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be
seen crowding in to try and clamor over the sill, their dead hands
grasping at the frame as they struggled to get past the others and
be the first into the pub. I noted they were moving quite
fast.
    “ Doka-what?” I burst
out.
    A woman screamed, “Oh god, are those
zombies!”
    Hydan shrugged, “That must be the
Earth name for necrosouls.”
    “ They don’t move like
zombies!” I said as I backed away from the necrosouls leaping
through the broken windows. They were fast, if kind of jerky, and
looked like they knew exactly what they were doing, not slow and
stupid looking like movie zombies.
    Hydan looked at me, “Have you fought
necrosouls before?”
    “ Ah, not that I can
recall,” I said hesitantly.
    “ Then how do you know how
they move?” he asked me, logically.
    Three of them tumbled into the room
through a window frame and scrambled to their feet. These were not
as big as the one in the door, but still formidable. Their flesh
was quite dead looking, but these weren’t the slow zombies of movie
fame.
    “ What should we do!” I
yelled.
    Hydan gestured to Fiona, “Now you get
to see what a pissed off sorceress of the Second Tier does for
fun.” He scooped up someone’s mug of beer and said, “Personally,
I’m going to take a seat and watch!” And he did just that, plopping
down into a chair which had a good field of view of
Fiona.
    She glanced at him and said, “Aren’t
you going to help?”
    Hydan grinned and replied, “Nope, not
a lick.”
    She didn’t have time to reply, since
the first creature had made it through the window, and had leaped
forward to slash its clawed hand across a young couple standing in
its way. The blow instantly decapitated the woman and cut through
most of the man’s neck.
    “ Shit, those things are
STRONG!” I exclaimed, backing away further.
    Hydan nodded, “They are magically
enhanced by their necromancer.”
    “ What necromancer?” I
bellowed.
    He shrugged, “He must be
near.”
    Then it leaped fifteen feet, coming at
Fiona through the air with outstretched claws.
    I was too slow to go to her aid, and
its leap had been too fast. I realized, in horror, that nothing
could stop this horrid undead monster from reaching the beautiful
Fiona; his claws were going to rip her pretty face to shreds. It
would be like destroying the Mona Lisa with a chainsaw.
    Just when the outstretched claws were
about two feet from her calm face, a wall of flame suddenly
appeared in its path. The monster howled, but could not change its
trajectory in mid-flight. It hit the burning wall and its body was
completely incinerated. Now, I don’t mean burned, I mean instantly
gone! A bit of dust residue landed at Fiona’s feet.
    Two more necrosouls ran at her from
the window area, but she pointed down and a hole opened up in the
floor. The two creatures fell into the pit, which sealed itself
with them inside; their howls were cut off by a quick crunching
sound.
    Hydan was grinning, like a spectator
seeing a seal show at Sea World. He took a big swig of beer,
leaving a foam mustache on his upper lip.
    The big one at the door turned and
howled, and then headed for Fiona, casually smashing furniture and
people out of its way to reach the sorceress.
    She made a slashing gesture, but
nothing happened, and the big monster kept coming. She gestured
again and an unnatural wind howled in the small room, the force of
it going right at the monster. It was slowed but kept
coming.
    “ Uh oh,” Hydan exclaimed,
and got to his feet.
    “ Are you going to help
now?” I asked.
    But it was Fiona who answered in a
worried voice, “No, Nick, get out of here, quickly! This… it feels
like an Archimage!”
    Hydan had taken a step toward Fiona,
but now he stopped and called out, “Which Archimage?”
    Fiona took a step TOWARD the oncoming
monster as she drew her knife from her waist.
    “ Well, this Archimage is a
necromancer, which narrows things down considerably,” Fiona
exclaimed, and then swung her