Chapter nine

He left the way he came, hiding often, as guards passed to and fro in the halls. If he could find his way to the banquet hall, he would be able to leave the castle. He found the door to the banquet hall and entered. There were guards everywhere, in a protective circle around six frozen figures. Law skulked around the room, and found himself an out of the way pillar to hide behind. Four of the figures started moving again, ice cracking as they reanimated. Literally frozen, apparently.

"It's no use!" one wailed, "I saw both Abhorsen and her apprentice waiting for us in death! We can't bring them back!" They were scared shitless, and Law finally had a general idea what necromancer meant. They hadsent him on a suicide mission, something worse than a suicide mission. He'd deal with them if he got out of here alive. He waited in his dark corner, waiting for something to change, letting him leave. The four remaining necromancers conferred for a little, gesticulating wildly and shuffling nervously.

"Search the grounds!" one called to the guards, "And escort me to my quarters." He picked up a pile of things he had on a table, then led the way out the door closest to Law's hiding spot.

"What do we do?" the remaining three were just as lost as him. Law waited for the pair of guards following the necromancer to leave before following. He crossed the threshold and went left, hoping to go around the hall and find some place he recognised. The guards were around the corner, the Necromancer had dropped his stuff and they were wrapping whatever the things were in one of the cloaks. Law ducked back around the corner.

"Over there!" one called. Too late. He drew his bayonet, and crouched.

"Come back, cowards!" the Necromancer yelled; he had a chance. Law rounded the corner, and there he was. He was taller than Law, and had a bigger sword, of black metal. He was wearing chain-mail, and a bandolier of bells. He raised his sword with his left hand.

"I will subjugate your spirit." he said, before his sword burst into dark, oily flames. He crouched and reached for his bandolier, Law threw his bayonet into his wrist, severing his hand from his arm.

The necromancer looked at the stump, then focussed on Law again and started swinging his flaming sword left handed.

The Necromancer was clumsy, but he was fast. He advanced, flaming sword swinging, and Law drew his own sword, wielding it like a very big knife. He parried the sword into the stone wall, and followed through with a slash that knocked the necromancer back. The necromancer slapped Law's shoulder with the flat of his blade, and Law's cloak set on fire. Law kicked the off balance necromancer, who landed hard on the floor, dropping his sword and reaching for a bell. Law was still on fire, but he swung at the necromancer instead, cutting his left arm off at the elbow. The necromancer cried out in pain, and Law took off his cloak, before kicking the necromancer in the jaw. The necromancer spat teeth, and Law straddled him, with a throwing knife in his hand. Hedrove the small blade into the necromancer's eye. He cleaned the knife on his now smothered cloak.

They had felt Keenan die, they would have felt this guy die. Law figured he had six seconds or so to do something brilliant. He decided on going back to the door to the hall and finding some place to hide. There was nowhere to hide near the door, so he extinguished a torch instead, and crouched in the darkness. The door opened, and guards poured out, about six of them. A necromancer followed, and left the door open. No one followed the necromancer. Law decided to risk it and skulked behind him, bayonet in hand.

"Erdel! Behind you!" someone shouted, the Necromancer turned just in time for Law to drive his bayonet into him. He put his hand on the necromancer's shoulder and stabbed him under the ribcage, through his stomach, left lung and heart. No guards came from around the corner, Law leaned against the wall, hoping no one would come near. No one did. After thirty seconds or so, he ducked into the hall, and combat rolled right behind a pillar. No hellfire or anything. The hall was deathly silent, and empty. Law could hear the sounds of battle outside the castle; leaving the way he came in wouldn't be an option, he would have to follow the others.

He wandered the halls with a throwing knife at the ready; they were at least thirty seconds ahead of him, and he had to assume they were running. Up ahead, a man ran out of a door, in one hell of a hurry; Law followed him, hoping he wasn't running into a fight. He wasn't. He was heading back to the banquet hall, deeper into the castle, where it was relatively quiet. He went into the banquet hall, and pulled on a tapestry. Law ducked behind a table, and heard a loud click, somewhere nearby. The man crawled under a table and pushed on the flagstones. A trapdoor opened up, and Law followed him down it. There were torches on the wall, and Law had whacked the man on the back of the head with the haft of his bayonet. He walked quickly down the tunnel, hoping he was the only one in it. He sheathed his throwing knife and pulled a torch off the left wall. Then, the torches ran out. He moved faster, then slowed down after a minute or so when he saw firelight up ahead. The ground was certifiably crappy; he still needed his torch, and he probably needed to hurry up as well.

When he caught up to the firelight, it turned out to be a passage with torches in it. He decided it wasn't the way to go and took the darker passage.

There was more firelight ahead. He doubted his luck would be as good again, especially since this light was moving forward. He advanced slowly, and swapped his bayonet for a throwing knife.Twonecromancers were moving down the hall, all alone. The one without the torch paused, and Law stopped. He turned and spotted Law, and opened his mouth to voice warning, Law threw the knife into his mouth, and the other Necromancer turned. Law threw his torch at the last one, but it missed, and skittered off the stones, remaining alight. He drew his sword with his left hand and drew another throwing knife. The necromancer dropped his torch and drew a sword, which started glowing white hot, without melting. He reached for his bandolier to draw a bell. Law threw his knife, but the necromancer dodged. It missed his hand and stuck to his vest of thick leather. Law ran at the necromancer and kicked the bell out of his hand. The bell flew into the wall and cracked; the clapper making no noise as it swung inside the bell.

Whatever was meant to happen didn't, and the Necromancer swung his white hot sword at Law. Law hopped back a step and parried clumsily. He lost his balance and dropped his sword to balance. The necromancer stepped forward and thrusted his sword in Law's general direction; he stepped to the side and kicked the necromancer in the wrist. The necromancer's sword struck the tunnel wall, and the necromancer dropped it, hissing in frustration. Law followed the kick through with an elbow that drove the necromancer's forehead into the wall forcefully. The other one had survived a knife in the mouth somehow; he was coughing and slowly getting up. Law would have to make sure. He drew his bayonet and knifed the Necromancer five times, like he'd been taught; leg, throat, lungheartlung. The necromancer hung slack. The last necromancer drew another sword as Law drew his bayonet out of the dead one. They faced each other squarely.

"I'm going to enjoy beating you on your terms, Hero, before subjugating you're spirit." The necromancer said, in a husky voice.

"Bullshit mate, you need to concentrate." Law replied. The necromancer smiled at him, and unbuckled his bandolier, letting it fall to the ground. Then he lunged at Law, swinging his sword. Law sidestepped, drove his bayonet into the Necromancer's left kidney, and used his body rotation to elbow the necromancer in the back of the head, again. The necromancer shielded his face from the wall with his left hand and bounced off the wall, spinning. He stepped back and put his guard up. Law stepped forward slowly, then feinted to the left. The necromancer parried, and Law got past his guard, swinging his bayonet like a short sword. The necromancer ducked the swing, then spun with his sword at Law's neck, almost decapitating him. Law dropped to the ground, and scissored his legs around the necromancer's ankles. The necromancer dropped as Law rose.

"Mercy! Please!" The necromancer snorted, as moss entered his nostrils. Law drew a throwing knife, and kicked the necromancer's sword away.

"I can make you more powerful than you can imagine!" he pleaded, hands behind his head. Then he kicked Law in the side of the leg, a powerful kick that brought him to his knees. He dropped his knife and bayonet as he pushed off the wall. A moment later, he had his garrote in his hands. The Necromancer was up, a four inch metal talon in his left hand, and a very long dagger in his right. He was armed to the fucking teeth, and all Law had was a throwing knife in his boot, a small Ancelsterrian flick knife on his belt and a garrote. Law twitched, and the Necromancer launched a frenzied attack. His hands were almost a blur, but somehow, Law managed to catch the dagger with the garrote and direct it into the wall. The Necromancer's weight was in that blow, he broke a knuckle and winced in pain, also dropping the dagger. Law looped his garrote around the Necromancer's neck and planted his left knee in his back. He pulled, and the necromancer thrashed like a freshly caught fish. The cable came out of the garrote handle and the Necromancer dropped to the floor. Law reached for his belt, his knife was gone.

"Looks like you're done for, friend." the Necromancer said, pulling another claw and fitting it into his right hand. Law retreated down the hall, back to the castle, getting slashed at all the way.

He had gone down the other passage, and tried to take a torch. They were all mortared into the walls, however, and eventually, he had burst out a door with a battle raging around it. He was behind enemy lines; he was in the kitchen, and the Necromancer's guards had overturned a table and were firing arrows at kingdom archers. Stalemate. Law quickly snapped an unsuspecting guard's neck, but realised too late that he was an archer. He took an arrow anyway. The necromancer emerged a second later, as disoriented as he had been. He was still in the door, and now that he had a weapon, Law decided to attack. He tackled him back into the passage.

He felt pain in two places as he hit the ground; in his sternum and in his back. He coughed and tasted blood. He was feeling cold, and tired, but there was a job to do. It was done. His tackle had pushed the knife that had stuck in the Necromancer's armour earlier into his heart. He rolled off the necromancer and almost fainted as pain spread out through his entire body. He reached behind his back. He was bleeding, but the wound didn't feel too big. At most, it would be a .223 in his back. Then he remembered where he was, no, it was far worse. It was an arrow. The blood was dark; the arrow was probably in his liver, he had around three minutes to live. He gathered his strength and grabbed a handful of the Necromancer's hair from the back of his head. He planted the heel of his other hand's palm in the Necromancer's chin, and pushed, while pulling the hair. He twisted the necromancer's neck until it snapped, and passed out.