The undead soldiers were relentless in their pursuit and picked off the centaurs at the rear one by one. Heeding the warning from Nath, the centaur chieftain didn’t stop to fight or take a breather. Even Konstite, a centaur who usually wanted a good fight and hated fleeing like a coward, didn’t complain once about their withdrawal from the battlefield. Colet suspected the veteran’s instincts were very persuasive in the matter. He could only hope that, once they reached their camp, they could regroup and deal with the situation. He was certain the Magus was in the process of finding a solution to their undead problem.

As the centaurs neared their camp, Ilumin flew over Colet’s head once more.

Undead coming! Lots of them!

Colet cursed under his breath. If what he heard in stories were true, undead soldiers couldn’t tire out allowing them to pursue and fight nonstop. To make matters worse, they also excel at night eliminating the advantage centaurs had in the dark. Against such an enemy, the centaurs, despite their incredible stamina, would eventually lose. The centaur camp gate opened once the centaurs were nearly at the gate. The ax wielder by the gate greeted the chieftain.

“We don’t have a moment to spare,” said Colet. “Gather all the centaurs and have everyone carry as much supplies as they can without being slowed down. We head out at once.”

The ax wielder left to carry out the order without another word. Colet then turned to Eupoos.

“Any ideas of how we can kill or even slow down the undead?”

The Magus shook his head. Like Colet, he only heard of the undead in stories and how the Holy Knights in the human kingdom could permanently slay the undead. Outside of the humans, holy power was extremely rare in other races with no known cases of centaur possessing any holy powers. Beyond holy powers, there were very few reliable options against the undead.

“We can only flee and hope to escape them?”

Eupoos nodded his head. Feeling helplessness, Colet attacked the ground in front of him. The strike did little to vent his frustrations but he didn’t regret doing it in front of the others. The ax wielder he gave orders to soon returned.

“Chieftain, your order has been relayed and the centaurs are carrying it out right now.”

“Good,” said Colet before he ordered the centaurs who fled with him to do the same.

Once all the centaurs were ready, Colet and the leaders followed suit before they led all the centaurs out the rear camp gate. To travel light, they had to abandon everything else to create any distance with the pursuing undead. Since arriving at their camp, the centaurs had yet to spot the undead. They could only hope this would remain the case. As the centaurs exited, Ilumin returned with more bad news.

Other camps attacked! More undead!

Is there no end to their numbers, thought Colet.

The leaders inquired what Colet just learned so the chieftain shared the news of the other camps attacked by the undead. It was clear that joining forces with the other coalition members was out of the question. If they stayed in the region any longer, they too would be surrounded by the undead. Once surrounded, it was simply a matter of time before the undead finished them off. Colet gave the order of galloping in double time so they could put as much distance between themselves and their enemies. He could only hope the undead would eventually lose interest in them. The centaurs galloped nonstop through the forest until they arrived at the outer boundaries of the wide open plains.

“What’s that?” shouted Magus as they traversed onto the flat terrain.

Colet looked up in time to see a gaseous creature in the sky. The creature had a single eye and a large mouth. To his horror, the creature began speaking.

“Centaurs! I am the Soul of Xemir! You have done well to flee my undead forces and I want to reward you for your efforts! I will give you a three days head start before my forces resume pursuing you. If you can escape them, then you will have earned freedom. Otherwise, I will make you my loyal servants like so many already have today. Do try your best because I want to be entertained by non-human races like yours.”

The gaseous creature vanished as soon as the message was delivered. Colet felt anger coursing through his veins at the thought of this Soul of Xemir treating this like a game. Before the anger could surface, he pushed it back down and got his breathing back under control. He digested the message and turned to Konstite.

“Konstite, we will pace ourselves for the next three days. We must find a balance between creating distance and not tiring ourselves out.”

“How do you know we can trust what that … thing said?” asked the shieldbreaker leader.

“I’ve met those sorts of beings before. They are too full of themselves. Either we get a head start and create some distance or we tire ourselves out making us easy targets once they catch up to us. Regardless of what happens, watching our stamina will improve our chances of survival.”

“And from what the Soul of Xemir said,” said Eupoos, “the others must have already fallen. I’m certain they are sent to pursue and fight us. Their presence on the battlefield will no doubt deal a serious blow to our morale.”

“Ides, Tolien and the other centaurs. I really don’t want to fight them.”

“We don’t get a choice,” replied the Magus.

Colet knew Eupoos was speaking the truth but that didn’t make the upcoming battle any easier. The chieftain had to push his thoughts aside as he focused on their journey back home. The plains, while considered by most centaurs as their home, was still filled with dangers and uncertainty. When the centaurs marched with the coalition towards Torpin Stronghold, their numbers easily discouraged other denizens of the plains to try anything. Now, Colet led a fraction of the total centaurs left for the campaign. No doubt, their numbers would attract certain attention forcing them to defend themselves.