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Chapter Twenty-Two
"What's going on?" Alexi asked Daphne.
His young necromancer friend stood at the granite balustrade gawking (with the rest of the school) at the academy's courtyard one level below them. Off to his right a broad staircase packed with girls looked on at the two Timeron knights stationed at the hallway that led to the Headmaster's office. One was easily seven feet tall. Huge might have been a better description, and although he looked in shape, Alexi thought at some point "big" simply meant ugly in a "hulk" kind of way. He much preferred the shorter, slender one with brown eyes who looked in the neighborhood of six feet tall. Someone that was between six-feet and six-feet four sounded just about perfect, because that would make the man only six to ten inches taller than Alexi. After all, he didn't want to be intimidated, just turned on.
"The Dreaded Irtemara Kahket is here talking to Headmaster Boritsi. With her came General Calisto Blackmoor."
"The death knight?" Alexi asked, placing his hands on the balustrade. He looked to his right, his gaze interrupted by the fine lace dangling from his red bonnet. "What's brought them here?"
"I'm not sure," Daphne said. "But they did have a body bag with them."
"A body bag?" Alexi asked. "Why would they bring a body here, unless it was to be buried?"
"I'm not sure," Daphne said, turning around. "I'm going to have a closer look. A real life death knight is too hard to resist." Then Daphne ran toward the stairs to push her way through the gathering crowd.
Alexi thought about joining her, but then he heard the click of heels indicating that multiple feet approached from behind. He took a quick glance and saw Rowena, his friend Paulina, and two other girls from the "Fab Five": Rachael Sparkles and Gabriella Finch. Rowena, "Sparks," and "Gabby" were dressed to the nines of course, with full length dresses made of expensive heavy velvet. Gabby wore powder blue, Sparks wore one that was green, and Rowena had a red dress on similar in color to Alexi's bonnet. All three dresses had lacings in front and back and golden ornamental strips flowing from shoulder to hem line. Alexi just clenched his jaw and thought strongly of walking away but didn't see a clear route of escape that would make things less awkward.
"My boyfriend Dudley said the body belongs to a Timeron knight killed beyond the Bone Wall by some assassin. He was beheaded," Rowena said, fanning herself. When she said that, she arched one eyebrow, and Alexi couldn't help but admire the smoky eye makeup job Rowena displayed this morning.
Why does he have to look so gorgeous? Rowena's beautiful cleavage was amply displayed, skin looked powdered and perfect, and hands looked so dainty and small in lace gloves that somehow managed to be whiter, more delicate, and finer than the ones he'd grabbed off the dresser. "You shouldn't eavesdrop. It's not lady-like behavior," Alexi said, voice flat. "And no one can just behead a Timeron knight. They're incredible warriors."
"Oh Dudley would know," Sparks said, stretching her hands out in front of her to show the elbow length emerald green gloves and her finger that now bore a gold promise ring. Rachael was a changeling, part of the aquatic elves of Wynwrayth, and her skin (no matter what form she took on land) had a kind of iridescence to it that resembled fish scales in sunlight. Alexi always thought it striking. "He's so strong and handsome, just like my own cavalier Kasey who gave me this ring. The ball's in a week, Alexi. Are you even going to have a date?"
Paul who was dressed in cotton twill with a bodice open down the front to reveal a contrasting colored chemise, let out a despondent sigh. His lips looked way too red today and his makeup a bit thick. Alexi wanted desperately to pluck Paul's eyebrows and darken them with liner. "Why do you always put Alexi down?" he asked in that nice effeminate voice that Alexi had grown to like. "She has her struggles like the rest of us."
"They put down what they're afraid of," Alexi said. "Isn't that right, Rowena?"
The tall, beautiful transvestite leaned forward and said, "You should watch your tone, or I'll make sure no one asks you out. Dudley's quite well connected you know. I got four of his friends to ask out my posse. You do want to be deflowered on ball night, don't you? It'd be embarrassing to be a wallflower, because all your fears come true: no one wants you. Then again, I suppose it could be worse. For example, the headmaster could have sold you out to a real troll that just wants a boy to fuck so he can remain indiscrete. Remember Alexi, if you don't have a date by then anyone can take you to the Scarlet Chamber. It's a man's right in Zanda to do so."
"It's a man's right if he's paid the Headmaster. Get that right, Rowena. Most girls have no idea how the Scarlet Chamber actually works," Paul said.
Alexi's cheeks grew hot with rising anger. "Have you come out to Dudley yet? If he's the man you say he is, he'll want a real girl I'd imagine."
Rowena's eyes narrowed but there was a smugness there to it as well. "For your information you little shit, I did and he got even more excited. He hates kids and declared it was perfect, and that he'd keep my secret if I blew his best friend, which I did. So fuck you."
"You're such a whore," Alexi said.
Rowena retaliated with a stinging slap across his face.
"As if you could do better," Sparks replied. "Dudley is so handsome. He says he'll have a washboard stomach by the time the ball arrives because he's on some fish-only diet. You're so lucky Rowena, and thanks for hooking me up with his friend Kasey. Once I get my surgery, he says he'll marry me if I consent to keeping our relationship `open.' It honestly sounds wonderful."
Rowena smiled while Alexi rubbed his cheek. He didn't dare retaliate because Rowena was bigger and stronger and would probably push him off the balcony.
"That's what real gratitude looks like," Rowena said to Alexi. "You should probably get used to it. You've only got five days before the Ball of Moon's Blood and graduation. You won't be able to live here anymore, and I doubt your parents will want you back. Going back to a family isn't a choice for girls like us...at least not in Zanda."
"I'll make my way on my own," Alexi said. "There are other kingdoms out there, ones filled with good people."
"Doing what? You're a fucking necromancer. Do you even understand how vile that is to people beyond our border? As hard as this truth is to swallow, most cultures find what we do here to be evil. They've been fed bullshit all their lives by pundits who insist that you should appreciate what you were born with and not strive for perfection through flesh modification. Your only chance is that you'll be able to afford surgeries like me, which I might add is also the key to staying young and fit. A little skin tightening here, a little tuck there...transitioning...that's the future. For example, you could use someone to take a look at that turkey neck you've got going on. Admit it or not, it doesn't change the fact that you're one of us...fucked from the very beginning. Once you're discovered, once people know who you are, they'll lynch you unless you can prove you're a powerful necromancer. In that case, they'll fear you all the same. But if you were powerful, we'd know about it by now," Rowena said. "My bet's on a good lynching. I won't shed a tear when you're dangling from some tree limb someday."
"I'm not like you," Alexi said. "I'm not going to transition to a woman. I'm going to find a man that loves me for who I am, and who can help me find a way out of Zanda. I won't have to share him either in some fucked up open relationship which is just code for `I'm going to sleep around and make you have group sex because I'm a selfish narcissist but am too cowardly to not put on a good façade for society.' Your planned life after the academy sounds like a hell of its own making."
"What have you been smoking?" Gabby asked. "I think I might want some." Her judgmental eyes wandered up and down Alexi's figure, which made him exceedingly uncomfortable but it did make him notice how long her fake eyelashes were. "I guess if you think pear-shape is in, you might find a man. But he won't have all his teeth. Shit girl, you don't even have real tits."
"Or he'll be fat and have swamp ass," Sparks said, laughing.
Rowena bit her lip and just stared at Alexi with those piercing yet gorgeous eyes of hers. "You're pathetic. Dudley's an excellent lover and to see him naked is...by Zandine's brood...the most incredible thing. He's got a seven-inch dick, and it's going to touch all the right places. He's going to compete in the Arena of the Flayed Man in a few months. My bet is that he wins and is knighted. You know how rare that is? No one's been knighted in four years. I don't care if he insists on an open relationship. He can have it, as long as I'm first wife. And once he's a knight, we'll be high society. I'll be able to have my own workshop where I can practice the necromantic arts and further his goals. My posse knows I'm headed for greatness. That's why we're among the most popular girls in school."
"I hate you," Alexi said.
"You should, because I'm better than you in every way," Rowena replied.
"Girls, girls," a voice said. "Let's not fight, shall we?" Coming toward them was Felicity, a popular "real" girl with metallic blue tresses. At her side was her best friend Bethany. Both wore full length cotton dresses complete with red lacing at the sides and at the sleeves. Fine trim on the neck, sleeves, belt, and bottom completed the perfect view. "No one hates anyone," she said. "What's this all about?"
Rowena looked sharply at Alexi and said, "Nothing. Just talking about boys."
Felicity wrapped her arm around Rowena's elbow. "Roh, your boyfriend is adorable. Is he bringing Harold to the ball?"
"I think so, but do you want me to make sure?" Rowena asked.
"I do," Felicity beamed. "No one's asked me yet, and I'm starting to get nervous." Felicity adjusted her spectacles and looked into the courtyard. "Damn...would you look at him?"
"The Timeron knight?" Bethany asked.
"Yeah...the tall one," she replied. "I could mop him up with a biscuit."
"I prefer the one that's about six feet tall with the large nose. He looks handsome," Bethany said. "Too bad they're here on business. They have platinum spurs. That's the second-highest in the order next to Darkglory."
"I heard Ser Skellhaundar Romax killed an Abaddon demon down by the wharf a day or so ago. He did it single-handed," Gabriella said.
"Single-handed?" Sparks asked. "That's ridiculous. No one can kill a demon like that single-handed. Dudley said so the other day."
"Well Dudley doesn't know everything," Paul said. This made the girls all look at the diminutive young transvestite with arched eyebrows and furrowed brows.
"Did anyone ask your opinion, bitch?" Sparks asked.
Alexi had just about enough and was about to grab Paul's hand and go somewhere else when a horrid odor brushed past his nostrils.
"Ugh, what is that smell?" Gabriella said. Her dainty nose wrinkled and she took a step back from the balustrade and almost tripped on the hem of her dress. It would have been a shame because Alexi loved how perfect Gabby looked, with amazing locks of the deepest black curled and tossed over one shoulder. All of that was held in place with a blue ribbon adorned with small white flowers. "It smells like death. You should say `excuse me' when you let one rip like that," Gabby accused, looking directly at Alexi. "You're such a hideous cunt."
"I-I didn't—" Alexi started to say but was cut off.
"It's not you," Felicity said, tugging on his velvet sleeve. "It's the general." She pointed down into the courtyard as Calisto Blackmoor appeared. A crowd of girls scattered before him, and the imposing death knight stomped through a door, red eyes glowing in the dark space of his visor, and maggots falling from the creases of his ancient and battered armor. His threadbare and tattered cloak swirled in a ghostly wind, and the creak and groan of those enormous metal-shod feet filled the courtyard with frightening echoes. "I wouldn't have been surprised if it was," Felicity added, bumping Alexi to the left to get a better look, "but the truth is the truth. How that awful thing can be a Timeron knight is beyond me. He's fucking dead. Isn't there a rule about dead men? Like...don't they have to stay dead unless controlled by a necromancer? No one seems to be in charge of Calisto."
"I hear he's a rapist," Bethany said.
"Well with looks like that," Gabby replied, "I wouldn't be surprised. He probably still likes to fuck, but nothing likes to fuck him."
"Professor Hepsibah says that Calisto Blackmoor can handle abyssal stone in his bare hands and that he can kill someone with a single touch. He can also burn things with blue fire, and it's rumored he rides a great undead dragon," Rowena said.
"Where did he come from?" Alexi asked.
"Some say he was created by a god," Paulina said. "But I don't think he was. I think he was created by a powerful necromancer that knew exactly what he was doing and then Calisto killed him. I'd give anyone here ten gold shillings if they'd walk up to him and ask him though. Wouldn't that be a sight?"
"And be slain on the spot?" Alexi asked. "That's a fool's bet."
"Don't you girls have school?" the death knight general bellowed at the crowd. By the hundreds the girls stampeded up to the second floor, but Alexi stood transfixed for a second feeling the powerful necromancy literally pour from this monster.
So cold was the aura directly around Calisto that the open air started to produce snow, and a thin ice sheet started to spread outward from the soles of his putrid boots. He stomped angrily with his foot to scare some last holdouts, and the girls ran screaming into the halls containing the lecture rooms for the study of Vitalum Vitalis. Alexi also noted that the granite flagstone directly underneath Calisto burst into a hundred shards with that foot stomp, a testament to the undead general's tremendous strength.
Gods is he ugly, Alexi thought to himself. Imagining that awful thing even approaching him was difficult, much less with sexual intent.
Then the headmaster appeared, flanked by Kahket and Professor Hepsibah. Kahket's distended belly showed through her dress, cut in such a way as to reveal the skin of her protruding stomach. It left nothing to the imagination and Alexi stared uncomprehendingly at the vastness of the bulge and the woman's belly button that he likened to the size of a grapefruit.
"Calisto!" Kahket said. "You've broken the floor of this fine academy. We've asked them for a favor. We are guests, not conquerors."
Calisto turned to face Ivan, who was a short man in full beard and skin as black as night. Long gray hairs sprouted from every corner of his face and even from his ears, the hair on his head was bound into a pony tail and almost touched the ground.
"Reattach the head for burial," Calisto said. "Dispose of the body in your own graveyard. I'll notify his family."
"Don't you want to send the body back to Noremost? Doesn't he deserve a knight's burial?" Headmaster Boritsi asked.
"A knight's burial? When he failed me so profoundly? He's lucky that I'll return his spurs to his mother and father. This goes for him and his companion, Zakkith Marr. You're lucky too, headmaster, that I don't kill you right here where you stand. We brought him here because you claimed to have the power to read the thoughts of the dead. Well you fucking failed at that, I have to say," Calisto said, with vile contempt thick on his voice.
"I made no such claim. Am I responsible for my reputation? I'm a powerful necromancer, but only Lianon Pard himself could retrieve thoughts from the heads of the living and the dead. There hasn't been another talent like that in recent memory. And as for my failures, I would remind you that we got a hold of the shadow demon that was his pet and convinced it to bear the body here to us before returning to hell. The shadow demon was deathly afraid of that sword called Bloodbane. He saw it destroy Zakkith Marr's own shadow demon and fled. Only because it made that decision do we know anything of the events that transpired that day. Based on what it saw, it told us that you could do nothing to guarantee its safety, and because of that, it wasn't going to stick around. This is as much on you as it is on me. You could have dealt with the assassin personally, but you failed to do so and sent minions unprepared for such talent to do your bidding."
"Talent! Give me a fucking break! There's no follower of the god of thieves that could even hold a candle to a true follower of the queen of demons. I didn't know where the assassin was," Calisto replied. "I sent knights all up and down the border to patrol the outskirts of our country on the far side of the Bone Wall. It just so happens that one of them stumbled across him. How is that my fault? What we needed you to do was simple: read the knight's mind. We needed to know numbers: how many men did the assassin have with him? What powers did this assassin manifest? What did he look like? You can tell a lot by looking in a man's eyes, and if the assassin was close enough, I bet Ser Grimholdt saw something. But we'll never know because you failed! And what about the hydra's teeth, eh? The ones you gave to us? That information is now lost to us forever."
"Both of you are not at fault with regard to this," Kahket said. As she spoke she looked up at Alexi and his friends gathered at the edge of the balustrade. "You have such lovely girls attending school here."
"Thank you, your highness," Headmaster Boritsi said. "It is a pleasure to receive the Dreaded Irtemara having so soon returned from a trip abroad."
"Headmaster Boritsi, I want you to contact me later about the request I made of you in your office. I am very interested in using this corpse to bring back Constantine. You believe that is within your power? Yes? Constantine was killed by the assassin in question. You said it would be important to recall his soul from Hell into a vessel also killed by the same man, correct? We at least have furnished you with this."
It looked like Headmaster Boritsi might speak up, but instead Professor Hepsibah answered Kahket's question. "Reincarnation of this kind is extremely difficult, Dreaded Irtemara. It requires tremendous necromancy. As well, I will need to bring together a coven of the most powerful and that will take time." Professor Hepsibah said. "There are two ingredients that we cannot manufacture. The first is called `royal jelly' and it's impossible to obtain, and the second is golden galactorrhea, and it comes from the same source."
"Nothing is impossible, professor. Get some and stop telling us what is not possible and begin to make things happen."
"There might be some left over from a century or so ago, preserved magically to this day and hoarded by alchemists because either ingredient is incredibly useful in magical potions and powerful necromantic spells. I've no idea for sure until I scour the known world for it. Can you help us authorize a reward of some kind for it?"
Kahket thought about this for a moment. "Offer five-hundred thousand gold for the amount you need. I'll make sure the funds are made available to you for anyone that says they have the authentic stuff."
"That may seem like a fortune to you," Professor Hepsibah said, "but it's probably only the beginning of what we'll need to get these ingredients. Dreaded Irtemara, the Atlanteans are extinct, and these elements were only common in their royalty."
"Let's hope it's enough to attract the attention of someone willing to sell us some," Headmaster Boritsi said. Then their party moved down the hall, following an angry Calisto to the front gate of the school.
"What the hell is golden galactorrhea?" Alexi asked, but all the girls around him just shrugged their shoulders.
I'll be checking the restricted section in the library tonight, Alexi thought to himself, but first I've a few things to attend to.
"I need to be going," Alexi said. As he was walking away, Daphne caught up with him.
"I can't believe I just saw that," Daphne said. "A real death knight. Alexi, I could feel the necromantic power pouring off of him.
"That's nice, Daphne," Alexi said, "but I'm a little busy."
"Studying for exams?" she asked.
Alexi thought about telling her his plan: to start furnishing a place for him to live beyond graduation. He'd decided, what with his success in controlling an undead ogre and all, to furnish one of the dilapidated rooms in the ruins of the sprawling complex that housed the academy. So few people went there that he was fairly sure he could keep undead in certain "key" passages to discourage those that did.
"Yeah, something like that," he said.
"All right then," Daphne replied. "Let's rendezvous for dinner. I want to compare notes with you on the huge Timeron knight. I think I saw an impression of his cock in his codpiece but I could barely see it with his tabard hanging in front. But gods, wasn't he gorgeous? I think his name was Leifr."
"Yeah, I'd love to do that. Have I told you, you're a size queen?" Alexi asked rather offhandedly.
"You have, and I own up to that. What's wrong with a girl wanting a little length and girth in her man? Nothing, I say," Daphne said proudly. Then she gave Alexi a parting hug.
Alexi looked around for Paul but he'd disappeared along with the rest of the Fab Five. He pulled out his shopping list which consisted of pots, beakers, books, spare garments, a wash tub, and a bed roll, not to mention implements by which to read when it got dark and some matches to start a fire in the stove. He also wanted to set up a proper laboratory for his experiments, and that would require stealing a whole surgery kit so that he could begin practicing with real dead flesh he'd rob from the school's graveyard. At first, Alexi worried that fire and smoke might attract attention from the dormitories. But then he found a necromancy spell in one book that would produce a smokeless fire as long as you used bones instead of wood as the fuel. With all the undead in the halls, bones would be easy to find. As far as the light goes, he could drape black cloth in front of windows. In his explorations, he'd also come across a well with a big bucket for drawing fresh water from an underground spring. Dudley, his undead ogre, made short work of that. The monstrosity could carry a thousand pounds like Alexi could carry a bag of marbles.
He crossed the first item off the list: the wash tub. Tonight, and with his ogre's help, he would steal one from the lavatory, load it with candles and a lantern, some books stolen from the reference section of the school's library, some ink and parchment from one of the labs, hygiene implements and a spare bedroll. He planned to do all of this after setting fire to the library trashcan as a distraction.
Now to just find out how to get my ogre into the school without anyone finding out, he thought to himself.
"I think I can help you with that," a small voice said in his mind.
Startled that someone had eavesdropped on his mind, Alexi turned his head and saw a small dragon with furled wings peeking back at him from atop a large curio cabinet. The thing had eyes that burned like coals and appeared to be made entirely of either black smoke or shadow. Alexi couldn't be sure. The thing was barely as large as a house cat.
"You're a shadow drake," Alexi said, keeping his voice low.
"I am, and I've been watching you for a few days now, young necromancer. I'm going to help you because you are powerful. More so than you know. For example you can read minds, but you just don't know it yet. That's how I can communicate with you. Once we steal the things you require, then I have a task for you, young necromancer," the thing said to him. "However, my task can only be completed at midnight."
"I need to know more, or I won't agree to anything," Alexi said. He looked to his left and right to make sure his voice didn't carry.
All right, young necromancer. Tonight I need you to fish a vial of water from the Well of Zanda. Now, here is my plan to steal the things that you require to set up shop..."
Chapter Forty-Two is now available to read at http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/discussion-board-for.html under the label "The Orb of Winter" if you care to read ahead.
Are there any artists out there willing to draw some pics for my story? If so, please email me. There is an "Orb of Winter" map now in both the NEWS section of my website and in the FORUMS of my website.
If you go to my website directly from this posting, you will want to begin with "CHAPTER Sixteen."