We had plowed through the entire camp now, and my skeleton cavalry were running down soldiers left, right, and center, bowling them over with the speed and power of the charge and impaling them with their spears. I wheeled Fang around to make another charge through the camp and was pleased to see the women smashing through the ranks of the foot soldiers as effectively as my skeletal cavalrymen were. Hell, with a bit of time and training, I could have made knights out of the three of them, even Isu.
They stormed through the camp on their horses. Like the skeletal cavalrymen, the women wheeled about to form a wedge behind me once more and repeated the charge, going in the opposite direction now.
“Finish them!” I spurred Fang into another furious charge.
Again he tore through the camp, trampling or smashing soldiers out of his way. I drew on the strength of my skeletal troops, channeling it into my weapon. Left and right, right and left, leaning off Fang as he ran, I lashed out with the chain end of the kusarigama as if it were a flail, swinging it in deadly sweeping arcs. When my attacks connected with a soldier, they hit with devastating impacts that buckled armor, pulverized bones, demolished internal organs, and generally sending the unfortunate chumps flying a good 20 yards through the air.
By drawing upon the physical strength of my undead troops, I had to sacrifice one or two of them, who promptly exploded into showers of bone fragments. I could always raise more skeletons, and it was incredible being able to smash someone with the force of a titan’s fist.
A soldier jumped out from behind a tree as Fang and I thundered past, lunging for my face with a spear. He was a quick and sneaky bastard, but I dodged the attack, although the blade end of it nicked my cheek and drew blood.
As Fang raced onward, I whipped the kusarigama’s chain end around behind me, using it like a lasso to ensnare the soldier. Watching over my shoulder, I yanked hard on the chain with both arms as the loop caught the soldier around his torso. He was lifted off his feet, and he yelped as Fang’s power and momentum ripped him along through the air. His scream was cut abruptly short when his body slammed into a tree trunk. The impact of hitting the tree at that speed killed him instantly, and Grave Oath buzzed in its sheath as the soldier’s soul was sucked into it.
As I slowed down and wheeled about, my harpy came crashing through the treetops to join the battle. Two soldiers looked up at Talon as she dropped out of the sky like a lightning bolt, huge claws outstretched and tits flapping in the wind—a bizarre but entertaining sight—and their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
They were so rooted to the spot that they didn’t even bother trying to fight or flee. Talon smashed into them, grabbing one man in each of her eagle-like feet. With her powerful wings beating like the pulsing of a deep, booming drum, she let out a triumphant shriek and carried them up through the treetops, the pair of soldiers screaming.
I watched through a gap in the treetops as Talon flew up, higher and higher, until she was at least a mile and a half above ground, a mere speck in the sky. Then, she dropped them.
They plummeted, screaming, and disappeared into the forest a few miles away. Grave Oath buzzed twice more as I took their souls. There were now only a handful of soldiers left in the camp.
“Halt!” I shouted to my troops. “I’ll handle these fuckers.”
I jumped off Fang and walked slowly into the center of the camp, where the last five soldiers huddled together, back to back, weapons facing outward and faces haggard with fear. The barbarian prisoner, still chained to the tree, watched keenly.
“Who the fuck are you?” one of them gasped.
“You may have heard of me,” I answered casually. “Some call me Soultaker.”
The soldiers murmured, their voices shrill and they’re eyes bulging. They knew who I was, all right. My reputation had been growing by leaps and bounds, it seemed.
One soldier simply dropped his sword and put up his hands.
“I didn’t sign up for this shit,” he muttered. “Take me prisoner, Soultaker. Sell me as a slave. Just don’t use that hell-cursed dagger.”
“You said things would get better once we deserted Rollar’s army and struck out on our own, you lying bastard!” another soldier growled at the largest man. He was arrayed in the finest armor of the group, and his sword actually looked sharp enough to cut something. I figured he was their leader.
“And they did.” The leader prodded the other man in the chest. “Until we stumbled upon Soultaker and his demons.”
The other men huddled around the first who’d spoken.
The first man prodded the leader back. “You said there’d be plenty of towns to raid, pretty women to fuck, men to enslave, and gold to steal. But everything’s gotten worse since we deserted. You led us into this, you rotten piece of goat shit. I should’ve just stayed with Rollar and put up with the stupid rules and shitty pay.”
“Yeah!” another soldier yelled at the leader. “I’d rather get the lash for being a cunt and put up with Rollar’s miserly bullshit than this. Fuck you!”
“I’ll be damned if I’m going to let my soul get sucked out before I’ve had my revenge on you, you lying, stinking beggar’s testicle!” another soldier yelled at the leader, who was now
