The Necromancer

Chapter 7, Part 2

The shining knife blade gleamed under the light of the moon. Lirk's arm was outstretched to its fullest extent, aiming the point of the weapon straight at Amcerlizar's heart. For the briefest second, I thought that we might not even need the Ruby. Amcarlizar had only just noticed Lirk and didn't even seem to be reacting. He just had a dumb vacant stare as he tried to process the fact that it wasn't gorgeous Professor Magdat rushing into his arms; it was my skeleton minion rushing forward to try to kill him. Maybe Lirk could finish the job right here. 

And then Amcerlizar stretched out his hand, and from his fingertips shot  out lavender sparks that coated Lirk's bones like sticky spring pollen. Lirk's leg continued to charge forward, but he slowed more and more with each passing second until he was nearly running in slow motion. Then the little lavender sparks began to tug against the bones until Lirk's arms and legs were pulled straight out of their sockets. His pelvis, torso, and skull were left floating helplessly in the air, supported by the glowing sparks.

Even separated from his body, Lirk's arms strained forward with the knife in hand, as though he could still plunge it into Amcerlizar and finish the job. This is why undead minions are the best: they'll keep trying even against impossible odds. Anything to complete the mission that I've given them. And Lirk was the best of the best. But whatever spell Amcerlizar had cast was too strong, and his various parts were frozen in place just a few feet from the intended objective. Ah, well: finishing Amcerlizar off with the knife had never been the original plan.

Just in time, the Ruby came to life and grew warm against my skin. It sensed that Lirk was in danger, and glowed an angry red around my neck. In the scarlet light, I could see Skip's gleeful smile. Lightning arced out of the stone and crossed the ruins, striking Amcerlizar in the chest exactly where it had hit Sir Athaelwas, all those weeks ago. Gods, it seemed like it had been years ago! And he froze in place in just the same way too. For the first time, his confident smile faltered and a shocked 'o' of surprise and confusion replaced it. "It worked!" Skip hissed in my ear.

Before she could even finish saying it, I could tell something was wrong. Rippling waves of white light radiated out from where the spot on his chest where the lightning had struck him. And of course he should have been turned into a pile of ash by now.

"Well, that was new," Amcerlizar called out. Skip's grin dropped in an instant, and she gripped my arm tight. "You'll have to teach me whatever spell that was." I breathed a faint sigh of relief: he hadn't seen that the lightning was from the Ruby. I tucked it back under my robes; you can never overvalue the element of surprise. 

"Come on out," he shouted, glancing around the ruins trying to find out where we were hiding. He'd been looking at Lirk when the lightning struck him, so he probably hadn't seen where we were. "Come out NOW, or this whole damn province will crumble into the sea!" Fury filled his voice, and he stamped his foot like an impetuous child. Behind him, I could still see Lirk's arm straining with the knife.

"You have until the count of three to reveal yourselves, or this whole..." Amcerlizar looked around at the ruins, "Wherever the hell we are... is completely destroyed." From within his robes, he took out small glass vials and began hurling them against the crumbling stones of the temple. Even from a distance, I could clearly hear the tinkle of glass and see dark splotches where the vials had impacted.

"What are those?" Skip whispered to me. I shrugged. Most Necromancers would carry around some extra potions for magical energy, but it didn't make sense for him to throw them against the rocks.

"I don't have all day!" he shouted, still pacing around.

  "What do we do?" Skip hissed.