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An unrelenting gale was blowing south. Try as she might, Tahlis found herself inadvertently facing leeward from the biting wind at her side. Again, the lizard stole a glance behind her, past the town and further, to the south-east. The moon shone a bloody crescent over the mountains behind her, the sepia toned sky no doubt to blame for such an illusion.

The eerie lune was not the only thing that worried her, though. The telltale wind and shade of the sky more than hinted at a sinister sandstorm approaching. Soon, both she, the town, and maybe even her mystery robber might be caught up in another of the lady desert's wrath. Despite taking such a risk, the lizard trudged on, determined to leave the days of eavesdropping and town-hopping behind her. She even considered herself a little lucky; upon hearing of a coming storm, the bartender and his traumatized son decided to wait it out. No doubt they harbored fear, she thought, and apprehension, too. To travel a storm, at night, only to be greeted by a field of corpses...

_ And perhaps some of them are already up and about_, she remarked with a morbid, yet nervous chuckle.

She continued west, for how long, she couldn't tell. City dwellers tended to build their grave sites away from the main area, as if being close enough to their dead would spread like a disease. For all she knew, maybe it was a disease, after a fashion. A disease of the heart, to be near someone you once knew, only to end up being far away, after all. Away in a place one cannot reach. She wondered idly how many people tried to reach, anyway. Did it hurt? She recalled the young coyote boy crying.

She shrugged the idea off as she noticed the wind picking up. She quickly draped her ashen cowl around her face, shivered as a gust of sand and dust raced past her. The graveyard should be within view, any minute now, she mused. I just hope I'm not too late.

Not far in the distance showed a line of vertical posts, denoting the place she searched for. Within seconds, she was upon it, scanning all directions for the signs of upturned graves. A hard thing to do, during a sandstorm, where the ground one just traveled might pick up and blow off in some direction. Every so often Tahlis would gaze northward, judging how much time she had before the storm hit. She would not turn back now, though, that she had come so far already. "Where are you hiding, you raiser of spirits," she mumbled to the wind.

Fittingly, a slumped figure rose from the ground, some way off. Visibility was decreasing by the minute and Tahlis could hardly discern the figure from the amalgam of stones and markers behind it. The figure looked no different from a person come to mourn the loss of his or her dead, hunched over a grave. But who else would brave a storm such as this if not for a good reason? It's him, she thought. Finally I can see the power he must surely wield!

As she crouched behind a headstone, however, the figure simply stayed put, despite the storm around it. Impatient to simply sit and wait, she decided to simply confront the figure, so sure was she that this person was who she had searched for. Preparing herself for what might end up a cold reception, she flexed her claws, once, twice, then promptly headed toward the figure.

In response, the figure rose to its full height, coming into view through the sand and dust blowing about them. "Oh, my," the figure drawled, extending a claw, "what a comely face for one so woeful!"

At this, Tahlis quickly halted. The voice was a woman's, old and scraggly! She stayed enough out of range to both speak and defend herself if necessary. Clasping her cowl again, she asked, "Are you here to mourn, old mother?"

The woman's scaly face shifted under a dark mask below the eyes. A frown or a grin, Tahlis was unsure. The loose-fitting rags of both women billowed as a gale of dust tore by. "Mourn? I always mourn. Mournful for family, friends, even you, for your lack of knowledge and excess arrogance."

Tahlis' anger flared briefly; what did this woman know of her power? Nothing! She struggled to keep her power at bay, an indiscriminate spark of magic leapt from her arm. Quickly she composed herself again, and gestured around them, "What of the dead?"

Again, the woman extended a reptilian claw, this time toward the grave she had been crouched over. "Yes, of course the dead. Especially, the dead. They are the most in need, are they not?" She gestured with her other claw towards the lizard, beckoning for an answer. Her first claw remained focused on the plot of dirt before them.

Tahlis wished she could hone the accuracy she needed right now. That reptilian claw was focused for a reason, one which she wished she could sense. A magician could _feel_magic, in a sense, from within herself, but never from without. She bluffed, "I know you are hiding something. No one would be caught dead in a storm, without shelter or safety. No one grieves their dead so much to brave the biting sand that grows around us."

The old one scoffed, "No one? Here we are then, no one, caught in the storm. How little you think of yourself, no one." She then turned to stare at the dirt below her as she brought both claws to bare. The wind and sand picked up yet again, blowing by with a loud wail, as if the sand itself were upset. "Witness my grief, young one," she yelled, "for I have caught the dead, indeed, and here you are, not a chance at safety!"

Abruptly the ground gave way in front of her. Certainly the storm could produce such effects, but Tahlis knew better. She immediately crouched into a defensive stance, her frustration set loose. Both arms caught flame for a brief moment, then diminished. Curse this sand, she thought. The storm is smothering my power!

Her attention became drawn to the sand in front of her again. From the trailing grains came a horror that gave Tahlis pause. What crawled from the depression was a nightmare, bones and sinew of a long-decayed corpse moved of their own free will. The lizard found herself quite frozen, unable to reap her gaze from the sight, in morbid fascination. There was not so much fur as there were marrow and patches of skin that clung to bone. The creature had hallow eyes that seemed to stare nowhere and everywhere, it's maw agape, a gross mirror of her own surprise. Her surprise turned to awe, as she looked again to the aging reptile who commanded this rotten beast.

The old reptile scoffed again at her, "Typical of the young ... you always feast with your eyes. All you can comprehend is the aesthetic, I'm sure. Let me guess, you think you can best me with a flicker of that little power you can manipulate?"

Again, Tahlis was taken aback. She tried to make sense of this old one. If she thought she meant what she believed she meant ... "You -you can, er, know my powers? You can tell?" To this, the old lizard granted her a nod, nearly indiscernable through the harsh wind blowing by. All the while, her undead familiar remained stationary and silent, ignoring the sand that blew through it's ribcage. "But, it can't be done! Magic doesn't -"

"Doesn't work that way, does it? You take too much on faith. I felt your power long before you entered the graveyard! You do nothing to contain it, as no one ever does. They feel no need to!" She chuckled to herself, "Magic has always been an esoteric force, hardly usable by those who know about it and not even tangible by those who wish to view it's effects. But you and I, no, we're different. We can feel it, gather it, and actually focus it to a task! Tell me, what did you choose to do with it, child?"

Tahlis tried to ignore the two sets of eyes on her, both accusing, taunting. Again, her power flared up, in her frustration. She quickly took hold of it and wrung her hands together. With a sharp breath, she launched forward and projected her claws to the old bag, mocking behind that cowl of hers. Just as quickly as it started, the shambling horror leapt up to intercept the attack. Still determined, she released the energy she held, spilled it out over the creature's body.

She let out a yelp of pain as a small amount of said energy bounded back at her. Still, she believed the damage was done. Slowly, she tilted her head up, expecting to see a crumpled corpse sprawled on the ground. To her disgust, however, she was still staring into the empty eyes of what could have once been a coyote or badger, too decayed to be sure. It grappled her arms in front of her and let out a raspy chuckle.

"Your breath is as bad as that lizard's!" she said, gritting her teeth and reeling away. She met with a moment of panic, then. Desperately, she tried to unhinge herself from the cold, clammy grasp of the horror. In response, her arms flared up with intense heat. Apparently it had a very good effect on the walking corpse, as it's limbs caught fire almost instantly. It relinquished her from it's hold and awkwardly tried to pat out the flames. It got on it's knees and began to pound it's arms on the loose sand, as if enraged by it's ability to trap him for however long he was down there. Eventually it fanned it's flames and was left with smoking stumps.

"Yes, yes," the old reptile drawled, seemingly undeterred, "obviously you cannot give pain to what is already dead. Despite your little fire trick, however, you cannot wish to touch me." Tahlis resumed her defensive stance, defiant nonetheless. "Enough prattle, why are you here, child? Did some figurehead appoint you as my killer, or something?" The corpse also stood up, ready to defend its master, sans paws.

This was her chance, Tahlis thought. If she could enlist this necromancer, it would add volumes to the knowledge she and her associates could utilize. The ability to understand and replicate such power as she had shown was well worth it. Moreover, it would be easier for her without having to overpower the old magician, which seemed quite a task considering the howling storm about them. "It is true I am awed by you command of the deceased. I am also intrigued as to how you could possibly ... scan? ... the very magic about you to sense others like yourself. It must take great concentration to focus your will into another body and will it to move." The reptile nodded to this. "I am part of a ... group ... who are interested in using talents like ours, as they should be used. You're prowess would more than aid our endeavors."

The old reptile's face stayed neutral beneath that dark cowl. There was no mistaking the intensity in her eyes, though. Slowly, she asked, "Has this group .... a name?"

"No."

The old one nodded, "As I thought," she stated. As an afterthought, "I am sorry. We see our powers too differently."

A grim decision laid on Tahlis' shoulder. She was fearful more than remorseful, for overpowering this old one would be tiring. But, she thought, I can't let this one alone, now that she knows what I am. "So be it," she stated, with finality.

Tahlis ran back to give herself some space from the old hag and her familiar. She also needed time to consider how to do this. Pain didn't effect the horror, but her flames did. The flames, though, were simply the beginning and tail-end of the spell she cast. Focusing the spell was a challenge in itself, but now she had to modify it in the field.

The old one sent her familiar dashing after the retreating reptile, into the now roaring sandstorm about them, and then positioned herself to summon another from a separate grave. As she focused her energy to the plot of ground below her, her undead guard emerged from the dust and jumped high, descending with a surprisingly lithe kick.

Tahlis spun around and blocked with her arms crossed. The two were sent rolling to the uneven ground. The monstrosity was pinned to the ground below her, growling and flailing its torso in an attempt to right itself. The act appalled Tahlis and she lashed out in disgust as she did before, the flames once again lapping at her arms and the horror. She jumped up as it hissed and gurgled, burning to cinders. The lizard took this brief respite to catch her breath, shaken by the proximity of the encounter.

Just as soon as it ended, Tahlis turned to find there were _two_more corpses after her. She was overcome with a strong sense of dread, then instinctively shoved her claws out in front of her, to put something between her and the abominations bounding after her. Her abject fear let loose in a wave that pulsed from her body, outward. The pulse flowed past the two horrors, bisecting them at the legs and blasting their decrepit bodies with heat. One fell, once again lifeless and burning, but the other shambled on toward her.

Then Tahlis was running, the heat of battle and terror fueling her own body to confront her enemy. She brought both arms forward, grasping her left with her right claw. She tried to focus her power into her arm, and felt the familiar pain that came with her spell. "C'mon, c'mon," she mumbled, willing the flames to life. Closer and closer she got to the stumbling, ashen corpse, but still her arm simply twinged with pain, and no flame. As a last ditch effort, she simply used her momentum and strong-armed the pile of bones to the ground. It ceased to moved after the initial hit. "Oh," she mumbled, half-surprised that it actually worked.

"Do not get cocky, young lizard,"Tahlis heard from a dune to her left. Immediately she turned to see a figure in the howling sand above her. "You've already lost."

It was Tahlis' turn to chuckle, "Not from where I'm standing, old hag! Your underlings are brittle and useless for fighting." She stood with her hands on her hips, defiant in the near blinding torrent of dust and sand around them. "Once I overpower you, you'll be seeing things our way soon enough."

But the old reptile just shook her head, that cynical tone again present in her voice, "Still you act like a child. No comprehension beyond the immediate. Take a good look around, you, who lets pain and fire control you!"

Tahlis scanned the area around her, not able see past maybe ten feet in the distance. Again, the feeling of dread returned to her, animated as she saw the rows and ranks of bodies encircle the night. She was met with a brief sense of awe, at the old one's magical ability to simultaneously control so many bodies. That was fleeting, for it quickly gave way to wild panic, ever closer the shambling corpses came. Her amber eyes shifted back and forth, her body swiveling in all directions as she frantically searched for a way to escape.