How To Kill A Necromancer

Zendron woke up and sat up from the bed. Immediately, he noticed something was different. He snapped his fingers and a small spark of magic jumped from his hand.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed. He stood up and started to head out of the cave.

"Where are we going now?"

"I just need one more thing for the ritual," Zendron said. "I've been putting it off, but now that you’ve recovered enough, I want to finish this today,"

He headed back down into the ruins and started to look around, kicking up the leaves. Finally, one of his boots hit something. Pushing the sludge away revealed one of the monsters that Leopold had felled. With some effort, Zendron pulled it out of the mud as much as he could.

He rifled around its clothes, finding and pocketing a bag of coins and teeth it had on its belt before shuffling around again. Jase watched curiously as Zendron went through the process of uncovering each of the monsters and scavenging what meager valuables they had. The bodies had stiffened in the cold, but they were lacerated from the gryphon's talons. It wasn't long before Zendron's hands were covered in mud and dark, sticky blood.

"This is disgusting. How can you stand this?"

"The blood?" Zendron shrugged, "You have blood inside of you too, what's the problem? Honestly, if they were living I would find that much more disgusting."

"Looting corpses. I can’t believe I’m allowing this." Jase  would have shaken his head in disappointment if he could. “Was the money all we came for?"

"No, but I figured it would come in useful, considering we have none."

Zendron picked up one of the monster's weapons. It was huge and saw-like.

"We aren't taking that too, are we?" Jase asked, doubting how Zendron expected to carry it around.

"You're really not going to like this part." Zendron walked up to one of the monsters and poked it with the tip of his boot. "You think this one's female?"

"I don't know. Why?"

Zendron shrugged, "Just trying to be consistent, that's all." He lifted the weapon and set it over the neck of the monster, then put his full weight on the blade.

Jase wasn't prepared for the intimate horror of watching himself behead this monster, or for the amount of blood that came out with the force and violence of the serrated blade.

The nausea that overcame him was enough to force him back into control. He doubled over as his stomach emptied itself into the pine needles underfoot. He continued to kneel there, gagging and coughing.

"Are you done now?" Zendron asked coldly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"If you don't put me in charge, you're going to have to go and pick up that head yourself."

Jase moaned and shook his head, bile stinging his throat.

"You're pathetic. It was already dead."

Jase shuddered, not wanting to speak. Zendron took charge again. He turned around, finished his work with the saw, grabbed the head, and headed back up to the cave.

Zendron finished setting up the ritual. It was rather large and took up most of the floor of the cave. The many stones were placed in intricate patterns over each sigil he had drawn, surrounded by animal bones and teeth. The faun laid lifeless in the center, and Zendron set down the head above the faun. Taking a cloth, he soaked it in the monster’s blood and meticulously drew lines across the floor.  

Finally, he knelt down outside the ritual’s circle. Zendron hesitated, glancing around at everything he had done. He flicked some dried mud off the riding harness they were still wearing.

"Zendron? Are you nervous?"

“No! I’m not nervous,” Zendron said defensively. He adjusted some of the stones in front of him, “I’m being cautious. For a ritual of this level, and in your body, I will have to summon up enough magic first." Zendron fidgeted uncomfortably, "Um... It will be really easy for you to take over while I'm focusing."

"You're afraid I'm going to try that." Jase felt Zendron wasn't telling him everything. “What would happen if I did?"

“I'd lose control of the magic, and… anything could happen. My soul could be dissolved. I could get trapped in the ether planes. I could get stuck in a permanent meditation.”

"You would take advantage of me if the roles were reversed. No hesitation."

"... Yes." Zendron admitted.

Zendron sat in silence as Jase thought about it.

"It's tempting, but no. You might try something like that, but that's not who I am. You can trust me, I won't take control." Jase said finally.

Zendron nodded and drew the gryphon feather out of his sleeve. Jase was about to say something about it, but instead kept quiet.

Zendron closed his eyes. Jase relaxed too so he could try to match Zendron's will and not accidentally overcome his presence. Zendron started muttering the words to the ritual, and Jase sensed a strange kind of magic rise around him. His chest began to hurt as Jase felt Zendron call on more power than he could have imagined. The gryphon feather began to burn away as if held to a candle as the lines of blood on the floor boiled.

Jase forced himself to relax, instead thinking of Thoravone waiting in his armchair, next to a roaring fire. He began to drift off into the calming memory, drawn to the comfort of a hot cup of tea and the feel of a good heavy book in his hands. Thoravone lifted his head up and stared directly at Jase, its eyes as bright as green stars.

The cat’s eyes flashed and Jase heard Zendron speak in an otherworldly voice, but somehow this time, he could understand the words.

“Death, return to your host. Breath, lie down in your grave," Zendron commanded.

The faun opened her eyes and Zendron let out a sigh of relief, "Oh thank goodness." His voice returned to normal, but he sounded hoarse.

"That was very painful,"  Was all Jase could manage to comment.

Zendron nodded, taking deep breaths to ground himself again. The faun sat up and looked around rather blankly.

"Is it alright?"

"Well, brain damage is always a possibility," Zendron said. "Hm… I’ll name you Gadelynn." he told the faun.

"Gadelynn..." she repeated, blinking slowly. Her eyes were dull and clouded over.

"Why Gadelynn?"

“Would you prefer I call her ‘slave’ or ‘thrall’ instead? I have to call her something.”

“Gadelynn is fine." Jase said quickly.

Zendron coughed to clear his throat. "Gadelynn, I, Zendron Vrax, have returned you to the world of the living to serve me, until one of us passes from this world, or until otherwise stated. To follow all commands to the letter, - no, hold on.” Zendron stopped, “That was supposed to be ‘to the intention’ - Oh whatever.” he abandoned his sentence.

"Was that supposed to be another spell?" Jase asked doubtfully.

Gadelynn just blinked at him and Zendron shook his head, disappointed. “I used to have a contract to make sure thralls wouldn't get out of hand, but it really doesn't apply in this case.”

“Is that usually a problem?"

“It's a precaution.” Zendron corrected. “You ask for ‘cat tails’ and it keeps your thralls from bringing you feline corpses when you want reeds.”

“Has that happened to you?"

“It’s just an example - You get the idea. She will come in handy, okay? Servants are always useful." Zendron gathered up some of the items he had set aside in the cave and handed it to Gadelynn, "Carry this. Alright, let's go." he said.

"We aren't going to get rid of all... this?"

Zendron looked back at the ritual and kicked a few of the carefully placed stones across it, "Nah. Come on Gadelynn. I'm tired of that stinking cave."

Gadelynn stared blankly at Zendron, "Who are you talking to?" she asked. Her voice was young, but unnerving and had a whispering hollowness to it.

"Oh, you do have a brain in there." Zendron said, "Well, I'm talking to Jase. He's in my head and this is his body, but I'm using it right now. Now, keep the questions to only necessary ones."

"I guess she isn't as gone as we thought,"

They kept walking up the mountain, looking for flat areas as a pass. Gadelynn easily stepped through the mud with her hooves, while Zendron struggled to trudge through it. Suddenly, Zendron took a wrong step and slid down the slope. He caught himself and twisted to try and get back up, but it was no use. He sighed impatiently.

"Gadelynn, come here."

"Yeah?" She stopped and bounced over to him.

Zendron held out his hands. "Pull me up."

Gadelynn grabbed his hands and pulled him out with unnatural strength. Zendron took a moment to wipe the mud off of his hands as Gadelynn watched him expectantly.

"Okay, I've had enough of this. Gadelynn, find me some way easier to get over this mountain," he instructed.

Gadelynn's ears perked up and she looked around. She started heading at an angle, occasionally testing the texture of the ground with her hooves. Zendron followed behind, the trip a bit easier now that Gadelynn was leading and breaking the trail.

Zendron breathed into his palms to warm them. "Your turn. If you want," he said, switching with Jase. Gadelynn didn't appear to notice the change as she kept going.

"So she'll just keep doing whatever you tell her to do? That... makes me a little uncomfortable." Jase said as he started walking again.

"Well, yeah. That's how most of this level of necromancy works. If you want them to be really autonomous it's gonna take a lot more than one makeshift ritual and a few days of preparation."

"So, how many of these did you revive before you died?"

"I never revived a faun, but I did resurrect quite a few different creatures." Zendron said proudly, "They probably all turned to dust after I died though."

"How did you die the first time?" Jase asked, curious.

"I don't remember."

"That doesn't concern you?"

"A little, maybe." Zendron said offhandedly, "But it's common to not remember. Depending on the intensity of the death the memory loss can be anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days. It's a natural defense." he sounded annoyed, "It just makes it more inconvenient for me to try to find my body when I can't remember the last place I was with it."

He noticed that they had managed to make it over the mountain, and the ground was harder on the east side, where the mountain could be hit with the morning rays of light and dry from the effects of the recent rain. "What do you remember most recently?"

"Hmm... Well, things weren't going so great for me, so I went back home to my parents' house. Things got pretty uneventful from there. I practiced my necromancy at night and helped them with their dumb shop in the day."

"Your parents had a shop? What was it?"

"They make shoes. Cobblers." Zendron said disdainfully. "They probably don't do it anymore. They're most likely dead now."

"Oh. So this country is Vinhelm, is the town you lived in called Archlind?"

"Yeah. It's a dumb town. They didn't like magic users, so I kept my work a secret. But if I was buried anywhere, it would be there, with the rest of my family's graves."

"Huh. I suppose I had expected you to come from something a little different."

"Yeah? Well me too." Zendron said bitterly. "But I am going to become so much more than that. I’m not just boasting about it. I am a powerful necromancer because I practiced my spells and rituals with every opportunity I could. I didn't sit and waste my time with notes and research."

"Hmm." Jase just nodded. He wasn't about to encourage Zendron's life goals of becoming an all-powerful and terrifying necromancer.

Jase looked down the mountain over the tops of the forest below. On the west side of the mountains the forest had opened up into hills and farms. Here on the eastern side, it stretched much farther into the horizon, only showing hints of a town or a lake in the distance. The forest grew thick and green, lusher than the sturdy pines on the western side.

"It's rather beautiful up here. Isn't it?" Jase noted. He cleaned his glasses and squinted towards a few towns from their high vantage point.

"Are any of those Archlind?" he asked.

"Yeah. I can see it from here."

Jase continued following Gadelynn down the slope. The afternoon sun had moved to the western side of the mountain, and it cast a large shadow over them as they neared its base.

"We don't want to be in the forest at night," Zendron warned.

"Um, Gadelynn?" Jase called out. She stopped and looked back at him. "Perhaps we should stop for the night? Before we get into the forest."

Gadelynn walked back to him and looked at him curiously. She sniffed with her little deer nose then turned to start walking again.

"I think you need to tell her," Jase said, switching with Zendron.

"Gadelynn we are going to stop," Zendron said impatiently. "There's no point in walking around in the forest in the dark and I need to sleep before I fall over."

Gadelynn looked at him. "Okay!" she said cheerfully. She sat down on her heels.

"Sure... I guess here is fine." Zendron leaned up against a small sapling.

"It's warmer on this side of the mountain. Still cold, but noticeably warmer. The morning sun must make a big difference." Jase noted. He chuckled. “No wonder you’re always complaining about the cold."

"Whatever, let's just hope it doesn't rain again," Zendron said, and he closed his eyes.