Terrance’s POV
Tonight’s dream was in a ruined city. I could taste the smoke and ash on the air, and occasionally hear a building or wall crumble in the distance. I was moving as silently as I could through the alleyways, trying to avoid the open streets or burned out buildings. One was too open, the other likely had no escape. With the buildings in the state they were, I didn’t trust the rooftops to hold my weight. Especially when jumping between buildings.
“One, two. Eric’s coming for you!” I heard a creepily singsong voice dance on the wind as I moved through the city. Like previous dreams, the words echoed strangely and wouldn’t give me any direction I could use to locate Eric. Ignoring the taunts, I moved towards what I hoped was the edge of the city.
“Terrance! Oh mighty warrior! Bane of wolves!” Tired of the singing, or giving up on it affecting me, Eric returned to what he did best. Taunt people and make their achievements sound like trash. “I saw you fighting, your dad would be impressed. That lovely magical blade really helped you out of a bad spot. And when did you manage to learn death spike barrage? You got it down even younger than I did.”
“What do you want Eric?” I called out, then winced at my own stupidity.
“What do I want? I’m so happy you asked cousin! I want the legacy! Even more so now that I’ve seen that wonderful sword. Of course, you’ll have to show me how it works, but that’s fine. Give me that and the ring, and I can let you go. The village will have to die of course, but you can live for just a bit. At least until I build my army and take over everything! How does that sound?”
I ignored his rantings, instead taking the time to find where the tether was. He had done something to disguise it this time, and I was having a bit of trouble. Frustrated, I surrounded myself with a small burst of gossamer thin spirit mana threads. They drifted slowly down, and the few that caught revealed that the tether was at the backside of my left elbow. I smiled as I brought my elbow forward so I could grab the tether and destroy it, holding back a laugh as I heard Eric’s rantings getting angrier and angrier.
“Just give it up already! I don’t know why you struggle and run so much! All you’re gonna do is die tired!” He called out.
“I might die tired. But I’ll die happy, knowing I frustrated you to the bitter end. Can’t wait to see you again Eric.” I called out before severing the tether and waking myself up.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Scott’s POV
“Terrance.” I said at breakfast. The night before had been long, as we had spent a very long time working on strategy.
“Yeah?” He asked, looking at me with concern. Now that I knew what he could do, I could see the flash in his eyes as he was checking out my lungs.
“Are you going to be ok doing this?” I asked, full of concern. Ellie was quietly listening in from the kitchen, but I saw her freeze as she was hanging on every word.
“I’ll be ok.” He said, and I could sense the sadness in him. “I don’t have a choice.”
“There’s where you’re wrong, son.” I said, though it hurt my heart to have to give this speech to a child of my heart instead of my own. “We all have choices. I know you feel like you have to stay and fight. That you feel like it is your only choice warms my heart. You don’t even consider the other options. Instead you want to stand and defend some people you have only known for two weeks.”
“What other options are there?” He shrugged. “I could run, but I wouldn’t get far. Eric has a way to track me down. And even if I did run, he would kill everyone here slowly, sending me images in my dreams just to taunt me. No, it has to stop here. One of us will have to die.”
“Oh Terrance!” Ellie lost it, grabbing the boy into a bone crushing hug as she sobbed uncontrollably. I silently left them, heading out to do my part. It wouldn’t be the first time a necromancer came for those I held dear, and this little bastard would meet the same fate. Even if it cost me what little time I had left on this world. Ellie would forgive me eventually.
“Oi, you ready Scott?” I heard Ben call out as I shut the door behind me.
“Let me grab my tools.” I said, heading toward the barn. Grabbing the bag just inside the door, I dropped it into the back of his sled and headed up the trail with him. Thankful that most of the trip was silent, we eventually reached the portion where we would set the first traps.
“What do you think of our chances?” Ben finally asked.
“Should be good. Terrance is a good kid. He’ll give us the edge we need.”
“You sure? He is a necromancer.”
I stopped and looked at Ben. “He’s a good kid.” I simply said, getting a shrug from him. With that he turned to look at the slightly narrowed pass where we would set the first traps.
“You really think they’ll come this way? I heard the kid is Terrance’s age. He can’t be a tactical genius.”
“Oh he definitely isn’t.” I agreed. “But just because the kid has made some mistakes doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be fully prepared for what’s coming our way. Let’s get these ice forms out and set up.” This was the first of our traps, one the village had thought up ages ago. We quickly had the box set up so that it covered the width of the path. We filled about a half inch of water in the bottom of the box. Working carefully so we didn’t crush it, we placed a slanted sheet of ice on top of the water and waited for it to freeze. Once we removed the box, there would be a nice ice ramp perfectly set up to send unsuspecting zombies tumbling down the side of the mountain.
The rest of the traps were similar. Most of them were just random splashes of water to create ice in inopportune places. We didn’t have the time to create anything more intricate like deadfalls, and zombies wouldn’t care about caltrops. Ben did sink a few steel bear traps into the mountainside. Hopefully the anchors would hold against any undead strength. We had also shuffled any large rocks we found so that they were closer to the cliff face. Anything that could force someone closer to the edge worked.
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The trip took us about half a day, and we got back to see some of the others had started on the final defense. A wall about three fourths the height of a man greeted us. It was angled so that the further away from the cliff face you got, the closer to the village. Hopefully the zombies were stupid enough to take the easy route.
“Ben! Scott! Got back just in time!”
“Sure we did Herman! Someone’s gotta pick up your slack!” I called back, glad to see him. Herman was a great carpenter and even better friend. We all fell into a nice working rhythm, preparing as well as we could. Once the wall was mostly finished, the annoying part started. Carrying one bucket at a time, we started splashing water all over the front of the wall and the approach. Nobody in their right mind would assault a wall with such perilous footing, but we weren’t dealing with things that had minds.
“What about the firebombs?” I asked as we were finishing up.
“Don’t really have much that’ll keep burning.” Ben shrugged. “Besides, most of it was marked for the other defense. Terrance said he had a few tricks to pull.”
“Works for me. See you all in the morning.” I said, watching them all walk off. With a heavy heart, I headed back to see Ellie. I had long ago gotten over the fear of losing friends in any upcoming battle, but it didn’t make it easy.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Terrance’s POV
“Everyone here?” I asked as I looked around the church. There were plenty of faces that I didn’t really know, but Nick was giving me an encouraging nod. I wanted to ask him where Sheila was, but didn’t get the chance.
“I still don’t know why we should be listening to a brat like you. Especially a necromancer brat. Why should we risk our necks?” Someone started ranting before Father Tomas stood up.
“Darren, I warned you. We are not sacrificing anyone. Even if we did, you know that wouldn’t stop them. They would just keep coming back, and far stronger than ever.”
“I didn’t sign up for.”
“THE HELL YOU DIDN’T!” Tomas thundered, and everyone froze. “You all knew when you agreed to retire here that there was a chance we would have to be the front line when the necromancers found out about the pass. Well guess what folks? That day is today! And if doing your duty isn’t enough to motivate you to FIGHT FOR YOUR DAMN LIVES, then think about this. If that necromancer gets away, he can bring back an entire army and run rampant through the kingdom. If that happens, no amount of preparation will help you! So sit there, shut your mouth, and do the work assigned to you.”
“Thanks Tomas.” I said as I stood next to him. I looked over the cowed crowd, and only saw resentment on a few faces. “All the apologies in the world won’t matter right now. And even if they would, I’m not sorry for what I had to do to survive. I am sorry that a relative of mine’s greed for power is so much that he is putting all your lives on the line. As for the necromancers? You could kill every last one of them and I wouldn’t bat an eye. The things most of them do are pure evil.”
I looked around and got a few flinches during my speech. Apparently they weren’t expecting a necromancer to say something like that. I didn’t care. “Now that we know where we all stand, and that we all need to stand together to get through this, let’s work out some of the plan. Keep in mind that Eric has spies nearby, so we can’t go talking about what the plan is outside of here.”
“What do you mean, spies?” Darren called out. “You think one of us would join those filthy necromancers?”
“Did I say that? Or did you just assume?” I asked, glaring at the troublemaker. “This is exactly why you need me on your side if you want to live through this. I know how they think, I know their tactics. Just like I know that Eric has an undead eagle soaring above and watching as we have fought previously. He knows a lot of my tricks, so they won’t work. That’s why we’ll be relying on you guys for a lot of the battling, with me supporting you as best as I can.”
I could tell the smarter among the group was agreeing with me, but the troublemaker hadn’t gotten the message yet. And I couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t ruin anything. “I can tell by your face that you don’t believe me. Tomas, is there any chance that we can get him out of here so the rest of us can get to work? He can guard the women and children.”
“The hell?” Darren stood up, his chair slamming into the ground behind him. “I’m no coward to hide from a fight!”
“Nobody said you were Darren.” Tomas tried to calm everyone down. “But Terrance has a point. We need everyone working together, and right now nobody can trust that you won’t go off and do your own thing. Killing us all in the process.”
“That’s it then?” he asked, looking around the room. “Everyone’s gonna listen to this little shit of a necromancer that still has his momma’s milk on his chin?”
“Is that your problem with me?” I asked. “The fact that I’m younger than you? Or that I was raised by possibly the worst group of people out there? Neither fact means my ideas are bad, or that yours are any better. Hell, since I was raised by these people you should be giving my ideas a bit more credit.”
“That’s enough, out of both of you.” Tomas ordered, and I was surprised again by the steel in his voice. “Darren, I know you are used to leading in the past. But you agreed when you moved here that you would follow whoever the church appointed. That’s me. And I’m ordering you to head out to guard the women and children. You can blow off some steam by making the vault a little more secure.”
“Whatever.” He muttered, turning and walking out.
“Anyone wanting to join him, feel free.” Tomas said. “Good. Now let’s get down to business.” When nobody else got up, Tomas turned to me and let me take the lead.
“Ok, first off we know about his spy. We’re going to use that to confuse him. We’ll have two lines of defense, the first being where he will likely enter the valley from. We won’t be staying there, just setting up a bunch of rocks to roll down the hill at whatever he is bringing. Whoever is there to begin with needs to be fast. We’ll leave a firetrap behind us, hopefully burning up any of his zombies that he doesn’t have an iron grip on.”
“Do you know how many zombies he can control?” Someone asked.
“Not for sure. The more he tries to control them, the less he will be able to control though. So as we start whittling down his army be prepared for that. If you can, try and strike the stronger zombies down first.”
“Our fallback point will be the rock corridor to the village. We can limit his attack angles from there. Anyone with ideas for traps, feel free to discuss. The only one I want for sure is a small group hiding in the woods waiting to attack from behind. We absolutely can’t make any preparations in the woods until after we take the eagle out tonight. Thoughts?”
“Where do you want me?” Sheila asked, and I was shocked that she was there. Had been hiding in the corner the whole time.
“Shells.” Nick muttered. I didn’t know what had happened between the two of them, but I could guess. Nick wanted to protect her, and she wanted to make sure he lived through this. Unfortunately for Nick, her skills were going to be vital to saving peoples lives.
“I’ll need you in a support position for the front lines.” I answered. She lit up at that suggestion, though I heard some grumbling from a man who was glaring daggers at her. They had similar noses, so I assumed it was her dad. “You won’t be fighting, unless you can use a bow. I need you to keep barkskin on anyone who is fighting the zombies. If he creates a bunch of smaller ones to harass people, that spell could save lives.”
“You got it.” She nodded, and I saw her dad calm down knowing that she wouldn’t be in immediate danger.
“Tomas, is there anyone with a spell that can take out groups of small fliers? He’s already raised an eagle. Creating some bird zombies and telling them to peck at exposed skin would be a good use of his resources.”
“You think he’ll do that?” Tomas asked, concerned.
“Not really, Eric likes using big zombies. But it’s something we need to cover just in case.”
“Spell wise, not really. I can cast a few firebolts, but that’s about the limit.”
“What if we used nets?” Someone in the crowd asked. “String them between some forked branches. That should get the smaller stuff.”
“I can make those.” Came a response from someone else, and I smiled as everyone started working together. Soon enough we had some plans made, and headed out to start creating our defenses. Tomorrow would come too soon.