"The bond is severed, yet still this one roams the mortal plane! The tie is broken, but the blood spell preserves! This one could have slain her all along! What a fool Xazax has been!"

Norrec took the demon's enjoyment as a chance to look at Kara. Her entire chest had turned crimson and from where he stood he could not tell if she even breathed. It pained him to have her, the one who had tried to save him, die before his very eyes without being able to do anything about it.

Spurred on by anger, Norrec took a step toward the mantis-or at least tried to do so. Unfortunately, his legs, his entire body, refused to obey him.

"Damn you!" he roared at the suit. "Not now!"

Xazax ceased laughing. The deep, yellow orbs fixed onthe helpless human. "Fool! Think you to command the greatness of Bartuc? This one thought to peel the armor off your cold corpse, but now Xazax sees this would have proven a terrible blunder! You are needed-at least for the time being!"

The mantis raised one spearlike tip toward the breastplate. Immediately, Norrec's left hand reached out, but not in defense. Instead, to his horror, it touched the demon's own appendage as if in acknowledgment.

"You would be whole, would you not?" Xazax asked of the suit. "You would desire the return of the helm separated from you so long ago? This one can take you to it… if you like."

In response, one booted foot stepped forward. Even Norrec knew what the lone movement meant.

"Then go we shall… but it must be done quickly." The mantis turned and started off.

Norrec had no choice but to follow, the armor soon marching alongside the demon. Behind the desperate soldier, Kara bled away the last drops of her life, but he could do no more for her than he could for himself. In some ways, Norrec envied the pale woman. The necromancer's suffering had already all but ended; his would only get worse. His last hope had been crushed.

"Heaven help me…" he whispered.

The mantis apparently had sharp hearing, for he immediately fell upon the hopeless words. "Heaven? No angel will there be to help you, fool of a human! Too afraid, they are! Too cowardly! We walk the world in numbers, the demon master awakes, and the human stronghold of Lut Gholein prepares to suffer a horrific end! Heaven? You would do better to pray to Hell!"

And as they continued on toward their destination, Norrec could not help but think that on this the demon might just speak the truth.

Kara felt her life ebbing away, but she could do nothing about it. The demonic creature she had seen had moved with inhuman swiftness. Perhaps she had saved Norrec, but even that the necromancer doubted.

She drifted along, each drop of blood leaving her body bringing her close to taking her next step in the overall scheme of the balance. Yet despite her deep beliefs, Kara wanted nothing more at the moment than to return to the mortal plane. She had left too much undone, had left Norrec in a position that he could not possibly survive without her aid. Worse, demons walked her world, further evidence that every follower of Rathma was badly needed. She had to return.

But such choices were generally not given to the dying.

"What should we do?" a voice in the distance asked, a voice that Kara felt she knew.

"He said that we should give it back when we felt we must. I feel we must."

"But without it—"

"We will still have time, Sadun."

"He may have said so, but I don't trust him!"

A brief, throaty chuckle. "Trust you to be the only one capable of not trusting one of his grand kind."

"Save the remarks… if it's got to be done, let's do it."

"As you say."

Kara suddenly felt a great weight upon her chest-a weight that felt so good that she eagerly welcomed it, took it into her very being. It had a tremendous familiarity to it that caused her to reminisce about little things, such as her mother feeding her fruit, a butterfly the color of rainbows landing on her knee while she studied in the forest, the smell of Captain Jeronnan's freshly cooked meals… even a brief glimpse of Norrec Vizharan's weathered but not unhandsome face.

The necromancer suddenly gasped as life enfolded her again.

She blinked, feeling the sand, the wind. Thunder rumbled and somewhere distant she heard what seemed the sounds of battle.

"It did… as he said… it would. I should've… used it… on myself."

Kara knew that voice now, although it had changed some from just a few seconds before. Now it sounded more as she would have expected it to sound-the rasping words of a dead man.

"I know… I know…" Sadun Tryst retorted to some silent response. "Only her…"

Opening her eyes, the enchantress stared up at the solemn forms of the grinning revenant and his Vizjerei companion. "What-how did you find me?"

"We never lost… you. We let you… go… and followed." His eyes narrowed. "But here in… Aranoch… we knew you… were around, but… could not see… you… until now."

They did not know exactly where she had gone when Horazon had led her down into his underground sanctum. The spell binding her to them had kept them in the general area, but both the sanctuary's location and its incredible magic had left the revenants baffled. She could have been directly underneath and neither would have noticed.

Her strength returning, the dark mage tried to push herself up a bit. Something slid from her chest. Kara instinctively caught it with one hand and marveled. Her dagger!

Tryst's smile had taken a decidedly bitter turn. "The bond is… broken. The life force… we took… is yours…" He looked frustrated. "We have… no more… hold… over you."

The necromancer looked down at her chest. Blood covered most of the blouse, but the horrible wound inflicted on her by the demon had sealed over, the only sign of itsearlier presence a circular mark, as if someone had tattooed Kara there.

"Looks… much healed."

She covered the area up again, glaring at the undead, despite the fact that he and Fauztin had just gifted her with a second chance at life. "How did you do that? I've never heard of such a feat!"

The wiry corpse shrugged, his head tipping to the other side. "He-my friend… said that the dagger… was a part… of you. When you were… bound to us… some part of you… came with. We returned it… to make you alive." He grimaced as best he could. "Nothing keeps… you tied to… us any more."

"Except one thing. Norrec." Kara forced herself up. Tryst stood back, but, to her astonishment, Fauztin lent a hand. She hesitated at first, but realized that the revenant only meant to help. "Thank you."

Fauztin blinked… then rewarded her with a brief, tight-lipped smile.

"You bring life… to the deadest of… the dead… now… we're even…" Sadun Tryst jested.

"What about Norrec?"

"We think… he nears… Lut Gholein."

Even though they had saved her, the necromancer could not let them slay their former friend. "Norrec is not responsible for your deaths. What happened to you he could not prevent."

The two stared back at her. At last, Fauztin blinked again and Tryst replied, "We know."

"But then why-?" Kara stopped. All along she had assumed that they hunted their murderer, who, naturally, could only be Norrec. Only now, looking at the duo, did she understand that her misconceptions had led her astray.

"You do not pursue Norrec in order to exact revenge on him-you pursue Bartuc's armor." Although they didnot answer her, she knew that she had not been wrong. "You could have told me!"

Tryst did not reply to that, either, instead abruptly announcing to Kara, "The city is under… siege."

Under siege? When had that happened? "By who?"

"One who… also seeks… to raise the dead… or at least… the bloody specter of… Bartuc."