Much later that day—so late it was night—after sleeping off the exhaustion from creating his necrosavants, Aleric was in his wagon, which currently doubled as a command room. There was a small table with a map laid out on it, and a few smooth rocks laid out to signify positions of military forces.
Here, Aleric listened to his subordinates' report about the number of his troops.
They have dwindled greatly in numbers but grown in quality. Aleric had too few sacrifices to mass-raise undead servants, but even zombie slaves with simple armor of the royal soldiers and mercenaries were better than the bare skeletons that he used as fodder before.
Besides, the king brought him an unexpected gift: five cannons, all in perfect working order. They and their ammunition were too heavy to take with the routing army. Aleric even found and raised some of their artillery crew to teach others how to operate the things.
