I felt them before we could see them.

There were over a dozen Zombies clawing at the stone walls of Gher. I knew they didn’t stand a chance of getting in, but that didn’t make it any less concerning. Plus there was the issue of a Touched, which I didn’t see anywhere, but that didn’t mean they weren’t hiding. I could feel a strange presence in addition to the Zombies, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

“What do we do?” Val had her sword out.

I hadn’t expected her to ask permission to attack. I assumed she would have taken the lead. She wasn’t looking at the city, but out at the woods to the north. That was when I realized that it wasn’t permission she was asking about. It was the Touched out there somewhere that she wanted to know if she should look for.

“We should protect the city first.” I pointed at the Zombies. “If the Touched show themselves…” I wasn’t sure which one of us should fight them. I’d been taught swordsmanship by Master Bran, so I had no doubt I could handle myself there. But magic was a different story.But of the two of us, I probably had the better chance of winning against a Touched.

“I’ll keep them busy until you can finish off the Zombies, then we’ll take them out together.” I knew if I told her that she wouldn’t get to fight the Touched, that she’d probably ignore the Zombies. But this way, She would feel like she was doing the most.

For a moment I thought she was going to argue, but she gripped her sword and ran towards the city.

I followed after her and turned left after she went right. As soon as we got within fifty feet of the walls, the Zombies stopped their attacks and turned around to face us. That served to verify that there was a Touched pulling the strings.

Only five Zombies came at me, with at least double that going after Val.I hoped she would be able to handle herself, but for now, I couldn’t afford to watch her. I had to focus on my own fight.

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The Zombies were trying to overwhelm me, which meant I couldn’t let them get too close.I hacked at the first one and took off its wrist. My sword felt lighter in my hands and it was cutting better. The purple blade felt like it was humming as I twisted and took off the Zombie’s head.

Severe head trauma or decapitation was the only way to stop them. Whatever magic it was that animated them, used their basic brain functions. While a Zombie didn’t need any other part of its body to operate, it had to have its head.

The two Zombies behind it were too close for me to decapitate, so I twisted to the left and dodged under a dead arm. One of the Zombies beside that one tried to tackle me, but I switched my sword to my left hand and grabbed it’s upper arm and shoved it into the one I’d just dodged.

The first two and the one that lunged wound up in a pile. I had a moment before they would be able to get to their feet. I locked on to the last one and grabbed my sword with both hands as I cut through its left knee. As it fell, I brought my sword down and took off its head.

I began backing away towards the city wall, but the other three didn’t come after me. Istead, they were running away towards the woods.

In a way, I was thankful that there was a Touched here. Normally a Zombie would have kept coming until one of you was dead. A Touched could have the Zombies retreat, to conserve their power for later.

I looked over at Val, who was chasing down the zombies that were running away from her. She’d already decapitated three and I watched her take down a fourth. It looked like she was about to chase the rest of them into the woods.

“Val!” I waved for her to come back. “Let them go!”

She looked at the Zombies disappearing into the trees, but she let them leave.

The Wrangler stormed over to me, “Why did we let them go?”

“Because…” I pointed at the walls, “The city is safe and we don’t know the situation. Master Bran would go talk to whoever is in charge while I dispose of the dead Zombies.”

She looked reluctant.

I motioned at the undead, “Unless you want to harvest the hearts and burn them?”

“I’ll go.” She turned and walked towards the gates, “Find me when you’re done!”

I looked at the first rays of sunrise peeking over the forest, then adjusted my bandages. Val could deal with the people. This was what I was better at.