M.J. Markgraf
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Norman the Necromancer Chapter 102
🕑 Added 2023-05-15 12:01:00 +0000 UTCDonovan strode into the boardroom, ready to meet with his peers. As he glanced over the assembled attendees, he noticed his son was absent yet again. While he wasn’t required to attend every meeting, this was the third one his son had missed in a row. That was unacceptable and made Donovan look bad in front of the other wizards. Anything that made him look bad undermined his tentative authority over these other wizards. He would need to have a word with Vincent in person after the meeting.
He sat down at the head of the table. “Let’s begin, shall we.”
As Donovan listened to the reports from the other wizards, he couldn’t help wondering how he had gotten here. Before the fall, Donovan had been the CEO of a small defense contractor for the US government. Yet here he was only a decade later managing the personalities of some of the biggest Silicon Valley tech giants from before the collapse. It was exhausting dealing with their petty issues.
Donovan certainly never wanted to be the head of a government agency. He abhorred the red tape and politicking. But when he saw what was happening to his south, he couldn’t sit back and let those troubles continue to spread to his stretch of the woods.
So he took action and killed the biggest offender. Then he used the power he accumulated to force the other wizards in the area to join him. Once that was complete, he forced the rest of the noncompliant territories of the north to bow to their strength, reunifying Northern California under the banner of the Wizard Council.
It had helped stabilize the region. Even if not all of the wizards on the council agreed with his methods, none disagreed with the results. Fighting and violence were not conducive to earning money unless you profited off of war. And While Donovan had before the fall, that was no longer his primary source of income. That was magic and the expansion of it into everyday life.
Donovan held his hand up to pause one of the council members, Jamar. “Jamar, we have been over this before. While it is an issue that California is now landlocked, we will not be expanding into these new areas until after we secure the rest of the state. The time from before the council's creation has brought enough enemies from outside our borders that we don’t need to make any more.”
The water mage rolled his eyes. “If they are already our enemies, what does it matter if we shove them aside so we can reclaim access to the ocean? Every day we suffer attacks from the Ratar. Why should we sit back and let them continue their attacks on our land?”
“And what actual damage have we suffered?” Donovan asked pointedly. When Jamar didn’t speak up, Donovan answered for him. “None. The undead army absorbs all the losses and we even gain bit by bit. Let the Ratar expend themselves against our armies. We have more important issues at the moment.”
Donovan could tell that Jamar wasn’t happy but the man remained quiet. He decided to redirect the meeting by asking another question. “What of the southern border?”
J-son the fire mage – yes, his name had an actual dash in it – spoke up. “We claimed a mile more of territory, but it is slow going. Resistance to our efforts at expansion is growing. It seems someone has managed to rally the gangs from Los Angeles to work together to stop us. We can’t rule out a mind mage.”
Donovan frowned at that. The Wizard Council held a dim view of those that practiced mental enslavement. Simply for the fact that it caused strong feelings on both sides. They had a prime example of that right here.
“Any thoughts on this?” he pointed his question toward Gail. The woman was a part of the council, but her activities were strictly censured after she tried to take control of the council in its early days. But she was too useful to simply kill.
The woman glared at him for a moment before speaking. “Mental manipulation seems unlikely from what I have witnessed.”
Donovan nodded. “Very well, keep pushing the front, we have the time and plenty of resources at our disposal.”
After the meeting was dismissed, Donovan spotted a crow as he was heading down the steps to his waiting carriage. Donovan gave the crow an almost imperceptible nod and it flew into the open door of the carriage ahead of him.
As soon as the door closed, the crow morphed back into a dark-haired human wearing a feathered cape. Despite the man’s appearance, Ixitil was not human. He was a morphling that Donovan had bound with magic. He also happened to be his spymaster.
“I assume your previous two absences had something to do with my missing son?”
Ixitil nodded. “You aren’t going to like what I have to say.”
With a tired nod, Donovan ordered the man to continue his report.
With every word that came out of Ixitil’s mouth, Donovan grew increasingly upset. How could his son have been so stupid as to run off and attack some unknown necromancer multiple territories away?
“What of this necromancer?”
“I didn’t witness their fight, but he was able to defeat your son and his entire host in under an hour.”
“So my son is dead.”
“Seems likely,” Ixitil replied without emotion.
Donovan tapped his fingers on the armrest as he thought over the problem. His son’s death wasn’t much of a surprise. Donovan knew the fool would eventually bite off more than he could chew when he started killing off his competition. There was always the magical array inside his son’s home to bring back the dead. But Donovan doubted a necromancer capable of taking out his son hadn’t figured out some sort of countermeasure to prevent his enemies from coming back to life. He would still activate the spell circle to verify his guess though.
“What do you make of this necromancer? Is there any possibility of negotiations?”
“The man did free all of the undead under your son's control instead of just destroying them or taking them over. I think there might be a way to negotiate with him.”
Donovan hadn’t wanted to utilize mindless undead, but they were just too convenient not to use. And there was no way to control undead that retained their souls. Or so Vincent had said. That forced them to utilize controllers to handle the massive amounts of undead. It actually worked out by giving the indentured mages a way to work off their sentences and support the growing area under the Council’s control.
“Very well. You know what to do?”
Ixitil nodded and returned to his crow form before flying out the open window. Their alliance didn’t need another powerful enemy right now. But maybe this powerful necromancer would be willing to join the Council. It seemed they suddenly had an opening for an expert in that area of magic.
***
Grobert hurried around Ashvale, avoiding anyone looking to tie him down with more responsibilities. He just needed to collect a pack and some gear for the trip. Then after he showed Nolia the ropes of her job, he could be on his way.
He was way more excited about this trip than a man his age should be. But the thought of exploring an area with magical monsters was the opportunity of a lifetime. What he hadn’t told Norman was that where there was one magical beast, there were probably others. He would bring some of the bodies back so long as they wouldn’t pose a threat to the population. Perhaps some of those stupid dinosaurs that Norman seemed to take a fancy to as well. While he thought they were ridiculous, he couldn’t discount how useful they had been during the attack against Noorani.
Just as Grobert was exiting one of the leather shops, he bumped into Anna. From the look on her face, it hadn’t been by accident. He sighed. “Can I help you with something?”
“I heard you were going back to Grothlosburg?”
Grobert frowned. How had she heard about his trip?
The girl must have seen his expression because she snorted. “And that confirms it. You’ve been running around town gathering up travel provisions. Plus, people like to talk around here. When I heard new people were appointed to assist Norman, it wasn’t hard to put the pieces together.”
‘Dammit,’ he cursed internally. She hadn’t known for sure until he gave it away just now. Grobert schooled his face into a placid expression, earning a slight smile from the girl. He had been out of politics far too long and had forgotten to always control his emotions. “What I’m up to is none of your business.”
She nodded. “Of course, of course. But say you were going back to G-town. Would you rather I be there or stay here?”
He almost frowned again but caught himself. Grobert didn’t trust the woman or her magic. What was she up to?
“I think I have made my opinions on that matter clear already.”
Anna smirked slightly. “So if the only thing keeping me here is a lack of ability to return, how could we solve that?”
“You want to leave? I thought you came here to be with Norman?”
“Oh, I did. But it's pretty obvious Norman wants nothing to do with me. It's better if I just return to my old stomping grounds and try to make a life there.”
This sounded like music to Grobert’s ears. But what was the catch?
“And what’s to stop you from returning or causing problems for us down the line?”
“Norman bound me with a blood oath. So even if I wanted to cause problems, I can’t.”
He didn’t want to put thoughts in the woman’s head, but he had to ask his next question. “And what’s to stop you from telling someone else about us to cause trouble?”
“Nothing, but I think we both know why I wouldn’t.”
Grobert crossed his meaty arms and stared at the tall girl. “So, you’re just going to run away after everything you did to get here? Seems too good to be true.”
She laughed. “No. But Norman won’t love me with the way I am. I want to prove to him that I can change. Maybe then he will see me as something other than an annoyance.”
Grobert hadn’t expected the candid response from the woman. Taking her with him would pose a significant challenge, but he could pull it off. The question was, did he want to? It would mean getting her out of the city and away from Norman. So that was a win. Despite what Norman claimed, every time the pair were together, he struggled not to glance her way.
It wasn’t that Grobert wanted the man to remain celibate, he just wanted him to find someone worthy of being with him. Anna wasn’t that. She was a self-centered egotistical mess of a human being. And that was before you factored in her calling. Which was already causing issues with the Alacala merchants within the town.
Anna had not abused her powers to enslave any of the merchants…yet. But knowing her track record, that probably wouldn’t last.
“Fine. I’ll take you. But don’t expect this to be an easy trip.”
“Oh, I’m well aware of the possible dangers. I can deal with most of them myself. The only one I need help with is the fog lands.”
“I’ll see what I can do about that. If you’re serious about leaving, meet me at the front gate tomorrow at dawn. Be ready to travel, I won’t be waiting.”
“I’ll be ready, old man, just try to keep up.” With that, the woman turned and left.
Grobert shook his head. He wasn’t sure what Norman saw in the woman other than her looks.
The fog lands issue was going to be a bit of a problem. Grobert knew the spell to cloak Anna, but he didn’t want to waste the time and resources to continually craft a spell circle every hour. He supposed he would have to ask Norman about it. He should probably tell him that Anna was leaving anyway.
With a slight crack of displaced air, Grobert vanished from outside the shop. He reappeared outside the castle and smiled when he saw the guards already had their spears pointing his way.
“At ease, gentlemen. Is Norman available?”
“Ya shouldn’t be just appearing like that, ya old coot. It’ll get you run through one of these days.”
Grobert laughed at Lohr’s grumbling.
“Norman is in his workshop,” Nolix replied before relaxing his combat stance.
Grobert nodded. “Excellent, thanks. And keep up the good work. Keep the man safe while I’m gone as well.”
The two nodded as Grobert walked past the pair and into the castle. Grobert ran his hands along the thick stone walls, admiring the strength of the stone. He would be gone for a few months, so this was his last chance for quite a while that he would get to admire his handy work.
The door to the workshop was shut and locked, with a frustrated-looking Jacob standing outside of it.
Jacob looked up at the sound of Grobert’s footsteps. The man’s eyes went wide as he saw it was him. “Chief Advisor Grobert, I hadn’t expected you today. Would you like me to knock and see if Lord Norman is available?”
“That won’t be necessary, Jacob.” Grobert teleported past the door and into the room.
Norman was sitting at a desk facing the door. He looked up as Grobert appeared.
Norman sighed. “We really have to do something to stop that in the future.”
He set down the sheet of paper he had been studying before speaking again. “What brings you by? I assumed you were avoiding me so I couldn’t assign you any more tasks.”
Grobert chuckled. “I was. But I need something before I leave.”
“Oh?”
“Can you make a permanent spell circle for that spell of yours that hides you from the Imatti in the fog lands?”
“…Um, sure. But why would you need it?”
“I don’t… I have a guest that wants to return to Grothlosburg.”
“Ah… It’s Anna, isn’t it? I wondered if she would make a choice eventually. I assume she has her reasons for wanting to leave so I won’t press.”
Grobert wasn’t surprised that Norman had figured out who it was. There were only a few people that it could have been, considering the destination and the fact that he needed the spell.
Norman reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a strange amulet. “I got this little trinket off of Vincent the necromancer. It’s an improved version of the spell. Since I assume you wish to keep an eye on her while you travel, perhaps Saliu could modify it to match my old spell circle. Give me a bit and I can copy it down.”
After a couple of minutes, Grobert was handed a sheet with the corrected spell circle, along with the amulet and a set of instructions on how to activate it.
“You sure you don’t want to keep this for study?”
Norman waved him off. “I’ve already made a charcoal transfer. I have also determined the properties of the materials that the amulet is made from. There really isn’t anything else to learn about the item. It's rather basic, yet brilliant in that simplicity.”
With the items in hand, Grobert stopped by the jorik’s shop and had the item modified. It had cost him a tiny fraction of the rare earth elements that Norman had assigned him, but that was fine. Grobert could pull more from the ground if he needed to once they set out. In fact, he hoped to do just that. The amount he had requisitioned from the coffers wasn’t nearly enough to complete more than two or three long-range telepads. And he would likely need ten to cross the entire jungle zone.
The issue wasn’t the materials, it was the lack of manufactured equipment. If he had all the correct components, he wouldn’t need to cobble together telepads like this in the first place. It was one of his original designs from back when he first discovered his calling. They were extremely wasteful and caused sickness when used, but they would work until he replaced them with the more modern teleporters.
The next morning, with a large pack on his back, Grobert strolled out of the front gate. He spotted Anna waiting off to the side with a large pack on her back. He didn’t acknowledge Anna as he turned North and kept walking. She would either follow him or be left behind.
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Comments
Jose Cordones
Gracias una vez más por el capítulo! Siendo honesto lo sentí un poquito más corto que los demás, pero siguen siendo muy buenos!
