“Alright, they’re here, so get going now.” The chief smiled motioned for them to move. He could see Drac and Brair making their way back through the low bearing houses. The trio muffled their laughs as they made their way out of the guest room to greet the mercenaries mid way.

“Oh, wait a moment,” he called out. The trio stopped and turned to him as he whispered; “I’d like it if you keep what we discussed amongst us, eh?”

“Sure old man,” Mina smiled. The chief pinched her nose, earning a giggle from the other two. He led them outside, where they could better see the mercenaries making their way.

“You’re in a good mood,” Brair commented, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. On multiple occasions since they left for the extermination Brair had expressed her concern for the children they’d left behind. Leaning against the door frame the old man had his ‘smiling’ mask on as he greeted the approaching warrior.

“Welcome, sir.” He slightly bowed.

“Oye chief, we did what he promised, so give up that sword already so we can get going.” Brair complained. Despite her cheerful attitude towards the children she did not make any exceptions for the man of similar height.

“Of course ma’am,” he said. The chief led Drac into the house before bowing her her direction.

“Crafty old man,” She huffed and folded her arms over her chest. This little act brought smiles to the young Mina.

“And why are you laughing?” Brair asked as Mina’s contagious smile grew on her.

“You are pretty,” Mari said as she twirled around showing off her combed hair. When one looked at the little girl’s antics the memories of the night prior seemed almost like a bad nightmare. But Brair knew that those things would come to haunt the little girl in the nights to come. From looks of it they were already haunting the other two…or was it that the little girl was hiding her’s.

“It’s nice of you to notice,” Brair struck a pose as the wind blew past her face blowing her messy hair over her ears. “Of course it’s not as pretty as your sister’s.”

Rina thanked the woman quitely as she blushed slightly. While the four made small talk Drac came back, this time with two sword hilts protruding from his back instead of one. The old man tried conversing but Brair’s hostility caused him to pursue a better investment of his time.

The group of five quietly exited the village and continued their journey to Yikensworth. At regular intervals some sort of small talk would be ensued, courtesy of Mina’s restless nature and the cheerful mood of the others, which would usually be resolved by Brair. Drac spoke seldom and most of his answers were too short to provide any enjoyment to the little girl so her interest in the man quickly dissipated.

Night quickly arrived and soon the kids couldn’t take the long walk anymore. Instead of resting for a while, Drac offered for the girls to sit on his pauldrons for the rest of the way, which they reluctantly agreed and told the boy to suck it up. The cold of the metal seeped through the girl’s clothes and shivers ran through their small bodies.

Drac could tell they were uncomfortable so he pulled his cloak up and wrapped it around the two to preserve some heat, keeping only the slits of his helmet uncovered. Soon Mina had her head resting against her sister’s shoulder, over Drac’s helmet, snoring like a drissler. Drac held up a hand against her side to prevent her from falling, but otherwise seemed unaffected by the new position.

With Mina asleep the conversations died down, occasionally Rina or the boy, Zach, would want to know about Yikensworth and it would fall upon Brair to answer. They continued on like this in the cold night, until the outer walls of the city were within sight. It wasn’t until they were 80 meters away that Drac noticed something amiss with their reception or rather, the lack of it.

“Is everything alright?” Rina asked worriedly as Drac unloaded her and Mina.

“The guards aren’t at their posts,” Brair said. “We’re just going to check out why; you guys hide behind that tree over there.”

The trio ran to where she pointed and climbed into the dense greenery atop the wood, disappearing into it.

“Huh, well at least they’re smart about it.” Brair dismissed her observations and adopted a stone face as she took a sword in each hand and walked beside Drac to investigate. They slowly made their way towards the gates, their worry increasing with every step closer. The absence of any guards at the gate had the readhead on high-alert, for no exit or entry in Yikensworth was ever left unguarded.

They approached the iron bars and looked for anyone around with some explanation. The night was getting colder and the winds picked up to such speed that it could be heard whistling past them, Brair tried shouting but her voice fell under the roars of the wind that suddenly picked up.

“Something isn’t right.” Drac stated. He reached back and took out his two swords, assuming a stance. Ignoring Brair’s efforts to stop him he swung down at the iron bars causing the weaker metal to break under the others strength. Drac entered through the triangular passage he’d opened and immediately experienced the serene quite once again.

“A barrier is being set up here,” he commented.

“Ugh, fine. I’ll get the kids,” Brair said as she ran back. Meanwhile, Drac made quick work of examining the guardhouse near the gate for any clue. There was none. He waited the others to return before setting out deeper in.

“You three get in the middle.” Brair whispered. “Drac’ll lead the way.”

“Is everything alright?” Rina asked.

“I’ll tell you when I think so,” Brair answered, causing the children to exchange worried looks amongst themselves.

“Let’s move,” Drac ordered.

They made their way deeper into the city, their footsteps echoed in the eerie silence haunting the streets. The deeper they went into the city the whiter the fog became till it became an effort to see more than a few yards out. Similarly the screams were quite at first, but with each step they got louder until they suddenly dropped to a low grumble.

“Trouble,” Drac said.

“That sounded like the; ‘I’m-dying’ screams,” Brair said.

“Should we help them?” Mina asked from behind her sister’s long skirt.

“Keep close,” Brar answered. They began slowly jogging towards the screams, careful to keep the children between them. A few twists and turns round the corner shops landed them at the Town square. A large crowd had gathered around the gate of the council building and was banging ceaselessly at its large doors.

From far away it looked like a group people trying to get inside, a riot from the common folk most likely. The dead bodies of both guards and commoners littered the tiled ground near the fountain of Saint Mina, the water pollution with human filth and blood went to show the casualties on both sides.

“Seems like a revolt by the civilians, explains the quite atmosphere and the dead bodies.” Brair commented.

“This doesn’t concern us.” Drac said, but didn’t turn away yet.

“Does this happen regularly in the city,” Zach asked worriedly.

“Not really, to be honest this is the first time I’ve seen a revolt in this city. Most of the time the poor guys die a brutal death, but this time it seems they were successful.”

“I was wrong. This does concern us; those are undead.” Drac nodded in their direction.

Shivers were sent down the youngling’s backs as they looked at Brair for confirmation. She waited to rebuttle him but upon greater observation she too noticed the unnatural way those with broken arms and missing legs kept pushing forth, as if in a trance. They had slow movements and their flesh looked like the color of the murky canals that carried piss and shit into the river Vardal, a dark grey.

“Stay close,” Brair said as she took out her other sword. Much to her satisfaction the children didn’t act helpless despite her expectations; they quickly grabbed anything they could find to use as a weapon and stood their ground. Rina and Zach took a sword from the dead guards while Mina found a large rock to carry. Although brave this did not change the fact that it was their first time at combat with monsters, because when Brair looked down she could see their figeting feet, none too eager to engage.

“Ready?” Drac asked.

“Yeah,” Brair stole one last look at the kids and prayed for their safety.

“Follow my movements.”

The two mercenaries moved in unison as they approached the crowd at the gates. When they got near Drac slid to stop and bent low to a bow, raising his fists in anticipation. At the same time Brair jumped and used his wide back as a launching pad to land in the middle of the crowd. She swung one sword with her strongest arm and chopped off the head of the undead in a single strike. The strike proved deadly as the backlash of the force made her unstable and she almost fell.

Thankfully, another undead was kind enough to donate its shoulder for support. The sword lodge itself into the bone as she descended, stabilizing her. Brair twisted her body, leaving her sword on the monsters neck and unsheated her short sword. Adopting a two handed stance she began hacking and cutting the necks of the stunned slow-pokes. Meanwhile, Drac had begun his genocide on the outskirts; with each scene of fist-meet-bone the metallic balls crushed.

The two continued on in a similar fashion until it became too overwhelming for Brair to be in the pool of monsters she’d chosen. The circle she had previously created was becoming smaller and smaller till such a time came when could no longer swing her arms without leaving herself open. She had accumulated a great number of small cuts and bruises all over her arms and was starting to run out of steam. Drac soon noticed her struggles and after giving the final punch to a poor corpse’s face he made his way to her.

Since he was protected with a full armor he was allowed more freedom in his assaults, he took a step back and used an approaching undead as a lauch pad to enter the closing circle around Brair. He slamed on top of an unfortunate corpse and broke its back on impact. He used the momentum to fall upon two approaching foes, giving each a punch as a parting gift as he rocked backwards. He spun mid-fall and proceeded to do the same to the other two undead.

To his left he could see vaguely see Brair confronting three of the dead, seemingly unaware of two more approaching from her back. They were already only a few inches away from her when he made his move. He tried to tackle the oncoming enemies but accidently slipped and fell atop the monsters. Without much time to think he quickly set to choking their necks.

“AAAHHH!” He shouted as he squished their necks, the goop shot out between his fingers and dripped down to pool on the floor, adding to the growing pool at their feet. He gripped the bones connecting to the skulls and pulled with all his might, snaping a part of the spinal cord out of their bodies. The spine twisted and spasmed before it fell into the dark blue mush accumulating around his feet.

Drac jumped up to his feet, headbutting a jawbone in the process. He spun around and gave a backhand to the nearest undead, twisting its head before punching it off its neck. Drac unleashed another barrage of punches creating some breathing room for Brair and himself. However, since Drac pushed into the center he had subsequently left the children unprotected from the monster on the outside. The undead on the outskirts of the group had split away and directed their attention to the other source of life they craved. Some other undead from the surrounding had also joined in and were all making their way towards the children.

The undead were almost upon them when Mina began screaming for help, finally catching the mercenaries’ attention. While Rina took her sister to run away, Zach held one of them off by swinging his sword at its head, lodging it inside. He tried to dislodge it, but didn’t have the strength and only incensed the corpse to move with greater fervor. It kept pushing against the young boy, stretching its arms out to get a feel for its food but Zach held it back with the sword still stuck inside its head. While he kept off the undead the other corpses pincered onto his position forcing him to turn back and run after the girls, letting the corpses to stumble after.

“Go after them,” Drac told Brair as he punched over her head and pushed back a few of the undead. He offered his hands as a step to launch Brair out of the small circle. The crowd had been thinned out since the start so they had quite a bit of breathing space that allowed them to excecute such large movements. She whacked and hacked at the undead as she made her way towards the three near a corner shop at one of the routes leading to the council building. Zach had been trying to jump onto the slippery rooftop but his weight kept him from succeeding.

“Here,” she said as she dislodged her sword from the last undead. She pushed Zach up while the girls pulled from the roof. Eventually, they were able to force him up before any other undead made it in their vicinity.

“Stay up there while I take care of these guys,” Brair said as she, once again, began hacking the undead to chopped liver while making her way towards Drac. Drac had taken care of rest at the door so only a few remained and those few were already making their way towards the smaller prey. It only took a few more seconds to the finish them off.

When the threat was eliminated, rotting on the floor for good, Brair called the kids down and joined Drac at the gates of the large building. He stood in a small pool of blood and mushed bodies, too busy picking off the grime and guts off his gauntlet and gloves to notice her chuckle and sideways comment to the kids. He shook his hands to take out the rest of the blood however it only stained his armor once again. Giving up on the cleaning he made his way towards the doors and knocked roughly, denting the wood slightly.

“It’s safe out here,” Brair yelled as she came up beside Drac. They waited for a while but aside from distant mumbling from inside no one responded. By this time the kids too had joined them and nervously waited for someone to speak up. As they waited Drac noticed Zach gathering his courage, so he stepped away and waited for the boy to speak.

“I thought all the city folks were brave and strong.” Zach stepped forward and shouted. His misplaced mockery-filled tone earned him a few shocked glances and a glare from the group. “I guess that even village kids have more between their legs than you guys.” He continued.

“Where did you learn how to speak like that?” Brair chuckled. They shared a laugh before Rina punched Zach in the arm.

“Zach! Don’t be rude,” She quietly scolded as she covered her sister’s ears who found amusement from the whole situation.

“Sorry,” He hissed in pain as he rubbed his arms. Reverting his attention to the door once more he yelled; “Oi, you helpless wrinkled old hags! Open the door or else we’ll leave you alone. Oh, and there are a lot dead around here so deal with ‘em yourself.”

Before Rina could hit him again, the doors to the building suddenly opened with a deafening creak. What greeted them was indeed a wrinkled old hag, but by no means did she look helpless. She was slightly taller than Zach and had armed herself with a wrathful expression, coupled with a sword at her hip. She scowled; showing off wrinkles reaching up to her crooked nose and moving the warts swarming her face. As she approached them wearing dirty of maid’s clothing, she looked similar to the witches from the children’s fables.

“Who’s out here slanderin’ old hags?” She challenged. Zach gulped slightly catching her attention. She covered the distance in two steps, completely ignoring the others. “Ev’n city kids ‘ave more manners th’n that.”

“I-I would never mean to slander you…ma’am,” Zach said leaning away to clean his spit off his face. “Actually, you don’t even look that old.”

“Hahaha”, Mina laughed. Her bright expression and cheerful attitude diffused the situation and allowed for some breathing space.

“Hey old lady,” Brair said stepping forward. “Excuse the kid would ya’, he’s been through a lot over the few days.”

“That ain’t no reason t’ be losing yer manners an’ dignity,” the old lady scolded. “Slanderin’ wrinkled old hags is sm’th’n I take ta heart.”

“Sorry ma’am,” Zach painfully said as Rina elbowed him.

“Tha’s bette’,” She smiled, before turning her attention to Drac. “Thank’s for takin’ care o’ this, but I don’t ‘ave anythin’ to pay you back with.”

“That’s alright, ma’am,” Drac nodded in understanding.

“Actually old lady, we were wondering if you could tell us what happened here?” Brair asked.

“A’ight…but come inside first. It’s safer behind walls.”

The old lady led the way into a large hallway. The walls and ground were marbled dressed with a long carpet in the middle and many torn banners to match the bloody scene before them. The stench was what hit them first; the stale air held moisture, preserving the smell of decaying bodies like good incense in a bottle. Blood was smeared over the walls and trailed off merging in with the carpet. Bodies of soldiers and commoners were sweeped to the side to allow for a clear pathway. The old lady led them deep into the building, across multiple rooms before finally stopping at the base of a large stairwell.

“It’s safe,” The old lady announced, “they’re not gonna hurt us.”

Nothing happened. The awkward seconds passed excrutiatingly slow. The children exchanged confused glances as they waited and after a few minutes some people started to come out of the rooms they had passed and joined them in the hall. Exhausted and dirty, they warily approached the mercenaries in their group, stopping a few feet away. Drac noted that they all had some sort of weapon in hand and blood stains on their belly.

“Is it true?” the man in the front asked. “Did you really kill them?”

“Now how would they’ve gotten in if they di’n’t, eh Marley?” The old women huffed as she placed her hands on her hips.

“Yeah, we took care of them,” Brair said “so it’s safe now.”

“Thank you,” he said as relief washed over him. “Thank you so much.”

A wave of relief washed over the group of commoners as they thanked the strangers for their help. Some even fell to their knees and hugged one another, opening the flood gates as they delved in their sorrows. Brair frowned in conern before she directed her attention to the smiling elder.

“What did happen here?” Briar asked the old woman. The mixture of emotions suddenly disappeared from the group as they stood with expressions turned solemn and sober.

“We don’t know how they came in,” The old woman said sadly. “But they did…‘n they killed everything. Ev’n those kids culdn’t ‘andle ‘em.”

“Most of them only knew how to throw their weight around, they couldn’t protect themselves let alone our families,” Marley said angrily. This set off a chain of rude comments and dialogues of personal experiences amongst the group showing once again how the guards in the city were despised.

“Hey!” the old woman waited until she had once again their attention, “they pu’ up the most fight after they turned, my son’s one of ‘em I’ll ya know…it’s all that baldy’s desciple’s fault fer training em like tha’.”

“You mean Strompf?” some people gasped with astonishment.

“Yeah, that sadistic manchild trained ’em. They ‘ere strong ‘n smart, despite being ignorant and disrespectful and so dastardly rude…they were strong young kids who protected us till their death.” The old woman sighed and continued more quietly. “The monsters came at night and swarmed the city, everyone they bit and killed either died on spot or turned like ‘em.”

Having said her piece she retreated to her silence as she waited for the others to finish theirs’. However there was no backlash from the crowd as she expected. A sense of heaviness had descended upon the group, evident by all the sorrow filled eyes. It was clear they all had lost someone important in this crisis despite them being the guards or not. Drac kept his eyes on the old woman until she noticed his helm pointing her way.

“Sorry for your loss,” Drac said with a bow of his head.

“You know what losing a child does to ya? That bastard was always an annoyin’ prick, but I still love him, ‘cause he was family.” the woman asked.

“I do, my daughter...and you’re wrong; even in family you can hate someone. They’re just blood and bones without the bond.”

“Fucker,” She scowled, rubbing her eyes.

“There must have been some sort of resistance,” Brair shouted, “I know that the mercenaries weren’t weak enough to be defeated so easily. We just have to find them and think about it from there.”

For a moment no one did anything but then one by one they came out of their melancholic state and looked to her for leadership, voicing them agreements with passion. Noticing that all eyes were one her Brair smiled reassuringly.

“We just have to find where they are and once our forces are greater we can push those dead back to their graves,” Brair smiled, forming a fist with her arm. “This sort of thing won’t go unnoticed, so they are bound to send some help sooner or later; we just have to hold out till then. Are you with me?”

The small chorus of cheer reverberated and the people began their praises once more. Brair brought them closer and build trust amongst them as fast as she could, finding their strengths and giving them positions to hold up in their formation.

“Alright, Alright,” Brair tried calming down the few people cheering for her. “Before we set out to do this we need to arm ourselves so that when we do get out we can protect ourselves if we get attacked.”

“But-”

“Me and Drac can’t protect you all while we are moving. You will have to fend them off for some time until one of us takes care of it. Now go and find yourselves something to use as a shield,” Briar announced. The common-folk ran into different rooms of the building to look for such objects.

“Maybe even get a weapon. You don’t have to be good at fighting, that’s just to keep yourself alive for as long as you can,” Brair called over.

“What do we do?” Zach asked with wide eyes.

“Arm yourself boy, only way ya getting out alive,” The old woman said.

“Wait,” Brair held up her hand. Looking at the girls she continued; “Take them with you.”

As they all went their way, leaving them alone Drac spoke.

“You handled it well.”

“What?”

“Buillding trust in their moment of weakness so as to use them later as resources to keep yourself alive,” He praised. “You are good mercenary to have a ruthless thought process like that, it keeps you alive.”

“Oh God,” Brair scoffed. “The only ruthless person here is you Drac. I don’t have to be a good mercenary to have thoughts like that. I did that to protect them and learn how they’ll best help eachother, they’re commoners like us, we should atleast look after those with children and families, you know.”

“Even if they might all be dead?” Drac asked.

“Especially, what if they lose hope and end up causing the whole group to die?”

“Still sounds like a good way to use them, giving them hope to allow yourself to live,” Drac nodded.

“You-” Brair snapped.

“Aye now, we need ya ta work together ‘ere. In case ya haven’t noticed we’re the ones using ya as our permit through those death grounds out the’e.” The old woman interrupted.

Brair glared at Drac who nodded. “Fair enough.”

“Fine” she hissed. After a moment to calm herself she noticed the woman still standing with them, she asked with concern; “Shouldn’t you get yourself a shield?”

“Young girl, I barely ‘ave strength ta hold up this sword.” She demonstrated by taking out her sword and gave a thrust followed by a swing upwards. To a lesser person it would have seemed fine, but not to those who regularly fought with their life on the line. The way she placed too much weight on her opposite foot and how she arched her back to compensate for the swords weight, faking it as a step back before swinging forth and using the sword’s weight to carry it in the swing showed the truth to the two.

“I can fool most of ‘em but it ain’t very good,” She examined the sword after finishing her demonstration. “My son taught me this before he left ta join the guards, hehe, I know it ain’t good t’ be hopeful in these times but what a mother be without her child. Am I ‘ight?”

“You’ll see him soon,” Drac said.

“That a promise?” She asked, sheathing her sword.

“Fact,” Drac sighed.

*Bonk*“That’s because we will surely find him, right?” Brair challenged Drac after punching his shoulder which the latter ignored.

“I want to help,” Drac ignored Brair’s insistence and focused his attention on the old woman. “I think I’ll be able to find where the others are if I get high enough can you take me there.”

“Sure, this the tallest place a’ound here,” the old woman motioned for him to follow. She began making her way upstairs but Drac stopped and addressed the person following him.

“Stay here, the people need you.” Brair frowned at him. “Like you said, you want them to live out of the goodness of your heart. With you gone they won’t be ready for when its time to move, you’ll endanger those commoners you seem to care so much about.”

“Damn, you’re some cold-hearted bastard,” Brair said crossing her arms. “Be more careful of what you say, that wasn’t something someone wants to hear at times like this. She could become a hindrance during battle.”

“She did…and she already is,” Drac departed to catch up, leaving an annoyed Brair behind to decipher his codes. The old lady led the way up the stairs, cutting corners to more stairs until she stopped to catch her breath. Drac helped her up the last flew flights of stairs until they were in the attic of the building. Everything, from old parchments to small trinkets in chests, was thrown all around.

“Up ‘ere,” She pointed to a trap door at a corner. “You gonna have ta push me up kid.”

Drac pushed the old lady up door after opening it. Once she was up there, he jumped out after her and looked at the roof. It had similar structure to the Italian styled roofs; the curved tiles making it harder to find a stable footing so Drac took the old woman and had her lean against the small bell tower for support. The mist at the top of the building was slowly dissipating being carried away by the winds as the drac made his way towards a bell tower.

“Take care” Drac told the lady as he climbed up the tower. His large fingers somehow found places to hold on the tower as he climbed up till he reached the top of the tower and hung from the top iron pole observing what lay in view. The old lady watched as he opened up his visor and peered across the stacked buildings around them, it was too dark so she couldn’t see his face but she could’ve sworn a flash of red emitted from the shadow over his face.

Drac assumed the position of a lookout, hanging by one hand like someone on a pirate’s ship, as he gazed upon the dead city; the broken buildings, the plazas littered with corpses and swarms of the dead just wadering aimlessly. Some of them were forming a group around the statue of a saint in the middle of the plaza on the other side of the council building. From the large number of them walking around it was easier to see they they had been lucky to approach from the side they did. They, for some reason, were making a large circle around fountain, stumbling atop one another to reach the blood smeared statuette, failing each time as they fell into the grimy fluid that had once been water.

“Is that a joke?” Drac whispered to himself as he saw the dead snapping their arms and legs off to make an addition to the stone art. After they were done the statue had a new pair of wings supported by broken skulls atop the woman’s shoulders. The wings weren’t the normal bird type; they were more shaped like weird cubes that extending into two long tendrils making a waving motion, courtesy of the hands snapped into such directions. The elbows made a triangle and each end rested upon the skulls on her shoulder. Drac began to rub his fingers as he watched the wind wave the hands to the west, before the structure collapsed and littered the water beneath.

“Is that where you are?” he whispered once again. Refocusing his attention on the crumbling city he began looking for any signs of life.

“There,” Drac announced as he jumped down.