The Necromancer

Chapter 1, Part 3

The ogre squeezed me by the waist and lifted me up to his eye level almost fifty feet off the ground. An angry huff escaped his lips, bathing me in his warm, fetid breath. He squinted one watery eye at me so close that I could have jabbed him in the pupil. Well, if I had a death wish: all he'd have to do was slightly move his massive leathery fingers and I'd pop like a pimple. Mog studied me closely for a few minutes as I did my best to play dead. "PUNY," he finally declared.

"Oh, put him down," Skip ordered from the ground, where I could barely see her figure next to the campfire. "No need to intimidate him even more, Mog; he's already pissed himself." I hadn't even noticed it happen, but my robes were indeed wet right around the crotch. That still didn't even rank in the top five humiliating and/or disgusting things that had happened to me today, though, so I wasn't too worried about it. I'd pretty much have to burn these robes as soon as I was able to find a fresh set. If I lived that long, that is.

He lowered me slowly to the ground and retreated to the treeline, where he promptly sat down with an earth-rumbling thud. His eyes never left me as he reached over, wrenched a thick limb off of a nearby pine tree, and began sucking the needles off like a child eating sweets off a stick. I must have been blind to have missed such a massive creature.

"Stew will be ready in about half an hour," Skip said. She gestured at the bubbling pot of vegetables that already smelled amazing. It had been a long time since I'd had a proper meal like that; even far before the Paladins ran me out of town. If I'd been a guest, I would have devoured the whole pot. But I was actually there as a prisoner, and I didn't need her charity. I turned my nose up at it and looked away.

"Don't be like that," she told me. "It's nothing personal, you know. We've all got to make a living. Mine just happens to include a bit of bounty hunting on the side. Might as well enjoy a good meal before, right?"

"How generous of you to feed me before you send me to my death," I snapped back at her.

"Thank you," she said, not even looking up from stirring the pot. She either hadn't caught my tone or (far more likely) ignored the sarcasm. "I thought so too. Oh, and don't bother trying to run."

My eyes, which had wandered toward the forest across the stream as I was considering that very prospect, snapped back. How had she known? "I wasn't!" I protested.

She just giggled. "Based on our trip here, I'd bet ten gold pieces that you wouldn't even make it out of the clearing without tripping and falling on something." I felt my cheeks turning red, though I wasn't sure if it was from anger or shame. "And even if you did, where would you go? Do you even know what direction the road is in?"

I surveyed the forest and realized that no, in fact, I had absolutely zero clue where we were. She'd led me from the road through a twisting, turning path that I'd been unable to follow.

"And not to mention the fact that we'd catch you. You'd be surprised how fast Mog can run on those long legs of his when he really gets going." I had a vivid image of the ogre thundering through the forest after me and probably crushing me under his massive feet on accident. "And I'm not too slow myself."

"Fine," I answered. Apparently escaping wasn't as good of a plan as I'd thought. Time to play my other card. "You know, I'll tell the Paladins that you helped me. And that I taught you some necromancy as well. They'll kill you and your big friend here." I jerked a thumb back at Mog who was contentedly snapping limbs off of trees and and chowing down on pine needles. "The Paladins don't really bother investigating; they'd prefer to just kill you and figure it out later if anyone actually cares to ask questions. And as far as I know, they're not big fans of ogres in the first place."

She wasn't even the least bit bothered by the threat; just shrugged it off with a smile. "I don't know... I can be pretty darn persuasive when I want to be. I've got a feeling that they'd believe my word over yours. I'm fairly certain that I'll be walking away with a fat purse and a pat on the back for my work."

I didn't really have a response to that; threatening to lie to the Paladins had been my last chit to play. "Just kill me, then," I told her. "Let your ogre eat me or whatever."

"VEGETARIAN," Mog rumbled, waving a pine branch in my direction.

I managed to forget my plight just long enough to be puzzled by that. I'd heard of ogres who only ate human, but I'd never heard of one that didn't eat human at all, much less all meat. Come to think of it, I'd never really heard of an ogre traveling with a human either.

"How'd you manage that?" I whispered to Skip.

"Eh, it wasn't too hard. I told you I can be pretty convincing." she replied with a wink. She dipped her big wooden spoon into the stew and gave it a taste. "Hmmm. More pepper, maybe."

I leaned over and took one heavenly whiff before remembering that I was protesting by not having any stew. I wished I'd thought of some other way to express my displeasure, but I couldn't back down now. "Well, fine. If Mog won't eat me, then just stab me or something."

"I couldn't do that." She seemed offended that I'd even think of her as the type of person who could just murder another so casually. "I only kill people who deserve it."

We both fell silent and listened to the babbling stream, chirping crickets, the boiling stew, and Mog happily chowing down on pine needles. The sun had gone behind the trees for good, painting the sky a vivid red and orange. If I wasn't so miserable and terrified, this would have almost been enjoyable. The forest was actually quite beautiful.

"I'll tell you what," she said finally. "Mog and I were on our way to Milotia already; we'll turn you in to the Paladins there. We'll still get the reward, and there's slightly smaller chance that Sir Athaelwas's friends will be there to torture you. We all win, right?"

"Except that I die in the end," I told her.

She shrugged. "We all die eventually. You can choose between whenever we arrive in Milotia... or about ten minutes from now when the Paladins find us."

"What??" I cried, right as I heard it too. Deep voices floated through the forest, and a soft golden glow filtered between the trunks of trees. The Paladins were coming.

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