by Logan Jacobs
“Now!” the necromancer called, and the three of us startled at the sound.
Her command called the grubs to attention, and in an instant, they started to wiggle toward the ghost-like outline of the dragonkin. They surrounded him entirely and piled in closer and closer, and then they stopped wriggling altogether, as if they were waiting for another command.
“Consume…” the necromancer commanded.
Now, Ephy appeared over my shoulder to see what was happening for herself, but she couldn’t seem to do anything but shake at the sight.
I shifted, pulled her around to my side, and wrapped my arms around her petite body to comfort her. Then I tucked a kiss in her periwinkle hair, and she instantly nestled against me while her expression stayed tense and wide-eyed.
The grubs started to worm their way into the semi-transparent dragonkin. They ate through its ghostly skin and burrowed into it, and the beast suddenly roared in pain. The groan was so loud that it made the floor shudder, and his body jolted back and forth as the grubs entered him.
I ground my teeth as I watched everything unfold, and I tried not to look away, but it was a truly grotesque sight.
Then the necromancer spun the bowl faster above the dragonkin, and this time, a small speckle of the black liquid started to drop out of the sides. None of it touched the beast itself, but it splattered over the symbols around him and the grubs, and the symbols turned a copper color.
The beast continued to roar in pain, and his body convulsed up and down, but something more than just pain was happening to him now.
Before our eyes, the dragonkin was changing.
He was becoming less transparent while the grubs took up his innards, but his body wasn’t a dull, lifeless gray on the outside anymore. He was returning to his strange blue body, and even the scars that graced his callused flesh seemed to be returning. Then the dragonkin drew a wheezing breath, and his leathery wings flexed beneath him.
The dragonkin lived again as if I’d never slain him.
Which meant I’d now be battling both him and his spooky widow.
“Fuck,” Cinis and I both breathed at once.
“Oh, dear,” Ephy whimpered.
The dragonkin raised himself up to sit on the floor, and his tail was as sharp as a knife and glimmered with a strange purple sheen. It whipped behind him and smashed on the stone floor, and now that he was moving again, I recalled how vicious his attacks had been the day I slayed him.
“Even after death they still couldn’t get us to part,” the necromancer murmured to the dragonkin, and her tone was sickly sweet. “Now that you’re alive again, our love can continue to fester, and we will feed on all of those who try to douse the glory of our union.”
The beast grunted and stretched out his callused body while his wife laid kisses on his long, gray snout.
“And don’t worry,” she hissed. “I got to that awful ringleader who ordered you dead. I killed him before he could use his water to know of our intentions, and before any of his murdering minions could find out I had that stupid warlock follow the duke there. The idiot nearly gave me away, but I was still successful.”
The dragonkin let out the nastiest sounding purr, but I barely noticed. My blood was thrumming in my ears as I listened to the cryptic bitch speak about my murdered master.
“Imagine what their poor little faces look like, now that their precious Master has gone,” the necromancer cackled. “They thought they were indestructible. They thought they could slay you and suffer nothing for it, but it turns out, we’re the ones that can’t be touched. And do you know what’s best of all, dear? Because of that warlock we hired to do the spying, nobody can even know it was I who killed the old water coot. No one knows anything of my true powers, especially my fellow necromancers. And now… the duke and his pretty duchess will be the next to pay.”
I pulled Ephy backward with me and nudged Cinis’ arm, and the two women scrambled along to get back through the archway behind us.
“Is that limbo thing closed?” I growled in the corridor.
“It should be,” Cinis said in a low tone.
I nodded and checked that my serrated bolt was loaded properly, and then I glanced between the two women.
“Do not move from this spot,” I ordered. “I’ll take the dragonkin down myself.”
“You’re doing it now?” Cinis mouthed.
“It has to get done,” I replied.
I moved back toward the stone divide with the stained-glass window, and I crouched near the left side of the wall. I could hear the murderous necromancer murmuring in an obnoxiously sweet tone at the center of the room, and the dragonkin’s smoky breaths came slow and deep.
I inched forward and prepared to swing out and shoot in an instant, but then a ripping snarl broke through the chamber, and seconds later, a body slammed against the divide.
“Dex!” Ephy shrieked, but her lyrical voice was swallowed up in the sound of shattering glass.
Red shards cascaded down as the dragonkin’s massive blue hand clawed through the broken glass to get at me, and I crumpled down and narrowly avoided getting snatched by his fingers. Then I rolled to the side as he tried to grab me through the divide, and when I righted myself in the smoky room, I found the necromancer woman with a wicked sneer on her face.
I raised my crossbow, but a knife-like tail whipped out, and the weapon was torn from my grasp and hurled across the room.
The dragonkin roared in the effort, and he was bracing all of his weight on the broken window of the divide. He breathed heavily like his strength wasn’t restored just yet, and he didn’t seem to notice the two women hiding in the alcove outside.
Then everything happened all at once.
I tore my sword from its sheath as the necromancer waved her hand, and some of the green substance in the hanging bowl rose as an orb. With one flick of her wrist, she threw the orb in my direction, and I ducked down fast as a flash of glowing wings crossed in front of me.
I looked up to see the green orb break against the shield of Cinis’ wings, and the descendant chuckled with defiance as the substance failed to damage her at all.
The necromancer threw another, larger orb before I could blink, and when Cinis’ wing deflected it, she sent it straight back at the robed woman. The necromancer shrieked and dove aside, and the orb crashed into the shelves behind her instead.
All of the potions, vials, and bones exploded from the impact, and glowing, bubbling liquid poured all over the floor. I coughed and sputtered as a dense mist rose from them all, and they blended together in a toxic haze that joined with the purple smoke.
Even the dragonkin was wheezing as he dropped to his knees near the divide, but his wife was chanting once more.
All of a sudden, the haze began to swirl and rush toward us, and I held my breath and dove out from behind Cinis’ shield. Then I raised my sword, angled my pommel at the cracked window, and shattered the glass.
The magical haze and the purple smoke began to funnel out into the fresh air, and as soon as I turned back around, the dragonkin’s jaws parted.
He was still on his knees, but I knew what was coming next.
I tackled Cinis just before a spray of rancid tar came spewing in our direction. We crashed over behind the divide as the spray disintegrated the floor of the house instead, and Ephy was there waiting for us.
“We’re ending this,” I growled to the two women.
Cinis grinned, and Ephy offered a cute nod, and the three of us lunged back around the divide as the dragonkin roared. Ephy was right behind me as Cinis took the other direction, and the Ember Priestess tore her glowing, red-hot knife from its sheath.
“We’re stronger than you’ll ever be,” the necromancer hissed in a snake-like voice. “We are inseparable, we are undefeatable, we are--”
“Going to die,” Cinis scoffed, and she spread her wings to propel herself straight at the necromancer.
The dragonkin lunged at me with its jaws parted and
its teeth gleaming, and Cinis slashed at the necromancer who dove behind her cauldron. I could hear the necromancer chanting in a feverish way as she scrambled to escape the priestess’ wrath, and I could tell she wasn’t a trained fighter, but she had the spirits of the underworld on her side.
Cinis was right on her tail, though, and I knew she could handle the spell-binding woman while I took on the dragonkin with Ephy.
The two of us dodged his next toxic jet of tar as we broke apart, and I swiped out with my longsword to keep his attention on me instead of the petite siren. Then his tail lashed out, I ducked and rolled, and he hit a second window right behind me.
By the time I got back up, another spray of tar was coming my way, and I dove behind the divide and crashed into Ephy.
“The potion!” the siren gasped.
“What about it?” I grunted, but then the knife-like tail collided with the wall, and the two of us dropped down.
Stone broke away above us, and the dragonkin snarled in a wheezing way.
“Distract him!” Ephy hollered.
“I can do that,” I chuckled.
Then I jumped up and scrambled over the rubble, and I immediately spun around to slash out at the dragonkin.
I caught his leathery wing with the tip of my longsword, and then I whipped around and slashed his arm before he could retaliate. His pained snarls rent the air as the veins on his face bulged with rage, and I quickly sidestepped and got out of range of his tail.
He was slower than last time, but angrier, and I grinned as I found myself slashing and dodging my way around the room with the hulking dragonkin as my opponent. His elongated snout sneered back despite his shuffling, taloned steps, but he was still a fierce enemy.
The dragonkin spat acidic tar, lashed out his tail, and used his wings to try and corner me against the walls, but each gash I left in his callused flesh brought a deep chuckle from my throat.
This was by far the best sparring match I’d been in in a long time, and I almost didn’t mind that I couldn’t rely on a bow today.
Then I saw a greenish, blackish smoke building in the far corner of the room.
The necromancer balled her fists and funneled the entire cloud toward Cinis, but the Ember Priestess was too fast.
She spread her bat-like wings and propelled them both forward at once, and the cloud was broken apart as it consumed the necromancer instead.
The plum-robed woman screeched and stumbled as she clawed at her own eyes, and Cinis laughed as she darted forward.
I grinned until I saw another spray of tar spewing toward me, and this time, I dodged to the side only far enough to avoid the strike. In two quick steps, I managed to thrust my longsword into the dragonkin’s shoulder, and I twisted the blade as he snarled in pain. Then I planted my boot on his chest and tore my sword free before he could grab hold of me.
The dragonkin stumbled backward with a wheezing roar, and I twisted around to locate Ephy.
She was crouched behind the rubble of the wall with her palm held up, and just as soon as I saw her, a gurgling sound sifted through the room.
A second later, the cauldron behind the stumbling dragonkin bubbled over, and the putrid smell of rot wafted around the room as purple steam engulfed him.
Then the dragonkin let out a high-pitched snarl, and his wife screamed with fury as he crashed to his knees. The liquid continued to boil over and seep out onto the beast, and wisps of blue scales started to peel from him as his snarls turned into gurgling squeals.
He was thrashing and clawing at the stone floor to get away, and I jumped backward to avoid stepping in the boiling potion.
Ephy knocked into me and latched onto my arm, and the two of us held onto each other as we watched the dragonkin begin to ooze tar.
“Holy shit,” I gasped. “How did you know that would work?”
“I didn’t,” Ephy squeaked in fright. “But it looked like a very scary potion.”
“Dex, your crossbow!” Cinis yelled from across the room.
I turned and saw her slash at the calf of the necromancer, and I realized the plum-robed woman was leaping for my crossbow.
It was still flung in the far corner of the large room, and a sea of boiling potion and a dragonkin separated me from the weapon.
But Cinis’ scalding knife struck true, and the necromancer crashed down as she wailed. Her calf was cut open and smoking from Cinis’ blade, and the Ember Priestess snickered and latched her flaming hand on the wound next.
The necromancer shook and convulsed in pain as her flesh blistered and bubbled, but her other leg was kicking wildly at Cinis’ head.
“We need to help her out!” I told Ephy.
“But the dragonkin!” the siren shouted.
The beast had almost crawled out of the boiling pool of potion, and while his flesh and scales seemed to have turned to slime, he was somehow still alive. Streams of strange, bluish muck melted off him as he roared and flailed his tail around. His eyes burned bright yellow as he bared his teeth at me, and Ephy dragged me backward again.
“The other bowl!” she yelled. “The one she put the grub sludge in! It’s right behind him, and that potion was even scarier!”
“Do it!” I agreed. “I’ll keep him down!”
Ephy scurried for cover near the archway, and I lunged as close as I could to the beastkin with my sword poised to strike.
His massive wings were thrashing around as much as his tail, and I leapt, dove, and jumped back to avoid getting thrown into the boiling puddle on the floor. I managed to get one good slash across his leathery wing, and bluish slime sprayed across the room as he roared in pain.
Then I slashed again with my longsword, and this time I split the side of his face wide open.
His roar ripped through the hazy room, but Cinis’ scream mingled with it, and I looked across the room to see her wrestling with the necromancer on the floor.
The plum-robed woman was chanting in a shrieking, vicious cycle, and the Ember Priestess refused to let go of her kicking legs. Red flames peeled up the necromancer’s flesh, but she kept on chanting, and a blue orb materialized above her.
Then it crashed over Cinis, and the Ember Priestess screamed.
“My eyes!” Cinis seethed as she finally released the necromancer.
“Hah!” the woman cackled. “Let’s see you fight without any sight, you fiery bitch!”
Cinis crawled backward as the orb refused to stop swirling around her, and she grabbed at her eyes and screamed.
Now, the plum-robed woman was dragging herself on her belly toward the crossbow, and Ephy flung her throwing star at the woman.
The pronged weapon twisted away at the last second, and I cursed as it skittered across the floor instead.
“Cinis, stay back in the corner, I’m coming!” I yelled. “Ephy, the bowl! Boil it on my signal!”
“I’m ready!” the siren yelled.
Then I ran straight at the dragonkin, leapt into the air, and slashed at his swinging tail as it struck out. I severed the razor-sharp tip before it could slice me, but his leathery wing flexed and struck my boot, and I ended up flipping in the air as my sword went flying.
I still landed on the other side of the beast and the puddle of potion, though, and I yelled out to Ephy.
“Now!” I bellowed.
The hanging bowl of potion erupted behind me, and it bubbled and frothed as it spewed onto the dragonkin. His color drained to gray all at once, and he writhed as his body began to go translucent again. The black grubs spilled from his body and wriggled all over the potion-drenched floor, and they smoked as they started to vanish. The dragonkin was still snarling when he vanished, too, and then the necromancer screamed.
It was a blood-curdling, eardrum-shattering scream, and it shook with the same demonic sound I’d heard in her chanting.
I dove the last few feet to my crossbow so I could finish her off, but the serrated bolt had knocked loose when it landed over here. It took me three seconds to reload
the weapon and whip around, but then my heart stopped.
The necromancer already had a jet-black orb crackling in her hand, but she wasn’t aiming at me. She raised her arm toward the sweet siren who stood alone across the room, and Ephy’s big blue eyes flared as she gasped in fright.
Then I pulled the trigger.
The necromancer took a serrated bolt straight through her back and out of her chest before she could even throw the orb, and the black magic broke apart and vanished the moment the necromancer died.
Cinis was freed from the blue cloud that held her captive in the corner, too, and I lowered my crossbow.
“Shit,” I gasped, and I let my form shift back to my own as I looked around.
My heart was hammering in my chest, but I felt light and amped up from the exertion of the fight. I rarely found myself in such a horrendous mess following a job, but I couldn’t deny the feeling of euphoria that flooded through my body.
The room was trashed with spilled potions, shattered glass, tar, and slime, and the putrid purple smoke was still siphoning out the window while the sunset cast red light through it all.
“I hate necromancers,” Cinis growled as she got up.
“I do, too,” Ephy sniffed from across the room.
“Are you both okay?” I asked.
“Thanks to you,” the siren said in a lilting voice. “I told you you’re a hero, Dex Morgan!”
“Sometimes,” I chuckled. “But we need to get out of here quickly. That tar is mixing with the potion, and it doesn’t look like this place is going to last much longer.”
We all glanced at the pool where the dragonkin had vanished, and the stones there were melting away as the wall sank lower. My longsword was melted in the muck, and the smell was even more rancid than before. The dilapidated house started to shake from the foundations becoming unsteady, and as the wall sank another inch, Cinis grabbed my arm.
“Yes, we need to go,” the Ember Priestess agreed.
