"Yet again, I drew my bow and fired three arrows at the zombie!"

Ryulo gestured with his hand, knocking the small stone off the side of the cart.

Danine giggled at the exaggerated gesture. "And? After you sent the zombie flying, what happened?"

"And then the entire pack came down on your heads," a hand rapped him on the head, "you nearly died there!"

"Aleas!" Ryulo exclaimed, hopping off the cart, "I was just telling them about our latest exploits! These children admire your dashing beauty. "

Danine giggled again, along with the rest of the audience, as Aleas sniffed dismissively. Her cheeks were tinged slightly red though, it spoiled the disapproving face she was trying to put on.

"Oh, did I just hear the lady being concerned for me?" Ryulo put on an astonished face, "I'm honoured!"

That drew a round of outright laughter. Aleas flushed even redder and scowled at him.

"You make a girl worry too much," Aleas said, "if you're not careful, she might take some drastic measures. Like tying you to her family's cart. "

"You can't even pull a cart, much less tie me down and carry me," Ryulo observed, indicating her foot.

"No seriously," Aleas took his hand, "every time you go out, it could be the last time. "

"But-"

"Can't you be more careful?" she asked, "I know you're in charge of keeping the zombies away from us, but each time you tell your stories, you just make me more worried. "

"But surely you deserve a hero," Ryulo grinned, "And what boy doesn't dream of being a hero? Especially for one as special as you. "

Almost without thinking, Aleas shot back the classic rejoinder. "What wife would want a dead hero over a live hus-" Aleas's mouth clicked shut and she flushed cherry red once she realized what she just said.

Danine watched them wide-eyed with anticipation. How long before these two idiot lovers finally kissed was a hot topic of discussion among the Char clan. Could it be today?! They were getting awfully close. A small squeal, no really, a very tiny squeal, almost escaped her when she saw Ryulo's tail brushing up against Aleas's.

They also had a tendency to go off into their own little world and forget that there were over twenty boys and girls watching them with starry eyes. It was getting close to impossible to get any work done around them. Their blatant flirting would accrue a small constellation of onlookers, most of them young maidens and lads of a certain age... as well as sidelong glances of amusement or even envy from older Fukas.

This was better than any stuffy story told by their grandparents. A real life heart pounding love comedy in front of their eyes. Will they or will they later? There was no question in any of their minds that 'won't' could ever occur.

One of the boys nearby hooted at them. Aleas jumped backwards like a little kid caught stealing yama jam, causing the audience to sigh in disappointment. Danine shot the offender a dirty look, they were so close!

"Aah!"

The familiar shout brought Danine up to her feet and ready to run in a flash but her mother was still faster. "So that's where you've been," her mother strode into the gathering like a bear trampling over the tattered remains of the romantic mood. Trampling over it then jumping up and down on the pieces for good measure. "How many times do I have to tell you not to bother them?"

"Aw, but he tells really nice stories!" Danine complained.

"Please," her mother pulled her away and lowered her voice to something less public, "I don't want you talking to the people from Char clan. "

"Why not?" Danine asked.

"Banage doesn't respect the elder. I don't want you picking up their ways," her mother slowed down as they got further away, "Besides, Ryulo is a very bad influence on you children. Just because he's a good hunter doesn't mean you can be as well, and if you try to copy him, you'll get hurt. "

"I know," Danine said, "I know that I won't make a good hunter. But Aleas and Ryulo are all the talk ever since we started this trek, I've got to keep up. "

"They are indeed," her mother smiled a little, "but I don't want you to fall into the wrong sorts of people. Come, help me prepare dinner for your father. "

Danine just sighed. Her mother had somehow gotten it into her head that Char clan was full of 'bad people', whatever that meant. Aleas was often watching over the children and teens, Ryulo joined in when he wasn't on patrol. And they could be so much fun! They could run around and shout and do, almost, whatever they wanted. Aleas and Ryulo merely laughed along with them.

She looked back at the crowd of kids sitting down for another story and sighed again. So much for getting some time to play.

Then her annoyance disappeared when Cato joined them for dinner. This was almost as good as watching Aleas and Ryulo.

"Oh, what happened today?" Danine asked, "can we cross the river yet?"

Cato nodded, "the bridge is finished. A little rickety, but it should hold up the carts. Did you get enough rest?"

"Yes," Danine grinned, "you should have seen Ryulo and Aleas, they were getting all steamy again. "

Cato grinned back but it didn't last long. A few bites later and the worried frown was back on his face. Geez, couldn't he just have some fun?

"What happened?" her mother asked Cato.

"Ryulo nearly got caught by the zombies today. He was diverting them away from us again, but he returned to save a hunter who was going to get caught," Cato sighed, "I mean, I can't disapprove because it worked and they got away. "

"But that's so heroic!" Danine exclaimed. So that was where Ryulo's story today came from!

"It was too much risk," Cato said, and her mother nodded along.

"Was it another woman? He wouldn't leave someone to the zombies like that," Danine said, wondering if the comedy was about to get more complicated.

Cato snorted, "it's not like he woos women by saving them from zombies. That was an extraordinary coincidence. No, he saved a fellow hunter this time. Male, I should make it clear. "

Danine pouted. It would have been so dramatic, to add another wrinkle into the already- why not? She blinked at the random thought and flushed. That idea was disturbingly exciting.

She didn't hear much more of the discussion after that, finding a new sort of thought to occupy her. It was all just boring stuff about food stocks and using wood for fuel.

The scout looked over the small hills. This was the smallest part of Ode's Corridor, the strip of land between the western flank of the Yn mountain ranges and the western ocean. Known as Holmes Gap, the foothills where she was sitting now commanded a view all the way down to the water.

With the forest clear cut for miles, this was the best vantage point to observe any incoming monsters. The flat hills here were also indefensible however, which was why there was only a scout tower. If she saw anything, she would ride her Reki back through the Gap to warn Wendy's Fort.

Under no circumstances was she to assume her little tower would be secure. Not even to a pack of wild Rekis. Any monster, any sign of anything coming, she was to warn Wendy's. That was her instructions.

Indeed, she had been watching a flying thing circling around for the past few days. It was getting closer but whatever it was didn't match any movement patterns of flying monsters she knew of.

More unfortunately, the instructions didn't include a scenario where an entire village's worth of Fukas came trotting out of the forest, complete with carts and children. It was simply assumed that nothing lived further north of Wendy's Fort. That was monster territory.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Only of course, it would appear that her orders were wrong.

The scout dithered for a few minutes, wondering if she should try contacting them. Still, orders were orders and Wendy's Fort would want to know about these Fukas, especially since they would be heading to Wendy's as well.

She hopped on her riding Reki, which was unhappy at losing the cushy job of chasing little furry creatures away from the tower.

Her departure thus opened up a gap in the scouting schedule, her replacement wasn't rotating in until a few days later. Normally, that wouldn't have posed a problem, monster attacks were devastating but infrequent, overlaps were nearly unheard of. So the scout not having contacted the Fukas, she couldn't know there was a force of zombies following them.

"Rider!"

The shout from the walls brought the attention of the night watch leader. It had come from the north side and nothing good ever came from the north.

He rushed to the walls and squinted. Yeah, that was a signal torch. One of the frontline scouts coming from the Gap.

"Get the commander," he snapped. The soldier rushed off without saluting.

He bent to watch the rider approach but it seemed like no time passed at all before the commander was there beside him.

"Hm, yes, that does look like a rider," the man said, "good work. "

The commander rubbed the stubble on his chin and nodded, "open the gates when she gets here and send her to me. Holmes Gap is too close for us to waste any time. "

He yawned and walked back towards the warm light of the keep's kitchens.

The night watch leader shared a look with the runner who had come up with them. "How did he know she was coming from Holmes Gap? Surely, not even he could tell she's a woman. "

The night watch leader replied with a tinge of wonder, "he must have memorized the entire scouting schedule. S3 and H1 are the only two scouting stations to report from the seaside direction. S3 must not be occupied at this time. "

The messenger's mouth was hanging open. "Seriously? How many scouts are there? He can't possibly know them all..."

"Who knows, unless you feel like digging through the schedules?" the night watch leader shrugged, "just get the gate open for her. "

The report of the scout did not shed much light on the situation. A group of Fukas weren't exactly threatening, even if it did raise all sorts of questions.

The Elka that landed on the roof the next day however...

"Did you hear?!" her door banged open.

Landar glared at the intruder, "watch it! I almost lost the spell there! "

Her friend, Tori, sighed and shook her head, "come on, surely even you can take a little distraction. I know you had problems with battle magic but-"

"Problems!" Landar sniffed, "if you call getting beaten by the test dummy 'problems', I don't want to hear what you call a fail. "

"Yes, yes, you consider battle magic crude and inelegant, you crazy girl," Tori waved her hands, "anyway, those Fukas from yesterday? Yeah, they apparently had Elkas with them and one of them arrived not two hours ago. Word is, there's zombies following them. Michi will be giving out orders soon. "

"Ah, zombies," Landar looked back at the contraption of light spells on her desk. That little project to make a sparkling window that never repeated its pattern was probably not going to be too useful. Requests from the noble heartland tended not to be.

"Did you want me to adjust your armour?" Landar asked. Well, considering that Tori was wearing her full plate, that was almost certainly yes.

Tori grinned, "that would be nice. I don't want to spend my own magic doing that. "

"Well, good thing you came early," Landar put aside the project, "I'm going to be flooded with requests soon if there's really a zombie army on the way. "

"Take it as a point of pride, Alchemist," Tori stuck out her tongue.

Landar sighed and shook her head. Alchemist. Of course it was a point of pride. People who didn't know how to work a spell properly, to observe and test how it might work with other spells, got called things like battlemage and wizard. Only people like her got the lowly title of alchemist. Well, only her really, most other people did manage to survive battle magic after all.

She concentrated on seeing the magic and examined the enchantments on Tori's armour. Standard issue deflection spells diverting objects away from the joints. Resistance on the armour to absorb impacts, although it would make the armour really hard to move. Resistance made it slow all movement, not just attacks. Hm.

"You know, I think it might be possible to make your armour resist impacts better," Landar indicated the pane of glass, "I was working on the lights you see and I think it might be possible to detect an object getting close before you-"

Tori shook her head, "nah, I don't want any of your 'specials'. Don't remind me of what happened to that guy who grew Crystal spikes all over his armour. They had to disenchant him to get him out of it. "

"Not all of them blow up quite as spectacularly as that. " Of course not. There were hardly any fatal ones too, compared to the all too common accidents of misfiring enchantment spells. Battlemages really weren't all they were cracked up to be.

"And no matter what, it's never your responsibility," Tori shot back.

"What?!" Landar did a good mockery of a handwringing noble, "A lowly alchemist taking responsibility for a hole in a knight's armour? How could that be? Our battlemages are the best in the world!"

They shared a short laugh at the stupidity of the world. Then Landar sighed, "I'll just do some basic redistribution. You tend to use your forearms, so I think emphasizing defence there might be better. Unless you do want a 'special'; I've got a proven method for increasing your swing strength. "

"It's all right, I'd rather not lose my arm," Tori grinned, "thanks a lot, I'll send you the requisition later. And find some other sucker to test your 'special'. "

Landar nodded and set about preparing her workshop. If the zombies were real, there was going to be a queue... the rap on her door came less than a minute after Tori left. They were here already.

"You've seen the zombies? How many are there?" Michi bit into his sandwich.

The scout saluted, "I couldn't count them, commander. Could be ten thousand. "

"Condition? How often did they stop?"

"They're old, but still intact. They didn't stop during the six hours I was there. "

"Probably not that old then. This could get to be a problem. And the Fukas?"

"They're still about a day out," she looked a little sad, "are you sure we can't take them? There's women and children. An entire village of them in fact. "

Michi dusted off the crumbs, "from what you describe, they won't fit in the fort. And we can't feed them all if the zombies siege us. It's death one way or another and I'd rather them not join us. "

Fine words, the scout thought to herself. Wendy's Fort had never fallen to monsters, even Night Cryers. They could take a few tails in without any real problems.