Chapter 128 - New Friends and Foes

  We rose early the next day and prepared to march on the Guard base. I didn’t know what we were going to find when we got there, or what sort of welcome we were going to receive, so I pretty much went all out on the pageantry of the moment.

  I’d assembled Sue, Hope, and about three hundred of my zombies. The remainder would be left behind to guard the Domain. It seemed that no matter how far away I was, I’d get a sense of people approaching the place, especially if there were large numbers of them. We’d be able to rush home if the farm was attacked, but it would take us time. The other couple hundred zombies and assorted other undead would keep everyone safe while we were away.

  I needed to figure out how the Domain senses worked, and quickly. It wasn’t like I sensed each sparrow as it flew past my borders, so it didn’t alert me to every possible incursion. But I had sensed the huge parade of ratkin approaching yesterday. Was it numbers? Intent? Some mix of factors? I needed to experiment and find out, but that would be for another day.

  Kara wasn’t thrilled about one aspect of my planned march, though.

  “I don’t get why you’re leaving me!” Kara complained.

  “Because I need someone I can trust to remain in charge while I’m gone. That’s you,” I told her. She opened her mouth to protest again, but I slipped in a quick carrot. “Besides, I’m leaving Alfred behind, too. Figure you two could use some time together.”

  “I—you—that’s dirty pool,” Kara groused. But she was smirking now, so I had no doubt they’d take advantage of the morning.

  We set out a short time later. Patches was with me, as a representative of his people. Farnsworth came along as well. He had no intention of staying at the Guard base, but he wanted to see it and make sure everyone he’d left behind was still all right.

  I rode Sue at the head of the formation, with only a handful of zombie scouts moving ahead of us. If something attacked them, I’d sense it, so they were good canaries in the proverbial coal mine.

  It took us a while to get where we were going. Travel just wasn’t as simple as it was in the old days, and zombies couldn’t move that fast. I could have made the trip in half the time on Sue, but showing up by myself wasn’t the point. If I did that, Turner would just see me the same as he had when I left. If I arrived instead with an army of hundreds of zombies at my back, I had a sense he’d take me more seriously.

  Not that I wanted to hurt the people of his base, mind. I had nothing against them at all. But I was done letting Turner try to boss me around, too.

  A flock of avians soared out of their tower as we approached the southern end of the runway. They glided overhead, watching us but not taking action. If we veered toward their home, I had a feeling they’d get aggressive quickly, but again, I had no intention of hurting them today, at least not if I could avoid it.

  I waved to one of them that flew nearer, and to my shock, he waved back! Maybe we were finally making some headway toward a more peaceful future with them.

  Our procession continued on, marching toward the main gate of the walled Guard complex. They’d obviously gotten word we were coming, because they were on full alert. Every guard tower was manned, and they had troops lining the walls as well. An extra complement of armored men and women stood atop the gates as well, ready for whatever was coming.

  I made a little face, seeing them all. I’d been friends with these people ever since I first found them, pretty much. It made me sad to see them taking such serious measures to defend themselves against me. Ironically, their defenses were basically rubbish. I’d defeated a force of a thousand zombies and a tier ten Forgotten King, plus his tier five minions, with less of a force than I had at my back today.

  If I wanted to wipe out the Guard base, just shatter their defenses and destroy their home, I could do it. No question about it.

  The thought made me sad. It wasn’t what I wanted. It wasn’t how I wanted the world to be. But If I didn’t show strength, I was confident Turner would see that as weakness, which I couldn’t afford either.

  When we reached a spot about a hundred meters from the gates, I ordered the rest of my undead to hold position while I rode Sue nearer by myself. The undead did what they were told. Farnsworth wasn’t so happy about it.

  “Not alone, Selena,” he said. “You need at least some backup.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “Which is why I’ll have Sue.”

  “Human backup.”

  I shook my head. “Be ready, in case they do start something. But I want to give them as much of the benefit of the doubt as I can today. We shook them up something fierce when we left last time. Now it’s our turn to hold out an olive branch. If they react with violence, well—we’ll burn that bridge if we have to. But I’d rather not.”

  He acquiesced, but I could tell he wasn’t happy about watching me ride forward. I stopped Sue at shouting distance from the gate. They had archers on the walls, each with an arrow already on their strings, but they weren’t being held at the ready. That was something.

  I spotted someone new among those on the wall. She was an older woman, forties or fifties, maybe. She had dark hair and brown skin, and looked like she’d been a lot more overweight before the Event happened. She’d lost some of that since, if the way her skin hung from her frame oddly was any indication. Her face had a stern look to it, her lips making a thin line on her face.

  “Hello the base!” I called out. “We’ve defeated the mall Domain and the creature that was leading it.”

  “And now you’re back here,” the woman called out. “What are your intentions, Ms. Serrano? The last time you visited, you brought a fair bit of chaos with you.”

  “The last time I visited, I brought truth with me,” I retorted. “If that brought chaos as well, that wasn’t my intention, but do you think living with lies was any better?”

  The hint of a smile warmed the woman’s face. “No. No, I do not. We owe you something of a debt for your constructive chaos, actually.”

  I blinked. What did that mean? “Where’s Turner? Shouldn’t I be speaking with him?”

  “Colonel Turner remains in command of our military,” the woman said. “I’m Delores Robertson, the newly elected leader of Runway City.”

  I blinked again. Oh, it seemed like there had been so many changes in just a few days. “Elected leader? I thought Turner was in charge?”

  “He was, but it was always with the idea that eventually he’d be replaced by an elected council,” Delores said. “Once you pointed out how he’d been using his powers, that was the spark we needed to push the council move through. We elected a council of leaders from the people, and the council elected me as our leader. In two years, we’ll have new elections, but that should give me time to get this place up and running. I hope, anyway.”

  That was awesome news! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “And Turner just agreed to all of this?”

  Delores nodded. “He didn’t have a lot of choice, after you made everyone aware of what he’d been up to. He was stripped of his Charisma stone, for misusing that power. But he’s been left in charge of the military forces. They’re simply under civilian guidance again, as they should be.”

  I couldn’t imaging Turner had taken all of this lying down. He’d lost his power, his control, and one of his strongest crystals as well? He had to be pissed. My gut said that wasn’t going to end well, down the road. They would have been better off removing him altogether. On the other hand, they were probably as sick of death as I was at that point, so I could understand not wanting to kill someone if they didn’t have to.

  Part of me wanted to ask her how she thought she could trust the man, after what he’d done. But I kept my mouth shut about it. Wasn’t really my business, and besides, she seemed bright enough to already know.

  “So as the council leader, I’ll ask you again: what are your intentions?” Delores asked.

  “Oh! Mostly just to tell you we’d won,” I said, smiling up at her. “We beat the bad guy. The mall is clear, the undead Domain is gone. I’ve put up a new Domain nearby it, and I’ll be staying there with the ratkin and the humans who wanted to join us. Ideally, I was hoping to normalize relationships with you folks again.”

  “With an army of zombies at your back?” Delores asked, arching an eyebrow.

  “Turner isn’t easily impressed. If I showed up solo, he wouldn’t take me seriously. With this?” I gestured over my shoulder at my army. “He can’t ignore that.”

  She laughed aloud at that, slapping her leg. “You’re right about that, you are. Very well. If you’d like to talk, I think we can arrange for a small delegation to enter our city. You’ll have to leave the bulk of your army outside, of course.”

  “That’s no problem,” I replied.

  “We have another two dozen people who wanted to join you, as well,” Delores said. “If you’ll have them, anyway. They wanted to leave sooner, but I convinced them to stay until we were certain which way the battle had gone. They’re welcome to go with you when you leave, of course.”

  “Thanks, that’s awesome! I—“ My words cut off in mid-thought as an epic wave of power washed over me.

  Everyone froze. No one spoke, and nobody moved. I’d never felt magic so strong, not even from Lyonius! Whatever this was, it was enormously powerful, way past anything I’d run into before.

  I glanced about, looking for the source. Whatever it was, it was coming closer, nearer by the second, but I couldn’t see anything. There was no threat visible, and as the sensation of raw, majestic power grew with each heartbeat, not being able to tell where it was coming from scared the living shit out of me!

  Then a mighty roar broke the silence. I looked up, for the source of the sound, and spotted it almost immediately.

  Huge wings.

  Long tail.

  A massive mouth, open in yet another roar.

  High overhead was what I could only describe as a red dragon the size of a small jet.

  It banked, turning lightly over the base, before turning on one wingtip and heading west, toward the shore. It lingered in our vision another minute or so before I finally lost sight of it.

  I looked back up at Delores. “I think we have a lot to talk about.”

  “I entirely agree,” she replied, looking shaken, but still firm.

  We’d finished off one threat, but the world was still full of wonder, magic, and monsters. I realized a truth in that moment that hadn’t sunk in until just then. There was always going to be something else coming at us. There would always be a new threat, a novel danger, some powerful foe ready to squash us all. That was just the way life was, now.

  We adapted or we died, and most of the people who couldn’t adapt were already dead. Those of us who were left were ready to fight for our survival, and I’d be there, leading the way, for as long as I still had breath.