“Oi, are you serious?” Kellar instantly interrupts. “Did you not just hear what he said? There's a hundred of them!”

“And they're not moving.” Veros argues back. “As long as the hug the buildings to the left, we might be able to get by without drawing their attention. We need to go and find out.”

“Are you that desperate to get killed?”

“The only other choice is to spend the entire day hauling junk out of the way of the main gate, or worse, going around the river and Lake Hyperion. We're not going to take a six hour detour and risk traveling in pitch black darkness in a dense forest just to get on the other side of that wall.” Veros points to the very tall stone fort wall that traces the entire Levinburg perimeter. “Let's go.” Veros repeats his order with more firmness than before.

Kellar quietly gives up, knowing that a debate is pointless. At the end of the day, both options are fundamentally dangerous, but this one is just faster. Royd mounts his horse and the group rides to the end of the street, soon meeting up with Atticus and seeing the small army of comatose undead for themselves.

“What the...” Veros is quickly overwhelmed at the unnerving view of so many nameless corpses messily disordered around the courtyard and stacked like dishevelled logs against the chapel door. Kellar is shocked beyond words; his jaw is hanging in sheer confusion and fear. Zyra is struck with obvious worry and anxiousness. Even the sober and quiet Erik is visibly trying to wrap his head around the sight.

“What on Earth were they doing?” Veros can't help but wonder aloud.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Atticus responds, having seen no activity in the few minutes he's been surveilling. “What are we going to do?”

Veros turns to the left, away from the numerous cadavers, and sees the street leading to the other gate he mentioned, free of any potential hazards. He points to it so the others can see it.

“We're going to that street over there.”

“So we're sneaking past them?” The knight asks for clarification.

“Yes.” Veros nods. “Granted, it's hard to necessarily sneak with six horses, but as long as we hug these buildings to the left, we should avoid waking them.”

“Hey!” Kellar interrupts with his usual, but understandable hesitance. “We don't even know if the gate you're talkin' about is blocked off or not like the other one. What if we wake them and they just chase us down there, trappin' us?”

“That's a risk that comes with the journey, Kellar.” Veros offers a response that, while true, doesn't necessarily instill confidence. “Alright. Everyone get on your horses. We're going to head over to that street in a single file line while staying against the buildings to our left. I'll lead.”

Atticus mounts his horse as Kellar unleashes another exasperated sigh. Veros takes a deep breath before slowly urging his horse forward while sticking so closely to the buildings to his left, he practically brushes his shoulders against them. Once he and his horse fully enter the courtyard area, Royd and his horse follow, then Atticus, then Kellar, then Zyra, then Erik.

As they trace the edge of the courtyard, they keep their eyes on the suspicious, but unmoving horde, with each of their faces marked with hints of varying degrees of desperation, nervousness, and morbid inner turmoil questioning whether or not they'll live another day. The sounds of their horses' feet stepping on the cobblestone path is the only noise filling the air, for the tensity is forcing them to practically hold their breaths. For all they know, one wrong vibration in the air itself could strike up their wrath. Who knows what will happen if they wake? What if they are indeed chased to the gate they're looking for, only to find it inaccessible? Can they really hold out against that many at once? Will they be trapped and forced to accept a gruesome demise? Would it be possible to narrowly escape harm, only to be forced into a day-long route around the river where danger is still high anyway? These questions and more buzz around their heads as they try to reach their destination.

After rounding the northwest corner of the area, they're finally able to make a straight line for the street that will lead them to potential – not promised – progress. Veros is the first to make it to the beginning of the path, and continues down it while looking back at the others, who are close by. One by one, they finally begin to put more distance between themselves and the massive group of necrotic husks. However, while they might be physically out of reach, they still have eyes looking upon them, as several of the corpses are lying with their heads turned towards the Mistwalkers.

The group manages to successfully access the designated street and leave the horde behind, allowing the fog to provide them with a much-needed cloak of safety once they're far enough away.

“Holy hell.” Kellar speaks under a forceful breath, probably his first exhale since they began sneaking around the bodies. “I didn't expect having to do something like that on just the second day out here.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“You and me both.” Veros admits with a sigh of his own.

“It was a bit exciting though, wasn't it?” Royd remarks with surprising enthusiasm.

“For me, 'excitin' would be finally gettin' the fuck out of this town and puttin' as many miles as possible between myself and them.” Kellar answers. “I signed up for this knowin' I'd have to fight eventually. But against a small army? No thanks.”

“I'm not keen to stick around, either.” Veros agrees. “I don't know what they were all doing there, but I'm not about to investigate.”

“Finally, you're speakin' my language.”

The group finally manages to release all the tension they built up in such a short time earlier, making their way to the second gate with less urgency. However, just as they become complacent with their perceived safety, Erik becomes distracted by something. He tries to examine his surroundings in an attempt to seek out whatever it is that's bothering him, but doesn't find anything.

“Does anyone else hear that?” Erik speaks up, a rarity that catches everyone's attention. Rather than respond to him directly, his comrades all automatically begin to search for the cause of Erik's distress, attempting to single out strange sounds. However, he finally looks behind him, only to be greeted with an amorphous silhouette barreling down the street after them. Soon it becomes close enough for the fog to no longer cover its finer details, and it transforms into a horde of undead sprinting towards them with shocking speed.

“Run!” Erik's instinctive response is a yell, which forces everyone to look back for one instant and see the vicious army behind them.

“Holy shit!” Kellar screams at the top of his lungs as he and everyone else in a sudden burst of desperate self-preservation kick and whip the reins of their horses to run as fast as their legs can carry them.

“How in the hell did this happen?!” Veros yells at nothing in sheer confusion and panic.

“Who cares?! Just keep moving!” Kellar replies with equal terrified bewilderment.

Thankfully, as the horses dash relentlessly forward, more space is put between the Mistwalkers and the hostile horde. Soon, however, the northern fort wall becomes barely visible through the fog, and their destined gate along with it.

“There! The gate!” Veros points forward. “It's not blocked off! We have to open it!”

“Shouldn't we lose these corpses first?!” Atticus asks.

“If we lead them around town just to get them off our back, it might make it harder to return here!”

The group comes to a stop at the tall, barricaded single-door gate, and Veros is quick to bark out more orders as he dismounts.

“Royd, help me open the gate! Erik, Atticus, and Zyra, take out the undead at range if you see them coming!”

“Got it!” Atticus responds with confidence as he and Erik grab their bows and sturdily place themselves at the rear of the group. Zyra stands between them, looking far less composed.

Meanwhile, Royd and Veros dismount their horse to push away the thick wooden planks propped up diagonally against the gate, then lifting the large wooden barricade holding the door firmly to the wall. The mass of aggressive stiffs soon make themselves visible through the fog again, sparking retaliation from the two bowmen, who loose their arrows with great speed and accuracy, deftly piercing the skulls of the corpses one by one from a closing distance. After Veros and Royd clear the gate of its few blockades, they try to pull it open, but make little progress. Veros looks to the door's side.

“Damn it!” Veros exclaims in frustration. “The hinges are rusted!”

“Kellar!” Royd yells. “Help us, you rogue fool!”

“For fuck's sake!” Kellar, with little choice, immediately hops off his horse and runs to assist.

“Pull!” Veros yells as the men strain their backs and arms trying to overcome the resistance of the large, rusted metal hinges keeping the gate shut. Eventually, it starts to inch open.

Atticus and Erik are still spending many arrows trying to stop the progress of the rushing army, but they can't kill as fast as the undead are running, thus they gain more ground little by little. Zyra has her right hand up, palm pointing forward, all fingers extended, but no pyromancy is being conjured. She unwillingly stalls due to heavy anxiousness and fear burdening her. Beads of sweat slide down her face at such a rate, it's as if a rain cloud had formed directly above her head. Noticing her lack of action, Atticus speaks up while continuing to loose his arrows at random targets.

“Zyra! Breathe deep! Clear your mind! Channel your energy through your bracelet and use it to form the fireball!”

The mage doesn't look at him, but hears his advice. She begins to slow the pace of her breaths, inhaling and exhaling deeply. She quietly whispers an incantation to herself repeatedly. Finally, an orange light emerges from the palm of her hand and a massive fiery orb – much larger than the one she launched earlier in the day – shoots forward at blinding speed. It doesn't hit any of the corpses sprint at them, but it didn't need to. It strikes the ground with earth-shaking force and creates an explosion that decimates over a dozen of them at once, severely staggering their progress. Atticus and Erik are pleasantly surprised by the abrupt burst of magical strength, but neither of them are as shocked as Zyra, who nearly collapses from mental exhaustion.

Meanwhile, Veros, Royd, and Kellar finally manage to open the gate wide enough for everyone and their horses to pass through.

“The gate's open! Everyone go through!” Veros yells loudly enough for the three ranged fighters to hear him. “Kellar, take Royd's horse and mine through. We'll close the gate again.”

“Right!” Kellar quickly climbs atop his horse, grabs the reins of his comrade's steeds, and guide them through the open gate, with Atticus, Erik, and Zyra following close behind. With everyone now on the outer side of the Levinburg wall, Veros and Royd pull the gate closed just before the remainder of the feral horde reaches them. The undead pound at the gate non-stop, and their disgusting snarls and animalistic growls can still be heard.

“Do they not have the wherewithal to know that the gate must be pulled open?” Erik wonders aloud.

“I don't think so.” Veros replies as he and Royd mount their horses once again. “But I don't think we should stick around to find out if they'll learn. Let's head to the bridge.”

With no desire to see for themselves if the gate will stay closed, they ride along the narrow cliffside path westward to the bridge connecting Levinburg's island to the mainland.