When the sun finally peeks over the horizon, it is an exhausted people that greet it. The beasts had attacked again and again, all throughout the night, the flimsy barricades not enough to hide the presence of so many exposed people. Each time a new pack arrived, however, it was repelled by Lilia and the skeletons.

The smell of roasting meat fills the air, a mutated boar slowly cooking above a crude firepit. Beside it sit buckets of clear river water, Bo having led a group of skeletons to collect it an hour before.

Reud paces around the small area fenced in by the barricades, the thought of resettling Srinaber growing more and more exciting the longer he thinks on it. To do that they would need tools, and building materials. Littlestream would contain both, assuming anything survived the flames. Hopefully.

His pacing brings him over to where Lilia sits curled up against a wall, hugging her sheathed sword against her body. Her eyes are closed and her hair has fallen over her face, moving slightly as she breathes. Reud kneels down and gently strokes her head, whispering to her until she wakes up.

Groggily, she looks up at him, blinking in the light. “Reud?” She sits up, almost dropping her sword. “I wasn’t asleep. I was just resting my eyes.”

Reud laughs. “Of course you were, my love. I just wanted to tell you I’m going to head back to Littlestream and salvage what I can.”

Lilia shakes her head to clear the sleepiness from her mind. “Do you want me to come with?”

Reud presses her back down as she tries to rise. “No, you stay here and rest. You had a busy night.”

Lilia nods and relaxes back against the wall again. “Okay, be safe. Don’t get captured again... Now I think my eyes need a little more resting...”

Reud strokes her hair for a minute as she snuggles back into the wall, the simple act filling him with peace. If only they could stay like this, stretching out this single beautiful moment forever. But no, he had responsibilities to these people now.

Reluctantly, he rises. Reud picks his way back through the small compound, commanding Tel and half the skeletons to follow along, leaving the rest under Bo’s command. The skeleton had proven himself capable of impressive independent thought so far. Having a soul really made him far more useful than the lesser undead.

The skeletons pull at the barricade, opening a space large enough to pass through. Just as Reud is about to step out, a gruff voice stops him in his tracks. Turning, Reud finds Grym striding towards him.

“My lord, are you heading back to Littlestream?” Grym asks.

Reud nods. “I was going to go and see what we can salvage.”

“That were what my boys and I were plannin’ too. You mind if we tag along?”

“Be my guest.” Reud says. Turning to the other people watching them, he raises his voice a little more. “If anyone else wants to come to Littlestream, you are welcome to join us.”

A few others step forward, Rachel among them, their faces haggard and exhausted but filled with determination. Soon a group of over two dozen people are squeezing through the barricade, and out into the city beyond.

***

The mood of the group becomes more and more sombre as they get closer to the column of smoke rising into the sky. When they eventually break out of the forest a collective gasp comes from everyone.

Littlestream is devastated. The walls that used to protect the village have been reduced to charred stubs in the ground. The buildings beyond have been gutted, leaving only blackened shells still standing. Embers glow in the ruins, fluctuating between smouldering red and a fiery orange as the wind washes through the village.

Reud and the rest of the group slowly walk through what used to be the northern gate, deathly quiet. The former villagers look around at what remained of their home, their faces slack with disbelief. Reud pauses and waits, giving them some time to deal with what happened to the village.

Eventually, Grym breaks the silence, clearing his throat. Reud glances over at him to see the large man quickly wiping at something in his eye. “I’m gonna head over to my workshop, see if anything survived.” Grym says, his voice raw with emotion.

Reud nods at him then gestures to the undead following behind. One of their number steps forward. “Take a skeleton with you. The buildings are unstable, and there's no sense risking your life.” The big man bows his head in respect then gestures for his apprentices to follow him.

The rest of the group starts to split up as well, each taking a single skeleton with them, until only Reud, Tel, and Rachel are left. Reud looks over at the woman, watching her fidget with her hands whilst looking over to the village square.

“Was there something you wanted to check out?” He asks gently.

Rachel responds in a quiet voice, almost lost in the sound of the wind. “My father… He’s over there isn’t he?”

Reud looks over to the woman. “Yes. But with the fire... Are you absolutely sure you want to see?”

“No...” Rachel responds, her voice filled with dread. “But I have to do this. For him.”

Reud is about to say something else, when Rachel clenches her hands into fists and starts walking towards the village centre, whispering something under her breath, her eyes fixed determinedly forward. Reud watches her go, feeling a hint of respect. She’s handling her loss a lot better than he handled his. When his family died, he couldn’t bring himself to even look at their faces, wanting to preserve the memories of them alive, untainted by seeing them dead. As a necromancer, he shouldn’t have had a problem with bodies, but still, he couldn’t handle the idea of seeing his brothers lifeless eyes. Either way, it was too late now. They were long gone.

The pair enter what used to be a peaceful village square. Now the ground is littered with the charred remains of bodies, broken links of mail shirts, large deep red stains, and scattered severed limbs. A macabre testament to the violence that occurred here.

Rachel stands staring dumbly among the devastation, horror twisting her face. For a moment Reud considers approaching her, but then decides against it. Comforting people is not really his strong point, he’d probably just end up upsetting her. Better instead to let her come to terms with what happened on her own.

Turning, he instead walks over to the ruins of the Mayor’s house, the large building having survived better than the rest due to its heavy use of stone in its construction. The choice of building material, far more expensive than the wood that formed the majority of the rest of the houses in the village, showing the status of the man who used to live here.

Carefully, Reud enters the building, commanding Tel to follow him inside. An alarming splintering sound comes from below him as Reud puts his weight onto the blacked floorboards. Stopping still, Reud strains his ears for any sign that the building is about to collapse, but thankfully it does not. Reud takes another tentative step, his every sense alert for the first sign of the floor giving way. Slowly, Reud walks through the house, peering into each room. The house’s walls are bare, the fabulous paintings and tapestries lining the walls reduced to nothing but ashes.

In one of the rooms something curious catches Reud’s attention. A large chest is buried end-down through the floorboards, as if dropped from a height. Reud looks up to where the second storey used to be, trying to envision the old layout. The room that was above this one was likely Graham’s office. The chest probably fell from up there.

Walking closer, Reud realizes what it was that caught his attention. The chest was completely untouched by the fire, with not a single scorch mark or soot stain marring its surface. It seems to be made of deep red mahogany wood, bound in bands of rune inscribed bronze.

Reud squats down beside it, running his hands over its surface. It feels cool to the touch, and perfectly smooth. Entirely textureless. Peering closer, Reud carefully inspects what happens when he tries to touch the wood. The moment before he makes contact, a perfectly clear, almost spongy skin wraps around the chest, stopping Reud’s fingers from actually touching the wood beneath. With a flash of surprise, Reud realizes what it is. An enchanted item!

Enchanted items were fairly common, back before Lightire won the war. Any mage with an interest in learning how to infuse mana into objects could learn to enchant, and as a result poor quality items flooded the markets. Well-made items, however, were rare and expensive. Reud runs his hand over the chest again, feeling the mana in the runes cast into the bronze bands. This chest was expertly made, so must have cost a vast sum. What could Graham have been hiding in something so pricey?

Wrapping his hands around one of the handles on the upper end, Reud gives the chest a tug. It barely budges. Frowning, he commands Tel to join in. Walking up beside him, the skeleton wraps his hands around the handle alongside Reud, and together they pull.

Slowly, the chest begins to move, little by little rising out of the ground. A groan forces itself from Reud’s mouth as he throws all his strength into shifting the chest. If only he’d put on some more muscle before creating the template for his everlasting body! Then, with a screeching creak, the chest slips free of the hole. The sudden shift sends Reud stumbling back, bumping into the wall behind him.

Splintering cracks sound from all around him as the entire building shudders. Clouds of ash puff out from the remains of the floor above, scattered about as chunks of masonry fall into the building.

Reud springs over to the chest, grabbing one end, commanding Tel to grab the other. Together they half carry, half drag the chest back out through the building as it starts to collapse in on itself around them.

With barely a moment to spare, they burst out into the square, followed by spiralling clouds of ash. Behind them the house completely caves in, the roof falling in and taking out the remaining interior walls. To either side the neighbouring houses begin to collapse too, a chain reaction spreading around the edge of the square.

Blinking the dust from his eyes, Reud walks back over to the chest. Time to see what he risked being buried for. On the front of it sits a lock with a spiralling keyhole, surrounded by more runes. A classic magic lock, designed to be unpickable by any thief without the matching key.

With a sigh, Reud stands back up. If the key was stored somewhere in the house then finding it will be nigh on impossible. Though… Reud looks over to where Rachel is crouched. Maybe the key was on the Mayor’s body. With a chest as valuable as this, he would likely have kept it on him at all times.

Reud walks over to Rachel. The woman is collapsed on the ground, sobbing, her face in her hands. As he gets close Rachel looks up at him, tears streaking her face.

“I… I can’t even tell which one is him.” She sobs.

Reud squats down next to her and puts his hand on her shoulder. “Would you like me to find him for you?”

Rachel nods but says nothing.

Reud closes his eyes, focusing instead on his mana sense. The bodies around the square light up like beacons, the residue of their souls calling to his affinity, almost begging to be used. Most of the bodies are young, less than a quarter of a century old. On two of them Reud can feel the residue of magic, though one is fragmented, ruined. That must be the remains of the seeker woman he had to forcibly reanimate in the fight. Only one body has the skeleton over half a century in age. That must be Graham.

Reud walks over to the corpse and kneels next to it. It’s barely recognizable as human, nothing more than a lumpy chunk of charred meat. Reud glances over at Rachel, checking if she is still burying her face in her hands.

Once he is sure she isn’t going to look over his way, he begins to pat the corpse down. Most of the body has the crisp, charred feel of burnt meat. However, the remains of Graham’s robe have fused into his back, likely when the fats in his skin melted. Reud gropes around in it, feeling for any hint of the key. His fingers fall onto a small metal object, lodged within the fabric. Squashing his excitement, Reud pulls it out, popping it from the flesh it is lodged in. The object is a small key, and Reud quickly tucks it into his pocket.

Standing, he walks back over to Rachel.

“I found your father’s body, but I really wouldn’t suggest you look.” Reud says, his voice as gentle as he can make it.

Rachel looks up at him, her eyes red from crying. “Show me.” She says, her voice cold.

Reud looks into her eyes for a moment, looking for any hint of weakness, but finding only steely determination.

“Okay, he’s over here.” He says, waiting for Rachel to stand before he leads her over.

Together they walk across the square before stopping in front of the body. Reud looks over to Rachel. The woman just stands there, her eyes fixed on the burnt remains of the corpse, her face unreadable. She makes no sound, no tears stream from her eyes. She just stands in silence, staring.

Eventually she breaks her eyes away from the body and looks at Reud, her face furious.

“The Seekers did this. I’m going to make them pay.” She vows.

“We will both make them pay. They’ve taken from all of us.” Reud says. “Lightire has a lot to answer for.”

Rachel looks back at the remains of her father’s corpse. “I need to take him to the sky burial.” She says softly. “He deserves that.”

With a thought, Reud calls Tel over. “Tel will help you carry him. You just focus on saying the words and paying your respects.”

Rachel looks at him gracefully, tears once again welling up in her eyes. Tel scoops up the corpse and turns to Rachel expectantly. She takes a shuddering breath, then turns and begins to walk slowly out the village, towards the burial ground.

Reud watches them until their pair disappear behind a row of ruined buildings. The moment they are out of sight, he rushes over to the chest, pulling the key from his pocket. Slotting it into the keyhole he turns it, and the chest clicks open. Reud pushes open the heavy top to look at what lies inside.

Within is coins. A lot of coins. Reud’s eyes go wider as he does a quick count. Easily a thousand or more crowns! What exactly was Graham doing with this much money? Rachel had given them the impression that the village had fallen on hard times, but here was enough money to pay the taxes for ten or more villages, at once!

Unless… That’s right! Telac. If Graham had seized the taxes Telac was carrying then that would explain the wealth. Reud rocks back on his heels, thinking. The mayor had told him they couldn’t afford to pay a full adventurer's bounty for the stag, whilst hiding all this away. The old miser.

Closing the chest again, Reud smiles. This would help Srinaber get back on its feet, they could now buy anything they can’t build or salvage. The future was looking brighter by the minute.

Relocking the chest, he stands, looking around the village once again. In the distance, the sounds of people picking through the remains is barely audible. They all seem to have the more mundane salvaging under control. This body littered ground, however, this was Reud’s domain.

Walking around the square, Reud stops by each corpse, checking if it is worth reanimating. Only those at the edge of the square are intact enough to raise, those towards the centre too damaged by the flames to be worth the mana. One by one, the corpses struggle to their feet, shambling along behind him as he circles around the edge of the square.

Eventually, Reud stops, the dozen zombies behind him shambling up to form two rows. They look hideous, burnt skin and cloth, along with the remains of their armour, hanging off protruding bits of bone. Rot has started to set in, and maggots wriggle over any remaining flesh. He can’t bring these things back to Srinaber, they’ll set a plague through the city in days. No, the zombies needed to be cleaned of their useless flesh.

With a thought, one of the zombies steps forwards. With another thought, the rest of the group spring onto their unresisting companion. They tear at its flesh with bloody hands, ripping away great chunks, the burnt skin crunching beneath their nails. Bit by bit, the skeleton beneath is revealed.

Leaving them to it, Reud walks to where he felt the remains of the blonde haired seeker man to be. It would need careful handing to salvage what remains of it’s burnt body. Anyway, it will take a while for the zombies to clean each other thoroughly.