Necromancers

I had just retied one of my shoes when the order came back down the line from Ebenezar, who seemed to have de facto command of the group. Time to move ahead. I had just gotten moving again when there was a flash of violet light that streaked down the road, swept high over the group’s line, and plunged down toward me.
“My lord!” piped Major General Toot-Toot. The little fae came to a wavering hover in the air before me and saluted, grinning fiercely at me. “There is knavery afoot!”
“Talk to me, Major General,” I said, even as I broke into a jog to keep pace.
“We didn’t see them until they got there! The foe has sneakily snucked a sneak attack behind our lines, like a sneaky sneak!”
“What kind of sneak attack?”
“The sneaky kind!” Toot-Toot shouted. “They used veils and got around behind the lines and now they’re in the park, and they are Up To Something!”
I frowned. “What park?”
“Up ahead!” Toot-Toot said. “On this road! You’ll go right past it!”
My already quivery stomach got cold.
“Toot,” I said, thinking furiously and drawing out the word. “That’s . . . not a park. That’s Graceland Cemetery.”
And, dimly over the sound of all the footsteps in motion, I heard the thrumming thud of a large drum in the distance.
My eyes widened.
Hell’s bells.
I broke out of line and sprinted ahead until I reached the old man’s side. “Hey,” I said. “You hear that?”
Ebenezar glanced at me, frowning, but then turned his attention to the distance. “War drum?”
“No,” I said grimly. “That’s coming from Chicago’s most notorious graveyard. Toot says they slipped in under veils.”
“Necromancy,” he spat. “Stars and stones. How many zombies could they get out of it?”

Battle Ground Chapter 11, Page 105-106


Hell’s bells. Seven necromancers could wreck Chicago all by themselves. Four of them nearly had done it, once. Five, if you counted me, which I didn’t, even though my entry in that evening’s animation festival had taken best in show. I could feel the intensity of the working they had underway. I didn’t know who they were, but they were pros. If they were allowed to finish, they could wreck the town without the help of any army of improbably conceived monsters.
And if Toot and his people hadn’t warned me, we would never have seen it coming. I wonder what it says about me that pizza has been one of the better long-term investments in my career.

Battle Ground Chapter 11, Page 109