Finally we were moving again. I was worried though, as the news, which Tora and Leumina brought, were troublesome. No, these news were more than troublesome. Their mixed units of cavalry scouts had spotted numerous people moving in the direction of Gothol'uin. Or rather, they spotted what once had been people moving towards the city. Ghouls. Ghouls by the hundreds. The young and the old, the inform and the healthy. They all had been turned in masses. And they all were heading for the city. That much became clear when the two decided to actually run down one of these groups.

I had no doubt that the same ghoul king that had challenged us only a few days ago was in command. My mind boggled at the sheer scale of the atrocity committed by the monster and its henchmen. All the land still in between us and the city and possibly quite a bit that lay beyond the city depopulated in the attempt to gather another army, even if the horde was barely a shadow of a real army. Well, I better not underestimate them. It had been hell fighting those ghouls after all. What lay ahead of us probably would be worse.

As far as we could tell at least the people living in the hamlets and the surrounding lands that already lay behind us were spared, for now at least. I had no doubt that this cursed king of the dead would cull them as well if I gave it a chance or just enough time. I had to take that monstrosity down. There was no way around it. And I would have to do it in Gothol'uin, a city that would be swarming with ghouls by the time we got there. Worse, my new air cavalry spotted several wyvern circling over the city in the distance.

Yath'zur had already pointed out that these could easily negate any advantage I might have otherwise gained through the gryphon riders. It still stung a little to seem him proven right in such short order. At least the giant was back on his own feet though. The same was true for most others as well. Only a handful of our wounded still rode in the wagons under the watchful eyes of the healers.

I fell back towards Tero's banner, leaving the front of the marching formation to Gash'zur for the time being. My air cavalry might be outmatched, if you looked at the numbers alone, but I already had some ideas about turning that around. I needed to talk things through first with a proper mage though. After wards I would need to see Yath'zur as well.

He noticed me before I ever got a chance to find him among his men and women. He greeted me with a wave as he stepped up his pace slightly to meet me halfway. “I take it you are not just here for some light banter, yes? How can I help you?”

I cut right to the chase. “Those wyvern. Do you thin you and the rest of your mages could take out at least one with long range spells? Magic Missiles, Fireballs or Lightning strikes? Or anything else for that matter that I might not even be aware of.”

He pondered my question for a moment as we marched side by side. “A barrage of Magic Missiles should be able to force one to the ground. If you channel enough power into them they should easily tear through a wyvern's wings. Killing it though would be harder. Firballs and Lightning strikes would do the trick but you have to get a lot closer and aim better.”

He paused briefly to catch his breath. “During the battle at the gap we would usually force them to the ground with Magic Missiles and then finish them off with a few overlapping Fireballs. With the rest of my mages and your sister we might even be able to take on two at the same time. We just have to be careful not to drop them on the rest of our formation.”

Yes, a wyvern crashing among your army was a recipe for disaster. Even with torn wings they were still a force to be reckoned with. “How do the gryphon riders usually deal with them? Have you talked with them?”

He grinned. “I have. They work together, to keep the wyvern distracted so it won't focus on any one of them, while peppering it with Magic Missiles from all sides. They usually do that as high up as they can. That way, once the wyvern's wings fail the fall will break its neck.”

I blinked in surprise. That sounded surprisingly pragmatic. I still wouldn't want to be in their place up there. Playing dodge with wyvern at attitudes where any fall was sure to be your end was not my kind of fun. I nodded though. “So that is why they only take on one at a time.”

He shrugged. “In theory they might be able to take on more than one but the risk grows dis proportionally. It is already tough to dance around one of those scaly monsters, trying to hit its wings while making sure to stay well away from its teeth, claws and stinger. With several it gets quite chaotic fast and then the slightest slip up means you are dead.”

I nodded along with his explanation. “Which means we will have to lure them, or at least most of them in close so we can take them out with spell barrages from the ground.”

Tero didn't get a chance to answer as a horn signal from our flank interrupted us. A single high note. We were about to run into a group shambling ghouls again. This happened more and more often the closer we got to the city the enemy used as his stronghold. So far we had not encountered them in numbers that would give us trouble, but at the same time it was troublesome that they still kept trickling in.

If Gothol'uin wasn't already crawling with them, it would be soon. Well, it would be a few ghouls less that we would have to worry about soon. A group of riders crested one of the hills on the side of the marching column we were on. As they drew closer a series of hand signals, as simple as they were exaggerated for better visibility, let us know what to expect. Twenty or a few more.

This would be the third group of this size we dealt with today. Counting the more numerous smaller groups and those individual ghouls the scouts dealt with without even sounding an alarm, it had to be more than two hundred ghouls we put out of their misery so far today.

The infantry flanking the wagons straightened up a little but none of them moved to intercept this newest threat. The infantry was our reserve on the march. These ghouls would be pretty much dealt with by Leumina and her horse archers alone, as they could pretty much ride circles around any ghoul on foot. They could pick them off without much risk to themselves. Some of the lancers would usually accompany them though, just in case. This arrangement had worked pretty well so far.

“Back to your banner with you.” I playfully punched my brother in the arm. “Make whatever arrangements you must make to prepare for those pesky wyvern. I'll talk with Yath'zur in the meantime. Some giant sized javelins or a few thrown boulders sound like a decent backup plan in case one of those damned flying lizards doesn't succumb to the spell barrages.”

Tero rubbed his arm but grinned anyway. “Sounds good to me.” And with these words we parted ways.

It didn't take me long to reach the giant captain of the Wall Breakers and he, or one of his sergeants saw me coming from quite a distance as well. “He too greeted me with a wave of an arm. My lady, how can we be of service?”

I didn't waste time beating around the bush with him either. “I just talked Tero about bringing down the enemy's fliers. Do you think you could back him and his mages up with javelins or boulders or anything of that sort?”

He grunted and nodded. “We can, if they aren't flying too high up. Aiming for fast moving fliers is not easy but we have a few among our ranks with experience in that regard.”

That was what I wanted to hear. Before I could answer another horn signal interrupted me. This time it sounded out from the other side of the marching column. This was a little worrisome. Was it just coincidence or were they trying to pincer us on the move? “Damn, I hope I'm not marching us into a trap here.”

That prompted Yath'zur to laugh. “It is a trap for sure. But the way I see it, we won't be the ones sitting in it by the end.”

I grinned and switched to the side where this newest signal had come from. Most of our cavalry was still busy scouting in force and dealing with the previous group of ghouls. I would take care of this one personally, with the help of a few of our harpies.

I motioned for a few of them to follow me. We met the group of outriders who had raised the alarm halfway up the hill. The lancer leading them greeted me. “My lady. A dozen of them.”

That was a number we could deal with. I nodded. “Lead the way.”

We followed the riders as they led us towards this newest threat. It really was only a small disorganized band of ghouls that had gotten too close, as it was headed in the general direction of the city, just like us. They diverged from their course only as we drew closer, weapons at the ready.

The harpies spread out and the ghouls, who had been hard working farmers and farmhands not long ago by the looks of it, did as well. That sealed their fate. Individually they weren't much of a threat. It was over almost before it began. The harpies had gotten scary good at dealing with individual ghouls. A jump kick backed by their considerable momentum and a twist of their clawed feet was usually all it took to break the ghouls' necks, rendering them helpless.

I only got to jab the blade of my weapon into two ghoul heads in the end. After making sure non of the monstrosities would get back up the riders resumed their patrol. I was about to return to the marching column when Tortho, accompanied by one of his rangers ran up to us. “We are getting close enough to get a good look at the city and you probably do want to have a look at it before we get any closer.”

His words sent a shiver down my spine. That did not sound good.