"With the threat of Talia Miral finally dealt with, Her Eternal Majesty was able to turn her attention to Babroda Kotund, another foul necromancer. The Undying Queen struck first, knowing that any delay would only be an opportunity for him to strike by surprise, taking advantage of her desire for peace. The Battle of Bainford saw Kotund's final defeat at the hands of the Empire's forces. It is said that such was his power that halfway through the battle and with only a single spell he raised every dead soldier on the battlefield to join his undead hordes, casting terror into the hearts of many a stalwart soldier of the Empire. Nevertheless, such desperate gambits were not enough for him to survive and like the rest of the Sorcerer-Kings he died, no doubt wishing he had not chosen to oppose Her Eternal Majesty."

Two Thousand Years of Empire by Jahangir Amini

=====

Almost the moment she left the chamber Ester started to regret letting the Golden Shadows leave. Now she had a potential threat at her back and it wasn't like they had anywhere to go anyway.

No. She didn't have the luxury of worrying about them. It had been the right thing to do in the circumstances and that was that. The real question was, what under the Throne was going on down here? The tainted magic was still in the air and she couldn't really believe that the Golden Shadows had come down with the necromancer, not anymore. So had that woman been the only one? She had no idea and that scared her.

The Witchlights were poorly maintained past the chamber. Leaving gloomy shadows flickering around the stone walls of the passage Ester was making her way down. That wasn't doing anything for her peace of mind of either. Every time she thought she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, her heart threatened to burst out of her chest and she had to clamp down on the urge to lash out with magic.

Should she have just gone back up again, to meet Lord Rasce? That would have been the sensible thing to do. Except… What if the Marcnis really were involved with the necromancy? She might not be allowed back to the surface.

Ester shuddered at the idea. It was ridiculous, they couldn't be. But she didn't turn back.

=====

Abiel reluctantly let go of Aliana and Ruben, breaking their embrace.

"Again, I'm so, so sorry. I…" If he'd gotten them all killed now… Well it wouldn't matter how unhappy he was about it because they'd all be dead.

"It's fine." It wasn't, not really. "We need to focus on how we're going to escape. We can't just go straight back up through the Vaults. Not anymore." Ruben was right of course. Abiel glanced at Aliana, she'd barely said a word. They'd both told her it wasn't her fault, but she prided herself on her ability to break wards and that one had tied her up just as easily as it had him. He could only imagine how guilty she'd be feeling.

"No, we can't. So we're stuck." They were going to die. "Unless…"

"I don't think a disguise is going to cut it here." Ruben managed to bring dry mockery into his voice, despite everything.

"Obviously not. I was going to say unless there's another, secret way out."

"Why the fuck would there be another way out? That would be incredibly stupid." Ruben was thinking though, Abiel could see it and Aliana had looked up from her lap.

"It would," Abiel agreed. At least the two of them were paying attention to how to survive now rather than thinking about everything that had gone wrong. "But it's not like the Marcnis are any different to other nobles, so stupidity very much is an option. But seriously, think about it. There was a necromancer down here." He hesitated and glanced at the woman's remains. "At least one. Do they just live down here and never see the outside world? It would make no sense. They can't be coming and going through the Vaults. That would raise far too many questions and we'd have heard something when we were working out how we were going to do this. So, they must have another route. The question is, where does it go and who knows about it?"

Ruben nodded slowly. "You're right, they must have. So you're saying we need to go in deeper?" Abiel didn't need to be able to see their faces to know how they felt about that.

"That's right. It's that or wait here for the Duke's guards to work up the courage to come and take us."

"The Mage said she'd kill us if she saw us again." Aliana finally decided to say something.

"She did." Abiel nodded. "So we just have to make sure she doesn't see us. She's hardly the most subtle person around and she won't be looking for us. We just avoid her. She can blow up whatever she wants to blow up while we make our own discreet exit." It was a plan. Even if he could have steered a horse and cart through the holes in it, it was still better than nothing. Ruben and Aliana's nods told Abiel that they agreed.

=====

Ester shuddered as she carefully picked her way through the dimly lit passage. How big was this place? Somewhere along her journey the walls had changed too. Smoother blocks had replaced rough stone. They were finer, but also infinitely more disturbing. Now there were scenes carved into some of them. Ones she didn't want to look at too closely. In other places bones seemed to have been pressed into the stone. Femurs, grinning skulls and rib cages protruded out from solid stone. It was sick, disgusting and all the more worrying. Where had they even found the bones? She shuddered. Bodies were meant to be cremated.

Really she should turn back, what was she even doing pressing deeper into this? Despite that, she didn't stop.

She couldn't actually have spent all that long making her way deeper through the dark passages, but it felt like an eternity. Surrounded by obscene carvings and bones she struggled to see, every step was a fight against fear.

Ester froze at a shuffling sound ahead of her. Just like in the Wasteways. She tried to calm herself down with that thought. She'd seen undead before, beaten them. They weren't such a threat to a Mage. The memory of a necromancer punching straight through Cai flashed to the front of her mind and suddenly she wished she hadn't thought about the Wasteways.

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A shambling figure rounded a corner. She couldn't see it well, but she could see the unnatural way it moved, dragging a leg behind it. She could smell the sweet tang of decay in the air. It was enough.

"Saig ai'exbal." The creature exploded into flame, bright enough to leave Ester blinking to clear the spots from her eyes.

A few seconds later there was nothing but ash left of the undead creature. With a shudder Ester pressed on.

=====

Lord Rasce resisted the urge to massage his temples as they reached the entrance to the Vaults. There was too much to worry about and Sir Vitaly's booming voice made it difficult to even think. Could he not just speak like a normal person? Or even better, keep quiet?

"My lord!" The sergeant saluted him, his eyes flicking to Sir Vitaly's huge form beside him. "Our forces are gathering fast, however we are still missing much of the magical power of the House. I cannot advise…"

"Yes, yes. Without the Adepts I would not consider it." Lord Rasce was somewhat disappointed by the meagre forces that had been assembled, but then given how little warning they had received, what more could he expect? "We will hold for now." If only his brother was here. He would know what to do.

"Hold?! Nonsense!" Of course Sir Vitaly would have something to say. Could he not just shut up and help? "You have a necromancer down there with Lady Mazar, we must help her!"

"We will Sir Vitaly, we will! However, there is no point in going down there with insufficient force. I cannot just get people killed." Lord Rasce very deliberately turned away from Sir Vitaly to speak to the sergeant. "How long do you think it will take for the Adepts to arrive?"

His attention was yanked straight back by a commotion behind him.

"Step aside and let me through you pathetic cravens, or I'll whip your misbegotten backsides the way your fathers should have." Sir Vitaly was looming over a pair of guards who were blocking his way into the Vaults with their spears. For fuck's sake. He truly did not need this on top of everything else.

"Sir Vitaly!" The huge man spun back to face Lord Rasce, looking completely unembarrassed by his appalling behaviour.

"Someone needs to help the girl. Since the rest of you are so afraid of the necromancer, I shall take it upon myself. My spirit, my sword and the gaze of Her Eternal Majesty, I need nothing more!" Sir Vitaly placed a hand on the hilt of his sword and puffed his chest out.

Lord Rasce stared at Sir Vitaly for a few seconds, hardly believing the man could actually be serious. Sir Vitaly seemed utterly unfazed, posing like an unmoving sculpture. Unmoving other than a slowly growing smirk. Lord Rasce resisted the urge to groan. He was going to have words with his brother when this was over!

"Let him through." He gave the guards a resigned wave. "If he insists on getting himself killed then let him." Who knew, maybe the man would even help Lady Mazar.

"Quite right. See you on the other side old man!" Sir Vitaly flashed him a cocky salute, gave one of the guards a slap on the shoulder hard enough to make him stumble and then bounded away into the Vaults.

=====

Ester looked frantically around her as three more of the undead shambled towards her. How could this have been allowed to happen?! The whole place was infested with the creatures. This wasn't the work of someone who'd just broken in. She should have turned back long ago.

"Daabru diwaien'fa." She flexed her magic and with a crunch the head of the closest one imploded. At least these creatures didn't have the same inherent defences against magic that the living did.

"Dolox gan cobidein'fa." The second slammed into the wall hard enough to send a shower of fragments flying off the bones lining it. Then the third was almost on her.

"Saig." Flame erupted from inside its body, rapidly consuming it.

Ester sagged slightly with relief. Spirits only knew what horrors had been inflicted on what had once been people. One thing was clear though, the whole tunnel complex under the Marcni Vaults was a horror show. The walls were decorated with macabre motifs that would have warranted a visit from the Inquisition by themselves and disgusting undead monstrosities wandered through its passages. The only comfort was that they didn't seem to live up to some of the worse stories she'd heard. They seemed to be slow, stupid and not all that tough.

She needed to avoid getting over confident though. The stories must have some truth to them. Just because the undead she'd encountered were weak, it didn't mean stronger ones didn't exist or weren't here.

With a deep breath Ester forced herself to take a step towards the next passage, then another. Something moved ahead of her and she froze, her heart almost bursting from her chest and a spell on her lips.

"Sa…" The spell trailed off to nothing in the face of the finely dressed, somewhat portly man in front of her.

He was already leaping backwards, hands help up with their palms out and a look of horror on his face. "Wait! Wait!"

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Ester snapped. She had no time for niceties and anyone down here was under suspicion. The only thing that had stayed her magic was the man's frightened, shocked reaction and the lack of any sign of magic on him.

"Who am I?" For a moment outrage flashed across his features, before fear returned. "I am Duke Marcni. These are my Vaults. Or at least I thought they were." He shivered violently. "I have no idea what is going on down here. Who under the Throne are you? You do not look like," he shivered again, "a necromancer." Despite his words he placed his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

He did look a bit like Lord Rasce in fact, similarly large, but with more focused features and more signs of age on him. It was hard to believe though. What was he doing down here?

"You're the Duke?" Ester couldn't quite keep the incredulity out of her voice. "I'm Ester Mazar. A Chartered Mage," she belatedly added.

"Lady Mazar?" Something unreadable flashed across the Duke's face. "What under the Throne are you doing down here?"

"I was trying to capture the Golden Shadows, when…" Ester trailed off, unable to quite say it out loud. "Do you have any idea what's going on down here my lord?!"

No! This… This is madness. If I had had any idea…" He took a step towards her.

"Then if you didn't know, why are you down here? Did Lord Rasce call you?" It didn't make any sense. Why was he here by himself?

"Lord Rasce? My brother?" He looked confused for a second and then grimaced. "When the alarm was raised, I came as quickly as I could. I had no idea what was going on down here. This, this horror show… I need to end it, to bring reinforcements and cleanse it with fire. Great Spirits, my whole House is in danger!" He took another step closer to her. Ester thought frantically, how was she meant to deal with the most powerful man in the city?

"How could you not know about the necromancy my lord? Don't your vaults lead straight down here? Were there no signs?"

"No, there were not!" He took another step forward. "All that…"

"Stop!" Ester almost shrieked the word, slamming her magic into place to make a ball of white-hot fire appear above her hand. The Duke froze, shock on his face.

"Great Spirits!" He took a deep breath and a step back. "My apologies my lady. I did not mean to frighten you. We are allies here, you must believe me. This… this taint on House Marcni needs to be burnt back down to the rock."

"I…" Relief warred with scepticism in Ester. If it was anyone other than the Duke, she would have dismissed his words out of hand. But the idea that the most powerful man in the city, the man entrusted with Vass Karan by Her Eternal Majesty, would be involved in necromancy was so ludicrous it was difficult to even think about it. "Thank you my lord."

He gave her a sharp nod. "We are both in grave danger. That much is clear. There is nothing to protect this deep down. My House's treasures are all well above us. We should return to the surface together for protection and then bring the full weight of the House down on this place and burn it to the bedrock. I have clearly been remiss in not finding this place before, hopefully I can redeem that error by bringing it to a quick and final end. Come!"

He gestured imperiously back up the gentle slope Ester had come down.

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