Ethan woke up early in the morning. He got dressed and stepped out. He heard the water running and the sounds of someone in the kitchen. He turned and saw a familiar face. Arron was looking at him and smiling.

“Hello, Ethan. It has been a while. How was the trip?”

Ethan firmed the muscles in his body and took the last steps down the stairs before meeting Arron’s eyes. “Hello, Arron. It is nice to see you as well. The trip was fine. I am surprised you are here. Why is that? What do you want?”

“There is no need to be aggressive,” said Arron. He put the plate down that he was cleaning and turned off the water. “I no longer have any rivalry with you. Whatever feeling I may have had has changed with the changes to our positions. We are no longer researchers for the king and competent magicians but are now some of the highest-ranking people left. Maybe not the strongest but close enough.”

“How did you even escape? I thought there was no one left.”

“It was actually thanks to you. You see during the time of your imprisonment things were off. I couldn’t speak to you, and the charges were quickly pushed with little resistance. And I have known you for a long time. If you had been close to doing something bad, you would have spoken to Andy. And then what would you think happens, but Andy disappears. He leaves without speaking to you as far as I know and doesn’t try to have your imprisonment cleared up. By that point, I knew for sure that something was wrong and had happened between you two, so I took precautions. And those precautions saved my life. I took my packed bags and escaped in between the chaos. I had sent some of my friends out of the city weeks beforehand and met up with them before heading here. Once I figured out their tactics, I realized we couldn’t stop it within the human cities and would have to make a stand here. You don’t need to worry about the awkward situation of your imprisonment being shared. The others have only been told about my relationship to you before that occurred.”

“Thank you. I am glad you have done that for me. I assume possible spies have been dealt with and whatever massive spells required to turn this city to undead as well has already been implemented,” said Ethan relaxing a bit.

“Yeah, that is one of the first things we worked on when I got here with the others. In theory, the only way for the necromancers to take this city is with force. The barrier for the capital that is set up like the outposts has already been altered to prevent undead energies though it would be nice for you to look over it.”

“Maybe I will. Did you warn anyone else about the attack? If you were able to set up defenses then others should have been able to as well.”

“I only spoke with those I knew I could trust, so I only know of some. I knew that if they could get to someone like Andy then they could get to a lot of people. I do know that there are many more people who survived but are trapped by the necromancers. I spoke with some scouts that investigated while it was safe to do so. The spells targeted the largest population area of the capital. It didn’t get the entire city. Those who survived through luck or with magic like I did have since been rounded up. They are now a part of the living slaves used as workers to build their new empire.”

“That is good to hear. At least the death toll isn’t the worst that it could have been. But why didn’t you warn the other cities?”

“The thing is I tried, but the attacks occurred in succession. While I was meeting up with others for my safety, the next cities were attacked. From reports, the final city in the south was warned and prepared for the undead but was sieged by the growing undead forces. It barely lasted two days before it was captured.”

“It is sad, isn’t it?” said a voice behind them. Another man was walking downstairs. He wore large armor with furs covering it. “All of the death. Even now we will be thrown to the undead to fight.”

“This is Richard or just Rich,” said Arron. “He was a mercenary, but now will lead some of the war efforts.”

“I, I will. As agreed to with the gnomes we humans will hold the front lines if we are combat able or will help the war effort in some other way. For example, I believe you will be made honorary generals for the human forces,” said Rich.

“I expected something like this. Who are the others staying here?”

There are two others upstairs that have yet to wake up. The first is my second in command. A light mage healer named Lydia. She has been training those who can use magic with some of her defensive spells. The other is a half-dwarf man. I don’t know much about him. He doesn’t speak much.”

“Half-dwarf really. I wonder what his story is?”

“It is almost time to go to the meeting. Do you want to call the others down?” said Arron.

“Yeah, I will.”

Rich called the others down from the stairs. The other two came down soon enough and joined them. Lydia wore the traditional white with yellow accented robes for a healer and carried a short staff. Ethan suddenly felt that part of himself missing. Ever since leaving the Elders caves, he had stored away the last robes he had. They had all become worn out and the tighter fitting clothes now filled his daily wear.

With the arrival of Lydia also came the half-dwarf. He had the long traditional beard of a dwarf but was a solid six inches taller than a usual dwarf. He was still shorter than all of them in the room. He didn’t carry with himself any weapons though that was likely because they were only going to a meeting. With them, all gathered they set off to the meeting.

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The meeting was held in a large conference room in one of the nearby buildings. Already sitting when they arrived were several gnomes in uniforms designating their power within the capital. The gnome sitting at the head of the table greeted them before motioning them to sit. They all found their seats. Ethan found himself situated between Arron and Lydia.

“Please pass these around. They have been updated since our last meeting. Ethan, please go over it thoroughly so you can be up to date.”

The papers were passed around, and he looked over them. On the front page was a map of an outpost. Turning the page over he saw troop information and the general goals for the battle. From what he saw he could see how the gnomes had decided to fight at the location. The outpost was not capable of withstanding the estimated amount of undead, so the civilians had already been evacuated. Flipping over the pages he saw more of their plans. Traps would be set, and the enemy would be tested to best evaluate how to protect the capital. Other outposts would be in the way, so they had some time before the armies reached the capital.

Ethan waited for the gnome general to finish speaking before asking his questions. “These plans are good, but I am not sure how I can help. It seems as though everything has been taken care of on your end.”

“If you turn to page seven on the bottom it lists some things for you that we need from you. The main thing is training adept mages and preparing the traps. You will do so with Lydia. Of the over 1000 humans fighting at the outpost, fifty of them have the aptitude required. They by no mean will be powerful, but they will fulfill the needs we require. With Arron’s help, we have designed the traps that you will need to charge. They will help us deal with ghosts, spirits, and other similarly troublesome undead. We do not have the spells required to face them effectively, so it will be the job of you and those you train on the battlefield to kill them.”

“Ok, that makes more sense. I have some spells that will be effective against them and some I have used myself. Is there anything I should watch for when I face them? I know you will want to make the most of this battle because you will be exchanging deaths on both sides and the outpost for information.”

“Just kill as many of them as possible during this fight. Figure out which traps work the best and find the ones that will be most effective when applied here,” said the general. “Make sure all that you kill will be unable to be raised again. We need to be taking more from them than they do from us. We need to show them that this continued expansion will not be worth it in the long run.”

“What about pushing them back?” asked Ethan.

“That can be considered at a later date. All we the gnome people care about now is getting them out of our forests and hills. Other efforts could be considered at a later date. I expect great things from you all,” he said looking to the others. “Don’t make our efforts and resources invested in you go to waste.”

“We won’t let you down,” said Arron. “Now that Ethan is here I was wondering if we could resume discussions of the golem.”

“Of course. Even though it won’t be used soon, its arrival is expected in two months-ish. I know they are busy killing the dragon. We will hear from them when they sail back in victory. Due to the information leak, we expect the necromancer to begin preparing a counter to the golem. We likely won’t know what it is until they hit us with it. This may mean that they send out liches and the like earlier than we have expected. During these times before and after the battles, I hope we can discern how they plan to deal with the golem. We have gone through old texts about necromancers and are searching for the strongest creatures they have made. Everything else we have heard from the golem has been positive. We are glad that this bet has paid off so far. I don’t want to see us resort to plan B.”

“What is this plan B?” asked Ethan.

“That is something I only know exists but have not been informed of. Only that we should hope to not use it,” said the General.

The conversations continued for a while longer. Once they were done, they broke for lunch. They were prepared meals by the chefs. Ethan packed up his bags in the evening after barely using anything in them. The armies had already left days before and begun to set up at the outpost. In the morning he got on the carriages with the other four. They also threw their bags in one of the empty carts and got comfortable. Following them was the general and a few others from the army. As soon as the horses were all prepped they set off to the south. Farther south the undead armies marched to meet him there.