The Necromancer

Chapter 2, Part 1

One of Mog's massive feet came crashing down, showering me in leaves and twigs as he plowed through yet another tree. A rumble of laughter drifted down from above, and I looked up to see his smirking face standing right overhead. The ogre had apparently made a game out trying to step as close to me as possible without crushing me completely. And he naturally expected me to play my part as well, scrambling out of the way as soon as I saw the looming shadow overhead. 

"You know," I shouted to Skip as I dragged myself out of yet another thorny bush and tossed my rucksack over my shoulder again, "Your ogre is one stumble away from making sure you never get that bounty for me unless the Paladins will accept my flattened remains. This would be a whole lot of trouble for nothing." She'd told him to keep an eye on me and not let me get away, but this was getting a bit too close for comfort.

"Uh-huh," she answered. Skip was only a dozen or so yards ahead, but acting very odd. Instead of normally darting between shadows and scrambling up tree trunks to scout for any dangers, she was just kind of trudging along. Her feet seemed to move around rocks and over branches their own, like she wasn't even controlling what they did.

"That's it? You're not even going to suggest that he not to crush me?" As if to emphasize that he could, Mog took another step over me, grinding an old stump into powder with his leathery heel. 

"Sure," Skip said. From behind, I could tell that she was holding something in her hands and was so focused on it that nothing I'd say could break the spell. 

"You know, I really don't like either of you," I told her. "So I'm probably going to try to kill you in your sleep tonight. Maybe a poison? I was always good at that subject in the Academy."

Mog gave a ferocious roar, and his foot came slamming down into the patch of ferns where I'd been standing until just a second ago. He had been giving me time to roll out of the way in our little game, but this one seemed serious.

Skip didn't say a word. She just brushed some branches from her face with one hand, holding something in the other hand in front of her.

"All right, what is it?" I asked. "What are you so preoccupied by?" I somehow summoned the energy to trudge ahead up the small ridge that she was standing on. I was only halfway there before the leaves of the forest shifted and she was bathed in a bright sunbeam filtering through the branches overhead... and then everything turned brilliant red. Ah, of course. MY ruby. She'd let me keep most of my own stuff, but the ruby was too valuable to let a prisoner hold onto. Not to mention dangerous. I'd explained that Lirk was the only one who could use it, but given that neither of us understood exactly how it worked, she probably thought it better to keep the Ruby to herself.

She looked at me with an odd expression on her face. Hope and desperation and confusion and anger and happiness all rolled into one. Like she knew she needed to make some facial expression but she just couldn't decide on which emotion to show. Then she looked back down at the Ruby.

"Impressive, isn't it?" I told her. I'd probably been just as awestruck when I got my hands on it at firest. Well, technically I was second. Stupid Lirk had touched it first, and look at all the problems that had caused. Dumb skeletons. 

She rubbed a finger over the shimmering red surface. "What does it do, exactly?" It seemed to somehow draw in light from the stray beams that managed to filter in through the canopy. "You said it killed those Paladins?"

"Yeah, like I said. Big bolts of lightning from it." We entered a small gulley with a trickling stream, carpeted with slippery round river rocks. "Never seen anything like it. It was like it had a mind of its own."

"Do you think it could do other things?" she asked. "I mean, how powerful is it?" Behind us, Mog took a running start and cleared the gulley  with a thunderous crash and his childish giggle. A couple of trees splintered at the trunk and collapsed to the forest floor. He gave us a proud grin and then dashed off ahead.

 "There really isn't too much information about it," I answered once everything had fallen relatively silent again. "It's very mysterious. Mertialz, the Necromancer who discovered it, supposedly used it to defeat armies of enemies and raised thousands of minions. So when I was searching for it, I assumed it could be used for Necromancy too."

We walked in silence for a bit as she processed that information. Even distracted, she seemed to dance around obstacles and leaped dantily over half-decayed logs covered in thick blankets of ferns. My feet, on the other hand, seemed to try to stumble over even the smallest of twigs and rocks.

"Yeah, but what about other spells besides raising zombies?" Skip asked finally. "I mean, you're a Necromancer, right? Could it be used for those?"

"What other spells?" I asked. 

She was quiet again. We watched Mog frolick through a clearing full of wildflowers, leaving large clumps of broken stems and petals in his footsteps. I had to stifle a laugh as he wallowed around in a big pit of mud like a carefree dog. 

"I don't know," she replied. She glanced down at the Ruby like it might know the answer. "I thought you Necromancers had different ways of raising the dead. Isn't there one that can bring someone back to life... like, good as new?"

"Good as new?" I asked. "I mean, you can bring back skeletons. And you can bring back bodies with flesh and all that. But they'll still be thralls. And you can raise demons, and all sorts of...."

"But people?" she interrupted. "Can't you bring back a full person, exactly like when they were alive?" Her voice was tinged with... almost desperation? I couldn't quite identify it. 

"It would have to be pretty powerful..." I said. I tried to think back to school. There was something about how the Dragonheart in the Undead Champion's scepter could do something like that, but I never paid much attention whenever that whole subject was brought up. We all knew that Amcerlizar was already going to be chosen by the Elders, even back then, so whenever it came up in class I just zoned out a bit. "I think there's a way, but..."

"Could this thing do it?" Skip said. Her voice had grown shrill. "This ruby? Is it powerful enough?"

Mog came thundering over looking like a clay golem, dripping wet mud all over the place. The only part of him still visible were his big watery eyes and massive slab-like teeth. "LUNCH?" he asked with a longing look toward a tree in the center of the meadow dripping with moss. 

Skip shook her head like she was snapping out of a trance. Her eager, needy face changed to a smile like a proud parent. "Yes, Mog. We can take a break. Go help yourself." He immediately thundered back through the flowers and sat in front of the tree, stripping it of moss and throwing clumps of it into his gaping maw.

"Why are you so curious about it anyway?" I asked. "I already told you; the only person who can control it is Lirk." I patted the satchel on my side containing his bones. "And he's... indisposed. I'd have to fi..." My voice trailed off as I glanced around at the flowers blanketing the meadow. There was probably mandrake root all over this place, and that was the one ingredient I didn't have enough of to bring Lirk back.  Inside the forest it was too dark for it to grow, but here there would be plenty... And if Lirk was back, that would mean that we could control the Ruby. I could escape! Or, if they wouldn't let me go... I looked back to Mog and Skip, both enjoying their meal. I didn't want to see them disintegrated, but I also didn't want the Paladins to murder me when I was turned in. 

"You OK?" Skip asked.She offered me a hunk of bread, some dried meat, and a thick slice of a hard cheese in a waxy rind.

I snapped back to reality and plastered on my best fake smile. "Just got distracted a bit," I told her. She'd know if I lied. Got to act casual, I reminded myself. "Everything's fine." 

She went back to her lunch, and I began gently sifting through the flowers at my feet looking for the telltale red-spotted leaves. With any luck, this would be my last meal as a prisoner. 

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