The misadventures of the necromancer

The wait had been long and agonizing, leading Sena to wonder whether it might not have been better to go with them. Even understanding the risks and the reasons why Nero would certainly prefer not to have more people accompanying him.

At least then she could be doing something instead of waiting while trying to calm Esther, whose emotions were all over the place. One moment, she would become almost paralyzed, not knowing what to do. Next, she would declare that they had waited too long and nearly throw herself into the tunnel in an attempt to find her son.

Saca and Sena were the ones who spent the most time looking after the poor woman, but as time passed, more and more people heard the news and arrived. Some of them were acquaintances and friends of Esther, who tried to comfort her and offer support.

Eventually, Anna, Esther's eldest daughter, arrived. She had been working, and upon hearing the news, had come running. The poor girl had wandered around the orphanage in a panic, unable to find either her mother or her siblings, until someone finally told her where they were.

The reunion between mother and daughter was accompanied by tears. It left Sena unsure how to feel about the mixture of happiness and tragedy surrounding the family.

As they exchanged information about what had happened, Sena learned that Esther's husband was working in one of the farms furthest from the city. As such, the poor man would not even hear about the incident for at least another hour or two.

And that was only if someone remembered to inform him, because Esther was in no condition to send any of her remaining children away to carry the message. While many of the children who normally ran such errands around the city, with the news of the kidnapping at the orphanage spreading, likely felt especially vulnerable. As a result, they were probably not leaving the city, or not even simply straying far from their relatives and friends.

Unfortunately for Sena and Saca, it was not only ordinary citizens who arrived. Almost inevitably, city officials appeared, including a group of armed guards. At first, they questioned random people about what had happened.

Quickly, it became clear to them why they were not at the orphanage but here instead, on what was private property. And who had led them here.

As a result, they began questioning Sena and Saca, since they were connected to Nero. The one who had revealed the existence of the tunnel before throwing himself into the rescue mission.

That soon led to questions, that, even if they wanted to answer with complete honesty, they simply could not.

Such as.

"And how did your companion know about these tunnels?"

To which they, especially Sena herself, could only reply with some variation of:

"We don't know."

A variation because they kept asking the same thing in different ways and multiple times. It was not exactly as though they could explain that Nero knew many things other people did not.

Well, she supposed she could have said that. For a mage like Nero, such an answer would not even seem particularly strange. But they had no idea how much Nero intended to reveal about his abilities, so they had to be careful.

In the end, the safest answer was simply that they did not know. A version aided by the real fact that they had only recently met the boys, forcing them to retell their story yet again.

Fortunately, since arriving in the city, they had already recounted the tale enough times that several people, including Esther and her children, confirmed they had heard it before, lending them some credibility.

The only thing that seemed to restrain the officials from making too extreme accusations was the fact that Adar had openly used magic before being captured.

Finally, noises could be heard coming from the tunnel entrance, which by now was surrounded by guards.

As everyone's attention turned toward it, a smiling little child's face emerged from the dark shaft, perched on the shoulders of a girl of perhaps thirteen.

Causing quiet surprised murmurs from the crowd. As people started to grasp what they were seeing here. She could hear a couple of "Thank the gods."

Then, suddenly, a stream of children appeared as if from nowhere.

Among them...

"Taren!!"

Esther's cry of relief and joy echoed through the area.

Followed by her remaining children, she ran toward her son, who had been taken.

As Taren was surrounded and embraced by his family, the other children simply stood there staring at the crowd that had gathered. Most were showing confusion and a little fear, while they remained tightly grouped.

The only people who approached them were the city officials who had been questioning Sena and Saca. They merely asked what had happened, showing little concern for the children themselves.

Seeing this, Sena felt somewhat guilty. Even if they were orphans, someone should have been checking on them. Unfortunately, there was little she could do. They had not been in the city for long, and they could not afford to attract even more attention.

Fortunately, Esther noticed and went to hug the other children as well, asking them how they were doing.

"And Adar?" Saca asked beside her with her brother in arms, reminding Sena of another victim who had yet to appear.

Then, from the tunnel entrance, another figure appeared, limping slightly and shielding his face from the light.

"Adar!!" the two women shouted, recognizing the young man in his long dark robe. Even Sena felt a small smile on her face at seeing him, because she truly didn't know if he would come out safe and alive.

They tried to go to him, but the guards stood in the way.

Adar cast them a heavy look and shook his head, clearly not wanting them to approach.

Once fully out of the tunnel, he looked around at the crowd before turning back toward the entrance and shouting,

"Come on, move it!"

At that, more figures began to emerge.

They were a group of men, some wearing loose, colorful robes that made them difficult to recognize.

In addition, they all seemed to have their hands bound and looked as though they had been in a fight. They bore scrapes and cuts. At least one appeared to have taken a blade wound to the arm.

"The attackers..." Saca almost sighed. She had witnessed the assault on the orphanage, confirming Sena's suspicions. The crowd was again full of murmurs of confusion and surprise, as people started to understand what the state of these captives meant.

Sena, meanwhile, studied the man with the wounded arm, a troubling suspicion growing inside her.

Nero carried no weapon, and Adar must have been disarmed. Furthermore, nobody seemed to have been burned.

That left only one obvious way the necromancer could have subdued them.

And with this many witnesses, that could become a serious problem.

"Who are these people?" she heard one of the guards ask.

"They look like the kidnappers," Esther replied, clenching her fists as she watched them emerge. She seemed ready to throw herself at the men.

Then she froze and cried out,

"Boris!!"

There was confusion in her voice because her cousin looked terrified, and he, too, was bound.

Boris saw Esther and stopped at the tunnel entrance, shame written plainly across his face.

From within the tunnel came an irritated shout:

"Move it, cousin!"

Boris glanced back, swallowed nervously, and hurried away from the entrance.

The expression on his face seemed familiar to Sena.

She had seen it not long ago on the faces of the two assassins when they had been preparing to face Nero.

"Boris?" Esther repeated, clearly bewildered by her cousin's behavior.

Boris looked at Esther again, holding her gaze for several moments. A mixture of emotions moved by his face.

At last, he lowered his head and stared at the ground.

"I'm sorry," he said in a heavy, sorrowful voice.

Before anyone could ask what he was apologizing for, since the rescue had apparently been successful, he continued.

"They were paying me for information..."

He shook his head and tried to move his arms, only to be reminded that they were still tied.

"It was simple stuff," he went on, regret echoing in every word.

"I only found out about their plan today, when they put it into motion. And they needed me to seal the entrance..."

The confession began to make sense.

Sena looked toward Esther, who was once again holding her son in her arms.

She stared at her cousin with a blank expression, as though his words were reaching her but refusing to carry any meaning.

Boris raised his head once more and looked directly at Esther.

"I never thought Taren would get caught up in this."

"What?" Esther exclaimed.

Not in shock, but in confusion, as though she had not understood.

She looked around as if hoping someone could explain it to her.

But every face that met her gaze quickly looked away, unwilling to be the one forced to explain.

The same was true for Sena when Esther looked at her.

After all, she had not known Esther for very long and knew nothing about the woman's relationship with this cousin. How could she be the one to explain such a betrayal?

"Esther, dear, come with me..." said an elderly woman, probably a friend of the wet nurse, gently pulling her away.

For a moment, Esther resisted, but her children helped the woman guide her away.

Most likely, they were taking her somewhere private where she could rest and come to terms with the truth.

Boris lowered his head once more.

Then another figure finally emerged from the tunnels.

Nero looked around, taking in the crowd surrounding him.

He let out a long, displeased sigh.

A reaction that was unlikely to improve when his eyes settled on the armed guards.

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