Corvus stalked irritably though the small township that had sprung up around Boghole. The rebellion had taken it over after the Fae Chanar purge had killed the bandit lords and for a long time early on in the rebellion it was their main source of supplies because a certain amount of banditry and loss was expected in the region.

He’d also hunted for and raised every single last bandit skeleton he’d been able to find, he knew the undead were how this Rebellion would be won but things weren’t desperate enough yet for his living troops to overlook their recently dead grandpa or sister or mother or brother standing up to walk alongside them. In the meantime and to get them used to idea of dead troops being around he’d use the bandits, anyone who would mourn them had already been dead beside them.

He’d also prepared for when the rebels were ready for that step, the disused copper mine above Olive Grove was packed with every corpse left by the purges that he’d been able to find. All frozen and preserved until needed.

Stopping outside a rough hewn cabin with shuttered windows he rapped on the wall and heard from inside, “Come in, but it better be good. You’re interrupting my dinner.”

Corvus said, “Good? Not really. I just found out that a complete moron at Happy Pig has just outed the Rebellion, we are now actively at war with Valard’s guards.”

Gader said, “Hrmm, Unmentioned take it. That’s bad.”

Corvus shrugged and said, “Sooner than we wanted but it was always going to happen, do you think we can take a reinforced caravan?”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a weapon convoy coming through late tomorrow afternoon unless Valard changed it which I doubt. We need the arms but it will be very well guarded. Can our troops take a full reinforced caravan?”

Gader thought about it for a moment, “They… should be able too. We’re better supplied, they’re well enough trained and we know the guardsman's training better than they do. No, on second thoughts I’m confident our guys can take them. We’ll take some losses but we’ll win.”

“Good. Lets take the fight to them then. That ambush spot on the road between Two Pines and Quarry, we can block both ends of the ravine. Prisoners will not be taken.”

Gader nodded, “We can’t afford them in manpower to guard them or in food, you’ll be raising them?”

“Yes, the more disposable fodder we have the fewer of our people we lose. Three squads?”

Gader thought a moment then said, “Best make it five. One in reserve, one for each end of the ravine and two to rain death on them. Put the squad in reserve on the other end of the ravine from you, your end'll be fine but the other may need the reinforcement.”

Corvus smiled, “That is why I'm so very glad I found you.”

Gader raised an eyebrow, “Who found who, exactly?”

“Well ok, ok, I'm so glad you started chewing me out when you saw just how badly I was mismanaging the few people I had then. Without you this would be much harder.”

Pulling himself up on his handrails he said, “And don't you forget it. Hrrmph, get Deimos in here and I'll get them ready to go.”

Corvus nodded and wandered off to find Deimos, another lucky find.

Not many Fae ever awoke to the powers of a Druid, too self-centred to put nature and the needs of others first. He had eased Gader’s discomfort considerably and his nature spirits provided the irascible old man with a certain level of autonomy by acting as his legs.

Some time later Corvus looked down upon the road running beside the small swift flowing stream that ran through the deeply carved valley. By the schedule the convoy of five wagons should be here soon, his men were spread out up and down the sides of the valley and a full squad was hidden outside it ready to spring the trap. Corvus’ squad was standing openly about three quarters of the way along, playing bait.

All caravans had scouts but the squad’s low numbers should mean the caravan would attack rather than detour and all the other ambushers around the valley had some form of stealth magic.

They waited and they waited and then they waited some more.

The caravan was running ridiculously late. When Corvus had been Seneschal keeping the lazy bastards who worked as teamsters to some semblance of a schedule was a hopeless task. Looked like nothing had changed. When night fell he had all of his people stand down, certain they’d be spending an uncomfortable and hungry night in the brush. They were here and they were committed, there was no turning back now they would just have to wait for the convoy to come in the morning.

Instead after only a short while he was shocked to see the convoy entering the valley with floating magelights providing illumination, he could only shake his head. Did they really need to make this so easy? There had been a reason he’d never allowed them to do this when he was in charge and that reason was exactly what he and his troops were doing. The guards wouldn’t even be able to fight back with their eyes adjusted to the magelights, they wouldn’t be able to see. Whoever this new Seneschal Valard had was he was either an idiot or maybe he was a weakling, the teamsters had butted heads with Corvus often enough over this exact issue.

It looked like they also weren’t even making a basic attempt to scout. He was disgusted, things had slipped and horribly since he’d left the Tower.

It made his life easier, but this level of incompetence? Utterly pathetic.

When they were close enough he ignited his sword in golden brilliance and screaming a battle cry rushed the caravan. He was alone for long long moments because the men he’d told to stand down were understandably confused. He was relying on their training, they’d been trained that they were to join any attack by a designated leader. Corvus heaved a sigh of relief when scattered shots and spells from the surrounding valley started flying toward the caravan and that some of his squad had hurriedly pulled weapons and started their own charges. Outnumbered, attacked from all sides and mostly blind when someone dispelled the mageslights the guards fell without a loss on his side.

None surrendered, Fae knew the fate of prisoners in their conflicts.

As he listened to the cries of celebration he knew not all battles would be this easy going forward but this one battle would form the strong base of the whole rebellion in this land, giving his troops hope and showing them the guards were but Fae themselves.

Once they’d got the wagons back to the camp Corvus went and talked to Gader.

As he walked Gader had a wide grin on his scarred face, “You did well… for a greenie. But standing the troops down was a mistake. Always be prepared for the unexpected, should have kept at least half ready to go. You’ll learn though.”

“What! How do you know?”

Gader patted what looked like a falcon made of twigs and leaves and said, “Deimos came up with it, lets me see everything like I was there.”

“OK then. Think we’re ready to take the fight to Valard’s guards?”

He could see Gader think about it then he said, “Yeah, as long as you’re there. These troops have picked things up well but they’ve got half a season’s worth of training behind them and some of those guards have been around since before my time.”

Corvus quirked a grin, “Good. I’ve got a list of targets for us to hit.”

*******

Corvus pulled his helm off and wiped the sweat from his brow a few tendays later as his troops finished off the last of the holdouts in their latest attack. The battlefield went quiet as the last few screams faded away and only the raucous cries of the crows who circled above broke the stillness. They wouldn’t have much luck, only scraps would be left after Corvus was finished raising the fallen.

Kneeling Corvus began weaving the construct which would animate his final opponent. A Fae he’d recognised named Paronn very skilled with a sword, who had killed his way through a lot of his troops before giving Corvus a decent fight. Corvus was taking care in raising him because some of that skill would remain if he used a more precise version of the standard bindings, but that also meant he had to put a lot more effort in.

As the corpse stood and picked up it’s sword Corvus noticed the badge pinned to the sash across it’s chest.

He had been Valard’s latest Seneschal?

Paronn had been Vargaian’s second in command, he was a good swordsman and a fair mage but Seneschal? Really, this is what Valard was relying on to run his lands? And he was out here leading guard patrols?

Corvus smiled nastily, clearly Valard was running out of competent leadership or didn’t know what made a competent leader. He could make use of that. Targeting and killing them could only help the rebellion.

*******

Valard snarled at his latest Seneschal, the fourth to hold the position since Corvus, “Why are a disorganised bunch of untrained farmers beating my supposedly highly trained and experienced guards? Tell me that and make it good.”

“They are not untrained Master, their skills are decent, their tactics so-”

Valard roared, “Excuses! Find the rebels hiding among my Fae and crush them utterly.”

“That may be impossible Master.” He gulped and continued, “It seems there are no hiding rebels. It is your Fae, all of them, who are the rebels. This is not a just a few untrained, disgruntled Fae taking potshots at your guards from the bushes. This is a well trained and well disciplined army meeting your guards in open battle and beating them. We… we… need help Master, we can’t beat them.”

“No! I will not have my brethren see me in weakness again…” he shook his head, “Bah. I wasn’t going to use him but now it seems I must. Have the guard assemble in the courtyard, they must meet their new commander.”

The Seneschal bowed and said, “Your will Master.”

A short while later Valard walked into the courtyard outside the guards barracks followed by a very large, oddly lumpy and heavily cloaked figure. The forty odd surviving members of his guard waited in formation patiently behind the Seneschal, their well cared for weapons and armour gleaming in the early summer sun.

But, there was a pinched and almost cowering fear to every face in the formation. They were beaten men and they knew it.

Valard looked down on them from the dais and said, “I see useless, beaten men, led by a useless, beaten commander. You, supposedly skilled warriors, beaten by barely trained farmers with clubs, pitchforks and wood axes. That stops now.”

Gesturing at the cloaked and hooded figure who stood silently behind him he continued, “This is your new commander, he will see to it these rebels you are having so much trouble with are slaughtered to the last.”

Turning his back on them them he said, “They are yours. Do what you have been instructed to. Then kill the rebels.”

The figure stepped forward and threw back both cloak and hood, revealing a creature from nightmares. The monstrous goblin Evesian was the basis of the creature but his hulking grey shoulders were now shared by Lynoba’s stitched on head. A second slimmer pair of arms now hung from the massive slabs of muscle that sheathed their torso under the first pair.

The guards recoiled in terror but none ran, they were too well trained for that.

Both sets of milky white eyes turned to look over the guards, the Goblin head with cunning and hungry eyes, the Fae Chanar head with cold calculation. Then in unison both heads smiled chillingly. An icy corona formed around the Fae Chanar head and small shards of stone tore themselves from the ground, circling around the abomination’s head they gained a glittering coating of iron hard ice.

Only a few of the guards managed to throw up their shield when with a whipcrack of sound the shards tore into the formation. Uselessly. The shards tore thorough the shielded just as easily the unshielded.

As the abomination stood entirely still looking down on the field of corpses for a full quarter of a day as the blood congealed and a tingling static like feeling of building power filled the courtyard. It’s strength building until even the insects attracted by the scent of fresh corpses and blood fled before it.

Small sparks of loose magic started flickering among the fallen guards just before the first of them stirred, raising his head with burning blue-white fire where his eyes had been. As if the first was a signal soon they all twitched and moved, opening their own eyes of flame.

With the sound of creaking leather, rustling cloth and clinking metal the guardsmen stood, reforming themselves into neat lines and turning their burning flame filled eyes to the monstrosity.

After a moment of unspoken communication the guardsmen turned as one and marched from the yard with their monstrous leader following them.

*******

The greenery Falcon’s twigs and leaves stirred under his hand rustling as it looked toward the door of the house he’d taken for his own, the door opened and shut quickly before he’d managed to turn himself enough to see who it was. Grabbing the handles above his fur softened bench he turned himself over and saw Corvus looking at him. But not with pity or even sympathy, it was simply him waiting for the news he’d come to hear.

“Ho Corvus, it’s bad news I’m afraid. We haven’t had any reports from the scouts we’ve sent anywhere near the Tower in almost a tenday and none have returned. We also haven’t heard anything from Happy Pig, Goldenfield, Umber Bog or Lone Pine in the same length of time, I don’t have to point them out on a map to show they’re the closest to the Tower do I? I think something has come out of the Tower.”

Corvus scratched at the side of his head and said, “I expected it sooner or later. Either Valard himself had come out of the Tower, which is bad or he’s created some new abomination. Probably much much worse. I’ll have to go and take a look myself.”

“We need to know but I’m not sure the rebellion would survive your capture. Are you sure you should go?”

Corvus shrugged and said, “Who else can we send? The next most proficient teleporter has to wait too long between ports, I can get in and get out fast and safely.”

“I don’t disagree or I’d be arguing a lot more but, be careful.”

“I always am, how do you think I survived this long?”

Grunting Gader said, “From what I’ve seen, pure damn luck.”

Corvus smiled and said, “I’ll take it. Better to be lucky than good, but much better to be both.”

“If it is Valard on the move, can you take him?”

Looking thoughtful Corvus said, “Alone? Possibly. Supported, not a chance and we know he still has at least thirty or forty guardsmen plus whatever he’s managed to raise since. He won’t be alone. Where was the last scout we lost heading?”

“True and it's a damn shame. Ghost Pine Forest on the mine trail.”

Thinking Corvus said, “I can get a good view of that area from Halfpeak without exposing myself too much.”

With a muted crackle he was gone.