“What did you do that for?” Asked Morell

  “We’ve taken their swords so they can’t fight us and taken their money so they can’t buy new ones. By taking their shoes, they’re less likely to cross a hot desert to follow us.”

  “That’s…brilliant.” He said. Not far away, the prince and Hoxley went through the men’s packs and found some rations and canteens. When Idris had been outfitted with a little food, water, sword and a buckler shield that covered him from hand to forearm. When they were ready to go, Idris and the prince approached the men tied to the tree.

  “I believe you are good men.” The tall man told them. “But I believe your loyalty is misplaced. See here, he is but a boy, but he is your king. His uncle’s words have turned to poison in your ears. He is a false ruler and a deceiver. Seek not either of us again or you’ll each get something far worse than being left by a tree.” The men’s hearts were hardened and they gave nasty scowls at the pair of them. “Come, your highness. Let’s be away from this place.” The companions gathered their things and headed north long enough to be out of sight of the captured men before continuing to head west as they’d intended. Hoxley took the lead and the others followed her into the dusty winds of Everlight Desert. The further they traveled, the more the ground changed from hard soil to shifting sands. Hoxley watched as Prince Damron walked close to Idris asking him questions and the man put his arm around the boy like he was his own son. As the sky began to grow just a little darker, cold winds set in. Night was upon them but the strange crystals that littered the landscape glowed like nothing else on the planet. Robert had scouted ahead and found a small crevice of lower elevation that would safe for them to start a fire in without being spotted from a distance. And with the whole desert already lit, their fire’s light would be less noticeable by anyone looking for them.

  When they’d settled in, Siouxsie and Robert took off on their brooms to scour the area for firewood. Each one returned after a short time with a small bundle of wood under one arm. Once the wood was arranged in a small pile, Robert produced a ball of fire from his bare hands and ignited the stack. Everyone took a seat around the fire as Idris began to tell them what he’d seen in the kingdom before he departed.

  “The prince’s uncle, Lord Baltus Damron, has not managed this coup on his own. He has great power backing him.”

  “How can this be?” Asked the prince. “How could Uncle Baltus have amassed enough forces to take over the kingdom so swiftly? Did the men loyal to my father put down their arms or turn against us?”

  “No, it’s not that at all. I do not know how he’s done so, but your uncle has managed to wrangle a lich into his service.”

  “A lich?” The prince asked. “What’s a lich?”

  “Evil magic.” Siouxsie interjected. “A person capable of acts so terrible they defy nature. A lich is a person who has crossed over the threshold of death but still lingers in our world. They are no longer mortal like you or I. They’re a terrible danger wherever they go. They use a perverted form of witch power. If Lord Baltus has managed to summon one of those… those…walking corpses…to do his bidding, then things are going to get worse.”

  “How can they get worse?” asked Morell.

  “If you’re power hungry and you have the means to take entire kingdoms without a fight, why wouldn’t you take all of them?” The girl witch said, pulling her knees to her chest and looked at Hoxley. “This is only the beginning. Things are going to get worse not only for those within the eastern kingdom but for witchkind and faunkind as well.”

  “But where did it come from?” Asked Hoxley. “Magic isn’t my specialty, but I imagine that even in witchly circles that power to create a lich or summon one is hard to come by.”

  “It is.” Said Robert as he floated on his broom overhead. “A lich’s power is rooted in dark magic but it’s a kind that was abandoned long ago when the magnitude of its potential danger was discovered. No one with a pointed hat these days would dare to play with something so forbidden.”

  “So why would Lord Baltus dare strike a bargain with something so dangerous?” The faun girl pondered aloud

  “That is a question I believe I can answer.” said Idris. “You see, Lord Baltus, the king’s only brother, his younger brother, has always been spoiled. He knew from an early age that the throne would never fall to him so he was never groomed to sit in a seat of power. He spent his youth as an embarrassment to the kingdom, causing mischief, doing whatever he wanted regardless of the consequences because he knew no one would dare correct him or lay a hand on him for fear of being brought before the king. At the age of ten, he burned down a farmer’s stable out of nothing more than cruelty, killing all of the animals inside.”

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  “That’s heartless.” Said Siouxsie.

  “Yes. And when adolescence found him, he was even worse. He would regularly drink too much and abuse subjects of his father’s kingdom. I’ve witnessed him start fights with grown men who were wary to lay a hand upon him. He would act out so terribly and cruelly that they would fight back out of nothing more than self-defense only to then be beaten by the guards that accompanied young Baltus. It pained his father and mother all the way to their graves. For years it was this way. However, when Prince Damron’s father became king, he put an end to it. Sick of the embarrassment caused by his younger brother, he banished Baltus with the decree that he was never step foot inside the kingdom ever again or face imprisonment.”

  “That sounds like a very light punishment for acting so awfully for such a long time.” Said Hoxley.

  “You’d be right. Lord Baltus, still being royalty, was still supported in a slightly lesser form of the lifestyle he’d been accustomed. He was regularly paid to stay away. And for that he continued to wander the land in the company of armed royal men, causing trouble and being an embarrassment to the crown. One could say it’s because of him that I came to be in the service of the crown. I once was a hand and aide to the royal house, but upon the birth of Prince Damron, the king made a special request of me. He asked that I stay close by to mind the prince when the matters of the kingdom kept him away. He made it my duty to watch over the prince so that the same affliction of self-importance that ruined Lord Baltus not take hold of his son as well.” Idris put his arm around the prince’s shoulders. “The prince is a good boy. He still has much to learn but I believe that in time he can be a strong man and an example for others to follow once there is a crown upon his head and a throne beneath him.” Everyone within the group nodded silently. “Now as for this lich, I have not seen it for myself but there are still a few of those loyal to us who have relayed what goes on within the castle walls. The last thing I was told was from the account of a servant still preparing meals. His account that he sent via a messenger bird said that the lich is an undead thing of bone and rot dressed in dark clothing that hangs in shreds like ancient rags. It sees without eyes. It follows Baltus wherever he goes and that a small crew the living dead follow it as well. He says strange dark storm clouds follow them wherever they go and that the clouds hold thunderous rumblings and flashes of green lighting within.”

  “Green lightning.” Spoke Robert. “That’s what we saw when we were out scouting.”

  “That is likely the same.” Said Idris “He says a strange rain falls from it that has caused the people of the kingdom to become senseless and wander aimlessly about. They live in a trance of the lich’s design. Neither truly living, nor dead.”

  “That’s monstrous.” Hoxley said, nervously grasping and ungrasping her spear. “Robert? You say this is the same thing you’ve seen?”

  “Yes. I saw it with my own eyes. The rain that affected the other scouts caused them to lose their minds and ferociously attack and kill one another.”

  “So, the lich can summon the dead and use rain to control the minds of anyone the storms come into contact with.” contemplated the prince. “How does one undo such arcane power? How could anyone fight such a force?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know how Baltus found it or brought it into his service, but our lands are in danger as long as that abomination exists.”

  “Can it be killed?” asked Morell “Burned? Crushed?”

  “I know a little.” Offered Robert. “My brother Ignatius talked of it once while we were discussing bad magic.”

  “Go on,” said Hoxley. “Tell us what you know.”

  “I was told that a lich is a person who strives for longer life, to try and stave off death. To become a lich the person has to have enough power to fashion an instrument that can keep death at bay or strike an agreement with a higher power to be given a way to hold death at a distance. Their flesh may pass but their essence remains in a shadow of its former self.”

  “Is that really what my uncle has with him?” Prince Damron asked his man.