The door bell ringed, inn keeper called. “Coming” from the rest room upstairs and descended the stair. The guest was wearing a mage robe, clean, exquisitely craft and looking as good as new. ‘He must be loaded thought the girl.’ Before arranging her dress and her air.

She greeted him with her best smile. “Good evening, sir. How can I help you?” The man’s looks were above average, and he wasn’t old.

“I would like a room for the night, and a bucket of hot water to clean myself.”

“Just one night? Can I ask you where you are going?” There were only one road passing through the village, so the question was rhetorical

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“The knights are blockading the eastern roads, if you want to go in that direction, you’ll have to wait until they are done with their business or go the long way around.”

The long way meant either retracing his step or going through the wilderness, even with a horse it was at least a week long detour.

Looking annoyed for the mage asked. “Do you have any how long it will take?”

“Sorry, sir. The knight didn’t say what they were doing here in the first place.” Well, she had heard they were hunting bandits but not from them directly, so she had no idea if it were true. Anyway, it was best for her if stayed, the closing of the road had really hurt their revenue.

“I’ll stay until they open the road or a week, whichever comes first.”

“Can I ask you for a name?”

“Ignis.” That couldn’t have been his real name, she looked up to him and he added with a wry smile. “It’s my work name.”

“People often gave fake names, and it wasn’t rare for mage to believe in the power of names… but they usually put a little more effort. It was her first time hearing such an obvious forgery.”

Looking abashed, the mage explained. “I know it sounds stupid, but I’m not the one who came up with it.”

“I take it you’re a fire mage?” He didn’t look the type, they tended to be temperamental and aggressive. He suited the archetype of the earth or water mage a lot more. Not that it was a problem, though not as rich as the earth mages who often worked for nobility and royalty, they had an image of specializing in high risk, high reward jobs.

“I don’t see a refectory, where can take my meals?”

“I can bring it to your room, or the tavern double as an eatery if you prefer eating out.”

“That’ll be twenty-five cents for the room, two cents for the water. We got cold and hot food? It’s five and eight.” The prices were slightly higher than normal but he didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.

“I’ll take some hot food, could you bring it at the same time as the water?”

“It’s not problem at all, let me guide you to your room.”

This inn had many small rooms in order to accommodate as many guests as possible but in exchange there was no communal rooms. The other inn in the village was the opposite, offering only a few large rooms for four to ten persons.

“Here it is sir, and here’s you key.” She delicately put the key in his with a beguiling smile and the mage smiled back, although wryly.

As soon as he entered the room, he lit the candle with a quick spell and dropped on the bed murmuring exasperatedly the head hidden in the pillow. “Damn you teacher, couldn’t you have picked a more proper name?!”

The name was as much part of the disguise as his meagre fire magic, but that didn’t make it more bearable. He remembered the girl’s shocked eyes and pushed his head further in the pillow.

Came a knock at his door. He sat down on the bed, faking a calm appearance, and spoke in a commending voice. “You can enter.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Here are your hot water and your diner. It’s ratatouille with braised bacon. Call me when you’re done and I’ll come collect it.”

“Thank you very much.”

“My pleasure.”

The mage cleaned his hand and face then ate the food. It was unexpectedly good for something prepared in an inn without a kitchen, meaning he was probably sharing the owners’ food. After heating, he cleaned himself more properly and called for the girl to collect the tableware and bucket.

Once he had confirmed the girl was gone, he opened his bag to recover some cloth then closed it and opened it again but this time no clothes could be seen, only the tools of his trade. The thing he picked up was a red wooden simplistic doll, so thin it looked like a tag.

Putting it next to him he chanted. “seye ruoy deen I. modeerf ruoy rae dna tbed ruoy yap ot emit s'ti ,elohssa yeH.”

A thin blackish almost transparent humanoid shape rose from the figurine. Taking control of the familiar, he flew it east, through the roof and the sky to look at the blockade and what was hidden beyond it.

Further down the road were the ruin of a burned down village, but there wasn’t a single corpse to be seen. On the rare walls still standing, he could see chalk marks, too damaged to be read.

‘Not a single ghost.’ Finding a scene of carnage uninhabited by the spirits of victims was rare, and whenever it happened someone like him was the reason. He looked around the village, widening his search until he found tens of dead knights and villagers guarding an old smuggler’s cache in the forest.

The villager bore trace of recent battle, but those hadn’t been the cause of their death. Most of them still had arrow stuck in their bodies burn marks. Some of the knights’ bodies were still fresh, one or two days at most, but the others could be as old a week.

Suddenly, something tried to snatch control over his familiar. It was strong, much stronger than him, but had unexpectedly poor control. The necromancer sent the ghost towards the source of the pull.

Hidden underground, was a small kid, surrounded by three adult corpses and so dirty he couldn’t tell whether they were male or female. Their power over death was strong, but they themselves were sick.

Children awakening to their power under stress wasn’t rare, it had been the case for him too, but thankfully his master had been there to take him in.

Who are you? Asked the child.

Someone like you.

They killed everyone. We didn’t do nothing!

I know. He had a clear image of what had happened now. They knight had surrounded and burned the village to stop a plague of spreading. The child was dying, he probably only had a few days left at best but it was enough to do a lot more damage.

Tell them to leave me alone!

I can’t, they fear our power, they’d come after me too.

I’ll kill them, if they come, I’ll kill them all.

You are dying, you don’t have much time left.

I know, but mom, dad, nana and all the villagers are stuck here because of me.

I can teach you how to help them pass on.

Really? Will we be together on the other side?

I don’t know, even the dead don’t know what awaits.

They hurt. They don’t want to stay here. Please.

And the knights?

They can stay here, it’s what they deserve.

Fair enough.

His master had taught him the content of the spell wasn’t that important, what mattered were the feelings and meaning associated with them. If people truly understood the meaning of his spells, they wouldn’t be so impressed, they’d call him a hack…

“Stupid master!” Even now, he couldn’t discern what had been proper teaching from his constant harassment.

Normally it isn’t hard, you must wish with all your heart to sever their bond, to liberate them. It’ll be a tad more complicated this time because you yourself are one of the bonds holding them here.

I’ll do everything I can.

That’s the spirit. Repeat after me: I liberate you. I sever your worldly bond, I free you! May your soul find peace in the after-life.

It isn’t working, mom and dad are still there.

I can help you, but you’ll die, and even the knights will pass on. Are you okay with that?

I…

Take your time to think about it.

It’s okay, I’m dying and there’s no place left for me.

He hadn’t been half as courageous as this kid at the same age. Or rather, he’d been obsessed with vengeance, even though the culprits were already dead. He was thankful to his master… if only he hadn’t been such a pain with everything else.

It wasn’t easy to cast a spell remotely, but it wasn’t so bad because he didn’t need precise control, a massive burst of energy would be enough in this case. As long as the kid died, it’d be easy to liberate everyone else.

His sight came back to his own body. He was unsure whether the familiar spirit had survived the blast but it wasn’t one he’d worry about. If demon and hell truly existed, then this guy would have been their fodder… he still might.

The next morning, the necromancer went down to ask for breakfast. The cute girl from yesterday looked as though she was slightly ill. “Is there a problem?”

“There was an explosion in the forest last night. The knights have gone to investigate but they haven’t returned yet.”

“Maybe it was what they were looking for? In that case the road will open again soon, isn’t that good news?”

It was, but it wasn’t, depending on the circumstances, travellers might avoid this place altogether.

The mage felt a bit guilty; he hadn’t needed being so flashy, but he had the bad habit of taking the easiest route. “I’ll take breakfast.” He felt like he had to make up to her somehow, plus she was cute. “What time are you getting off?”

‘Hook, line and sinker.’ Rejoiced the girl internally. ‘I’ll milk him for all he’s got!’