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- Chapter Eleven -
- The Necromancer vs The Marauder -
- The Cleansing Ground -
Ebu inched forward, his feet sliding noiselessly through the calf-high water. The water was crystal clear and spanned as far as Ebu could see. Underneath the water was soft sand that moved under his boots. Ebu stopped ten feet from the old man, a frown on his face.
Ebu was not often a careful man, as shown by what he wore. The white armour sided with gold that had been placed on his breast, shoulders, thighs and knees were chipped and broken in parts from all the blows they had taken. His yellow scarf and yellow cloth that dangled down from his belt were tattered and dotted with holes. More often than not, Ebu tended to charge into the fray with his men.
He had no men here, though. It was only him and the old man - and he knew the old man to be his opponent. Ebu fingered the loop of gold in his three-pronged beard as he analysed the man with his one eye. The other was covered with a simple eye-patch.
Tobias von Hodenberg wore an ornate purple robe that separated at the waist to reveal a black robe underneath. A cloth of grey with white skull designs dropped from his waist while the purple robe was fringed at the sleeves with golden weave. A belt of animal skulls hung at his waist while a collar of green metal lined with gold had been placed on his shoulders. The old man was bald on top, but his hair descended down to his feet otherwise. His beard reached his waist and his eyebrows shot out on either side like antennae.
Ebu had an inkling notion that he knew this man but couldn't quite place it. In any case, the only movement the man made was his chest moving up and down as he seemed to sleep. He found it hard to believe that this match would be this easy but when life gives you lemons…
The marauder flicked his thumbs on either sword at his side, leaving a third sword alone. The swords slid out of their scabbards but at that noise the man's head flicked upwards. Ebu grabbed the handles of the swords while Tobias opened his eyes. They were completely white.
"...I assume… you are my… opponent…" Tobias said slowly, straightening his body. Ebu could hear the pops of his bones from where he stood. "My name… is Tobias… Von Hodenberg. It… is only fair… we introduce ourselves."
"I am Ebu, of the Marauders."
"Empire…" Tobias breathed. His robe was sodden with the clear water, clinging to bony legs.
"Do you have a problem with the Empire?" Ebu asked, aiming to gain some more information of this Tobias, whose look niggled at the back of his memory.
"Not… so much a problem... " Tobias lifted a green bottle from his belt and looked into the swirling green liquid within. "...as a vendetta…" He popped the cork off with a flick of his finger and took a deep gulp. He closed his eyes as his fists squeezed shut. The bottle smashed into sharp shards of glass, dropping with small splashes into the calf-high sea of water. When Tobias von Hodenberg opened his eyes again, they were glowing green.
Ebu decided that he didn't want to give the old man a chance. He tried to sprint forward but only managed an awkward gait, the water hindering his rush. As he stumbled near the old man, something hit him hard in the chest. Ebu fell back, splashing in the water. He made to get up but a glowing green hand latched around his face and pushed his head under the water.
Ebu barely managed to shut his mouth in time, a few bubbles escaping. He dropped one sword to wrestle with the hand but his hand went straight through. A… ghost!? Ebu reached for his third sword at his hip but a second hand pushed his arm against the smooth sand. Ebu could feel his lungs trying to gain air. He never was much of a swimmer. Ebu let go of his second sword and tried to reach for the third sword again. His fingers scrabbled at the maroon leather before he finally got a good grasp. Ebu pulled the sword out and slashed wildly in front of him.
There was a hiss and the force disappeared from his face. Ebu scrambled to his feet, shaking water from his hair. He clasped his sword in both hands and faced the spirit in front of him.
It was glowing green, much the same shade as Tobias' eyes. It was mostly a floating torso covered in bandages, with long spindly arms and even longer fingers. Its head was topped with a bulbous green pustule and great sharp green teeth. Its spinal cord curved through the air, connecting to Tobias' back.
"A necromancer…" Ebu breathed.
Tobias tilted his head. "What sword is that?"
A laugh escaped Ebu's lips. "Looks like you got the wrong draw, old man. This sword was forged for slaying the undead - body or spirit."
"Hrm… A sword… such as that would… have a name."
"Eratare." Ebu smiled again. "The Bane of the Undead."
Tobias chuckled, a deep, throaty, almost unhealthy sounding laugh. "A… fitting… name…" Tobias flicked his fingers and the spirit shot forward, hands cutting through the air. Ebu lifted his sword to block the blow and the fingers scraped across the blade. Ebu spun the sword and sliced across the spirit's torso. It made an odd shrieking sound as green ectoplasm dripped to the floor. The spirit backed away, teeth chattering.
"Hrm…" Tobias' hands moved to his waist where he selected two skulls from his belt. One was almost certainly a human's skull, while the other was thicker around the nose and eyes with teeth sharpened into points. Tobias held them aloft. "Arise, fallen ones of the Spectre. Fight for me. Fight for Tobias von Hodenberg!"In that one sentence was power and confidence that Tobias hadn't shown before. The skulls were enveloped by green light and the green solidified, wrapping around into a ghostly body for each skull.
The Human stood naked, a slender man with a nose long ago broken and an open wound on his neck, leaking the green ectoplasm. The Beast stood like an ape, with thick arms knuckled on the floor and smaller but as-muscled legs. It was coated in coarse green hair.
The Beast leapt forward, fists and feet splashing in the water. It pushed off the ground and curved through the air towards Ebu, arms outstretched. Ebu rolled to the side awkwardly through the water, sending an errant slash towards the Beast. The slash missed and as soon as Ebu got to his feet it smashed a heavy fist into his chest with enough force that Ebu could feel his armour crack. He managed to stay on his feet and slice at the Beast's chest but it hopped backwards, head cocked to one side.
The Human was now walking towards Ebu, spinning two swords. My swords! Ebu thought, feeling a twinge of anger. He moved for the Human but the Beast went to block his way. Ebu feinted down but stabbed upwards, impaling the Beast through the shoulder. The Beast ignored the attack and punched Ebu hard in the jaw.
Ebu's face twisted and he stumbled back, spitting blood into the clear water. He heard the swish of air and raised Eratare just in time to block a two-sword attack from the Human. Ebu dashed forward, using the Human's intangibility to his advantage, while keeping Eratare from touching its form. Now behind the Human, Ebu swung around and sent Eratare through the Human's neck. The head separated from the shoulders, spinning in the air. As it fell, Ebu slashed upwards, cutting the skull in two with Eratare. Almost instantly the green glow of the Human dissolved, the swords dropping back into the water.
Ebu ducked, easily predicting the next move of the Beast. Its thick hand hit empty air and Ebu stabbed upwards, taking the skull underneath the jaw. This time the Beast dissolved, leaving no trace of itself. Ebu pushed the Beast's skull off with his foot and faced Tobias.
He was surprised to see that green pustules had ruptured Tobias' skin on his left arm, as well as one on the side of his forehead. They pulsed green, as if ready to burst. The spirit mirrored this change. Ebu noted this - it meant that the necromancer and his spirit were attached by more than just summons.
At the flick of a finger, the spirit flew through the air towards Ebu. Ebu slashed and took off the spirit's clawed hand at the wrist. He stepped to the side to avoid the other hand and swung down, taking off the spirit's other arm. The spirit backed up and new limbs already started to form. This only confirmed what Ebu had already suspected.
Ebu had encountered other necromancers in his travels. Any spirits summoned from beyond the grave often had a Token in the real world, something that anchored them to the earthly realm. Tobias had used skulls for the Beast and the Human, and it seemed that he had used himself for his spirit. Ebu frowned. That was unheard of. To use life with death… broke every law Ebu thought he knew about necromancers.
The spirit slashed again but Ebu was ready with a slash of his sword. Almost as soon as he swung he cursed himself. Stupid!The other hand slashed and carved through his waist. Ebu grunted in pain and jumped back. He glanced down to his wound and saw the blood dripping down his side to splash into the water and dissolve into a red mist. The next slash he barely blocked with Eratare but once again the spirit cut at his waist, opening the wound. Ebu bit his tongue to stop from screaming and stabbed at the spirit's head. The spirit didn't even try to move. The sword pushed through the green, splitting it, but the spirit's hands grabbed him tightly around his throat. Ebu's eyes widened as the fingertips started pushing into his neck.
He wasn't going to allow that. Ebu cut both hands free with one swipe of Eratare and rolled to the side, getting used to the water affecting his movements now. He slashed at the spirits back as his hands formed back. The spirit slashed once but Ebu dodged instead, blocking the second blow this time. Learning in battle was something Ebu was experienced at. He sent another slash, connecting with the spirit's chest. As quick as he could Ebu sent another to cut off one arm and then the other. Three more slashes into the spirit's chest cut the spirit in half. Even as the halves separated the spirit formed his arms and sent one at Ebu's waist.
Ebu knew that he couldn't dodge this time but he also knew he couldn't let the wound get any bigger. He thrust his left hand down and the spirit's hand carved a hole into his palm but stopped just short of the wound. Ebu blocked the next blow and cut off the spirit's hands once more. Two more slashes put the spirit in four pieces and Ebu took the chance to sprint forwards toward Tobias.
Tobias lifted his head and looked at the marauder as he ran through the water. Ebu clenched the handle with his right hand, his left all but useless. Just before he reached the necromancer he felt hands tighten around his shoulders.
Ebu was then lifted into the air.
His legs flailed as he was pulled higher into the air. He glanced up to see the spirit carrying him higher and higher. Ebu grimaced. He was high enough now to cause injury if he fell, but any higher would be death… Ebu closed his eye. Injury was an injury. You can recover from an injury, death not so much. He opened his eye and without hesitation slashed above him to cut the arms off the spirit.
Ebu fell instantly and tried to curve into a ball to protect from injury. He hit the water and the sand hard and pain lanced up his leg. This time Ebu let the scream out and thrashed through the water. He glanced down to see his right leg twisted in the wrong direction, a shard of femur sticking out of the skin. Ebu took a few moments to catch his breath and rolled through the water to avoid the spearing blow from the spirit. Pushing himself up on Eratare he got to one leg, ignoring the lances of pain through his right one.
The spirit soared through the air, claws outstretched. Ebu grit his teeth and slashed downwards with all his strength. The spirit split in two vertically, both halves drifting out into the air. With this chance Ebu turned on his foot to face Tobias.
The old man seemed even worse for wear, the green pustules curving up his arms and over his head. He seemed to be breathing laboriously, eyes shut in concentration. Ebu looked away and found his swords that the Human had dropped, seen easily through the clear water. He hopped over with help from Eratare. At the last moment he spun around the cut the spirit in two horizontally. Ebu sent a wave of precision cuts at the spirit. Two took off the arms, another cut the head in two and another to make four pieces. As the pieces drifted Ebu placed Eratare's hilt in his mouth and leaned down to pick up his two swords.
With Eratare in his mouth and the swords in either hand, Ebu turned and whipped one sword as hard as he could at Tobias. It impaled through the old man's outstretched hand in a spurt of thin red blood. Tobias' eyes shot open in surprise and pain. The momentary lapse of concentration sent a flicker through the unmoving spirit. Ebu used the chance to throw his next sword. This one connected with Tobias's other hand. Tobias yelled out in a pained voice and fell to his knees, hands hanging uselessly to either side, impaled by the swords. Ebu took Eratare from his mouth and limped over to where Tobias kneeled.
He placed Eratare back into his mouth and pulled his swords from Tobias' hands. As he lifted them to behead the old man he suddenly felt a searing pain through his stomach. Ebu looked down to find a glowing green hand through a bloody, ragged hole in his stomach. Ebu blinked and coughed, blood spraying over Tobias' face. The old man straightened up with a throaty laugh, cradling his bloodied hands.
"It… was a… pleasure…" Tobias said. Ebu grit his teeth harder on Eratare as the second hand burst through his chest and through his right lung. Ebu stood bleeding in front of Tobias, not even given the chance to fall to the floor. "I would have… liked… to use you… but I don't have… time to… clean your… skull…" Tobias raised his hand. "Thank you… Ebu… of the…. Marau-"
Tobias blinked. He glanced to his left to see the point of one sword out of his shoulder. His head slowly turned to the right to find the point of the second sword poking through his skin and robes. Tobias looked down to find that Ebu had pierced either side of his waist diagonally up through his chest. Tobias looked up and stared into Ebu's fierce face. That face swept to the side and the blade of Eratare slid gracefully across Tobias' throat. The spray of blood coated Ebu head to neck in crimson blood. Tobias watched his own spirit flicker and disappear and at that moment knew he was dead.
Ebu fell down at the same time as Tobias, landing with a splash back-first in the water. He kept hold of his swords as best he could, not willing to let them go. They had seen him through so many battles. He would not abandon them at the last battle. Ebu grinned to the sky as the light enveloped his vision.
So… there is light at the end… huh…