Necrodruid

by Adam Witcher

  With that, we went back to the inn and fetched Milo. I gave him a bowl of oats. We mounted him, then made our way through town. We passed the giant golden cathedral that I’d seen from the other side of the wall. Only the very tops of the spires were gold, the parts visible to the outside. I laughed at that, as the rest looked covered in soot and beggars congregated on the steps. Then we passed through the residential areas, a long series of shacks that shared walls. Kids in rags weaved around Milo’s legs, gazing up at him in awe. Eventually we reached the walls opposite the ones we’d come in through. There was another, much smaller gate. The gatekeeper barely glanced at us, let us out without a word.

  As we passed through the gate, I felt the muscles in Lily’s back tense. I didn’t say anything when even as I noticed her jump at every little sound. We rode onward in silence. It seemed that we were no longer in the great plains of Iggoroth. Little by little, the flat lands gave way into rolling hills, and eventually jagged cliffs. I wasn’t sure exactly what we were heading toward, but the land was beautiful to look at. After about an hour, we reached an offshoot from the main northward path that led into a forest. Lily pulled the reins toward it.

  “You sure about this?” I asked. “The main path should take us in the right direction.”

  She didn’t answer for a second. “So, they can see us running right up to them? Let’s be a little bit sneakier than that.” I didn’t respond. Forests suited me just fine.

  We were deep into the woods when we came across something sticking out of the path in front of us. When Milo brought us close enough, I saw that it was a flag. Red and black, with an image of a tower on it. It looked just like the one far off in the distance. I started to speak when Lily cut me off.

  “Rahm, I’m so sorry.” She slid off Milo’s back and looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

  “Lily, what the fuck did you do?”

  Before she could answer, a javelin whizzed through the trees and buried itself into Milo’s chest. He let out a gurgled whinny and collapsed to the ground. I tumbled into a somersault when I hit the soil. I got to my knees to look around, careful not to lift my head too high and get hit by another javelin. At first, I couldn’t see them through the shadows of the trees, but I soon saw the shapes of what appeared to be a group of men. Big ones, wide and strong. As they drew closer, I noticed the pig-like snouts on their faces and the upward jutting tusks in their wide mouths. The orcs drooled over their chins and onto the fur armor that covered them. Bloodlust filled their eyes, and they carried or dragged large battle axes and spears.

  “Lily!” I shouted, “Build a wall, quickly!” I looked over to see her standing still, looking back and forth between me and the orcs.

  “Rahm,” she shouted. “Please forgive me, I had to do it!” With that, she took off into the forest.

  Great, I thought. Every time you think you meet a nice girl. I rolled my eyes and jumped up.

  They were powerful, but slow, so I took advantage of my own agility by dashing to the side and circling them. A couple took that as an invitation to throw more javelins, but watching their hands made them easy to avoid. As long as I stayed in motion, I could postpone their attack, but I couldn’t do it forever. I pulled out my bow and fired a couple shots at the nearest orc. One struck the cloth of his torso armor, and to my surprise, it bounced off. Through the tear, I could see that he had reinforced his armor with thick steel beneath it. This was going to be tougher than I thought.

  I stopped and focused for a moment. The forest looked just like the one where I’d first encountered Izmira, so it was easy to focus on the spirits of the creatures beneath me. It only took a few seconds for the soil to stir. The rodents began to emerge, their bones smeared with dirt. The orcs didn’t know what to make of them at first. A couple of them had a short laugh. They kicked at one of the rabbits, who went flying.

  Then they came in hordes. Rats ran up their legs, and they had to drop or sheath their weapons to throw them off. Rabbits bit at their exposed ankles. Squirrels ran up trees and dropped onto their heads, scratching at the orcs’ faces.

  They didn’t do much real damage, but it gave me a chance to fire off a few shots while they were distracted. I got one through the nose, and he fell to the ground with a grunt. I shot another in the ass while he was bent over, trying to rid himself of a squirrel. He howled.

  I was tempted to rush in with my dagger, but the distraction wouldn’t last long enough. One blow from a battle axe would end my journey quickly. I counted about fifteen angry orcs.

  Briefly, I contemplated simply running away and hoping I’d find my way out of the forest, but I remembered that my bag with everything I had was still attached to Milo, and I wasn’t confident about finding my way out.

  While they were finishing off my forest friends, I ran back to Milo’s corpse and grabbed my bag. His tongue hung out of his mouth, and I looked at him for a moment wishing for a moment to mourn my companion.

  But then, Of course!

  I knelt down and put my hand over his belly. Then I closed my eyes and focused. First, I sensed more small forest creatures wriggling toward the surface. Then I felt larger bodies beginning to stir. They considered my presence, but they wouldn’t come to me. When I tried to focus on Milo, I had to dig around for a while before I could sense his spirit. When I finally did, the wave of energy that hit me was intense. I could sense his rage and vengeance welling up within the corpse. I pressed my hand down harder, begging him to return, and I felt his fletch twitch.

  The orcs were getting close. I heard them stomping on sticks and leaves while I waited for Milo to gain the energy to stand. The orcs were only ten feet or so behind me when he leapt up and whinnied angrily into the air. He turned to me, and I realized that he was waiting for me to mount him. I leapt onto his back and withdrew my dagger.

  Milo charged toward them. The orcs raised their weapons in anticipation to attack, but my undead horse was too fast. He lowered his head and smashed through two of them, knocking them to the ground. As we passed them by, I managed to shove my dagger up through one of the orc’s chins. After knocking the two down, Milo ran another few feet before abruptly stopping and turning around. He didn’t give them a chance to stand up before slamming his hooves down onto their faces. One of them raised his axe in his last feeble attempt to attack, so I reached down and snatched it from him. I’d never held a weapon so heavy. Big weapons had never suited me. I liked being quick and unburdened. On Milo’s back, though, it felt good. It felt powerful. I was going to give these orcs a taste of their own medicine.

  The reanimated steed charged again, this time gnashing into an orc’s neck as he barreled past. He trampled two more and ripped through the throat of a third. Harnessing the momentum, I struck one orc so hard with the axe that I cracked his chest armor and pierced his flesh. It sent a shockwave through my arm that almost caused me to drop the axe. Milo carried on his rampage.

  Seven orcs remained, but they were visibly shaken. They backed up hesitantly and looked at each other. These dumb oafs clearly had no other plans. As they looked for an escape, they suddenly realized that the forest critters had them surrounded. Milo reared up once more, aiming for the huddled orcs. Four of them ran off in separate directions through the army of tiny corpses. Rabbits nipped at their heels and burdened their backs as they ran.

  The three that remained didn’t last long. Milo headbutted two so hard that they fell to the ground and were swarmed by vicious resurrected chipmunks. I sliced through the last one with a crushing blow to the skull. With no enemies left to kill, Milo halted. I dismounted and looted the idiots. There were no signs of krokum. This surprised me at first, but then I remembered what I’d learned about orcs from books. It didn’t take much to get their blood boiling. I did manage to turn up a few more gold coins. Enough for a few days’ worth of supplies, anyway, especially if I was just shopping for one. Dammit, Lily, I thought, we could have made such a great team.

  Milo and I made our way back ov
er to the path we’d been following when we got jumped. When I found it, I heard a quiet weeping coming from the trees. Lily emerged, her lips trembling.

  “Did… did you actually kill them?” she asked.

  “Yup.” No matter how pathetic she looked, the sight of her made my blood boil. I pulled out my dagger and said, “Milo and I would like a word with you.”

  The horse’s whinny sounded more like a growl, and he huffed as if ready to charge once more. I did my best to keep him calm.

  She dropped to her knees. “Please, you have to understand,” she whimpered. “I didn’t have a choice. They made me take you here.”

  “Who are they?” I demanded, unconvinced.

  “Those other people in the inn last night,” she said, holding her hands up. “The men with the hoods who kept looking at us. They were watching us.”

  “Those old sad drunks? How could they have known who we were or where we were going?”

  “It’s the tower,” she said. “It saw us from far away. Some sorcerer up there. They said his name was Neptos. He sent the hobgoblins to my farm so they could turn our grapes into that black stuff. He’s been watching us ever since.”

  I glanced toward the tower, careful not to take my eyes off Lily. The top of it was just visible through the trees. She seemed genuinely desperate, but how could I trust her now?

  “So, this Neptos, he sent those men to find us and kill us? Why didn’t they just attack us at the inn?”

  “This sorcerer they spoke of, he must have seen us fighting together,” she uttered between sobs. “He knew it would be better to separate us. After you went to sleep, the three men grabbed me and held me down on the table. I didn’t see them coming. They told me that they had taken my estate. That they were watching us, they could see everything we did. They told me to lead you here, that if I didn’t trick you, they would see us and they would… they would…” she trailed off, crying.

  “What did they say they would do?” I put my dagger back into my bow and crouched down in front of her. She didn’t seem to have any reason to be lying, and if she was, she was a hell of an actress.

  “They said… they would do something terrible to my parents.” She choked back another sob. “They’d kill them, but first...”

  There was no need to make her continue. I was still burned from the betrayal, but it was hard not to sympathize. I tried to think of a way to calm her down.

  “Orcs, though, really?” I forced a laugh. “We took down all those hobgoblins already. These guys weren’t much tougher. They must not have seen my secret weapon coming.” I patted Milo’s head. He neighed at me.

  “They told me that if I helped you fight, they’d kill my parents on the spot,” she said. “I’m sorry. They must have thought that you couldn’t take them alone. But I guess they didn’t count on Milo.”

  “I suppose this means that they can see us right now?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, looking around wildly. “Maybe. They also may have only been trying to scare me. But they knew we were going to that inn, Rahm. They had to figure that out somehow.”

  I paced back and forth a minute, thinking. “Which way is the estate?” I asked.

  “Further north,” she said. “East of the Farro river, though, when it turns west. But Rahm, they might not even be there. It could be a trick.”

  “Sure convinced you, didn’t it?” I asked.

  She looked ashamed. “Even if you didn’t join me, that was where I was going to go. There’s no way I could go on without knowing if they’re okay.”

  “Let’s go,” I said. “Now. Even if the place isn’t overrun, it’s probably about time for a family reunion.”

  She nodded and moved to mount Milo, but he wasn’t ready to trust her. If not for her knowledge of the path, I wouldn’t have let her lead either. I patted his neck while she leapt on, then I settled in behind her. She took charge of the reins meekly as if to apologize to Milo, and we took off toward the Wolfgang estate.

  Chapter Nine

  Lily hardly spoke a word during the journey. I couldn’t tell if she was dreaded the thought of a family reunion or if she still felt guilty for the betrayal, and I didn’t ask. We rode out of the forest and back onto a main road, but one different than the one that brought us here. The journey went quickly. The sharp cliffs provided dramatic scenery, and it seemed that death had instilled an impossible sense of vigor in Milo. He galloped along as though fatigue was only an ailment of the living.

  After two hours or so, we took a road that cut eastward and eventually opened onto a wide meadow. We were coming up on another hour in the meadow when a rolling hill gave way to a view of the Wolfgang estate. I felt Lily shudder at the sight of it.

  The estate was so large that I would have mistaken it for an entire town if Lily hadn’t told me we had arrived. The whole place centered on a giant mansion, two stories tall with the four corners popping up into smaller towers that made up a third floor. There were about two dozen smaller buildings surrounding it, spotting the land all the way out to an iron fence topped with spikes. Tiny figures bustled about on the other side of it. The sun was behind us, and we cast long shadows in the late afternoon light.

  “When you said thirty people lived here…” I started.

  “Thirty Wolfgangs,” she said. “There’s probably over a hundred when you count all of the help.”

  The help, I thought. It seemed that just the sight of her old home brought out the aristocrat in her. Still, she didn’t handle a horse like a rich girl. With a loud “Hyah!” she yanked back on the reins and Milo skidded to a halt at the top of a hill. She stepped down and gazed intently at the estate. I joined her.

  “So, is it taken over?” I asked.

  “Hard to say from here,” she said. “A man looks about the same as a hobgoblin from this distance. We need to get closer.” She looked up at Milo, whose eyes were a wild, glowing yellow, and who still had a gaping wound in his neck with blood dried to it.

  “Maybe it’s best if we go by foot from here,” she said. “Just in case. He isn’t exactly subtle.”

  “When a fight breaks out, we’ll wish we had him.”

  “We can come back for him after some reconnaissance,” she said. I shrugged.

  “How sneaky can you be?” She took off her bag and fumbled for something inside it.

  “Sneaky enough to break into your house and kill those guards,” I said, smirking.

  “Hardly a challenge,” she said, fishing out two thin grey cloaks. “A bunch of drunk hobgoblins and grapevines taller than your head. Look around the estate.”

  I did. It was set in an almost perfectly flat valley surrounded by short grasslands. Only a few copses of trees lay near the edges of the buildings. She had a point.

  “Here,” she said, handing me one of the cloaks.

  “What is this?” I ran my fingers over the delicate fabric.

  “It’s a camouflage cloak.” She scoured hers for the opening. “An old one, though, don’t expect too much from it. I’ve had these since I was a kid. Expensive, but, well, you know…” She gestured toward the estate. “Anyway, the enchantment is pretty faded, but it should at least help us get close enough to see if it’s safe.”

  With that, she pulled the cloak over her head. It began to glow for a moment, then faded from the deep grey into a golden hue matching the autumn grasslands. I could still see her delightful form, but it was indeed obscured. At a casual glance, I might have missed her. I took my own cloak and pulled it on. It clung tightly to my armor, and I looked down in fascination as the silvery gleam gave way to pale gold.

  We both patted Milo on the nose, and he paced back and forth anxiously for a minute before settling down. Then Lily and I made our way down the hill. When we reached the bottom, we could begin to make out some of the faces that surrounded a small building near the edge. They were men, and they looked dour and exhausted. A few rushed around carrying items that I soon recognized as weapons of all types. There were
crossbows, swords, and spears, but they looked shoddy and worn. It wasn’t too surprising considering the light brown workman’s tunics they all wore. Curiously, it seemed that they were rushing to put the weapons into the small building.

  “Do you recognize them?” I whispered despite how far away we still were.

  “No,” she replied. “But that doesn’t mean much. Twelve years is a long time.” She paused. “What do you suppose they’re doing?”

  “Stockpiling, maybe.” I looked at her, but she offered no support for my theory.

  We moved a little closer. Whether it was their determined focus or Lily’s cloaks that kept us concealed, none of the men took notice. The building they kept bringing the weapons into appeared to be just a small shack, living quarters that likely housed some of the laborers. It certainly was no traditional armory. Luckily, it faced inward, toward the rest of the estate, so it was simple for us to sneak up to the backside of it. From here, we could hear commotion. Men shouted over the clinking over metal and scrambled around each other.

  A tall redheaded man entered the building with two swords and exited a few moments later unburdened. Instead of heading back toward the center of the estate, he walked toward the back where we hid. I moved my head just in time to avoid being spotted. I turned to point him out to Lily, but he was already walking past us and out slightly into the field before I got the message across. Luckily, the man didn’t even look back. When he was about ten feet away, he stopped, undid his pants, and started peeing into the grass.

  It didn’t seem right to take advantage of a man in such a vulnerable position, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I crept up behind him, silently withdrew my dagger, and grabbed him by the shoulder.

  “Call out for help and I’ll cut your throat,” I hissed into his ear, holding the dagger up to his neck.

  The man didn’t even jump. He just sighed.

  “May I at least put my cock away before you kill me?” he asked.

  “I, uh, sure.” I stepped back. He did so, then turned around.