Rachel held out a hand to her side, palm open and facing towards the ground. The sign for ‘Hold’ that the skeletons, pioneered by Bo, had started to use.
So far, it was a primitive language with only a few unique words, but Rachel had immediately adopted it. After all, there was no other way she was going to be able to learn to communicate with the undead. Knowledge of the new sign language had spread through the rest of the skeletons like wildfire, especially the smarter ‘greater undead’, and they used it liberally to convey basic concepts.
It was also fantastic when you were trying to be sneaky.
Rachel, Lec, and two other skeletons were crouched in the back corner of a large open room, filled with boxes. A storage room of sorts. Her investigations into the Beast Slaying Band’s extortion of the Farhaven District residents had brought her here, to where she thought they were storing the goods before moving them out. How exactly they were smuggling the items out of the city she didn’t yet know, given the distinctively tattooed men didn’t seem to be going through the gate, so she was waiting to see who showed up. Once she knew the extent of their collaborators, she could round them up and deal with them all together.
When she’d brought her concerns to Master Lilia, she’d spoken to Lord Reud, and together they’d assigned her three skeletons. The ‘greater undead’ Lec, a mage who apparently could help with stunning and disarming her suspects, and two others to serve as further muscle. Well, bone anyway. All three of them had their frames wrapped in dark fabrics, muffling the clacking noises that normally accompanied their movement, and giving the skeletons a sinister air.
An image she’d have to fix before she rolled out her new guards to the general populace.
For now, however, shadowy and sinister suited her just fine. She certainly had no intention of approaching these thieves openly and fairly. They’d lost all right to that the moment they stole from Master Lilia.
A door creaked open at the far end of the storage room, and in walked two figures. Rachel immediately signed ‘Hold’ once again, shuffling forward as quietly as she could to get an eye on the newcomers.
Beside her, Lec held up her hand, two fingers raised in the universal sign for ‘Two.’ Rachel nodded to her.
“Is this all you got?” Said a male voice.
“City has been asking more questions recent.” Another, far gruffer, man responded. “Been getting hard to get the good stuff.”
“Erhart isn’t going to be pleased.”
“The old bastard is never pleased.” The gruff voice spat back. “Just give me the gold, and you can get this shifted.”
Rachel shuffled closer, her heart beating in her chest. He’d said Erhart, which confirmed her suspicions. Aldsville was definitely behind the smuggling, or the mayor was, at least. Now she just had to get a look at-
Her knee bumped against a crate, letting out a slight thump.
“What was that?” The first man said immediately.
“A rat, you little coward.” The gruff voice shot back. “Stop stalling, give me the money.”
“Are you sure we’re-”
“Money. Now.”
“Fine. But only after I’ve inspected it. If it’s less than agreed, we are going to have to come to some sort of arrangement.”
The sound of a crate being opened sounded out. Rachel turned to Lec, then signed ‘Follow me.’, then gestured to the two other skeletons and signed ‘Go that way.’, pointing to the far side of the room. She’d try to catch the two men in a pincer attack, that was always a good strategy in her books.
Books, after all, were the best source of real-life advice.
Moving as carefully as she could, Rachel crept along the outer edge of the room, eyes alert for the two men she could hear by the entrance. Laying a hand on the hilt of her shortsword, she readied herself to draw it, not wanting the glint of its metal to give her away until she was ready to reveal herself.
Finally, the two men came into view. One was instantly recognizable as a member of the Beast Slaying Band, huge and tattooed and glowering. The other was a smaller, average looking man, with nondescript clothing and a forgettable face. No wonder she’d never noticed the goods being smuggled out of the city if this man was doing it.
The smaller man was looking through the items in one of the crates, what seemed to be chimera-wolf skins, the exact same skins that were the main material in Srinaber’s now-distinctive cloaks. And instead of being used for Srinaber, at least one whole crate of them were being boxed up and smuggled out to enrich Aldsville instead.
That was all the proof she needed.
Springing from the shadows, Rachel whipped her blade out, pointing it at the two men.
“City guard! Drop your weapons and surrender and you will not be harmed!” She shouted.
The two men reacted in very different ways. The smaller man turned and bolted, slamming out the door in his haste. The member of the Beast Slaying Band roared and charged her, his arms raised.
“After the runner!” Rachel shouted, prompting the two skeletons standing almost invisible against the far wall to surge forward after the smaller man, and brought her blade up to point at the man charging her. He drew a vicious looking dagger from some unknown location, his eyes wild as he rushed at her.
“You came to the wrong place, girly.” He snarled, thrusting his blade in an uppercut that would have disembowelled her.
Would have, if Master Lilia hadn’t been training her every day for months.
Bracing her shortsword against her arm, she deflected the man’s strike, grunting as his blade sparked off hers. The man was strong, far stronger than she was, a situation Master Lilia had said she’d be in for almost every real fight she encountered. She’d have to fight with extreme care if she wanted to prevail.
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Whipping her blade forward, she struck at the man’s wrist, aiming to disarm him. Their blades clashed, and the man stepped back, glaring at her.
“Got a bit of spirit in ya, don’t ya.” He sneered, then attacked again.
Rachel brought her blade around again, blocking his strike once more, deflecting it up towards the ceiling with a great ringing crash.
But what she didn’t block was his follow-up fist.
The blow took her around the jaw and sent her reeling, the world spinning around her as she stumbled. Her knee hit the floor before she could regain her balance, her blade clattering down after it. Gods, that had been a stupid mistake, getting hit like that. Master Lilia would be furious if she’d seen it. And now she was unarmed, and where was the man-
A great flash of yellow light lit up the room, accompanied by an ear-splitting crack. An agonized grunt followed by a great thump, like a falling tree, filled the air.
Once the room had stopped spinning, Rachel looked up to find the man lying on the floor, curled up in what seemed to be great pain. Lec stood over him, her hands outstretched and sparks crackling between her fingers.
Lec looked over at Rachel and stuck a skeletal thumb up. Rachel smiled and signed back, ‘I’m Okay.’
Sighing, Rachel pushed herself to her feet and walked over to the man, sheathing her sword. Maybe she should have let Lec handle it from the start, but she’d wanted to test herself.
Apparently, she still had a long way to go.
As she approached the fallen man, he spotted her and lunged for his dagger. A cascade of arcing lightning from Lec put a stop to that, sending him into contortions of agony once more.
“You should have just surrendered.” Rachel said. “You’ve lost. Lec, if you would?”
The skeleton bent down and grabbed the man by his upper arm, yanking him to his feet as if he were nothing more than a child. The man sagged, but didn’t fall, his eyes rolling and a line of drool running from the corner of his mouth.
“If you cooperate, Lec here won’t have to zap you again.” Rachel said. “Now move. You are going straight to Lady Lilia.”
Lec yanked the man forward, and together they walked out of the storage room into the evening light. Outside, people were milling around, whispering to one another and looking with concern at something further up the street.
The other two skeletons had apparently caught up with the runner, and were dragging him kicking and screaming back towards Rachel.
“Get off me, damned filthy undead. How dare you!” The man screamed, frantically trying to pull himself away, to no avail. “Help me, someone! These undead are attacking me!”
Which was a concern. These people had no idea what was going on, that the skeletons had chased and apprehended a criminal. All they saw was that some of the unsettling undead had grabbed a random man and were dragging him off to who-knows-where.
Rachel had to do something to allay their concerns.
“People of Farhaven.” She called, her voice carrying down the street. “This man is a criminal and smuggler, working with the Beast Slaying Band that have been extorting you since you arrived. Today, we have broken their hold on this district, letting you all live free once more.”
Rachel pointed to the man in Lec’s grip. “Here is one of their members, about to be taken for judgement before Lord Reud and Lady Lilia themselves.”
“No more will you have to live in fear!” She continued, throwing her hands wide. “We have not forgotten you, and we will keep you safe. If ever anything like this happens again, simply speak out and you will be protected.”
Lowering her voice, she tried to sound as threatening as she could. “And anyone with criminal intent, be warned. We will stop you.”
With a signed ‘Follow.’ Rachel walked out of the district, the skeletons dragging the captured perpetrators along behind.
—
“So, what are we going to do with these two.” Master Lilia said.
“My lady, I didn’t do-”
“Silence!” Rachel shouted.
Lord Reud held up a hand. “It’s okay, Rachel, let the man speak his piece.”
“Thank you, oh thank you, my lord.” The smaller man said. “I was just helping with moving the goods, really just the messenger. I’m not a bad man, it was just a job, honest!”
“Who paid you?” Lord Reud asked, his voice quiet.
“That would be Mayor Erhart of Aldsville, he contracted the band to come here. It was all his idea, honest.”
“I see. Lilia, any questions for him?”
“I wanted to hear from the man from the band, but he seems… at little out of it.” Lady Lilia said.
“Yes, a bit of a shame that. He’s essentially dead already. It seems Lec was a little too liberal with her magic.” Lord Reud said, looking pointedly at the skeleton who almost seemed embarrassed. “She’ll need to work on the delicate balance between debilitating and deadly before she can work as part of the guard again.”
Sitting back in his chair, Lord Reud rubbed his chin. “He will become a skeleton, to serve the city for his crimes. The smuggler, however, I’m not sure about.”
“Oh please, please spare my life. I beg of you.” The smaller man said, slumping.
“Killing him does seem a little… excessive. We can’t be seen to be too brutal, not if we want people to stick around in the city.” Lady Lilia said.
“We can’t let him go free though, he stole from you, stole from all of us.” Rachel said, her voice heated. “We have to punish that.”
“Agreed.” Master Lilia said. “But what is a fair way?”
Lord Reud sat up. “You know, I have the perfect idea. For his crimes, he can serve as part of a little… experiment of mine. Then he can serve the Farhaven District as labour until he has repaid the sum of the goods he stole. Some physical labour as a carpenter or builder or something should suffice. Do you think that’s fair?”
The man nodded frantically.
“Good. Then it shall be so.” Lord Reud said, and flicked a hand.
The skeletons turned at his words and dragged the two men away, leaving Rachel behind.
“That will be the judgement for all crimes, I think, labour for the good of the city, either before or after death.” Lord Reud said. “No sense in just locking people away.”
“But what if they try to escape?” Rachel asked.
“That’s what my little experiment is for. If they try to leave the city, well… they will quickly return to serve us once more. Everyone will, one day.” Lord Reud said, a strange edge in his voice.
Rachel looked at the pale man in apprehension. Normally, Lord Reud was very friendly and polite, almost unassuming. But sometimes, something else shone through. Something sinister and unsettling.
Rachel shuddered.
“Was there anything else?” Master Lilia asked.
“A couple of things.” Rachel said, bowing her head. “We should put the watch on alert for any of the Beast Slaying Band trying to flee the city, they deserve to face justice for what they’ve done. And I, uh, I was hoping I could get some more skeletons, given how many refugees are arriving in the city lately. And maybe something to make them a little less sinister? Dyed cloaks perhaps?”
Lord Reud nodded. “You may have the skeleton formed from the man Lec slayed. And I can spare one more besides. Beyond that, we will have to increase your numbers slowly.”
“Thank you, my lord.” Rachel said. “As for the cloaks, I was thinking maybe a yellow would be right. There's a certain combination of dyes that we could use, potentially mixed with some of the chimera-horn to really make it shine. It should be garishly distinctive, which is exactly what we want to allow the guard to be fully visible to all.”
“You have permission to do what you feel right.” Lord Reud said. “I trust you can organize everything.”
“Yes, my lord, thank you.”
Rachel turned to leave, only to be stopped by Master Lilia’s voice.
“Rachel, be careful. There are others of the Beast Slaying Band out there, and I suspect they will not be pleased at the death of one of their numbers. Now that you have stepped up to oppose them, you will need to be aware of the consequences that action may bring to your doorstep. Watch yourself.”
“I will, Master Lilia.” Rachel said, bowing to her, vowing to herself to do just that.
Because next time she encountered those men, she would not lose.