“I have. We’ll ride out at first light on a few of my undead horses. Their riders can remain behind with the foot soldiers. Sarge can lead them through the woods so that they can rendezvous with us on the way to Brakith, after I’ve dealt with Rollar.”
“I see you’re an enthusiastic gambler, Vance,” Isu said. “What if you’re too weak to battle Rollar’s army without your foot contingent? You stand to lose everything.”
A shudder of unease rippled through me, but I banished it quickly.
“Even without any of my skeletal troops, my zombie Crusaders and zombie crossbowmen, I’ll be able to handle that ratfuck and his asshole soldiers. All I need is to kill a few of Rollar’s men, and I’ll be able to raise them as my own minions.”
I hadn’t tried to raise undead during battle before. Every other time had been after a battle, and had taken intense concentration, but I could find a way to make it work.
“Let’s hope it’s a decision you do not come to regret,” Isu said, smiling darkly. “Now, I have some personal tasks to attend to.”
“What exactly are you doing when you go off by yourself, eh?” I smiled. She was probably just trying to appear busy, as if she had important business to handle. It must have been hard falling from divinity and becoming an underling to the man who’d killed you.
“Like I said, personal tasks. I’ll join you when you’re saddled and ready to leave.”
Without another word, she sashayed off and melted into the shadows, something she seemed to be making a habit of doing these days. If she wasn’t just pretending to make herself busy, then she was planning some method of revenge. Still, after the night before, I’d stationed skeletons above me while I slept. I wanted to know before she got the jump on me from now on.
I commanded Sarge to lead the rest of the skeletal infantrymen, and Captain Jandor to lead the zombies. They were going to make a trek through the woods and rendezvous with us on the way to Brakith in a couple days. If they saw any signs of human presence, they needed to give them a wide berth. In addition, they would travel only at night and would stay hidden during daylight hours. I didn’t need them to get into any unnecessary fights.
An hour later, the sun was up, and I set off with Elyse, Rami, Isu and my skeletal cavalrymen. The women were mounted on undead horseback while I was riding Fang.
Talon soared above us, scouting the area ahead for any sign of trouble. The woods had thinned, so she would be more capable of spotting important landmarks and potential threats. Now that I had an eye in the sky, I could get an early warning about any signs of trouble long before I stumbled into it. It was also way easier to figure out a route through these unfamiliar woods, as any obstacles could be seen and avoided, and long detours thus became unnecessary.
While we rode through the forest, I periodically threw my senses up and merged them with Talon’s, getting a bird’s eye view of our current position and what lay ahead every hour or so, adjusting our route or pace as necessary.
As I peered out over the landscape from high in the clouds, I saw a wisp of smoke rising up from the forest from around two miles to the east of our position.
We were no longer alone.
I directed Talon to swoop down lower so that I could get a better look at exactly who it was who had just made a fire there. I had to grin when I saw that it was another contingent of Rollar’s troops. Judging by the number of tents, there were over 40 of them.
I’d been wanting to test my skeletal cavalry and my zombie harpy in combat. Now, I had the perfect opportunity.
I yanked my senses out of Talon and spoke to the women.
“We’ve got trouble ahead. More of Rollar’s troops.”
Isu stroked her dagger. “More souls for you to take.”
“I’m ready to bathe my sais in more enemy blood,” Rami said.
“I’m still getting accustomed to my new powers,” Elyse said, “so I could use the practice.”
“Good,” I said. “Have any of you done much fighting on horseback before?”
All of them shook their heads. I shouldn’t have been too surprised. None of them had had the kind of knightly training I’d had. For them, horses were only for transport, not for fighting. Still, these women were quick learners and solid fighters, and their skills on foot would translate readily enough to skills on horseback. In addition to their usual weapons, they had taken spears from my undead cavalry soldiers earlier.
“No matter. We’ll still kick ass. We’re going to do a shock cavalry charge here, something usually most effective when done by heavily armored knights.”
“None of us are heavily armored,” Elyse said, “except for me in my sunsoaked form.”
I figured she was referring to her golden plate armor. “Well, you can ride behind me and my cavalrymen. The skellies don’t need to be heavily armored; they can take far more damage than any human knight could.” I paused and waited for Elyse to nod in understanding. “Basically, we’ll use a tightly packed cavalry formation to punch straight through our enemy’s defenses and ride over them over at full speed. Surprise, speed, and sheer power are what matters here. Once you commit to the charge, there’s no backing out. We go in closely packed at full spears–couched. That means hold them like this.”
I used my own spear to show the women how I held it like a lance, tight along my hip and couched beneath my arm.
“Pick a target,” I explained, “and run the fucker through. If your spear breaks, it breaks; drop it and draw another weapon.”
The three women all tested out the method of couching their spear. They seemed comfortable enough holding them like that. I
