What time that was left for preparation passed by in what felt like a blink of an eye. The last of the weapons we needed to outfit our forces had arrived, which brought our forces up to date in terms of armaments. I even received the suit of armor that Velena had promised me.
Never would I have expected to actually wear a full suit of plate armor that was specifically tailored to me. It required assistance to get into, but I would hopefully have it on before any fights started this time. The armor fit perfectly and protected all my vital areas from harm. There was only one change that I wanted to add to it, and it made the outfitters raise an uncomfortable eyebrow. They completed the modifications to my armor to my exact specifications, and then probably cleaned their hands. I suppose working with the undead has desensitized me a bit to the use of dead bodies.
Other than these supplies, I received an invitation to the strategy meeting that would be held to decide our first course of action as well as any reactions that would have to be taken in defense of the dwarves' territory. It would be held inside the dwarves’ command tent. The prospect of entering an area controlled by another would have made me nervous a few weeks ago, now, I barely even thought about it. Velena had already proven beyond a doubt that she was on our side.
I took with me to the meeting all the captains involved with commanding our troops in battle, Malery, and a small escort just to appear more official at the recommendation of the captains. Looks were important to the morale of the army, and I was representing humanity at this point. That was a bit of a realization that hit me hard, the idea that my entire race was looking to me as a source of leadership. My days of running around as a mostly anonymous figure were at an end.
As we moved through the dwarven camp I could tell that our presence still created a bit of nervousness in our allies. They had come to understand that the undead were not the mindless monsters that they previously thought, but it still did not cure them of their fear, not completely at any rate. I did my best to ignore the stares and appear official, but this was all new territory for me.
The large tent in the center of the dwarven camp had a few guards waiting outside of it. Their short stature did not lessen the sense of danger they gave off with their weapons and armor. They gave me a quick once over before waving me inside. My escort would wait outside while everyone who was needed at the meeting ducked inside the flap.
A few small braziers crackled in the low light interior, illuminating a long table around which stood Velena and her officers. They halted whatever conversation they were having before we entered as they all turned their eyes on us. I was feeling quite judged for my chosen company, but that wasn’t anything new.
“Samuel, welcome.” Velena greeted me with familiarity, which did somewhat lessen the withering stares from her war council. “Please, come in, we were just getting ready to start our discussion on the war going forward.”
I gave her a nod of acknowledgement before stepping up to the table alongside everyone else. There were many maps laid out across its surface, each one containing an impressive amount of detail about the different territories of the continent. Fortresses, both friendly and hostile, were marked with their own little miniture representations. Different friendly encampments or army positions were also noted with little flags while very few markings inside enemy territory were made.
Velena, seeing that everyone was now present, began the meeting. “Thank you all for joining me today. We have gathered our forces, readied our equipment, and are now prepared to march on the enemy, not to conquer, but to right the sins that have been made against mankind by those who should have been protecting them. Something foul has taken root in the Lord of Light’s domain, and it is up to us to tear it out by the foundations before its sickly disease can spread any further.”
She leaned over the table before continuing. “To that end, we must discuss how we plan on carving a path to the heart of this problem. We are going to be pressed on two fronts, by the orcs, and by the elves. They have already made several small incursions into our territory over the last few weeks, probably testing our defenses and scouting weaknesses. While I would love to simply put all our resources into an offensive push, we cannot leave our towns and cities unprotected.”
At this I raised a hand slightly to draw attention to myself. Velena made an offhand gesture at me to speak, so I did. “If you need a spearhead for the attack, I recommend using our forces. We have no territory to defend, and I have recently added quite a significant number of bodies to our army.”
“Yes, I received a report that you rejoined us with a rather sizable group of... shall we call them, revived, animals. How many do you estimate you have?”
“An exact number is beyond me, but several thousand is probably a safe estimate.”
“Several thousand?” Velena sounded slightly astonished. “From what I read it did not appear you had that many.”
“I take it what your informants had seen were the animal portions of what our hunting expedition brought in. I thought it wise to leave the other portion of our quarry in a more secluded location due to their more monstrous nature.”
Now she and some of her officers raised their eyebrows at me. “You revived monsters?” Velena asked, to which I nodded in affirmation. It seemed like everyone needed to ask that question in order to make sure they understood what I had done.
An officer of hers took the chance to speak up at hearing this. “I sincerely hope that you have control over these beasts and that they will not threaten this, or any of our encampments and citizens.”
“They cannot do anything without my say-so. Rest assured; their aggression will only be directed at our enemies.” Some looked relieved, others still hesitant. I didn’t really care what their opinion on the matter was so long as they didn’t do anything to interfere.
“Good to hear. I’ll trust your judgment on this is not skewed.” Velena gave me a very pointed look.
“I know what I'm doing.”
“Very well, then let us continue. If you wish to lead the charge into enemy territory, then you are welcome to do so. Let us plan the path you should take in your campaign.”
From there we talked about all the possible ways for me to reach the elven capital city. If we could get control of it, it would bring the war to a swift end. The only issue was that there were at least two fortresses, a combined army of three different races, and a trio of champions. The goblins champion, the champion of shadows, wasn’t likely to face me head on, but I could expect sabotage, traps, and assassination attempts. The orc’s champion of fire would probably make a straight shot for me as soon as he knew where I was. And then there was the champion of light, the one I wanted to get my hands on the most. The bastard would probably be directing his forces from the safety of the capital, which just gave me even more drive to take it.
After all opinions were heard and plans were stated, we had the path we would take through enemy territory. I would be sieging two forts on my path to the capital. The dwarves would be pressuring the enemy on as many fronts as they could manage to keep them from amassing against my army. With several thousand creatures under my command, they wouldn’t be able to match me without losing too much territory to attacks. The only contributions that the dwarves would make to my army were five hundred soldiers whose job was to manage the siege equipment.
With the strategy meeting done, we were now ready to start this war. The camps were informed of our departure and made preparations for travel, loading up supplies, weapons, and all necessary materials that we would need over the course of the next few months. We would be leaving tomorrow morning, so we needed to be prepared before both our armies went their separate ways.
The mood around the camp that night was a mixture of excitement and eagerness, or nervousness and hesitance. Of course, it was mostly the living members who were experiencing these feelings as the dead had either served in battle before or simply did not care about their fate considering they were already technically dead. I, unlike the others, was spending most of the night planning for my eventual confrontation with the other champions.
Velena had been willing to tell me about her former allies, their personalities, abilities that she was aware of, and how they would fight. I turned to my spell book again as my strength was not in my body, but in my ability to prepare for future situations. Everything that I could do with the gifts of my pocket god were not instant and required me to set them up well before hand. It wasn’t until late in the night that I finally got some sleep.
In the morning the camp came alive with movement. The noise of thousands of bodies moving around, breaking down camp, and getting the animals hooked up to carts made them louder than an active city center. Officers cried out to the soldiers, trying to direct the chaos into at least the semblance of order. Once the camp was nothing more than trampled earth and flattened grass did we finally start moving.
It was decided that Malery would not be accompanying the main force on our campaign through elven territory. She possessed little to no combat experience of any sort, so she would instead focus on finding more volunteers in the local graveyards. Liliana was absorbed into the medical corps that would follow our army and provide assistance whenever it was needed. Our goodbyes were short but heartfelt as we each went our separate ways to contribute to the war effort.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
As I watched the caravans move out, I noticed Velena walking up to me. “Shouldn’t you be overseeing your army?” I asked her as she came within conversation distance.
“Plenty of officers capable of doing that job, they don’t need me to hold their hand through it all. I just wanted to share a quick word with you.” She shifted herself slightly so that she squared off with me. “I know that you may not have had much of a choice when you were chosen by the Lord of Twilight, but you have still displayed a remarkable level of courage regardless. Not everyone can look at an empire, see its faults, and step forward to challenge them. Many might have simply taken the knowledge to their grave, so for this alone you have my respect.”
“Thank you. Your own actions are also brave, turning against those who may have once been your allies, risking yourself, your standing, and even your people. I had a personal grudge that helped drive me, you had seemingly the opposite yet still chose to stand with me.”
“Well, not only would my goddess never have allowed me to partake in such cowardice, but I too have a vested interest in this conflict. Every meeting, every conversation, they sat there and looked me in the eyes while lying to my face. Such an insult I cannot let stand, and that is not to mention the sheer evil of what they are doing. To do nothing would be to spit on my very station as champion.”
“Well, regardless of any personal reasons, I appreciate your resolve to help.” I really meant that. She had given us the edge we needed to fight back, and if it wasn’t for her, we might have already been overrun at this point.
“And I appreciate you bringing this to light so we may no longer be lead astray in the dark.” She held out a hand to me. “I wish you the best of luck.” Taking the invitation, I grasped her hand firmly as she matched me.
“To you as well. May you see success in your campaign.” We ended the conversation there as we had to get back to our respective armies as the work was never finished. That little conversation certainly was a boost to my morale.
Marching, always the most tedious part of moving an army. There are two different opinions on how to march. You can either go at the speed of your supply line, or you can forge ahead while the carts catch up. The latter of the two was mostly used as a measure to either rush to an ally’s defense or catch a retreating enemy, so we were forced to take the lumbering speed.
The monsters under my control were instructed to stay back from the main army, at a distance where their movements could be seen but not cause any panic in our forces. Their forms were more suited to traveling over rough terrain, so a blanket of bodies went out over the landscape to ensure that nothing could sneak up on us from the flank. Never again will we be taken unaware.
I had some hope that maybe we could make it to the first fortress before encountering resistance, but it was not to be. Three days later, our march into enemy territory was interrupted when our forward scouts came riding back towards us. The horse they were on came skidding to a stop as the man immediately gave his report.
“Sir, there is an enemy army directly in our path.”
“What are their numbers?”
“At least two thousand.”
That was a not so insignificant force arrayed against us. “Any chance we could avoid a fight, or get the drop on them?”
“Not likely sir. With the size of our own force, we can assume their own scouts have already seen us.”
This was it, our first actual fight. “Very well then. Captain!”
The man was always close at hand, at least within shouting distance. He spurred his horse forward to answer my call. “Yes sir?”
“Get our troops ready and distribute these to all the officers.” I handed over a bundle of bones to him, each carved with runes to facilitate communication. “If any of the monsters get in your way, you can use those to give commands to large groups of them. Move them wherever they need to be.” The captain nodded before riding off to fulfill the orders.
It was time to prepare for battle, so I began the process of donning all my armor. The suit was stored in its own crate, which was a necessity due to the modifications I requested. When the armor was removed, I saw the metal plates adorned with many human bones, almost creating a second layer on top of the metal. It was certainly a grisly sight, but it was an efficient change as I didn’t fancy having to take all those bones out individually if I needed to give commands to the large number of monsters I had resurrected.
I was helped into the suit by a few troops who knew how to do so. Straps were tightened, bones secured, weapons readied. The only other time I had worn this armor was when it was first presented to me so they could see if it fit. Now that I was wearing it with the intent to take it to battle, it carried a different sort of weight other than the physical.
The new additions to the armor were met with many strange, and somewhat concerned, looks from our living soldiers. I couldn’t know for certain what they thought of it at the time. Perhaps they were concerned that I would steal their bones or some sort of nonsense like that. It didn’t matter because the bones served a purpose, and control of my army was more important than someone's poor opinion of me.
One thing was certain though, I was given a greater degree of respect from anyone I talked to while wearing the armor. Something about it just projected an aura of command, or maybe fear all things considered. Either way, my questions and orders were answered with expediency.
The enemy army was waiting for us in an open field that was directly in our path. While it grated on me that our opponents were the ones deciding the battlefield in this situation, I didn’t feel intimidated by that fact due to us outnumbering them quite significantly. Perhaps they didn’t even realize the true extent of our army yet, but I chose to continue forward as if they did.
When we arrived at the field in question, I could see the flags and gleaming armor of our opponents across the open expanse. The three opposing races were represented here under their own banners which marked their affiliations. They had a large number of horse-mounted troops that I could see, so their plan was most likely to utilize the open landscape to harass our forces. That could prove to be problematic if it goes on for too long, so I started to put into motion a plan of my own to bring a swift end to this fight.
Talking with the officers in the army allowed us a chance to coordinate my idea with the troop's movements. Soldiers were moved into formation and positioned in a way to defend against cavalry attacks. Both sides were now ready to begin, and the tension was thick in the air.
If it was just left to our numbers without the addition of the monsters, then each side was comparable to the other, but that was not the case. The creatures I had resurrected now made themselves known. The multilimbed and variable sized creatures lumbered their way to the front of the army. Just seeing them made my own forces nervous, I couldn’t even imagine how it affected the enemy.
The wall of rotting monsters, some of them significantly larger than a man, were eerily still as they awaited my next order. I knew that when I said it, I was condemning hundreds if not thousands to death, and I hardly even thought twice about it. Drawing my sword, I held it in a white-knuckle grip as the runes on the bones all over my body started to glow. Leveling the blade at the enemy, I gave them a simple command.
“Kill them.”
The ground shook as the monsters charged, a tidal wave of teeth and claws hungering for flesh. I watched from a distance as the enemy cavalry started to move while the infantry flung arrows and spells at the encroaching monsters with what felt like desperation. Some of the more powerful spells managed to kill a few of the monsters, but the large majority of their ranged attacks were ineffective.
Slowly the distance between the two sides shrunk, and I saw the glint of spears being lowered into a sharp wall, poised to meet the swarm of monsters as the enemy cavalry started to close in on the sides. Just seconds before the clash happened, I directed my magic once again, causing the bones on my right hand to glow a pale blue.
“Attack now.”
From the grass of this field emerged hundreds of snakes and poisonous insects that I had collected from our expedition. They moved nearly unnoticed by the enemy as they were more focused on the large monsters bearing down on them. From the sky also came the birds and hawks under my control who dived at the front lines and started to peck and claw at the eyes of the opposing soldiers as their slithering and crawling counterparts sunk their fangs and stingers into any unprotected legs.
The results were instantaneous as panic swept through their ranks. Spears that were previously steady and aimed at the charging monsters faltered and flailed about. When the monsters finally reached them, the damage was devastating. The front line was trampled, crushed under the stampede that swept them away. Then things started to get bloody.
Claws, fangs, and sharp spines lashed out, rending flesh, tearing limbs, and crushing bones. The savage nature of the monsters left no room for mercy as they slaughtered their targets at my command. The soldiers put up a valiant defense, hacking away at everything they could while trying to maintain their lines, but even a fool could see it wasn’t going well for them.
The cavalry, seeing their allies being torn to pieces, charged in to lend aid. It was obvious that these soldiers were not used to dealing with monsters as they floundered about, trying to kill things that just wouldn’t die to their normal tactics. That was when the soldiers of our own army stepped in and surrounded the cavalry while they were busy trying to create some space for the infantry. Spears made quick work of the mounts, driving the horses and their riders to the ground where they were set upon and dispatched with ease.
I allowed the officers to do what they wanted when it came to controlling the movements of our armed forces. My focus remained on making sure the animals and monsters didn’t stray from their task in any way. Deer threw their antlers about, knocking aside soldiers who would then be attacked by rotting wolves who started to bite and pull at the limbs of the unfortunates who fell. Giant insects would swarm their targets, sinking fangs, pincers and stingers into the gaps between armor before feasting on the still living victims who cried out in agony.
All of this happened as I watched on impassively, uncaring about any suffering that was happening. The only thought that went through my mind was a cold one. They brought this upon themselves.
It didn’t take very long before a retreat was called, the courage and morale of the enemy was thoroughly broken. Sensing weakness, the monsters seemed to become even more ferocious and hunted the retreating forces. I allowed this to continue for a few minutes as they picked off the retreating soldiers one by one. As they started to drift further away, it was time to pull them back. The pale glow returned to the bones attached to my armor and the monsters froze in their pursuit. With the order to fall back given, they ambled along in my direction, some limping on stumped or broken limbs.
In the aftermath of the battle, I estimated that I had lost only about a hundred monsters or animals from the fighting, and the casualties for the infantry were even less than that. The enemy lost close to half of their original forces before the retreat was called. A complete victory, though one that I was skeptical about if we would be able to replicate in the future. They would be doing everything they could to adapt to us in the future, and I was sure a few new tricks would emerge from their efforts.
Despite my hesitance to celebrate so early in the campaign, the army was in high spirits. Our first fight was a massive success. It was probably a good idea to move while morale was high, so the order went out that we would give chase to the retreating forces as we drove them towards our inevitable target. One of the two fortresses that we would need to besiege was the only haven for them, and it was likely that they would attempt a last stand within the safety of the walls. We had won an open battle, but now it was time to test our skills against the high walls of the elves.