yet. I thought you were supposed to be keeping watch!”
“I was, and I found out we have a horde of zombies coming!” she shouted.
“They’l have to wait. I have my hands ful already!”
Sai was angry, but she took it out on the nearest witch: porting to the back of her broom and
yanking the hag off, sending her plunging into the Moor below. It so surprised the witch that she
barely had time to scream.
“Thanks,” called Hatch as he final y loosed an arrow, knocking the skull from a Dust Mage,
whose cold blast missed, and instead sent icicles rippling down a rope bridge.
Von Wilding was intently watching a boat with two Dust Mages as they fired their terrible cold
blasts at the town, freezing the humid swamp air into great blocks of ice, crushing townsfolk and
smashing through homes. But Von Wilding cut a line, and suddenly a huge log swung down and
crashed into the rowboat, smashing it to kindling and the mages along with it. A cry of joy went up
from the townsfolk. But just as things looked to be in their favor, the very balcony Sai was standing
shook mightily.
Down in the water, two of the huge fat zombies were pushing back and forth on one of the stilts, shaking the whole building. The mindless things looked like they were in a reversed tug-of-war, each trying to give the post to the other. Then it broke. The whole building tipped for a
moment, giving Sai just enough time to grab a man who stood frozen, yank him back to another
connecting plank, and then away again as the building toppled and fel , crushing the two zombies.
“Looks like they took care of themselves,” said Sai in relief.
“Maybe, but that was my house,” said the man.
“Eh, sorry.”
Witches were stil flying about zapping lightning strikes. More zombies were wading into the
waters surrounding the town; even when they disappeared because the water was over their heads,
Sai could see the ripples of movement where they walked unseen on the bottom, looking for
somewhere they could climb up into Stilt Town.
She heard Von Wilding shout in triumph again and guessed his traps must have crushed
another foe. Hatch was stil loosing arrows and the townsfolk were too, even throwing whatever
they could at zombies below. She saw an old woman and a little child push a couch off a balcony to
land on top of a zombie, making its tongue and eyes bug out. Men with pitchforks and paddles were
holding off a squad of zombies that had reached the lowest level of Stilt Town. She rushed to help
them.
In a blink she was in the throng, cutting aside the repulsive host of rotting bodies with her twin
daggers, slicing fingers and hands that clawed viciously. But stil the horde came on, heedless of their destroyed and wounded comrades. They raged with drooling mouths and clung tenaciously to the
stilts in any attempt to reach the living flesh above. Men drew back and away beside Sai. She wasn’t
sure if they were giving up or had fallen; zombies were grasping hold of people and dragging them
down to their doom in the murky waters. Other zombies were biting them. The zombies renewed
their attack and Sai felt alone for half a moment, until she saw Marie beside her, battering away at
the zombies with a large cast iron pan.
“It knocks their heads off, good as anything,” she quipped before sending a green jaw flying.
The two of them pushed forward and knocked the last few zombies from their position. Sai and
her unexpected partner enjoyed a quick breather but heard screams from behind. Zombies had
scaled other stilts and were on the lower level of rope bridges and planks.
Witches stil flew about freely, sending their terrible curses below, but Sai noticed there were fewer of them. Hatch and the other archers were doing some good there. Von Wilding’s corner of
Stilt Town was the hardest hit, with a dense swarm of zombies in his region. Sai went to assist him.
“Wait,” said Marie, “If we leave this spot open, they wil climb up here again and we’ll be
attacked from another direction.”
“But he needs help.”
“He does, but for the greater good, we have to defend this corner.”
Especial y fat zombies were mil ing about in the swamp below them, not even close to climbing
the stilts yet, but Von Wilding was beset by a howling horde of the monsters.
“I have to help him. I’ll be right back,” said Sai. She blinked away before Marie could argue and
was soon beside Von Wilding, cutting and slashing away at the monsters.
They pushed the foe back and knocked many off the planks to splat against one another.
“I have to get back to where Marie is, before more come that way.”
Von Wilding nodded, saying, “You mean over there? I don’t see her.”
Sai looked, and a great fat zombie was standing where Marie had been on the rope bridge just a
moment ago.
“Oh no.”
She ported as swift as she could, but upon almost reaching the corner of the town, a fat zombie
suddenly exploded, splattering green gore in every direction like a bomb. The smel was enough to
knock a man down. Another one clambered over the side of the deck. Is it staring at me? It almost
looked like it had a smile on its face, but zombies don’t smile, do they? Sai was sure she heard malevolent laughter.
The grotesque zombie took a few quick steps toward her.
Sai had her daggers out, ready to plunge into the horrific mass, when someone cal ed her name.
“Sai! Take cover!”
It’s Marie! But where is she and what is she doing?
A huge black pot flew from the window above, slapping the fat zombie and causing it to burst
like a bal oon. Horrendous smel y green ooze flew in all directions.
“It only works on the fat ones—trust me—I’ve done this more than once.”
In an instant, Sai was up in the room with Marie. “I’m sorry, I thought they got you for a
second there.”
“They nearly did, but I ran up the back step. Now we’ve got worse than pudgy zombies
though.”
“What’s that?”
“Those rotten Shamble Priests is what!”
Marie pointed to the top hat-wearing, skull-faced priest that Sai had seen earlier. He laughed at
the carnage he was causing.
Sai then realized why Marie was horrified. The Shamble Priest wove his dark magics over the
corpse of a dead townie, and despite being covered in blackened scorch marks from a witch’s
lightning blast, and having fal en off an upper roof, he jerked upright—a zombie powered by sheer
evil.
“He was my friend, and now he’s my enemy!” snarled Marie. “I’m not gonna let it happen to
any more of my people!”
“I’m with you,” said Sai firmly.
“Wait—,” said Marie just as Sai ported away.
She stood hip-deep in the murky water right behind the Shamble Priest. Her daggers lanced out
like a serpent’s strike but something hit her—hard—and then she was flying away from the Shamble
Priest. What happened?
Then she was underwater. She choked on the foul green and rose up, spitting out a mouthful.
The ugliest thing she had ever seen, this side of the three-headed Ettin, stood before her. He
looked like a zombie but was at least three times the usual size, and had other things grafted onto his massive purplish frame. He had stiches crisscrossing his body, demarcating where different bodies
had been sewn together. Here and there slabs of meta
l protruded, but the strangest thing, besides his
eerie cold eyes, was the massive hand of a giant bolted to his arm. It was terrible to behold, and he
was charging at Sai.
She blinked away just as his great foot stomped down where she had been squatting. Unlike the
other zombies which only moaned if they made any sound at al , the gruesome foe howled in a rage.
His head swung back and forth like a predator as he scanned for his quarry. When he saw Sai up on
the balcony once again, he rushed forward and yanked a post from its mooring, causing yet another
of the stilted homes to topple.
“Maybe that took care of him, just like the others,” said Sai.
“Not this one,” said Marie. “We’re going to need something more to take down Gruesome
George.”
“It has a name?”
Marie threw a burning skil et at Gruesome George, saying, “Yeah, you can’t have a thing like
that running around without cal ing it something.” The grease from the pan splashed across George
and he caught on fire for a moment, but he simply ducked down into the water and extinguished
himself before again attacking the stilts of the town.
Arrows flew swift as lightning from Hatch’s bow as he spotted the great new foe, but George
just plucked them out and straightened up as if the wounds made him even stronger.
“What could make such a beast?” asked Sai as she looked for something to throw.
“Some demented gnome Shamble Priest, always tinkering with the secrets of life, I’d wager,”
answered Marie as she pushed a bathtub down at George. It barely missed. “Goddess! I missed. I
was real y hoping that would crush his bones.”
“He packs a punch al right,” said Sai. “Any other ideas?”
Marie looked grave and shook her head until her braids swayed back and forth. “I don’t know
what else to do—he’l climb up here any minute. Best we can do is cut the rope bridge when he
comes.”
“I’m al for that. I’l set something terrible up for him to land on.”
“You better hurry.”
Sai ported to the lower level beneath the rope bridge, looking for anything that might damage
the behemoth if he should fal on it. Trouble was, there wasn’t a lot of that sort of thing in Stilt
Town, especial y on the spot beneath the bridge.
She saw a broken section of railing from one of the toppled stilt houses. No one else could
have possibly been fast enough to grab it and set it beneath the bridge, but Sai was. She pushed
herself hard, taking two sections and crossing them upside down beneath the bridge like an X.
Broken sharp points faced upward like spears. Sai guessed that any way George fel , he should get
stuck by a section of the trap.
Sai ported back to Marie and saw they were now faced with George, who howled at them and
lumbered across the rope bridge. More zombies crowded in behind him.
Marie held her knife ready. “Don’t cut it, until I say,” she said.
George took a wary step across the wooden planks of the rickety bridge. The boards strained
beneath his awesome weight. He was halfway across.
“Now!” cried Marie. They each slashed the ropes and the bridge buckled.
Zombies fell like stones, but George leapt, and incredibly, his fingers caught the edge of the boardwalk on which they stood. Who would have thought a monster that big and clumsy-looking could be so agile?
They stomped on his fingers, but he gave no indication he felt any pain. An elbow slammed
onto the boardwalk, then he swung a leg up and over and suddenly he was on the balcony facing
them.
They backed away but felt trapped against his horrible menace.
He roared.
Then something roared back. A great dark brown thing al covered in hair moved like a
whirlwind and tackled George. It was as big or bigger than the gargantuan zombie was. It looks like a werewolf.
Sai ushered Marie away from where the two titans struggled against each other.
They hammered at each other with tooth, fist and claw. Audible blows rocked each opponent
and the whole of Stilt Town. One went crashing through a wal , only to emerge and do the same to
his opponent.
“Where did a werewolf come from and why is he on our side? I thought such beasts would
serve Von Drakk?” asked Sai, perplexed.
Marie shushed her. “I think I know.”
The werewolf caught George’s arm in a terrible bite and shook its head like a dog with a bone.
George howled in pain but reached up and brought his giant fist down on the werewolf’s skull.
Dazed, the werewolf let go and backed away a step. It howled at the rising moon and again assaulted
the rapacious foe. They hit through the boardwalk, which creaked beneath their weight until finally
snapping. They crashed through to the next floor down. Just as quickly, they were up and trading
blows again. The werewolf slashed his claws across the zombie’s chest, while the zombie punched
the wolf hard enough to draw blood across his muzzle.
Sai noticed the Shamble Priest watching, rubbing his hands with glee. She knew what he was
thinking; he couldn’t wait for George to defeat the werewolf so he could turn the walking canine
into one of his undead slaves. She wasn’t sure George could defeat the werewolf, but she wasn’t
about to risk it.
She ported to the Priest’s side and sunk a dagger into his abdomen, but he whipped around and
struck at her fast as lightning. Sai had not expected that. Her dagger was stil stuck in his ribs!
“He has sent me to reclaim your body and soul, that you might serve him and the Midnight Queen
beneath the impenetrable glory of the Dark Consul. You wil join us.”
Sai snarled, “I’l never join you,” and ported, returning to stick him again and again from
multiple directions as she circled fast as the wind, cold as the north. With the thought that no one
could have withstood such an attack, Sai paused a few feet away from him.
His skull face only grinned at her. “You can’t hurt me, Sai, not with such parlor tricks. I am
undead and cannot be harmed by things as simple as a knife thrust. Unfortunately, you can!” He
charged at her with Sai’s own blade, and she ported away just as the tip of the blade scratched her
arm.
She reappeared a good twenty feet away. I’m getting better at this.
He wheeled to face her. “You’re quick, that’s good. But you’l only die tired. Maybe while I wait
to finish you, I’l take the rest of these as my servants first. Hmmm?”
Sai glanced behind him and saw George and the werewolf stil beating each other senseless
while the zombies swarmed over the town and forced the people to retreat.
“There is a way to beat him,” said a soft voice.
Sai looked over her shoulder to see Esmerelda hiding in a clump of bushes. “How?”
“Life takes away the power of the undead.”
“What does that mean?”
“Use your gifts, your talents,” said the little witch.
Sai looked back to face down the skull-faced Shamble Priest. He grinned at her, thinking
himself invulnerable, but she had a new plan. She ported to the Shamble Priest, gripped him tightly
across the coat, and ported just a few steps over, beside a
tree. The Shamble Priest was stuck
halfway in and out of the tree’s trunk. His eyes bulged and then he was stil .
The glowing green skul that he held like a lantern went out. As the eerie light faded, the
massive hoard of zombies suddenly halted and fel , back to being the corpses they truly were.
Al except George; he fought on against the werewolf. They were a bloody mess, but stil they
grappled on. He caught the werewolf in a headlock and squeezed. Marie ran up behind them and
smacked her rolling pin repeatedly against George’s head, distracting him just enough that the
werewolf broke free of his death grip. The werewolf, in a burst of energy, took hold of the
monstrous automaton and lifting him up, slammed him down on the crossed railing that Sai had set
up earlier. Gruesome George met a gruesome end as he was pierced by no less than ten of the sharp stakes. He whined for a moment, then went as stil as his master.
Al that was left was the handful of witches that stil flitted about the night sky sending curses
and blasts at the townsfolk. Now, with no zombies to worry about, al the archers and folk could
throw stones and arrows at them and they too began to retreat.
The last one, however, swooped in close to Hatch and got him with a curse. He convulsed and
rapidly shrank down into a miserable toad before their very eyes.
“Hatch!” cried Sai. She rushed to his side, only to see a large toad sitting beneath his lump of
clothes and mail. She picked the miserable toad up. “Is that you, Hatch?”
The toad said, “Ribbit.”
The townsfolk crowded in around her. She wiped her eyes, hiding the tears, and looked at them,
saying, “I like him better this way. Serves the bossy do-gooder right.” She placed him in her satchel
and quickly walked away.
The crowd cheered, “Hooray, hooray! We have been delivered!”
Lost in her own thoughts of loss, she saw Marie facing the werewolf, whose massive chest was
still heaving from his confrontation with Gruesome George.
“It’s you, isn’t it?” Marie asked.
The werewolf nodded, and for such a ferocious creature, he tenderly gave his wounded hand to
Marie. She took it and wrapped a bandage about it with care.
Sai was stunned.
The werewolf transformed before her very eyes back into Von Wilding.