Sari, Hecate and Charlotte peeked over the lip of some rubble. The ruins of Shandil had been hard fought over, and now the undead army that had beseieged the city for these past weeks lurked in the outer rings of the city streets - leaving the fortifications at the center for later. Palisades and protective foritifications weren't being erected, as most armies would throw up at such a time. Instead, they were centering on the manor home that Charlotte had said was the closest to the ancient Chanti ruins that lurked beneath the city.
"There," Charlotte whispered, pointing with one of her new arms. "That's the manor of one of my uncle's old allies - Lord Galvain. He was the most mad for Chanti ruins and relics, so his manor actually connects to the old ruins beneath the city. If what you read in the Corpse King's journals is accurate, she will enact her ritual to bring down the walls between our world and the Void there, where the mystic powers of the Reliquary are going to be most easily accessed."
"There's a hell of a lot of ugly between us and them," Hecate said, spitting. Weeks of undeath followed by her unexpected resurrection hadn't changed her gruff nature.
Sari shook her head. "What we need is a distraction," she said, her tail lashing.
On that exact cue, horns blared. Hooves began to thunder. Bursting from the smoke that wreathed the city streets came, inexplicably, rank after rank after rank of silver and white clad knights from the heart of Shandil's castle. They had sallied forth at precisely the correct time - and with lances leveled and swords drawn, they smashed into the spread out masses of the necromancer's army. Skeletons shattered and necromancers screamed as they were put in that most dangerous of all positions for a spellcaster: On foot with a knight nearby. Half a dozen were struck down by lancepoint and curved sabers before they had managed to even cast a single spell.
The horses would normally then withdraw and charge again, or withdraw back to the castle, or push on. But the one thing about the army of the undead - no matter how weak links it had in the form of Black Walker mercenaries or squishy, still living necromancers - was that the majority of it was undead. Zombies and skeletons shambled from around the horsemen that had so valiantly charged. They grabbed onto knights, trying to drag them from their horses, to put them beneath their claws and their daggers.
The battle had become a brutal melee.
But at the very least, no one was looking to make sure the perimeter wasn't breached.
Sari stood and grabbed onto Charlotte's hand with her free hand, while Hecate sprang to her feet behind her. They rushed over the rubble as Sari's brain whirled. A knight was dragged from his horse ahead of her and she snatched up a discarded spear and hurled it in the same motion. The zombie that had planned to rip the knight's visor off and bite his face was flung backwards, speared into the wall of a nearby house, while the knight gasped on his feet. He started to stand - then gaped at the sight of Sari and Charlotte.
"Dragons above!" he exclaimed, but Sari ignored him. She leaped onto the back of the horse, which rocked its back and bucked upwards, restive and worried. Sari took the reigns as Charlotte swung onto the back of the horse, clinging with her upper and lower arms - while Hecate dragged the knight fully to his feet. She laughed.
"Don't worry, they're on our side, soldier," she said. "Now, get back in the fight." To Sari and Charlotte, she shouted. "I'll catch up!"
"This is going to get dicy," Sari shouted over the din of the battle. Charlotte lifted her upper right hand, spread her fingers, and fired a blast of fire directly into the skull of skeleton that looked moments away from slipping a dagger into the knee join of an embattled knight. Sari kneed her newly earned warhorse into motion - and the horse, recognizing the command if still unsure about her, started to trot forward, then canter. Sari focused on the route ahead of her, weaving around knots of infantry and swirling, flashing blades. Her forward progress seemed to surge open a line ahead of her - but then as she rounded past a knight slashing down at a collection of zombies, she saw that she'd either have to try and weave between bitterly contested knights and vampires...
Or leap over a blazing wagon, set aflame by some enterprising Shandil warrior who had seen a chance to deny the necromancer's some of their equipment.
Her horse was, by now, focused purely on putting one hoof ahead of the other, breathing heavily, eyes rolling in clearly mounting panic. Sari shouted to Charlotte. "Help!"
Charlotte saw it. She waved her hands and then thrust two of them above Sari's shoulders - her lower hands remaining locked around Sari's hips to keep herself from falling off the horse. Ice exploded from her palms and the fires went out with a
fwump
. Black smoke roiled over the wagon and Sari felt the horse gather, then leap. It cleared the wagon, crashed down, then kept running, the impact jarring her teeth. Ahead of her was the manor home. The Corpse King stood before it, shrouded by a glittering golden field that was threaded through with lines of thick blackness. Perched before the home was...
Was...
Sari's eyes widened.
That was half a dozen kegs of blasting powder.
"Oh-" she started.
The Corpse King snapped her fingers.
"-shit."
The explosion picked Charlotte and Sari up and off the horse and sent them smashing down, saved from broken bones and worse only by Charlotte creating a similarly powerful force field. Fragments of stone and wood tore into their horse - and into the soldiers and corpses of both sides. Flesh and metal gave way to the terrible force of the explosion, and smoke billowed outwards in a swirling mass. When the ringing in Sari's ears abated, she sat up and shook her head and saw people stumbling through the mass of the battle - humans, elves, goblins, and other Shandil warriors, stunned but still standing. Then the undead began to slouch from the smoke, less effected by the concussive blast.
Through the ringing, she could hear horns blaring. And a familiar voice.
"Retreat! Retreat men! To the castle! Fall back to the castle!" Tanner called out. Faintly, Sari could see her astride a horse, holy blade in hand, waving it above her head.
Charlotte shook her head. She looked around, wildly. "Who was that?" she asked.
"Uh, I'll explain later," Sari said.
"
That's
Tanner?" Charlotte said, her brain making the connection. "You said he was changed but-"
"Later!" Sari pointed.
Charlotte and her both looked upon the smoldering ruin that had been the manor home that sat above the Chanti ruins. Now, the whole front and upper levels had been blown aside and scattered, revealing a yawning, gaping hole that led straight down into now much disturbed but very familiar Chanti style corridors. The faint glow of glittering light was all that followed after the Corpse King. Charlotte and Sari both exchanged a nervous look. They started to stand, and then saw that the Corpse King had not left the rear undefended. Crawling from the smoke on their hands and knees, eyes glowing like yellow pits, were ghouls. More than a dozen of them, their bladed fingers and leather armor-clad bodies moving like liquid death. They arranged themselves between Sari and the entrance to the Chanti ruins.
