Chapter 4

The war party returned not long after. Chief Raveloe heard them arrive, voices loud with relief.He went to the tent entrance and looked out.

Blitzen Harryranks led them through the gates, riding his long-legged brown gelding. Four skeletons came behind him with the stretcher. Eight men formed the rearguard. Jorn was pleased to see that Blitzen had chosen a mixture of axemen and javelin wielders. Never known Blitz to be dumb when it comes to scrapping.

"Guess you found something," he said as the dark wizard reined up in front of the healer's tent.

"Rather quickly," the wizard said, dismounting with ease. "With the exception of one banshee, they were not experienced units. We approached stealthily and took them by surprise."

"So what were those?" Jorn nodded at the skeletons.

"Necromancers. The men always like to see me do that trick, and of course it meant they didn't have to carry the stretcher."

"Four in one party?"

The wizard nodded, frowning slightly. "I thought it peculiar myself. There were five ghouls also, and the banshee. Given that you killed three from the same party, it was rather a large group for reconnaissance."

"'S a good thing Blitz has that magic thing with the armor, Chief," Sid the Enforcer put in, pausing beside the wizard. "I'd 'a been minus my arm, otherwise."

"The devotion aura, yes," Blitzen said. "Er. What do you want done with the body?"

Jorn looked at the stretcher. The canvas sheet which covered the body already showed stains. "Put it in the black tent, like always. I'll ask the other one what he wants done with it."

"You heard the man," Blitzen said, without looking around. "You can take care of my horse after that."

The skeletons turned and marched on toward the tent with the flaps painted black. The men milled about the atrium, talking with those of their fellows who were still awake. More than one of the camp women was present as well, listening with admiration which might conceivably be genuine.

Jorn, surveying his troops for injured men, caught sight of Dumb Zig. He was guffawing at someone's joke, and reaching down to give a piece of dried meat to…

I don't believe it, Jorn thought tiredly.

"Zig! Get over here!"

"Hey, Boss," the brigand said in his wheezy bass, trotting up with his spear over his shoulder. "You okay? Gilly said one of them purple things screamed right in your ear. I know it drives me crazy when Bunny does that."

"Zig, I don't know if you noticed, but you got a ghoul following you around," Jorn said.

"Oh. Yeah. He followed me home, Chief," Zig said. "Can I keep him?"

"You gotta be kidding me," Jorn said, rubbing his head.

"He quit attacking us when all the other ones was dead," Zig said cheerily, living up to his nickname once again. "He can do tricks."

"Zig, it's a freaking ghoul," Jorn said patiently. "The only trick it knows is Kill."

"No, he does lots. He really likes the deer jerky. Look." Zig turned to the ghoul, which crouched on the ground next to his feet. "Speak!"

"Baaaaarrrrk," the ghoul said.

"Good boy." Zig gave the Undead a piece of jerky. It accepted it delicately from his fingers, then chomped vigorously.The meat disappeared down its black gullet.

"Flip," Zig went on. The ghoul edged sideways, then did a neat back flip. Its claws clicked on the flagstones as it landed. It sat up on its hind legs, waiting for another treat. "Good boy. Here's a good one, Boss. Stay!" Zig set a piece of jerky on the ground, then backed away from it. "Okay. Play dead!"

Play dead? Jorn thought.

The ghoul pounced on the piece of meat and began savaging it, shaking its head vigorously with the leathery morsel between its teeth.

Zig snickered. "See, Boss? It's, like, one of them iron things."

"Irony," Blitz put in from beside Jorn. He seemed to be chuckling behind his beard, Jorn noted with some irritation.

"Zig, you should never hang around with something smarter than you. Especially when it has got big teeth," Jorn said.

"He can stay outside the camp at night, Boss," Zig said. "Please? He can go find wood and pull the weeds and stuff. He's good at chopping down trees."

"Treeees," the ghoul put in helpfully.

"Hmph." Jorn glared at the Undead. It tried to look innocent. Thiswas not completely possible, given that its teeth were permanently visible due to an absence of lips. "Okay. But if it tries to bite anybody here, including the Elf, I will personally break its neck. Or whatever. Understand?" he asked the ghoul.

"Moooore meeeeeaat?" the ghoul said.