by Dante King
“Fuck,” I swore under my breath.
These minions would not be as easy to overpower as their skeletal friends. They were slower than the skeletons, but they were stronger too. I ignored the ache in my limbs as I powered through them. They scattered somewhat, but righted themselves almost immediately. Sharp nails pierced my shoulder, and I bent low, using my back to launch the minion over my shoulder. He hit two other corpses as he fell and that gave me time to duck out of the way and rush back behind the tomb.
I surveyed the scene before me. There were a number of undead creatures coming toward me, but Yarina was fighting the necromancer single-handedly and it looked like the tide of battle had turned against her. Her slowed movements told me her energy had been sapped by all the magic she had been using.
“Your order is weak,” Kalazar told Yarina. “They deal with low magic that has no strength or value.”
“My order teaches discipline,” Yarina snarled back. “Magic is about service, not power.”
Kalazar laughed in condescension. “You are a fool, as every follower of Rymi is. Denounce the God of Light and bow to me. I will teach you great things, I will make you immortal.”
“I will never bow to you,” Yarina hissed.
“Then you will die,” Kalazar promised as he raised his long, veiny arms. “And serve me as a corpse.”
Yarina made one more attempt at a Holy Flash, but the light emanating from her body was sad and faint. It glowed and pulsed before going out completely. Kalazar had her backed into a corner. I leaned back, lifted my axe above and behind my head, and sent it flying into his back with all the strength I could muster.
He screamed in rage as my axe lodged itself into his spine. For any normal person, even a mage, that kind of wound would have paralyzed them, but Kalazar was fueled by dark magic. Still, it was all I needed to interrupt his spell.
I barreled forward and kicked his legs out from under him. He fell to one knee, and his hood billowed around his shoulders. I didn’t hesitate. I launched a barrage of punches at his arms, torso, and hidden face.
“Look who’s kneeling now,” I said.
Yarina rushed to my side. She was pale and slightly bruised but she looked unhurt. I could feel her magic level flux slightly, and I wondered if she had some sort of minor self-healing ability. Now was not the time to ask, however. The two of us got to work, trying to beat our enemy into submission so that we could finish him off, but he was stronger than us. Angry hues of red flooded the space, revitalizing his magic as he struggled to regain control of the situation.
I put my hand on the haft of my axe and pulled it out of his back, making the necromancer scream again, so loud it was hard to imagine it was the same raspy voice that had been speaking to us before. He pushed back immediately like a spring, the force throwing me backward and sending me skidding over the stone floor. I noticed the summons he had reanimated were standing there in perfect stillness. It seemed that Kalazar was so preoccupied with Yarina and me that he had stopped using his magic to power the corpses.
This realization gave me a new surge of hope. We were putting up a good fight and perhaps with a little extra effort we’d have him.
As I got back on my feet, a Weakening Ray hit me right in the solar plexus. I felt the spell engulf me, but my Negation Aura kept shining bright. It was diminishing the strength of Kalazar’s spell. Somehow, my mental strength seemed to fuel the shield: my increased determination and concentration further pushed back the Weakening Ray’s effect.
A sudden shadow that seemed to fall over the space between Kalazar and me told me he was setting up another Death’s Circle, but before he had the time to cast it, Yarina had run him through from the back with her rapier. I saw the tip of the blade push forward the front of the necromancer’s cloak at the height of his lungs, giving the chains a little jingle. He swallowed his scream this time, swivelling around with furious determination and shoving Yarina to the floor. I had to fight off the Weakening Ray now or watch Yarina die right in front of me.
I pushed my legs forward despite the effort it took. I would not let this spell take me out and I certainly would not let him hurt Yarina. Gritting my teeth, I concentrated hard, drawing as much strength and willpower as I could muster. It felt as though I were trying to shake off metal chains that were holding me back, but I could sense my Negation Aura was fending off Kalazar’s spell with increasing success. Just one more push, one more step forward, and, yes! I was free. My body felt light again, as though it belonged to me once more, ready to obey my wish to destroy this creep. I saw the terrible green of Kalazar’s lanterns shimmer overhead, and a plan suddenly sprung up in my mind, fully formed. It was very risky, Yarina might even call it stupid, but the demon was on her, and I didn’t have time to come up with another one.
I took off at a run and launched myself onto the necromancer’s back. He let out a rattling roar and tried to yank me off him, but my headstrong mind was fixed on my impromptu plan. I grabbed the chains that bound down the floating lanterns above his head, wrapped them around his neck, and pulled as hard as I could. His claw-like hands grasped at the chain closing around his throat as he tried to shake me off, but I refused to loosen my grip. I had made my objective clear to him when I first saw him. He should have listened.
Finally, after a couple of sudden bursts of furious energy and a series of weaker jolts, I felt his legs give out underneath him, and we both tumbled to the ground. Yarina had to jump and roll to the side to avoid being caught under him. Even after Kalazar’s face had kissed the floor with a resounding smack and crash, I kept tugging the chains with unrelenting force for one long minute before relaxing my arms in relief. I sighed with a chuckle as the chains rustled over his cloak to the floor, and looked up to catch Yarina gazing at me with naked admiration.
“You did it,” she said, and I could swear she was suddenly blushing. “You killed him.”
I smiled and got up to my feet. “We killed him,” I corrected.
“That was amazing,” she said, still not breaking eye contact. “You were amazing.”
“All in a day’s work.” I gave her a little wink as I got to my feet.
“Well. We did what we came to do.” Yarina gestured toward the lanterns lying harmless on the floor at the dead necromancer’s head. They had survived the fall intact.
“Qilzid will appreciate these babies.”
Carefully, I bent down and picked them up, taking one in each hand. They were heavy, and somewhat unwieldy.
I turned to Yarina. “Now, let’s get out of here.”
Yarina nodded. “Gladly.”
6
Yarina and I walked through the maze of passageways and false exits, seeking a way out of the Mausoleum. Though these corridors were a lot straighter than the library’s dungeons, the light shifted in such a way that it seemed impossible to recognize what we’d seen on our way in. But with the now-lifeless floating lanterns safely stowed in Yarina’s bag, we had what we’d come for.
I could sense the tired ebb and flow of Yarina’s magic. I was burned out too, but I wouldn’t let it show.. I needed to be strong for Yarina, help her push through the last leg before she got somewhere she could recover.
We turned a corner and found ourselves in a broad hallway with a series of doors on either side, each devoted to one of Trysca’s many noble families. Yarina and I slowly made our way through, being extra vigilant whenever we passed one of the doors. We weren’t halfway through yet when I caught a whiff of magic and put my hand out silently. When we stood still I heard the unmistakable clack of bones coming from inside a dead noble’s crypt. It was followed a second later by maniacal laughter. Yarina pulled out her rapier, and I raised my axe. We were tired, but the possibility of mortal danger had a way of making your body forget about that.
“Wait,” I said, touching Yarina’s shoulder before walking up to the door and putting my ear to it.
I could hear a high-pitched female voice, shrill with fervency. “Oh mama
, I hate this place. I want to be free of it. I want to be with my love.”
There was another female voice, speaking in the same timbre, but lower, and with a marked drawl. “You will never leave this place. This will be your home for the rest of your days. Forget that boy you think you love. He will never love you back.”
“But mama…”
“Forget him. He doesn’t want you. He wants someone a little more…lively.”
There was a second of silence before I heard a cackle. I looked at Yarina and saw the unmistakable weariness in her eyes. We weren’t looking for another fight, especially after the one we’d just had, but we were not going to walk away from a potentially dangerous threat either. I nodded to her silently, kicked open the crypt door, and walked in, ready to fight if I needed to.
I stopped short at the sight that awaited me in the gloomy crypt. There was a large, flat tomb in the center of the space, with torches in simple iron holders at its four corners; and on it sat a beautiful, exotic young woman. The unexpected visual pleasure had me reeling.
She was slight, and no more than five-three or five-four tall. She wore a scarlet dress that accentuated her sensual curves and left little to the imagination. Her shoulders were laid bare and her corset was held in place by a crisscross pattern of laces. Her reddish-brown hair curled softly down to her shoulders, her eyes were a light golden-brown, and her skin had the color and allure of unblemished cream. She looked like she had been woven together from the colors of autumn. But it was none of this that had me hypnotized; I was left staring at the three off-white-colored tails that waved slowly around her and the dark fox-like ears that sprouted from underneath her hair. One curl playfully clung to the top of her left ear, a sight of delicious cuteness. I had heard stories of the reclusive Kitsune, the fox-human hybrid tribe that lived in the East, but I had never actually met one. The experience was disarming.
The girl didn’t even seem to register Yarina’s presence. Her gaze was fixed on me with more than a little interest. Her arms were raised as though we had caught her in the middle of something. It was only then that I noticed the two reanimated skeletons standing a few feet away from her, immobile but for their slight heaving.
“You interrupted my little theater play,” she said as she hopped off the tomb.
The Kitsune girl’s necromancy wasn’t evil like our lantern-bearing foe’s had been, though she may have had less than noble tendencies. And there was a certain intoxicating tenor to it. She lifted her arm, and one of the skeletons danced forward macabrely, prancing on the tips of her toes, her bones rattling and making snapping sounds as she bent through her knees.
“This is Tatyana,” she told me. “She wants to run away to a boy she loves.”
She snapped her fingers, and the second skeleton took a couple of slow steps toward us. Her movements were more natural, but her limbs and head twitched from time to time. “This is Anita, Tatyana’s mother. She’s trying to discourage her daughter from chasing after the wrong man. You see, Tatyana just wants to liven things up around here.”
She threw back her head and laughed. I caught myself smiling along with her when I was snapped awake by Yarina’s rapier’s zing. She held the weapon high and point it at the fox girl, her jaw taut with determination as she strode over.
I kept her pace and stepped in front of her when we were a couple of feet from the fox girl. “Whoa, Yarina,” I said gently, holding my hand up to halt her. “Let’s not act too quickly. We don’t know if she’s a threat yet. We might just be able to walk out of here with the lanterns, and no more cuts or expended energy.”
I could sense the girl move in silently, then I felt her hand on my back. “What did I do right to deserve such a handsome protector?”
“Kurt,” Yarina said. “Let me do what I came for.”
“Kurt is it?” the girl said, as she brought her body up to mine. I could feel her breasts pressed up against my back. They were firm, though I’d seen they weren’t exactly small. And I had to admit, the feeling was deeply comforting after the fight I’d just survived. “Do you have a last name?”
“Woodsman,” I replied. “And you are?”
“Edwina Scarlette,” she told me. “But all my puppets call me Winnie.”
I craned my head back and gave her a little smile.
“You’re exchanging introductions with the necromancer?” Yarina had lowered her rapier.
With a sudden movement, Winnie moved her warm body away from mine and jumped back up onto the tomb, her tails caressing me gently on the way. I turned around to face her again.
“I’d ask you what your name is,” she said from her regained height, addressing Yarina directly for the first time. “But I don’t actually care.”
“Kurt,” Yarina said, glaring at me. “You are a mage hunter, your job is to kill the tainted.”
“But you wouldn’t kill me, would you, my mighty guardian?” Winnie said, in a voice that had an unmistakable purring quality to it. “You like me too much, I can tell.”
“She’s a necromancer,” Yarina said firmly, grabbing hold of my shoulders. “They’re practitioners of dark magic. Use your hunter senses—”
“I am using my hunter senses. She’s not tainted. She’s not so far gone that she can’t be redeemed.”
Winnie chuckled. “You’re welcome to redeem me anytime you choose, Kurt,” she said, as she ran the tip of her tongue across her scarlet bottom lip.
I gently placed my hand on Yarina’s arm. “You don’t know much about my life, so I’ll give you a little anecdote right now. Maybe it’ll help you see what I see.”
“What?” Yarina said angrily. “This is silly, we need to—”
“Just bear with me for a few minutes. I lived in this little hamlet near the woods. We had wild animals roaming the area and there was this one dog that was a scourge on the homes closest to the woods. He ate the livestock, terrified the children, and attacked for no particular reason.
“Then, one day, I was out foraging when I came across him. His hand lags had been caught under a falling log. He yelped snapped the air rabidly. Everyone would have thought I was insane for even trying to help, but I knew I couldn’t leave him there.
“So I got him out from under that log, I calmed him down and bandaged up his leg. And after a few days he started to get more comfortable around humans. He let me pet him without snapping at my hand, and over time his leg mended. He became the best guard dog in the hamlet, believe it or not.”
Yarina’s eyes narrowed. “Are you likening the Kitsune necromancer to your dog?”
“I named him Woody. He lived with us for seven years after that and he died fat, happy, and gentle as a kitten.”
“She is not a wild dog you can tame, Kurt,” Yarina said, lowering her voice. “And she’s certainly no kitten. The girl is dangerous. Remember where we are. She’s obviously in league with Kalazar.”
“She could have tried to attack us the moment we walked in here. But she didn’t. Maybe she is here because of Kalazar, but I’m willing to bet she was his prisoner, not his protégé.”
“Are you sure you’re not being hoodwinked by a pretty face?”
I smiled coyly. “Would you be upset if I were?”
Yarina rolled her eyes and turned away from me, but I saw the badly concealed jealousy flash across her face.
“I can sense her magic,” I said, trying to reassure Yarina. “If it was corrupted to the core, I would know. She just needs some direction, a little guidance. If we turn our backs on her now, that leaves her free to join the corrupt mages, and they get another powerful member to fill up their ranks. You don’t want that, do you?”
“Kurt...” Yarina glanced over at Winnie, who was looking on with a mischievous smile that widened into a grin when they locked eyes.
Yarina sighed. “Fine.” She gritted her teeth. “But that doesn’t mean I trust her.”
“What is that?” I heard Winnie say, and before I could look back over she was already just
a couple of feet away from us. Her eyes were fixed on the faint green light that emanated from Yarina’s satchel.
“Is that…those belong to Kalazar,” Winnie said blankly.
She looked younger and much more innocent when she was serious. Now I was sure I hadn’t made a mistake.
“They did,” Yarina said harshly. “Now they belong to Kurt.”
“You killed him?” Winnie’s eyes opened wide as she looked at me, and the way her lips parted just slightly brought my attention to their voluptuous readiness. But she was genuinely shocked. “He’s dead?”
Yarina regarded her suspiciously. “Does that upset you?”
“I’m...” Winnie said, flustered. “I’ve been down in this crypt for an eternity with Kalazar.” Her posture slackened, she even swayed a little. “I’m free…” she finally whispered. She looked at the floor. Her generous movements had given way to a soft, still trembling.
I glanced back at Yarina with my eyebrows raised. She didn’t look too thrilled that I was right. I had to fight to suppress a smile.
“Wait, did you kill him yourself?” Winnie asked, suddenly looking up at me with a new kind of respect in her siren eyes.
“Yes he did,” Yarina replied. “As I said, he is a mage hunter. This is what he does. He tracks down anyone with even the slightest taint of corruption and terminates them.” Her eyes bored into Winnie’s.
Winnie just looked relieved. “Wow,” she said, circling me slowly—she had recovered her seductive, teasing tone. “You must be quite the mage hunter if Kalazar was your target.”
“We did it together; Yarina and I fought him together. And, actually…I’m new to this.”
“I was there only to assist him,” Yarina said. “It was Kurt who did the job.”
“You see, you’re new, and yet…” Winnie ran her fingers down my chest, continuing to circle me. “You killed Kalazar. On your very first attempt. You are quite a man.” She came to a stop in front of me and bowed low. “I guess I’m your prisoner now.”
