Iphigenia held her sword with both hands. 'Ready to try the trick Valdys taught us, Elz? We should have more than enough magic ability now.'

Elzbieta took her sword in both hands. 'If only we had time to test and train before using it in a fight.'

The two girls concentrated on the spell and their hands, and after a few moments, they slowly pulled their hands apart and held identical swords in each one.

'Well done.' said Valdys with some pride. 'I knew this spell would work for both of you.'

Iphigenia and Elzbieta looked at each other. 'Let's see how fast we can scare the rest away.' said Iphigenia, and they ran to join Ulric and Caylais in battle.

Ulric gazed in surprise at his girls wielding two swords as they clashed with the first startled swamp warriors. 'How did you get those?'

'With a little magic, Wolfie.' chuckled Iphigenia as she sliced a wooden shield in pieces in just an instant.

'Just putting the advantages of the bond with you to good use, darling.' said Elzbieta as she slammed a head between the flats of her two blades.

Several Bognam rushed towards him in a state of shock and violent blindness. 'I'll have to see if there's any trick I can learn.' he said, and ran towards his unfortunate opponents.

***

Naczary stared at the carnage done by the enemy. Not ever before in the history of his people had there been a time when they knew defeat in their own territory. He knew his name would be cursed for all time from now on if the tide wasn't turned, and stomped towards Tarrence in anger. 'Attack them! Don't wait for my men to be killed!'

Tarrence slowed him down with his icy gaze. 'Don't tell me what to do. My forces are already on their way.'

Naczary stopped to see the army of demons move in from both sides of the ruin to catch the bloodwolf party in a pincer attack, and grinned in satisfaction when the four were cornered so that the feline could not use her attack again without knocking out her comrades. His glee vanished when a harpy took to the sky and dropped jars that exploded amidst the warriors.

Arrows and bolts fired at her were swept away with a sweep of her wings, and the demons dispersed in a panic to avoid the death from above.

Naczary gazed in shock again at the cool expression of the canine next to him. 'Aren't you worried?'

'We still have the advantage in numbers.'

New shouting erupted when a few stone golems appeared from the fort, three times the size of an average orc. Without hesitation, they swung their fists and kicked at any demon within reach.

Tarrence frowned. He had anticipated strong resistance and drummed up more armed men than he should have needed, but this sudden show of force was totally beyond his expectation. He wondered if that party had been holding back all this time up to now, but then he couldn't explain why they didn't use more force with the pirates or at the canyon maze. He gave Gigacks a nod.

***

'Great job, Conchi and Isa.' said Ulric over the link. 'They won't dare to fight in groups now.'

Conchim took a dive and dropped one more grenade jar between one of the last tightly packed groups of demons. 'Good thing, because I used the last of Kaui's grenades. Isa, you'll have to take on the group at your right.'

Isazea saw the group of demons from her position on top of the fort's wall and ordered one golem to attack them. 'Sending a golem right now.'

Ulric punched an orc and threw him into another one. 'How are you doing, Cay?'

Caylais defended the front of the ruin to stay within easy reach of Valdys's shield protection, and hit a couple of beastmen who thought she was an easy prey on her own, with her lightning bolts. She couldn't deny feeling great at her new found power. 'I feel as if I won't run out of mana even if I do this several days in a row.'

Iphigenia danced through her opponents, slicing their feet and legs to take them down fast. 'I think we have a good chance to defeat them if we keep this up, Wolfie.'

Elzbieta smashed a couple of shields with one sword as she spun around, before slashing the unfortunate demons who held them. 'It does seem like we gained enough strength to take this many enemies on, darling.'

Valdys stared out over the battlefield from her position on top of the wall, and noticed movement all around in the swamp. 'We're not out of the swamp yet. I sense something nasty coming, courtesy of our lich friend.'

Even the orcs became nervous when the undead appeared from the mangroves, warriors from generations of old battles and fights in the swamp, whose bodies were preserved in the bog water and whose armour of rotting leather and once immaculate steel had slowly deteriorated, and now moved forward with blank stares from their pale green faces and their rusted weapons in hand towards their assigned living mark.

Ulric knocked out a goblin and rushed at the nearest undead, and dodged the jab of its sword. 'Damn! These guys are quicker than I thought.'

'Don't underestimate the undead when they're under control of a capable sorcerer, my love.' said Valdys. 'Hold them off until I can do something about it.'

***

Tarrence watched with tepid satisfaction how the party struggled with the relentless undead, and the demons taking the opportunity to press their attack. Gigacks was well stocked with mana stones to keep the undead going and unlike the swamp folk, this army wasn't easily dissuaded from a fight. He glanced at Naczary from the corner of his eye, who spurred on his warriors as if he was the greatest commander of his people now that others took care of his enemy. He observed the party carefully, especially the two ladies who for the the first time wielded two swords in a way he'd not seen before. It was as if they used each hand independently. Like they were two persons fighting next to each other in perfect sync. He'd have to let Gigacks look into that. The bloodwolf still fought the same way, crude, but very effective with his strength and speed. The harpy was graceful in the sky and lethal with her talons and daggers, and the feline was clearly a lightning ability user, and the Korudo looked like she had something to do with the golems, but he knew too little of the others.

'Looks like we won't need to bother with fighting in the end.' said Muni.

Elyta inspected her dagger. 'Although those undead do well in interfering and slowing them down, I'm not counting on sitting this one out until they are actually dead or captured.'

Muni gestured at the human and elf struggling to keep their numerous attackers at bay. 'I'd say they're making good progress.'

***

'Wolfie! We're under pressure here!' said Iphigenia as she slashed at any limb in range because even without arms or legs, the undead kept moving forward in any way they could and distracted from the targeted attacks by the demons.

Elzbieta hew with more effect with her swords, but it was not enough to reverse the tide of undead swamping her. 'I feel more like a butcher than a knight!'

Ulric growled as he kept punching. 'I noticed they're rather pushy, yes.' he said while his frustration with them worsened. 'I'm beginning to become very tired of them.' He kicked a couple away from his hind paws, then punched a few more, but the next moment they clung to him from all sides. His growl become lower and stronger with his anger, and he took a deep breath through his nose to vent his anger.

His roar blew the closest undead away from him, and any who stood around him in a large circle were stunned, while demons covered their ears and crawled away in sudden fear.

Iphigenia and Elzbieta watched the crowd around them. 'Wolfie, I think we just discovered what that lion ability of yours does.'

'Watch out!' said Valdys. 'Our special friends are coming.'

The three saw the canine, feline, and succubus approach rapidly, and Ulric growled. 'Just when I thought things were boring.'

'Here come some friends though.' said Valdys, and the sounds of fluttering and clicking rose around them.

Elyta looked left and right as she ran. 'What's that?'

Muni pushed an undead elf warrior aside. 'Maybe something Gigacks conjured up.'

Out of the mangroves burst a host of undead animals and spirits, and descended upon the still functioning Bognam, demons, and undead.

Tarrence did not slow down. 'Ignore those! Focus on the party and kill those three first!'

He came close to Ulric, but the bloodwolf roared again and even though it was only for a moment, it did interfere with his concentration, and instead of making the first attack, he had to dodge one aimed at him.

Elyta and Muni were stunned for a brief moment as well, and began the fight against their opponents by defending themselves. Things became worse when Isazea sent in the golems to clear space around the fighters, and Valdys shot fire and ice at demons who woke up from their stupor.

***

Naczary didn't like the way things turned bad again. He lost most of his warriors and the ones who were left had lost their will and began to back off or outright ran away. He saw no way to salvage his name but to pull back from the fight he could not win. He grabbed the nearest Bognam by his arm. 'We're pulling back. Give the signal to retreat.'

The warrior ran off to another who carried a horn, and who blew the retreat signal a moment later.

Brigs, who frantically discussed possible tactics to salvage the battle with his closest men, stopped at the sound, and watched the swamp folk hurry away into the deeper swamp. He grunted and threw his battle hammer onto the ground. 'We're going nowhere and now those water freaks leave as well!' he said and looked at his men. 'Forget it. This is no longer worth it. We're abandoning this fight as well.'

The demon horns sounded across the battle field, and any demon capable of doing so, retreated.

***

Muni jumped away from Iphigenia's lethal double jab and realised there were less people on his side of the fight. 'Where are they going!?'

Elyta glanced around while she tried to pierce Elzbieta with an arrow. 'They're leaving us!' she said and glanced at Tarrence in his daggers against spikes fight with Ulric. 'Tarrence! They are pulling back!'

Tarrence growled as he blocked a spiked punch and glanced around fast. 'Cowards.' he grunted. 'Don't give up yet!'

Elyta and Muni didn't give up the fight easily, but when Valdys concentrated her attack on them and Caylais came close with her lightning strikes, they preferred to live and fight another day. Elyta ran off towards Tarrence. 'We have to go! We can't win on our own!'

Tarrence pushed Ulric back with a quick knife action and growled as he weighed the options quickly. 'Fuck!' he snarled, and jumped away from Ulric. 'We're gone.'

Ulric and the girls watched the demon party run away while the undead dropped to the ground around them. He hurried to Iphigenia and Elzbieta. 'Are you all right?'

They wiped the sweat from their faces. 'We're all right, darling.' said Elzbieta, and leaned on her two swords. 'This fight was close.'

Iphigenia let go of her second sword and it vanished. 'Too close for comfort. We were lucky to have boosted our strength, otherwise we wouldn't have made it.'

Ulric nodded. 'Let's leave this place quickly first, then we'll discuss it all on the way.'

***

'We are no longer dealing with normal subjects.'

The demon party had moved far enough away to set up camp and contact their supervisor. Tarrence probed different threads in his mind for possible actions he could take next, including the one that they're going to blame him and demote him the way they usually do, by terminating. He had to use his time well while waiting for the decision from his new supervisor after reporting the danger that the strange party posed.

'How certain are you?' said Seterus over the magic link burning into the special stone.

'The rate at which they grew strong enough to take on our forces means they either have a way to go beyond normal, or they're hiding their true strengths. I don't want to wait around for the first, and the second means they're possibly our greatest threat.'

'Keep track of them. We'll inform you later of our decision.'

Tarrence ignored the stone cracking apart and turned to his party. Muni took a gulp from his mug of wine. 'So, what does this mean?'

The canine topped off his own mug. 'It means that they don't need us to pay for the failure. Yet.'

Elyta tossed another piece of wood onto the campfire they had made in a sheltered corner of a low rock formation. 'I don't like waiting while assassins could be on our way as we speak.'

Tarrence glanced at Gigacks, who sat quietly. 'I'd know the moment the order was given.' he said and looked for something to chew on in his satchel. 'Still, it's best to always have an exit strategy in case they think you're no longer useful.'

Muni emptied his mug and filled it again. 'There's only one exit strategy I know, and I'd like to apply it to others before it's applied to me.'

***

'We're out of the swamp.' said Ulric when Cat exited it and arrived at the gap of the second mountain range. They had left the ruin as soon as possible and Ulric rode in front with Harry again, while the others took turn keeping watch on the surroundings on the obscured roof of Cat. 'I didn't expect another attack from the swamp folk again, but I'm still glad it didn't happen.'

Valdys thanked the spirits who escorted them at a distance through the swamp for their help. 'I think the few individuals who hid themselves were only there to make sure we left, my love.'

'I can imagine that.' Ulric said as he stopped Harry. He stepped off and stretched his legs after the day long drive as Cat stopped behind him, and untied the rope between them.

Iphigenia and Elzbieta stepped out and surveyed the drier landscape of fading greenery ahead of them. Conchim flew up high to see beyond the shallow hills of dried grass and gnarly trees. 'It's desert from here on out.' she said and looked back. 'The mountain range prevents clouds from drifting over here.'

Valdys checked their direction with the latest artefact. 'We still have to go there.'

Ulric looked back at Cat. 'Isa, any problem for Cat to travel through hot and dry weather?'

She laid her hand on Cat's controls. 'I don't expect any. Golems are very sturdy in any type of weather.'

He looked up at Conchim coming down. 'Let's check our supplies before we drive into the oven.'

***

The hills of dried grass turned quickly to plains of scarce brown grass, and eventually desert, and dunes, and days later they found a city on their way.

Iphigenia, Elzbieta, Caylais, Susi, and Ulric stepped out of Cat after parking close to a partial wall near the outskirts of the city. 'Looks similar to the old ones in deserts in my old world.' said Ulric as he looked across the plain sandstone houses and stretches of wall built along the outside, presumably to provide some cover from sandstorms. 'But this shouldn't be surprising since we're talking about similar environments.' He noticed a few people passing between two houses. 'They even dress the same.'

Walking along a winding wide road, which was probably a main one, Iphigenia observed the stares of the natives at them. Especially from children. 'Seems not many outsiders come around here.'

Elzbieta glanced around in her usual guarded manner. 'I'm glad they're not hostile, and only curious.'

'Let's see what happens when we find a place to drink.' said Ulric.

Flute music and several voices pointed to one such place, and the owner recognised the curious glance of Iphigenia inside. 'Come in, come in, dear travellers.' he said seemingly undeterred by the presence of their two demon pets, and gestured at an empty table. 'You came from far?'

'We've been travelling around for a good while.' said Iphigenia as they sat down. 'First time we've come here.'

'I hope you'll enjoy it here despite the heat.' he said, and took their order for drinks with a glance at the wolves sitting almost like people on the bench.

Elzbieta leaned a little closer when the other guests continued their own conversations, after their curiosity about the three ladies and their bloodwolves seemed satisfied for the moment. 'I didn't think there'd be dwarves here.' she said and gestured with her eyes to a table in the corner with five dwarves drinking and talking.

Ulric glanced at them. 'Why not?' he asked softly.

'Not exactly the place for people specialised in mining and construction work. Especially these. I recognise the badge on one of their bags. They're from a mining family who are among the best.'

'I didn't see any mountains nearby, so could they be passing through?'

Iphigenia tapped her cheek. 'They look a little too suntanned for that.'

Elzbieta nodded slightly. 'Indeed.'

'Might be wise to keep an ear and an eye on them then.' Iphigenia said, and focussed on the one to help out on that. 'Valdys, can you send Trixy to do a little snooping for us?'

Valdys tugged lightly on the undead squirrel's tail, who was in a staring contest with Susi from her place on the sorceress's lap. 'I'll send her on her way.'

Trixy arrived at the dwarves' table undetected soon after, and stealthily slipped underneath. The girls drank and talked casually like tourists for a while, when the dwarves pulled back from their table. Elzbieta looked sideways at Ulric. 'Damn, they're already leaving. They'll discover Trixy next.'

All the guests inside jumped up at the loud sneezed bark, and stared at the bloodwolf sniffing and shaking his head. None of them noticed Trixy slipping away and out of a window.

Iphigenia ruffled Ulric's head. 'It's probably sand in his nose.' she said, and the guests muttered and resumed what they were doing. Some needed to wipe their spilled drinks from their tables and clothes.

Ulric casually stepped outside and sat down at the corner of the building, and Trixy climbed into his neck and chittered her report while Ulric glanced at the dwarves untying their pack animals, a horse-like herbivore with longer legs and thicker, coarse fur, large ears, and a jiggling belly. He was reasonably sure it functioned like the humps of camels. 'Those dwarves talked about a dig site and a lost dungeon.'

The girls inside glanced at one another. 'I think we might be interested in that, darling.' said Elzbieta.