A Different Kind of Deadly

by Nicole Martinsen

"Leo..." His next words came with the reverence of a man who had stumbled upon a miracle. "I think the Eyes can bring Undead back to life."

  20: Brave Failure

  "What do you mean by that?"

  Diana rushed across the platform, grabbing me so hard by the shoulders that I felt her fingers denting the pauldrons on either side.

  "Marvin?" Red flecks danced in her irises like flying embers. "What do you mean by they can bring Undead back to life?"

  I shook free of her grip, not by force, but by the simple action of taking a step back. Diana snapped back to her senses and released me from her lethal hold; all eyes were now on me.

  "Thinking that the Eyes were a power source was too simplistic," I began explaining. I raised my palms to the group, straining the unspoken point that this was all theory based upon what few leads we had. "It's like a reservoir and a channel all in one; the Eyes can animate -or amplify- anything they've been inserted to. Theoretically, they should be able to resurrect someone who already died."

  "Resurrecting the dead is one thing, Marvin," Leo cautioned. This was the beginning of an often-held debate in Nethermount: the semantics of life, death, and everything in between. "If you want to be technical about it, necromancers resurrect the dead all the time, but it's a different state of being, which is why we call them undead and not re-lifed or some crap like that."

  I recognized the circular argument; Leo took his profession too seriously to let it drop, so I decided to end it before Diana had to get involved.

  "The bottom line is that the Eyes are an extremely powerful artifact," I said. "They're the reservoir, channel, and catalyst all in one. Razitar was born blind; the Eyes changed his state of being so he could see."

  Leo grumbled, but he couldn't refute that statement. The Eyes could recreate the person in possession of them.

  "One problem." Diana folded her arms. "The Eyes were torn straight out of his head. The magic in them overwhelmed Razitar's system and killed him outright. He was a powerful mage, the kind that could take out the vanguard of an army if he wanted. Something managed to get close enough to pluck them out with surgical precision in a matter of seconds."

  I turned around and knocked my head against the glass.

  "Diana, don't we have enough enemies to worry about?"

  "Marv's right for once," Leo vouched of my behalf. "We don't have enough time to think about everything in our way. Once we get all our supplies we only have two days head start before Koronos sics his homicidal Doll on us."

  The urgency of our quest hit Jiki full force since our arrival. The Rusalka grabbed me and Leo by the wrist. Diana followed along by default.

  "There's a s-s-shortcut to Purilo's from here," she said, leading us through a crevasse hidden behind a veil of moss. Glow worms hung from high shelves in the stone, basking the hall in an eery blue light. "Tell him about K-Koronos. He s-should help free of c-charge."

  "Purilo has a score to settle with him too?" Diana asked. I heard the incredulous smile in her voice. "I thought he just hated everyone equally."

  "He was s-s-stupid enough to s-strike a deal with him," Jiki spat. "Teach me Alchemy, he s-said! What does he have to s-show for it? A hand made of s-s-solid gold, his middle finger out and c-cast in precious metal for the world to s-see."

  "That's pretty epic, actually," Leo whispered to me. I bit back a smile, but a glance at Diana told me we weren't the only ones who found this funny.

  The tunnel stretched for nearly a quarter of a mile, leading farther and farther from the heart of Krisenburg. This Purilo character really liked his privacy.

  We heard the sound of rushing water as we approached the final bend, coming by a waterfall. Jiki and Diana took the lead, passing through the curtain. Leo and I followed dutifully, startled to find that we were completely dry on the other side.

  "Oh MY-" Diana balked. Everyone turned to the nearest wall, where we similarly did a double-take. The wall was overtaken by the silhouette of a giant phallus.

  In response to Diana's voice, it jerked, disappearing a moment later. We turned around to see a- well... nothing.

  "Diana?!" It was a male voice. Leo and I craned our necks and watched as an incredibly short figure appeared from a neighboring hall. "I heard a rumor that you were back, but I didn't think you actually-!" He fixed his beady eyes on the Rusalka in our midst, his elderly face contorting into one of acute displeasure. "Jiki."

  "Purilo," she responded. "Diana isn't your only guest. This is Leo and Marvin; they c-came all the way from Nethermount."

  "Necromancers?" Purilo asked, his voice raised in mild interest. He surveyed the two of us, finally stopping at Diana, where he kissed the back of her hand. "No matter. It's been ages, my dear."

  "I'm afraid we aren't here for pleasantries," Diana remarked, offering a slightly uncomfortable smile. "Koronos is giving us a bit of trouble. We were hoping you'd be able to enchant our gear before we set off for the Salamander Nest."

  "KORONOS?" Purilo's eyes, a startling shade of amber, burst into fiery life. "That EVIL, SCHEMING, TWO-TIMING BASTARD!"

  "Demons c-can only prey upon the s-shortcomings of others," Jiki said nonchalantly. "Blame your own greed."

  "Don't make me get my mop you overgrown puddle," he muttered. Purilo returned his attention to Diana while walking beneath a curtain to an adjoining chamber. He waved behind for us to follow him into this office setting. "Salamander Nest, you say. So you're after the Eyes?"

  "That's our main objective, yes," Diana said.

  Purilo eyed me and Leo sharply.

  "Featherweight and Glacial Touch."

  "What?" I asked.

  "The enchantments you'll need if you want to last a day in the Nest," he sighed exasperatedly. "Now give me that damn armor before I change my mind!"

  It was the first time I saw Leo flustered; I was already so accustomed to being yelled at that I didn't respond over half the time to new commands. We stripped into our underclothes, handing the little man our gear. Diana did the same with her chest piece.

  "There's food in the larder," Purilo said, pulling on a set of goggles. "I can see you're in a rush, and I need to get started if you want to leave in the next hour. Leave me."

  One by one we filed out of the room, following Jiki who seemed to be a common visitor in this hermit's lair. But before I could touch the curtain I felt an invisible force blocking my way; the familiar sensation of static told me magic was at work here.

  "You stay," Purilo said from his table. "You have the Ouborous on your wrists."

  I looked down, upset at the reminder. The snakes coiled in their usual manner, and it made my skin itch just to look at them.

  "I do," I acknowledged.

  Purilo grabbed a pipe from a nearby stand, lighting the end with a runestone. He puffed twice, each time forming perfect rings of smoke.

  "What was the basis of your deal with Koronos?"

  "Why do you need to know?"

  He unveiled his golden finger, frozen in an eternal gesture of obscenity. "I did the same, but unlike you I was intelligent enough to render our contract void."

  "You can do that?"

  Purilo snorted, scoring glyphs into the surface of our armor. "Devils work in loopholes. If you want to be free of their influence you have to beat them at their game. The fact that Koronos found it worth making a bargain with you tells me you have potential to aspire to much greater things than the freak-show in Krisenburg."

  "As of right now," I said, "the only thing I aspire to is to come out of this alive."

  Purilo threw his head back, laughing so heartily that he seemed to grow taller because of it.

  "So tell me about the mess you're in -we'll see if we can't pull another one out from under that bastard's feet!"

  I looked at the ground, fearful of this opportunity of a helping hand. I've grown suspicious of those who claimed to have my best interests at heart, but found little reason to mind Purilo's offer. It was truly amazing how people could be made to cooperat
e in the face of a common enemy.

  "I promised to turn Diana back into a human."

  Ding!

  Purilo's hammer fell to the ground with the sound of a tiny bell. It was quiet for a long minute. Finally, he removed his goggles and crossed his arms.

  "Once a person becomes a Doll there's no going back."

  "You can't know that for certain."

  "I do," said Purilo. He glanced from side to side. "What I'm about to tell you must remain in this room, am I understood?"

  I nodded.

  "I've made Dolls, Marvin. I tried to get to the Eyes myself, so I needed the extra hands. I've also spent the better half of my life trying to understand the process and undo it myself. I know how you necromancers work. Bodies are complicated machines, and you're talented mechanics -but the composition of a Doll isn't even remotely similar. It defies all known laws and conventions."

  I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was Purilo telling me I was dead before I even started?

  "There must be something," I insisted. "How does the transformation work?"

  Purilo shook his head at my eagerness, returning to his task at hand. Rather than ignore me, as I expected, he coached me through the process.

  "Extremities first," he began. "Always at the point furthest from the heart. Nerves shut down. There's no pain, just numbing, as though your limbs are falling asleep. Everything calcifies from that point, joints fold in and form organic bearings. The entire process takes about a half hour to complete."

  "Can it be interrupted?"

  "I never tried," he admitted. "It's traumatic enough; I'm not the monsters from House Myalo or House Ponos. I've never gotten a rise out of seeing needless suffering."

  "You're a lot nicer than Jiki let on."

  "Bring her up again and I'll prove her right on that count," he warned. "Damn water spirits, always finding ways to ruin my research..."

  I yawned.

  Almost by magic, and by now I suspected there was a great deal in this place, a cot appeared not far from where I was standing. I blinked at its soft cushions, swaying at the sight of it.

  "Sleep for a while; you have a long trek ahead of you," Purilo ordered. "If you're brave enough to bet your soul with the forces of Hell then it's the least I can do."

  I smiled weakly, sinking into the mattress. Something about Purilo's statement swam around in my head over the next several minutes. It disturbed me, but not in the usual way. It hit me with a startled jolt that this was the first time anyone had called me brave.

  Me.

  Marvin the coward. Marvin the fool. Marvin the failure.

  A few days in the Moor of Souls was changing all of it. Truly, Necessity was a marvelous teacher.

  Marvin the brave, huh?

  If I only had two more days to live, which seemed to be the case no matter how I looked at it, then I guess I'd rather be a brave failure than a cowardly fool. Funny how staring Death in the face makes a man stop caring about what others think of him. More and more, I realized how unhappy I'd been chasing the approval of others while trying to dodge their expectations.

  This was my life, and only as its running out am I starting to understand this thing called living.

  21: Till We Meet Again

  I didn't need to open my eyes to know I was being carried. I was greeted by Uhh's crumbling facade, prompting me to check for blistering sores on the parts of my body in contact with his corrosive limbs.

  I was in the armor Jiki had given us earlier; you'd think I would've recalled being put back into it. Rather than weighty sheets of tanned leather and scale, the material felt light -almost nonexistent. The suit reverberated with the silent hum of enchantments, and it was with a bemused sense of awe that I came to understand the genius of Purilo's craft.

  "Had a nice nap, Princess?"

  I shifted my focus to Leo, whose face was hidden beneath a pall of darkness. The only light that came through this part of the Moor came from distant rivers of acid, and the glint of crystal embedded in the cavern walls.

  "How long was I out?"

  "A whole day."

  "A day?" I gasped, shifting my weight into a somewhat upright position. "What did Purilo do to me that made me sleep that long?"

  "Easy, Marv. Half-pint didn't do anything to you," said Leo. "The stress just wound you a little too tight. Purilo was an ass, but his place is probably the safest in the entire Moor. You felt safe enough to let yourself recover. We all did."

  It was a reasonable explanation.

  "I wish I could've said goodbye to him and Jiki, though."

  "You make it sound like they're your last words."

  "They probably are," I snorted, troubled by my calmness on the matter. "I've got a day left before Will comes to get his revenge on me -for a crime I don't remember doing, and then Koronos gets my soul for the rest of eternity."

  Leo slapped me on the back.

  "C'mon, you. If you really wanna say goodbye to the guys back in Krisenburg then do it yourself."

  "Now?"

  "Of course not now, but later." I heard the smile, but I couldn't see it. "And then, a few weeks later, see them again so you can say goodbye a second time, then a third, and a fourth, and on and on, till you're old enough and need to become undead yourself."

  I chuckled, "Then it really isn't goodbye, is it?"

  Leo scratched his head. "You know how I got brown hair instead of white, Marv?"

  I made a face at the sudden change in conversation. "Yeah, what about it?"

  "Well every couple generations the more adventurous necromancers from Nethermount go topside to find mates; freshen up the gene pool, you know? My mother was one of the barbarians. Lived with her until I was four when my dad came to take me back."

  "So that's how you got your brown hair."

  "Yup. But what I'm trying to get at is, in my mother's language there really isn't a word for goodbye, or at least how we know it."

  I furrowed my brow.

  "That's... strange. So what do they say?"

  "Urah," said Leo. "The closest translation would probably be something like until we meet again."

  It was surprisingly sentimental. Like many, I always begged the barbarian tribes as, well, barbaric. Having taken a good long look at my own community, as well as the one I found in Krisenburg, I'm led to believe that at the end of the day we all want the same things. A place to come home to; a sense of belonging.

  Leo's parentage was probably a conversation I lost with years of other memories from when I was growing up. It embarrassed me that I was so consumed by my fear of Nethermount that I ceased considering the individuals living there.

  "I'm sorry, Leo."

  "What for?"

  "For not being a very good friend." I looked at the stalactites above us, ore deposits twinkling like a galaxy unto itself. "There's not a whole lot I regret in life -I didn't do much with it- but I do regret that."

  Leo didn't say anything to that, and I couldn't see his expression in the dark. All I heard was the sound of footsteps. There simply wasn't anything that could be said. Or at least that's what I thought.

  "You put up with my bullshit for years, Marvin. I laugh too loud, I eat too much, I don't try hard enough to fit in..." I caught the movement of Leo's head as he shook it. "Honestly, I never cared about being anyone else but me. But you were the first person who didn't try to stick a label on me. And you were a prodigy and heir to the great House Thanos. It felt... like a miracle, I guess." He shrugged his broad shoulders. "I mean, I noticed you were out of it at dinner a lot, especially after everything that happened with Will, but that didn't change things. It was only recently that I got the feeling that you were annoyed -annoyed by everything."

  "Is that what it looked like?"

  "Yeah, I mean, how was I supposed to know about a crippling phobia like that?" Leo asked me, shoving his hands in his pockets. "So when I saw you walk in with Diana I felt like you were finally taking a bigger interest in our world again. Then I told
you about the Sand Whale and you didn't laugh in my face like everyone else."

  "But I doubted you'd find them," I admitted honestly, unwilling to lie to Leo while he still had the chance to walk away from everything.

  "It doesn't matter, Marv." I heard the strain in his voice as he grasped for words. "To me, a friend is someone I can be myself around. I can take all the bullshit I'm fed on a daily basis, put that to the side, and show my true colors without being afraid of how you'd react. You never called me a necromancer or referred to me by the House I belonged to; from day one I was Leo, just Leo. You're not just my friend, Marvin. You're my very best one."

  "Shit," I said.

  "What?"

  "I can't believe you just made me cry." I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand.

  "They're manly tears, so it's okay."

  I snorted at Leo's reasoning, but was too choked up to say much of anything else.

  "Hurry up, boys!" Diana's voice echoes down the cavern walls. "We're almost there!"

  I raked my brain for the distance we could've traveled in twenty-four hours with our tireless troupe. Forty miles?

  "Leo, how far did we make it?"

  "Eh... about a hundred?"

  I sputtered the number. "How was I asleep if we were going that fast?"

  "I didn't wanna wake you up, so I shot you up with some opium extract."

  "OPIUM?"

  "Oh, so now you don't care about the fact you're going to die in a day."

  "I thought you said I wasn't going to."

  "Hey, all I said was you should live -don't go putting words in my mouth." Leo raised his hands defensively. "You had your doubts about the Sand Whales, I have mine about your rate of survival."

  I rubbed my head sorely, interrupted by the sound of Leo's laughter beating against my skull. Once again, I'd fallen prey to his asinine idea of a joke.

  Golden light flooded the space over the next large hill. Diana stood atop a charred monolith, surveying the land of crackling fire from her vantage point.

  "Welcome to the Salamander Nest, boys," she announced, hopping back down to our level. "We made some good time, but we're going to have to be quick and careful if we want to get to the Eyes before tomorrow."