Alec poured over the maps before him. He looked up at Jonathon.
“In the courtyard, you may have been my superior, but out here, I am in command!”
Jonathon bowed his head. His acquiescence seemed less than genuine. “As you say, Alec, I just thought perhaps—“
“It is not your place to think!” Alec said. “Thanks to you, our camp is overrun with these…these refugees!” He slammed a weight onto the corner of one of his maps. “Those people had no idea we were even here, let alone what we are up to. Now, because of you, the whole countryside will be full of rumors.”
“I assure you,” Jonathon said, “my men were thorough. There will be no rumors.”
“And what of the bodies you left behind?”
“Again, my men were thorough,” Jonathon said.
“You don’t have any men! I don’t have any more time for your stupidity. Disobey me again, and I will end you.”
“Of course.” Jonathon crooned. “About the refugees—“
“Kill them.”
“Sir?” Jonathon said.
Alec didn’t take his attention away from his map. “I said, kill them. Boughten is the last town we have to contend with before we reach Prail, and it is less than two days away. Kill the refugees.”
“As you wish, sir,” Jonathon said.
Alec watched him go. He gripped his sword hilt. Aedon was only a few days away, and he had to contend with a camp full of vermin.
“I may kill him anyway,” he said.
He regained the seat he vacated when Jonathon came into the tent. This business irritated him. He had always thought of himself as being callous, even evil, but the Zombi were something straight out of a lunatic’s nightmare, he thought. He remembered their first battle.
They had been doing well. They managed to stay away from towns or villages, but their course was taking them too near the defensive outpost. His scout’s reports indicated mostly archers, a few soldiers, and a small squad of couriers staffed it. Taian’s remonstrations about being spotted were still fresh in his mind, but he knew that fighting was inevitable. He also needed to see how the Zombi faired in combat. It wasn’t pretty.
The archer’s arrows pelted the Zombi relentlessly. Many of them fell during the approach, but the ones that didn’t stormed the palisade. With no regard for physical injury, they tore their way through the spiked barrier and began to dismember the archers. The Zombi that fell in the advance got up moments later to join the slaughter.
He shivered. Even the memory of the carnage nauseated him.
He liked traveling with them less than he liked watching them fight, though. They were lifeless in more than appearance. Each night, they ate and went to sleep. They eschewed tents, bedrolls, pillows, any form of comfort really. In that regard, they were perfect. They traveled light and moved quickly. However, they didn’t speak. A few of them could, he knew, but they seldom did.
He missed the carousing of soldiers by the fire at the end of a long day’s march. His only company on this journey was Jonathon, and he seemed more at home with the Zombi. He thought he might even be going a little insane.
He got up and left the tent. The coppery scent of blood filled the air. He wondered how much blood it would take to make that smell linger in the open air. As he walked through the camp, he got his answer.
Corpses littered the ground. The Zombi had simply killed the refugees where they stood. His boots made squishing noises as he walked. The blood mingled with the snow and dirt to create a slush of viscera. He heard a few screams as the task came to completion.
“Assemble!” He shouted.
The Zombi stopped hacking remains and formed the now familiar ordered ranks. They stepped on, rather than over, the bodies as they did so. Jonathon moved to his side.
“We march tonight!” Alec said. “I want Boughten in my grasp by morning next!”
“Is that wise?” Jonathon said. “Should we not take some time to plan our assault?”
“Plan?” Alec said. “I have an army that can’t be killed. Why should I plan?”
“Taian did not say they couldn’t be killed,” Jonathon said.
“Given the resistance, we will be facing, it comes to the same thing.” Alec knew he was being dismissive, and he didn’t care. All his thoughts were on Aedon.
Jonathon stepped closer. “You are letting your quest for vengeance hamper you. Taian would not approve of this.”
“Taian will get what he is after, and so will I. I have made my decision, prepare the Zombi for the march.” He turned to walk away. He had to get out of this stench.
Jonathon called after him as he left. “Remember who your master is and why he sent me.”
“I always do,” Alec said, speeding to his tent.
Boughten lay covered in the semi-blackness of predawn as Alec crested the large hill. The main road lay less than a mile west of his army. He ordered Jonathon to take a small force along that road and secure southern routs out of town.
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As the sun crested the horizon, its light reflected off the building tops. Thin tendrils of smoke began to fill the air. The smell of cooking wafted to Alec on a gentle winter breeze. Alec paid attention to none of it. He watched the sun intently.
When it was full over the horizon, Alec drew his sword. “Attack!” He shouted.
The Zombi rushed past him, all sense of order gone. They brandished their swords as they ran disorganized into the town. Alec waited for the screams to begin. They came to him on the same breeze that moments ago carried with it all the promise for the new day that was breakfast.
He took his eyes from the scene below. The orange light of morning provided a spectacular backdrop for the small town. If he covered his ears, he could almost imagine he was simply coming home after a long trip. He dispelled the frivolous images, however, and moved to join the fighting.
The chaos in the streets made it difficult to track the combat. Zombi chased citizens down and destroyed them. Some of them lingered to continue hacking. Some chose to pursue more lively prey. They all went about their task with ruthless exuberance.
He turned from the main road, and a mob of people hindered his progress. A Zombi stood in the center, casually cutting them down. Blood seeped from several wounds. Weapons still clung to the Zombi’s body, hanging from bits of the creature’s flesh. It seemed unaware that its movements were coming more slowly. The damage continued to build until it dropped.
The mob cheered, but Alec didn’t let their euphoria last. He charged and skewered his first victim in the back. The second fared no better as he aimed a haphazard strike at Alec. Alec took a moment between each butchering to ponder the thing he was replacing. The unthinking, unfeeling, monstrosities that Taian employed could not replace the lightning-quick reflexes and training of a real human.
He swung his blade, not even paying attention to who it struck. He no longer saw people as he cut them down. He was destroying every disagreeable memory he ever had. He reveled in the peace of it. He struck down another memory, and then, none remained.
The newfound silence overwhelmed Alec. He scanned the bodies lying on the ground. Every face seemed to stare at him in accusation, and he fled.
Buildings and people swept past him in a blur as he ran. He had no destination in mind, only a single obsessive need to be elsewhere. The faces of his victims spurred him on. He reached the center of Boughten only to find himself on the edge of a pitched battle.
The townspeople gathered in this spot and defended their home furiously. Zombi surrounded them, pressing them into a tighter and tighter cluster. Arrows rained down from a few windows. They struck as many people as they did Zombi.
Blood ran freely over the cobblestone street. The cracks between the stones filled and flowed like small rivers. The smell of the blood mixed with feces as men and women soiled themselves in death. The townspeople fought hard, valiantly, even, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Zombi began to break into the mass. Alec remembered his early lessons with the sword. His instructors often spoke about the majesty and precision of a properly wielded blade. It was supposed to be graceful, almost a dance. This was not majestic or graceful. It was brutal and unrefined. The Zombi didn’t use well-honed movements when fighting. They poked, slashed, and overwhelmed whatever was in front of them.
Alec wanted to call the massacre to a halt, but he had his orders. He didn’t think the Zombi would respond in any case. He learned early on their blood lust was difficult to contain. So, he watched.
It took a long time for the fighting to die down. His legs ached from the rigid posture he adopted. The entire time, not a single arrow or person came in his direction. He wished they had. Anything to divert his attention from the scene before him would have been welcome. Moreover, this was just the beginning, he thought.
“Assemble!” He shouted when the last defender fell.
When the Zombi didn’t respond, he took out the small stone Taian had given him. He concentrated on it and shouted the command again.
“Assemble!”
The Zombi stiffened. Slowly they moved toward him and formed rank. Alec forced himself to count them. Only the one Zombi had fallen in the battle, his spot in the ranks plainly evident.
“You will break into groups of three. Search every building. Kill anyone you find.”
As the Zombi moved to obey, he called the front rank to him.
“Patrol the edge of the town. Make sure no one escapes.”
There was no reply. He knew Zombi could understand orders as well as any man. He just wished they would give some sign they had heard him. No matter, he thought, as long as they did as instructed.
The sun set on a defeated Boughten. Alec sat at a desk in the town hall. He had changed into fresh clothes as soon as he left the street. He had burned his blood-soaked boots and clothes.
He was impatient to move on. It would take a day, at least, to search the town, though. The Zombi were going to need rest, as well. He was tired too, but he didn’t think he could sleep. Those dead faces still haunted his waking eyes. To compound matters, Jonathon had not returned. Before him stood one of the few Zombi he knew could speak.
“Any word of Jonathon,” Alec said.
“No master.” The Zombi replied. His voice was a guttural growl, and the words were oddly disconnected.
Alec imagined it would be what a lion sounded like if one could speak. A lion that talked with a child’s vocabulary.
“Have you found his body?”
“We look master, but many dead. Take time.” The Zombi said.
Alec looked away. Those eyes unnerved him. “Keep looking.”
“Yes, master.” The Zombi left the room.
The creature had not made it to the door when another one entered.
“How goes the conquest?” It said.
Alec looked up sharply. He was speaking in Taian’s voice.
“How are you doing that?” Alec asked.
The Zombi laughed. “Did I not tell you they were linked to my power? Surely you did not think Jonathon was my only means of watching you.”
Alec’s mind raced. He wondered how much of his words had reached his master.
“Do not look so worried,” Taian said. “Your desire for vengeance upon Aedon is the very reason I chose you. I knew you would stop at nothing for that chance.”
“The conquest goes well,” Alec said. He let out a relieved breath.
“No problems, then?” Taian said.
His tone told Alec he knew more than he was letting on.
“Jonathon is missing. He may be dead.” Alec said.
Taian’s voice was full of rage. “He is not dead. I fear he has abandoned us. You were unwise to send him off on his own.”
“Abandoned us, master?” Alec said. “I don’t understand.”
“He ordered his Zombi into the town and fled,” Taian said.
Alec ran a hand through his hair. “Couldn’t you have stopped him?”
The Zombi leaned forward. His posture was so like Taian’s that Alec leaned back. “Do you imagine I have time to spend watching your every move? It takes effort to see through the Zombi. I only learned of his defection moments ago.”
“What do you want me to do?” Alec said.
“If you do not move quickly, you may well find a prepared Prail waiting for you.”
“A prepared Prail?” Alec scoffed. “What defenses could they possibly employ to resist me?”
“You are a fool if you think to walk in and take over! Do not dismiss these people so lightly.” Taian said.
Alec clenched his fists. “Boughten fell in a matter of hours, and it is twice the size of Prail.”
“Boughten,” Taian said, “did not have a mage! Boughten did not have a warning! Boughten did not know what they were facing! If Jonathon reaches Prail before you, it is conceivable that, with a mage, they might offer some resistance. Your disdain for planning is a foolish weakness!”
“Your Zombi will reduce that town to rubble,” Alec said. “They will kill every living thing, and any resistance they offer will come to nothing. Mage or no, I don’t need to plan.”
The Zombi shuddered and slumped a little. “You’d better hope not,” it said as it shuffled out of the tent.