"Everything is in place, time to march on the castle." I declared to the assembled men.

Edmund managed to wrangle a small company of good men from our mercenary band. They were from one of the other bands, they were unsociable fellows. The company should be enough with the undead reinforcing us. But we needed men who knew siege warfare and I planned to use the catapults to their fullest.

The group of us stood before the castle. Sven was managing his contingent of undead, getting them in place for the second assault. I had the rest of the undead forces and planned to use them after we softened the walls up with the catapults.

"We about to rain down destruction!" Edmund shouted, excited because he got to fire the catapults.

His exuberance was also good for morale. Even covered in blood and guts he was always happy. It's the barbarian in him, his kin were madmen even in times of peace, at least what I heard.

"Load the catapults." I ordered and the undead were quick to obey.

They all gathered together and as separate teams, they picked up large boulders and loaded the catapults one at a time. We had three of the siege engines and they were soon to be ready. A smiling Edmund loitered around the lever, eager to hurl them at the wall.

"Sig, that sorcerer still giving you trouble?" I asked our own wizard.

Sig was standing behind his makeshift desk, all sorts of wizardly paraphernalia were strewn across it. He had taken the position of coordinator and was quite good at it. The new guys had to get used to magical communication. I will admit, it was weird the first time Sig cast his voice directly into my head.

Ever since then, it has been a common procedure for large-scale missions. This was no exception, we were besieging the castle of a particularly powerful wizard. We had not seen a peep out of her demons. What we knew is that she was a master conjuror, graduated from Towmond and everything.

"That guy is good, can barely get close to the castle with a scry spell. I can only monitor from a distance." He gestured to the bowl of water.

I looked over his shoulder and saw that the water reflected an entirely different scene. It was a bird's eye view of the castle and yes it was quite a distance away.

"The bastard has the whole keep covered in wards and spells. It would take forever to develop counters for everyone." He explained excitedly.

I looked at him, shook my head and spoke. "Try not to be too excited about out enemies competence."

He shrugged and flashed a mischievous grin. Turning back to his work, his face went solemn. Looking down into the pool of water he sighed heavily.

"What's wrong?" I asked, sensing something amiss.

"I was just thinking about the people in there. You know the villagers you had me." I quickly silenced him with a gesture.

"Don't talk about that when in earshot of people with really good hearing." I gestured to the hopefully oblivious Sven.

"Sorry." Sig apologised before turning to his belt.

Withdrawing several objects I couldn't fathom, he made strange gestures I recognised as casting a spell. Once he was done, I felt a strange sensation expand around us, encompassing several feet in all directions.

"Silence spell?"

"Yes, we can speak freely for a little while." Sig explained. "As I was saying, what about the people in the castle. The villagers you had me warn, the spell I sent out just warned them of an attack. They would have fled to the keep."

I nashed my teeth, dreading this conversation. After witnessing the aftermath of Tormal's sacking, I immediately went to Sig and requested he send out a warning to the other villages. I had hoped they would escape the same fate. But if they had fled to the keep, they would surely be slaughtered the moment we took the castle.

"What do you want me to do Sig?" I asked, tired of this conversation already. "We warned them secretly and that's all we could do. Do you want me to raise the men in revolt against a mad man like Drelem. He would cut us down like wheat and then add our corpses to the army."

Sig frowned, clearly he could see my point. But the good man in him warred against everything. He was always the soft-hearted one of the group. Edmund on the other hand was always crass when it came to killing.

I put a calming hand on his shoulder, he looked up at me as if begging for an answer. "Perhaps I can convince the captain to opt out of the sacking of Wildhold." He visibly brightened at that idea, but it was tinged with sorrow, that much was clear. "Then again, this all assumes we survive. The mistress of that castle might unleash her supposed fourth order and kill the lot of us."

The joke manages to elicit a smile from the previously dower wizard. He turned back to his work eyeing the pool of water, as if answers hid in within the ripples.

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"I'll see what I can do." I made a promise I probably couldn't keep.

With that settled for now, he went back to work monitoring the castle and I went to inspect the catapults. I found Edmund loitering around them like a child awaiting a gift from his parents.

"Is it time?" The giant asked.

I nodded, confirming it was indeed so, giving him first honours. He gleefully grabbed the lever with two hands, a firm and powerful grip. With a single motion, he pulled it down, sending its load flying. The stone glided through the air before crashing against the wall, just below the battlements.

"Adjust!" One of the men shouted and began the grim task of trial and error.

Several more stones were flung at the wall, each making an impact. Most had little to no effect, the walls were of sturdy construction, but a few landed soundly. Sig reported several of the enemy undead were sent flying, only to be quickly replaced.

Edmund on the other hand was having a grand old time. With every pull of the lever, he gleefully inspected the damage, cheering with the men as we slowly chipped away at the massive construction.

"Your companion is a savage." Sven said from the side, he was seated upon a chair, attended to by servant undead with a silver chalice of blood.

Of course, he would bring his furniture to a siege, why did I expect any different? "He would take that as a compliment." I replied, chuckling.

The vampire shook his head, probably unable to parse how such a derogatory term could be seen in a positive light. Different cultures I suspect, but it was true he was a barbarian and he loved being savage.

Another stone flung and this one went further than the other, lobbing over the wall and into the castle proper. Edmund whooped in joy at the stone disappearing over the wall, along with the crashing sound that accompanied it.

"I bet we flattened someone's house." He cheered and the rest followed the jubilation.

"Erik." Sig called to me.

"What is it?"

"The ward keeping my scrying has weakened, not sure what happened but if I press a bit more." He trailed off with his typical muttering and hand waving. "Got you." He directed me to the water and I was amazed at the sight.

Reflected in the water was the castle courtyard, scrambling soldiers were scurrying around a damaged building that had just collapsed from being hit by a giant stone.

"Direct hit!" Edmund cheered, watching from over my shoulder.

"I don't know what you just did, but that just knocked out their scrying wards." The pair smiled like they had just been handed a bag of gold.

Sig didn't seem as enthusiastic, but Edmund's cheerful demeanour seemed to win him over. Hopefully, the young wizard would get the job done so we can leave with our pay and dignity intact. Not sure what will happen to me, bound to an undead lord and all.

"Another load!" The catapult operator shouted.

"Don't fire without me!" Edmund replied, rushing over to pull the lever once more.

Sending another volley, a few of them managed to damage the wall, creating a large divot in the side, wide enough for a ladder. This was our chance, with the frantic nature of the enemy and much of their undead smooshed to paste, the time was ripe.

"Stop the catapults, prepare the assault!" I commanded and the undead forces snapped to the order.

"Sig prepare the spells to ward off enemy fire spells." He nodded and turned to his Wizardry.

"You coming with me Edmund?" I asked the barbarian, he grinned back and that was all I needed.

It did not take us long to get ready, the undead were armed and armoured. Siege ladders were loaded and we were about to storm the castle. The wall was weak and like a predator, we would pounce on wounded prey. Oddly I felt a strange satisfaction in that simplicity.

Armed and ready, I lead the charge across the field of battle. The enemy undead tried to mount a resistance, hurling what stones they had. We easily evaded with only a few undead lost in the process. They tried a volley of arrows, but most of them went wide or had no effect on the undead below. I suspected it was a last-ditch effort.

We reached the wall, laid the ladders against the damaged sections and secured it in place with undead support. I could see the enemy rounding upon them. Without a second thought, I bounded up the ladder with the speed no human could attain.

I was on the wall in seconds, sword unsheathed and two zombies decapitated in moments. My feet settled upon a stone floor and I glared at the fearful soldiers. They were green, I could see that in their eyes and shaky hands. It was truly ill fate that I was their first foe. I made a silent prayer that their souls would reach a comfortable afterlife.

Two men approached and tried to skewer me with spears, I easily dodged the haphazard attack. Slipping underneath their guard I dispatched them cleanly. With two quick slashes to the torso and neck, they fell like puppets with their strings cut.

I noticed Edmund arrive and block an arrow with his shield. The enemy started another volley and a few hit me in the shoulder and leg. I barely noticed it, the blood spray from my previous victims held my attention. I felt my fangs descend, I scanned the wall for another victim.

Edmund approached me, his axe cleaving away an approaching undead. "How do we tell these zombies apart?" His question managed to bring me back from whatever that was.

"The red band around their arm, don't you remember." I pointed to one of our zombies with a bloody arrow I just pulled from my leg.

"Oh yeah." He realised, probably forgetting how much of a pain it was getting those on.

"Enemies coming from your right and left." Sig called to us via magic.

Me and Edmund turned to our respective enemies and noted several spearmen coming towards us, intent on blocking us in. Edmund sprang into action, batting away their spears and sinking his axe into the first neck he found. I turned to my pair and sped across the wall, snapping the spears like two twigs and decapitating the one on the left.

The one on the right tried to draw his sword, I sank my own into his chest. He fell forward and my fangs went straight for his neck. It was not pleasant, the man's body odour was foul. But I had just been shot full of arrows and I needed a drink. I drained him dry and left the empty corpse to flounder.

"What is that?" Sig's voice called to me.

"What?" I questioned, looking around for another attacker.

Our undead swarmed the wall, cutting down their meagre forces and sending the remnant soldiers reeling back. Nothing happened until the frightened voice of Sig rang in my ear. "It's a demon!" He shouted, jarring my super-acute hearing.

I scanned the wall, trying to locate any abyssal forces. My night eyes easily piercing the dark, noted a shape slowly ascending into the air. I looked up, staring in dread as a four-armed devil flapped its wings and grinned down at me. Within its talons was a gnarled and charred staff, pointing right at me.

"Say hello to my little friend!" He threatened and I briefly thought of looking for this friend.

I was stopped from doing that, as a giant fireball emerged from the staff and came right towards me, like fiery death. I only hope the warding spell is enough, if not then I was a goner.