It was difficult not to get angry. How could anyone actually think Akumu was defeated? Of all the gods in the pantheon, Akumu was the only one who chose to live among the people, to rule them directly, to be seen and heard by any and all. This was a test of faith, surely, much like how Akumu always insisted he was not a god and yet was so obviously one. How else could Kasyn’s powers be explained?

These were the thoughts that circled around and around in his mind while he tried to pray in his tent. There was so much he wished the others would accept, knowing their situation would be so much better if only they would believe. Perhaps their trials were directly related to the lack of faith, or perhaps their faith had nothing to do with it. Akumu’s wisdom was far greater than his own, Kasyn had to admit, and just accept things as they were.

Even as a devout follower of Akumu, there was only so much praying Kasyn could do so after a while he got up and went to find an empty field where he could practice his magic. He was still so knew to it that he wasn’t sure what all he could really do with it. Besides the few instinctual spells he’d cast, he was at a loss for where his limits were. Jelvaic, it seemed, had set aside a few such fields for people to practice dangerous magics in and Kasyn was given priority for using them.

The field was set a good ways away from the main encampment. The ground was devoid of any dry brush that could catch fire and a few stakes with targets on them had been set into the field at regular intervals. To warm up, Kasyn fired off a few of his usual spells at the targets. His aim was already pretty good and he was pleased to see he hadn’t plateaued as he struck the center of the targets more and more often.

“Alright, what else,” he said to himself.

That was the problem, he really didn’t know what else to try. His magic was mostly instinctual, rather than rote like the Sages of the Mercurial Robe proscribed. He’d chanced a glance at the spellbooks both Emilie and Zeter used and knew instantly that they wouldn’t be of much use to him.

“My power comes from Akumu,” he told himself, “so my spells ought to be like him…somehow.”

That brought up an interesting idea. Akumu controlled the undead, fiends, and elementals within his lands. Could Kasyn do likewise to some degree? He extended a hand down towards the earth and felt something, a connection, to something beneath the soil.

“Rise,” he said and felt the magic course through him.

It took a significant mount of effort, far more than he’d ever used on a spell previously, but after a few moments a skeletal hand began to claw its way out from beneath the surface. As it pulled itself upright, Kasyn felt his connection with the skeleton solidify into a very real extension of his own senses. Like most undead in Akumu’s lands, this skeleton had no weapons or armor. In a hoard that didn’t matter so much but as a solitary undead it made for a rather weak combatant. Regular armor wouldn’t fit on the skeleton, however, but a sword or spear would work. Kasyn had a short sword, though very little training with it, and handed it to the skeleton before instructing it to attack one of the targets. The skeleton obeyed and seemed to be as proficient with the weapon as Kasyn was himself. Probably not a coincidence.

“How many of you can I command?”

Kasyn extended his hand down towards the earth once more and, as he felt the connection build, ordered another undead to rise. In total he managed to bring three skeletons up before his nose began to bleed. He hadn’t quite over channeled, but he’d come close and decided three would be enough for now.

With his three skeletons in tow, Kasyn returned to the camp in search of Jelvaic. The old farmer was at the pavilion, like usual, dealing with the concerns of the people and organizing the work crews who were working the new farms they’d established to try and produce enough food before winter set in. Kasyn joined the queue which wasn’t as long as it used to be. As more days passed, people seemed to be settling in better and better to their new living conditions and needed less help resolving their issues.

A few people gave Kasyn’s undead a brief look of surprise but undead weren’t uncommon in Akumu’s realm so there were no panicked outbursts. When he reached the front of the line, it was Arjana who was handling things for the moment.

“I see you’ve got a few followers,” she nodded towards the skeletons.

“Yes, I was wondering if I could get some help outfitting them?”

“They any good in a fight?”

“As good as I am, actually. Exactly as good.”

Arjana nodded again and made a note of it.

“I’m scheduling you to begin training with our militia,” Arjana said, “I recommend spear and shield training. The skeletons could form a protective barrier and give you more time to retreat. The militia’s training field is on the north side of camp. We meet every morning after breakfast and then again after evening meal. I’ll have gear for your undead there.”

She waved to show she was done and Kasyn stepped away. Every advantage was important, and this one was yet another sign of Akumu’s approval since Kasyn wasn’t truly animating these undead but merely commanding them in Akumu’s place. With training, he hoped to make the most of these gifted undead from Akumu.

It was already past morning training but Kasyn was eager to begin so he went out and found himself a long stick to serve as a stand in for a spear and a wide piece of bark to serve as a shield. It wasn’t too difficult to hold them in what he thought was proper form. The spear rested on the top of his shield and he kept himself behind the bark to protect himself from any potential attack. A few testing thrusts seemed to work well enough and he could easily change the angle on the thrust to aim high or low. The trouble he ran into fairly early on, though, was how tired his arms became. The bark and stick didn’t weigh that much and he assumed a real shield and spear would weigh more. At least his skeletons didn’t get tired. Kasyn only needed to know how to fight. He didn’t have to do the actual fighting himself unless things were getting truly desperate.

Not wanting to damage his skeleton, or injure himself, Kasyn kept his practice to just him in the field, striking at targets. Head strikes were most efficient against undead but elementals had to be struck in their heart. He had no idea if fiends had a weakness and was thankful they hadn’t run afoul of any so far. He had to stop every few minutes and let his arms rest but it felt good to be doing something physical. It gave him clarity around his concerns in a way that not even practicing magic could match.

What did it matter, really, if Zeter and the others didn’t believe in Akumu? They were still his subjects and eventually Akumu would reveal himself and restore everything as it was before the Tower of Light’s attack.

How had the Tower of Light managed their attack in the first place? They clearly had ways of keeping things secret from Akumu. Perhaps they had items similar to Zeter’s disks of absolution. There was also the warded circle around the farmhouse they’d found that first time they entered the city. Was there a way to negate that sort of thing? It would be a fine trick if Kasyn and the others found the Tower of Light soldiers in their chapel, warded and safe, only to have the ward collapse and find themselves set upon by the city’s forces. Then Kasyn and the others would even need to fight the soldiers. They could stand back and watch. Maybe help a little but they wouldn’t want to draw unwanted attention to themselves and risk having the city turn on them as well.

“Kasyn!”

He turned at hearing his name shouted and was surprised to see Arjana glaring at him.

“Sorry, do you need me?”

“Have you eaten?”

He was about to say yes, that he’d had his breakfast but then he noted how shaky he was and how far the sun had moved across the sky since the last time he’d checked.

“Evening meal is almost finished. Go eat and then hurry back so I can teach you how to actually fight,” Arjana scolded him.

“Right,” Kasyn blushed. “I’ve been practicing all day and lost track of time.”

“Bad practice is worse than no practice,” she growled but left it at that as she continued to point him towards the cook fires.

Had he been practicing wrong? He supposed he didn’t know much about warfare or tactics, but how complicated could a spear and shield really be. You block with one, you poke with the other. Perhaps that was just revealing how ignorant he really was. Oh well. Too late now to go back and not try to practice on his own. At the very least it was a good workout.

He scarfed down a bowl of stew and then stuffed a roll in his mouth while he dashed back to the practice field. The militia was already gathered and stretching. He fell in among them and copied them, stretching out his tired arms and legs.

“Don’t forget to limber up all your joints,” Arjana said to the group though her eyes glanced over to Kasyn. “Roll out your wrists, ankles, your back. Last thing you want in a fight, besides dying, is to sprain something.”

Kasyn obeyed and after about fifteen more minutes Arjana had them all line up while a few kids too young to be in the militia ran around handing out training spears and shields. The spears were fairly uniform but the shields were a mix of large tower shields, mid-sized kite shields, and a few small bucklers. Kasyn had a tower shield and his already tired arm quivered as he tried to lift it off the ground.

“Now, depending on what sort of shield you have,” Arjana barked at them, “will determine the sort of techniques you’ll employ when fighting with a spear. Group up with everyone that has the same sort of shield as you and I’ll be coming around to teach you all your first drill.”

She started with the tower shields and Kasyn was relieved to find that not only could he rest the base of the shield on the ground while fighting, but that his assumptions of how to fight with a spear and shield weren’t that far off. He could stab from above the shield, but also from the side. The main difference was in how he needed to hold the spear and thrust with his body weight to add power to the attacks.

Behind him, the skeletons mimicked his motions with shields and spears of their own. More than a few of the militia were watching them with interest though it seemed they all knew who they belonged to.

“A shield wall is a powerful, defensive formation,” Arjana called out while they ran through their drills. “Multiple people can attack from behind a single shield, either with spears, swords, or spells. But don’t think you’re invincible. The shield bearer is always at greatest risk when they think themselves safe. That’s when your reactions slow, you stop following the flow of the fight, and then you and the people you’re supposed to be protecting die. The bigger the shield, the more likely you are to stop paying attention so its up to you to stay focused.”

At that, she hurled the spear she’d been holding right at Kasyn’s head. To his own surprise and gratification, he managed to lift the shield up to cover his face and felt the spear thud off the shield harmlessly. He smiled and allowed himself a few congratulatory bows to those around him when suddenly he was flipped over onto his back. His spear was wrenched out of his grasp and the blunted tip smacked him across the face. Not too hard, but enough that he’d have a bruise.

The nearest members of the militia flinched and groaned in sympathy with Kasyn but the rest of them just chuckled.

“Congratulations and bragging are reserved for the feast after the battle,” Arjana chided before helping Kasyn back up to his feet and handing him back his spear. “You do that outside of that time frame, and you’ll find yourself lying on your back if I catch you, or possibly dead if it’s the enemy.”

That sobered Kasyn up and he made sure not to lower his guard again. Arjana threw her spear at him a few more times that evening while they trained and each time he managed to block it and reset himself in case she followed it up with another attack.

They didn’t finish until well after dark since Arjana wanted them to have experience with night fighting.

“You can’t assume your enemy will attack you when it’s convenient. You need to know how to fight when you’re tired, hungry, cold, hot, in the light with the sun in your eyes or in the dark with nothing but the watch fires casting distracting shadows everywhere. Now, let’s have some sparring.”

She broke them into groups, mixing in the different shield types so they could use one another’s advantages while also having to deal with their disadvantages. Helmets and other basic protective equipment were handed out and additional padding was added to the spear tips to avoid any unnecessary injuries.

“Perfect practice makes for perfect warriors so don’t pull your strikes. Attack like you mean it. If you get hit, act like it. If you go down, go down and stay there. Learn not to trip over the fallen. Walk around them or over them. Even if it’s the enemy, a dead body is a poor surface to fight from.”

The fighting was not as intense as Kasyn expected it to be. Arjana was a battle hardened warrior but the militia were just civilians like him with maybe a week more training than Kasyn. A lot of their strikes were weak and easily avoided. Not wanting to get Arjana’s ire again, though, Kasyn did as she instructed and began pegging people in the face, side, and legs with every opportunity he got. He wasn’t very strong, physically, but he didn’t pull his strikes either and more than one person went down hard form a strike from his spear. That emboldened both sides of their little clash and soon they were all striking at one another without regard to the other side’s safety.

As the skirmish drew to its end, Arjana came by and nodded to them with approval. The other groups were not so fortunate and many were chewed out for not giving it their all. As each side regrouped and the few real injuries were tended to, Kasyn became aware of a strange pressure in the air. It felt like a storm might be coming in, but the change was too abrupt to be natural. Perhaps it was the fighting he’d just done, or maybe it was his time spent in the city, but he called his skeletons to him and removed the protective covering from his spear.

“Form up,” he said quietly to the others nearby.

Most of them obeyed while the rest looked at him with puzzled looks on their faces. They made a small ring, not knowing where the threat might come from. Kasyn was about to shout out to Arjana when the air in front of him twisted and an air elemental began spinning towards him, pulling up loose rocks and dirt and throwing it into the air around it.

Chaos broke out as other elementals attacked the other groups as well at the same time. Kasyn didn’t have time to worry about them, though, not with an air elemental already battering away at his shield, trying to yank it off his arm.

“The heart!” he shouted, “Aim for the heart!”

He could just make out the faint glow around the elemental’s heart and two of his three skeletons scored a hit on it. Unfortunately, that was only enough to force it back, not destroy it. With the threat identified, Kasyn’s group formed their shield wall to better defend against the elemental with Kasyn and his skeletons at the middle, drawing the elemental’s attention, the others were able to press in and flank it, stabbing its heart until it couldn’t maintain itself any longer and it faded away.

Some began to relax but Kasyn remembered Arjana’s instruction.

“There’s still more to fight!”

He charged forwards with his skeleton vanguard and the rest soon followed. The other groups were struggling with their elementals and some were in full retreat. Arjana was tied up with three earth elementals whereas the militia were only dealing with air elementals. They checked the elementals that were pursuing the fleeing militia members, putting them down quickly now that they knew what to do, before finally joining Arjana in her fight.

There was only one earth elemental remaining by the time Kasyn and the others joined her. There wasn’t much their practice spears could do against it but they were a good distraction, allowing Arjana to focus on striking its heart.

Light shown down around them as the last elemental fell and disincorporated. Up to that point, Kasyn suspected this was a training exercise for them set up by Arjana but as he got a look of her face in the light he knew this was not part of her plan.

“I say, can we help?” a trio of Sages came into the light and it was obvious by the looks on their faces that they didn’t expect to find the elementals already dealt with.

“You!” Arjana bellowed and leveled her sword at them.

“What? You can’t seriously believe –

Arjana didn’t wait for him to make up whatever excuse he had and gave the hand signal for the militia to move up into formation. They did so, although Kasyn doubted they would do well against three fully trained Sages of the Mercurial Robe. He hoped this was more for show than actually preparing for another fight.

“There are wild elementals running amok,” another of the Sages cut in, holding her hands out to ward off any attack. “We heard the fighting and thought we could help. With Akumu gone, there’s no one to control them.”

“Those weren’t Akumu’s elementals,” Kasyn shouted.

The three sages found him in the line and their eyes drifted uncomfortably over to the three skeletons on his side.

“How could you possibly know that?” she asked with fake bravado.

“I can feel his influence on them,” Kasyn replied.

“I’d trust his word over yours any day,” another of the militia called out. “He’s been in the city twice now and survived. He’s even got some of Akumu’s undead helping him.”

Kasyn could see the magic warp around them as they inspected his undead, no doubt verifying his claims. It seemed they were about to withdraw, being caught in their lie, when Arjana seemed to blink out of existence and then immediately reappear behind the three Sages. Her sword flashed and a head fell to the ground, followed shortly by the body.

The remaining Sages threw up barriers and Arjana only managed to nick one of them while dodging out of the way of a burning ray of light.

Again, Kasyn and his undead charged forwards, followed shortly by the rest of the militia. Their spears were knocked aside by the magical barriers but a few were getting through and tickling the Sages ribs, forcing them to dodge away as Arjana fought them from the other side. Being flanked, let alone surrounded, was not a desirable position to be in but these Sages were well trained. The ground turned slippery and people began tripping and falling over one another. A moment later and fire elementals began to rise up out of the ground.

“Fall back!” Kasyn shouted as spears and shields began to burn.

These weren’t enemies to fight with regular weapons.

“Cover me,” he said and his skeletons and a few other shield bearers stepped forward.

He aimed carefully before firing off a cold blast of magic, freezing the heart of a fire elemental and killing it instantly. There were more of them to deal with and Kasyn was surprised he’d hit the elemental on his first try. Looking around, he could see the militia being taken apart by the elementals and this time it wasn’t for show. The people falling to the ground were dying or seriously burned and these Sages were the cause of it.

But these were summoned elementals, so if the summoners were dealt with then the summons would fade away.

“Don’t engage the elementals!” he shouted. “We can’t fight their fire. Dance around them and keep them distracted instead.”

It was a different tactic than the one they’d been training with the shields but it would keep them alive longer. While the militia shifted to obey, Kasyn pointed at the Sages and enveloped them in darkness that not even firelight or the Sages light could penetrate, blinding them. If they couldn’t see, they couldn’t effectively command their elementals or target Arjana with their spells. It would also inhibit Arjana’s ability to fight, but right now he was more concerned with saving as many of the militia as he could.

That was a new spell for him, but he wasn’t going to waste time cheering about it. Like Arjana said before, the time for that would come during the victory feast.

Confused shouts came from the darkness he’d created and abruptly about half of the fire elementals winked out, followed by the other half. Arjana strode out of the darkness a moment later, cleaning blood off her sword. She turned to Kasyn and nodded.

“Did you know I’m trained in blind fighting?”

He shook his head.

“Well, it was still an excellent tactical choice. You have good instincts. You,” she turned to one of the children who had been helping her during the training, “run and get the healers. We have wounded.”

All of the children ran, clearly in shock from what had happened and eager to get away. Arjana didn’t slow down. She started checking the members of the militia, seeing who was wounded and who was dead, instructing people on how to stabilize the wounded while they waited for the healers. The dead, which there were thankfully few, were put off to the side where they wouldn’t be in the way. The three dead Sages were placed to the side as well, but much less respectfully.

“Go and tell Jelvaic what’s happened,” Arjana told Kasyn when she passed by. “Then get some rest. Be here for morning practice.”

Kasyn wanted to stay and help but he had no medical training and Jelvaic would certainly need to know what precisely had happened here before rumor spread. With that in mind, Kasyn hurried to obey, thanking Akumu all the while for inspiring him in the fight to do what needed to be done.

“Let me be what you need me to be,” he prayed to Akumu. “Guide me in your way.”

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