Chapter 111 - My Turn!

  The wraith’s grip tightened on my neck, but that wasn’t the worst of it. His eyes flashed with brilliant green light, and behind him four zombies turned toward us, mouths open as they approached. I realized that he intended to make good on his promise. He wasn’t going to kill me—he’d have his zombies finish me off, which would turn me into a zombie.

  My concentration was a wreck, thanks to the steel still sliding around inside me, but I wasn’t going to stand around and be eaten alive without at least putting up a fight. I focused my Will as best I could and readied a spell.

  Before I could cast, though, an arrow sprouted from the wraith’s face. He shrieked, staggering back, dropping me to the ground and taking his sword with him. The sensation of the blade sliding back out of my was the second worst thing I’d ever felt—right after it going in.

  I dropped to the ground, unable to move, stunned by the fall, bleeding. As I lay there, I watched as Hope leaped past me, going for the wraith’s throat. The creature batted my dog aside, sending Hope flying into the wall with a yip. But that still forced the wraith back another step, and that was enough to give me that much more breathing room.

  Bright yellow and orange light flashed by overhead, so intense I ducked and hid my face as it passed. Heat rushed over me as Sue’s Fireball detonated right in the wraith’s face. It screamed as the flames enveloped it.

  Now I was singed on top of bleeding. Blood pooled under me. I needed to fix that, fast. All the mana I’d managed to gather went into a Drain Life spell, staggering the wraith further. Its life force flowed back into me, knitting some of my wounds back together.

  I could think again. The relief as the worst of the pain left took what little breath I still had away, but I knew I had seconds before the wraith and its zombies were all over me. My friends had bought me those moments, but if I didn’t use them, I was dead meat.

  The Fireball killed a couple of the zombies closest to me, but more were closing in around the wraith. That was both a problem and a solution wrapped in a neat package. I cast Control Undead on the ones closest to the wraith—and for the first time, there was resistance!

  These undead weren’t just set loose to wander. They were under the direct control of someone else—something else. The wraith here was commanding them, and it was my Will against his.

  The battle felt like it lasted longer than it did; the zombies froze in place, as if trying to decide which of us to listen to. Then they whirled as a single unit and latched onto the wraith, grabbing his arms. He threw one off, then another. I cast Control Undead again, seizing six more of the closest zombies and ordering them to attack their former master. This time, taking them from him was even easier. The third time, it happened so fast I barely noticed the resistance.

  The wraith tried to fly up, but he was burdened by all the undead clinging to him. He tried to break free, but they held him down. He’d smash one zombie skull, but there were others. He’d brought a horde of Controlled undead to face me, but he couldn’t keep them Controlled—not if I pushed back against his spell.

  I cast another Drain on the bastard, which dropped him to one knee. As his vitality flowed into me I was able to rise at last. I still had a hand over my belly, which felt like it was on fire as the wounds rapidly knit themselves back together. But I just let the pain fuel my fury.

  “My turn,” I spat in the wraith’s direction.

  I cast Control Undead, recruiting more of his own troops to fight him. Then I cycled Health to Mana and Drain Life again, with the net result that I was a little more healed. I’d lost the shield somewhere but managed to hang onto my sword, so I marched forward, blade at the ready.

  The wraith fought back even harder. He tossed one zombie away from him; it broke against a column when it hit. He crushed the skull of another with his bare hands.

  Me? I just cast Control Undead again. It wasn’t like there was any shortage of raw materials here for me to Control. He could crush as many of them as he wanted. I had more.

  “You brought undead to battle a necromancer,” I told him. “How stupid are you?”

  “How? How are you stripping my control?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? I’m stronger than you are,” I said.

  I was able to stand up straight again. The wounds were closed, now. The bleeding stopped. I wasn’t back to full strength, but I was getting there fast. As I approached, the wraith swung his sword at me, but with two zombies clutching his arm, there was no power behind the blow. I parried it easily with my blade.

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  “You may defeat me, but my master is a thousand times stronger. You will fall!” The wraith’s hissing voice was aiming for haughty defiance—but all I heard was fear.

  It swung again. I blocked, then dipped my sword inside his guard, stabbing him in the gut, the same blow he’d given me.

  The wraith doubled over around the wound, crumpling as it screamed. I withdrew the blade, then took a step back. My Drain spell had cycled, so I cast it again while simultaneously sending a mental command to Sue, ordering the coup de grace.

  A Fireball streaked past my head, smashing into the wraith with devastating force. It blew the creature apart entirely. One moment the wraith was there, semi-solid and dangerous, if weak. The next, it was nothing but shreds of mist fading away.

  I staggered back against the wall behind me, feeling weak. Casting all of those spells after such a serious wound took everything I had, and I just needed a few minutes to breathe and restore myself. Around me, the front rank of juggernauts rushed in, smashing one zombie after another. The enemy undead were barely putting up any resistance now. If anything, they seemed disorganized, confused. Leaderless.

  With the wraith dead, the enemy force was still fighting, but it was rudderless and incapable of collective action. Our team made short work of what was left of the zombies.

  Before the fight was even done, Kara was there beside me. “Are you okay? I was so worried!”

  I flashed her a weak grin. “I will be. It looks a lot worse than it is.”

  “It looks like you starred in a slasher film as one of the victims.”

  I glanced down at myself. She wasn’t wrong. The greatsword thrust had punched right through my linothorax. The armor had contained the blade, though, keeping it from moving around too much after he struck. That had probably kept me alive.

  My white armor was ruined, though. Between the gaping holes in the front and back, and the bloodstains all over it, I had a feeling I was going to need new armor.

  “Maybe I should have taken the Natural Armor stone,” I said.

  “You want it? I’ll pop it out now!” Kara replied.

  I shook my head. “No, keep it. I can heal myself. The injury part still sucks, but I’ll be all right.”

  “What was that thing?”

  “It called itself a wraith,” I said. “Besides that, I don’t know much more than you. It was controlling this batch of zombies, though.”

  “Was it the boss? Did we win?”

  I shook my head. “No, it was definitely talking about taking me to its master. I get the feeling there might be several of these guys. They’re sub-commanders or something. Whatever the big boss is, it’s bigger than the wraith.”

  That thought sent a tremor through me. I barely beat the wraith. How the hell was I supposed to take something down that was even stronger?

  Of course, the answer was that I’d need to beat it the same way I beat this one: not by myself. If I’d been solo here today, I’d have lost. It was thanks to Kara’s arrow, Hope’s lunge, and Sue’s Fireball that I was still alive. That was my strength here. I wasn’t alone.

  “You up to walking yet?” Kara asked.

  I was still sitting on the cool floor, my back against the wall. I nodded—which hurt—and then Kara eased me back to my feet. In spite of the healing, everything still hurt like mad. My throat was sore where the wraith grabbed me, my gut still had lingering bits of the fire which had been blazing through it not long ago, and my shield arm felt battered and bruised. Frankly, more things hurt than didn’t, and I cast another Drain spell on the nearest zombie. The trickle of vitality helped ease my suffering some.

  We made our way back toward Sue, who stood behind the ranks of our warriors, shooting Fireballs into the disorganized mass of enemy undead. Farnsworth met us as we came closer.

  “The rest of this force is breaking apart. Soon as that thing went down, the rest of them got a lot easier to kill,” Farnsworth said. “You okay?”

  “I will be,” I replied.

  “Good. We pressing ahead, or do we retreat for now, hit it again tomorrow?”

  I thought that over for a moment. Backing off was tempting. I’d been hurt, badly hurt, for really the first time. As much as I wanted to laugh it off now that I was mostly healed up, it still shook me. Every time my thoughts drifted back to the feel of that sword biting into me, I wanted to do nothing more than run away and hide.

  That wouldn’t solve anything, though, and I knew it. The undead would still be here. They’d continue to amass more forces by slaughtering people too weak to stand a chance against them. Even if we backed off and rested a single additional night, how many people would die as a result?

  There was another good reason to stay the course. “The last time Kara and I hit them and then backed off, they attacked our fort with hundreds of undead. Overwhelmed us completely. We’ve slaughtered a couple hundred of their zombies and killed that wraith. I don’t think they’re going to let it slide. We back off now, my guess is they attack the Guard base tonight. You want to face the boss of this place there, at night, with packs of civilians near enough to be in danger?”

  Farnsworth nodded. “I figured as much. Just wanted to be sure.”

  “Selena, you need rest,” Kara said. “You were just stabbed!”

  “I got better,” I quipped.

  She rolled her eyes at me. So much for Monte Python quotes saving the day. “At the least, take a little while to check the stones we got from fighting all these zombies. I think even Farnsworth will agree that we focus all the crystals we can on you. You’re the one they’re going to go after, and you’re our strongest fighter. Anything we do that makes you powerful lifts our chances of winning this mess.”

  “She’s right,” Farnsworth chimed in. “I do agree. Let’s gather up those stones and see if we can get you stronger. You’re what, tier seven now?”

  “Yeah. With a fair number of sixes and fives in other areas.”

  “That’s your strength,” he replied. “You didn’t go all-in on one thing, like some folks do. You’ve stacked stats and you have some crazy spell power. Let’s get you as strong as we can before we proceed.”

  “All right,” I replied. “We have a plan. Let’s make it happen.”