The orange coats revelries enraged Albie. The amusement would stop tonight. All of them may not die but the mage was going to force a nightmare on them they would never wake from.
Albie whet the chalky blood stone with his own blood before pushing the chalky blood stone into the dead man's mouth. Then he wheezed the black liquid that squirmed in his lungs to the surface. He felt it twist in his mouth before kissing the corpse. The black fluid began to move the body. The blood stone granting the moon mage control of the hungering ghoul.
It stood up straight and to match the mages wishes and saluted him. Its eyes burned red with endless hunger. It stood in the service of its creator, but Albie could see in its madness. If not for the blood stone, it would feed on him without hesitation.
"Load your musket," ordered the mage. "Fix your bayonet and go kill the revilers."
The dead solder loaded the musket with a drilled hand. The mage opened the iron gate and entered the walls of the bank.
Inside the grey stone walls was the first building. No candles illuminated the first-floor windows. The gate had been a back entrance to the compound. The stone walls made Albie think he was sneaking into a fort. He moved quietly to the wall of the first building. The lurker had simply climbed to the second floor, but the mage could not do that. He found a wooden door on the back side of the building. He drew his stolen pistol, loaded it, and opened the door. The scent of a fresh cleaned wood floor greeted his nostrils as he entered. The large room he had stepped into was empty except for rows of cloth set up by the solders as bedding.
Albie walked through the room finding all the blankets and cushions empty. The bags and muskets were laid out one to a pile of blankets, but the owners were missing. It might be fun to steal something from the men or sabotage a weapon, but it would take too long and the young mage wanted to search the building a little more. As he walked across the room, he noticed a coat spilling out of one of the bags. It was a yellow jacket like the ones worn by the solders who attacked the village. He dumped the bag on the floor. The contents were disappointing. Cats moon charm was not in the bag or any of the villages sun rings. Just a few bottles of what looked like whine and the normal sundries needed for a soldier's daily life. Except for a fine porcelain comb. The mage pocketed the come and moved to the door on the other side of the room and opened it to see the banks main lobby.
A counter was in front of him. Stairs to the second floor could also be seen near the middle of the large room. More cloth beds rowed the lobby floor. The vault sat in a stone wall to his right. The metal door melted to slag. A lone orange coat slept in a chair in front of the opened vault. Albie walked over to the sleeping man. His pistol at the ready in one hand. The other waiting to grab the man. As he drew close, he heard a few frantic thumps from upstairs. The music and singing from outside drowned out most of the noise.
He reached the sleeping solder. A man in his thirties. Soon to be to old for soldering. On his shoulder were five black diamonds sown into the uniform to mark his rank.
The moon mage reached out and grabbed the man by the mouth and with the power of the moon leached his life from his body. Just like the last night the man slowly awoke to find his body week. Unable to contest the mage with his strength bled from him he went limp and was drained to a shriveled husk in his orange uniform sitting in the chair. The mage saw into the vault to find a mountain of stolen treasure. Gold rings jewels and silver filled the room.
The other half of the moon charm must be here. He just had to find it.