The Diffident Hero, Chapter 13, pt. 6

Plans were quickly hashed out. Sorcha wasted little time, putting Brandon in charge of the Necromancer team, as she called them. Rich accepted the leader assignment without hesitation, almost as if it was a given. Brandon found himself surprised, and if he were honest, a bit apprehensive.

He set that part of his mind aside and concentrated on what needed to be done. They couldn’t hope to take on a powerful necromancer head-on; they’d have to catch him off guard. How do you catch a wizard off guard? he asked himself. Very carefully.

“He just died and came back, that has to tire you out, right?” He couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.

“I’ve never done it before, so I wouldn’t know,” Sorcha said, “but magic in general is exhausting, and that was some very high-order magic. That’ll be key to dealing with him,” she added with a note of approval in her voice, “so, good observation. He’s going to be off his game, in need of some serious rest. He’s not going to be back to just pick back up where he left off.”

The Diffident Hero - Chapter 13, pt. 5

“We have to get down there,” Rich exclaimed. “He’s gotten too far ahead of us.”

“We can’t just charge in blindly! That’s what Myra tried, and things haven’t gone so well for her,” broke in Lena.

“We don’t even know what’s happened to her!”

“We need a plan if want to do any good against this guy.”

“Hang on, both of you,” Brandon said. “Lena’s right, we do need to have a plan. But Rich is also right. We can’t spend too much time on it. It sounds like if this guy was well-respected enough to be studying necromancy and has gone rogue, he’s really serious trouble. He’s already shown what he’s willing to do, and that was just in a small village. Sorcha?”

She’d been staring intently at the city and their route down to it. She turned her attention back to them at Brandon’s call. “I’d advise you all to take Brandon’s lead on this,” she said. “I’m afraid that this is where we part company.”

Brandon’s mouth dropped open. She smiled at him, with just a touch of regret in her eyes.

“You’re just leaving us?” He was a little stunned, especially after Lena’s own tale.

“I’ll be back as quick as I can, but we have two highly dangerous people on the loose, and as dangerous as this Necromancer is, Myra is much worse. We can’t wait to deal with either of them, and none of you are up to taking on Myra yet.”

The Diffident Hero - Chapter 13, pt. 4

What kind of well-respected wizard would want to study necromancy, and why cause all of this trouble? Brandon tried to keep focused on keeping up, but the questions gnawed at him.

“He stopped here,” Rich said abruptly. He was kneeling in the grass. “Stayed a good fifteen to twenty minutes I’d say, then moved on that way.”

“He knows how far ahead he’s gotten,” Sorcha said, flatly.

“Or he doesn’t care, yeah.”

The spot was a good one for observing the city. It was close enough to see the lay of the land; even as inexperienced as he was with this part of the world, Brandon could make some general observations of the city. It was large, at least by the standards he’d come to recognize since Sorcha brought him away from the familiar world. There was an obvious area of wealth and influence, while most of the city seemed pretty poor.

And most notable, there was a clear line of sight to the graveyard.

The Diffident Hero - Chapter 13, pt. 3

He didn’t make it that easy for them, of course. When they arrived, the signs of his passage were clear, even to Brandon and Lena.

“Damn,” Rich whispered as they inspected the area. “We’re actually falling behind! He’s hours ahead of us now.”

“He’s alone,” Brandon mused, “and we’re only moving as fast as the slowest of us.” By which he meant himself, but nobody pointed that out. At least he was getting faster; it frustrated him to see how quickly and easily Sorcha could slip through the trees, while the rest of them, even Rich, struggled.

“True,” Sorcha agreed. “Let’s get going before he adds even more to his lead.”

The pressed onward. By the time the hills were behind them and the sun was dipping below the tops of the buildings of the city before them, they were almost three hours behind the Necromancer. “Our friend must have other magical tricks up his sleeve,” Rich grumbled, clearly annoyed at how far behind they’d gotten.

“Yes, he would,” Sorcha confirmed. “He would have to. Necromancy is a subject only powerful and well-respected magical practitioners are permitted to study. Keep that in mind when we catch up with him; he’ll be dangerous.”

The Diffident Hero - Chapter 13, pt. 2

They wasted as little time as possible getting themselves back on track; they weren’t far behind the Necromancer, and didn’t want to sacrifice that advantage. “He’s going to need time to operate. One thing in our favor is that he lost his zombie minions back there,” Sorcha said as they tried to make up lost ground, “and he’ll have to replace them soon.”

It quickly became apparent that he was making a bee-line for the city they’d been headed towards before, but he was making no effort to reach the road. They were in fact getting further away from it.

Rich chimed in a few minutes later. “We can make up a bit of distance on him. If he keeps going straight as he is right now, he’ll come to an impassable area where a sharp ravine opens up. He’ll have to skirt around it. If we angle off just a little, we won’t have to do that, we’ll arrive just where the way is clear.”

“Wouldn’t we risk losing his trail?” Brandon wondered aloud.

“Yes, but it’s not much of a risk in this case. It’ll be his only way on towards his goal. We’ll pick the trail up again when we pass the ravine. If we can’t find it, he’s behind us; we just wait for him to come to us.”

The Diffident Hero - Chapter 13, pt. 1

They picked themselves up and checked themselves over; nobody had taken any permanent damage, thankfully. At least not physically. Sorcha was as shocked as the rest, and then was taken by a foul mood marked by a dangerous glint in the eye. Even having never seen it before, Brandon tread lightly around her.

Once they’d removed themselves from the dead clearing and confirmed that the Necromancer had fled the scene, they gathered around Sorcha some distance away.

“That was a trap, and one I should have seen.”

“You’ve seen something like it before?” Brandon asked.

“No—”

“Then it wasn’t your fault, Sorcha,” Rich cut in. “Very few have ever seen forbidden arts like this. It’s not fair to blame yourself for not anticipating it.”

“It is true that I can’t anticipate magic I’ve never seen, but damnit, I have a duty to anticipate the unexpected!”

Her nostrils flared and her eyes flashed, and that was no hyperbole; once again Brandon was struck by the curious impression that her appearance had changed, as though she wore a mask and a corner of it had just slipped.