Lord Lantal was putting on his armor over his nightclothes. He looked at her; the keep was a roar of sound. He said something—Cara saw Risel pulling her frightened children back. Duchess Grishen met Cara’s eyes. Princess Seraphel stood on the stairs, shielded by two Thronebearers. But Cara heard none of it.

Thump.

It came from beyond Afiele’s walls. At first, Cara didn’t see it. The people on the walls were loosing arrows—she saw flaming pinpoints of light searing across the night sky. Striking something, falling.

Something vast. It towered over the walls. So large that it seemed at the same height as those on the hill. Cara’s eyes strained to make it out.

Then someone threw a bolt of lightning. And in the moment of illumination provided by the spell, she saw.

It was a giant. A humanoid giant, lumbering at the walls. A copy of the one in the tomb, only made of rotten flesh.

Cara’s ears rang. She stumbled and someone caught her.

Lord Lantal. His mouth moved silently as he beheld the colossus.

“Zombie Giant.”

“I thought—the [Necromancer] couldn’t make them.”

Someone breathed. Duchess Grishen stared at the distant form.

“Apparently he can. Well then. Afiele…is lost.”

She said it so calmly that Cara didn’t register it at first. Lantal turned to Grishen.

“Grishen! There’s a chance—”

“No, there isn’t. That thing will break our walls. We have to slow it. And try to flee.”

She looked at him. The [Lord]’s mouth worked soundlessly. Grishen turned.

“Evacuate the wall ahead of it! Prepare to fight in the streets and slow the undead’s advance! We have to break through the opposite side!”

Everyone stared at her. Break through the undead? But Grishen was shouting, and people moved, mechanically obeying her command.

“We can bring it down. We have to. If we take the legs—”

Lantal’s muttering brought Cara to life. She looked at him.

“Kill that?”

But then she remembered. Ser Dalius had brought down the one made of mice bones. Lantal turned desperately to her.

“We have to fight as long as possible. Axes—bring it down like a tree. But we need time. It’s—”

Thump. With each step the giant was closing on the walls. It moved so slowly—but each step carried it so far. Cara saw Lantal running, shouting his own orders.

And there she was. The [Singer] looked back towards the darkness. The eyes of the undead glowed in the night. A sea of burning, flickering lights. Somewhere, beyond them, was a single man, who had led this army on Afiele.

Cara believed in miracles, then. Or at least their opposite. She was lost among the moving, screaming voices. It sounded like silence to her. The giant took another step.

Thump.

——