I’m startled out of my musings when Marcello’s hand suddenly covers mine, his warmth seeping into my chilled fingers, reminding me that I’m not at home at all, but rather sitting in a pile of snow.
“I’m sorry you lost that security,” Marcello says softly.
I pull my hand out from under his, flexing my fingers. I clear my throat and push myself back up to peer over the ledge. The village below is dark, there are no plumes of smoke rising out of the chimneys. There is no sound at all. It is eerie as if I am looking at a hollow corpse instead of a town. There is no life to be found.
“I don’t think I’m wrong though,” I say at last. “Any other village and we would have seen some sign of life. However, if I am correct to assume from my vision, then the necromancer slaughtered this village. Both as revenge and as practice in learning to reanimate corpses.” At least that’s what I have pieced together from what I heard the necromancer say.
“A village full of corpses?” Marcello asks with a small shudder. “That sounds gruesome.”
“Oh, it will be, especially since these ones are walking around. We have stories of walking corpses, draugrs is what we called them. They were always just stories, but I suppose that legends always have a way of coming to life.” I pull out my ax, once again familiarizing myself with its feel and weight. “But I will not permit them to come to the aid of this necromancer when he calls. Before he is aware of our presence and is able to mobilize them, we will cut out his army and return these draugrs to death.”
Marcello nods, his eyes flicking from my ax then to the village. “You said that in your vision the necromancer was in asmallbuilding, correct?”
I nod once.
“Presuming that what you saw was happening tonight…”
I look up at the sky, taking in the stars. The northern lights which were so bright last night are absent tonight. “It did look like this in my vision.”
Marcello extends his arm, pointing toward the village. “Then that long house should be the perfect place to do it. Since we know that the necromancer won’t be within.”
“The perfect place for what?” I demand.
Marcello turns to me. The stars reflect off his eyes giving him a mad glint as he grins. “To trap these draugr inside and then burn the whole place down around them.”
Chapter Nineteen
The Draugr Infested Village
Marcello’splanisdeviousand a little cruel, but then these are just draugrs. Given that they were already killed once, it’s likely that they will be difficult to kill again. Do the dead bleed? Do they feel pain? And Marcello’s plan may be our only bet of defeating a large number of them at once.
I have to assume that there is a whole village full of draugr down there given the necromancer’s words from my vision. I’m also assuming that these draugr are violent since it’s likely the necromancer did not slaughter the whole village at once, such a feat would be near impossible for a single man to do, but instead killed and raised as he went until he was turning kin against kin.
It’s the only way I can fathom a whole village capable of being destroyed by one person.
It’s likely these draugr contain at least a little of the prowess they had in battle, although how much remains to be seen.
Do the dead see, do they think, do they feel? Or do they react solely on blind instinct?
Either way, the blind instinct of dozens draugrs will make for a dangerous experience.
Which is why I’m willing to consider Marcello’s cunning instead of relying on my brute strength.
I creep forward, weaving from the shadow of one building to the shadow of the next. Drekki is on my heel, moving slowly to the ground. Slithering almost like a snake.
Worm flew ahead and I see him drop down on the roof of the longhouse, ready to set it all ablaze when we have as many draugr as we can get inside it.
So far, we have made it to the outskirts of the village without detection, which further cements my confidence that we have the correct village.
A village comprised of the still living would have at least one lookout, it is too dangerous a world to sleep blindly.
Marcello entered the village to the east while Drekki and I went west. His job is to get as many draugr as he can to chase after him while he goes into the longhouse. I’m to pick up stragglers and make certain that we get no axes to our backs.
And hopefully through it all, the necromancer will remain unaware. I hope that he is performing the dark ritual that I saw in my vision and that he is otherwise occupied. Perhaps his ad mutterings will drown out the sound of us slaying his playthings. I will feel far more comfortable confronting him once we have dealt with any draugr army he may have.
The whole night is still, save for the occasional soft thump I hear coming from the east end of the village.
I stride down the frozen dirt path beside one of the houses, walking from my heel to my toe so that I only make the barest of sound as I move forward. I do not prefer fighting from a stealth position, I’d much rather face my enemy in open combat. It feels underhanded to fight this way in an ambush, but then I remind myself that it was an ambush that killed my father.
