Fortress Al-Mir

“Task list,” Arkk said, closing his eyes.

Ilya let out a small sigh. “Enemy army.”

“Securing an outpost west of Elmshadow,” Arkk said, using his clairvoyance to spy over Luthor’s shoulder as the chameleon beastman worked his crystal ball. “No sign of forward movement just yet beyond small scouting detachments. Fog is obscuring our scrying but what we can see implies some larger-scale construction project. Lexa volunteered for scouting, scouting hasn’t taken place yet. Next!”

“Shadow armor production,” Ilya said as she moved her finger down a small tablet of paper.

“Slowed because of the alterations to which portals go where but we should be able to equip every orc in my employ within two weeks.” Arkk scanned through his employees, unable to see outside Fortress Al-Mir or the area around the Walking Fortresses. He wanted to keep the highlands portal staffed with charged glowstones, ready in case Agnete found a way back—though it still wasn’t looking like she was actively trying to return, her focus was on construction projects over in the Anvil. Even still, he was somewhat impressed with their efficiency. “Maybe earlier. Next.”

Ilya hesitated as she stared at the next item on the list. “It says walking armor things?”

That one referred to the walking suits of armor the size of small carriages that Arkk had recovered from the orc homelands in the Underworld. Each was bulky and large with space inside for a single occupant. The shadow scythes could cut through them, but that was about it. Conventional arms and even most magics just dented the metal, if that. Some of the less traditionally capable members of Company Al-Mir volunteered to train inside them, allowing them to contribute to a fight without being dead weight. Or just regular dead.

“Ten have been produced. They require glowstones or capable spellcasters to power them, so more would be a waste. Unfortunately, there is something wrong mechanically with them that results in one leg locking up. Perr’ok is working on it. I do need to think of a better name but that isn’t a priority. Next!”

“The King’s army.”

“Happily sequestered away in the northern Elm mountain,” Arkk said as he skimmed his perspective through the corridors dug into its side. Like the rest of Elmshadow, it was under his control, allowing him to see the soldiers despite them not being under his control. Now two days after their arrival, most soldiers were still enjoying the reprieve from the long march, but even without being able to hear through his observations, he could see discontent among their ranks. Especially those in more elevated positions. “Happily is a loaded word, but they are currently irrelevant. Next.”

“Leda’s tower.”

“In motion,” Arkk said, quickly shifting his perspective to the darkened tower. Her tower was significantly more shadowy than Arkk’s was, presumably because Leda wasn’t directly contracted to Fortress Al-Mir.

Unfortunately, though he could see it moving, he couldn’t tell much of where it was just from a narrow top-down view of the walking building. He would have to use one of the crystal balls to scry on it. However, unless her tower was significantly faster than Arkk’s—or slower—they estimated it would arrive at a staging point south of Moonshine Burg in about nine days.

“Leda still doesn’t seem like she has gotten the hang of using it. She needs Priscilla at her side almost constantly.”

Ilya cocked an eyebrow. “Should we be worried about the dragonoid who hates every other species having excessive influence over the operation of one of our greatest assets?”

“Maybe a little,” Arkk admitted. He shook his head with a small sigh. “Unless I wanted to kill Leda to end her contract—which is not something I would ever want—I don’t have a good solution for that. Priscilla, for better or worse, is experienced in operating these things. It can’t be helped for now. Next?”

“Next is Savren’s proj… Wait. What is this one? Gleeful Burg?”

Arkk opened his eyes, frowning at Ilya. She had a finger pressed against the list, frowning with narrowed eyes. “That wasn’t the next one,” Arkk said, tense. “Savren’s project is—”

“There isn’t anything left of Gleeful Burg,” Ilya interrupted. She planted a hand on her hip as she looked down at Arkk. “What project is going on there? I don’t remember any meeting about it. Not since we destroyed it…”

Arkk stood up from the command chair at the top of the Elmshadow tower. Nothing about Gleeful Burg should have been on this checklist. Yet, as he walked around behind Ilya and leaned over her shoulder, it was right there.

Who put that there? Rekk’ar? Zullie? Vezta? They were about the only three who knew about what Arkk was doing there. At least of the people who would have compiled the list.

“I… I’m not exactly sure how to answer that,” Arkk said slowly. He considered denying it outright. It wouldn’t be hard to claim that Gleeful’s presence on the list must have been a mistake. But…

He wasn’t going to be able to hide it forever.

“You know—”

“And barrows excavation?” Ilya turned, narrowing her silver eyes in suspicion. “What barrows?

“Why is that on the list?” Arkk asked as he scanned down a few items.

“That’s what I’m asking you. Do you not know what’s going on in your organization?”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean… I just don’t know why it is on the list…”

“Arkk,” Ilya said in that tone of voice. “Why are you excavating a barrow? Is there some long-lost magical artifact?”

“I wish,” Arkk grumbled to himself as he ran his hand through his hair. It was getting to the point where he needed it trimmed once again. Of course, just thought that was a way for him to try to think of anything else to talk about. Or maybe a way to delay while he tried to think of what to say.

“The barrows I’m excavating are the same ones we collapsed on the orcs way back when. Not some random one.”

“I feel like we disturbed that place enough…”

“Yes, well,” Arkk started, walking a few steps away. He didn’t exactly want to be in punching distance. “I am trying to be careful, but I realized we buried almost two hundred goblins inside…”

“What? What would you want with…”

Arkk carefully watched the expression on Ilya’s face. He could see the confusion at his explanation stop as the moment of realization hit. The surprise turned to an angry set of narrowed eyes and pursed lips. “Are you… dabbling in more necromancy?”

“There are two hundred goblins out there doing nothing but feeding worms,” Arkk said with a small sigh. “They could be standing between an enemy’s sword and my living men.”

“Who put you up to this?” Ilya said through thin lips. “Was it Vezta? Or Zullie? I bet Zullie—”

“Do you want to see our friends and allies die, Ilya? I have a responsibility to nearly a thousand people to do my best to keep them alive. Why shouldn’t I use a bunch of dead goblins to help keep them that way?”

Ilya’s teeth snapped together with an audible clack. “And Gleeful?” she asked. “The only thing I can think of that you might be interested in there is more bodies.”

Arkk slowly nodded his head. “That’s right. There are more bodies to put between the enemy and my men. I can’t think of a reason why I would draw the line at goblins. And, for the record, I also have a team scouring Darkwood Forest for anything useful, whether that be dead bodies, living ghasts, or any other being that might join up with us. I don’t know how much is left after Agnete burned her way through that fortress, but I’ll take everything I can get if it means even one soldier gets to come back.”

Ilya planted her hands on the table, leaning against it for a long moment. She closed her silver eyes and simply breathed through her nose, slowly and steadily. Arkk remained where he was, tense and still, almost afraid to disturb her thoughts even as the minutes ran on.

Slowly, she pushed herself up. She kept her eyes closed for a long moment before she opened them. They were a bit hazy with a moist layer of tears. Without a word, Ilya stepped around the table, approaching Arkk.

He winced back, fully expecting a fist to the face. Yet he didn’t move. He remained where he was. He would accept a beating if it meant keeping his employees alive.

But Ilya didn’t lash out. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him toward her to the point where he had to lean his weight against her chest. Her lithe fingers ran up and down his back, just holding him.

“You must have been so stressed,” she whispered. Her breath tickled his ear.

Of all the things Arkk expected, that was not one of them. He didn’t know what to say to that, so he just remained silent as she kept rubbing his back. After a long minute of silence, he eventually responded. “Not as stressed anymore,” he murmured.

Ilya pulled back and gave him a reproachful look. “Arkk…”

“Of course, I’ve thought that there must be better ways,” he said, closing his eyes as he rested his head against her arm. “Of course, I’ve found better ways. All the magical armor, the research Savren and Zullie have been doing, potential gains from other planes… all of it. But why not use those and a few skeletons? How can I forgive myself if I knew someone ended up feeding worms when someone already feeding worms could have protected them.”

“Please don’t say ‘feeding worms’ again,” Ilya said.

Arkk let out a small, sardonic chuckle.

“Can I talk you out of this?”

Arkk shook his head slowly. “I doubt it. You’d have to have something awfully convincing. Something worth several lives.”

Ilya drew in a hesitant, shaky breath. For a moment, Arkk thought she was going to try to say something anyway, but she eventually let that breath back out in a sorry, defeated sigh. “Alright. Then I have to help you use this… crime against life and death in the wisest way possible.”

“Really?” Arkk tried to pull away from Ilya only for her to keep her arms clamped around him. “You’re alright with it?”

“Don’t,” she whispered. “Obviously not. But if it has to be done, then I have to be the level-headed one who helps mitigate problems. Problems like Sylvara, first and foremost. Does she know?”

“No.”

“And if you’re going to take everything you can to save lives, why shunt the King’s army off to the side?”

“It’s a numbers game. I hate myself for making this decision since it will probably cause more deaths, but if they do stab us in the back, it will kill a whole lot more. If a full war breaks out with the Kingdom, it will kill a whole lot more. So, I have to keep them away while keeping them observing, letting them see us crush Evestani despite our small numbers so that the thought of fighting against us would be a worse choice than desertion if the King orders them against us.”

Ilya let out another sigh. “I… I need a few minutes. Can you send me to my quarters?”

“Of cour—”

“Without looking at my face.”

Arkk hesitated. There was an almost instinctual reach for his employee link with Ilya. He barely managed to keep himself from looking. “Sure,” he said.

She gave him a slight squeeze and then she was gone.

Arkk stood alone in the tower’s command center. He spent a moment collecting himself. There were things to do. Things to check on. He couldn’t just sit around and think about himself or Ilya for any length of time. He had to walk around to the other side of the table, pick up the paper that Ilya left behind, and scan it over himself.

He wanted someone else present to act as a sounding board for various ideas, the status of projects, and assumptions of what the enemy might be doing. However, he wasn’t sure he wanted to see anyone else for the time being. So he simply sat down and ran his finger down the list until he got to where they had left off.

Arkk’s eyes ran over the words, but they didn’t quite make it to his mind. His thoughts were preoccupied with Ilya.

She decided to help him, right? That wasn’t his imagination? Arkk expected her to storm out, even up and leave Company Al-Mir altogether. At the very least, he had thought there would be more shouting. She was mad and upset, of that there was no doubt, but…

Closing his eyes, Arkk let out a long sigh. He should have trusted her earlier. Ilya was his closest friend. The one who had been with him since the start. Not just the start of his contract with Fortress Al-Mir, but the start of his life. Some of his earliest memories were of Ilya.

It felt like he had tarnished some of those memories by sneaking around behind her back all this while when he could have come forward.

Arkk dragged his fingers through his hair, sweeping it back over his head. He didn’t have time for this. He had preparations to make and…

And Zullie was calling for him. He could feel the tug over the link. It wasn’t an urgent tug, but it likely meant she had finished her task.

His eyes skipped down to the very last item on the list, Zullie’s keystone reconfiguration efforts.

Well, it was part of the list. If this proved as… useful as he hoped, the rest of the list could very well wait. He might have all the time in the world to go through it. Or it might not be necessary in the first place.

Arkk teleported himself to the teleportation ritual chambers and took several chain hops to reach the Mystakeen highlands. There, deep within the derelict fortress, a buzz of activity surrounded the portal frame. Zullie along with her research team and assistants, were swiftly modifying the crystalline structure to fit the keystone Arkk had received from the Laughing Prince.

“Is everyone out of the Underworld?” Arkk asked, already doing a mental scan on all of his employees to ensure nobody had been left behind.

“Yeah, yeah,” Zullie said from her spot perched on the top of the crystal archway. “Perr’ok wanted to stay to keep working on that shadow armor. Said he didn’t care that the portal would be down; said there was enough food and provisions to last until we got it connected again.”

Arkk immediately focused on Perr’ok, half fearing that the orc blacksmith was still in the Underworld, only to find him in one of the adjacent chambers in the derelict fortress, fast asleep in a position that didn’t look particularly comfortable.

“Knocked him out with a spell and dragged him back,” Zullie finished.

“Thanks. I know we’ve disconnected and reconnected it several times but I still don’t want anyone getting trapped over there.” Arkk paused, then added, “Besides, he still has those walkers to fix.”

“Useless waste of time to force everyone back if you ask me. I say let him stay. If it worked ten times, it will work a thousand times.”

“Until the one time it doesn’t work. Then we’re screwed.”

Zullie hummed but, with a flourish of magic from her fingertips, the keystone slid into place and fused to the surrounding crystal. Giving it a firm nudge to ensure it was fully secured, Zullie smiled and nodded. She then stood, muttered an incantation under her breath, and then stepped forward, only to drift down to the floor slowly and safely.

Without even the slightest hesitation, Zullie turned and walked straight toward Arkk. All despite her lack of eyes behind her rectangular glasses. The accuracy with which she stopped in front of him and avoided her assistants made him wonder if she had performed another ritual on herself to better maintain awareness of her surroundings. More than that…

“How long have you been able to do that?” Arkk asked.

“What? The featherlight spell? I think I showed you the ritual version of it a long time ago, so not sure why it is surprising you now.”

“No,” Arkk said. “You used magic up there without an incantation.”

“Pretty sure I spoke the words for the featherlight—”

“Not that, before that. When you were affixing the keystone to the archway.”

Zullie frowned, turning away from Arkk to look up toward the arch. “I used an incantation… didn’t I? I think I did.”

“What were the words?”

“I… Well… Hmm…” She frowned to herself for a moment before shrugging. “The portal is ready to activate.”

Arkk raised an eyebrow. “You’re shrugging it off? Just like that? Who are you and where is the inquisitive, magic-obsessed Zullie that I know?” he asked, only half joking.

Zullie looked at him. For a brief instant, he almost imagined a spark of confusion in her eyes. Except… she didn’t have eyes. “Sorry? I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

The mild curiosity Arkk had over the situation shifted to full-on alarm with that response. Which only doubled over as Zullie turned back to the portal and continued talking.

“Since we’re in Fortress Al-Mir instead of the highlands, we won’t be time-limited to only a few minutes. However… like with the Silence, I’m somewhat wary about spending extended periods inside a place called the Necropolis.”

“Zullie,” Arkk said, tone firm. “Did you do something to yourself again? Another Xel’atriss ritual?”

Zullie winced. “Maybe,” she mumbled. “It’s nothing to worry about. We have an avatar to slay and a war to end. Aren’t those more important?”

“More important than my employees being in trouble?”

“I’m not in trouble. I’m feeling better than ever.”

“But—”

Zullie cupped her hands to her mouth. “Activate the portal,” she called out.

Arkk didn’t even get a chance to protest before Morvin and Gretchen planted their hands next to the portal’s frame. A silvery liquid-like surface spread through the empty archway. After a series of rippling, a brand new world shimmered into view.

A world of living dead.