Disclaimer – Vesperia is Bamco's and The Old Kingdom series is Garth Nix's.
Inspiration – Bells and Magic Script (Charter Marks)
A/N – I'd love to turn this into a full story, but I can't seem to come up with a full plot.
The Old Kingdom
Yuri woke to the sound of Repede growling, low and angry.
Something was coming and Repede thought it was a threat. With Yuri's luck, it was probably some type of dead creature. He'd been tracking a necromancer for the last week and he (or she) was likely aware of him by now.
Checking his sword and bells as he stood up, Yuri verified that the tools of his trade were well secured. Necromantic bells liked to sound of their own volition; the Charter-bound versions Yuri used as an Abhorsen were no different in that respect. An errant sound at the wrong moment could potentially be more fatal to the user than the dead the bells were meant to control.
Drawing his Charter-marked sword, Yuri peered in the direction Repede seemed to sense the danger from.
"Do we need to check it out, or is the danger coming to us?" Yuri asked absently.
Repede got up and started walking.
Yuri took another look around to settle the landmarks in his mind, that way he could come back for his supplies easily enough, and then headed out after his dog.
After a few minutes of walking, Repede had led Yuri to a cave where a small creek passed across the opening. The whole thing was iced over and Yuri could feel death clinging to place.
"Shit..." Yuri sighed. "We missed the necromancer, again." He gave the dog a look. "Is it worth taking a look in the first district?"
Repede shook, a full body shiver, and then trotted over the frozen creek into the cave, confident his human was still following along.
Just inside the cave lay a dead man. He was about Yuri's height, blond hair, and the garb of a Lieutenant in the Imperial Knights. A Charter-mark was visible on the man's forehead. He'd been dead only a short time; his spirit was likely still in the first district of Death.
"He probably saw the necromancer," Yuri observed quietly, mulling things over in his head even as he spoke aloud for Repede's benefit. "So he could identify his killer to me… but then if the necromancer is aware of me, then this could be a trap..."
It didn't feel like a trap, though. It was entirely likely that the Knight had stumbled across the necromancer's trail himself and, due to lack of experience, had been caught unawares while the necromancer remained safe miles away, spirit walking through the first district of Death to kill his prey.
It was a little strange that the necromancer hadn't simply sent a dead construct after the Knight, but this particular necromancer seemed to prefer a more personal touch.
Mind made up, Yuri sheathed his sword and sank to his knees beside the corpse. He loosened the restraints on Kibeth, the Walker, and Saraneth, the Binder, taking care to hold the bells such that the clappers would not sound. Then, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Yuri slid into death.
Death was comparable, in some ways, to a river. The first district was cold, covered in a light fog. The ground was spongy, but generally safe, and covered by several inches of water at all times. It ebbed and flowed, tugging lightly at the feet of those who walked in it, drawing them towards the first gate, beyond which lay the more treacherous second district. The light was dim and gray, a perpetual twilight that made discerning the dead that might be hiding there difficult, but not impossible.
Fortunately, the man Yuri was looking for was no further than a few steps away from Yuri's entry point into the district.
"He said you'd be coming and that I had to give you a message." The blond man was standing there just on the edge of death, held there by a compulsion left by the necromancer's. "You are the Abhorsen, yes?" He sounded wary and terrified… and alive.
The necromancer had tethered the man's spirit here, but if Yuri could work quickly, then he could prevent his death from being permanent. As far as the Charter was concerned, this man could still be saved.
Yet… Yuri frowned. Why hadn't he sensed that in life?
"Yes, I'm the Abhorsen." Immediately, Yuri ducked the blond man's attack with a Charter-sword, and then flipped Saraneth so that she rang loudly before the handle smacked soundly into Yuri's palm. He completed the pattern quickly, the sounds locking the man in place.
"Sorry," the blond man whispered, looking ashamed.
"The bells are representative of the Free Magic beings who created the Charter and are meant to borrow from what power was left over. No human can resist that." At least, no human not descended of the bloodlines of those Charter Makers, not that the knight needed to know that. "Was there anything else, aside from attacking me, that you were meant to do?"
"Just warn you off. He said… he said he had no wish to harm you and that his only aim is to punish human evil. He… seemed to know you. Called you Yuri Lowell."
Yuri swore softly under his breath, not liking the possibilities here. "Do you know which bells he used to place the compulsion on you?" Yuri asked.
"I think it's the same one you just used. And a smaller one, to make me speak."
"Good. Sounds like Saraneth and Dyrim, then. Shouldn't be any nasty lingering compulsions left. Just to be sure, I'm going to use these two bells – Saraneth and Kibeth – to send you walking back into life. The Charter still registers you as alive and, once you're out of death, if there are any remaining compulsions then they should fade quickly. Are you okay with that?" Yuri waited for the man to nod and then he flipped Kibeth over and began ringing Saraneth in tandem with it.
Jerkily, the blond man marched away. In moments, he was gone – alive once more – and Yuri sloshed out of the river of death after him.
Yuri opened his eyes and ice crystals flaked off his lashes. The Knight was watching him in curiosity, staying silent while Yuri carefully stowed his bells back into his bandolier and tightened the straps that held the bells silent. Charter marks swarmed over the bell handles and the bandolier itself, which could be fascinating to watch… and dizzying too. Yuri tended to ignore them.
"Well, the necromancer didn't lie about my name," Yuri finally said, looking up to meet the Knight's very blue eyes. "I'm Yuri Lowell, one of the Abhorsen." He held out his hand in greeting.
"Lieutenant Flynn Scifo," the man replied, shaking Yuri's hand with a warm, firm grip.
"Can you describe the necromancer who attacked you?"
"He… he didn't look exactly human anymore," Flynn answered. "His face was sort of… melted."
Wrinkling his nose, Yuri sighed. "Damn… he probably doesn't even realize what's happening to him. Necromantic arts have a tendency to warp the spirit. He's already been going around killing people, but if he's melting like that… well, what he did to you says it all. He's going to start enslaving the spirits of the people he kills soon."
"The power is addictive and corruptive, then?" Flynn nodded thoughtfully. "I guess that makes sense."
"So… I suppose you were chasing after this necromancer as well?" Yuri waited for the Knight to nod. "You really need to stop. He thinks he's a hero fighting for justice, not the monster he's become, and he will kill you next time."
"How are you any different?" The Knight accused.
Repede growled, then turned around, as if dismissing the Knight from his consideration.
"Just as my bells are bound by the unbroken Charter, so am I. If that's not good enough for you to draw the obvious distinctions for yourself, then I'm not going to waste time justifying myself to you," Yuri snapped harshly, standing up and heading towards the entrance of the cave, where the ice was starting to melt. "You're welcome, by the way. If I'd found you even half an hour later, you'd be dead permanently instead of just temporarily."
To be compared to someone who killed and murdered on a whim and stranded spirits in Death… Yuri didn't have to stick around and take this guy's ungrateful crap. If the necromancer knew who he was, then he was at a disadvantage. And the necromancer was trying to warn him off? Yuri had a sinking feeling that this person was someone he used to know, probably from before his apprenticeship with Raven.
"Wait!"
Yuri turned to look at the Knight. "What?"
"I'm sorry. That was a dishonorable thing for me to say. Please, allow me to come with you to apprehend this murderer."
"He's a necromancer and I'm an Abhorsen. I won't be apprehending him, Lieutenant. I'll be killing him." The law was clear in this case. If an Abhorsen believed a necromancer should be killed, then killing that necromancer was considered an execution of justice. A lot of Knights did not like that, believing that Abhorsen should not have such exceptions.
While Yuri could understand their point, they had to remember that an Abhorsen who abused their trade would wind up with a broken Charter-mark. The Charter kept Abhorsen in line; it was the more recent exceptions to the law that the nobility had written for themselves that the Knights ought to regard with suspicion, not the ancient exceptions created to honor the Charter itself.
Flynn's hands tightened and he glanced away. "I still wish to help you in this task."
Having the help of a Knight would, if nothing else, make dealing with the locals easier. People rarely trusted a person bearing the Seven Bells on sight, but with a Knight around there would fewer people demanding the right to test his Charter-mark to verify its authenticity. It always pissed him off when people did that; if the tables were turned, certainly they wouldn't want all and sundry touching their forehead, yet somehow they thought that they were entitled to be constantly questioning his devotion to the Charter.
That Flynn had a Charter-marked sword was useful too. If the necromancer did send a dead construct after them in life, then the Knight would be able to hold his own.
"Fine. But try not to make an ass of yourself again? My job is difficult enough without people treating me like I'm no better than what I fight. When Knights like yourself refuse to recognize the difference between an Abhorsen and a necromancer, all it does is spread further mistrust and fear of Abhorsen, which makes protecting people – which is as much my job as yours – all the more difficult. There are fewer and fewer Abhorsen because Imperials are spreading mistrust and fear of my profession instead of respecting your own laws." Yuri thought of his own recent, brief incarceration. Though the Charter-marks on his bandolier were obvious and his own Charter-mark unbroken, he'd been arrested for merely possessing his bells in the last city he'd stopped in. Though it had only been an overnight stay before the local Captain, embarrassed by his subordinate's over-zealousness, had released him. He'd even stood back to let Yuri chew them out, briefly since he'd been in a rush, for delaying him in his pursuit of an actual necromancer.
Flynn winced, but nodded. "You have my word. I won't be a hindrance."
Yuri sighed and glanced down at Repede. The dog looked back and forth between the two men a few times before sneezing which, really, was the best vote of confidence Repede could offer.
"Alright. Pack your things, Lieutenant. Looks like you're going to be getting a crash course in how not to get killed by a necromancer."
A/N – And… that's as far as I could get before my plot bunny fizzled out. I just love the idea of Yuri being an Abhorsen and wielding the seven bells against evil necromancers, though, so I'll probably get back to this eventually. Right now, I imagine that the necromancer they're chasing is Zagi and it'll somehow lead to them uncovering evidence of Imperial corruption… but, yeah, it's all kinda vague. Obviously no pairings at the start, but because Fluri writes itself that would be the eventual ship. Maybe once I get around to re-reading the original three books (and the Across the Wall short stories) so that I can finally catch up on the events of Clariel and Goldenhand, something will come to me.