Defiant Necromancer (Book 2 stubbing July 3)

“Well done,” Tybalt said. “I’m glad it went so well. Never doubted you for a moment.”

Dero chuckled at that, while Mariella shook her head and smiled.

The group was all together again, in the town of Humun, debriefing.

Kistana shrugged. “I was glad I found one worthy opponent. It took me until the fighting was almost over, and someone else was fighting her at the time, but hopefully she’s worth you raising. I avoided shooting her in the head.”

“Definitely, master,” Baldwin said. His face had been stuck in a sort of perpetual scowl ever since Tybalt returned, and the necromancer guessed it was because he’d been pushed to the side somehow during the fighting. “Definitely worth raising. That woman was the big thorn in our side the first time. She’s absolutely worth using your power on.”

“Excellent. Did we recover Sir Damek and the other bodies of the watchmen we lost?”

“We got the locations of the bodies out of a couple of the bandits we took prisoner,” Mariella said. “The condition is probably fine for… your purposes.”

“My purposes with most of them are slightly different from usual, but only slightly,” Tybalt said.

“How did Fort Hadrian go?” Dero asked. “It was supposed to be the Kingdom’s toughest nut to crack in your region, right?”

“Now it’s the toughest nut to crack in our Kingdom,” Tybalt replied. “Not a place I would want to bring any of you, though, honestly.”

“What did you do to the fortress?” Mariella asked.

“Turned it into a place attuned to my god,” Tybalt said.

“Then I should visit it again, at least,” Victoria said, her tail wagging excitedly as she spoke.

“No, you shouldn’t,” the necromancer said as gently as he could. “Seriously, it’s…”

“It is a cursed place,” Vidalia said with an air of certainty. “Valuable to us, though.”

I guess her visions have seen that far, Tybalt thought. Or at least she saw that was a possibility. Interesting that the Charnel Fortress doesn’t win the battle for us on its own.

“For now, I just need the bodies to take back there. And the most special of our bodies that I’ll be doing something else with.”

“And a few for sacrifices,” Dero said.

“Right.”

“I’ll go and find the ones who confessed to the worst crimes, then,” Mariella said. She spoke with an unusual relish.

I guess we found something she likes doing for the new country. Along with producing potential heirs.

“Besides disposing of the bandits and feeding the things that reside in the Charnel Fortress, the other task we need to accomplish is listening to Harald, my wight knight,” Tybalt said. “I ordered him to listen to everything that Andrea said and record it perfectly so that we could absorb it later.”

“Andrea?” asked Kistana blankly.

“The, uh, fortune teller, kitty-cat,” Vidalia said. “The one with the venom. And the tail that took up half her body.”

“Oh, her, right!” the catgirl said.

“She was a real fortuneteller?” Dero asked, raising an eyebrow. “I kind of figured that was sort of a gimmick. Like calling her an ‘exotic dancer.’”

“Well, she was certainly exotic,” Mariella said, clearly struggling to keep a normal expression as she recalled their encounter with the lamia.

“I could see actual spirits passing through her form and heard them affecting what she said while she was dancing,” Tybalt said. “Whatever else she was, she was a real spiritualist. She had some level of powers.”

“Let’s listen, then,” Vidalia said. “The sooner you hear a prediction of the future, the better use you get out of it.”

“Interesting words from someone who makes us wait until it feels like the ‘right time’ to hear about her visions of the future,” Victoria observed.

“That’s different!” Vidalia protested.

“It’s different, because Vidalia only sees potential futures,” Tybalt said. “She’s lived with her gift for her whole life, essentially. It’s as familiar to her as Mariella’s flames or Dero’s teleportation. We can trust her to act judiciously and thoughtfully with her powers. She has to be careful not to change from one path to another. Whereas hopefully, if the spirits have special knowledge, I’m guessing it’s certain to be accurate.”

He purposefully did not bring up the fact that he now had a skill that would allow him to consult the spirits for himself. He had seen Vidalia be insecure about her value before.

“Now let’s listen to the prediction,” he finished. He called Harald over through their bond.

The wight knight approached and began to speak. He even copied the cadence of Andrea’s speech.

“On the twelfth day of the fifth month, the Army marches into the Salt Waste,” Harald said.

Everyone around exchanged glances. That gave them just over a month until the Royal Army would approach. Enough time for Tybalt to complete his diplomatic rendezvous with the elves, but not much more than that.

“The attack will take place on the day of the full moon. They will occupy the dread fortress against all resistance and restore it to the Kingdom’s service. With the General, the Major, the nature mage, and the Trust fighting together, they will be victorious in any field battle. Unless both the father and the son are killed, grave tidings for the King of the Dead and all his subjects. An end to his line and all who bear it.”

Tybalt swallowed. The others shifted uncomfortably. Everyone except Victoria and Dero were pregnant, so the “end to his line and all who bear it” meant the others would all die.

“Elsewhere, the Hero of legend strikes when the Beastking least expects it, attacking his family. If the family is to kill him, losses will be unavoidable.”

When do I least expect it? Is that at the same fucking time as the attack on the fortress?

“If the Undeath King lives to attack the Nietian capital, the most potent troops he marches into battle will be lost to him forever. The might of a deity will descend to destroy him, but the outcome of the clash cannot be seen with certainty.”

There was a long pause, and Tybalt thought Harald was done.

Then: “I hope you will enjoy every minute of what comes next, my lord.”

“All right, seems like that was everything,” Tybalt said, immediately recognizing the moment in the experience that the wight knight was recalling. “Silence, Harald.”

The undead nodded obediently.

“Wait, was that part of the prediction?” Kistana asked. “Shouldn’t we- ”

“You were resting for that part,” Vidalia said with a suggestive smile. “But it was something Andrea said after she was definitely done with the spirits.”

“Oh.”

“That was just vague enough to barely be actionable,” Dero said. She turned to Vidalia. “I guess I was wrong to suggest that Tybalt take that fortunetelling skill. The spirits are clearly trash at doing your job.”

“Your apology is accepted,” the foxgirl replied.

“I didn’t apolo- ”

“But I accepted it anyway!” Vidalia said firmly.

Dero rolled her eyes and looked like she was trying not to laugh.

“Well, we at least have leads to investigate. We need to know what father and son the spirits were referring to, and we know exactly who to ask. It’s also possible that we can break up the coalition they mentioned: the General, the Major, the nature mage, and the Trust. If any one of those entities can be removed from the equation, maybe the prediction breaks down.”

“What can we do about the Hero?” asked Victoria.

“It sounds like we have to not try to kill him and his companion,” Dero said. “Just from the wording. ‘If the family is to kill him and his ally, losses will be unavoidable.’ So we just spare him or his ally.”

“The last part about when we attack the capital is the most concerning,” Vidalia said. “There were no easy loopholes for losing your most potent troops. Maybe it means we should just avoid attacking Enh, but if we do that, I’m not sure how we can get to the rest of the Kingdom. Geographically, it’s located closer to the Salt Waste than the other population centers are.”

“Yeah, it’s a serious problem,” Tybalt agreed. “If we just bypass Enh, it means we’ll get our supply lines cut off at some point. Which isn’t a problem for my undead troops, but it would reduce us to only relying on the undead. Right now, my best troops are the Beastkings, Dero, Mariella, Kistana, and the other elite catfolk. I obviously can’t accept losing Dero, Mariella, or Kistana, and losing any of those others would be a serious blow too.” He shook his head.

It’s a big mess, actually.

“Well, one problem at a time, right?” said Mariella, trying to smile but not quite getting there.

“Yeah, good point,” Tybalt said. “Take some of my zombies for manual labor, and bring the prisoners and the bodies of our dead to the outskirts of Humun, please. Then point out the ones who would make good sacrifices. We’ll reinforce our new fortress and then prepare for the meeting with the elves and the dragon.” Mariella nodded and left, Tybalt sent a silent order for twenty-five zombies to follow and obey her, added an order to another three undead to bring around a couple of bodies that were especially important, and then turned to Dero. “Once she gets them in place, I’d appreciate it if you would teleport me, the bodies, and the bandits to Fort Hadrian. You won’t want to get too close to the place itself, but I do need the help just transporting that amount of flesh and bone.”

“Of course,” Dero said, with her usual what-would-you-do-without-me air.

“And Vidalia, I know tonight’s not your night, but after I spend some time with Kistana…”

The foxgirl nodded. “Dreams ahoy. We’ll check in on everything important.”

After another half hour of speculation - what felt like wasted time, given that every hour now seemed increasingly precious - the necromancer left the house with a troubled heart, Dero walking beside him. The most worrisome part of the lamia’s prediction was the stuff from the beginning - the idea that the Kingdom would end his family line if he didn’t kill the right people - but almost as troubling was the note that the Hero would attack his family when he least expected it. That could be literally anytime, since he hadn’t been expecting it at all and would now be anticipating it at all times until it actually happened.

“All Beastkings, guard my fiancees wherever they go,” he silently ordered. “Expect the possibility of an attack from the Hero at any time.”

I would have expected him to go straight for me, Tybalt thought. Didn’t he abandon his comrades just for the chance to take a shot at me? Is he just a coward, or does he prefer the low blow of targeting family?

“A copper for your thoughts?” Dero asked, the usual light teasing or sarcasm absent from her voice.

“Just worried,” Tybalt said, matching her seriousness.

“Always darkest before the dawn, I’ve heard it said.”

“It’s also pretty dark when the sun has just set,” he replied grimly. “And when you’re in the dark, it can be hard to know which is which.”

They reached the edge of town, and Mariella was there with a dozen bound, living prisoners, plus over a hundred corpses and the zombies standing at attention.

“These four are the most deserving of what you have planned,” the fire mage said, tilting her chin at the men closest to her.

“All right,” Tybalt said. He looked at Dero. “Let’s get started. This is going to be a long night.”