by Darkbringer
Neither of us said anything as we dried off and then got dressed. Breakfast was a cold mean of leftover bread and cheese, which we eat while simply staring and smiling at each other. Our moment together in the rain was a wonderful time while it lasted and neither of us spoke to disrupt the feeling. We let the warmth linger for as long as it could.
After breakfast, we finally packed up the supplies that we had and went outside to take down the tent. “Jess! You and Dino finish up in there and get out here and get your tents down. We’re going to be heading out soon. We’ll want to hit the forest while it’s daylight today, so I can try and find whatever trail they might have traveled down.” I knew where we were going now, and I could find my way to that old source of death easily enough; I just needed an excuse to explain to the others about how I managed to do it.
“In this rain?” Dino came out complaining this morning, but I was in a good mood and simply ignored it as Crystal helped me take down the tent we’d been staying in. Grumbling to himself, Dino started taking down his tent while no one paid any attention to him. Jess was in a cheerful mood and was singing some small ditty to herself about dancing butterflies trying to mate in the rain or something, so I tried to tune her out as well.
Before long, we were all packed up and traveling along the road heading westward once again. The day was wet and miserable, but peaceful. We didn’t see any sign of any other travelers from morning to lunch, and it was around noon when we diverted off the road and started working our way through the forest. Dino never asked how I knew the way; he was too miserable and grumpy over marching in the forest in the rain. Jess was too busy skipping along and gathering leaves, flowers, herbs, and who knows what all from the forest to even notice where we were going, and Crystal didn’t say anything as she had witnessed my magic last night which I’d used to find the path.
As the afternoon slowly passed by, the woods got thicker and darker. Sometime mid afternoon, the rain finally started to lighten back up and small patches of sunlight feebly tried to sneak through the clouds. It was dark and gloomy where we were going, and traveling was slow and laborious even with me lightly feeling the path before us with my magic and choosing the best trail. I couldn’t imagine the difficulty the other team had had trying to find a way through the forest to locate a lost graveyard. They probably spent a week or more just wandering the woods looking for the place.
It was several hours after Dino started complaining about wanting to stop and set up the tents for the evening, with me ignoring him before we finally came to the edge of the graveyard. Instantly, it was obvious to me that something was wrong with the place. The flows of death energy that surround such a place normally seep out slowly and dissipate into the surroundings as the corpses and such slowly decay and fade over time. This place wasn’t like that at all. The death here pulsed. It beat like a heartbeat, slowly pulling back from the edge of the graveyard, gathering inwards at some point I couldn’t see from here, and then returning a moment later with just a little more force and strength.
Cautiously, I held up my hand and motioned for everyone to stop. “We’re here,” I told them simply. “And there’s going to be no sleeping tonight without a watch. Darkness and trouble are thick all around us. I don’t know what all’s going on here, but the danger is all around. Be as cautious here as you’ve ever been anywhere in your life. Death is in the forest here.”
“And how do you know that!” Dino snorted and waved his hands dismissively. “This place doesn’t seem any different than anywhere else we’ve seen all day long!”
“Nuh uh.” Jess slowly shook her head and looked around nervously. “He’s right. I don’t like it here. There’s no birds, no bugs, no life near us! Something isn’t right here. I can feel it!”
I couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised. I had thought that Jess was just as dense and hopeless as Dino, but after spending a little more time with her, I might have misjudged her somewhat. I would’ve thought that she’d agree with Dino no matter what. It was a nice surprise to see her think for herself.
Dino simply snorted while Crystal drew her sword. Nothing was immediately of danger to us, and trying to cause us harm, but I could tell we were at the edge of darkness.
Trouble and Death were no more than a few feet away and waiting for us to intrude on its domain…
First Encounter
As much as I wanted to just rush on into the graveyard – which didn’t show any visible signs of actually be a graveyard from where we were yet – I didn’t think it was a wise idea to chance it. It was natural darker inside the canopy of the trees and the sun was rapidly setting. I didn’t like the idea of setting up the tents and hiding ourselves where we couldn’t see what was around us, so instead I made Dino hand over the poles to his tent and everyone work with me to drape the canvas across both sets of poles so that the sides were open and the canvas only laid above us. It wasn’t a method that would give any privacy to anyone, but it’d keep us dry if it started to rain again, and it’d let us see and respond quicker to any danger in the night.
Gathering firewood was done by both Dino and me, and I made certain that we only collected wood from the direction away from the pulsing death. No going into that mess, until morning and we were all prepared. For the first time in a long time, I wished my mother was around so I could ask her questions about the mana around me. I’d never seen anything like this before, never experienced it, and I’d never even heard about it. Something was drastically altering and perhaps even controlling the flows of death energy, and I didn’t like the idea of that at all!
Dino was forced to use his magic to dry out the firewood, and start the campfires after. Tonight I didn’t feel safe with a single fire, so we made two and had one to the left and right side of us, between the graveyard and us. The extra light was comforting and it was nice to get a warm meal once again.
After supper, Crystal took off her chain robe and fluffed out a blanket to lay upon. She didn’t bother to remove her leathers and change into her robe, and she kept her sword close to her hands where it’d be readily available if needed. Jess watched Dino and me for a moment before I finally motioned her to go on to sleep as well. “Let’s let Dino have the first watch and then he can wake me for second. I’ll wake Crystal for third and then you can take the last watch for us, Jess. Whatever you do, though, keep watch. Don’t get sidetracked trying to cook breakfast or anything like that on your shift. Keep watch and then you can cook in the morning once someone else wakes up to take over.”
“Ok, I got it.” She agreed easily.
“Why do I have to take the first watch?” Dino asked grumpily.
“Fine then,” I told him. “I’ll take the first watch, let you sleep a few hours, then wake you for second. It’s not like I’m going to complain about having an uninterrupted night’s rest.”
Dino just snorted. “Go on to sleep. I’ve got this,” he said grumpily. He really hadn’t been enjoying this trip at all, so far.
Not feeling like arguing any further, I simply let it go and pulled out my own blanket and stretched out atop it. I was half curious if Crystal was going to slide over and snuggle like she had been, but after a few moments, I gave up on that idea. Whether it was because the others could see us, or because she wanted to keep some space free so she’d have room to grab her sword and react in case of trouble, she stayed where she was. Jess sat up for a while to keep Dino company and chat with him lightly, and I feel asleep before she’d laid down on her own.
I don’t know how long I managed to rest, but it was a scream of pure fright that made me sit up bolt upright all at once. “AHHHH!! THE DEAD WALKS!” Dino screamed again and stumbled back away from the campfire. My mind was in a rush, and I started to reach for the energy of the forest around me to protect myself from a sudden zombie hoard as I grabbed my staff and looked around frantically for trouble.
A single, lone skeleton slowly tried to fight its way out of the forest and towards us.
Not wanting to believe that THIS was the danger that had our all-powerful mage sitting on his ass and trembling in fear, I spun around and looked everywhere I could to see if there was something I was missing. Nothing else, as far as I could tell was out in the dark and near us. Just one lone skeleton, which seemed to be having trouble making its way through the vines and forest. Sure, it was coming our way. Heck, it might even get here in another minute or two if it ever managed to tug itself free from the greenbriers which were tangled around its legs. But to make someone scream, panic, and wake everyone as if it was the end of the world and we were being swarmed?!
Pathetic!
At a loss, I glanced around to see how the others were handling the situation. Jess had awoken and moved back away from the side where the thing was approaching from. From the way it looked to me, it appeared that she was actually trying to talk to Dino and calm him. He was pale, shaking, and looked almost like he was going to pass out at any moment.
Crystal, on the other hand, had calmly gotten up and drawn her sword. Like me, she was scanning the surroundings and looking for any other sign of danger. When she raised an eyebrow and looked at me quizzically, I simply shrugged back towards her.
“Is this it?” I finally asked Dino.
“It’s the dead! The dead is walking!” Stating the obvious, he pointed a quivering finger towards the skeleton which was now only about twenty or thirty feet from us. “It’s coming for us!”
“Yes,” I told him calmly. “I believe it is.”
He simply blinked at me as if I was crazy.
“Is there some reason why you’re not blasting it with your magic and changing it from walking dead to a smoldering pile of dead bones?” I asked.
“Umm.” He blushed a few times and then slowly shook his head back and forth. “I didn’t think of that,” he muttered sheepishly.
“Didn’t think of that?!” I screamed at him, having finally reached my limits. “God dammit! Hey you! Idiot skeleton! YES, YOU! Come over here and eat this dumb ass! What type of idiot fire wizard doesn’t even think of using their fire magic to protect themselves? Come on, you can have him. I won’t get in your way!”
Disgusted, I threw my staff down and walked past where Dino and Jess were and finally flopped on my ass at the edge of where the light met the forest. “I’m serious. I’m not dealing with it,” I told Crystal as she looked at me quizzically. “And you’re not either. Either Flameless Dino deals with this thing, or else it’s going to eat him and Jess. We’ll just watch and deal with it afterward if we have to.”
“You wouldn’t let it eat me, would you?” Jess looked around with suddenly widened eyes while Crystal simply stared for a moment and then slowly moved to come sit by my side.
“That’s all up to Dino,” I told her coldly. “He’s the one who asked you to come. He’s the one who said he’d be responsible for keeping you safe. It’s up to him to keep you from getting ate.”
“Magey! You’re not going to let it eat me, are you?” Jess turned her pouty lip and teary ears towards Dino and he just blinked helplessly.
“I’m trying! I’m just having problems focusing the magic right now!” Watching his control, it was true – his magic was a mess. His breathing wasn’t under control, neither was his emotions, and he wasn’t pulling and holding onto the strands of energy properly at all. First, he’d grab too much and almost set himself on fire, and then he’d overcorrect and release the energy and let it all flow back into the environment all at once. I knew he wasn’t at my level of mastery with his magics, but I had no idea he actually sucked as badly as he did!
For several long moments, he stumbled and fizzled his magics as the skeleton slowly crept closer. Honestly, if he was out here on his alone right now, chances are he would’ve already been caught and chewed upon. The only reason he was having so much time to try and get himself under control was because the skeleton was entangled in several briars and vines, and it seemed to be trying to drag half the forest behind it.
After several failed tries, he finally managed to gather and control enough energy to fire a bolt of flame off – right into the top of the canopy of the tents!!
Fire crackled and popped and fell all around him and Jess, and fearing that the dead really would make it the whole distance and get them, I finally nodded to Crystal. “You go get that thing; I’ll deal with the fire!”
Nodding her understanding, Crystal wordlessly hopped up and circled around the burning tent. Cussing slightly under my breath, I ran forward and grabbed Dino and Jess and tugged them both out from underneath the smoldering canopy. Luckily for us the top was damp and moist with rain, and as soon as the fire burnt a hole through the bottom all that pooled water poured in and put it out. The rain had been a pain in the ass for the last few days, but now it was a blessing for our gear!
With a set of single causal swipes of her sword, Crystal shattered first the skeleton’s arm and then its skull. Once the skull shattered, the whole thing collapsed into a worthless pile of dead bones and lay still. It was such an easy kill, being held as it was, a young child with a stick could’ve beaten this one down – and it’d scared Dino almost to death.
Disgusted, I turned around, stomped over to where Dino still sat frightened on his ass and kicked him square in the front of his face. Blood squirted from his nose, he tumbled for a loop, flopped backward sprawled out and laid completely still.
“Michael!” Jess yelled at me and rushed to lean over and check on him. “What’d you do that for!”
Snorting with anger, I grabbed her by the shoulders and forcefully dragged her back away from him before she could work any sort of healing magic. “Leave him be! If he gets up anytime soon, he might end up dead!”
“Dead?” Jess asked confused, as she finally quit struggling in my arms and stared up at me with concern and doubt in her eyes.
“Yes, dead.” I nodded and confirmed what I’d previously said.
“Why? Is there something wrong with his magic?”
“Nope.” I could tell she didn’t get my point, so I figured it’d be easiest to just spell it out plainly for her. “If I have to deal with his whiny, frightened, useless ass for another moment before I calm down, I’m going to be the one to kill him!”
“OH!” Her innocent eyes widened as she suddenly understood the situation better, and then she slightly nodded and frowned. “It is a shame somewhat,” she admitted. “I didn’t think he’d fall apart like that at the first sign of trouble. He might not be as much a man as I first thought he was.”
Slowly she shook her head back and forth as if to clear it of her doubts. “He’ll still make good babies, though,” she said positively. “Is it OK if I heal him so his nose will quit bleeding? Blood might draw more of the dead if there’s any around. I won’t wake him. In fact, I can use my magic to keep him asleep for a while if you’d prefer,” she volunteered.
“Fine.” Sighing, I agreed. “Fix him, but keep him asleep for now. I really don’t want to deal with him for now, until I know a little more about what else might be out there.”
Jess simply nodded and then slowly walked over to work her magics on Dino while I worked my way around the tents and over to Crystal. Seeing me approach, she slowly walked up and then wrapped her arms around me and hugged me.
“It’ll be all right, My Lord. We’ll manage,” she assured me.
“We’ll have to,” I sighed. “We’re here now, and we can’t turn back at this point just to send him back to the town. We’ll just have to realize that we can’t rely on him for anything, from here on out. He claims to be a third-year wizard, but if he is, he must be one of the worst ones in the history of the school. He showed absolutely no control over his magics back there.”
“I saw that.” She nodded and frowned slightly up at me while still tight in my embrace. “I don’t know much about magic; it’s not something I was gifted with, but even I could tell that he had absolutely no control over himself or his magics. Honestly, I think he may
have pissed himself back there,” she said sadly.
All I could do is shake my head from side to side in disgust. “That’s pitiful,” I said, expressing my true feelings.
“It is,” Crystal agreed. “But it’s also not something that you normally see a person do. Is it natural? Or is there some chance that something happened which could’ve affected him somehow and enhanced his fear? Made it something he couldn’t control?”
“I dunno,” I told her truthfully. “Maybe. I know there are such things as love potions and charm magics and such. I don’t see why there couldn’t be some form of fear magic. I don’t have any talent for manipulating someone’s emotions, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible,” I whispered.
“Jess!” I called out to her. “Crystal just brought up an interesting possibility. Is there any chance that Dino was under the effect of something which altered his mood or mind somehow? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone quite lose themselves to fear that badly before either.”
For a few moments she seemed lost in thought, and then she bent back over and worked her magic on the now sleeping Dino several times. “I don’t know,” she finally answered, looking up. “If there was something like that, the effects are gone now and I can’t find them – but that’s not too unusual, to be honest. Take a person who’s been drinking,” she explained. “When the alcohol is in their blood, they can act all silly and odd, and a healer can detect it and maybe fix it. But, once it wears off and they’re back to normal, it’s too late for us to find or do anything about it then. Magical effects are like that, except they wear off much faster than something like alcohol. If he was affected by something which made him so frightened, it’s gone now that the skeleton is dead.
“I’ve never heard of a simple skeleton having any sort of fear attack like that,” she told us seriously, “but this place is odd. I really don’t know what to expect here from it at all. It might be that it did somehow affect him. We’ll have to be more careful of that if we run across any more of the dead.”
