Free Star Mage (Book 5) by John Forrester

the shrieking people. A hand raised to his temple caused the squad of undead to stop silent in their tracks.
    “I always wanted a flock of rabid pets,” Nikulo said, and chuckled at the frothing, foamy mouths of the undead. Callith didn’t share in his sentiment, and the girl cringed back in the wagon as if it actually offered her any protection. The slaves were less brave, and only Nikulo’s shouts for them to stay and avoid being eaten alive caused them to cower close to the caravan.
    Nikulo gained more pets along the way until he’d massed a company of undead soldiers to fight on his behalf. The whitewashed walls of the houses they passed were blackened by fire and signs of combat. The streets themselves were filled with the broken debris of flipped-over carts and slain oxen buzzing with flies and gaping wounds that oozed maggots. They rode past a once thriving food market, a wreckage of wasted fruit, flanks of meat, and ripped and ravaged human bodies; a grim stew festering under the hot sun.  
    As they neared the charred central part of the city filled with collapsed buildings and stones strewn across the streets, he strengthened his hold over the undead soldiers’ minds, knowing how easily another necromancer might be able to steal them. From his practice of mental domination at the Order of the Dawn, Nikulo had learned how to sense when another wizard was attempting to commandeer a creature he controlled. He compared the feeling to watching a serene pond for biting fish, and the faint tug they make on the line. No one was biting. For now…
    Closer in they caught the confused eyes of bands of citizens in active revolt, armed with only crude cudgels and cleavers and farm axes. These ill-protected revolutionists made sweet bait for the hordes of undead lumbering after them. Lucky for them, Nikulo intercepted the hordes and saved the streets from a bloodbath.
    “You fight for us, wizard?” asked a tall, grim-faced man who was one of the few to actually wield a sword. More of his comrades crowded in around the caravan, faces tensed and gaping in dismay at Nikulo’s army of undead.
    Nikulo snorted and studied the man, assuming him their leader. “I fight for myself. Little did I know Ursula would have war raging in her streets. I aim for the ports and out to sea. Who brings these undead, the Jiserian scourge?”
    “Where are you from, young master? You wear the style of clothes from Naru, and though we know the city fallen to the Jiserians and filled with undead, we heard a rumor from a scout passing here a week ago that Naru is reborn and a savior come to renew and rebuild her back to her once grandeur.”
    “Tis all true, Naru is restored, though not fully. I’ve left Naru myself. There is a fear that the Jiserians will return.” Nikulo leapt off the wagon and stood tall and faced the crowd. “Are you content to allow the undead to feast on your children and grandparents? They are going after the weak first, you know. You are ill prepared and poorly armed to deal with the Jiserians. Have you no magicians or wizards among you?”
    The eyes of those in crowd were sullen and desperate, and no one offered a hopeful answer. Their red-haired leader spoke in a somber tone. “All our champions are either slain or turned to undead. Beware, as some of the undead are wizards who still possess the gift of casting. Will you help us defeat them?”
    “I am called Nikulo, though who I am doesn’t matter. What’s the name of the leader that I fight with against our common enemies?”
    The man brightened at Nikulo’s words, seizing and shaking his hand in delight. “I am Yarin, a merchant and leader of our revolutionary group. We tired of the daily insults and torment of our imposed rulers, and managed to kill several sorcerers in their sleep before the streets erupted into bloodshed. From what we know, only a handful of sorcerers and necromancers remain. Emperor Ghaalis withdrew his fleet from our docks and ordered