They watched closely and noticed that Tinsen was a bit wobbly on his horse. He was definitely drunk. Kenrich remembered the plan that Violet described and readied the correct stones within his fingers. The convoy got closer, and closer, and closer, then…it was showtime. Kenrich threw up a mist stone from within his fingers and started spewing a large cloud directly at the group of soldiers. Violet, who was wielding Kenrich’s magic sword, started a barrage of fireballs in the mist at the confused rustling of metal coming from the middle of the cloud. She could tell that she was hitting her marks as the screams of the soldiers were filling the area. As the fireballs cleared some of the mist with their impacts, she witnessed the flight of several armored limbs. Kenrich continued shooting mist to replace the lost fog, and Violet continued her bombardment. Things were going very well, but from what seemed to be out of nowhere, a golden dagger flew straight at Kenrich from the middle of the fog. He somehow managed to dodge the projectile but fell backwards and dropped the mist stone in the process. He quickly fumbled with the mist stone on the ground, but it would be too late as a large gust of wind from the center of the cloud pushed all the mist away easily.
Eight soldiers laid dead in the pile, but the remaining number split up once they regained their sight. The only soldier to stay in the same place was Tinsen, who looked straight at Violet and pointed to the emerald encased in his golden necklace.
“Not a bad plan, Violet!” he yelled. “You always were quite clever, but what’s your plan B?!”
Tinsen then immediately rode his horse straight at Violet who was between two trees on the edge of the forestry. She took aim and shot a fireball directly at Tinsen, but he pulled his body off the side of his horse, dodging it. A few more soldiers joined his pursuit of Violet, but the remaining number went straight for Kenrich.
“Ken! Here!” Violet yelled as she threw Kenrich’s sword back to him. “Take ‘em out before they can overwhelm you!” She then ran deeper into the forest with Tinsen and a few soldiers in pursuit.
Kenrich caught his blade and readied it in front of him. He pointed at the nearest soldier chasing him from the road and blasted them off of their horse. He had no trouble with his aim, but the issue was that they were going to reach him before he could dispatch them all. Luckily, the mist stone was not the only one in his inventory. He took out a speed stone and sprinted towards the dead soldiers who were caught in their original trap. It was time for phase two.
Kenrich was still getting the hang of the immense speed that speed stones grant, but through his training with Violet, he managed to make it to the bodies without error. He then reached for a new stone in his pocket and got ready to use it for the first time. He held it just as the necromancer had and a purple light enveloped him and the dead bodies in the vicinity. After a few moments, the corpses started rising from the ground. They stumbled around awkwardly and did not seem like they would put up much of a fight against the soldiers, but if they did, that was just an extra benefit. Their main purpose was clear.
*45 minutes ago*
“It’s pretty likely that Tinsen or one of his cronies will have a means of thrusting away the cloud of mist, but as long as we take out a good chunk of the soldiers during it, then that’s fine,” Violet said as she sat on a log next to Kenrich. “After they push away the cloud, I want you to get to that pile of bodies and use this-”
Violet took a purple stone out of her pocket and threw it over to Kenrich. He caught it and looked at it slightly confused
“We’re going to raise zombies? They aren’t that strong…”
“You questioning me, peabrain?”
“No, I mean…it makes sense, but what good will that do for us? Is it just a distraction?”
“Think about it. We’re betting on Tinsel coming out here with the Ring of Life, and what might he do with it when his soldiers fall?”
“He’d revive his own men…We’d be fighting an endless supply of heavily armed soldiers!”
“Bingo. We zombify his lackeys and then he won’t be able to bring ‘em back.”
“You’re a genius, V!”
“W-well, I’m glad you finally noticed!” She was blushing.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
*back to the present*
“Ugh!” *hiccup* “How grotesque!” Tinsen said, looking back at his undead underlings through the gaps in the trees.
“I think they look better that way!” Violet yelled, looking back at Tinsen. “You should join them! You’re much better suited to be our clumsy little minion!”
“Ha! You always were such a jokester, Violet, but I’ll pass!”
Tinsen was advancing on Violet fast. He took out that familiar, golden sword from his side and held it above his head, ready to strike. Violet was not running anymore, she just turned to face him as he kept galloping towards her with the three soldiers following behind him. Tinsen swung his blade…and missed. A second after, Tinsen’s horse neighed loudly and hit the ground, knocking him off. He slammed onto the ground and was dizzy from both the fall and the alcohol. Violet stood over him, showing a speed stone in her hand.
“How drunk are you? That swing wasn’t even close!”
“Grrrr! Laugh while you can, girl! You’re still outnumbered!”
Tinsen’s followers finally caught up to them and took their own swing at a seemingly distracted Violet, but their swings only hit air. Still gripping the speed stone, she used the same trick and took down the horses of each of the soldiers. Now, their battle would be on foot.
During this same time, Kenrich, who was surrounding himself with the heavily armored zombies he just raised, got ready to intercept the six remaining soldiers who were coming for him. They had taken out half of the twenty men so far, but the battle was far from over. The zombies slowly started shuffling towards the advancing soldiers, but it was apparent to both Kenrich and them that they were not that much of a threat.
When the crowd of zombies and soldiers collided, the one-sided fight commenced. While the zombies were being slaughtered, Kenrich took out two more of the guards in the confusion with his fireballs. The four remaining pursuers kept proceeding towards Kenrich, but he used the time before they made it there to use the resurrection stone again. The same eight corpses revived once again along with the two fresher ones. Still gripping the speed stone, he made his way to the other side of the pack of zombies which made it so the soldiers would have to fight the horde once again if they were going to reach Kenrich who sat in the middle of it. Realizing the cat and mouse game that was afoot, the soldiers took out their bows. They started shooting arrows towards the crowd, but Kenrich was easily able to dodge them by keeping himself behind the ten undead soldiers. Arrows were much less effective against zombies than blades, so it took several shots before they started to fall once again. Kenrich was apprehensive of poking out his head to try and get a shot at the soldiers, so he came up with a different approach.
He sheathed his sword and took the mist stone in one hand while holding the speed stone in the other. Once he saw an opening in the soldier’s volley, he ran in a straight line between the soldiers and zombies while spraying out a constant stream of mist. This created a large cloudy wall that worked a lot better than Kenrich thought it might. Using this wall as cover, Kenrich ran to a random spot in the wall, poked his head out of the edge of the cloud, and targeted the crowd of confused soldiers. He shot a fireball and took out another soldier. The remaining soldiers saw where the shot came from and started bombarding the area with arrows, but Kenrich was gone before they could hit their mark. Now at a different spot, Kenrich once again activated the resurrection stone which revived the fallen zombies who were still behind the cloud wall, but more importantly, revived the soldier next to the remaining ones. This would only distract them for a few seconds, but that was more than enough time for Kenrich to dispatch another soldier. Through this same strategy, Kenrich was able to win the fight. Now, the only remaining soldiers were the ones that went after Violet. After making sure to use the resurrection stone on the remaining soldiers, Kenrich made his way deeper into the forest where Violet had run.
Violet stood ten feet away from Tinsen and the other soldiers. She had her sword drawn but gave off a very relaxed demeanor which made Tinsen furious.
“You seem to think you’ve already won!” he snarled. “I know how clever you are, Violet! I won’t underestimate you like the piles of idiotic corpses you’ve been leaving in your path!”
“It’s not hard to beat a drunk, sad excuse for a commander like yourself. You should just hand over the ring now.”
“Ha! Why do you covet this ring so? You know that having it only puts a target on your back!”
“Keeping it out of the hands of evil bastards like you is more than enough of a reason.”
“Like me?! You act as if you are the definition of purity! Just as much blood is on your hands as mine! I know your history, Violet…I always do my homework when I’m forced to accommodate unfamiliar underlings in my expeditions. I know why you really want this ring…”
“You don’t know anything about me!”
“Oh, I do…Definitely much more than your poor excuse of a partner at least. You always loved to keep people in the dark. It’ll only be a matter of time before you throw him away once his purpose has been served…just like Fae…”
“DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK HER NAME!”
Violet’s emotions got the best of her, and she lunged at Tinsen with her sword raised. She was deviating from the plan.
Kenrich gripped the speed stone in his hand and made his way to Violet at a brisk pace. He was only jogging though. The hardest parts of their plan had already gone as well as they could have, so he was a bit at ease. All that was left was for Violet to use the freeze stone on Tinsen and his goons and the ring would be back in their possession. Admian soldiers are known for being well equipped, but they are nowhere near as skilled as the members of the Coalition that Kenrich and Violet were used to fighting at this point. It would be child’s play for Violet to outmaneuver and then immobilize them. Kenrich finally heard what sounded like Violet’s voice and got ready to hear the good news. Sadly, the scene he stumbled upon held the complete opposite. Kenrich made his way to the clearing in the forest and saw Tinsen holding a weak, struggling Violet being by her hair.