A line of people, each of them with their hands tied up and a long rope keeping them all together, was trudging toward Mirkhill Fort. Twenty zombies and a few wights were escorting them under the command of Samuel; another ten zombies were leading a similarly tied together small herd of goats and two cows. A pair of zombie horses pulled a cart full of stolen goods.
All the prisoners looked dreadful and tired. Some had fresh bruises, some sobbed as they walked. Their strength was waning after a full night of marching, but the fear kept them moving.
With a gasp, a woman slipped on dirt and fell, pulling the two nearest people down with her and forcing others to stop walking. Frantically, they all tried to get up—but the panic only made them struggle more. The zombies nearby were faster.
They approached the fallen group and pulled them to their feet.
And to these people, it was even scarier than if these zombies just hit them!
The crawl of Dark energy and the smell of rot made the woman faint on the spot.
"Carry her," Samuel ordered a pair of zombies.
They obeyed. Now the prisoners were walking even closer to the undead.
Despite their exhaustion, they resumed walking even faster, just so they could get away from them!
Aleric was watching this all happen from the fortress's wall. Soon, the procession entered through the gate. If before, prisoners might have had some hope, at the sight of dozens of undead in the courtyard and even more recent corpses, they became filled with terror and despair.
But the zombies kept them all together. Nobody could escape.
Meanwhile, Aleric descended from the wall to get a report from his lieutenant, who was gone for a full day and night on this mission.
"Master Fenn, I have fulfilled your order. There are twenty human prisoners, assorted cattle, and various useful goods. I have found a mattress for you, too."
Aleric smiled.
"Great. It's just the time to finish raising my undead slaves. Did you have any complications?"
"A little. The people in the nearest village I went to had all fled long before my appearance. But the second village was smaller and more isolated. Its people didn't know about a necromancer nearby and gave almost no resistance to my troops. Only a few were killed while resisting. They didn't have a lot to take from, but I hope you are satisfied."
"I am. It's a wonderful feeling to have underlings that can do tasks like these. Now, take the prisoners and the animals into the inner keep. And make sure they all have water and whatever else they need to stay alive for another day."
"Yes, master."
While Samuel sorted out the prisoners, Aleric ordered another lieutenant to deal with the stolen goods. There was some food, but most of it was crafting supplies that would be useful for repairs of undead and their equipment.
Just what Aleric needed.
After the courtyard was cleared up again, Aleric pulled out a knife and ordered a goat to be brought to him.
The first thing he had done after waking up was to raise another batch of undead slaves, so now Aleric was lacking mana. A sacrifice was the best way to recover it.
When two zombies brought him a goat, Aleric cut its stomach, giving it a slow and painful death. While it bleated, Aleric gathered its death emanations, feeling his mana reserve recovering.
It took several minutes until the goat stopped breathing at last. Now Aleric's mana reserve was only a few drops away from full.
"The goat is barely large enough for a sacrifice. Still, I recovered all my mana in a few minutes, while it would've taken an hour if I simply meditated," Aleric said. "Take it away somewhere clean! I'm going to cook myself some goat meat later."
"There are more advanced sacrifice techniques than this one, master. But yes, they all work best on humans. Or even elves. Their high sensitivity makes their sacrifices especially effective," Spine Staff said while the zombies carried the goat's carcass away.
"I see no elves here, Staff. Now, don't distract me."
Aleric raised his hands and read the Raise Undead Slaves spell. Like usual, he poured all his mana into it—but for the first time in days, he had stopped before his mana reserve was empty.
The spell couldn't take any more. Thanks to all the repeated spellcasting, Aleric's mana resolve outgrew the spell, if only by a few drops!
Smiling, Aleric finished the spell. Thanks to his practice, finding and binding the soul remnants of the dead was almost effortless.
When he was done, thirty undead stood up. Now, only a couple of dozen were still waiting for their turn.
"Impressive, master! It looks like you mastered the Raise Undead Slaves spell—at least, its basic version," Spine Staff said. "Perhaps, soon you will use Raise Undead Servants instead."
Aleric chuckled, pleased with himself.
"Maybe. Zombies, bring me another goat! With my next cast, I will finish raising everything that was left after the battle."
Instead of meditating for an hour, he sacrificed another goat and raised a new batch of undead slaves in ten minutes. This was truly a high-speed process of raising the undead!
And Aleric didn't even have to touch his human prisoners. But this didn't mean that they would live.
Aleric ordered one to be brought to him.
"What are you planning, master?" Spine Staff asked. "There are no more bodies. I thought you wanted to advance on Oakdale and smash these mortal worms."
"Absolutely. But first, I need more undead servants." Aleric looked at the terrified woman who was being pulled toward him by a pair of zombies. "These people aren't soldiers and don't know how to fight. However, I bet they are better at doing repairs than the actual soldiers I have."
The woman was pushed to her knees on the bloody ground in front of Aleric. All the while, she was looking at him pleadingly.
She was young and attractive; it was visible even when she was covered in grime and was wearing a torn dress.
"P-please, spare me, sir! I will do anything! I will sing for you, I will warm your bed! Don't you want to touch something warm instead of all these corpses, sir necromancer?!"