There was something incredibly odd and bizarre about the abandoned town, that made even Meritites rub her chin in confusion, the air did not feel right.
"Is something wrong?" asked Cheops, his hand already reaching for his blade as one of the undeads they were hiding from any prying eyes stepped past him and seemed to stare intently at the empty town.
"When the Ersta'sol brought us all here to cleanse the town before it could grow into a city, it was a glorious massacre, there had been much arm-bearers and competent warriors stationed here than expected, limbs flew on both sides and the place was painted red with blood, I can understand that the corpses would have either been pulled into the desert and the ones away from the sand would have been taken away by scavengers, but I find it hard to believe that everything would look so clean… There have been quite a few cycles of the roaming suns since then, but still…" the lunatic was looking awfully grave, and wrapped her arm around Cheops like she was worried that something would try to take him from her.
He heard a few of his fellows click their tongues at the show of affection whilst feeling embarrassed to have been overtaken, Meritites was definitely the stronger one between the two of them but Cheops still felt like he should be the one protecting her and not the inverse.
"Aherm… Sir undead… Do you sense anything?" he asked the one who had stepped forward, the living had trouble differencing the ranks amongst the dead as they were all dressed randomly like bandits, and there were no other distinctive signs, be it weapons, height, appearance or anything else, they were all uniquely different regardless of whether they were a regular soldiers or an elite, the only ones that could recognise as different were the few non-combatants, though none were present for this mission.
"There is something alive in there, only one being and nothing else, a strong life force at that, I don't recognise it as the life of any creature or beast we know" spoke the corpse in a dry, gruff voice, this one was a skeleton, though his skull did not look like that of a human, the back extending further and bearing quite a few protuberances that no living could imagine would have looked like when he was a alive.
"What should we do?" spoke the butcher, pulling Cheops right up against her.
"Your mirage is still covering the area?"
"Then stay here for now and ensure no threat come from the outside" the skeleton then spoke in death tongue, causing most of the other undeads to move and follow him, leaving only a few, probably to ensure that the fragile livings they were having as temporary recruitments wouldn't get themselves killed before fulfilling their full mission.
At this point, Cheops was assuming that the weird-looking skeleton was an elite judging by how he was taking charge, acting as the spearhead of the undead group as they ventured deeper into the town, and indeed, this place had seemed like it was set to be made larger before everyone was killed in a bloodbath, the wall surrounding the town had been built in a way that allowed for it to be swiftly dismantled and the sandstone used elsewhere.
Although such a massacre would have appalled him before, ever since he had begun sharing his sleeps and naps with Meritites, he had magically become much more understanding of the cleansers's murderous tendencies.
It certainly was a beautiful thing what a woman could do to a man's psyche, or perhaps it was a worrying thing? In any case, he was enjoying himself a lot these days, so to him at least, it was a great thing.
"I have a bad feeling about this… Well, a lot of death is usually a good thing but…" she looked at Cheops "...But not today"
Her hand was already ready to swing with her executioner's sword if necessary, both ears focusing intently to pick up any sound, waiting for fighting to begin, though she felt like danger was nearby, it was hard to gauge if what she would get worried about in a fight would be anything to worry about for the undeads, those guys were awfully skilled and strong, and they never seemed to ever get tired, in fact, she hadn't seen them eat or drink anything, ever.
Ir'Houwl had not bothered to explain what being an undead truly entailed, allowing the livings to see for themselves how much better undeath was, she wasn't the sort to preach about like Alkayne could, actions were far better than words in her opinion.
"It's inside that house" deep within the town, the leading skeleton pointed to a house that looked just like the rest, there wasn't any drop of dried blood to be seen anywhere, much less any remains, although there must have been plenty of killed inside of the houses, and this away from the sand, all had been completely empty.
The undeads didn't even need to check to know that there were zero corpses in this town, the air was still fairly thick with death force, but that was it, all other signs were gone without a single trace.
Readying a sort of cracked stone club, each mark upon it flowing with sand at every movement, the skeleton directed each of the other undeads with him to take precise positions, quickly forming a basic strategy that should work regardless of the shape or size of what was inside, taking into account everyone's individual capabilities and weaponry.
He himself stood tall, if something were to burst out of the simple door fashioned from dried leaves, he would be the first thing that was seen, as the strongest undead on this mission, it was only natural that he should be the one to take a hit if needed.
Two undeads wielding bows pulled on their strings and shot right through the fragile door, their arrows clearly sinking in something's flesh.
Now, none of them had an exceptional level of synesthesia, and the light peering everywhere was preventing them from getting a good look at the living inside, so they could only tell that it had a rather large amount of life force.
The moments the arrows hit, the creature leapt up in shock, the house shaking as they struck the ceiling in their confusion, soon followed by a long arm knocking the leaf to away, followed by a face bearing long red hair and a beard, small eyes, a small mouth and thick jaw.
The living struggled to fit through the door, having been in too much of a hurry to do it properly.
It was definitely huge, much taller than the works, though rather lean.
The giant roared, but impressed no one, and the skeleton merely rushed forward, striking right at the living's open maw with his stone club.