Death After Death

Chapter 126: A Trail of Bodies

“The story is practically written there, in the corpses of the fallen,” Simon told Kell, gesturing widely to the beheaded bodies of the fallen.

“I mean, yeah, I see that,” the younger warrior said, pretending like he had some clue about what it was Simon was talking about. “But it’s not like it's enough to tell us what’s really going on, is it?”

“I disagree,” Simon answered with a shake of his head. “You can see these trappers here are freshest, and then these farmers and traders are at least a couple weeks older. That tells me that it spread to the villages along the main road before circling back into the wilderness, which was a stroke of luck. If they’d kept going south—”

“But what does that have to do with the warriors?” Kell asked in frustration. “They’re practically skeletonized. Are you saying those came first?”

“Logically, yes,” Simon nodded.

“But how do ye’ know they weren’t like.. Dug up and reanimated by evil magics?” Garth asked, joining their little conversation while everyone else got busy stacking bodies or stacking firewood.

“I kind of think they were... in a sense,” Simon said, trying not to give away too much about his own magical insights. “I mean, I have no idea how this stuff works. I’ve heard the same stories you have, but I know armor, and this stuff is ancient. Look at it. It’s not just rusted through. The designs are all wrong. It’s something that your grandfather’s grandfather might have worn.”

Both men nodded at that, and finally, Kell said, “So it started with them and then spread to the northern villages before going back into the forests? Are you saying this came from the north of the pass, or...”

“Nah, not that far north,” Garth said with a shake of his head. “The style is all wrong. I’d wager someone dug this up from the old barrow mounds. Maybe it’s not even a warlock. Maybe it’s just treasure hunters who woke up some ancient curse or somesuch.”

“I was thinking something like that too,” Simon nodded, glad he hadn’t been forced to lead the horse all the way to water before they’d put the pieces together. The less he seemed to know, the better. He could already feel the way people were looking at him after he ‘predicted’ zombies instead of beastmen, and they appeared almost like magic.

Kell quickly took the ball and ran with it. A few minutes after Kell started telling Simon and Garth what to do, he explained the whole situation to everyone else as if he were the one who had figured it out, which was practically ideal.

“Be sure to keep a careful count!” he admonished the men as they started stacking pyres. I’m going to make sure we get paid for every bloated corpse we dispose of when all this is done.”

They spent the rest of the twilight hours until morning dawned, arguing about where they were going next and how far this might have spread. Garth argued, quite logically, that if this had started at the Barrow Mounds, that should have been their next stop, but there was no way of knowing if going to their source would get them all. Simon was pretty sure that getting all of them wasn’t required as far as the Goddess was concerned, but he said nothing.

After all, the last time he’d cleared this level, he’d only saved Schwarzenbruck. He’d never even gone north. Helades didn’t seem too concerned with saving everyone. She just wanted to save a few very specific people, so history went the way it should. Simon was a bit pickier in that regard, but even he acknowledged that there were going to have to be sacrifices.

“If trade stopped, then this has spread to at least Bahamed Pass, right?” Hodge asked, interrupting his brooding after the final pyre was lit and dawn was shining through the oily black smoke the greenwood was giving off.

There was nothing down there but a sarcophagus that he was going to lack the privacy to truly explore. He didn’t know how yet, but he knew this was the epicenter of the whole level; even if it wasn’t the part that Helades cared about, it was the thing that he most wanted to understand.

So, he let the various members wander off into the dank side rooms as he proceeded directly toward the heart of the mound. It was there he found exactly what he expected. There was the sarcophagus, and the mocking paper crown on the only wriggling zombie in the place, along with the evidence of what might have been a ritual circle of some kind. Before he could tease out any more details, though, Kell, Freya, and a couple other guys entered the room behind him.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Freya said as Kell walked past him into the room.

“Yeah, we should probably just burn it or collapse the entrance and be done with it,” Simon agreed. “Something dark and terrible happened here.”

Truthfully, he was hoping they went for burying this place. Then, he could circle back in a few weeks, dig back through it when everything else was done, and finish his research. Simon was fairly sure no one wanted to take the time to dump loads of firewood this deep into the tiny dungeon.

All of that was ignored by Kell, though, who seemed hell-bent on looking for treasure of some kind to make the whole trip worthwhile. There was certainly enough gold left behind on the corpse in the center to justify the effort, after the thing was killed permanently.

For a moment, though, Kell ignored that as he got closer and said, “Why is this one still moving when none of the rest are... and what’s this note here...”

“I don’t know. Someone was obviously here before us but...” Simon started to say. When the man reached for the folded piece of paper on the zombie’s head he shouted, “Don’t touch that!”

“What? Why?” Kell said, looking at Simon in annoyance.

“There’s magic all over this room; can’t you feel it?” Simon said, groping for some answer that might satisfy the man. “I say we cut this thing’s head off and then get out of here before we—”

“And that’s why you aren’t the boss of a mercenary company,” Kell sneered. “Don’t worry. I get paid extra to make the hard calls.”

As Kell’s hand reached for the paper, Simon reacted without thinking. “Aufvarum Oonbetit,” he whispered, pushing the man back with lesser force before he could do something to break the spell in place and bring down the ceiling on all of them. He knew it was a mistake as he did it, but he simply didn’t have any other options.

“What in the name of...” Kell blurted out as he was flung against the far wall.

“Witchcraft,” Freya hissed, drawing her dagger, as Simon slowly backed away toward the door.