The Paladins by James M. Ward, David Wise Read Free Book Online

two of them aside in the tumult and wormed his way free of the pile of bodies.
    “Thanks! Let’s get out of here!” shouted Harloon.
    “Wait!” answered Noph. “Grab that zombie before it walks into the middle of the fight!” he cried, doing the same for another mindless creature.
    “That takes care of our service to the zombie!” said Harloon. “Now let’s get out of here!”
    Noph flipped a silver piece to a dancer as they left. “Thanks for everything!” he called over his shoulder. Outside, they bent over and rested their hands on their knees while catching their breaths. They looked at one another and Harloon shook his head, an exasperated grin on his face. Noph returned the smile, with an added chuckle. Each reached out and clasped the other’s shoulder.
    “Let’s get back to the boat,” said Harloon with a cock of his head toward the water.
    “I’m with you. Let’s go.”
    *****
    Trandon had been terrified of the skulls that floated around the boat. His senses, more finely tuned to the rhythms of magic than the rest of the men, could see the deadly power. He also saw the shadow monsters floating above the water, around their boat, but he dared not say anything.
    “Stupid youngling,” he griped, blaming Noph for the delay.
    The long-haired warrior quickly walked the narrow streets of the city until he was sure none of the others were anywhere near him. The undead of the city didn’t bother him at all; necromantic magic was simple stuff. On the other hand, the magical powers openly displayed in the city disconcerted him gravely. Fiends sprouted out of arcane circles drawn on the very streets! Even more strangely, no one seemed to care! The fiends appeared without alarm and flew away into the darkness while others flapped down from above and spiraled into the complex patterns on the ground, slipping off to their native planes. Meanwhile, a human wizard marched pompously down the middle of a wide avenue, flanked by a fire elemental on each side.
    “Idiot,” Trandon muttered to himself. “The slightest slip and those monsters’ll break free of their bond, and he’ll be the first thing they kill.”
    Down a side street, he found a zombie limping along on the stump of its ankle, carrying its own foot. Trandon reached into a pouch that lay between his chest and his leather breastplate and drew forth a prickly pair of burrs. He let the zombie walk past him, then caught its broken limb and whispered a few words while pressing the burrs against the ragged end of the leg. Quickly he snatched the foot away from the creature and pressed it against the stump, uttering a last syllable. With a flash of reddish light, the foot adhered to the leg. Trandon released the zombie and watched it walk away, only slightly more graceful.
    Trandon carefully looked from side to side, spying for onlookers—most especially other members of his party. It would be supremely difficult to resist using magic during this mission, but no one must know he was a wizard. He must maintain his cover at all costs.
    Satisfied that no one had seen him, he stood up and made his way back to the boat.
    *****
    Jacob skulked along the pier. It would be easy to find a zombie loading or unloading a ship somewhere nearby. He was in a hurry to finish the unpleasant business and get back to the boat, yet he couldn’t help but exalt in the thrill of the adventure. There was nothing more exciting than questing for the glory of Tyr.
    Several ships down, Jacob found what he had been looking for. Three wide gangplanks stretched from the dock to a barge, and a crew of zombies, alone and in pairs, offloaded wooden crates of various size. The lowly undead moved mechanically up and down from the cargo hold, hauling heavy boxes across the planks to deposit them on the dock. Apparently their handlers had set them to work and then wandered into a dive tavern across the way, for nothing sentient monitored their progress.
    Jacob charged up the gangplank and