Working Class Stiffs

Muld and Syndi discover the mysterious work force of Pattinton.

31.

Working Class Stiffs

 

“Muld, my God, those men-“  

Muld touched her lips with his fingertips, “Shh!   Whisper, my dear; sound carries in the dark.”

“Did you hear what they said?”

“Yes.    I’d guess that ‘Tendel’ is a necromancer.    From what they said, apparently they’re using zombies to work their fields.    Probably by night so no-one can see them.    That would explain the wall around the corn fields and the long buildings.”

“Zombie cages!   Yesh preserve us!    But how would they control so many workers, if all of them are zombies?”

“There was an old spell the Necromancer’s Guild used to use.   It was cast upon a piece of land and anybody that died there afterwards would be reanimated as a zombie.    It was called ‘Zombie Field’ and with enough necromancers, they could cover the whole field with the spell.”

“How long would it last?”   Syndi asked in a whisper.

“For several months, maybe for the entire growing season.”

“I’ll bet they take lone travelers there and kill them.”

“I’d say you’re right.    That is probably why they were so insistent on you coming here to see if I was camping here.    This is probably where they capture their victims.   Then they drag them to the area of the zombie field, kill them, and presto!   They have a new field laborer.”

“How horrible, Muld!    I wonder how many they’ve killed?”

“I don’t know, but this area has been the chief producer of corn for years, so this could have been going on for a long time.”

“All so they could harvest corn easier.”

“Yeah, it is quite a set up actually; the zombie is both the harvester, and, as he slowly decays, the fertilizer as well.”

“Oh God!    I’ll never eat corn again!”

“Not from here, I wouldn’t.”

“Muld, what do we do?”

“Well, we’re certainly not going to wait for them to return, and they probably will have some of their living minions watching the roads in and out of town, in case we try to escape.”

“Then what do we do?”

Muld smiled, a familiar twinkle in his eye, “We do the unexpected and shake up things.”

 

***

 

They made their plans in the dark, waiting until they heard the faint bell that (they hoped) announced ten minutes until midnight.    Then, knowing that the necromancer and some of his cronies would be returning to the campsite, they slipped through the underbrush and moved down the hill, away from the path that Tendel and his gang would take.

Syndi’s direction in the dark was perfect and she led them quickly toward the walled off area of the field.

“That path down there will lead up to the gate into the field,”   She whispered to him as he nervously glanced around to make certain no one was watching them.

“Good.   Remember the plan - look!   There goes a group of them - probably Tendel and his cronies returning to look for us.   Stay low until they disappear around the hill.”

Syndi nodded and they crouched down behind a large tree until the necromancer and his companions disappeared.

“Ready?”   Muld asked soon afterwards, “We’ll have to act fast, so just follow my lead, okay?”

“Alright,”  She replied, feeling the rush of fear mixed with excitement.   Acting according to their plans, she untied the belt of her robe and let it slip off from her.    Muld tried not to look, but he was too fascinated.    She wore scant golden pieces of jewelry that covered only the most private parts of her body.    It was the skimpiest sorceress outfit yet and in spite of the danger and urgency of acting quickly, he was completely intoxicated by how beautiful she looked wearing it.

“Muld?”  Syndi said after he had stared with an extremely  ravenous fire in his eyes.   Having him look at her that way terrified her and thrilled her even more.   

“Sorry,” He said with a deep breath, “Wow, that outfit is effective.”

“I thought I might need as much Qi as possible.”

“Trust me; you’ll have enough to cast whatever you want.”   He mopped his forehead with a trembling hand.   “Let’s go - remember, just follow my lead.”

“Okay,”   She replied, and they simply stepped out onto the path.

***

The guards at the gate saw them coming, which surprised them, for never had any strangers just casually walked down the path to the front gate as relaxed as if they were going into a tavern.

The girl drew their attention immediately, for she was breathtaking to behold.    She wore a costume that looked like something a belly dancer would wear, as well as low, high-heeled boots, bright red in color.    Her shapely body was perfect and long copper hair cascaded down to her butt.   Even in the torch light, her green eyes could be seen shining in the dimness and both men were so awed at her that they didn’t raise a challenge until they were standing in front of them.

“Good evening,”  Muld spoke to them pleasantly, “I’m Zilo Magnus and this is Celia Travillius.”

They looked at the tall skinny elf male, wondering why he was standing there with a look on his face as if his introduction should have meant something to them.

“You’re who?”

“Zilo Magnus and Celia Travillius.    Uh… didn’t Tendel tell you we would be here tonight?”

“No, he didn’t say anything to us.   Just who the hell are you?”  The chief guard replied crossly, ashamed that he’d let them advance so close without calling out a challenge.

The elf who said he was ‘Zilo’ looked mildly annoyed at his surliness, sighed loudly and then, as if trying to explain something to a simple-minded child, repeated, “I am Zilo Magnus, a necromancer and old friend of Tendel.   This is Celia Travillius; she is a sorceress that works with me.    Tendel and I trained together.   He told me about your set-up here and invited me to stop by if I was ever up this way.    I found him this evening and chatted with him a bit; he said that he was afraid that the oscillating parametric absorption level of the Zombie Field is being compromised by the distortion effect of the size of it, and he asked me to do a field arcane detainment evaluation of it while it is in active use.”

“I didn’t understand any of that, mister.”

“He wants Celia and me to see if the spell effect is eroding over time at a faster rate, due to the extent of the spell area.    This is an amazing use of the Zombie Field spell.    Of course I’ll have to do it at night, as it won’t activate in daylight, so naturally I agreed.”

“You couldn’t do it by daylight?”

“The zombies have to be in the matrix, working, for the evaluation to be accurate.” 

“Tendel didn’t say anything about any visitors tonight!   And I’ve never heard of elf necromancers!”

“Well we certainly wouldn’t be travelling around Marksylvania in necromancer garb in our own human shapes, would we?    It is against the law here to practice necromancy, you know!   Obviously we’re in disguise!   What better form to wear but elves, as elves rule here.     We’ve been asked to come out here, but if you want to wait until Tendel returns, that’s fine by me.   But it’s your neck if I can’t finish the evaluation before sunrise.”

“It’ll take that long?”

“Yes, of course it will - this is a huge zombie field.”

“Tendel is looking for vagrants right now.”

“No, he’s not - he’s retrieving a spell book for me.    We were the ‘vagrants’.”

“What?”

“We couldn’t come into town by daylight just asking where Tendel the Necromancer was, could we?   So we came in separate, posing as travelers, until we could meet up with Tendel tonight.   We met him on the road going up to the camp site where he says he gets transients and lone travelers to put into the Zombie Field matrix after you kill them.   He told us to go on ahead and come up here.   He was expecting us today, but we couldn’t announce who we were in town, since we didn’t  know who in town knew what you’ve got going on here, could we?” 

“You spoke to Tendel earlier, too?   I’m not sure what you’re saying.”

'Zilo' rubbed his eyes in exasperation, sighed, and tried again to explain.

“Yesterday I contacted Tendel by scrying device and told him that I’d be arriving today or tomorrow.     I didn’t mention my companion to him, though.   When we arrived here today, we were not sure who in town knew about Tendel’s operation, so I decided to wait outside of town and I sent Celia into town to look for him.    She didn’t find him, though, and I guess everyone in town thought she was just another traveler.    She mentioned me to a few people, hoping some of Tendel’s people would understand her subtle clue and tell him.”

“But instead, they reported to him that strangers were in town.   He thought Celia and I were transients, so he was coming to find us to kill us and make us into zombies, but we met him on the path and had a good laugh about the mix-up.   He went back for a spell book and told us to come on up here, thinking that he’d mentioned to you about speaking with me yesterday by crystal ball and that you’d know my name.    Does that clear everything up?  It was just a mix-up.”

“Well, I don’t know… maybe what you’re saying is true, but I’ve got to wait for Tendel.”

“That’s fine by us.    I’ll tell you what -to ease your mind, we’ll stand just inside the gate and wait for Tendel.   We won’t leave your sight.”

“That’s reasonable.   What about this spell-thing you mentioned?”

“Would it be alright if we cast the spell in front of the gate?   That way you can see what we’re doing.   We do not want any trouble.”

“And what did you say that spell was?”

“A field arcane detainment evaluation of the oscillating parametric absorption level of the Zombie Field.   It is a simple spell, which Celia will cast, and I will have to cast an amplification spell so the evaluation will cover the entire field.   This is far larger than any Zombie Field I’ve ever seen.”

“Hmmm… well, I suppose it would be alright, but-“

The sorceress, Celia, smiled at him, and it seemed as if she purposely thrust her bosom out  flirtatiously while looking into his eyes.

“Well, okay, you can proceed, but stay within sight.”

Muld, in his role as the necromancer, bowed, “We will stand right here by the front gate.   So tell me- how many zombies do you have in the Zombie Field Matrix?   We have to have some idea for the parameters of the spell.”

“I don’t know exactly… probably 5,000 or so.   Tendel could give you a more precise number.”

“Wow, that is impressive - probably a record for the spell.    Where in the world did you come up with 5,000 corpses to use?”

The guard hesitated to answer, but the flirtatious glance of the sexy redheaded elf eroded his caution.

“Mostly from the Southern Kingdom.   After Torrin’s executions of followers of Yesh and the war with Marksylvania, there were plenty of dead.   Tendel had them shipped here in compartments under the beds of wagons.    It took quite a while.”

Muld, as Zilo, nodded, “Tendel’s really shrewd.    We have plenty to play with in Aeropolis, but you’ve got to be careful who you trust.    That’s why we were so cautious today and are disguised as elves.”

“So what does she look like naturally?”  He nodded at Celia with a big grin.

“She looks about the same, only taller and a bit more buxom,”   'Zilo' replied with a smirk.   Syndi, as Celia, just arched her eyebrows and kept smiling seductively.   Muld turned to her and said, “Well, we’d better get started.    Go ahead and begin chanting the spell - set the parameter of zombies in the matrix at 5,000, factor in mature agriculture and wooden buildings.”

“Yes, sir,”  The girl responded as if his instructions on parameters were actually important, and then immediately began chanting a spell.  

The guard watched her chanting and gesturing, fantasizing what she would look like completely naked.    He didn’t pay much attention when 'Zilo' also began chanting - it was part of their evaluation spell, and they seemed friendly and harmless enough.

What harm could they do, he pondered, smiling at the sorceress.

 

***

 

Muld timed his amplification spell precisely, knowing that timing it to coincide with Syndi’s fireball spell was essential for their plan to work.    If he didn’t extend the range and effect of her spell, it might only burn a section of the corn field and they certainly wouldn’t get a second chance.

The guard and his companions were so focused on the gyrations of Syndi as she cast the spell that they didn’t realize what she was casting.     It took much longer now to cast offensive spells and sometimes the spells failed even when cast correctly.   He had been told that this was by the design of Yesh, to lessen the use of magic in warfare.

Muld just hoped that he wouldn’t frustrate Syndi’s spell now.

 

Their voices finished together and he pointed over her shoulder, into the field of corn past the gateway where they stood, with the arcane words, “maxime quantum ad amplificandum!”

 

Before the guard’s horrified eyes, a ball of fire was flung from her fingertips, past him and his equally startled companions, growing in size and speed due to Muld’s amplification spell.     It exploded like a meteor crashing into the earth, with a loud boom!    The guards all were knocked to the ground and the entire field erupted in bright orange flame, lapping around everything within the area of the earthen walls.

Muld pulled Syndi back, through the gates of the field, then quickly pushed them closed as they went out.    The guards had not recovered enough yet to pursue them, and Muld wanted to keep from battling them.

“There’ll be a ricochet effect when it hits the back of the earth wall,”  He explained, quickly chanting a wizard lock spell on the large wood doors, then turning and racing away from the scene.

“But those guards!”   Syndi exclaimed, running after Muld as they fled down the earthen ramp.

“It’s too late for them; remember, they’ve been killing innocent people that wander into town and turning them into zombies.”

“Yes, but-“

At that moment, the ricochet of the amplified fireball spell slammed into the wooden doors.    There was a muffled booming sound and the doors burst into flame.     Thankfully, no screams from the men reached their ears as they ran down the pathway.

“That fire will be seen all the way to Westmark tonight, and they’ll investigate.   That should do the trick.”

“What about Tendel and the men looking for us at the campsite?    They’ll come running to check to see what has happened.”

“We’ll try to avoid them,”   Muld replied, but as they reached the bottom of the artificial ramp, to their dismay, a group of men raced toward them, with weapons drawn.

“Too late,”   Syndi groaned, already planning a spell.