The Memory of Darkness (on hold until October)

13 - Midnight

The Lich is a truly despicable creature. It is usually a Mage whose abhorrence for the natural order caused them to call upon dark and terrible powers, with the intent of avoiding death itself. Recorded Liches were always individuals possessing Necromantic powers in life (though I should make it clear that although all Liches are Necromancers, not all Necromancers will become Liches).

Mercifully they are a rare curse upon the world, and all such individuals known to this humble correspondent have been destroyed; bested by worthy heroes in tales full of adventure, or fallen victim to their own insatiable thirst for power!

Arianna rested her elbows on the table and rubbed her eyes, the lack of sleep finally catching up with her. It had been nearly a full day since the message had been delivered, but felt more like a lifetime.

Rumours had spread quickly throughout the castle. From what Sebastian had told her, some of them were not too far from the truth. The servants and had heard all manner of things, and were now unwilling to attend to her. A few had been ordered to, and they performed their duties as quickly as possible before leaving. In all honesty, she couldn't blame them.

She looked back down at the copy of Malign Magical Miscreants. The rather vague and unhelpful entry on "The Lich" was accompanied by an illustration showing a skeletal figure in a ragged cloak, leaning on a staff topped with a skull. Behind it, other cadaverous figures stood in threatening poses, some wielding battered weapons.

"This is not helpful at all," she sighed, closing the heavy cover of the book with a satisfying thump. Nothing that Sebastian had smuggled in from the castle library had been of any assistance. It seemed that there were very few books relating to magic, which was hardly surprising.

Those that had been found had portrayed magic and those who could wield it in a negative light. Again, this was not surprising. Attitudes to Mages had not softened in the slightest since her Grandmother's death.

As she sat back in her chair, her eye was caught by a small spider, using its web to descend from the ceiling a few feet away. She froze, watching it intently, wondering if there was a lower limit to the size of creature that Lorcan could possess. She supposed he would find it rather hard to attach any sort of message to something so tiny, smiling faintly at the absurdity of the thought.

There was, however, the theory that he could use the eyes and ears of a corpse to see and hear things in places that he couldn't or didn't want to go. Arianna was certain that there had been nothing attached to the pigeon's leg the first time she had encountered it. What if Lorcan had used the pigeon to find her, then send her the message, before discarding the unfortunate bird once its usefulness was over?

Arianna shivered, deliberating whether the suspicion of everything that moved was paranoia, or understandable distrust. She looked over at Anton, who had seated himself on the most comfortable chair in the room, and was now fast asleep, snoring occasionally. He had insisted on staying with her, both as protection and company, but was proving to be a failure at the latter. She could only hope that the former would remain untested.

By now, the spider had reached the floor, and was taking a slow stroll along the edge of a rug. Its movements appeared to be normal, with the grotesque fluidity she expected from something with more legs than was necessary, but all the same...

"I refuse to start killing everything that looks at me," she whispered, picking up a loose piece of parchment. She placed it on the floor, in front of the spider, which stepped on to it. Quickly making her way to the window, she raised her free hand to open the latch, before pausing.

I'm not supposed to open this. What if there's something outside? One of his toys, with another message, trying to claim ownership of me?

Shaking her head, she unlatched the window, and tipped the spider off the paper onto the stone ledge. There was nothing else visible outside. With a small sense of relief, she quietly closed the window, checking that her brother had not been disturbed by the noise.