The misadventures of the necromancer

Saca brought up the rear of their little group with Delmic in her arms.

As they walked, she couldn't help thinking how unbelievable everything that had happened was. From Adar being kidnapped, to Nero emerging from that tunnel and revealing his skeletons, and in the end, somehow everything had turned out all right.

The thought of Adar's kidnapping made her look at the young man who had ended up in that situation to save her and Delmic.

That's when she noticed he was limping slightly.

“Adar, are you alright?”

Her voice betrayed more concern than she had intended.

He turned to her with a forced smile.

“Oh...” he began, glancing at his own leg.

“Yes, I'm fine. It's just that when they caught me, they hurt me a little... It'll pass. Don't worry.”

She tried to see that he was trying to sound reassuring.

“But Adar, what about your healing potion?” Sena asked, since it should have healed his injuries.

“When I woke up after they imprisoned me, it was already gone...” he explained, turning back around and continuing to walk, since Nero showed no sign of slowing down just so they could talk.

“And afterward, I couldn't get it back. I managed to recover my knife, but not the potion...”

“Someone probably used it on themselves and didn't want to admit it,” Nero interrupted without even bothering to look back.

“And I didn't feel like wasting more time figuring out who it was while we were busy rounding everyone up.”

“Here.” Sena handed Adar her own healing potion.

Fortunately, Nero had made sure they all carried one.

“Thanks.”

Adar accepted it, but instead of drinking it immediately, he simply looked at the bottle.

“Drink it, idiot. When they're gone, they're gone. Worst case, we'll just buy more,” Nero said without turning around, making it clear that both of them here worried about their dwindling supply of healing potions.

Adar hesitated for another moment before finally taking a sip and returning the remainder to Sena.

Fortunately, Saca quickly noticed his limp becoming much less pronounced.

Her relief at seeing Adar recover was interrupted by Nero.

“And your brother?”

She looked between Nero's back, still steadily moving ahead, and the half-asleep Delmic in her arms.

Eventually, she realized he meant whether her brother would be coming home with them.

“He's staying with us tonight. After everything that's happened, Esther isn't in any condition to take care of him.”

As she spoke, she couldn't help remembering how distraught the poor woman had been.

Even so, Esther had initially resisted the idea of Delmic spending the night with Saca when the subject had come up.

In the end, with Anna's help, she'd accepted that it was the best solution.

“We still have some milk left over from the other day,” Sena added in support of the idea, easing any concern Nero might have about feeding Delmic.

Saca saw the back of his head nod slightly.

“Alright.”

They turned the corner onto the main street leading toward the city gate and the road home.

Suddenly, two figures joined them.

The surprise was enough that she squeezed Delmic a little too tightly.

Making him wake up with an irritated cry.

Fortunately, her little brother hadn't cried much throughout the ordeal and had remained remarkably calm despite all the chaos and tension around him.

Part of her felt guilty for that, because she had no doubt it was the result of the terrible experience they'd gone through while fleeing from the Clue.

Now, however, he quickly calmed down again, allowing her to recognize the newcomers.

They were the two assassins who had come with Nero.

The men had disappeared earlier to inspect the house, just as Nero had ordered.

She hadn't seen them since, and had almost forgotten about them.

“Lord Nero,” one of them said.

Both men bowed their heads respectfully to the necromancer.

Nero looked at them and let out a dismissive,

“Hmph.”

Grima, or at least the man Saca believed was named Grima, quickly began explaining.

“We were watching the perimeter when the guards arrived. We thought it would be better not to reveal ourselves...”

While he spoke, his companion quietly scanned the area around them.

Not obviously, but Saca noticed he was keeping track of anyone approaching the group.

Even though the two men stayed close enough to speak with them, they also kept enough distance that passersby wouldn't immediately assume they were all together.

“You made the right choice,” Nero interrupted.

“We'll keep our distance. I don't want anyone knowing there's any connection between us. Tomorrow, at Sena's inn, we'll try to find an opportunity to talk properly.”

“Of course, Lord...” the man began, bowing his head again.

Only to be interrupted once more.

“And stop calling me 'Lord.' Don't you think that attracts a bit too much attention?”

The two men hesitated, exchanging uneasy glances.

In the end, they simply bowed their heads once more before turning down another street.

“Are you planning to use them for something?” Sena asked.

The question worried Saca somewhat.

After all, those men had been hired to kill Nero not that long ago.

Nero merely shrugged.

“Not for now. But given the situation, I'd rather have options than not.”

With that, they finally approached the city gate, ending their ability to keep speaking freely.

At the gate itself, they exchanged a few words with the guards stationed there, who only knew that something had happened in the city but had few details.

And thanks to Adar, Nero's permanently grumpy demeanor provided the perfect excuse to avoid a longer conversation.

Once they were well away from the city, Adar let out an obvious sigh of relief.

"Well... that actually went pretty well."

"Yeah," Nero replied.

Saca stared at him in disbelief while Sena shook her head, apparently sharing her thoughts. Yes, they had managed to hide the fact that Nero was a necromancer, so the feeling was understandable, but...

Nero had just revealed himself as a mage and practically humiliated the city council.

"My heart nearly stopped when that little girl mentioned the word necromancer," Adar continued with a nervous laugh, likely released by the tension of the moment. Saca herself had almost collapsed when she'd heard the child call Nero a "not-necromancer."

"It actually worked out for the best," Nero said casually, leaving Saca utterly stunned.

"Yeah, I know. The moment she spoke, I was thinking of a good excuse to let the skeletons slip into the conversation... though I'd rather have avoided any mention of necromancy," Adar explained.

For a few moments, they walked in silence while Saca tried to process what she had just heard.

Had he wanted to reveal the skeletons? To accomplish... what? None of this made sense.

To deepen her confusion, the necromancer simply nodded.

Finally, Sena exclaimed,

"What?"

Adar looked back at them but said nothing.

"You wanted to reveal the skeletons?" Sena asked, utterly bewildered.

"It was impossible to keep them hidden for long," Nero answered. "Between the children, the captured cultists, and the ones who escaped, there were simply too many witnesses. Especially with children involved."

"All we could do was control when and how the story spread," Adar continued.

That immediately raised another question for Saca.

"Then why didn't you show the skeletons right away? It looked like you were trying to avoid talking about them."

"Exactly!" Adar exclaimed with satisfaction. "That's what I wanted. That way, people would think the skeletons were the only thing we were trying to hide."

"You two planned all of this?" Sena cried, staring at them open-mouthed.

Saca could hardly disagree after everything she'd just heard.

"I wish," Adar replied with a laugh, shaking his head.

"I spent the whole time with the children while Nero dealt with the cultists. We never had a chance to discuss anything until now."

"Which, fortunately, should make everything seem even more believable once the real investigations begin," Nero added.

That prompted the question Saca had been dreading.

"So... is everything settled now?"

The silence that followed was answer enough, though Nero eventually spoke.

"For now, we've bought ourselves time... A couple of months maybe even a year."

He sighed heavily before continuing.

"Those idiots really made a mess of things for us. It would've been much better if we'd managed to avoid attracting anyone's attention."

She watched him tilt his head thoughtfully before speaking again.

"They're busy dealing with more important matters right now. But eventually someone will get curious and start asking more questions..."

Finally, he straightened up, shook his head, stopped walking, and turned to face her and the sleeping Delmic in her arms.

"If we're lucky, we'll have enough time for things to become more manageable..."

Before she could respond, he turned back toward the road.

"Come on. We've wasted enough time today."

Eventually, they reached home, where they had to explain everything that had happened to Seres. Who ended up looking rather sulky about missing all the action.

Saca could clearly see him imagining himself charging through those tunnels beside Nero, watching the mage battle the cultists with magic.

In the end, they enjoyed a pleasant evening.

Despite almost having to listen to Nero explain why blood magic was ridiculous, and everyone who practiced it was an idiot.

The following day, they returned to the city a little later than usual.

Although they needed to speak with Esther and decide what to do next, nobody was particularly eager to disturb the poor woman.

Still, as Nero declared while they left the house,

"We need to find out what our new normal is going to look like."

By now, the entire city would know what had happened.

Which meant people's reactions toward Nero, and toward all of them, would almost certainly be very different.

To their surprise, as they approached the city gates, they encountered an unfamiliar group.

Five guards, or so Saca assumed from their helmets and metal gauntlets worn over very good leather armor, dressed in pale blue robes.

The four at the front carried long spears.

The fifth, walking at the rear, carried a bow.

Alongside them were three more individuals wrapped in long, heavy cloaks.

The unfamiliar group seemed extremely interested in their group.

The only person who spoke was Adar, in a cryptic tone.

"I forgot about the Bane of Mages."

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