The only downside to the evening came at about the half-way point. We were enjoying our meals and talking about our various experiences in the Watch and as a Nuisance Man when a voice interrupted us.
“Hello Lilly,” it said, “funny to find you here.”
I looked up to find another necromancer regarding us. I could tell he was a necromancer by the red robes, embroidered with arcane symbols, which he wore. I realized then that Lilly’s robes, while red, were unadorned, and that for this evening, she had even foregone those, and was dressed quite simply, but nicely.
“Reginald,” Lilly said, her voice becoming chilly.
Reginald, as his name apparently was, fit the bill of what I always thought a necromancer should look like. He was tall, and thin to the point of gauntness, his head as bald as an egg, but with thick, black eyebrows overshadowing dark eyes. He looked like the type that would call a spirit back into a skeleton as his own version of fun.
“I have to say,” he said to Lilly, ignoring me entirely, “I find it odd that you’re here this evening.”
“Why is that, Reginald,” Lilly sighed.
“You told me that you were busy, but apparently, that was a lie.”
“Hey,” I said, “I don’t know you pal, but whatever your problem is, take it somewhere else.”
That was pure bravado on my part. Short of pulling out my gun, setting it to “human”, and shooting him in the face, I wasn’t going to be any sort of challenge to a necromancer. Still, I didn’t like the way he was speaking to Lilly.
“It’s alright, Duke,” she said to me. “Reginald, what I told you was that I had plans. I didn’t lie. These are my plans. Now if you don’t mind…”
Reginald turned those dark eyes on me when I spoke up, but now he turned back to Lilly.
“As you wish,” he said. “After all, it’s no affair of mine if you choose to slum your evening away.”
With another sneering glance at me, he walked off through the restaurant, and exited.
“I’m sorry,” Lilly said, her shoulders slumping a little.
“For what?” You can’t help someone else being a jerk. What’s his story anyway?”
She looked toward the door, as if expecting Reginald to come back at any second.
“Oh, he’s got the hots for me, I guess. He’s asked me on a date several times, but I keep turning him down. Maybe now he’ll get the picture.”
“Well, I can’t blame him for asking.”
She smiled at that, and perked up a little. Duke, you sweet talker, you.
We lingered for a while over the last of our dinner, then dessert and drinks, and then started to walk back. I offered to walk Lilly to her house, but she declined, saying that to get to her place wasn’t as simple as that. While that was mysterious, I thought it best to leave it alone, but, not wanting the evening to end quite yet, we decided to stroll around the city.
Lilly was easy to talk to. We discussed pretty much anything that came up, and laughed as much as anything else. It was a long time since I felt that comfortable with anyone, and it felt good.
Suddenly, we heard that same voice from the restaurant, coming from behind us.
“How sweet. Lilly and her new boyfriend, strolling along without a care in the world.”
We turned, and there was Reginald standing behind us. I hadn’t heard a sound as he approached us, which made me a little nervous. Either I was slipping or distracted, or he was using some occult method of making himself move silently. For my prides sake, I was betting on the occult method.
“Gods, Reginald,” Lilly said, her voice changing to match the sneer that was natural in his, “this is getting pathetic. I’ve tried to be nice about this, but I guess that’s not working. Get it through your head. I’m never going out with you. You’re a creep, and I don’t like you.”
Reginald stood there, his body rigid and arms held stiffly at his sides, his hands curled into fists. His face turned red, with both rage and embarrassment, I’m sure.
“Of course,” he said, “why should you go out with me, when you can whore around with some gutter trash Nuisance Man?”
That was it. It wasn’t the gutter trash Nuisance Man comment. Frankly, I didn’t care what this guy thought of me. The whore around comment though? No, that couldn’t stand.
I have an Ultimate Weapon, and it makes my job that much easier. Before that, I stayed alive in a tough profession by using my wits and developing plenty of other skills. You never knew when a weapon would fail, so I kept those other skills in practice.
Before I realized what I was doing, or Lilly could stop me, I stepped up to Reginald, and planted a haymaker right on the end of his pointy chin. For an experienced fighter, it would have been child’s play to avoid the blow, but Reginald was not an experienced fighter. He won his battles through magic and intimidation, and I caught him completely off guard.
He went over like a felled tree and lay in the street, totally out of it.
I looked over at Lilly, chagrined, and sure that I ruined what was otherwise a pretty perfect night.
She stared back at me shocked.
“Duke…” she started to say.
“I don’t care, Lilly,” I interrupted. “No one is going to say something like that about you when I’m around. I know I don’t have to protect you, but this jackass doesn’t get to do that.”
“Okay,” she said, quietly.
We turned around and left Reginald lying where he fell. Suddenly, I felt something on my hand. Looking down, I saw that it was hers, her fingers intertwining themselves in mine. It was my left, which was good. My right was a little sore.
The next day I woke early, for me anyway, but lay in bed, listening to the sounds of the city and thinking of the previous night. There was a part of me that still couldn’t believe the date with Lilly actually happened. Yet, it did, and it was great. I smiled as I got up and got ready to face the day.
There was no reason for me to go to the watchhouse. The minotaur job paid me enough that even after splurging on a fancy dinner, I wouldn’t have to work for a while if I didn’t want to. That meant I had the day free to…free to what?
Normally, my days off involved me sleeping until at least noon and then finding Jessup at the local tavern. We’d while away the day guzzling ale and playing cards, until it was later and we could start the evenings drinking. I’d get up the next day and repeat, until I needed money again, and then I’d go to work. I did fit in a little training as well. As last night proved, it never hurt to keep your skills sharp.
Today though, I found that I didn’t want to do that. While drinking the day away with Jessup was a good way to spend it, I really wasn’t in the mood for that. What I wanted to do was to see Lilly. I was sure she was at work, so, I guess I was headed to the watchhouse after all.
When I walked in, Sarge was at the desk like he always was. As soon as I came in, he called me over.
“Geez, Duke,” he said, keeping his voice low. “What have you gotten yourself into?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you managed to piss off one of the necromancers, that’s for sure.”
I actually smiled at that thought.
“That’s okay, Sarge. I’ve got another one on my side. Speaking of which, mind if I head downstairs?”
He looked uncomfortable at that.
“It won’t do you any good,” he said. “Lilly didn’t show up for work today.”
“Huh. Is that unusual?”
“First day she’s missed that I’m aware of. Anything you want to tell me?”
“Come on Sarge. You know me better than that. We went out, had a great time, and got in a little tussle with that Reginald guy. That was it.”
“Yeah, well, that tussle may have been more than that to him, Duke. He didn’t come in today either.”
Now I was getting a little concerned.
“How do I get to Lilly’s house?” I asked.
“Can’t tell you that, Duke. It’
s something I’m sworn to secrecy on. No one can know that if you walk into the third holding cell back there, there’s a portal that leads to the all of their places. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if they did happen to find that out anyway, since you need to know the password. Oh, crap, my boot is unlaced.”
He ducked down behind the counter, shifting the newssheet he was reading when he did so. There was a piece of paper under it with a phrase written on it. I grabbed it, and without waiting for him to straighten, went down the hallway.
Once in the third holding cell I looked around, but didn’t see anything other than the standard fittings of a jail cell; a small pallet of straw, a bucket and a hole in the corner to use as a bathroom. That was it. I looked at the paper in my hand and read it aloud.
“Alec Kotre Novidum”
It was utter nonsense to me, but it could have been the long-lost tongue of some ancient civilization for all I knew. Whatever it was, it worked. As I watched, the back wall of the cell grew dark, and started to swirl around, as if it was becoming liquid and someone was stirring it. A moment later, it stopped and there was a short tunnel where the wall had stood. At the other end, I could see daylight.
Silently thanking Sarge, I ran down the tunnel and emerged in what looked like a town square on the other end. Surrounding the square were several houses, all good size and well appointed. Not only did necromancers do well for themselves, but they had their own private neighborhood as well. Luckily, necromancy was a fairly rare talent, so there weren’t that many of them. It shouldn’t take me too long to find out which one belonged to Lilly and make sure that she was alright.
I started checking houses by sidling up to them and carefully peeking in the windows, well aware of how that would look to someone passing by. The neighborhood seemed to be deserted though, which I was hoping meant that everyone was off somewhere else. My main concern at the moment, other than simply finding Lilly, was to avoid running into Reginald.
Finally, I looked in the right window, and saw her. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the first one there. Reginald was also there, ranting and raving, while Lilly sat bound and gagged in a chair, glaring daggers at him. I was surprised that Reginald was able to get the best of her, but I saw that he had help. Standing off to the side of the room was a skeleton, watching Lilly intently.
I say it was watching her, because this skeleton had flames in its eye sockets, and they were pointed in her direction. It’s long, stringy, white hair flowed down onto the shoulders of the robe that it was wearing. The robe had seen better days, but at some point, had been opulent. Whoever the skeleton was in life, it was apparently wealthy.
My plan was to get in, free Lilly, deal with Reginald and his un-dead pet, and get back out. I wasn’t too concerned with the skeleton, because the gun would take care of it. Really, all I needed to worry about was a powerful, pissed off, slightly crazed wizard. No problem.
As I watched, my plan suddenly became simpler. Reginald moved in the course of his rambling and now stood directly in front of the window, facing Lilly. First, I drew my gun and said “skeleton” to it, setting the metal ball inside to do maximum damage to the pet. Then I looked around, grabbed a good-sized rock, and used it smash the window.
Reginald squawked and turned around, obviously surprised, only to find me coming through the window right behind that rock. Before he could move, I hit him again, this time right in the temple with the butt of the gun. He went down like his strings had been cut and I immediately aimed at the skeleton, who was turning toward me, and pulled the trigger. The metal ball took it directly in the head, and it staggered backwards.
I moved over to Lilly, drawing a knife at the same time to cut her bonds. I removed her gag, just in time for her to yell, “Look out!”
Her warning came a little too late. Something grabbed me, and lifted me into the air, slamming me into the far wall. It felt like I was struck between a giant anvil and hammer, and the pressure kept increasing. My breath went out of me and the darkness started to creep in around the edges of my sight. I managed to look up and see the skeleton, apparently perfectly fine, pointing at me, the flames in its eye sockets flaring up and burning a bright green.
Lilly was on her feet now, although she looked very unsteady. She said a few words that sounded like they were in the same nonsense language that I used to get here, moved her hands and the pressure disappeared from me. I fell to the floor, gasping for breath. She moved again and the skeleton skidded backwards, out of the room. The door slammed shut as it tried to come back and I could hear it hammering on it to get back in.
I staggered to my feet and Lilly grabbed me.
“We’ve got to go,” she said.
She did some more odd things with her hands and the world faded away around us. Everything went black and my stomach dropped. Then, the world slowly came back into focus, and we were standing in my kitchen.
I dropped to the floor and threw up, not sure if I was more relieved or embarrassed.
A little later we sat at my table, each nursing a cup of coffee.
“First things first,” I said. “What the hell was that thing? Why didn’t the gun kill it?”
She sighed.
“You probably set it to skeleton, right?” I told Lilly about my Ultimate Weapon and how it worked last night.
“Yeah, of course,” I replied. “I mean, the thing standing there was a robe covering a bunch of bones. No skin.”
“It was more that, Duke,” she shivered. “It’s what’s called a lich. It’s an un-dead wizard, and they are horrible. Very powerful, very evil. I can’t believe Reginald called one into the world!”
“And he was controlling it?”
“He thought so, but he wasn’t really. I don’t know when he summoned it, but the lich is influencing his thoughts. Reginald is an ass, and a creep, but he wouldn’t have done that today if he was himself.”
I wasn’t so sure, but let it pass. Lilly knew the guy way better than I did.
“This morning, Reginald came by my house, before work. He said he was sorry for his behavior last night and that he deserved the sock in the jaw that you gave him. I wasn’t so sure that I believed him, and thought it was probably another ploy to try to get under my robes. But, he also brought over some coffee as a peace offering. I wasn’t about to invite him in, but he said it was his small way of saying he was sorry, handed it to me, and walked away with his head down.”
“It was poisoned, right?”
“Yep,” she said, “and I should have caught it. I have protections for that type of thing in place. I think the lich must have done something to it though, because I didn’t sense anything wrong. Next thing I know, I’m falling to the floor and Reginald is standing over me cackling. When I came to, I was at his place, tied to that chair like some idiot damsel in distress and he’s raving on about how we’ll grow to be happy together. The lich was dampening my power down, so I couldn’t even throw a little spell. Then the window smashes, and there you are!”
“I had a little help getting there. I’m glad I did.”
“I am too,” she said, “but I’m so damned mad, Duke! Mad at Reginald for being such an idiot, and mad at myself for falling for it!”
“Yeah, I get it. But here’s the thing. That doesn’t help us. We need to figure out what to do next. I’m thinking maybe we go tell the Watch?”
She looked at me like I had two heads.
“Are you crazy? I’d like to keep my career. I’ll handle Reginald.”
“I have no doubt that you can,” I said, and meant it, “but what about that lich thing?”
She paused and looked down for a moment, thinking.
“I’m not sure. That’s going to be tough.”
“If we can wait until after sun-up tomorrow, I can re-set the gun and take it out that way.”
“Maybe. But, lichs are really powerful. Even if that little metal ball could kill it, I’m betting it has a way of not getting hit. Especially now that it will know what it is.
It’ll examine the one that you shot it with today, and try to figure out what it was and where it came from.”
“Well that’s disturbing.”
“Yeah,” Lilly said, raising her cup to her lips. “We’ll have to figure something out.”
She lowered her cup a moment later.
“Duke?” she said, looking at me. “Thanks for coming after me.”
I shrugged, suddenly embarrassed. Lilly really did make me feel funny sometimes.
We figured something out. In order to make it work, Lilly needed something from her office at the watchhouse. I offered to go with her, but she declined.
“Nothing’s going to happen during the day, Duke,” she said. “Besides, I don’t really need the rumor mill flaring up quite yet. Word gets around quick enough as it is. Hang tight and I’ll be back.”
She kissed me on the cheek and left. It wasn’t until I watched her disappear down the street that I realized what just happened. She kissed me on the cheek. I could still feel the touch of her lips like a soft caress. Ugh, I was waxing poetic like a love-struck teenager. Time to get out some weapons and do something manly.
Lilly came back in short order and we spent the rest of the day getting ready for an attack that never came. Not that night anyway. One or the other, or both of us, stayed awake all night, and no one, or nothing, ever tried to get into my house. Still, there was this palpable sense of fear and dread all night that seeped in with the damp air. Lilly recognized it and said the lich was around, there was no doubt. We knew what it was trying to do. It was trying to wear us down, and exhaust us so that when it did attack, we wouldn’t be on our game. It obviously had a healthy respect for Lilly’s ability, but it made a mistake. It gave me the needed time to re-set my gun. Now the playing field was a little more level.
The next day, Lilly went to work for a while and I puttered around, making sure the house was as secure as I could. We didn’t know where, or how, the lich would get in, but it would somehow. Lilly stayed at work for for a short time, but then came back.
“You won’t believe this,” she said.
Duke Grandfather- The Whole Story Page 10