Two Necromancers, a Dwarf Kingdom, and a Sky City

by L. G. Estrella

  It was Spot.

  The young dragon all but bounced off as the griffin’s rider hastily threw up some defensive magic, but a pair of explosives from one of the rats on Spot’s back sent the griffin and its rider reeling. Blinded by the flames, the griffin lashed out wildly. Sparks flew as its talons raked along Spot’s scales. An adult dragon would have been able to shrug off the attack, but Spot still had plenty of growing to do. The talons left deep furrows in his scales, and Spot bellowed in fury as he lunged at the griffin’s belly. The armour there managed to ward off his claws, so he began to pry it off. The rats lent their own skills to the effort, cutting the straps that held the armour in place. The griffin almost managed to catch Spot across the face with his talons, but the dragon turned intangible, and the blow went through him. Katie’s eyes widened. So Spot could still turn intangible? That was good. But the fact that he hadn’t used it earlier meant that it was probably a lot harder and more tiring to do than it had been in the other dimension.

  Spot belched a cloud of flame at the griffin’s face. It wasn’t enough to seriously injure his opponent, but it was enough to temporarily blind the bigger animal. The rats finally managed to cut the armour loose, and Spot slashed at the griffin’s belly. It shrieked, and one of the rats used his magic to widen the injury. The griffin’s knight cursed wildly, and shafts of ice lanced toward Spot’s side. The dragon twisted to avoid the attack, and a spear thudded into the griffin’s side as one of the roc riders joined the fight. Groaning, it struggled to stay aloft. Another roc rider clattered into it, and the knight tumbled off its back. The griffin moved to catch its rider, but Spot severed one of its wings with a thin, focused beam of black fire.

  “Thanks!” Katie shouted. More roc riders had arrived, and Spot moved to fly alongside her and Gerald.

  It’s okay. Spot chirped happily as the rats on his back exchanged squeaks with Rembrandt. He took a moment to breathe some white fire on them to heal any injures they might have taken before he veered off to continue fighting the griffin knights. On a nearby roc, Avraniel had shifted from launching fire at the griffin knights to attacking the fleet below them. It only took her a single arrow from her bow to destroy a dreadnought that had barely managed to survive an attack from the towering fungus, but Katie wondered how long the elf would be able to maintain the frantic pace she’d set. Even with her absolutely gigantic reserves of magic, Avraniel didn’t have infinite power. At some point, even she would start feeling the strain.

  A huge explosion erupted from the cosmic fungus’s back as the land-based weapons of the naval base shifted their attention from the Sky City to the beleaguered fleet. The relentless barrage drove the eldritch monstrosity back as huge swathes of its cylindrical body charred and felled away. A second salvo came, but it was ready. It froze the incoming attacks long enough to lumber out of the way, and the creature seized a dreadnought in its tentacles and hurled the vessel at the island. The naval base’s barrier flared, and the creature gave a cry of rage and frustration as it waded toward the island. It smashed its tentacles and claws into the barrier over and over again as time ebbed and swirled around it. Katie grimaced. She’d let the naval base worry about the fungus. Right now, she needed to check and see how things were going in the Sky City.

  Katie angled over the city and frowned. There were far more soldiers there now. With the fleet and the griffin knights on the lookout for her and Gerald, they’d done everything they could do out there. It was time to help out here. “Come on.” She dove and ordered some of her zombies to clear a landing site for her. “Get ready, Gerald. We’re going to help out down there.”

  “I suppose it’s better than being in the air,” Gerald mused. He summoned some of the explosives that the demolition rats had given him and let them fall. Explosions riddled the throng of imperial soldiers, and he winced as bits of debris threatened to knock them out of the sky. “Sorry! I think I dropped one of the bigger ones by mistake.” He cringed as a building collapsed. “Do you think the dwarves are going to be mad about that?”

  “Given the circumstances, I don’t think they’ll mind. Besides, it fell on some imperial soldiers, so it’s probably okay.” Katie used her shadows to deflect a slab of broken masonry that had been torn loose as the building next to them threatened to topple over. “Just try to hit as many of the imperial soldiers as you can.”

  Gerald threw a few more explosives before they landed next to Old Man. The swordsman smoothly cut down a pair of soldiers and then turned to disarm another. He seized the other man’s blade, gutted him with it, and then tossed it to catch yet another soldier in the eye. It was a terrifying display of skill, and Katie was very glad he was on their side. “It’s nice to see you and Gerald looking well, Little Miss.”

  Katie huffed. “Do you have to call me that?” In a way, though, it was reassuring. If Old Man was willing to joke around, then things couldn’t be too bad. She used a brief lull in the battle to study their surroundings before she reached out with her necromancy. Some of the downed soldiers nearby got back to their feet. She didn’t have the time to make them anything better than shambling corpses with the urge to bite people, but they should still give the dwarves some time to catch their breath. She ordered her new zombies to attack any imperial troops, and the shock of being confronted by their own dead had the imperial troops on the back foot long enough for the dwarves to grab a few precious moments of rest. A group of ninja rats showed up, and they immediately got to work, setting traps and plotting ambushes. Rembrandt squeaked orders. He’d noticed the imperial soldiers had certain formations and tactics they liked to use, so the rats needed to plan accordingly.

  “How many more troops do you think they have?” Katie asked Old Man. The next wave of soldiers was going to arrive soon. She could feel it. Above them, the battle in the sky continued to rage. A wounded roc tumbled to the ground, and a dwarf healer rapidly got to work as one of her master’s zombie wyverns swooped in to intercept the griffin knight who had downed the bird.

  “They do have an entire naval base at their disposal, and they have been preparing to launch an offensive against Everton by sea. I imagine they can do this all day and most of tomorrow too.”

  “I was afraid you’d say that,” Katie said. She concentrated and used some of her magic to reinforce a few of her zombies. It wouldn’t turn them into elites like zombie warriors or zombie marksmen, but it should let them take a few extra hits. She ordered those zombies to move back toward her and Gerald. Unlike Spot, both she and Gerald could not laugh off a sword to the gut.

  Old Man wasn’t wrong. A few minutes later, the next wave arrived. Not only did they have a portal set up somewhere, but they were also flying more of them in. Her eyes narrowed. Individually, the dwarves were better fighters – the king’s soldiers were elites, and those who’d been stationed on Skygarde were likewise amongst the finest the dwarves had possessed at the time – but there weren’t enough of them, and they were beginning to tire. Dwarves had incredible endurance – more than humans – but they’d already used a lot of energy fighting off the cosmic fungi, and it was likely that being frozen in time for centuries had taken a toll on them. Only the golems and zombies could fight without tiring, and they didn’t have an endless supply of those. Even Gerald had run out of zombies. He’d already unleashed all of the ones her master had asked him to store away with his magic.

  Still, Katie would take what she could get. The golems had been formidable when she and the others had first faced them, and Daerin had only improved his designs since then. As the next wave of imperial troops charged down the street, a squad of golems marched forward to meet them. Their arms transformed to reveal a bizarre array of weaponry. Some had inbuilt crossbows, others had magical cannons, and still other used weapons that spat flame. The imperial advance slowed as they called for mages, archers, and crossbowmen to assist them, but the golems continued to hold their ground. Their bodies were tough enough to shake off most attacks, and they were only forced to r
etreat when one of the enemy mages began to heave chunks of the road at them.

  As the golems retreated – all the while continuing to shoot projectiles at the imperial troops – Katie called one of her composite zombies over. Harold had just finished dealing with some soldiers who had been trying to sneak around behind them, and he rumbled over as quickly as he could. He was one of her favourites, and he was a zombie porcupine-hydra-bear that used a species of giant porcupine as his base. As the enemy soldiers resumed their advance, Harold did his best to stem the tide by unleashing volleys of acid and barrages of razor-sharp quills that could punch through steel, courtesy of a few improvements she and her master had made. However, he was definitely not at his best. His body was riddled with arrows, and there was even a ballista bolt sticking out of him. She had no idea where that had come from. Perhaps the imperial soldiers had managed to seize control of one of the Sky City’s siege weapons. She yanked the projectiles out of him with her shadows and poured more of her magic into him in a bid to aid his hydra-based regeneration. It was a testament to how much damage he’d suffered that even with a lot of parts from a hydra, he still wasn’t healing very quickly. They must have used magic on him that could either slow down or nullify it.

  “Oh, Harold,” she murmured. “What have they done to you?” There was a pike stuck into his side, and there were multiple swords sticking out of him too. He must have been fighting on his own because there was no way he’d have taken this much damage if he’d been with some dwarves. Her master was a skilled tactician, so he must have had no choice when he sent Harold out. There just weren’t enough dwarves to cover the entire city from attack. However, the lumbering zombie continued to do his best, and his next salvo of quills dropped a handful of incoming soldiers and forced the others to retreat straight into the minefield the rats had set up. “Don’t worry. You’ll make it through this, and we can fix you right up when we get home.”

  At least, she hoped he would. She’d put a lot of effort into making him, but it was going to be tough. Even Old Man had changed his fighting style. There was none of his usual reserve. Instead, he was fighting with ruthless efficiency, cutting down as many opponents as possible using the fewest number of strikes. It was grim stuff, but they didn’t have a choice.

  “Katie,” Gerald said, tugging on her sleeve. “Do you think you could throw this for me?”

  She turned. “What is it?” She peered at the jars in his hands. “Wait… is that hydra acid?”

  Gerald nodded. “It is. I really don’t want to use it on anybody, but we do seem to be in some trouble.” That was an understatement. “And I remember how effective it was when I accidentally used it in the compound back in the Combine. Unfortunately, I’m not very good at throwing things, and our enemies have retreated a fair way down the street.”

  Katie smiled. “It’s okay. I can throw it for you with my shadows.” She called for one of the rats. “This guy here is really good with a crossbow. We can throw the jars one at a time, and he can shoot them out of the air when they’re over our enemies.”

  “Right.” Gerald lowered his voice. “And could you maybe not tell any of the other rats? After I accidentally hit some people back in the Combine with hydra acid, they’ve become convinced that I’m becoming some kind of murderous psychopath, and I’d rather not give them any more encouragement.”

  “It’s all right. I won’t say a word.” She looked at the rat with the miniature crossbow. “And neither will you, right?” The rat flashed her a jaunty salute and then gestured for her to throw the first of the jars. “Well, here goes.”

  The imperial soldiers had managed to set up barricades to shield them from the constant barrage of projectiles from the golems, as well as the occasional explosive from the ninja rats. The dwarves, meanwhile, were calling for some siege weaponry to break through as they took the opportunity to form into more orderly ranks to prepare for the soldiers’ next push down the street. Few people noticed the small jar flying through the air over the barricade, and fewer still realised the danger it posed – right up until the ninja rat shattered it with a crossbow bolt. Katie couldn’t see the effect, but both she and Gerald could definitely hear the screams as the jar shattered and scattered hydra acid everywhere.

  “How many more jars do you have?” Katie asked, wincing as a particularly drawn-out scream ended in wet gurgling. “That wasn’t very pleasant, but it was effective.” She spotted a few more corpses and turned them into zombies. They weren’t in great shape, but they needed all the help they could get.

  “Another ten or so, I think.” Gerald gulped. He was very pale, and she had no doubt whatsoever that if he’d actually seen what the hydra acid had done, he would have thrown up. “But I also have more of that gas I used in the fortress when we were rescuing the princess.”

  “Really?” Katie nodded. “All right. Give as much of the gas as you can spare to the rats. They’ll know what to do with it. Take out the rest of the hydra acid. We need to drive them back, so we can get to the portal they’re using and shut it down.”

  Katie waved for some dwarves to follow her into a side street before she turned to lob another jar of hydra acid at the imperial barricades. Hopefully, her master and the others could get the star crystal working again. If things continued like this, it was only a matter of time before they were overrun. “Come on. If we can get into one of the buildings overlooking the barricades, we can throw acid on them from above.”

  Gerald laughed nervously. “Sometimes, I worry about how fiendish you can be.”

  She grinned. “I’m a necromancer, Gerald. Fiendish is part of the job description.”

  * * *

  “This isn’t going to work.” Timmy hated it when his pessimism turned out to be justified. If only he could live in a world full of sunshine and rainbows – then again, he doubted necromancers would be popular there. “We’ve fixed the conduit to the best of our ability, but we still haven’t fixed the more obvious problem: we don’t have the tools or the time to completely fix the damage to the central components of the ignition system.”

  “Aye, but we’ve done everything we can.” The engineer’s expression was grim. “I’ve heard back from the other teams. They’ve tried to start their parts of the first stage of the ignition system, but if their estimates are correct, we’re not going to get anywhere close to enough heat and energy to reactive the star crystal. Have you got any other ideas? Your runes and seals were very handy in patching up the conduit.”

  “We should fire up the ignition system and produce as much heat as we can. It won’t be enough, but it’s better than nothing.” Timmy sighed. “And then we ask Avraniel to help us. She might not be able to reactivate the star crystal on her own, but maybe she can do it in conjunction with the ignition system.” His brows furrowed, and he turned his gaze to the skies over the city. A brilliant lance of flame disintegrated a trio of griffin knights before continuing upward into the clouds. “You don’t know her as well as I do. I don’t think she’s ever been truly pushed to her limits before. She might surprise us.” He could still remember her seizing control of Black Scales’s fire, albeit only temporarily. She shouldn’t have been able to do that – no fire mage in history had ever shown that sort of strength – but she’d done it. “She’s been holding back all her life. We’ll have to hope she’s still got a few tricks up her sleeve now that we’ve got our backs up against the wall.”

  “We’d best call her then.” The dwarf winced as the city continued to shake from the fleet’s bombardment. “And I don’t know if you’re a praying man, necromancer, but now might be a good time to start.”

  A fresh wave of damage reports filled the air as harried repair crews ran back and forth. “I think that’s an understatement.”

  * * *

  “Their ground-based weapons are killing us,” King Barin thundered. He towered over his fellow dwarves. The mass of metal around him had created a roughly eighteen-feet-tall construct that resembled a giant dwarf. Th
ey’d managed to repel yet another wave of soldiers, but the dwarves were tiring. They might be renowned for their stamina, but they still had their limits, and magic and potions could only do so much before both the mind and body began to fail. Some of his elites were onto their third stamina potion of the day. Taking a fourth would be dangerous indeed, but they might not have a choice. “I don’t know how much more the Sky City can take, and if it crashes, we’re all dead.”

  Amanda landed nearby. Orbs of blood circled her, and her clothing was in a horrid state. It just barely managed to preserve her modesty, but she paid it no heed. She had far greater concerns. Still, the king was careful to note that her cheeks were flushed. She must have fed from some of the soldiers she’d killed. Well, he might not be especially fond of how vampires sustained themselves, but he wasn’t going to complain if she wanted to eat a few imperials.

  “Then perhaps we should take the fight to them. The magical cannons the naval base wields are far larger than even those on the dreadnoughts of the fleet. If we can disable them, we should buy ourselves considerably more time.” Her gaze flicked to where the colossal fungus was attacking the naval base. It had finally managed to break through the base’s barrier, and it was busy smashing everything it could reach while more than half the base’s weapons continued to pound away at its cylindrical body. “That thing has drawn their attention. This might be our moment to strike. If we can take them by surprise, we might have a chance.”

  “Aye.” Barin was weary. Even after his magic had covered him in metal, he still had to fight the urge to sit down. They had precious little time to waste, and there were few who could hold the frontline the way he could. His fellow dwarves were relying on him, and as their king, he refused to let them down. “We can try.” He looked at Old Man. The swordsman had killed more than anyone except possibly Amanda, and he’d done it relying almost entirely on pure swordsmanship. Barin’s son was getting old enough to decide which weapon he wished to favour. If the boy chose the sword, he would pay handsomely to have Old Man become his instructor. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but can you get us onto the ground in one piece? We need to disable some of their ground-based weaponry.”