Chapter 119 - A Figure Steeped In Shadow

  The pressure on my mind grew more intense by the moment. The entity challenging me for Control of my undead was strong, enormously so, and as sweat trickled down my forehead I realized I might not be able to prevent it from capturing my minions. If it could wrest control of my undead away, we were all in a lot of trouble. My creatures represented about a third of our force.

  One of the Abominations had stopped moving already. It stood there looking confused rather than fighting, and the zombies around it hungrily tore into it, claws and teeth ripping it apart. I released it from my Animate Dead spell, letting it ‘die’ again so that I could focus my Will on the other two I’d just created. That made holding onto them easier, at least.

  “Selena, what’s going on? You just lost one of the big guys,” Kara asked.

  “The boss—it’s pushing back against my control,” I replied through gritted teeth. “I’m barely hanging on to the other two.”

  On the plus side, the bad guy wasn’t omnipotent. If he could just reach out and grab my undead away from me then he’d be doing it. Taking over some of my fire skeletons would devastate our defensive line; they could torch the ratkin before anyone was aware what was happening. If our enemy hadn’t done that, odds were it was because he couldn’t. Focusing his Will on taking my Abominations away was using up as much of his concentration as it was for me.

  Another Abomination went stock still, not moving as the undead near it tore into it. Like before, I let it go. I couldn’t afford to fight losing battles over undead, not if I could avoid it. It was easier for me to just relax the spell, letting the minion ‘die’—if I couldn’t have them, neither could the other side! Animating more of them would take a little focus, which was in short supply just then, but as soon as I could, I’d bring more of them back again.

  The enemy leader’s Will redoubled itself against me. I felt my control slipping and struggled to hold it as long as I could. Every second I kept that Abomination up and running was another zombie dead. Plus, the longer I kept the boss busy this way, the longer it would be before he could do anything else to mess with us.

  Meanwhile, without the pressure of three Abominations in the middle of their ranks, the enemy zombies became more mobile. The wraiths soared overhead, directing groups of zombies to move up around our flanks. So far, the other undead I’d placed there were holding them back, but that could change rapidly if the enemy leader started stripping my control there as well.

  “Shit. We’re about to be overrun,” I said. I used my sword to slash through the rope holding me on Sue’s back, then turned back to Kara. “I’m sending Sue to the next defensive line. Stay on board. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Be safe!”

  I didn’t reply, too busy launching myself skyward. I sent the command to Sue and Hope, ordering them both back toward the farmhouse as I flew to join Farnsworth. He was right where he’d been, in the middle of our massed troops, trying to keep order. Without him I’m pretty sure the ratkin would have already fled, and probably the humans as well.

  “We need to withdraw,” I said.

  “It’s too soon! We need to buy more time.”

  He was right, but there was no help for it. “They’re flanking us on both sides. We withdraw now or we’re going to be surrounded.”

  Why was he fighting me on this? He had more experience than I did in combat, right? He must have seen at least some action, as a Master Sergeant? I was worried he’d push back again, but he glanced right and left, then nodded. “No, you’re right. It won’t do us any good to try to hold longer if it gets us all killed.”

  “Farnsworth—the Domain leader is coming. He’s been fighting me for control of my undead.”

  “Shit. Well, we knew that was a possibility. Can you push back?” Farnsworth asked.

  “Barely.” That last Abomination was still hanging on, but I was losing my grip, moment by moment. I finally just released it, dropping the Animate spell that was keeping him active. The pressure against my mind dropped away instantly, but then I felt it building again. “He’s going after all my Abominations.”

  “That’s a proper name for those things,” Farnsworth said. “Use them to hold this mess back. I’ll get the ratkin and Alfred’s boys moving.”

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  He hurried off, calling orders to start up what I hoped would be an orderly retreat. We were running out of places to fall back to, though. We had one final line of defense at the buildings, and it wasn’t much to speak of. The enemy were going to surround those structures and then tear us apart, unless I could find some way out of this mess.

  I still had two Abominations, each one holding one of our flanks against the horde. The pressure against my Will increased steadily, so I figured it was time to give the boss something else to think about. I started casting Control Undead as rapidly as I could cycle it, grabbing five enemy zombies with each cast. As I took them over, I had each batch immediately turn on its fellows. They died pretty quick, but they took a few enemy zombies with them, so I was effectively killing seven or eight zombies per cast.

  It wasn’t perfect, since I was losing crystals on all the ones that died under my Control, but we were past the point where that was a primary concern. Surviving this mess had to come first. We could worry about crystals if we lived to see dawn.

  I looked over my shoulder and saw the ratkin were well on their way back to the farmhouse, along with Farnsworth, Alfred, and the other humans. The three avians who still remained fighting with us had taken up positions on the farmhouse roof, bows in hands. All I had to do was keep the zombies busy a few more minutes. I ordered my fire skeletons into full retreat, and they raced back to join the new defensive line, leaving just me, my Abominations, and a dozen zombies to hold back the enemy.

  It was right about then that the pressure just became too much, and I lost control of the Abominations.

  I managed to release one of them in time; it dropped like its strings were cut, collapsing to the ground as I released it from the Animate Dead spell. The other? I turned toward it, about to release it, but I was too slow. The massive rebar I’d armed it with slammed into my ribs, sending me flying several feet through the air before I landed on the ground.

  There was no air in my lungs, and I couldn’t draw a breath. Nothing wanted to work, and my entire world was pain. If I hadn’t ranked up my Stamina, I’d have died instantly. As it was, I knew I was touch and go. That blow had broken bones, and pummeled organs to boot. I’d only been in training to be a doctor, but I knew my anatomy cold, and there was no way my liver had escaped injury from that impact. I coughed and tasted blood, so there was a possibility I’d damaged a lung as well.

  My only saving grace was that I’d been injured more than once lately, and some of those blows had been pretty severe. That gave me practice in concentrating through the pain, no matter how severe it was. If I hadn’t been able to cast spells after the wraith stabbed me through the gut, I’d definitely have died there. The certainty that death was on the line was a terrific motivator.

  I knew what I had to do, knew how—I’d cast Drain Life hundreds of times by then. It was an easy spell, one I knew intuitively. As the Abomination and zombies bore down on me, I cast Drain on the Abomination. It froze in its tracks, staggering, sinking to its knees before struggling to rise again.

  The Abomination was the right target because it had a lot more health to Drain than any of the zombies. I figured my Drain had probably about halfway killed it, but taking it down wasn’t the point. Healing myself was. The Abomination’s health flowed into me, knitting bones and tissues back together. Breathing became easier. Not perfect, not painless—but better.

  I snapped my fingers, releasing the Abomination from my Animate spell. It dropped instantly. But with nothing else left to hold them back, the horde came staggering forward at a good pace, rushing straight toward the only nearby target.

  Me.

  I cast Drain Life on one, sucking more vitality out of it. I needed everything I could get. The wounds were knitting themselves back together, but it would still take a little time before I’d be fully healed, and the damage was severe enough I probably needed one more Drain spell.

  Wraiths came rocketing in, three of them flying toward me with greatswords drawn. That wasn’t good.

  I flew skyward and away from them, darting back toward our newly reformed line. They gave chase, right until Sue nailed one of them with a Fireball again. I Drained the same one, healing myself back up. I felt like I was close to full health again, which was good. The injured wraith backed off, but the other two kept coming at me.

  I parried the first sword swing, dodging sideways in the air as the wraith dove toward me. The other was closing in as well, but I kept backing up, drawing them nearer to our force. Sue shot another Fireball, but it missed.

  Then we came into range of my fire skeletons. There were eight of them left. Being in the back ranks had kept most of them in one piece, and they all opened up on the wraiths together. Half of the shots missed, but that was still a whole lot of little flame blasts finding their mark. The wraiths screeched with fury and darted backward, out of range.

  We were doing okay! The zombies were still coming, sure. But we’d kicked the wraiths back for now, and the zombies were a threat we could probably handle, at least for a while.

  Then the zombies stopped moving.

  They didn’t slow down, or start wandering aimlessly. They just froze, all of them. The entire horde locked in position, each zombie barely moving at all.

  I swallowed hard. I had a feeling I knew what was coming next.

  Sure enough, at the back of the horde, the zombie ranks split, allowing a single figure to pass. I couldn’t see what it was at first, but being in the air gave me a good look as it came ever closer.

  It rode a white horde, a figure steeped in shadow and wrapped in a cloak of the blackest cloth. I couldn’t see weapons or armor, but I knew in my heart that this was no easy opponent to face. Power rolled off the advancing rider in waves. It was tier ten. Ten! That was insane.

  As each row of zombies parted for it to come nearer, my sense of its power grew. This was the leader of the mall horde, the power behind the undead Domain. And it was coming for us. For me.