Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

I looked around the battlefield but I did not see anyone who was still alive. My undead had been thorough with enemies who were down. I looked at the first undead I had summoned in the battle, the driver.

“You know, I think the driver attacked my draugr. It looked like he tried to stab my undead and was killed in retaliation.” I said.

“Are you sure?” Helena asked. “It could have been the ambushers who threw a knife.”

“But we are in a warehouse. The driver must have been in on it.” Cassie pointed out. “He drove us into this ambush.”

“Good point.” Helena admitted.

“Was it the same driver who brought us to the ball?” Skadi asked.

“I don’t know.” I admitted. “I did not pay enough attention…”

We failed to find a survivor so we all stared at the driver, who was now a zombie. He had the sword wound from the draugr, and additional cuts on his face from the battle.

“Can you question him, somehow?” Cassie wondered.

“No. He would need to be tier three. They are all tier two. They only have some instincts left, but no actual memories.” I answered.

“So either someone bribed the driver, or replaced him.” Helena concluded.

“Looks that way.” I agreed.

“That ambush was kind of weak. Did they really think they could defeat us?” Skadi wondered.

“You are right. Also, they wanted to capture us. That is new.” Cassie said.

“Can you raise a defeated undead again?” Helena asked. “Or simply stop animating them and reuse the corpse?”

“Hm.” One of my zombies had fallen in the fight. I tried raising the corpse again. “Does not seem to work. I will have to ask Gronir about this. Also, I can’t do tier three undead yet. There is no way I could reraise the driver and ask him things.”

Currently I had 11 zombies from the fight. There were 12 more corpses but only 10 were usable. My initial guess of twenty attackers was pretty close.

“How did they even know we were at the ball?” Skadi asked. “It was a secret.”

“Um. I told my mom. I just withheld how I was invited. But she would never sell me out like that!” Cassie said.

“Could she have told others?” Skadi asked.

“Maybe.” Cassie admitted.

“What are we going to do next?” Helena asked.

“I could raise the remaining corpses. They would be zombies. I kind of like skeletons more but I doubt I could quickly remove all the flesh.” I said.

“It’s still possible that this trap is not over. Maybe there are more outside. We don’t even know where exactly we are.” Skadi said.

“You are right. Army of zombies it is. Also, I should heal the draugr.”

Nyx was still in her largest form. She kept watch as I got to work. Meanwhile, my friends searched the corpses for anything useful.

“You know, it’s interesting that the horses did not run away. They must have been trained for battle.” Skadi mentioned.

I interrupted my necromancy to look at them. They were surprisingly calm surrounded by undead.

“The princess knew about Nyx and Frank. She likely picked horses who are comfortable around undead.” Cassie theorised.

“So he is Frank now?” Skadi asked.

“Nobody came up with a better name.” Cassie shrugged.

“Do undead spook normal horses?” Helena asked.

“Probably.” Cassie said. “I assume your family has horses trained for battle. Have you ever ridden a normal horse?”

“Hm…” Helena pondered that.

While my friends chatted I finished my zombie army. “I am ready. Did you find anything?” I asked.

“We found some gold. That is all.” Skadi said.

“Ok. We need to make a plan to get home. The doors have been open the whole time but we did not see anyone. We haven’t gone outside because there could be another ambush. How do we handle that? Send the zombies out first?” Helena asked.

“Nyx is the only smart undead I have. How about I send a few zombies, if nothing happens Nyx checks. She can signal us if we are good.” I proposed.

“Can she do that?” Cassie asked.

“Meow.”

“She does seem to understand us pretty well.” Helena observed.

“I am not sure if she can understand words so easily or if it is because of our connection. It could be that she just understands what I feel through the bond.” I said.

“Assuming everything is clear, do we just walk down the street?” Skadi asked.

“We could use the carriage. I think the driver might have enough instincts to drive.” I proposed.

“But he would not remember the layout of the city, right?” Helena asked.

That is true.” I confirmed. “We would have to give him directions at every crossing.”

“We need to go slow anyway, if we bring the zombies.” Skadi said.

“You still control the dancing skeletons, right?” Cassie asked.

“Yes, why?”

“What if you released them? It would send a message, in a way. Wait! Can you make them talk?” Cassie asked.

“No. My normal skeletons can’t talk. And they are too far away for orders, I am afraid. While they keep the commands they have, even if they are farther away, giving new ones is not so simple. I think there is a spell for it but I don’t know it. I can release them though.”

“Hard to say how the princess would react if the skeletons suddenly crumble.” Helena said.

“Or, how others would react. Maybe whoever betrayed us is close to them.” Cassie pointed out.

“Drop the dancers.” Skadi suggested. “We still don’t know if this is over. Getting some attention is likely good for us.”

“You are right.” I agreed. “I can only sever the connection if I am conscious. Better to do it now.”

I severed the connection. Then I ordered 10 zombies to go outside. We waited but nothing happened. Nyx followed them. After a few minutes she returned, unharmed.

“Looks good.” I said. “Let’s go.”