Necromancer's Descent

14 - Sensing Mana

My eyes follow the knight and his squire, I guess, until the tavern door closes behind them.

I wasn't expecting to see a knight here, but I guess the fort isn't that far away, and there's a bridge here that leads to the other side of the river.

I stare at the two brown horses they tied up by the water trough, as they start drinking eagerly... they're huge. I never actually saw a real horse before, but I'm pretty sure that both of these are way larger than those in the pictures. When the knight stood next to it, his head didn't even reach it to the shoulders. How he gets up and down from the horse boggles my mind, but seeing how Theodore took a leisurely jog in armor next to me running, I guess it wouldn't be a problem.

Where horses to me often looked elegant, or a little pudgy around the belly with thin legs, these look muscular and wild, as they shift impatiently while drinking. Being hit by one of them would be like getting hit by a truck, and even as they just stand there one of them kicks out in seeming frustration.

I glance to the now closed tavern door, but it doesn't seem like the knight nor Vera and the rest are leaving the place. Weren't Vera and her pals traitors? As in, wouldn't it be bad if the knight recognized them as deserters?

I munch down the rest of the black bread as I watch the horses drink their fill and stomp around, until the church bells ring briefly. They've been ringing once every hour, so I matched up giving Theodore's 'stay' order to the bells to avoid accidents.

I stand up after stuffing the last of the bread into my mouth, only to find one of those huge horses staring directly at me like it just realized I was there... and the first thing going through my mind at its stare is: animals are sensitive to evil, right?

However, after staring at me for a few moments it sort of calms down, blows out a bunch of air and goes back to drinking, as though oblivious to my necromancy skills. So I guess the answer is nope it's as dense as a ton of bricks? I let out a small sigh as I pass by them at a respectful distance, just in case they kick out.

—-*-—

As one might have expected, the guards kept up their disgusted behavior as I passed through the gate again, but they didn't seem to show any interest as I veered off from the road and into the woods.

Thankfully Theodore was standing exactly where I left him, staring blankly into the air with his arms crossed like that was his normal waiting position. The oddly natural body language always makes him seem like he has way too much sass for a zombie.

"Have you been good while I was gone?"

I know he can't understand, but it's not like your cat can understand the question either...

Theodore straightens up and immediately walks up to me as I return, which would have been cute if he was a cat or dog, and not a wandering corpse.

I give a slight smile.

"Well, no one is dead or injured, so I'll take it as a yes," I reply as I look him over. The smell hasn't increased that much, but it'll probably get a lot worse over the next few hours here around noon. Slowing down the decomposition even a little would be good.

"Let's try it," I mutter out as I take out the water skin and drink the leftover water.

"But how do I go about doing it? It's not like I've been able to actually control the mana to activate my skills..."