had arrived!

The two cat girls took very different approaches to dealing with the undead. Bila immediately went to the tree I was on and put her back against it. Apparently, her plan was to lure the knights to her position and fight defensively as a tank. In the meanwhile, I would be raining down deadly magic on her opponents.

Kalistra, however, took a more active approach. She ran directly at the Black Jester, forcing him to keep a pair of knights to protect him.

The scoundrel fired black bolts at her with his wand. But he kept missing because she was moving with superhuman speed and never stayed in the same spot for longer than a split second.

And despite actively dodging those magic bolts, Kalistra was also running circles around the two protectors and scoring hits against them. Her strategy was simply to whittle away their health while dodging. It was a brilliant plan because her opponents were too slow to do anything about it.

I returned my focus to my own battle. I cast a Protection from Undead on Bila and then spent the rest of my mana to cast Fire Bolts on the four Skeletal Knights attacking her. I could not cast Fireball, even though this spell would do more damage, on them because the spell could hurt the cat girl as well. In the end, it took 5x Fire Bolts to take down each knight and I used up three Mana Potions in the process.

Just after the two of us finished taking down the four knights, Kalistra took out the second Skeletal Knight, too. This left only the Black Jester against the three of us.

"Damn you three for humiliating me," he said angrily while pointing a finger at me. "If you think that's all I could summon, you are sadly mistaken." He held up a hand and used a command word before Kalistra could stop him.

A portal of fire formed in front of the Black Jester and six demons walked out of the portal.

"In the name of Bane, I command you to rip those three apart!" he yelled.

The demons started to approach us.

Fearlessly, I pushed aside Kalistra, who was standing in front of me and slowly walked toward them. As I walked, I rolled up my left sleeve and cast Unveil on my forearm. I raised my arm and showed the demons my divine mark from Bane. "I am a Servant of Bane and under his protection. In his name, I order you to destroy the infidel!" I yelled while pointing at the Black Jester.

"No! This can't be!" the black mage said. He immediately turned his undead horse around and commanded it to run away.

The demons laughed and started running after him.

Less than a minute later, we heard a human scream and then it was cut off.

The demons returned to me. They dropped the burned body of the Black Jester to the ground. They bowed deeply to me and then opened the portal. "Servant of Bane, your order has been fulfilled. We now leave in peace." The demons entered the portal in single-file and then closed it behind them.

"Um, what just happened?" Bila said in a tiny voice.

"The demons took care of the Black Jester for us," Kalistra answered.

"But why?" the taller cat girl asked. Her eyes glowed with concern.

I raised my forearm and pointed at the brand. "That's the mark of Bane. He kidnapped me and made me his servant against my will. In exchange, though, he promised that his demons will protect me and follow my orders as if they were given by the demon lord himself," I explained.

Bila's tail flickered back and forth. "But I thought you're a member of the Church of Britannia. You fight for the Law and Order. How can you serve a God of Chaos simultaneously?" Just thinking about this was confusing her!

I laughed. "Apparently, the Gods have to maintain a Balance between Order and Chaos. And they were willing to allow me to serve both sides."

Kalistra placed a sympathetic paw on Bila's shoulder. "Give up already. The ways of the divine cannot be understood by mere mortals like us. Just be thankful that the Gods have not chosen you personally to play their grand game."

Bila wrapped her arms around me and hugged me. "It must be a terrible burden to bear, my Liege."

I petted her lightly on the head. "It is my destiny."

The cat girl released me. "Milord, we should hurry back to the cabin. I'm sure the others are waiting for us." Bila grabbed my hand and pulled me southward.

I turned around and glanced at Kalistra. "Please take the mask from the corpse. We'll need it as proof that the Black Jester is no more."

The cat girl took the mask and placed it in her sack. She also did a quick search of the body and found two items: a small pin and a ring. As she walked beside me, Kalistra commented, "It's too bad his body was burned beyond recognition. However, I found this pin and ring. We may be able to use them to learn his identity."

I took the pin and examined it closely. It was the size of a shirt button. It was oval-shaped and there was a drawing of a blue flower with four petals and a black stem. The ring was made of iron. It had a simple gemstone, which was blackened. There were indecipherable runes along the band. Obviously, the ring was used to summon the demons and it was a one-time use item. I returned the pin and ring to her and she placed them in the sack with the mask.