“That was weird, right?” I asked.

Kevin kept his eyes on Jenn as he answered. “Yes, Jack. Which was probably why they sent someone running to get us.”

“No, I mean… there isn’t any spell or magic effect that causes you to glow like that, is there?”

“I’m sure there’s something,” he said. “Thing is, I’d imagine the glowing isn’t the main reason for the spell.”

Jenn, in a few bandages, was peacefully emitting her normal amount of lumens. Her pulse was steady. I let in a slow breath, then released it quickly. “Well, she seems fine now.”

“I’ve been monitoring her all night,” said an older man in ornate but worn robes. “She hasn’t been in danger of passing away.”

“Thank you, pastor Daniel,” said Kevin.

He grinned. “Not for nothing; always nice to help a pretty lady.”

“Amen to that,” Kevin agreed.

“I take it this hasn’t happened before?”

“No.”

“To be fair,” I shrugged, “we’ve only known her for about a week. It’d be one heck of a preexisting condition, though.”

Pastor Daniel made his way to a writing desk in the corner. “Then it’s likely something she only recently came in contact with.”

“Which is everything in this world,” sighed Kevin softly.

“May I ask what you were doing before you brought her in here?” The pastor started scribbling notes. “Those were some nasty bite marks she had.”

“We cleared a tomb of undead,” I said, then I looked to Kevin. “Don’t ask why.”

The quill stopped moving. “…Undead?”

“Zombies, skeletons and ghouls,” said Kevin. “The bite marks are from ghouls.”

“…Where?”

Kevin pointed. “Cemetery, a few miles out of town.”

Pastor Daniel held his pose for a second before shrugging. “If you say so.” He went back to his notes.

“Is Topher around here, too?” I asked.

“The half-orc? Next door.”

I looked down at Jenn. The sheets slowly rose and fell with her quiet breaths. I don’t know why, but looking at her made me angry - a dark, mealy rage. Before long I had to consciously unclench my jaw. I chalked it up to obtrusive thoughts and shook myself out of it. “I’m going to check on Topher. You want to come with?”

“I’ll stay.”

I stopped mid turn. Kevin was watching over her, a pensive look on his face. I figured he would’ve simply come along with me - that he didn’t felt like a betrayal. What, did he want to do the whole “I stayed by your side” cliche for when she woke up? Like he knew I just committed myself to leaving, and he could be alone in the room with her? Well, with a priest, of course.

It was another strange feeling I just had to snap myself out of. The frequency of these bad moods was worrying, and before I left the room I found myself in another bad mood for my susceptibility to new bad moods. I felt weak. One would think surviving last night’s ordeal and being free to tell the tale would put things in perspective, but every little thing was bothering me - all my aches and pains, all the unknowns, every strange emotion that popped up - they all made me wonder why I bothered getting out of bed.

I stood just before Topher’s room and focused on maintaining a few steady breaths. After making sure any trace of self-loathing was gone from my face, I entered to find Topher’s massive form mounded atop a bedspread. I smirked. There was a comical aspect to the sight that set me at ease. Despite the bandages, he seemed all right.

As if sensing my presence, he opened his eyes and turned towards me. “Hey,” he smiled weakly. “Can I assume I’m not dead, then?”

I raised a finger with professorial intent. “Never assume!” I said. “…Or was that ‘always assume’ when dealing with matters of self-existence?”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“How about, ‘assume, but verify’?”

“The trick is the verify part,” I said, moving to a table with a pitcher and cup. “I could pinch or stab you if you like, or I could tell what all happened after you went down while you replenish fluids.”

“The latter,” he grumbled. “Start with how Jenn is, though I doubt you’d be this chipper if she wasn’t okay.”

I stopped pouring the water. “Never assume,” I muttered. I went on to tell him about the incident this morning.

“Glowing, huh?” He forced himself to sit up. “And I take it you don’t mean that she… had that glow women get when they’re expecting?”

I shook my head. “God, I hope not. Considering the last things we dealt with, the tone of this adventure would’ve taken a serious left turn if that encounter left her… glowing, as you say.”

“Ugh, yeah.” Topher made a face. “Forget I said that. What do you think it means?”

“Who knows?” I sighed. “I doubt she did it to herself, so it probably has something to do with an outside influence. Just another unknown…” I pinched the area between my eyes to fend off a headache.

“Whoa, what happened to your hands? You ever going to be able to play the lute again? And don’t think I didn’t notice you walking funny.”

“The walk is because I’m sore from days of hiking and crap situations,” I said.

He tightened his lips for a second of consideration. “Well, we’re all alive and together, so I’d like to think it was probably worth it. You’ve really lost some weight, too.”

“Oh. Hooray,” I intoned, patting my stomach. “Five down, fifty to go.”

“More than five, I’d say. And you look better than you think you do.”

“Not standing next to you and Kevin,” I huffed. “Anyways, the hands are bandaged because they got burned. After you went down, I shoved the giant bowl of fire over….”

By the end of the story, he was staring at a bedpost with a serious look on his face. “Thanks,” he said suddenly, as though he had to get it out of the way. “Have you talked to Kevin since?”

I nodded. “He says he started to remember what happened, but still doesn’t know why. He might—“

“It’s the bow,” said Topher.

I looked down at my bandages. “Ah… so I’m not the only one who thinks that.”

He ran a finger back and forth over his knuckles. “We know it’s magical, and he said he feels like there’s something more to the enchantment. Last night he held it in a death grip ever since we stopped to make camp, and used it for a rampage - everything he killed was hit with arrows. He’s quick, but some of them had to close into melee range.”

“How should we proceed, then?” I grabbed the empty glass from Topher and went to fill it again. “Take it from him by force?”

“Sneakily, maybe. I don’t want whatever it is to get tipped off and send him running, so we won’t just ask him.”

I brought him a full glass. “We might want to be sure we don’t touch it directly, as well. It’s a long shot of a precaution, but….”

“Sounds like a plan,” he nodded. “Do you think whatever happened to Jenn has to do with Kevin’s thing?”

I didn’t like that thought. “Hope not. Should we assume the worst with Jenn, as well?”

“Assume, but verify,” he shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt.”

“What couldn’t hurt?”

Kevin was in the doorway. I became acutely aware that his bow was strapped onto his back.

“Nothing,” I smiled, hoping to get attention away from Topher’s dear-in-the-headlights look. “Sollen wir es jetzt nehmen?”

That confused Topher for a second, then he comprehended. “Oh, uh…. Nein. Spaeter. Um… Heute Abend?”

“Das klingt gut.”

“…Are you guys speaking German?” asked Kevin.

“Well, duh,” I rolled my eyes. “What language do you use for pillow talk?”

He gave an amused snort. “Okay…. Well, Jenn’s semi-awake and apparently spouting blasphemy. It’s kind of pissing off the clergy….”

*******

Morris let out a long, slow whistle. “Solid stone burned to ash,” he said. “Don’t see that every day.”

His partner, Teague, watched the sky with sullen fatalism. “It’s about to rain,” he moaned. “Can we get on with this?”

“Aren’t you curious?” Morris nudged him. “We were careful with cleanup, made sure there wasn’t any evidence of the experiment, and suddenly more undead start popping up a few nights later. I think there’s a depth to the Ware that we’ve yet to plunge.”

“Can we plunge it later? I don’t want to die of exposure.” Teague started examining the ground. “We need to put all this earth back in place and make sure it seems like nothing happened.”

Morris tisked his slow-witted friend. “Moron. How do you propose we hide the incinerated stone crypt?”

“Your lack of deference to you betters is symptomatic of the failing culture,” said Teague, regurgitating something he’d heard a while ago.

“Betters? Please. You’re a walking example of why nepotism doesn’t work.” Morris stepped up to the entrance and felt the burned stone. “Fascinating…”

Teague found himself getting very tired of the conversation. “Alright, then please explain what we’re going to be doing so that this incident doesn’t blow back on my uncle.”

“Easy!” Morris spun around into a pose with flair. “The scouts who saw the undead are in our pockets, so no need to worry there. Your uncle has a plan for that Rikston captain, so she’s not our problem. All that’s left for us are the so-called adventurers.”

He made it sound like that was the end of his thinking, but Teague still didn’t get it. “Okay, I knew we’d have to deal with the adventurers, but how does that have anything to do with making it seem like there wasn’t any undead here?”

“Simple; we’re changing parameters.” Morris patted him on the shoulder and walked back towards the horses. “Let’s not deny that there were undead. In fact, let’s make sure everyone knows!”

“What?” Teague wasn’t bored by the conversation anymore. “But hiding it is our job! You’d be betraying the Consul! Colme itself!”

Morris shook his head. He always tried so hard for the boy, he really did. “Not at all. Think about it - no one knows what actually happened here. What would happen if we told everyone that someone was reanimating the dead?”

“They’d…” Teague blinked. “They’d want to know who did it. Which would lead them to investigate, which might make them find out uncle—“

“Why would they investigate?” smiled Morris. “We can be the investigators, you twit.” He got on his horse and waited patiently for Teague. “The culprits are whoever we say they are.”