Private Tales The Necromancer's cave

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Miri hit the ground hard and the impact jarred her legs but it was nothing a long soak in the bath later wouldn't fix. Standing and twisting at the same time her eyes were searching for the woman. But her eyes landed on Valthar instead and she cursed. The last thing she needed was for him to be killed - fighting a risen Nordenfiir was not on her bucketlist of monsters. She glanced at the skeletons hammer.

Metal hammer.

Gold gripped her eyes as she pulled on her magic and sought the consciousness of the hammer. It was slumbering but it didn't take long for it to be roused by her shouting.

What? It grumbled, humming in the monsters hands.

I do not have time to explain Oh Great Hammer but I thought it best to let you know you were being used by a monster. Your master is long dead, a woman controls him and he you.

So? What's'at gotta do with me?

Well you have a chance to make yourself a legend. Songs will be sung about what you do on this day.

The hammer seemed to consider this, its ego stroked.

I will help you elf, if you promise to take me from this place of Death afterwards.

I swear it.

In reality the conversation didn't take much time at all, a few beats of the heart. Then the hammer was moving of its own accord and it reared up and thwacked into the side of the skeletons head, sending it tumbling. Content Valthar had more of a chance her gaze returned to the Necromancer and the wraiths.

"Witch this ends with your death, if you give up I can make it quick," Miri murmured, shifting her stance. When the woman only grinned she took a breath and began to run forward. She met the wraiths blades with her own in a clash of metal on bone.

 

[Baise]

Its vice like grip had held him fast. Biting and scratching at its chalky white bones didn't put it off. The clash of hammer and skull rang out through the cavern and the grip loosened. A boney fingertip left a gash down his side but Valthar was free.

He stumbled away and used a rock cropping to stop himself. Valthar watched the giant as it wrestled with its own hammer. He shifted back into his regular form, his blood immediately warm and spreading against his tunic. He raised the axe, looking towards the giant's joints.

The giant tossed the hammer aside as Valthar charged its foot. The glowing head of the axe came swinging down. There was a sickening crunch as it severed tendord and bit deep into the ankle joint.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

The wraiths were a well oiled unit, not just some random animated corpses. They barely left room for Miriel to breathe and regain her thoughts as they hit again and again. It seemed no sooner had she pushed one away and drawn a breath another was lunging at her.

One sword high caught the bone axe of one wraith as she tossed her other blade and caught it to her grip was twisted backwards, plunging it through the heart of one of the wraiths that she caught moving to take her from behind in her blind spot. It screeched and vanished. The Necromancer too gave a cry as if Miri had done her an injury on her own person. Interesting.

The woman hadn't moved any further away, Miri assumed the magic it was taking her to keep these wraiths fed with power was a consuming job, let alone also using the skeleton on Valthar. It was good. It meant the elf wasn't going to have to spend time hunting her down after. The fight drew her mind back to the fight. The remaining six had renewed their efforts now one of them had died. If Miri had thought there was no time for a breather before then there was even less now.

 

[Baise]

The skeleton swiped at Valthar and missed. Its passing hand made a gust of wind that sent his braids across his face. He struck tice more, hacking at the joint and forcing it open.

The next attack forced him to dart away but it kicked out. Valthar was picked up onto its foot. A lot of his own bones would have been broken, but as it had swung its leg the tendons had given with a mighty crack. Instead he was lifted up and into the air and tossed away. The skeletal giant collapsed in a heap.

Valthar tried to roll into the landing, but once again had the air knocked out of him. There was only so much he could take. The norden was sent rolling across the floor of the cavern into its darkest corner.

"Fuck," he grunted as he dragged himself back up to his knees. He found himself next to a rusted iron cage. There was a sudden round of frantic mumbling behind him. He turned to see six men shackled and gagged within the cage. One of them was still, blood pouring from a wound across his neck.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

A slash across her cheek, a nick to her side, a blow off her vanbraces that could have meant the loss of a hand. Six versus one was a tall order especially when the wraiths moved like a silk ribbon. Twisting, bending, turning and parrying before striking in the next heart beat. Two of the wraiths at once swung for her neck. Miriel bent over backwards as the two blades crossed inches from her face and cut her breath instead with their razor sharp blades of bone. Everything seemed to slow in that one moment.

She could see the two currently attacking her, could see another two closing in as if to box her in. If she was caught in the middle like this they could overwhelm her. Dropping her blades momentarily she placed her palms flat on the floor, over the top of her sword hilts so she might pick them up once the movement she was about to attempt was done. Then she launched her legs up as if she were about to do a back flip. Instead, whilst her lower half was moving up she twisted her hips sharply. Her foot caught one, two, three in the throats sending them wheezing back. Her feet dropped to the floor as she pushed herself upright, swords leaping to her hands and in the breath as the three tried to recover their senses she sent the daggers in her belt flying to their hearts whilst the blades in her hands cut into the fourth Wraith who had sought to box her in.

The four vanished in a pulse and the woman screamed.

Two versus one was a much fairer fight.

 

[Baise]

Valthar should have been moving quickly. She had told him that time was off the essence when dealing with a necromancer. Tired and woozy, he was caught holding onto the bars of the cage and simply watching Miriel at work. Despite fighting a group of wraiths she moved with elegance and purpose, turning the odds quickly.

He dragged his eyes away and turned to the cage. She was draining their life to work. Even with his limited experience he could see that from the man with a wound the same as the one inflicted on the necromancer by Miriel.

"This is going to hurt you," he murmured to the axe, still unconvinced as to the level of its sentience. He brought it down with both hands and broke away the small lock on the cage. He stepped inside, looking for a way to free them.

If it came down to it he was faced with a grisly choice. They would die one by one as Miriel struck the necromancer down over and over or he could end their suffering immediately.

With its broken heel the skeletal giant still tried to carry out its mission, dragging itself across the cavern floor towards the cage.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

The woman seemed to only feel the pain but the wounds didn't seem to appear on her person which vexed Miri more. Surely she should be showing some sign of wear and tear.

Though the odds had evened, having only two wraiths meant the woman's magic was no longer having to be spread across a whole unit. Instead, the two that remained seemed to carry the strength of their fallen comrades. So even though she had to only focus on two of the creatures bearing down on her contained the combined strength of nearly three men apiece. Her arms ached and she chided herself from growing slack in her training. It was all well and good spending time with a hammer over an anvil but different muscles were required for fending off blows like this.

One of them sliced Miriel across the back of the leg and she gave a sharp yelp. Briefly her leg faltered but it was enough for them to press their advantage. She brought her swords up in time to catch the blow from the wraith with an axe whilst she was on a single knee, but as she had to break one sword away to parry a blow from the other she ended up on her back. The wraith above her pressed down with his skeletal weapon, the curve of the axe head inches from her face. Their weapons strained as she gritted her teeth and then glanced above her head. Seeing there was enough room she twisted the sword so it caught the head of the axe in a firmer grip and then brought her feet up and under the creature. His eyes widened briefly as she used the force to lift him clean off her and over the top of her head. Her body followed the movement so she ended up straddling his chest and as she landed she drove the sword through his face.

Her hair fell around her face as she looked up at the last wraith who picked up the sword of his fallen brethren and brandished one nasty bone blade in either hand.

He grinned.

 

[Baise]

Valthar moved between the prisoners one at a time. Unlike the cage itself they were well shackled to the wall. He groaned in frustration, seeing no way out of this. They were all thin from malnourished, they reeked of death.

"Do you know where the keys are?" he asked, ripping their gags one by one. They continued to moan, but none of them answered his question. They followed him with their eyes and mumbled at him but they were not entirely here. Another of their number now hung limp from the shackles.

"Shit," he groaned. If he hadn't been on the edge of despair he might have felt worse about this. He lifted his axe and brought it down.

In front of Miriel the necromancer turned her head sharply. The link severed to one of her four remaining bonds.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

The wraith lunged then faltered, clutching at his chest in bewilderment. Miri paused too. Together both their eyes went to the Necromancer and followed her gaze to Valthar. A feeling of dread welled in the elf.

"Valthar do it again, quickly!" she didn't get much time to expand on it. The wraith threw itself at her with a howl of rage is it connected the dots that she and the man weakening his mistress were connected. She grunted as the two weapons hit her in a fury of blows. The woman went as if to take a step forward to where Valthar was as she pulled on the magic again.

Her mind briefly touched the hammer. It had been asleep for so long it seemed to struggle to keep itself awake long enough but another touch of Miri's mind and it stirred again like an old man who caught himself nodding off.

The witch. The witch is the one who did this to your Master.

The hammer lurched itself, still in the grip of the giant towards the woman and slammed itself down between her and Valthar.

The action cost Miri another nasty slash across her side, her attention on too many places at once. With a hiss she returned her sole focus to the wraith.

 

[Baise]

"I'm sorry," Valthar said, drawing his knife. He felt a pang of regret at having to do this, but he plunged it into the heart of the next captive.

The necromancer staggered to the side as a other life force was severed from her. The skeletal giant shook. Valthar drew the blade and moved to the next one. He couldn't help but feel that there was a little understanding in those eyes. Not fear though. Not hatred. One short thrust and those eyes fell shut.

"Enough!" snapped the necromancer, rushing towards him.

Valthar turned and swiped, brutally cutting the next in line across the throat. He darted for the last prisoner.

Suddenly the edges of his vision turned black. He felt his knees give. Everything turned hazy and all he could hear was a high-pitched whine.

The necromancer stood behind him, both hands raised. Faint tendrils snaked from her hands to Valthar's spine, as if she were his puppet master. Slowly the spectral outline of his svalen started to be drawn from his human body.

The necromancer laughed.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Miriel went to run after the woman the moment she went for Valthar but the Wraith barred her way with a hiss.

"I am growing tired of you," a breathless laugh. She also didn't have time for him. Her eyes flicked to over his shoulder at the woman and what she was doing to her companion. Before the creature could swing the metal on the cages where Valthar stood began to tremble and then screech. The bars ripped themselves free and flung themselves across the cavern floor towards the Wraith. As they moved the ends compressed and then sharpened into points. The creature had a second to twist and see what was coming at it but not enough time to react. Miri threw herself out of the way as three of the giant iron spears went through the howling creature and pinned it to the wall opposite. For a moment it hung there before disappearing.

Miri didn't spare much of a glance for it, she was already running for the cages and the necromancer. She flung one of her remaining daggers towards the man in the final cage in the same moment she hit the woman with her full force on the back, sending them both sprawling to the ground.

The man in the cage gave his last breath, Miri's blade buried in his eye.

 

[Baise]

Valthar had never really considered the nature of his soul, his svalen. Now, as he felt it being tugged away from his mortal coil he had to think of how closely they were bound. Not enough. The thread let him feel the darkness of the necromancer's soul. Like a thirty different porcelains held together in some amalgamation to resemble a thing.

Some of it broke into pieces a moment before the link was gone. A pulse of pain ripped through his body and he collapsed onto all fours.

Valthar's vision slowly returned to focus. Miriel had driven the necromancer to the ground. Despite the fact that she had control of the situation, he still punched the necromancer in the face from where he knelt.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

It was not a glamorous final face down. It was gritty and dirty. Once Miriel had sent her sprawling to the floor the woman had twisted under her and spat cleanly in the elf's face.

"Urgh, you dirty litt-" Miri recoiled, wiping the spit from her eye and cheek with a look of disgust. The woman used the moment to send a solid punch into her exposed abdomen and then switched their positions. From somewhere in the folds of the dress she produced a knife and dived at the blacksmith. Hissing, Miri grabbed at the wrist the blade was held in and then wrenched it to the side, turning again with the woman so their positions swapped then she slammed the hand into the ground that held the dagger, making her drop it.

The two women were panting hard as Miri knelt with her knee on her back. She could see Valthar slowly regaining his composure and she hurled the witch to her knees just as Valthar swung with his blow.

The woman's head snapped backwards, blood running down her nose but she was laughing.

"You have no idea what I will do to-" She didn't get much further before Miri slid her blade through the woman's neck, severing the head from the body and grimacing.

"I bloody hate the gloating villain speech at the end."

 

[Baise]

Valthar looked down at the severed head. He almost expected it to start talking once more.

He jumped as the giant collapsed loudly into an inanimate pile of bones once again. The magic keeping it running had returned to the ether.

"That's a thing?" he asked, carefully dragging himself to his feet. He had a few wounds, but nothing ached as much as having had her try and drain his essence.

Valthar turned to look at the dead captives in turn. He couldn't imagine a fate like that.

"I wish I hadn't had to..."

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

"You would be surprised," Miriel murmured as she grabbed the woman's head by the hair to take with them. She was a Necromancer after all and you could never be too sure: it would be best to have the head properly destroyed. As she stood she winced and after sheathing her swords she pressed her spare hand to her side. The slice had gone through the tough leather and bitten deeply into her skin. She didn't even bother looking at the one across the back of her knee knowing she would find similar. In a detached way she thought about what it would be like to make a weapon of bone.

"Don't dwell on it, Valthar," her eyes followed his gaze to the cage. Though she was firm her face softened. "There was nothing else you could have done but put them out of their misery... Are you - Is your Svalen ok?" Miri listed her head to one side indicating they should begin walking back as they spoke. It was then that she spied the cat.

 

[Baise]

"I think so," he replied. "It's hard to tell." What a truly dark and decrepit place this would have been to die. Now he could add a lot of new monstrosities to the list of things he had crossed paths with on the way home.

"These hot springs sound good, but you will need to bind that tight. Water and an open wound...you would bleed out."

Valthar, stoic as ever, managed the faintest smile for their victory. It had come with cost.

"You are truly incredible."

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

"What? No nature gods to heal my wounds lurking in Hot Springs?" a husky laugh. "I think however it will heal shortly if I understand the spell I made with the White Witch correctly," she peeled her hand off her side to examine the wound then her lips kicked up at the corners and she showed him the now freshly healed, red line across her hip that was all that remained.

"Thank you - you weren't too bad yourself. I think perhaps when we get to the spring you should try shifting again, just to make sure everything is... ok," Miri wasn't one to deny a compliment, it lessened the moment, but she was more concerned with him. He had literally just nearly lost his soul. Then she stopped.

"Oh, I forgot - here hold this," she passed the severed head to him as if it were nothing more than a loaf of bread and then detoured to pick up the giants hammer. Hefting it across both her shoulders she jogged back to catch up with him before continuing on their leisurely path out to the entrance, following the cat.

 

[Baise]

"So that is what the spell did..." he murmured. Even if it was offered again he would not accept the offer.

Valthar touched a hand to his own side. He wasn't bleeding any longer. It was going to sting in the hot springs, but that was a small price to pay to get this gore off of himself. The bruising from being tossed around by the skeleton was going to be colourful.

"Why are you carrying the hammer out of here?" he asked. He picked up his axe as they went, leaning it against his shoulder. Its blade no longer glowed, even though he carried the head of the necromancer in his other hand.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Miriel absentmindedly touched the white braid in her hair as the cut across her knee healed also. Like Valthar's wounds they would probably sting a little but it was a small price to pay to not bleed out on her way to the springs.

"I promised it so it helped you," Miriel cast a side glance towards him and then glanced to the head of the hammer which glowed as if in agreement. "It does not want to be used by the dead, its purpose lays outside of here." There was a pause when all they could hear were their trudging footsteps.

"You do not believe in my magic," it wasn't really a question, more an observation she had made. She couldn't, however, keep the hurt from her voice. She kept her eyes focused on the cat.

 

[Baise]

"I believe in your magic," Valthar replied firmly. "I am certain you have an exceptional skill in enchanting weapons. I saw the hammer move against its master. I am...not as sure about speaking with metal. If it helps, I did apologise to Vilissë before using it to break a lock."

Valthar had almost tuned out the strench of this place, but as they followed the path towards daylight the scent of fresh air reached them. It was like being able to breathe again.

He did not want Miriel to believe he thought less of her, but he didn't want to lie either. It was not in his nature to deceive to curry favour. He could manage a little honest flattery though.

"I may not be the most qualified, but I have met few with such skill with blades," he said, shaking his head. Yes, he was the reacher here.

 

[Asuego 'Susanna']

The feline remained hidden in the shade as it observed the fray of battle, her master had not corresponded to her just yet.

-Down the tunnel-

Chaotic magic seeped out of her basket, Asuego peered into the correct device with such little shock as if she knew what was up before even seeing what had gone through. She reached underneath the cloth and pulled out the magic seeping poppet. Tat popped imbued with Miriel's lifeblood, torn and cut in every way Miriole once was since the moment of binding.
Lastly, the magic thread was fully cut and the poppet degraded into fibre and soil, it's magic violently escaping elsewhere.
»Return home you feigned demon,« she hissed briefly.
Though, this was indeed concerning. »Apollo, Apollo, lend me your vision, « she extended a figment of her magical prowess to connect with her familiar. One eye closed, she began to see in the cat's stead.

Both of them seem fine.
The cat began to approach the two as if they were a mouse and Asuego severed their magic thread as she began to walk ahead to meet them.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Miri only faintly smiled at his comment about Vilissë but otherwise she kept her thoughts to herself on the matter. It did sting but there was no point in laying her emotions on the matter on him; it would be a hard thing for most to believe in unless they could hear it too. She did spare him a look at his comment about her skill with the blades and inclined her head.

"When you live as long as I do you pick up an odd thing here and there. I was a little concerned you were going to end up as a rug though," a hint of a smile in her eyes before her attention went to the woman who stood by the mouth of the cave. Then to the floor. She slapped her hand against Valthar's chest suddenly to stop him from taking another step.

"The wards," she offered by way of explanation, pointing to one he was about to step on. "Don't break them," taking care to step around them she took one hand off the hammer and instead took the braid from her hair and passed it back to her. It was mattered with blood.

"Thank you, Susan. It was a comfort to have the extra protection down there. I believe, we're all done."

 

[Asuego 'Susanna']

»Indeed, do not disturb them, it is a spell that will take some days to come true, feeding off the necromancer's magic to dissipate any leftovers.« Eventually, the whole place will be purified, even if so slowly.

»The deal is done, « Susan took her strand of hair, glancing over it and weighting it. It seemed as if every strand was still there. alas, hair in her hand was worthless and to her head, it could no longer go. Perhaps a new fetish of self-poppet would do her good? Oh, so many possibilities. Asuego Kiamast swung her hair over her shoulder.

»I assume neither of you two would be against some treats?« She chuckled at last.

 

[Baise]

»I assume neither of you two would be against some treats?« She chuckled at last.

He hasn't trusted her soul magic and he likely never would. Actions spoke louder than words for his people and he was glad of some magic working against the darkness that had taken this place.

Valthar leant his axe against the floor and leaned his least painful shoulder against the cavern wall.

"I would welcome any food, as long as I can get some fresh air too."

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

"I would also prefer to eat outside," though Miriel expected the smell would follow her considering the blood from the creature they had killed made by that wretched skeleton still stuck to her. She walked past them both to the open air without waiting for further comment, the smell now she had noticed it was making her feel ill.

"Job done," she called to the Ranger as she stepped outside, then scanned the grass for Thorlion. He raised his head, flicked his ears forward, then went back to grazing beside the lovely mare Susan had ridden over. "So much for loyalty," she huffed.