The Wandering Inn_Volume 1, page 109
Regardless of the outcome above, Ksmvr estimated that the Queen would be finished with her task by the end of the night. Then he could request further orders. If she wished the city to be cleansed, the Soldiers were fully capable of doing so. Otherwise the Hive could easily be sealed off.
Ksmvr did not worry about his Queen’s reaction to his decisions. He did not worry. He had fulfilled his highest priority, even if it meant sacrificing lesser commitments towards the city. She would understand, would she not? She had given him no other directives.
“The city is expendable. The rogue Aberrations are of little concern and may be hunted down in time. The innkeeper—”
He hesitated. She was valuable. The city was valuable. But—
“The Hive is all. The Queen is all.”
She would understand. He dared not risk her safety by reducing the Soldiers protecting her. She had given explicit instructions not to be disturbed at any cost. At any cost. He was following orders.
And he had secured the individual known as Pawn. That was quite an achievement. Ksmvr remembered what the former Worker had said and shifted. He had been…unsure how to respond to Pawn’s words, as close to disloyalty as they had seemed.
“My judgement is not in error. My logic is sound.”
Reassured, Ksmvr nodded again. The last of the Soldiers were about to enter the hive. But suddenly, they paused. And stopped.
Ksmvr stared as one of the Soldiers seemed to glance up at the sky, listening. And then, suddenly, he turned around and began to run back down the street.
“You. Halt!”
The Soldier halted as Ksmvr strode towards him. The Prognugator held one hand on his sword’s hilt as he stopped a few feet away from the errant Soldier.
“What are you doing? I ordered you to return to the Hive and guard the entrance.”
The Soldier stared at Ksmvr silently. Of course, he couldn’t respond, but Ksmvr sensed no difference in the Soldier’s thoughts. He was following orders. Following orders, but whose? Ksmvr hadn’t ordered—
Something brushed past the Prognugator. Ksmvr whirled, but it was another Soldier. And not just one.
Suddenly, the massive Antinium warriors were streaming out of the Hive’s entrance again. Ksmvr whirled.
“What are you doing? What is happening?”
They ran past him, silently. He turned, and saw them running into the city. Even as he watched, they began charging towards the undead.
“What…?”
A hand tapped Ksmvr politely on the shoulder. The Antinium turned, and another fist crashed into his face. He fell down, hands grasping at his swords.
Ksmvr was Prognugator of the Antinium. He had been born to war, and so he drew both swords and daggers even as he rolled. He could not die. His life was important; he led the hive in his Queen’s absence. But he froze as he looked up.
The world was different. Ksmvr felt it. In an instant, his reality changed. He looked up and knew. He felt his Queen’s anger; he sensed her ire in his mind. She had returned. She had completed the Rite. And he—
He stood above Ksmvr.
“You.”
The world began to shift.
—-
Selys had never used a sword. Swords were for warriors, and she was just a receptionist. She had a few archery skills from a few levels as a [Hunter], but she had never touched a sword except to sell it or appraise it.
She had used a sword today, though. Selys staggered back and watched as the zombie fell, the hilt sticking out of his stomach.
The female Drake felt sick. But Krshia yanked the sword out of the dead human’s body and handed it back to her.
“Hrr. Good that you killed. You may gain a new class, yes? If we survive the night.”
It didn’t seem likely. Selys was behind the main line of guardsmen Zevara commanded, but already the undead had attacked their spot twice. They were everywhere. Overrunning the streets.
“We’re going to die.”
Krshia smacked her on the head. Selys gaped as he hand flew to cover her head, but the Gnoll just snorted at her.
“Save your weeping for when you are dead, yes? We are not done. Fight. Fight until all is lost.”
But all was lost. More undead were struggling at the barricades, fighting to break through. It was only a matter of time.
Part of Selys wanted to throw down her sword and wait for death. But it would be a terrible death, she knew. And she wouldn’t even die at the end of it. So she raised her blade awkwardly, waiting for the end. If she’d only been an adventurer, levelled in another class—
A voice. A shout. Selys turned, raising the sword. She’d long since ran out of arrows. But it wasn’t another attack. Tkrn ran down the street, waving the axe in his hand. He was running at a sprint, but his eyes were open, wide. And he was—smiling?
“The Ants! The Antinium are coming!”
Selys looked at Krshia. It couldn’t be. They’d retreated. But now another guardsman had taken up the call.
“The black tide marches!”
“The Soldiers are fighting in the streets!”
Wildfire ran through Selys’s veins, giving her new hope. It couldn’t be. But then she saw them. Shapes. Moving out of the darkness. Not one. Not two. A moving mass. An endless stream of bodies.
The Antinium.
Soldiers ran down the street. They crashed into the line of the undead even as Selys watched, gaping. First twenty Soldiers filled the street, rushing at the enemy, and then fifty. A hundred.
And they were not alone. Ksmvr, the Prognugator was among them. He slashed at a zombie with his daggers and suddenly a Worker was next to him. The smaller Antinium seized the dead zombie and bore him down, and two more were suddenly next to Ksmvr, stomping at the dead Drake until it was paste.
Soldiers and Workers flooded out of the tunnel, an endless stream of black bodies. But that wasn’t all. The ground and streets began to ripple and hands thrust out of the stones. The undead paused, and then a huge spade-like hand seized a zombie and dragged it into the earth. A Soldier Antinium rose out of the ground and finished ripping the undead woman apart.
The undead in the street hesitated. They were an army without fear, an endless tide of death that bowed to neither pain nor exhaustion. They would fight on even when they had lost arms or legs. They were pitiless, emotionless killers. But that was the nature of the Antinium as well.
Out of the tunnels. Out of the darkness. Workers raced next to huge, thundering Soldiers. They didn’t even slow down as the first group of undead appeared in front of them. The first Soldier smashed bodily into a ghoul knocking the smaller dead Gnoll down. He didn’t pause but ran on. The dead Gnoll struggled to get up but a Worker trampled him. And then another. The stream of Antinium did not cease.
A crowd of zombies met a Soldier. He ripped into them, shovel-like hands punching, gouging their weak flesh. Workers swarmed over another zombie, ripping, pulling him apart from every direction.
A Crypt Lord raised a clawed hand to shield at its face. A Soldier leapt from a rooftop, plunging thirty feet to smash its knee into the Crypt Lord’s face. Bone and flesh gave way as the Soldier began tearing the larger undead apart. The Soldier stood up, carapace covered in steaming black blood. His right leg was shattered from impact and green blood oozed around the broken black carapace. He took two halting steps forward, smashed a skeleton to the side, and then collapsed.
The Workers and Soldiers paid no attention to the fallen Soldier. They surged around and over him, rampaging through the ranks of the undead, fighting with mindless fury.
The guardsmen and warriors in the streets stared. Hundreds of black bodies ran through the streets, killing, pounding, tearing.
The Antinium. They had come out of the hive, leaving it practically undefended. But why?
Krshia pulled Selys out of the way as a group of Soldiers thundered past them. They barely noticed the Drakes and Gnolls. But one of them was leading the charge. Ksmvr paused as ahead of them, Zevara blocked his way.
“You! What’s happening?”
The Drake stared at the Prognugator, but he shook his head. Selys saw the Antinium had crackedthe chitin around his face somewhere. He looked—confused. She heard him raise his voice.
“We are attacking. We will drive the undead out of the city.”
“What?”
The look Zevara gave Ksmvr was incredulous, and she wasn’t alone. Selys had heard the Antinium had called all the Soldiers back. So why had he changed his mind?
Ksmvr shook his head helplessly.
“I did not order it. I did not. The Queen did not either. He—”
“Who?”
“He has gone to Erin Solstice with many Soldiers.”
“Who?”
Relc ran past Selys, his scales streaked with blood and grime. Selys grabbed at him. Relc nearly threw her off before he stopped.
“Relc? What’s happening? Why are the Antinium fighting now?”
He looked at her, wild-eyed. Selys took a step back. She had known Relc for a long time, but she’d never seen him look like that. His scales were grey. He pointed.
“I saw him. I saw—he was leading them.”
“Who was? Relc?”
The Drake didn’t answer. He sagged, staring at the Antinium as they filled the streets, fighting. He whispered, so softly only Selys and Krshia heard it.
“He’s back.”
—-
This was how it ended. In the last hours of the night, Erin fought outside of her inn, the undead and the Antinium mixing into a blur. She stared up at Skinner and saw death and horrors in his face. She raised a kitchen knife, a tiny weapon, and vowed in her heart to hurt him before she died.
This was how it started.
Skinner grabbed for Erin. She ducked and stabbed at his arm. Her blade cut a few inches into his dead skin and stopped.
Erin rolled out of the way as the hand came back. It still caught her a glancing blow but the red spot didn’t touch her, didn’t steal her skin. It had taken two Workers already. Their carapaces had been torn away by Skinner and tossed to the ground.
A Worker caught Skinner’s hand. He knocked the Antinium away, but three more gripped his arm and stopped it. Skinner raised his other hand and Erin threw the jar of acid.
The acid splashed on his face and he shrieked. The sound went through her bones. She covered her ears as he clawed at his face and the Antinium did likewise.
But something moved despite the ear-piercing sound. Toren ran out of the darkness and leapt towards Skinner, dagger in hand. He leapt onto Skinner’s face and began stabbing wildly. Skinner tried to shake his head, but he had no neck.
His eyes. Those crimson eyes. Toren clung to Skinner’s face, wriggling into the sunken sockets, tearing and cutting with his dagger as the giant creature tried to shake him free.
Again Skinner screamed, and this time ripped Toren away with a huge chunk of flesh. He hurled the skeleton aside.
Toren fell away with something red in his hands. But no blood. Skinner howled and struck after him with a massive hand, but Toren was already gone.
One of Skinner’s eyes was gone. In its place, a huge crater of dead flesh was all that remained. Dead flesh.
It was as if all Skinner was made of was just flesh. There had to be bones or muscle or—or organs. But all Erin had seen as the Workers and she had carved bits out of the creature was skin.
Something struck her from behind. She turned and a zombie bared rotten teeth, biting at her. Erin struck at him with her knife, but it wasn’t good for killing something already dead. It glanced off bone and she screamed as the zombie grabbed towards her face.
A blue hand reached out and pulled the zombie backwards. A ghoul—a long-dead human with blue, moldy skin—pull the zombie back.
Erin blinked. The ghoul tore off the zombie’s head and then rushed at another skeleton. The group of the undead tore into their allies.
“What the—?”
Above her, Skinner was still clutching at his face. He was feeling at his eyes, as if he couldn’t tell one was missing. As his fingers touched the gaps he shrieked again. His ruined face turned towards Erin.
Skinner swung at Erin and she dove to one side. She scrambled to her feet and threw the knife in her right hand. It caught a ghoul in the eye and it fell back as a Worker dug into Skinner’s side. The Antinium dug at the hard, dead flesh like it dug at dirt, pulling away huge layers and pieces as Skinner thrashed and tried to reach the Worker. But they were too close, too hard to grab at.
More undead ran around Skinner, fighting Erin and the Antinium. But something was happening. Half of them seemed to be trying to kill the other half. Even as Erin watched, two skeletons bore down a ghoul that had a sword stuck through its belly.
Erin seized the sword and dragged it out. It was heavy and unwieldly in her hands, but she hacked at Skinner’s arm with it. Bits of dead flesh flew everywhere.
Skinner backed up. He was trying to shield his body, but the Workers were everywhere, and the human girl kept coming.
It shouldn’t be like this. She should be cowering. The Antinium should be dead. And his own undead had turned against him. It was all wrong.
But the girl ignored his fear. The dead had no minds to torment with horrors, and the Antinium were fearless. Skinner could only crush them, struggling to catch the Workers and undead.
He was just a slothful, hulking thing. He had no legs. He didn’t even have good hand-to-eye coordination. It was only his hands, his flaying touch and his aura of fear that were the threats. And Erin had come far. She refused to run.
She plunged the sword into Skinner’s arm. Deep. Nearly to the hilt. She hit something—something besides dead flesh. Skinner howled in agony.
He backhanded her and Erin flew. She actually felt herself lift into the air before she hit the ground so hard she forgot everything for a second. When she looked up, he was raising a hand to squash her.
She rolled out of the way just in time. The hand smashed down and she grabbed at it. There was no time to think. As the arm lifted again and Skinner searched for Erin she leapt onto its head. The grotesque layers of flesh cushioned her and she tried not to vomit.
She climbed the dead flesh, feeling it, slick and horribly cold beneath her skin. Erin raised the sword and stabbed down into Skinner’s head, clumsily sawing and hacking with the blade.
Skinner shrieked again. And only now, touching him, did Erin feel the vibrations coming from inside. She pushed the sword deeper and then cut again, levering out a square of compacted skin.
Below her, zombies began trying to pull her off. They crowded around her, but the Workers shoved them back, fighting them. Erin desperately clung to Skinner and he writhed, sawing away like she was cutting wood. She had already given herself two deep slices, but she desperately kept cutting away.
The friendly undead were fighting with the Workers now, and half were climbing Skinner as well, tearing into the large creature like she was.
Erin had just pulled another socket of flesh away when she saw something change. Instead of the putrid white and yellowed skin something else shone in the moonlight.
Something red. Erin stopped. The piece of dead skin peeled away and something raised its head within Skinner’s body and stared at her. She stared back.
“Oh.”
It was all she could say. Something inside of Skinner raised its head around the skin Erin had chopped away. Something wet and serpentine.
A dark red, eyeless face swung towards Erin. A segmented head with two long…antennae made of flesh seemed dropped down towards her, and a fleshy mouth opened, revealing sharp teeth.
Skinner—the real Skinner, the thing hiding in the puppet of dead flesh—slithered out of the ruined shell. Two long, whip-like tendrils followed the main body, long and thick roots of corded flesh. They were Skinner’s ‘hands’, and they were still coated with the black remains of the Worker he had seized.
Erin let go of the ruined flesh of Skinner’s face just in time. The red worm-thing lashed out, its tendrils scything through the air so fast she heard the whistling sound they made. They caught a ghoul and cut clean through his torso, shattering bone, breaking flesh.
A Worker caught Erin as she fell. Bird. He pulled Erin away, handing her a knife from one of her hands. Skinner was screaming again, the wormlike parasite emitting that high-pitched wail, only twice as loud now it was out in the open.
“Oh god, oh god, oh god. What is that?”
Bird shook his head as Skinner’s blind head moved back and forth, the fleshy antennas twisting around.
“I do not know. It is dangerous. Please. Stay back—”
A tendril shot towards Bird. He choked and Erin screamed as the tendril lanced through the Antinium’s side. She cut at the tendril with the knife and Skinner screamed again and pulled the tendril out. Bird collapsed on the ground, bleeding.
Erin threw the knife. It spun towards Skinner’s head, but the red worm dodged the spinning projectile effortlessly.
Two skeletons ran at Skinner. The red worm-creature hissed and lashed out with its tendril arms, scattering both skeletons. He cast around again, and struck like a cobra.
A zombie was lifted into the air and his skin was removed in a sickening ripping sound. Only Erin was sure that was one of Skinner’s own monsters. The crimson worm slithered back to the layers of skin and pasted the zombie’s flesh over part of the broken skin, as if he was repairing a papier-mâché doll.
“Do not allow it to rebuild. Kill it now.”
Erin couldn’t tell which Worker spoke. But they all ran towards Skinner at once, slashing at the huge segmented creature.
Skinner whirled around, and its tail sent several Antinium sprawling. It seized two Antinium with its tendrils and ripped parts of their bodies away. It was impossibly fast now, and it stabbed two more Antinium as they ran at it.
“No!”
Erin was on her feet. She scrambled for something to throw. Acid. She had to have another jar of acid in the inn. She ran towards it, but Skinner slithered forwards and blocked the entrance. It lowered its head and bit at her.
