The elven squad wandered the Plagued Forest searching the pockets of my horde. I doubted they would find anything worthwhile. Shamblers didn’t get much in the way of starter equipment, but they had probably dropped most of their money.
Koffer was farther away than I thought. When you’re on the ground, exhausted, with a sword to your throat, everything might as well have been in slow motion.
The sad thing was that I was no more than ten meters from the wall of fog. From my vantage point, the foreboding nimbus stretched up as far as the eye could see.
Though I’d been caught, I’d saved over a hundred of my kind. I wasn’t expecting anything in return. In fact, I was exactly where I expected my actions would take me.
Their presence tingled at the parameter of my power until they disappeared completely.
“How’d you do that?” an elf asked.
Instead of answering him, I opened my menu and looked at the time. I smiled as a plan formulated in my mind. As I released my fingers, the interface closed.
Most of the elves were tall and slender except for one. The odd one out was on the other end of the blade at my neck.
She was more human in stature yet still had pointed ears. Her hair was a vibrant shade of golden blonde. It flowed over the green leathers she wore. Her eyes were a piercing blue that a person could easily get lost in.
I’d dated girls before, but none were as beautiful as her. I’d discovered that I was more attracted to guys in my experiments, but for someone like her, I’d probably give girls a second shot. My best guess was that she was a half-elf.
The one that spoke to me seemed nervous. He was thinner than the others and fidgeted every few seconds as if he could break out into a run at a moment’s notice.
“Never seen a zombie do anything like that before. It was so cool!” He looked around for confirmation but got none from his companions.
Time was not on their side. If any of them knew what was about to happen, they would have moved me immediately.
“Shambler,” I said.
“Is she… roleplaying?” a rather bulky elf asked.
He stepped on the corpse of a shambler near me and ripped his sword from its body. The shambler happened to be a person who had somehow broken formation to protect me.
As I clenched my fist and jaw, I noticed how sore my fingers were. It meant I hadn’t recovered yet.
I pushed that rage down and grinned at the elf. “I’ll gnaw the flesh from your bones and use your pinky as a toothpick!”
Mom always told me to use my words. There, Mom, words.
Amusement washed over me. Kumo seemed entertained.
“She is!” He laughed. “You and your Greys lost,” he said as he gestured at the corpses surrounding us. “Take the L and shut up.”
While keeping eye contact with him, I sat up, letting the blade at my throat sink into my skin until it hit bone and came up with me. The pain didn’t seem to phase me. I let out a fierce growl. It came out as a sickening gurgle and escaped from my neck rather than my mouth.
He took a step back as his eyes went wide. “What the hell!” he said as he tripped over my companion and fell on his ass.
How’s that for shutting up?
The thin one laughed at his fellow elf. “It’s shit like this that makes this game so damn good!”
With my throat cut like it was, growling was the only thing I would do for a while. This served three purposes. One was to piss off Koffer, two was to prolong the encounter, and the last one was for the pure fun of it. A girl had to think of herself once in a while.
“Stop making a fool out of yourself and stand up!” the half-elf woman above me said. “And you.” She twisted the blade in my neck. “Give me my sword back.”
It hurt like hell, but I kept staring at the guy on the ground.
At first, she tried to pull it out the way it went in, but that didn’t work. She ended up having to pull it out the long way, which was extremely painful, but in a weird way.
The wound sealed immediately, but the internals would take a while to configure themselves. When the more intricate parts of our bodies took damage, it took longer to heal.
Muscles could take up to an hour. Lifting after reattaching a limb was possible, but difficult. Eating and speaking wouldn’t be an option for at least an hour for me. Using drain seemed to have the same effect as eating, so I could probably speed up the process if I wanted to.
A small stare-off between the elf and me ended as he stumbled to his feet. I feinted, and he tripped again but caught himself before he fell.
Suddenly, he disappeared, and a flash of light burst in front of me as two swords clashed. The half elf had blocked a blow that would have taken my head off.
“Colonel Koffer said he wants her alive!” the woman shouted.
Elves were much faster than halflings, but I didn’t know they could move that fast. None of the Hexed could match their speed. The only other race that were close to their equal were the kobolds, and they were one of the neutral races.
The elf pushed the half-elf away and backed up a step. He sneered at me and walked away.
I tested my voice, and a gurgling moan came out.
The angry elf spun on one foot and made eye contact with me again.
“Shit,” the half-elf said, and she kneeled in front of me. “Can you talk?”
When I tried to reply, the same thing happened.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The weakness that inhibited my body was almost gone. I flexed my fingers, and their dexterity was nearly at a normal level.
A loud ding rang out, causing tinnitus to interrupt my hearing. A message slid into view from Darryl.
Hey, you gotta see this Az! he sent.
The note was followed by a VR video. If I weren’t in this particular situation, I would have checked it out immediately, but it had to wait.
As my hearing normalized, the crunching of leaves behind me made me turn.
Koffer and his crew had finally arrived.
I want to taste him, Kumo said.
“Attention!” the half elf said. All forty sing-swords sheathed their swords and assembled into two groups. The half-elf stayed near me.
As I stood up, everyone watched. I didn’t bother correcting my hunched-over posture.
There were around fifteen men traveling with Koffer. They slowed to a jog and then to a walk as they closed in. They were dressed the same as they were at the event—shining silver armor with golden glyphs.
They stopped and spread out as Koffer emerged from behind them.
As he neared me, I smiled at him and gargled. I took a step toward him, and the half-elf was in front of me in a blink with her sword at my throat.
Because I was hunched over, she had to hold the blade at an awkward angle. I was also shorter than her, which made it even harder for her. Her muscles would be burning by the time this encounter was over, or she would be dead, which was what I preferred.
I took another step, and she moved forward with me rather than letting the blade sink in.
“Stand down, captain,” Koffer said.
She hesitated.
Koffer moved to her side and put a hand on her shoulder. “Sandra, it’s okay. Let her go.”
A rush of anticipation flooded my senses.
Grab him! Attack! Kumo said.
Not yet. I have a plan, I thought.
Frustration welled up inside of me. Kumo clearly wasn’t pleased with my decision.
Sandra slowly moved her sword from my throat and sheathed it. She and Koffer backed away from me. Sandra split away from Koffer and stood at attention with the rest of her squad.
I smirked at her.
Her lips twisted as a frown formed on her face.
As I turned to Koffer, he drew out his sword and slammed the hilt on the top of my head.
I stumbled and fell to my knees.
A single chuckle came from an elf in the rows of sing-swords.
There was only one person it could be. I found him in their ranks and snarled.
Koffer slashed his blade at me, and I did my best to dodge, but it caught me at the elbow, severing my lower arm clean off. The flesh seared with pain and sent me reeling in agony.
The skin and muscles on the limb lying on the ground caught fire and melted, leaving a burnt skeletal arm and hand.
“You will not disrespect my soldiers,” Koffer said as he clenched a fist.
I wrapped my hand around the skeletal appendage and slammed it into its proper place. As I stood, I raised it so everyone could see.
Red worm-like tendrils wrapped around the blackened bone and spread up the arm until they reached the hand. They split up, making even smaller strings as they extended to the delicate bones in the hand. When they finished, I flexed my now skeletal fingers in front of Koffer’s face and grinned. The skin where his sword cut me flared with pain, causing me to wince, but only slightly.
A retching sound came from the elves as one of them emptied their stomach.
Koffer locked eyes with me. “Can’t we just have a conversation?”
My only reply was a gurgling moan as I lowered my skeletal arm and flipped him off. I would have spat at him if I had the saliva to do it.
He spread his arms out, his mouth drooping open.
The confused look on his face made me smile. I enjoyed every millisecond of it.
As he raised his sword to strike me again, Sandra interrupted him. “Sir,” she said.
His eyes drifted to her. “Yes, Captain?”
“Sh-she can’t talk, sir,” she said.
Koffer lowered his weapon. “And why is that?”
“Permission to speak freely?” she asked.
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Granted.”
I wobbled my head in her direction and wiggled my eyebrows.
“She wouldn’t stay down and pushed my blade deep into her throat as she sat up,” she explained.
When I raised an eyebrow at Koffer, he shook his head.
Sandra cleared her throat. “Should we take her back to camp?”
Their base of operations was just outside of town, and I’d never been inside before. As tempting as it was to get more intel on their operations, I was on a limited time scale. Mainly because my moms wanted me home soon.
Koffer brought a hand to his face in response to her question but ultimately dismissed whatever he was thinking with a wave. “No, we wait for her to heal.”
“Yes, sir!” Sandra replied.
I looked down at the five corpses at my feet and kneeled. A faint presence emanated from them. Thank you, I thought and laid my uninjured hand on the nearest one. It sank into the ground, and a small wooden cross slowly pushed its way up from the soil.
When I looked up at Koffer, his expression matched how I felt. Surprised. I stood up and backed away from the grave.
“What in the…” he said.
Do you know what that was, Kumo?
Everyone had the same reaction, and when they got over it, they turned their attention to me.
I gestured at the grave and threw my hands up. I didn’t have a clue what had happened, but a part of me knew something important had occurred.
They rest now, Kumo replied.
What does that mean?
Kumo reminded silent.
Koffer shook his head and addressed Sandra. “Have you looted the greys yet?”
“Yes, sir,” she said.
He then pointed his sword at me. “You going to behave?”
I gurgled at him and grinned.
“Keep an eye on her, Captain, and if she causes any more problems, cut off her other arm,” Koffer said as he sheathed his sword. “Gather the bodies and burn them.”
Cremating the bodies was standard practice, but knowing I could lay them to rest made me uncertain about allowing them to do it.
“Squad, you heard what he said!” Sandra yelled.
The elves said nothing and got to work. Koffer and his men stood to the side and made room for them.
I had a bit of time to kill, so I kneeled next to another one of the remaining four.
As I reached for it, Sandra’s sword appeared next to my arm.
“Stop!” she said.
Koffer blurted, “Let her do it.”
“Yeah, less work for us!” the skinny elf said.
Sandra marched over to him. “Sleen, if I hear another word from your mouth, you’ll be doing Looper’s laundry for a week!”
Sleen gasped, and then his mouth snapped shut.
I repeated the process on the committed shamblers around me. Small rocks appeared in the place of two of them. A piece of bark and a tin can replaced the last two.
“Hey, why don’t you do some more over—”
A tingling sensation spread throughout my body, and I sensed a presence. I closed my eyes and used my mind to reach for it. Before I could touch its essence, several more showed up.
I checked my menu again, and they were on time, as usual.
In the distance, my control undead ability showed me several hordes of NPC zombies gathering in the Fields of Woe, preparing for their seven o’clock nightly stroll.
***