"She's beautiful," mobile a man giving a voice to all the men on the wall.
James thought her beautiful from his place on the wall. Something in the back of his mind tingled. She was so far away he could barely see her, but he knew she was beautiful.
"Come to me," she said.
The palace guard on the gate in their full plate armor jumped of the wall to get to her. The hit the ground and James was able to look away at the woman to see blood splatter out of the armor. More men followed the first guard after the woman. James watched ten more men jump to their deaths before he was able to look away. He noticed his Captain stepping near the wall. James grabbed his coat and pulled him below the battlement so he could not see the gray lady.
"Fuck was that!" shouted Captain Narrows. "Stop looking at the grey broad that's an order!"
Mumbles and complaints began to murmur down the walls as men started to look away. Other arrived form other sections of the wall to see the commotion. James saw a few more men jump from the wall closer to him and heard the thud as they hit the ground on the ground below. Jams grabbed another man and pulled him below.
James looked at his Captain who had gone pail.
"Captain after the worms dug under the wall, why did we run to the palace?" asked James. "Those worms will dig under the palace outer wall too. We put ourselves back in between those monsters and the queen again."
"Soldier our duty is to protect the queen," answered Captain Narrows. "And if you listen a little more closely you can hear the rest of the city being butchered by the dead and the rats."
James stopped listening to the confusion at the gate to hear the city scream. Muskets screamed in the distance as the militia's barricades maid their stands. James felt his stomach twist and he was glad he had not gotten the chance to eat today. He stopped listening to the madness outside the wall to worry about his problem.
He thought back to the waives of dead people who attacked the wall.
"Sir what are we going to do about the dead men?" asked James.
"Fuck!" shouted the captain. "Everyone they kill is going to be thrown against the wall."
For a moment James considered checking over the wall but the number of men struggling to jump of and stop others was proof enough to him she was still outside driving men to madness. It was then he spotted a black hand on the inside of the battlement.
"Sir!" shouted James pointing to the inside of the wall. "Those infiltrators from the first night!"
The boney face of a pail lurker peeked from inside the wall. Its carved skull seemed to smile as a black hand reached for a man's ankle. It locked eyes with James who had to look into the cloudy eyes of a corpse and wonder how its gaze could express so much wicked joy. It locked the man's ankle and pulled him from the wall before his captain could turn around.
Two more of the creatures appeared and began pulling men to the courtyard from the wall. James could see palace guards rushing into the courtyard dressed in full plate and carrying halberds.
James leveled him musket to kill one of the pale faced friends which disappeared below the wall. The captain looked back with his saber. Everyone on the wall heard the gate creak open. James peeked over the wall to see the black bodied corps walk out the front gate one stopping in front of the grey woman. The pair seemed to stair at each other breaking the woman's spell.
POP!! POP!! POP!!!
Someone shot at the grey woman and pail lurker. The black form of the lurker leapt into the shadows. The woman stood still, and the volley of lead seemed to pass through her.
"Fucking ghost!" shouted someone. "she can't be shot!"
James Looked at Narrows and saw that the captain had finally come to the conclusion they where out matched.
"Follow me to the block house!" shouted the captain waiving his saber. "Death itself has come for the Queen! This is no place for men to interfere our only hope is to live longer than she does and pray to the sun that we get to live full lives!"
James and the rest of his platoon ran to the nearby tower fixed in the wall. James could tell they all could feel it. Death given flesh had come for her majesty and they stood no chance now that the gate had been opened from the inside. The city guard ran for the stone tower.
"In the name of the Queen return to your posts!" ordered some other Captain. The men in yellow rushed on into the tower ignoring the man. They entered the tower and began to barricade themselves in. when the men of the Palace guard in their plate armor ordered them to return to their posts, they were met with musket fire. James was helping narrows waive people into the building hoping they could pull the last men in so they could close and seal the door. A cornel in yellow ran to the door and began to order men out and tried to grab a man by the arm so he could not enter the tower. Narrows drew his pistol.
POP!!
The older man took a shot to the chest and fell backwards. The last man entered the door. James shut the door and other pushed a table and every other piece of furniture or debris in front of the door. Every floor of the tower was fortified, and every door sealed. They watched the doors in silence for an eternity.
James felt his mind slip as he continued to point his musket at the door. His arms grew tired, and he remembered how pointless it was to shoot a corps, but it would damage he body at least a little.
THUNK THUNK
"Hold your fire if you wish to live," hissed a raspy voice. "This is the war mind of the Pail Scourge. I am here to determine your intent. Any officers might better know the name Sergeant of Arms Blunt. Who is in command of this tower and what are your intentions? Are you boys willing to die for the queen?"
"Sergeant of Arms This is Captain Narrows of the royal city guard," Answered the Captain. "I am the highest-ranking officer of this tower and will be in command until I die or try to order these men to take the walls back from the dead. If you are an emissary of the invader than know we don't care to protect the queen but surrendering to death is not something we plan on doing."
"Good man Captain!" rasped the voice. "You will go far after this is over. If you swear to stay in this tower, I will not waist the time to drag you men out of it. No shots from the windows either."
"This is fine so long as those wretched flying beasts don't spit fire or acid down upon us," replied the Captain.
"You have a deal Captain," hissed the voice. "Your lives will be spared as long as you keep to the tower for the knight. We should be done soon and pull out most of the unliving by tomorrow night. You might have a few walking corpses about, but you lads can probably deal with them. Have a quiet wach boys."
The voice stepped away and James felt almost a little relieved.
"James," ordered the Captain. "Go tell the other floors about our deal with the Sergeant of arms."
"Can he be trusted?" asked James.
"I don't know, and it doesn't matter," replied the Captain. "If they want in there is little, we can do to stop them. If sitting in this tower in silence for tonight and tomorrow will save our hides than that is our best chance. Now go upstairs and tell the others what is going on."
James nodded and began running up the Stairs hoping this would be the end of tonight.