They came in such numbers that Nimueh marveled at Camelot's ignorance. An undead army unlike any to ever walk the earth was rising and yet the Pendragon bastard didn't even bother to send a patrol party to her humble island. The sorceress was almost offended, but not quite—after all, what was the point of a surprise attack if the surprising factor was lost so early in the game?
It was true that Morgana had nearly taken the kingdom with a skeleton army of her own, but that seemed to Nimueh not unlike sending a page on a king's errand. She used the Rowan Staff—a nice gesture, but again, child's play. She had been using a conduit made from a tree branch. Nimueh was using the powers of the heavens (or hell, if one preferred). Her army was stronger, although not in number, because there was no need for Morgana's masses of soldiers.
As she leaned over the castle wall, watching the men and women drag themselves out of the lake, the priestess couldn't help but shiver with barely-suppressed delight. She almost felt bad for poor Merlin and the rest of Camelot. Were the roles reversed, she wouldn't entirely fancy facing an army like the one she'd conjured.
In the dark they were at first difficult to see, but the eye adjusted quickly. They were skeletal, of course, but instead of the sun-bleached bone of Morgana's army, the soldiers seemed to be made of an inky blackness, like a strange muck from the bottom of the lake. The sludge was wet, glinting with whatever light filtered down from the moon, and it dripped off of them in slow, sticky waves. Even then, the mire couldn't quite hide the broken shapes of dead men. Some moved in curious lopsided shambles due to missing limbs, and others held their necks at broken angles, and still more sported jaws which hung like ruined shutters at 45 degree angles (if they had jaws at all). Even so, they all had a terrifying capacity for speed. Perhaps the most frightening part of all the army was the sound.
The isle was deathly quiet. There were noises as latecomers pulled themselves out of the water and onto the pavilion but they didn't groan, or creak, or squelch as they walked. It was utterly silent. Moving at night, in the dark, they would be undetectable.
Like a queen in her court, Nimueh descended the stone steps of the buttress to stand in front of her men. Their heads snapped to her, most at uncomfortable angles, and the priestess couldn't help but think to herself how dead they looked. Soulless. There was nothing in the marshy depths of their eye sockets, just more darkness.
"You." She crooked her finger at the creature closest to her. It was short, probably a child when it died (a very naughty child, Nimueh thought bemusedly). It obediently approached her and stood silently at attention, making no movements even when the priestess pulled a knife from her dress. The dagger was difficult to hold, much less wield, in her current state—the damn physician hadn't died yet, and so she wasn't complete—but she mustered her strength and slashed through the creature's midsection. The part of its body beneath the wound (hips and beyond) seemed to dissolve into formless sludge and the creature melted onto it, just a torso and head and arms on a thick, goopy puddle. Its mouth opened and closed wordlessly, but none of its comrades moved. A minute passed, maybe two.
"Come now, dear. I'm getting bored," Nimueh chided. The head tilted, its face almost sad, and the torso began to lift as the creature pulled itself up and out of the puddle of what had once been its lower body. Tendrils of the muck were still attached and stretched along with the body, pulling along more blackness, and legs slowly began to form behind it.
Smiling to herself, Nimueh returned to the castle, to her fount. She would visit Merlin's dreams again. It was so fun to toy with him.
Below, on the pavilion in the center of the castle, hundreds of the undead stood motionless, their heads upturned and their necks craned towards the room where Nimueh sat. If they had eyes, they would be watching.
A/N: I'm back! Once again, apologies for the wait- I didn't expect to be gone so long, but hopefully I can make up for the delay with some new drama in the coming chapters. Although it might make some of you hate me. ;)