The Necromancer

Chapter 1, Part 2

Every once in a while, she'd appear at the top of some distant hillock or climb up onto some boulder, taunt me and make fun of how slow I was going, then slip away again. I tried my best to follow her, but it was like trying to tie water to a tree. Every damn time I looked away, she would just meld into the shadows and disappear. Which was inconvenient because I had to look down a lot: we were constantly scrambling over muddy rocks and moss-covered logs and thick patches of ferns and all sorts of other obstacles. My robes, not really clean to begin with, were now so caked in dirt and muck that not a single patch of the original blue color was anywhere to be found. 

Finally I clawed my way through a thicket of brambles, cursing at every stupid thorn tearing through the sleeves of my robe. We'd been traveling for hours and I was surprised to see that the sun was just now setting. In the depths of the forest, the sun hardly penetrated through the foliage. I thought I'd seen her go this way, but I'd stopped being certain I was on the right trail more than an hour ago.

The girl was waiting in a small clearing next to a trickling stream, with a warm fire already going and a tent set up made of some sort of thick animal hide. It looked like she'd been staying here for a while. Behind the tent, massive knotted tree trunks rose up into a carpet of green pine needles that loomed far overhead.  

She giggled to herself and smirked as I stomped through the water and slumped down on the log next to her. She wasn't even out of breath, nor was her cloak dirty or tattered or torn. I couldn't even feel my legs anymore. I'm not exactly an old geezer, but let's say that I'm a few years removed from my physical prime now. 

"See, wasn't that a nice walk?" she teased. I could only glare in response. "Oh, lighten up." She poked at the fire and added another log. "At least we got away from the Paladins, didn't we?" 

I had to give it to her: she was right. I was having a hard time navigating through all the ravines and thick stands of trees, and I was just one person. No way could they get horses through there unless they used up all their magical energy blasting trees apart. And the thick bulky armor that they wore wouldn't make their going any easier. It had probably been over two hours since I'd heard them crashing through the brush behind us and sounding their hunting bugles. 

"I'm Skip, by the way," she told me and extended a dainty hand in greeting. I wiped some of the dirt off of my own hand (not much though, considering the state of my robe) and shook her hand back. 

"I'm Winston" I answered.

"Winston?" Her lips quivered as she tried to contain her laughter. 

"What's wrong with that?" I said defensively. I'd gotten the same reaction from the other necromancers at the Academy, who all had names based on ancient dark runes and forbidden curses and cool things like that. My mother had named me after an uncle of hers whose only claim to fame was the record for most beers drank in a single evening at the local pub. 

"No, nothing," she answered.  A little bit of a giggle escaped. "It's just... not what I expected." She removed some vegetables from a nearby sack, fished a knife out of her sachel, and began slicing them into a cast iron pot.

I gave a dissatisfied hmph and changed the subject. "So what's the plan now?" I asked. "I mean, those Paladins are certainly going to keep coming after me. And I can't keep running like this."

She shrugged and continued slicing vegetables. "This is the plan. We're just going to wait here for them." 

"That's it?" I asked. My voice rose an octave in panic. "That is your plan? I thought you were going to help me get away or something! You know that they're going to MURDER me, right? And not just, like, decapitate me. It's going to be messy. And long. And painful. Do you know what they do to..." I trailed off  just a bit too late there.