The misadventures of the necromancer

Chapter XI

When Nero opens the door and enters the prisoner's cells, Seres decides to get up and follow him to see what he will do. Upon entering the room, Seres can see at, a corner, old Sate and Ged being sheltered by Annie. The girl, upon seeing Nero enter, asks him, "What's going on? We heard what sounded like a fight."

"Nothing special, just a little disagreement," the boy casually replies, shaking his shoulders lightly. He continues in the same tone of voice, "We'll have to leave, though. Some of the guests seem not to have enjoyed their stay. So, the inn will have to close."

Hearing this ridiculous explanation for what happened, Seres is shocked at how casually he describes the situation. An undead attack where three people lost their lives, and he jokes about it.

"That's ridiculous. Explain what is happening out there." the girl says, becoming even more anxious. She clearly understands that something serious has happened. She continues to speak, "What disagreement are you talking about? Which guests are you talking about? And how did you get here?"

Nero approaches her and says, "Well, didn't I say I was coming back? So, what is the surprise of my return." His tone of voice sounds even a bit cheerful. How he can be so calm considering what's coming down the corridor, Seres doesn't know. Just thinking about it makes him even more anxious.

"Sate, I did say I was coming. And here I am, just as promised.", Nero continues, now addressing Sate directly, who is behind the protective Annie.

"It's impossible, no one has ever returned after being taken. We were already mourning you. What happened?", Annie interrupts, showing her confusion for the situation.

"That doesn't matter. Let's get out of here," Nero calmly tells her, while the girl seems to become increasingly agitated.

"Let's go, and where are they going to take us? Is it our turn now?" she asks, pointing a finger at Seres. But the moment she raises her hand to point. Her hand falls back down, and she becomes calm and passive.

Seres immediately realizes that her collar activated.

"Damn, I better take this off.", Nero says, taking two quick steps to reach Annie. Next to her, he grabs her collar and says, "Lucky lock." As he says this, a faint light appears in his hands, and the collar opens. Nero gently removes it from Annie's neck before letting it fall with a loud thud on the now silent cell floor.

It's Sate, with wide eyes, who breaks the silence with a soft "Magic." Annie remains in the same place with a calm and relaxed look, probably still under the effect of the collar’s magic. While Ged remains impassive as always.

"Now it's your turn," Nero says, going to Sate.

Seres doesn't know how to feel; a part of him understands that it makes sense only a mage could behave the way Nero has been acting. But, for some reason, another part of him keeps on saying that Nero can’t be a mage.

With this information, Seres can see how Nero’s knowledge of how the collars work now makes perfect sense. Then remembering Nero's speech about the collars, Seres says, "You said the collars prevent the use of magic."

"Lucky lock.", says Nero while repeating what he just did to Annie, with Sate. Before continuing to speak in a calm and relaxed voice, as if nothing important is happening around him. "If I remember correctly, I said the collars drain magic from their wearer. It only prevents someone from using spells if the collar removes more magic than the wearer naturally generates."

Having said that, he now goes to Ged, who, in turn and unexpectedly, seems somewhat nervous as if he doesn't know what to do.

"I also said that they had limits. And, of course, I wasn't going to reveal all my tricks.", he looks at Seres while saying the last part, before turning back and focusing on Ged’s collar.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," Nero's voice is a calm and friendly whisper to the man. He then grabs the collar to release the last of the prisoners from the magic of the collars.

Bren's tired voice is heard after passing through the door, "What's going on here? We have to go; they're coming."

Seeing him, Annie, who remained calm after her collar was removed, acquires an expression of fury and bends down to pick something up from the floor. She throws herself at Bren, screaming angrily, "Damn you."

The two, fall to the ground, and Seres, who is nearby, decides to separate them. Reflecting that Bren is right, and they must leave before the undead, arrive.

As Seres grabs and pulls a still-angry Annie, to then notice what she has picked up from the ground. A knife that must have been lost on the floor. A knife that is now bloody.

Finally reacting to the confusion here, Adar appears at the door to see Bren's body lying on the floor near him. As he bends down to see what's happening with Bren, he asks, "What's going on here? We don't have time to waste."

When Adar feels Bren's chest and raises a hand covered in blood. Realizing what happened, Annie stops struggling with Seres and drops the knife on the floor.

"What's going on here?" Adar asks again with a shout.

Seres doesn't know what to say when he's pushed away by Sate from Annie, who starts crying.

"Calm down, my dear.", Sate says sweetly, while trying to appease the girl.

"Fantastic, a long time under the effect of the collar must have left the girl unable to control her emotions. Simply wonderful," Nero's irritated voice says.

Before anything can be done or said, a bang is heard from outside the room.

Immediately, Adar leaves Bren and goes out the door, shouting, "They're coming."

Seres runs after him to see what's going on when a series of other bangs are heard. Just outside the room, it is possible to see the wooden door of the corridor shaking with each bang. The undead are hitting the door to get to them. Although not smart enough to open the latch, they are clearly smart enough to break it down.

"They're trying to get through the door," a horrified voice says. Looking at where the voice came from, Seres sees a shaken Nero, which shocks him a bit. It is the first time the strange mage looks stressed by all that happened.

"Of course, they're trying to get through the door. Did you think that door would stop them?" Adar asks sarcastically. He, too, seems amazed to see someone who had been relaxed and calm till now, to have that reaction to this.

Meanwhile, the bangs persist, resonating through the corridor where they are.

Nero, rubbing his face with both hands in frustration, while saying. "But of course, they'll get through the door. What the hell was I expecting? In reality, crappy doors don’t stop monsters.”

With a deep sigh, Nero drops his hands to his sides. A faint glow lights up his eyes, and he seems to mutter to himself, "How did you think, that was going to make any sense? What a time for my experience to be wrong."

The ridiculousness of the situation almost makes Seres forget the fear of what's happening. But a new bang that causes a piece of wood to come loose from the door brings him back to reality.

Nero now appears more relaxed and mumbles what sounds to be, “This isn’t a game.”

To then return to the prisoners inside the room. Where Seres can hear him say, "We have to go. These fools had a group of undead in the basement. And they decided that now was a good time to feast on us. Let's go."

Seres decides to return to the room as well, where he can see Nero and Sate lifting Annie. She seems to still be in shock, after what happened.

With the bangs getting louder, Nero reflects aloud again. "I can't fight here without killing us all. But we still need to make a stand."

His gaze focuses on a fallen Bren. Nero goes to him, after leaving Annie with Sate. Next to the fallen body, he kneels down, beginning to check Bren's condition before letting out a somber, "Well, he's dead."

It's then he puts his hand on Bren's chest and murmurs in a deep voice, "Rise from the Dead."

The result of the spell is unexpected for Seres, with Bren rising and making a sound like a grunt. Nero addresses the now undead Bren, saying, "Guard the corridor door. Stop them from crossing it."

Immediately, Bren passes by Seres and goes out the door to fulfill his orders. Seres is completely shocked; he has already seen people rise after death. After all, his master had done it several times. But never with the simplicity and ease that Nero did. Moreover, Nero managed to control Bren effortlessly. Judging by his expression, he expected this result.

Although, in recent years, the master didn't even want the undead to be under his control. Their coven knows that such control isn’t easy. So, seeing such magic performed in this way relaxed shocks him. Making Seres, yet again view Nero in another way.

"You're the necromancer the caravan was talking about," Seres hears his friend Adar exclaim.

Nero, in turn, seems not to make much of Adar's comment and turns to the others.

The women's expressions seem shocked by what they just saw. Ged, on the other hand, as usual, doesn’t show any reaction. Seeing Nero look at them, Annie goes from shock to rage and shouts, "You're like them," while going to pick up the knife on the floor.

Unfortunately for her, Nero is faster and comes to her, taking the opportunity to deliver a punch in her stomach, leaving her stunned.

"Sorry girl, but I can't let you do something, I'll regret," he says while putting her over his shoulder.

Turning to Sate, he comments, "You already knew what they were."

"How could we not suspect?" Sate says, closing her eyes, seeming to reflect on something calmly.

"Well, it doesn't matter.", he says, turning to Seres.

"Help them, and let's get out of here."

Adar comes into the room and goes to Sate, starting to help her walk out. Nero, in turn, takes the opportunity to run out with Annie over his shoulder. Seeing this, Seres looks at Ged and goes to him, grabbing his arm to pull him to run out of there.

While they start their escape, more pieces of wood come off the door. Seres runs hastily along the corridor. Adar and Sate are in front of him, blocking the way. So, him having to pull the slower Ged doesn’t end up slowing him down much.

That said each second feels like an eternity, the fear of the undead pushing them all on.

Fortunately, the corridor isn't long, and although it didn't seem fast to him, they are nearing its end. In front of them, Nero climbs the stairs, and opens the trapdoor, allowing them to exit the underground and enter the stables.

Seres has to wait for agonizing seconds while Adar helps a weak and somewhat disoriented Sate climb the stairs. But finally, he can climb the stairs and return to the surface. The air, smelling of manure, has never felt so good. Just being able to breathe this air gives him strength and hope.

Knowing that the undead are coming, he prepares to continue running. But in the middle of the stables, Nero stands with a concentrated expression and a gaze fixed on him.

"Release the animals and stay away. This is about to heat up.", Nero orders calmly, keeping his gaze fixed on Seres.

Ged passes by Seres and goes to the nearest animal to release it. He seems somewhat excited as if having something to do brings relief from what happened.

On the other hand, Sate is taking care of Annie, who is lying nearby, groaning, not far from the static Nero. Adar, he can't see anywhere.

"Are you coming out or not?" Nero's voice echoes through the stables, prompting Seres to notice that he's not focused on him but on the underground they just left.

Without saying anything, Seres clears the entrance. As he moves away from the corner where the trapdoor is hidden, he sees Adar near the stable door. He decides to start going in his direction to join his friend.

While walking, he can't help but wonder why Nero is so focused on the trapdoor. They shouldn't be standing here. They should be fleeing. After all, they shouldn't take long to be caught by their pursuers.

When Seres is passing by a Nero who barely notices him, a sound is heard behind him. Turning around, an undead can be seen climbing the stairs.

"Incredible, not even dead, that pervert is good for anything," hearing that comment, Seres remembers Bren's lifeless body receiving Nero's orders. But before any other thought crosses his mind, Nero continues to speak.

"Draco's Flames," with that said, intense flames appear from Nero's right arm. They quickly gather into a ball in his right hand. He then extends his hand toward the undead.

From his hand, the flaming ball quickly flies towards the undead. But it passes by it and hits the wall behind it. Upon impact, the ball explodes, expanding a few meters around and skimming its initial target.

The undead lets out a scream of frustration or some form of pain, Seres doesn't know. But the scream that sends shivers down his spine reveals that the monster felt the impact.

"Draco's Flames," Nero repeats. This time, the flames appear and concentrate on his left side. And when he extends his left arm, another ball of flames shoots out.

Instead of hitting the wall, this time the ball hits the ground a little in front of its target. But once again, the explosion hit. This time the undead is on fire and falls to the ground.

But behind it, another one starts entering the stable.

Nero reacts at this moment by taking a step toward the trapdoor before repeating the spell. This time, the flaming ball comes out of his right hand to hit the new undead head-on. It then falls down the stairs and disappears into the underground.

Nero takes another step forward and shoots again with his left hand. This time, he hits the ground in front of the trapdoor. This leads him to take another step forward and shoot again with his right hand. This time, he hits inside the corridor, causing a jet of flames to shoot out of the trapdoor.

While Nero shoots into the corridor, Seres comes out of the shock of what he just witnessed. The display of pure power in front of him seems to come from ancient stories. Where a mage alone with the power of his magic turns the tide of a battle.

Everything Seres ever dreamed of being is now in front of him. The way Nero ridiculed them now makes perfect sense. For someone with such power, they all together wouldn't have been any threat.

For what reason someone like him would allow himself to be made a prisoner, Seres can't fathom. Everything that has happened since they captured him must have been, just a joke to him.

"Move, can't you see everything's on fire?" Nero shouts, alerting them to the fire that has erupted. Since the first fireball, parts of the stable, especially the straw, began to burn. Now, with the ridiculous amount of fire he just used, the whole part of the stable next to the trapdoor is in flames.

Not only was Seres distracted by the spectacle. But on the warning, everyone ran to the entrance where Adar and Ged were with two pack animals that he had released from the stable.

When Seres looks back, he sees the most powerful necromancer he knows of, helping Sate and Annie escape from the flames. And at that moment, despite everything they've been through today, he decides that this will be his new master.