Rachel stood on the southern wall of the city, staring out over the forest. The wall ran almost up to the very edge of the old city ruins, only a few of the more decrepit buildings still standing outside it. A wide road through the forest stretched out to the south, leading on to join the Great North Road not far from the remains of Littlestream.

Grief rose within her at the thought of her old home. She’d tried to avoid thinking about it over the week since the incident, as each time she did the images of what had happened there sprang unbidden back into her mind.

Her father tumbling from that platform. His eyes, wide and lifeless, staring up at her from where he lay. The blood, pooling around him...

Anger surged within her. She should have taken revenge on the scum who did that to him. If only she could have got closer, if only Master Lilia hadn’t stopped her. Then she would have been able to-

No. Who was she fooling? If it wasn’t for Master Lilia, she’d have been bleeding out on the floor right beside her father. There was no way she would have stood a chance against the Seeker mages, even Lady Lilia herself had struggled to face both of the pair at once.

Letting out a long sigh, she tried to put the thoughts out of her mind. The emotions were still too fresh, too raw. Focusing on her work was far easier, and that’s exactly what she intended to do.

A few minutes later, a group of carts appeared from around the bend in the southern road, trundling toward Srinaber. With a creaking groan, the two skeletons manning the southern gate pulled it open at the command of the watchers standing above it, and the carts rattled their way inside.

Rachel walked over to greet the woman sitting in the lead cart. Her hair, the colour of straw, was tied up into a spiralling bun, similar to the one Rachel had her own hair in.

“Jess, you’re late!” She greeted the woman with a smile on her face.

She’d been friends with Jessabelle, Jess to her friends, for years. Jessabelle’s father had been a merchant that supplied the village with many of the luxuries her father had once had a taste for. After he’d died, Jessabelle’s brothers had split the family wealth between themselves, going their separate ways, and abandoning their sister in Littlestream with nothing. Since then, the two women had grown to be close friends, so when Rachel had needed someone to trade with the surrounding villages, Jessabelle had volunteered her expertise.

“Get off my back, Rachel, you know what Eastrest is like.” Jessabelle responded, clambering down from the lead cart. “It takes forever to make the drunken fool there agree to anything. If only we could trade with Aldsville, it would make our lives so much easier.”

Rachel grimaced. “You know why they refuse us. That damned Farlin. If I could, I would throttle the slimy little creep.”

Jessabelle laughed. “Now now, let’s keep that bloodlust in check. I swear, ever since you started being trained by the Lady you’ve become even more violent than before.”

Rachel shrugged. “Master Lilia has simply shown me that acting prim and proper is not the only way to get through life. Acting that way got me nowhere. Now I can be far more true to myself.”

“I pity your future husband. The poor man isn’t going to stand a chance.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “What is it with you and men?”

“We aren’t going to be young forever. If you don’t get out there whilst you still have your looks, who's going to look after you when you’re old? You don’t want to end up as the shrivelled spinster who lurks on the edge of the village scaring the children and cackling in the night, now, do you?”

Rachel gave her a hard look. “I’m not even going to deign to give that a response.”

Jessabelle stuck out her tongue.

“Anyway, how do you feel about a larger trading trip?” Rachel said, changing the topic.

“Oh?”

“Lord Reud wants to make a trip to Avonford, to try to establish some relations with the merchants there. I know you went there a lot with your father, so you’d be the natural choice to go along.”

Jessabelle made a face. “I do have some connections, and as long as I can prove that we have things to trade, I’m sure we can entice some merchants to Srinaber. It’s just…”

Rachel cocked her head as Jessabelle trailed off. “It’s just?”

Jessabelle sighed. “My brothers went to Avonford. If I go there and start making some waves, they’re sure to get wind of it. I just don’t feel like seeing them again.”

Rachel thought for a moment. “Well, this time you will have Lord Reud backing you, as well as the entire might of Srinaber. Things are different now.”

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Jessabelle shrugged. “I know, it’s just…”

She looked up at the sky for a moment. When she turned back to Rachel, the weakness was gone from her eyes, replaced with determination. “I guess you’re right. When are we departing?”

“In two days, will that be enough time to get everything prepared?”

Jessabelle nodded. “I can get everything I need by then. Right, I’d better get on that.” Turning, she strode off, muttering to herself.

Rachel watched her go, the carts following along behind her, before turning to walk back into the city centre herself. Bo stepped out of the shadow of the wall where he had been waiting, falling in beside her.

—

A jab to her shoulder startled Rachel from her thoughts. Snapping her head around, she looked at Bo.

Did the skeleton just poke her?

Slowly, deliberately, Bo raised a hand and jabbed her again.

“What gives, Bo!?” Rachel yelled, stepping away from him.

In silence, Bo raised an arm, pointing up the street with a sigil-covered skeletal digit. Not for the first time, Rachel wished that the skeleton had the ability to speak. Communication without that was… difficult. Limited to vague gestures. Not the sort of thing you could convey complex concepts with.

Recently, Bo had been assigned to guard her as she moved around the city managing its needs. People still weren’t fully comfortable with the skeleton, so Rachel had decided to try to humanize him a little. A wolf-skin cloak, trousers, and shirt later, and he looked almost living.

Except, of course, the fleshless skull poking out the top of the cloak.

Still, it had the desired effect, and people stopped being so wary around him, even greeting him when he passed them in the street.

Bo gestured up the street again, raising a hand to jab Rachel.

“Alright, I got it! Lead on.” She said, backing up to avoid another painful prod.

Bo turned and marched up the street, his feet clacking on the cobblestones, Rachel following behind. What could he want? Where could they be going?

After a minute, it became clear. They were heading directly for the storehouse. The building that housed all the food, goods, and money in the possession of the growing city.

It was situated in the north-eastern corner of the safe area. They had specifically extended out the walls to this point, on Lord Reud’s orders, to encompass this building for the explicit purpose of using it as a storehouse. The visible part of the building above ground was a complete ruin, but inside it extended down over multiple completely intact floors, each one kept naturally cool by virtue of being underground.

As Rachel and Bo approached the building, it became apparent that something was wrong. This part of the city shouldn’t have much, if any, traffic. Only the undead were permitted in and out of the storehouse, as all the distribution of goods was performed through the main city hall, under the watchful eye of Rachel herself. Today, however, the sounds of voices could be heard emanating from the storehouse building.

“... go of me!” Shouted one unfamiliar male voice.

Bo led Rachel on into the building. Within, the source of the noise became apparent. Four young men were pinned to the floor by a number of skeletons. Their faces weren’t familiar, so they must have been part of the group of people who’d arrived in the city recently.

Once word got out that Srinaber had lots of empty homes, and was feeding people for free, an influx of people had arrived from the smaller villages in the area, the lure of an easy life easily outweighing the risk of travelling to Srinaber. Rachel had floated the idea of rejecting them, but Lord Reud had shot it down, stating that any and all would be welcome in Srinaber. Filling out the city was the main priority, more people meant more labour, and more labour helped everyone.

And if any of them died here, Lord Reud could raise them as undead. Rachel was sure that was the main reason for his insistence.

“Get off!” Shouted one of the group, a weaselly faced man. “What right do you have to hold me, I’m a citizen of Srinaber!”

“What exactly is going on here.” Rachel demanded. The men on the floor stopped struggling and looked over to her, hope filling their eyes.

“Ah, Rachel! Make these abominations let us go! These things tackled us, even though we were just getting what we were promised!” The weaselly man shouted, his companions nodding furiously.

“Why, exactly, did you think it was okay to break into the storehouse?” She asked, putting her hands on her hips.

The weaselly faced man looked over to his companions and back to her. “Well, we heard that people are equal in Srinaber. And that you have a lot of gold. We’ve been here for days and ain’t even got a piece of it. We just thought we’d… help the process along.” The other men nodded and shouted their agreement. “But then these things grabbed us!”

Rachel shook her head. “Right, so, you thought you’d show up, fill your pockets with gold then disappear off to spend it to your heart's content.”

“No that’s not… Everyone is equal…” The weaselly faced man stammered.

“If that’s why you’re here, you may as well go back where you came from.” Rachel said, her voice filled with venom. “We don’t need leeches like you in Srinaber.”

Turning to Bo, she nodded at him. “Let these fools go.”

Only her skeletal companion had the ability to control these guarding undead. Him and Lord Reud. Not even she was allowed into the storehouse’s depths.

The skeletons rose from the men’s backs, a couple of the swarm pulling the men to their feet and thrusting them back out of the storehouse door.

“You can't do this!” The weaselly man protested. “What about our gold!”

The anger surged up inside Rachel, burning hot and fierce. “I don’t give a damn about your greed!” She stepped towards them, her fists balled, her body shaking with rage. “Get out of here, if I see any of you again, I’ll KILL YOU!” Her voice raised to a shriek.

The men backed away, shock on their faces. The weaselly man took one last look at Rachel, then turned and stormed off, his companions following hot on his heels.

Rachel watched them leave, struggling to control the anger rampaging within her. As it slowly faded, exhaustion took its place. What had happened just then? She’d never felt that way before, so ready to attack, to kill another person who had barely even wronged her.

It was… scary.

She looked to her side, at Bo. The skeleton's head was cocked, almost seeming concerned. Worried. She gave him a smile, trying to reassure him that she was fine.

Now, if only she could reassure herself.