The next morning I was up and moving a bit early. Kasidy had been busy writing in the book she had asked for. So I didn’t have to deal with her dumb questions keeping me awake, so after I ate, I just went to sleep. It was great. I had forgotten to ask Sam a question the day before.

I went up to look around the road and workout for a bit. The horse would want water, but I didn’t have enough. My waterskin was going to be kind of light for us as we were now under direct sun. My hope was that we would come across the town or a river today.

I started in on my katas and let my mind move as my body did. I was still working through killing the bandits. I had never killed people, or should I say humans, before. Yet these guys were bad news, and I knew it. Sure, I shot first, but they were ready to, so I didn’t think it was much of a problem.

The real problem was I crossed that line from Earth. That line of not killing humans. Everyone killed something, just not humans. Everything I read said it would change you if you did. Yet, I didn’t feel changed. It might have been those memories of lives as the necromancer. However, I felt like the bandits were the same as a goblin, something to beat.

I stopped between forms and asked. “How am I going to deal with people in town if I could just kill them out here like this.”

I sighed and started in on the next one. I still had a few as I thought through what I did. It might not have been as bad if once Kasidy went below, I hadn’t raised the bandits as zombies. They proved to be as dumb as I thought they would be and couldn’t talk. I had hoped that they would be able to scout some for me, but that didn’t happen.

I knew that it would bug Kasidy, so I had raised the dead horse and put the leader on it. I let him keep the armor he was wearing since it was worse than mine, and he kept his mace. Then I sent him out into the plains to lay down. He would follow us when we left.

The others stripped their gear which was mostly leather. Then they went out and dug a hole. I put them and the four lame wyverns into it and took the mana from them as I laid them to rest. With us on horseback, I didn’t see any way for the zombies to keep up.

I finished off my workout with push-ups and squats. As I did, I looked over at the packs with gear. We would put them on the horse and then leave. I knew that it was going to suck for the first few hours as I picked up horsemanship, horseback riding, or something. Until then, I likely would fall off a few times.

I headed back in to wake up the girls.

An hour later, we were up and moving out. Blink was riding as her lizard girl form her own horse. She was still stealthing, which I thought was great fun because it looked like the reins were just floating there. Kasidy, on the other hand, was having a good bit of trouble.

Her dress just wasn’t made for riding, and the saddle wasn’t meant to be on the side. So as we started to get up to speed, the sides of her dress started to hit the sides of the horse, which made it run faster. Then she would fight to slow it down and start all over again. I heard her humming her stamina song and her healing song as we went along.

Me, I did great right after I got on the horse. It took me about a dozen tries to get mounted, but once I did, I took to it like a kid on a seesaw. About thirty minutes into the trip, I cast minor heal on myself. Then I did it again 15 minutes later when I missed a turn, but the horse didn’t.

It was like that for the rest of the morning. Being on a horse and on the high road meant that we were able to move much faster. By noon we could see smoke from a town, and so we kept pushing for the next hour. It was kind of neat we were moving fast, and then the high road buff fell off, and we slowed down to a walk as we came down a hill.

With the town in sight, I sent my zombies into the plains to hide. I chose to group them, hoping that it would keep them from being found as easily. Then I told them to wait. I wasn’t sure when I would call them or if I would. I just needed to make sure that they were hidden, as I didn’t want people to freak out.

I slowed, pulled up next to Kasidy, and asked. “Anything you know about this town?”

She shook her head. “Not much. They are the closest port to The Tail. Beyond that your guess would be as good as mine.”

I snorted. “Think the bandits were working out of the town?”

“Likely so it might be rough on us if they were liked when they see the horses.”

“I get that, so we need to avoid telling them how the fight went down. Nothing about the wyverns… Or perhaps we should say something about them after all.”

She looked over at me. “What do you mean?”

I smiled. “If we get asked we tell them we found the stuff on dead bodies and even a couple of wyverns. That way it sounds like we just looted and burred the bodies.”

She nodded. “They might want to find the bodies. Will they?”

I chuckled. “Yes, that and four dead wyverns. If they want to go look they can but I’m not taking them.”

“What if they want the horse or equipment?”

“Not sure. I think we might could make a good argument that it was just found and that the horse would be dead without us and so we should keep them. But we might take a lower finders fee just to avoid much fight.”

She flashed me a smile. “Did you find much money?”

I shook my head. “No for bandits they were rather poor. The equipment wasn’t that great either. I left most of it honestly and only brought the stuff I thought would sell. Once the wyverns got done with them the leather they had was mostly ruined.”

“I would have thought that the leader would have had something good on him. He held himself like a lesser noble.”

I reached into a bag and pulled out a ring. “I think he was. We might have to give this up but I was thinking about telling them that we didn’t find a body that looked like him.”

Kasidy nodded and then asked. “Don’t we have his horse?”

“Yup, but I don’t have his equipment with me. Only his money bag and the rings.”

“I thought he only had the one?”

I huffed. “He was wearing one but he had three others. One is a poison ring and the other two were ladies rings.”

The land leading up to the town turned about that time to a gentle downward slope. The road went into some s curves to slow down the approach even more. Then when we were about three hundred yards from the gate, it flattened out.

Outside the town were dozens of homes scattered around. They were stone with thatched roofs and small walled gardens. As we approached, we saw people working in the gardens. As we got closer, we saw the road kept going north past the town, and there were people coming south.

The town walls were the standard gray stone that I grew up seeing in pictures of castles. The gate was sitting on the other side of a moat and draw bridge with guards stationed on both sides of the bridge. Overall it was what I expected from a walled town or city.

The traffic going in was quick, as it appeared that no one was stopping for the guards. They just walked or rode into town. When we got close, however, one of the guards stepped out and stopped us.

The guard was wearing a blue brigandine and holding a short wooden club with metal bands and spikes. His face was set with a bored professionalism that spoke of doing a job way too long. As he approached, he held up a hand to slow us down. The guard from the other side came over as well. This one was younger and appeared eager to prove himself in the way he raised his club to his shoulder.

The bored one asked. “What are your plans with these horses?”

I nodded to him. “Sell most if not all of them.”

The young one shouted. “Where did you get 'em! I know some of those horses!”

The bored one looked over at the other. “Shut it Wulfhad and go back to your post.”

“No they need to tell me why they have Edric’s horse and it looks like Herrig’s too!”

I shook my head and looked at the older one. “We found these horses the riders were dead. So we kept the horses alive.”

The guard’s eyes got a little tight. “You said you found them dead. What did it look like did it?”

I shrugged a bit. “Wyverns. They got a few as well maybe even finished them off. But they were dead.”

The older guard nodded. “Up by The Tail then?”

I shook my head. “No only about 6 hours ride from here. Kind of surprised me that they were this far out. Must be getting low on prey or something.”

Wulfhad was eying me as we talked. I could tell that he didn’t fully believe what we were saying, but he didn’t know what to do. I also was guessing that he was friends with this crew, and it might have been how they got back in town with their ill-gotten gains.

The older guard grunted. “Well you’ll want to stable them horses. They look like they could use some water and oats. If you take the first road to your right when you go in then you will find a stable there. They might even buy them from you.”

I smiled and nodded. “Thank you! And what’s the name of this place?”

The guard laughed. “Last port.”

With that, we headed into the town. As we passed through the gate, I got a good look at the way they built here on the edge of the sea. The homes in the town looked like taller versions of what we had seen on the way in. The big difference, however, was the roofs. They were slate and not thatch.

Right at the gate, there had to be over a hundred people moving around it. It wasn’t like in games that I played where there might have been a hundred people in the whole city. Nope, this was real; these people were real. The smell was real.

* * *