The trip back to Ravensted was going to be a long trip. As undead me and the death knights wouldn't need to stop, but Garrett was human and he was lugging around Iona. We stopped on the side of the road about twelve miles away from the village.

“Why are we carrying her back?” Garrett asked panting with his hands on his knees.

“I have a plan for you, Iona, and Alistair.” I said looking around.

He looked as if he was still confused and didn't understand. I didn't bother to tell him the full details he would find out soon enough. we started moving again, Garrett quickly picked up Iona again and followed behind me. Iona began to cough up blood again Garrett placed her on the ground.

“What do we do?” He asked scratching his head.

What do I do? I asked myself. The only way I could save her is if I had enough mana to channel more strength into her. I paced back and forth for a minute, then an idea struck me.

“Garrett are there any insignificant villages close by with a decent population?” I asked.

Garrett looked bewildered for a moment “sort of, about a quarter mile from here is a small farming village owned by a minor noble.” That's all the information I needed.

“Grab her we are heading for the village.”

Garrett and the death knights followed closely behind me. It took us about ten minutes to get to. We were standing at a crossroad that lead to the village. The village didn't even have a name. There were a lot of peasants walking around outside, plowing fields, weaving baskets. They were simple people.

“Kill, all of them, leave no one alive!” I shouted and the death knights charged at the village.

Garrett and I followed behind shortly after. The knights were making mincemeat out of the villagers. Hearing the commotion a group of guards with shabby armor came running out of their barracks. They charged at us with their bent Spears and broken swords.

I sliced three that ran straight at me in half with one flick of my sword. This made the remaining guards stop on their tracks. Garrett showed them no mercy he beheaded them all and had a sadistic smile on his face. In the short time we were here we had already slaughtered well over a hundred men and women, I had some sympathy the children would be sold to the slave trader at white stag.

The villagers stopped putting up a fight once they noticed death was inevitable. Almost everyone in the village was dead. The only place that wasn't ransacked yet was the manor sitting at the very end of the main road. The Lord was most likely cowering in the cellar like a coward as his people died in front of him. The biggest death knights ran straight at the manor door knocking it off it's hinges with a loud crash.

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The inside of the manor was rather nice with fancy furniture, gold framed painting, and statues. I sent a pair of death knights into the cellar to check if the Lord was down there. Garrett and I made our way up stairs as the remaining death knights started to loot the village. The rooms upstairs had nothing but bedrooms.

“No one would hide in such an obvious place, would they?” Garrett asked knocking over a table and a vase.

He wasn't wrong the most obvious place someone would hide is their bedroom. As we looked around the room we heard a loud thud from downstairs. We ran down stairs and stuck in a way

Was a death knight. A second later another death knight flew from! The cellar.

“Guess we found something.” Garrett said kicking the knights to see if they were still moving.

I made my way slowly down the stairs with my sword drawn. Garrett followed closely behind. In the cellar stood a man in tattered fancy clothes. This guy was a behemoth, he stood eight feet tall at least. He was bald headed with a goatee.

“Who dares enter my home uninvited!” The man shouted looking down at us.

Both Garrett and I were shocked by the utter size of this man. He swung a massive arm at me, I managed to roll out of the way barely in time. His arm broke a chunk of the stone wall when he missed me. I formed a big smile on my face, Garrett noticed this.

“What are you so happy about, if you haven't noticed we are fighting a giant!” He yelled jumping out of the way of the man's other fist.

“Try to keep him alive, I think I found the fourth horseman!” I yelled in excitement.

Garrett didn't bother questioning me. We both slide in-between the man's legs and sliced each leg causing him to fall over. He howled in pain. Though he couldn't walk anymore he still managed to smack Garrett hard enough he flew into a wall. I smacked him hard enough in the head with the hilt of my sword he fell over and fainted. Garrett got off the ground and shook his head.

“Stay here with him.” I said to Garrett who reluctantly agreed.

Outside the manor were piled of bodies, the death knights had started to pile them into large piles for me to easily access. The amount of mana I could feel hear is more than enough to heal Iona, break her will and then break the behemoths will. I began to absorb the mana in the largest pile of bodies. All the bodies began to turn into husks. After ten minutes all the bodies were absorbed and my strength began to swell. I walked over to the crossroads where Garrett had left Iona. I first treated her wound to the heart. It felt easier to heal wounds now that I had far more mana. I then began to channel large amounts of mana into her. She began to scream in pain much like Garrett did I used the same amount of mana I used on Garrett and stopped. Iona stopped screaming and slowly opened her now red eyes.

“Master.” She said getting off the ground.

She didn't ask any other questions or what happened, her will must have been broken worse than Garrett's who tends to speak his mind sometimes. Iona and I walked back to the manor and I to the cellar. The behemoth was still knocked out. Garrett was just leaning against a wall watching.  The same process was repeated with the giant of a man. He slowly got off the ground.

“Oh right one last thing.” I said slicing his head off.

But the man wasn't dead he still moved around, he picked his head up and tucked it under his arm.

“Neat trick can I do it?” Garrett asked moving his hand over his neck.

I was getting sick of Garrett's back talk so I gave him more mana, he quietly stood still and obediently stood by my side. Everyone had a name except the giant man.

“Your new name is fear.” I said patting the giant on the chest.

He bowed his body as a response. The death knights had found a few chests full of gold and silver. I ordered the death knights to grab a cart to carry the crates and chests back to Ravensted. We also found a few dozen horses. I wanted to test something. The trip back to Ravensted from this point on was uneventful.

Joshua was standing at the village entrance and greeted us. The first place I checked was the prison, the death knights were still standing in front of their cell. I walked in front of the cell.

“You guys will be helping around Ravensted shortly, in a day or two depending until then sit tight and rest.” I said showing them the parchment with the slave collar diagram on it.

The sun started to go down and the sound of wolves was heard off in the distance. We placed the horses we found in a fenced in open field. The chests were placed in the pub for now until I could work out where I would live. Thought I was undead and didn't need sleep, I felt like laying my head on a cold pillow and being wrapped in a warm blanket.