“They’re not idiots, unfortunately.” Otto sat on the iron footlocker in Wolfric’s cabin and wiped the sweat from his brow. The small room felt stuffy and the air close. Heat combined with a lack of ventilation made it hard to breathe. Not that Wolfric seemed overly discomforted.
The second bombardment had just ended with considerably poorer results than the first. He’d only killed one wizard this time, but the war wizards had slipped more fireballs through the defensive wall. It wasn’t a horrible effort, but it was less overwhelming a win than he wanted.
“I didn’t suppose they survived here for so long by being weaklings.” Wolfric had grown a beard during their time at sea and he gave it an absentminded scratch. “Will you try again tomorrow?”
“I think moving on to the second phase of the assault would be prudent. It would also reserve the wizards’ strength.”
Wolfric frowned. “Are you certain about this? Can you control the creatures?”
“I don’t need to control them, just force them into the city. Once inside they’ll do what they do with no prompting from me. Trust me, if anything will rattle the city’s leaders, this will.”
“Very well. Go ahead with phase two. Hopefully it will convince the fools to do the right thing and spare us another day of pounding them with fireballs.”
“Yes, hopefully.” Otto stood. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Otto quickly left the stifling cabin and went up on deck. The slightly less stifling evening air came as a bit of a relief. He glanced at the sky. It would be twilight soon, the perfect time to find what he sought.
He sent his sight flying toward the desert beyond the city. About a mile from the walls, he marked a spot and blinked his vision back to his body. His heart lurched when he found Corina standing right next to him.
“Make some noise when I’m scouting. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“Sorry, Master. Can I come with you tonight?”
“No. I’m traveling through the ether and even if I wasn’t, my task is far too dangerous to have you along. Stay here and pay attention. Wolfric’s safety is in your hands while I’m gone.”
She smiled. “I’m not sure Hans and Commander Borden would agree.”
“Both of them have their uses, but they can’t see everything a wizard can.” He looked dead into her eyes. “I’m trusting you with the emperor’s safety. Take nothing for granted.”
“I won’t let you down, Master.”
He nodded and became one with the ether.
An instant later he appeared in the sands outside the city where he’d left his marker. There were supposed to be undead all over the place, yet he sensed nothing beyond the endless dunes. If he had to go hunting for the creatures, this might be a long night.
With a shrug, Otto set out across the sand away from the city. At least the walking was easy. There wasn’t so much as a stone bigger than his head visible in any direction.
About half a mile from his point of origin, the ether swirled to his right. He’d never sensed anything like it. Hopefully this was what he sought. Adjusting his course slightly to his right, he marched on, every muscle tense, and a powerful ethereal barrier surrounding him.
The power he sensed grew ever closer, but he still saw nothing. Had he made a mistake? Perhaps the creatures lurked elsewhere.
Directly ahead of him the sand exploded upward as ten humanoid figures rose from under the sand. That made sense. There was nowhere else for them to hide and it wasn’t like the undead had to breathe.
The creatures moved closer, giving him a better view of their misshapen forms. They had certainly been human once, but now, twisted by magic, they were monsters. Hunched over with elongated limbs and oversized jaws filled with three rows of teeth like steak knives. Their bodies were emaciated, the ribcages poking out of skin like leather. The creatures stared at him with glowing red eyes.
“Why doesn’t the meat run?” one of them asked.
“Yes, we like the taste of fear,” another said.
Just as Otto hoped, they retained at least some awareness. A deep philosophical conversation was probably too much to ask, but he could talk to them.
“I have a proposal for you,” Otto said. “How would you like to sneak into the city and slaughter a bunch of humans?”
“Meat doesn’t talk,” said the biggest of the group, a near-seven-foot creature that stood more upright than the rest. “It bleeds.”
Perhaps it led this pack? Otto wasn’t certain. Did the concept of leadership even enter into their thinking?
When the giant ghoul took a step toward him, Otto pointed. An ethereal lance made up of twenty compressed threads smashed into its head, blowing the twisted appendage apart in a burst of brains and blood.
“As I was saying,” Otto continued. “I’m not meat. But I am offering you a chance to kill and devour as many humans as you can.”
“You are one of the masters,” the first ghoul that spoke said. “Forgive us, great one, we did not recognize you.”
The nine remaining members of the pack fell to their knees and touched their heads to the sand. Otto smiled. It seemed he would get what he needed after all.
“I take it you’re interested in my offer?”
One of the ghouls looked up at him. “We’ll be killed if we go into the city.”
“You’re already dead,” Otto pointed out. “How long has it been since you’ve fed? Since you’ve killed and rent flesh? Half the city’s wizards are dead and the other half exhausted. You’ll never have a better chance to slaughter all the humans you want. Eventually their superior numbers will overcome you, but isn’t that better than rotting out here, starving, in the vain hope someone’s stupid enough to leave the safety of the walls?”
The one ghoul seemed to have taken up the role of spokesman for the group. “Why do you ask us and not command? You are a master. We couldn’t resist your orders if we wanted to.”
Otto had no doubt that Amet Sur and the other Arcane Lords had some way to control the undead, but he hadn’t learned it yet. Not that he had any intention of telling these creatures that.
“I ask, because in my experience, willing fighters are more motivated than slaves. I’ll compel you if I must, but I prefer to secure your willing aid.”
“Want to kill!” one of the other ghouls growled, and bared its fangs.
The others snarled their eagerness as well.
“It seems we have an understanding. Follow me.”
Otto turned his back on them, a move of supreme confidence calculated to show just how little of a threat he considered them. When, after twenty paces, none of them had attacked, he let out the breath he’d been holding.
The sun had fully set when they reached the base of the wall. Using his magic, Otto enhanced his vision, rendering the world in shades of gray. On the battlements, a guard passed by, never looking down, completely ignorant of what would soon happen to the city he was supposed to protect.
“How will we climb up?” the ghoul spokesman asked.
“I’ll lift you. Gather together in a tight group.”
The undead did as he asked and Otto conjured a disk beneath them. He needed twenty-five threads to do it, but soon the monsters rose into the darkness. When they reached the top of the wall, he felt them leap off.
His construct had barely dissolved when the screaming started.
Satisfied with his work, Otto followed the base of the wall to the ocean. Once there, he conjured an ethereal walkway and strode across the water toward their ship, extending it as he went.
By the time he reached the side of the ship, he had nearly exhausted himself. Happily, a rope ladder fell from above followed by Hans’s worried face peering down at him. “Are you well, my lord?”
“Perfectly, though I’m in serious need of sleep.”
Otto climbed the ladder and at the top Hans pulled him aboard.
“Do you think there will be trouble tonight?” Hans asked.
Otto smiled and looked back at the city. “No, I do believe they’ll be too busy to trouble us tonight.”