Saki

  I watched as the undead and goblin armies clashed. I had a feeling it wouldn't be long until the Lich came to try and deal with this. But I also knew what would happen when he did. For now the abomination seemed fine with his armies dying en masse.

  I watched as a goblin died, only for his body to suddenly explode. I winced, as unlike the suicide trinket, the goblins' tactics were less pleasant. Every goblin had a rune enchanted on their skin. When one died, the rune activated and they were obliterated.

  It was something I had come up with, since we didn't have trinkets. It removed choice from the equation. All goblins in this tribe, even Grok, would now explode violently on death.

  I heard the trebuchets launch, or as Tama called them, "shooty things." I was confused as to how they were already loading rocks after having just arrived, since they hadn't even entered combat when I got here. When I saw what they were launching.

  I sighed and shook my head at the brutality. They were launching goblins into the army. The goblins would die on impact and kill the surrounding zombies. After the third I noticed it wasn't just the runethey were attaching bombs to themselves, literal suicide goblins.

  Tama seemed to be waiting for something. At first I didn't understand, but it hit me a moment later. I flattened my ears right on time as the squeal came from deep in the goblin camp. Even from so far it was painfully loud and I was grateful I reacted in time.

  Jiggle came bursting out from the goblin battle lines and made a direct line towards Tama. Tama jumped onto Jiggle's back as he came, and with chains of water, guided Jiggle towards the front lines. I watched as the massive pig cut through swaths of undead at an alarming speed. All the time, Tama sat on his back giggling uncontrollably.

  I walked over to Grok and spoke loudly so he could hear me. "Is everything going to plan?" I yelled at the large goblin.

  He turned to me and gave me a thumbs up before beckoning me to follow. We went further into the camp and reached his tent. It had runes around the outside to prevent sound. We had really gone crazy with the runes ahead of time.

  There were some runes the goblins knew that put architecture in Drestor and other towns to shame. It was crazy, but at this point I was over sanity. It didn't seem to have any use around Tama anyway.

  Grok let us both in and we walked over to the same crappy table from the camp. Which brought up an excellent question for later. If they had stability runes, explosive runes, soundproofing runes, etc., why on Earth is their furniture still so badly put together?!

  "We is here," Grok said, pointing to the northern part of the map near Drestor. "Big smelly skelly army is here," he continued, pointing just south of where we were.

  I nodded and looked up at him. He looked back at me expectantly. I realized he was waiting for my advice. I was supposed to be their advisor for this fight. I blushed at him, realizing despite the grim situation, I was actually being trusted with an army of hundreds of thousands.

  The tent flap suddenly opened and I heard a scream as Tera was flung into the tent, landing on her butt. She yelled out of the tent even as it closed, "Thank you, Empress Tama and royal mount Jiggle for the ride!"

  I stared at Tera as she managed to stumble to her feet. She was all cut up, and her armor was in tatterswell, what was left of it. Though Tera didn't seem to mind the half nudity of her right breast hanging out.

  Honestly, more than anything she looked exhausted and about to collapse. Even as I watched, her water veil slowly healed a large cut on her cheek. She limped over to us and looked over at me. "Where did you think you were going without your royal guard captain, Saki!" she snapped at me. I smiled at her antics.

  After a few brief questions, Grok managed to catch me up on everything that happened over the past week. To simplify, they basically marched with no real issues all the way here.

  I was actually surprised at this, after all, there had to be enemies or something, right? But no, apparently the undead army that goblins were literally following never left anything to fight. So it was a simple trek forward.

  After that, I verified the plan with Grok, and he assured me it would go and I quote"this plan gonna be super good."

  So with that, I left his tent and asked nearby goblins if David was nearby. Luckily, it turns out David had arrived even before me and was currently helping set up the big surprise.

  I looked over to the front lines, stealing a pair of binoculars that a hobgoblin in a chair had. She was watching the battle and cheering. I smacked her upside the head and ordered her to go help the others.

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  She quickly scurried away and I looked through the goggles and found Tama easily enough it wasn't hard. She left a mass of destruction in her wake.

  Jiggle was bad enough, but Tama was swinging her blade in massive arcs. She wasn't killing everything she hit, but she was at the very least cutting them in half. She didn't seem to be trying, but rather just playing with the undead. Can't say I was shocked.

  Then a scout rushed up to me and yelled into my ear so I could hear him. "Chief says we is ready!"

  I turned and nodded at the scout, then smiled as I accepted the small engraved button with a laser pointer at the end. This was going to be fun. But first, I had to get Tama out of there.

  I looked to Tera and said, "Royal guard Tera, I command you to bring Empress Tama back here quickly and safely!" My smile widened as I spoke. The truth was, I didn't need to make that a command, but I knew Tera would literally love it.

  As expected, Tera blushed at me and her eyes dilated. She nodded excitedly, all exhaustion instantly gone from her as she got to do what she loved to do, protect her empress.

  She rushed into the undead without a care, shooting a fireball at the first zombie and slicing into the second one while another goblin broke its knees. Tera used the falling zombie as a launchpad and pushed herself hard towards Tama.

  Of course, Tama didn't need saving, but Tera knew that as well as I did. She simply had to get close enough to deliver the message. Tama would return shortly with Tera.

  As expected, Tama saw Tera rather quickly as Tera tried to fight her way towards Tama. Tama blinked off of Jiggle, as he continued his rampage through the unfortunate undead near him.

  She appeared in front of Tera, clearing a circle around her. Tama asked Tera a question, Tera responded and pointed at me. Tama nodded before grabbing Tera and disappearing.

  "...need to," Tera finished saying as she and Tama appeared next to me. I smirked at Tera, who looked shaken. "Over a hundred feet?" I asked knowingly. Tera nodded shakily.

  Tama gave me a thumbs up and vanished again. She appeared next to Jiggle, and a moment later, the large boar was tied to a post on a nearby tent. Which he immediately broke the moment Tama was gone and started chasing down a nearby goblin.

  Tama was gone for almost a straight minute after that and I was beginning to worry. Where did she go?

  Suddenly Tama appeared, and she was holding on to a familiar figure. I tensed, Tera pulled her sword, the goblins around us all pointed their weapons. Standing next to Tama; Was undead Saki. She was in her Foxkin form and she was glaring at me.

  "Nya! Everyone important is clear! We can do the big attack now!" Tama said excitedly as she hopped up and down.

  I stared at undead Saki for a long moment, but she seemed uncaring of me after a few seconds and simply turned to Tama. "What... is... big... attack... can... I... help..." Her words were still slow and almost mindless like before, but it was clear what she was trying to say.

  "Nya! You have to ask Saki. She made the plan!" Tama said casually with a giddy smile.

  Undead Saki frowned and glared at me again. "She... will... kill... us... all..." She said, her tail wrapped around her leg and her ears flattened. Did I really look like that when I was upset?!

  "No, I won't!" I snapped back at my undead clone before continuing. "I made sure everyone was clear. You were a casualty I literally had no choice with. I will not let something like that happen again."

  Undead Saki glared at me, but even as she did, her left eye literally just... fell out. I puked when it did.

  "Nya, Usaki, your eye fell out!" Tama said playfully, as she casually picked her eyeball up and handed it to her.

  I stared in disbelief as Usaki stared at her eyeball, then put it back in backwards! She then looked at Tama and asked, "Can... you... heal... me...?"

  Tama frowned, and for a moment I thought she might actually decline the psychopath. But I knew better than that. "Nya, Tama can heal you, but Tama needs a special item to heal."

  I paused at Tama's words, confusion on my face, which it seemed she noticed, so I asked, "Um, Tama, I thought your water could just heal?"

  Tama nodded but then shook her head. "Nya, for living people, Tama's water works fine, but Tama water has no effect on undead. Tama needs an item that reverses water healing and casts her water healing through it to Usaki to heal her!"

  Usaki looked upset, but then she seemed to smile and looked at me. "Saki, make... new... clone... me." Her tail wagged and her ears perked up to me.

  I stared at her in shock. "You can't be serious. That would take me out for three days during a war! Not to mention, you clearly hate me. Why would I help you!" My tail stiffened and my ears flattened defiantly.

  She growled at me, causing a few goblins to step closer to her, weapons at the ready. Tera, however, did not move and instead put away her weapon.

  That's when Tama spoke, causing me to freeze in shock. "Why can't Saki help Usaki? She is Saki, right?" She sounded sad and almost hurt, like I was the one who betrayed her. I was genuinely hurt and stumbled a step back.

  "You don't understand, Tama!" I tried, but Tama just looked at me with those big round eyes and I felt my defiance failing. Then she put her tail between her legs and furrowed her ears as she looked at me with a pleading face.

  "She... she is literally my undead copy, Tama!" I pleaded with her, trying to make her see reason. But it was no use. Tama just continued giving me that pleading look. I fell to my knees and sighed in defeat.

  I looked up to Tama and said quietly, "Okay, I'll do it, but you have to promise me, Tama, that you will keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't try anything!"

  Tama cheered and hugged me. I giggled sadly as I hugged her back. "Nya, thank you, Saki!"

  "Yeah," I said weakly, "but first," I said as I stood back up, "we have a weapon to fire!"