The horn sounded again, Stathis heading towards it, Parth tailing close behind. She kept the metal shard carefully in her hand, not wanting to drop it. Could it turn people into those things? Although there was probably more to it than that.

Outside of the woods, it was the usual perpetual twilight again, although Stathis could see further in that than in the deep shadow from beneath the trees. Vrintar was already up on the walls, turning to gesture Stathis forward. The townsfolk were gathered around, holding weapons and tools, looking nervous and tense. Pajaran came running as well, weapon at the ready.

The crowd parted to let Stathis through, and she tried to look confident and like she knew what was going on. Vrintar reached down, Stathis extending her arm and letting herself be hauled upwards onto the scant parapet.

On the other side of the wall, amongst the fields and cottages that surrounded the town, were stood hundreds of humanoid figures, all visibly dead, most skeletal, and few that were more intact, rotted flesh and ragged clothing. Some had obvious signs of what had killed them – one was missing an arm, with their clothing torn away, savaged by some beast.

‘Shit. I thought they were a random mob!’

They weren’t formed up into military units, and most didn’t even have weapons, but there were several hundred of them – hacking through them was a possibility, but getting swarmed under would be a danger. They weren’t moving though, just standing there, bodies slack.

‘Should we attack? Before they start moving?’ Vrintar had an axe out, heat starting to waft from her skin.

‘Who’s commanding them? They wouldn’t have done that by themselves. Uh, probably.’

The darkness limited her vision enough that there could easily be a necromancer hiding at the back, out of sight. But why hang back?

Lightning snapped down, earthing itself behind her. The thunder followed, air slamming in a shockwave, making Stathis wince at the volume. There was another, smaller flare ahead of her, white light crackling followed by another, quieter crack of thunder. A horse cantered forth, black flesh limned in white light, rearing up, hooves kicking at the air.

On the back of the horse was a rider, a slight figure, dressed in flamboyantly bright clothing, reds and yellows catching the afterglow of the lightning burst. The horse pranced and posed, the rider now drawing a weapon, a long and thin bar of metal whipping about.

‘Surrender now, or I shall feast on your blood!’ The horse reared up again, rapier flashing. ‘Send out your leader!’

An arrow arced through the low light, whistling as it dropped towards them, glowing lines of energy spinning out from the fletching. The rider slashed their rapier at it, batting it from the air. It embedded itself into the ground, which then erupted, peppering the air with fragments of mud and stone. The horse stamped down on the arrow, the wood snapping and splintering to pieces.

‘So you have a defender? Well, then send them out so that we may duel for the right of conquest! Or simply surrender, and accept your place beneath me! Or I shall be forced to destroy this place – those walls cannot hold for long against my armies!’ They spun their sword around their head, floating motes of sickly green light appearing, two of them flashing forward.

Stathis moved forward, swinging her shield in the way, feeling the force of the impact, explosions of life-draining power snapping out. The force behind it was weak though, an effect she could easily ward off. Vrintar took a step to the side herself with a chuckle. ‘I’ll let you have this one.’

‘Thanks. Doesn’t seem to have much backup. Just be ready to do something in case they try and swarm me under. And look after this, without touching it.’ She carefully handed the shard over to Vrintar.

She dropped off the walls, down into the ditch, feeling the loose ground shift as she landed. From down here, the undead looked even more intimidating, the numbers harder to judge, although none seemed to be “upgraded”. If she had to, she could probably retreat to the walls and fight them there – and hope that they lost interest or power before finishing her off, or that everyone together could destroy them.

‘Oh? A knight? You must be brave and foolish, to defend this place alone.’

The undead moved, shuffling to face Stathis, presenting her with an unnerving array of skulls and rotted faces, some of the more freshly dead sighing as they moved, air getting forced through decaying lungs.

‘This place is under my protection. Leave, or you will die. Again, and permanently this time.’

As she got closer, Stathis could see more details of the rider – their horse was a large stallion, making their slight body seem even smaller, fancy and expensive-looking clothing draped over their body. Their rapier was all business though – bright metal, well-made, the slight sheen of magic around the basket hilt.

‘I don’t suppose you have do me the courtesy of removing your armour? It is rather hard to bite through, and I’d rather not blunt my fangs.’

Long, black hair framed a pale, oval face, lips painted bright red, something complicated-looking around their eyes with several colours fading into each other. As they opened their mouth, Stathis could see a pair of sharp fangs there, bright white despite the gloom.

‘A vampire? That explains a lot. So before we do this, are you with anyone, or have you just been loitering around for a while. That clothing doesn’t look very local, but I’m told that magical transportation is impossible. So where have you come from? There’s not much here to conquer.’

The stallion pawed at the ground, Stathis moving a hand towards her sword-hilt in case it charged.

‘Oh? You have an eye for fashion, it seems.’ They preened, ruffling their silks. ‘And are rather more up-to-date than I expected. I would have thought this place to be protected by no more than simple country bumpkin, in their ancestor’s armour, with a sword beaten from a ploughshare. But you sound educated?’

‘We don’t have to fight, you know. You could just dispel these undead, let them be buried and leave. Would make things easier for everyone.’ Reaching them on that horse would be hard, especially if they kept moving, but the rapier wasn’t really intended for mounted fighting itself, and would struggle to penetrate her armour. If Parth kept attacking with arrows, then this would probably be quite straightforward. As long as they didn’t have any stupid magical powers, at least. She eased her sword in the scabbard, readying to fight.

‘Oh? Is that an offer of surrender?’ Their voice was light and teasing, one of the horse’s hoof’s padding at the ground.

‘No, but there’s enough crap going on already without starting more fights. But I suppose it’ll be easier to kill you now. Or re-kill you or whatever. I don’t think you’re powerful enough to win, and you don’t have that many undead with you.’

‘Because your heart is pure?’

‘No, because I’ve fought vampires before. So, how are we doing this?’ She drew her sword, shifting her feet to balance herself. The vampire was looking more uncertain now, behaving less flamboyantly.

‘This is not what I expected.’

Stathis took a step forward, slow and steady, watching to see how they reacted. They held their ground, but held their sword level – were they going to use it as a wand, rather than a weapon?

‘Perhaps you have a point – we don’t have to fight after all. I have merely been sent to acquire an item. If you were to give that to me, then I can take my army and leave.’

‘What are you after?’

‘Nothing more than a rather unpleasant-looking piece of civic architecture. I’m sure the place will be nicer looking with it gone. The obelisk that, I’m told, is in the town square. It draws the lightning.’ As if on cue, there was a flash above them, a spear of white light snapping to the ground somewhere behind Stathis, probably earthing itself into the monolith again.

‘No. Unless you can tell me what you want it for, and it’s nothing bad.’

‘Ah, well… On that front, I am somewhat deficient myself. I am but a humble envoy, not privy to the full information my master possesses.’

‘And who is your master? I hope not Poratia Uth Tremari? I’m really hoping she’s dead. Properly dead.’

The vampire couldn’t quite hide a look of shock as Stathis dropped the name, feeling a little smug herself. There probably wasn’t much in the way of an organised network amongst their foes, or even an organised group in charge, so what they knew was likely wrong or out-of-date.

‘Hmmm, it seems you must have travelled far, and fast, yourself. Even that name is not one many would casually utter.’

‘I’m pretty sure she’s dead, but confirmation would be nice. Truly dead, rather than a ghost or a lich or something. Or are you far enough down the ranks you don’t know? If you got sent out here I guess you must have pissed someone off. And you’re not getting back anytime soon, are you? Travelling from here without magic is going to take ages.’

‘I’m sure something can be managed. But you are clearly more than just some bumpkin knight-in-armour. I am Juliette Uth Kamari.’ She gave a little dip of her head, before flicking her hair back in an elegant toss. ‘Or are you so discourteous that you won’t even give your own name?’

‘Stathis.’

The horse skittered and pawed the ground uncertainly, the rider’s shock transmitting through it. ‘…Of the…?’

‘Yes. So it would probably be better for all concerned if you just buggered off, I think? Although it won’t be much of a problem if I do have to destroy you.’

She raised her sword upwards then whipped it down, with enough force that Stathis could hear the sound of it, voice now squeaking slightly. ‘Yes, that does change matters. And it would have been useful to know such things in advance.’

Stathis took another step forward, wondering if she would be able to cut through the leg of a horse and bring it down in a single strike. The thing was huge, and she wasn’t sure if it was a normal horse or something conjured up from darkness that might be even tougher than expected. And attacking horses was an ugly move, but otherwise the vampire would easily be able to escape.

‘To me, my brood!’

Three patches of mist scudded into view, darting around the stationary undead and coming to a stop around Juliette. The mist roiled and congealed, forming itself into three more people, all dressed in the same flamboyant style as Juliette, clothing that would probably have been dazingly bright in full daylight, too flamboyant even in the low light, all exquisitely made up, with weapons at their hips. And, of course, overly-sharp fangs.

Four of them – it was impossible to tell their power, but that tilted the odds a lot, and was probably more than she could defeat by herself. If they turned into mist again, then keeping them around long enough to kill would be hard, even with the others supporting her.

Stathis made her sword glow, the soft light of dawn shining out from the metal. One of the lesser vampires hissed and winced, narrowing their eyes. ‘So, what are you going to do? This place is under my protection. If you attack, you will die your final death. You’re not having that obelisk unless you can give me a good justification that doesn’t involve it being used for something evil. If I catch any of you sneaking around, then it’ll be the last thing you ever do.’

Juliette was wincing, not entirely able to hide her distaste, but smiled. ‘It seems that we may be at something of an impasse. Although I do wonder how much your reputation is deserved? Kina, if you would be so kind?’

One of the vampires charged forward, moving with blinding speed, sword flashing forward. Stathis blocked it with her shield, feeling the impact running through her arm despite their slight build, their rapier coming back and then lunging forward. It rattled against her armour, scratching against the metal – against someone not fully armoured, it would have penetrated straight through the skin and into the heart, killing them instantly.

Stathis wasn’t as fast or elegant, but sidestepped another attack, moving in close towards them, slamming at them with her shield. They fought like a duellist, wanting to keep their enemy at reach, poking at them and bleeding them out until they died. Another strike rattled Stathis’ armour, another trying to catch her in the face, but they were easy to block. Stathis chopped back, using the edge of the blade closest to her. They blocked with an arm, Stathis letting her blade burst into light, feeling muscle peel away under the impact, then more resistance as she made contact with bone.

Even up close, she couldn’t tell what gender this one was, their appearance deliberately androgynous, but they hissed in pain as Stathis sliced through their arm, their hand dropping to the floor. The flesh melted away into ash, leaving a pile of bones atop the mud.

That didn’t stop them though, as they cast their sword aside and punched at Stathis. Their blow caught her in the centre of her breastplate, the impact strong enough to make her take a step back, their claws screeching down her armour. Stathis slammed at them with her shield, taking advantage of their lightness to keep them off-balance. They certainly weren’t battle-field trained, more shield-bashes keeping them from recovering, only their supernatural agility keeping them from being dumped onto their ass.

As they half-fell backwards, she bought her sword around in a wide and shining arc. They tried to throw themselves backwards, but weren’t quite fast enough, her blade cutting into their chest. Light erupted, the flesh parting easily under the blade, their ribs scarcely more of an obstacle, bones snapping. They screamed in pain, snapping away into mist, the cloud skimming away with impressive speed, going and hiding behind the other vampires.

‘OK, that makes things easier, doesn’t it? So, bugger off and you don’t die.’

‘You do live up to your reputation!’ The mist was flowing around in a decidedly sullen fashion, the grey haze shot through with lines of red. ‘Most impressive. But I have orders from one that I do not dare to disobey – and so our battle will continue. Although, I think, not quite right now, when I appear to be at quite the disadvantage.’

Juliette’s steed reared up again, Stathis bracing for an attack, lightning arching through the sky above them, bright enough to cut through the darkness. But there wasn’t an attack, instead the undead started to move, shambling away, moving into the tree cover and fading from view.

‘We shall speak again soon, daughter of the Iristari! You cannot cower behind your walls forever!’ The other vampires puffed back into mist and raced off, the wounded one trailing behind, appreciably slower. Juliette made another fancy series of thrusts and stabs, before her horse wheeled around and raced off, the hoof-impacts audible even after it had vanished from sight.

Stathis waited, just in case something else emerged from out of sight, but nothing happened. She walked back to the walls, the gates creaking open, putting her sword away.

Inside, the townsfolk were kneeling, eyes down. As soon as she stepped forward, they cheered.

‘Stathis of the Iristari!’ They looked up at her, eyes bright, before bowing again. One of them stood up, brushing dirt off his knees. He approached, bowing with every other step, head bobbing up and down.

‘Please, accept my humble apologies! If I had known, then…’

‘Don’t worry about it. You’re helping already.’

‘But…’

‘We’ve got more important things to worry about. So you don’t need to make a big thing of it.’ Although with most of the town bowing to her, that seemed unlikely! ‘I’m going to talk to the rest of my group.’

‘Of course, Lady Stathis. I will have the finest food provided!’

Stathis sighed – it seemed rude to try and talk him out of it, and it would probably take too long. ‘Fine.’ ‘Semari, Vrintar, come with me!’ She looked around, but couldn’t see where Semari was, but had hopefully heard. Vrintar raised a hand in acknowledgement, the crowd opening up to let her through as she started to move. Parth was on one of the roofs, jumping down and moving out of sight as well.