Rachel stands on the southern wall of the city, staring out over the forest. The wall runs almost up to the very edge of the old city ruins, only a few of the more decrepit buildings still standing outside it. A wide road through the forest stretches out to the south, leading on to join the Great North Road not far from Littlestream.

Grief rises within her at the thought of her old home. She’d tried to avoid thinking about it over the week since the incident, as each time she does the images of what happened there spring unbidden back into her mind. Her father tumbling from that platform. His eyes, wide and lifeless, staring up at her from where he lay. The blood, pooling around him...

Anger surges within her. She should have taken revenge on the scum who did that to him. If only she’d had her sword, if only Master Lilia hadn’t stopped her. Then she would have been able to-

No. Who was she fooling? If it wasn’t for Master Lilia, she’d have been bleeding out on the floor beside her father. There’s no way she would have stood a chance against the Seeker mages, Lord Reud himself struggled to handle them.

Letting out a long sigh, she tries to put the thoughts out of her mind. The emotions were still too fresh, too raw. Focusing on her work was far easier, and that’s exactly what she intended to do.

A few minutes later, a group of carts appears from around the bend in the southern road, trundling toward Srinaber. With a creaking groan, the two skeletons manning the southern gate pull it open, and the carts rattle their way inside. Rachel strides over to greet the woman sitting in the lead cart. Her hair, the colour of straw, is tied up into a spiralling bun.

“Jess, you’re late!” She greets the woman with a smile on her face. She’d been friends with Jessabelle, Jess to her friends, for years. Jessabelle’s father having been a merchant that supplied the village. After he’d died Jessabelle’s brothers had split the family wealth between themselves, going their separate ways, and abandoning their sister in Littlestream with nothing. Since then, the two women had grown to be close friends, so when Rachel had needed someone to trade with the surrounding villages, Jessabelle had volunteered her expertise.

“Get off my back Rachel, you know what Eastrest is like.” Jessabelle responds, clambering down from the lead cart. “It takes forever to make the old fools there agree to anything. If only we could trade with Aldsville it would make our lives so much easier.”

Rachel grimaces. “You know why they refuse us. That damned Farlin. If I could, I would throttle the slimy little creep.”

Jessabelle laughs. “Now now, let’s keep that bloodlust in check. I swear, ever since you started being trained by the Lady you’ve become even more violent than before.”

Rachel shrugs. “Master Lilia has simply shown me that acting prim and proper is not the only way to get through life. Acting that way got me nowhere. Now I can be far more true to myself.”

“I pity your future husband. The poor man isn’t going to stand a chance.” Jessabelle says.

Rachel rolls her eyes. “What is it with you and men?”

Jessabelle shrugs. “We aren’t going to be young forever. If you don’t get out there whilst you still have your looks, who's going to look after you when you’re old? You don’t want to end up as the shrivelled spinster who lurks on the edge of the village, scaring the children now do you?”

Rachel gives her a hard look. “I’m not even going to deign to give that a response.”

Jessabelle sticks out her tongue.

“Anyway, how do you feel about a larger trading trip?” Rachel says, changing the topic.

“Oh?”

“Lord Reud wants to make a trip to Avonford, to try to establish some relations with the merchants there. I know you went there a lot with your father, so you’d be the natural choice to go along.” Rachel continues.

Jessabelle makes a face. “I do have some connections, and as long as I can prove that we have things to trade I’m sure we can entice some merchants to Srinaber. It’s just…”

Rachel cocks her head as Jessabelle trails off. “It’s just?” She prompts.

Jessabelle sighs. “My brothers went to Avonford. If I got there and start making some waves, they are sure to get wind of it. I just don’t feel like seeing them again.”

Rachel thinks for a moment. “Well this time you will have Lord Reud backing you. As well as the entire might of Srinaber. Things are different now.”

Jessabelle shrugs. “I know, it’s just…” She looks up at the sky for a moment. When she turns back to Rachel the weakness is gone from her eyes, replaced with determination. “I guess you’re right. When are we departing?”

“In two days, will that be enough time to get everything prepared?” Rachel says.

Jessabelle nods. “I can get everything I need by then. Right, I’d better get on that.” Turning she strides off, muttering to herself.

Rachel watches her go, the carts following along behind her, before turning to walk back into the city centre herself. Bo steps out of the shadow of the wall where he had been waiting, falling in beside her.

***

A jab to her shoulder startles Rachel from her thoughts. Snapping her head around, she looks at Bo. Did the skeleton just poke her?

Slowly, deliberately, Bo raises a hand and jabs her again.

“What gives, Bo!?” Rachel yells, stepping away from him.

In silence, Bo raises and arm, pointing up the street with a skeletal digit. Not for the first time, Rachel wishes that the skeleton had the ability to speak. Recently, he had been assigned to guard her as she moves around the city, managing its needs. People still weren’t fully comfortable with him, so Rachel had decided to try to humanize him a little. A wolf-skin cloak, trousers, and shirt later, and he looked almost living. Except, of course, the fleshless skull poking out the top of the cloak. Still, it had the desired effect, and people stopped being so wary around him, even greeting him when he passes them in the street.

Bo gestures up the street again, raising a hand to jab Rachel.

“Right! I got it! Lead on.” She says, backing up to avoid another painful prod.

Bo turns and strides up the street, his feet clacking on the cobblestones, Rachel following behind. What could he want? Where could they be going?

After a minute, it becomes clear. They are heading directly for the storehouse. The building that houses all the food, goods, and money in the possession of the growing city. The storehouse was situated in the north-eastern corner of the safe area. They had specifically extended out the walls to this point, on Lord Reud’s orders, to encompass this building for the explicit purpose of using it as a storehouse. The visible part of the building above ground was a complete ruin, but within it extended down over multiple completely intact floors, each floor kept naturally cool underground.

As Rachel and Bo approach the building, it becomes apparent that something is wrong. This part of the city shouldn’t have many, if any, traffic. Only the undead were permitted in and out of the storehouse, as all the distribution of goods was performed through the main city hall, under the watchful eye of Rachel herself. Today, however, the sounds of voices can be heard emanating from the storehouse building.

“... go of me!” Shouts one unfamiliar male voice.

Bo leads Rachel on into the storehouse. Within the source of the noise becomes apparent. Four young men are pinned to the floor by a number of skeletons. Their faces aren’t familiar, so they must be part of the group of people who arrived in the city recently. Once word got out that Srinaber had lots of empty homes, and was feeding people for free, an influx of people arrived from the smaller villages in the area, the lure of an easy life easily outweighing the risk of travelling to Srinaber.

“Get off!” Shouts one of the group, a weaselly faced man. “What right do you have to hold me, I’m a citizen of Srinaber!”

“What exactly is going on here.” Rachel demands. The men on the floor stop struggling and look over to her, hope filling their eyes.

“Ah, Rachel! Make these abominations let us go! These things tackled us, even though we were just getting what we were promised!” The weaselly man shouts, his companions nodding furiously.

“Why, exactly, did you think it was okay to break into the storehouse?” She asks, putting her hands on her hips.

The weaselly faced man looks over to his companions and back to her. “Well we heard that people are equal in Srinaber. And that you have a lot of gold. We’ve been here for days and ain’t even got a piece of it. We just thought we’d… help the process along.” The other men nod and shout their agreement. “But then these things grabbed us!”

Rachel shakes her head. “Right so, you thought you’d show up, fill your pockets with gold then disappear off to spend it to your hearts content.”

“No that’s not… Everyone is equal…” The weaselly faced man stammers.

“If that’s why you’re here, you may as well go back where you came from.” Rachel says, her voice filled with venom. “We don’t need leeches like you in Srinaber.”

Turning to Bo she nods at him. “Let these fools go.” Only her skeletal companion had the ability to control these guarding undead. Him and Lord Reud. Not even she was allowed into the storehouse’s depths.

The skeletons rise from the men’s backs, a couple of the swarm pulling the men to their feet and thrusting them back out of the storehouse door.

“You can't do this!” The weaselly man protests. “What about our gold!”

The anger surges up inside Rachel, burning hot and fierce. “I don’t give a damn about your greed!” She steps towards them, her fists balled, her body shaking with rage. “Get out of here, if I see any of you again I’ll KILL YOU!” Her voice raises to a shriek.

The men back away, shock on their faces. The weaselly man takes one last look at Rachel, then turns and storms off, his companions following hot on his heels.

Rachel watches them leave, struggling to control the anger rampaging within her. As it slowly fades, exhaustion takes its place. What happened just then? She’d never felt that way before, so ready to attack, to kill another person who had barely even wronged her. It was… scary.

She looks to her side, at Bo. The skeletons head was cocked, almost seeming concerned. Worried. She gives him a smile, trying to reassure him that she was fine.

Now if only she could reassure herself.