The morning dawned with a bright promise. Even the night guards reported that there were less sightings of movement than usual in the night. Word of a horde, however, had everyone on edge. That is, everybody but Gerald. Gerald slept so soundly that it took Ezra and Lydia pouring two buckets of water on him as he lay on the floor before he woke up.
"What in the hells!?" He shouted, sputtering and trying to get up and quickly.
"You've been summoned to the village council." Ezra said, her eyes filled with the fright based on the rumors that were afflicting the town. Even Lydia looked concerned, although her eyes were much more accusatory than concerned. Gerald got up quickly, dripping onto the already wet floors and his blanket becoming even more soaked. "Better get changed." Ezra replied. "The council has thrown people in jail for not looking presentable when summoned before." With that she left, carrying both of the buckets that had been emptied on the poor man as he had slept.
Lydia looked smug at the, still waking up man as he quickly got up and shook himself off as much as he could. "I'd throw another bucket on you, but Ezra said you should probably be dry for the council."
"Ha ha. Very funny." Gerald said, his face flashed with annoyance and he used a Warlock spell to get himself dry quickly. "Stupid thing takes a minute."
"We still need to talk." Lydia said, her eyes showing that she meant business.
"By the gods, will everything stop coming all at once!" He said to nobody in particular. He then turned to her and his eyes flashed in annoyance. "I haven't forgotten that we need to talk, Lydia. I was planning on doing that later today, after I'd been paid for the work I did last night." He looked in her eyes and she just looked at him, her eyes cold but not unfeeling. "I'm tired. I'm still wet. I've also be preparing the way for us on our journey."
"You mean I'm stuck with you for a while yet?" She replied.
"You're indebted to me for one year, woman. The magic doesn't let that kind of thing go easily. Trust me." He looked at himself. "Well, I guess we should go to the council."
"Your clothes." She remarked.
"What about them?"
"Shouldn't you change?" Lydia questioned.
Gerald looked at his clothes. "What's wrong with this?"
"Besides the smell?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Those are filthy, and I'd be surprised if you had cleaned those for even a week before I found you in Woodstand."
He frowned. "I had a system in Woodstand and it kept my clothes clean. Then, I run into a crazed Druidess who refuses to believe me even though I can't lie and then my life gets a little crazy. I think I'm entitled to a little wear and tear on my clothes."
"You'd better put on something else." She remarked. "The only reason I'm sticking around is so you can work some of that magic on me so that I look presentable."
His eyes focused on her for a moment, and he breathed a circular breathing pattern for a few seconds. "You're right. I'm sorry." He closed his eyes and a bright flash obstructed Lydia's view. When she could look at the man, he was dressed in a long merchant's suit, with a spotted old bow tie and soft black shoes that looked to be freshly shined. "Look at yourself." He remarked, looking himself over.
Lydia found herself, unbeknownst to her, in a soft blue dress, with a gentle white undershirt beneath it that covered her arms. Her hair was done in long buns near both sides of her ears, and her shoes beneath the dress were a small shoe with light heels. Overall, she didn't mind it, though she thought that it didn't really do her body justice. "What's with the hair?"
"Ceremonial hair." He responded, pulling his own hair backwards and having it stick. "It's the ceremonial buns of the Witches race, and even the non-magic witches still do their hair in that fashion. Since they believe that we're travelers from that region, it is a good idea to keep up the act."
She nodded. "Isn't that lying?" She asked.
"Huh?" Gerald focused on her intently with that one.
"Isn't making someone think that you are from somewhere where you aren't lying to them?"
He shrugged. "It depends. If I outright told them, then yes. If they assume that, mention it, and don't bring it up again, I don't see it as lying as not filling in with all the facts."
"I call it lying."
"Call it what you will." He said. "Being vague can be extremely good for one of my kind. We aren't allowed to lie, after all." He frowned. "Surely you knew that." She shook her head. "Huh... seems the stories haven't done us justice over the millennia." Gerald then looked her over quickly. "I'm not sure that the colors do you justice. What with the color of your eyes and hair."
"What's wrong with them?" She asked, her hand instinctively moving closer to her hair.
"Nothing." He said. "I'm just not sure that those colors I put you in do your natural qualities justice."
"I don't think the dress shows off enough of my curves." She admitted, looking at herself.
"Can't be helped." He muttered. "When we're in safe territories, you can dress however you like, within reason. I know that some of you Druids go fully naked if the people around them will let them." She chuckled and even he cracked a smile. "There. That's a good smile."
She quickly shut the smile down and looked at him. "You're answering all of my questions when this is over." She said, her face serious.
"I plan on it." He moved to the door and opened it. "Shall we?"
The town hall was little more than just an extra building that was built towards the center of town. Ezra led them there, her own eyes looking fazed and several of the other women came and tried to talk to her about the rumors, but she had a duty to do and 'can't be stopped'. Gerald munched on an apple while they walked. The morning sun was blocked with clouds, and his hip told him that there would be just a small shower of rain early in the afternoon. 'Sounds too familiar...' He thought, his eyes looking around him. He had brought out his sword and hung it at his belt, by normal means this time rather than magic. Honestly, he wished he had his walking stick. Now accidentally left long behind over a thousand kilometers away.
The double doors of the house that served as the town hall opened for them by two men who were dressed in leather armor and carried long spears. 'The rumors of the Zombies has gone far and they haven't even attacked anyone yet.' He remarked in his brain. He entered the house and let his eyes adjust to the darkened space. He and Lydia were brought forward until Lydia was pulled by Ezra to stand in the gallery and he was told to keep moving forward and onto a small platform in the center of the room.
The main floor and second floor of the building had been hollowed out and a dais was made on which five people sat. Three men and two women. One of the women was the village healer, who was looking at him seriously and didn't betray a single look of familiarity as a fellow wielder of magic. The other four scowled at him. Around the room were seats and chairs a plenty, and it felt like every person in town who wasn't watching the walls was there to watch the proceedings. The whispers were deafening and the topics ranged from the insane and panicked, to calm and sane.
"ORDER!" Came the shout of a man, who didn't look much older than 30. "ORDER!" The room, quickly became hushed and quieted down. "The Council is in session! Mayor Vanderbilt presiding!"
"Thank you Gerald." The oldest man on the dais said. It took the Necromancer a second to realize that the Mayor wasn't talking to him. "We've called this meeting to discuss the future of Voldgath, and the problems that we are now enduring." He sounded sure of himself, and was authoritative. "As we have all heard, there are rumors of a horde in relation to the undead." The mutters began around the room but were silenced with a single waive of his hand. "The merchants who were allowed in last night told us of a lack of Zombies before a quick attack. The evening was afterwards uneventful." Sighs of relief. "However, they were forewarned of the quick attack by the man before us today." The mayor turned his attention to Gerald (the Necromancer) and stated, "Please state your name for the record."
"Gerald." He said.
The mayor looked stunned at the silence that followed. "Is that it?"
"I don't have a family name, if that is what you are asking for." Gerald responded, "Though I understand that is uncommon here."
"Fair enough." The mayor responded. "I was informed that you ran into the traders on the road, is that correct?"
"Yes." There was a poignant pause between the questioner and the man being questioned.
"What brought you into those gods forsaken lands at night?"
"Money." Gerald replied, pulling the odd jobs papers from his pocket. "I took some jobs from this town and went to go collect bounties. My sister had a knack for dealing with Zombies, and she passed much of that skill to me." He saw, out of the corner of his eye, Lydia bite her lip.
"Fair enough. Did you find success?"
He nodded. "At least enough to fill all of my job descriptions." He said. There was a gasp. The man from the odd jobs then stood a little off to the side and behind him.
"Master Mayor, that's impossible. He took the fabled ring quest." There was muttering around the room.
"Did you now?" The mayor said, his eyes widening.
"I found the ring on a Zombie I confronted." He pulled the ring from his pocket and held it high. The room muttered and one woman was so shocked that she slid off of her chair and onto the floor. "I guess you could say that I'm lucky that I found her."
"So she was still out there." Came the voice of the oldest man from the dais. He stood. "I was the man who put that ring quest on the board almost 40 years ago."
"She was.. around." Gerald said. "Though I'll need payment before I return the ring. I hope you understand that." The old man nodded and sat back down, his hips hardly being able to hold his weight under the shock. "Mr. Mayor. I was told that the council wished to speak with me on an urgent matter. While this ring is an oddity, I don't intend to pry into what it means to this gentleman and to this town. I assume that the real reason you called me forward has to do with what I saw and reported to the caravan I ran into."
"Quite right, though I may ask you to use more decorum." The mayor replied, his eyes flashing.
"My apologies Mr. Mayor." Gerald said with a bow. "I merely wish to stay on track with the purpose of this meeting. I'm sure that the rest of the people in the room wish to do so as well."
There were a few murmurs of agreement to this.
"Very well. But please watch your tone with me. Insulting the council can have you imprisoned you know." Gerald smiled and bowed again, and the mayor proceeded. "Mr. Gerald, what is it that you saw last night? The people you came back with stated that you were rambling about a horde."
"I saw it." He replied. There was an immediately rumbling in the room and it took a moment to calm everyone down. "I cut out the tongues of some Zombies, making my quota you must understand." The mayor nodded and Gerald continued, "Took the ring off of the finger of another, and I saw what was going on."
"And what's going on?"
"They have a leader." He responded, leading one person to scream from the audience. "A Skeletal Commander I assume, since it had a sword." Shrieks filled the room, and several people tried to run out of the room, but the guards held everybody back and the Mayor had to call for everybody to order several times before the initial panic was quelled.
"Are you certain?"
"I saw it, sir." Gerald replied. "A sword in its hand, and it seemed to be calling for more of them. I hurried away shortly after seeing it and felt that I was followed by a few Zombies. Some of which were killed by the good caravan of people I arrived with yesterday." Every face in the room looked pale. Even Lydia's face was faded. "They were headed south. I think there's a town that way, is there not?"
"Not if you follow the road, but yes." The mayor admitted. "Vershon. About 20 kilometers from us."
"Well... I think that's where they were going to then. I can't be certain though, as I am not overly familiar with the area."
The council muttered together in whispers before returning to the crowd. "We'll send riders to our sister towns in the area. Hopefully, none of them have fallen to this blight yet." The mayor was greeted with some applause for this but he held a hand for silence. "In addition. I want the watches doubled. I also want the gates barred at night. Nobody will be allowed in or out after the sun sets." There was some murmurs of agreement. "We will also be calling for the emergency quarantines to be carried out." At this, there was some quiet outrage. "I don't like this more than you do, but we can't risk another outbreak. Or do you all want another one?" The hall went silent. "I know. That was a hurtful statement. Many of us, myself included, lost people that night. But we need to look to the future to make sure that everyone is protected. All farmers in the outdoor fields and groves will be in before the third hour after noon. Emergency curfews will also be put into effect beginning tomorrow." The council nodded their agreement to these ideas. It was obvious that they had met before the public meeting to discuss these very things.
"Mr. Mayor?" Gerald said, bowing again during a pause.
"What is it?"
"I know that I am a stranger to this town, and its ways, but I feel I can help you further."
"You are a traveler and will be moving on, will you not?"
"Tomorrow, if my lord Mayor isn't disposed to delay me." The mayor held his peace and so Gerald continued. "If you wish me to spread the word in the villages to the north of here, I would be happy to carry any messages you would like to to spread. That way, you have one more person preparing in case this city comes..." He frowned and shook his head. "I would rather not speak of potential problems. I feel that the women in the room may not have the heart to hear the possibilities."
The mayor chuckled. "You are dressed as a Witch and yet you question the strength of women?" He chuckled more, and the town healer (a hidden witch herself) smiled at it. "Please don't make jokes here in these halls. Our people are survivors and our women are some of those who carried this town."
Gerald smiled and bowed low again. "My apologies. I did not mean to make the women of this town take offense at my words. I merely meant-"
"Enough flattery and empty words." The mayor interrupted. "You will be heading out tomorrow and heading north, correct?" Gerald nodded. "Then you'll take my message to the mayors in the north. I'll give you three letters since there are three towns north of here until you reach the Wizard's plain."
"I have a question for the man." Came the youngest member of the council, the other woman. She stood. "What brings this traveler into our neck of the woods at all? Especially without looking at the maps and knowing the terrain."
'An intelligent politician... a rarity.' Gerald thought with a small grin to himself but replied: "Honestly, my good lady, me and my companion had a small problem with the Gin and had to make our escape very quickly. We had to leave without horses or carts even. We hurried west as fast as we could, and came into town just the other night after the gates had closed." The other woman affirmed that they had come in after dark and that she had checked them both herself.
"And what problems did you bring the Gin?" The other woman continued. "I hear there's enough problems in Gin country without you causing them."
"Actually, we caused what little problems we did quite by accident." Gerald said, shaking his head and kicking the ground. "My companion is a from the Druidess race." Murmurs. "But we never did anything to the people of the Gin. If anything, they attacked us just because of her. We were fortunate that we weren't hit with their magics as we ran away."
The woman sat down, apparently satisfied for the moment. "That is a matter for questioning if he were wishing to live here, not leave quickly." The mayor scolded the woman. "Please remember that we have far more pressing matters." She nodded and he continued. "Mr. Gerald, you are free to step away and join your companion if you so wish." Gerald bowed and did so, standing next to Lydia along the sides of the room. As the proceedings went on, Gerald's mind wandered. 'What questions is she going to ask, and how should I answer them?' Those thoughts clouded his mind to the point that he didn't initially notice that the assembly had been dismissed until everybody started moving towards the exit some time later.