Gerald walked through the horde of Zombies further away from the city, leading them back to areas where they would have room to dig and sleep. It had been sad when Sarah had questioned the man she loved. The Wizard's lies were now exposed. Her tears… Gerald shook his head. 'I've been too reckless.' He thought. 'I'll have to go into hiding for at least another hundred years or more before I can do anything again…' He had revealed himself to too many people. Now the question was whether or not they could be trusted… He doubted it. He had been reckless, and it would be time to move.
The sooner the better.
The others would not understand. The non-magi especially. They were now thinking of him as some kind of 'lord'. 'And where in the hells is Davith?' He questioned. The old man hadn't returned by night, so he must be in the next town. 'Could use him now. Probably help make it easier to explain…' His train of thought continued along the road until there was a loud moan from a Zombie just over the ridge.
This caught the Necromancer's attention, tired as it was. He turned, telling the Zombies to keep on their track and to sleep until after the daylight had passed, and proceeded up the hill. The ash and footprints of the Zombies who came around him distorted the ground, making reading the ground impossible. Gerald topped the hill to find a small group of Zombies standing in a circle. A skeletal commander was waving the Zombies away, which allowed Gerald to step in and see it.
It was a section of dried bones, charred and black. The feel of Wizard magic still permeated the air, and he immediately knew the caster. "The Everseeker." He muttered. He touched the bones with a delicate touch. "Male. Non-magi. Older, maybe near 70…" His eyes widened. 'No…' His brain connected the dots to the missing Davith, but he quickly brushed it away. 'Impossible. Even an Everseeker isn't that cruel, and this man was killed very cruelly.' He then touched them again and ordered the bones to move and talk.
The bones stood, but it was obvious that portions of them were missing or completely ash. It hobbled, its upper body almost sideways as it walked. "Master." It muttered, not opening its mouth.
"Who were you in life?" The Necromancer asked.
"Foolish question. No answer. I am merely here."
'By the gods, where's a Sorcerer when you need them?' He thought, regretting leaving Sarah behind, and the Sorcerer in with the other council members in Portal. The bones leaned heavily. "Was your body alive earlier today?"
"Until my body was killed, yes master."
"Did your body have a name?"
"Yes, but I do not know it."
The Necromancer looked at the skeleton again, this time with interest. "I'm commanding you to go back to Portal," He stated, pointing back towards the city which was just out of sight. "I need to finish my work and then we shall find answers."
"Answers are pointless. I am here to serve." It attempted a bow, and almost fell over. It then started walking against the wall of Zombies and towards the city in the distance. This nagging feeling kept bothering Gerald, but he considered it of no matter and finished the work of burying the Zombies before the morning. He wandered back slowly, the weariness of the night catching up to him. His magical power was very low, and he doubted that he could even defeat Lydia at the moment if she chose to attempt to kill him. The morning sunlight began to turn the light of the sky into its usual blue when he finally saw it.
A lone Zombie was standing and facing the oncoming sun, as though it were transfixed.
"Go to sleep." The Necromancer called. The Zombie lay down in the ash, but didn't dig, but continued to look at the ever more blue sky. "GO TO SLEEP!" The Necromancer ordered. It began digging but continued to look at the sky as it did so. The Necromancer was on dangerous ground, and he knew it. He didn't wait for what could happen, he simply ran. The tired man ran hard towards Portal, not daring to take even a second to look behind him. He had passed the next bend in the road, now running up the slope of a dune that allowed him a view of the town in front of him. It was then that the first ray of sunshine hit his face, and a large feeling of dread crept over him. He panted at the top of the dune and allowed himself a brief glance backwards… There was a loud screech that filled the morning sky, and shook the Necromancer to his core. While the Zombie he had passed was mostly covered, something of it must not have been, and it pushed itself out of the ash as it screamed. Gerald didn't pause more than a moment upon seeing it sit up in the ash and ran as quickly as his legs would carry him down the hill. 'I've got to run more often.' He lamented, panting harder and harder as he ran closer to the wreckage of the caravan from the previous night. As he came in, some of the skeletons greeted their master and hurried over to him.
"Get everyone inside. Sound the alarm, and tell everyone that there is to be no leaving Portal all day in any direction." A skeleton spoke it in their bony language (which could travel to all of the skeletons in an area) and immediately a group of skeletons rushed over and began helping the Necromancer and the no-magi (and those under the interrogation of Sarah the Sorceress) into the city walls. Everyone had no idea what was happening, except for the Necromancer who puffed as much as he could after them.
The Scream… it came again. Terrible, like a banshee in the night, but not as deadly. (Well, maybe as deadly as the thing attached to it.) The Skeletons, at a word, picked up their Necromancer, who was winded to the point that he couldn't run anymore, and ran him towards the gates. It was then that Gerald turned and dared take a peek at what was behind them. The Zombie was standing at the top of the dune that Gerald had been on not even two minutes before, and was beginning to run down the side. The few horses still outside pulled on their harnesses, and winnied in terror, but the Necromancer had no time for that. Even the skeletons now moved with a renewed sense of purpose as others on the walls reported what they saw. Gerald panted and tried to catch his breath as he allowed himself to be carried. The Zombie was soon to the caravan, not even twenty seconds later, running with renewed passion and hunger. Three of the skeletons near Gerald stopped and turned around, their spears held at the ready. Three skeletal warriors was nothing, however, to a Zombie in the sunlight and it didn't seem to even want to slow down. It seemed drawn to Gerald, and even ignored the tied up horses in its pursuit. Two other skeletons tried to ambush it, but it quickly brushed them off, pulling them into each other and causing their bones to get stuck before it got out of the caravan's wreckage. Skeletons may be tireless, but a Zombie in the sun has the benefit of the tendons which propelled it in life, which made it far faster than the skeletons who chased it. Gerald finally reached the walls with a few of the other survivors and the skeletons made a wall of spears behind him. Skeletons on the walls raised their bows and waited for their prey to come within range. Gerald hurried inside the walls, ordering the skeletons that had carried him to set him down, and he ordered the gate closed as soon as the last of the humans was inside the gates. Fash stood inside, and closed the gate, almost completely shut, at his master's command. Within a few seconds, however, the original three skeletons who had stopped to try to slow down the Zombie were all gone, their heads crushed under the creature's immense grip. A loud call rang out into the day from the wounded creature (one of the skeletons must have gotten it). The morning quietly hurried the sound into oblivion. The ash, however, on the side of the Zombie seemed to rush up, building into a small pile at its feet before it continued forward. Gerald hurried to the walls, half crawling up the stairs that the non-magi were using.
Gerald topped the wall, hating himself for not being in as good of shape as he should have been, and looked out. The Zombie was doing something unusual, but then Zombies in the daylight were not his normal study in his race.
It had stopped just before the Skeletal contingent and it moaned constantly.
Hermina was already standing at the top of the wall, the sleep deprivation evident in her eyes, and the long cloak pulled around her to shield her from the sun's rays. "What is going on?"
"Zombie… in day… daylight." Gerald replied, still attempting to catch his breath. Gerald's mind was tired, his brain not thinking clearly, and his body exhausted. The skeletons continued to bar the way as the Zombie continued to moan, almost as though it were trying to talk. 'Highly unusual.' Gerald's mind thought, reflecting on everything that he knew about Zombies and their foul smelling group.
"I thought Zombies shouldn't be out in the daylight." Hermina mused, her voice showing an amused quality.
"They shouldn't."
"It watched the sunrise?"
"Sadly yes."
"Pity. You have enough on your plate." Hermina noted, pulling the cloak closer to her face.
"Lydia's asleep?"
"For now. She'll wake up sometime around noon." Hermina's look was sad, but she continued, "She's a strong woman."
"Stronger than most…" He caught his breath again and continued. "What are you still doing awake? You need your rest."
"What I need is my Master to rest with me." The woman retorted, giving an annoyed look to the Necromancer. "But I get the feeling that you won't be able to join me."
"Not until this is taken care of." He replied, grimly. "Trust me, I'd rather be in bed."
"I'll be where you were last night. I can't stay out here much longer." She replied. "Please join me. When I'm near you, I always sleep better."
"Are the other vampires asleep?"
"Except for Count Grov." She said, "He would like a brief word with you when you get the chance."
"I'll be leaving this place soon." The necromancer replied. "I… I cannot promise that he will get his time with me."
"I'll relay it. Thank you for taking our whims into account, Master."
"Now please, rest." He smiled at her, and then looked back at the Zombie in the sun. His face fell. "Why isn't it…"
"Out of control? I don't know. But I feel that it can't be anything other than a bad omen." Hermina stated. She helped the man to his feet, gently so as to not expose her skin, and then kissed him gently on the cheek. "Goodnight. I hope that you find a time of peace soon." With that, she was gone, hurrying into the shadow of the wall, and then moving as quickly as she could from shadow to shadow as she made her way back to that building he had slept in the day before.
"A great woman…" He mused as he watched her go. At least until the sounds of the Zombie's moans climbed higher into the early morning sun.
The Necromancer looked further down upon it, and it suddenly seemed to focus and its eyes stared directly back into him. As though a silent communication was going on. Gerald wished, and not for the last time, for a staff to lean on and found himself leaning on Rory. The non-magi son of Davith looked at him oddly as he did so, but he soon got over it.
"My lord, this is a problem."
"Indeed."
"Please allow your servants to take care of this. You need your rest."
"And you have no idea what a Zombie is capable of during the day." The gate closed with a thud, and the bar was put in place. Gerald had no intention of going down without a fight, if need be. The Zombie screamed once again. Nothing answered. It suddenly grabbed the spear of a skeleton and yanked it from the skeletal grasp of its owner before lunging at it and crushing its skull
"Master." A skeletal commander said, coming forward and holding its bow at the ready and still pointed at the Zombie. "Shall we shoot?" Gerald nodded, and the sound of bowstrings and crossbow bolts sang in the morning light. While many missed, a majority of them found their mark. The Zombie was pincushioned with the dark bolts and arrows, but none had hit beyond the skin, or pierced the skull of the beast. It continued to fight, even pulling an arrow from its torso and plunging it into the skull of another skeleton, causing it to fall to the ground and turn to ash. "Again." The Necromancer ordered. "Aim for the head." Another volley was released shortly afterwards, and the Zombie was now missing an eye and several teeth, but it remained standing, and fighting the skeletons below them. Finally, a spearman in the front lunged, skewering the Zombie in the head, and passing through the head entirely. The brain turned to ash in the morning sun, and the Zombie fell to the ground with a grunt. The Zombie's body then seemed to disintegrate into the ash of the land around it, and it blew away with the wind before another minute had passed, leaving nothing behind.
"That was horrible." The skeletal commander stated, looking at where the body had been.
"It could have been much worse." Gerald noted. He then turned around and headed down the stairs. Sleep beckoned him like an old friend, and he was keen to allow it to take him into the void. When he got back to the large, comfortable, bed he had found, he saw the Vampress laying on her back, her eyes closed, and her breathing stilled.
The deathly sleep of the Vampire. He groaned, and decided (in his tired brain) that he wasn't leaving. He climbed over the Vampress, grabbed the blanket, and pulled it over himself. Dreams took him, within seconds, and then the black void…