Rescue Mission Ch. 03

"Are we under attack?" She asked calmly, eyes darting around in the gathering darkness.

"Not yet, but if they're that close there's no chance we're not found out in the morning." He waved the wand. "Get me to Mesthines- I don't know how long this will take."

He concentrated on the symbols on the wand and the words came to him just like Maelit said they would, and almost instantly the pirate looked better, though she remained unconscious.

"We need to move her to my hut. If I can figure out a way to get us out of here we might not have time to get back here." Jeff said.

Saetha nodded wordlessly and grabbed one end of the makeshift cot. As they wrestled her into Jeff's doorway they heard a shriek of pain, and they darted back outside.

The sailor Louf was hanging desperately onto the legs of a huge, barbaric looking warrior, who was ignoring him as he choked the life out of the Halfling Maritus, holding him clear off the ground despite the length of spear sticking out of his side.

Saetha darted forward and flung the spear in her hands. It struck the cannibal in the side just below the armpit, sinking in the entire length of the knife-bladed spear-head. The pirate fell to the ground with a grunt, dropping the Halfling.

Saetha ran up and retrieved the spear, thrusting twice more to be sure the cannibal was dead. "Were there more?" She snarled at Louf, whose head was a mess of blood.

"He killed Hansen. Bashed his head right in." Louf rambled, and the Ashlander reached down and slapped him hard across the face. "Was he alone?"

Louf nodded, staring at the dead cannibal. "But he killed Hansen." He said numbly.

Jeff cursed. "When he doesn't get back to their camp they'll come looking for him."

Saetha nodded grimly.

"Baby? " The voice made them turn. Mesthines was leaning against the doorway of Jeff's hut, pale as a ghost and obviously on the verge of falling. "Is everything OK?"

As Saetha ran to her, Jeff moved over to inspect the dead cannibal. The man was massive- he had to be nearly seven feet tall, and his body was incredibly thick and stout- almost like an orc. His features were coarse and almost Neanderthal to Jeff's eye. He looked for all the world like a giant cave-man.

He was scarred and tattooed in intricate patterns over most of his flesh, and his teeth were filed to uneven points. He wasn't quite dead yet, but it was happening as Jeff watched, the eyes filming over slowly, the body going slack.

Then Count Ules stepped forward and bent down to the dead man. He stuffed what looked like a burnt vegetable in the open mouth and began chanting and waiving his hands in passes. Startled, Jeff stepped back and looked around. Then he noticed Ardenn.

The Count's cousin was standing directly behind him as he worked his spell, and her appearance had taken a decided turn for the worse. Her eyes were sunken in and staring, and she had a vivid wound encircling her throat.

Jeff had seen Thriller often enough to note that they had actually done a pretty good job at portraying what she had apparently become- a Zombie. And as Ules rose to his feet with a gleeful cackle, the cannibal rose up to a sitting position with the same dead expression.

Jeff stepped back in horror, staring at the man. The word popped into his head- Necromancer.

Ules grinned. "What's the matter? They were both nearly dead and useless, and now they can fight to protect us all. And when I convert a few more of them before their very eyes, they'll probably flee in abject terror. Or maybe even fall to their knees in front of me....." His eyes were quite mad.

To be continued...