The Necromancer & The King

-1-

Aura carefully kept to the shadows in the high rafters above the main room of the meeting house. The roughened wood scraped against the arch of her bare feet, but she wasn’t deterred by the threat of splinters. She didn’t fear losing her balance or falling either. The fourteen-year-old was adept at sneaking around.

Below, her father and the other leaders of their settlement spoke in worried and sometimes harsh voices.

“We lost the entire wheat field,” Crofter Morgan said in heated tones. His dark face was hidden beneath his wide-brimmed hat. “The dead are now up against the secondary fence line. We’re scrambling to reinforce it, but I doubt it will hold. If we lose the soybean field...”

“Can we move any resources from the southern farms?” her father, Governor Cole, asked in a calm voice.

“We’re already stretched thin. The dead are up against our first fence,” Crofter Louise replied. She’d taken off her hat and clutched it in one hand. Sweat stained her work clothes and matted her long blond braids. The green emblem of the Crofter guild on her shoulder was smudged with mud.

Oil lamps cast undulating waves of light across the darkened room but left the rafters swathed in darkness. The high-peaked roof and the crisscrossing beams were Aura’s sanctuary. No one ever bore witness to her balancing precariously above their heads during the evening meetings. During the day, she remained hidden behind the banners of the various guilds strung along the slanted ceiling. For hours, she’d spy on the discussions of the leaders, but no one ever knew she was there. Whenever she was scolded for rushing off, she’d just smirk. No one knew where she went when she escaped her tutor. It drove her father mad, but she thought he deserved some misery.

“At least they’re not up against your secondary fence,” Crofter Morgan snapped, even though Louise was his equal. The north and south farms often quarreled over resources.

“We can’t lose the chickens after the disaster with the cattle. It’ll take years to recover the numbers lost,” Crofter Louise replied. “We can’t afford to turn over what little resources we have. We must ensure our own fences are secure.”

The murmur of the other council members filled the room. On the table before them was the layout of the Bridgetown Settlement. Aura craned her head to see the concentric circles expanding outward from the main town to the wide fields enclosed with high fences. Each ring that was cut into sections provided one more circle of defense against the hungry dead.

“I just don’t understand where this herd came from,” Headmaster Ferris said, shaking his head so that his long white hair undulated around his shoulders.

Aura didn’t care for him one bit. It was his decision that she should be tutored instead of attending the primary school. That edict had altered her life and isolated her within her father’s compound that housed the meeting hall. She resented that she was punished when it was the other children who’d been cruel to her.

“What does it matter?” Reverend Nora asked. Brushing her thick gray chin-length hair from her long face, she stared upward, but didn’t see Aura. “They’re here. We must deal with them.”

“We should’ve traded with The Republic for weapons,” Commander Christophe declared in his deep voice. The man’s craggy face and watery blue eyes always frightened Aura. “We don’t have enough armaments to fight off a herd this size.”

“The Republic already took all our copper,” Governor Cole responded irritably. “What other currency can we use since they refuse anything other than precious metals?”

“The gold we have locked away,” Commander Christophe answered, waving toward the tapestry that hid the safe that contained the treasure of the settlement.

Immediately, heads started shaking.

“Absolutely not,” Headmaster Ferris said loudly.

“It’s all we have if we have to evacuate to the Enclave. How will we purchase the king’s help and safe refuge without it?” Crofter Louise protested.

“If the undead knock down our fences, I would much rather have armed men and women at the ready than depend on the king,” Commander Christophe retorted. “We are independent people, not his subjects.”

Aura crouched on the beam to get a good look at the leader of the settlement’s small militia. He was dressed in his regular black uniform and gripped a silver cane in one giant hand. He didn’t need the cane. It was only an affectation.

“What if we were to take a little bit of our gold and summon someone who could truly deal with this situation?” Reverend Nora lowered her gaze to stare at each person in the room one by one.

“Those frauds? Never!” Commander Christophe snarled.

“They can’t be trusted,” Headmaster Ferris declared.

“What if they won’t come?” Crofter Louise asked.

“Has one ever come out this far west?” Crofter Morgan wondered.

“I’d rather not call upon the services of... such a person,” Governor Cole, her stubborn father, said, his long fingers nervously touching the edges of the map. His lowered eyes hid his fear.

“But a necromancer can lead them away,” Reverend Nora said, her voice wise and gentle. “A necromancer won’t cost more than weapons and will bring real assurances of resolution.”

“No,” her father answered in an unyielding tone. “No. We will secure the secondary fence and hold the dead back. We lost one field, but we have others.”

Aura narrowed her eyes, not believing what she was hearing. How could her father not call in a necromancer when the dead had already destroyed one field? Yes, there were at least three years of grain stored away, but food was precious in this dead world. Trade with the king’s Enclave was what brought luxury items into the settlement. The large viewing screens in the public entertainment hall and the extensive library of films, shows, and plays were all gifts from the king’s court.

“Cole, you can’t be serious.” Reverend Nora looked at him with disbelief.

“Absolutely. Necromancers are...” He faltered, struggling for words.

“Surely you’re not afraid of those gifted with such a wondrous ability? God gave them to us to help us endure the plague of the dead!”

“How can you say they’re from God?” Headmaster Ferris shook his head adamantly. “They’re unnatural! And not trustworthy!”

“We’ve all heard the stories.” Crofter Louise wearily sat down in a stiff-backed chair that ringed the table. “How the necromancers bring down the dead on the human settlements just so they can fleece them for money.”

“Or how they may have started all of this! Isn’t it a strange coincidence that the necromancers made themselves known just as the plague of the dead took over the earth?” Crofter Morgan slammed his palm against the top of the table. “I will not hand over our gold to one of those... criminals!”

“No one knows why the plague started,” Reverend Nora reminded Crofter Morgan. “And the necromancers did not reveal themselves until hundreds of years later.”

“Well, they could have saved us if they had come out sooner!” Crofter Morgan glowered at Reverend Nora.

Instead of responding in anger, she shrugged. “Maybe the reason why humanity still exists despite the destruction of our old civilization is because of the necromancers worked for our benefit from the shadows. Did you consider that?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Governor Cole said in a tired but unyielding tone. “I will not call upon the necromancers.”

Aura frowned, scampered along the rafters, then crawled through a small air vent to make her way back to her bedroom. How could her father refuse to call upon the necromancers when the dead were at the walls? Did they have to lose more fields before her father would listen to reason?

Crawling into bed, Aura flipped her long blond hair over one shoulder before settling beneath the covers. Her fingers playing with the golden tips, she stared into the darkness.