The Gaellean Prophecy Series Box Set

by C S Vass

  “Yes. It feels as if I’m in a dream, but this is no dream, is it?”

  “No,” Godwin said. “Are you in pain?”

  “Yes.”

  “I see. Tell me, what was that other demon we encountered?”

  “It was nothing but dead matter reanimated. The same as me. Dead leaves and branches, dead water and rocks, all pulled together by dark magic.”

  Godwin nodded. “This necromancer…I take it they’re listening to this conversation through your ears. Any chance we can speak with them?”

  The corpse closed its eyes and a look of intense pain came over its face. Finally, she said, “Yes. He will come.”

  “Um, are we sure that’s a good idea?” Robert stammered. “Perhaps we would be wise to simply leave before another plant demon comes for us.”

  “We came here to do a job,” Godwin said.

  “Please,” the corpse chimed in. “I’m sorry I attacked you. I was not in control of myself. I beg you. Have him release me. I do not belong here. I am in great pain. Please.”

  “I will ask on your behalf,” Godwin said. “You’re not without my sympathies. But do not expect to have your wish granted. I suspect that your master will release you when he’s ready, and not before then.”

  The corpse spit on the ground and hissed, but made no move to harm them.

  “Well, while we wait,” Yaura said as she turned to Robert. “Are you going to tell us what the hell happened?”

  “I’d be quite interested to know that myself,” Godwin said. “If you’re wise in the ways of old magic, then it would have been nice of you to lend a helping hand before it was your neck that was on the line.”

  “Listen…you’ve got to believe me,” Robert said. “I have absolutely no idea what happened. I’ve never done anything like that in my life. I promise you, it startled me more than you.”

  “Yeah, you just picked up an ancient elvish language of power in your sleep did you?” Yaura asked.

  Godwin looked closely at Robert’s face. His pupils were dilated and his chin trembled. There was true fear written across it. But not a detectable sign of a lie.

  “We’ll revisit this later,” Godwin said. “What matters is that we’re all alive.”

  “How insensitive of you,” a voice said. “Not all here are so lucky.” From the woods emerged an old man wearing a sickening necklace made of human body parts. Ears, fingers, and other rotting flesh drooped down over blood-red robes. The old man carried a gnarled staff that cradled what appeared to be a grouping of about ten eyeballs at the top.

  “I take it you’re the one we have to thank for all of this trouble,” Godwin said to the necromancer.

  “Indeed. Although from my perspective, I believe I could say the same thing to you. Now to what do I owe the pleasure of two Shigata and an oaf intruding upon my territory?”

  “This oaf blasted your plant monster to oblivion,” Godwin growled. “And this Shigata might do the same to you before we leave.”

  The necromancer chuckled. It was a harsh, croaking sound. “If you want another fight, you should beware that I have many more corpses at my disposal. I don’t guarantee I’ll win, but I guarantee it will at least be interesting.”

  “Will you two stop acting like little boys?” Yaura chided. “Let’s figure out what the hell is going on before we draw swords again. First thing’s first. Why are you attacking the village?”

  “Spoken wisely, Yaura of the Shigata,” the necromancer said.

  “Stay out of my head,” Yaura growled.

  “Forgive me. It’s merely a habit that I find hard to break. But I am not an unreasonable man. Surely you’ve heard some twisted pack of lies from the filthy urchins that live in the nameless village near here. I will tell you my side of the story, and perhaps we can come to an understanding.”

  “All right then, let’s hear it,” Godwin said.

  The necromancer banged his staff against the hard ground. Immediately, a small ball of glowing white fire appeared in the air radiating heat. “No need for us to be uncomfortable,” the necromancer said. “Now, let’s get down to business. I used to be a member of the tribe of bastards that sent you here to kill me.”

  “To kill a rusalka,” Yaura corrected. “Our contract was for the water demon. The villagers never mentioned you.”

  “I see,” the necromancer smiled. “Then that omission of the truth was the first lie that they fed you. They know well that I am out here.”

  “On with your story, old man,” Yaura said.

  The necromancer’s sharp green eyes burned in the light of the fire. “Very well. As I said, I grew up in that community. I apprenticed under a powerful sorceress who lives there. I could bore you with details of the things she did to me—the terrible price of knowledge, as she called those experiments. I could give you endless stories of the trials, the pain, the terrible fear. I prefer to skip over those grisly details for now.

  “I was expelled from her home and from the village for tampering in the art of death. A bizarre thing to be offended by, in my opinion. Learn to shove a sword through someone’s head and the whole town will cheer your name. Inspect the body afterwards and they expel you as some sort of cultist.”

  “I see your frustration,” Godwin said. “That doesn’t change the fact that you’re attacking the village. They don’t like your kind of spell work, so why not just leave them in peace?”

  “Leave them in peace?” the necromancer asked. “I would love nothing more. But they’ve taken something from me. Something very rare and very special.”

  Godwin knew, instantly. The pieces snapped together in his mind like a puzzle. “The old woman, she has your bagiennik oil, doesn’t she?”

  The necromancer grinned. “She does. If you know about it, then I imagine that she promised it to you as a reward for dealing with me. I hope you’re clever enough to see through that ploy, Shigata. She has nothing for you but a warm bed to put you in before she places a knife in your belly.”

  Godwin huffed. “Well this contract is turning out to be one big chamberpot filled to the brim. I don’t suppose they have a hidden stash of gold in that village I can at least take as a consolation prize?”

  “Godwin, you can’t rob those villagers!” Robert said.

  “I’ll be well within my rights if they don’t give me what’s been promised,” Godwin grumbled.

  “You would be,” the necromancer agreed. “So long as I don’t claim what’s rightfully mine first. This puts us at a bit of an awkward situation as I’m sure you can see. Your options are apparently to go home empty-handed or to murder me and go claim your prize by force from the old sorceress. She won’t go down without a fight, I’m afraid, but you may be able to take her. The bigger question is this: tired as you are right now, can you take me?”

  Godwin of course had already come to the same conclusion.

  “I don’t want to take anyone,” Yaura said. “I say to hell with all of you. Let’s be on our way. The Sages are waiting for us in Unduyo. Let’s let the villagers and the necromancer figure it all out for themselves.”

  “That’s certainly agreeable for me,” the necromancer said. “But I sense some hesitation about such a deal from you, Godwin.”

  Godwin frowned. “The oil was promised to me. I will not leave empty-handed.”

  “So it was,” the necromancer agreed. “But if I promise you the Skull of Thraegrotto, what does it mean if it’s owned by another?”

  “It means I can take what I want by force,” Godwin said.

  The old man didn’t blink. “Acting the thug? Perhaps it’s not acting. But I won’t give up without a fight.”

  “Like you fought those two girls?” Godin asked. “Like you fought this corpse you now control against her will?”

  The necromancer smiled. “Ah, I see you are moralizing. Very well. Tell yourself you can butcher and rob an old man you meet in the woods if you like. But you should know the whole story before you do.”

  “If y
ou think you can defend the savagery you commit against those children, I’m happy to hear your explanation,” Godwin said. Rage was coming to him at the memory of the bloody crime. He grinned, horrifically.

  “Scary,” the necromancer said. “I owe you no explanations, however. But I can see we’re avoiding the real issue. I think I have a solution that might work out for everyone. I propose a trade. You give me the powerful magical item in your possession, and I will renounce my ownership of the bagiennik oil and allow you to collect it from the old woman.”

  “What powerful magical item?” Godwin asked. He then thought of Robert’s strange spell work with the plant demon. “Do you have some artifact?” he asked.

  “I have nothing,” Robert said.

  “Lying is no good,” the necromancer said. “I can sense it on you as clearly as I can smell your odors. One of you is carrying some devastatingly powerful magic device. Give it to me, and I will renounce my ownership of the oil.”

  “Are you talking about our thrygtas?” Godwin asked. “Because you know well they’re not for sale.”

  Yaura gasped.

  The necromancer smiled. “There we are. Now you see.”

  “You can’t give him your thrygta,” Godwin said to Yaura.

  “You don’t want the thrygta,” Yaura said to the necromancer. “You want the blue amber inside my thrygta.”

  “That would do it,” the necromancer smiled. “The blue amber for the bagiennik oil. A more than fair trade, I would say.”

  The group fell silent. There was no way Godwin could ask Yaura to give up something so precious for his sake. Was there?

  “Deal,” Yaura said.

  “What? Yaura, no.”

  “It’s my decision. It’s my prize to give.”

  Words were lost to Godwin. He couldn’t believe that Yaura was doing something so utterly selfless for him.

  “Yaura…thank you. I’m in your debt.”

  “You are,” she agreed. “Don’t you worry, I’ll call upon that debt in good time.”

  Suddenly Godwin caught sight of the corpse sitting forlorn on the log outside of the light of the fire.

  “A deal most happily made,” the necromancer said. Without even looking as she did it, Yaura popped the blue amber eyes from her thrygta.

  “Wait,” Godwin said. “There’s one more condition. A small one.”

  “Oh?” the necromancer said. “Very well. I’ll hear you out.”

  “Release that corpse from your spell. Let her rest.”

  Godwin expected the corpse to leap with joy. To at least thank him. She said nothing. She didn’t even lift her eyes.

  The necromancer laughed. “An easy enough condition to meet,” he said. “But I suppose I better tell you what you truly ask. You see, you might change your mind if I do.”

  “What are you going on about?” Godwin growled.

  “Tell him, Bethany,” the necromancer said. “Tell him why I chose you specifically out of all the dead in this area to come back and serve me. That was a command.”

  The corpse stood and walked to them but kept her eyes on the ground. “Yes, master. You see, it was I who murdered the girls in the village. I was trying to follow in my uncle’s footsteps as a necromancer and used dark magic to preserve their bodies so that I could experiment on them.”

  “I see,” Godwin said. “That’s why the bodies were in such a bizarre state. That’s why there was no rigor mortis or congealed blood, but grave wax had set in.”

  “Yes,” the corpse said. “My uncle caught me eventually. I thought he would be pleased, but he was disgusted that I took life prematurely. Ironically, he punished me with death and then brought me back as his servant.”

  “There,” the necromancer said. “You see, I’m innocent of the charges you bring against me. I hope that deters you from trying to remove my head after this is settled. I’ve slain no innocents. Only this murderer.”

  “Perhaps,” Godwin admitted. “But it still leaves us with a decision to make.”

  “Who cares?” Yaura said. “The woman murdered the girls. They were practically children. Let her linger in misery until the end of time.”

  “I disagree,” Robert said. “Death is supposed to be the great equalizer. However gruesome one’s sins might be, dying surely has to cleanse them. Who are we to say otherwise?”

  “Hm,” Godwin said. He saw no obvious decision. Both points were valid.

  “The choice is yours, Shigata,” the necromancer said. “I must admit that I was going to fight you some more on this new condition, but I find your moral dilemma curiously amusing. Say the word and I will release my murderous niece. Or we can simply leave things as they stand and part ways.”

  “This is not a situation I appreciate being placed in,” Godwin grumbled. He looked at the corpse standing sadly just outside the light of the fire. Was its suffering real? Was it a murderer? Or was that crime commit by some spirit long since gone to the next world leaving this empty vessel to suffer in its place?

  “Your, answer, Shigata,” the necromancer said. “I’m eagerly awaiting it.”

  Godwin sighed. “If I play this game with you, if I make a choice instead of walking away from it, then I’m going to add one more condition.”

  The necromancer chuckled. “A man who wants to get his money’s worth. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that. Though of course, it depends what the new requirement is.”

  “Of course,” Godwin said. “Yet somehow, I don’t think you’re going to have a problem with it.”

  “Please, enlighten me.”

  Godwin smiled. “Very well. Release Bethany.”

  Chapter 20

  The journey back was a somber one. Godwin couldn’t fully enjoy the prospect of obtaining bagiennik oil knowing what Yaura had sacrificed for him. Yaura was trying not to show it, but she was obviously in a foul mood over losing her blue amber. Robert meanwhile was lost in thought, deeply disturbed over the prospect of what he had done. Or rather, what had happened to him.

  “It makes no sense,” he said as they walked through the darkness of the woods. Sunrise rimmed the horizon casting a pale pink glow on all of them. “I’ve never done anything like that in my life. I swear it.”

  “These things happen,” Godwin said. “Best not to dwell on it, other than to thank whatever gods you believe in.”

  “These things happen!” Robert said, outraged. “Godwin I was speaking a language I didn’t understand while blasting fire like some sort of lightning mage. These things don’t just happen!”

  “There is a reasonable explanation,” Yaura said. “You spent a great deal of time—years—among the Kirishelliwan. They are walkers of the ancient path. You must have heard them speaking the language of old magic. Picked it up from them subconsciously.”

  Robert was furiously shaking his head. “No, no, no. That makes absolutely no sense. It’s entirely inadequate as far as theories go. I’m going to get to the bottom of this no matter what! I hate not being in control of my body. It’s a violation is what it is!”

  “You’re really comparing this to your body being violated?” Yaura said.

  “Enough!” Godwin shouted. “I’m tired of this bickering. Robert, sometimes it’s better to let mysteries remain that way. In any case, I have no answers for you so you had best learn to just accept that something strange happened and be glad that it did. Otherwise we might be reanimated corpses alongside Bethany.”

  “Oh very well,” Robert said, but Godwin knew that he hadn’t heard the last of it. “By the way, Godwin. What did you end up asking of that necromancer?”

  “Yes,” Yaura said. “You certainly made a point to make sure we didn’t hear. What did you ask for?”

  “A small matter. You’ll see.”

  They reached the village at sunrise. A group of people, Edwin and Altwen among them, were waiting armed with pitchforks and shovels.

  “Is it done?” Edwin asked.

  “Have you killed the rusalka?” Altwen
followed.

  A chorus of questions erupted from the village at once.

  “Enough, enough!” Godwin said. “I’ll not speak to the lot of you at once. Where’s the village elder. She’s the one who agreed to pay the damn contract.”

  The villagers parted to make room for the old woman. “Well?” she asked. “I sent you out to bring back the head of a rusalka. What do you return with?”

  “A request for payment,” Godwin said roughly. “The demon has been taken care of. There was no rusalka. The culprit was a necromancer. He claimed that he was targeting the village because an old sorceress stole something from him. Quite hard to believe, isn’t it? In any case, Yaura bargained with him. He won’t bother you again.”

  “Ho-ho!” the old woman whistled between two buck teeth. “Won’t bother us again. I hope not. Perhaps I would be a bit more inclined to believe you if you had brought back a head instead of empty promises.”

  “The Shigata have gotten a bit of a reputation for violence,” Yaura said darkly. “We thought we’d try to work on that.”

  “How nice of you,” the old woman spat. “Less nice for us. What will we do when that rusalka comes back to steal away our children to the sunless lands under the dark waters?”

  “Do you have algae in your ears,” Yaura snapped. “There is no rusalka.”

  “Then there is no payment,” the old woman said.

  “Listen here you old bat—”

  Godwin placed a hand gently on Yaura’s back. He was laughing, much to the surprise of everyone there. A sincere happy-sounding laugh.

  “Are you quite alright, Godwin?” Robert asked.

  “Yes, I don’t ever recall you being amused by being cheated before,” Yaura said.

  “It’s not worth it,” Godwin replied. “Let’s not worry. The sorceress has chosen her words carefully and successfully out-bartered us. There’s nothing to be done.”

  “No sorceress here,” the old woman lied. “But fair is fair. You didn’t fulfill your obligation so you’ll get no reward.”

  “Very well,” Godwin said to Yaura and Robert’s disbelief. “In any case, the village is safe. May we request your hospitality for one last day before leaving. We’re quite tired.”