The misadventures of the necromancer

Seres looks at the sun sinking behind the clouds as it approaches the horizon.

“Adar, we’ve only got about two hours left before nightfall,” he says, relying on the experience of the past few days they’ve spent camping beside the lake. The sun tends to disappear quickly here, and if they get distracted, they’ll be caught in the dark.

His friend sets down the fishing rods he’s been watching and glances at the sky himself before nodding.

“Right. Help me pack things up.”

Seres immediately goes to work, feeling pleased by his friend’s renewed energy. This stopover — and the chance to catch some fresh fish — has done him good.

For all of them, really. Eating freshly caught fish alongside the food Nero and Adar had bought has made life much better.

It took them a few days to figure out how to catch anything, but they’ve now enjoyed two good days of fishing.

As Adar explained, the secret is luck — and staying the right distance from Nero and whatever he’s doing in the lake.

With the necromancer occasionally sending skeletons into the water, most fish naturally flee, making it impossible to fish anywhere near him. But if you’re far enough away, plenty of fish drift back, hungry after escaping from the undead.

Even Seres has to admit that the only real difficulty during this almost restful period has been Nero’s mood swings.

Apparently, he believes there’s a ring somewhere along the lake’s shore that he wants to recover — but for some reason, he can’t find the exact spot.

So he alternates between bursts of excitement whenever he comes up with a new plan to retrieve it and frustration when those plans fail.

At first, he tried swimming out by himself, only to discover that, despite the lake’s calm appearance, it hides strong, treacherous currents. That led him to use undead servants to search for the ring instead, which hasn’t been going well either.

Now Nero is off trying another idea some distance away while they’ve been catching dinner.

“Think I should go warn Nero, the day’s almost over?” Seres asks.

Adar, holding a rod in one hand and a string of fish in the other, looks at him seriously before replying,

“What for?”

He turns his back and walks toward the undead mule. They keep it close to it, just in case. Since, if trouble comes, it’s their best line of defense.

“I doubt he needs help against anything,” Adar continues. “And if you interrupt him, you’ll just annoy him.”

That logic makes sense.

“Come on, Seres. We still need to light the fire and start cooking,” Adar calls when he sees the boy hesitating.

That gets Seres moving — delaying dinner isn’t an option unless he wants to irritate everyone.

Especially after being caught experimenting again with the “Gift of Antor” spell, which had left the necromancer exasperated.

Understandably so — last time Seres used it, the undead creature it created had attacked them, leaving Adar injured.

Despite his annoyance, Nero had finally declared,

“If you won’t stop, then at least do it where I can see you. I don’t want to wake up one night under attack by your bunders. So go ahead and make your stupid attempts — but only next to the mule, and only during the day.”

So Seres has been allowed to keep practicing, and with the fish they’ve caught, he’s had plenty of harmless targets to work with — things without legs to chase anyone.

Even Adar has tried the spell! After all, they both learned it before meeting Nero.

Unfortunately, neither of them has managed to create a single undead yet.

It’s a shame there aren’t any fish remains left for Seres to try again now, but he still feels reasonably content.

With the mule loaded and five good-sized fish hanging from a line, they start heading back toward their camp.

To make sure it was easy to find, they’d set it up in a clearing beside a grove of very old, very tall trees — a landmark visible from afar.

That way, even if someone wandered off, returning would be simple.

Their only concern was that wild animals might find the place while they were gone and raid their food supplies. Fortunately, they’d taken care to hoist their provisions up into a tree.

And when they’re there, no animal dares come close — not with the undead mule nearby. So they’ve been able to relax without much worry.

As they walk back, Seres finds himself daydreaming about the day he’ll be able to use magic like Nero does.

But halfway along the trail, a sound comes from the bushes — something like the cry of a baby.

Both of them stop and exchange tense, puzzled glances. There shouldn’t be a child here.

Which means it could be something else. Seres immediately remembers the strange creature they encountered before — one that looked like an old woman. According to Nero, it used that illusion to lure victims close and devour their hearts.

So the thought that crosses his mind is that this could be something similar. And this time, the necromancer isn’t here. The only help he and Adar can count on is the mule.

Still, through silent glances, they agree they should check it out. That way, when they find Nero, they can give him a full report — something that could be important later on for understanding what they’re dealing with.

Finally, with a nod, Adar seems to say, “You’re closer. Go look.”

Seres swallows hard and focuses on the source of the sound.

“Relax, she doesn’t look too concerned,” Adar says — and Seres instantly realizes he’s talking about the undead mule.

A quick glance confirms it: the mule is looking toward the bush but doesn’t seem worried. Then again, trying to guess what a mule — especially a dead one — is thinking isn’t easy.

Still, that calms him a bit, even though he’d rather not be the one investigating.

Slowly, he approaches the bush.

He sees nothing unusual at first, and after a quick look back to confirm Adar and the mule are watching, he pushes through the branches.

As the crying fades, he hears another sound — what might be a human voice, though he’s not sure.

Cautiously, he moves forward until he sees movement behind a tree.

Rushing closer, he spots a cloaked figure. Startled, the figure stumbles backward, trips over something, and falls.

Seres steps forward — and sees that the person is holding something wrapped in cloth. As it moves, the crying begins again.

“No, no, please stop crying!” whispers a desperate female voice.

Trying to soothe the baby in her arms. The hood falls back, revealing the figure herself — a young girl with long golden hair reflecting the dim light that comes through the trees.

Then her frightened eyes meet Seres’s, and she recoils, murmuring, “Please, no!”

She clutches the baby to her chest — ruining her earlier attempts to calm it, as the infant starts crying louder.

But now she freezes in fear and doesn't try to calm it again, simply staring at him.

“He’s going to skin us alive when he finds out we’ve gotten into trouble again,” Adar says behind him, voicing Seres’s own thoughts.

Which makes Seres suggest the only thing that comes to mind:

“Maybe… maybe we can pretend we didn’t see her.”

He doesn’t even need to turn around — the faint sound of Adar shaking his head says enough.

“If he finds out later — and things go bad — it’ll be worse,” his friend counters.

Seres knows he’s right. Every time they get into trouble, Nero gets annoyed — but he never runs from it. In fact, if the trouble were smart, it would be the one running.

Adar moves beside him and says hopefully, “Maybe he’s found his ring by now, and that’ll calm him down.”

From the corner of his eye, Seres sees the girl looking at them, confused — while they exchange glances that clearly say,

“There’s no way we’ll be that lucky.”

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