Necros: A War of Zoids
By The Xenomorph aka familyghost
Synopsis: A world with a secret past is about to get a wake up call from the metallic warriors.
Chapter 2: Rejection - A Necromancer's Golden Heart
After the filling meal that Lycus had provided the sisters found themselves being escorted to a small carriage. The barouche was a compact black carriage with a fearsome driver, whose face was hidden under an equally dark hood. Upon seeing the driver, both the girls stood in fear.
"It's all right." Lycus assured them. "He is bound to my word and will not harm you."
The driver did not move more than a wrinkled, ghostly hand and the doors of the carriage opened. The girls warily entered the cabin, followed by their host.
"You're coming with us?" Nami blinked in confusion.
"I feel it's time people got to know me once more, a few centuries go by and I'm a monster to them." Lycus smiled. Then with his hand out the window he motioned the driver onward. "If it gets to bumpy let me know."
As the three passengers rode in silence they all observed each other. Lycus, for the first time in what he rightfully considered a long time, found the company of other people to be to his liking and despite the elder sister's brash attitude, he discovered he was fond of the very thing that had earlier rebuked him. The fresh attitude of rebellion that Nami brought to his house, if even for only a few hours had livened his life greatly and had actually found himself smiling during his dinner as he conversed with the sisters over the town and it's inhabitants. Then there was the youngest sister, barely a decade old and she feared only his driver. He was fascinated in turn by the young girl's fascination with his dark arts. In his mind he could see the girl becoming a powerful apprentice, but his heart would not let him extend the cruel and painful lessons of even the lowest necromantic spells, at least not yet.
On the opposite side of the carriage sat Nami and she too quietly observed the Necromancer. Her impressions of the dark wizard were mixed. On one hand she had her first encounter with him, which had matched all the legends and rumors. He was kidnapper and user of people. Yet, on the other hand was the gentle soul she had seen after the ritual. A man lost in his own ageless pain that seemed to lift simply by telling tales of the past, however irrelevant and obscure they seemed. Still, she did not know how to take the man who was obviously older than her, but had the aged face of a young man. She found herself staring at him and in time, when she caught herself she realized she was blushing. She did not know if the necromancer had seen her blush, but the thought only caused her to blush more over her confused feelings.
Then there was Tari, a young girl set to observe an unfolding relationship between her own sister and her personal hero. To say she was content would be an understatement. Though, this contentment would not prevent her from mocking her sister in the months to come. Still she was the only passenger even partially aware that both the necromancer and her sister were attracted to each other and this gave her a great and powerful position.
And when the time came that the driver stopped at the gates of the rather moderate sized village, the necromancer peered outside. Much to his disappointment, the spirit driver was warded against.
"Your people can be aggravating." Lycus muttered as the doors opened. "Come, let me return you home."
"I don't think that's a good idea." Nami said.
"If I am to ever have a hope of reconnecting with the people my friend once protected then I must destroy the image of the evil boogeyman that I have been turned into." Lycus smiled. "Please."
"Ok." Tari hopped out straight into a mud puddle, he clothes once again covered in grime.
"Oh lovely…" Shade muttered from his master's flickering shadow.
As the three neared the closed gates Lycus took immediate warning to the talismans and wards spread across the gate. The warded off demons and undead, he almost laughed. Only a fool would dare to use such superstitious nonsense. Still, such fools could be dangerous if they were zealots that opposed him.
"Hey, open up!" Nami yelled up to a tower. "It's me; Nami. I got my sister and… uh…" She searched for words. "…a guest."
"Ho!" A voice called. "Open the gates, Nami returns with kin and guest."
Lycus chuckled as the gates opened. Soon Nami had guided him to a well sized house of brick, like most he had seen on the way in. Considering the last time he had visited the village the houses were barely held together shacks he was quite surprised. Then came a bigger surprise; weapons. Guns and swords were displayed in windows across the market they had passed to reach the house. He felt a pang of foolishness pass through him; he had hoped the people of the village would not have such weapons, in fact he had hoped for a sort of utopia. He chided himself as they walked in silence.
"NAMI!" An older woman around the age of forty sprang fourth from the door and grasped both daughters to her chest. "Tari!"
"I thank you stranger, for seeing them home." An older gentleman stood behind the woman. His smile was inviting, but Lycus could smell the discipline on the man; he was a soldier, and whether he was active in duty or retired it did not matter, Lycus secured himself for what he knew would come.
"There is no thanks needed." Lycus nodded.
"Please come in." Nami's mother smiled.
"It is an honor." Lycus bowed his head lightly as he entered. He noted that Tari and Nami removed their shoes as they entered, but when he went to remove his boots Nami's step-father intervened.
"Don't worry; I know the hassle boots can be. Just be careful where you step." Lycus thanked the man kindly.
Soon the family and their guest sat around a table with tea and wine. It almost surprised Lycus when he learned how hospitable the family was, but he was most definitely surprised by Nami's submissive attitude. At his castle she had been a roaring fire of life, but now she was barely kindling to the fire. She bowed to her step-father's every decree, and obeyed her mother's orders. The directions themselves were not offensive or rude, expected actually, but to Lycus the lack of emotion was apparent. To these two parents if they could be called such, their daughter was a servant.
"Why doesn't Nami join us?" He suggested as he sipped his tea. He saw Tari's face pale in fear greater than that which his rider had caused.
The step-father smiled. "She is not welcome to dine with a guest until she has married."
For a moment Lycus' mind flashed to history books of old cultures. "If I am such an intrusion I shall take my leave."
"Oh no!" Nami's mother blushed in embarrassment. "Please stay, tell us what you think of Nami? She is beautiful is she not; a good obedient woman to be married too?"
Lycus almost choked on his tea, he heard similar sound in the kitchen. "Madame, should it not be her choice who she marries?"
"Pah!" Her step-father cried. "Romantic non-sense. Nulie and I married for political reasons and we are happy."
"Then I do believe we have a clash of cultures." Lycus sat his tea down. "I think I should leave."
"But Lycus!" Tari covered her mouth soon after she spoke. The parents looked to their daughter then to their guest, pale fear rode their faces.
"Y-y-you…" The step-father muttered.
"I am Lycus Nedale, Necromancer and mage." Lycus bowed his head. "Your daughters were kind enough to help me this evening and so I saw them home."
"NAMI!" The step father roared. "How did you help this spawn of evil?" He pointed a ragged, shaking finger at Lycus.
Nami trembled, and then looked to Lycus who simply nodded. "He needed Sanguri blood to cast out a demon." Her voice was weak and Lycus' felt his calm demeanor melting away from the once cold fires welling up inside.
"Get out!" The step-father grabbed Nami and threw her out the door. With a silent spell Lycus stepped out of the shadows of the home in time to catch her.
"Go to the barouche." He said calmly.
"I'm going too." Tari struggled past her father.
"No, you will not join that vile creature and your whore of a sister." Her father slapped her when she opened he mouth to protest.
"Onare Deuth." Lycus' spell was spoken and a great bone hand, guided by an invisible force, held the father by the neck.
"You should not harm your children." Lycus growled.
"Besides, I gave him my blood too!" Tari showed he father he cut finger and then promptly kicked him in the shin.
"Tari!" the mother cried. "He will curse us all now!"
Lycus chuckled as he released the father, people had begun to come out of their homes and some had weapons. "I am no Lich, I don't seek to harm you people, I seek my own peace."
"And you take our children as faith of this?" A man shouted.
"He cast his step daughter out; I simply welcomed her into my home." Lycus looked at Tari and smiled. "As for young Tari look now upon the face of my student."
With that Lycus spun a spell and he was in his carriage, Nami was on her side crying from shame and from an unknown hope.
"You just destroyed my life!" Nami hissed in anger as she looked up at Lycus. "I hope you're happy."
"You think I am pleased to see you cast out by your family?" Lycus snapped, but his cold face warmed. "I am not."
"Nami, it's all right." Tari crossed the carriage and sat next to her sister. "Lycus won't hurt us, and he'll let us be what we want."
"What would you know?" Nami snapped.
As Lycus lay back in the carriage he could not help but feel an even bigger fool than before. Still as he watched Nami, he saw the beginnings of forgiveness form in her deep brown eyes. Then he felt a shake, something he had not felt in years. It was a subtle energy that only mage's could sense and it came from his own home. He had guests and one of them was a mage.
"Nami, when we return take your sister to the basement and hide." Lycus said darkly.