82 War Plans (1/2)
Thorn looked around the busy chamber and headed head down a short flight of stairs to the center of the 'Pit'. Following the way of hoomans, he shook Frank's outstretched hand. ”How are you doing?”
”Good, Sir,” Frank answered, smiling at the disheveled old man, who always reminded him of Albert Einstein.
”Greeting you too, Sergeant Pike,” Thorn reached out and shook Pike's hand too. ”So what is happening?”
”Well, Sir. We hope you can tell us,” Frank responded, gesturing Thorn to view of the display. A playback video of the attack of the undead was played, making Thorn peer intently at the images.
”They appeared to be undead, raised from the grave by dark magic,” Thorn said as he studied the imagery on the display.
Frank and Pike stood silently, waiting for Thorn to continue. ”Hmmm, the Oerkin are quite proficient in the Dark Arts.”
”Is there any way to stop them? Pike asked, ”We found that destroying the head and burning the bodies help.”
”Yes, yes, from my understanding, spirits inhabit the dead bodies and controls the movement of the host body through some way by using the head as the container of sorts ” Thorn rubbed his snowy beard as he recollected his scarce knowledge of the Dark magic. ”By destroying the head, the spirits lose control of the body or if the body part is too badly damaged, the spirits depart voluntarily from their hosts.”
”Is there a necromancer raising the dead?” Frank asked.
”Neko-man-sir?” Thorn frowned at the unfamiliar English word. ”You meant a Spirit Caster?”
”What is a Spirit Caster?” Pike asked before Frank could open his mouth.
”Hmm, from what I know, a Spirit Caster is someone with the ability to talk to the spirits and command them,” Thorn explained to two hoomans. ”They do not really revive the dead, what they do is just call the spirits to inhabit the bodies of the dead, and the spirits use the bodies as host.”
”I see,” Pike nodded and gave a brief explanation of what a necromancer is to Thorn.
”Hmmm, so Spirit casters are quite similar to your necromancers,” Thorn exclaimed excitedly, ”I would like to borrow that book, your Captain has!”
”Magister, please, we have more pressing issues now, ”Frank stopped Thorn from going off track. ”Is there a way or some spells that can stop the dead? Also, can the spirits control a living body?”
”Hmmm, I need to do some research, but from what I know, they can only control a dead body.” Thorn furrowed his forehead, ”And all my books which I brought are all over at the Academy's library.”
Frank looked at Pike with a dismayed look, ”Damn, alright we will send you back immediately. If you find anything useful, please inform us directly,” Frank said, gesturing the Marine guard at the door to come over.
”Private, bring the Magister to the motor pool and have one of the drivers return him back to the Academy in the best possible speed,” Frank gave the Marine the instructions, who acknowledged the order.
”Sir, I will assign someone to be with you. He will have some communication equipment so you can contact us directly,” Frank told Thorn who nodded in understanding while Pike picked up a handset and made a call.
Frank nodded to the Private who then led Thorn out from the command center and towards the motor pool. As Thorn left the Pit, ”What a waste of time, its a mistake not to have a direct line of communication to Thorn, we will need to rectify that.”
Thorn followed the solder to a row of sheds where a few of the jeeps and half-track were parked under, the Marine handed Thorn over to a driver who directed Thorn to a jeep parked at the side.
Seated in the rear was the largest hooman Thorn had ever seen, he had his sleeves rolled up, displaying massive biceps. His armor appeared to be custom made to fit his frame and a Magelock that looked tiny sat behind his shoulder.
Does he have Oerkin blood? Thorn wondered as he climbed aboard the front seat. ”Lance Corporal Bartley,” The giant at the rear greeted Thorn as he sat in the jeep. ”I will be your escort, Sir.” He said in a deep rumble.
”Well met, Lance Corporal,” Thorn returned Bartley's greeting and waited for Bartley to say something. After an awkward silence, Thorn faced the front and cleared his throat uncomfortably. Just nice, a hooman driver hopped in, gave a smile and greeting to both of them and started the engine and drove off back towards the City.
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Entrance to 1st Fallowfall Regiment of Swords, The Duke's Own
Urka snoozed loudly with several of his warriors who sprawled around the littered remains of the supper they had. A few of the Oerkins, stood watch, their mood bad as they lost a game of fingers to their comrades, thus they had to stand guard.
The Empire sentries stared with disgust at the scene of the sleeping Oerkin, talking among themselves about how barbaric they were.
The bored Oerkin standing watch entertained themselves by throwing pieces of bones from the remains of their supper at the elven sentries, betting among themselves to see who can hit anyone, much to chagrin of the Empire sentries.
Shortly after the sky brightened and the first rays of the sun cast over the land, the same manservant appeared at the gate and greeted the still snoring Urka.
His warrior gave Urka a strong smack on the shoulder who woke up and punched the unlucky Oerkin in the face, much to the amusement of the rest. Urka hawked and spit his dry throat before gesturing the flunkey to led the way.