Here we go

Cover Art: Z-ComiX

Chapter 95

Yang heard the tolling of the bells and huddled deeper into the overly plush armchair centred in what Blake had told her was called a lounge. The over-large dimensions of the house, the sheer space, went forgotten as she heard those sounds and recalled the fall of the slums. The screams and cries as they tried and failed to close the gates in time; the dying wails; the pleas for mercy falling on deaf ears; the-

"Yang!" Blake's hand was on her arm, gripped tight and squeezing tighter still. "Calm. Stay calm."

"How can you say that? You saw Menagerie fall. You've seen what they can do."

"It took them time. Menagerie didn't fall to one attack."

Blake squeezed her arm again and then let go, forcing a pewter cup of something foul smelling into Yang's hands. It was beer – but it smelled bitter and tasted even worse. "Ack. What is this crap?"

"That's what decent beer tastes like."

"It's foul."

"You're used to the watered-down variety made with cheap or rotten barley. This is the real stuff."

Yang grimaced and took another sip, almost retching. She considered herself a rough girl, as had almost anyone in the slums, and heavy drinking was no new thing. Nothing they served downside had tasted as strong as this, however. Had they really been getting drunk of watered-down beer and ale? Probably. It wasn't like they'd have ever known, and it explained why she could normally drink ten or fifteen before feeling the effects.

The taste of `real beer` was something she had to work at getting used to, especially when it was so bitter she couldn't guzzle it. There'd been a lot of that lately. Not beer, but things to learn. Food was wildly different up in the Merchant's Quarter, as was precuring it. Blake had gone out alone to market the first few times, only bringing Yang when she was sure she no longer looked like a Dredger. Even that hadn't been an easy experience. The novelty of being able to actually approach a food stall without being chased away was exciting enough, but when the man behind it asked what cut of meat she wanted, as if she had any idea what each piece meant, it left her lost and confused. Luckily, Blake had been there.

Huh. It's already distracting me from the attack. Guess it's working…

"How are you so calm?" Yang asked again, though this time with a little less mind-numbing fear herself. "Aren't you afraid the defence will fail and the Grimm will come through?"

"A little," Blake admitted. "But I've already seen it all once. I lost everything. The pain is dulled." She shrugged and added, "Plus, like I said, the first few defences were successful back home and that was without prior warning. If Vale falls now, I'll be surprised."

"Then we're safe…?"

"Maybe." It wasn't the confident answer Yang wanted.

"Why maybe?"

"It… the fall of Menagerie…" Blake bit her lower lip. "It wasn't how you'd imagine the fall of a city to be, not in the conventional siege of an army kind of sense. It fell bit by bit, street by street, and when each street fell, there was a lull in the fighting. The Grimm would stop advancing for a moment. Give us time to gather ourselves for the next push."

"Were their masters making them wait?"

"No." Blake's eyes closed. "It was that they would stop to slaughter anyone caught in that freshly captured piece of ground."

Yang swore. "Shit."

"Hmm. We did our best to evacuate people out from the front lines but that couldn't last forever. Once the Grimm got beyond the outer parts of the city, we were fighting in inhabited territory. When we were pushed back, homes would be left trapped by the Grimm. A normal army would recognise those were no threat and march past, but the Grimm are mindless aggressors. They stopped to destroy every bit of life they could find. They would batter doors down, rush into homes and tear families apart. It wasn't quick, the fall of Menagerie, it was a slow and bloody and horrible slaughter."

"Fuck. Oh fuck." Yang's hands shook. In hysterical amusement, she noted that Blake's efforts to keep her calm were now well and truly useless. "Shit. That's… ha. We're fucked, aren't we? Utterly fucked."

"I don't know."

"How do we stop this?"

"I don't know."

"What can we do to help?"

Blake looked down into her own cup. "I don't know…"

/-/

The city of Vale was sloped up the side of a large hill, giving the city its tiered architecture. It was what kept the poor in the poorer parts of the city – a divide built not of social class and wealth, but literal walls and gates keeping each citizen in their allotted place. Those higher up lived as such, while the dregs of society lived – or used to live – in the bottom rungs of the slums, with the mud and floodwater and other grime.

Another facet of the tiered nature of the city was that those at the top could look down on the lower tiers with ease, so long as they had a raised position to look from. The walls of the Collegium served as such and were as packed as they had ever been. Guards, Arcanist, Initiates and other people working at the Collegium stood shoulder to shoulder staring down at the carnage taking place several walls away.

In the nearby Upper District where the nobles dwelled, the same could be seen in balconies and expensive towers, the occasional flash of expensive cloth or two people drinking wine and watching the war as if it were exquisite entertainment.

It didn't feel real, Ruby reflected, as she stood beside Weiss and next to Pyrrha. Even though the battle was taking place to defend their own city, there was a certain detachment from it all. The Grimm were currently kept in the farmlands, which meant that they had the slum walls, the merchant walls, the upper walls and then the Collegium walls between them and any danger. That was four rings of tall, powerful walls bristling with soldiers that the Grimm would need to break through, all before the average Arcanist locked within the Collegium would so much as witness a Grimm.

So far away, it was also difficult to tell what was happening. The outer walls of the city curved around the slums, which the city had for some reason now decided it was willing to defend even if they hadn't bothered before. There were Arcanists down there – Pyrrha had told her so, and she could see the bright flashes of light, brief rushes of flame or bolts of lightning piercing into a horde of black shapes.

There were not as many Grimm as she expected.

In her head – in her nightmares – she'd expected their numbers to be so cast that the farmlands would be naught but black. It would be an ocean of monsters, a terrible horde blotting out the grass and fields. It wasn't that bad. They streamed across farmland, but there was more corn than Grimm. Counting them was impossible, but there couldn't be more than a thousand all told.

"They'll hold." Pyrrha said confidently. "There aren't enough Grimm."

"I hope you're right," Weiss said. "Though I'd say there aren't enough Arcanists either. Why are so many of us still here if the Grimm are attacking?"

"The two of you aren't experienced in combat."

"Then what about the people two or three times our age?" Weiss demanded, throwing an arm back to gesture down the walls. True to her word, there were plenty of Arcanists nosily watching the battle. Many of them were old enough to eclipse their meagre experience ten times over. "Our city is under attack. We should have a proper force down there."

"I'm sure the Crimson and White know what is best."

Ruby didn't rise to that bait. She was surprised Weiss did, snorting in what was obviously a dismissive manner. "I refuse to believe that just because someone is not of our Arcana, they cannot fight. Less experienced, yes, less trained, admittedly, but they must still know how to cast an offensive spell or two. Put them on towers safe behind a wall of soldiers and have them cast until exhaustion. Any help is better than none."

"Weiss is right." Ruby said. "Even we could help by throwing out spells if we were safe. They could build wooden towers behind the walls for us to stand on. It'd be safe." Safe enough, anyway. If Nevermore could reach them there, they could reach them all the way back in the Collegium. "I don't see why we're only sending some down."

"The best of the best," Pyrrha countered. "The Crimson Arcana are almost entirely deployed. They're entirely dedicated to combat magic."

"Why not quantity and quality?" Weiss asked.

"Because discipline falters. It's better to have a small force working together cohesively and understanding strategy than it is to have many amateurs." Pyrrha's tone became impatient, almost lecturing. "There will be a battle plan for this, a strategy, and every Crimson Arcanist down there will have been briefed on it. Adding other Arcana would only make it harder to execute that plan."

Ruby hoped Pyrrha was right on that one. The Grimm had hit the walls now and the fighting was fierce. Details were hard to make out and that was probably for the best, she decided, as a black blob got atop one wall and wailed about. People must have died because it gained a hold on the wall, running along it until a red figure stepped up and hurled it off with a huge explosion.

All along, the killing continued. So distant and yet so close. People down the walls were cheering, shouting out encouragement as if to a sports team. It didn't feel wrong to do so. Why shouldn't you encourage people fighting to protect you? At the same time, the way it was happening felt dismissive. They weren't helpless children unable to fight. Each and every one of them had a power beyond that of the average person fighting and dying on those walls. Each of them were special, gifted, and to not use that gift in defence of the city made Ruby feel ill.

I'm a Wildmage. I could summon a storm in the middle of that horde and decimate it. They're grouped together so heavily I could kill a hundred of them in a matter of seconds.

And yet her reward for doing so would be a one-way trip to the Sanctum, or maybe even just a hundred or more spells in the back, killing her on the spot while she was distracted trying to save lives. It wasn't fair. Ruby ground her teeth together, hands clutching the stone crenulations with enough force to make her fingertips ache.

When was too much? How much death would there have to be before she decided to give up all secrecy and out herself? The fact she wasn't right now just made it clear she was selfishly willing to sacrifice lives, didn't it? A true hero would step down off this wall, walk to the front lines and throw her might at the Grimm. A true hero wouldn't wait and see and tell herself it was too risky. Right now, she didn't feel like much of a hero. Or a good person.

If they breach the merchant's wall, she told herself. There's no one in the slums anymore anyway, so no one will die if the outer wall falls. But if they start to get into the merchants and threaten Yang, I'll do it. I'll save them.

Bartering with lives, it was. Nothing less and nothing better. Ruby ran a hand down her face and it came away slick with sweat. Another hand touched her arm, Weiss looking her way with clear worry.

"Do you want to go back to the dorm?" she whispered. "We don't have to watch this…"

"I have to," Ruby rasped back.

She had to watch it because she'd chosen to let these people fighting without her, which meant she was responsible for any and every death that occurred. Not wholly responsible, but complicit. As another Beowolf got up onto the walls and ran down it ripping brave men and women in two, she had to acknowledge that if she were there, she could have stopped it. That they were dying because of her inaction. And here she'd criticised Goodwitch and the Collegium for their own. The hypocrisy dripped down her face with fresh, salty tears.

For once, her Wildmagic did not stir with her emotions. Fear, helplessness and shock left it with little to grasp onto. Ruby stared out and watched the battle as the Grimm slowly dwindled. Watched as more people died, as more soldiers were dragged from the walls and as the last of the Grimm were brought low.

A great cheer rose up from the city – thousands of voices rising in victory, those upon the walls louder than all as they crashed their weapons and shields together and clasped one another tightly. Theirs was deserved. The cheers and congratulatory pats on the back taking place along the pristine walls of the Collegium felt much less so.

/-/

The summons to Lady Goodwitch's office came unexpectedly, and even more so because Weiss had been instructed to come with her. That hopefully meant her secret was safe, not that Ruby had it in herself to care much after the horrors she'd witnessed.

Arriving, she found they weren't to be alone at all. Qrow inclined his head her way, looking as fresh as a daisy and not at all tired. He hadn't fought either. Ruby wasn't sure if she had the right to be angry at the so-called `strongest Arcanist` for not putting those skills to use. Not when she'd done no better.

"Lady Goodwitch." Weiss pulled a picture-perfect curtsy for the two of them. "Lord Branwen. We have come as instructed."

Glynda gave Ruby just long enough to echo it, then raised an eyebrow and started speaking when she made no move to. "As I can see. Thank you for your prompt arrival. I take it you both witnessed the attack earlier."

Ruby nodded. Weiss did the same.

"Good. The whole city must have seen it, but I didn't wish to assume. Regardless, the attack has been fought off, and without a single loss on our side. Fortuitous-"

"No losses!?" Ruby blurted out. "But I saw people ripped to pieces!"

"I meant no losses to the Collegium, child." Glynda sighed and continued. "As fortuitous as this battle has been, we're not foolish enough to assume it as anything other than a scouting attack. After our last trap decimated their forces, I very much doubt those in charge would send another like it. This was designed to see if we had any other nasty surprises in store."

"Do we?" Qrow asked tersely.

"We have one or two surprises."

"I hope these ones won't require similar costs to the last."

Glynda glared at him harshly, making it clear his interruptions weren't appreciated. "That is a matter best left to those with the courage to make such decisions. They are not why I called you here."

"Then why did-?" Weiss' eyes widened. "You want us to go out there…"

What? Ruby whirled to stare at the stern Arcanist, certain Weiss had gotten the wrong idea. When Lady Goodwitch didn't dispute it, Ruby cried, "You want us to go out there!? Right after a Grimm attack!?"

"I want you to go out there right after a Grimm slaughter," Glynda replied. "We have just killed between eight hundred and a thousand Grimm. Their numbers are depleted, and the Arcanists behind this will be meeting to discuss the defence we put up. This is a fine time to brave the forest."

"If it's so fine a time then why don't you go?" Qrow said mockingly.

"If I were not needed here, I would," she said, voice clipped and tired. "Or perhaps you would like to trade places, Qrow. You can meet with the King and try to calm him, then attend an emergency meeting with the High Noble families and after that discuss strategy with the Commander of the Crimson Arcana. Would you like to take care of that for me, Qrow? If so, I'll gladly walk out the gates with these young women and scout the forests myself." She gave him a moment, then snorted in an unladylike manner. "No? I thought not. This war could well drag on forever unless those behind it are found and killed. You, Qrow, and your protégée here, have proven adept at avoiding trouble."

"Ruby is inexperienced," he argued. "I should go alone."

"Lady Rose may well be inexperienced as an Arcanist, but there are few of us with her experience evading Grimm and travelling through rough terrain. You know full well most of our people have lived sheltered lives."

"What about me?" Weiss asked. "I can understand why you'd send them, but what use am I?

"I need you to make contact with Calavera again." The name meant nothing to Ruby, and yet Weiss recoiled with a puckered-up face. "I know," Glynda said quickly. "Your reluctance is noted and understandable, but she lives in the forest and knows it better than anyone else. Since she has already shown herself willing to hold a rapport with you, I want you to go and encourage that. Convince her, if you're able, to side with us against these people. If not, then at least ask her to act as our eyes and ears in the forest."

"Maria is stubborn." Qrow warned her.

"I know. I don't expect this to be an easy task, nor one completed immediately."

Weiss grimaced even further. "I'll have to keep going out there?"

"We must all be useful in these trying times. If you cannot fight on the walls, you must be useful another way. Remember, the White does not falter."

"The White doesn't falter…" Weiss echoed miserably. "I'll do it, Lady Goodwitch. Please forgive my impertinence."

The woman smiled briefly. "There is nothing to forgive. No one should be happy being asked to deal with a Rogue Arcanist. That you do so regardless of your feelings is to your merit."

A Rogue Arcanist, huh? Ruby tried not to look too interested, even if she really was. Weiss' reaction to this Maria woman didn't make it sound like they'd got on. Was that because Weiss hated Rogues in general, or was there more to it? And would Weiss hate her just because she was a Wildmage? The question burned in her mind.

"You have your tasks. Take Weiss to Calavera's home and leave here there, Qrow, then take Lady Rose and breach as deep into the forests as you dare. Remember to come back alive. If you find these people, we will spare no effort to eradicate them. Do not go in alone."

"Yeah, yeah. We get it." Qrow stood with a heavy sigh. "Come on, girls. Time to make ourselves useful for the glory of the Collegium." He turned away, saying over his left shoulder, "Try not to drown the city in our absence again, huh?"

Lady Goodwitch refused to respond.

/-/

Dressed once more in her riding clothes and hood, Weiss felt nothing but dread as the three of them approached the area Maria Calavera's home lay within. The Shadow Arcana magic kept it concealed still, a seemingly empty clearing by all accounts. Now that she knew to look for it however, she could see some small signs of inhabitation. Branches chopped off trees, grass not growing in certain areas, the fact the clearing existed at all and the lack of flowers and animals.

"Looks like she isn't going to drop it for the tree of us," Qrow said. "Hopefully she will if it's just you."

Weiss rounded on him. "You're just going to leave me here!?"

"Sure." He smirked back at her aghast expression. "Oh relax, we didn't see any Grimm en route and it's an easy walk back to the walls if you need it. Also," he said, speaking louder. "I reckon Maria's just playing games on us. Wicked sense of humour, that one." An acorn seemingly came from nowhere and bounced off Qrow's nose. He grinned. "See?"

"Awww." Ruby whined. "I wanted to meet her."

"You don't." Weiss muttered. "You really don't."

"It's an acquired taste." Qrow agreed. "Not one I share either. Come on, Ruby. We've got a far more dangerous job ahead of us."

That reminder had Weiss quickly rushing over to Ruby. She hesitated in front of her, unsure how to say what she wanted, but Ruby smiled happily back and opened her arms. Since it was now an invitation, Weiss felt a little more decorum in accepting the hug. It wasn't as though she'd asked for it after all. This was Ruby being uncouth as usual, and her simply allowing it. Yes, that was all.

"Be careful," she whispered into Ruby's ear. "Please be careful. If anything happens to you, I'll not forgive you it."

"Kay." Ruby giggled. "I'll be safe. Don't worry."

Easy to say. Weiss would worry until Ruby was back in the Collegium, but she reluctantly forced herself to let go and watch the two of them leave. Ruby continued to wave until they were out of sight, at which point Weiss let out a long and lonely sigh.

"Well, weren't that the sweetest thing ever," an old voice croaked from behind her. "Enough to make an old lady's heart melt."

Weiss refused to be alarmed or show her surprise. She felt she did a good job, up until she turned around and found Maria casually standing next to a literal corpse standing on two feet. "Arghhh!" Weiss shrieked, leaping back. "W-W-What is that!?"

Maria cocked her head and glanced to her left. "It's a corpse, lass."

"I can see that!" Weiss raged. "Why-? How-? No, don't answer that." Pinching her nose against the horrific stench and wishing she could also pinch her eyes shut so as not to see muscles and tendons stretched over bleached bone, Weiss asked, "Just why…?"

Maria smiled shrewdly. "Interested?"

"In your mental health?" Weiss fired back. "Somewhat. That's disgusting by the way. I can see his muscles rotting."

Rather than be disturbed or offended, Maria Calavera sighed. "Yes, that's a problem. Looked a lot easier on the eyes when he still had his flesh on, I'll tell you that. Not quite mastered how to convince the body it's still alive. It knows it's dead, so it's rotting away. Thing will be little more than a skeleton in a week and then it'll be useless."

It really ought to have been that the more she looked at it, the less horrific it was, and yet Weiss felt no less desensitised to the sheer wrongness of it. It wasn't just one thing either, though she was personally thankful its eyes had rotten out to leave empty holes. If those still had human eyes, she would have retched. She was close to doing so as it was.

Even so, she managed to ask, "Why would it be useless to you? You raise the dead. What difference does the state of the body make?"

"Good question!" Maria cheered. "A very good question. One best answered inside where a wild Grimm won't stumble upon us. Come on now – mind your head."

The dead body's skull cracked on the low doorway and shattered. It stumbled and tried to orient itself, ripping its head off entirely and then staggering through the door.

Weiss stepped gingerly over its head. "Lovely…"

"Oops." Maria sighed. "Guess I warned the wrong person. My fault this time," she added. "Argh, it's as complicated as ever."

"What is?"

"Controlling a body," Maria said distractedly. "So many things to account for. Height being one of them, and one I've not had to worry about for a long while." Cackling, she moved on, stick clinking on the wooden floor. "Come along, dear. I'll make us some tea."

"Will it be free of human parts?"

"I raise the dead, girl. I don't eat them."

"Just checking…"

"Pah." Maria brought them into her kitchen and waved a hand. "You stay there. Not you," she added when Weiss froze. "I mean tall, dead and spilling guts on my floor." A cast-iron pot was already bubbling over a fire. It was just water, Weiss noted with some relief. "I have some lovely herbal teas. It'll have to do. Put a pep in your step, it will." Maria paused. "Almost make you very fertile. You spreading your legs for a man?"

"Excuse me!?"

"Sex. Breeding. Having fun in the bedroom."

"I understood what you meant!" Weiss raged, face bright red. "And I fail to see how it's any of your business!"

"Heh. I'll take that as a no." She poured them each a cup. "Here."

It didn't look poisoned and honestly, Maria hardly needed poison to kill her. Waiting for her host to take a sip, Weiss did the same. It was surprisingly light and floral, like dandelion tea. "It's nice. Though I could do without the smell."

"What? Flowers?"

"Dead body," Weiss said flatly.

"Oh that." Maria laughed. "You lose a few things in your old age, lass. Sense of smell, grace, control over your bowels." She tapped her nose. "Not so unhappy about the first if I'm being honest with you."

"Can't you send it away?"

"Nope."

Weiss grimaced. "Why not?"

"Because I'd lose control over it and it'd collapse all over the floor and make an even bigger mess. Honestly, I was thinking of walking him into a grave in the next few days anyway. As I said, he's going to fully rot and be useless soon."

"You did say that." Weiss noted, curious despite her revulsion. There was nothing wrong with asking, was there? Lady Goodwitch wanted her to try and make a good impression on Maria. "What did you mean by that?"

"Oh yes. That. Well, it's rather simple you see. It's all about those lovely muscles and tendons you can see popping out of him. Without those, he's nothing more than a pile of bones. You ever tried to animate a skeleton, lass?"

"No. I have not."

"Well don't bother!" Maria said, missing or ignoring the obvious deadpan tone of Weiss' voice. "Nothing to animate. Only way you're going to make a skeleton walk is by using wind spells to levitate each bone into place and move them independently – and what a pain in my haemorrhoids that'd be."

"Ugh." Weiss tried hard not to retch and to focus on the first thing said. "So, the benefit of the skeleton having its muscles and tendons attached is that they can take care of moving the skeleton?"

"Exactly." Maria raised her arm and made a show of bringing her fist up to her shoulder. While the old and wrinkly woman was in no way muscular, Weiss could still see the play of muscles in her arms making the limb move. "Without these babies, you're not going to be making anything move around on its own. With them, it's possible to remotely control a body. Without, you've just got a bunch of useless components."

"That… makes some sense. It's a puppet, then?"

"Sure is." Maria looked pleased with Weiss' deduction. Reaching over, she rapped her stick on the body's leg. It didn't move an inch. "Can't really say I raised this from the dead when it's still dead, can you?"

Weiss supposed not. It hadn't been raised or changed from one state to another at all. In fact, it was essentially a golem at this point – a construct being actively moved and controlled by an Arcanist. That in itself wasn't forbidden.

"But you brought back that faunus' spirit before…"

"Oh that. Yes, now that was definitely raising the dead. Sort of. Again, can't say I raised him since it was temporary, but I did bring him back into his dead body. Breathed life into it for a moment." Maria smiled cunningly. "You're awfully interested for someone who called my arts an abomination before."

"I'm just making conversation."

"Sure. Sure. I'll pretend I don't see the hunger in your eyes."

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked again, rising to her feet. "Are you suggesting I want to learn this? That could not be further from the truth!"

"Now, now, calm down. I wasn't saying that. Girls these days, so quick to judge. All I was saying is that you're the type of girl who likes to know things. A curious one. Eager to learn." Maria pointed her cane at Weiss. "I was like that at your age. All excited to enter the Collegium, desperate to learn everything I could. Oh, it was all so interesting at your age. A vast world of magic at my fingertips, all just waiting for me to plumb its depths."

Weiss sat down slowly. She couldn't quite deny what was being said, and yet there was nothing forbidden about wanting to be the best you could be. Her family name depended on her being someone of note, and she wanted to prove herself. "There is nothing wrong with that…"

"Of course there isn't." Maria agreed. "And you'll have a fun old time learning everything on offer." She paused. "For a while."

"What does that mean?"

"Only that you'll start to feel restricted sooner or later. Look at you. You're what, twenty?"

"Seventeen."

"Seventeen and already having chosen your first Arcana." Maria shook her head. "That's even worse. You're ambitious, child. How long will it be before you pick your second? Five years? Maybe you'll take it slow and learn everything the White has to offer before branching out, so let's give it an optimistic ten. And then ten again to learn everything your second has to offer. Then what? What will you do for the next twenty, thirty or forty years? Maybe even fifty or sixty! What will you do when your desire to learn all you can runs into the brick wall that is the two-arcana system?"

"I'll tell you what I won't do," Weiss said heatedly. "I won't start robbing graveyards and bringing people's dead relatives back to life."

Far from be offended, Maria cackled eagerly. "Such fire. Maybe not, or maybe you'll do something else. Maybe it'll be worse. Or you'll do as Glynda does and bury her dark desires in duty. Immerse yourself in so much work that you don't have the time to want for anything else."

Lady Goodwitch? Did she also-? No. Maria didn't know Lady Goodwitch in the way she was suggesting. She was just making aspersions to try and prove a point. Weiss wasn't going to fall for it.

"As for what I do," Maria went on. "As you've noted, it's not all what you would call necromancy. Why, that body over there is little more than puppetry. Little electrical spells targeting muscles and tendons to prompt movement. Nothing forbidden. Can you see what I'm doing?"

"I… I can understand the theory." It felt like she was treading a line by trying to at all, but Maria wasn't wrong – this wasn't forbidden. "Are you saying that you're using individual bursts of spells to stimulate the muscles into the same movements they'd make if the person was alive?"

"I am."

"That sounds like Emerald magic."

"It is!" Maria said proudly. "Well done. The Emerald Arcana uses it to help people – especially those who have stopped breathing or won't wake up. Small, targeted spells with very little power to jolt the body but not harm it. It's a very fine process, I must say. Too much and you can harm someone. Burn an entire muscle away or incinerate their heart in their chest. It's why the Emerald Arcana is such a difficult one to master, for all that they're too humble to brag about it."

"And you're using it on a dead body?"

"Stop thinking in those terms, girl. The man this belonged to is gone – and he tried to ambush and kill an old woman for her wealth, so I wouldn't feel too upset about that. What I am using this magic on is little more than a collection of bones, muscle and skin. Do you want to try?"

"Absolutely not!" Weiss said immediately.

"Not on him." Maria laughed herself hoarse. "A little too complex for you, methinks. But how about this." Reaching into a cupboard, she brought out a small wooden carving of a dog. There were tufts of something between its joints and around its body. Maria tossed it over and Weiss shied away in panic, letting it clunk to the floor.

"Goodness, girl," Maria said dryly. "It's not blood and guts. It's a wooden carving with string tied around it. Wool, for crying out loud. There's more skin in those boots you're wearing."

Dried and cured leather felt a little less barbarian than human skin, but Weiss knelt down to test the carving with a finger, then picked it up when she found Maria hadn't lied. It was just wood. An actual, literal puppet, albeit the strings one would normally have above and in use by a puppeteer were instead wrapped around its limbs to simulate muscles, tendons and ligaments.

"Would you like to learn how to make it walk?"

"I'm not interested in learning necromancy. It's forbidden."

"I know more than how to raise the dead, girl. Do you want to know how to make that wood and string puppet walk? Or would you rather we chat while I'm opening up the chest of a dead boar to see how it works?"

Weiss scowled and set the wooden carving on the table. She was curious, eager even, despite every bit of her body warning this was a bad idea. It's not forbidden magic, though. No one could say this was wrong.

"This isn't some trick to have me moving that dead body around, is it?"

"That dead body is long past its use. I'm bored as it is, and I can't remember the last time I taught someone a few tricks. Indulge an old lady, and maybe you'll learn something along the way."

"Okay." Weiss gave in all too easily. "Teach me."

Hey look – I can write actual, decent chapter lengths when not bogged down by medical anomalies and missing record disasters. It's a miracle.

Next Chapter: 11th July

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