"Hitting the zombies wasn't that hard, even if the bowgun has bad aim. "

The Fukas scrambled back in panic as the nearest zombie pack charged them.

"The problem is making them stay down. Shooting them doesn't work. Shooting their legs off doesn't work either. "

A side of a hill gave them an advantage, sending flight after flight of arrows downslope. The 'killed' zombies rolled back down, only to be reanimated by the zombies milling at the base.

"Eventually I decided to try focusing on one block to see if we could destroy it. We... almost did before we ran out of arrows. "

Again the black mist reached down into the fallen zombies and again they rose. Another swing of his arm shot out the last ragged volley. Amazingly, the zombies didn't get up, or not all of them. The black mist had finally run out. Then it was time to leave, the other packs were circling around to trap them already.

"The only real way to stop them is to shoot them to pieces. I think swords or axes would work better," Ryulo shrugged.

It went without saying that engaging a reanimating foe in close combat was not going to go well. Cato knew that, but it didn't seem as if the Inath knights knew it. The crowd sitting at the other tables were all too obviously listening in, with weapons and armour held close by. Most of them were melee weapons, and most of those were swords or bladed spears.

For Ryulo to achieve this much with only seventy hunters and not have a single casualty spoke to his skill, even with the Fukas' natural speed advantage Cato had expected not a few accidents. Ryulo had forestalled the zombies' crude flanks with scouts though he had cut it close a few times. The way he maintained a level head even while facing down an entire army of zombies with new abilities and calmly observed and then reported what he saw was very useful.

Eight times he had gone up against the zombies and each time he had returned with all hands. Soon, they were going to have to call him hunter of zombies.

For another, Cato was not quite so sure that the Fukas had achieved nothing. This black mist seemed to have its limits and Ryulo's skirmishing attacks had to have thinned it out a bit. From where this mist came from, Cato had no idea. Was it some sort of new monster, or was it just something that happened when the zombie packs accumulated into a large army?

"We've fought the zombies before," Michi said, looking at the map drawn on the table. Marks and arrows showed Ryulo's winding path up and down the Gap. "This black mist you speak of is new, it cannot be the cause of their reanimation. They started reanimating on the field some time last year, and there was no mist then. "

"So what does it do?" Ryulo asked.

"I have no idea, does anyone?" Michi looked around, even at the knights on the other tables.

Only silence greeted him. Tulore really should have been here, Cato thought, she had been through many monster attacks before and even had bad memories of an attempt at hunting the monsters. She might know something. But Michi never asked the Fukas to come talk and tended to forget about them even if they turned up.

Landar, seated a few tables away, fidgeted and Cato asked without thinking, "You thought of something?"

They looked at her. Michi was scowling at nothing in particular, Cato wondered if he had stepped on some landmine. "The mist does something else," Landar said hesitantly after Tori nudged her, "Ryulo said that his arrows failed to glow, but we've used marker arrows before and they're very reliable. I think the mist is the zombies' adaptation to our Resist arrows. "

Resist based arrows? From what Cato had heard from Landar and Tori, Resist was a defensive magic that damped blows to armour.

"Nonsense, the zombies don't think. They can't think," a nameless knight said from another table.

"Yeah, that's too ridiculous. "

"Our fellow citizens would never betray us!"

What? Where did that come from? Cato tried to remember the knight who said the last line to ask him later but Michi answered Cato's unspoken question. "You ever wondered where the zombies come from?" Michi asked, under the noise of the argument building around them, "every time a zombie army this large comes around, it means somewhere a town or city fell to the monsters. They're dead people after all. "

Cato got the implication immediately. If the zombies could think, that would imply that the people who died to become them were helping the enemy.

"I can't believe he's not even going to do anything," Cato said.

Landar and Tori were walking Ryulo and him to the fort gates. The meeting broke up shortly afterwards without much conclusion. The only thing they knew was that the zombies had a new trick. Apparently these zombies developed new abilities every few months. Reanimating zombies that cooperated, reanimated themselves and seemed to do strange new things? Cato was starting to realize why the zombies were such a serious threat. What he had seen at the Fuka village was nothing at all.

Wendy's Fort wasn't looking so safe anymore.

"Perhaps he doesn't have time?" Ryulo pointed out, "it is only two days until the zombies arrive and these knights are gearing up for that battle. Only we Fukas are free to try because Michi's not relying on us for the defense. "

"The enemy has something new and we're not even trying to find out what it does," Cato shook his head.

"It's still impossible," Tori said, "to find the knights willing to try something like what Ryulo did would take more than two days. Perhaps if Michi went personally. In fact, I'm starting to think you're lying about Ryulo, he can't possibly be new to lead seventy Fukas. "

Cato raised an eyebrow. Something was not adding up here. "How hard can it be to organize a scouting party?" Cato asked, "Michi can just order them to go. "

Tori and Landar shared a Look. "He can't," Tori explained, "order the knights I mean. Unless it's an emergency, and it never works out well. "

Cato stared back openmouthed. What kind of military was this? He opened his mouth and stopped, actually he didn't know how this world worked after all. "So how would he organize a scouting expedition if Michi needed one?"

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"There are a few ways," Landar said, "he can put up a request with a reward and pick among the applicants. He can also pick a group he likes and try to persuade them to do it. Or open up a bounty on what information he wants, for the first person who delivers it. "

That explained certain troubling things. The melee scrum that was what they called battle practice which was voluntary, the ridiculous individual customization of armour, even the personal combat styles. Cato had thought they didn't make sense for an army formation but of course the answer was that there was no formation.

It was an army of mercenaries and adventurers. Not a professional army like Cato had first assumed. Even the sale of magical arrows was less smuggling and more good business. Well, they could at least move that into the open now.

"Am I right in saying that Michi here is appointed by Inath to hold this fort and receives a sum of money to do that? With no specific objectives?" Cato asked.

"Not quite no objectives," Landar explained, "his performance is reviewed and the king does expect not to have to ride to his rescue at every attack. Wendy's Fort is also quite a good retainer for anyone who can stand the boredom of guard duty. "

Right. No objectives. Cato avoided rubbing his temples too obviously. This was utter insanity. Also guard duty and boredom did not seem to be related, at least in this world full of monsters.

"I see what you mean by being surprised at Ryulo," Cato nodded, "but he really is new. Seventy Fukas aren't that many. "

Even Ryulo raised an eyebrow at that. "Ryulo could shout orders to the entire group, it's still manageable," Cato elaborated, "any small group like them, who move faster than the enemy, can do what he did. Maybe not without loss, but the basic idea is easy enough. "

Landar raised an eyebrow, "easy enough for a small team that know each other, but what can a mere handful of knights do?"

"Seventy Fukas managed to almost destroy a hundred zombies, delay the entire army by half a day and find out the presence of a new ability," Cato said, "that's not nothing. "

"And I'm saying that organizing even thirty knights to do this is impossible. It's simply impossible to get everyone working together. "

"The Fukas managed it. "

Cato wondered what was the problem with organizing knights. If every knight just did whatever they wanted, how could Inath ever get anything done? Did every battle turn into a mass of knights charging haphazardly at the enemy?

Tori laughed at the two of them staring daggers at each other, "Landar's never worked in an adventuring group before, she doesn't know what it's like. "

"What?" she continued when they turned to her, "I'm serious. You have no idea what sort of squabbles over money or payment happens after a job. And Cato does have a point, we get along like a house on fire. "

Landar transferred her glare to Tori, "you're the defenders of Inath! Practically heroes! You should be ashamed of-"

So Landar the alchemist had her own starry eyed moments too. Cato sighed. Hmm, perhaps he might be able to use the disunity of the knights.

"Say, Landar. Who enforces the law around here?" he interrupted their bickering.

She frowned, "the knights do. Why?"

"Who do the knights go to if two groups are fighting each other?"

"There's an arbitration committee," Tori explained, "if you have a greviance against another group of knights, you can go there. Non-knights can also appeal to them if they have a problem. "

"Hm, then I suppose knights have an advantage," Cato mused, "so... how does one become a knight?"

"I'm not sure about your motives," Landar said suspiciously.

"I'm not planning anything devious. "

"Yes you are. I've had my eyes on you since you thought up the bowgun," Landar said, "you're doing something but I'm not sure what. Now why do you need the arbitration committee?"

"It's something of a secret," Cato smiled, "I might tell you after it's over. If you help me become a knight. "

Tori was frowning at him, but Landar developed a small grin, which grew into conspiratorial laugh. "All right, I'm curious now," Landar said, "I'll write a letter of recommendation. That bowgun you thought up might interest the alchemistry division. "

Cato nodded his thanks as they reached the fort's gates. "You have my thanks then," Cato said.

He was greeted not without some concern and wonder when he came in to the canteen that day.

In Cato's hand was a spear-like metal object but only slightly longer than a palm's width, with four tiny prongs on the end. The story of the bowgun had spread quite far now and the knights in the canteen watched the strange boy with curiousity.

"Is that a new weapon?" Tori asked as he took a sandwich, careful to choose an unspiced bread.

Cato frowned at her, "no?"

"But you asked Landar to make it for you," Tori continued to push him as they sat down at a table.

"No, it's not a weapon," Cato said. He took out a metal spoon from a pocket and placed it next to the new object, "surely even you know what a fork is?"

He speared the sandwich with the fork and cut out a piece with the spoon. Then he looked up to find Tori staring at him openmouthed.

"Oh come on, it's not like I can think of a new weapon every few days!" Cato said, "besides, I'm sick of eating with my hands. "

He sighed and ate the piece of sandwich. He was also starting to get sick of the food. Fukas only had piyo meat, flatbread and illon soup. Wendy's fort only ever ate sandwiches, with a tough dry meat he still hadn't learnt the animal's name and some pieces of a leafy vegetable in two pieces of bread. Spiced or unspiced.

The concept of sauces seemed to not exist.

Cato ate another piece and looked up from his musing to find Tori still looking suspiciously at the fork in his hand. As if expecting it to jump out and poke someone in the eyes.

"Here, you can have a piece," Cato said kindly.