by D. R. Rosier
He immediately drained it out of them, so it wouldn’t be lost, as they jumped and attacked the tank. The tank’s physical shields fell almost immediately, and one managed to stab their weapon into the engine compartment in the back.
Boom!
The exploding tank took out all his zombies, and several of the surrounding soldiers. He immediately sent in the rest of his army to cut down those thirteen hundred soldiers, except for twenty of them.
“Can you do that twice more? It worked.”
It’d be worth the thirty zombie deaths to take down those tanks, there’d be plenty of corpses to replace his losses and recover the magical long daggers when the fight was done.
Lori nodded, “Ten at a time, I’ll do these ten, then the next ten after the second tank goes down.”
She did her thing again, and he sent his protected zombies after the southern tank. Then the thousand zombies there already could rush in and kill the soldiers.
The sorcerers and priests on the ship were down to half their numbers, but he let out a curse when eight more sorcerers ran up onto deck. Just how many of the bastards were there?
Cassie sent, “Time for the last-ditch effort, we don’t have enough to wear down thirteen more sorcerers.”
A second later, Cassie and Kim appeared in a flash of magic.
“Last ditch effort?”
Cassie grinned, “Watch. There were thirty steel balls left, we used over half already.”
He frowned, as the red Ford F-150 started to fall out of the sky. Then the cab and the hoop exploded, spectacularly, ripping the steel truck into a lot of molten pieces, not to mention the thirty steel balls which were all glowing cherry red as well.
“Holy crap. You added a self-destruct enchantment?”
Cassie’s giggle was wicked, and a little bloodthirsty.
A few of the balls missed the ship altogether, either from the explosion spreading them out too far, or because the sorcerers on deck managed to redirect them, he wasn’t sure. But the flaming wreckage of the truck in several pieces, and twenty two of the thirty molten steel balls slammed into the deck.
Unfortunately, a few turrets were missed. However, the group of sorcerers and priests on deck were annihilated under the flames and momentum of the crashing steel balls.
“Umm, wow. You just took out thirteen sorcerers and five priests. There’re three turrets left.”
Cassie shrugged, “I suspect the first group were the rest of the tank crews, and the eight that ran out on deck were the engineering crew, the ones responsible for powering that monstrosity.”
He held up a finger, and he started his zombie army in on the southern group, which had just lost their tank and protections. He also had a ridiculous amount of life energy in the eastern group, so he shifted that over to his community guardians. They now had over a hundred years of stored life force, and he suspected it’d be close to two hundred by the time he took out the northern and southern groups.
“Ready for the last one, Lori.”
Lori did her thing, and he sent ten more of his zombies on a suicide mission.
“So, you think they’re out of sorcerers?”
She shrugged, “They have three resting below decks from the tank teams, and the three priests as well. I suspect if there’s any more sorcerers, that it will be within the higher echelon of leadership aboard that ship, so I wouldn’t hazard a guess. But as far as front-line fighters and ship chargers, yes, I suspect they’re either all dead or out of magic. Except for that last tank, but those guys are going down soon.”
He nodded, “If it works three times in a row. I’m surprised the first two groups didn’t teleport out of their tanks like the last one did yesterday.”
She said, “Regardless, I doubt they have enough now to maintain the ship in battle for very long. The three left could probably take up charging duties, and power the ship’s systems at rest, but in battle that thing has to be a pig. They also won’t be recovered enough to charge shit until tomorrow.”
He sighed, “Right, but we still can’t approach the beach. We also can’t depend on them not holding back a shot or two for when they see us.”
She smirked, “What’s the answer worth to you?”
Mara snickered.
He laughed, “Wicked woman, tell this poor confused man what to do.”
She snorted, “They may control the turrets, but the underwater defenses seemed to be automatic.”
He frowned, “That… has possibilities. Good call.”
The last tank blew, and he set his army of zombies to take out the last group of three.
He also moved his people forward. He had another few thousand human corpses that he needed to raise, thanks to the enemy’s latest push.
Chapter Fourteen
It took almost two hours to prepare and get everything situated. They were back up to full force for their two thousand zombie army and had retrieved all the blades, but they also had over seven thousand of the enemy soldier zombies at the same time. They’d killed somewhere around eight thousand of the enemy soldiers the last two days, but several of them had been decapitated, blown into small pieces, or otherwise rendered useless to his power.
“I think we’re ready. Sending in the fodder.”
He sent his orders to six of the seven thousand throwaway zombies, who immediately raced for the shore, three thousand north of the ship, and three thousand far to the south. Their only job was to drain the magic left in the big ship, and they lined up into thirty lines of one hundred on both the port and the starboard side, sixty lines altogether.
Then they simply swam into range of the ship’s automated defenses. The water spells tore apart his zombies’ line after line as they swam to their deaths. They swam far enough apart to make sure it was a one spell one zombie trade, one spell taking out multiple zombies wouldn’t have been as good. Regardless, almost two thirds of them had been destroyed, leaving a little over two thousand left when the defenses cut off. The last two thousand approached the ship in the water, while he sent the remaining thousand on land to the beach.
The ship looked dead to him.
“It looks good, but let’s wait a bit. I’d hate to step on the beach, when some general or colonel managed to reach the engine room and power up one of their batteries.”
He wanted to believe they had no more viable sorcerers left on board, but it’d be a risk.
Cassie said, “It’s possible those theoretical magical leaders were in the tower, and they’re already dead.”
He grunted, that was possible, but it’d be a risk to count on that.
“Better to wait. My zombies are climbing the hull, let them tear apart those three turrets first, then we’ll get ourselves over there. Somehow. We also have no idea how many more soldiers are on that ship, not to mention support personnel”
Cassie said, “I can fly us over, if you don’t want to get wet.”
He snickered, “Of course. I wouldn’t want you ladies to have to get your hair wet.”
Lin tossed her hair playfully.
Lori winked at him.
As usual, Sy’lia looked confused by the human humor.
The zombies destroyed the turrets, and then secured the top deck of the ship simply by setting up around all the entryways.
He suggested, “I could just send in the zombies. Secure the ship and take stock.”
Cassie said, “I imagine it’s pretty dark in there right now. Without me, Mara, and Emily they might have a hard time moving around.”
He sighed, and he sent the last three thousand zombies into the water, including his true enchanted blade army. If they were going in there, he was taking them all with him. He’d lead with his real army of course, to absorb life force, but all those extras there to support and act as immediate replacements wouldn’t hurt.
“Let’s go.”
They moved down to the beach and over toward the water. Cassie cast a similar levitation spell through her staff to minimize magic cost, and th
e eight of them rose into the air and slowly flew toward the ship at a walking speed. The thing was just incredibly vast and intimidating, even knowing they’d pulled its teeth.
It was almost two thousand feet long, and six hundred feet wide. That width could encompass two football fields, and almost seven of them from stern to bow. That was a lot of space and judging on how high it was he imagined that space times at least ten decks. It was a damned floating city, but hopefully a lot of it was holds and storage.
He tilted his head as one of his zombies reported.
“Someone’s waving a white flag out of a doorway, about a hundred and fifty yards that way,” he pointed toward the ruined tower, which hadn’t fell but looked to be leaning rather precariously toward the edge of the ship and the ocean.
He went to move but Lin grabbed him, and she looked meaningfully at Mara and Emily.
Those two cast some protection spells around the eight of them. Him, his four lovers, Emily, Lori, and Sy’lia.
“Good call, gorgeous.”
Lin winked, and patted his ass rather pompously, which made Emily snicker and Lori smirk. Sy’lia looked more confused than ever, and his other mates were smiling teasingly.
He supposed it made sense to be ready for treachery, but did his ladies have to be so insultingly playful as they pointed it out?
He decided it had to be the nerves of the day, and the battle. His ladies weren’t usually so teasing with him. Oh, plenty of banter, but not usually with the condescension they seemed to be showing today, between Cassie’s comments earlier and Lin’s cheeky pat on his ass.
In short, he ignored it in a manly fashion.
He also may have swatted Lin’s ass firmly in return, which made her blush prettily.
They moved up the ship warily. The door was surrounded by about forty of his zombies with swords, as well as a number of the others with bows. He was also aware there were probably five more tanks below them on the ship, that may or may not have been outfitted with those anti-zombie weapons. It wasn’t time to get cocky yet, the battle wasn’t over.
He called out, “You can come out, if you wish to surrender.”
Really, that would make things so much easier, and probably far more complicated at the same time.
A willowy woman that was about five foot five walked out confidently with her pretty face revealing nothing. She was very similar in appearance to his twins, similar black hair and chocolate brown eyes, similar height and of course the eastern exotic beauty. But her face was a little wider, and she had much smaller breasts, about the size of Lori’s B cups.
The way she walked told him she was a martial arts expert. The cold fragile beauty of her porcelain face told him she had nerves of steel. She was dressed in elaborate robes, which told them she was a priestess.
She bowed low to him, and then stayed there until he nodded to acknowledge her deference, before her body straightened out with a limber grace.
She said softly, “I am Sun Ming, high priestess of Phaphine, goddess of oracles. I am also the highest ranked person remaining on this expedition. Our leader and general was killed in the tower, as was most of his staff. I was only spared because I had stepped out a moment before the destruction started.”
“How many are left on the ship?”
Sun nodded, “I will surrender to you, and tell you anything you want to know, but not unconditionally and not until we have reached an agreement. Our ship is heavily damaged, two of our ship doors will not seal any longer, and the three exhausted sorcerers we have left aren’t enough to power the ship for a return trip home. Many of the people on board are simple folk, farmers and builders. While it would cost them most of their lives, they stand ready to activate three of the eight engine batteries, and surrender their lives to give us a fighting chance. I would prefer to end the slaughter, but we are not yet helpless, and we still have anti-zombie enchantments that would be powered with the ship. We would lose, but we’d extract a price in blood first.”
He asked, “What would you suggest. I’d prefer to avoid a slaughter myself, but your invasion is over.”
Sun said, “We will lay down our arms, evacuate the ship and unload supplies, and build a peaceful community. We will also swear fealty to you. You will provide guards, both to protect and police us, but also to keep an eye on us to ensure we keep our word. The last three sorcerers and priests will be yours to command, as will I. I suspect you don’t have many in your territory.”
He frowned, “You would betray your…”
Sun’s eyes flashed, “Emperor. An emperor once again rules in China. It is no betrayal however, and we will not turn against him or fight our homeland. We have failed in our attempt to claim North America, there is loss of honor, but no betrayal in this. He is aware of my attempts to surrender.”
He turned slightly to exchange a look with the others. It seemed like a good deal. He didn’t want to slaughter the rest of them, but at the same time he was concerned about having a foreign community on his soil. Who was to say this wasn’t just a ruse to let his guard down. And that in five or even ten years they wouldn’t try to assassinate him.
Or… right then.
Because as soon as he turned his eyes from hers, Sun Ming moved incredibly fast and gracefully as she lunged forward even as she pulled her sword.
He didn’t even have time to think, as her sword arced toward his neck. The priestess was incredibly fast, and no doubt extremely deadly for a human, but to his Kim and Lin she must’ve been moving incredibly slowly.
The priestess cried out in pain, as her sword arm was bisected just above the elbow. The ting of steel meeting steel sounded as Lin’s other sword smacked it away from him. A spit second later, Kim’s long dagger stabbed through the bitch’s back, and cleaved her heart in two.
She fell to the deck, dead.
Lori said calmly, “So, a trick to get within striking distance of the life sorcerer?”
He cleared his throat, and then cautiously released his sphincter which was tight enough to squeeze coal into a diamond.
“I imagine that would’ve turned the battle around.”
Light appeared in the dark doorway, “Apparently she hadn’t lied altogether, I think those sorcerers just sacrificed a large chunk of their life to get this ship running.”
Which really, was so damned convenient, as he sent out orders, and seven thousand zombies who’d now be able to see flooded through the doors and down into the depths of the ship. The fighting was already fierce, and it looked like they’d had a lot of soldiers ready to rush out to take down his mates and allies if he’d fallen.
He kept shifting life force, as they were killed. He was already set for two centuries, he wondered how many more there’d be. War was hell, and stupid, but the one good thing that would come out of it was his community guards would be set for centuries after this. Perhaps a millennium, if there were enough troops down there.
Emily asked, “What about the tanks?”
He said, “I’m hoping that was a bluff, they only had a day to figure something out and get ready like us, and they only sent three tanks out. They couldn’t have known we’d bomb them, so if they had more ready then surely they’d have launched them too? Besides, if my zombies start to get cleansed then they can back off from that area. It’s a big ass ship. Those tanks are also powered independently anyway, and they have no sorcerers left to do that.”
Cassie nodded, “He’s right. The three that just powered the ship are probably passed out at the very least, if not dead from the strain.”
Lori said, “Damnit, she was an even bigger liar than we thought.”
He looked in the direction she was looking, and saw an old man surrounded by a white aura and the three last priests heading their way. That must be the general she was talking about, and no doubt a powerful sorcerer, based on the life force he was feeling as he walked into range.
And he’d sent all the zombies into the ship, they’d already killed almost ten thousand more
soldiers, but he had no idea how many were left. That was eighteen thousand in total and they were still fighting.
Shadows appeared around Lori’s feet, as Emily’s and Mara’s prayers made their protections glow brighter. Cassie brandished her staff, but didn’t cast yet, and Lin and Min stepped in front of them all protectively.
Two of Lori’s shadows jumped and dove into the twins, and not a moment too soon, as a blast of light left one of the clerics. He’d have fucking lost it if they’d been cleansed, and in truth kind of lost it just because the bastard had tried to cleanse them.
Fire exploded from the old man’s palm into a flaming javelin straight at his chest. It was obvious the enemy was very much aware if they took him out that they’d also take out all the zombies. But that’s what Cassie had been waiting for, and she barked a word he couldn’t quite make out. The fire javelin had only made it about halfway across before it burst apart and died.
Lori sent her shadows out at the four of them, but the three priests working together to shield themselves and their boss stopped the shadows cold. Not only was she outnumbered three to one, but it was daytime which put the advantage to the light gods anyway.
But every little bit would help, and the shadows looked like scrabbling puppies trying to get through a closed door.
He attacked with his life magic, in a much more controlled fashion, trying to pierce through their protections with a daggerlike point aimed directly at the sorcerer. He was very angry, but he wasn’t just lashing out in uncontrollable anger.
The enemy sorcerer cast again, and a large piece of metal flew at them. Lin and Kim blurred as they dodged to the side and slammed their swords down on it with a deafening ring of steel, sending it off course. Just enough, that his own dodge kept it from slamming into him.
He felt the hot sexy elf reinforce her enhancement spells, but that wouldn’t do much in a battle of magic, except perhaps add further protections against being cleansed for Lin and Kim.
Cassie grinned a little evilly, and he wondered what she had in mind as she barked a spell, and then a loud screech of metal protest reached their ears.
