Belly of the Beast by Warren Thomas (story books for 5 year olds txt) 📕

how Raven felt about the enchanted blade. Gods forbid that a zombie or one of Dakar’s priests ever claim that magic sword.

            Both Vikon quickly shed their armor and boots, and then waded into the murky waters. By the time Tane and Quinn waded in, others were plunging into the dark moat waters as well. A tall, dark man with a dagger in hand bellowed in anger behind Tane, making Tane think him unable to swim. He felt sorry for him, but knew he wasn’t strong enough of a swimmer to save him as well. Halfway across Tane saw the first ropes being lowered.

            Thanking every God he could think of, and Kamain twice, Tane emerged from the moat and claimed a dangling rope. He waited for Quinn, who slowly towed Raven across. Tane tied a large loop with a slip knot into the rope for Raven. And only after she was a good two thirds of the way up did either man look for a rope to climb up. At the top of the wall they found Raven missing.

            “Forget the woman,” an angry lieutenant snapped, pointing southward. “You have more important things to worry about.”

            Zombies in the thousands were crowded along the moat shore, starting to wash around the city walls in an unstoppable wave of mindless humanity. Captives could be seen being dragged to a holding area some three hundred paces from the walls. Soon, gray-robed men and women arrived. Tane instantly knew them for priests of Dakar.

            The number of lightning strikes doubled suddenly, then doubled again. Several hit upraised spears and tall towers, blasting men and stone to bits. All the while the zombie horde just stood before them in utter silence, staring up at the defenders with dead eyes and slack faces.

            Then the priests surrounded the captives. Tane watched in horror as the priests ordered men and women dragged to them, where they laid a hand on the hapless victim. Whenever one of the gray-robed priests touched a captive, he or she tensed, then relaxed completely. All life was washed from the victim’s face, showing the world Dakar had a new zombie slave to command. The newest zombies quickly took their places among the others.

            Sweeping his eyes over the crowd of mindless humanity, Tane’s heart hammered as he saw several familiar faces. Everard Boarsbane. Corporal Disa. The Amazon from 2nd Section, Sophie. Even Captain Kenelm was a zombie.

            “Look!” Quinn said, pointing to a group just emerging from the forest. It was too far for Tane or the Vikon to distinguish faces, not having Quinn’s keen elven eyesight. “It’s Sergeant Gareth and Corporal Pendar. They’re zombies.”

            “Damn,” Armin growled. “I was just starting to like Pendar. He wasn’t such a bad fellow after all.”

            Unexpected, the zombies before them erupted in fire. Tane yelped as he jumped back. Armin cursed, stepping in front of Joelle. Though a good fifty paces away, the flames were searing hot on their flesh.

            “Mage fires,” Quinn said, shielding his eyes from the intense light.

            “It seems the Kestsaxian mages have finally waded into the battle,” Joelle said. She glowered a long moment. “We could’ve used them yesterday. The battle might’ve gone differently.”

            “Fat chance of that ever happening,” Armin said just as acidly. “That pampered lot wouldn’t consent to getting their precious hands dirty, much less sleeping on the hard ground and associating with common soldiers like us.”

            “Gods forbid!” Joelle said.

            “At least they’re fighting now,” Tane said, though highly distressed. Men and women he had come to see as friends were dying terrible deaths before his eyes. Corporal Disa’s entire squad was unaccounted for. Everard hadn’t been such a bad sort, after Raven had introduced them and spurred on a few friendly arm wrestling competitions in the barracks. Competitions that Tane recalled her making a killing at in wagers, only to lose playing dice. “I pray that being zombies doesn’t Taint their souls in the eyes of the Gods.”

            The cloud bank lurched forward and dropped to the ground, smothering the arcane fires. Tane thought it would envelope the city walls as well, but hastily cast spells by the mages and priests saved them. Joelle was scornful of the mages’ tactics, saying that the priests had really saved them. Tane didn’t care, as long as somebody was vigilant.

            When the cloud bank fell back it revealed a hellish scene. Scorched bodies lay atop scorched bodies. Only Dakar’s priests survived the fiery carnage. But zombies in the thousands were already shuffling out of the surrounding forest to replace the dead. Tane saw no end of them in sight.

            It didn’t take long for the zombies to fill up all available space in the fields surrounding the city.

            “They’re going to charge the wall!” someone cried to Tane’s far left. “Be alert! Repelling teams to the front!”

            The gray-robed priests were giving orders furiously, sending axe-wielding zombies back into the forest. Soon, they reappeared with long poles easily as long as the walls were tall.  Many were lashed together to form ladders, with others used to make bridges wide enough to pass three men abreast. Tane was impressed by the single-minded speed in which the zombies worked. In no time they were ready.

            “Here they come,” Quinn said. “The true slaughter begins.”

            “Why don’t the mages burn them up again?” Tane said, faced with the daunting task of facing their uncounted thousands.

            “They’ve shot their wad already,” Armin said.

            “Armin!” Joelle scolded. Then turning to Tane, she said, “Remember when I told you magic requires life energy? Well, the mages will have to build up their individual hoards of life energies before they can cast such a powerful spell again. It might not be easy to find that much spare energy in the city.”

            “Not for long, anyway,” Armin said.

            The Vikon couple shared a grim look.

            “This is a more mundane fight coming,” Quinn said. “I’ve seen mages do such things before. It is