Two Necromancers, a Dragon, and a Vampire (The Unconventional Heroes Series Book 3)

by L. G. Estrella

  “I can see that.” Amanda wore an oddly gentle expression as Avraniel melted a lump of ore and kept it at just the right temperature while Spot drank some of the molten rock. The dragon stopped drinking to watch when the elf wove her flames into a net that surrounded the lump of ore, preserving its shape despite the massive increase in temperature. The dragon tried to do the same with his fire, only to fail as the lump he’d aimed at melted into a puddle on the ground. He made a disappointed sound, and the elf grinned and poked him on the snout before gently taking control of Spot’s fire and showing him what to do. “Avraniel does not strike me as a gentle person,” Amanda murmured. “But she is gentle with Spot.” The vampire stared for a moment longer and then shook herself. Katie got the impression she was thinking of something – or someone – she hadn’t thought about in a long time. Amanda cleared her throat. “I understand that breakfast shall be served in this courtyard soon.”

  “That’s right.” They’d started eating breakfast in the courtyard after Spot had begun to train outside. Besides, her master had finally finished remodelling this courtyard, and he wanted to enjoy it since he’d designed the changes himself. Spot also needed to be properly socialised, not unlike a dog, while he was still young. It wouldn’t do any good to wait until he was a hundred feet long before they tried to socialise him. Vicky had also said that Timmy needed more sun, but Katie disagreed. He spent a fair bit of time outside since he was working on the castle, and helping the workers with his magic kept costs down and sped things along. “What are you having for breakfast?”

  Amanda raised one eyebrow and bared her fangs.

  “Ah, right. Vampire. So… blood again?”

  “Yes, I believe so.”

  * * *

  Timmy rubbed his temple as he examined the image in the air in front of him. Gerald had used his scrying sphere to contact Vicky and James, and the news they’d shared had not done a lot for his mood. He’d already had to scrap his plans to procure a kraken corpse since hunting this season had apparently resulted only in a lot of sunken ships but no krakens. Now, he had to deal with this too.

  “So the village we saved got blown up?” Timmy made a disgusted sound. “Come on! We went to all that trouble to save it, and someone just blew it up? Tell me the villagers at least managed to get away.”

  “Fortunately, the villagers were able to escape. However, their village has been blown up.” Vicky was floating above the ruins of the aforementioned village in her astral form. One of the reasons Timmy and the others had been sent in the first place was because Vicky hadn’t wanted the Council or Everton to act directly lest they escalate the situation with the Eternal Empire. Her presence there meant that something must have changed. “The villagers fled when they saw who they were up against.” Her eyes narrowed ominously, and her glow intensified. “The village and the other settlements in this area were attacked by enemies of their clan, along with members of the Eternal Empire’s military.” She forced her glow to dim before it became blinding. “We have no choice but to deploy our own troops over the border now that the Eternal Empire has chosen to so blatantly increase the scale of this conflict.” She paused. “The villagers are certain they saw several Lords of Magic during the attack.”

  Timmy stopped rubbing his temple. This was going to be way worse than a headache. This was shaping up to be a full-blown migraine. The Lords of Magic were amongst the most powerful mages in the Eternal Empire, and they answered directly to the emperor himself. They handled the majority of the Eternal Empire’s most important magical affairs, from combat and security to research and development.

  “I can tell you that they were right because two Lords of Magic spotted me near the village and attacked.” Vicky’s lips curled. Timmy could understand their reasoning. Eliminating a member of the Council would have been a tremendous victory, but they’d picked the worst possible councillor to attack. “That was a mistake. I would have preferred to capture them for questioning. However, that wasn’t possible although they won’t be troubling us again.” Timmy caught a hint of the steel that made her so dangerous in both politics and battle, the steel that she normally kept carefully hidden beneath her big sisterly demeanour. Those two Lords of Magic must have given their lives in a desperate bid to kill Vicky after realising how outmatched they were. “I doubt that they planned to go after me. If they really wanted to kill me, they would have sent a lot more than two Lords of Magic. They certainly wouldn’t have attacked if they had realised I was only present in my astral form.”

  Timmy shuddered. Even though they were communicating via scrying sphere, he could all but feel the power rolling off his best friend. Vicky was monstrously strong. Even James who could wipe out hundreds of regular soldiers without breaking a sweat wouldn’t last long against her. That was also why he was worried. The Council wouldn’t have asked her to take the field unless they wanted to make a big impression on their enemies. “It looks like the Eternal Empire is trying to goad us into declaring war.”

  “Yes, they do seem to be looking for a fight, but it won’t work. We’re not ready yet. They could also have been testing us to see if we were willing to go to the aid of those we have formed alliances with, however informal those alliances might be. And if they intend to attack us directly, we should still have a few months to prepare. A war machine as large as theirs is difficult to stop once it is in motion, but it also takes some time to get going. Our spies in the Eternal Empire’s territory have not seen the kind of build up we would expect in the lead up to a full-blown offensive although you can never be sure when it comes to spies. They might have been deceived, and the emperor is a clever and cunning man.”

  “So the proxy wars will drag on then?” Timmy rubbed the bridge of his nose. There was a reason he’d done his best to avoid politics until now – it was a horrible pain to deal with. “Remind me again, why did I get involved in all of this?”

  “Because you need a pardon and because you think that the Eternal Empire is run by a jerk.”

  “There is that,” Timmy muttered. “The emperor might be one of the most powerful mages in the world, but he is still a jerk. Everton has been its own nation for centuries. They need to get over losing and move on.” He dragged in a deep breath. He’d been in his laboratory trying to come up with another plan for acquiring a kraken corpse when Gerald had burst in. “So do you have any good news? If I had wanted to be depressed, I’d have asked Gerald to contact James.”

  “Possibly.” Vicky’s magic swept out, bathing the area in blinding light, as she checked to see if they were being spied upon. “I believe that we will soon have the location of the artefact we discussed at your castle, possibly inside of a week. Once we get it, I’ll deliver the news personally since we can’t afford to have this knowledge slip out.”

  “If they know that we’ve found it, they’ll move it.” Timmy reached for a jug of water and then winced. He’d picked up a jug of… bits and pieces. He needed to be more careful about drinking anything since he was still in his lab. He peered around. Ah, the water was over there. “I’ll talk to you later then. Something has come up.” His attention shifted to one of the large cages that lined the edge of this lab. “Wait… I don’t suppose you know anyone who could catch me a kraken before this year’s hunting season is over, do you?”

  Vicky laughed. “I’m afraid not.” She pointed behind him. “I can see what’s come up. I’ll leave you to it. See you later.”

  “See you later.”

  Timmy waited for the scrying sphere to deactivate before he turned back to the cage. One of his recalcitrant zombies had broken out of its cage. It thundered toward him. Hmm. In retrospect, he should have dealt with it immediately instead of shoving it into a cage, but he’d been hopeful that it wasn’t disobedient so much as angry. He could work with angry. Oh well. He stretched his shoulders and lifted his shovel. Pummelling a rebellious zombie lion-bear-griffin into submission was not going to be easy. At least he’d get his daily dose of exercise
out of the way.

  “Okay.” Timmy pointed his shovel at the zombie. “Let’s get on with it.” He stopped when he realised Gerald was still there. The bureaucrat had stayed in case there was anything Vicky wanted to say to him, but nothing had come up. “Ah, Gerald.” The older man trembled and pointed at the zombie looming over them. “Um… see those shelves over there? You should go hide behind them. This won’t take too long.”

  Gerald nodded once and then grabbed his scrying sphere before he made a beeline for the shelves Timmy had pointed at. “Should I call for help?”

  “Get Katie here if you can,” Timmy replied as he ducked under the zombie’s claws and severed one of its arms with his shovel. Odd. Cutting its arm off had been a little too easy. He must not have put the zombie together as well as he thought he had. Then again, this zombie did have eight limbs, so it could afford to lose a couple. “I doubt that she’ll arrive in time to help me fight, but she should get here in time to help me clean up.”

  It turned out to be another week and a half before Timmy called everyone back into the dining room. He’d had it reinforced with every rune, seal, and enchantment that he could think of to ward off eavesdropping and other forms of intrusion. Vicky had arrived to deliver the news in person. Well, not exactly. She had come in her astral form – as a woman made of light.

  “Would you perhaps be able to tone that down?” Amanda asked. Katie reached out with her shadows to provide the vampire with some shade from the holy light Vicky emitted. “I am an ancient vampire, so the light you’re radiating cannot kill me. It is, however, rather unpleasant.”

  “My apologies.” Vicky dimmed her glow as Spot toddled forward and poked her with one claw. He recoiled in surprise. She didn’t feel like a person, nor did she smell like one.

  Timmy reached for a bowl of cereal and some milk. It was almost time for lunch, but he might as well eat something while he was here, and cereal sounded good. The others also helped themselves to some food. For once, Spot was the only one who wasn’t eating as he tried to puzzle out what was different about Vicky. It must have been very confusing for him since Timmy knew that the dragon’s eyes could perceive things like magic – and astral beings like Vicky – much more keenly than the eyes of normal people.

  “As you are already aware,” Vicky said. “We have been searching for the Eye. Thanks to the efforts of our spies and other operatives in conjunction with the magic of a certain councillor, we believe we have found it. Avraniel, I’m sure you know the councillor I’m talking about. His name is Eltaros.”

  The elf snorted, and the apple she was holding turned into ash. “That bastard tried to imprison me fifty years ago. He almost succeeded too. But I got the last laugh. I kicked his ass and set his ass on fire. It’s a pity that a limp-dicked bastard like him survived. Normally, when I set someone on fire they die.” Avraniel reached for another apple. “Although that might have been for the best. There’s no damn way you’d be willing to give me a pardon if I’d roasted one of your precious fellow councillors.”

  “Yes,” Vicky said. “It would have been difficult to issue you with a pardon if you’d succeeded in doing more than hurting his pride. As it is, if anyone asks, say that you weren’t trying to set him on fire. You were merely escaping, and he happened to be in the way.” She coughed. “Anyway, his magic is very good at finding things, especially if he knows what to look for.” Vicky smirked, and Timmy couldn’t help but smile. She’d never admit it, but Vicky enjoyed this game of cat and mouse with the Eternal Empire. He’d never seen her lose a game like this, and he was hoping the trend would continue. “Thanks to a few suggestions from Amanda, we were able to try a few things that we wouldn’t have thought of to help locate the Eye.”

  “The Eye is enormously powerful.” Amanda rolled the stem of her wine glass between her fingers. “When I damaged it, I was trying to destroy it. I failed, but repairing the Eye would require a very specific set of circumstances – which ought to narrow down the possible locations quite substantially. And although they can try to conceal it, if someone with powerful enough magic knew where to look and what to look for, hiding it would be all but impossible.”

  “Indeed. We have a location.” Vicky waved one hand, and a glowing map of the world appeared over the dining table. Spot eyed the map suspiciously and bobbed his head up and down in question. “It’s an illusion, Spot,” Vicky explained. “Well, not exactly. It’s a construct of semi-solid light created by magic, but illusion is close enough.” She patted Spot on the head and walked through the table to better point at a specific location. It never ceased to amaze Timmy how drastically she could alter her tangibility in this form.

  The location she pointed to was between the main continents. It was an isolated location, not particularly close to any of them. It was in the middle of nowhere, really. Was there even an island there? If there was, Timmy had never heard of it before. “This is where we believe the Eye is being kept. We think that the Eternal Empire created an island here that sits atop several powerful currents of magic. The island may have been created as long as two decades ago. They could use those currents, along with several other unique properties of the area, to repair and maintain an artefact as powerful as the Eye.” She frowned. “It is also possible that they could activate the Eye and still hit Everton if the Eye is at full strength.”

  “That’s crazy,” Katie whispered. “How can it reach so far?”

  Amanda grimaced. “The Eye’s design was a gift from the Lord of the Abyss, Katie, and the finest mages and artificers in the Eternal Empire helped built it. It is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful weapons in the world. In retrospect, I should never have agreed to help in its construction. The Lord of the Abyss is truly mighty, but his gifts always demand a terrible price.”

  “Our main advantage,” Vicky continued. “Is that they do not know we have located the Eye. As far as we can tell, they believe that no one – including nations besides our own – knows about the island.”

  “I’m guessing you want us to head over there and do our thing.” Avraniel snapped her fingers. A tongue of flame leapt toward the ceiling. “We can do that, and I’ve been looking forward to cutting loose again.”

  “That’s the idea. However, this will be far trickier than any of your previous missions. None of you have ever been to the island, and we have no one who has. That means that we do not know what defences the island has. We do know that it is protected by anti-scrying magic, so any attempt to do more than simply divine its location will give us away. For all we know, they could have an entire army camped there with a full fleet anchored off the island.”

  “We can’t take on those odds,” Timmy said. “Even with Avraniel throwing fire everywhere.”

  “I’ll have you know that I’ve burned a fleet to the waterline before,” the elf growled. “Stupid pirate bastards thought they could interrupt my holiday. Jerks. I showed them, all right.”

  Timmy winced and made a mental note to never interrupt Avraniel when she was on holiday. “I’m going to assume you have a plan, Vicky.”

  “Yes, I do, although I am open to suggestions.” Vicky’s smile was distinctly toothy. It was a little too similar to Avraniel’s for his liking, and it did not ease his worries at all when he glanced over to find the same expression mirrored on the elf’s face. “The Eternal Empire has begun to flex its naval muscle off the coast of one of our allies. They wish to improve the experience and quality of their navy before staring their war. We intend to send a fleet of our own. I doubt that they’ll be foolish enough to engage, but they won’t want to appear weak. I expect them to posture for battle a short distance beyond the border. I plan to give them a scare and return the favour by posturing for an attack of our own. They might believe we are desperate enough to actually commit to it. With any luck, they’ll call for reinforcements. We’ll maintain the pressure there – and elsewhere – until they reposition their fleets, which will give you the best possible chance of reaching the
island.”

  “Lovely.” Timmy had a spoonful of his cereal. “Send the Council to handle this.”

  “The Council’s movements are impossible to conceal for long. We’re simply too prominent. If we move to attack ourselves, they will evacuate the island and take the Eye with them. Who knows how long it will take us to find it again? However, if we attack with a smaller force of people less likely to be under surveillance, then we have a higher chance of succeeding. Don’t worry. You won’t be going on this mission alone. You’ll have a handpicked taskforce to help you this time. You’ll be meeting them in Chesterton once we think an opportunity to attack has arisen. You’ll have several ships at your disposal.”

  Timmy studied the map intently. “Do you still confiscate pirate ships?” he asked.

  “Yes, we do. What do you have in mind?”

  He pointed to an island between Chesterton and the island where the Eye was being kept. “Bring some confiscated pirate ships to this island. If we’re going to do this, we might need to sacrifice a few ships on the way in and on the way out. I can have my zombies crew those ships. This island is also a whaling port. I’ll contact some… friends of mine and see if I can reserve some whale corpses. I have an idea.”

  “I see. I’ll do that, and please let me know if any of you think of anything else.” Vicky floated back above the table. “There is a possibility that the naval posturing will develop into an actual battle. It wouldn’t be the first time that plans like this have gone wrong. To ensure we are not outmatched, James and I will be with the fleet. I imagine the Eternal Empire will be deploying several Lords of Magic as well.”

  “Good idea.” Timmy looked down at his cereal. Damn. He’d spent too long talking. It was getting soggy. Never mind. He could always feed it to Spot. “Things are going to get very interesting.”