“What is it?” Fay asked sleepily. “I thought the dead were far behind us?” I checked on Glimpse and found him circling along our backtrail keeping track of the gradually dispersing remains of the horde.

  “They are but I can’t stop here, love. I need to move back to Mondit as fast as possible and deal with the Ur-Viles.” I pecked her on the cheek. “You can rest easy but I’m going to run ahead.” I extricated myself from the sweaty furs and clinging limbs as best I could and looked around the camp.

  I hastily pulled up the Shop screen and purchased one of each mana potion. The basic one cost me a hundred Souls. My favourite, that I’d stockpiled after the battle, cost two hundred. The tier three variant, a Greater Mana Potion, cost five hundred and the tier four or Pure Mana Potion was a painful one thousand Souls. They appeared in my personal storage space. I wasn’t sure if the countdown would reset on a Monday morning, not that they had Mondays here, or if it was a straight seven days from the last purchase so I figured it was best to just buy as soon as possible. Staying on top of this meant I’d need to be making eighteen hundred Souls a week. I wasn’t filled with optimism at my chances. My remaining Souls became even more valuable in my mind.

  Most of the troops were asleep. They looked like mounds of furs scattered around the campfires. I staggered over to where Kril had retired after finishing off the barrel of rum and kicked his furs. Served the old goat right for all the times he’d swanned into my tent unannounced in the morning.

  “Wassat?” he snapped as he pushed the furs off his face. “Mond? What the hell are you playing at boy? We’re all knackered and need some rest. The moons haven’t even set yet! Why are you bullying an old man?” Despite his words Kril unfolded from a mound of furs into standing upright in a fluid motion. He must have spent some Souls on his Body stats this time, which surprised me. A glowing red D- hovered next to-

  “Jesus! You’re into C grade for your Mind stat!” I exclaimed. “You need to boost your spells up a bit as well.”

  “I’m doing fine, I’ve got a plan,” he snickered back at me. “Just get me some more. I can see your Soul stat, you’re holding out on us?”

  “I’ve got my reasons. I’ll share what I can, when I can. Where are the Fangs? I’m going to take them with me and leave you and Jagapan in charge here.”

  “I wouldn’t question Aresk’s champion, oh no. I’m just a wizened old man with nary a few years left to live!” His wrinkly face creased into a gap toothed grin. “What’s lit a fire under your - another dream? Tell me!” he ordered. I explained the outline, as far as the geas of silence that seemed to cover such things would allow.

  “Huh. Bloody Shikrakyn messing up the world,” he clouted me on the back of the head in what I assumed was a playful manner but with his new body stat even I felt the blow. “Do it. The Fangs can keep up with you but most of the rest of us can’t.”

  “I want you to try and deal with the horde as you head back to the main camp. Send riders armed with trinkets to destroy the zombies at range then rinse and repeat. You’ll end up dragging them after you but that’s fine, it will just make them easier to find. Where the hell are Jandak, Kos and Mune?”

  “We’re here, Mond. Why aren’t you letting us sleep again?” asked Jandak as he and the rest of my captains emerged from the shadows. Fay walked behind them, a long set of furs draped over her shoulders and wrapped around her slightly swollen midriff.

  “We’re running north. I want to deal with the Ur-Viles once and for all so we are safe from that direction. We’ll stop at Mondit, the pass and whatever they’ve decided to call the camp with the waterwheel to make sure things are on track then we’re going to make the giants bend their knees.”

  “Aresk’s hairless ankles, Mond! You want to make things worse with the giants?” asked Mune in a sleepy voice.

  “No. I’m going to make them slaves.” I didn’t like the word but the cruel, cannibalistic monstrosities would be broken to service or they would die. I preferred the former over a campaign of outright extermination.

  “Now that is a plan I can get behind. What about this lot?” Kos waved a hand over the surrounding fires and mostly sleeping warriors.

  “They can grind away at what I left of the horde as they follow behind us. Our job is to run home fast and go hunting giants.” They had either a D+ or an E- in their Body stats. We’d be able to cover the weeks worth of travel in a few days if we fell back into old habits and pushed ourselves once more.

  “Oh great. Another week spent sprinting,” grumbled Jandak but he reflexively caught the punch Kos threw at his shoulder with a grin and pushed the arm away. “I’ll cope. It’ll be nice to see Haylin again.”

  “And what of me?” asked Fay in an icy tone that sent shivers down my spine.

  “Will you stay with Kril? Keep him and Jagapan from doing anything stupid?” I asked in an optimistic voice.

  “I can keep pace with you as well!” she snapped back.

  “Sister! You’re a bit heavy at the moment to be running for days,” Kos offered and as Fay’s eyes fixed on him I could see he regretted speaking up. He made a small “eep” noise and raised his hands as though warding off a demon.

  “He’s right Fay. Even if you could, it wouldn't be good for the child. I really do need you here to keep things in order.” Kril grumbled under his breath and spat to one side then flinched as Fay turned her dark eyes in his direction. She moved over to me and pulled me into an embrace, leaving a lingering kiss on my lips.

  “You’d better be back from the north before we reach Mondit.” No warm farewell, just a flat threat that made it clear I’d most likely prefer to go into a giant cookpot than disappoint her. She returned to our pile of furs and disappeared back under them to keep the spring chill away.

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  “Well you heard the lady. Do you need to grab anything?” I asked my captains. They all shook their heads and waved storage rings at me.

  “If we’re going to do this we might as well start now,” grumbled Jandak as he tried to lead the way to the northern edge of the camp. I caught his arm and stopped him for a moment.

  “Kril, take these. Share them with Fay.” I pulled thirty mana potions from my stash. “Don’t use them lightly!” I chastised. “They’re now a very precious commodity seeing as the gods decided to nerf me.”

  “Nerf? Never mind. How many more have you got?” the old man asked with a glint in his eyes.

  “Not enough for you to waste them! They’re for emergencies…” I noted his avaricious smile. “- and you’d better bloody share them with Fay!” he scowled at me but nodded.

  “Have a nice run, boys. I’ll follow along in my chariot and catch you up sooner or later!” His trademarked cackle followed us as we threaded through the camp and set off into the darkness.

  The sun rose and set twice before I called a halt. We’d covered about half the distance we needed to, an impressive achievement.

  “Aresk’s gleaming greaves, Mond. We should have stopped last night!” spluttered Mune as he pulled a waterskin out of a ring and took a long swig before passing it around. They were all out of breath. My seeming freshness was pure facade. I was just as exhausted as they were.

  “No time, lads. Don’t you want to fight the giants again?” I asked.

  “You’re just as buggered as we are! Stop pretending!” called Jandak as he rested with his hands on his knees. I let myself sag and showed how I truly felt.

  “Fair enough, bloke. I’m knackered too but we need to press on. A good night's sleep then we do the same again. We’ll have a day or two in Mondit while we catch up on the situation there and get the smiths working at full speed so we’re fresh for the big bastards.”

  “We just ran for two fucking days! We can’t take a day off?” snapped Kos as he shared out dried jerky to the rest of us. I pulled on the tough, stringy meat and chewed thoughtfully.

  “No.” I concluded. “Urkash are going to rally quickly, they’ll know we’re coming for them sooner rather than later. We need to clear out the rest of the horde, secure the north and then ride south against them.”

  “They’ll have another army of fucking dead men and this time they’ll send their regular forces. And their bloody ‘wizards’,” offered Jandak.

  “Probably. We can’t deal with them unless the north is safe so the first thing we do is deal with the giants,” I replied.

  “You can’t just kill off the giants! There’s bloody thousands of them, dozens of clans all with their Fists ready to kill anything that moves,” grumbled Kos around a mouthful of the salty meat,

  “They don’t have to be willing to serve us. All I’ve got to do is get them to accept a Soul Transfer and then they’re mine to command.” My smile was savage and my teeth glinted in the light of the rising moons. My eyes must have done the same as my three friends shied away from me slightly.

  “Enslave the Ur-viles? You’re bloody mad but I like it! We’ve all gotta die sometime I suppose. This sounds like as good a way to go as any! Here’s to Mad Mond the Barefoot King and his insane plans to get us all killed!” There was no bitterness or fear in his voice. He’d already decided that if this was what I ordered he’d do his damndest to make it work, and Aresk willing: survive.

  “Has the power touched your mind?” asked Mune cautiously.

  “Not that I’ve noticed. I can make this work, lads. It has to. When we go south against Urkash we’ll have an army of giants that can use Enhance and make themselves even bigger than the ugly bastards start out as!” My enthusiasm was infectious and grins spread among the Fangs.

  “I’ll take the first watch-” Jandak began but I waved him to silence and pointed a finger at the sky. A caw echoed down from Glimpse who was keeping a watchful eye on our surroundings. The crow flew down to land on my shoulder for a moment before launching himself back into the darkening sky.

  “We’ll be fine. There’s nothing dangerous within five miles. Tell you what, I’ll tell Glimpse to crap on you if he spots anything?”

  “No thanks, Mond. It's still bad form not to keep a watch,” Jandak muttered as he threw a pile of furs that appeared from nowhere down and settled onto them.

  “I know. Normally I’d agree with you but we all need to get some rest tonight. One more good push and we'll be back at Mondit and you can relax while I shout at smiths and crafters!” He smiled back then stretched out and lay down. The others followed suit and I did likewise. I didn’t burrow under the furs, the night time chill didn’t bother me now and on the off chance something snuck close I wanted to be free to act.

  I pushed down the urge to spend some more Souls. With the promise of another boon at level one hundred the itch to just buy it had been plaguing me. It would only be a thousand or so Souls… No! Bad Ray! I’d get enough extra from subduing the Ur-viles that I could do it then.

  Sleep took a while to creep up on me. I wasn’t bothered by the small noises of the steppe anymore. The cheeps and rattles and slithers washed over me with a sense of comforting familiarity. Despite my exhaustion my mind was turning over plans, assessing, reassessing assuming one factor changed. I wasn’t sure if this was the product of my Focus rising up to thirty or if I was just defiantly restless when I really should be getting as much sleep as possible. I had always been a contrary bastard, even against myself.

  The next morning I kicked the Fangs awake and we set off at a steady lope once more. The grasslands blurred by as the sun followed its traditional arc across the sky behind us. As it was reaching its second zenith from our setting off I began to fume and swear. Glimpse was scouting ahead and the patrols around Mondit were shockingly bad. The lazy bastards had set up little camps just out of sight of the town and the men meant to be giving the town advanced warning of any attackers were sitting drinking ched and gambling.

  I led us over to the nearest example and stormed in amongst them. My fists flew out, knocking them on their backs with the satisfying noise of bones breaking. They screamed and the least injured tried to rally to counter attack but I did something I’d never done before and snapped the links in my mind that tied these Soulbound Servants to me.

  They dropped their weapons and formed a ragged line before me.

  “What the actual fuck are you idiots playing at? You’re supposed to be patrolling the area not dicking around drinking tea! Is this what my troops are like? Lazy! Useless! Savages!” I plucked on the mental bonds with each insult and they winced. One of them opened his mouth to argue but another mental snap made his jaws clamp shut.

  “I’ll deal with this,” said Kos, drawing a long knife from his waist as he stepped forwards.

  “No! They can run back to Mondit and explain themselves to Khan, Trikilo and Atas.” Another pluck of the metaphysical string tying them to me sent them scurrying off, cradling their broken bones. It was good to know the extent of the control the links gave me. Using them felt slightly repulsive, if I was honest. It was like having a collar and leash on someone’s mind and while now knowing a little of how it worked was comforting… It didn’t sit right with me. Serfs and slaves would rebel if they were subject to too much misery and god bless them. That couldn’t happen to someone subject to the Soulbound Servant status.

  Whatever power they gained they were utterly enslaved, unable to fight back against the wishes of the Shikrakyn controlling them. Not so much an issue for me, I wasn’t going to be a dick about it despite my somewhat grey moral framework. It was not a power I’d abuse. Mortimer on the other hand would have no such compunctions about taking advantage of that level of control. His slave armies would fight to the last man, never breaking no matter how many we killed. I needed a counter to that kind of enforced zeal. But first I needed to get the bloody tribes in order. Sentries slacking off could only be a bad sign.

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