The Necromancer Page 3

  Grieved beyond words, the governor nodded his head.

  “Is this acceptable to you, Aura?” Fabiola asked.

  A bright rapturous smile was the answer.

  Aura walked behind Cleric Fabiola through the throngs of the rotted dead. The creatures didn’t even appear human with their wizened limbs, distended stomachs, and skeletal faces. Cleric Fabiola’s power reached deep into the throng, wrapping around the zombies, and calming their moans. It looked like tentacles of dark green vapor. Aura had been captivatedwhen she’d first seen the other necromancer’s power manifest when the cleric had seized control of the dead. Aura wondered if her own magic looked as impressive.

  “We bring peace to them,” Cleric Fabiola said, her voice gentle. “We calm their hunger and their torment.”

  The world had grown so silent Aura could hear the crunch of the destroyed wheat stalks beneath their bare feet.

  Aura had been thrilled when Cleric Fabiola had insisted on her coming with her to lead the throng of the dead away. The red tunic top Aura wore over long trousers were comfortable, but she preferred her tattered dresses. When Cleric Fabiola had taken off her shoes, Aura had been relieved. She couldn’t stand to wear footwear. Now she understood why. Necromancers needed to be in touch with the earth while calming the dead.

  “Are you thinking peace, Aura?” Cleric Fabiola asked.

  Dry, shriveled fingers traced over her skin as Aura walked among the dead. The sensation was odd, but not unpleasant. The smell of rot didn’t even bother her much. Stopping to study the empty eye sockets of a blind zombie, Aura giggled.

  “Aura?”

  “They’re like pets,” Aura said, shrugging.

  Cleric Fabiola paused, turning to face her. The dead gathered around them like a rapt audience. The spirals of the cleric’s power spread out over the vast crowd. Cleric Fabiola and Aura had been walking for hours with the multitude of the dead toward the edge of the forest and the mountain pass, which was their final destination. Far removed from the settlement, the zombies were placid.

  “The dead are not our pets. Never think of them as such, Aura. Our role is to keep them from the settlements of the living.”

  “So we don’t kill them so we can stay in power, right?” Aura poked the exposed ribs of a zombie standing next to her.

  “Of course not.”

  “So we do try to kill them?”

  “Of course we try,” Cleric Fabiola said gloomily. “For centuries. But they always return. It’s as if hell opens up and spews them back out.”

  Aura considered this and then said, “We don’t tell the other humans that, right? That we can’t ever really win?”

  The necromancer cocked her head and regarded Aura thoughtfully. “You don’t want to win?”

  Aura shook her head. “Oh, no. I want to win.”

  Cleric Fabiola smiled, reached out her hand, and beckoned Aura to continue. “Then maybe one day we will.”

  Aura took the cleric’s hand, and the trek continued.

  “Something is wrong here,” Fabiola said wearily, rubbing her hands together. They felt so cold, for she wasn’t acclimated to the higher altitude and weather.

  “You’re among the malcontents.”

  Max looked exhausted on the screen of the small communication device she had set on the bed stand. He’d been asleep when she called, and he’d made a point of showing her he was alone. The empty spot in his bed was where she’d used to sleep. Maybe it was her exhaustion, but she wished to be with him now and not sitting on an uncomfortable bed far away.

  “They’re respectful, but… the leadership here…” Fabiola faltered. “Why wouldn’t he report his daughter to us? I don’t understand.”

  “People sometimes live with a healthy dose of denial about what is the truth,” Max answered. “We both know that. From recent experience.”

  Fabiola rolled her eyes.

  “But seriously, Fab, Cole’s wife was a runaway necromancer, and they hid that fact for years. You can see how that could ingrain a certain amount of paranoia into his psyche. Do you even know why Lillibeth ran away?” Max sat up, his muscles rippling across his torso and arms.

  Fabiola missed his embrace.

  “Official word was that she was unstable. She was so powerful that she was in constant demand, and it became too much for her to deal with. She was so powerful, she emptied an entire coastal city of the dead and drove them into the ocean by herself. That’s millions upon millions of dead. The Southern Ward of the Enclave was built using salvage from that city.

  “She’s a legend because of it.” Max sighed. “I can see how that amount of power could be overwhelming.”

  “Honestly, many thought she was dead.”

  “So how powerful is her daughter?”

  Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Fabiola pulled the covers around her shoulders. Her body was still shaking from the amount of energy she’d expended. Or maybe it was just the colder temperature.

  “Fab?”

  “I don’t know,” she answered finally. “Maybe that’s what’s wrong. I can’t get a read on it.”

  “If she’s like her mother, that will help the Enclave tremendously,” Max decided.

  Fabiola nodded. “Yes, it will.”

  Max was silent for a few seconds, then said, “I need you here, Fab. Soon. I’m so lonely without you.”

  “You have a wife,” Fabiola answered sharply.

  “Who lives on the other side of the palace with her boyfriend…”

  “I wanted more for us.”

  “So did I. But duty is a noose around my neck.” Max wiped at his eyes, trying not to appear like he was crying. “Fab, I can’t do all this without you.”

  “Max, please…”

  “I know that you feel like I rejected you, but I have so many lives dependent on me. I can’t let them down. I never rejected you, Fab. If I could have had you as my queen, I wouldn’t feel so lost right now. You serve the people, Fab. You have to understand.”

  “You sacrificed me for your people. That’s what you have to live with.”

  Obviously hurt and angered, Max killed the feed.

  Fabiola slumped over in her bed and wept.

  Aura tilted her head up to stare at her old perch in the rafters of the meeting hall. She would never sit there again. She was leaving at last.

  Cleric Fabiola stood quietly at Aura’s side, waiting for the council’s final confirmation that she’d performed her task. Commander Christophe, Governor Cole, and Reverend Nora surveyed the photos taken by the scout drones earlier in the morning. There were no crofters in attendance since Morgan and Louise had died when the fields had been lost. Headmaster Ferris was in the medical center recovering from terrible wounds.

  The dark red cloak and hood were heavy on Aura’s shoulders and the top of her head, but she liked the way she looked in the attire. It reminded her of an old story about a little girl who slew a wolf while walking through the forest.

  “They’ve gone into the mountains,” Commander Christophe said at last. “That much is clear.”

  “They won’t threaten your remaining fields or the settlement.” Cleric Fabiola’s voice was a little ragged, but still formidable.

  Reverend Nora smiled. “The Creator has surely blessed us with your gift.”

  Governor Cole motioned for an assistant to bring over a metal box filled with small gold bars. It was clearly heavy by the way the man carried it. “Your payment, Cleric.”

  “The funds will be used to maintain the Necromancer Chantry and provide for your daughter during her training,” Cleric Fabiola answered. She waved to a big man with dark hair to claim the box.

  “To think we had our own necromancer among us, and we didn’t even know,” Reverend Nora said in awe. “I hope you’ll consider returning when your training is done, Aura.”

  Aura smiled, but didn’t answer. She had no intention of returning.

  “We take our leave now,” Cleric Fabiola said, lightly touching Aura’
s hand.

  Governor Cole stepped toward Aura as if to embrace her, but Aura evaded him. Scuttling out of the room in front of the cleric and her entourage, she gave her father a triumphant smile.

  She was free of him at last.

  The copter shimmied and rocked at takeoff, causing Fabiola to grip the seat she was perched on with both hands. The sides of the copter were open, revealing a panoramic view of the world below, but also allowing the cool air to gush in and whip her cloak about her legs.

  Fearlessly, Aura stood in the doorway, gripping the straps overhead as she peered down at the settlement falling away as they gained altitude. Meanwhile, Fabiola’s entourage looked rather sick to their stomach, Irene looking pale and close to vomiting.

  The trip by copter would be short, no longer than twenty minutes to the train station at the Enclave’s most remote outpost. The old copter was not luxurious in anyway and didn’t even have straps to hold in its passengers. Yet, it had ferried them safely to the Bridgetown Settlement, so Fabiola had to have faith it would safely get them back to the station.

  “This is so awesome! I can see everything!” Aura cried out, the slim headset she wore on her head carrying her voice to the other passengers.

  Fiddling with her ear buds, Fabiola nodded, then said into her microphone, “It’s impressive.”

  “The settlement looks so small!” Aura giggled.

  The copter banked slightly, giving the passengers an even better view of the Bridgetown Settlement. Aura didn’t move from the doorway, but squealed with delight. She was fearless.

  Or maybe she was just happy to be escaping.

  Directing her attention downward, Fabiola witnessed the terrible destruction the dead had brought upon the vast fields of the settlement. It would take months to rebuild the fallen fences and longer to mourn those lost beneath the gnashing teeth of ravenous corpses. The settlement’s inner wall was all that stood between the outside world and the community. At least it was safe for now.

  Huge cracks appeared in the destroyed fields, zipping along the ground like lightening. The earth heaved upward in a violent convulsion, then the dead spilled out like ants from an anthill.

  “Cleric!” Irene gasped in horror.

  In seconds, the multitude was against the settlement walls, the crush of dead bodies overwhelming it almost instantly. From their high vantage point, Fabiola could clearly see the dead filling the streets like dark waves of rotted flesh.

  “Cleric, what do we do?” the pilot’s panicked voice came over her headset.

  Fabiola lifted her eyes from the gruesome scene below, unable to even comprehend what she was witnessing. Unbelievably, she heard the sound of Aura giggling. Dread engulfed the necromancer as she regarded the girl standing near her. A halo of sickly greenish-black energy writhed around Aura and fed down into the sea of the undead below.

  “Aura?” she gasped.

  Glancing over her shoulder at Fabiola, Aura grinned. “I never liked them anyway.”

  Instantly, Fabiola understood all that had occurred. Aura had lured the necromancer to the settlement to help her escape her father’s dominion. The infestation of the dead had not been a byproduct of the girl’s advancement into puberty, but a deliberate ploy.

  “What of Lillibeth?” Fabiola asked, stunned at the realization that Aura had also killed her mother.

  Aura shrugged. “She didn’t want to be like us.” With a wild, gleeful look, Aura returned her gaze to the destruction of her former home.

  With a scream of rage, Fabiola lunged forward and shoved the girl out of the copter. Aura’s startled cry was still ringing in Fabiola’s ears when the girl stuck the earth far below and died.

  The small gray lounge was a far departure from the opulent one in the city. Fabiola sat alone on a folding metal chair, her fingers gently stroking the rose pendant around her neck. She could hear the voices of the survivors of the settlement as they were loaded onto the train for their journey to the Enclave. The Bridgetown Settlement was no more. Governor Cole and Commandant Christophe had died defending the last few survivors. Reverend Nora was so badly wounded, the medics were uncertain she would survive.

  The door opened and the familiar footsteps that approached didn’t surprise her. Lifting her head, Fabiola saw Max pull off the black helmet that had hidden his famous face from those outside. He was disguised as one of the Enclave militia.

  Without words, he kneeled at her feet and pressed his face against her hands resting on her lap. The sobs she’d been holding back poured out as she embraced him. It took nearly ten minutes for them to recover enough to speak, but instead of talking, they kissed and held each other close. And it was then Fabiola knew she was going to go home and never leave his side.

  Later, on the train, they sat together in a small compartment holding hands.

  “I had no choice,” Fabiola said at last, answering a question Max hadn’t asked. “She was the most powerful necromancer I’d ever seen, and I had to kill her. She didn’t even need to touch the earth to pull them out of the ground. When I think of what she could have done to help us…”

  “She was evil, Fabiola.”

  “She was mad with power,” Fabiola grimly answered.

  “You did the right thing. You did your duty and saved the world from something horrific. What could she have done to the Enclave?” Max pulled Fabiola’s hand to his lips and kissed it. “You were brave.”

  “I did my duty.”

  “I know.”

  “Is that all we have, Max? Our duty?” Fabiola rested her head on his shoulder.

  “No,” Max said firmly. “We have each other.”

  Fabiola stared at the world rushing past the train window and knew his words were true.