The closer Jeci and Lynus got to the Commander, the stranger the thralls became.
At first it was subtle. Two soldiers stumbling into each other and not separating. Their limbs tangling, their bodies pressing together with a wet, grinding sound that had nothing to do with the impact of collision.
Then three more collapsed into a heap and instead of rising individually, they rose as one. A mass of arms and legs and twisted armor plating, six eyes blinking out of sync, three mouths opening and closing without sound.
Lynus carved through it before it could fully form. His sword cleaved the thing from what might have been its shoulder to its opposite hip, and the halves fell apart into their original bodies.
But even as they separated, they were already crawling toward each other again.
'They're merging…'
Jeci observed it without slowing her stride.
She was right.
