Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Sorcerer Hunters.  I do own Rice, Vue, Entendu, Senti and Espirit; so don't touch 'em!  Except Senti, I'd really like to see you touch her, it'd make my day! *Evil Snicker of Impending Doom*

Anywho, more help with names!!!

Translations from French:

Vue (Sight)

Entendu (Hearing)

Senti (Feel)

Espirit (Mind)

Sorcerer Hunters:

The Necromancer's Marque

By

C M Forde

The sword was yanked violently out of Marron's chest, and he collapsed to the ground with a grunt of pain.  The necromancer above him snickered evilly and walked away, leaving Rice alone; she had never been his target anyway.  The man tried to stand, but his legs refused to take his orders, so he lay collapsed on the soft beach, sand sticking to his sweat soaked cheek as he watched the rest of the fight with the last moments of his life.

            Tira and Chocolat had already changed, Tira in leather lingerie and thigh high stiletto heels, and Chocolat in her trademark pants and suspenders, garrote wire curled around one hand.  Neither had noticed Marron fall, he was too far from their beloved Carrot.  Chocolate trailed behind Tira by a few feet, not enough to separate the deadly pair, at least Marron wouldn't have thought so.  From just under the feet of Tira a man exploded silently from the ground, Marron thought for a moment that his hearing had been lost, but Tira didn't hear it either, she just ran right by as he came up behind her, cutting Chocolat off from her sister.  The man was small, though solidly built, and wore only a pair of black pants, in his hand was clutched yet another sword.  The redhead growled and tossed her wire towards the man's chest, but he dodged nimbly around her, his sword following in an arc that would have taken Chocolat's head off if she hadn't ducked.  She spun around on one booted heel and tossed the wire again, this time he was too close to dodge, and it impaled itself deep into his chest, the woman smiled, "Punishment completed."  The man didn't falter; instead his chest seemed to compress around the wire, as if he were healing around the thin piece of metal before their eyes.  Chocolat almost got out a sound of surprise before the man brought the heavy sword crashing down into her skull.  Marron closed his eyes, he couldn't bear to watch, there was no sound.

            He heard Tira and looked in her direction, doing his best to put his friend's death out of his mind.  Tira was charging full speed at the woman standing with Carrot, a look like a thousand fires burning in her eyes.  The woman shoved Carrot nonchalantly to the ground and withdrew her sword from its scabbard, eyeing the approaching dominatrix with a look of what seemed to be boredom.  Tira leapt into the air and viciously attacked the woman with her whip, the shining leather blurring with the speed of its movement.  The red headed woman's eyes went wide as the whip passed harmlessly through the necromancer, leaving Tira wide open for attack.  The blonde ducked in quickly, Tira still in mid air, and with the speed of a striking snake her sword shot upwards, catching his friend's stomach in mid leap.  Most of the sword stood out of Tira's back as the woman haled her overhead with one arm, impaling her.  Tira shook violently, twisting on the long silver blade, the last spasaming convulsions of the dead.  Marron felt the bile rising up in his throat, and vomited unceremoniously into the sands. Two of his best friends were dead, killed easily by this trio of necromancers and he couldn't do anything about it, in fact he was probably going to die in a short while himself.

            Next came Gateau, he didn't even see the man appear behind him.  This was most definitely the largest of the necromancers so far, easily seven feet tall and clad in an all-encompassing black robe that hid his features from the sunlight.  From beneath the folds of his clothes came the sword, and Gateau coughed as it struck.  He looked down at himself, sword protruding from his chest and tried to touch the blade, but it was torn from his body before he could act, and the man tumbled to his knees, a blank stare looking out at the rest of the world.  The tall man replaced the sword beneath his robe and turned to face the last of the sorcerer hunters.

            Carrot was on all fours, he had started to get up after the woman had pushed him down, but had frozen as he saw Tira die.  The blonde necromancer finally dropped the limp woman and turned to Carrot, as if she were waiting for something, all of the necromancers seemed to be waiting.  The smallest one, the one who had killed Chocolat, turned to the man who had stabbed Marron, "Espirit, what's wrong?"

            The blonde nodded in agreement, "Yes, Entendu's right, it should have happened by now.  There's something wrong."

            The largest man shook his head, "There must be another one Senti.  That's the only way."  He turned back to Espirit, "What should we do sir?"

            The man seemed to stop and think for a moment, then answered, "If there is another one, they must be at the palace.  We will have to postpone our plans for a short time."

            The blonde frowned and put her hands on her hips, "We've been waiting since Torte died.  I'm tired of it, we should go now, they won't stand a chance."

            The largest nodded in agreement, "Yes, we should head to the palace and find the last of them.  Even mama will not be able to withstand our might."

            Espirit shook his head, "Patience Vue, you forget about the Haz nights.  We cannot hope to challenge the five of them together.  We must attack when they are not ready, then we will take the fifth God."  The four necromancers came together near the waterline, the hundreds of spectators staying as far back as their curiosity would let them.  Then the four disappeared as quickly as they had come, leaving behind no trace that they had ever been, nothing but four dead or dying sorcerer hunters.

            Carrot ran to his brother and crouched down, Marron could feel his brother's hands turning him over, and saw his face looking down on him, "Marron, don't die, please don't die."

            The mage shook his head, "Rice…where's…Rice?"  Marron had realized that he hadn't seen the nun since the fighting had started and hoped that she had had the sense to get away.

            Carrot shook his head, "There's no one here Marron, they're all dead.  Chocolat, Gateau, even Tira, they're all dead."

            Marron smiled and touched his brother's cheek with one hand, "Get help…tell Mama…"  And then darkness encompassed Marron, carrying him away from the mortal realm, away from his brother, away from death.

Marron awoke to find himself lying in bed in his room, for a divine moment he thought it was all a dream, then he saw his brother's face.  "Marron, you're all right!"  The mage started to sit up, but Carrot eased him back down, "No, you need to rest."

            "The others?"

            Carrot smiled, "They're all fine, even Tira, though we weren't sure she was going to make it."  The young man looked away and Marron could see the pain his brother had gone through during Tira's ordeal.  He reached out and touched Carrot's hand.

            "Brother, what happened?  I saw all of us die."

            Carrot shrugged, "Even Mama doesn't know for sure, but I don't think those guys were trying to kill us.  Their swords didn't cut any of you, they just went straight through like you weren't even there.  It's obvious that they meant to hurt us, but they haven't done any permanent damage.  Maybe they were just trying to test their skill."

            Marron wanted to believe his brother, but he knew that he was wrong, deep in his soul, it felt like something had been damaged beyond repair, that something inside of him had been killed.  And besides, there were the things that the necromancers had said.  Things about something happening, and about a fifth God.  "I need to see Mama."  He sat up and Carrot tried to lay him down again, but Marron looked into his eyes.  "No brother, I need to go."  Carrot nodded and took his brother's hand, helping him up.

            As the two stepped into the hallway, Marron looked up to see Chocolate and Gateau holding up a very worn out Tira.  The older sister smiled at them, "I was wondering when you guys were going to come out, we've been waiting for a while."

            "Mama?"  It was the only word Marron posed.  The rest of them nodded in agreement.

            Once in Mama's chamber, Daughter latched on to Marron so hard that he thought his ribs were going to break.  "Oh thank goodness you're all right, I was so worried!"  Tears flowed from her eyes like waterfalls, and Marron had a passing moment to think about whether they would stain his shirt.

            Chocolat stepped forward, "Mama, what were those guys?  More sorcerer hunter killers?  One of them mentioned Sacher, could they have been with him?"

            Mama was frozen, a look of astonishment plastered across her face, Marron forwned.  He had never seen Mama this way before, there was something so wrong that it had shocked even her.  He turned around, but there was no one there, no one except them.  Chocolat spoke again, "Mama, are you alright?"

            "Gone…they're all gone…"  Her sonorous voice was filled with disbelief, and Marron felt his blood suddenly go deathly cold.

            Chocolat shook her head, "Mama what do you mean gone?  We're right here."

            From behind Mama came a young woman in a habit and wimple, her face wore a look of forlorn, as if something had died in her, something like hope.  "She's talking about the Gods that live inside of you." Rice said, "The Gods have left."

To Be Continued…