The Necromancer

Prologue, Part 6

"Lirk, get the door, will you?" I grunted, lugging the dead weight of my sack of goodies up the stairs behind me. The bookkeeper would certainly suspect me if the book went missing, given that I'd been asking about the topic, but that wasn't the only thing in his basement. Turns out that he'd been running quite a little black market in magical objects, including some dark talismans that would be pretty ideal for an aspiring young Necromancer like myself. And the best part was that he could never report it to the local Paladins, who'd probably burn him at the stake just for having possessed such objects. Getting information about the Ruby of Mertialz may have been a complete bust, but at least I wasn't leaving this little caper empty-handed.

My undead companion dutifully swung the door open for me, revealing the now-darkened streets. Lirk and I stepped off the stoop and began the long journey back home; his bony feet clacked against the cobblestones, while my rain-soaked shoes made a disgusting squelch every time I took another step. The soft drizzle and hazy fog had reduced the streetlamps to floating, isolated globes of orange, and the rain dampened all nearby sound. It was so thick that I couldn't even see the dust-caked windows of the pub across the street where I'd waited just a few hours earlier. And it was so thick that we didn't even notice Sir Athaelwas standing right in our path until Lirk almost smacked right into his golden chestplate.

"Well, what do we have here?" Athaelwas called out. His hand, protected by a thick golden gauntlet with the same pearlescent shine as the rest of his armor indicating protective runes, wrapped around Lirk's skull to hold him in place. From behind me, two more Paladins stepped through the mist with sneers across their faces. "Don't see many skeletons walking the streets, do we, boys?" The other Paladins behind me grunted in agreement. I don't know how the Paladin Order had managed to train these apes to put on armor; they looked dumber than my skeleton minions who at least had the excuse of no longer owning brains. Athaelwas looked over Lirk's skull toward me, still holding my sack of stolen goodies. "And a necromancer to boot! What fun!"

I quickly reached into my pocket and pulled out the Mertialz's necklace. The dark mist around us seemed to vanish, as if it was fleeing from the very sight of the jewel. There was suddenly a very clear pocket of air around us for ten or so meters in every direction that was filled with the violet light of the Ruby. I hadn't known that it would do that, but it certainly made an impression on the Paladins. "Stay back," I hissed at them, brandishing the necklace, "Or I'll destroy you."

The two dimwits glanced nervously back at Athaelwas, but the lead Paladin didn't even flinch. On the contrary, he unleashed a deep laugh from the bowels of his belly. "Oh no, a colorful stone!" He thumped his armored chest, causing ripples of magical energy to flow across the surface. "Boy, there's not a magical artifact in the entire province that could scratch this baby." He held his arms out and stepped forward. "Come on, give me your best shot. Hell, you might even be able to get two in before I can behead you."

There was a silence as he waited for me to use the Ruby. Little did he know that I'd been trying to use the damned ruby the entire time he was pontificating, hoping that somehow I'd be able to activate it. Still nothing, though. Worthless piece of crap. All of those months of digging, and I was about to be killed in the streets so that this prick could have my Ruby as his prize. The perfect shitty end to a shitty life.

"Very well, then!" he laughed after a few moments. "Boys, let's clean up the rubbish!" His hand flashed to his hip and he had his gleaming sword in his hand within a second. His two idiot companions also reached for the sheaths hanging from their belts, though hardly as quickly. Athaelwas flashed me one last grin and then, in one fluid motion, swung it straight toward Lirk's neck.

Lirk just stared at the incoming blade with his normal stupid grin; even from a distance, I could read the sword's name, Mintras, stamped across the blade. And then the Ruby in my hand erupted. A massive bolt of scarlet-and-orange lightning flashed out, making the street brighter than the brightest day. I had to shield my eyes with my robe's sleeve, as did the other two Paladins still preparing to execute me. The lightning arced forward and hit Athaelwas's massive sword mid-swing. It seemed to hang in the air, frozen in place. Confusion spread across the knight's face as he tugged at the handle, trying to make it move. And then the blade just... melted, or something. A thick river of bright yellow goop dripped down the sides and over his armored hand then down onto the cobblestones until he was just left holding an ornate, empty hilt. Lirk was still standing there like nothing had ever happened. I hadn't given him an order to fight back or anything, so he didn't know what to do. One thing I hate about the undead is having to constantly micromanage them.

"Wha..." Athaelwas looked down at the remains of his sword, then at me, then back at the remains of the sword. His other hand gingerly reached out and poked at the air where the sword should have been. "What in the name of..." His face contorted with rage when he finally accepted that the molten blob in the street was his prized weapon. "KILL HIM!" He roared to his companions, reaching into his belt for a slender dagger. "KILL HIM!"

The three Paladins all converged on me with blades drawn as I dropped both the Ruby and my sack of stolen objects and tried to run. I only made it a few feet before I tripped over a pothole in the poorly-maintained road and tumbled down. "Lirk, save me!" I shouted to the skeleton still standing dumbly in the street next to the melted remains of the sword. Like I said: constant micromanagement. There probably wasn't much he could do, but at least he'd distract them long enough for me to make a break for it.

"Yes, Master!" Lirk answered. As obedient as ever, he immediately threw himself at the closest Paladin and began pawing at the metal armor with just his bony hands. All three turned towards him, weapons at the ready. And the Ruby jolted to life once again. This time, three separate tendrils of searing red light burst from the heart of the jewel and struck each of the Paladins right in the chest. They all stopped dead in their tracks, frozen in place just like the sword had been. Athaelwas's face changed from rage, to surprise, to confusion, and then back to rage again. I could see his lips twitching as he tried to move his mouth, most likely to scream at me. Then he and the other two Paladins just completely disintegrated into piles of dust.

Lirk helped pull me to my feet. "Are you all right, Master?"

I was too stunned to even speak. Athaelwas, the most powerful Paladin I'd ever seen, just evaporated right before my very eyes. And so had his supposedly indestructible armor. And all because... "Lirk, did you do something to the Ruby?"

He just stared at me with those gaping, empty sockets. "I don't understand, Master."

Ugh. Sometimes I hate working with these skeletons. "Lirk, when you all first uncovered the Ruby, did you do anything to it? Even touch it?"

He looked at the jewel like he suddenly understood which ruby I was talking about. Like I have so many priceless ruby necklaces to cause such confusion. "Yes, I found the Ruby for you, Master."

I rolled my eyes. "That's not what I asked, Lirk. Did you touch the necklace when you first found it?"

His jaw bones gave me the same stupid grin. "Yes, Master." On the ground, the Ruby gave off a pulse of light as though agreeing with Lirk.

Great, I thought to myself. Just great.

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