Chapter 87: Ch 86 “Pecking Order”

  

  The sun was hanging high in the clear blue sky, easily penetrating through the patchy forest above the two unique undead. The tall forest around them was a mix of ordinary-leafed trees with bare branches resembling roots that proudly crowned their leafless owners and crimson-leafed trees with a white bark that refused to shed their bright crimson coat.

Iris was leading Kia back to Firmusa after walking a great loop in the Firmusan countryside, destroying multiple outposts, reaching a total level of 26. She shaped their path in such a way that their last objective was one of the closest outposts they needed to deal with. Each of the Fallen's strongholds fell quicker than the previous one as the two ambushing undead refined their simple yet effective strategy of rapid attack.

 

  The girl walking right beside Iris was focused completely on the unmelting snow on her pearly hands. The elf didn't catch when but the petite undead found the mundane pile of ivory powder in her hands to be fascinating at some point in their journey.

 

"Iris? Do all snow have six sides?" The girl asked a bizarre and arbitrary question which she somehow managed to fill with seriousness.

 

"I... I don't know, I never really looked that close at snowflakes." The girl furrowed her eyebrows at the inconclusive answer, clearly not liking her all-knowing guide's answer.

 

  The risen looked up as a forest path transformed into a proper road and spotted a pair of familiar black ravens perched on a lifeless branch of a great oak. The pair would constantly catch up with the two undead, never flying far enough for the corvids' eyes to break contact with the undead. 

 

"Kia, could you wave for me like this?" Iris asked the necromancer with a small smile.

 

"Why?" The clueless girl perked up after hearing the elf's voice.

 

"I want to see something." 

 

"Okay?" Kia's multicoloured eyes narrowed in suspicion as she gave the world around her a hesitant wave.

 

  To even Iris's surprise the two ravens dived toward the undead mage, who noticed the two black missiles flying towards her far too late to dodge. 

Stopping suddenly they perching themselves on each of the girl's shoulders before starting to rub their feathery bodies on her neck causing the mage to giggle uncontrollably.

 

"Hehetophehestop!" Kia ordered between joyful giggles which caused the birds to suddenly stop. "Oooh." A disapproving noise escaped the girl as she frown at the corvid on her left shoulder.

 

"Hello, Umbria." Iris scratched the top of the raven's head. Even with a different eye, the same look beamed from the raven red eye as from Umbria's golden eyes.

 

"This feels weird." The girl said as the more animalistic raven hopped onto her still-extended hands and started to nibble on the tips of her fingers. "It tickles a bit, hehe."

 

"Not you." The cruel elf whispered to the raven on the second shoulder as she picked it up and held it in her hands. She stroked the raven's black body finding the partially muted feeling under her finger strangely soft.

 

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  The sun moved slowly across the heavens as the two undead slowly neared their destination. 

The birds in their arms looked relaxed, the raven in Iris's hands lost the look in its red eyes and seemed to really enjoy her scratching while the second raven resembled a blissful puppy as it enthusiastically rubbed its head on the girl's skin. From its completely black body, tentacles of shadow wrapped themselves on Kia's fingers proving their summoned nature. 

Iris would have swapped the birds but the thought had been quickly erased as she watched the necromancer giggle with a beautiful bright smile as she pampered the summon with scratches.

 

"?" Both of the ravens suddenly stood up and took to the skies, disappearing in the crimson leaves above them.

 

  Loud shrieks and caws sounded from where the ravens disappeared, causing the leaves to rustle loudly. The two undead stared at the source of the noise before a large bat-like creature with too many teeth alongside one of the ravens dropped onto the snow-covered ground before disappearing into nothing.

 

"Kia." Iris quickly took the girl's hand and started to run. "He reacted faster than expected."

 

  The undead mage casted a spell to increase their speed in the deep snow as they ran south toward Firmusa, their undead nature allowing them to run without tiring until the sun began to lose strength slowly being pulled under the horizon.

 

"Master!" A familiar voice sounded from their right when they approached an empty crossroad.

 

"Umbria?" Iris slowed down, confused by the vampire's location. "What are you doing here?"

"It would have been shameful for me to destroy centuries of work done for my fair Master because I wouldn't move my bottom a couple of kilometres," The woman spoke. Instead of an elaborate dress, she wore a heavy metal plate that was darker than the darkest night the elf could remember with crimson highlights like eyes staring greedily at her soul from the abyss. The edges of the armour caused Iris's eyes to ache as the dark armour seemed to want to fuze with the surrounding darkness. Her demeanour changed from a bored and tired human to something more lively as a small proud smile dominated her dignified face. "Also I gathered my servants as soon as I could and send them here just in case something like that happened."

 

"Do you sense Akkad?" Iris asked while the vampire motioned the two to follow her further into the forest.

 

"Yes, we don't have much time but not so little we have to scramble."

 

"Still, you said he would respond only after three or four days. Is there a reason for that?" The elf asked, smallest flicker of doubt flashed in her mind before being ruthlessly extinguished as images of dungeons she was dragged into appeared in her mind. In such situations, panic and doubt are more deadly than the enemy.

 

"I don't know the precise reason but not all of my underlings answered my call," Umbria explained. "I declared an emergency conclave and ordered all of the assembled to pick up their arms and follow me. There were quite a few pups who refused to fulfil their part of the contract. The leader of a faction Jidislow. A roughly 300-year-old vampire who never bothered to hide the dark idols of his worship. He thought he was invincible and he was politicly due to his vital role in the Firmusan food industry without which my domain would collapse and he was. He challenged me for the title of Overtyrant in honourable combat. I killed him then and there and ordered his entire faction of 40 vampires to be executed... I hope I hadn't broken any of your laws, Master." A drop of cold sweat appeared on her forehead, instantly calming down once receiving Kia's approval. "The rest of the rebellious members quickly fell into the line, if anything they will be good meat shields for more valuable undead. But..."

 

"Not all of your servants attended in the first place?" Iris finished the bloodsucker's words, not able to see how Umbria could allow any of the vampires physically beside her to escape.

 

"Precisely, Harbinger." Umbria answered. In front of her, a farmstead emerged from the trees with a large expanse of cleared land covered in snow with Overtyrant's people idly waiting for instructions.

 

  A vampire with perfectly smooth skin only a noble could possess gave Umbria a deep bow as she lead the two undead adventurers inside the farmstead to await the upcoming battle.

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