Necromancer and undead (Part 5)

A sharp snap of a twig forced him back to reality.

Leonard looked around, but nothing was hiding between the trees. The sun has set, and he has already gathered a lot of dry wood for making a fire. Driving away the unpleasant memories of his summoning, he turned back and started walking towards the lake.

The High Priest was the only one who believed in him. But even after months of rigorous training, he was unable to improve. The day of the siege was coming closer, and he was losing all hope. He will just die there, like many others. So the night before, he decided to run.

Little did he know that some people anticipated this, and they caught him as soon as he stepped aside. He was forced to go to war. The fight was bloody and one-sided. Lunaria's small army decimated theirs. Once he came to, he was lying on the bloody battleground, with corpses around him. That was the epic heroic tale of the summoned hero from Silgorod.

Leonard stepped out of the woods. He made a fire and sat down, adding more dry wood to the hungry flames. The sorceress was nowhere to be found. He thought she went to bring the water, so he got up and decided to check out the lake.

The moon was now up high in the sky, its silver light illuminating the forest. He walked through the trees, pushing low branches aside with his hands.

He saw something white shimmering in the lake.

He came closer, only realizing that it was the sorceress. She was bathing in the lake, naked, with her back turned to him. He spun away from her, abruptly.

“Is it you, Leo?” she called.

“Y-yes.”

“God, I could hear you kilometers away. How can you stomp so much? You won't catch us any dinner being loud like that.”

He turned to look at her.

She dove into the lake, fully submerging herself. The surface of the lake grew still. The moon was reflected in it, filling its waters with the silver light. The night in the woods was quiet. Leonard could hear his heart beating. She still hadn't surfaced. Surely she is not going to drown? It looked like she knew how to swim, apart from him.

The lake's surface broke, shattering the reflection of the moon into hundreds of silver waves.

The sorceress emerged. She was now finally free of filth and grease. Her body was thin and frail, her skin was deathly pale. The moonlight only amplified that. But the biggest surprise was her hair. Her long hair was silver, as if she were some old wise woman. Was she really as young as she seemed?

“Listen, sorceress,” Leonard said.

“I am no sorceress,” she replied, her red eyes glowing in the darkness. “I am a necromancer, skilled in the forbidden magic of the dead.”

“What is your name?” he asked.

“I… I don’t remember anymore.”

“You don’t remember?”

“My magic is a corruptive type of magic,” she replied. “To make a bargain with the dead, you need to provide compensation.”

“They are dead. What kind of things do they want from you? Your lifeforce? Or blood like my sword?”

“No, the dead cannot return to life, that is the law of nature. They want my memories. They cannot live, and they cannot make their own memories. So they take mine instead.”

“So you…”

“The memories of my name had long been stripped away from me. But if you want to give me one, I don’t mind. I will be able to use it in another bargain.”

There were a lot of things he wanted to tell her. Like her name should be important to her, and she shouldn’t give it away. He wanted to ask her how many things she had already lost, but how can you count things you don’t remember?

Another snap of a twig interrupted him. Now, he was sure it wasn’t just his imagination.

“Someone is here,” he said to her, quietly.

The necromancer closed her eyes. Once she opened them again, they were glowing even redder. He saw as the black ink started spreading over her body, covering each part of her skin. It looked like tattoos, but it was strange. In his original world, tattoos were not moving on your body.

She said something in a low tone. He did not understand her, but then realized she was using an unfamiliar language. She was hissing at the thing hidden in the woods, resembling a snake.

Now Leonard could clearly hear some steps. Someone or something was walking towards them. He called his sword immediately, and Sanguis listened to him, jumping into his hand. Leonard prepared himself to strike. Out of the woods came the body of a man. He was tall and slender, his purple eyes were glowing in the darkness, long black hair flowed behind him. He looked haggard, but his clothes were in decent condition.

“You can lower your sword, Leo,” the necromancer said.

“Do you know him?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she replied. “He is my servant Kasian.”