“The night I met with Vdekshi for dinner, I had intended to save my town” said Mayor Marissi. “Instead, I was tricked like an arrogant fool, dooming the town rather than protecting it.”

Marissi looked across the table at the two strangers who sat with him in the ruined former town hall. Seth, the one who had healed him, looked at him without judgment or pity, just a gentle encouragement to continue his story. Tarun, the large stranger who had nearly strangled him to death, no longer had the look of rage he had the night that Marissi had betrayed them, but his expression was still serious and his gaze was piercing.

Marissi took a deep breath before continuing. He had already admitted to them about being the former mayor of this ruined town, and he was halfway through his story about how he had caused its ruin in the first place. The confession had gone smoothly enough so far, but he steeled himself as he remembered that it was the second half of the story that cast him in the most damning light.

“I suppose you didn’t realize the entire dinner was simply a trap,” said Tarun, sensing Marissi’s hesitancy.

“It wasn’t a trap,” Marissi replied quickly. “At least, Vdekshi didn’t mean for it to be one. I genuinely believe that he had extended the invitation in good faith, and hoped to work together and deal honestly with me. As far as I can tell, everything he told me that night was the truth. I was the only one who lied and went back on my word.”

“What did you lie about?” asked Seth.

“My vow to keep secret everything he had told me that night,” said Marissi. “Including… including my vow to keep it a secret.” Marissi unconsciously brought a shaking hand to his mouth, eyes wide and breathing heavy. He felt around in his mouth for his rejuvenated teeth, gums, and tongue, relieved to find them still intact.

“Forgive me,” said Marissi. “For a moment I feared that I might have inadvertently brought the curse down upon myself again by speaking of it. But it seems that broken vow has already been paid for and healed thanks to that magic of yours. Again, my profound thanks for…”

Seth raised a hand to interrupt the praise. “I’m glad you’re well and that you can share the truth with us,” said Seth. “Now what was it that you discussed with Vdekshi that night?”

“A deal that Vdekshi offered me,” said Marissi. “It was a deal that he said would save my town, extend his life, and give him the strength to keep a great evil at bay.”

“Keep a great evil at bay?” Tarun asked. “I thought Vdekshi to be evil incarnate. What could he possibly consider so evil that even he would want to keep it at bay?”

“He never told me the specifics because he said he didn’t want it to tempt me,” said Marissi. “He simply said that it was very ancient, very powerful, and capable of corrupting nearly anyone who got near it. That’s why he said he needed to safeguard it within his stronghold and make sure he stayed alive to ensure that no one ever stole it.”

“So what did he want you for?” Tarun asked. “Guard duty?”

“Vdekshi has no shortage of guards,” Marissi replied. “What he asked for was cooperation… and a sacrifice.”

Seth’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of a sacrifice?”

“Not… not the kind you’re thinking!” stammered Marissi. “This wasn’t like putting a bunch of kids in a wagon, or tying a maiden to a rock or anything. It was actually quite gentle and generous.”

“What do you mean?” asked Seth.

“Well, Vdekshi explained that there was some kind of poison or something destroying him from the inside out,” said Marissi. “It would have killed him years before, but he had used his necromancy magic to prolong his life.”

“Necromancy is the magic of death,” said Seth. “It’s the antithesis of life. How could it have healed him?”

“The magic doesn’t heal him,” Marissi replied. “It merely delays his death. But in order to do that, he needs to power the spell by drawing on the power of a soul as it leaves the body. Essentially, he draws on the power of death in the moment it takes place.”

“What kind of poison?” asked Tarun. There was a grave tone in Tarun’s voice that caused Marissi to think he already knew what the answer would be, though dreaded hearing it.

“I think he said it had somehow fused to his blood,” Marissi said. “Or maybe it actually was his blood? I can’t exactly remember. He said that it was contagious, and that anyone or anything that came in contact with it would go insane and die, but that it wasn’t an illness or infection. He was very clear that it was poison.”

“Was it purple?” Tarun asked. “Did it smell like lamp oil and burst into flames when lit?”

“I, uh… I don’t know,” Marissi replied nervously. “I never saw it myself, and I didn’t really ask any questions about it. Sounds like you maybe know quite a bit about though. Are you familiar with this poison?”

“Maybe,” Tarun replied darkly. “My apologies for the interruption. Please continue.”

“Well,” Marissi continued, “Vdekshi said that while there was no cure for his affliction, he was working on developing a treatment that might provide a more permanent solution for him. Something about dragon eggs that might develop a resistance to the poison if they were strong enough to survive until hatching. I didn’t really understand it, to be honest, but he seemed convinced that he was on to something.”

“But the problem was,” said Marissi, “that he still needed to survive the months or years that it would take to perfect that treatment he was working on. That was where he was hoping for help from me and the other town leaders. He explained that much like a mayor, he was having difficulty managing his responsibilities while also taking care of his own needs in a way that felt just and merciful.”

“Responsibilities?” confirmed Tarun. “Just and merciful? What are you talking about?”

“Well, the way he explained it actually sounded quite reasonable,” said Marissi. “You see, in order to safeguard the evil, he needed to maintain a sufficient fighting force that can adequately protect his fortress. But all he has access to are the undead, and they become unruly and difficult to control when their dark and violent natures are suppressed. But to protect the innocent people in the region, that’s exactly the kind of suppression that Vdekshi has to enforce. It’s quite the difficult balancing act. I mean, you saw the mass of undead that surrounded this building last night. Hasn’t it occurred to you that a force like that could easily wipe out any town in the area in a single night?”

Seth and Tarun exchanged a dumfounded look. “Honestly, no,” replied Seth in bewilderment. “I don’t think that had occurred to either of us. You’re saying that Vdekshi isn’t waging all-out war on the people of this region?”

“Well, not until war was waged on him,” Marissi said. “But now I’m getting ahead of myself. You see, in order to survive his condition and keep his sanity, Vdekshi needs the energy released in death about once a month, at least. Over the years, he had tried to find options that avoided the needless deaths of innocents. Sometimes he would use the death of murderers and thieves. Sometimes he would use living servants of his who had tried to plot and rebel against him. As rumors of his existence spread, he found he could even use the deaths of those who had been hired to kill him. He took no pride or pleasure in any of these deaths, but he felt justified that they were better than taking the lives of the innocent.”

“So why didn’t he keep doing that?” Seth asked.

“Like I said, he already had enough to balance just trying to keep his undead forces from tearing the region apart,” Marissi said. “Finding at least one individual a month that deserved to die, and getting them there to his fortress was another constant struggle, and he was already stretched thin. So he asked me if I could help convince the other mayors in the region to ease that burden of his.”

“By sacrificing one of your citizens every month?” Seth exclaimed. “Wouldn’t that eventually lead to the extinction of your whole population?”

“If only one town participated, then yes,” Marissi explained. “But in addition to my town, Vdekshi had four other towns in mind that he was hoping to convince. And like I said, it’s not like we were going to be sending him our women and children. We wouldn’t even have to send any law-abiding healthy men. We would simply need to send him one of any criminals who had already proved they weren’t worth the cost of feeding in jail. And when the jails were empty, we would just send one among those who were old and already sick and dying anyway. He promised that he would provide for their needs right up to the end, and in far better comfort than we could afford them at home. By all accounts, it seemed like a just and merciful agreement.”

“Sure,” said Seth with thinly-veiled sarcasm, “as long as you don’t mind taking the responsibility of judging who’s worth living or dying.”

“A hard responsibility to be sure,” replied Marissi. “But if the alternative was Vdekshi losing control and his hordes fall upon the entire population, isn’t his offer the better choice?”

“It sounds like you had decided to accept his offer,” Tarun said. “So then what changed?”

“I was poisoned,” said Marissi. “Only it wasn’t the obviously dangerous poison in Vdekshi’s blood that got me. It was much more subtle poison in the flattering words of his servant Laronius.”

“Laronius,” Seth muttered. “Why am I not surprised?”

“As I was leaving the fortress,” said Marissi, “Laronius praised me for my bravery and leadership. He said he admired how strong I must be to make such a difficult decision on behalf of my people. He sneered at how a brutish minotaur like Vdekshi could never understand the bonds that humans shared or the weight of the sacrifice he was asking me to make.”

Marissi lowered his head before continuing. “Laronius then took me aside and whispered that although it was outside his power to directly overthrow his master, he would gladly help in any kind of resistance we chose to offer. He said that countless of Vdekshi’s undead servants used to be humans as well, and would surely side with us over their monstrous master. He told me that if the four other mayors and I decided to gather an armed force and attack the fortress, he would ensure that the gates would be wide open, and we would face almost no resistance or retaliation. He said we could defeat Vdekshi without a single life lost, and I would be the greatest hero mayor in my town’s history.”

“So what happened?” Tarun asked.

“What do you think happened?” Marissi scoffed. “I was set up. Every word Laronius spoke was a complete lie. I met with the other mayors and urged them to help me muster an army large enough to attack the fortress. Only two other mayors were willing to join me. The force we gathered was no army. It was little more than a mob.”

“I ordered the women and children to evacuate the town and wait with any family and friends in neighboring towns until it was all over. I didn’t want them in any danger in case we had to fall back and retreat to the town to regroup. I’m glad I made at least one right decision that day. I’m glad they got away.”

“When we arrived at the fortress, the gate was open all right, but that was just to make it that much easier to trap us in. Vdekshi knew we were coming. Based on that awful grin Laronius has plastered across his face, I could tell he was the one that had alerted him too. But that grin was nothing compared to the expression of pure rage I saw on Vdekshi’s face that day. He had trusted me with his secrets, and I had betrayed him in every possible way. When he squeezed his fist and triggered the curse on my mouth to make me mute, there was no doubt in my mind that I had gotten exactly what I deserved. I wished the curse had just killed me that day, but instead, I was the only survivor.”

“That was when Vdekshi started waging war on the other towns in the region,” Marissi said, tears now falling from his eyes. “So much death and pain, and all because I wanted to be a hero. My life ended that day, and even though I didn’t die, I became a husk of the man I once was. I never thought I’d see the day when I could tell my story and have any kind of chance at life again.”

Marissi wiped his eyes. “Well,” he said, “now you know the truth. What are you going to do now?”

There was silence for a long moment, and then Seth spoke. “Well, how about it, Tarun? What do you think we should do now?”

Tarun looked at Marissi. All of the anger and rage that had been there the night before was gone, replaced by understanding. He looked at Seth, and then gazed towards the center of the rusty lantern. “I’m tired of letting that ringing in my ears tell me what to do,” Tarun said. “It’s time to do what feels right. It’s time we go and heal Vdekshi.”

Mutt hunched in his small tunnel, relying on the darkness of the dungeon to keep him hidden. He peered out of the small hole in the wall he had crawled out of earlier to deliver the cloak to that brat wizard, Shon. He waited and listened. Just like always.

Mutt knew his master would punish him if he found out that he had lingered there after already completing the task he had been given. He wasn’t supposed to eavesdrop or pay attention, or even have his own opinion. He was only supposed to obey and scamper away. That’s all Gravine thought Mutt was good for. That’s all anyone thought Mutt was good for. But that’s only because nobody knew how good Mutt was at collecting secrets.

Being able to fit into very small places was a big part of it, of course. The whiskers and ears were a big help too. As much as Mutt hated this weak, ugly body of his, he couldn’t deny that it was much better suited for spying than his old body had been. The body from his first life, from back when he was whole and handsome and still alive.

Not that Mutt was dead. Not really. Not the same way all those disgusting zombies or phantoms were. They weren’t alive at all, just reanimated. Nor was Mutt an undead creature like that vampire Laronius or the banshee sisters whose lives were suspended through supernatural means in an odd kind of twilight between life and death, without truly being either. In contrast, Mutt was, in a way, both.

His body was certainly alive. It was just… borrowed. “Commandeered” was another word that Mutt would tell himself described his relationship with his body. He thought it foolish to consider it “stolen,” because humans don’t steal from animals. Humans might steal from each other, or from other intelligent races. But when it came to dumb animals, there was no such thing as stealing, just taking and putting to better use.

After all, people put out traps and poison to kill rats every day. Who would complain if one of them went missing so a fellow human could get a second chance at life? Not that Mutt could really remember much about his first chance at life. He couldn’t remember his name, where he came from, or if he had a family. All he could remember was that he had been handsome, and he had been a spy, trying to gather information about something sinister when something went wrong and he ended up dead.

Waking up dead had been an unsettling sensation. He could tell he wasn’t supposed to still be around, but something was keeping him tied to the spot so he couldn’t leave or move on. Not that Mutt had wanted to move on anyway. He had cared about little in life other than himself, and the thought of losing that self was terrifying. That’s when he was offered a deal.

In exchange for his permanent obedience and loyalty, Mutt had been offered a chance to anchor his soul to a living body, and have another chance to walk, talk, eat, sleep, and do everything else it means to be mortal. Though he’d had neither breath to speak, nor head to nod, somehow Mutt had been able to agree to the bargain.

Mutt hadn’t been told that the body he’d be given belonged to a rat. He hadn’t been told that the rat’s soul was still inside the body too. He hadn’t been told a lot of things. Like the fact that animal bodies weren’t made to fit human souls, and that it would have to change to accommodate him. He hadn’t been told about the excruciating pain he would endure as the body stretched and contorted, grew and mutated, twisted and writhed as it strained to fit the human form his soul was accustomed to. He hadn’t been told that the rat soul now stuffed in the body with him would squeal and cry at the agony along with him. And he certainly hadn’t been told that when it was all done, his body would look like a short, misshapen old man the size of a child.

Much later, after Mutt had started to grow accustomed to his new body, he had learned that the same magical process that had been used on him had been attempted several times before. Mostly with wolves. Mutt had some sense that during his first life, he had heard stories of werewolves, but he had never known where they really came from. The most popular stories and legends said that they were men who had been cursed with the ferocity of a beast. Now he knew the truth. They were animals that were cursed with the ambition of greedy humans who thought that one life simply wasn’t enough.

Mutt had learned that the werewolves that once lived in the castle and roamed the nearby forests were too unpredictable and reckless to be of any use to Gravine. The wolf souls within were constantly fighting for dominance, and on nights when the full moon weakened the magic that kept them in check, they would gnash and revolt against their usurpers. They would struggle so hard that even their bodies would begin to revert to some semblance of their former canine forms.

The rat soul that lingered in Mutt’s new body was not nearly so stubborn or fierce. Like Mutt himself, the rat was quite cowardly and timid. And yet Mutt had learned that, when he needed to, he could pull back his own soul’s dominance, and allow the rat soul to scamper forward a little. This decreased Mutt’s sense of awareness and self, so he tried to avoid doing it very often, or for long stretches of time. But the benefit was that it caused his body to revert again to something similar to the size and form of a rat. Which was how he had managed to sneak down to the dungeons so many times before, and how he had been able to drag the cloak through the small hole in the wall that he now hid inside of.

Mutt wasn’t sure how much his master knew of his abilities. On the rare occasion when Gravine actually condescended to talk to Mutt, he never let on that he thought Mutt was anything more than a diminutive servant with a knack for sneaking around places he didn’t belong. Never once did he mention Mutt’s ability to shift his form between a small deformed human to a large deformed rat, and everywhere in between. But then again, Sefit never willingly revealed everything he knew. Neither did Mutt.

That’s why Mutt hadn’t told his master that the cloak he had found and claimed had already belonged to the wizard he was trying to bribe. Not that Mutt would have lied if Gravine had asked. But by withholding that kind of information, Mutt had been able to learn a great deal about how much his master did, and didn’t, know. And for as much as Gravine liked pretending to be all-knowing and all-powerful, Mutt had figured out there was a lot that Gravine didn’t know.

Now, thanks to that whiny and impudent young wizard Shon, Gravine was revealing more of himself in an evening than Mutt had been able to learn from him in the past five years. Perhaps it would even be enough information for Mutt to finally have some leverage and tip the scales of power in their relationship. But he would have to be patient. He would have to listen carefully. And most importantly, he would have to stay hidden.

“You know what I love about self-absorbed scoundrels?” said a quiet and sarcastic voice inside Mutt’s head. “They’re like the best teacher and narrator anyone could hope for when you have the ability to listen to minds.”

Mutt held perfectly still, trying to calm and soothe the rat soul in his body to keep it from scurrying inward and causing him to grow back into his more human form while still squeezed inside a rat-sized hole. Surely the wizard had only spoken out loud, and he had heard it with his physical ears. Why would he be speaking directly to Mutt’s mind?

“See,” said the voice of Shon in Mutt’s mind again, “trying to listen to the mind of a modest or selfless person is the absolute worst. They rarely think about themselves, so I usually can’t learn anything about them. But you! You’re like a dream come true!”

No, Mutt told himself, he was imagining things from being down in the gloomy dungeon for too long. There was no way the wizard had listened to his thoughts.

“Think again, Rat Boy!” replied Shon’s voice in his head. “By the way, that’s literally a request. Keep thinking off all that juicy information I can use!”

“Shhhh!” Mutt whispered so quietly in his high-pitched squeaky rat voice that he hoped Gravine couldn’t hear. “You’re going to get us both killed if you keep this up.”

“Only if he figures out what’s going on,” Shon said. “Right now he has no idea that I’m speaking to your mind. He’s probably not even halfway done yet with this long, stupid monologue about how the conquest of his undead army was noble and just when he was alive because of… reasons. It feels like he’s been talking to me for at least an hour so so and he never really has been clear about that, and at this point he’s just rambling.”

“Now that we understand one another, I’ve got a deal for you,” said Shon within Mutt’s mind. “After all, you like deals, don’t you? Gambling? I mean, what’s the fun in playing if you never take a real risk? Am I right?”

When Mutt made no reply, Shon continued. “See, here’s the thing. I know so much about you now. A lot more than you think. While you were daydreaming about being a master spy and reminiscing about terrifying rat creature transformations, I was able to pick up on a few extras you left lying around in your mind, clinging to those memories you hold so close.”

“So now you’re going to help me with the biggest risk of all,” said Shon, his voice ringing clearly like a bell. “You’re going to help me escape this horrible place. You’re going to obey every command I give, and even go above and beyond. And most importantly, you’re going to swear to me that you will never lay a single finger on my cloak, or I’m going to tell Gravine EVERYTHING you’ve been up to.”

“I think you’re bluffing,” Mutt whispered inaudibly.

“Fine,” came the voice of Shon. “I think I’ll start with what you’ve been up to with the banshee sisters-” Shon’s voice was drowned out of both their heads as Mutt let out a terrifying mental scream.

“Glad to see I finally have your attention,” said Shon. “Now let’s talk about how you’re going to help me get out of this nightmare.”