The Cold Inside: Call of the Necromancer (Open Novella Contest II)

Chapter 8 - Introductions

Becky decided she really did not like the whole travelling by magic thing. It had been no better this time than the last time and she was pretty sure she was never going to get used to it. Only when her inner ear and her stomach started to agree how the world went together again, did she take in her surroundings.

"Wow."

The rest of the city had been a mismatch of everything she expected from a magical setting when combined with bits of her own modern world, but the citadel was pure fairy tale castle. She was in a stone antechamber of some kind, lit by the same kind of eerie torches as the streets had been the previous night, only these were more ornate. The ends were filigree and the bases were moulded to resemble twisted tree branches, twigs and all.

There was no window, but a large tapestry hung on the wall behind Becky. It showed an intricate landscape with every kind of magical creature she could have imagined. It looked like it was inlaid with gold thread as well as the plain colours. It was exquisite.

"Another lost art," Rosalind said as Becky couldn't help but take a closer look.

"What, tapestry?" she asked as she examined a beautifully rendered unicorn.

"No, the magic which keeps it as fresh as the day it was finished," her aunt replied. "I believe this is over two thousand years old."

"Wow," Becky said again.

There was a small corridor off the antechamber which ran a little way and turned a corner. The stone floor was carpeted with a brightly coloured rug in red, blues and blacks. It was also lovely, but nowhere near as pristine as the tapestry. It had clearly known quite a few boots.

"That way, I'm guessing," Becky said.

"The main chamber is at the end of the corridor," Rosalind told her. "Beyond the curtain."

However, before Becky got more than half a metre or so she felt a tingle run up the back of her neck. She turned as she heard swishing fabric and discovered she was no longer alone. To her embarrassment, after a moment, she realised she was staring.

"Hello again," Valoia said with a bright smile.

Only this time Rosalind had been right, Valoia was no longer male. During their brief meeting it had been hard to tell much about Valoia, other than he had been tall and probably thin given his fine bone structure, but this new female version was not so concealed, and she most definitely wasn't the waif-thin type. The only adjective that came to mind was voluptuous, which made Becky want to give herself a good slapping.

Valoia was wearing a black robe as she had been when she had been a he, but it was thrown back to reveal a deep red dress with a corset style bodice, heavy drapes at the front and sweeping drapes to either side of a full length, straight black underskirt. One long, black, leather boot was revealed by the side slit that ran to mid thigh on the underskirt.

Becky had taken all this in in one glance, but it was hard to look away. It was only now she had a chance to notice the soft points on Valoia's ears since the Dark Fae's hair was pulled back into an intricate style of braids that looked as if they were defying gravity. Becky might have been jealous if she hadn't been so captivated.

"Hi," she finally managed to say. "Sorry, I'm still getting used to this people appearing and disappearing thing."

It was a pathetic excuse, and the sparkle in Valoia's eyes told Becky neither of them believed it.

"You'll be surprised how quickly you become accustomed to how things work around here," Valoia said, smile still in place. "Shall we make our way to the main chamber before Lianta starts to worry about who just arrived?"