V2Ch93-Reunion
Tybalt reached out with his power, not bothering to touch the patient’s skin.
He could sense the organisms inside the man’s body and affect them without physical contact. And there would be hundreds more such specimens to deal with.
The necromancer reached out to every particle of pestilence, magically created and animated by his own mana. Though these virus particles had multiplied and spread throughout the body, they were still his creations. Still given life by his power.
Just like the undead.
Tybalt pulled on the power now, and he felt it respond. The particles of disease, now that he was so close to them, were prepared to respond to his command. He couldn’t sense or control them at great distances, not like the undead, but the same thread - magical energy - held both creations together.
He pulled it. The necromancer pulled his power back from the millions of virion particles that lived inside the man’s body, and as he had theorized would happen if he did the same to his undead, every single bit of the virus died.
The sleeping man let out a breath as if relieved. He turned slightly to the side in his bed. That was the only visual sign of the necromancer’s success.
But to the woman watching him, it was a miracle.
“Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” She bowed her head and clasped her hands together as if in prayer. “He’s hardly moved in days. I can tell you did something. Thank you, my lord. My boy is out playing with his friends, but he’ll thank you, too. Gods keep you!”
Tybalt might have felt guilt or some sense of shame at being thanked for simply undoing the damage that he himself had created. But he just waved his hand.
“It’s nothing, ma’am. I’m glad to fix the situation, especially since I caused it. You just remember the other part of my instructions, all right?”
“Of course, my lord. After you spared my husband’s life, we’ll follow you anywhere! Just as soon as he gets on his feet. I’d offer you money, too, only our coffers are a bit empty. We just had the Army in town collecting taxes, and then there was the doctor, before he passed…”
The necromancer forced a smile. He didn’t care about the money, only about the timeline for leaving town. He couldn’t rush the process too much, or he’d have resentful people following him. He had been tempted to lie about the origins of the pathogen, but it was too obvious for him to cover it up. It just so happened that most of those who died became undead, and he happened to be the leader of an army of undead? No one would believe that was a coincidence. Keeping the secret would be too difficult, even for someone with a decent capacity to control information through undead creatures spying on those around him.
“Don’t worry about money,” he said lightly. “Just about getting your husband well. I intend to give the afflicted a week. It should be more than enough time. There is not a single bit of the disease remaining inside his body, but I know it will have done some damage.”
Specifically, though he did not mention this, several organs had been partially converted to undeath. But the human body was resilient, especially those whose bodies were still alive after living with Tybalt’s infection for a week or more. Now that his virus was gone, the natural life force within these humans would reassert itself and repair the destruction Tybalt had caused.
Especially because it was the old, the infirm, and the poor who had died disproportionately. What was left was mostly working age men who had been relatively healthy before the mysterious affliction.
Tybalt moved on to the next house.
***
Several hours later, the necromancer reunited with those closest to him.
The women in his life had gathered in the late Mayor’s house, which was, by unspoken understanding, Tybalt and his ladies’ temporary residence. They sat around the dining room table as he entered, Mariella sipping a glass of wine, Victoria reviewing letters from the Mayor’s desk, and Dero playing darts using a portrait of the late Mayor and sharp kitchen knives.
“Let me pour you a drink, Tybalt,” Mariella said, giving him a flirty smile. The fire mage’s rosy cheeks told him that she probably wasn’t on her first drink herself.
The necromancer nodded, and Mariella rose, kissed him on the cheek, and then walked off into the kitchen to get him something. The Mayor’s house was big enough to have a separate kitchen and dining room, despite this being a one-horse town.
Tybalt didn’t bother telling Mariella what he wanted, since after the last couple of months of living together, his fiancee knew what sorts of drinks he preferred.
“Dinner should be just about ready, too,” Victoria said. “The Mayor’s personal staff were still around, so I put them to work. I think you and our new chef might actually have been the only people in town who were working this afternoon, with our troops celebrating the bloodless victory and the rest of the town mostly bedridden.”
“There’s no rest for the wicked,” Tybalt replied.
“Especially when you created the problem you’re addressing in the first place,” Dero agreed.
“Yep.”
“Despite those wise words, are you all done with work for the day?” she asked.
“I am,” he acknowledged.
“Then it’s time for you to enjoy your rewards, I guess,” she replied teasingly. She knocked on a closed door just behind her, and someone inside pulled it open.
Kistana and Vidalia stepped out.
Tybalt wasn’t exactly surprised - he had asked Dero to bring them to town that night - but he was pleased. It was earlier than he’d expected, and the sight of the two was indeed rewarding. He smiled and pulled both women into his arms.
Vidalia embraced him back instantly and excitedly, peppering his neck with little kisses.
“I missed you! You’re never leaving me behind anywhere ever again!”
Kistana was a little stiffer for a moment, but she quickly wrapped her arms around him and returned the hug as well.
“Thank you for sending for me, my lord,” she said in a low voice, almost a whisper. “You will not regret it.”
As the three pulled back, Tybalt noticed the catgirl was slightly pink around the cheeks. That, and the way her tail seemed to move nervously back and forth - quick, jerky movements - were the only signs that she was feeling emotional.
So Tybalt addressed her first.
“Of course I wanted you to come back,” the necromancer replied. “As much as I enjoyed having Baldwin shadow my every movement, he and I both prefer him acting as a soldier. There’s no one I trust more to have my back than you.” The crimson on her face deepened, but the catgirl didn’t say anything, only bowed her head. He thought she was hiding a small smile. The necromancer turned to Vidalia. “As for you, I’ll leave you behind anytime you’re just going into danger. You know that you don’t have any reliable method to defend yourself- ”
“Ahem.” Vidalia tilted her head to the side, and Tybalt’s eyes widened as he saw that Dero had fallen asleep. “I do have one method.” She snapped her fingers, and Dero blinked awake, looking surprised and mildly annoyed.
“Yeah, and you can do that to one person at a time, I’m guessing,” Tybalt said. “We’re fighting groups right now. I definitely think your power is useful, but you’re physically pretty delicate. We both know it. So don’t push yourself too much is all I’m saying.”
“Yes, my future king,” the foxgirl replied, bowing her head slightly in an apparent imitation of Kistana. She raised her gaze to meet Tybalt’s, and he saw a twinkle in her eyes. “We all have to know our places in the pecking order, right?”
“A person’s got to know their limitations,” Dero said. “Like, don’t try that on me again unless I’m having trouble sleeping, got it? I don’t like to be the butt of anyone’s joke. Not unless I have the chance to respond, at least.”
“Sorry,” Vidalia said, scratching the back of her head. “You’re just so cute and peaceful when you’re sleeping, I couldn’t resist.”
“As opposed to the rest of the time,” the necromancer commented.
Everyone shared a quiet laugh, even Dero.
“Very funny,” she said. “Keep talking, and you’re not getting your present, Vidalia…”
“No, I want it!” the foxgirl said. “I’ll be nice.” She walked over to Dero and wrapped an arm around the dark elf. “How would you like an ear massage?”
“Present?” Tybalt asked.
“It’s something for all of us,” Victoria said. “Every, um, future- ”
“Every member of your harem,” Dero interjected firmly.
Victoria rolled her eyes but smiled faintly.
“What are you giving them?” Tybalt asked.
“Something you’ll like and that will be good for them,” the dark elf said. “And I’m only doing it because I’m starting to like them.” She gave Tybalt a skeptical look. “I’m still not sure if you deserve this level of attention, but of course, they can make their own choices.”
“You used a lot of words to not answer my question,” the necromancer observed.
“Womb tattoos,” Dero said after a moment. She let her finger trail the hemline of her skirt, where the top of her own tattoo was just barely visible. “I know you liked the look of mine- ” She winked- “and more importantly, the function is something you’ll care a lot about. As you might expect from the location, the magical runes in the tattoo promote fertility and protect the baby in the event of a pregnancy. They should also make for an easier birth.”
“Oh.”
“That’s not to say it’s going to be a walk in the park. Don’t be like those fathers who go out hunting when the woman’s in labor, or I’ll come find you and…” She trailed off at the expression on Tybalt’s face. “Um, what?”
The necromancer stepped closer and quickly hugged her, then released her just as immediately. He could imagine how prickly the dark elf might be at unwanted physical contact, and he wasn’t trying to tick her off right then.
“Thank you,” he said. “It just means a lot for me to have someone besides myself looking out for my new family. I know this- ” He gestured to her own tattoo- “was something deeply personal to you, and that’s why you didn’t explain what it was the first time I asked. Despite your… rough edges… that shows you really care.”
“So mushy!” Dero muttered. “I’m just doing a simple favor. As a wedding gift. You know, I gave Carlos’s wife the same tattoo years ago. I’d do it for anyone I - I mean, for just about anyone.”
Tybalt gave her a knowing look.
For anyone I gave a crap about. She was about to say something like that.
Mariella came in at that moment carrying four full glasses in her hands.
“Dinner’s about to be served!” she said as she put two drinks in front of Tybalt and Dero. The dark elf took a long swig from her glass and avoided eye contact with the necromancer as if she was slightly embarrassed to be caught doing something nice. Which she might have been, for what it seemed to say about her.
Tybalt let the moment end and returned to his seat. Vidalia plopped down into his lap before Mariella could get there, and Kistana pulled up her own chair at his right hand.
The chef came in a few minutes, and they started eating.
As they ate, Tybalt went over the plan for the next day with the group.
He had already told the Grand Beastfolk Army to be ready to march by the morning after next. He didn’t want to stick around in this town too long, and he only needed enough forces to remain there to pacify any resistance - which he did not anticipate would be significant, considering that the beastfolk forces were already inside the walls.
The number of undead that had been created from Tybalt’s disease in this town outnumbered the living, able-bodied men, so Tybalt intended to leave almost all of those undead here, along with a skeleton crew of beastfolk to command them.
Then he and Andric would lead the rest of the force - slightly bolstered by the visit to this town - to the next settlement, where the beastfolk would finally get to show their martial ferocity.
“Assuming your plague hasn’t wiped out the next town already,” Dero replied.
“What are the odds of that?” Tybalt replied. “I’ve been getting levels in pestilence mage occasionally, and a few in defiant necromancer, but not enough to suggest that there are a lot of towns hollowed out like this one. Anyway, that is a possible negative. We might walk into more easy victories.”