Two Necromancers, a Dwarf Kingdom, and a Sky City

by L. G. Estrella

  “Yes. Solar dragons are what you get from an inferno dragon and a dawn dragon. Considering how rare dawn dragons are – they’re supposed to be a subtype of light dragon, and light dragons are already rare – you can imagine how rare solar dragons are. In my entire lifetime, I’ve only seen a handful of scales from a real solar dragon, and the prices on those… well, I’d rather not sell my castle for some scales.

  “But how can you recognise solar dragon blood if you’ve never seen a living one before?” Katie asked.

  “Solar dragon blood is one of the rarest substances in the world – and it is also a key ingredient in certain… esoteric rituals. I’ve read plenty of descriptions about what it is supposed to look like although I never thought I’d see any.”

  “Why use solar dragon blood?” Avraniel put one hand on the bow. The crystal shimmered ever so slightly at her touch. “If their scales are so expensive, their blood must be worth even more.”

  “You’re right. A vial of solar dragon blood would be worth stupidly huge amounts of money. The reason it’s used in this bow is because runes and seals made using solar dragon blood can channel light and heat far better than anything in existence except maybe the blood of an empyreal dragon, and no one has seen one of those in centuries. From what I can make out of the runes and seals – I can recognise around a quarter of them since they seem to be older, more archaic forms of the most ancient runes and seals I know – the bow takes your magic, condenses and compresses it into projectiles, and then propels it without those projectiles losing their focus or cohesion. Like Katie said, the projectiles would have incredible range and power. Moreover, their accuracy would be absolutely incredible. What makes this bow so special is that I can’t see an upper limit on how much power it can channel. I’ve examined magical weapons before. The ones that rely on runes and seals always have a limit, a maximum amount of power they can channel before they break. Because of that there are always runes and seals in place to cut off the absorption of power. This bow doesn’t have any of those, so either the people who made it were incompetent…”

  “Or it doesn’t have a limit,” Katie whispered.

  “Exactly.” Her master hunched over the bow and continued to pore over the runes and seals within it. “The drain would be absolutely enormous, but it should be able to channel however much magic you want to give it. Most elves would be exhausted after firing even a handful of lesser arrows with this thing. You? Your magical reserves are gigantic, far beyond those of any other elf I’ve met. You’d run out of opponents before you ran out of magic because of how much damage this bow can do with even a single arrow. And as for its maximum output, I’m tempted to ask Vicky if we can find a nice, abandoned mountain range somewhere to see if we can recreate those legends Amanda mentioned. And whatever this bow is made of… it must be something special to be able to harness so much magic without breaking.” His brows furrowed. “I’m tempted to say it’s made of star crystal, but star crystal is so rare that I can’t be sure.”

  Katie went very, very still, as did everyone else at the table except Spot. She’d seen Avraniel blow up entire towns in a single attack. The thought of that same level of power being focused and concentrated was terrifying, and the thought of the elf being able to attack across large distances… Katie was going to have nightmares for weeks about huge explosions reshaping the countryside.

  “This is the greatest bow ever.” Avraniel cradled the weapon lovingly. “I can’t wait to try it out.”

  “Speak for yourself.” Katie shuddered. “Just remember not to blow us up while you’re using it.” She tilted her head to one side. “But it seems a bit odd for the elves to make it since powerful fire magic is quite rare amongst elves.”

  “It was probably made that way to make it more effective against their enemies from the Dread Abyss. From what I remember, they were foul beings of darkness and corruption, so fire and light should have been potent against them. In any case, it’s far better to have the bow in our hands than in Lord Tarrick’s.” Amanda paused as she remembered the colossal towers of flame that Avraniel had unleashed before getting the bow. “Or perhaps not. I suppose we’ll find out.”

  Katie nodded in agreement. “Hopefully, we’ll live through the experience.”

  Her master chuckled. “The radiant phoenix blood serves much the same purpose as the solar dragon blood, but combining the two should make the overall effect even stronger, as well as more volatile. I wish I could speak to whoever made this bow. Whoever they were, they had an incredible grasp of how to combine runes, seals, and materials.”

  “Sadly,” Amanda replied. “The Elves of the Forever Wood lost their battle against the Dread Abyss. They ended up having to abandon the place, and nobody has entered the Dread Wood in centuries. Well, that’s not exactly right. Plenty of people have gone in. None have come out.”

  “Sounds wonderful,” Avraniel muttered. “Did you take good care of Chomp, people eater? He looks okay, but I’ll be taking a closer look at him later to make sure. He better not be hurt.”

  “Chomp is perfectly fine although some of the protective charms and other defences on his collars might need to be replaced or reinforced. He was very helpful.”

  “Good. I don’t know where I can get another dog like him, and Spot doesn’t like it when his friends get hurt.” The dragon growled and bared his teeth. They were very big teeth.

  Amanda sighed and patted the dragon on his snout. “Rest assured, Spot, your friend is fine. He’s simply sleeping because he’s not used to so much running around. Labyrinth hounds are typically watchdogs, not hunting dogs. He might also be feeling sluggish because of how much he ate.”

  “And by ate you mean…?” her master asked.

  “Some of the elite guards,” Amanda replied. “And in fairness, they were trying to kill him, so they cannot complain about being eaten.”

  “Fair enough.” Her master stretched. Like all of them, except Amanda, he looked a little sleepy. “That should be enough for tonight. We can cover the rest tomorrow. For now, get some sleep, and I’ll see all of you in the morning.” He grinned tiredly at Katie. “We wouldn’t want you to miss any of those precious growing hours.”

  Katie glared as frostily as she could. “I’ll be taller than you one day, master.”

  “Katie, I’ve met your parents. Unless you’re secretly an adopted giant, there’s no way you’ll end up taller than me.” His lips twitched. “And, no, cutting off my legs won’t count.”

  Her master had rented a manor in the city for them to use during the mission, and Katie headed back to her room. They had thoroughly searched the building earlier, and they’d put up all manner of magical and non-magical defences too. They even had some rats and zombies on patrol. Right now, the only thing she was interested in was crawling into a warm, soft bed for the night.

  However…

  She found her mind drifting back to the compound. The people who’d managed to survive Avraniel’s assault had gazed at the elf in a combination of awe and terror. They had called her the Demon Elf, an incredibly apt and impressive title. Katie scowled. She didn’t have a title yet. It wasn’t surprising. She was still an apprentice. But it was fun to think about what sort of title she might get. Hopefully, it would be suitably impressive and terrifying. There were many necromancers who referred to her master as the Lord of the Horde due to his ability to command huge numbers of zombies with incredible precision and coordination. What title would they give her?

  She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She didn’t look very intimidating, but that would change. She grinned and drew herself up to her full height before flaring her shadows majestically and striking a pose. “Beware the power of Katie… Katie… the… um…” She looked over to the side where Rembrandt was tending to his weapons. “What’s a good word that starts with a ‘K’, Rembrandt?” The rat paused for a moment and then squeaked his reply. “I don’t think Katie the Killer sounds very impressive. I’m a necromancer, not a
serial killer.” He shrugged. Naming things wasn’t one of his specialties. He offered another suggestion. “Kaleidoscope? That sounds interesting, but I don’t think it fits…” Her eyes widened. “I know!” She flared her shadows once more and struck her pose again. “Beware the awesome and terrible power of… Katie the Kaleidoscope of Darkness, the World’s Mightiest Necromancer!” She smirked. “Not bad. I’ll have to remember that for when I get older –”

  “Ahem.”

  Katie froze and turned very, very slowly. Her master was standing there. “Uh… hi.” Her eye twitched. She must have forgotten to shut the door. “Did you just get here?” The question she wanted to ask but couldn’t was whether or not he’d seen her striking a pose and announcing her makeshift title.

  “Yes. I wanted to remind you that I’d be meeting Arthur and his mother at noon.” Katie breathed a sigh of relief. Good. He hadn’t seen or heard anything. “Although I wouldn’t want to wake you up too early. Who knows what the mighty and terrifying Kaleidoscope of Darkness might do if she’s cranky?”

  Katie’s face did a wonderful impression of a tomato. “Master! I… um… I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  To her horror, he mimicked her pose perfectly. “Fear not, your master, Timmy the Triangle of Terror can teach you all about being scary and menacing.”

  Katie tried to reply, but the only sound she could make was an embarrassed squawk that drew Spot’s attention. The dragon toddled over to her door and tilted his head to one side. Was she posing again? Can I pose too?

  “Not a chance.” Avraniel was right behind Spot. “You are not posing, Spot. You’re a dragon. You don’t need to pose. You’ll be terrifying enough in a few years. I don’t want you becoming one of those dumb asses who poses in the middle of a fight or something.”

  But it looks fun. Spot chortled. And the twerp does it all the time when she’s on her own.

  Katie honestly wished the ground would open up and swallow her, but alas, her master wasn’t kind enough to use his earth magic to spare her any further embarrassment. “Please, just… just stop.”

  “It’s all right.” Her master patted her on the back. “You’re a necromancer. It’s a phase all of us go through. I’ll admit that after I took over the castle, there was a part of me that was tempted to go all in on a more menacing outfit before realising that overly long and elaborate cloaks or capes are simply easier ways to trip over or get strangled.” He struck another pose. “Next time, tell me, and we can practice together. I am your master, after all.”

  “Gah!” Katie couldn’t take it anymore. Her shadows surged out and shoved them all out of the room. Slamming the door shut, she threw herself onto her bed and buried her face in a pillow. “Ugh.” Rembrandt patted her on the head sympathetically and offered to give her lessons on how to be more menacing. If a rat could intimidate people, surely she could too. “Maybe… but isn’t it kind of pathetic if I need help looking more menacing from a rat? No offence.” Rembrandt snickered. When she put it like that, it did sound rather pathetic. “I’m going to go to sleep.” Hopefully, it would all be forgotten by the time morning came. Her master would probably let it go. It was Avraniel she was worried about.

  Unfortunately, sleep did not come easily. Instead, she decided to try to get the embarrassment out of her mind by reading through a book she’d recovered from the compound. Some of the rats had crawled into the bed beside her while Rembrandt methodically reviewed all of the security measures he and the others had put in place.

  The Tome of Fallen Stars was a fascinating treatise that delved into the truly ancient and esoteric lore surroundings stars that fell from the sky. Such stars often fragmented as they fell, and it was only rarely that they left anything behind. Star crystals were immensely rare objects that could be used to craft relics of unfathomable power. It made her wonder if her master was right about the Bow of the Sun being one such relic. It would certainly fit. Of course, she’d never seen a star crystal before, and she wasn’t sure if her master had either. Even if he had, there was no way he’d seen one as big as the bow. He would have told her if he had. But if the legends were to be believed, sometimes the heart of the falling star survived, and the soul of the star lived on inside it. That soul would take on another form after falling to earth and become a being of incredible power. Well, that’s what the legends said. Katie had never seen any solid evidence of such beings although the dwarves of the Broken Mountains had many stories about an ancient dwarf who had, apparently, been born from the heart of a fallen star.

  Sam had even looked into the matter, noting that the stars themselves often influenced eldritch entities or at least heralded the powers that could affect them. There were a host of potent rituals that could only be performed at certain times and under certain conditions, which was why both she and her master had grown reasonably adept in astronomy. Their next ritual – which was scheduled to take place during an especially rare celestial convergence – was designed to grab corpses from other dimensions. It would be fascinating to see if those corpses could be added to regular corpses to create functional zombies, assuming necromancy worked on them at all.

  As tiredness finally began to overcome her, she yawned and put her book away. Rembrandt hopped over and took her glasses. He put them on the bedside table and nuzzled her cheek. He might be fully grown, but she had plenty of growing to do. A good night’s sleep was important.

  “Good night, guys,” she whispered as she reached out with her shadows to douse the light. Rembrandt squeaked his reply and then moved to watch over the window. The rats had already closed it and covered it with protective magic, but it was still the most likely entry point for an assassin, not that she expected one to come after her here. “Thank you for working so hard tonight.” She yawned and closed her eyes. Rembrandt was very dutiful, if a bit too serious sometimes. “If Spot knocks on the door, let him in.”

  The dragon seemed to think she was very cuddly, and he would occasionally sneak in to curl up to her if his mother or Chomp weren’t available. Her master hypothesised that dragon hatchlings slept curled up to their siblings in their nests, but Spot didn’t have any siblings, and she was the only other child in the group. It had been alarming the first few times he’d done it, but she’d gotten used to it, and Spot was surprisingly cuddly himself despite being a dragon.

  Sure enough, she awakened later to find the dragon crawling into bed beside her.

  Mother is taking Chomp for a walk, but I’m still sleepy. The dragon yawned and draped one wing over her. Cuddly.

  Katie closed her eyes again. Spot was very warm, and there was something soothing about the strong, steady beat of his draconic heart. “Just don’t chew on my hair, okay?” It was still dark outside. Hopefully, Avraniel was taking Chomp for a walk and not getting into more trouble. Her master and the others would not be happy if they woke to find half the city ablaze.

  Okay. Spot buried his snout in her hair. Each breath he took reminded her of a warm spring breeze rustling past. A low rumble of contentment ran through him, and he snuggled closer. If someone had told Katie a year ago that she would be a dragon’s teddy bear, she’d have called them insane. Then again, Spot wasn’t a regular dragon. She felt his whole body relax as he shifted into a more comfortable position. Sleepy.

  * * *

  Timmy was waiting for Arthur at the manor. The others were all occupied, but he’d set time aside for this meeting. Some people might have called it foolish, but meeting Arthur here was the best option. He’d already fortified this place, and nobody could get close to it without him knowing. More to the point, he needed to impress upon Arthur and his mother that working for him was their best course of action. The boy and his mother turned up five minutes early, and Arthur looked like he was about to throw up.

  “So,” Timmy began. “You made it back here in one piece.”

  Arthur twitched. The trip back had not been pleasant. Wolves would have gotten him at least twice, but Timmy’s zombies h
ad quietly dealt with them before they could eat the boy. “Um… I… yeah.” He gulped. “So… uh… what now?” He paused. “And does my mother really have to be here?”

  Timmy thought it spoke well of him that as terrified as Arthur was, he was still more concerned about her than himself. His gaze shifted to the boy’s mother. She was a few years older than him, and Arthur must have gotten all of his looks from his father because they did not look very similar at all. The boy was all gangly limbs and teenage awkwardness. Even once he grew up, he was likely to end up looking more than a bit scruffy. His mother, though, was a lovely woman with long, silky hair, picturesque features, and a good figure. The only things that detracted from her appearance were how pale she was and how she occasionally shook and coughed. They must be symptoms of the illness she had. He’d have to ask her about it. “She does because what I have to say concerns her too.”

  “It’s all right,” Arthur’s mother said. She seemed to realise the predicament they were in. “My name is Dorothy. Please, forgive my son if he has offended you.” She bowed her head, and Arthur hurried to do the same. “Please, he’s all I have in this world. If you could spare him…”

  “Raise your heads, both of you.” Timmy gestured at the food on the table. “And have something to eat and drink. You two look like you could use a good meal. And relax. If I wanted to kill you or harm either of you, I’d have done it by now.” As they slowly began to eat and drink, he continued. “I’ll be blunt. In my line of work, information is a valuable commodity. Obtained at the right time and given to the right people, information can be worth more than gold. Unfortunately, obtaining reliable information in this area isn’t easy.”

  Dorothy nodded. “The crime lords control almost everything in the Combine. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember.”

  “Yes. However, the power of the crime lords – at least in this city – is about to be broken. You may have noticed what happened to Lord Tarrick’s compound last night. Something similar will be happening to his fortress fairly soon too. When that happens, I want to have eyes and ears in this area.” He snapped his fingers, and one of the ninja rats appeared. Arthur flinched away, and Timmy grinned. The boy was right to be wary of the rodent.