When we reached the pass I was riding a giant bronze wolf at the head of a long column of Huskars all garbed for war. Towards the rear were a couple of thousand smiths and crafters to bolster the productivity of the Pass and Riverwheel. Looking down from Glimpse I was at the head of a twisting serpent of Huskars that trailed kilometres behind me. The warbands of feral Huskars were ranged out to the sides, happily slaughtering any wildlife they stumbled across in anticipation of the feasts to come in the south.

  “Bon, can you set up camp here?” I asked as we reached the north end of the pass. “I need to let them know you’re coming through before you advance into the steppe. They’ll shit themselves if you turn up unannounced.”

  “I’m coming with you,” the young giant replied.

  “Me too,” growled Nuk. Mulius was silent but the glare he gave me suggested he wanted to come as well.

  “Three of the big bastards should be ok as long as we’re there as well. The wolf is more likely to be an issue,” offered Jandak with a nod to Wilson. The wolf cocked his head to one side and whined faintly.

  “They’ll have to get used to Huskars and a giant wolf sooner or later. Alright, Bon get your second to take charge of the Legion-”

  “-not the real legion,” muttered Mulius.

  “-The Legion will camp here. Keep the irregulars back. Only the ones who are soulbound can join the camp proper.” I finished with a glare at Mulius. I resisted the urge to flick the bond. I couldn’t fall into the habit of abusing it every time he disagreed or interrupted me.

  What had started as a crude smelting and forging operation a few months ago had transformed into a much grander operation. Within the walls I'd built was a maze of glowing furnaces and stockpiles. Raw iron was being fed into the fire as quickly as the, ahem, involuntary workers from the Kopregyn could drag it out the ancient tunnels.

  Wagons waited to be loaded with crude ingots to transfer to Riverwheel under guard by a handful of cavalry. The air above the site was now cloudy with the constant smoke and dust. The workers weren’t too badly off due to the steady wind that ran through the canyon keeping the air at ground level fairly fresh.

  “What is it? You normally wear all that plate like a second skin,” Mune asked and I glanced back but he’d been talking to Bon. The giant was shifting uncomfortably, hitching his armour back and forth on his shoulders.

  “You can’t sense it? It’s like… I don’t know, a presence or something,” he muttered.

  “Nope,” said Mune. The other giants and Fangs all denied feeling anything unusual as well.

  “Is it important?” I asked.

  “It’s... familiar but different,” he muttered unhappily. We were deep into the canyon now and the steep cliffs rose up on either side of us, dwarfing even the Huskar. “It’s like a beloved song sung in a foreign language. I don’t know if it’s important!”

  “Any sense of danger?” Jandak asked, eyeing the tops of the craggy tops around us.

  “No. Nothing like that,” said Bon.

  “Well let’s not worry about it for now. We can investigate it later,” I said. I couldn’t feel anything out of the ordinary but the giant had unusually sharp senses so I’d flag it to Kril to get someone to look into it.

  As we approached the walls I waved the rest back and went on alone. Wilson growled but did as he was asked, pacing back and forth across the floor of the Pass anxiously as I moved on alone.

  “Oi! It’s me and that lot are on our side!” I bellowed. From above I could see the ballista towers were nearing completion. Long wooden walls stretched between them, securing the clifftops above the occupied sections of the pass. Stairways had been built in several places on both sides of the canyon to let people move up and down with relative ease.

  “Mond?” yelled a familiar voice.

  “Klip! What the hell are you doing here? You should be at Riverwheel! This lot behind me are friends! Don’t shoot any arrows at them!”

  “You sure? Those are Ur-viles, right?” he yelled back after a second I presume was spent cursing quietly.

  “Yes! I’ve got a couple of thousand giants who are smiths and crafters! You’re going to have to get used to them, bloke!” I advanced closer and waved for the others to catch up.

  “What the fuck is that!” snapped Klip as Wilson stepped up to loom behind me as we clasped wrists.

  “An old friend.” I shrugged. “He’s fine.”

  “Wait - a couple of thousand Ur-viles?” he returned his focus back to me.

  “Yeah. Well it’s more like twenty five thousand of them all told but most of them are fighters. Why the hell are you here?” I demanded but he had gone pale at the thought of so many giants so close. “They won’t hurt us, Klip, and their crafters know stuff you haven’t even dreamed of.”

  “A collapse in the mine.” He decided to focus on something his brain could handle. “Whatever magic they used to make them isn’t infallible. Lost a dozen of the Kopregyn. Kril wanted me to help dig the cannibal bastards out! I told him I’m a smith not a miner. I’m at the other end of the bloody process but he got… rather firm so here I am wasting my time.” Klip looked up at the giants towering over us, one in heavy plate armour and two clad in furs. The latter were looking around with a hungry light in their eyes and I plucked the bonds to Nuk and Mulius. Their eyes snapped to me and guilt was replaced with anger in their gazes.

  “Allow me to introduce Bon, Nuk and Mulius. I’ve got twenty thousand more Huskar, it’s what the Ur-viles call themselves, camped at the top of the Pass. They’ll be coming through onto the steppe over the next few days. If they’re wearing armour they definitely won’t eat you. If they’re wearing furs then they probably won’t eat you. Spread that about ok? I don’t want any accidents,” I said with an evil grin.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Accidents. Bloody hell Mond. I’ll let the workers know. You need to speak to Kril, Jagapan and Calpakter though. They’ve been running things in your absence.”

  “What about Fay?” I studied him closely as he shrugged.

  “She’s fine. Not happy you weren’t back before she was! Have fun with that! OI! NO, NOT THERE YOU MORON! YOU’RE BLOCKING THE BLOODY TUNNEL ENTRANCE!” he yelled at some unfortunate workers who were laying out timber for bracing the mine in the wrong place.

  “Maybe I won’t be the only one in trouble with their wife,” snickered Jandak. I considered a comment about how being late was less of a problem than being early with ones wife but I didn't want to upset my bronze age friend anymore than he already was. He could take the win on this one.

  “Sure. Bet I’m back Fay’s good books before you are with Haylin? I’m bringing an army of Huskar to explain why I’m late!” I offered.

  “No bet,” he muttered sourly.

  “Hey at least you’ll have some time to try and fix the problem now!” laughed Mune, earning a glare from Jandak.

  “Not very long I’m afraid. We need to clear the steppe of the zombies and I want you guys to act as emissaries to the other tribes for me,” I said.

  “Mond! Can’t I have a week or so?” Jandak complained.

  “Sure, you can have a week. If you don’t mind slacking off while the others are out working?”

  “I can live with that. And I won’t be slacking off. It’ll be more exercise than I usually get! It’s not easy to keep up with-”

  “Ok bloke! Enough! Glimpse is looking at Mondit now and… I think you might be clear on the diplomatic mission issue so you can lurk in your tent with Haylin to your heart's content. Jesus, that’s way too many wagons. What was Calpakter’s tribe called? Unless there were tens of thousands of them I think the other tribes have largely come together already!”

  “The Fawepyn. They only number a few thousand. How many survived the undead at Hellath?” said Mune.

  “Most of them broke free. More than half anyway. Same for a lot of the others. Soon as the bloody things clawed their way out of the ground the tribes broke and ran,” I replied, lost in thought at the vast array of yurts and carts around Mondit.

  “They ran from raised dead? Human corpses?” said Bon in a doubting voice. “Are they even worth the time to cultivate as allies?”

  “You don’t have any zombie Huskars marching with us. It’s not so easy if you thought magic was just the ramblings from old timers,” snapped Kos.

  “I’m nearly a thousand years old, mortal. We don’t use the dark arts but we aren’t ignorant of them,” answered Bon. I caught Nuk and Mulius sharing a confused look before plastering impassive faces over their shock at his age.

  “Well I get the feeling I’m going to be in as much trouble as Jandak if we don’t get down to Mondit half an hour ago!” I said with a smile.

  We set off and made our way back home at last. The new arrivals were all spread out to the south of the original site. The scouts approached extremely cautiously, the first thing they could see was the giants, but once we confirmed who we were they raced on ahead of us to let the other guards know.

  I returned to my town and the changes when perceived from ground level were even more dramatic. Most of the crafting and industry, such as it had been, had moved to Riverwheel now. The remaining men were all warriors and it leant the place a martial air. There was no sense of rot and lack of discipline as there had been when I came home the last time.

  “Mond!” Kril waved and hurried over. “What the hell did you do when you went back to the barrow at Hellath?” he demanded without preamble.

  “Hi, Kril. It’s good to see you as well. So glad you didn’t get eaten by giants while you were up north securing our open flank,” I replied but I snatched the wiry old git up into a hug anyway. Him being here proved the army I’d left behind had made it back intact, along with my wife. “Where’s Fay?”

  “Wrong bloody spear again! What the hell did you do? The other kings and chiefs think you're Aresk incarnate!” he snapped as he shoved me off and smoothed his tunic.

  “I used Burning Skies to kill a lot of zombies, remember?”

  “You saved the Prime Dreamers single handed and bought a chance for the trapped chiefs to escape back to their tribes. You saved the bloody Sykareskyn! Why didn’t you tell me? Calpakter got here first and screwed us on the agreement!”

  “What did you give-” I began.

  “Oh don’t worry, warlord. Fay interrupted him before he could seal the deal. And broke his leg. She healed it afterwards though. You won't be getting much shit from the chiefs for a while. What the fuck are those bastards doing here and why is one of them wearing armour?” He finished shooting an angry glare at the Huskar.

  “So the plan was to bring back a few hundred tamed Huskar. I might have overachieved a little bit. Bon-” I nodded at the giant in question, “-has about fifteen thousand heavy infantry that can outrun our horses and Nuk and Mulius have a few hundred slightly wilder giants as well. Oh and I brought a few thousand crafters who’ve been alive since before your great grandfather was born who are going to join Riverwheel to help with production and whatnot.” I had delivered all this in a casual, deadpan voice and I wasn’t disappointed by the response.

  Kril’s hissing and incoherent screaming rang out over the town, passing through felt walled tents and attracting enough attention that in short order a squad of warriors in brigandines arrived with their clubs in their hands. They were followed by the patriarchs and the new chiefs who had chosen to side with us.

  “Jagapan, Calpakter! Khan and Atas! It’s good to be back. I’m happy to report that none of the scouts are slacking off and I can see that the training is going well. How many squadrons are we up to?” I called out as my father in law and his friend appeared.

  “About three thousand are up to Trikilo’s standards now, Warlord. Another five thousand are still training and need a few more weeks. They’re all rough, the discipline isn’t the best,” replied Atas as Khan shared a rare smile while he took in the Ur-viles I’d brought south.

  “Fifteen thousand of them is it?” asked Khan, nodding towards Bon.

  “Something like that! They’ll give the cavalry a run for their chits as well! Now, where is my wife?” I asked.

  “Where do you think?” Fay said as she stepped out of the crowd and walked towards me. I began to understand why Jandak had been so unhappy on our trip north. The ire of the tribe's women was terrifying on a visceral level. “You’re late!” she accused icily.

  “I had to raise an army of Huskars. Sorry about that.” I tried a grin but it had no effect.

  “Haylin is waiting for Jandak.” The Fang leapt forward and hurried towards where his tent had been without another word. Mune and Kos snickered until Fay fixed them with a hazel stare.

  “Are the women in charge among the dwarves?” Nuk asked in what he no doubt thought was a quiet voice. It rang out over the small gathering.

  “No.” I said at the same moment Fay said yes. She sniffed.

  “You need a wash, Warlord. I’ll wait for you in our tent,” she pivoted on a heel and walked away.

  “Seems like they’re in charge,” smirked Mulius.

  “We don’t eat our women when they annoy us, that's the big difference,” laughed Kos. Nuk and Mulius shared a look and turned to him.

  “Why not?” asked Nuk in a confused voice.

  “This is why you don’t have enough babies!” Kos chuckled.

  Bon scowled and stepped forward, kneeling down next to me.

  “Legate. Can we begin to bring the Legion through? Moving so many through such a narrow pass is dangerous and time consuming.”

  “Yes, Pertabon. Bring your troops south. Mune, Kos, seeing as you don’t have anything pressing to do, make sure the people in the Pass know what’s coming and keep them calm. As calm as possible anyway.” The other Fangs stopped smiling and grimaced but they nodded and turned to head back north.

  “We’re going to need to integrate the Legion with the cavalry,” I said but Calpakter spat and cut me off.

  “We fight on foot. Always have!” he snapped. A few men I assumed were lesser chiefs all nodded fiercely in agreement.

  “I won’t force you to fight as cavalry, Pakter. You will end up stuck on guard duties behind the lines if you insist on it though. We’ll be moving quickly and human infantry won’t be able to keep up. Jagapan, Kril, I need an update on how many of the undead were left when you came north. We’re going to clear those things out then ride south against that prick Mortimer. Feel free to take your time, a couple of hours, maybe three but when I get back I want as much information as you can give me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go speak to my wife. Bon, please make sure Nuk and Mulius don’t eat anyone!”

  If you want to read 21 chapters ahead of Royal Road you can do so on my

  follow, a rating or maybe even a favourite! Any of them would really help the story get seen by more people and I'd be very grateful to you for taking the time! I'm happy to respond to any and all comments so if you see something: say something :)

  Amazon. It's a system apocalypse/superhero/father-daughter kind of adventure. There's five books in the main series, plus a side story, that are available on KU :)

  discord. Come along and say hi!