Scroll of a Necromancer

[Shadow]

"Ignorant child!" He sneered, his skeletal hand grasping around her neck and lifting her off the ground. Laurina couldn't help the gasp that escaped her, her nails biting into the bones and tendons of his wrist.

"YOU are the prophecy? YOU are the one to defeat me?" Laughter that made her very skin crawl with darkness rose up from his rotting chest cavity. "They send a child to do their work. A female no less!"

Laurina glared at him as she gasped for air. "You...Will...not-"

"Will not what? Win? Look around!! The battle is over. You LOST!" He cackled, swinging her around to get a good view of the field. Living people fighting, losing their lives only to rise again and kill their friends. A horrid gory picture of violence. She winced as the Lich's boney fingers bit into her neck, feeling a warmth leak down.

"You know nothing, you ARE nothing! Just a thorn in my side, a useless soul that likes to call herself a Necromancer." He snarled and pulled her close, her nose almost touching the boney void where his used to be. The putrid oder of him making her gag. Forcing herself to focus through the stench and spat in his face.

He jerked and snarled, gripping her throat harder, nearly cutting off all of her air. With a squeak she fought, wriggling against his painful grasp, trying to kick him, claw him, anything. He merely laughed.

"Perhaps you would make a good Undead.A maid to keep my quarters clean." He mused as she fought. "I would have made your precious teacher a jester but-" She ceased moving, eyes wide. A slow, evil grin played across his decaying face. "Aah, have I hit a sore spot? He put up quite the fight in the beginning, but he was nearly a rotting corpse before I got to him."

She glared, clenching her teeth.

"Still, the potential threat of his return couldn't be present. So I banished him straight past the Nineth gate. Never to return." He cackled again and watched the slaughter on the battle field. "Poor little child, all alone, head filled with thoughts of glory and prophecies. Yet you're a little insect under my shoe. Old Eakad should have known better, he was such a fool."

"pa..ha...surnud," came a soft gasp.

"What?" The lich swung his head around, eyes a burning red. "What was that?"

"sa pead...ol..ema." Laurina's gaze cleared and glowed. "Pag...pagendatud." She took a rattling breath.

"You dare? YOU DARE?!" He screamed, clenching his fist, cutting off her entire breath. As her eyes closed, mouth open and gasping, he grinned wickedly.

<Ma...käsin sind> A whispery voice in his head continued.

"No..No! Mõtlesin Kõne?! How could you know such an art!!" He snarled at her, his breath rancid, but her voice in his head didn't faulter.

<Jätta elab...maailmas> It grew in strength as he weakend.<Ma võtan oma võimu näiteks minu>

"I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!" He screamed, his hold on his army waning as he focused on the girl he held. "Thorn minu pool, see riigireetmine-"

<Läbi valu ja tulekahju piin!> Her voice grew louder, mixing with his own. <Siis mine->

"Ei tohi unustada!" His eyes widened, burning with hatred.

<Ja kunagi taga-> She opened one eye, ignoring the burning in her lungs and not noticing her hair beginning to streak with grey, then white.

"Ma suren ja kaotavad minu võimeid-

<-Stama.> She opened her eyes, clenching her teeth.

"Kuid ma ei lähe tühjade kätega."

"Poolt oma võimu ma sind hävitada!""Ma needus sind, kuni sa sured, Ma võtan nägemise! "

They screamed at the same time. A burst of light came from Laurina's eyes, white light meeting red from the Lich as the their chanting came to an end, she hadn't the breath to scream in pain. A hideous, inhuman screech came from the Lich as their gaze held but a moment as his hand disintegrated from her neck. She fell heavily to the ground, her legs collapsing beneath her gasping for air.

Her gaze faultered, the landscape growing blurring as she dizzily looked over the field through raven whisps of her hair. The Undead were staring up at them, at their master as he turned to dust. The Lich clawed at her, snarling and screaming. She hadn't the strength to pull herself from him. She vaguelly noted that her hair seemed lighter than before, right before she gave up conciousness and gave in to the darkness.


~~~


"Ina...INA!" Through the fog she heard a voice. A voice so familiar. Eakad? Was that you? No, no, Eakad was dead. Murdered by...by a Lich! She bolted upright, hands grasping for a weapon.

"Ina! Calm down, calm down it's me!" Still breathing quickly she sat very still. Yes...Kyro, her companion that she hatched.

"K-Kyro...Is it over?"

"Yeah...yeah, it's over," She felt the weight of him on her legs, resting on her lap.

"It's so dark..." She looked around, trying to find some hint of the moon or stars if it were night. "Are we inside? Did someone move me?"

"Ina...Laurina..." His voice was soft, he was holding back something.

"Who moved me Kyro? How long was I unconcious?" She demanded.

"I'm so...so sorry Ina," his voice cracked. Was he crying? "We'll fix it..somehow."

"Fix it? Fix what?" Something in her went cold. Bringing a hand to her face, almost absently, she thought she might have had a grotesque scar. But her fingers felt something else, or rather, lack-there-of. Quickly she brought her other hand up. "No..no.." She whispered, scrambling to her feet, ignoring Kyro's startled, upset chirps.

She let out a sorrowfull cry as she felt the gaping holes where her eyes should have been. Blind. Cursed to forever wander in darkness. She defeated the Lich...but he got the last laugh.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Laurina set down the quil in her hand, running her fingers over the dried ink, ink that she was told was a deep red, not that it really mattered to her. Though, how appropriate a color. Kyro had sat on her lap silently as she wrote, only helping a few times. He knew she hated when another tried to help like she were a child.

Quietly, Laurina thought about then, how she was utterly useless for gods know how long, running into things, learning the ways of the blind and cripple. She grimaced at the memories and for a moment wished she were blind in her head so she wouldn't have to relive it. She thought writing it down, no matter how poorly written it was, would have helped, but it didn't.

Yet...she survived. By some miracle, probably the one named Kyro. She owed her little dragon so much, helping her by being her eyes, nearly coddling her even though she hated it, but knew it was for the best. Back then anyway. She had since developed techniques and abilities that were a substitute to her lost sight. Not nearly as good as seeing, but it allowed her to through buildings and cities without help. Even write, when it was a good day.

Clearing her throat and sighing she rolled up the scroll and set Kyro on the floor.

"What are you going to do now?" He asked softly.

"It's time to head out," she replied as she found her way to the fire pit that still held the heat of smoldering embers. "I'll catch up." There was a pause before she heard his shuffle leave their room.

For a moment, she held the scroll close, as if she were unsure whether to burn it. It was the intelligent thing to do, she couldn't risk any personal information to be floating around and possibly ending up in the hands of a stranger, or enemy for that matter. She held out her hand and-

"LAURINA!!" Came a scream that made her jump and drop the scroll. Grabbing her staff she ran out the door, the scroll forgotten in the mayhem.

It laid there, on the edge of the firepit, the edge curling and darkening slightly from the heat.

But it never caught flame.