Chapter 14

As the troop neared the ending of the forest, the town was in sight. A great sheet of flame rose from it, indicating the smoke they had seen earlier.

"Light have mercy!" Iaes cried out as he saw the billowing smoke of the town. However, he did not see any survivors, not even bodies as he had seen only an hour before, the fresh memories of the slaughtered soldiers still in his mind. Strange enough that there were no bodies, but now in the clearing of the forest, there was no noise.

No birds, no slight rustling of the trees in the soft, lapping winds of the coast, just the sounds of the soldiers, many of whom had loved ones in the town itself.

The Bailey, however, continued to pace up and down the line, which he had ordered to be reformed into three battle lines of swords, each with about forty men, muttering something about the town seems as if 'it had been attacked', just as the guards had. Suddenly, as the formation had begun to swing north of town for the reason of which Iaes could only think to be to meet an enemy, a thunderous noise erupted on the far south flank of the troops.

Suddenly, a sergeant ran past with a stricken look on his face "Get yar' weapons ready boys! The undead are upon us! They're at the flank!"

From what Iaes could see on the elevated position his portion of the line was on, a sudden black wave had emerged from the forest and engulfed the front line of the southern units.

The order streamed through the men "Undead?"

Undead had never bothered this land…and there had been no 'living dead' since the orcish necrolytes had risen them from slain warriors, human and orcish, in the Second War.

What madness was this? The Kirin Tor had selectively banned the arts of necromancy long ago, labeling it one of the black majiks. Was it a rogue wizard, or some kind of training exercise? If so…where did they procure the dead bodies in the forest? And this attack didn't seem very much like the training he had gone through back at the Castle. And if it was not orcs, nor the mysterious wizards of the Kirin Tor, nor even a training exercise…then it was real. A battle!

Iaes fumbled at the hilt of his sword, pulling it shakily from his sheath. Slowly the line turned to meet the oncoming wave. As they neared, Iaes made out shapes vaguely human, then as they drew ever closer, Iaes noticed that they were missing large patches of flesh, or were not suited with flesh at all, instead of being nothing but bones held together with…what?

"Hold the line boys! Word's gotta' get back to the Castle!" somebody shouted out as the din of battle closed in.

Iaes stared at the incoming wave of undead creatures until his eyes watered and dripped. The only thing he felt and heard was the rushing of blood and the thumping of his heavy heart. He lifted his kite shield as was taught, and braced for the impact of the enemy, body already numb.

Suddenly, his shield was smacked with a deafening hit, nearly tearing off his arm. As the shield was easily swept away by a superhuman strength, Iaes was left standing against a massive skeletal frame with bits of festering flesh and cloth hanging off the bones, and instead of eyes, there were great sockets of green flame.

The brainless thing seemed to be guided by something, or someone, as its blows were instructed to hit Iaes into the netherworld. Another blow came from a massive makeshift flail, and Iaes acted instinctively, barely missing the chained ball's metal spikes as they scraped across his breastplate.

The world around him blurred as he dodged the skeletal figure's blows, and the last thing from the outside of his fight that Iaes noticed was the comrade who had just been standing beside him crumple as a plume of blood exploded out of a chest wound, which sprayed on Iaes as some sort of red paint. The disgust gagged Iaes as he once again sidestepped another one of the undead creatures foolish fumbles.

As the ball swept around his head, Iaes ducked, narrowly missing the deadly weapon as it caved in the skull of yet another one of the men whom he had just been standing next to. In an instant, as soon as the battle had begun, the inexperienced men gave way, and the lines crumbled.

Shortly sidestepping yet another wave of the flail, Iaes took the courage to strike back with his broadsword, pressing all his energy into the attack. As soon as he had thrusted his sword at the attacker's ribcage, the enemy too dodged his attack, however not soon enough to escape the blow of the sword.

It cleanly sliced across the chest and up across the neck, severing the head from its body, decapitating the attacker. Iaes looked at his sword as the rotting bones fell to the ground, the black blood covering it.

As he saw the line of men melt away into the forest, he swore, and took up flight himself. Throwing his sword on the ground, Iaes dashed madly into the trees, followed closely by the nightmarish corpses that lumbered, and even in a few cases, ran behind them.

It struck him as a strange thing to notice, but as he had his last glimpses of the sky before the great branches of the deadened trees covered it, he noticed that it was a deathly pale yellow, a terrible color that resembled something akin to a bruise.

His glimpse did not last long though, as the cries of the men caught under the blows of the horrifying undead revenants permeated the air, their shrill cries filling him with dread.

The greater part of the day, or what seemed the entire existence of the world, Iaes ran instinctively toward the Castle. No more were the screams of those who had fallen, and he saw no one, nor heard any crunching of footsteps, save himself.

The pure terror and adrenaline had driven him nearly three miles before he collapsed in a heap of flesh and metal, and the stars, which had recently come out, began to swirl into blackness…

With a start he woke! Iaes shot his head in all directions, searching for the fiends that had murdered his comrades in arms. The sun had already begun to arc across the sky, turning from its great pinks and oranges into the yellow of day. Here, the sky was blue again.

It must be the morn…I must warn the Castle! The thoughts exploded into his mind.

Again he took to the running and followed the trail which it seemed his unconscious mind had took to when he fled. As the trees parted, there it lay, the great stone walls of Castle Thoradin Pointe. The sight of it brought tears to Iaes's blood and grime-covered face as he ran toward it still.

Suddenly, the shaft of an arrow dug itself into the ground before his feet and dared not move a foot further.

"Halt!" a voice cried out from the wall. "Who are ye, and what is ye business at the Castle!"

"Pri-private Iaes Su-Sundrast" the words seemed to stick to his mouth as cattle to the grass. "Second Sword…Company"

No reply came, but the great door fell open as if the gaping maw of a beast. Iaes ran inside, still terrified if the creatures were in the forest. As soon as he entered, he noticed the Captain of the Castle and his staff marching about in the square, as if trying to figure out what to do. He glanced over at Iaes, and asked the gate guard who the newcomer was.

"Another one from the Second Company sir" the guard replied as he nodded towards a small grouping of men with bandages wrapped around bloody wounds. The guard led Iaes over to the men, and as he did, Iaes spotted the Bailey, a bloody swath in his neck. Iaes stumbled over to his commander, who lay on his back against the dirt of the square, all the healers tending to the few others who had returned.