The Necromancer

Chapter 2, Part 3

There was a silent standoff as Skip and I stared at each other with Lirk in between. Her dark eyes remained confident, and a poisonous smile was plastered across her face. Soft winds rustled the leaves overhead and caused the green tails of Skip's cloak to wave back and forth. The skeleton seemed completely oblivious to the tension, repeatedly turning to look at Skip then back to me for orders.

"You must be this Lirk that I have heard so much about," Skip finally called out. She began to slowly climb down the rocks and inch toward us. Her hand never left the carved bone hilt of the knife jutting out from her belt. "Nice to finally meet you."

Lirk turned to me with his effervescent skeletal grin. "A new friend, Master?"

"Not quite," I answered, watching the ruby glow around her neck. "Kind of the opposite, really. She's not very nice."

His skull turned back to Skip, then toward me again. "But she said it was nice to meet me."

Before I could explain the concept of sarcasm to Lirk again, Mog came rumbling out of the forest, leaving a path of broken branches and small craters for footprints. He thundered right up to where Lirk stood, putting the skeleton in between his massive, tree-trunk-sized legs. His head emerged from the treetops as he leaned down close for a better look. Unlike any sane human, Lirk didn't seem intimidated by the ogre's size and looks, nor did he seem to notice the repulsive smell that had nearly knocked me unconscious when I'd first met Mog. The ogre studied the skeleton for a moment, squinting his big eyes. Then he turned back to Skip: "SMOOSH?"

"No, Mog," Skip said, using a saccharine sweet tone. "Lirk is right. We're new friends!" The Ruby still glowed around her neck; she knew exactly what would happen if they threatened Lirk. She'd be turned into a pile of dust just like those Paladins.

"We're going to leave now," I announced to Skip, taking a step back down the riverbed. "Come on, Lirk. They're not going to be coming with us." I watched Skip for any reaction, but she just continued grinning. "Oh, and give me the necklace back too. It belongs to Lirk."

"Not going to happen," Skip answered with one hand grasping the delicate chain. "This will fetch a hefty price when we get to the city, and someone's got to pay for Mog's bar tab. You'd be surprised how much beer a fellow of his size can drink." Skip studied me for a moment with no emotion on her face whatsoever. I stared back, doing my best to look intimidating. "Lirk can go," she said at last. Then she drew the bow from behind her back and casually rested an arrow against the bowstring. "But not you, Winston."

"Don't do this, Skip." I gestured at the necklace, trying to remind her of its power. I didn't want to disintegrate them, but it was a better alternative than being turned over to the Paladins. Surely she'd see the sense in that. "You know what will happen now that Lirk is back. Don't make me do it."

"As I understand it," she answered, "the Ruby will only activate if Lirk is in danger, right?"

"Well... I... yeah, I guess." Ok, maybe that is accurate. The Ruby only seemed to care what happened to Lirk. But I could command Lirk!

"So," Skip said. "Lirk is in no danger from me, or from Mog. He seems like a fine fellow. We like him!" Lirk grinned; skeletons don't have much body language (you know, given the whole lack of an actual body thing), but I could swear that he seemed proud to hear that.

"That's not how it works!" I shouted back. "Lirk will do what I tell him, including attack you. If you don't let us go, that is. Now, I'm warning you: put down the bow, and we'll just walk away."

Skip just smiled. "Not happening."

I took another step back in our game of chicken. Lirk continued standing between us, still in Mog's shadow, awaiting an order from me. Mog kept looking back at Skip with the exact same expression as the skeleton, waiting for her to tell him what to do.