“That’s right,” I said as I drew the kusarigama I’d taken from the wind goddess Xayon’s temple. “Time to do a little soul reaping.”
Chapter Two
Our wagon turned the corner, and we were met by 40 armed soldiers. Every one of them was following Rollar’s orders. And every one of their souls would be mine.
“Well, well, look what we have here,” said the leader of the gang. He was a brawny thug with a bald head crisscrossed with scars. A battered steel breastplate encased his muscular torso while steel gauntlets wrapped his meaty fists.
“A merchant wagon,” he continued, “carrying an ass-ton of expensive Erstian wine by the look of it. There wasn’t much grog in the town we just sacked, but now, we can drink our fill, boys!”
Another mounted soldier, a tall, bearded thug stared at Elyse and Rami before licking his lips.
“And there’s some other cargo I wouldn’t mind plundering too,” he rasped as he shifted his spear in his hands. “After we gut the fat git in the driver’s seat and the pretty boy next to him.”
“Maybe they haven’t seen me yet?” Cranton whispered from beside me.
I’d been itching for a chance to try out my kusarigama, and now I had it.
“Greetings, fellas,” I said. “Looks like you’re having a lovely picnic. Wearing a little too much clothing for an orgy though.”
“You fools don’t know what you’ve run into,” Grast said as he nodded at me. “This here is a death god.”
“Death god?” the burly soldier scoffed. “You lost your mind, cockhead?”
“I recognize the pretty boy,” said the lanky soldier. “He’s that Soultaker.” He glared at me. “I’ve got a score to settle with you. My friends were among those you slaughtered in the woods on the road to Erst. I’d always heard you were crazy, but not so depraved that you’d actually turn to cannibalism. You’re one sick fuck.”
“Ah,” I countered with a quick grin, “well, that’s where you’re wrong. I did kill your stupid friends, but I didn’t eat them.”
“If you didn’t, scum, then who did?”
“You’re about to find out.”
I whistled, and Fang barreled out of the back of the wagon with a roar that shook the trees around us and sent the soldiers’ horses rearing up with terror. The soldiers’ jaws dropped at the size of the gigantic lizard. They didn’t have too much time to gawk, because Fang charged straight at them, cannonballing into their midst and throwing horses and riders into the air. He scattered them across the road as he thrashed his massive tail in whip-like lashes.
As Fang rampaged through the army, I sprang off the wagon, my kusarigama in my hands. I gripped the handle section, with its jet-black blade, in my right hand, while I held part of the chain, made of linked pieces of bone, in my left.
As shocked as the soldiers were by Fang’s sudden appearance and his ferocious attack, they were well-trained troops–definitely a grade above the undisciplined goons I’d fought before–and the two leaders rapidly got the troops into formation.
Well-disciplined was still no match for me and my army.
“Girls,” I said to Elyse, Rami, and Isu, “let’s teach these shitbags some manners.”
“Cavalry, couch spears!” yelled the burly soldier. “Prepare to charge! Infantry, shield wall!”
The mounted troops—those who weren’t struggling to fight off Fang, at least—formed their horses in two tightly packed squadrons and lowered their spears. At the same time, the infantry troops locked their round shields together in a solid wall, presenting us with an unbreakable line.
Or so they thought.
I had only practiced a little with my kusarigama up to this point, but I’d grown familiar with how it handled. I had never really explored the magical side of it, the part enchanted with death magic, but Isu had explained a few things to me during our journey from Erst. Now, I would see what this weapon could really do.
The weapon glowed in my hands, but not with heat. Instead, it felt as if I was holding a weapon made of ice. No, not ice. This wasn’t a wet kind of cold. It was a dry, numbing chill that burrowed deep into your very bones. It was the cold of death.
I focused my will on the kusarigama, and the invisible links that bound me to my undead servants felt as if they had been pulled tight. These formerly slack cords seemed to pulse with dark energy. A feeling that was almost vampiric seized my entire being. Strength drew me irresistibly in, like fresh blood to a vampire.
“Charge!” the lanky soldier commanded. “Cut ‘em down, boys, cut ‘em down!”
The horsemen thundered toward us, their spears aimed squarely at our chests while their mounts chomped at their bits.
“Rami, take the right flank!” I yelled. “Elyse, there’s a patch of sunlight on the left; use it! Isu, use your poisonous gas!”
In a matter of seconds, my zombie Crusaders were in front of the oxen, marching in two single-file lines. The two cavalry squadrons were aiming to swoop past the Crusaders on either side of their two lines and flatten the women and myself with their charge.
I wasn’t about to let that happen.
I sent a command along the sinews of anti-light that linked me to my troops, and they fanned out into a broad wedge formation. Their shields were held in front of them, and their heels dug into the dirt. They presented a formidable wall to the charging cavalrymen, many of whom, hemmed in by their comrades, had no choice now but to crash headlong into the wall and hope that they could bowl over my undead.
An idea in my mind, I jumped back up onto the wagon. I was going to test my kusarigama on the cavalry troops, and the best way to do that was to get right into the thick of them. I sprinted over the backs of the oxen, using the surprised beasts as stepping stones. Captain Jandor, the leader of my zombie Crusaders, was in the center of the wedge, and I
