Tiss sighed, Morgan could be infuriating. She had not only decided to raid this village but had somehow roped Tiss into being co-leader of whatever this was. Tiss could see her reasoning but it still felt wrong though the idea that anyone here could be like Master Humphry quickly eradicated her worry. Over the last few days, her numbness had begun to melt into anger and grief. Still, it was better than feeling nothing, she at least felt alive.

 

Morgan so casually considering herself evil had been a shock. From what Tiss had seen, Morgan was a lot of things but evil wasn't one of them. She could be cold, even sadistic. She was vengeful, filled with the kind of anger that allowed her to do anything. But she was not evil.

 

She was fiercely protective, she had had Nimue kill a man for touching her after all, but she wasn't possessive of Tiss. Somehow Morgan had done it in a way that Tiss had quite liked, stirring unfamiliar sensations within her. Morgan didn't treat her like she was incompetent or like a child as people often did especially considering her size but Tiss noticed her gentleness nonetheless and could see that Morgan saw her as an equal. 

 

She had not only picked a fight with the Venomthorn guild but killed the head of the Llyne branch rather than hand over her and Jackal. That type of loyalty wasn't something someone evil would display unless they were zealots. And Morgan was far too practical for that, yet she chose the far more dangerous option nonetheless.

 

Everyone had grown closer over the last few days of walking but Tiss hadn’t missed the way Morgan had held back. Everyone, herself included had been curious about this other world she had come from and Morgan had used that fact to give almost nothing away about her own life. Tiss could understand wanting to leave things behind but people didn't declare war with an entire kingdom without a reason. Tiss had seen glimpses and Morgan’s own words but something had made Morgan this way and Tiss hoped she would open up eventually.

 

Tiss was still processing the fact that she had agreed to be co-queen, as Morgan had put it. Either Morgan had no idea how royalty worked or didn't care if people thought they were romantically involved. Tiss felt weirdly flustered by that image, despite her undead features Morgan was beautiful but there were far too many reasons that line of thought was dangerous. 

 

Plus she now had to figure out how to lead which was terrifying to imagine. Tiss wasn't a leader, she literally had had any spirit whipped out of her long ago yet Morgan thought she could do it. She could at least try.

 

 

We helped find Jackal a good spot to build a cocoon, apparently, a large tree was actually ideal. I was a little confused by the whole metamorphosis thing, mostly since arachnids didn’t undergo metamorphosis but Earth’s rules didn’t seem to apply here. Plus Jackal was quite mammalian underneath the spider-like features. Whatever the case, weavers followed different rules.

 

After my conversation with Tiss, she seemed somewhat lost in thought not that I could blame her. Asking for her equal help was a lot more than the timid kobold was used to, especially as our rebellion grew.

 

Waving bye to Jackal, Ruba and my blacksmith, at least for a little while we headed to the church. It was a small chapel but the second most extravagant building around beyond the lord’s manor.

 

The graveyard was much smaller than in Llyne but it would certainly do. As far as I was concerned the lord’s manor would be the real challenge as it was essentially a small castle with personal guards.

 

“Can I help you?” a voice asked as we approached. Stepping out of the chapel was an old man wearing simple robes decorated with gold. He was definitely part of the Order but he very much wasn't a conquesting zealot, he gave off a priestly energy. Granted I didn't imagine that that made him a decent person, after all, he was still here to ensure the Order’s influence.

 

“I'm sorry, a friend of mine passed away in the area. Has anyone been buried here recently?” I asked, keeping my hat over my eyes and trying to make my voice waver just enough that I sounded sad.

 

The priest glanced at Tiss with barely hidden disgust but his eyes widened as he took in Nimue. Regardless of if she wore the Order’s symbol she still wore their colours and was clearly a knight.

 

“Dame,” he said with a nod of respect. Nimue barely seemed to notice him.

 

“Greet him,” I hissed at Nimue mentally.

 

“Father,” she nodded.

 

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said, turning to me. “May Oysus welcome them into paradise,” he murmured. “We have had several deaths the last few weeks, the Lamia are becoming more brazen in these holy lands. Perhaps I should fetch the bailiff, he may be more of assistance if you are looking for someone.”

 

“Oh, is the lord not in?” I asked.

 

“He is, but he never leaves the manor. I… I should not say,” he stopped himself.

 

“If there is something wrong I am more than willing to assist,” Nimue said at my direction.

 

The priest sighed, “he's been refusing council the last few months, he's always been… a strange fellow but he spends all his time in the manor and doesn't even oversee his lands. Rumours say he spends his time painting, of all things. It's all rather… unusual,” he explained as if he was telling us some grand secret.

 

“Thank you, Father, you've been most helpful,” I said, not bothering to ask for a name or offering one.

 

“Right of course, I apologize, I know this must be a difficult time for you. Feel free to swing by tomorrow morning, everyone is always happy to see a new face. Especially you, Dame,” he said, picking up on my dismissal. It was somewhat amusing to see him try and figure out how to invite Nimue without inviting myself or Tiss.

 

“Are the Lamias snake people?” I asked Tiss as we walked into the graveyard.

 

Tiss shook her head, “They’re Naga but the Order prefers whatever term implies the worst. Propaganda as you said. But yes, I suppose they are, they are serpents from the waist down.”

 

I nodded, “and they live in the Wildlands?”

 

“According to what I've read, yes, but I didn't realize they ventured beyond the jungles.”

 

“We should play nice with them, they may be valuable allies,” I said.

 

“Or they may eat us,” Tiss replied.

 

I paused and glared at her.

 

“It's not like that… I, well. I’m scared of snakes,” she winced.

 

I laughed. “You’re fine with zombies but you draw the line at snakes.”

 

“No, I'm fine with your zombies because they won't try to eat me. Feral zombies I am very much scared of,” she huffed.

 

“But snakes?”

 

“I just don't like the way they move,” Tiss groaned. “It's so… weird.”

 

I rolled my eyes and held up my hands. Pulling the soul embers from the graves around us to me. My hand burned hot though it wasn't overwhelming. Graveyards were surprisingly mundane during the day yet somehow became incredibly creepy at night. Except for the angel statues, those always sent a chill down my spine.

 

“Now what?” Tiss asked.

 

I pointed towards a few graves that were not yet covered over by grass. “Those ones are recent and might not be totally decomposed. We’ll have to come back at night though. Nimue can handle making soldiers, which means I need to use soul embers for more important things.”

 

I explained [Mad Science] and figured I could give Nimue and the blacksmith an upgrade, even myself if I was feeling brave. Granted I wasn't entirely sure what would be good. Making a really fast zombie and using [Corpse Bomb] on it would be quite powerful. Nimue had a lot of armour so it would be hard to come up with some kind of modification that would work. I had no idea what I could do for myself, the idea of grafting body parts onto me was off-putting.

 

“That sounds… gruesome,” Tiss replied once I had laid it all out. “Not a bad idea though, I suppose.”

 

“If I had more exotic corpses to work with I could probably do something more impressive but I have to start somewhere,” I said.

 

“So we’re going to come back in the middle of the night to dig up a grave?” Tiss sighed.

 

“Exactly, but we need to get shovels first.”

 

Several hours later after a stop at the blacksmith and some downtime near Jackals quickly forming cocoon for Tiss to do some reading and me to do some training we returned under the cloak of darkness.

 

“Oh gods we’re going to get caught,” Tiss whispered as I plunged my shovel into the dirt.

 

 “The priest is human, even if he wakes up he won’t be able to see us,” I shrugged. “Nimue don’t toss the dirt away, we need to fill it in after.” I signed as she dug with frenzy.

 

Mostly thanks to Nimue the body was quickly revealed wrapped in a burial sheet. Tiss retched at the smell I thankfully avoided by not breathing. It’s difficult to fully appreciate how disgusting a decomposing corpse is. While skeletons leave behind the fleshy bits and zombies don’t continue to decompose regular corpses have no such niceties.

 

Pulling the sheet away, the sight of the boated and blackened corpse made me gag. It was horrible and there was no way I could work with this. I couldn’t graft extra muscles onto a Bonnie if the muscles were half-liquified.

 

Laws of nature, one, me, zero.

 

I scurried out of the hole, waving to Nimue to fill it in. Even she seemed somehow affected and wasted no time kicking the dirt in.

 

“Ok, that was a mistake,” I wheezed.

 

“Definitely,” Tiss whimpered.

 

“We’re going to need fresh bodies,” I sighed before looking at the church.

 

“Wait, if anyone dies people will notice, you can’t storm the church like you did in Llyne.”

 

“Right, what about a reclusive lord and his guards?” I suggested. “We can weaken them now, the townsfolk will probably just blame the Naga and they won’t realize until it’s too late.”

 

“Ok,” Tiss replied hesitantly.

 

“I don’t suppose that map skill of yours can show the layout of buildings?”

 

“No, it only shows me what a bird would see flying over,” she explained.

 

I nodded, not ideal but better than nothing. “I won’t hold it against you if you don’t want to come,” I offered.

 

Tiss shook her head, “I need to level up and there is no way I’m letting you go alone.”

 

“Nimue will be there,” I reminded her.

 

“I still want to help,” Tiss explained.

 

“Alright, let’s do this then.”

The manor stood tall on top of the hill. I could make out two guards on the ground by the open gate. They were probably more worried about thieves and troublemakers than an assault.

 

Tiss’ map was invaluable as even if we didn’t get interior details we could get a sense of what was behind the walls. 

 

It also reminded me that while humans couldn’t see in the dark, elves very much could and it was impossible to see such details about the guards at this distance.

 

So we went with plan B.

 

Nimue marched up the path with purpose looking as regal as an Order knight could. 

 

“Oi, a bit late for a visit,” one of the guards said as she approached.

 

“I know, I apologize but this matter will be of great importance to your lord,” she replied, not breaking stride. She just needed to get close.

 

The guard sighed, “Right, just let me—“

 

Nimue’s sword blazed With holy light as her sword sliced through his armour like butter.

 

“Oh gods,” the other guard yelped, fumbling with his spear and only making a half-baked attempt to stab her before he too was cut down.

 

Both Tiss and I stared in shock, I had not expected that to work so well. I didn’t have time to try and figure out why an undead could wield holy magic but I wasn’t going to complain.

 

As we approached Nimue crouched down beside the men and placed a hand over their heads. A moment later two new zombies lurched to their feet without any effort on my part.

 

“Good work,” I told Nimue quietly. The guards hadn’t been quiet but they hadn’t screamed or sounded alarms. All seemed well. Nimue nodded and both zombies saluted me.

 

“Will they listen to me?” I asked Nimue.

 

“Yes, but I can command them as you do I,” she explained, already looking around for threats.

 

I looked at Tiss who shrugged. If we hadn't been on a stealth mission I felt as though I might have been kicking my feet and giggling with delight.

 

“Only animate soldiers and not if they have magic, anyone with non-combat skills will be more useful as independent zombies,” I told Nimue.

 

Nimue nodded.

 

“Right then, we have a manor to explore,” I grinned and stepped through the gate.