Chapter 17: Chapter 16 – An Example to be Made

"On to war we marched with steady hearts~

For in slaughter we find our real purpose~

No mercy to be shown~ nor any to expect~

It's all part and parcel of life at war~

 

Of death, we have no need to fear~

For secure we are in the knowledge~

That should the time come~ where we laid down our lives~

Those behind us will not let our efforts go to waste~

 

Death is not~ an end to our struggle~ our hearts will go on as our bodies rise for yet another fight~

Beyond death, we serve still, for the sake of our loved ones~

Their love gives us all the strength, to fight on~" - War song sung by soldiers from the Lichdom of Ptolodecca.

 

Near the Ptolodecca/Junora border, third day of the second week of the seventh month, year 37 VA.

 

Aideen was surprised, and impressed by how fast the Ptolodeccan army mobilized. On the morning of the third day the army - led by her mother - had departed from Tohrmutgent, to the cheers of the crowd that watched them walk past.

 

She had at first thought a thousand troops far too little for war, but soon realized her errors. While there was indeed only a little over a thousand living soldiers with them, each of Ptolodecca's mage cadres had forty mages, half of which were lesser-ranked necromancers by default.

 

Those "lesser" necromancers were usually the less talented ones, students of the students of the bone lord's personal disciples or thereabouts, but on average they still brought around two hundred and fifty skeleton soldiers - each group of fifty led by a skeleton warrior - to the fray.

 

Two cadres meant ten thousand skeleton soldiers and forty other mages of various affinities, properly mixed and trained to work together.

 

On top of that, Llewelyn and Kestera showed why they were called along, as each necromancer brought their own hordes of undead into the mix. Both of them used to administer large swaths of land, which required them to have skeletons spread wide and far as guards, which also served as a form of training.

 

Kestera had a horde of nine hundred, each small army of three hundred led by a bone champion, the next step up from a skeleton warrior, and fifty of each three hundred being skeleton warriors.

 

Llewelyn was less impressive with only five hundred, two groups of two hundred and fifty each led by a bone champion and with twenty five skeleton warriors in each, but one pristine, white bony figure made him the envy of every other necromancer in the army.

 

In the lead of Llewelyn's horde was the Death Knight Aideen recognized, the one her grandpa had nonchalantly created to appease some children during their trip to Tohrmutgent. Now that she had seen it alongside other, lesser undeads, the difference between them was as clear as night and day.

 

She had not observed it that well when her grandpa Aarin had created it, and it just stood still, on guard, back then, but now that she saw it in movement, the difference was obvious. Where skeleton soldier moved with stiff motions, and skeleton warriors more fluidly yet still with some stiffness, bone champions moved as gracefully as a living being.

 

On the other hand, the Death Knight was beyond that, as it stalked while it walked, with all the grace of a cunning predator, its movements swift, often too swift for her to catch properly, and that was just the thing marching.

 

She wondered how it would perform in actual combat.

 

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As far as the living contingent of the army went, to her surprise Adalbert - who she learned was the Bone Lord's current chief of staff for military matters - was leading them personally, and her mother was content to leave the army-based decisions to the otter therian, as she was less experienced in that field.

 

They had a thousand living soldiers - all volunteers who had joined and trained with the army for years at a minimum -, half of whom were archers, with long bows and quivers full of arrows slug on their backs, and hatchets or clubs on their belts.

 

Another four hundred were heavy shield soldiers, clad in metal lamellar armor, with great rectangular shields strapped to their left arms. These men and women all wielded a curious weapon, a meter long metal shaft, with an axe blade on one end, and a mace head on the other end.

Adalbert had cheerfully told Aideen that the group of four hundred were trained in shield wall tactics, as well as in small unit tactics, in any multiple of two soldiers. He also shared the tidbit that every pair of soldiers in the unit was a couple with a wink, and Aideen blushed a little as she surveyed the troops and counted the couples of only males, or only females, or those of mixed races, all of which there were quite a few of.

 

The last hundred troops were scouts and rangers, and those had been sent out to range, as information was always a necessity in war. One of those scouts - a woman in a hooded cloak - had just returned and knelt before Aoife's horse.

 

"Milady, we have spotted signs of Junoran activity near the border," said the woman. "Thrall-scouts have been sighted, though we believe they have not sighted us in turn. Your instructions?"

 

"Stay out of their sight, and focus on finding the Junoran army," replied Aoife sternly. This time her mother had worn a thick black gambeson atop her necromancer robes. "Pay no attention to those thralls… I will handle them myself."

 

"Yes, your ladyship," said the scout before she gave another bow and sprinted off into the distance ahead.

 

"How would you be dealing with the enemy scouts, mother?" Asked Diarmuid in curiosity. Aideen also perked up her ears to listen in as she was no less curious.

 

"Ah, right… I have never shown them to you children, have I not?" Said Aoife a little absent-mindedly. "Before I had you children… These fellows were like children to me. Let me introduce you properly."

 

From her storage ring, Aoife suddenly brought out what looked like a cube made by an amalgamation of bones. With a pulse of death magic, the bones that comprised the cube soon reassembled itself.

 

In moments, Aideen and Diarmuid stared slack-jawed at the undead monstrosity before them. A quadrupedal wolf-like skeleton, a meter and a half tall at the shoulders, with wicked fangs and claws, and a half dozen spikes at the end of its tail. It also had six other limbs that sprouted from above its shoulders, three from each, that had four joints and ended in long, wicked, serrated blades of bone, which had a wet sheen Aideen suspected to be poison.

 

"This is Haon," said Aoife with some obvious affection in her voice. "And this one is Dó."

 

Another bone cube rearranged itself as she said that. This time the creature resembled an unholy spawn of an alligator - which it had the head, torso, and tail of - and a spider, with its eight legs. The long, flexible tail ended in a wicked stinger, while the spear-like tips of the legs also shared the wet sheen of poison on them.

 

"Haon, Dó, there are thralls scouting out there. Find them. Eliminate them. Leave no traces," said Aoife to the two monstrous undead constructs. Aideen could feel from the magic in them that they were yet another step above a Death Knight, as her mother was apparently not one that cultivated a horde, but focused her efforts on a few, elite undead instead.

 

To her surprise, the two undead constructs seemed to listen and understand her mother's words, and she could have sworn she saw them nod before they left for their tasks.

 

Haon ran as fast as the winds, and soon disappeared from sight, while Dó straight up blended into its surroundings, practically invisible to sight.

 

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