The Nekromancer - 15. Chapter 15

The sounds of a dragon's roar roused Jeremy from a deep sleep, the man's eyes shooting open in shock.

"Amnor Sen?"

"Yeah, I hear it," the paladin said, already standing.

The elf's gambeson went on quickly, his chain following as he grabbed his glaive.

"We aren't going to fight a dragon?!"

Jeremy stared at the elf in horror.

"You can stay if you want. But there are people out there dying. My soul will not rest if I do not try to aid them," Amnor Sen said.

Shaking his head, Jeremy hurried to get dressed. He grabbed his blade and his mug before following Amnor Sen out of the room.

"Jakun!"

The paladin pounded on the amurrun's door, frowning when there was no reply. A look inside revealed the cat was missing, Amnor Sen looking at Jeremy in a slowly dawning horror.

"His book, do you have it?"

Jeremy shook his head.

"A dragon? Really? There's no way he has that kind of power," the cleric said.

"There's no way I can cast spells, yet with the right tool, I can make you sober," Amnor Sen pointed out, hurrying outside.

Grumbling, the man chased after him.

The night was frigid, their breath fogging up in front of them. Amnor Sen looked around warily, his glaive in hand.

"Jakun?" the elf called.

There was a shuddering groan, Jakun limping out of an alley with his arm around a werewolf… the undead werewolf. Even worse, she was carrying the book.

"Put him down!" Amnor Sen snarled, leveling his glaive at the werewolf.

"Oh hells…" the werewolf groaned. "Hey dumbass, why don't you focus on the undead dragon that's freezing the city?"

"Is he injured?" Jeremy demanded, moving toward the two.

"No, just a bit of mental trauma. That tends to happen when talking to ancient dragons," the werewolf shrugged off.

Jakun babbled quietly, his face squeezing as he tried to communicate.

"Okay, we need to get him to a cleric that can clear his voice."

"Lovely, let's get on it. He's been under that damned curse for nearly a year now…"

Her claws ran through Jakun's head soothingly, Jeremy shaking his head in disgust.

"Just so we're all clear here, the only reason you aren't being gutted on our weapons is because you seem to be important to Jakun," he said sharply.

"Fine by me," the werewolf said. "Now, can we do something about Jakun? His mind is locked within itself and I can't free him on my own."

Jeremy nodded, pushing the werewolf aside before scooping Jakun into his arms.

"Urgathoa has priests here. They must be fighting that beast," he said.

"I've seen a map of this city before. Follow me," the werewolf said, hurrying down a road.

Amnor Sen and Jeremy ran after her, drool spilling from Jakun's mouth. They found a group of robed clerics standing in a circle near a large pyramid, channeling a spell together. An acolyte stopped them before they could reach the group, holding up a hand.

"Do not approach if you value your existence." she said sharply.

"We can help stop the dragon, but our friend needs healing," Amnor Sen said, presenting the mad cat to the acolyte

"What happened to him?"

"His mind was attacked by the dragon," the werewolf interrupted. "He also has a caster croak."

"The croak I can cure for a price. The rest will have to be corrected later."

Jeremy scowled, setting Jakun on his feet.

"What price do you require in the middle of a battle with a dragon?"

"Merely a hundred fifty in gold to cover the price of the scroll used to remove the curse."

They all flinched as the dragon flew overhead, a cone of icy breath freezing the tip of the temple pyramid. A claw shattered it, screams filling the night as bodies were crushed by the falling roof.

"Urgathoa curse that blasted dragon…"

Amnor Sen grabbed the spellbook the werewolf was still carrying, frowning at the distinct lack of evil energy coming from it. That was a problem for later though. Stuffing it in his bag, he pulled out his coin purse and nearly threw it at the evil cleric.

"There. All our gold. Now heal him."

Jeremy stared in shock, stunned at Amnor Sen's actions. Healing the amurrun in the interest of good was one thing… but there was a near panicked ache in the elf's voice. He cared about the cat, more than Jeremy expected.

"Urgathoa thanks you for your donation.

Amnor Sen's gut twisted. But this was to save a person. He would deal with the consequences later.

There was another crash, the paladin lunging instinctively. He yanked Jakun after him, his hand grabbing blindly for Jeremy.

"Move!"

As the rubble fell, the clerics fired their spell, an enormous orb of fire and lightning launching at the dragon.

Jeremy saw none of it, a brick smacking his head. He dropped like a rock, his mind fleeing into unconsciousness.

On the other side of the rubble, Amnor Sen stared at the stones that separated him from Jeremy.

"Shit… Jeremy?! Are you okay?"

There was no answer, and his heart nearly broke. No… there was no way the cleric was dead, not like this. He refused to believe it. Cayden Cailean would shield Jeremy from harm.

The elf had his own troubles. Namely a cleric of an evil god casting a spell on the amurrun he had saved yet again. He was grateful the spell didn't feel evil. Amnor Sen wasn't one for magic, but the spell seemed to work. If slowly and painfully.

"Come on kitten, we've been through worse than this…"

Amnor Sen stared at the undead werewolf, surprised to see she cared.

"He's not just your host?"

The werewolf snorted.

"Of course not. If that was the case, I'd have abandoned him years ago. Who wants to be bound to a slave? No, I'm his former life. Well… one of them at least. I'm just trying to help him find enlightenment. Through study, preferably. The gods are too fickle for us."

"Then you will help me keep him safe?" the elf all but demanded.

"What do you think I've been doing? He'll be safe with me. Even if I got him into this mess. Who knew that ritual… eh, never mind."

She glanced at Amnor Sen, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"By the way, the ritual was destroyed. I tore it from the tome and dropped the pages into a puddle of water. And no, you can't kill me. Not without strong magic. So let's just focus on keeping the catfolk alive, deal?"

Amnor Sen clenched a hand around his glaive.

"Deal. I don't suppose you can go check on Jeremy while we wait?"

"Easy."

The werewolf vanished suddenly, Amnor Sen scanning the area warily. It seemed as long as he was with the cat, the werewolf would continue coming around. He just hoped that wouldn't stain the two of them.