Journey Home

The sun was rising higher as Shinra walked away from the gate, having had no trouble leaving.  ‘Guards are always happy to see Zombies leave.’

This close to the gates, he wasn’t worried about his safety yet, but he had a few kilometres to travel before reaching the Zombie tent village he lived in with his sister.  A small group of younger men and women walked with him along the way.  Shinra tried not to look at them too closely, but he could see the bruises and damage typical of Zombies that worked ‘night shifts’ with the cruel mages.  ‘Everyone needs to find a way to help feed their families, but I will never let my sister lay with a damn Mage.’

It was just part of their life, Zombies weren’t even second class citizens.  As Shinra saw last night, a mage wasn’t worried at all about killing him.  ‘The rules aren’t enforced equally.  I guess it is better to get paid for what a mage could do by force,’ the thought made him sick.  Then he remembered that the Mage last night paid with his life.

Shinra smiled, the kind of smile that made the other Zombies pull back from him more.

“That’s the thief, right?” a blonde girl said.  She was pretty, except for her puffy lips and bruised arms.  She might have been younger than Shinra’s sister.

“Yeah, that is Naori’s brother,” a red headed girl said. They both smiled a little then, Naori had that effect on people.  Shinra made them nervous, but Naori made everyone a little happier.

Shinra knew Sophie, the redheaded girl, well, they grew up together.  It should have bothered him when she pretended not to know him.  He didn’t care though.  Many people shunned him in the tents because he spoke out about the cruelty of the mages. 

‘I know it’s stupid, but not talking about it doesn’t make our lives better.  Why does everyone pretend it is normal to get killed for walking too slowly in front of a mage? It is fucking crazy.’  Shinra hadn’t made any friends by stealing from mages whenever he could. Several elders had explained that when the mages noticed, they might hurt a lot more people than Shin.

‘Cowards. The same people that won’t give me more work, or share some food with my sister, complain about how I keep us alive.’

The group kept trudging forwards, still an hour or more from their homes.  If you could call salvaged tents and shanties ‘homes’.  Shinra heard it then, a low rumbling beneath his feet.  ‘Horses, moving fast.  That isn’t good,’ he thought.

The others hadn’t noticed yet, or maybe didn’t care, but Shinra had more to worry about than they did.  At least, he didn’t think any of them had killed a mage last night.

‘There is no cover here, the road is too open through this low grass.  We haven’t even reached the forest yet.’  In the forest, he could have melted off the road and hid, but he was exposed here.  So he pushed his way into the group of teens and young adults.  They looked uncomfortable, but no one said anything.  

‘At least now I look like part of the crowd.’  It wasn’t a lot of protection, but he had to be less noticeable this way.

The sound of horses grew near, and soon four mounted riders and a carriage arrived.  The mounted men had the air of seasoned mercenaries. They had on small pieces of armour, carried small swords and wore cloaks instead of full robes.  This spoke of the kind of man that valued movement as one of their weapons.

Afterall, a sword or dagger could kill a mage as well as fireball, Shin now knew.  These fighter and knight mage types were worse than the fat rich mages they served because they lived for violence.  They didn’t exude an aura of strong magic, like the best mage lords did, but any mage was 1000 times more dangerous than a zombie.

‘Or so they think,’ Shinra thought, and his hand brushed the dagger under his shirt.

“Stop, zombie swine!” the mounted mage closest to the group yelled.  “Lord Jala is looking for the tramp who seduced his son last night!”

The group around Shinra went still.  This was not good, a mage lord didn’t come looking for zombies, ever.  ‘At least they definitely aren’t looking for me,’ he thought, and was comforted.

“She is a red haired vixen, and said her name was Firestar,” the man said with a sneer.  He looked over the group, and his eyes inexorably went to Sophie.  “Is it you, trollop?”

She ducked her head low, and mumbled out, “No my lord. I am called Sophie.”  She kept her head down.

Shinra was a little surprised.  He wasn’t sure what went on in the bedrooms of the mages, but he’d always imagined the zombies spent most of the time crying and waiting for it to be over.  If Sophie had a stage name, then that spoke of a …. More engaging encounter?  ‘Why should I care?  Maybe the mages will get off on calling her Horse Shit next time.’

The mounted mage tapped politely on the carriage door.  As it opened, Shinra saw Sophie begin to tremble.  ‘Shit, it was her. This will only cause problems for all of us.

When the door fully opened, a shimmering red platform of pure magic came into existence, and two men stepped out, standing nearly a metre over the huddled zombies.  One of the men was very young.  Younger than Shinra for sure, basically a boy.  The other was old.  The kind of old that didn’t show in the face, because mages lived a long long time, but was felt by the aura that surrounded them.  

The old man spoke.  “Tell me Matthew, which of these filthy zombies is the love of your life?”  He spoke in a calm, heavy tone, as if this was an important occasion.  The boy squirmed a little under the hand pressed heavily to his shoulder, he didn’t want to be here.

“I don’t see her father.  Perhaps she is still in the city,” the boy said. His voice almost cracked, but didn’t.  He was uncomfortable, but doing his best to hold his ground with his father.  Shinra thought he was doing a good job, but noticed that his eyes had flitted to Sophie’s downturned head a few times. 

‘Shit, shit, shit,’ Shinra thought.

“Of course, of course.  She might be waiting for you to come meet her after your morning lessons.” The father said.  He looked out over the crowd of zombies, about 15 people huddled in fear.  “Well, since she isn’t here, there is no reason not to clean up this mess.  Would you take care of Woodruff?  Matthew needs to return for his lessons.”  Then the older man stepped back towards the carriage, forcefully pulling his son.

“Father! No! No, that isn’t necessary!  They haven’t done anything wrong!”

“As you wish Lord Jala.  The road back to the city is clear, but I’d feel better if Sam, Frodi and Gimlo stayed with you.  I can deal with the zombies myself.”