Sitting in his chair, Ubel read the reports about the high necromancer Mortis while drinking from his flagon of water. 

Five wiped villages and an army of forty-thousand undead of differentiating species. Also, it seems that there have been sightings of an undead dragon. Where did he get that corpse from… Are the barbarians behind this? We’re quite close to their borders, it wouldn’t be strange for them to pull something. Going to have to change up my preparations if that’s the case.

With a sigh, he put the report down, closed his eyes, and leaned his head back.

As thoughts ran through his mind, arms suddenly wrapped around him from behind as someone rested their head on his. The smell of blood entered his nostrils, and with a slight smile, he lifted one of his hands and rubbed one of the arms.

“Hello War. Is Death making breakfast this morning?”

A woman's voice rang with a pout, “Oh boo. Is the smell still on me? I tried really hard to scrub it out.”

“Don’t, I’ve grown so used to it. If you did, I don’t know how I’d wake up.”

“It’s a wife's duty to do her best for her husband.”

“It goes both ways, or so I’ve been told. Are you ready to enter the battlefield soon?”

Words soaked in bloody honey drifted to his ears, “As long as you wish it, I’d even take the head of the king for you.”

With a small laugh, Ubel replied, “If I wanted to I could already rule this kingdom… So I’ll take a rain check on that deed. Come on, let’s eat before we…”

***

Opening his eyes, Ubel stared at the wooden ceiling.

“Go to battle, War.”

Ubel touched his lips with a dead stare , stopping himself from saying more.

He got out of bed, quickly washed with a pail of water and a towel, then dressed in his military attire.

Walking out of his temporary housing, Ubel saw the fox-kin and support dwarfs running around, getting everything ready for the day. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Volt, still in meditation. His aura had steadily doubled since being here, but he still showed no signs of moving anytime soon.

Ubel only gave him a quick look before heading to the command center.

Already waiting for him inside was his command team, ready for action. He passed by everyone saying good morning to him and sat in his command chair. Although the group had annoyed looks on their faces, they didn’t say anything.

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Pushing up his glasses, Ubel's dead eyes moved towards the information mage and Reaver.

“Connect.”

With a nod, the information mage, Kist, pressed his hand on Reaver's back and a glow of light appeared below his palm. The light slowly traveled up Reaver’s back, heading towards her brain. 

Inside of Kist's mind, various views of the world from the eyes of wolves spread out as if on some sort of screen. Now connected to the frontlines, Kist's other hand moved towards the map and began rearranging the stone pieces upon it.

Feeling the strange presence in her brain, Reaver offhandedly commented, “This is your first time doing this, correct Kist?”

The thin man responded as his hand moved at lightning speed, “No. The spell is usually used to gain information on the other's thoughts. Great for collecting critical intelligence from targets, but this works about the same. Our commander is pretty smart for thinking of this.”

Reaver rolled her eyes, “Are you actually praising him of all people?”

Kist chuckled, “Compared to my old boss Ubel’s a saint. At least he sees everyone as pawns. My old boss treated us no better than a lizard’s tail.”

“What’s the difference?”

Suddenly cutting into the discussion, Ubel replied to Reaver's question with heavy sarcasm, “The difference is that pawns are sacrificed to kill a king while tails are made to be abandoned so that their owner can run away. Now cut the chatter and get the teams into their positions, we’re wasting sunlight. Operation Hydra begins in one hour.”

Reaver snorted, “A classy name. I figured it would’ve been more frank.”

Ubel didn’t give in to the bait and ignored her, “Start moving the teams.”

Eye twitching, Reaver had to force herself to reply. “Yes… Commander.”

Soon enough fifteen groups marched out towards fifteen enemy outposts. Some of the troops used the earth, others used the landscape, and a few used magic to mask themselves from sight in order to infiltrate the targeted locations. With the knowledge of their patrol routes as well as wolves leading the way, all the groups somehow managed to remain undetected.

There were a few scares among a few of the troops, but with Ubel's quick thinking he was able to micro-manage and stop the slip-ups from blowing their cover.

With the troops inside the enemy bases and having a moment's worth of safety, Ubel pushed his glass up and wiped the sweat off his brow.

“The first hurdle is over. Order the groups to spread out within the fortress and have the powerhouses begin the assassinations. I’ll leave the operation calls to them now, but they have twenty minutes to kill all hostile forces within their outposts. If a necromancer is not killed within that time they are to retreat if able and if that’s not achievable then they’re to kill as many enemies as they can.

“Begin phase two.”

***

Valkus and company stood in a blind spot, watching patrols of armed undead pass by every few minutes. The group was utterly silent, not willing to make any sounds for fear of being discovered.

Valkus stared at the scaled wolf wagging its tail with a silly look in its eyes, waiting for the signal. It didn’t take long before the wolf began tapping its left paw softly, three short, three long, two short. Nodding his head Valkus turned to his group and started gesturing.

“Blink, you lead them to the ambush points in groups of threes and fours. I’ll strike first, and when I do, bring down the hammer.”

The dirt-covered Blink nodded in understanding and fist-bumped his brother for good luck.

Valkus watched his brother and company leave before he and his accompanying wolf headed deeper into the outpost.

I’ve never killed a necromancer. I hope it’s a good hunt.

He thought offhandedly, leaning his spear against his shoulder while gripping a strange knife on his belt.