"Undead?" Fred squeaked.
"Exactly," Ned replied. "The only way to get close to the stone undetected is to be undead, but seeing as none of us is willing to go the full distance then we will need to acquire outfits to deceive the stone. That's where you come in."
The other two with them were surprised, and Percy gestured to Fred. "Where he comes in?" Percy repeated. "Why not let Sins handle them and we create the skins?" Fred's face paled. These mad people intended to wrap themselves in rotting corpse flesh.
"Those undead are too close to the others. They need to be led away, and our best bait is Fred here," Ned insisted. "Then I can use my magic and Sins his skills to capture them."
Fred's eyes widened and he tried to slink out of Ned's grasp. The old castor wasn't letting go. "Maybe we can try flying over again?" Fred desperately suggested. "The gargoyles are a lot faster than a floating sparkler."
Ned solemnly shook his head. "I'm not willing to risk their lives."
"But I'm risk-able?" Fred countered.
"You only need to catch their attention and let them shamble after you," Ned pointed out. He grabbed Fred's chin and turned him to face the city. "See how slow they move? A blind, one-legged beggar could outrace their gait." Fred gulped. Those things hadn't looked so slow when they sprang from the column. "And you needn't lead them too far. We will wait for you behind those rocks." Ned indicated a pile of stones along the road that led past the dead city. The distance from the group of undead to the stones was two hundred yards. "Just to be safe you should leave Fluffy with us."
Fred was marched execution-style down the hill road and the group stopped at the rocks. He was shoved out from behind the protection, and glanced back to see the three men and Fluffy peeking over the top of the rocks. "We'll be right behind you," Ned encouraged him.
"Thanks..." Fred muttered.
Fred sighed and crept toward the group of shambling undead. They walked in and out of a hole in the remains of the defensive wall as though guarding the city from the living. Fred dodged behind boulders and abandoned carts overturned from the rushed evacuation. He came within twenty yards of them when he found he no longer had any closer hiding spots. This was the time to catch their attention and lead them back to his ex-friends.
Fred took a deep breath, stepped out in the open and waved his hands. That's when a thought hit him. Why wasn't Percy more expendable than him? Unfortunately, the undead didn't care who was standing there with their hands outstretched and a puzzled expression on their face. They saw fresh food and went for it. They traded their shambling gait in for a souped-up sprint. Fred's eyes widened, and with a scream he spun around and raced for the others.
The growling and moaning came closer and faster than the rocks ahead of him, and Fred risked a glance back. The undead were on his heels and still catching with their teeth gnashing and their mouths salivating for his juicy flesh. Fred reached for his stick, but Ned climbed above the rocks and cupped his hands together. "Don't use magic! The stone will see you!" Ned yelled to the young man.
Fred rolled his eyes, and turned in time to dodge a dive by one of the undead. Its fingers scraped the sleeve of his new cloak, and when he finished rolling out of the way he scowled down at his damaged coat. He lifted his furious gaze at the half dozen creatures, and when another jumped at him he twisted around and swung a fist into its rotting jaw. Its teeth flew off and clamped onto the closest undead, but that didn't stop any of them. Fred yelped and jumped up high enough to avoid another dead dive-bomber, this time at his legs. His feet smashed down on its head and he used it as a springboard toward the rocks and his allies. The undead pursued him over a zigzag course from one boulder to another as he retraced his steps perfectly.
Fred reached the rocks with his lungs burning and the creatures all lined up behind him. When he was twenty yards from the rock Ned yelled at him, "Duck!"
"Are you kidding me?" Fred screamed back. Ducking would have made him a sitting duck.
Ned pointed his staff at Fred, who widened his eyes and dove to the ground. Sins shot out from the side of the rock brandishing a large dagger, and he cut the legs out from beneath the undead. Their limbs turned into piles of dust and they dropped to the ground, but dragged themselves toward Fred. He flipped over and kicked at them before a beam of light pierced the six undead in their heads. They fell face-forward into small heaps of rotting flesh and stopped moving.
Percy came over and helped Fred up. "Maybe next time you can be the bait," Fred wheezed to him.
Percy laughed. "I hope there isn't a next time. That didn't look like much fun."
Ned passed them both and tapped on one of the heads. There was a hollow sound, and he smiled and gave a nod. "This will do very well."
"You're not getting me to wear one of those things," Fred refused.
Ned chuckled, and flipped one of the undead over. The innards were gone, replaced with a smooth sheet of leather attached to the skin. The same was true for the arms where they were merely shells of skin without bone or sinew. "It's nothing more than a hood," Ned told him.
Percy stooped and picked up one of the undead. "So that's how you can use an undead skin. Keep the head intact and remove every other part to create a skin costume."
"Precisely," Ned replied.
Percy tossed the six skins over his shoulder and straightened. "Perhaps we should return to the girls and see how they are doing," he suggested.
"And Canto," Fred reminded him.
The other boy smirked and whispered a few words on passing by him back to the steeds. "I thought I'd already mentioned him."
Ned followed Percy, but Fluffy stayed beside Fred and growled at something behind him. Fred turned to see Sins staring at him. "Oh, um, thanks for saving me," Fred shakily thanked him. "So, um, why don't you use that knife more often?" he asked Sins.
"A cut can miss a vital organ, but a poison dart will always kill the victim," Sins replied.
"I'll, um, I'll remember that," Fred replied. Fred stuck close to Fluffy on the way back to the horses, and the four humans returned to camp.
CHAPTER 6
"What in the world was that column of light?" Pat asked them when they returned to camp. She noticed the clean skins over Percy's shoulder. "And what are those?"
"Useful disguises," Ned told her. "And the column of light was an experiment. It seems we won't be able to fly to the stone as we planned."
"Are there more undead in the city?" she wondered.
Percy set the skins down beside crackling fire that made up the center of their camp. "Worse, the stone protects itself with that column of light. Undead creatures spring out and attack anything that gets near it."
Ruth picked up one of the skins and turned it over in her hands. "So these will allow us to get closer?" she guessed.
Pat took one and looked it over. "What are they?"
"The corpses of six undead creatures," Ned told them.
The girls yelped and dropped the skins onto the pile. Pat glared at him. "Couldn't you have told us that before we picked them up?"
Percy laughed and draped one of the skins over himself. The head and arms settled on his respective parts, and the rib bones enclosed over his chest to hide his upper body. The only pieces missing were the chopped off legs. "If you want to help in the attack you're going to have to wear one," he pointed out.
"And now would be a good time to attack," Ned spoke up.
"After you attacked that stone? Isn't the stone still alert to danger?" Pat countered.
Ned chuckled. "The stones and their underlings are as intelligent as rocks, and the undead who jumped from the stone at my decoy magic were being reabsorbed into the stone when we crested the hill," he replied.
Ruth looked to the statues of her clan. "But what about my clan?" she asked them. "We can't leave them without a guard."
"If we're successful this should take a short while," Ned reassured her.
"And if we're not?" Pat countered.
Ned slipped a skin over himse
lf. "Well, there are six skins and seven of us. Who would like to play the part of the coward?" Fred's hand shot up, and Pat rolled her eyes. Ned smiled and pulled at his beard. "I suppose you have played a large enough part in this mission. You and Fluffy will remain among the rocks at the bottom of the hill and watch for signs of trouble. If you see anything before we reach the stone you're to whistle."
Fred eagerly nodded and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Ruth gestured to their campsite. "I would rather remain here and protect my clan," she informed them.
Fred's shoulders slumped, and Ned patted him on the back. "It seems you're to come with us after all," Ned chuckled.
Fred and Pat both shuddered, but suited up along with Percy, Sins, Ned and Canto. The attack party hid their weapons against their bodies and crept down the hill, leaving Fluffy at the pile of rocks. They stopped at the final rock Fred had found in front of the wall opening, and Canto glanced at Ned. "Are ya sure these will fool the others?" he asked the castor.
Ned shrugged. "In theory," he admitted.
Canto's face fell. "Then perhaps one of us should go inside and test yer theory," he suggested.
Ned looked to Fred. "Fred, are you-"
"I'll go," Pat offered. They all glanced at her as though she were insane, and Canto frowned. She rolled her eyes. "The city is a wreck. If I find trouble I'm the one best able to climb and jump onto the roofs," she pointed out. A smirk slipped onto her face. "Unless we want the dwarf to hop through the city."
Canto harrumphed and waved off her words. "Let the girl go."
Pat pulled the undead skin snug over her thin frame and darted toward the opening. More undead had gathered at the hole, and she crept up to the small group. If they noticed her coming they didn't acknowledge it, but instead kept shuffling around the gap. Her companions held their breath when she slipped past them and into the city, but she quickly peeked back out and gestured for them to follow. They crept past the sentries and into the dead city. The devastation up close was even more heart-rending. Most of the houses were destroyed and personal treasures littered the streets. The dead shambled through searching for more victims to wet their appetite. It was enough to make Fred's stomach churn.
Ned and Canto led the way through the city to the square with the stone. A few streets away Fred didn't lift his foot high enough and he tripped over the handle of a broken cart. He tumbled to the ground and his skin nearly slid over his head. The undead around them, which numbered in the dozens, stopped and stared at him. Ned hurried to the boy and helped him up. "Keep quiet and watch your feet," Ned whispered to him.
Fred nodded and they hurried faster through the streets. A few of the undead followed them and others joined, and before long they had a train of two dozen at their backs. Pat and Canto were alarmed at the swiftness of the monsters, but Ned faced forward and kept their pace to a brisk stride. They reached the street just before the square, and the entrance to the stone was blocked by another dozen undead. They were lined up like a decaying wall, and their dead eyes locked on the six companions. Ned turned left and right, but more undead shuffled down those streets toward them. They were trapped, and as their minds buzzed for escape plans a column of light shot from the stone. An army of undead broke out of the beam and landed behind those who guarded the entrance to the square.
Pat whipped her head over to Ned and glared at him. "As smart as rocks, huh?" she hissed.
He shrugged. "It seems I was mistaken," he whispered back.
Canto pulled his ax from under his skin and set his mouth in a firm line. "Wrong or not, here they come!"
The undead roared and jumped at the companions. The humans tossed aside their cover and aimed their weapons at their adversaries. Pat and Percy fought with swords while Sins used his sharp dagger to slice the heads off the undead. Canto swung his ax and chopped off limbs and heads. Any creature still squirming was put to dust by a swift kick of his powerful feet that disconnected the head from the neck.
Ned blasted his fireballs over a wide swath of the surrounding area and lit two dozen of the monsters on fire. They were consumed by the flames and dropped to dust. Fred transformed his stick, but couldn't think of any impressive moves to perform. He had his earthquake ability, but that would have leveled what remained of the city. He yelped and knocked aside the outstretched hands of the undead. They leapt and crawled over each other to get at the young man, and Fred dodged and rolled into the open door of a nearby house. He blocked the entrance with the remains of the door as the undead tried to push their way in through the narrow doorway.
Fred glanced madly around the room and spotted a doll lying on a bed in the corner. His eyes lit up with an idea, and he jumped back from the door. The undead burst inside and Fred prayed for a miracle as he pointed his staff at the creatures. A brilliant white light burst from the end and lit up the small room. Fred was blinded for a moment, and when he could see again his eyes fell on what remained of the undead creatures. They'd been turned into living-undead dolls with straw hair and cloth skin, and they were only a foot tall. He'd meant to turn them into the skins like Ned had, but this worked almost as well. The creatures still raced at him, but he had the upper foot and danced on them. He smashed their stuffing heads and they turned into dust.
With his doll enemies defeated, Fred stuck his head out of the building and saw his friends losing. Ned lifted his staff and captured them in a protective bubble, but like the episode in the valley the undead pounded away and weakened the barrier. Fred and Sins were the only ones outside the barrier, and the assassin raced over to the young man. With the undead distracted by the barrier, Sins dragged Fred through the open entrance to the square. "What are you doing?" Fred exclaimed. He tried to pull himself free and return to his friends. "We have go to help them!"
"You can help them by using this." Sins shoved something into Fred's hands.
Fred looked down and realized he held the box with the coconut halves. "How did you get this?" Undead burst from the column in defense of the stone and several more came up behind them.
Sins jumped into a group of undead and severed their heads. More replaced them, and soon they were surrounded. "Just use them!" Sins yelled. Fred yanked open the lid and clutched the two halves in his hands. He clopped them together, and nothing happened. "You have to get closer," Sins told him.
"How?" Fred countered.
"Hold on to the coconuts," Sins replied.
Fred yelped when Sins grabbed the young man by his right arm and leg. The assassin swung Fred in a circle and lifted him off the ground. When Fred caught enough momentum Sins released him, and the boy flew over the eager hands of the undead to smack face-first into the rock. His arms wrapped around the stone, and his hands still held the coconuts so that they slammed into either side of the glowing rock.
Their clopping sound resonated through the stone and cracks opened beneath the coconuts. The two halves of the fruit slipped into the growing cracks, and Fred let go before his hands joined them. He fell back onto his ass and scurried away from the stone as the earth beneath them began to shake. The column of light fell into itself and, like at Tramadore, the undead were sucked into the sky and reabsorbed into the stone. At the final implosion the stone broke into thousands of small fragments that scattered over the entire countryside.
Ned let down his barrier and they all raced over to Fred and Sins. Percy hung back for a moment to catch up a sample of the stone, but he joined them beside the crater in the ground where the large rock had stood. Pat dropped to Fred's side and looked him over. "Are you okay?" she worriedly asked him.
He gasped for breath and glared up at Sins. "Mind warning me before you do that?" he wheezed.
"There wasn't time," Sins said as a matter-of-fact.
Percy pattered his assassin on the shoulder and smiled at him. "I'd say that was good teamwork," he complimented them both.
"Aye, even Ah'll admit that was a job well done," Canto spoke up. He looked less suspiciously at Sins, and then at the re
mains of the rock. "That's two stones down, four more to go," he cheerfully announced.
CHAPTER 7
The companions had good news to tell the gargoyles when the creatures awakened that night. Sampson was glad to hear all had gone well, and it was agreed the gargoyles would return to Tramadore that night to spread the news of victory to Tramadore and the Galaron refugees. Before he left he pulled his daughter aside. "I understand you stayed by our side while we slept," he told her. She blushed and nodded, but was surprised when he frowned. "That was very unwise. Your friends are your clan now, and they need all the help you can offer."
"But I was human and have no magic," Ruth pointed out. "What could I have done?"
"Pat and the male boy are human, and still they fought," he countered. "You must not be afraid to fight with a human weapon, and with this." He tapped her forehead. "In your human form that will be your best weapon." Ruth lowered her head in shame, and he clasped her chin and raised her eyes to his smiling ones. "But I am proud of you, and I wish you a safe journey. Come back to me safely, daughter."
Ruth smiled and hugged him. They soon parted and the gargoyles carried their good message back to Tramadore. That left the seven companions with their steeds around the crackling fire. Ned stretched himself out. "It's better to see less of a crowd. Not much of an adventure with a large group of gargoyles to guard us," he told his companions.
Canto rolled his eyes and poked at the fire. "We should be thinking of what to do next. There's the road below here we could follow to head north," he suggested. "Tramadore heard there was a troublesome stone in Dirth."
"The city or the region?" Pat asked him.
"Both," was the reply. "Ah imagine the fools in the city have tried everything they can to break the stone apart," Canto told them.
"I've heard differently," Ned quietly replied.
Canto raised an eyebrow. "And what have ya heard?"
"That there's trouble between the dwarves and their Helpers," Ned answered. "The Helpers could be keeping the dwarfs from a peaceful night's sleep, much less cracking the stone."
The Unwilling Ambassador (Book 3) Page 4