World Seed

The s.h.i.+ps were fairly large, almost thirty meters long and five meters wide. They had a single mast and many holes lining the sides for oars. The four s.h.i.+ps closest to them were quite a bit larger than the rest, employing an extra set of holes below deck for oars. They appeared to be almost three meters taller than the rest and a few meters wider as well.

"Those are the Durani merchant s.h.i.+ps." Earl Abery spoke as he pointed to the larger s.h.i.+ps.

"Good. Take fifty men with you and find a reason to order the men off the s.h.i.+ps. I"ll deal with merchants men."

"Yes, my lord." Earl Abery gathered the men and broke off from the horde heading into camp. Once he was gone Aerwyn began to give out the orders he had prepared.

"I want the hobgoblins, goblins, and vosk to break up into twenty groups and enter the river. You"ll be climbing up the back of Earl Abery"s s.h.i.+ps once the men are ordered to leave, make sure no one attempts to flee. If any human that still has a heartbeat attempts to enter the s.h.i.+ps, kill them." Aerwyn spoke before turning his attention to the spiders.

"The spiders will break up into four groups and do the same with the merchant s.h.i.+ps except once the fighting starts you will attack the humans that are still on the s.h.i.+ps. Be careful of the elves, i do not want them harmed."

The undead began to scatter as if the plan had been ch.o.r.eographed, hastily making their way to the river. Aerwyn then looked to the humans camp, Earl Abery and his fifty men had just made it to the perimeter around the camp and they were currently speaking with one of the guards. He seemed to not question Earl Abery"s explanation about the condition of their eyes as they were quickly allowed within the perimeter.

It took nearly a half hour for all two hundred of them to slowly trickle out of the s.h.i.+ps and form at attention in front of the Earl. Aerwyn closed his eyes, entering the darkness and connecting to Earl Abery"s eyes.

"Are you ready?" Aerwyn asked as he gazed over the men before Earl Abery. The sudden voice within his head caused Earl Abery to s.h.i.+ver.

"Are you ok, my lord?" A man with an observant eye that witnessed the odd s.h.i.+ver asked.

"I"m fine..." Earl Abery responded before switching to using a voice inside his mind.
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"Yes, my lord. The men shall not take part in the battle."

"Good, keep them off the s.h.i.+ps."

Aerwyn opened his true eyes and when he saw the goblins climbing aboard the s.h.i.+ps he turned to Pontus.

"I want you to make sure the merchant brothers that you told me about survive. I have plans for them as well."

"Worry not, lord. I may be old but my eyes are still as fresh as when i was a youngling."

"Good. The humans shall lead the charge, let"s go."

Aerwyn climbed back atop his zin beetle along with Rin and Ren. Erit did the same, taking her place atop another zin beetle beside him. Strangely enough Rorik took his place on Aerwyn"s right hand side without being ordered to. He was about to comment on it but Erit beat him to it.

"It looks like the dog has finally come around to see your greatness master." She chided.

"...Quiet insect... The weakling gets injured too much, if he dies we may all end up joining him..." Rorik growled. Erit brought her dainty hand to her mouth and spoke behind a giggle in a way that one might expect from a powerful n.o.ble lady.

"Oh my! What a strange way of saying that you care about your master, dog."

"Enough, we have a battle to fight." Aerwyn admonished them as Rorik appeared to be ready to take a swipe at the "little spider" even with him in the middle between them.

Under the cover of darkness they marched silently towards the merchants side of the camp and once they reached the edge of the light created by the torches, they charged in. The two guards on the northern end of the camp were caught by surprise as Aerwyn"s undead humans ran them through with their blades. They didn"t even have a chance to scream as they stood with blank faced confusion at the sudden rush from what they a.s.sumed to be their allies.

It worked in Aerwyn"s favor as it would allow his troops precious moments to catch more enemies unaware. Pontus and a dozen undead humans broke off and went straight for the two larger, more elegant tents at the center of the Durani camp while the rest began raiding the smaller ones. A scream resounded out through the camp, bringing an end to the quiet peace of this warm summer night.

The Durani men began to pour out from the tents only to be met by undead lying in wait for them. The cacophony of chaotic slaughter wasn"t limited to the Durani camp, the men on their s.h.i.+ps were roused awake by the screams only to be met with large spiders that stood at the ready to plunge their fangs into the men"s flesh. Even if they were soldiers, being attacked so suddenly by an overwhelming force was enough to route even the best trained soldiers let alone some hired guards meant to keep slaves in check.

Aerwyn was sitting back outside of the battle, his injured shoulder was anything but healed and it wouldn"t be smart to put himself at risk given the circ.u.mstances. There was also the fact that he needed to conserve his soul if he was planning on resurrecting Earl Abery"s two hundred men. Resurrecting them would require him to collect all of the souls from the Durani and even then he was still unsure as to whether or not he would be able to resurrect all of them.

He had been paying attention to the sensation of resurrection ever since he began chasing Earl Abery. His results varied but his best guess was that the humans required between four and six souls while he noticed an even stronger sensation from Earl Abery and Marshal Dolan. What made it even more odd was that all the humans souls looked exactly the same as Erit"s, only a tiny flame that flickered back and forth as if a gentle breeze may extinguish it.

There was no variance like the rest of his undead"s souls that burned brighter or were slightly larger than others of the same grade. He a.s.sumed it had something to do with mana as the only thing that separated the Earl and the Marshal from the rest was their place in human society but like most aspects of his power it left him stumped for any definitive answers.

He regretted not paying more attention to Pontus"s resurrection, if Pontus"s cost of resurrection was equal or greater than even Earl Abery"s then he could"ve used it to confirm his findings, as a mage should surely have more mana than even a n.o.ble, at least in Aerwyn"s mind they should. It was a shame because he wouldn"t have the chance to resurrect any more n.o.bles or human mages any time soon to glean some answers.

Aerwyn broke from his thoughts and looked over to Earl Abery"s camp. There appeared to be some arguing going on but his men still didn"t move to attack Aerwyn"s undead which was all he cared about. Pontus and the dozen men who followed him stepped out of the chaotic camp carrying two tan skinned men as they made their way to Aerwyn.

"These are the Durani merchants Kers and Inik, my lord." Pontus motioned his hand as if to display them as the merchants were thrown to the floor and forced to kneel beneath Aerwyn.

"W-we two brothers are nothing but h-humble merchants. I-if we have offended you in any way we can pay you for our transgressions." The words seemed to roll off the one called Kers"s tongue like silk.

"Yes, yes! We two brothers can pay!" The one called Inik added.

Merchants trying to buy their lives as their men are slaughtered behind them seemed all too cliche to Aerwyn and he released a laugh out loud that was meant for his mind. The merchant brothers friendly expressions turned to horror as Aerwyn chuckled. The laugh wasn"t intended but the merchants were never going to be allowed to live anyway so whether they felt horror or glee in their final moments, it was all the same to Aerwyn.

Once they"re resurrected all that they own becomes his anyway so there was no reason to drag it out. He jumped from the zin beetle while an undead human held the head of the one called Inik, displaying his throat to Aerwyn. The blades of his staff slid across it, in a quick slice as the man struggled to breath in his final moments.

"INIK!" The one called Kers cried out as an undead human forced his head to turn from his dying brother, displaying the man"s neck to Aerwyn as well.

"Relax, you shall see your brother again soon... Death is only the beginning." Aerwyn spoke the cold words as the blades of his staff opened the man"s throat. His final expression showed his hatred for Aerwyn, seemingly not realizing Aerwyn"s words were meant to be taken literally.