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.She was easy to recognize, whatwith the hideous curse I'd laid upon her face.Judging by the corpse, Penelopehad either slit her throat when the Larinians took the city, or the Lariniansoldiers had done it for her once they saw her face.Yes, I grinned when Ifound Penelope's corpse - but an hour later, I laughed.When I finally foundthe badly hacked, mangled corpse of a large, burly blonde man with a scar onhis rotting cheek, wearing the tattered and bloodied remains of a red doubletand green hose, I burst into roaring laughter for several minutes."Justice!"I laughed."You disturbed the peace of the dead and robbed them during yourlife, Corwin - and now, in death, your own corpse shall have no peace."The carrion birds had become a great nuisance at this point, and wereconstantly degrading my troops' strength by ripping at them when they stoodthere idly.I decided to order all my troops that remained outside the city tomarch in a circle, pounding their shields in time, while my troops inside thecity were ordered to attack any animal that tried to eat them.My patrolsreported more scouts in the area, and I pondered what to do only for a moment.I decided that my troops looked so impressive that I told them to let thescouts through, and had a large bonfire assembled in the middle of them so itwould look like they were celebrating their victory.I was sure Gorlon-mak wastrying to reassure his troops that the moment I was dead, all these corpseswould fall to the ground, inanimate (which was true), and that they werenearly mindless things that only responded to my will (which also was true).His scouts, on the other hand, would pass tales of a completely differentnature.The rotting corpses of my troops were celebrating, not waitingmindlessly for their next orders.About the time my troops reported that someof the scouts were within sight of the city, I was struck with anotherinspiration.I had all my troops who still had enough flesh to speak begin anew chant, groaning and moaning in Darian's language.'Woa-oh! We grow and grow!''Woa-oh! We grow and grow!''Gorlon-mak, send us more!'Each time you do, we grow by the score!''Very soon now, only we will remain!''Then all will be death, and all will be pain!''No more life, no more laughter,''No more breathing men hereafter!'Then, of course, all twenty thousand of them that marched around the enormousbonfire began the chant again at the beginning.It was at about this time that Swift-wing flew down from above, landing nextPage 203ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlto me on the parapet I was using to observe my troops.He watched them insilence for a little while, then spoke."That is absolutely horrifying.Mymistress thinks so, too.""Thank you.Let's hope the Larinians have the same opinion, as it will savetheir lives.My patrols say there's three scouts about two leagues away,hiding over there by that small bridge that crosses the river.When they passthe word around about what they saw, it will completely ruin Gorlon-mak'sefforts to calm his troops," I replied with a smile, pointing at a distantspot in the darkness."Darian says he's got about as many men as he's going to get.All told, he'sgot about eighteen thousand light and heavy footsoldiers.""No cavalry?" I asked."No.You've got all the horses in this area, and I don't think that any ofDarian's men wants to ride them," Swift-wing replied with a cackle."They do stink a bit, don't they? Fortunately, we ravens are made of sternerstuff," I chuckled in return, and we shared a look of friendship for amoment."What will happen to them when you're done?" Swift-wing asked, preening hisfeathers."I'll have each of them dig a proper grave and get in it, then have theanimal-troops I control bury them.Then I'll just let them go, and they'll allsimply collapse.The animals will become food for scavengers if there's anymeat left on them by then, and the humans will simply lay there, returned totheir proper rest.If I'm killed in this war, they'll all just collapse rightthen.""They really are mindless, or nearly so, aren't they? I mean, looking at that,I could swear they were intelligent, and really wanted to slay all the livingbeings they can find, like some frightening 'Army of Darkness' or something.""Yes, they really are quite stupid, about as smart as a chicken or a snake,but I'm having them do that both to make the enemy fear them more and to keepoff the carrion-eaters.Our brother ravens really rip them up if I don't keepthem hopping," I replied with a grin."Huh! Not my brothers! I'm sorry, but I just can't bring myself to eat theflesh of an intelligent being, even if they are dead!" Swift-wing replied,fluffing his feathers."Of course.As Arella's familiar, you share a part of her soul.Certainly thecall of the wild was strong when you first encountered all these corpses andthe sudden pull of it on your mind was frightening, but as you said; you'rePage 204ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlmore than a mere animal, now.You're a mage's familiar, a special being.Incidentally, though, don't go nibbling on my patrol animals, as they've allbeen ordered to defend themselves against animals that try to eat them.""Thanks for the warning - I was just thinking how a couple of those rottingpigs I saw in the forest looked tasty.Ah, well.I'll just nibble a few ofthose maggots they keep dropping.Well, what's the next step? My mistress islistening and watching even now, and she's waiting to pass the word on toDarian and his troops.""We march on Larinia.Darian's troops take the western flank and mine take theeastern flank, as mine are more capable of cutting off any escape into themountains.There's also more towns and villages towards the western flank, asthat's the Bright Sea.Darian can provision and recruit as he goes along, andany casualties he has can simply be left for me.My troops will continue doingthings like this as we go along, and that will tend to drive game Darian's wayso he can use it to feed his troops.Remind him to leave the carcasses behind,however, as I can animate them and increase my own troop strength with them.Darian knows more of the lay of the land than I do, so I'll simply follow hislead, helping him when he engages the enemy and claiming the corpses of thedead.With any luck, we should be at the king's castle in a few weeks to acouple months.By then, Darian's troops will be very battle-hardened,especially fighting alongside mine, and virtually nothing Gorlon-mak can dowill deter them.We lay siege to the castle, capture it, and the job is done.Remind Darian that he'll have to keep a tight rein on his troops when theypass near or through Larinian towns and villages - the eunuchs especially.Hehas to keep them focused on the real enemies; Gorlon-mak and Dorian.One slipand he'll have a massacre on the hands of his 'army of light and justice'.""Darian says he'll be careful, and the commander of the eunuchs says thathe'll carefully instruct his men to remember who their real enemies are."I sighed."I really wish I could be there with you instead of occasionallyvisiting and playing the 'mad witch'.Tell me what the camp is like right now,at least.""Well, my mistress sees the inside of the headquarters tent.Darian is seatedbefore her, and Joy is seated next to him [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]