The church bell tolled the change of the guard at the second watch of the night. The guards at the Western gate were happy that nothing had happened on their watch, and now they waited for their replacements. They packed their gear and began talking a little louder, a couple laughing about the news that had been given to them from the council's representative. 'A horde has been spotted. Be aware.' The guards had been doubled, but it was all for naught.
Or so they thought.
Only one guard maintained his post like he was supposed to. He was the oldest of them, and had been there for the last Zombie horde to break through the gates. His magic wasn't overly powerful, but it was useful at combat. Most of the men didn't like him, but he was a good soldier, even they had to admit that. 'Even if he is soft on those pointless non-magi.' He stayed on the watchtower and stared off into the darkness of the still, but cloudy night.
And that's why he had to die first.
The guards beneath him, away from the tower, continued their loud joking, even as a silent arrow went over the outer wall, and imbedded itself in his throat. Another quickly followed, straight into the gasping mouth. The man fell dead over the side of the tower and over the wall, his final scream never uttered or even missed by the guards below him. The Zombies then pressed forward. Unlike their normal moans, their commanders had called them to silence and they obeyed...
Four hours earlier:
"Lydia... I'm going to need you to do this."
"But this... this is..." She shuddered. "Do I really have to get ahold of these... things?"
Gerald smiled. "That depends. Do you want these innocent people to die?" He looked into her eyes, the grey still bothering her slightly. "Lydia. Please... I know that you don't like the undead, and we may never fully understand each other and our reasoning, but right now, I have no one else to turn to. My night will be busy enough if we are to succeed."
"I know." She cut in as he took a breath. "I know. It just... it feels so wrong."
The Necromancer smiled. "You have a good heart. A good mind. And I hope that I get to teach you how to control your magic even better." He looked into her eyes and saw the hesitation. 'The hesitation of one who has never had to take a life, or even have other lives in her hands.'
"I'll... I'll do it. Just... don't expect me to be happy about it." With that, the Druidess turned and went into their room at the non-magi inn. (It was rundown and shabby, with a mattress and blanket, a small table with a candle, and not much else. But it wouldn't be for much sleeping tonight.)
"Message." She said, her mind focusing on the spell. "Hermina Dor, of the Dor bloodline." A small portal, no larger than a hand mirror, opened in front of Lydia's face. Grey filled the color until she finally saw it.
"Gerald?" Came a voice from the other portal. The woman's voice was smooth, silky, and made the other woman shudder as it felt unnatural.
"Lydia, of the House of Roses, Druidess." Lydia replied. "But... but slave of Gerald."
The woman walked into view of the portal, and Lydia clenched her fists to keep control of herself. She was pale, like the moon, with a bony cheeks and blood red lips, her eyes were a deep crimson red, and her hair was white and long, flowing out of sight of the Druidess after a large bun that hung on her left side. The woman's/creature's eyes flashed with surprise at seeing her, and at what she had said. "That's surprising. I thought he didn't take slaves anymore."
"It's... it's a long story."
"I've got nowhere to be."
"That's where you're wrong." Lydia breathed deep. "Gerald needs you."
The woman/creature raised an eyebrow. "Does he indeed?" The woman was shocked at the announcement, but she didn't show it.
"We're in a town called Portal-"
"That mess of a town?"
"And," Lydia continued, liking this less by the second, "Gerald said to tell you that 'We're going to set it free.'
The woman gasped and held her hand up to her pale white face. Her nails were long, but well manicured, and on her fingers she wore a bright silver, but unadorned, ring. Then came a massive grin that showed her teeth as she pulled the hand away. Including her two elongated canines... "Well now... He'll be calling all of the bloodlines then. It's the Rise..."
"He... he says he is undecided on that. But he knows that if he does decide to declare himself, he'll need all the help he can get."
"I'll need time." The Vampress replied after a moment of quiet thinking. "I can gather what forces I can and be at your location in a month or so."
"The operation is going down tonight." Lydia said.
Hermina Dor, the Vampress, looked at the Druidess with a long, but puzzled look for a moment. "I think that in the back of his mind, he has made up his mind... Tell him that I'll send him some of my children. They are all I can muster and teleport to him within a short time. My armies will follow as fast as they can."
"Just hurry." Lydia said. "We're going up against some strong magi tonight."
"Oh don't worry about the magi." The Vampress replied, her long smile growing wider and her pale gums showing and making the Druidess sick. "Such prey will make short work for my kin..." Her toothy smile showed a malice and a power that made Lydia almost step back. "Tell that fool that we shall fight at his side."
"Godspeed." Lydia said.
"May the gods watch over all of us." Hermina said with a nod of her head. "I know that they haven't abandoned my kind, even now." With that, the spell vanished, and Lydia was left to herself. She breathed hard, as though she had run a marathon without practicing, and sat on the mattress. She finally got her breathe back and stood after a few minutes. It wasn't the magic that pulled at her, but just swallowing her own disgust and shame that stayed in her mind.
"Well... one down, four to go..."
There was a knock on the door. Lydia answered it, and old Devith was standing there. "My girl... are you certain we can't do anything to help? Me and the lads have been desperate to prove our place amongst those Magi... begging your pardon miss."
She smiled at the old man. "No apologies necessary." She sighed. "But I am just repeating what Gerald said. 'If you leave your house tonight, you'll die. Tell them that.' And with that, that reckless fool was gone."
"You think he was serious?" Her silence told him his answer. "Very well. I'll have the boys spread the word. No matter what they hear outside, they'll stay inside."
"Thank you." Lydia stood looked at the old man. "Please tell them that we are not joking. We are not being overly dramatic either. Just... hold your loved ones close. I suggest not even looking out a window tonight..."
An hour after Lydia began calling and the darkness in the sky was final and complete:
Gerald couldn't help but feel a little proud of his handiwork. The non-magi were hiding in their homes, if they had heeded his and Lydia's warnings. Lydia was doing her job gathering reinforcements amongst the Vampires, and he had successfully snuck out of the eastern gate. He felt the magic beckoning him onwards, and with a smile he released the magic into the countryside once the city had been hidden from his view by several large hills of ash.
"SHAHL VAH!" He called, the magic amplifying his voice hard and loud into the Ashen Plains, but blocking it from the town. The dead obeyed. The horde this time answered his call in earnest. A Master had called them, and a Master hadn't in so long...
Perhaps it was the anger in his voice, or perhaps it was that the cause was just, but the horde that came didn't just run, but sprinted to him and pulled itself out of the ash. The dead poured from the ash, like a quick growing and living (or undead as the case may be) bed of flowers. To the first six, he granted them power and authority, as he had in the south not long ago. Six skeletal commanders soon knelt before him. Three holding bows and quivers of arrows, two holding long swords, and another holding a double sided axe in both of its skeletal hands. The commands were simple. The battle was there's, but there was one strong command. "You are to kill noone who isn't a magi inside of homes." The skeletal commanders didn't need further orders, and they planned amongst themselves in their own bony language as he dismissed them. He understood their language, but didn't care about the logistics of the night. It was their job, and he knew they would instinctively make most of the right calls. Only experience would make them wiser. The night was still young, and his plan hinged on how many allies he could gather. 'There's a lot of if's.' He said, his brain trying to focus and his mind tired. The memory from that guard popped up again and he felt sick to his stomach. It felt as though he had helped plan it... he had said those horrible slurs... he had burned that young girl to ash who told him no... No. Those belonged to that dead bastard who was probably now getting buried or carried through the streets as a rallying cry for the non-magi to stay in their homes. He cared not. 'He deserves to be made into a ghoul...' He shut it out of his mind for a while. 'Not now. I've pulled a lot on the magic over the past few days. And it takes quite a bit to raise a new clan...'
"My Lord." A skeletal command was standing in front of him. "My Lord, we have run the basic planning and feel that we cannot win without some other help."
"I know." The Necromancer replied. Gerald's mind raced. "Vampire may come, but they may be too late. What do you need to succeed tonight?"
"Not much more, unless the magi in the city are much stronger than we can sense at the moment. I believe just some skeletal warriors. About 100 should suffice." It bowed low. "If it pleases my master, and the strength of his magical needs. There are those who slumber beneath our feet. They could be awoken with a touch of fellow skeletons."
"How long will that take?"
"A few minutes to dig up the first of them. Faster if we have shovels."
"You can sense where they are?"
"Yes my lord."
"I don't have a shovel. But dig and command those you find."
"Yes my lord."
"You have less than three hours. Then the attack must commence."
"You will be proud of us." The commander immediately dug with his hands in the ash, scraping away directly below Gerald's feet. Gerald moved out of the way, and, after a moment's hesitation, dug with his own hands. The cold ash ripped at his hands, but within a little over a minute they found what they were looking for. It wasn't even a whole finger that was buried in the sand when the commander touched it. It immediately began to move, the magic that had long kept it asleep leaving and seeping into the night sky. It pulled itself upright, the ash pouring from every orifice and gap in the skeleton's body, with some sticking to it in small clumps. At a bony word, the skeleton moved away and began digging not even five feet away from where they were. The commander didn't move but continued digging, finding another shortly afterwards. Gerald looked around and the other commanders were doing the same. Some even had other skeletons that were already helping them dig. Magic trickled from him with each one that was touched by the skeletons. It's magical power now being pulled from the Necromancer instead of the one who had raised in in the ancient days. Magic had to be used to keep the bones moving. It was the one downside to these hard and hardy warriors, except for their simple intellects.
Finally, he called the digging to a halt. His hold on the magic was getting lower than he would like, mostly because there was a battle still to fight. 'I just hope that Lydia got some of the Vampiric families who were willing to help...' The army around him had swelled enormously. The number of Zombies that he could count numbered at least 5,000, while the Skeletons had done their work well. Around 700 of them stood and were standing at the ready. For these skeletons, he pulled on his magic more and found them weapons. Mostly spears, as spears were plentiful, but others carried swords and knives that were long since buried in the ash. "A pity I don't have a smithy." He lamented out loud.
"There's one in the town." A skeletal commander nearby said, misinterpreting his words for legitimate tactics rather than him complaining at himself. "We'll have it before the breaking of dawn to make and fix the weapons."
The Necromancer looked at the moon's position as it slowly sank more and more into the dark sky. ' We'll need to wait for just a little longer...'
The skeletons climbed the stone wall, caring not for the pebbles, and reached the tower to see where the dead guard had been. They looked around and magically reported their findings of the guards slacking on their duties and of the fresh troops now coming to replace the old. The Zombies moved restlessly, but remained silent beneath the gate, awaiting it to swing inward and to their feasting. The Skeletons had two goals. The first was being achieved. Control of the inside of the gate to allow the Zombies inside. The second was to take control of the interior warning bell that sat at the top of the council's building. About a dozen skeletons began to work, waiting until they wouldn't be seen and then dropping the 9 meters to the grassy land below. It was not something that any human could have pulled off, except with either great skill or great injury, but the skeletons felt no pain, and their bones were ready for action. A few other casualties were created as some guards were in the way. They were quickly taken into the grass and laid to rest in almost complete silence, even as the grass drank their blood to hide it in the now moonless night.
Even as the skeletons performed their duties, Gerald was unsure of himself. Not on whether to kill these... monsters... that the correct thing to do, he was certain. But instead about whether to declare himself openly. Such a thing would definitely bring the Everseekers, but they could be dealt with if Lydia was actually... 'No. She'll do her job.' It was the gates that Gerald felt sad about. "I suppose I could have the undead build proper gates quickly..." He muttered as he watched more and more skeletons climb the wall and sit either just below the top of the gate and walls, or climbing into the guard tower. "Such matters are better thought off when I have councilors near me."
There was a shout from the other side of the wall and it was followed by the sound of clashing steel and some screams. "It's begun either way..."