Rented Swords part 2
This is the conclusion of Rented Swords
* * * * *
Dana stared at the mercenaries. “Duke Wiskver hired that many men?”
Jayden shook his head. “More likely these mercenaries were hired by the king and queen. Come spring they will earn their keep in the royal couple’s wars. I imagine Duke Wiskver has the unenviable duty of feeding them during the winter. He’s making the best of a bad situation by using them as guards for whatever those wagons contain.”
Suzy tapped her fingers on the side of her wagon. “Sneaking in there is going to be hard. Getting out with whatever’s in those wagons is impossible. We’re going to have to burn it all, Jayden. I’ve got firebombs to do the job.”
“If the contents of those wagons are flammable, we could repeat the disaster you caused in Armorston,” he said. “We’ll see what’s there and act accordingly.”
“By burning it,” Suzy said sweetly.
“Why does he have two barns?” Dana asked before Jayden could shout at Suzy.
Jayden paused. “I was here before the civil war, and there was only one barn then. Where the second barn stands used to be a far smaller building leading to a large natural cavern. The duke who once lived here used the cave to store beer barrels while the beer fermented. Wiskver didn’t follow his example.”
“That’s stupid,” Dana said. “Brewers make good money. Why wouldn’t he have men do the work?”
“Because he’s a snob,” Jayden said. “Beer is poor men’s drink, and he has aspirations to greatness.”
“We can sneak inside,” Suzy said. “I don’t see guards on patrol, and there aren’t dogs sniffing out intruders. Wiskver is either real confident or real stupid.”
“He expects little trouble with so many men at his command.” Jayden cautioned, “Ground around the manor lacks cover. We’d be seen coming at a distance, and by now both of us have bounties on our heads and wanted posters with our portraits.”
“But not mine,” Dana said.
Jayden grabbed her by the arm. “No.”
Dana pulled free. “There has to be farmers and ranchers living nearby. They’ll think I’m one of them looking for work. I can get in, find out what’s going on and get back.”
“Even if they don’t know who you are, sending a young woman among soldiers and mercenaries is too dangerous,” he said. “You have no ideas the risk you’re taking or the cost you’ll pay if even one man among that thousand seeks to do you harm.”
“What choice is there?” she demanded. “You said those mercenaries are going to be here until spring. We can’t wait that long. And what if they’re carrying weapons in those wagons, maybe more bombs like the one Suzy set off? Whatever is in there is so valuable they’re spending lots of money on it, and you don’t do that without a good reason.”
Suzy smiled at Dana. “McShootersun would love you.”
Jayden stared hard at Dana before marching back to Suzy’s wagon. “You need a disguise that will make them want to let you in, and Lockheart generously provided it.”
“I did what?” Suzy asked.
“Soldiers and mercenaries eat like horses,” Jayden said. He gathered up food that Suzy had cooked and wrapped it in an old blanket. “A peasant girl with food to sell, especially good food, is going to be a welcome sight they will want to return as often as possible. You’ll have to leave your sword here or risk arousing their suspicion.”
Jayden handed her the bundle, but didn’t let go when she tried to pull it from his grasp. His eyes locked onto hers with a fierceness she knew all too well. “If we see or hear signs of danger, if we even suspect a threat to your wellbeing, Lockheart and I will come down on them like the wrath of God.”
With Jayden that was no idle threat. Dana was less certain of what Suzy was capable of, but Jayden made it sound like the woman was a serious threat, possibly his equal.
Dana met his gaze. “You trusted me before. Trust me now.”
She left them and hurried toward the manor and its army of soldiers and mercenaries. It surprised her how far she got before the first man noticed her. Two spearmen wearing chain armor and dressed in blue and black stepped toward her and gave her curious looks when she stopped in front of them and curtsied.
“Good sirs, my name is Candice Latchkey. My family needs money to cover next year’s taxes. Forgive me if I ask too much, but I brought home cooked meals I thought you might like to buy. I know you’ll love it, and I don’t charge much.”
One spearman looked through the bundle of food while the second kept an eye on her. The first one pinched off a piece of Suzy’s bread and tasted it. He nodded and looked to the other spearman. “It’s good. We’ll have to clear this with the captain first. Sven, take her to the command tent.”
A spearman barely older than Dana led her to a large brightly lit tent. Inside stood three older men wearing plate armor and arguing over plates of cold chicken. They paused when the young spearman entered and saluted. Dana opened her mouth, but one of the men spoke first.
“Peasant,” he said. The man had ugly scars along the left side of his jaw, like he’d been badly burned in the past. His hair was black going to gray and cut very short. He walked up to her and saw the bundle she was carrying. “Trying to curry favor or do business?”
Dana curtsied again. “Business. I’m selling home cooked—”
The man jammed a finger into one of Suzy’s pies and stuck it in his mouth. “Sweet bark. I haven’t tasted that in a long time. Where does a peasant girl get sweet bark?”
Thinking fast, she said, “A man came to my village with spices for sale. We didn’t know why he sold it so cheaply.”
The scarred man laughed. “He’s a clever thief to sell to peasants. You’d eat the evidence fast enough. Fine, sell your food and be on your way, but if one of my men eats it and falls sick, you’ll pay.”
Dana did her best to look offended. “Sir! I’ve never disappointed a customer, much less harmed one.”
“Off with you,” the scarred man said.
Dana left the tent and went among the armed men around the manor. She gradually made her way closer to the armored wagons, careful to take a roundabout path so it didn’t look like that was her objective. As she walked she offered food to nearby men. Most refused her, but men came in ones and twos to buy what she had. This earned a fair number of copper coins, far less than the spices in the food were worth, and kept up the appearance that she was a peddler.
Bit by bit she got closer to the armored wagons. She stopped when she was twenty feet away and tried to look inside the nearest one. The back of the wagon had been lowered, and even in the poor light of the camp she could see it was empty. The contents had been unloaded.
So many wagons could carry tons of cargo. That meant it had to be transferred to a building with lots of space. Dana studied the two barns and decided to check the one built over the cavern. If Duke Wiskver was feeling particularly paranoid he might hide the goods underground.
Dana earned another handful of coins as she worked he way closer to the barn. Neither barn had soldiers or mercenaries camped close to it, which meant approaching them might make her stand out. Dana risked it and went closer. She got within fifty feet and stopped, but not willingly.
Her feet didn’t want to move. She pressed on, lifting a foot and trying to fall forward, but even this got her only a step closer. The closer she got the worse this strange compulsion was until she couldn’t move her arms, legs, even her fingers closer to the building. Panicking, she took a step backwards, and to her relief she moved away at full speed.
What to do? There was still another barn to check. Would the same mysterious force defend that one? She tried to look casual as she approached the barn. This time there was no trouble, and she reached a side door without incident. The door was barred from the outside. Dana had no trouble lifting the bar and setting it quietly on the ground.
She opened the door to find the enormous barn was filled front to back with people. Most of them were girls her age or younger, while about a third were boys no older than twelve. They wore simple cotton clothes and huddled around small brick lined fire pits. The girls and boys were chained together in long lines like prisoners.
Worse than this, if such a thing was possible, were their anguished faces. They looked at Dana in fear and self-loathing. Many turned away at the sight of her. Those who did meet gaze had writing tattooed onto their right cheeks just below the eye. Dana took a step forward and read the words on the nearest girl. It said, “Property of,” with a line below those repulsive words. They were slaves.
“Who are you?” Dana whispered.
“The man said we don’t have names anymore,” a girl responded.
“What man?”
Another girl told the first one, “Don’t talk. You’ll get us in trouble.”
“It can’t get worse than this,” the first one said. “The tall man, Wiskver, bought us in Skitherin. He brought us to a city, and today he brought us here. He’s going to sell us in springtime.”
These girls and boys were the cargo of the armored wagons. Jayden had said Duke Wiskver was still earning his riches through trade. They’d met slaves in Baron Scalamonger’s estate, and later a boy owned by an army officer Imuran Tellet. Scalamonger had said many noblemen used slave labor, but even in Dana’s worst nightmares she hadn’t believed the trade in human lives was this extensive. Duke Wiskver must be supplying the demand, and no doubt earning a handsome profit.
Dana took the girl’s hands in hers. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”
“How? We can’t go home. Our own families sold us. We have no money, no land, no one to turn to.” The girl looked down. “Run. Leave before they sell you, too.”
There wasn’t much of Suzy’s cooking left. Dana handed it to the girl and said, “It won’t go far, but pass it around. Please believe me, help is coming.”
Dana left the barn and closed the door behind her. She felt an empty feeling in her heart. She had to help these poor people, but what could she do when the duke had a thousand men? Dana hurried away from the barn and headed for the edge of the camp.
“Hey, girl, you have anything left?” Dana spun around and saw the young spearman from before approach her.
“Uh, Sven, isn’t it? Sorry, no, all out. I’ll bring more tomorrow.”
Sven laughed and caught up with her. “You sold out that fast? I thought you’d be here all night. This duke is an idiot, but he feeds us enough that we don’t have to poach game or buy food. You’re good.”
Dana kept walking toward the edge of the camp. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have a man yet, do you?”
That made her stop in mid step. “I have a boyfriend.”
“But does he have money? You’re a good cook, and you’re good at peddling. Most women are too shy for that. You should see girls run when we come into town! Sheep are braver. A man would do well to have you for a wife.”
“I’ll be sure to tell my boyfriend.”
Sven cheerfully said, “My captain shares loot and pay from our employer, not like some captains. I have enough to settle down and buy a farm. I just need a wife. Your man doesn’t have money or he wouldn’t let you come here alone. I’m a better choice than he is.”
“Wait, you’d asked a stranger to marry you?”
“Why not? Back in Skitherin Kingdom, grandparents arrange marriages. Here we have to find wives by ourselves. A woman who can cook and is pretty, that’s a good catch. Love can come later.”
Dana knew parents who meddled in their children’s love lives, forbidding certain boys and encouraging others. It wasn’t strange for parents to pick a wife or husband for their children. “Take your money home and let your family pick a girl for you.”
Sven waved his hand like he was shooing away a fly. “Why go back? You know what would happen if I tried? The nobles, the magistrates, the Ministry of Obedience, they’d take every coin from me. I risked my life to earn that money. I can spend it, I can give it away, but no one takes it from me.”
Sven stopped her and pulled a coin pouch from his belt. He opened it and held it up to show her. “See, gold. That’s enough to buy good land, livestock, tools—”
“And buy a wife, too,” Dana interrupted.
“No, it’s not like that!”
Skitherin Kingdom must be a miserable place if men like Sven would risk their lives by becoming mercenaries. It must be doubly miserable if families sell their daughters and even sons. Sven hated his homeland, natural enough given what he’d said. The other mercenaries probably felt the same. But how did they feel about the common people from back home?
Dana put her hands on her hips. “It is so! You think you can buy me like those poor Skitherin girls in the barn.”
Sven’s expression went from panic to confusion. “What girls?”
“The ones in the barn. Duke Wiskver bought them from your homeland, and he’s selling them here. I won’t be bought for pocket change.”
Confusion gave way to anger, and then grim determination as Sven grabbed Dana’s hand. “Come with me.”
Dana barely had to feign indignation as Sven dragged her to the command tent. “Hey, wait a minute!”
Soldiers and mercenaries watched with concern as Sven pulled her along. They reached the command tent to find little had changed, except the cold chicken dinners were now only bones picked clean. The scarred man leading the mercenaries raised an eyebrow when he saw Dana again.
“What did she do?” he demanded.
Sven pushed Dana toward the ugly man. “Tell the captain what you told me.”
Dana pointed at Sven. “He wants to settle down and asked me to marry him.”
The captain burst out laughing. Sven blushed and shouted, “Not that part!”
“He showed me what you paid him and said he could support me. I said I wouldn’t be bought like those Skitherin girls in the barn.”
The captain stopped laughing. “Girls? What’s this about? How would you know what’s in those barns?”
Oops. Dana prayed she was a convincing liar. “I heard voices in the barn and thought some of your men were staying there. I opened a side door and saw girls and young boys chained up. They said they were from Skitherin Kingdom, and that the duke had bought them.”
The captain’s eyes narrowed. “The wagons that came in this morning, they went straight into the barn before unloading so we wouldn’t see.”
“Is this how they’re able to pay us?” Sven demanded. “Our daughters and sisters are being sold like oxen, and to do what? Mop floors if they’re lucky! Captain, are we going to take money from a man who hires us to fight his battles while treating our women like animals?”
Sven’s yelling brought mercenaries running to the command tent until there was a crowd gathered around the entrance. The captain glared at Sven and Dana. He looked angry and conflicted. Finally he said, “I don’t take a peasant’s word for anything. She says there are slaves in that barn, I look before I believe her.”
The captain marched out of the tent with his men following. Sven took the lead with Dana still in his grip. They marched up to the second, older barn, and the captain tried to open the large front door. He glowered at Dana when it didn’t budge.
“I used the side door,” she said, and pointed to it.
Grumbling under his breath, the captain marched to the side door, pulled off the bar and threw it aside. He opened the door and peered inside. Seconds later he came back out. “Sven, let the girl go.”
“Then it’s true.” Sven released Dana and ran to the door. He came back swearing and stomping his feet. More mercenaries came over and looked inside. Some looked outraged, while others were merely curious.
“Karl, open the door,” the captain ordered. A man big as an ogre lumbered up to the barn’s main door, lifted a sledgehammer and struck the lock. Wham! Wham! A third blow took the lock off, and the enormous man pulled the door open to reveal hundreds of cowering girls and boys.
The commotion brought soldiers, archers and knights running over. Steps behind them came a man wearing a sable coat. He was older with silver hair, and would have looked handsome except for the look of utter contempt on his face.
“What is the meaning of this?” the older man demanded.
“I believe that is my question, Duke Wiskver,” the mercenary captain replied. He gestured to the slaves. “Women and children of Skitherin in chains, goods to be sold no different than sheep or goats, and you thought we wouldn’t care?”
“My property is none of your business,” Wiskver said haughtily. “You have been paid well to fight for the king and queen. Nothing else that goes on in this kingdom is your concern.”
“King and queen,” the captain repeated. “Strange how often I hear that. Most kings speak for themselves, yet your king’s proclamations always come with his wife’s name attached to them, like she is his equal.”
“You dog!” Wiskver spat on the ground. “You’re hired help, nothing more, yet you dare to speak so contemptibly of my king!”
Dana watched the mercenaries and soldiers. The two sides were the same size, but the mercenaries were better armed and armored, and they looked more confident. Jayden had said mercenary captains didn’t owe their positions to royal commands or grants. The captain had earned his position through courage, quick wits and constant victories. His men followed because he paid them, and they could leave if they were dissatisfied. Many of them looked furious. If he backed down he risked them deserting or replacing him.
A fight could break out any second. Dana raced away, slipping twice on snow trampled down to mush by foot traffic. She heard shouting and insults behind her as she reached the tents, and barely got past them when she ran into Jayden, Suzy and Yub. She slid across the wet ground and landed at Jayden’s feet.
Jayden looked worried as he helped her up. “Are you hurt?”
“No, but it’s about to get really messy.” Dana looked back at the growing crowd of soldiers and mercenaries. She wasn’t sure which side would win if they fought. Jayden and Suzy could tip the fight in the mercenaries’ favor, but she hesitated to explain what she’d seen. Jayden had gone berserk when he’d seen the slaves at Scalamonger’s estate, and he might do so again. “Promise me you’re not going to go feral.”
Suzy looked confused. “What?”
“She’s worried I’ll lose my temper,” Jayden explained. “Dana, I won’t get angry. Tell me what you saw.”
“The new barn is protected by some kind of magic that kept me back, and I learned what was in the armored wagons. They were carrying people, Jayden, hundreds of girls and boys from Skitherin Kingdom. They’re chained up in the other barn. Wiskver is going to sell them this spring. I told the mercenaries, and they’re confronting the duke.” Dana saw Jayden’s eye’s narrow and his face turn red. “No, you promised!”
Suzy went through her coat and brought out a small bomb. “He promised, I didn’t. Back home I saw too many people treated like dirt, but they were still free people. This stops if I have to blow up every building here to do it.”
“Ms. Lockheart, I believe we’ve finally found a matter where we’re of the same opinion,” Jayden declared.
Dana grabbed them both by the arm. “The mercenaries are minutes away from rebelling. If you attack they’ll join forces with the soldiers to defend themselves. Just sit still and let them fight each other.”
Jayden looked dubious as he studied the growing conflict. “They’re too busy to pay attention to us. We can get closer and take action if needed. Lockheart, I assume your wagon is well supplied with explosives?”
“Like you have to ask.”
“Bring it with us and hide it behind a tent.”
They snuck into the tent camp and found the mercenaries and soldiers in a war of words. Men shouted back and forth, with Wiskver and the scarred mercenary captain the loudest and angriest.
“You came highly recommended as skilled warriors, yet I find disobedient curs before me!” Wiskver bellowed.
“You want blind obedience, buy a golem,” the scarred captain retorted. “You want battles won, hire men who think and treat them well. Is that what you thought we were, slaves for rent?”
A lone mercenary approached the barn’s entrance. Wiskver shouted, “Get away from there!”
The mercenary ignored him. “Tanya?”
One of the slave girls sat up straight, her eyes snapping open and her jaw dropping in shock. Just as fast she crouched down and covered her face with her hands. The mercenary ran to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Tanya!”
The scarred captain went to the man and put a hand on his shoulder. The mercenary had doubtlessly fought many battles, seen horrors beyond description, yet tears ran down his face like rivers. “S-sir, this is Tanya, from my village. She grew up three doors down from me. She’s a good girl. I, sir, I can’t leave her like this.”
The scarred captain looked at his followers, now universally angry. His eyes fell on Wiskver. “They’re coming with us. Take whatever they cost you out of our pay.”
“You’ll do no such thing!” Wiskver thundered. He pulled a jeweled rod from inside his coat and pointed it at them. “Men, attack!”
Dana had to give the soldiers credit for bravery if not brains as they charged headlong into the mercenaries. The mercenaries battered them aside with contemptible ease, fighting with a unity and ferocity Dana had rarely seen. Soldiers were surrounded and knocked to the ground, their weapons broken, and a few were even robbed.
Suzy ran headlong into the fight with Yub at her side. “I want in on this!”
Jayden handed Dana her sword back and followed Suzy. Suzy threw bombs and sent knights screaming from their horses. Jayden formed his giant magic hand and bowled over archers taking aim at the mercenaries. Yub tripped soldiers and took their wallets.
Dana ignored the fight and ran into the barn. Slaves cowered when she approached, and they screamed when she drew her magic sword. She swung down as hard as she could. A shower of sparks shot up as it hacked through a chain holding twenty slaves together. Screams turned into shouts of joy, and slaves held up their chains for her to cut.
Wiskver ran into the barn and saw her chop through another chain. “No, stop!”
Dana pointed her sword at his heart. “I’m coming for you next!”
Wiskver ran screaming from the barn. Dana hacked chains apart one after another until everyone was free. She led them out to find the soldiers falling back. Wiskver wasn’t with them. Instead he headed for the second barn. He held up his jeweled rod and went right through the barrier that had kept Dana back.
“Oh no.” Dana saw Jayden pursuing fleeing soldiers and waved to him. “Jayden, stop Wiskver!”
The warning came too late. Wiskver pressed his rod against the barn’s door, and it swung open as if strong men were pushing it. He stepped aside and pointed his rod at the mercenaries.
“Idiots!” Wiskver screamed into the barn. “Worthless retches the lot of you! I paid good money for you failures! Not one of you would do a day’s work! If work is too good for you, then fight in my name! Kill! Kill!”
Seconds passed with no response, making Dana think Wiskver was out of his mind, before a lone voice called back, “You only had to say it once.”
The barn’s interior lit up with a sea of red lights. There was a strange clacking sound, like sticks hitting sticks, followed by a hateful, braying laughter, and the stuff of nightmares poured out. Animated skeletons ran screaming from the barn like a river in flood, each one with red light pouring from empty eye sockets, and unarmed except for their sharp teeth and nails. Horrible as even one of these abominations was, they emerged by the hundreds, laughing, screaming and throwing their heads back as they howled.
Dana would have screamed in horror or fear, but the cry died in her throat as a wave of pain washed over her. She grabbed her head and pinched her eyes shut as she doubled over. The slaves suffered the same agony and cried out. Seconds later pain turned to rage, an unquenchable hatred that made her entire body shake.
The skeletal horde crashed into the mercenaries with overwhelming numbers. The scarred captain rallied his men into a rough square that slowly fell back. Skeletons surrounded the formation and pounded on it from all sides. Mercenaries battered skeletons to pieces, only for more to take their place.
Skeletons also went after the soldiers. Wiskver shouted at them to stop and waved his rod at them to no avail. Soldiers fought with fierceness equaling the mercenaries, falling back only far enough to have walls at their backs. Skeletons attacked the buildings as well and tried to force their way through doors and windows. Wiskver pulled at his hair, helpless to stop the battle.
Then they came to the barn.
“Ooh, look at all the pretty pretties to kill,” a horrifying skeleton said as it stepped in front of the barn door. This one was missing a foot and had a horse’s hoof in its place, and there was an extra arm on its left side. “I must have been a good boy!”
Dana screamed in pain and revulsion as she charged the monster. It tried to grab her with its three arms. She slid under its clumsy swings and lashed out with her sword, hacking off two of its arms. The skeleton looked puzzled and held up the stumps in front of its glowing eyes. She swung again and lopped off both legs at the knees. The skeleton fell to the ground, and she plunged her sword through its ribs and spine, destroying it.
“Hey, save some for me,” a skeleton with a wolf’s skull said as it swaggered into the barn. It stared at the shattered bones and its jaw dropped. “Huh?”
Dana charged the skeleton and swung across its chest, slicing through rib bones before cutting off the front of its skull. The skeleton fell backwards into a third skeleton, knocking it over. She leapt onto the fallen skeleton and cut it to pieces.
Dana heard a faint noise of a girl screaming. In her fury it took seconds to realize the screams were hers. Pain and rage made it hard to think. She saw skeletons running to join the attack on the mercenaries. She growled under her breath and ran after them, catching up with one and stabbing it in the back until it fell.
Mercenaries and soldiers were pushed together by the rush of skeletons until they stood side by side. The men fought with the same fury Dana did, snarling and screaming as they battered and hacked their enemies to pieces. Skeletons mobbed men and dragged them down, but men ran to the rescue and pulled their victims to safety. It would have been impressive, except the stream of skeletons from the barn never slackened.
Jayden fought his way to the embattled men, his black sword slashing apart skeletons like they were wheat before a scythe. He seemed to be the only person not totally consumed by rage. Suzy Lockheart was steps behind him and hurling explosives at anything within range. Yub followed suit with more explosives. When he ran out he threw himself at the nearest skeleton and bit it, chewing the skeleton’s leg and eating it.
Dana destroyed ten skeletons getting to Jayden. She was hit twice and knocked back, but she went on heedless of the blows until she reached him. Jayden embraced her with his left arm when she came close.
“Jayden, make it stop!” Dana clutched her head and gritted her teeth. “I want…I need to kill them! I hate them all!”
“Your body is reacting to the presence of undead,” he said. “The pain will stop when they’re gone. My mind cloud spell protects me, but it takes too long to cast it on you.”
Skeletons tried to swarm the two of them. Suzy spotted the attack and hurled a bomb into the mob, blasting it apart. She tried to charge the next group of skeletons until Jayden pulled her to a stop.
“Why don’t they stop coming?” Dana asked. “The barn’s not that big.”
“Wiskver must have put them into the cavern below as well as in the barn,” Jayden said. “It’s large enough to house thousands of skeletons. We’ll be overrun if we stay and chased down if we flee.”
More skeletons attacked. These ones were pieced together nightmares with bones from men and animals fused together. Jayden destroyed the first two with his black sword, while Dana charged a third one and cut it apart. Suzy hurled firebombs into the skeletons and burned them to ashes.
“More!” Suzy yelled. “Keep them coming! I’ve got bombs for weeks!”
“Cave,” Dana gasped. “If most of them are underground, can we bring the cave down on them? Like we did in Armorton when we blew up the sewers?”
“We’d need an enormous amount of explosives,” Jayden told her.
“Suzy, we need all the bombs you have!” Dana yelled.
Suzy had trouble focusing enough to answer. “Bombs. More bombs in my wagon.”
“Enough to blow up the barn?” Dana asked.
“Yes.” Suzy ran to her wagon just as her horses broke free of their yokes. Dana assumed the animals would run off. Instead they raced to the nearest skeletons and stomped them to pieces. Suzy climbed onto her wagon and said, “I can set the bombs to go off, but I can’t move them closer.”
Jayden hacked apart another skeleton and impaled a second one that Dana finished off. He let his black sword fade out and formed one of his giant magic hands. The hand grabbed the back of the wagon and pushed it toward the barn. Suzy pulled a test tube out of her coat, shook it hard and threw it into the back of her wagon. She jumped off as the wagon rolled by Jayden and Dana.
The wagon rolled fast and struck the stream of undead coming from the barn, crushing a dozen of them before going through the barn’s door. Skeletons kept pouring out, and some climbed onto the wagon.
Dana grabbed Suzy by the arm. “When is it going to g—”
BOOM! The explosion leveled the barn, throwing huge pieces of burning timber through the air to crash into skeletons. Dense clouds of smoke and dust billowed into the air. The ground shook and began to sink, slowly at first but picking up speed quickly. What little remained of the barn vanished into the ground, and more land around it disappeared. Soldiers, mercenaries and slaves fled when the manor house crumbled into the earth.
Mercenaries and soldiers surrounded a hundred skeletons still standing and finished them off. Three skeletons tried to flee. They only got a few steps before Jayden caught up with them and swung his black lash, wrapping it around them and burning through them. With the last skeletons gone the pain lifted, and people across the battlefield collapsed in exhaustion.
Suzy stared at the gaping hole where the barn and manor house had been. “That was good.”
Jayden let his magic whip fade away. “Incredibly satisfying.”
* * * * *
Dana woke the following morning to see soldiers and mercenaries, who’d only the night before had tried to kill one another, were side by side picking through the remains of Duke Wiskver’s property. They looted anything worth taking, loading up with food, drink and warm clothing. One soldier kept apologizing, telling anyone who’d listen that he hadn’t known of the duke’s crimes. Dana looked around and found Jayden talking to the scarred mercenary captain.
Jayden asked, “What will you do now?”
“There are other companies of Skitherin mercenaries in this kingdom,” the captain said. “I need to tell them what we’ve learned, both about our womenfolk and that a duke was involved in necromancy. We’ll take the women and children with us and leave the kingdom. No amount of gold is worth this.”
“It’s a pleasure to hear that.”
The captain slapped Jayden on the back. “I’ve heard about you. You’re got quite a price on your head. You’re also quite a wizard. I don’t have a wizard working for me. You could come with us.”
“Tempting as that is, I have work to do here.”
The captain saw Dana as she walked up to them. He looked at Sven the spearman and shouted, “That the one you wanted?”
Sven blushed. “Uh, yes.”
“I saw her fight last night. Good eye, boy.”
The captain walked away, leaving Dana and Jayden alone. Dana looked at the gaping hole in the ground left by Suzy’s explosives. “Jayden, there was an army of skeletons down there. How hard would it have been to make so many?”
“Only the strongest necromancers would have the power.” He frowned and added, “Animated skeletons are typically made from the bones of only one animal or person. The ones we faced had been cobbled together from many sources, sometimes with extra limbs. If a necromancer that powerful is allowed to continue experimenting, there’s no telling what horrors he could produce.”
“They were stored on Wiskver’s land. He thought he could control them. He was in on it, Jayden, he had to be.”
“He was indeed. The duke fled during the battle, a wise move given that his own men would tear him apart if they got the chance. Wiskver’s dealing with a necromancer opens the possibility that the king and queen might be behind it. Would Wiskver take such a risk without their support? Did they order him to do this?”
Jayden looked off into the distance. “Father, what have you done?”
Dana heard horses whinny and armor plates clink. She turned to see Suzy and Yub driving an armored wagon and stop next to them.
“There wasn’t as much loot as I’d like, but Wiskver had agricultural supplies I can use,” she said. “Sulfur, charcoal, and a soldier told me I can find saltpeter in the next town. It’s enough to make the bomb I need. We’ve got time to reach Brandish and close off the pass. Let’s go.”
“I can’t,” Jayden told her.
“What do you mean you can’t?” Suzy demanded. She waved an arm at the liberated slaves. “You saw that! Girls were turned into property! It makes the garbage I put up with growing up look like a cakewalk. We can’t let this spread to other kingdoms!”
“Which is why you have to close the pass to Brandish as soon as possible. You have the tools to do the job without us. Dana and I have to find the necromancer responsible for this outrage before he causes further suffering.”
“You think you can stop the monster who did this without me?” Suzy asked.
“There’s no choice. If I come with you the necromancer will produce further atrocities. If you come with me Brandish is left open to attack. Neither of us can fail.” Jayden walked up to her and took her hand. “You have to do this.”
She stared at him. “This is why you’re like this, isn’t it? You saw this nightmare coming and focused your whole life to stopping it.”
“I suspected it, but last night proved I underestimated the threat. I’ve failed to end this horror. I need you, Ms. Lockheart. Help me stop this madness before it spreads. Hundreds of thousands of lives depend on you.”
Suzy stared hard at him and rode off. “We’ll meet again.”
“Feeling relieved?” Dana asked him as he watched Suzy leave.
“Yes, but not for the reason you think. Suzy understands me better than she did before, perhaps enough that what she’s doing in Brandish is no longer just a job. If so, the people of that kingdom have a worthy ally for the battles to come. Dana, we need to go. Finding the necromancer will be no easy feat.”
They left Duke Wiskver’s ruined estate and headed into the snowy wilderness. Dana looked back briefly at the soldiers who’d once served the duke. What would they do now? If nothing else they could spread the word of the duke’s crimes. That alone could do immeasurable good.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about a name for my sword,” she began.
Jayden smiled. “Again?”
She drew the blade and studied it. “You said the name should mention important battles or famous deed. I know it sounds silly, but destroying Wall Wolf didn’t seem like it was important enough. The golem wasn’t a monster, just a mindless tool. It could have been used for good if better people were controlling it.”
“That is a very good point.”
“Duke Wiskver is different. He decided to be a slaver. He decided to use the undead.” She thought back to the night before and shuddered. “How could anyone think he could control those things? Stopping him, freeing those children, I’m proud of that. My parents would be proud. I used the sword to do it. So I’m calling it Chain Cutter.”
No sooner has she said the words then the sword shook so hard she had to hold it with both hands. Sparks poured off it like a shower, and it made a crackling sound like distant thunder. The noise, sparks and shaking stopped almost as fast as it started, leaving Dana worried and confused. She looked at the blade. The words Chain Cutter were written across one side of the sword in flowing letters that faintly glowed like stars at night.
Hesitantly, she asked Jayden, “Is that normal?”
Jayden didn’t look bothered. “Normal is a relative term with magic.”
* * * * *
Dana stared at the mercenaries. “Duke Wiskver hired that many men?”
Jayden shook his head. “More likely these mercenaries were hired by the king and queen. Come spring they will earn their keep in the royal couple’s wars. I imagine Duke Wiskver has the unenviable duty of feeding them during the winter. He’s making the best of a bad situation by using them as guards for whatever those wagons contain.”
Suzy tapped her fingers on the side of her wagon. “Sneaking in there is going to be hard. Getting out with whatever’s in those wagons is impossible. We’re going to have to burn it all, Jayden. I’ve got firebombs to do the job.”
“If the contents of those wagons are flammable, we could repeat the disaster you caused in Armorston,” he said. “We’ll see what’s there and act accordingly.”
“By burning it,” Suzy said sweetly.
“Why does he have two barns?” Dana asked before Jayden could shout at Suzy.
Jayden paused. “I was here before the civil war, and there was only one barn then. Where the second barn stands used to be a far smaller building leading to a large natural cavern. The duke who once lived here used the cave to store beer barrels while the beer fermented. Wiskver didn’t follow his example.”
“That’s stupid,” Dana said. “Brewers make good money. Why wouldn’t he have men do the work?”
“Because he’s a snob,” Jayden said. “Beer is poor men’s drink, and he has aspirations to greatness.”
“We can sneak inside,” Suzy said. “I don’t see guards on patrol, and there aren’t dogs sniffing out intruders. Wiskver is either real confident or real stupid.”
“He expects little trouble with so many men at his command.” Jayden cautioned, “Ground around the manor lacks cover. We’d be seen coming at a distance, and by now both of us have bounties on our heads and wanted posters with our portraits.”
“But not mine,” Dana said.
Jayden grabbed her by the arm. “No.”
Dana pulled free. “There has to be farmers and ranchers living nearby. They’ll think I’m one of them looking for work. I can get in, find out what’s going on and get back.”
“Even if they don’t know who you are, sending a young woman among soldiers and mercenaries is too dangerous,” he said. “You have no ideas the risk you’re taking or the cost you’ll pay if even one man among that thousand seeks to do you harm.”
“What choice is there?” she demanded. “You said those mercenaries are going to be here until spring. We can’t wait that long. And what if they’re carrying weapons in those wagons, maybe more bombs like the one Suzy set off? Whatever is in there is so valuable they’re spending lots of money on it, and you don’t do that without a good reason.”
Suzy smiled at Dana. “McShootersun would love you.”
Jayden stared hard at Dana before marching back to Suzy’s wagon. “You need a disguise that will make them want to let you in, and Lockheart generously provided it.”
“I did what?” Suzy asked.
“Soldiers and mercenaries eat like horses,” Jayden said. He gathered up food that Suzy had cooked and wrapped it in an old blanket. “A peasant girl with food to sell, especially good food, is going to be a welcome sight they will want to return as often as possible. You’ll have to leave your sword here or risk arousing their suspicion.”
Jayden handed her the bundle, but didn’t let go when she tried to pull it from his grasp. His eyes locked onto hers with a fierceness she knew all too well. “If we see or hear signs of danger, if we even suspect a threat to your wellbeing, Lockheart and I will come down on them like the wrath of God.”
With Jayden that was no idle threat. Dana was less certain of what Suzy was capable of, but Jayden made it sound like the woman was a serious threat, possibly his equal.
Dana met his gaze. “You trusted me before. Trust me now.”
She left them and hurried toward the manor and its army of soldiers and mercenaries. It surprised her how far she got before the first man noticed her. Two spearmen wearing chain armor and dressed in blue and black stepped toward her and gave her curious looks when she stopped in front of them and curtsied.
“Good sirs, my name is Candice Latchkey. My family needs money to cover next year’s taxes. Forgive me if I ask too much, but I brought home cooked meals I thought you might like to buy. I know you’ll love it, and I don’t charge much.”
One spearman looked through the bundle of food while the second kept an eye on her. The first one pinched off a piece of Suzy’s bread and tasted it. He nodded and looked to the other spearman. “It’s good. We’ll have to clear this with the captain first. Sven, take her to the command tent.”
A spearman barely older than Dana led her to a large brightly lit tent. Inside stood three older men wearing plate armor and arguing over plates of cold chicken. They paused when the young spearman entered and saluted. Dana opened her mouth, but one of the men spoke first.
“Peasant,” he said. The man had ugly scars along the left side of his jaw, like he’d been badly burned in the past. His hair was black going to gray and cut very short. He walked up to her and saw the bundle she was carrying. “Trying to curry favor or do business?”
Dana curtsied again. “Business. I’m selling home cooked—”
The man jammed a finger into one of Suzy’s pies and stuck it in his mouth. “Sweet bark. I haven’t tasted that in a long time. Where does a peasant girl get sweet bark?”
Thinking fast, she said, “A man came to my village with spices for sale. We didn’t know why he sold it so cheaply.”
The scarred man laughed. “He’s a clever thief to sell to peasants. You’d eat the evidence fast enough. Fine, sell your food and be on your way, but if one of my men eats it and falls sick, you’ll pay.”
Dana did her best to look offended. “Sir! I’ve never disappointed a customer, much less harmed one.”
“Off with you,” the scarred man said.
Dana left the tent and went among the armed men around the manor. She gradually made her way closer to the armored wagons, careful to take a roundabout path so it didn’t look like that was her objective. As she walked she offered food to nearby men. Most refused her, but men came in ones and twos to buy what she had. This earned a fair number of copper coins, far less than the spices in the food were worth, and kept up the appearance that she was a peddler.
Bit by bit she got closer to the armored wagons. She stopped when she was twenty feet away and tried to look inside the nearest one. The back of the wagon had been lowered, and even in the poor light of the camp she could see it was empty. The contents had been unloaded.
So many wagons could carry tons of cargo. That meant it had to be transferred to a building with lots of space. Dana studied the two barns and decided to check the one built over the cavern. If Duke Wiskver was feeling particularly paranoid he might hide the goods underground.
Dana earned another handful of coins as she worked he way closer to the barn. Neither barn had soldiers or mercenaries camped close to it, which meant approaching them might make her stand out. Dana risked it and went closer. She got within fifty feet and stopped, but not willingly.
Her feet didn’t want to move. She pressed on, lifting a foot and trying to fall forward, but even this got her only a step closer. The closer she got the worse this strange compulsion was until she couldn’t move her arms, legs, even her fingers closer to the building. Panicking, she took a step backwards, and to her relief she moved away at full speed.
What to do? There was still another barn to check. Would the same mysterious force defend that one? She tried to look casual as she approached the barn. This time there was no trouble, and she reached a side door without incident. The door was barred from the outside. Dana had no trouble lifting the bar and setting it quietly on the ground.
She opened the door to find the enormous barn was filled front to back with people. Most of them were girls her age or younger, while about a third were boys no older than twelve. They wore simple cotton clothes and huddled around small brick lined fire pits. The girls and boys were chained together in long lines like prisoners.
Worse than this, if such a thing was possible, were their anguished faces. They looked at Dana in fear and self-loathing. Many turned away at the sight of her. Those who did meet gaze had writing tattooed onto their right cheeks just below the eye. Dana took a step forward and read the words on the nearest girl. It said, “Property of,” with a line below those repulsive words. They were slaves.
“Who are you?” Dana whispered.
“The man said we don’t have names anymore,” a girl responded.
“What man?”
Another girl told the first one, “Don’t talk. You’ll get us in trouble.”
“It can’t get worse than this,” the first one said. “The tall man, Wiskver, bought us in Skitherin. He brought us to a city, and today he brought us here. He’s going to sell us in springtime.”
These girls and boys were the cargo of the armored wagons. Jayden had said Duke Wiskver was still earning his riches through trade. They’d met slaves in Baron Scalamonger’s estate, and later a boy owned by an army officer Imuran Tellet. Scalamonger had said many noblemen used slave labor, but even in Dana’s worst nightmares she hadn’t believed the trade in human lives was this extensive. Duke Wiskver must be supplying the demand, and no doubt earning a handsome profit.
Dana took the girl’s hands in hers. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”
“How? We can’t go home. Our own families sold us. We have no money, no land, no one to turn to.” The girl looked down. “Run. Leave before they sell you, too.”
There wasn’t much of Suzy’s cooking left. Dana handed it to the girl and said, “It won’t go far, but pass it around. Please believe me, help is coming.”
Dana left the barn and closed the door behind her. She felt an empty feeling in her heart. She had to help these poor people, but what could she do when the duke had a thousand men? Dana hurried away from the barn and headed for the edge of the camp.
“Hey, girl, you have anything left?” Dana spun around and saw the young spearman from before approach her.
“Uh, Sven, isn’t it? Sorry, no, all out. I’ll bring more tomorrow.”
Sven laughed and caught up with her. “You sold out that fast? I thought you’d be here all night. This duke is an idiot, but he feeds us enough that we don’t have to poach game or buy food. You’re good.”
Dana kept walking toward the edge of the camp. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have a man yet, do you?”
That made her stop in mid step. “I have a boyfriend.”
“But does he have money? You’re a good cook, and you’re good at peddling. Most women are too shy for that. You should see girls run when we come into town! Sheep are braver. A man would do well to have you for a wife.”
“I’ll be sure to tell my boyfriend.”
Sven cheerfully said, “My captain shares loot and pay from our employer, not like some captains. I have enough to settle down and buy a farm. I just need a wife. Your man doesn’t have money or he wouldn’t let you come here alone. I’m a better choice than he is.”
“Wait, you’d asked a stranger to marry you?”
“Why not? Back in Skitherin Kingdom, grandparents arrange marriages. Here we have to find wives by ourselves. A woman who can cook and is pretty, that’s a good catch. Love can come later.”
Dana knew parents who meddled in their children’s love lives, forbidding certain boys and encouraging others. It wasn’t strange for parents to pick a wife or husband for their children. “Take your money home and let your family pick a girl for you.”
Sven waved his hand like he was shooing away a fly. “Why go back? You know what would happen if I tried? The nobles, the magistrates, the Ministry of Obedience, they’d take every coin from me. I risked my life to earn that money. I can spend it, I can give it away, but no one takes it from me.”
Sven stopped her and pulled a coin pouch from his belt. He opened it and held it up to show her. “See, gold. That’s enough to buy good land, livestock, tools—”
“And buy a wife, too,” Dana interrupted.
“No, it’s not like that!”
Skitherin Kingdom must be a miserable place if men like Sven would risk their lives by becoming mercenaries. It must be doubly miserable if families sell their daughters and even sons. Sven hated his homeland, natural enough given what he’d said. The other mercenaries probably felt the same. But how did they feel about the common people from back home?
Dana put her hands on her hips. “It is so! You think you can buy me like those poor Skitherin girls in the barn.”
Sven’s expression went from panic to confusion. “What girls?”
“The ones in the barn. Duke Wiskver bought them from your homeland, and he’s selling them here. I won’t be bought for pocket change.”
Confusion gave way to anger, and then grim determination as Sven grabbed Dana’s hand. “Come with me.”
Dana barely had to feign indignation as Sven dragged her to the command tent. “Hey, wait a minute!”
Soldiers and mercenaries watched with concern as Sven pulled her along. They reached the command tent to find little had changed, except the cold chicken dinners were now only bones picked clean. The scarred man leading the mercenaries raised an eyebrow when he saw Dana again.
“What did she do?” he demanded.
Sven pushed Dana toward the ugly man. “Tell the captain what you told me.”
Dana pointed at Sven. “He wants to settle down and asked me to marry him.”
The captain burst out laughing. Sven blushed and shouted, “Not that part!”
“He showed me what you paid him and said he could support me. I said I wouldn’t be bought like those Skitherin girls in the barn.”
The captain stopped laughing. “Girls? What’s this about? How would you know what’s in those barns?”
Oops. Dana prayed she was a convincing liar. “I heard voices in the barn and thought some of your men were staying there. I opened a side door and saw girls and young boys chained up. They said they were from Skitherin Kingdom, and that the duke had bought them.”
The captain’s eyes narrowed. “The wagons that came in this morning, they went straight into the barn before unloading so we wouldn’t see.”
“Is this how they’re able to pay us?” Sven demanded. “Our daughters and sisters are being sold like oxen, and to do what? Mop floors if they’re lucky! Captain, are we going to take money from a man who hires us to fight his battles while treating our women like animals?”
Sven’s yelling brought mercenaries running to the command tent until there was a crowd gathered around the entrance. The captain glared at Sven and Dana. He looked angry and conflicted. Finally he said, “I don’t take a peasant’s word for anything. She says there are slaves in that barn, I look before I believe her.”
The captain marched out of the tent with his men following. Sven took the lead with Dana still in his grip. They marched up to the second, older barn, and the captain tried to open the large front door. He glowered at Dana when it didn’t budge.
“I used the side door,” she said, and pointed to it.
Grumbling under his breath, the captain marched to the side door, pulled off the bar and threw it aside. He opened the door and peered inside. Seconds later he came back out. “Sven, let the girl go.”
“Then it’s true.” Sven released Dana and ran to the door. He came back swearing and stomping his feet. More mercenaries came over and looked inside. Some looked outraged, while others were merely curious.
“Karl, open the door,” the captain ordered. A man big as an ogre lumbered up to the barn’s main door, lifted a sledgehammer and struck the lock. Wham! Wham! A third blow took the lock off, and the enormous man pulled the door open to reveal hundreds of cowering girls and boys.
The commotion brought soldiers, archers and knights running over. Steps behind them came a man wearing a sable coat. He was older with silver hair, and would have looked handsome except for the look of utter contempt on his face.
“What is the meaning of this?” the older man demanded.
“I believe that is my question, Duke Wiskver,” the mercenary captain replied. He gestured to the slaves. “Women and children of Skitherin in chains, goods to be sold no different than sheep or goats, and you thought we wouldn’t care?”
“My property is none of your business,” Wiskver said haughtily. “You have been paid well to fight for the king and queen. Nothing else that goes on in this kingdom is your concern.”
“King and queen,” the captain repeated. “Strange how often I hear that. Most kings speak for themselves, yet your king’s proclamations always come with his wife’s name attached to them, like she is his equal.”
“You dog!” Wiskver spat on the ground. “You’re hired help, nothing more, yet you dare to speak so contemptibly of my king!”
Dana watched the mercenaries and soldiers. The two sides were the same size, but the mercenaries were better armed and armored, and they looked more confident. Jayden had said mercenary captains didn’t owe their positions to royal commands or grants. The captain had earned his position through courage, quick wits and constant victories. His men followed because he paid them, and they could leave if they were dissatisfied. Many of them looked furious. If he backed down he risked them deserting or replacing him.
A fight could break out any second. Dana raced away, slipping twice on snow trampled down to mush by foot traffic. She heard shouting and insults behind her as she reached the tents, and barely got past them when she ran into Jayden, Suzy and Yub. She slid across the wet ground and landed at Jayden’s feet.
Jayden looked worried as he helped her up. “Are you hurt?”
“No, but it’s about to get really messy.” Dana looked back at the growing crowd of soldiers and mercenaries. She wasn’t sure which side would win if they fought. Jayden and Suzy could tip the fight in the mercenaries’ favor, but she hesitated to explain what she’d seen. Jayden had gone berserk when he’d seen the slaves at Scalamonger’s estate, and he might do so again. “Promise me you’re not going to go feral.”
Suzy looked confused. “What?”
“She’s worried I’ll lose my temper,” Jayden explained. “Dana, I won’t get angry. Tell me what you saw.”
“The new barn is protected by some kind of magic that kept me back, and I learned what was in the armored wagons. They were carrying people, Jayden, hundreds of girls and boys from Skitherin Kingdom. They’re chained up in the other barn. Wiskver is going to sell them this spring. I told the mercenaries, and they’re confronting the duke.” Dana saw Jayden’s eye’s narrow and his face turn red. “No, you promised!”
Suzy went through her coat and brought out a small bomb. “He promised, I didn’t. Back home I saw too many people treated like dirt, but they were still free people. This stops if I have to blow up every building here to do it.”
“Ms. Lockheart, I believe we’ve finally found a matter where we’re of the same opinion,” Jayden declared.
Dana grabbed them both by the arm. “The mercenaries are minutes away from rebelling. If you attack they’ll join forces with the soldiers to defend themselves. Just sit still and let them fight each other.”
Jayden looked dubious as he studied the growing conflict. “They’re too busy to pay attention to us. We can get closer and take action if needed. Lockheart, I assume your wagon is well supplied with explosives?”
“Like you have to ask.”
“Bring it with us and hide it behind a tent.”
They snuck into the tent camp and found the mercenaries and soldiers in a war of words. Men shouted back and forth, with Wiskver and the scarred mercenary captain the loudest and angriest.
“You came highly recommended as skilled warriors, yet I find disobedient curs before me!” Wiskver bellowed.
“You want blind obedience, buy a golem,” the scarred captain retorted. “You want battles won, hire men who think and treat them well. Is that what you thought we were, slaves for rent?”
A lone mercenary approached the barn’s entrance. Wiskver shouted, “Get away from there!”
The mercenary ignored him. “Tanya?”
One of the slave girls sat up straight, her eyes snapping open and her jaw dropping in shock. Just as fast she crouched down and covered her face with her hands. The mercenary ran to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Tanya!”
The scarred captain went to the man and put a hand on his shoulder. The mercenary had doubtlessly fought many battles, seen horrors beyond description, yet tears ran down his face like rivers. “S-sir, this is Tanya, from my village. She grew up three doors down from me. She’s a good girl. I, sir, I can’t leave her like this.”
The scarred captain looked at his followers, now universally angry. His eyes fell on Wiskver. “They’re coming with us. Take whatever they cost you out of our pay.”
“You’ll do no such thing!” Wiskver thundered. He pulled a jeweled rod from inside his coat and pointed it at them. “Men, attack!”
Dana had to give the soldiers credit for bravery if not brains as they charged headlong into the mercenaries. The mercenaries battered them aside with contemptible ease, fighting with a unity and ferocity Dana had rarely seen. Soldiers were surrounded and knocked to the ground, their weapons broken, and a few were even robbed.
Suzy ran headlong into the fight with Yub at her side. “I want in on this!”
Jayden handed Dana her sword back and followed Suzy. Suzy threw bombs and sent knights screaming from their horses. Jayden formed his giant magic hand and bowled over archers taking aim at the mercenaries. Yub tripped soldiers and took their wallets.
Dana ignored the fight and ran into the barn. Slaves cowered when she approached, and they screamed when she drew her magic sword. She swung down as hard as she could. A shower of sparks shot up as it hacked through a chain holding twenty slaves together. Screams turned into shouts of joy, and slaves held up their chains for her to cut.
Wiskver ran into the barn and saw her chop through another chain. “No, stop!”
Dana pointed her sword at his heart. “I’m coming for you next!”
Wiskver ran screaming from the barn. Dana hacked chains apart one after another until everyone was free. She led them out to find the soldiers falling back. Wiskver wasn’t with them. Instead he headed for the second barn. He held up his jeweled rod and went right through the barrier that had kept Dana back.
“Oh no.” Dana saw Jayden pursuing fleeing soldiers and waved to him. “Jayden, stop Wiskver!”
The warning came too late. Wiskver pressed his rod against the barn’s door, and it swung open as if strong men were pushing it. He stepped aside and pointed his rod at the mercenaries.
“Idiots!” Wiskver screamed into the barn. “Worthless retches the lot of you! I paid good money for you failures! Not one of you would do a day’s work! If work is too good for you, then fight in my name! Kill! Kill!”
Seconds passed with no response, making Dana think Wiskver was out of his mind, before a lone voice called back, “You only had to say it once.”
The barn’s interior lit up with a sea of red lights. There was a strange clacking sound, like sticks hitting sticks, followed by a hateful, braying laughter, and the stuff of nightmares poured out. Animated skeletons ran screaming from the barn like a river in flood, each one with red light pouring from empty eye sockets, and unarmed except for their sharp teeth and nails. Horrible as even one of these abominations was, they emerged by the hundreds, laughing, screaming and throwing their heads back as they howled.
Dana would have screamed in horror or fear, but the cry died in her throat as a wave of pain washed over her. She grabbed her head and pinched her eyes shut as she doubled over. The slaves suffered the same agony and cried out. Seconds later pain turned to rage, an unquenchable hatred that made her entire body shake.
The skeletal horde crashed into the mercenaries with overwhelming numbers. The scarred captain rallied his men into a rough square that slowly fell back. Skeletons surrounded the formation and pounded on it from all sides. Mercenaries battered skeletons to pieces, only for more to take their place.
Skeletons also went after the soldiers. Wiskver shouted at them to stop and waved his rod at them to no avail. Soldiers fought with fierceness equaling the mercenaries, falling back only far enough to have walls at their backs. Skeletons attacked the buildings as well and tried to force their way through doors and windows. Wiskver pulled at his hair, helpless to stop the battle.
Then they came to the barn.
“Ooh, look at all the pretty pretties to kill,” a horrifying skeleton said as it stepped in front of the barn door. This one was missing a foot and had a horse’s hoof in its place, and there was an extra arm on its left side. “I must have been a good boy!”
Dana screamed in pain and revulsion as she charged the monster. It tried to grab her with its three arms. She slid under its clumsy swings and lashed out with her sword, hacking off two of its arms. The skeleton looked puzzled and held up the stumps in front of its glowing eyes. She swung again and lopped off both legs at the knees. The skeleton fell to the ground, and she plunged her sword through its ribs and spine, destroying it.
“Hey, save some for me,” a skeleton with a wolf’s skull said as it swaggered into the barn. It stared at the shattered bones and its jaw dropped. “Huh?”
Dana charged the skeleton and swung across its chest, slicing through rib bones before cutting off the front of its skull. The skeleton fell backwards into a third skeleton, knocking it over. She leapt onto the fallen skeleton and cut it to pieces.
Dana heard a faint noise of a girl screaming. In her fury it took seconds to realize the screams were hers. Pain and rage made it hard to think. She saw skeletons running to join the attack on the mercenaries. She growled under her breath and ran after them, catching up with one and stabbing it in the back until it fell.
Mercenaries and soldiers were pushed together by the rush of skeletons until they stood side by side. The men fought with the same fury Dana did, snarling and screaming as they battered and hacked their enemies to pieces. Skeletons mobbed men and dragged them down, but men ran to the rescue and pulled their victims to safety. It would have been impressive, except the stream of skeletons from the barn never slackened.
Jayden fought his way to the embattled men, his black sword slashing apart skeletons like they were wheat before a scythe. He seemed to be the only person not totally consumed by rage. Suzy Lockheart was steps behind him and hurling explosives at anything within range. Yub followed suit with more explosives. When he ran out he threw himself at the nearest skeleton and bit it, chewing the skeleton’s leg and eating it.
Dana destroyed ten skeletons getting to Jayden. She was hit twice and knocked back, but she went on heedless of the blows until she reached him. Jayden embraced her with his left arm when she came close.
“Jayden, make it stop!” Dana clutched her head and gritted her teeth. “I want…I need to kill them! I hate them all!”
“Your body is reacting to the presence of undead,” he said. “The pain will stop when they’re gone. My mind cloud spell protects me, but it takes too long to cast it on you.”
Skeletons tried to swarm the two of them. Suzy spotted the attack and hurled a bomb into the mob, blasting it apart. She tried to charge the next group of skeletons until Jayden pulled her to a stop.
“Why don’t they stop coming?” Dana asked. “The barn’s not that big.”
“Wiskver must have put them into the cavern below as well as in the barn,” Jayden said. “It’s large enough to house thousands of skeletons. We’ll be overrun if we stay and chased down if we flee.”
More skeletons attacked. These ones were pieced together nightmares with bones from men and animals fused together. Jayden destroyed the first two with his black sword, while Dana charged a third one and cut it apart. Suzy hurled firebombs into the skeletons and burned them to ashes.
“More!” Suzy yelled. “Keep them coming! I’ve got bombs for weeks!”
“Cave,” Dana gasped. “If most of them are underground, can we bring the cave down on them? Like we did in Armorton when we blew up the sewers?”
“We’d need an enormous amount of explosives,” Jayden told her.
“Suzy, we need all the bombs you have!” Dana yelled.
Suzy had trouble focusing enough to answer. “Bombs. More bombs in my wagon.”
“Enough to blow up the barn?” Dana asked.
“Yes.” Suzy ran to her wagon just as her horses broke free of their yokes. Dana assumed the animals would run off. Instead they raced to the nearest skeletons and stomped them to pieces. Suzy climbed onto her wagon and said, “I can set the bombs to go off, but I can’t move them closer.”
Jayden hacked apart another skeleton and impaled a second one that Dana finished off. He let his black sword fade out and formed one of his giant magic hands. The hand grabbed the back of the wagon and pushed it toward the barn. Suzy pulled a test tube out of her coat, shook it hard and threw it into the back of her wagon. She jumped off as the wagon rolled by Jayden and Dana.
The wagon rolled fast and struck the stream of undead coming from the barn, crushing a dozen of them before going through the barn’s door. Skeletons kept pouring out, and some climbed onto the wagon.
Dana grabbed Suzy by the arm. “When is it going to g—”
BOOM! The explosion leveled the barn, throwing huge pieces of burning timber through the air to crash into skeletons. Dense clouds of smoke and dust billowed into the air. The ground shook and began to sink, slowly at first but picking up speed quickly. What little remained of the barn vanished into the ground, and more land around it disappeared. Soldiers, mercenaries and slaves fled when the manor house crumbled into the earth.
Mercenaries and soldiers surrounded a hundred skeletons still standing and finished them off. Three skeletons tried to flee. They only got a few steps before Jayden caught up with them and swung his black lash, wrapping it around them and burning through them. With the last skeletons gone the pain lifted, and people across the battlefield collapsed in exhaustion.
Suzy stared at the gaping hole where the barn and manor house had been. “That was good.”
Jayden let his magic whip fade away. “Incredibly satisfying.”
* * * * *
Dana woke the following morning to see soldiers and mercenaries, who’d only the night before had tried to kill one another, were side by side picking through the remains of Duke Wiskver’s property. They looted anything worth taking, loading up with food, drink and warm clothing. One soldier kept apologizing, telling anyone who’d listen that he hadn’t known of the duke’s crimes. Dana looked around and found Jayden talking to the scarred mercenary captain.
Jayden asked, “What will you do now?”
“There are other companies of Skitherin mercenaries in this kingdom,” the captain said. “I need to tell them what we’ve learned, both about our womenfolk and that a duke was involved in necromancy. We’ll take the women and children with us and leave the kingdom. No amount of gold is worth this.”
“It’s a pleasure to hear that.”
The captain slapped Jayden on the back. “I’ve heard about you. You’re got quite a price on your head. You’re also quite a wizard. I don’t have a wizard working for me. You could come with us.”
“Tempting as that is, I have work to do here.”
The captain saw Dana as she walked up to them. He looked at Sven the spearman and shouted, “That the one you wanted?”
Sven blushed. “Uh, yes.”
“I saw her fight last night. Good eye, boy.”
The captain walked away, leaving Dana and Jayden alone. Dana looked at the gaping hole in the ground left by Suzy’s explosives. “Jayden, there was an army of skeletons down there. How hard would it have been to make so many?”
“Only the strongest necromancers would have the power.” He frowned and added, “Animated skeletons are typically made from the bones of only one animal or person. The ones we faced had been cobbled together from many sources, sometimes with extra limbs. If a necromancer that powerful is allowed to continue experimenting, there’s no telling what horrors he could produce.”
“They were stored on Wiskver’s land. He thought he could control them. He was in on it, Jayden, he had to be.”
“He was indeed. The duke fled during the battle, a wise move given that his own men would tear him apart if they got the chance. Wiskver’s dealing with a necromancer opens the possibility that the king and queen might be behind it. Would Wiskver take such a risk without their support? Did they order him to do this?”
Jayden looked off into the distance. “Father, what have you done?”
Dana heard horses whinny and armor plates clink. She turned to see Suzy and Yub driving an armored wagon and stop next to them.
“There wasn’t as much loot as I’d like, but Wiskver had agricultural supplies I can use,” she said. “Sulfur, charcoal, and a soldier told me I can find saltpeter in the next town. It’s enough to make the bomb I need. We’ve got time to reach Brandish and close off the pass. Let’s go.”
“I can’t,” Jayden told her.
“What do you mean you can’t?” Suzy demanded. She waved an arm at the liberated slaves. “You saw that! Girls were turned into property! It makes the garbage I put up with growing up look like a cakewalk. We can’t let this spread to other kingdoms!”
“Which is why you have to close the pass to Brandish as soon as possible. You have the tools to do the job without us. Dana and I have to find the necromancer responsible for this outrage before he causes further suffering.”
“You think you can stop the monster who did this without me?” Suzy asked.
“There’s no choice. If I come with you the necromancer will produce further atrocities. If you come with me Brandish is left open to attack. Neither of us can fail.” Jayden walked up to her and took her hand. “You have to do this.”
She stared at him. “This is why you’re like this, isn’t it? You saw this nightmare coming and focused your whole life to stopping it.”
“I suspected it, but last night proved I underestimated the threat. I’ve failed to end this horror. I need you, Ms. Lockheart. Help me stop this madness before it spreads. Hundreds of thousands of lives depend on you.”
Suzy stared hard at him and rode off. “We’ll meet again.”
“Feeling relieved?” Dana asked him as he watched Suzy leave.
“Yes, but not for the reason you think. Suzy understands me better than she did before, perhaps enough that what she’s doing in Brandish is no longer just a job. If so, the people of that kingdom have a worthy ally for the battles to come. Dana, we need to go. Finding the necromancer will be no easy feat.”
They left Duke Wiskver’s ruined estate and headed into the snowy wilderness. Dana looked back briefly at the soldiers who’d once served the duke. What would they do now? If nothing else they could spread the word of the duke’s crimes. That alone could do immeasurable good.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about a name for my sword,” she began.
Jayden smiled. “Again?”
She drew the blade and studied it. “You said the name should mention important battles or famous deed. I know it sounds silly, but destroying Wall Wolf didn’t seem like it was important enough. The golem wasn’t a monster, just a mindless tool. It could have been used for good if better people were controlling it.”
“That is a very good point.”
“Duke Wiskver is different. He decided to be a slaver. He decided to use the undead.” She thought back to the night before and shuddered. “How could anyone think he could control those things? Stopping him, freeing those children, I’m proud of that. My parents would be proud. I used the sword to do it. So I’m calling it Chain Cutter.”
No sooner has she said the words then the sword shook so hard she had to hold it with both hands. Sparks poured off it like a shower, and it made a crackling sound like distant thunder. The noise, sparks and shaking stopped almost as fast as it started, leaving Dana worried and confused. She looked at the blade. The words Chain Cutter were written across one side of the sword in flowing letters that faintly glowed like stars at night.
Hesitantly, she asked Jayden, “Is that normal?”
Jayden didn’t look bothered. “Normal is a relative term with magic.”
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