Dirge for a Necromancer - By Ash Stinson Page 0,108
who had been loaned some armor that didn’t quite fit him. As Diahsis mounted, Deggho begged him not to go fight, but the general wasn’t having any of it. He spotted Raettonus and spurred his gryphon steed across the yard to speak with him. “I suppose this’ll be done by tomorrow, this war,” he said.
“Have you seen Brecan?” asked Raettonus.
Diahsis unsheathed his gladius and a dagger. He was wearing an ornate, gilded breastplate that Raettonus didn’t find particularly suited to the situation, as well as a decorative helm of steel and dragon bone, the visor of which was carved into the fearsome face of a snarling wolf. “When I thought about how I’d die, I never imagined it’d be like this,” he continued as if Raettonus hadn’t spoken at all. “I mean, I always thought it’d be in war, certainly. Even before I was let into the army, I thought to myself, ‘Diah, some day a soldier’s going to kill you.’ Well, that’s just the sort of thing you think when you’re an elf. I didn’t think the soldier would be in the employ of Cykkus himself, however. It’s…it’s kind of an honor in a strange way. Well, hell, it’s a huge honor.”
“So you’re lurking here in the courtyard waiting to be killed?”
The general smiled wearily. “I was only getting ready and saying my farewells,” he said. “I’m going to go out like a hero should—fighting. I’m going to meet Cykkus’ army myself, ahead of the rest of my men. I don’t mind sharing the glory of the last stand with you though, Magician, if you’re headed out there as well. There are worse men to die beside, I think.”
“I beg to differ,” said Raettonus. He caught sight of Brecan across the yard, coming toward them. Raettonus waved him over.
“Oh, I was just coming to see how you were,” said Brecan. “You really shouldn’t be up—”
“I’m going out to fight,” said Raettonus. “Come over here. I’m going to need someone to ride into battle, and of course it’s going to be you.”
There was the slightest hesitation before the unicorn said, “Okay, Raet.” He knelt down for Raettonus to get on.
Once Raettonus was astride the unicorn, they started for the broken wall with Diahsis riding beside them. If his tight-mouthed gryphon was nervous about the fight, he didn’t show it. By the time they reached the fissure in the citadel wall, maggots and rats were climbing up through the break, barely held off by the soldiers there. Raettonus’ heart beat wildly at the sight of the rats as he and Diahsis flew over them through the empty air, and his vision began to blur.
And then they were rising into the sky, high above the squirming army below. “Rats, of all the things it could’ve been,” he mumbled to Brecan.
They banked hard to the side as abassy arrows came flying at them, Diahsis and his gryphon banking with them in perfect coordination. In the firelight and the pulsing blue glow of the mountains, Diahsis’ dragon bone helm flashed queerly. He flew close to Raettonus and said something with a grin, but his voice was lost to wind and battle. Maggots were crawling against the fortress walls, their stunted legs cracking the stones as they dug into them, their spit frothing out of their mouths. Where the noxious secretions touched the wall, the stone bubbled and began to dissolve. Diahsis dug his knees into the gryphon’s sides, and they split from Raettonus and Brecan, heading toward the maggots. Raettonus wheeled Brecan around to follow, drawing his rapier.
They came in low at one of the maggots, magician following general. Diahsis slashed it across the back, drawing its attention. Blood welled up onto its slimy flesh as it turned with a screech toward Diahsis. Raettonus followed after, directing a blast of fire toward it. It screeched again and fell, crushing several abassy on the ground beneath.
Another wave of arrows came at them. The gryphon broke upward while Brecan spun into a dive. He came down close on the abassy soldiers, and they struck upward with spears and lances. With an unrivaled grace, Brecan wheeled and turned in the air and weaved around their attacks. He kicked a couple of them in the head before turning upward. His long tail snapped behind him like a lash, breaking the wooden shafts of a few spears.
Miasmic arrows filled the air all around them, as did the normal arrows from the soldiers in the fortress beside them. Brecan dipped