Chapter 64: Two Armies
"A talking staff..." Jarrik muttered, still staring at Spine Staff.
Aleric pointed it at him.
"Even if you know any spells, you can’t cast anything more serious than a Pain or Lesser Raise Dead. Your mana reserve is too weak! You are just like the Leshmann siblings when they first started... So you will study from them first! And only when you become equal to them, I might, MIGHT make you my apprentice. Now get up and go into the castle. Samuel, send someone to explain the situation to Danit. From now on, Jarrik will work under Rita’s command to raise more dead while studying from her."
"Yes, master."
"Thank you, thank you, Master Fenn! I won’t disappoint you!"
"I feel like this won’t be the last Dark mage who might come here for shelter," Aleric added. "Rita should be ready to take more apprentices. And Danit should be ready to watch them."
"Yes, master. I will send someone to pass the order."
Samuel called a soldier to pick up the kneeling Jarrik and escort him into the castle.
Right now, Danit with his wife, the Leshmann siblings, and a lot of other zombie servants were staying there.
Although Aleric was leaving Oakdale, he left a sizable garrison there to control the city and its immediate surroundings, Danit to lord over the county and the apprentices to grow his forces. Samuel and Ditrich were leaving with the main army.
"Do you think there are any Dark mages above the first rank hiding in Aleshat?"
"I doubt it, Master Fenn. To improve in magic and grow your mana reserve, you must practice. And any massive use of Dark magic would be easily noticed by templars." Samuel thought for a moment. "Unless there’s a corrupt elemental mage, or even a cleric, who decided to learn Dark magic after reaching a high rank in another magic element. But cases like this are... unheard of!"
"I see, Samuel. Alright, now that this small hitch is done for... Is everything ready for a march?"
As he spoke, Aleric looked at the army that gathered in front of the castle. It was barely fitting through.
Although he was leaving about a third of his forces in Oakdale, his army was still massive. In a month of staying in Oakdale, his original forces have tripled or even quadrupled.
And most of it came from good-quality undead servants! Thanks to money from Body Tax (and possessions confiscated from rioters after the massacre), they also had decent equipment.
Thanks to this, Alreric’s current army had 800 zombie soldiers, 100 zombie archers, 500 zombie slaves, and 1500 zombie skeletons. The archers also had Pain-enchanted arrows, although Aleric never had the time to enchant more than a couple of hundred of those, despite the process only taking him a few seconds for each.
But the most valuable of Aleric’s soldiers were standing at the side, separate from the rest. These 80 zombies rode undead servant horses and wore the best armor that could be found in Oakdale. They also had spears and shields to fight while mounted, and black cloaks, which made them stand out next to the patchwork multicolored clothing of most other undead.
Aleric called them Black Riders.
Almost knights, but lacking armor for both themselves and their horses. There were too few of them, but their power couldn’t be underestimated.
"Everything is ready, master."
"Then we set out. To the next county over... to Diawale! Before the king’s forces could assist it, we will take the county and raise its soldiers, templars, and knights under my command. And in the meantime, my apprentices will grow my garrison in Oakdale and spread farther and farther over the countryside, until its people have nowhere to run anymore and they will have to accept my rule or die, and then accept it anyway."
Aleric raised his staff.
"We march!"
***
At this time, another army was also marching down the wide cobblestone road leading from Erstain.
Soldiers gathered from all of Aleshat were walking in rows: peasants with spears, light cavalry with pikes, noble knights on horses and their bodyguards, archers, and elemental battle mages. Next to this force were allies from the Church: templars and clerics, both on horses and on foot. There were even two regiments that used expensive but destructive dwarven weapons. These weapons used advanced technologies that even Alehat’s best engineers couldn’t replicate. Handgunners had rifles that could easily pierce even plate armor, and cannoneers had cannons that could do the same with stone walls.
In total, there were 30000 soldiers!
Citizens of Erstain gathered at the sides of the road or were watching from the city wall, waving their hats and sometimes throwing flowers. They were sending off the future heroes of the realm, and the king who was leading them.
Rafael Sandrain the Fourth, the Dragonheart, the Builder, the Guardian of Aleshat, and a handsome man with a well-groomed beard who was only thirty years of age.
He was riding on his prize golden-brown steed at the front of the army, next to Praetor Bosnor on his snow-white horse. These two looked like heroes in the eyes of people...
Unlike the third person, who was riding to the king’s other side. His horse was just dapple, and Inquisitor Garron himself looked too old to ride anywhere.
"Aren’t you too old to ride with us, Inquisitor?" Rafael asked in an annoyed tone.
"You expect me, the strongest cleric in Aleshat, to shirk my duties just because of the frailty of my body, Your Majesty?" Garron replied with just as much venom. "Just as you shirk your duties because of the frailty of spirit?"
Rafael grit his teeth.
If Garron wasn’t the strongest cleric in Aleshat, Rafael would’ve already thrown him out of the country!
"First, when I was going to gather the Royal Guard and travel as fast as possible to protect Oakdale, you told me to wait and gather more forces first. And I listened, Inquisitor, although my entire soul screamed when I heard about the horrible things the necromancer was doing in Oakdale for the past weeks, with nobody to stop him. But what you are asking now... It’s just outrageous! And yet, you have the shamelessness to repeat this request over and over!"
Even Praetor Bosnor subtly moved away from the angry king, but Garron met the man’s eyes without a hint of fear.
"And I will keep repeating it, Your Majesty. For the sake of all Aleshat, I urge you..."