Raising an Army

[Cadorius]

People had dared to defile his territory, had dared to rob his city and strike down his minions before fleeing into the night. This transgression had roused the undead. No longer content to sit in the ruined city and lord over his small dominion, Cadorius now would unleash his scourge upon Avaren and any who dared intrude upon his territory.

First things first, he would hunt down the dragon-man thief who had snuck into his city and robbed him. So it was that he had rallied a small horde of undead minions and departed the city, heading for Avaren. Such was the nature of the curse placed upon Aesir that, though their dead had risen once more, if they attempted to leave the limits of the ruined city, they would catch fire and be reduced to dust when first stricken by the sun's rays. That was, unless they were being commanded by an undead lord such as Cadorius. So long as he was with them, his power suppressed that part of the curse.

In his march, he slaughtered any sentry of peasant he happened upon, adding them to his slowly growing horde. Now, he found himself within the cemetery nearby the city, where they buried all of their dearly departed. What a perfect location for recruitment. These undead, unlike those created during the fall, had nothing to do with the cities curse and would fight regardless of whether or not Cadorius commanded them.

Soon, he would have forces enough to invade the city itself.

[Xannon]

Xannon was here for one reason and one reason only: she was here to get her damn stuff. That was it.

So why the hell were there zombies conglomerating in the god-damned crypt?

She frowned, crouching unseen in the snow behind a tall grave marker. She thought the alleyways were the places she needed to be wary of, but clearly Tiy had forgotten to mention the undead hordes heading toward the city. That was just not cool, man.

The short, childlike girl concentrated, feeling warm magic rush over her chocolate skin to make her Unnoticeable. She wasn't a full-blown wizard yet, but she wasn't a [complete] novice either.

She sneaked along quietly, trying to not pay attention to the obvious little boot prints that trailed her path in the snow. Xannon removed the stick from her back (just in case) and silently heaved the strap of her satchel over her shoulder.

She began following her trail of prints, pretty sure she could make it all the way back...

If there was anything Xannon was good at, it was hiding!

Well, that was what she thought until her small feet tripped over a stray--root? bone?--and she yelped, falling face-first into the icy snow and breaking her spell.

Her arms stretched out in front of her, holding onto her walking stick as her winter cloak draped around her like a burial shroud.

Suddenly, this night really sucked.

[Cadorius]

The moment the yelp left her lips, the undead froze in place as one. Cadorius, who had been in the middle of the activity watching over his minions, slowly turned toward the source of the noise. His minions waited silently for his orders, completely motionless.

His hand fell to his side, slowly drawing forth his sword from it's ornate sheathe. Now, the undead closest to to the girl began to edge closer to her. Pointing his sword at the girl, his voice boomed across the desolate graveyard. "Foolish mortal! What business could you possibly have here in the land of the dead?"

While the knight spoke, his minions moved to surround the girl, closing in on her the entire time.

[Xannon]

What was that sound? Oh, shi--

Xannon abruptly righted herself. Her eyes crossed at the massive and pointy metal stick that was angled a bit too near her cute little face to be anywhere near comfortable.

She swallowed.

Foolish mortal, land of dead, yada yada.... And what was that crunch of snow all around her?

As the melting snow soaked into her pastel pants, the girl with the appearance of a twelve-year old bowed forward, chocolate hands displayed bare on the ice.

"I'm so sorry!" she pleaded. "I didn't mean to intrude! I was only, uh, hiding my belongings here because I was worried someone might steal them.

"Please," she continued, looking up as crocodile tears trailed her round little eyes, "spare me!"

Oh, crap, wondered Xannon, thoughts completely separate from her behavior. What have I gotten myself into now?

[Bloodwing]

Ever have that feeling where you know something really bad is happening or is about to happen, that chill running up your spine that some thing just isn't right, or feel feel a disturbance like millions of people screaming out before they all go silent? Well if you ever felt that last bit you're probably a Jedi. Anyway that unpleasant chill ran up Bloodwing's spine and the benevolent presence that rarely seemed to make itself known was calling to him, and asking him to act on that feeling, and for once the force of destruction within the book agreed.

So it seemed things had been decided for him. He grabbed his sword, and scabbard from the hooks it was laying on., And strapped the blade to his back. He also grabbed a satchel so he could hang tha book at his side. And made his way out of the academy, and followed his instincts.

He found himself heading towards the graveyard, and it didn't take long to see the skeletons all closing in on something. He squinted his eyes, and saw that it was Xannon, the little woman he had brought to the academy, and she was on her hands and knees kneeling to... no. The knight had followed him. This wasn't good, and it seemed the maggots had ventures from their carcass of a city.

He stopped and raised a hand The ground around Xannon heaved upward, and enclosed her in what looked like a dome of dirt, rock, and mud The dome sank into the ground, "Picking on little woman are we fiend who can't even defend a little book.", he said patting his satchel, before the dome rose back out of the ground next to him, and opened to reveal Xannon, unharmed but cover in dirt. He had created a bubble of earth and basically pushed and dragged her over to him then brought her out of the ground, she was now safe at his side. "Are you alright?" he asked. Xannon. As soon as she'd be able to hear him.

[Cadorius]

Cadorius wasn't even certain he wanted something as pathetic as this little girl serving in his army. The arm holding his sword slackened slightly, and he was on the verge of lowering his arm. Hell, he might be able to swear her to his service or something, training her in the arts of necromancy to one day be a powerful general in his dominion. If not, she could always be eaten by his minions at a whim.

Yet, another interrupted his thoughts. Not just any individual, it was the one who had roused the undead lord. That dragonman!

"You!" He spat at the man. "The cowardly man who runs at the first sign of conflict! Go, my minions, feast upon his flesh!" With that, his undead hordes lurched toward Bloodwing, with Cadorius advancing in their wake. As he went, he muttered profane words to himself, causing the frames of his minions to glow with dark energy, creating a shield to ward off the fire and earth attacks that the dragonman would retaliate with.

[Xannon]

It seemed Xannon's begging was... working? Thank G--

And suddenly everything went dark. Seriously, what the hell? Confused, the little mage glanced around her little tomb. It smelled of earth. That scary dude hadn't done anything, so the Earth itself was eating her now? She knew she was adorable and delicious, but really...

And then, about a hundred times dirtier than she was originally, fresh and frigid air bombarded her face as she sat next to Alex Skye, feeling very confused. What was it with that guy and ruining her clothes? It seemed that whenever they were in a thread together met, her pretty pastel attire became impeccably sullied.

"Uh... y-yeah... I'm okay," she answered meekly.

Man, Alex was so cool. But he'd seen her with those pathetic little fake tears covering her eyes. She quickly brushed them away, grabbed her stick, and hopped to her feet.

For some reason, the dead man seemed really ticked off. There was nothing wrong with being a coward. As a matter of fact, Xannon promoted such behavior. Her battle tactics consisted of three options: groveling, fleeing, or hiding.

Despite the fact it was the middle of the night, the corpses were glowing with grossness. Literally. That magic left a putrid taste in the air.

Oh, and by the way, they were charging at the pair.

"Alex! What do we do? What do we do?!"

[Bloodwing]

Well it seemed that Bloodwing had draw the dark knight's ire. Oh how fun this fight would be if he didn't have a pint sized civilian that was scared witless, standing at his side. The power at his fingertips was itching to be let loose. But he had another agenda. If he ruined the Knight and his horde now no one would see he needed to use restraint without showing it. He only had one witness, but that wasn't enough and it wouldn't effect the people of Avaren the same way.

He heard Xannon's question and smiled, "Well we do what anyone should do with the dead, see here we bury the dead." He said pulling his blade from his back. He aimed the blade down and jammed it into the ground. It cracked open, and heaved up to swallow the arm protected or no one couldn't fight physics, thought a man that can make fire by waving his hand.