The misadventures of the necromancer

Chapter XXXI

Adar could see, in the distance, the line of animals and people traveling the path below the hill where they stood. The caravan they were looking at must have at least twenty people and about twice that number of pack animals.

“It looks like we’ve found a caravan for you,” Nero declared to Sorana.

“Nero, it almost sounds like you want to see me go,” Sorana said, sounding hurt by the mage’s words. Nero, for his part, maintained an almost bored expression while turning to her before saying, “Exactly.”

Adar's stomach agreed with him. They were on half rations, but even then their food would only last a couple extra days. Losing one mouth would help, that or buying some supplies from that caravan. Unfortunately, Nero didn't seem interested in that option.

After hearing Nero's response, Sorana began to open her mouth to speak but was interrupted.

“Or, are you no longer interested in going to Freehope? As I already told you, I’m not going there.” His face didn’t lose its expression of annoyance for a second. Adar could only assume he was fed up with Sorana’s attempts to get him to go to Freehope.

“No. I have to go there,” she replied, instantly losing her hurt expression. Nero, in turn, simply pointed to the caravan with his head.

“Where do you intend to go?” she asked seriously, surprising the mage. She observed Nero intently, waiting for his response.

“I fail to see how that's important to you.”

She heard his response and smiled before saying, “Central Crossing! Then.”

Nero simply looked at her. But Adar and everyone else could see that she had guessed correctly. With her smile growing even bigger, she continued to speak.

“It’s not that hard to guess. Where else around here could you sell your eggs? Unless you continue North, to Sagrat.”

Hearing her, Nero made a confused expression. “The fortress in the mountains?”

“The city at the base of the Green Mountains,” she clarified, also looking a bit confused. “But you probably don’t want to go that far to get your money.”

“Sagrat, in the Green Mountains. Yes, that makes some sense,” Nero said, apparently to himself and seeming to ignore what Sorana had said. Something that Adar had seen him do at times when there was some confusion between what Nero said and reality. Usually, it was when he referred to places.

“But you know the best price will be in Freehope, or even on the coast. Of course, the best route to the coast is through Freehope,” Sorana tried to insist.

Now Nero smiled before speaking. “The caravan keeps moving while we’re talking here. But if you don’t mind missing it, you can surely find another one in Central Crossing. You’ll just lose some time.”

Sorana looked at the caravan, which continued its pace in the distance, before grumbling, “Jerk,” and going to the mule to fetch something. Adar could only think she went to get her sword, which was on the animal. After all, she came to them only with clothes on her body.

Still smiling, Nero followed her. “Yes, I guessed you wouldn’t want to waste time.” Adar looked at Seres, who returned the look while they watched the two head to the mule.

Once there, Sorana began to retrieve her sword, which was strapped to the side of the mule. Nero went to the other side of the mule and took something from there. Sorana took out her sword and began to fasten it to her waist. Nero walked around the mule and, upon reaching her, extended his hand that was holding a bag with something in it.

“Take this, it’s yours,” he said, shaking his hand so she would take it.

“What is it?” she asked as she took the bag. Receiving no response, she opened the bag and looked inside, exclaiming in surprise, “Eggs!?”

He nodded but said nothing.

“Why are you giving me eggs?” she asked. Adar agreed with her question.

“You helped get them. So, you’re entitled to some,” he replied calmly.

“Yes, but you don’t need to...” she began to say before being interrupted by Nero.

“You did the work. You deserve the reward.” He paused briefly, but before Sorana could speak again, he continued with a small smile. “And I don’t want to owe you a favor.”

“There are five eggs. And I bet you have the connections to get good money for them. They should be useful for your expenses.”

After hearing him, Sorana seemed to want to say something but decided against it, merely fastening the eggs to her waist. Adar couldn’t help but be amazed by Nero’s attitude. After all, he was usually so interested in money. Sorana had paid them a gold coin for helping her escape from Dantar, so it was doubtful she would worry about a few eggs.

Sorana, for her part, approached them. “Goodbye, guys. Good luck with him,” she said, while using her head to point to Nero, and started waving goodbye with one hand.

“Goodbye, Sorana. Safe travels,” Seres exclaimed, returning her wave. Adar, not knowing what to say, simply exclaimed, “Goodbye.”

After the farewells, Sorana began to walk towards the caravan. After some distance, she turned around and declared, “Until next time.”

“Don’t count on it, Sorana,” Nero shouted to her. She, in turn, just waved.

Adar felt irritated hearing him call her by her name. After all, Nero still called him Grumpy. But he called her by her name, even though he had known her for less time than them. They still weren’t given the right to be called by their names.

“Shall we wait to see if she gets accepted into the caravan?” Seres asked.

“Nah, we’ll just wait until she gets there. I’m sure she’ll convince them to take her,” Nero replied nonchalantly.

“Are you sure? She might encounter problems.”

“You’ve seen her face giant spiders. I don’t believe she’ll have major problems. Besides, she must still have more money with her to convince them to take her... We’ll just watch until she reaches the caravan,” Nero explained to Seres’ doubt.

Adar, in turn, asked, “And where are we going?”

Nero looked in the direction from which the caravan had come before saying, “Good question, Grumpy. That way. That caravan must have come from somewhere. And we should be able to use her coin to buy some supplies.”

Although Adar couldn’t explain it, he felt irritated at being called Grumpy once again. But he kept silent, merely nodding since he really did agree with the idea. So they waited a bit while Sorana walked to the caravan. In the end, she reached it and from a distance seemed to be well received by its members.

“It looks all good. Let’s go,” Nero declared before turning and following the path from which the caravan had come. Adar and Seres followed Nero, while the mule came at the back.

They walked for a few hours until finally they could see some smoke rising in the distance.

“Smoke,” said Seres, pointing to one of the lines of smoke rising into the sky.

“Yes, Blondie. From the amount, it must be a village,” Nero exclaimed while observing the smoke in the distance. “We should be able to resupply well.”

“A gold coin will be hard to spend. It’s a lot of money to change,” Adar reminded them to avoid anyone having exaggerated expectations.

“Good point, Grumpy. If necessary, we’ll buy more things or pay extra. But this is a village on a trade route. It should be easier than spending that money in a mountain village,” Nero said in a relaxed tone, which only contributed to making Adar even more frustrated. So frustrated that contrary to what he would normally do, he decided to speak.

“Adar.”

Hearing him, Nero stopped on the path and looked at him, seeming to ask with his eyes what Adar meant.

“Adar. My name is Adar,” his irritation with the necromancer’s attitude made his voice rise a bit at the end of the sentence.

“What do you want... Grumpy?” Nero seemed to be getting amused, irritating him. Seres, for his part, looked from one to the other. When his gaze centered on Adar, he seemed to ask him what he was doing. A fair question, since Nero’s attitude had just demonstrated that nothing good would come of this. But for some reason, Adar couldn’t control himself now.

“Is it that hard to call us by our names?” A question Adar genuinely wanted to be answered.

“No, it’s not. Despite not being particularly good with names, it isn't that hard. I just don’t see much need to remember yours,” Nero said casually, but something in his eyes was tense. “After all, I can’t forget how we met.”

Hearing this brought common sense back to Adar. “You two almost killed me. Over a failed necromancy experiment.” The most brutal truth that Adar couldn’t disagree with.

“So why try to remember your names? When you might try again one day?” Adar now heard the mule’s footsteps approaching from behind. She must be reacting to her creator’s tension. While Adar noticed that Nero opened his hands, possibly preparing for a fight.

“No, we would never do that,” exclaimed Seres agitatedly. Although Adar had thought about confronting the powerful necromancer, he was sure Seres had never even dreamed of such a thing, being enamored with the possibility of learning magic from Nero.

Nero, for his part, shook his head and, almost incredulously at what he heard, ended up saying with a smile, “Maybe. But I’d be really stupid to believe that, wouldn’t I?”

Seres took a step forward, trying to explain himself. But Nero turned his back on him and began to walk.

“Blondie, Grumpy. Come on, let’s see if we can eat something. It’ll do us good.” Nero seemed to have ended the conversation.

Adar, for his part, found it hard to walk again. He had no doubt he was very close to dying here. He really should have kept quiet. Looking back, where the mule seemed to be waiting for him to start walking, Adar remembered how he really needed to find a way to escape from Nero.

As he resumed walking, Adar thought, if Nero doesn’t trust them, why does he keep them around? As they approached the village, the only explanation he found was that Nero once had to work for them. And maybe now he enjoys seeing them have to work for him.