The road wound on. A few other towns loomed along their way, but Oz led the way around them, rather than through, wary of encountering another situation like the dullahan town. No one wandered the fields or walked the roads. All the farms laid fallow, and no livestock appeared anywhere. Silence hung over the land, broken only by the caw of a few lonely ravens and the crunch of loose pebbles under their feet.

Oz drew up alongside Roan. He tossed him a nod. “So, how uh, how’s death treating you?”

Roan looked at him. He stared for a moment, then ran a hand over the back of his neck… or tried to. He deflected to touch the back of his head instead. “It feels the same as being alive. I‘m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

“What about your qi? Anything different?” Oz asked.

“You’re a curious child,” Roan commented.

Oz nodded enthusiastically. “I’m trying to learn everything I can!”

“And I thought you were a martial mage,” Roan commented, flicking his eyes to Aisling.

It’s not incorrect to call Fflyn a martial mage. It’s not like Roan ever met Fflyn, either, so he wouldn’t know Fflyn isn’t a member of Aisling’s sect. It’s the most reasonable assumption here. It would be odder to assume that Fflyn is a young disciple of the Black Blades that I’m possessing.

“There’s nothing wrong with a martial mage learning things,” Aisling commented dryly, giving Roan a look.

Roan put his hands up, chuckling under his breath.

“So? What is death like? Is it harder to use qi?” Oz asked, looking up at Roan with his most sparkling eyes.

Ugh, stop it. It hurts, it hurts acting like this, Fflyn complained.

It’s me doing it, so don’t worry.

Yeah, but you’re doing it with my body!

“Harder to use qi…? Not particularly,” Roan said. He lifted his hand, summoning a skein of qi in his palm. It twisted in on itself, swirling in the air. Closing his hand, he dismissed it. “No…if anything, it feels muted.”

“Muted?”

“The world, sensation, qi, everything is muted. Like the colors were leached out of everything.” Roan lifted his eyes, gazing to the horizon. A thoughtful expression played over his face.

“Yeah?” Oz asked, tilting his head.

Roan shook his head. “No, it’s just…it feels so much like living that I almost forgot. Just living, but numb. That’s it.”

“Your sect won’t accept you, will they?”

“No. I suppose I’m a rogue mage from now on, wandering the world on my own. There are worse fates,” Roan mused.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Hmm. Interesting. “You seemed pretty broken up about getting kicked out of the library. Is it really no problem to get kicked out of the Sun Heart Sect, too?” Oz asked.

“I’ve become inured to the whole thing,” Roan said evenly.

Oz stared at him for a few beats, then smiled. “Well, that’s good! I would hate to see you all broken up over it.”

“Indeed.”

Loup came running over the hills, galloping on all fours. She paused some distance from them, half-rising on her rear legs, forearms still drooping and ready to take her weight. “I found something.”

“Found what?” Oz asked, turning.

Dropping back down to all fours, she took another few steps to keep pace with them, then paused again. “Something. You should see.”

Oz and Aisling exchanged a glance. Oz nodded, jumping up to Loup’s side. “Take me there.”

“We aren’t all going?” Roan asked.

“No…it isn’t that important,” Oz said, shaking his head. “We’ll catch up in a moment.”

Roan shrugged. He walked on, keeping pace with Aisling.

Loup glanced over her shoulder, leading Oz through the brambles and undergrowth. They climbed up a short hill, then down a steep downhill on the other side, descending toward a trickling brook. Down the brook, Loup led him to a placid lake, where the water barely shifted at all, not even a ripple breaking its surface.

Oz looked around. “What is it?”

“In the water,” Loup said, pointing.

He squinted, lifting a hand to shield his eyes from the sun.

Dark shapes swirled under the water. For a moment, Oz caught a glimpse of a hand, pushing against the surface of the water, but then it vanished, snatched back into the depths.

“Drowned ghosts?” he murmured.

Loup shook her head. “They’re fey. Weak ones, corrupted easily by evil. They live in the water and drown people who pass.”

Oz quickly consulted his bestiary. “Kelpies?” No, they typically appear as horses or cows. They can shapeshift into human form, but if they’re corrupted, I doubt they’re mentally capable enough to manage that. If we’re thinking of water fey that more typically take human form, even when corrupted… “Rusalka? Nixies? Hags? Vodyanoy?”

“There are many water fey,” Loup agreed, nodding.

“The point is, they’re corrupted, and likely under the necromancer’s control,” Oz murmured. Most of these are considered fey beasts, rather than high fey. In other words, they don’t have high intelligence in the first place. Any kind of dark qi or negative aura can easily infect them and deteriorate their minds. He took a deep breath. They might be relatively weak beasts, but this still isn’t good. This army…the sheer number of monsters this necromancer has accumulated is enough to make a significant dent in the forces of the Mages’ Quarter.

I’m glad we sent our follower from the Black Blades back to the Mages’ Quarter. We need someone in the Mages’ Quarter to be aware of this problem. Although…of course, there’s always my original body, even if this party gets wiped out.

Fflyn narrowed his eyes at Oz. Don’t wipe me out. I don’t want to die.

No, no. Of course not. I’m not going to let you die. But you know. In the worst case, if the absolute worst happens…it’s good we’ll have backup.

Good for you. I’ll be dead.

You’ll probably be undead! And Roan says that’s no problem!

Yeah, but…you of all people should know how trustworthy that is.

Yeah…fair…

“Corrupted water fey, dullahan, what else has this necromancer hidden away in this mortal realm?” Oz muttered to himself. And the wooden puppets. Can’t forget about them. Though they seem more like gate guards than the main force.

Loup shook her head. “This whole land has become bad. It’s hard to live.”

Oz glanced at her. “Seriously, you can come live with me. I have a place you can be safe, and there’s plenty of food.” Most of it might be spiders, but whatever. “The offer still stands. There won’t be any danger there, and I’ll even help you grow stronger.”

Loup hummed, her eyes clouded. “I’m thinking.”

“Take your time,” Oz said, nodding.

She looked at him, then nodded. “We should go back.”

“Yeah. Let’s rejoin the others.” Leaving the lake behind, they returned to the others’ side.