Chapter 52: Chapter 52 – Death Knight

//Author Note: If you want to see from another perspective: //

 

“How do you know that it’s undead?” Ruby’s voice is a small whisper, but the rattling has become silent, and the armoured man before us makes no sounds not even shifting his weight. He is perfectly still, something that living things can’t usually do without some serious effort, even a black cat out stalking prey sways back and forth very slightly.

This suit of armour doesn’t shift at all, but then… my friends all remember how to move from their lives before. Even if he’s undead it doesn’t explain, why he isn’t acting like a person would, or moving like a person would. What’s wrong with him?

“No living man would guard the depths of a crypt while surrounded by the undead,” Thayne grumbles. “Can’t be anything else.”

“It’s more than that,” Ruby says, glaring at Lothar. “What is it? What do you know?”

“It’s… I’ve seen it before,” Lothar grits his teeth, staring at the suit of old armour. His hand shakes as he grips his sword tighter still. “It’s… it won’t attack. Not unless we get past.”

The way he’s holding up his sword ready for a fight makes me think that the armoured undead will charge at us at any moment, but he is right, it hasn’t moved a step even though we’re much closer now.

“I’ve delved a few places around the capital,” Thayne says, glancing back at Lothar. “I’ve seen nothing like this.”

“I’ve heard no reports of anyone seeing this in the crypts, either,” Ruby says, shaking her head. “You saw it before, but made it out alive?”

“I… I came down here as a kid,” Lothar mutters, lowering his sword and staring at the ground beneath his feet, glancing at the scattered bones around us as if searching for something. “I was a stupid kid like you said. I don’t like to talk about it. I don’t like to remember it. That thing is a monster, and if we get past it, it will kill us.”

“Well, yeah,” Thayne snorts back at Lothar. “It’s an undead, that’s what they do.”

“Is it?” Ruby asks, waving a hand at the armoured figure and glancing down at me. “Doesn’t look like it to me. Looks almost like it’s following orders.”

“Yeah, well, I think its necromancer abandoned it here,” Parker laughs. “Poor bastard’s probably been standing here for centuries, look at the rust on that thing!”

“Rust and Rot!” The dwarf swears, sneaking a little closer to the undead knight. “That’s enchanted, deep smithing techniques! See the æther channels in the rust spots there? That’s some serious gear, that’s weaved enchantments in steel.”

“Looks broken to me,” Leech grunts, stepping closer with his shields raised high. Even if the undead starts hitting him, I’m not sure that a staff would hurt him much.

“Careful,” the dwarf grabs his shoulder and pulls him back. “The armour enchantments are leaking, I’ll give you that, but the staff it’s still good and it’s… it’s not a staff. I’ll need a closer look, but I’ve seen that in an old book from back home. I’m sure of it. That thing uses magic to create axe, hammer, or pike heads from hard fire, ice, or some other tricked magics. If it works, then it’s worth riches. The armour is worth enough if you can find a smith talented enough to fix it, which honestly… maybe not.”

“Maybe stop drooling over the enemy’s weapon,” Ruby snorts, shaking her head. “So, this won’t attack it if we don’t pass?”

Lothar shakes his head, breathing slowly as he stares down towards the bones scattered at our feet. He slowly sheathes his sword, mumbling the light magic chants that he’s been practising, he fails a few times before summoning a small ball of light to his hand.

“So, we can get the jump on it,” Parker suggests, looking at the thing and its gear.

“What good that’ll do us,” Thayne shakes his head, spitting at the ground. “I reckon we’re at a dead end.”

“What, you don’t want to try looting that weapon?” Ruby asks, smirking at the dwarf.

“I’d love to steal it,” Thayne says, laughing desperately as he steps back. “But unless this thing is brittle on the inside, we’re not getting past. The armour is keeping us from scattering the bones, let alone breaking them. If you want to get through, I’d plan on breaking this roof, crushing this thing and then breaking it bone by bone as we slowly pull the rocks off of it, and that’s assuming that it can’t crawl out of a collapse. We can’t be sure how strong this thing is.”

“That’s not going to work, we don’t have the time to waste on something like that,” Ruby shakes her head, reaching down for my shoulder. “Syr, do you have any ideas?”

“Maybe?” I say, my necromancy could possibly achieve something but, “is that okay?”

“I already told you,” Ruby smiles, rubbing at my head. “We’re here for your sake, there’s no point if you don’t make the most out of this. You’re making it out of this alive and well. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, so go do your thing.”

How is she going to convince the other mercenaries to keep quiet when they figure out what I’m doing?

Still, she’s right. I’m here to get stronger, and I can’t do that if I’m always keeping my head down and hiding. This is meant to be a chance for me to learn, to grow, to become powerful enough to protect the people that matter to me, and at some point, the only way to do that will be by using my necromancy.

For today, I’ll trust that Semi and Ruby are protecting me.

“Okay,” I nod, “Lothar, is it okay to get closer?”

“Maybe…” he whispers, kneeling to sort through the bones littering the ground. Some cloth still holds them together. He’s not even looking at the undead anymore. “Maybe…”

“What are you hoping to do?” Parker asks as I squeeze past the three mercenaries. “Do you have some trick you could use on this thing? Some holy magic to cast out the undead?”

“Something like that,” I mumble, standing before the tall undead.

At this distance, he could kill me with an easy swing of his staff, but for some reason, he isn’t. Unlike the other undead here, he’s special, and he’s not just some crazed collection of bones.

From this close, the light on my head illuminates him a little clearer, and I can see that his armour is in worse condition than I thought. The spots of rust are spread wider and sink deeper into the metal, showing the channels that are somehow forged inside the metal plates. His weapon is still clean and whole, made from something other than steel or wood, a metal that I can’t put a name to. I’m sure that he can put up a fight comparable to the last knight that I battled. Or he would if he could. I’m not sure that he still has it in him.

As I press my necromancy into him from a short distance, I feel the same thing I felt in the others. Foreign magic, someone else’s orders still stuck inside of their heads, but even more than that, I can feel what’s missing. It’s like the rust spots in his armour, breaking the magic that guides him. There is more than enough æther flowing through the channels carved into the steel but it’s incomplete, and the magic can’t fully form.

This man has lost so much of what he was, the soul has long torn itself free, and the memories that guide the movement of his body is full of holes, which is why he stands so perfectly steady. He’s broken, but still standing, and still serving his duties.

“That’s enough,” I whisper trying not to be heard, pressing my magic inside of him and tugging at the spells that are settled inside of his old bones. “You can stop. You’ve done enough.”

My magic wars against the orders inside of the ancient knight, but after a few seconds I realise that I can’t win. Even though the orders are from a time long, long past, I’m not strong enough to make him listen to me.

“People have been down here before,” Thayne says, rubbing at his beard as I glance back at him. “Maybe we could wait for it to leave?”

“So, we just sit on our hands down here until the big guy has had enough of staring at us?” Parker asks.

Maybe something else, maybe I don’t have to break him from his old orders.

“What are you guarding?” I ask the old knight. “Can you let us in?”

My magic allows me to feel the minds of those that I use it on, I can understand what they’re thinking and feeling, but his mind is so unclear and messed up that I can’t understand everything that he’s doing.

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“Can you help me?” I ask, pressing my magic inside of him. “Protect me?”

A husky whisper escapes the helmet of the knight as he slouches down from his perfect stance, the others rush for their weapons, but Ruby is first by my side, ready to step in and pull me away from the knight the moment it becomes dangerous.

“It’s okay,” I say, holding my hand out to her. “He’s taking us inside. He’s a guide.”

Somehow, I’ve just convinced him that we’re guests here, and in his broken mind, he’s going to guard us on the way down to his home.

Thayne and his mercenary friends stare at me through wide eyes, as they grip their weapons tight. Are they going to kill me? Have they figured out that I’m a necromancer? Do they want to kill me now?

“You can talk with the dead?” Thayne whispers, lowering his hammer as he stares at the back of the rusted knight. “A big secret to keep.”

“Never heard of magic that can let you speak with the dead,” Parker says, looking at me strangely.

“It’s divine magic, it has to be,” Thayne says, before turning to me. “Don’t worry about us, we won’t whisper a word about this, young lady. Anyone who helps the dead is someone I’ll defend with my life. If you’re here to save these unfortunate souls, then I’m glad we were chosen to come with you.”

I nod, looking away from them before I can accidentally reveal the truth.

Necromancy isn’t evil. I’m not hurting anyone, but I don’t think they’ll see it the same way.

Lothar walks by my side, his eyes now focused on the back of the old dead knight, as he grips something tightly in his hand. It’s a small metal emblem of some kind, a necklace maybe. His fingers are brushing away the dust that’s covered it.

“What’s that?” I ask, but he refuses to look away from the sight of the knight.

“A trinket from an old friend,” he whispers, glancing down at the circle of metal. “A coin from a distant land, the only thing that she…”

He found it among the bones by the foot of the knight. He’s seen the knight before, and knew that it would attack if we passed it… I’d ask, but I don’t think it’s a story that he wants to share.

Rattling bones warn us of the enemies ahead, and I draw my swords again, ready to fight them. It’s too much work to convert them all like I’ve done with the knight, but I can fight normally just fine.

We step down into a wider room, filled with shambling skeletons. I grip my magic tight and get ready to burn myself down to my limits, as a thousand empty eye sockets turn to us, staring through us, using the necromantic magics that replace the functions of flesh. Their bones rattle as they climb over one another, reaching for us and fighting to get to us. They pull on each other’s limbs and tear each other apart, just to get closer.

“Retreat!” Ruby cries, pulling us back to the open entrance of this small room. There’s no door for us to hide behind to protect ourselves from the undead, but at least this way we’re not surrounded. “Syr, go to the back.”

I bite my lip, but I obey. The others are better equipped to hold back the sea of bones, and they shouldn’t have to hold out alone for long.

Thayne, Leech, and Parker make up the front row, protecting us against the skeletons as the first few reach us. Their bony fingers thrust out to stab at the front row, as a hammer sends them scattering back. The tide moves behind them with a momentum that can’t be easily stopped.

A dull thud warns us of the knight as he rushes back to help us. His staff raised high, a midnight black axe blade forming along the length of it. Leech steps up with his shields to block the attack, but it’s a useless effort.

The knight is only protecting us.

Thousands of bones rattle as the axe blade cuts through them, tearing them apart as it pulls at them with magical power. The bones that are too close to the axe, swirl around it in a furious storm as the long axe swipes through their numbers again. The undead knight is swift in his duties, quickly clearing out the skeletons closest to us to protect us, before taking up a defensive stance to deal with the rest that come for us.

He makes it seem easy, standing by the entrance and sweeping his axe back and forth without any special technique. Little by little, he wears them down to nothing.

When the last of the dead finally surrender, their bones scattered and broken, the knight calmly walks back into the room, leading us further into the depths of this strange place.

Lothar is trembling, gripping the old coin so hard that blood drips from his closed fist.

“We’re not fighting that thing,” Parker says, staring at the back of the rusted knight. “Unless you can talk it into handing over the loot, then I think he can keep it.”

The others nod in quiet agreement. We follow the rusted knight deeper below the ground, leaving behind the stone walls for pressed earth.

“This isn’t the crypts anymore,” Ruby notes, waving her hand at the walls. “Someone dug this out separately, probably whoever commanded the undead.”

“So, the old necromancer had a base right under the capital?” Thayne asks, leaning his hammer on his shoulder. “I wish that I could call myself surprised by that, but this city just can’t surprise me anymore.”

We walk along a wide corridor, held up by thick columns of hardened earth. It’s not a pretty place, but it is large enough to fit a small army and the ceiling is solid above us. The knight deals with all the undead that we pass, none of them are strong enough to compare to him.

If we do come across another undead just as powerful, could he protect us then? What if we come across another that I can’t convert to our side?

We don’t cross anything like that, but I look past all the skeletons just in case there’s one hidden in the shadows of the pillars we walk past. Because of that, I notice the door before anyone else.

It’s entirely out of place here, a simple door made of joined wooden planks, thick enough that it would take me some effort to break it down. I don’t think the rusted knight would take even a second to tear it down, but when he does approach it, he sets aside a weapon to knock politely instead.

A brief scrambling precedes the opening of the door.

“Visitors?” Cries the gaunt, pale man as he stares out at us with sparkling eyes, though they’re lacking a certain light. “This is… it’s been… I can’t… welcome! Come in, welcome!”

He stumbles back, waving us inside.,

 

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