Knowing that Eric would try and taunt me one last time, I tried to influence the dream a bit. Instead of a random place, I appeared standing on the ramparts of a magnificent castle. Dark stone crenellations protected me, as well as a formidable moat. Eric and Argos appeared on the road just outside the moat where the drawbridge would connect. There were several indistinct blurs behind him, moving back and forth so that I couldn’t see them clearly.
“Eric.” I spoke. Though we were far apart, I knew he could hear me as clearly as if I was next to him. Dream logic.
“Terrance. Finally gave up running?”
“It served my purpose at the time. It’s no longer needed.”
“Oh hoh! Look at the confidence! One day of being busy little beavers and you are good to hold off me? I’m impressed!” he mocked, clapping as he looked around.
“I’m glad you understand. You never were my match.” I shrugged off his insults, sending a few barbs back to try and knock him off his game.
“I’m going to take great pleasure in ripping you apart.” He snarled. “And then I’ll feed you to Argos one bit at a time. See if he can recreate your soul for you!”
“Oh I’ll be reuniting my soul. Don’t you worry about that.” I replied, grabbing the tether. Instead of snapping it, I shot spirit mana through the thread. It took most of my reserves, but I finally felt it connect in the real world. With a gentle tug, I felt my soul break from his unsuspecting grip and come flying in my direction.
“You bastard! What have you? Ah it doesn’t matter. I already know where you are. This changes nothing Terrance!”
“Sure it does.” I replied with a smile. “It’s one more thing that I’ve taken from you. And you’re too impotent to do anything to get it back. See you tomorrow.” I smiled before kicking him out of the dream.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Tomas’ POV
I crept through the town under the cover of darkness. No torches. No metal. It was nearing midnight, and our time was rapidly running out. Unfortunately we couldn’t do anything else earlier, or that blasted spy in the sky would know about it. I snuck through the rocky corridor, trying to move slowly and evenly. I didn’t know how good the night vision of an eagle on the wing was, but I did know that they were more likely to notice irregularities.
Having reached the end where the valley opened up, I stopped and scanned the sky. Maybe all the bad luck I had worked through in my life was for this one moment, as I could see the bird in the sky as its body blocked a bit of the crescent moon. It was close enough that I could try to get it. For the first time in a long while, I sent a silent prayer to Aaron. A prayer to guide the flame that I had neglected for so long, after my hubris had cost so much. I hoped this spell would redeem my flame.
“May Aaron’s flames grant me the arrow that shall pierce the sky. No target is too far for the archer who dares to shoot the sun. Fire arrow.” I whispered the chant, unsure of the undead’s hearing but needing the extra stability to strike such a faraway target. I loosed my spell, hoping that Eric was taunting Terrance in his dreams instead of riding in the mind of his creation and watching what we were doing.
My spell shot across the sky, a burning comet of white light rising towards its target instead of falling to the earth for a change. I sucked in a breath as I saw the eagle shift slightly on the thermal it was riding, but it wasn’t far enough that the slight tracking ability of my spell couldn’t compensate.
“YEAH!” I cried in joy as I saw the eagle burst into flame with the impact of my arrow. This time it truly looked like a comet as it fell to the ground trailing flames behind it. Once it hit the ground, I gave the horn on my belt a blow. Time to set up our surprises.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Terrance’s POV
This was it. Time to find out whether I would live, or Eric would.
“Nervous?” Tomas asked.
“More than I would like to admit.” I replied. Ellie’s breakfast was doing flips in my stomach, and I was debating what would be better. Do I fight to keep it down so I have energy for today, or do I let it out so I have less in my belly.
“Keep it down.” Someone mentioned. Kelly might have been her name. I was slightly shocked that she was here, but it turns out she was the blacksmith for the village. She only brought her smaller hammer out here to the far entrance, but I had seen the maul that she had left where we were planning to fall back to. The head was a solid chunk of metal that looked to be about 20 pounds or so just on its own.
“I’ll try.” I said, turning back to look. We had arrived just after dawn broke, but I figured we would have a while to wait. Eric was never an early riser.
“Movement.” Tomas noted, though I had missed it. There wasn’t much cover going down the mountain, but there were the occasional boulders and shrubs. The tree line was a good quarter mile away.
“Let me try something.” I said. “Let the web of life alert me to my prey as they brush against it. Detect Undeath.” Tomas had already told me that the detect life spell was highly adaptable, so why couldn’t it be changed to detect the undead instead of the living? After all, undeath mana did contain a portion of spirit mana. Casting out the webbing, I tried my hardest to make it as thin as I did in my dream the previous night, but didn’t manage anything close. I did get it to penetrate the tree line, and I frowned at what I was feeling.
“There’s a lot of undead there. Most are small critters, but there are a few wolves and a lot more bears than I thought. Tomas, your call.”
“It’s not worth it to risk it. Light the boulders and send them.” He ordered, and I dropped back to help out. Picking up a torch, I waited just to the side of the crack. Behind me was a simple ramp with a quick release gate holding back several knee high stones soaked in oil. I looked at Kelly who was manning the gate latch. She gave me a nod, and I put the torch to the first stone. It lit, and with a fwoosh of heat the rest of the stones lit as well. Kelly wasted no time in tripping the latch, and the boulders rolled down the hill as I felt several undead moving towards us.
“Time to go, they’re on the way.” I called out, stepping out of Tomas’ way. He was rolling a barrel of oil and straw on its edge, pushing it into the gap before dumping it. We were all jogging at a good clip when Tomas turned.
“Firebolt.” With a calm word, he launched a small dart of flame that ignited the pass and would hopefully give us the time we needed to cross the valley. I had also hoped that Eric wouldn’t be able to contain all his zombies, but none of the major ones entered the flames. I did sense a few of the smaller ones dart through though.
“Small fliers.” I called out so my companions would know.
“Good to know.” Kelly chuckled. She was the only one who had one of the nets they had made yesterday. The other was with the group at the edge of the passage to the village. Surprisingly we made it back to the barricade unmolested, though we found out why when we arrived. There was a small swarm of birds diving down on the group, with Nick trying his best to get a few birds with each dive.
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“Kyaaaa!” Kelly cried as she dove into the fray with an interesting technique. She didn’t go for individual birds. Instead she stuck the stick out at an angle and twirled several times as she danced through the cloud. Once she was past, she lowered the stick before raising it up and swinging it at the ground. She pulled up just before it impacted, but the six or so birds that were caught in the net kept going. At least, they kept going until they crunched. With her there providing more support, the rest of the swarm was swiftly taken care of.
“Heh. Thanks Kelly.” Nick panted after the last of the birds was gone. “Those things are annoying as hell.”
“No problem.” Kelly smiled. I saw Sheila glaring for a moment as she walked up to inspect Nick.
“You ok?” She asked, looking over his face. The birds had focused on him once he attacked, a typical response from most zombies. Immediately attack any creature attacking them.
“I’m fine. Your spell worked perfect.” He said while looking into her eyes.
“Oi lovebirds! Time to get back to work, we got wolves!” Came the call from one of the others, and we turned to see what we were looking at. Sure enough there were about six wolves running full out across the meadow. Behind them were a lot more bears than I had anticipated.
“Archers at will!” Tomas called out, and several arrows took flight at the approaching enemy. Instead of piercing them though, every single arrow bounced off.
“What the hell?” Kelly cried out.
“Don’t worry about it, fall back to the passage!” Tomas ordered. “Fireball!” He cast one spell as he turned to fall back, and I watched as it impacted the lead wolf. My eyes widened as I realized what’s going on.
“They’re covered in ice!” I called out, having noticed that a chunk or two fell off the first wolf. I hated when Eric learned new things. Freezing armor onto undead wasn’t something I had thought of, but it made sense. They wouldn’t get frostbite or mind the extra weight.
“Spears take the first one, it’s armor is gone. Kelly, looks like you’re up for the rest.” Tomas called out.
“Tomas, we’ve gotta take out the wolves before falling back.” I reminded him. The passage had more oil, but we could only burn it once. “If the bears have as much ice armor as the wolves.”
“I know.” He said, watching as the former soldiers took on the charging wolves. The first one ran right up the boar spear it was charging at, and the wielder simply held it high enough in the air that the front legs couldn’t get any purchase. Two others with swords cut down the back legs, then decapitated it as it lay immobilized on the ground.
“Come here puppy!” Kelly called out, perfectly timing her swing to smash the skull of the charging wolf. It’s body flipped over onto her shoulder, but the smith was strong enough to just shrug the impact off and let the body keep flipping over her.
“Let the mana of life burn away the stench of undeath. Spirit bolt.” I sent a burst of spirit energy into the shoulder of a third wolf, smiling as it bypassed the armor. With the undead mana cleared out, the unenchanted parts swiftly decayed. With no shoulder to connect to, the front leg fell off. The undead was too stupid to correct for the missing limb, and it face planted quite nicely.
“The legs aren’t guarded!” Someone else called out, and I learned just why these people were picked to live up here and guard against necromancers. The unexpected ice gave them a challenge, but they swiftly adapted. Those with boar spears stopped trying to pierce the wolves. Instead they either went for sweeping blows to knock them off their feet, or tried catching a lunging wolf on the crossbar. Once their momentum was broken, they were easily dispatched by the swordsmen.
“Idiot.” Tomas muttered. At my questioning look, he explained, “Half the danger from a wolf pack is their ability to work together. He took that away from them.”
“Ah.” I nodded, then turned to see the approaching bears slowing down. They stopped just out of arrow range, and I noticed a figure riding on the back of one of them.
“I thought you were done running Terrance?” Eric called.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Scott’s POV
I stood on our barricade, wondering how things were going on the other side. I was thankful for the slight chill in the air, as it helped dry out my lungs a bit and prevent me from coughing. Herman was guarding with me the first half of the day, though he was pacing back and forth to keep warm.
“How’re the lungs?” He asked after stopping for a bit.
“Seen better days.” I answered. “How’s the hip?”
“Fine.” He waved me off. “Only hurts when it’s cold.” He hit me with the same old joke he had been using ever since moving here.
“That good, huh?” We dropped into silence. That was the worst part of guard duty. The waiting. It never got easier either. With as barren as this side of the mountain was, there wasn’t even any wildlife to keep us entertained.
“Think anything’ll head our way?”
“Damnit Herman! You know better than to raise a death flag like that.” I growled at him.
“Sorry. Didn’t know you were still superstitious.” He muttered. A few minutes later he sighed. “Can you hold the fort for a bit? I gotta piss.”
“Go.” I nodded. He knew better than to go all the way to the village for a break. Soon enough I heard him humming a wordless tune as the sound of liquid striking rock reached my ears. I just shook my head, not surprised in the least.
“Gotta remember that spot.” He said when he got back, getting a raised eyebrow from me. “Just watered them, they’ll be the best wildflowers on the mountain.”
“Hopeless.” I shook my head, but gave him a bit of a chuckle.
Half an hour later, we heard what we had been dreading. The sound of loose scree getting kicked about. Seconds later a badly injured bear rounded the corner. It had several gashes in its pelt, one big enough that we could see the organs were missing.
“Ah fuck.” Herman groaned. The bear kept plodding along, and I wondered what it would do when it noticed us. “We aren’t gonna be able to push that off the side, are we?”
“Nope.” I said. That was our first hope for the wall we had built. That anything sent our way would be light enough that a few shoves from the spears would send it off the side of the mountain. Instead we got an undead bear.
“I was never a fan of necromancers, but whichever one decided to send us an undead freaking bear deserves a special place in hell.” Herman said.
“Agreed.” I nodded, wondering how we were going to tackle this. “Think we can just keep it off the wall?”
ROAR!!!!!
“Worth a shot.” Herman said as the beast finally noticed us, giving out a massive roar. It charged straight in, it’s milky white eye glaring at us with hatred. It got about ten paces away when it hit the patch of ice. It’s front paw went out from under it, and it slammed down and slid for a good five feet before coming to a stop.
“Heh, glad they wanted to use ice.” Herman said as we watched the bear trying to get up. Whatever had reanimated it didn’t leave it very much coordination, and the best the poor thing could do is slowly inch its way over towards us using its back claws to push. We gave it a few experimental pokes, only to find that the fur was coated in ice.
“Well shit. What are we supposed to do now?” Herman asked.
“I guess just let it flail around for now. They’ll come back with a better idea.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Terrance POV
“I thought you were done running Terrance?” Eric called out from atop the biggest bear I had seen in my life. I wonder.
“You guys go on ahead. I’ll handle this.” I calmly said to the side. Tomas gave me an odd look, then started getting everyone heading down the passage back to the village. It would be up to me to trigger the delaying gate. As they moved on, I turned back to Eric.
“Eric, there’s no need to run from you. I’m the better necromancer.”
“Oh please. I’ve crushed your pathetic resistance so far. And right about now your precious village is getting ravaged by the other part of my army.”
“Other part?” I asked, faking confusion. “What other part?”
“Ha! Did you not pay attention in our tactics lecture? Why attack from one point when you can attack from two or three? I sent a bear and half of my wolves around to the other side, to attack from the back.” He gloated. “I bet by now they’ve destroyed half the houses.”
“A bear and half your wolves?” I asked, watching his smile. “That all?”
“Huh?” He asked, confused.
“I mean, yeah that could be a problem. Unless we knew you would split your forces and planned on it. I bet your little army is splattered across the mountainside by now.”
“LIAR!” he roared, then froze as a few arrowheads erupted from the middle of his chest. “What?” He managed to gasp out before sliding from the bears back and falling to the ground.
“Nice shot Ben!” I called out. My little gamble had paid off. Get Eric monologueing, and he wouldn’t notice Ben and the other hunters could stalk him from behind after leaving the forest.
“Wandering souls bound to this world unnaturally with no master left, obey my commands. Command Lesser Undead.” I used the last bits of my mana to gain control of the remaining bears before walking up to Eric. He laid there, gasping out his last.
“Where’s Argos?” I asked. He simply smiled at me as he died. Fool.
“Let’s get these bears into the final trap and get them burning.” I stopped and turned back to the hunters. “Thank you. All of you. I know he was evil, but it would have really hurt me to have to kill him.”
“Ain’t nothin’ to worry about.” One of the hunters said. “Should never have to put down family. Just ain’t right.”
“Oh, don’t burn his body just yet. I have some questions for him.”
“But he’s dea. Oh. Yeah.”
“Don’t worry. This is what the stories say the original necromancers did. Recall a spirit so that they can answer questions. After that, I’ll release him to whatever place he is destined to.” I saw a few relieved faces at my explanation, and headed to the passage to get the bears burning. Thanks to our surprises we had very few injuries, mostly just small scratches from the birds. I was just worried about Scott and Herman at the other end of the village.