They had to fight through several small groups of skeletons and ancient zombies, flesh pale and preserved, but they simply charged through, sweeping them aside. Vrintar was fast, able to keep up with Mavrosa, Stathis swinging down at the creatures, Janaxia flinging bolts from behind her, pressed up closely against Stathis.

Despite their obvious tiredness, the men made good time, ploughing through in the hopes of getting somewhere safer, even though their eyes kept scanning the sky nervously.

The lieutenant walked closed alongside, taking the lead, trusting the other solders to follow along.

‘Knight Stathis, did you say? The same name as the Lord Commander’s second kid, strange coincidence.’

Before Stathis could respond, Janaxia spoke, sounding excessively smug. ‘Oh, it’s no coincidence. This is the woman that will one day command the Iristari armies.’

He looked suddenly terrified, his walk slowing, as Stathis tried to reassure him. ‘It was kind of an accident, I heard somewhere needed help and offered myself, I didn’t realise it was an Iristari thing. I’m not here in a formal capacity!’

That didn’t seem to relax him much. ‘My apologies, Lady Iristari!’

Janaxia corrected him. ‘I believe the correct term of address is “High Colonel”. Is that not right, Stathis?’

‘Ignore her. I’m only here as an independent ally, I’m not part of the command structure.’ That seemed to do little to calm him. ‘Just pretend I’m like any other mercenary.’ This really would be a lot easier if no-one knew who she was!

The awkwardness was broken by the metal clanging of a gong, echoing through the mountains. All of the soldiers went silent, waiting for the pattern to finish, before picking up their pace, almost charging forward. Janaxia grabbed hold tightly, squeezing Stathis.

‘That’s the signal for “attack”, we need to get back now!’ Mavrosa started to run beneath her, flowing into an easy run despite bearing two riders. They ran around a sharp-cornered pass into the valley.

The opposite end was dark, thick black mist blocking sight, but with a horde of humanoid figures spilling out. Stathis twisted in the saddle, trying not to knock Janaxia off. ‘Last run! We need to get there before they close the gate!’

The soldiers were lined up on the walls, bows at the ready. Stathis could see Hakara there, her robes standing out amongst the dull uniforms, mystical energy swirling. One of the soldiers saw her, and she yelled, hoping she could be heard. ‘Try and keep the gates open!’ Mavrosa, now on open ground, could accelerate more, manage a swift pace, Stathis racing towards the gate. Unfortunately, it was on the side of the castle facing the enemy. From down on the ground, all she could see was the outmost edge of the attackers, grey and black, keeping a steady pace as they marched towards her.

She dismounted, Janaxia shifting forward onto the saddle. She could see smoke rising from the darkness, the watchpost having been destroyed. She could see soldiers fleeing towards her, some of them dragging their companions, obviously wounded. At least they were able to outpace the enemy, as the dark mist behind them started to thicken and solidify into almost solid darkness. An arrow shot over her head, one of the soldiers too eager, falling far short.

‘Janaxia, can you see anything in the darkness?’

Black power was flickering around her hand. ‘What darkness?’

‘Is there anything behind them we need to worry about?’

Janaxia craned her neck, trying to see. ‘It appears they have some wooden carts to dwell in. And I can see that flying creature from before, it seems to be undergoing repairs. I suspect that it will have reduced agility in the air once done.’

‘That’s something, at least. Start blasting if anything gets in range.’

‘Yes, Stathis, I am aware of how to function in combat. Simply because this is part of a greater operation does not render me incapable of regular attacks.’

‘Sorry.’ Stathis shouted at the solders running towards her. ‘Come on!’ A bolt of darkness shot out, black lightning slamming into one of the soldiers, who crumpled to the ground, their companions dragging at them, pulling them along. The other soldiers, the rest of the 42nd, were starting to trickle through the gate, weary, but already running up onto the walls. More black lightning shot out, arcing out between the fleeing soldiers, blasting through the armour.

‘Janaxia, can you put down some darkness behind them all? Block out the sightlines. Unwords cut the air, another dome of darkness appearing on the field. ‘Keep it there!’

Now they were close enough that Stathis could run forward and support them, half-carrying a wounded woman forward, running through the gate, carefully putting them down. The gates started to close, heavy wood slowly swinging, as the last of the soldiers made it through, followed by Janaxia. Heavy bars were slid into place for reinforcement, a loud clatter as the portcullis was lowered. There was no time to sort anything better out, as Stathis ran up onto the walls, meeting Herith. She was fully armoured, spear in hand. ‘Guess this is it then. Good job finding the 42nd.’

‘I just hope it’s enough.’

The skeletal horde advanced, a slow and steady encroachment, implacably getting closer. Herith raised a hand. ‘Hold! Make every shot count, at least wait until they’re in range. Mages, save your powers to counter.’

‘Parth, can you see anything?’

She was peering at the attackers, hopefully trying to pick out the casters there. If they could just deal with them, then the rest would be easy! Behind all the undead, there was a flickering, scabrous dome of patchy darkness, a misty haze that made the contents hard to make out. Stathis could vaguely see people in there, or at least people-shaped things.

‘Darkness and power. But out of range.’ Parth kept her bow at the ready, but didn’t fire.

The animated wyvern swooped through the air, dropping from the twilight.

Herith and Stathis yelled in unison. ‘Eyes up! Open fire!’

Arrows filled the air, angling towards it. Most failed to reach, those that did bouncing off magically reinforced skin or iron plates hammered onto decaying bone. Green haze started to shine around the mouth, liquid dribbling out of a wall. Some hit a wall, beginning to melt and pit the stone.

Herith gave the order. ‘Shields up!’ She turned to Hakara. ‘Do you have anything with enough range to get it?’

‘My ice storm would reach, but they are above us.’ She jumped aside as another blob of the stuff fell to the walls where she had been standing, stone hissing and melting.

Parth leant back, aiming for a moment before shooting. An arrow shot out, hitting a wing, puncturing the thick leather, but without much effect. She murmured a quick spell, green energy aligning itself along her arrow before shooting again, this time hitting the body, but without any obvious effect.

Dolorous, leaden un-words of doom and ill-omen spilled through the dawn air, as Janaxia began to cast, the effect slightly ruined by the huge yawn she took in the middle, spell stuttering until she completed the spell, the creature vanishing.

Janaxia sank back, her eyes closed, Stathis supporting her. ‘Good thinking. How long is it gone for?’

‘It is powerful, I cannot hold it for long.’ Ragged cheers broke out from the soldiers. The rest of the attackers didn’t move, staying on the outer edge of bowshot range, clearly there to tempt them into wasting arrows.

‘Herith, it’s going to return, in not long. Get everyone targeting where it vanished.’ She nodded, taking the advice, giving the orders.

Stathis kept an eye on Janaxia, waiting until the moment her look of concentration faded, gesturing at Herith, who yelled. ‘FIRE!’

The shots were in the air even before the thing reappeared, some arrows hitting home, a few of the magical blasts having the range. More acid rained down, Stathis raising her shield to protect Hakara, turning her face away from the splash. This was enough to drive it off, the creature flapping away, dropping into the sphere of flickering darkness.

The soldiers went silent, ready for another attack, eyes scanning the sky, Herith giving another command. ‘Everyone hold! I don’t want any wasted shots!’

Some of the skeletons began to advance, heavy wooden shields attached to their arms, a second line with a large log, tip pointed to make a battering ram. They moved forward as rapidly as they could, unimpeded until Herith gave the command to fire. Arrows thudded and smacked into the wood, doing little to slow them down. Things got better as they got closer to the walls, shots getting easier to target. A few fell, bodies destroyed by the weight of fire, but the horde continued without stopping. A ladder tapped against the top of the wall, swiftly getting pushed back.

Vials of alchemical fire were tossed down, explosions and an acrid scent swiftly following. Stathis moved between the soldiers, checking for injuries, keeping an eye on the darkness. Through the swirling haze, she could make out some robed figures, their power enough to slightly numb the sense of Janaxia’s presence, although they felt similar, an overwhelming presence of cold and frost but less doom-laden. The skeletons didn’t stop attacking until destroyed, a few of them still trying to raise ladders, or attack the gate with their swords, weapons uselessly bouncing off the wood.

Those not attacking retreated slightly, awaiting some future command. Parth fired a shot, managing to wing one of the closest, knocking an arm off, most of the power expended from the range.

Tense silence prevailed as the rest of the undead army stood there, unmoving, motionless and silent.

Herith grumbled. ‘Cocky bastards. They want to make us stew and tire us out.’

Stathis agreed. ‘It’s going to be probing attacks, isn’t it? Tire us out, stop anyone getting any rest. And it’s the day, so it’s going to be harder for us to sneak out and launch a raid.’

‘Dammit, I was hoping they wouldn’t have a plan. How often can Janaxia do that vanishing trick?’

‘Probably only once or twice. But she needs rest less than other wizards, don’t let her grumbling fool you.’ Stathis looked over at the army – they were all quite comfortably out of range, positioned to have their vision covering anyone that might approach, the haze of darkness at the back.

‘We need to deal with those flyers, otherwise they’re just going to do the same again, but from higher up. I don’t think they were expecting us to have anything that could hit them, but there’s not much with enough range and damage.’

Stathis poked Janaxia between the eyes. ‘Good job with that spell, but I know it’s not drained you dry. You don’t get to go back to bed just because you’ve cast one spell. Can you do it again?’

‘I would prefer to keep some measure of my arcane might in reserve, but if required, I could so once more.’ She was looking at the assembled armies, tapping her fingers as though counting them. ‘They seem to be rather well organised. But if I am not needed here, then I would think it useful to rest and recuperate myself.’

Herith nodded. ‘Listen for the alarms. I want you up here as soon as anything happens. If they deploy anything large, that spell of yours at least forces them to split an attack.’ She flicked out the telescope, surveying their forces before passing it to Stathis.

She looked through it, flicking the view over to the dome of darkness – it was still hard to see through, but it looked as though a small encampment had been set up, several carts and wagons within the aura of shadow. There were definitely people in there, but she could also see ephemeral, ghostly shapes, flickering in and out of vision.

‘They’ve got a base set up in there, haven’t they?’

Janaxia grabbed it from her hand, almost poking her in the eye with it. ‘Ah yes, of course. Somewhere to effect, ah, “field repairs”, I believe you would call them? And doubtless with somewhere for the necromancers to sleep, and perform whatever maintenance is required to keep that spell going and maintain their control over the army. It appears rather sloppy work though; my own darkness is far neater and more well-defined, wouldn’t you say, Stathis?’

‘Do you think that’s similar? If it’s filled with frozen acid, it’s going to make an assault hard. Semari can make it down the cliffs, but it’ll take a while to get into position. Parth, you reckon you could make it up there, and out again if needed?’

Parth looked at the mountainside, assessing it.

‘If you can, then we might be able to flank them, with you two coming from up high, and some of us sneaking from the front. Well, trying to, at least.’

Herith shook her head. ‘That sounds way too close to a suicide mission. There’s no way to fight a whole army at once, and they’re close enough together that sneaking through isn’t going to work, even if they’re individually dumb. Even if you recreate whatever the hell bullshit you pulled in that final grading, there’s no way you can climb over the mountains fast enough to get away. There’s going to be hell to pay if you die on my watch.’

‘I’ll try to avoid dying. I’m told it’s not worth the trouble.’

Herith started dividing the soldiers into groups, ordering some to rest before the next attack came. Stathis grabbed Janaxia before she could go back to bed. ‘Sure you don’t know anything useful? All this dark magic is meant to be your, uh, metier or something.’

Janaxia looked strangely nervous as she replied. ‘The darkness I believe is a connection to the negative energy plane. It will be rather uncomfortable within it – I would recommend heavy clothing to protect against a chill. Any non-physical undead will be able to materially affect you within it’s boundaries. It takes quite some effort to create such a thing, especially mobile. It does mean that they likely have the facilities to, shall we say convert, any local creatures into undead. Which would explain that wyvern, although the acidic venom was likely an extra piece of work.’

‘Wow, thanks. I wasn’t expecting so much information. So is there some way to turn it off or destroy it? An, uh, nexus, I think Hakara normally calls it?’

‘Oh, of course. I would imagine it to be a crystal sphere, probably about half a foot in diameter, that looks to be filled with thick blackish-purple smoke and is icy-cold to the touch.’

‘That’s, uh, very specific.’

‘Oh, there was a similar device at home. Although that device was an ancient one, this is likely of newer construction. And probably with fewer attached spirits. It could get quite noisy attempting to consult the lower realms when half-a-dozen not entirely deceased relatives were clamouring for attention!’ She yawned again, grimacing and trying to make the chainmail comfortable. ‘It is resistant to direct attack and destroying it would open a rift to the negative energy plane. I would recommend absconding with the thing, rather than a direct assault? Unless you wish to end up in the negative energy plane. It is dreadfully dreary there, and finding a way back is likely to be somewhat challenging.’

‘Right. So grab it and bring it here, rather than break it. That’s the start of a plan.’

Janaxia yawned again, although more for show than anything else, before making her way down the stairs. One of the other officers followed her, taking up a position outside the cottage.

‘Are you spying on Janaxia?’ Stathis asked Herith.

‘Do you have a problem with that?’

‘Not particularly, I just hope he’s strong enough to drag her up here if there’s another raid and she’s asleep. She doesn’t weigh much, but she can grab hold pretty tightly when she’s sleeping and be hard to detach. So, Major Herith, your orders?’

Some of the skeletons started to move, beginning to spread into a defensive formation. The darkness broiled and seethed, Stathis wincing from what she felt, looming, imminent doom. A chill seemed to spread through the air, an almost-visible malaise. Some of the troops shivered, although the air was still warm, looking tired and depressed.

‘Morale-sapping magic, dammit. Stathis, keep everyone cheery. Hakara, check with the specialists, see if you can dispel it or have anything in range of them. They must all be hiding in that darkness.’

Stathis remembered to salute, trying to remember the proper gesture and angle, hopefully not too far off if Herith’s look was anything to judge by. She started to move amongst the soldiers, deliberately making herself loud and obvious, making terrible jokes, trying to set everyone at their ease. The undead army simply waited, not moving, silently waiting, until Herith started sending some of the men away to rest.