The Necromancer

Chapter 3, Part 3

I awoke to the sounds of singing. I had a brief moment of panic trying to remember where I was and why I wasn't back in my crypt... before remembering everything that had happened over the past week. Gods, had it really only been that long? I tried opening my eyes, but everything was still blurry. 

Skip's voice was absolutely beautiful. Clear, perfect notes came drifting through the trees , and even the birds around the clearing were harmonizing with her. My ears strained to listen to the words, but it was in a tongue that I couldn't understand. It was all so perfect that it sounded like the language had been created just for that one song.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I could just see blotches of greenish light, and some darker shadows. And the singing stopped immediately. "You're up!" Skip called. A moment later, I felt her rush to my side and gently lower me back down. "Take it easy, Winston. Just rest."

I ignored her and sat up. After a few minutes of blinking I was able to finally see her smiling face. "You gave us a bit of a scare," she said. 

The battle with the spiders came rushing back, and I smiled weakly. "Kicked their butts though, didn't I?"

She laughed. "Yeah, you sure did." I heard the music in her voice again, and I wanted to ask her to keep singing. 

I looked around. Skip had unloaded all the boxes from Mog's backpack, the tents were set up, and by the looks of the camp we had been camped here for quite a while. "How long was I out?"

"It's... uh... it's been a few days." She didn't want to tell me how long it really was. My stomach rumbled suddenly, sounding like Mog dancing on rocks. It certainly knew how long it had been since its last meal. 

I nodded. "I was worried that might happen." Well, not really. I didn't have a clue what would happen when I cast that spell, but I knew that it would likely do something bad. Skip didn't need to know that, though. "I didn't really have the right ingredients for destruction magic. Mandrake root works in a pinch, but it's really better for Necromancy or just using a bit at a time. If you try to use it all at once, it... well, I guess causes you to collapse for a few days." That had never happened to me at the Academy before, but then again I'd never mixed a spell in my mouth using volatile, not-recommended ingredients. 

"Speaking of which," she said, pointing behind her. "Mog was able to find you some more of those roots." Looking over Skip's shoulder, I saw a pile of red-spotted leaves and leathery roots, heaped together  at least three or four feet high. "He thought you might need them to bring Lirk back," she gestured to a nearby box where my companion's bones had been carefully arranged, "and he was so grateful that you saved him that he spent a whole day just churning through any meadow he could find. Having someone save his life is kind of a big deal to an ogre."

I could only laugh. It was like four or five year's worth of supplies of mandrake root. Even if I took all the time to squeeze and bottle the juice, I'd never be able to carry it all. "Remind me to thank him," I told her. I managed to stagger to my feet, only relying on her support for a brief moment. For the first time, I was able to get a look at the trees where Mog had been imprisoned; there was only one of them left. The other was now a shattered stump, surrounded by a blanket of splinters. And the meadow beyond was still covered in dead spiders.

"So, Winston..." Skip started as "While you were unconscious, I did some thinking." She bit her lip and refused to look at me while she spoke. "I... I owe you a big apology for how I treated you, you know? I can be a bit rude to strangers sometimes, and sometimes I don't really think about how it affects others."

"It's OK, Skip," I tried to tell her. 

"No, it really isn't," she said. "If I'd only offered you help instead of taking you prisoner, I would have found out about you knowing Amcerlizar far earlier. I just bought into all of those stories about Necromancers. I judged you too quickly and dismissed you as being useless to me. You're a person, not an asset. And that was my mistake. I did the same to Mog back when we first met; I'm just lucky that he's got thick skin." She rubbed my arm. "And I hope that you do too. And I hope you can still forgive me."

I didn't quite know how to answer; I honestly can't say I ever expected her to apologize like that. Luckily, Mog came stomping back into the clearing and broke the silence. How had I ever slept through his thunderous footsteps?

"AWAKE!" he shouted, loud enough to send birds fleeing into the sky all around the clearing. He lumbered into the camp with a dopey grin spread across his massive face. 

"Hi Mog," I waved to him, and he clapped his hands together with unabashed joy. Half of a tree trunk was still clinging to his forearm from the web, and his entire body was criss-crossed by lines of dried leaves and dirt and all sorts of other things that had stuck to the spider silk. Skip had apparently managed to hack through one side of the web, but couldn't get the rest off of him. "It's good to see you."

"YOU TOO," he answered, still grinning, then settled into a spot on the edge of the meadow and began chewing on some maple branches.

Skip went back to the fire and carefully pulled the pot out of the flames. "You want some breakfast, too?" My stomach growled again, so loud that even Mog stopped chewing. Skip laughed, and thrust a plate full of beans and sausage into my hands. I scarfed it all down so quickly that Skip hadn't even taken a bite of her own beans before I was ladling another serving for myself.

"You think you'll be able to travel soon?" Skip asked as I devoured my way through thirds. My mouth was too full to answer, but I nodded in response.

"Good! We've let you be lazy for long enough!" That confident, commanding tone came back into her voice, but she still had the same energetic grin. 

We quickly packed up the camp and loaded everything into Mog's pack, which I was happily not riding in this time. Then I squeezed out some mandrake root juice and created another elixir to summon Lirk; Skip scrunched up her nose in disgust at the sight of the mixture, which again had the color and consistency of watery poop. Lirk's bones all snapped back into place and he greeted me with the usual gratitude. 

"You ready?" Skip asked. 

I looked around, making sure that I'd grabbed everything. Not that I had very many possessions to begin with. But that just meant I was more attached to the few that I did own. And then my eyes fell upon the carpet of dead spiders. "Just one second," I answered her.

I held my hand out and felt the leftover magical energy flow into my fingertips. I had so many mandrake roots now that I'd been able to use two to resummon Lirk, giving me plenty of leftover juice. And coincidentally, plenty of leftover bodies. Too bad the Ruby turned the large one to dust; that could certainly have been useful. The remaining ones that I'd fried ranged in size from a tenth of an inch to just about half a foot. Spiders were natural companions of Necromancers, and very easy to summon. But, without any bones, they would only ever be temporary helpers before the bodies decayed. I cast the incantation using all of my remaining power, and a thousand of them sprang back to life in the grass and scuttled toward me to receive orders. Skip shrank back with a look of revulsion, and even Mog was glaring suspiciously at them.

"Go forth, minions!" I commanded them. "Go back to the Crown Road and find any Paladins you can and scurry up their armor!" Ah, how I longed to be able to see those jackasses swatting at the metal armor and desperately trying to tear off the golden plates while my undead spiders crawled up their pants. That would be hilarious. But alas, Skip, Mog and I had somewhere else to be. 

The spiders scampered off into the woods to seek out their new prey, and I turned back to Skip. "Ok, now I'm ready."

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