Chapter 2.10

  The skeletal mage was able to share what she knew through a combination of drawing in the dirt, hand gestures, and occasional mental intrusions of Taramo that made his head spin and grow a headache. Translating the thinking from the dead to the living was normally impossible but it was made only debilitating.

  They'd tried bridging the language barrier but since it was a long time from her death the mage spoke a very difficult to interpret local dialect and had no knowledge of trading tongues.

  "Trade wasn't always accepted as a good." Austalir said, sharing the knowledge kept in Imperial Academies "The gods, archmages, often would permit little trade since their own industries would be harmed. Adras has been at the forefront of improving trade and he wasn't one of the highest ones for long."

  "Only ten thousand years. Before the peoples here had multitudes of languages. Even I did not bother to learn all of them." Ariwyn was settled at the base of the bone tree though she was able to communicate through one of the cuttings. She had to settle down somewhere to be able to keep the connection to Tarnox and the people here were willing to tend the plant according to her specifications. There was a planter made of volcanic stone in the abbey's storeroom that was filled with mostly rotten junk and Ben had put it by the main doors.

  The wolf lay beside the pot continuing to sleep. They'd have to figure out how to free it within two days or the animal would starve. Giving it water in it's state was possible.

  Ben looked at the partial map that was scratched out. "There was a village near the barrow. Mooncreek had an old temple on a hill. If it's the place I pray they got away."

  The Skeleton shook it's head.

  They fell quiet, knowing where they had to go and the civilian casualties were probably already done. Necromancers weren't kind to noncombatants.

  "I got it" Ariwyn spoke from the pot by the door and they heard the uprooting of a tree. "This thing isn't a proper tree so it should survive this."

  Taramo walked out, followed by Austalir, Ben, and the skeleton mage. The others were gathering wood with the help of the mana-butterflies that were trained to find the wolves. Another seige was possible since the skeleton suggested that other troops were available to the necromancer so they would be better served getting resources while powerful allies were available to save them.

  The skeleton tree was dragging itself along the ground like a strange variety of snail. The pot Ariwyn was planted in was settled in a tree hollow like a large egg.

  "Good. You can pull the wagons so we can send the horses back." Taramo quipped.

  "Give me a day's practice and I'll gallop like the best of them."

  ---

  "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you." Austalir said the next morning as Taramo climbed onto a lower branch of the tree. The skeleton mage was already settled in a much higher branch.

  "You'll be needed here." Taramo reiterated, "Even if there's no enemy that gets here the people wil feel better having someone capable of protecting them."

  "Will we ever leave them? Newport's problems won't solve themselves."

  "We'll crush the necromancer here and work from there. My wisps will have to stay and stabalize the wild magic and they should be able to solve any smaller issue. We'll be back tomorrow and the others should get here a day after that."

  "Weren't we supposed to get all the way before calling them? I don't want my apprentice or her family to get hurt."

  "Time waits for no one."Taramo replied, "And if there's any other threats like this necromancer I'd prefer having them closer by. Unless you want to circle back after getting to Newport and doing the whole trip again?"

  "I was considering it before, but I guess there's more safety in numbers. You don't do anything stupid fighting, old man."

  "I will make sure he won't." Ariwyn ended the goodbyes and shambled off. She was slightly quicker than a trot but nothing was an obstacle to her progress. The roads would be wider with her passsage since the tree's roots were expertly able to tear down anything smaller than a fully grown tree with ease.

  ---

  With the help from Ben to get the right directions they ended up at the village in only three hours.

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  "It's a little bumpy." Since Ariwyn decided to test her speed she was able to approximate a gallop, slightly slower than a horse's potential but still quite acceptable for a tree.

  Ariwyn crashed through a small riverlet and then skittered along the riverbank downstream. They'd left the road because it circled around a marshland which they'd bounded through.

  The 'tree' was a proper monster in itself which made it able to move on its own. It hadn't had enough time to develop a mind of it's own, or to grow hungry, but since it was taken over in it's emergence it was easier to control. Nonetheless several fish, rabbits, and other small creatures were plucked when the tree passed by. It would be a problem controlling it when they arrived at the village.

  Unfortunately it was not a problem.

  ---

  The village, three dozen buildings that were houses, a blacksmith, and the ruins of what could have been an inn, with the largest square footage of the buildings. The gardens dotted around the buildings were not too overgrown, suggesting that they cannot have been abandonned for more than a few weeks. The blood stains suggested they weren't abandonned.

  Searching the buildings found that everything with moderate value was taken out. Curtains, crockery, and even firewood was gone. They had the time to pick through everything, the wish to take it, and lacked the fear of others arriving at the village and retaliating. And there were no bodies.

  Definitely a necromancer.

  They turned their attention to the hill a ten minute walk from them. An old stone building was on it's peak, the entry to a small temple that sat ontop of an old crypt.

  And someone in a black cloak was standing on the roof and looking at them.

  Taramo stopped and looked back. They weren't casting anything big enough to reach them but he had to assume they'd seen him and Ariwyn poking through the homes. They would have to engage without surprise on their side.

  (It would be best to bluff. We might be able to get them alive.) Taramo suggested.

  (It's going to be dangerous.)

  (But you have my back.) Taramo kept his eyes on the figure on the temple roof.

  He ordered the mage sitting in the trees to stay there. The energy from the tree would keep her masked so she wouldn't be noticed until too late. Then they walked towards the barrow.

  ---

  The road leading to the barrow was filled with recent wheel marks in the mud so Taramo kept to the side. There was a thicker bti of forest around the barrow, something of a sacred grove if his interpretation of the dead princess' memories was correct. Then they came across a horde of undead bearing hatchets.

  The grove was being removed though they had stopped and turned towards him.

  "I'd like to talk." Taramo spoke out and none of the undead moved. Any necromancer worth their salt would have wards to transfer communications and since the fellers weren't mindlessly attacking the necromancer probably had some.

  The cloaked figure from the roof exited from a doorless entryway and walked down a winding staircase that crept up the hill. They were using a cane while they walked and the tapping of the cane on every other step was the only sound to be heard. The necromancer breathed a bit heavily after getting to the bottom, then after a moment spoke.

  "What are you here to talk about? Have I gone against the Academy's interests? I was assured that there were no plans for this place."

  "I am representing noone but myself." Taramo showed his opened hands. The necromancer looked at the bone tree.

  "You have a lot of cheek for coming here representing only yourself. What is it you want then, are you looking for some workers to build you a house? Do you need peasants? I have a few in stock for another buyer but he seems to have disappeared."

  The necromancer's sallow skin of his face showed sunken eyes. His chest wasn't moving at all while he spoke.

  "I want knowledge."

  "That's quite costly. It might take that plant of yours to cover the cost."

  (Let me kill him)

  (Not yet.)

  "It won't. I heard there were moss wolves around newport and I found some in the area. I was wondering whether they were the same pack."

  "You would wonder that." The necromancer's skin was not pulled into a smile though mirth could be heard. "I picked up the pack after they fled. Their leader perished and I found a perfect place to take over. They're quite useful beasts. They can be trained to capture live prey." He tapped his staff on the ground, "That's all I'll tell you for free. Now are you going to buy one of my wares or will you leave? I have no wish to fight someone a little polite like yourself."

  "What hate have you for the people in the abbey?"

  "I will give you a second, but not a third. I've started to think about expansion and I'll need secure areas to fit my workers. Since they are bandits their place and their personhood is available if you can take it." The hood was pulled back to show a face very dead and balding with age, "This body was their head hunter. I need the full collection."

  Ariwyn couldn't continue waiting so Taramo let loose the bit he was preparing. Ripping winds tore through the dead laborers, severing limbs and splitting torsos. Ariwyn bore down on the main body like a spider on a lone ant.

  The body the necromancer spoke through tried to let loose fire against her but the mage in the tree was able to dispell it, being prepared for battle for the whole conversation.

  (There's no magic items on the body.) Ariwyn reported to Taramo after tearing the

  "You're making a mistake." the necromancer continued to talk as the body was restrained, "I am an acolyte of the lady in Diamond. She is an archmage and quite skilled. If you kill me she will come after you." In diamond? The curse would have appeared like that though it wasn't made of anything substantial like that.

  "You serve the lady in diamond," Taramo spoke as he left the pile of bodies to talk to the one left, "I think I know who you are talking about. But I will tell you this, I was the one to put her in her prison." There was a line that connected the body through the temple to underneath. Taramo sent a spell down it, something that wasn't designed to kill.

  The voice and apparent life of the undead was immediately ended as the necromancer underneath found himself unable to reach his mana, as if it was always an inch beyond his fingers. It was unfortunately only temporary.

  (Stay out here in case he tries to run) Taramo was followed by the skeleton mage as they rose to the temple to delve into her tomb.

  She was determined to get vengeance.