Two Necromancers, a Dwarf Kingdom, and a Sky City

by L. G. Estrella

  Dorothy had a different reaction. She stared at the rodent in fascination. “Is that… a rat?”

  “Not an ordinary rat – a ninja rat.” Timmy glanced at the rat, and the rat produced a small sword and moved through an impressive display of his skills before tucking the weapon away with his magic. “As you can imagine, ninja rats make excellent spies and assassins. However, even they need a place to work from, and people would be very suspicious if they came across an otherwise well-maintained building that was filled with rats.”

  Dorothy nodded. “It would seem odd. A building full of rats would be more rundown.”

  “To that end, I need someone to watch over a property that I will be purchasing in the city. It won’t be this one. It’s a little too… showy for what I have in mind. However, it should be a fairly spacious house in a good part of the city. The rats will live there and set up a base of operations for themselves and some of my zombies. You’d be amazed by how much you can fit into a normal-sized house if you’re willing to dig a new basement. What I need are people to act as the face of the house, people who can deflect suspicion and meet with certain individuals in this city without arousing suspicion.”

  She put the rest of it together herself. “You want us to do that? But why us?” She frowned faintly and then coughed. “This seems risky. How do you know that you can trust us – not that we’re going to betray you. We’re not in a position to do that.”

  “Exactly.” Timmy folded his hands together. “I believe in the capacity of most people to make decisions that benefit them when those benefits are laid out clearly and the alternatives are far worse.” He looked at Arthur. “Boy, do you want a good, stable life for you and your mother, a life where you won’t have to worry about where your next meal comes from or how you’ll make ends meet?” Arthur swallowed thickly and nodded. “I’m not asking you to do this for free. You would live in the house I purchase, and you would be paid for your services – quite generously, I should add. I think you’ll help me because it is the single best way to help yourselves, and if you do ever decided to betray me, I can always have the rats or my zombies deal with you. But I don’t think it will come to that. You need this opportunity – badly – whereas I can always find someone else.”

  Dorothy wrung her hands. “You’re right. We do need this.” She wavered. “You’re not a crime lord, are you?”

  “No. I’m a necromancer who owns his own castle and has an interest in keeping an eye on things out here. I have no intentions of conquering this area or anything like that. I just want to know exactly what’s going on as quickly as possible.” His gaze sharpened. “What’s wrong with you anyway? It’s clear that you’re sick, but it’s not contagious. Otherwise, Arthur would have it too.”

  “I was travelling with Arthur some years ago when the caravan we were with was attacked by a dragon. We were fortunate enough to survive, but the corruption the dragon unleashed has afflicted me ever since.”

  Timmy blinked. Surely, he couldn’t be this lucky. “You mean the caravan was attacked by a corruption dragon?”

  “That’s what they told us it was.” Dorothy shuddered. “It was a black dragon, and it breathed black fire. Everything it hit withered and died. I was almost caught in one of its attacks, and I ended up breathing in some of the fumes. They told me I was lucky to survive, but I’ve been sick ever since. There is medicine that helps, but I can’t afford a healer good enough to fix it.”

  “I see.” Timmy peered at her. He had a knack for reading people. It was one of the reasons he’d survived this long. There was quiet acceptance in her eyes. This was a woman who had accepted her own impending death, but she was determined to last as long as she could, so she could help her son as much as possible before passing on. She wasn’t a woman whose loyalty was easy to win, but it would be unshakeable once she gave it. He smiled. “What if I told you I could cure you today?”

  Her eyes widened. “I…” She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “I would do anything if you could cure me. Anything.”

  “Mom!” Arthur cried.

  Timmy could imagine some of the things she’d done to make ends meet. The world was not always a kind place. He knew that better than most people. Fortunately, this was their lucky day. “Serve me well,” he said. “And try to keep your idiot son from joining a bandit group again. I doubt he’d last more than a month before getting stabbed. And keep plenty of peanuts and grapes around – the rats love those, but buying them is a tad difficult, you know, since they’re rats.”

  “Oh.” Clearly, she’d expected him to make bigger demands. “But… but how will you cure me?”

  Timmy raised his voice. Hopefully, the group’s resident dragon was awake. “Spot, can you come here?”

  A moment later, the dragon arrived… draped over Katie like some kind of scaly shawl. The only reason the girl hadn’t collapsed under his weight was because her magic made carrying the dragon trivially easy.

  “You seem to have acquired a barnacle,” Timmy said.

  “Spot was still sleepy,” Katie replied. On her back, Spot was snoring. “But he didn’t want to let go of me, so I’m stuck with him.” She poked Spot in the side with her shadows. “Spot, wake up.”

  The dragon opened one silver eye and looked around. The dining room… is it time for breakfast?

  “Technically, it’s lunchtime now. The others are busy, but your mother let you sleep in since we’ll be quite busy in the near future.” Spot’s stomach gave an ominous rumble, and the dragon hopped off Katie’s back. One of the cooks at the manor was alerted, and it wasn’t long before a servant arrived with some food to placate the hungry dragon. Spot gobbled up several plates of food before turning his attention to a pineapple. “We need your help with something.”

  What? Spot trilled happily. He liked pineapples, and he’d gotten better at eating them without making a mess. Timmy didn’t know if dragons could get scurvy, but the amount of fruit Spot could get through when he was in the mood for some guaranteed that Spot would never have to worry about it.

  “Dorothy here has had her lungs damaged by the fumes from a corruption dragon’s fire.”

  Spot set his pineapple aside for a moment. Was it a bad dragon?

  “Yes. Do you think you can help her?”

  I’m part corruption dragon. Spot padded over to Dorothy, and his silver eyes gleamed. Let me look.

  For several moments, the woman sat there, frozen in shock, as the little dragon poked and prodded her with his snout. Finally, Spot huffed and nudged her with his head.

  I think I can fix it. Spot grinned. The other dragon was bigger than me, but her wound is old. There’s not much of his power left. White flame kindled in his jaws. I can fix it with my other fire.

  “What?” Arthur yelped. “Fire?” He moved to stand in front of his mother. “I won’t let you hurt her!”

  Timmy lifted his shovel and used it to gently shove the boy out of the way. “We are not going to hurt your mother. Spot is part corruption dragon, but he has access to another kind of fire – fire that can fix your mother’s injuries.” He scratched Spot’s back. “It’s a good thing you’ve been practicing with your healing fire, isn’t it?”

  Spot nodded. I want to help my friends. Once Spot had realised that not everybody was as tough as him, he’d put much more effort into learning how to use his healing fire. He’d practiced on wounded animals first before moving up to the rats and eventually members of Timmy’s staff. He couldn’t use it too flexibly yet, but simply healing an injury was something he could do. It was harder than destroying things, but making sure his friends were okay was worth it. He never wanted to see any of his friends get hurt or even killed. He nudged Dorothy’s leg. Stay still.

  Spot drew his head back and unleashed a blast of white flame. Through careful experimentation, Timmy and the others had learned that Spot’s healing flame didn’t heal things in the usual way. Instead, it restored things, undoing damage and cancelling out what had ha
ppened. It was an ability that astral dragons and other spirit- or light-based dragons often had. It worked by removing ‘impurities’ from the target’s ideal form, and injuries were classified as impurities since they were deviations from how something should be. The blast enveloped Dorothy, but it left her clothing and surroundings completely untouched. Spot growled and intensified his flame, holding it for almost a minute before he allowed it to subside.

  “I…” Dorothy gasped. “I feel better!” The colour had already returned to her cheeks, and there was an air of health and vitality around her.

  “What a dragon has done, another dragon can undo,” Timmy said. “And it was a lot cheaper than having a highly skilled apothecary brew a potion. Trust me. Those guys can make a killing once they get good enough, but I don’t know this city well enough to recommend one.” He patted Spot on the head. “Great work, Spot.”

  Spot wagged his tail happily. Thanks. He was about to go back to his pineapple – Timmy would have to get him another one as thanks – when Arthur stopped him. The dragon rounded on the boy, ready to strike, only to stop. Arthur was kneeling, his head pressed to the ground.

  “Thank you!” Arthur cried. “I will forever be in your debt!”

  Spot nudged him. I’m still hungry. Get me more food.

  Arthur leapt to his feet. “Right away!”

  “We’ll let Spot eat a bit,” Timmy said. “And then we’ll discuss our terms in more detail. Can I assume we have an agreement?”

  Dorothy nodded firmly. “Yes!”

  “See that?” Timmy said to Spot. “That’s what a good deed can do. If your mother asks, tell her you’ve already done your good deed for the day.”

  Spot munched on his pineapple. I’m a good dragon.

  * * *

  Spot soared majestically over the forest. His vast bulk blotted out the sun and cast a titanic shadow over the land below him as his pathetic enemies fled in absolute terror. Every beat of his wings was a hurricane, and each breath he took was an inferno. His jaws could crush ships, and his claws could smash castles. Let all who lived look upon him and despair!

  Or not.

  Spot still had a long, long way to go before he was big enough to blot out the sun, never mind the fact that he was flying at night. Even blotting out the moon wouldn’t be easy, at least not for a while. But he’d get there. Dragons lived a very long time, and he had plenty of growing to do.

  As for why he was flying around at night, the idiot had wisely pointed out that it would be a lot easier for their enemies to see him flying around during the day whereas it would be a lot easier for him to sneak around at night, especially since his scales were a deep black. As long as he didn’t fly too high and get silhouetted against the moon, he’d be almost impossible to see. They didn’t know where the fortress was exactly, but they did have a rough idea of its location. As a dragon, his sight was incredibly keen, and few illusions would be able to slip past him if he got close enough, which was why he was scouting the area with some of the rats on his back to offer advice and directions.

  He chirped a question as he banked over a large, still lake. It was tempting to see if there were any good fish in it, but he had a job to do. He could always come back later. The forest below him was lush and full of tall trees, so he would have liked to explore a bit since there was bound to be interesting stuff in it. He’d have to look around later with Chomp. There should be plenty of deer, along with rabbits and other game – perfect food for a hungry dragon and a hungry three-headed dog. He’d even glimpsed a unicorn, but his mother had warned him about them. They could be very fussy, and they wouldn’t like him much since he was part corruption dragon. A unicorn’s horn was also incredibly tough. It might be able to hurt him if he wasn’t careful. The rats squeaked their replies and consulted the map they’d brought. The plan was to have Spot search the area in a pattern, so there was no chance of them missing anything.

  It was a good plan, and Spot would do his best to remember it in the future. The rats had also told him to be on the lookout for anyone else wandering around. There wasn’t supposed to be anyone else out here, so if there were other people around, they might be going to the fortress. Spot could follow them instead of having to fly around so much. Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen anyone else yet. However, his attention was soon drawn to a hazy mist in the distance. He frowned and pointed it out to the rats, but they couldn’t see any mist. All they saw was the forest. Spot’s eyes narrowed. The people eater had told him that if there was an illusion, there was a good chance only he would be able to notice it. The rats were clever, but they didn’t have eyes like his.

  Spot angled toward the mist for a closer look, and he asked the rats to check one more time. Even with the special goggles a few of them had, they didn’t notice anything unusual. That was definitely suspicious, and Spot frowned. The mist got thicker the closer he got. The barrier could be hidden inside the mist, so flying into it would be a bad idea. It was a pity his eyes couldn’t see through it, so he had the rats mark down the location on their map before he turned and made his way back to the rocky outcrop where the others were waiting.

  “Did you find it?” his mother asked.

  I think so. There was a thick mist that stayed in one place, and only I could see it. The rats only saw more forest. His mother tossed him a treat, and he devoured it happily. It’s really big, and I can’t see through it.

  “That’s definitely the barrier,” the idiot said. He twirled his shovel. “I’ll send some of my zombies to get a closer look. We can have Amanda take a look at it too. She can’t fly as fast as you, Spot, but she should be fine now that we know where it is.”

  The idiot sent some zombie pigeons to have a look, and the people eater went with them. When she got back, she had a frown on her face.

  “It’s a very well done illusion. It would have fooled almost anyone who wasn’t either an illusionist or someone with exceedingly keen senses – like a dragon.” She patted Spot on the head. “Well done.”

  Spot preened. Thanks. He gave her an expectant look and wagged his tail, and she chuckled before tossing him a treat. If they were going to be doing a lot of work tonight, it wouldn’t be good if he got hungry in the middle of it.

  “I used my zombie pigeons to work out the approximate size and shape of the barrier. It took a while, but I’m sure they’re used to birds scratching at it.” The idiot sighed. “It is very big. More importantly, it is tightly bound to the fortress. It is completely solid against slow-moving objects, and I had a couple of my zombie pigeons fly into it at full speed. The barrier destroyed them, so trying to ram through it would not be a good idea. However, I did learn something important. I was right. They have a system in place that should prevent an overload from external and incoming magic. We won’t be able to bring the barrier down from the outside – not in the time we’ve got to work with – but it might be possible to get someone inside under the right conditions.”

  “How?” His mother raised her new bow and smirked. “Because if it involves blasting the barrier, I’d be happy to give it a shot.” Spot trilled hopefully. He wanted to see his mother use the bow. His instincts told him it would be great, and his instincts were rarely wrong.

  “Easy there.” The idiot grinned, and Spot grinned too. He must have something clever planned. He always did. “You’ll get to use it, but not just yet.” He beckoned Spot closer and gathered all of them into a circle. “Here’s what we’re going to do…”

  Spot listened intently as the idiot explained his plan. He was still very young, so there were parts he didn’t understand. He’d have to ask the twerp to explain things to him again later, but he did understand enough to follow the general idea. The barrier was too strong to break through without the people inside noticing and running away, which would make finding them again difficult since there were so many places to hide. Someone clever had made the barrier, so it got stronger in areas where it was taking damage. But they could use that to get inside. If
Spot could use his corruption fire in one place while something really, really strong hit somewhere else, he might be able to make a tiny hole in it. Anything bigger would activate a backup barrier. It wouldn’t be as strong as the main barrier, but it would stop anything from getting through. There were also barriers around the towers and stuff that got stronger the closer the main barrier got to breaking, so they wouldn’t be able to attack those even when the barrier was diverted somewhere else. The hole would be way too small for a normal person to fit – even the twerp wouldn’t be able to make it, and she was tiny. It would also close very quickly. Only the rats had a chance of making it through, and that was only if they were close enough and going fast enough too. Once the rats got in, they could sabotage the barrier from the inside, so the next big attack could break it.

  Spot nudged the idiot’s leg and gave him a toothy grin. This was a good plan. Flying was always fun, and his mother got a chance to use her bow too. As the rats and everyone else got ready, he asked the twerp to explain a few things and then closed his eyes to take a quick nap. This wouldn’t be like fighting the bandits. After they broke the barrier, there would still be a lot of people left inside the fortress, and some of them would probably be very strong. He needed to be well rested, so he could fight with all his strength.

  Once everyone was ready, Spot took to the skies once more. The people eater and the twerp could both fly, but neither of them could fly the way he could. He was a dragon, for all that he was still a little one. The skies were his domain, and flying was in his blood. On his back were sixteen ninja rats – four for each of the corner towers the idiot said needed to be damaged to weaken the barrier. Tonight, they were wearing special suits that made them look like the gliding possums Spot had seen in one of the twerp’s books. Parachutes would be too slow, and the rats needed a way to reach the towers once they got through the tiny hole Spot would make. They might not be able to fly, but they could glide. He’d seen them practicing, and he’d also helped them by flying them over the castle and other places before letting them jump off. They could glide through some tough obstacle courses, and they could cover a lot of ground quickly.