The Nekromancer - 5. Chapter 5

Amnor Sen stared at the stick in his hand, frowning slightly. It… worked, he supposed. A white pine wood with a skull at the base, empty eye sockets awaiting the completion of the craft. He couldn't say it was his best work. But then, he wasn't working in his shop, with the proper tools.

It would work, though. His gut clenched slightly, but there was no way he was redoing this. Eight hours of work, eight hours of staring at a stick, shaving small pieces off…

And now he stared at it even more, the morning sun washing over his work. Jeremy lay nearby, curled against their captive. The elf didn't bother waking him; they wouldn't be going anywhere today.

He still needed the cleric to cast the spell into the wand, but that could wait. Instead he watched the cat. Undead cat. Undead slave cat. Maybe Jeremy had a point. The cat didn't seem evil. In fact… he seemed rather cute, all curled up in Jeremy's arms. Maybe… just maybe… he had found a beautiful undead…

He would nurture it, teach the cat to deny his evil tendencies, repent for being undead. The paladin knew true repentance could only come from a true death. But surely actions matter more than…

"Damn it Jeremy, you were right again…" the elf growled.

Just for that… no rest for the wicked.

His foot nudged the cleric, Jeremy bolting awake. The cat stiffened in front of the man, as though expecting pain to follow.

"Is it time to get up?"

The man groaned slightly, sitting up.

"Ugh… Drunk God have mercy on my head…"

He sighed, reaching for his mug.

"I need you-"

Jeremy held up a hand, his mug filling with water.

"Headache first, other stuff after…"

He mumbled into his cup, praying quietly through his hangover.

"You, cat. You need to cast this spell for us," Amnor Sen added with a frown.

The cat nodded, still tied up. The elf supposed it was unfair to keep him bound. But he didn't doubt the catfolk would run given the chance.

"Need… hands…"

"Well then, we'll give you your hands once Jeremy is ready to channel your spell into the wand. Assuming, of course, that you can manage to cast the spell. Hopefully Jeremy can find a way to fix that."

They sat for a while, waiting for Jeremy to finish his prayers to his god. Finally the human straightened, yawning widely.

"Okay, I'm going to try to heal you, but I'm not sure how this will work," he said, turning on the cat.

His hand took on a red glow, pressing against the slave. The cat let out a pained cry, but his back seemed to knit together, injuries fading rapidly. As Jeremy removed his hand, the cat slumped, his teeth gnashing as his body recovered from the negative energies.

"Better?"

Jeremy stroked the cat gently, trying to soothe him. A hand worked at the rope binding the cat, letting his hands go free.

"Amnor Sen, is the wand ready?"

"Yes. I've been waiting for you."

"Well, you know I can take some time to get going," Jeremy smirked, making a lewd gesture. "All about the journey, right?"

The elf grunted.

"Just… fill the blasted wand so we can take care of this mess…"

Chuckling, Jeremy turned to the cat, taking a pair of dark onyx gems from Amnor Sen. Handing them to the cat, the cleric frowned.

"You know, you never told us your name."

"Jakun…" the cat coughed, his throat even scratchier than before.

"Okay, Jakun, I need you to cast your spell into these gems. Together, mind you. We don't want to flood one of them with magic and risk shattering it."

Nodding, Jakun cleared his throat, clutching the gems.

"Iasau…" the cat grunted, and Jeremy felt a rush of energy force its way into the stones.

As the spell passed, the cleric recovered the stones, examining them before handing them to Amnor Sen to be fitted into the wand.

"Good job," he praised, Jakun's body quivering at the words. "I have to tie you up again, just to be safe. But hopefully we can undo the bindings after we talk to… your master."

The words left a bad taste in his mouth, Jeremy spitting as he tied Jakun's wrists again. Jakun just seemed to take it in his stride, his eyes staring respectfully at the ground.

"After this is all done, I'll take you out for a skin of kumis," the cleric added. "All the shit you've been through, I'm sure you could use a couple skins."

Jakun just stared blankly.

"Milk? Fermented with spices?"

Jeremy shook his head at the neko's stare. Poor kitty had probably never had even normal milk...

"Okay, I think it's good," Amnor Sen said suddenly, interrupting Jeremy. "I think it's time we had a little talk with a necromancer."

"My throat… spells…" Jakun grunted.

"Not yet. The last thing we want is to fight a necromancer. Besides, I'm not sure I can fix that for you," Jeremy sighed. "I promise, we'll stop in a city and find a cleric to help you, okay? A… more powerful cleric."

"You're good enough, and I'm sure you could manage. You just lack discipline, " Amnor Sen pointed out, busy packing up his tools.

"A cleric of Cayden Cailean lacks discipline. Alert the world!" Jeremy said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger," the elf said, sliding the wand into his pack.

"Any idea how we're going to get this necromancer to release him?" Jeremy asked.

"A few. None of which require the necromancer's death, sadly. "There's a flat out offer, and refusal. Then maybe a notice that a necromancer raising an army would be frowned upon, even in Geb."

"Good point. I doubt appealing to his sense of goodness would work," Jeremy shrugged.

They rearranged the catfolk's bindings, freeing his legs so he could walk. Fashioning the rope into a lead, Amnor Sen sighed.

"Let's go."