Michael approached Azalaceus. He had never really looked at any of the lizardfolk closely before, at least not any that were still alive. They were short, reaching just a bit past his waist, and they had thick scales in varying shades, sharp teeth, and small rending claws. Their faces were long and angular, and they had tails that seemed to vary wildly in length from individual to individual. On top of never really looking at any of them, he’d never tried to heal one either. He’d been too busy killing them. He’d also had yet to heal missing limbs or eyes on a human being, at least not without the limb still handy. His ability to heal had certainly improved, but he wasn’t sure it was within his power. Still, he said he’d do his best and he intended to.

  He carefully moved over to Azalaceus and placed his hand on his shoulder. His scales were rough and jagged, but also had a kind of dull heat to them, as if just a taste of the sun had somehow lingered with them. He closed his eyes and felt his wife’s warmth in his hand as it began to glow with divine light. He focused, feeling every injury and wound across the old lizard's body and finding it to be even worse than it appeared. Aside from his external injuries, there were also a number of internal ones as well. Organs he didn’t recognize had been pierced, misaligned, or bruised. There should’ve been internal bleeding, but when Michael focused closely he could feel small, incredibly precise mana barriers that seemed to be holding him together. The lizard had clearly refused to die.

  Michael began to push divine energy into him. Mustering as much of it as he possibly could in the hopes that he’d be able to heal him completely. He could feel parts of Azalaceus begin to mend, cuts, internal injuries, even old scars, but it wasn’t enough. He poured in more energy, feeling himself stagger a bit as he did so. He lost the ability to track exactly what he was healing as too much raw power was poured in. His hand began glowing so brightly that it was blinding, then suddenly, it was over.

  The light on his hand dimmed, leaving only fading warmth behind, and the lizardman in front of him was staring at him with silver eyes, rolling his jaw a bit as he began to click with his tongue. He flexed his fingers and spoke a short phrase in whatever his native language was. Michael felt a thrum of power and suddenly the manacles on the lizard's legs and feet broke. He examined his wrists and ankles, finding no damage to either after Michael’s healing.

  He approached the other lizardman, the slave that had guided Michael to him and embraced him. The action left the other shaking and overwhelmed, as if god himself had just held him. A feeling Michael himself could claim to have experienced.

  Michael looked toward the door. He was a good distance from where he’d left his pursuers, but eventually they’d start searching the castle floor by floor. The longer they waited, the more danger they’d be in.

  “Wrath of Gold,” said the lizardman in perfect English. “I am Sorcerer Prince Azalaceus. Former lord of the Sunken Tower, and master of the mystical.” He smiled, his mouth again full of sharp teeth. “You, as my rescuer and healer, may call me Aza.”

  “And you can call me Michael. I’m surprised you heard of me all the way down here?”

  “Those followers still loyal and without fear would often come down here to whisper news into my cell. And even the damned bugs and cows have sometimes spoken of you. I have relished hearing the fear in their voices when you are mentioned.”

  Michael nodded at that. “They should be afraid,” he looked again at the door. “We should get moving. I’m going to free the others in their cells and heal them as well.”

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  The prince shook his head. “I was hesitant to request that of you. My people are my obligation, but I don’t wish to increase the debt I owe you, nor do I want you rendered useless at such a crucial time. They will all be far from fighting condition. Unless you believe you can actually heal them all?”

  Michael felt tired from healing the prince, but smiled widely at him. “I’m going to try.” He walked out of the Prince’s cell and to the first one that had a pile of three lizardkin huddling in the corner. He raised his mace above his head, and smashed the lock. Once it was broken he pushed the cell open and approached them carefully. They weren’t as injured as the Prince had been, but they were all missing fingers at the least, not to mention other various injuries from beatings.

  Michael raised his hand and after just a few moments, they were healed. There was some hesitation from them, but the Prince moved and spoke with them, and at the sight of him and after hearing his words they gained the confidence to leave the cell. While he did that, Michael moved onto the next cell.

  The Prince shook his head. “You have been fighting my people in your world for some time, and yet you heal us? With no guarantee of if we’re on your side or that we will help you?”

  “Well, those of you in the cages aren’t the same as the people who tricked me into being on this side. You also, I would guess from the conditions, don’t have any love for who put you here. At the very least you’ll also try to escape which would make things easier for me in the process. All that said, I have a more simple reason for doing it.”

  “Oh?”

  “I like to help people.”

  The Prince didn’t have a response to that, just turning his attention to the group that was slowly accumulating with him and exchanging words with them.

  Michael repeated this process cell by cell until there were nearly thirty freed prisoners, all of them continuing to speak with the Prince in their native tongue, many of them approaching Michael when he was done and making a gesture in which they rested their hand across their face for a moment bowing their heads. Not sure what it meant, he bowed back before moving on to the next.

  He was in the midst of breaking one of the last few locked cages open when four horned men came crashing down the main stairs into the dungeon. Michael quickly turned from what he was doing and charged them, but before he could even take three steps there was a crackling in the air and all of them were bisected at the waist. The prince had a hand extended, clenching his fist as his spell dissipated.

  “My strength is still returning, but your healing has certainly helped.”

  Michael nodded, not at all surprised by the Prince’s power after what he’d already seen him accomplish. He quickly freed the remaining lizardfolk and healed them. He was sweating by the time he was done, his limbs trembling a bit from the sheer damage he’d needed to mend, but he was grateful he’d been able to improve his ability to heal even more.

  “So. Next steps?” he asked as he eyed the stairway, his mace clutched tightly in his hand. Once the dead horned men didn’t report or return they would be certain to send more.

  “The next step is to free those of my people who have been acting as slaves. Then we leave.”

  “You make it sound easy.”

  The Prince chuckled.

  “They know our power. That is why they take our fingers, our tongues, our eyes. Our magic is strong, and the more of us there are together the stronger it becomes. Your healing has just created a force more than strong enough to fight from this castle.”

  “And then you’ll be able to get me back?”

  “It will not be easy. I cannot open a rift myself. We will need to fight our way to one that has opened, and let you through it.”

  “Well,” Michael rolled his neck as much as he could in his helmet, hearing a crack as he did so. “Let’s get to it.”

  With that, a dozen or so of the newly healed lizards made their way for the service passages to contact the others and gather supplies while making what chaos they could. Michael and the Prince headed straight up the stairs along with a small contingent of lizardfolk. Michael could feel the coolness of their magicka channels beginning to cycle as the first of the horned men came into view.

  He raised his mace, and engulfed it in holy flame, drawing the attention to himself. He just needed to focus on what was in front of him, and leave the rest to the lizardfolk. First step was to get out of the castle, and the second was to cross between dimensions. Just another day in paradise.