by Virlyce
Dustin took the position at the front of his men who were arranged in a rectangular formation. Behind him, to the south, the undead capital’s buildings could be seen, tiny figures moving on the walls.
“Where’s Gale?” a knight asked as he lifted his visor and stepped to the front of the human line.
Dustin shook his head. “He volunteered to investigate the actions of the undead,” he said as he sighed. “He’s a brave man. I pray he comes back unharmed.” The human soldiers behind Dustin turned and glanced at each other but didn’t say anything. A few nodded.
The knight frowned. “Those damned undead,” he said. “That’s their city over there?”
Dustin nodded as the line of demon soldiers arrived. The demon at the front halfheartedly saluted and asked, “What’s the situation like, Dusty?”
“Hound, it’s good to see you again,” Dustin said with a smile. He sighed and shook his head. “The undead are shameless. Absolutely shameless. But they don’t seem to have any bloodthirst. They’ve been gathering the nearby villagers, humans and demons alike, for the past week or so.”
“And you didn’t do anything to stop them?” the human leader asked as he spat on the floor. “You worthless demons.”
Dustin narrowed his eyes at the man. “We confronted them, but the villagers stopped us. They’re voluntarily going with them. Every single one of them are enamored with the undead.”
“Could it be a curse?” asked Hound.
Dustin nodded. “It could be, but the undead escorting them are just normal skeletons. None of them can cast magic. Look, there’s a group passing through here now.” Dustin pointed at a group of figures in the distance—three skeletons followed by a family of three demon children and their parents.
The human leader unsheathed his sword and equipped his shield. He marched towards the group and pulled his visor down.
“Halt!” he shouted towards the skeletons.
The skeletons exchanged glances before stepping in front of the demon family while unsheathing their axes. The knight dashed forward while raising his sword into the air. One skeleton bent its knees and raised its axe horizontally to block the blow. The knight snorted and bashed the axe away with his shield before cutting the skeleton’s head off with his sword. He pivoted and swung his sword at the skeleton to his right.
“Stop!” the demon father shouted. The skeleton parried the knight’s blow and stepped back. The knight pursued and swung his sword once again.
“Fire!” the demon father said and threw a fireball at the knight.
The knight blocked it with his shield. “So you want to die too?” He kicked the skeleton’s sternum and knocked it away before pointing his sword at the demon.
Before either the father or the knight could react, a spearhead appeared next to the knight’s throat. “I can’t let you do that,” Hound said. He held his spear with both hands, ready to stab through the man’s neck at a moment’s notice.
The knight snorted and sheathed his sword. He knocked away the spear with his hand and glared at Hound through his visor.
Hound retracted his spear and turned to the demon family. The skeleton that had its head cut off was sitting and holding its head over its neck while tying it back on with a rag. “That was rude,” the skeleton said as its head drooped forward and fell off again.
Hound ignored the skeleton. “Why are you going with them?” he asked the demons.
The father stepped in front of the sitting skeleton. “They’re offering us a better life.”
“And you trust them?” Hound asked as he removed his helmet.
The man nodded.
“Why?”
“They have no reason to lie. They could’ve killed us a long time ago if they wanted to,” the man said. “They’re promising us food and shelter. In return, we give them mana.”
“How’s that a better life?” Hound asked. “You have a home and shelter here. The nobles protect you in return for taxes.”
The demon stared at Hound. “Are you a noble?”
Hound shook his head. “I’m just an ex-adventurer turned royal knight.”
“Then you wouldn’t understand. You have power,” the demon said. “What about the common farmers who can’t make a living as an adventurer? What do we have? The nobles barely leave us with enough food to live as we work on their farms. They say they’ll protect us, but they run away when the dragons and undead come.”
Dustin frowned. “You really believe everything the undead are telling you?”
The man nodded. “I have to,” he said, clenching his hands. “For the sake of my family.”
The three children were hiding behind their mother. The two uninjured skeletons stood in front of her, observing the soldiers with their axes in front of them.
“Let them through,” Dustin said.
“You can come with us and become a citizen,” the skeleton with the rag around its neck said as it stood up. “We have cookies and songs.”
Dustin shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ve heard enough singing for a lifetime.”
***
“How’s the city looking?” Lindyss asked the undead leader while yawning. She was sitting up on a bed with bleary eyes. Her hair was disheveled, and she was wearing pink pajamas.
“Good evening,” the leader said and nodded. “It’s coming along quite well. We’ve received a lot more incoming citizens than expected, so we reallocated the wall builders to shelter building instead.”
“That many?” Lindyss asked.
The leader nodded. “We’re very persuasive,” he said and grinned. “Although there seems to be a gathering of soldiers near our borders. They’re composed of the people we scared away and some reinforcements.”
Lindyss frowned. “Make them leave,” she said. “Don’t kill any of them. We don’t want to start a war just yet. Make sure they’re far enough away to not interfere with our recruitment.”
The undead leader cackled. “We can do that.”
Lindyss nodded. “What’s the food situation?”
“The farms are tilled and crops have been planted. We’ve been feeding the newcomers fruit and meat found in the forests, but we ran out of grain so we can’t make any more cookies,” the leader said and sighed. “The newcomers also gave us all their gold which we can use to trade for some foodstuffs. We sent word to the dryads and requested their help to speed our crop growth, but there’s been no reply so far.”
Lindyss smiled. “I know a dryad that I can convince to help us with a little persuasion from Grimmoldesser and the matriarch,” she said. “Keep up the good work.”
The undead leader saluted.
***
Two knights sat outside a cluster of tents, wrapped in heavy furs.
“Do you think the undead will come tonight?” one of them asked.
“I doubt it. They haven’t bothered us for over a week,” his partner said. “Man, I wish I didn’t have guard duty today. I still feel as if I haven’t sleep enough ever since that dreadful singing.” He shivered.
“Was it that bad? I’ve heard a few things about it, but I wasn’t here for it.”
His partner shook his head. “You don’t understand,” he said and sighed while tilting his head towards the sky. A twig snapped, and a bush rustled. The two knights turned their heads towards the sound and drew their swords while holding their breaths. A few moments of silence passed.
“It’s probably just a fox,” the knight said and sheathed his sword. He turned to look at his partner and came face to face with a grinning skeleton. He opened his mouth, and the skeleton stuffed a sock in it before he could make a sound. The knight’s partner was on the ground with four skeletons on top of him, stripping him of his furs and armor. The knight groped for his sword, but he grabbed air instead. Bony hands appeared behind him and knocked him over. He struggled as he was stripped and bound, but he couldn’t do anything to stop the skeletons.
***
Dustin opened hi
s eyes and was greeted by the stars and moon shining above him. That’s odd, he thought, the moon seems a lot brighter than usual. He rolled over and closed his eyes. Ten seconds passed. His eyes shot open. He sat up and looked around. All the soldiers were sleeping on their blankets in the field.
“Where’d the tents go!?” Dustin shouted.
Groans and curses rang throughout the field as demons and humans stirred.
“My armor’s missing!”
“Where’s my pillow?”
“My spear!”
“Why am I naked?!”
“It smells like … horse manure?”
Dustin looked down and froze. Brown smiling faces were drawn on his blanket. He lifted his blanket to his nose and sniffed. He threw up. The person closest to him also threw up. A few men cried fat tears.
“I’ll kill them!” the human leader shouted. “I’ll kill every last one of those damned skeletons!”
After a chain of vomiting, sobbing, and squirming, the soldiers gathered in the field north of their ransacked campsite. Many of them were naked; none of them had weapons. A wind blew past their shivering bodies, carrying the grating voices of the skeletons.
Hi ho, hi ho,
We’ll steal your clothes and go.
We’ll take your food!~
And strip ye nude!~
We’ll set your horses free.
Leave this place,
To keep your grace,
And give us liberty.~
The skeletons cackled in the distance, causing the ground to shake from the noise.
“Thanks for the donations,” the undead leader shouted. “We’ll be back tomorrow!”
Tears appeared in Dustin’s eyes, and he buried his face in his hands.
17
“Milord, there’s a messenger from Konigreich seeking an audience,” Retter said while saluting. He was wearing a purple steel chestplate with three horns engraved on it. Zollstock and Mina were talking to a few well-dressed demons in a ballroom. It was Tafel’s 6th birthday, and her parents were hosting a party with all the influential noble families as guests.
“Pardon me,” Zollstock said to the nobles he was conversing with. He turned to Retter. “Take me to him.”
“I’ll accompany you,” Mina said and curtsied to the nobles. The trio left the ballroom.
Tafel was at the center of the ballroom, wearing a purple dress. Her cheeks were sore from holding her smile for the past few hours. A few boys were talking to her when she saw her parents leave.
“And that’s how I—”
“Oh, wow, that’s really interesting. Sorry, but it seems like something came up,” Tafel said, interrupting the boy who was talking to her. She sprinted after her parents, ignoring the boys who called after her. Her parents rounded the corner, and she slowed her pace, making sure to stay silent. She followed them until they arrived at the city gate, where an armored figure was waiting. She snuck up behind her parents and waved at Retter who noticed her. She put her finger to her lips and smiled. Retter tilted his head down a tiny fraction and turned his gaze back onto the armored figure.
“Greetings, demon lord,” the armored figure said and removed its helmet, revealing a yellow skull. “I have a message to you from our mistress.”
Zollstock frowned. “Is your mistress the one you worship?”
“That’s right. She’s our lord and resurrector, Lindyss the Corrupted One,” the skeleton said while smiling. “I take it you’ve heard of her?”
Zollstock coughed. “I, ah, know a bit about her,” he said while angling his body away from Mina. “Just from the rumors though.”
“That’s excellent,” the skeleton said. “Would you like a pamphlet?”
“No,” Zollstock said. “I just want to hear the message.”
The skeleton nodded. “I understand. Can I ask why you don’t want a pamphlet, though? Do you already have a figure you worship?”
“Get on with it,” Mina said as she glared at the skeleton. “Please.”
The skeleton cleared his non-existent throat and reached into his eye socket. He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Zollstock. The demon lord held the paper in front of himself and raised an eyebrow.
“Five ways to achieve immortality through daily prayers?” Zollstock asked as he read out the first line.
The skeleton snatched the paper away. “I’m sorry. That was the pamphlet,” the skeleton said. “We store them in our heads to spread the word just in case an adventurer bashes our skulls open.” He reached into his pelvic girdle and pulled out a brown piece of paper. “Here’s the message.”
Zollstock took the paper and read it. His face cramped. He folded it and was about to put it in his pocket when Mina snatched it out of his hands. Zollstock tried to grab it, but Mina dodged and turned her back to him while reading it. It said,
“Dear Zollstock,
I miss you. Pay me a visit to improve the relationship between our two kingdoms. We can stay up the whole night talking about politics and biology. I’m sure our kingdoms will get along just fine with an arranged marriage between the royal families. I’m sorry about the whole incident where your soldiers lost their clothing. Forgive me? I look forward to seeing you and your precious jewels again.
P.S. Sorry about Tafel.
From,
Lindyss”
“Oh?” Mina asked as she turned back around. “And just what precious jewels might she be talking about?”
The skeleton knight coughed and sidestepped away from the two. “Well, I passed on the message to the demon lord and didn’t let his wife see it. The demon lord let his wife see it; it wasn’t me, nope,” it said while nodding. “I’ll be going now.”
“Wait!” Tafel said.
Zollstock and Mina jumped and took a step back. “Tafel!” Zollstock said as he stepped towards her. “What are you doing here? Come, I’ll take you back to your party. Let’s hurry along now.”
“No you don’t,” Mina said as she grabbed his shoulder. “Explain. Now.”
Zollstock sweated bullets and turned around. “We should take Tafel back to the party first. I’ll explain everything in detail once we’re back.”
Mina glared at him.
“Um, I don’t mean to interrupt,” Retter said, “but shouldn’t you stop her?” He pointed at Tafel who climbed onto the messenger’s skeletal horse. The skeletal horse dashed forward, kicking up dust.
“Wait!” Zollstock shouted as his horns glowed red. “Bring Tafel back here!”
“What was that? You’ll have to speak up” the skeleton shouted back as it got further and further away. “I can’t hear you. I don’t have ears, you know?”
***
Lindyss walked into the cave, accompanied by a group of fifty undead. Vur was eating a chunk of bear meat in his hands, and the five men were on the ground sobbing. They raised their heads when Lindyss stood over them.
“We’ve done all we can,” the blue-horned knight said through tears. “Please, just let us go or kill us now.”
Lindyss raised an eyebrow. “What happened while I was gone?”
“He’s hopeless. Absolutely hopeless,” the human musician said. “He’s more tone-deaf than the skeletons.”
“He breaks the cutlery when he tries to eat properly,” the red-horned demon said.
“He refuses to dance with any of us because we’re men,” the demon who volunteered to teach him how to dance said.
“He has no morals. He feels no empathy for humans,” Gale said. “He’d make a terrible leader.”
One of the skeletons spoke up. “Sounds like someone I’d follow,” it said and grinned. A few skeletons cheered.
Lindyss frowned. “I guess that was to be expected,” she said and sighed. “I shouldn’t expect the mice to teach the dragon how to behave.” She turned to Vur. “And why aren’t you saying anything?”
A lump moved down Vur’s throat as he swallowed. “You said not to talk with my mouth full,” he said. The five men glan
ced at each other, their faces cramped.
“Ah, I guess that’ll have to do,” Lindyss said and sighed again. “Tafel’s probably going to arrive here soon. I set up a new playground for you guys to play in.”
She pointed at the five men and spoke to the skeletons, “Take them to the nearest demon city.”
The skeletons stepped forward and stripped the men of their clothes before lifting them up.
“Did you really have to take their clothes?” Lindyss asked.
“We get shy when we walk through the kingdom naked,” one skeleton said. The other skeletons nodded.
***
“Your Highness,” Gale said keeping his eyes on the floor. “I have returned. Forgive me for my failures.” He was kneeling in front of the king who sat on the throne. The silver cross necklace he usually wore was missing. The skeletons had taken it along with his dignity.
“Rise, Gale,” the king said and motioned with his hand. “Some losses can’t be prevented. I’m just glad you’re unharmed.”
Gale stood up. “I’ve made a few important discoveries in the time of my captivity,” he said as he pulled out a book from his robe’s newly sewn on pocket and cleared his throat. “The leader of the new undead kingdom is the Corrupted One who guards the Fountain of Youth. The reasons for founding the kingdom are unknown, but she intends on maintaining a close relationship with the demons. In my time as a captive, I was forced to teach a human boy manners. I suspect she’s raising the boy as her child.”
“Hmm.” The king rubbed his chin. “Was there anything unusual about the boy?”
Gale nodded. “His eyes were golden and his pupils were slit. He was most likely imprinted by a snake or a lizard. He also regularly ate raw meat, and he didn’t behave like a human child. It seemed like the Corrupted One wanted to establish a relationship between the demon princess and the boy.”