Chapter 30 (1/2)

“I’m terribly sorry,” the undead knight said while lowering its head, “I just assumed that the knights would be humans, not demons.”

Lindyss shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. We were going to need some demons later on too.”

The two knights were wearing undergarments and two undead skeletons wore new shiny steel plate armor. The knights were seated on one end of a wooden table, while Vur and Lindyss sat on the other end. The table was surrounded by a ring of undead knights.  They were in a cave near the marsh where the undead slept.

“W-what do you want with us?” the knight on the left asked. He three blue horns. The knight on the right had one red horn.

“Oh, just a few answers to our questions,” Lindyss said with a smile, “and some tutoring. Don’t worry, you’ll be set free when it’s over.”

The two knights stared at Lindyss and gulped. She was wearing a red robe that hugged her body and accentuated her curves. “Alright,” the red horned knight said and nodded.

“Great. Let’s get on with it then,” Lindyss said, “what qualifications do you need to marry into the royal family?”

The two knights stared at Vur and then turned to face each other with eyebrows raised. “Well, you’d have to be a demon noble to start off with…” the blue horned knight said.

“What else?”

He shrugged. “You’d just have to bring more benefits than every other potential suitor. Usually that means owning a lot of land and money,” he said.

“Can’t the princess pick who she marries?” Vur asked.

The two knights stared at Vur with their mouths open. “You’re talking about the princess?” the blue horned knight asked, “I thought you were asking about a side branch of the royal family. You’d need to be richer, smarter, and stronger than the rest of the suitors. You’d also need the approval of the majority of the family. It’s easier for a woman to marry the princes, but the criteria to marry the princess is a lot higher.”

Lindyss rested her chin on her hand. “Wow, this is going to be a lot easier than I thought,” she said.

The two knights stared at her, but didn’t say anything. Lindyss smiled at them.

“Teach him etiquette befitting a prince,” she said and pointed at Vur.

The two knights glanced at each other.

“Don’t worry. He learns quick,” Lindyss said, “let me know if there’s anything you need to teach him, but can’t.”

“I think the princes learn to play music. They also have to know how to dance and command an army through their charisma,” the red horned knight said while rubbing his chin.

Lindyss turned towards the undead knight leader. “You heard the man,” she said, “we’ll need a commander, a dancer, and a musician. Remember. No killing.”

“As you command,” the undead knight saluted and the skeletons left the cave. Lindyss stood up and turned to leave.

The blue horned knight scrunched his eyebrows together. “Aren’t you afraid we’ll escape?”

Lindyss let out a laugh. “Be careful,” she said as she walked away, ”he bites.”

The two knights turned and looked at the half naked human boy in front of them.

Vur frowned. “I don’t bite demons,” he said, “Grimmy says they’ll give me a stomachache.”

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“The undead are back!”

Gale let out a groan and stopped writing. He went outside and saw everyone trudging towards the courtyard. Dustin was already waiting at the top of the city gate.

“Why do you think they’re doing this?” Gale asked Dustin.

Dustin shook his head. “It feels like they’re just stealing our equipment or gathering information. Why else would they return Opfern alive,” he said, “has he said anything?”

Gale sighed. “He’s been curled up in the fetal position ever since he came back,” he said and shook his head, “he refuses to talk to any of us. He was a good man.”

Gale looked at the approaching cloud of dust. “There seems to be more of them than last time? I requested reinforcements from the capital. They should arrive here in a two weeks. If they come back within that time we can wipe them out.”

Dustin nodded. “I requested some reinforcements also. To your stations everyone,” he said and the people scrambled to attention.

The undead stopped just outside of the garrison archers’ range. They formed two rectangles of 500 by 200 undead cavalry. The undead knight leader dismounted and stepped forward. He was wearing Opfern’s old mithril armor.

“What do you want from us?” one of the knights shouted.

“We want a commander, a dancer, and a musician,” the leader said, “I’ll give you everything I have in my right pocket for them.”

“… You don’t even have pockets!” one of the archers shouted.