It was not a short run. We had run from the shore near the Olthoi North Mansion (which still had to be fully explored, and which the olthoi were basically daring us to attempt), and had to make our way out into the waters, then loop around to the north to make it to the island there.

  And we still didn’t know if that was the island, and even asking Ulgrim hadn’t clarified the matter. The words he’d spoken to us had been programmed into him, and he honestly didn’t have the slightest clue at all where Harlune actually was.

  Par for the course for this place.

  It was about ten miles, all told, but I wasn’t going overly fast, finding no need to sprint. Being undead meant my passengers didn’t need to wear glasses against the wind, and my Mask warded me enough that a good sixty-mph darting across the seas was just an easy, steady pace to keep.

  I had Detect Aquatics up, but nothing was responding to my presence, and I didn’t see the shadows of anything too awful big to worry about. The remorans didn’t hear us coming or going, they didn’t alert the sleeches or niffis or whatever, and so it was basically open waters and seas all the way there.

  ---

  Master Ben Ten’s gauntleted hand plunged down like a crane darting for fish, pulled back, and came up with his prize.

  I glanced back at the wet and ragged olthoi wing, parts clearly nibbled on.

  His hand caressed an area halfway down it, the translucent membrane torn and punched right through with extreme precision.

  “A Piercing Bolt through the wing,” he judged, studying the nearly three-inch hole calmly. “Platinum-grade, if I am not mistaken.” He handed the thing, nearly three-feet long even after being nibbled on, over to Ugisko, who took it and looked it over himself.

  “Odd,” the hillman said, focusing on a leading edge of the wing. “This is a discoloration from fire, if I am right. I can see the residue of ash about it. Who uses fire against an olthoi?”

  I looked back at it, and shook my head. “No, that’s not fire. Fire doesn’t spread along the veins like that. You’re mistaking the ash of fire for the crumbling of necroic damage to organic tissue. It was clipped by a bolt of Void Magic.”

  Murmurs of appreciation went up as the wing was handed around, and the men examined the wound, it looking different to them than it did to me. When it made its way back to Master Ben Ten, he simply waved it away, and Konrad tossed it back into the sea.

  “Void Magic is hostile to everything,” the swordmaster murmured, his eyes fixed ahead, where a small forested island, only a mile long, sat isolated and distant from the larger islands in the distance.

  I could see the spores of the mushrooms on the wind, and x50 forward view could make out a haze that was all too bright and colorful in the UV spectrum on the main islands, spilling softly out over the sea. Not INTO the sea, however. Apparently they didn’t do well in salt water…

  “Yes, attacking the spirit as much as the flesh. There are few people who use it, and although I know the principles and can wield it if I must, I vastly prefer not to introduce such energies into the mortal world.”

  Bony jaws clattered in agreement. Void Magic was something the Empyreans had learned from things Beyond, and the Entities who had brought it in for Isparians to learn in the past had been pretty much the definition of malevolent… if enslaving the souls of the dead and putting them into undead constructs was any indication, of course.

  “I will be placing us all under Invisibility for the last mile of the approach, so be ready to fade from sight,” I told them all over my shoulder. “I will also be executing a Heavens-Up Display for your benefit, so be prepared when it appears overhead.”

  They rattled slightly. “I am not familiar with that spell,” Master Ben Ten said for all of them.

  “It creates a holographic image to your vision above your normal line of sight and out of the way, indicating the positions of friends and enemies, the active map around you, directions, threat levels, traps, and any information you know how to input into it, such as my Detects. It should be quite intuitive when you see it, as it is made to work for tactical thinkers the best.” They straightened up just a bit in expectation. “I will also be dropping a couple Buffing spells on you. I don’t like using necromancy, but I’ve had them ready in case I had to fight directly along with our undead allies. We have a Weave going among us through the Fellowship, so these should be simplicity for you to gain.

  “Let me start with Ironbone.”

  Magicks of necromancy and transmutation interwove in a custom form, only different from the other iterations because these bones were in use by undead, and the spell would affect them when necromancy was used to buttress them.

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  There was a crackling and snapping among the skeletal warriors, who flinched at the dark magic flowing over and through them, buttressed with the Elements of cold and fire nominally attached to my magic.

  Intrigued, they flexed their hands and arms, wondering what it had done. “When we get closer, I’m going to pop a Void Shield on you specifically to guard against Void Magic. In the meantime, Energize your Armor and Bane it to bludgeon, slashing, and fire, as you would normally.”

  Energizing would mean the Armor would be effective against Ray-type Isparian magic attacks, either bouncing the spell or reducing the damage, depending on how they were hit. I had, however, just taken their vulnerability to bludgeon and slashing damage away with the Ironbone, as their skeletons now shared the better characteristics of bone or steel, as it were.

  Longstrider and Barkskin followed, as did Resist Fire, Acid, Cold, and Lightning. It would stack with their natural resistances, which were percentage-based, reducing the damage to their best benefit, i.e. taking it down by a percentage, and then sweeping away thirty points after that.

  “My ability to Heal you is more limited than normal living people, so the majority of that is on you. I can do so for emergencies, but if so, I would prefer to do it on your entire group at once.” I lifted Crown, and around his head flared a black and silver flame that was probably completely reversed to their undead eyes, the manifestation of Channeling negative energy ready to go, constrained by the natural Vivic of my Staff. “Again, it is introducing negative energy into the world, which I prefer not to do, but this will all find a home in you, so it should be fine. Be ready to Infuse Reaper as we get closer.”

  “Understood!” the Master replied. The Reaper Infusion was the opposite of Healing Edge, inflicting additional negative energy damage and Healing an undead user for the same 1-8 points. It wasn’t a lot per individual, but these were all master weapon users, so they’d be plying their Weapons energetically.

  They didn’t dare impart it permanently to their Weapons, as all of them intended to claim their Weapons once they returned to life, and what use would Reaper be to them then? However, all of them were masters of Item Magic, which fed easily into the Artificer Levels they were reallocating their Karma into, slowly and surely.

  “Invisibility going up.” I hissed the simple spell, shared it through the magic of the Fellowship Weave, and with a swirl of illusion magic, we all disappeared from sight, Disks and all.

  “Heavens-Up Display coming online.” With a few more words, the Holographic display overlaying their vision slightly popped into view, and they all murmured in interest as they saw our line of X’s, all in blue, arrayed behind me, who had a white Aura marking a Caster. Their own X was naturally totally obvious to them, situating them perfectly, and they turned their eyes down in grave interest as they saw below them a whole crapload of O’s in colors from orange to blue, moving unseen through the waters beneath them at various depths, which they’d had no clue were there.

  Focusing on the X’s and O’s resolved them slightly, getting more information about them. The O’s were mostly my guesses as to what were sharks, what were food fish, remorans, sleeches, and the like, the X’s simply named each indicator. As normal, there was a concentration of the intelligent creatures near the islands, and it seemed a lot of the smaller fish liked to feed on the olthoi spores, too.

  “The HUD will update with whatever you see and want to post to it, especially if you are out of line of sight of us,” I went on calmly. “We will have Messaging up shortly, so you will be able to communicate without having to speak.”

  “Ah, not one to be screaming up that bloody soul-churning Song of the Hag, aye?” Konrad asked in amusement.

  “You have my permission to clout me on the head soundly if I ever come up with such a plan myself, Sir Konrad. My Heartsong benefits don’t translate well to mad charges into many opponents. I’m more of a ‘sit back and slaughter them all from safety back here’ type of person.”

  They all chuckled hollowly in understanding. “Worry not, Lady Magos. The up-close and personal is very much our specialty!” Konrad assured me confidently.

  “If the Raven Hand is here, they are sly and duplicitous, known for their stealth and backstabbing. You don’t have to worry about poisons, but sneak attacks are really their things,” I reminded them. “Don’t expect honorable combat out of them.”

  “And the Freebooters fell in with them,” Master Ben Ten spoke up with regret. “I have to wonder what she promised them to secure that level of cooperation after everything that had happened!”

  “First, it was likely for protection from interference with their business and survival. Then, well, Blood Magic, and likely they don’t have a damn choice in the matter now,” I answered grimly.

  “You believe she has used magic to secure her hold over them?” Master Ben Ten asked, his voice cool now.

  “Blood Magic is extraordinarily good at such things. All you need is some of a person’s blood, and it is very hard to fight, Elder.”

  “We shall see how well it works against us,” he muttered darkly, and the other seven undead men just nodded slowly.

  “She has experience against the undead, but I daresay she considers you all vulnerable to War Magic, so we shall see how she deals with you now.” Soft hollow chuckles followed in grim amusement.

  Upgraded and Buffed undead were not common, and could be Dispelled reliably. That would not be so simple with Matrix-style Buffing and Debuffing.

  Detect Evil at VII+1 ranged out ahead of us, pinging off the Browns of the Aquatics below, which dipped into Purple whenever the sleeches and their kind passed by. Having unleashed their own Soul Essence, even as Cursed Undead, the eight warriors with me were all very familiar with the Colors of Souls, and eyed the sunken creatures suspiciously as they glided past swiftly and invisibly above them.

  ‘Reaper your Weapons,’ I said into the Fellowship, and gauntleted hands glittered very faintly as magic pressed into their Weapons, weaving in negative energies that would harm living foes and Heal them at the same time.

  My Detect ranged out a good thousand feet ahead of us in the open air, looking for spotters and intelligent life. It came up onto the beach, and into the treeline… and pinged almost instantly.

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