Chapter 73 – The Souls of the Dead
Choking, Flik stabbed blindly out with his sword and was rewarded with a meaty thwack as it slid into the zombie's chest. The zombie didn't flinch, but pressed harder on Flik's neck. Flik concentrated on his grip and his lightning rune, closing his eyes at the last second.
In an instant, the world glowed red behind his lids, a huge clap of noise rang in his ears, singing heat assaulted his face, and his hair stood on end. Flik's neck was suddenly free and he fell backwards, gasping and heaving for air. His eyes popped open as he hit the ground, and he was staring at the canvas top of his tent.
Ignoring the throbbing pain in his neck, Flik scrambled up to his feet. He was lightheaded, and his eyes took their time in focusing. The zombie lay on its back, smoking and unmoving. Tiny flames flickered around the opening, threatening to engulf his tent. Flik paid them little heed. He gulped down more air, then proceeded over to the zombie and, in one furious motion, chopped its head off.
Flik was suddenly aware of shouting that sounded distant. He stuck a finger in one of his ears, trying to clear his hearing. It didn't help, but he knew what the noise meant. He stepped outside to find his men were running around blindly, on the verge of panic.
"Rally!" Flik yelled. Even his own voice sounded far away in his ears. He hoped that wasn't permanent. "Form by column and company!" His neck ached; bruises were already forming on the tender flesh. He could hear his senior sergeants relaying the command. While this was happening, he quickly scanned the shadows. He couldn't see any more zombies, but that proved little.
The gate was still banging away in the night wind. Spying Rossgard, Flik waved the senior sergeant over and ordered him to take his company and secure the palisade. As Rossgard's men ran for the wall, Flik continued to look for more enemies. Light flared from the watch fires. His men were adding fuel to those fires, trying to push back the shadows. The scouts had fallen into a semblance of order, but there was nothing visible for them to fight.
Hix was standing guard in front of one tent, his hands tight around his sword, and his lips pressed together in a determined expression. When Flik walked over, his face changed to a worried look.
"Sir, Flik! Your neck, you're bleeding!"
Absently Flik reached up and felt around his throat. He winced at the pain and his fingertips came away with a light coating of blood. Now that he was aware of it, he could feel a number of small cuts around his neck. "It's nothing serious," Flik answered, projecting more confidence than he felt. He knew untreated wounds could get infected. Were wounds from zombies more prone to that? Changing the subject, he asked, "What have you seen, Hix?"
"Not much, Sir Flik." Hix peered out into the darkness. "I was sleeping outside of Tengaar's tent, like I always do, when I heard somebody scream. I stood up and everybody was running all over the place. Miss Apple and Miss Nina are also in this tent, so I decided to wait here and protect them."
Flik put his hand on Hix's shoulder. "Good job. Stay here and keep them safe for now."
He walked back to where the companies were gathered in formation and started directing his men. He sent Al's company to secure the horses, while Jerrim's and Danel's began to sweep through the tents, looking for any other zombies. As his men moved out, Ray sprinted over from one of the houses, his face completely pale.
"Some of my men, my men, they're gone! Pulled right out of their beds! What the hell happened?"
Flik worried his lower lip to keep from frowning. "A probe, maybe, or a raid, not a full-out attack. Neclord may be looking for fresh bodies for his army."
"What?" Ray started shaking. "What happened to my men?" Then he looked more fully at Flik, his eyes widening in horror. "Your neck! Are you all right?"
Flik surprised himself by how calm he was. "People who've recently died make better zombies than those who've had a chance to decompose. Young men trained in the art of fighting make the best zombies of all."
"My men, turned into-"
Ray doubled over and began retching. Flik ignored him, dabbing experimentally at his neck again. It still hurt and it was still bleeding, which was a cause for concern. He knew that neck injuries tended to bleed more than other wounds and he didn't want to lose too much blood. He also needed to get healing for any other wounded soldiers. He'd have to call for Nina and her water rune sooner or later.
He realized that he hadn't checked on Shu. If Neclord was targeting the leaders of the army sent against him, then the strategist might be in mortal peril. Leaving Ray behind to finish regurgitating dinner, Flik sprinted through the tents, gathering an escort of soldiers around him. The strategist's tent was set near the southern end of the camp, looking deceptively peaceful as Flik approached. He didn't hesitate, plunging through the opening with his sword drawn.
Shu put the book that he was reading down on the table and turned his head. "Good evening, Flik. I take it that your arrival means that you have the situation fully under control?" A pair of candles illumed Shu's tent, revealing sparse quarters. Just a cot in one corner, a table, and a folding chair. Flik stopped and gaped, while his escort milled around just outside the opening.
"Why didn't you get yourself to safety?" Flik asked. "You could've been killed sitting in here."
Shu stared into one of the candle flames. "A good strategist must always be completely honest with himself. I am no warrior, Flik, to go running through melees hoping for the best. I didn't know where the enemies were, but I knew that they had not yet discovered me in here. It seemed prudent to remain where I was, having faith that you would restore order to the situation quickly." The tips of his lips crinkled. "Which you have done admirably." He paused for a moment, contemplating. "Have you determined the source of the attack yet?"
Flik shook his head. "I had some men up at the gate, but they didn't cry out. I'm still not sure how the zombies got in."
Shu rose from his chair. "I have an idea. Would you walk with me, Flik? Make sure your escort tags along, though I hope we won't need them."
The strategist walked out into the night, Flik following. He gestured to his men to form a protective screen. Shu walked purposefully, heading towards the northeast part of the town. They were well away from the camp now, with only the light coming from the two moons to aid them. The houses were shadowy bulks, and Flik worried over every dark alley that they passed.
Eventually Shu's course led them to the town shrine. Flik recognized it as dedicated to the True Earth Rune, loved by farmers everywhere. Carefully they walked around to the back, where there was a graveyard. Shu clicked his tongue and said, "Just as I feared it would be."
Even with the limited light, Flik could see that the earth was churned up. Many of the gravestones were flat on the ground or resting at random angles. Gaping holes were open to the night air. "This is where the attack originated," Shu reasoned. "No one would suspect an attack from inside the walls. Your men at the gate never had a chance."
"Damn Neclord!" Flik shouted. "Damn him!" By now, those guards were probably zombies themselves. Kokto too. He felt guilty that he hadn't sent the boy to bed. He shook his head. No, the fault was not his. Anybody standing guard there would've been taken. The fault was with Neclord. "We'll make him pay," Flik swore.
"In good time," Shu replied. "For now, you should see to that wound. You might also find the militia leader and get him to search the town. The locals won't appreciate it if your men start barging into their houses unannounced."
As always, Shu's words made sense. They trudged back to the camp, where Flik sent a messenger find Ray. Then he walked over to Nina's tent and asked Hix to send her out. Nina emerged, gasped, and said, "What happened, Sir Flik? You're bleeding terribly! Let me look at you!" She threw herself at him, pulled him down by the shoulders, and placed her hands on the sides of his neck. Flik tried to recoil from the unexpected pain of his bruises, but Nina, showing surprising strength, managed to keep his head down. Moments later, soothing coolness spread out from her hands, easing all of his discomfort away.
Meanwhile, Tengaar, Hix, and Apple had also come out from the tent. Apple walked over to Shu and began to lecture him. "Why didn't you seek shelter, Shu? You could've been killed."
"I figured it was safer to remain where I was," Shu calmly answered.
"But you were all alone. What would you have done if a zombie had attacked?"
Shu clasped his hands behind his back. "I would have rolled out under the nearest patch of canvas and run for my life, I suppose."
Nina had finished with Flik. She let him straighten up and smiled. "All better, Sir Flik."
Even though he knew she was correct, Flik reached up to ascertain for himself that his neck was repaired. His hand came away clean, the touch was painless. He was about to thank her when shouting erupted from a tent twenty yards to the right. Six of his soldiers boiled out, all in a state of panic. They were followed by a zombie. It was the corpse of an old lady who had died relatively recently, judging by the fact that her clothes were intact and that she had stringy white hair on her wrinkled head.
She latched on to the slowest of Flik's men, biting and scratching him. The soldier responded by clubbing her shoulder with the pommel of his sword. Flik heard the crunching of bones, but that didn't deter the zombie, who turned her head up and bit heavily into the soldier's cheek. The soldier screamed hysterically and dropped his blade. Several of his comrades aimed thrusts at the zombie's torso. None of those strikes had any effect.
"No! No!" Flik shouted. "You can't fight it like a normal person. You've got to go for the head." He brought his own sword up and drove it in through the zombie's ear and, with splintering noises, out through the other. The zombie stopped clawing at Flik's man, her arms and legs going limp, but her jaws remained firmly closed on his cheek.
"I need some of you guys to help me pry her off," Flik commanded.
His men hung back, disgusted looks on their faces. "You can't be serious, captain. She's, I mean she's, I mean…yuck."
Flik sighed in exasperation, but his eyes found one of the veterans. "It's no different than handling any other corpse. Just think of it that way." The veteran edged forward, reaching out gingerly, as if the corpse might turn and bite his fingers off. It didn't, and his hand closed around dead flesh. Together, he and Flik tugged on the corpse until, with a tearing sound, it came free from the soldier it had grappled with. Its jaws were still closed around a chunk of bloody flesh. Its victim fell to the ground, screaming in high wails, pressing his hands to his cheek.
"Nina, we need you over here!" Flik yelled. He pulled his sword out of the corpse's skull and brought it down on its neck. Only when the zombie was safe was he able to look on it again as a human being. The old woman had been someone's daughter, wife, mother, and grandmother. Flik's hand tightened harder on the grip.
Nina paled a bit as she saw the blood welling up between the fallen soldier's fingers, but she knelt down to try and work on him. Meanwhile, Ray finally arrived, looking even more shaken when he saw the situation.
"Ray, are your men organized for duty?" Flik asked, ignoring the militia captain's unease.
"For what?"
"For duty. I need them to help us go house to house and explain things to the locals."
Ray's face was absolutely white. "House to house?"
Flik tried hard to keep a pleasant smile on his face. There was more commotion in the distance. Some of Flik's men looked up from their duties. Ray's face started to turn in the direction of the noise, but the disturbance stopped as quickly as it started. Nina finished applying gauze to the face of her patient, then stood up and started heading in that direction. Flik motioned a couple of his men after her as an escort.
"Yes, Ray. House to house. We've got to make sure that all of the zombies are cleared out of here before they kill anyone else. Also so they can't open the gates to let in any from the outside."
Ray swallowed. "I'll…uh…get my men ready."
"Why don't you do that?"
Flik didn't get much sleep that night. The militiamen were as skittish as their leader, requiring Flik's soldiers to back them up before they went to search the houses. The citizens of the village were not happy about the situation. They weren't happy that there had been an attack and they weren't happy that they had to be rousted out of their homes so that the soldiers could search them. Flik found himself receiving numerous reproachful stares. He tried his best to ignore them.
For a while, the searching was uneventful. Flik had to stifle some yawns as each house turned up clean. Then the screaming began. A group of militiamen burst out the front door of a house near the graveyard, gibbering about everyone being dead inside. Flik gathered his own men and went in to confirm the situation. It was eerily quiet, so much so that Flik jumped when one of his men cried out in dismay.
The noise drew him to one of the bedroom, where the children had shared a bed. All of them were dead, strangled in their sleep. Another room had the corpse of an old lady. Her throat had been gouged out, leaving a bloody mess. Her face was frozen in terror and a meat cleaver was still in her hand. There were no more bodies, though there was room enough for several more adults. Flik knew what that meant; more unwilling soldiers drafted into Neclord's zombie army.
All of the houses adjacent to the graveyard were in a similar condition. As the morning light filled the sky in the east, Flik had a new order for his men – collect firewood. Shortly, all of the dispatched zombies were burning, sending a thin trail of black smoke up into the cloudless sky. Meanwhile, the soldiers were gathering the bodies of their fallen comrades and the dead civilians in preparation for a larger pyre.
Before this was complete, Flik was confronted by a delegation of very angry villagers.
"What are you planning to do with the bodies of our sons and daughters?" an elderly man asked, his voice rising. He eyed the burning zombies with a mixture of suspicion and fear.
Flik rubbed his eyes. He was tired and wanted to finish what needed to be done in a hurry. "We'll burn them. That way, none of them can be revived as zombies."
This provoked both gasps and shouts of outrage. "Ridiculous!" the elderly man answered. "Our children must be returned to the arms of Mother Earth. If you burn them, they'll spend eternity suffering in the Hell of the Fire Rune!"
"I don't have time for this," Flik muttered. "Look, if the bodies aren't burned, they'll make perfect targets for Neclord the vampire. Do you want a repeat of what happened last night?"
"The Earth Rune will protect the souls of the dead!" the elderly man shouted.
"Yeah? How well did the Earth Rune protect your dead last night?" Flik shouted in return. "Have you seen the ruin of your graveyard?"
He regretted those words instantly. The elderly man's countenance crumpled, his eyes dropping to the ground. "Why? Why didn't the Earth Rune protect us?"
"I don't know." If the True Runes were all-powerful, why did they permit this sort of violation of the dead? Flik's memory turned back to the Star Dragon Sword, how the Night Rune had scoffed at the idea of being the protector of humanity. His thoughts went even further back, remembering Luc's assertion that the True Runes cared nothing for the suffering of people. Looking at the dead, so horrifically murdered, it was hard for him not to blame the True Runes for failing on the job.
He shook his head. "It's not the fault of the Earth Rune," Flik said. "The one who is at fault is the one who orchestrated this attack. It is Neclord who attacked you and violated the will of the True Runes."
"I see." The elderly man looked up at Flik, his eyes filled with an intense anger. "And you say that the New State Army is here to get rid of this Neclord menace?" His voice became excited. "We'll support you, no matter what it takes! Go up there and rip that monster to shreds!"
Flik nodded. "That's what I intend to do, as soon as we take care of last night's victims."
"No! If you burn them, they'll suffer in Hell for all eternity!"
Flik slapped his forehead. "It doesn't matter. Nobody's going to suffer because we cremated the bodies!"
Shu, who'd been listening in on the conversation, suddenly stepped forward. "What if we dug a deep pit and burned the bodies there? Then we could pour earth over the ashes. That would solve everything, wouldn't it?" He smiled diplomatically. Flik grimaced. The suggestion would mean more work for his tired soldiers.
"I suppose that would be all right," the elderly man said. "But could you try to make sure that none of the ashes escape?"
"We'll do our best," Shu answered. Flik's hand twitched.
The remainder of the day was spent digging. Flik had his men work in shifts, even taking a shovel himself. By the time the hole was finished and the bodies placed in, he had a developing blister on his left palm. The village elder spoke a brief eulogy, mostly exhorting Flik and his men to defeat Neclord, and then the pyre was lit. Thanks to Shu's instruction, the pit had been designed with a proper airflow, so the fire burned strongly.
The fire continued burning into the night. Flik decided that each company would take a turn at the watch this night. He made sure that both the graveyard and the palisade had extra men. He knew Neclord was unlikely to use the same tactic two nights in a row, but he felt it better to be thorough.
The extra precautions weren't necessary, and the night passed uneventfully. The fire burned itself down to a single wisp of smoke by the morning. As Flik's men were breaking out the shovels to fill the hole, a single Winger glided in out of the mountains. Flik watched as Shu and Apple walked over to hear the news, then focused on the work again.
Apple suddenly gasped. "Riou is missing?"
Flik's back snapped straight. Heads were turning all over the camp. Shu's brow furrowed. "We should discuss this in a more private setting. Flik, you come too." Flik jogged after the two strategists as they disappeared inside Shu's tent.
When Flik entered, Shu was already sitting down, bending over a map. Apple stood at his side, on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry, Shu. I didn't mean to blurt it out. It's just that-"
Shu waved one hand. "Now is not the time for apologies, Apple." He looked up to greet Flik. "I surmise that you understand Riou is missing?"
Flik's heart lurched. "I heard it." Apple flinched.
"It seems that while we were working yesterday, Neclord launched an attack on Tinto City. The soldiers that were gathered there advanced out to fight and put the zombies to rout. Unfortunately, that was merely a diversion. Another force captured the city while the soldiers were occupied." Shu went back to staring at the map.
"And Riou?" Flik prompted.
"His whereabouts are unknown," the strategist answered. "He was apparently in the city when it was attacked. Klaus attempted a counterattack when he heard the news." Shu put his hands behind his back. "It did not succeed. Lord Ridley was grievously injured in the fighting and Klaus had to pull the men back."
Questions buzzed in Flik's head. "What about Viktor, is he all right?" Flik knew the question was selfish, but he had to know of his friend's condition.
There was just a touch of a smile on Shu's face. "It was Viktor who spoke to our messengers. He is fine, Flik."
Flik nearly wiped his forehead in relief. "Okay, what about Ridley, will he live? What are we going to do?"
"I do not know whether Lord Ridley will live, only that he was alive when this message was sent." Shu answered. "As for the other-" he looked up from the map "-we have no choice. We must advance to their aid immediately. I will not allow all of our work to be undone by a monster!"
Marching up a narrow mountain pass would not be fun, especially if it was held against him. Still, the decision was an easy one. "My men will be ready to move in a quarter-hour. We'll leave everything unnecessary behind."
"See to it," Shu replied.
Fifteen minutes later, the scouts were mounted and ready to go. On their faces was a mixture of determination and fear. One defeat could be weathered, but the loss of Riou would put everything at risk. The villagers and militiamen regarded them sullenly, both because the grave wasn't complete and because they, too, had heard the news. The encampment still stood in the middle of the town. Those tents would take too long to pull down.
At a walk, Flik led his men out of the palisade, heading along a corduroy road that rose up into the forests and mountains. The pace had to be slow, for the log surface was difficult for the horses to navigate. Though he sent out scouts, flankers, and a rearguard, Flik kept nervously scanning his surroundings. Vultures were circling lazily overhead, drifting back and forth as the air currents carried them. Something ahead was drawing their attention, but the scouts had not yet discovered what it was.
He learned shortly. One of the scouts came riding in from ahead and said, "There's a group of armed men, maybe mercenaries, directly in front of us. They're not making any effort to hide. Also, it looks like they've taken care of a group of zombies."
Flik thought for a moment. "I'm coming with you. Do we have anything that'll do for a flag of truce? I'd like to speak with their leader and find out who they are, then thank them for helping us."
The trail flattened out, leading to a narrow space one hundred yards ahead where the trees grew close along the road. This was where the newcomers were. They appeared to be no more than a hundred men, though there might be more in the trees. They were gathering up the corpses of zombies, preparing, as Flik had done, to make a pyre of them.
Their leader, a man in a brown cape, turned to face Flik and waved. Flik took this as a sign of the man's good nature and rode forward to meet him. Up close, Flik could see that the leader was somewhat older than he was. His face had a weathered look, with pronounced cheekbones. On the other hand, his hair was perfectly black, without a single visible strand of gray. His thick eyebrows gave him a fierce gaze. This was partially dispelled when he smiled.
"Looks like we saved you a fair bit of trouble," the leader said. "Nothing like ambushing the ambushers." His hand patted the straight sword resting against his dark pants.
Flik got down from his horse and found himself looking up at the stranger's face. "Thank you. You've undoubtedly suffered many casualties in our place."
The leader shrugged. "It's not a problem. Tinto is paying us to patrol these mountains. Besides, now I can tell everyone I've had the honor of rescuing Flik of the Blue Lightning." He laughed, smiling broadly.
Flik couldn't help but laugh too. "Okay, so you know who I am, but I don't know the name of the man who rescued me."
The stranger's smile slipped away, his face becoming all seriousness. He turned his head slightly, staring away to the south. A blast of cool air came down from the nearest peak, tugging at both of their capes, allowing Flik to see the stranger's gray tunic. "From one swordsman to another, you can tell them that it was Georg Prime who helped you this day."