《Undeath: Kingdom》


 Chapter one: Undead

    In a small village far from any major cities lived a man, this man was taught in the ways of the sword ever since he was a young lad. He not only knew how to use a sword but he could also manipulate mana but knew very little in the magical arts. All he knew was mana is in all living creatures but very few could manipulate it to their will.


    The man in this story is me, my name is Rayn and I write this story to chronicle my rise to power. My journey started when I was in my mid twenties and our country was at war with a neighboring kingdom. I was a guard for a small village which was ruled by the empire of Luton grod.


    One day while out on patrol a strange old man was making his way to our village. This is where our story begins.


    The old man was wearing a beat up grey robe that looked like it had gone through many years of wear and tear. He had a walking stick with some kind of crystal attached to the top. The man had a hunched back and shuffled his way slowly towards me.


    ¡°Halt!¡± I shouted raising my left hand and grabbing the hilt of my sword with the right hand.


    ¡°What business do you have here in Ravensted?¡±


    The man shuffled closer stretching out his right hand. Placing his palm over my chest and said ¡°you will meet a great misfortune in the near future.¡± his voice was shaking.


    ¡°What are you some kind of Fortune teller?¡± We had always had people mainly gypsies wander into our village claiming to speak to the dead or see the future. Magic use was a rarity but foretelling the future was by far the rarest form of magic.


    ¡°I do not know when but you will meet your end very soon.¡± He said ignoring my question.


    ¡°Whatever you say gramps get a move on, I don''t want you scaring villagers with your foretellings of doom.¡± I said shoving him away.


    Without another word he walked away in the direction he came from. A guard walked up behind me and slapped me on the back.


    ¡°What was that?¡± He asked


    ¡°Just some old geezer trying to make a quick piece of copper.¡±


    The man standing beside me was Garrett a knight sent by the empire to train our guard. He was the acting guard captain until the town''s people voted for a new one. This man is the one who taught me to wield a sword. I considered him something of a father figure.


    ¡°How''s the whole magic thing going?¡± Garrett asked walked beside me.


    ¡°All I know is how to move mana inside me, nothing else. There is only so much I can learn from a beat up book with half the pages missing.¡±


    We walked and talked for about an hour or so before making our way back to town. On our way back we ran into a small group of goblins. Vile green things, they only stood about three feet tall and had skinny bodies. There were only about ten of them but where there are ten there are a hundred more.


    We both drew our swords from their sheaths. The goblins backed up a few inches and growled at one another.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°How''s your sword arm old man.¡± I asked with a smirk on my face.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine mage boy.¡± He replied


    The goblins wore cloth to cover their privates, wielded rickety wooden shields and many sharp pointed sticks. Goblins are very primitive and stupid, the only thing that kept them alive is the fact they can breed abnormally fast.


    The goblin who looked to be in charge growled at the others and five leaped forward the other five stayed behind throwing their sharp sticks from a far. Since the sticks were crudely made many fell short and the ones that did hit us just bounced off our chestplates. Garrett and I made quick work of the goblins who charged at us head on the only ones left were the rangers. We leaped forward and slashed our swords side to side slicing any goblin that was in our way.


    The only goblin left now was the leader who was wearing actual clothes and a sturdy wooden shield along with a dagger. I noticed something happening to it, the goblins muscles were starting to grow.


    ¡°Shit he''s shifting!¡± Garrett yelled


    ¡°He''s what?¡± I asked


    But Garrett had already leaped toward the goblin and stabbed his sword through its head. Whatever the goblin was doing scared Garrett enough to make him charge blindly at the thing.


    ¡°When a goblin shifts they become a massive ogre capable of crushing a small village in a few minutes.¡± Garrett said pulling his sword out of the goblins head.


    After collecting the goblins dagger we made our way back to the village, no one had and idea what happened. We walked through the streets and a few people whispered to one another, we still had blood on our swords and uniforms so it made them curious. We walked into the pub that sat next to the guard barracks, as we entered a few of the men inside raised their mugs and cheered. The guards around here were a simple lot, they saw blood they cheered.


    ¡°What happened to you guys?¡± A man with an eyepatch asked.


    ¡°Goblins.¡± I said sitting at the bar.


    ¡°Nasty little buggers.¡± a man across the room chimed in


    All the men in the pub nodded in agreement. Garrett and I ordered a pint of ale each and sat walked around the bar greet various guardsmen. We all chatted or a little more than an hour when the door to the pub swung open.


    A man in a white and gold robe walked in with a dozen knights wearing full plate armor following him. Almost as soon as the man walked in everyone got on their knees and took a praying stance. The man before us was a priest from the holy church all the people praying don''t pray out of respect it''s primarily out fear.


    The man looked to be in his mid forties. He had beady rat like eyes and a very pointed nose. His nose was pointed in the air as he looked down at everyone in the room.


    ¡°For what do we owe the pleasure?¡± The bar man asked.


    The man turned his head slowly towards the bar man. He raised his skeleton like hand and pointed towards the bar keep. Without any hesitation a pair of knights grabbed him and dragged him outside. I got up without thinking.


    ¡°What is the meaning of this!¡± I shouted, everyone looked at me in shock.


    ¡°You have no right to take anyone you want away from their homes!¡±


    Without a word the skeleton like man pointed towards me. Two more knights step forward but the one who was closest to me ended up with my sword in his gut.


    ¡°He fell.¡± I said wiping the blood off my sword.


    ¡°You dare defy god.¡± The priest said.


    ¡°Your god isn''t my god.¡± I said brandishing my sword.


    The remaining knights around the priest surrounded me and pulled their swords out. The holy knights of the church wielded claymores instead of regular long swords. Garrett was next to me and pulled his sword out as well.


    ¡°You don''t need to fight alongside me.¡± I said but I felt relieved.


    ¡°I''m sorry Rayn.¡± Garrett said.


    I felt an unbearable pain in my back. I turned my head around and saw a sword in my back. Garrett grabbed me as I fell over, I grabbed onto his sleeve.


    ¡°Why?¡± I asked gritting my teeth.


    ¡°I''m sorry, I am a man of God, I cannot let you become a heathen.¡± He said holding me.


    The pain slowly faded. I lay there in a pool of blood, many of the guards were staring at Garrett and I. None of them bothering to come to my aid. All of them are a bunch of cowards, do friends not lay their lives down for one another. I always felt I would die for these people, but as I lay bleeding out instead of happiness all I felt was sorrow and vengeful.


    My sight faded to Black. But I wasn''t dead but neither was I alive. I felt cold and I could feel something moving around me. This feeling was mana it was flowing through the corpse next to me and through the people around my body. I remember reading how mana is what keeps life together, perhaps I could use some of the mana around me to keep me alive. I had never manipulated mana before so this will be risky. I concentrated and felt the mana flow to and from my body, I tried to force the mana to stay in my body.


    My sight slowly started to return to me around me were the bodies of men and women, the holy knights and priests were dead as well. Garrett was not to be found among the dead. I felt different, I could not feel my blood pumping anymore. My heart stood still.


    ¡°Am I still alive?¡± I asked myself.


    I could feel power flowing through me. I felt invincible. What happened here? What could cause this? Did I do this? All these questions crossed my mind as I made my way outside.

 Chapter two: The Paladin

    Outside the pub the sight was much the same, dead bodies everywhere. I looked at the body of a woman, there were no wounds and her face looked sunken in. Her body was a husk, I went to poke her skin but as soon as my finger touched her the body fell To Ash.


    Had I done this when I tried to absorb the mana from near by bodies? How big of a radius did the mana absorption cover? The life of these people I couldn''t careless about but I didn''t want to harm neighboring villages. I may have been betrayed by the people of this village but I did not want to hurt others. I continued to look around the village hoping to find someone who wasn''t a husk.


    Not a single person was found who wasn''t a husk. Just as I thought that I could hear the sound of something moving to my far right. It wasn''t actually the sound of movement more like the sound of a sack being dragged across gravel. I walked over to find out what the noise was and to my surprise it was Garrett, he was dragging his lower half across the ground. He looked over and noticed me the look of fear came across his face.


    ¡°Garrett my old friend, let''s talk.¡± I said picking him up by the throat and slamming him against a wall.


    ¡°You lich, you heathen, god will smite you.¡± He said between gasps for air.


    I was confused, what was he spouting off about? Garrett noticed my confusion and laughed. I slammed his body against the wall again to shut him up.


    ¡°You don''t even know what you are, you are an unholy abomination.¡± He chuckled and spat on me.


    I wanted to kill him desperately but I needed information.


    ¡°Explain.¡± I snarled.


    ¡°You are a lich, the most unholy of any creature.¡± He began to cough blood, he won''t last much longer I need to make this quick.


    ¡°What is a lich?¡±


    ¡°Someone who uses the dark arts in order to make themselves undead and defy god''s will.¡±


    Undead, I was a zombie? This didn''t make any sense if I was like a zombie wouldn''t I be unable to speak? A thought crossed my mind instead of killing Garrett and ending his suffering I could make him like me ¡°an abomination to god.¡± But how did I do it? I closed my eyes and started to focus the mana inside my body. There was a lot more than when I was alive, I guess sucking an entire village dry would give me a boost.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Garrett asked trying to squirm his way out of my grip.


    I began to move large amounts of mana into his body. Garrett began screaming in pain. I guess doing this to a living human was more painful then a dead one. When the screaming stopped I cut the flow of mana and dropped his body. He wasn''t moving, I guess forcing mana into a living human kills them. As I began to walk away I could hear the sound of him getting up.


    I turned around and saw Garrett standing in front of me. He was different though instead of attacking me like he should have he stood there without moving. He looked different as well, his normally blonde hair was black, his skin pale, and his eyes red. I moved closer and Garrett did something unexpected he saluted me. What happened, did he have a mental break because of the pain?


    ¡°Aren''t you angry?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I do not feel emotion, all I know is to follow your orders.¡± He said, his voice was different, it was much deeper than before and sounded as if it had an echo.


    He would follow my orders?


    ¡°Run into that wall until I tell you to stop.¡± I said pointing at the wall I was holding him against.


    Garrett began to run at the wall and continued to do so. I wanted him to suffer for eternity but becoming my slave also works. What made him so submissive though?


    ¡°Okay that''s enough, I have a few questions for you.¡±


    ¡°Of course my lord ask me anything.¡±


    ¡°Are you undead like me and why do you follow my orders all of a sudden.¡±


    ¡°No my lord I am still alive but I will not age, as for your second question your magic has corrupted my will, you can do this to anyone as long as your mana pool is greater than the targets.¡±


    Interesting while I have no interest in bending the will of everyone it is still a neat trick to have. Looking at Garrett it looks as if his body had grown a foot or so, he was standing at six foot now. His armor he wore didn''t look like it fit properly anymore.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°Let''s get you some new armor.¡± I said.


    Now that I think about it, the armor I''m wearing feels a bit snug now as well. Did my body change as much as Garrett when I turned into a lich? We walked back to the pub because I remembered seeing a holy knight who was at least six feet tall. All the holy knights were rather tall, the knight commander was about my height so I stripped him of his armor he wasn''t going to need it anymore. We didn''t bother to put the helmets on, they blocked our vision to much.


    Looking at Garrett we looked too much like holy knights so I burnt a symbol shaped like a skeletons head on the chest piece. Now that I was getting the hang of magic I would need to experiment to test some spells.


    ¡°Garrett go watch the entrance to the town make sure no one comes in if someone does come tell them I the village is quarantined.¡± After I said that Garrett bowed and left.


    Since I had an understanding of death magic I should practice that I thought. I found the closest mostly intact body I could. It was the body of the priest who lead the group of knights. My assumption on how his body survived was rather simple. The fact he stayed whole is most likely caused by the fact a priest he cold manipulate mana and had more mana than most people.


    How Garrett survived was still a mystery by all accounts he should be dead. If I could bring myself back from the dead by having large amounts of mana could I bring a body back as a puppet if I gave minimal amounts to the body. I slowly brought mana to my hand and placed it on the priest''s chest. The priest''s body began to twitch, but instead of getting up the skin and meat began to melt until all that was left were bones and a puddle of meat. The skeleton began to move and stood up. You could see the mana between its joints keeping its body together.


    I started to examine the skeleton head to toe it didn''t move or speak without me telling it to do so. It was the perfect puppet no will of its own all it did was move on my order. I heard a loud crash coming from the entrance of the village. I ran towards the sound with the skeleton following me. The sound was Garrett fighting a group of holy knights.


    ¡°Where did they come from?¡± I asked Garrett while crossing swords with one of the knights.


    ¡°From the forest, they came to investigate why the priest hadn''t returned.¡± he said cutting the head off of a knight.


    Garrett''s power had increased significantly since I gave him some of my mana. The knight I was fighting was striking with heavy blows and knocked my sword out of my hand and went for the killing blow but just before the sword was about to strike me down the skeleton jumped in front of me.


    ¡°A necromancer.¡± The knight said moving back a little.


    The skeleton had fallen to pieces, good fodder but terrible soldiers. More experiments were needed to improve the skeletons. I grabbed my sword while the knight was distracted. The knight got over his initial shock and swung his claymore at me once more. I was ready this time and sliced the air in front of the knight stopping him dead in his tracks. The knight fell to his knees with blood pouring out of his armor.


    This knight was the captain, while I fought the captain Garrett made quick work of the underlings. Garrett only had one knight left, but this knight Was different he wasn''t wearing the same heavy armor he wore light leather armor with a short sword. Garrett raised his sword above his head and was ready to strike the knight down.


    ¡°Wait, we need one alive to show us where the rest of the knights are.¡± I said grabbing Garrett''s wrist.


    Garrett backed away and put his sword in the sheath. I walked over to the knight and knelt down. As I got closer he looked rather young, he most likely was conscripted by the holy church to fill some ranks.


    ¡°Okay boy, you can make this easy or make it hard your choice. Are there anymore knights in the forest?¡± I asked.


    The boy nodded his head vigorously.


    ¡°Good how many more?¡±


    ¡°Twenty, and one paladin.¡± He said with heavy breaths.


    ¡°Okay calm down or your heart might explode. What makes this paladin so special from a regular knight?¡±


    The boy looked uncomfortable talking about it.


    ¡°They are knights blessed by the archbishop himself.¡±


    I didn''t have anymore questions but I didn''t know what to do with the kid. I couldn''t just let him go back to warn the knights and this paladin. Then a thought crossed my mind. Since Garrett and I are the only ones left in the village does that make me the Lord? The thought made me slightly giddy.


    ¡°Alright boy you have two options, one I kill you and you join my undead army or two I let you live and you become a servant.¡± I said with a greedy smile on my face but I wouldn''t actually kill the boy.


    ¡°Servant.¡± He said without hesitation.


    ¡°Very good now go to the village and clean up the husks lying around they are of no use to me.¡±


    The boy ran into the village and began to move the bodies and sweep up their ashes. Garrett did not look pleased with this choice.


    ¡°Are you not please?¡± I asked


    ¡°What is to stop him from running back to the paladin?¡± He asked with a sour look on his face.


    He had a point nothing bound him to me, I could break his will like I did to Garrett but that takes a lot of mana, or does it? I would have preferred to experiment myself but time was of the essence whether the boy ran away and told them or not the knights were going to come it was inevitable.


    ¡°Garrett how much mana would it take to only break someone''s will but not increase their strength?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Not much as long as the person is weak it shouldn''t take too much out of you, one of these knights should suffice.¡± He said.


    I didn''t want to waste a body when there was a group of twenty knights just around the corner. My mana will have to suffice until I can refill the tank as it were. Garrett and I lined the bodies up in a row and I replicated the same thing that I had done with the skeleton but with more mana so the flesh would stay on. The bodies picked themselves off the ground they felt different from the skeleton as if I didn''t need to keep my focus so they don''t fall to pieces.


    Garrett organized the knights while I walked over to the boy. He was still picking up and moving the bodies. He had already got a decent portion of the village cleaned.


    ¡°What''s your name boy?¡± I asked watching him work.


    ¡°Joshua.¡± He said.


    ¡°Joshua from now on you will be my servant.¡± I placed my hand on his forehead and channeled a small portion of mana through his body.


    Joshua stood still for a moment but didn''t scream in pain like Garrett as the mana went through him. I stopped my mana flow and waited for Joshua to move. He twitched at first and took a large gasp of air into his lungs. Did he die or something for a second? I placed my index and middle fingers on his throat feeling for a pulse, there wasn''t one. I killed the boy by mistake, I may not like the holy church but a young boy doesn''t deserve to die. Luckily he was made into an undead.


    ¡°Since you have no magical talent like me you aren''t a lich but you breath so you aren''t a zombie, what are you?¡± I asked curiously.


    ¡°I am a draugr, an undead born from vengeance and dark magic.¡± He said.


    ¡°Wait from vengeance as well, what happened to you?¡± i asked assuming he was vengeful towards me.


    ¡°The holy church murdered my family and forced me into their service.¡±


    So he wasn''t some church lackey who just begged for his life, he was wronged and conscripted to their army. I left him to continue his cleaning. Garrett had organized the undead knights as best he could they weren''t to bright.


    ¡°Are we ready for the knights?¡± I asked Garrett who was standing on top of a watch tower.


    ¡°Well since these guys are already dead it will be hard for a human to kill them again but we are still outnumbered significantly and the paladin is still a problem, they are experienced warriors you and I will have to fight him together while the death knights take on the holy knights.¡± He said leaning on the towers wall.


    Death knights? He gave them a nickname, I kind of like it, it''s fitting. After waiting about half an hour the holy knights were seen marching out of the forest. An older man wearing white and gold armor was leading them at the front.

 Chapter three: Peace for a time

    The knights crept out of the forest. The paladin stopped them about ten yards ahead of us. He seemed to be thinking about the next move they should make. He ordered two knights to cover the left flank and two more to cover the right. Then they began their March forward.


    Garrett and I found two bows along with some arrows in the watch tower. We lit the arrows on fire and pulled the string back. We held onto the arrows and waited for the knights to get a little closer. They were only five yards away now and we let the arrows fly. Hitting two knights who dropped the the ground trying to put the fire out while pulling on the arrows.


    The next arrows we shot weren''t on fire. The arrows hit a single knight who fell to the floor dead. That was already three knights down but the holy knights had reached our death knights. The four flanking knights wrapped around the back of our knights and began their assault. The paladin jumped over the battle and landed in front of us.


    He was holding a tower shield that was painted gold and had a long sword in his other hand. The pressure he gave off was powerful, this man had clearly seen many battles. He raised his shield and marched forward towards us.


    He charged at us with his shield held high. The paladin crashed into Garrett who''s feet dug into the ground. I charged at him with my sword in hand. Before my sword hit him his sword arm shot out and clashed onto my blade. His movements were fast, faster than Garretts. Garrett was starting to form beads of sweat on his forehead, he was starting to tire. The strength this paladin was putting into his charge against Garrett was unprecedented.


    ¡°Garrett fall back I will hold him off take a breather!¡± I shouted and leaped toward the paladin.


    Garrett jumped back and started panting heavily. As an undead I didn''t tire so I could hold him for as long as I needed. My sword crashed into the paladins heavy shield causing his arm to vibrate, which seemed to make him loosen his grip for a moment. This gave me an idea.


    ¡°Garrett when I say so hit the side of his shield!¡± I yelled while getting ready to jump again.


    I jumped away from the paladin and gripped my sword tight. Leaping toward him my sword crashed against his shield again this time causing his grip to drop the handle of his shield.


    ¡°Now!¡± I yelled and Garrett lept and knocked the shield out of the paladin''s hand.


    The paladin looked stunned for a moment but quickly came back to his senses. He gripped his sword with both hands and made a stab for my gut but I parried him knocking his sword to the side leaving his front wide open. Garrett took this chance and lunged at the paladin and stabbed him clean through. The paladin fell to his knees gripping his stomach.


    ¡°Well played lich, well played.¡± He said coughing up blood.


    ¡°Did you send a message to the church?¡± I asked with my sword pointed at his neck.


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°No, but they will soon notice something is wrong when I do not report in.¡± His voice was becoming weak.


    If what he says is true then I must think of something fast. We wouldn''t be able to withstand an army from the holy church and I doubt they would send another small squad to check. Trying to break his will would cost to much mana considering his strength so forcing him to send a letter reporting in is impossible.


    ¡°If you let my subordinates live I will send a letter reporting that everything is okay. Then you do may with me as you will.¡± The paladin said .


    The holy knights who were fighting the death knights only had five left alive. I called off the death knights and the holy knights fell to the ground from exhaustion.


    ¡°Very well they will be our prisoners, write the letter and let me read it before you send it.¡± I said.


    Though this man was from the holy church he seemed to be a well intentioned person if he survives long enough for me to learn healing he could make a fine addition to the army if I can break him. Garrett and I guided the soldiers to the barracks prison stripped them of their armor and threw them in the cells. The paladin was in the warden''s office wheezing heavily and writing the letter.


    Once he was finished he handed me the letter.


    It read ¡°The mission was a complete success your grace, though we lost a few soldiers to the necromancer we managed to kill him, we will be staying at the village for awhile in order to attend to the village people. Signed Alistair¡±


    This paladins name was Alistair it seems. Alistair was looking very pale, he would not last much longer. Though I did not know how to mend wounds with magic I needed to try something to heal him. If I was going to be lord of this village I would need subjects. I did not entirely hate the human race only the holy church and people who betray friends. Originally I had no intention of becoming a lord but this taste of power made me want more.


    I laid Alistair out on a table and placed my hands on his stomach channeling mana through my fingers and imagined a thread sewing pieces of flash together. His flesh began to reconnect but he was still pale. I couldn''t do anything about the blood loss he will just have to wait for his body to produce more. The soldiers in the jail cell seemed to be relieved their leader will make it.


    I laid Alistair down inside the cell on a bench. The soldiers didn''t move a muscle as if they thought I would kill them if they did. I had to think of a way for them to be of use if I didn''t they would just be taking up space but I would need a way to enslave them to work for me that doesn''t cost much mana.


    Garrett was busy piling the corpses so I couldn''t has him if he knows of a way to enslave them. I noticed Joshua cleaning up the few remaining husks. He was in the holy church who is known to be shifty maybe he knows a way.


    ¡°Joshua come here a moment.¡± I said waving him over.


    He dropped A husk he was moving that burst into Ash as it hit the floor.


    ¡°Yes sir?¡± He asked wiping his hands on his pants.


    ¡°Did the holy church have anyways to force someone to work for them?¡±


    ¡°They had slave collars, but I don''t know how to make them. I know the big cities sell slaves you could ask there, but you might want to do something about your looks first.¡± He said point to my face.


    ¡°What''s wrong with the way I look?¡± I asked poking at it as if my skin might fall off.


    Joshua rummaged around in a box he had found and grabbed a mirror. My face was the same shape as when I was alive but that''s where the similarities had stopped, my hair was pitch black like Garrett''s but my eyes were a dark green color. No wonder everyone knew I was a lich when they saw me.


    ¡°Is there anyway I can fix this¡± I asked.


    ¡°Maybe, there is probably an alchemist store around here that has a potion that can change looks.¡± He said shrugging his shoulders.


    There was an alchemist in the village but if my memory is correct he wasn''t a very good one. The alchemist didn''t have a store he worked from home mainly selling herbs and minor medicines. The inside of his house was cluttered, empty potion bottles thrown all over the place. I wish I had more minions at this point. I search for hours finding a few useful potions but only two potions to change appearances.


    One for me and one for Garrett. I found Garrett in the center of town with a row of bodies next to him. There looked to be thirteen bodies a good number it increases our strength to eighteen death knights. I brought the five we already had to the center. Their armors were still matching the holy knights uniform. I burnt all their armors to give them a worn look. The armor was still strong but now we could tell the difference. I did the same to Garrett''s armor and mine, now we looked evil befitting for a lich. I rose the thirteen new death knights and left three behind to watch the prisoners. The rest followed Garrett and I out of the village. We began our trip to the next village after taking the appearance change potion.

 Chapter four: The Slave

    The first village we came across was named white stag. We left the death knights in the forest close by in case we needed them while we looked around the village. A pair of guards stood outside the entrance to the village with halberds as their weapon of choice. The blocked our way into the village and pulled us to the side.


    ¡°What is your business in white stag?¡± The taller of the two asked.


    ¡°Shopping for herbs, and maybe a slave or two if you have a trader.¡± I said while being pat down.


    They found my sword and took it from me.


    ¡°Do you have a license for this?¡± The short guard asked.


    Thankfully I was a guard before I died so I did have a license. I pulled my glove off and reached into my chestplate. A small white card was pulled out that read my name and permission to carry.


    ¡°Very well Mr. Rayn enjoy your stay at white stag.¡±


    The guards moved out of our way and we entered the village. This village was a lot bigger than ours, if it weren''t for the fact they didn''t have a wall this could be called a town. The first thing me saw when we entered was an armor smith.


    ¡°Best we stay away from him, he will know we have armor of the holy church.¡± Garrett said


    ¡°Agreed.¡±


    We made our way to the center of the town and saw the type of stall we were looking for. A slave trader was sitting in the very center of the village with beautiful women and you men standing next to him with collars of. We walked over to the trader and he had a big toothy smile appear on his face.


    ¡°Welcome friends! What could I interest you in today?¡± He asked, his voice boomed and echoed around the entire plaza.


    ¡°I am not interested in your slaves I am more interested in their collars, how would one make them.¡± I asked examining the collar on one of the women''s necks.


    The man''s face turned from a happy go lucky grin to a sour face. He turned his back on us and waved us away. I figured this would be his reaction what slave trader would tell anyone how to enslave people, that would make the trade way to saturated with upstarts. I pulled my coin purse out of my pocket.


    ¡°I have plenty of money.¡± I said jingling the coins around.


    I got most of the money from the holy knights and the priest, the priest had five gold coins on him.


    ¡°Two gold and I will tell you how.¡± He said scratching his chin.


    ¡°One gold and three silver.¡± I countered his offer after a few seconds of acting like I was thinking


    ¡°Very well.¡± He said hold his hand out.


    After giving him the coins he drew a diagram on a piece of parchment.


    ¡°This is the basic diagram of a slave collar, you will have to re enchant the collar every five days but as long as you have guards watching over them I doubt they will run.¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    He went behind his desk and yanked a woman by her chain and pushed her in front of us. She had a horrible scar on the right side of her face.


    ¡°You can take her as part of the deal, she won''t sell, her face is badly burned no one wants a slave like this.¡±


    I didn''t really need her but I pitied her so I took her along with me. The trader bid us farewell. The woman the trader gave to me was staying a fair distance away not to close but not to far. The trader probably taught her how to behave in front of her master. This made me feel very uncomfortable.


    ¡°First off, what''s your name and you don''t need to be that far away. Its making me feel weird.¡± I said beckoning her closer.


    ¡°I''m sorry master, my name is Iona.¡± she said walking to my left side.


    Now that I see her up close her body was well built, she looks as if she has strong muscle. Was she a warrior or something similar before she was enslaved? Her posture suggested she was well versed in wielding a sword.


    ¡°What were you before you were captured?¡± it wasn''t me who asked the question it was Garrett he seemed to have the same question as myself.


    ¡°I-I was a handmaid at a nobleman''s house.¡± she stuttered.


    The look on Garrett''s face showed he didn''t believe a word she said. Neither did I, why would she hide what she was before she became a slave? Garrett and I stopped in our tracks. Iona noticed we stopped and turned around, she tried to play off an innocent face but we saw through it.


    ¡°What were you really.¡± I asked in a demanding tone, I don''t like people who hide their past from me.


    She began fidgeting with her hands and the tunic she was wearing. Was she ashamed of being something even a slave owner would find disgusting?


    ¡°I was a Knight for the holy church.¡± she said quickly why shutting her eyes tight already expecting a beating or worse to be killed.


    Garrett and I drew our swords and pointed them towards her neck. All the people in the village that saw what was going on saw her slave collar and ignored it. The fact that she was a holy knight infuriated me to no end. To kill her outright when I could feel the potential in her made me feel like I was looking a gift horse in the mouth. Then an idea came to mind. I threw the short sword I took from Joshua in front of her.


    ¡°Fight Garrett, if you kill him or inflict a serious wound on him I will let you live but you will be on a tight leash for the time being.¡± I said turning around to sit on a bench that was close by.


    A crowd of people began to form around the scene. Obviously these people wanted to see a show. This got me thinking, if i''m going to create a thriving fief I need funding. I started to shout to the crowd.


    ¡°Ten copper to watch the fight! Kids watch for free!¡±


    The crowd started to mutter to one another.


    ¡°oh it''s a show that makes sense why would a slave and its master start fighting for no reason.¡± was what most of them were saying.


    Out of everyone watching I made about three silver pieces. Thought the fight had already technically started Garrett and Iona were just staring at eachother. Iona made the first move sher stepped forward and picked up the sword. As I thought she was well trained in using sword. She took a fencing position her body turned sideways and one hand placed behind her back with the sword pointed towards Garrett. She slowly moved forward. Garrett drew his sword and gripped the hilt tightly getting ready to strike.


    Iona touched swords with Garrett, this was a sign of honor in sword fighting and tactic to get close to the opponent. As if he was offended Garrett smacked his sword against hers and lunged forward. Iona was ready for this kind of reaction she twirled like a ballerina and smacked his sword aside and cut Garrett''s cheek.


    ¡°Did she miss his neck?¡± a man and woman asked one another looking confused.


    ¡°No, she''s toying with him.¡± the tall guard who questioned us at the gate said.


    He walked over to me. Did I do something wrong I wondered.


    ¡°If you are going to have a fight in the streets at least pay for the clean up crew.¡± he said with his arms crossed.


    I handed him thirty copper pieces. He seemed happy with the small amount and sat down next to me. The guard then began to start cheering like the rest of the crowd. Though he was a guard it seemed not much would bother him.


    ¡°Who do you think will win?¡± he asked me while placing a bet with someone in the crowd.


    ¡°At this point I don''t know, Iona is nimble and quick but Garrett has sheer power behind himself.¡±


    The guard nodded in agreement. It did look like Iona was toying with Garrett slightly. This was making him even more mad and he started to swing his sword like a savage. This was the perfect chance for Iona to strike at all his openings. She knocked his sword out of the way and had her sword on his throat but she didn''t kill him. She started to walk towards me. Garrett was standing there dumbfounded.


    ¡°What are you doing, I said the fight only ends when someone either dies or is seriously injured.¡±


    ¡°Why it''s clear I won''t.¡± she said with confidence.


    I smirked with a devious smile.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± I asked.


    As I said that a sword pierced her through her back and into her chest. She turned her head around and Garrett was standing behind her and twisted the sword. She began to cough blood. She gripped her sword and swung her sword towards Garrett''s head but I stopped the sword before it connected.


    ¡°I can''t have both pawns die in one fight now can I?¡± I said sadistically.


    She looked at me with sadness not anger before she collapsed from the blood loss. The crowd started to dissipate. The guard collected his winnings from gambling. Garrett threw Iona over his shoulder. No one seems to care that a slave seems to have died in a fight, humans truly are sickening. I had no plan of actually killing her, we will bring her back to the village to heal her but I will need more mana to break her will for now I will make a few dozen slave collars for the prisoners. I quickly healed Ionas wounds to keep her alive at least. Even with my magic if she survives this it will be a miracle, because her heart was punctured.

 Chapter five: Long Trip Home

    The trip back to Ravensted was going to be a long trip. As undead me and the death knights wouldn''t need to stop, but Garrett was human and he was lugging around Iona. We stopped on the side of the road about twelve miles away from the village.


    ¡°Why are we carrying her back?¡± Garrett asked panting with his hands on his knees.


    ¡°I have a plan for you, Iona, and Alistair.¡± I said looking around.


    He looked as if he was still confused and didn''t understand. I didn''t bother to tell him the full details he would find out soon enough. we started moving again, Garrett quickly picked up Iona again and followed behind me. Iona began to cough up blood again Garrett placed her on the ground.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± He asked scratching his head.


    What do I do? I asked myself. The only way I could save her is if I had enough mana to channel more strength into her. I paced back and forth for a minute, then an idea struck me.


    ¡°Garrett are there any insignificant villages close by with a decent population?¡± I asked.


    Garrett looked bewildered for a moment ¡°sort of, about a quarter mile from here is a small farming village owned by a minor noble.¡± That''s all the information I needed.


    ¡°Grab her we are heading for the village.¡±


    Garrett and the death knights followed closely behind me. It took us about ten minutes to get to. We were standing at a crossroad that lead to the village. The village didn''t even have a name. There were a lot of peasants walking around outside, plowing fields, weaving baskets. They were simple people.


    ¡°Kill, all of them, leave no one alive!¡± I shouted and the death knights charged at the village.


    Garrett and I followed behind shortly after. The knights were making mincemeat out of the villagers. Hearing the commotion a group of guards with shabby armor came running out of their barracks. They charged at us with their bent Spears and broken swords.


    I sliced three that ran straight at me in half with one flick of my sword. This made the remaining guards stop on their tracks. Garrett showed them no mercy he beheaded them all and had a sadistic smile on his face. In the short time we were here we had already slaughtered well over a hundred men and women, I had some sympathy the children would be sold to the slave trader at white stag.


    The villagers stopped putting up a fight once they noticed death was inevitable. Almost everyone in the village was dead. The only place that wasn''t ransacked yet was the manor sitting at the very end of the main road. The Lord was most likely cowering in the cellar like a coward as his people died in front of him. The biggest death knights ran straight at the manor door knocking it off it''s hinges with a loud crash.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    The inside of the manor was rather nice with fancy furniture, gold framed painting, and statues. I sent a pair of death knights into the cellar to check if the Lord was down there. Garrett and I made our way up stairs as the remaining death knights started to loot the village. The rooms upstairs had nothing but bedrooms.


    ¡°No one would hide in such an obvious place, would they?¡± Garrett asked knocking over a table and a vase.


    He wasn''t wrong the most obvious place someone would hide is their bedroom. As we looked around the room we heard a loud thud from downstairs. We ran down stairs and stuck in a way


    Was a death knight. A second later another death knight flew from! The cellar.


    ¡°Guess we found something.¡± Garrett said kicking the knights to see if they were still moving.


    I made my way slowly down the stairs with my sword drawn. Garrett followed closely behind. In the cellar stood a man in tattered fancy clothes. This guy was a behemoth, he stood eight feet tall at least. He was bald headed with a goatee.


    ¡°Who dares enter my home uninvited!¡± The man shouted looking down at us.


    Both Garrett and I were shocked by the utter size of this man. He swung a massive arm at me, I managed to roll out of the way barely in time. His arm broke a chunk of the stone wall when he missed me. I formed a big smile on my face, Garrett noticed this.


    ¡°What are you so happy about, if you haven''t noticed we are fighting a giant!¡± He yelled jumping out of the way of the man''s other fist.


    ¡°Try to keep him alive, I think I found the fourth horseman!¡± I yelled in excitement.


    Garrett didn''t bother questioning me. We both slide in-between the man''s legs and sliced each leg causing him to fall over. He howled in pain. Though he couldn''t walk anymore he still managed to smack Garrett hard enough he flew into a wall. I smacked him hard enough in the head with the hilt of my sword he fell over and fainted. Garrett got off the ground and shook his head.


    ¡°Stay here with him.¡± I said to Garrett who reluctantly agreed.


    Outside the manor were piled of bodies, the death knights had started to pile them into large piles for me to easily access. The amount of mana I could feel hear is more than enough to heal Iona, break her will and then break the behemoths will. I began to absorb the mana in the largest pile of bodies. All the bodies began to turn into husks. After ten minutes all the bodies were absorbed and my strength began to swell. I walked over to the crossroads where Garrett had left Iona. I first treated her wound to the heart. It felt easier to heal wounds now that I had far more mana. I then began to channel large amounts of mana into her. She began to scream in pain much like Garrett did I used the same amount of mana I used on Garrett and stopped. Iona stopped screaming and slowly opened her now red eyes.


    ¡°Master.¡± She said getting off the ground.


    She didn''t ask any other questions or what happened, her will must have been broken worse than Garrett''s who tends to speak his mind sometimes. Iona and I walked back to the manor and I to the cellar. The behemoth was still knocked out. Garrett was just leaning against a wall watching. The same process was repeated with the giant of a man. He slowly got off the ground.


    ¡°Oh right one last thing.¡± I said slicing his head off.


    But the man wasn''t dead he still moved around, he picked his head up and tucked it under his arm.


    ¡°Neat trick can I do it?¡± Garrett asked moving his hand over his neck.


    I was getting sick of Garrett''s back talk so I gave him more mana, he quietly stood still and obediently stood by my side. Everyone had a name except the giant man.


    ¡°Your new name is fear.¡± I said patting the giant on the chest.


    He bowed his body as a response. The death knights had found a few chests full of gold and silver. I ordered the death knights to grab a cart to carry the crates and chests back to Ravensted. We also found a few dozen horses. I wanted to test something. The trip back to Ravensted from this point on was uneventful.


    Joshua was standing at the village entrance and greeted us. The first place I checked was the prison, the death knights were still standing in front of their cell. I walked in front of the cell.


    ¡°You guys will be helping around Ravensted shortly, in a day or two depending until then sit tight and rest.¡± I said showing them the parchment with the slave collar diagram on it.


    The sun started to go down and the sound of wolves was heard off in the distance. We placed the horses we found in a fenced in open field. The chests were placed in the pub for now until I could work out where I would live. Thought I was undead and didn''t need sleep, I felt like laying my head on a cold pillow and being wrapped in a warm blanket.