Chapter Eleven

Things started happening very quickly, at least as far as Anne was concerned.

The necromancer boys ran off this way and that, and soon the building was filled with zombies jogging around while carrying sacks full of gear and skeletons carried equipment through the building and back outside.

Anne fretted about, a little worried, and also a little tired. It was getting late. The grandfather clock in the entrance loung read that it was past eleven in the evening. Anne was usually in bed by ten, and the day had been more exciting than she was used to.

“We’re ready,” Joshua said as he burst into the room. His office garb was gone, replaced by thick robes of a dark, nearly-burgundy, red.

“All of you?” Elain’e asked.

“No, of course not,” he said. “But the four of us who were here are, and two others. We’re heading out now, to get to Not Evilia. We’re leaving two members behind to watch over the place with a skeleton crew of skeletons. The rest will take a while to prepare. We’re bringing maybe a third of the undead we have with us.”

“Just a third?” Elain’e asked.

“That’s still nearly two hundred,” Joshua defended. “It’s a fair amount, I think.”

“With the number of ships that the Dark Lord brought, we could be facing ten times that many troops, and I doubt he’d go through that much trouble to send over chaff.”

“What kind of, ah, person fights in the Dark Lord’s army?” Anne asked.

“Humans,” Elain’e said with the same tone someone else might use for a curse. “Packed in tight, with some of them voluntarily being turned into cards? There could be thousands of them on each ship. But I doubt that.”

“I hope that’s not the case,” Joshua said.

“I don’t think so. The Dark Lord is supposed to be exceptionally vile in his recruitment and training. His army will be made up of the best,” Elain’e said.

“And we’re all that will be between him and a whole city full of innocents,” Anne whispered.

Elain’e nodded. “Are your armies moving already?” Elain’e asked.

“They are,” Joshua said. He stepped out of the way of another necromancer who ran past, a host of skeletons following him.

“Come on, we’re moving!” the necromancer said.

Anne swallowed. The boyish silliness was all gone now. “You boys are very brave,” she said.

Joshua’s cheeks reddened. “Ah, thanks, miss. Um. Maybe tell that to the others too? I’m sure it’ll give them a little bit of heart before we face unfortunate odds.”

Anne smiled. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said.

“We have our part to do too,” Elain’e said. “We need to get to Not Evilia post-haste.”

“To warn more people?”

Elain’e shook her head. “To stall the enemy. Your weather-controlling device. I think we might be able to use it well here. Even just heavy rain would stall them, I think. They won’t land in Not Evilia. That would be foolish. They need space to deploy and spread out and form up their army. Muddying the ground would complicate that, maybe even demoralize them a little bit. Fog would hamper their visibility. If we can manage something like a storm, that... would do a lot too.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Anne said.

“And I will assist!” Newt replied. She smiled and gave everyone a thumb’s up. “Terminating adversarial lifeforms is what I was designed for!”

Elain’e started towards the exit. “We’re taking off now, heading towards the city. They should be coming in from the west, so that’s where we’ll be.”

“Great,” Joshua said. “Do you think you’ll be able to inform the city guard? The Minotaurs and Kobold clans should be told too.”

“Then send someone to tell them,” Elain’e said. “We’ll be a bit busy saving everyone.”

Anne jogged after Elain’e as the girl spun around and walked out of the room. She looked like she was trying hard to walk imperiously and sweep her skirts around as she did so, but all she succeeded in doing was to flounce out the door in a manner that was more cute than intimidating.

A small army was gathering outside, dozens and dozens of skeletons and zombies, all lined up and being outfitted with swords and armour by some hurried young men before they were turned into cards.

They returned to the carriage, Newt opening the door again, and climbed in. “Will they bring all the undead as cards?” Anne asked.

“Hmm? No, there’s no way they can do that. The necromancers are somewhat decent mages, but their mana pools aren’t nearly so impressive. They’ll carry a dozen or so with them, maybe less. The rest will have to march.”

“Is it far?” Anne asked.

“To Not Evilia? No, it’s not too far. An hour, maybe? You might want to rest. I know you need your sleep.”

Anne rolled her eyes. Teenagers always thought that adults had never spent a whole night awake before. It was quite silly.

“Does the city have any defences?” Newt asked.

“Not really, no,” Elain’e said. “There are some walls, but the city’s outgrown them a little. A lot of homes aren’t going to be protected. If anything the wall will hamper any defences, make mobility harder within the city. I don’t know if we have any real siege equipment either.”

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“No one was expecting trouble,” Anne guessed.

“That’s pretty much it, yeah,” Elain’e said. “Not Evilia has its barrier. Other than a few pests like moblins, the entire nation is pretty safe. More so than many of the cities outside of Not Evilia.”

Anne shifted things around so that she could sit with her legs pressed up to her chest. She... didn’t quite know how to feel about everything. She glanced to her chat for help, for a reassuring word or two.

There were fewer people online still. Did they not care? Maybe they thought the entire thing was made up. Part of her wanted to believe that too, but she couldn’t, not when everything was so real.

Twinge Chat! Xcoder says: Let the winds blow! Skippyrebo says: Someone buy mom a yellow raincoat! Liorean says: Can’t wait to see the storm! MC of my World says: The graphics for the skeletons are insanely good BreakerMouse says: Yeah Hewhotravelsthestories says: Using a weather controlling device for laundry! Powergamer mom Taverius says: When a good mom goes to war... Cenred_58 says: Pog mom. Mommers! ChristopherCraven says: Mommers! Qmills88 says: Mommers!

Anne rolled her eyes and scrolled down past the stream of ‘mommers.’

Twinge Chat! GKnight says: Who bought mom a doomsday device? Breaker says: Hey, did Jake turn off the oven? Kjoatmon says: I love the weeb representation with the necromancers. This ARC has nice stuff Malady says: Are the necrobros recruiting?

Anne closed her eyes. Nothing too helpful there. And nothing from Jake. Maybe he’d finally gone to bed? That would be responsible of him.

“All the gods.”

Anne glanced up and found Elain’e hovering by the window of the carriage, the curtains shoved aside and her face pressed right up against the glass.

Sitting up, Anne climbed to her feet and leaned down next to Elain’e. It only took her a moment to find what the girl was looking at.

In the distance, near large hills, were large black forms gently descending towards the ground. Spotlights beneath them created yellow beams from the ship’s bellies and into the green canopy beneath them as they lowered themselves down.

Anne twisted to the side, and she could see the lights of a city ahead of them. It wasn’t so far off anymore. “How far apart are they?” she whispered.

“Triangulating,” Newt said. “Approximately seventeen kilometres between the landing zone and the edge of the city.”

“They’re not too far,” Elain’e said. “At that distance, the city might not be able to tell what the ships are, not without investigating further. And it should only take a well-trained soldier a few hours to run between their landing area and the city.”

“Additionally, the distance should allow the invading force to see any counter-attacks coming. Possibly in time to react by retreating back into the air. They are also far outside of the range of any conventional siege equipment,” Newt said.

“Even the more powerful magical effects would break apart before reaching that kind of range,” Elain’e said. “They might also be deploying only some of their army there. They have the mobility to move and place their army wherever they wish.”

“Oh,” Anne said. She wasn’t great at that kind of thing. Tactics and such were way beyond her, though she had listened to Jake ranting about some strategy games before. “Mobility is important. And they’re flying. Does Not Evilia have anything for that?”

“Up close? Yes. There are some flying monsters, and I think the city has a few ballistea to scare them off. But otherwise, no.”

Anne swallowed. She flicked her wrist, not as elegantly as Elain’e did, but it worked. A card appeared in her hands, and she cast it, summoning her weather machine.

“I thing... we might be able to do something,” she said.

Elain’e glanced at the device. “Do what you can,” she said. “You’ll be saving lives for every hour we gain.”

Anne nodded. She grabbed the knob on the front and twisted it. Past cloudy, past drizzle, past rain, and then onto summer storm. Was that enough?

Distant lightning lit up the sky a moment before a drizzle started to fall around them. Anne sat back as, over the course of a few minutes, it turned to proper rain with a few rumbles from far away. She hesitated. There were more options in the machine.

Turning the knob again, she paused on true storm, then clicked it over one more notch and stopped at last on hail storm.

The first clinks of ice started to hit the carriage, accompanied by stronger rain and a wind that was steadily picking up.

She hoped that it was enough to discourage that bad guys and get them to head back home.

***

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