The First Lich Lord - Chapter 165

The litter stopped in front of us. The four corners were made of carved black ivory, and the roof was made of dark brown wood taken from something called a demon tree. The perfectly muscled living dead carrying it moved in absolute sync. If it wasn’t for the fact I’d scanned them and knew they weren’t a hive mind I would have assumed they were.

The beaded curtains parted, each bead made of bone. They clattered softly together. The leg that parted the curtains was bare, smooth, and elegant. The skin was a pale blue-gray and flawless. The woman that followed was breathtaking.

Her long, black cocktail dress boasted a slit clear past her hip into her lower rib cage. The top was held closed with ribbons of purple lace. The dress accentuated every curve of her sensual body. Her lips were black, and I wasn’t sure if that was lipstick or just their natural color, her eyes were dark gray, and her hair was platinum white.

I took a deep breath though I didn’t need one. Behind me, Raven whispered, “Who is this skank?”

“Freya, it’s good to see you again,” I said.

“Lord Verniac,” Freya purred gliding down the steps that extended from her litter. I dismounted Shadow to meet her. “It is good to see you alive.”

“I will not lie, I’m surprised to see you here,” I said.

“When we sensed your power, we wanted to come, but Vito told us to wait.” Freya neared. Abimelech tensed, and I gave her mental assurance.

“It would’ve been too soon,” I agreed. “I’m assuming you mean the dungeon?”

“I do indeed,” Freya purred. “But Vito was right, it would’ve been too soon.”

“Now that I have a dominion you have come,” I said. “I warn you, Freya, I have sworn to not cause undue harm to those in my dominion, I’m not forcing people to become living dead.”

A glint of amusement passed through her eyes before she let out a throaty laugh. “I have never been about forcing people to join the enlightened, I just think they’re fools for denying themselves the freedom that comes with it.”

I nodded, having heard her say that exact thing many times before. “I also have a deal with a death god, I can’t give you all the temples.”

“She’s some kind of priestess then?” Raven demanded, still standing on Shadow’s back. “Do we need more priests causing us problems?”

Raven knew better. Her tone said she was being petulant. Freya responded before I could, “Little werecat, I serve Thiar. He is the patron god of all living dead and wishes to see our race expand to its rightful place in this world.”

“I have already agreed to work with a local death god, Freya,” I said, feigning disappointment. “I cannot devote temples to Thiar, not all of them, first I must give them to the clergy of Shad’ehki.”

“I am well aware of your dealings with the raven,” Freya assured me. “Thiar is rather quite pleased actually. Shad’ehki and him go way back, I can work inside her domain with no issue, and there will be plenty of temples for me to use once we take Maltis.”

“I’m still uncertain how I will do that.” I eyed her troops pointedly. “I’m a little short on forces myself.”

“I am here to help you. Vito sent me with the forces he had and of course I brought my own through Tehomal. But first introduce me to these fine,” her voice was almost husky, “specimens of the living dead race.”

Though they weren’t fully self-aware, I was pretty certain they were getting close, and they were indeed fine specimens of the race. “This is the Dread Thirteen, their leader is Abimelech, they are exalted living dead made from the bones of Nephelium. Kellnock, the ruler of my dungeon, is an elder living dead and helped of their creation.”

“I’m disappointed I did not get to meet such a mighty soul as an elder living dead,” Freya pouted. “Vito did not tell me there was one such there. And who is your werecat?”

I had no doubt Vito didn’t tell her Kellnock was there because he knew exactly what Freya would’ve spent the next week doing with Kellnock. Though I wondered if the elder living dead would’ve rebuffed her. “This is Raven, she is—”

“I am—” Raven cut me off, jumping down next to me and stepping toward Freya. “His best friend and wise advisor.” Her confidence waned a little when she got closer to Freya and the height difference was made very clear.

“Why have you not joined the living dead?” Freya asked. “Ezekiel can turn you. I can even do so and give you more…” She trailed off while gesturing at her curvy body.

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“Why would I do such a thing?” Raven asked in a tone that was very clear she was honestly asking not just being rude. “I’m a werecat. I don’t care what you are, we are the superior species. It’s just the way of the world.”

I did my best not to laugh when a glint of annoyance flashed in Freya’s eyes at Raven’s words before she shook her head. “Werecats and their boundless confidence, according to your kind all of the rest the world should kiss the ground you walk on.”

“Obviously.” Raven’s tail flicked. “Zeke and Max are the exception.”

At this point, Raven was merely screwing with Freya, she didn’t actually think that, or so I thought. They continued to eye each other up. I wasn’t exactly certain what was going on, but Raven definitely was not a Freya fan.

Deciding I had better things to do, I moved on and began to look over the troops with her. There was a distinct difference between the troops from Vito and Kellnock and Freya’s own force. Vito’s and Kellnock’s were more of what I had, though there was a new mounted company of bone guard which I was happy to see, while Freya’s troops were all living dead.

They wore armor and shields emblazoned with the symbol of Thiar. From past experience, her forces were essentially what I had been fighting in Olattee, just a different god. I was happy to see at least one death paladin, they were something else to see on a battlefield.

“Are more of my former allies coming?” I asked Freya when she and Raven finally ended their stare down, the reinforcements from Vito and Kellnock now moving towards my army on the other side of town. I was back on Shadow, and Raven hopped up behind me drawing a glare from Freya. She returned to her litter and kept pace with me, the curtains pulled open.

“Tellkin came with me,” Freya responded. We were marching through the village, the troops in neat columns, and the town folks watching us closely. “He did not come here because Vito had him start on building up a second army to push out from that first city you took. We needed to secure the area out to the ocean.”

“That’s good.” I didn’t like that it meant I would be receiving less reinforcements from them, but I’d been worried about the long line of exposed cities and villages we were leaving behind. “Tellkin is an excellent strategist and battlefield commander, I’m certain he will do an excellent job.”

“Good at his job, but far too boring,” Freya pouted. “He brought with him his own forces as well, so he has a strong core.”

I did my best to hide my amusement. Freya and Tellkin were always bickering, though mostly it was Freya trying to seduce Tellkin while the stoic man rebuffed her.

Returning to camp we integrated the new forces, along with Freya’s, though they were not under my direct command. I pulled up the army status sheet. My forces had grown a lot since the initial force from Kellnock and Vito led by Aaron. We had received reinforcements every other day. Not huge amounts, but it added up. Vito had a lot of material to work with right now.

Total soldier in army: 5,208 | Allies: 500

Troops

Mindless Undead

Zombies Trash Troops: 2,362 (0.1 command points)

Undead Troops

Bone Arches: 600 common troops (.5 command point)

Bone Guard: 1800 common troops (.5 command point)

Mounted Bone Guard: 100 uncommon troops (1 command point)

Life Thief: 200 uncommon troops (1 command point)

Advanced Greater Eldritch Death Elemental Zombie: 25 rare troops (1.5 command point)

Necromancer: 5 rare troops (1.5 command points)

Monster and Construct Undead

Flesh Golems: 15 uncommon monsters (5 command point or 1 monster handler point)

Mobile Eldritch Death Bone Cannon: 4 rare constructs (10 command points or 1 construct controller point.)

Undead Officers

Captain: 11 advanced greater zombie nexuses. (1 command point of captain rank)

Lieutenants: 46 advanced eldritch death knights, 27 advanced eldritch bone archers. (1 command point of lieutenant rank)

Sergeant: Control zombie. 25 uncommon troops (1 command point of Sargent rank)

Living Dead

Living Dead Officers –

Lieutenant Colonels: 11 exalted living dead (1 command point of lieutenant colonel rank)

Colonels: 2 exalted living dead (1 command point of colonel rank)

Commander in Chief: Ezekiel – Lich (command point not needed)

Living

Troops –

Specialist: 1 Raven – Werecat (1 specialist command point needed)

Officers –

Chief of Staff: 1 Maxwell Cromwell (1 staff command point needed)

Ally Force: Heralds of Thiar

Commander: Freya

Force Summary –

Living Dead: 500

My army had nearly doubled in size, though much of that was mindless undead which weren’t worth a lot. The continued addition of monsters and constructs along with the mindless undead augmented my forces. Knowing the quality of the troops Vito was providing was likely higher than I could easily create on my own, I elected to focus on making monsters, since I had more experience doing that.

Freya’s forces being counted as an ally instead of my own also made sense. She was most definitely not under my control. Though with her present, I had much more confidence in attacking Maltis. At my current rate of growth, I guessed I would have well over 3000 mindless zombies by the time we reached Maltis. That would be over my capacity to incorporate unless Vito sent more controllers, I was certain he would. Vito knew I was severely lacking in that department.