War of the Words/Chapter 25

"Keep the fires burning!" Delnar shouted. "It does not affect them all, but it keeps the most hazardous ones at bay."

"Aye, commander!" a knight shouted. "But the periphery is engaged, and overall it is not a battle we are winning. Worse, some of our own fall before we can kill them and they too rise and join the onslaught against us."

"This is wrong," Delnar sighed. "People are supposed to have free will. They do not choose to serve this evil; it chooses them."

"Commander!" another knight exclaimed. "We discovered Cerin trapped in one of the lower buildings. He is injured, but not by the undead; he was caught in a cave-in. We heard him shouting just before we set the place ablaze."

"Cerin is alive?" Delnar felt the first moment of joy he had all evening.

"Commander?" The other knight said, demanding his attention. "There is a ship approaching the port! It flies the colors of Deren!"

"Praise be to the powers! Tralin has come at last. Mayhaps all is not lost."

"Don't get your hopes up, commander; some sea creature is attacking the ship."

"A sea creature?" Delnar asked, alarmed. "What is it?"

"It looks to be a Braken, sir, a very big one, but..."

"But?"

"Well, sir, I would not want to guess wrong, sir, but it smells of death something terrible; I think maybe it's an undead too."

"Undead Braken?" Delnar exclaimed. "Of course, whatever next; why should sea creatures be any more immune to the pestilence than those on land? This is my fault; I ordered the remains in the temple cast into the sea."

"Sir, the fray closes..." The knight said drawing a sword to fight an undead Vandarian soldier.

"So I see," Delnar said, turning to meet a combatant of his own.