After Kadlin's darker piece, this one's a bit lighter. It's also a semi unofficial "continuation" of "Don't Read," which also featured Konall and Max. This one reads a bit better.

It establishes that like Kadlin, Konall is a part of the Undead mission.

Konall boosted Max up onto the barricade between the living section of the city and the dead. Right now a cluster of zombies separated the goblin-occupied sections and the human ones. If these undead weren't contained, both sides would end up wiped out.

Max braced himself and helped pull Konall up onto the barricade, "help" being the operative word. The Viking and his bulky gear were more than twice as heavy as the ranger and his lightweight equipment. Konall managed to get up on the wall and then, they both dropped over the edge into the town.

This was the most burnt-out section of the city, not fit for the living. The darkness was pierced by a veiled moon and a handful of brave stars, but mostly by the scattered fires that still hadn't conceded to defeat. They weren't large enough to cook something on, but they gave off enough light to see the devastation.

Max and Spaz began scouring the ground, searching for tracks in the ash. Max found them first, "A horde of zombies passed this way less than an hour ago. They numbered no more than thirty. I stake my honor as a tracker on it."

Spaz sniffed the tracks and took a closer look. "Seems like two of them are injured. And one of them wears a red sock on his left foot."

Konall inspected them, "And, um, they headed out on foot."

"Konall," said Max "You consider yourself a mighty huntsman. I've heard many, many tales of the animals you pursue and slay. Tell me this, then: how is it that you lack the tracking skills to so much as find a black bear in a snowstorm?"

"Spaz has the nose. I have the muscle."

"As you say."

Konall left a few snares baited with a bit of meat. By the time he laid the third one, his first went off. "Spaz, what happened? Did one of them sneak up on us? Did the trap catch it?" He heard no answer. "Spaz! SPAZ! TALK TO ME."

The ranger's hand clamped over his mouth. "They abhor loud noises, friend," Max said. "Your companion is safe."

Spaz flew over and finished chewing. "Um, sorry Konall. I saw some meat and I was hungry and I wasn't paying attention so I was like 'Hey, free meat,' and then I ate it and all of the sudden-- Ooh, is that a Teela O'malley poster?"

Konall grumbled, reset the trap and baited it again, and they began moving toward the horde.

Max took point, keeping to the trail while not forgetting to take out any isolated zombies who blocked their path. Spaz searched the perimeter for goodies and anyone sneaking up from behind. Konall strolled along down the street, waiting for a chance to do some real fighting.

Spaz flew back suddenly, carrying an object twice his size. "Hey, Konall. Konall! Hey, Konall, guess what? Guess. C'mon, guess."

"What Spaz?"

"Huh? Oh, uh I forget. Oh, yeah. Found this leg of lamb. Thought you might be hungry."

Max coughed lightly. "If you two would kindly cease revealing our position, the foes we seek lie ahead." Max pointed to the crowd of undead milling about. "We have to consider our quarry. They do not think like you or I."

Spaz flew in a circle while talking. "These zombies, they're insane. They're consumed by their need to feed. And they fight and fight without a care whether they live or die. They're like, like..." Meanwhile, Konall threw himself into a horde of zombies, slashing at them with the sword in his right hand while eating off of the leg of lamb in his left.

"I can't think of anything to compare them to," Spaz finally said.

"Verily," said Max. The ranger rained down arrows on the zombies below him, protecting the berserker's flanks. Spaz belted out a tune on his accordion boosting that archery. Konall took a few blows, but he dealt out ten for every one he took, slashing with sword and clubbing with the gnawed bone. After a brief moment's fight, the dead were dispatched. Konall took a celebratory swig of one of Kadlin's health potions.

Spaz gleamed with pride at his companion's triumph. He turned to Max, "That's why they appointed him the head of the Committee For Drastic And Unnecessarily Lethal Solutions."

"Pardon, but did not he obtain that position after killing off the previous members of that committee?"

"Well, it was a fair fight. And they were working for the goblins."

At that moment, a second horde came up behind them. This one had forty, maybe fifty. Maximal fired arrows as he backed away, hoping to loose as many shots as he could, while Konall charged from behind, berserker rage already building.

The zombies had almost reached Max's position when Konall burst past him, spiked shield blocking the brunt of the attack. Zombies impaled themselves on that shield and the berserker's sword while their fellows streamed around the sides only to die at the hands of Max's knives. Spaz used his magic to light the entire horde on fire, admittedly a weak fire, but a fire that was effective against the undead.

The zombies bore down on Konall, dragging him to the ground. They began pounding on him, until an explosion ripped them off the battered seal clubber.

Konall stood up to see six goblin warriors charge the undead flanks while a magician in black robes struck at the zombies with spells. One of the goblins went down under a swarm and a couple of his fellows tried to pull the undead off while being protected by their comrades. Meanwhile, the heroes held their own against the last remnants that charged them. Soon enough, the last zombie lay dead and the two factions stop and stared at each other. Konall readied to strike at the nearest goblin.

"Stop!" said Max. "We are under truce."

"Soldiers!" said the magician, "Return to me."

Konall studied the spell caster. Tall, concealed entirely in a dark robe covered in mystic sigils. Shadows concealed the face and hands, shadows that were no doubt reinforced by magical enchantments so that even on a clear day the magician's face would not be revealed. In the mage's hands was a glaive: a sword with the handle attached to a long pole, it worked much like a spear.

"I know that voice," said Konall.

The magician removed her hood to reveal Kadlin's face. Konall drew his sword. "You mock my sister with your illusions. Die!" He charged.

"Konall," said Kadlin, "It's really me."

Konall stopped, dumbstruck. He swore. "I believe you, I really do. Sis, what are you doing with them?"

"I've advanced as far as I can without a teacher of magic. I need someone who knows more about the universe than I do, and the Elite Seven have access to more magics than I dreamed possible. I'm just beginning to learn what they have to offer." She twirled her glaive, and Konall took a closer look at the sword part of it.

"That sword! I left that thing on the island. What are you doing with it?"

"It's much more than a weapon, Konall. It's a source of power. I can channel this power and make the world a better place. I can destroy monsters, heal people, do almost anything I want."

"It's evil."

"It's a tool, with no more morality than a rock or a twig."

"You don't wield that blade; it wields you. If you don't throw that thing away it'll rule you all while letting you think you're in control."

"You're being absurd. Look, I'm going to finish off more of these undead. I could use your help."

"Sorry, sis, but I'm not going anywhere near that blade again. We part ways now. I don't want to talk to you again until you've gotten rid of that thing." Konall turned his back on Kadlin and motioned to his friends. "Let's go."

Each step was agonizing for Konall. Come on, he thought to himself. Think about what I said. Realize how serious I am. Just say something, anything to convince me it hasn't already sunk its claws into you. After several blocks, he dared to look back. Kadlin and her squad were already gone.

"You're bleeding," said Spaz. The demon handed Konall a health potion. Konall threw it to the ground in disgust.

"That's magic, Spaz," the Viking said. "What did I tell you about magic? You can't trust it. I don't ever want to see you having anything to do with it again."

"But Konall, you've been drinking those potions-"

"I don't want to hear it, Spaz."

Konall tore off a part of a dead man's shirt and bound his wounds. That would hold for now. He'd have to find a lot of skulls to smash in before he'd be able to sleep tonight.

Okay, so a bit of a downer ending. Actually, thanks in part to the early betrayals in the mission, a lot of these pieces are a tad depressing to read. Fortunately, that just makes it a stronger story overall.

It's only on rereading this again that I noticed the drastic change in Konall's attitude, taking a "celebratory swig of one of Kadlin's health potions" before meeting up with her, and refusing to touch a magic potion even to heal notable wounds after the meeting.