After overthrowing the monarchy, Emmeth continued leading the group of undead through the forest. It had taken Peak a while to eventually get what was going on, but he understood eventually. It wasn’t a hard conclusion to come to, but it wasn’t something one thought of immediately if they were busy fucking around.

“We’re lost, aren’t we?”

“Perhaps.” Emmeth responded, not wishing to admit it.

“‘Perhaps,’ he says. Of course. Oh wait, I’m sorry. You know exactly which direction we’re going.”

Peak formed a rough looking hand out of the earth in front of them. 

“Forwards!” Peak said, as the hand took on the shape of a finger pointing onwards. “We’re going forwards. Since we know where we’re going, we can’t be lost!”

“...”

“Onwards we go, onwards to victory! Whatever the fuck that victory might be, because I ain’t got a clue what the fuck is supposed to be over there.”

“...”

“... I know you’re still listening to me. Goddamnit. Why the fuck didn’t you just tell me this?”

“Because we are not lost.” Emmeth said, now resolute in his decision to bullshit his way out of this without conceding anything to Peak.

“Oh really now? Tell me, have we seen this area before? Because I think we have.”

“You haven’t seen this area at all.”

“Oh, hardy har har. Where the fuck did mister comedian come from over here? Mocking the blind guy, eh?”

“...”

“Emmeth, we’ve been through here already. We’re lost. Come on.”

“We are continuing to travel in a straight line.”

“Yup, definitely. We’re walking in such a straight line that we go all the way around the world to end up right where we started.”

“...”

“For fuck’s sake, just turn left or something so you don’t waste our fucking time.”

“...”

“Right, that’s it. Fuck this, fuck you, fuck the zombies, fuck the trees, fuck the ground, fuck whatever the fuck may be flying around in the air, I can’t see it because I’m a blind motherfucker, and most importantly, fuck me for imagining you to be a reasonable bastard. I’m done. We’re done. I’m going on my own adventure that doesn’t involve getting revenge on a group of raiders because some undead told me about how their family is dead.”

“...” Emmeth did not respond.

“Right, see ya.” Peak swerved in his path to travel to the left of where Emmeth was going.

Emmeth stopped walking and stood for a moment. 

He sighed.

He turned to the left and followed the rock.

[ ) ( ] [ ) ( ] [ ) ( ]

“We are no longer within the forest.” Emmeth said.

“We are?” Peak asked.

“Yes.”

It was true. Peak had successfully led Emmeth and his undead pals out of the forest.

“Okay, I had something prepared for this.” Peak said, getting into character. “AHEM.”

Emmeth didn’t know what Peak was about to say and he didn’t want to know. “Peak--”

“Well, wouldja lookit that? We seemed to have stumbled across some… What er we lookin at? Whatever. It’s some not forest. If only that darn rock coulda made sure that silly zombie didn’t wander off course.”

“Be quiet.” 

“Not until you admit we were lost.”

“We were not lost.” 

“We were totally lost.” Peak said cheerfully.

Emmeth didn’t say anything, and so Peak took it as an invitation to continue.

“Well there, sonny, if ya don’t come on back into the deep dark woods, you’re gonna be gettin a little bit lost. You don’t wanna break outta that circle we like to walk in, now wouldja?”

Emmeth suffered in silence as Peak continued his new act. 

“Ah, I guess it can’t be helped. We’re gonna have to keep doin this little here voice until ya decide to see the light.”

Emmeth, deciding to spare himself the trouble, finally gave up. “We were lost.”

“...” Peak didn’t respond, shocked that Emmeth would actually admit it. “Huh. Great. Guess that’s done with then.”

There was a short pause between the two of them until Peak spoke up again.

“I’m glad we were able to resolve this like adults.”

It was with that did Emmeth finally lose his shit. He lifted his hand and pointed at Peak.

“Grab him.”

[ ) ( ] [ ) ( ] [ ) ( ]

“Emmeth!” Peak called out. “I’m sorry! Please, let me down!”

“...” Emmeth was enjoying the silence. It had lasted longer than any period before it. A whole half an hour. Pure bliss.

Peak was in time-out.

After Emmeth pointed at Peak, the mob of zombies, normally quite indifferent, rushed forwards, intent on doing exactly what Emmeth asked.

Peak started screaming and attempted to escape. Unfortunately, he couldn’t move quickly and trying to bury itself didn’t work well either. 

Once a zombie had grabbed Peak, Emmeth ordered back over so that he could make something. Emmeth took two of the shirts off of zombies, tied them together in a sling, and wrapped Peak up in it. The fabric wouldn’t be able to muffle Peak, but it would make it exceptionally difficult to roll around.

But the next part was what really cemented Peak’s “time-out” status. After wrapping the rock up, Emmeth used the sleeves on the shirt to tie it around the neck of a zombie so that Peak would be hanging above the ground.

While being carried around was what Peak wanted, the worst thing that could have been commanded was.

The zombie was ordered to the back of the mob.

The farthest possible distance from Emmeth.

The place where Emmeth could no longer hear Peak’s shouts.

Emmeth was finally able to enjoy himself, able to focus on the future, while he and his cohort traveled down the path. There had been one right outside of the forest, serving as a barrier between it and the fields nearby. They went onwards in the direction of what Emmeth thought would be the next target of the raiders.

[ ) ( ] [ ) ( ] [ ) ( ]

It wasn’t too bad, hanging from the zombie. Peak was pretty sure it could break out if it really wanted too, but it supposed that Emmeth deserved a break from all the shit talking. 

Unfortunately, Peak was easily prone to boredom, and the best for it to alleviate that boredom was through stupid shit. 

The rock was attempting to trip the zombie using the dirt on the path, when Emmeth commanded the group to stop.

Emmeth was standing still, waiting for something, when someone living entered the range of Peak’s senses.

[ ) ( ] [ ) ( ] [ ) ( ]

Emmeth stopped when he saw the soldiers, a group of five, mounted on horses. To continue onwards might be seen as a sign of aggression to them. Best to stop and wait.

Emmeth was aware of his tenuous position. Undead were not exactly… welcome, among the living. More like hunted. Most were mindless and those with minds were usually malevolent. He had long been made aware of that fact. 

Despite this, he waited. The soldiers had already seen him and his group. They were already coming. Most actions he could take might be received poorly. The wisest action, to him, was to be patient and to wait for them to arrive.

The horses galloped forwards before slowing to a canter. Then, once the soldiers could identify the mob for what they were, they halted.

Both sides warily eyed the other. 

“Ho there!” one shouted, seeming to be the leader. They were all wearing brown studded leather armor. Scouts, if Emmeth were to guess. 

“What is your purpose in these lands, specters?” the leader asked when Emmeth did not return the greeting.

Emmeth took a moment to decide on a response. “We seek… the bandits… that slayed… us.”

The scouts seemed to tense at his words.

“Do you know… where we… must go… to find them?” he asked in his rasping, wheezing voice.

The soldiers exchanged glances without answering. One of them shouted, “In the name of Lord Gestranth of Fairpath, we ask you and your men to clear the road!”

Emmeth turned back to his cohort. 

“Clear the road,” he commanded.

The zombies shuffled off to the left or right. The scouts watched, faces stern. 

Emmeth did not join them. He walked forwards to meet the scouts.

The group did not move towards their weapons, but Emmeth could feel that they were watching him like hawks, waiting to see if he’d make a move or bolt.

Once Emmeth was around ten feet in front of them, he spoke.

“Where do… you ride from?” 

“From Brightfield.” The leader stated. 

“Have they… already… passed here?” Emmeth asked.

“Yes.” 

“Then I… was too late.” 

“Far too late.” The soldier said. “It was sacked a week ago.”

“A week?” Emmeth asked while comprehension dawned on him.

It was a simple mistake to make. He had sent his wife to the village to warn them of the bandits. At the time, he had believed them to have attacked his home first and were moving to raid the village. Afterwards, the bandits moved on, heading towards Brightfield to ransack the town.

Emmeth, in this moment, realized that he had the order in reverse.

His farm had been attacked after the village was.

The raiders went past his home, and he traveled the opposite direction.

He was a fool. An absolute fool.

“Yes, a week.” The soldier said, not understanding the profound effect his words had on Emmeth.

Emmeth began clenching and unclenching his fists as he grew more and more frustrated with himself. The soldiers watched, most placing their hand on their pommels to draw their swords.

Emmeth pulled himself back under control.

“I… see…” he said, “perhaps… I shou--”

He was cut off by the sound of hitting the ground behind him.

He turned around. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. His group of zombies was still waiting--

No, wait, some were missing!

The leader seemed to notice that Emmeth had gotten wind of what was happening. “Mages, now!”

Three fireballs came from the woods and landed among the groups of undead, 

Emmeth watched in stunned silence as what was his group of zombies was blasted to bits.

Something passed by Emmeth’s head and smashed into the ground.

He spun around to face the group on the horses.

“Ah, shit,” said one who had a crossbow out. 

“How in the five hells did you miss that?” the leader asked him.

“It was the horse. She got startled.” 

“Oh, really?” The leader grabbed his own crossbow from his back. “A warhorse like her, getting scared by a little fireball like that? Seems a bit odd to me.”

“I swear, I swear!” the soldier who took the shot said, lifting up his hands, one of them still holding his crossbow.

Emmeth didn’t make an attempt to stay and fight, understanding the folly of such an action. These were professionally trained warriors and he didn’t even have a weapon. He knew the woods would be a deathtrap with the other soldiers hiding inside.

Instead, Emmeth scrambled for the tall grass. He estimated it as his best chance of survival, no matter how slim it may be.

The leader loaded their crossbow from his horse and took careful aim. A cracking noise rang out before the arrow zipped forwards. Thanks to a lucky stumble, the arrow only grazed the top of his head.

“...” The leader was silent while the soldier that missed stared at him with a smug smile.

The leader sighed. “Velt, our horses appear to have been startled by the fireballs.”

“Yes they have, sir.” Velt said in good humor.

When the soldiers finished bantering, the leader took another arrow out and took careful aim at Emmeth as he desperately tried to escape. 

An arrow found its home in Emmeth’s shoulder, the force of it making him spin and fall. The ground beneath him fell away as he felt himself dragged down into the darkness. 

[ ) ( ] [ ) ( ] [ ) ( ]

Peak noticed something was wrong very quickly after Emmeth told the mob of dead to clear the road. The rock could see some souls moving out of the woods towards the group of undead. 

“Oi, Emmeth!” Peak tried to call out.

However, Emmeth seemed distracted; far more distracted than he should be. 

“EMMETH!” Peak called out again, but it was no use. Emmeth wasn’t listening.

It was time for action. Peak used earth manipulation to slowly move dirt up the pants legs of the undead the rock was hanging from until it reached the stone’s height. From there, it added more and more dirt onto the zombie’s back, beneath the shirt. Soon, 

While Peak was working on this, the hidden individuals began moving through the zombies, cutting their heads off and gently setting them down afterwards. 

All Peak had to do from there was use the large lump lump of dirt to tip the zombie over.

The zombie hit the ground with a thump.

Emmeth turned around. Peak used the dirt to pull the sack he was in off the zombie. 

The people cutting up the zombies seemed to notice Peak. One dashed towards its position and cut down at the sack the stone was in.

The knife stabbed the sack and hit Peak. Luckily, Peak was a hard rock and not very stabbable. 

This did not stop Peak from flipping the fuck out. 

In what could be called a stroke of genius or a spastic fit, Peak pushed two balls of earth into each other, causing small bit of dirt to fly up and hit the attacker in the face, causing them to flinch away and start spluttering. It appeared that some of it got in their mouth.

It was at this moment that Emmeth began running for the grass. Peak, on the other hand, was unable to run. Instead, it did the next best thing, which was getting out of the hole the assailant cut and rolling for the grass. 

It was when Peak noticed Emmeth collapsing that the stone realized that Emmeth wasn’t going to be able to run. Hiding though was still on the table.

So, Emmeth sank into the earth, and Peak followed closely behind.

HURGMCGURG

Writing this chapter was hard for me. I don't entirely understand why either. After writing it though, I will say this was my least favorite chapter to make thus far.