It took another hour or so for Norman’s forces to secure the entire city. He was surprised they had managed it so easily. Surprised but happy. He had expected it to take much longer for his forces to eliminate the rest of the Brotherhood forces.
A few of the enemy knights had tried storming the temple, but Rex drove them away or killed them outright. Norman had deployed the large dino in a hallway with small entryways on either end. While the hallway was large enough for him to move around easily, he couldn’t fit through the doors without some effort. And the undead dino wasn’t smart enough to do that… probably.
A few of the dexterity based chosen had managed to sneak past the large dino, but Grobert took care of them. Hard to outrun someone who can teleport.
As for the enemies stuck outside the temple, they eventually got pinched between Eugene’s death knights and Rex.
As for Norman, he sat in the uncomfortable chair in the room he had fought Noorani in. He debated on whether to summon her ghost to try to get an explanation out of her but decided it was better not to. The only real question he wanted an answer to was where was his book. She would likely be angry and attack him on sight or act obstinate and refuse to answer any of his questions anyway. She could also try to lie and cajole her way back into the land of the living.
Besides, it didn’t matter why she did what she did. She did it, that was all that mattered. Forgiveness was for people who made mistakes, not for people who tried to kill you. He might change his mind about summoning her ghost someday in the distant future but that was unlikely. But he stuck her bones in a spell anchor for safekeeping anyway. Although he hadn’t tried it, he was pretty sure he could use any part of the body to summon someone. If not, well, she was lost since he only had her bones left.
“Boss! Come corral your pet so we can get in, we have some captives.”
Norman was surprised to hear Eugene had spared anyone, let alone managed to capture any of the enemy knights alive. He would very much like to hear that story. Norman hurried out of the room and down the hallway, passing Grobert who was stationed there, waiting like a statue.
When he passed into the room he left Rex in, he found the stupid dino had wedged itself halfway through the outer door. It was trying to flap its tiny wings and use its powerfully clawed feet to push itself through the doorway.
Norman cursed under his breath and hurried over to the stupid animal. He had to climb atop it while it struggled so he could draw the spell circle. Once he finished that, he slid down the side and pressed a large spell anchor to the creature, making it vanish in an instant.
The silence left behind by the feral dino vanishing was profound. So was the damage the creature had caused to the room. Its talons had carved deep grooves into the soft marble flooring and there were body parts, blood, and feathers splattered across every surface in the room. It looked like someone had gotten into a no holds barred pillow fight to the death. Norman bent over and picked up a small red stone that he quickly realized was a ruby. It must have been knocked off of one of the murals on the walls.
“Grobert, catch,” Norman tossed the ruby to the man, who simply teleported it from the air and into his hand. “Pff, cheater.”
“It can hardly be called cheating if you didn’t declare any rules beforehand.”
“Who’s cheating now?” Eugene asked as he strode through the broken doorway as if there wasn’t just a hungry dino there a moment ago.
Norman thumbed in Grobert’s direction.
“Figures,” Eugene snorted.
Grobert just shook his head. “I wasn’t cheating, I was just using my calling. Why wouldn’t I use all of my skills to win,” he smiled.
“So you were cheating!” Eugene exclaimed.
The three laughed.
Norman turned toward Eugene, “I hear you have some prisoners?”
“A few, but only one that might be of interest.” Eugene turned around and whistled. “Bring him in!”
Two death knights dragged in a man that looked worse for wear. His face was swollen and bruised with his dark hair hanging loosely over his face in a tangled greasy mess. The man’s once white and pristine armor was dented and punctured in multiple spots, yet Norman could see the man still lived.
Norman’s eyes thinned as he looked at the man. “…I recognize you… A little younger perhaps, but yes. It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one who killed me and chopped off my head?”
Eugene jerked the man’s head up by the hair, earning a pained grunt from the man as his hate-filled eyes landed on Norman.
“You,” the man hissed, before trying to tear free of the death knights holding him. “Wha- What have you done to my divine blessing!”
“Oh, you mean that one that allows you to immolate yourself? Yeah, you see, we couldn’t have you or any of your order using that on us if we captured you again, so we came up with a countermeasure. It’s a rather simple little device that drains all magical enchantments from your body. This isn’t normally what it’s used for, but I figured it would work just fine after I found out who and what your supposed god was.”
“What are you on about, heathen? Free me and I will ask my god to give you a merciful death. It is more than what your kind deserves.”
Norman blinked in surprise at the man. “Holy shit! She didn’t tell you.” Norman broke out in roaring laughter, making the knight rage. This only made Norman laugh more. “Am I some sort of magnet for women with a pathological need to lie and manipulate?”
Nobody answered the rhetorical question.
Norman let out a sigh, “I guess I should have a bit of sympathy for you since it's clear you had no clue, but I don’t.”
Norman turned toward Grobert, “Can you locate Pedro, my guess is he is somewhere in the building.”
“You leave the holy chosen of Apolon alone, or so help me, I will destroy everything you care about.” Norman just rolled his eyes at the man’s demands as Grobert vanished. At least he now knew who they thought Pedro was.
“Well, it's going to be a bit, let's go wait in the throne room, shall we.”
The five of them entered the throne room where the corpses of the knights still lay off to the side. Noorani’s last spell had done a bang-up job of clearing everything from the center of the room. Norman stepped up to the chair and sat down, crossing his leg over his knee. He could see his actions enraged the man in Eugene’s custody, he didn’t care. Norman smiled at the man, with his helmet off at the moment, the man saw Norman’s smile and glared back in silence.
“You know, I didn’t catch your name.”
The man spit on the ground, earning a fist to the cheek from Eugene. “Answer the question.”
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The man glared daggers at Eugene, but he did respond to Norman’s question. “Atalon of Razaria.”
“Razaria? Is that a city?”
The man looked like he wanted to refuse to answer, but he flinched as Eugene hauled his fist back for another blow. “It’s a region of the Golatian Empire.”
Norman nodded sagely. “I assume this,” Norman gave an apathetic twirl of his hand, “was part of this empire?”
The man nodded.
“I’m going to assume by the fact that the Brotherhood is in charge that none of the people in charge of this Empire resided in this area?”
The man laughed bitterly, “As if those preening fools would ever be caught dead in Horshoen.”
“Hmm, sounds like you and this Empire have something of a past. Not that it matters to me. You were something of a leader in the Brotherhood, yes? Does a title come with that fancy name of yours?”
The man didn’t answer, earning him another punch from Eugene. Norman watched dispassionately as blood spilled from the man’s broken lip.
“General,” Atalon mumbled.
Norman nodded. “I thought as much. You know, I didn’t fail to notice that you haven’t commented on your missing Priestess.”
“She was a means to an end.”
Norman chuckled at that. “No honor amongst thieves I see.”
Some of the man’s courage seemed to return to him as he stared at Norman. “The only thief here is you.”
“Oh? Enlighten me then.”
“…”
Eugene was about to hit the man again but Norman held his hand up to stop him.
“Let me guess. Is it because I built a town in a land where nobody lived? No, seems too simple. How about because we minded our own business? Hmm, no, that would be absurd. Could it be because I revived the dead?” Norman saw the man twitch. “There it is.”
“You think I’m a thief because I stole people from the afterlife. Have you ever experienced the afterlife for yourself? No, of course, you haven’t. So how do you know what you spout is true? Would you like to experience it for yourself!” Norman launched himself out of the chair and stalked forward causing the General to flinch back. But he stopped short as he heard someone cough politely from just outside the door.
“Norman, I found Pedro.”
Norman let his anger drain away and smoothed out his hair. “Well, this ought to be an illuminating meeting.”
While Norman was angry at the General, he was in control of that anger. Honestly, almost everything the Brotherhood had done, Norman had already undone. The little stunt he pulled just now was purely to see how the General reacted. There were a few things odd about the General and the Priestess.
The whole younger than they should have been thing was bugging him. He could sort of understand why the Priestess might want to appear younger, but the reason for the General’s decision eluded him. At least until the man flinched while Norman questioned him.
Was it simply fear of death or fear of growing old? Norman wasn’t quite sure. It seemed odd for someone who was on the front line willingly to fear death but that’s what it seemed like. Not that Norman particularly cared why the General had sided with Noorani. It was just an interesting little diversion.
Norman drew the conversion circle on the General's chest before walking away. He ignored the man’s dying coughs as he left the room to go speak with Pedro. There was a flash of light from behind Norman, letting him know the man’s defensive spell had indeed activated. He had lied before about draining it away with the spell nullification orb.
When the man mentioned he couldn’t self-activate the spell, Norman just kinda went with it. The man could have been lying to save face, especially if he was afraid of dying. Oh well, it didn’t matter and Norman learned something interesting.
He was almost certain now that the defensive magic was only triggered with magic used directly on a body and not a spell cast at them. He had also seen the spell could be triggered by the person. Perhaps Pedro would be kind enough to shed some light on the intricacies of this spell. Norman was pretty sure Pedro was the source of this magic, especially now that he knew how the Brotherhood acted when they heard his name.
As Norman exited the room, the death knights made way for him, closing back up behind him to block the view of the bloody room from Pedro. He spotted Grobert standing nearby with a man that looked like Pedro. The man seemed a bit uncertain as Norman walked up to him, but then his eyes widened in recognition. “Norman?”
Norman smiled, “Hello, Pedro. I’m glad to see you are doing well, please walk with me, and let us have a chat.”
Pedro joined Norman as he slowly strode down the hallway, Grobert in tow. The man kept glancing at Norman side-eyed, but didn’t say anything. So Norman decided to break the silence.
“I never did get a chance to thank you properly for giving me that defensive magic. It literally saved my life.”
“I- I was only doing what was right.” Pedro glanced back at Grobert, then back toward the throne room. “You killed the Priestess, didn’t you?”
“I did,” Norman replied simply, not bothering to hide what had happened from the man.
“Can I ask, why? She was actually trying to turn the Brotherhood around.”
Norman paused, looking at Pedro. He hadn’t expected to hear that bit of information. “Well, color me surprised. But that doesn’t change what she did. What the Brotherhood did to my people and to me.” Norman began walking again.
“The cleansing?” Pedro asked, gripping the hem of his shirt unconsciously and twisting it.
“You will have to forgive me, Pedro. I am unfamiliar with what you’re referring to. Why don’t you enlighten me so we are on the same page?”
Pedro sighed, but Norman could tell the man was shaking. “The cleansing of the undead.”
Norman nodded, “go on.”
“I- I didn’t know,” he glanced back at Grobert, who like Norman had removed his helmet. The grey cast of his skin was clear to see in the flickering light of the temple hallway. “I was told a scourge of mindless undead had taken root in a nearby zone, and they needed my magic to ensure the safety of their people. I’m… I’m sorry, if I would have known the truth, I never would have agreed to help them.”
“I don’t blame you, Pedro. Honestly, you were the only kind person I encountered in this shithole of a town. But you can’t stay here, Pedro.”
The man let out a tired sigh, then nodded. “I miss my home.”
“I could offer you a new home, but your magic isn’t exactly compatible.”
“Yeah… I saw the light from inside the sanctum. Someone activated Cleansing Fire?”
“Yes. Can you tell me about that spell?”
Pedro shrugged. “Not like it’s a secret. It’s designed to burn away all magic used against the target. They wanted it to prevent their forces from being turned. Again, I’m truly sorry about that.”
Norman ignored the man’s second apology, instead, focusing on what he said first. “This may seem rude, but your spell doesn’t seem to work all that well.”
“No, I completely understand how it seems from an outside perspective. A spell to protect you that burns you alive doesn’t seem all that useful. It’s because the spell was never meant to be used on others.” Pedro paused and walked over to a lantern on the wall.
The temple didn’t have many of these lanterns, but they were strategically placed to eliminate dark areas between the huge chandeliers that hung from the ceiling. He removed the glass cover and stuck his hand directly in the flame and held it there, not so much as flinching or showing any discomfort. After thirty seconds, he removed his hand and put the glass back. He held his hand up and Norman saw the ring of soot from the flame, but his skin was unharmed.
Pedro walked back toward Norman. “I am completely immune to fire thanks to my spells. But when I cast them on others, they are not as effective. If you were to hit me with magic, I would burst into a white flame, and the magic would be burned away, leaving me unharmed. You’ve seen what happens to other people that I cast the spell on.”
That answered one of Norman’s questions.
“Why does it only work on spells directly cast on the person, and not spells targeting them?”
“That was a purposeful choice. Some of the early attempts to apply my spell ended in disaster. When I cast it, it allows me to set certain variables. If the spell is too restrictive, even spells cast near it would trigger the magic. Then there were buff spells. Cleansing Fire can’t distinguish between helpful and harmful magic.”
Norman winced at that, imagining somebody thinking he was helping you by casting a buff on you, only to trigger Cleansing Fire by mistake.
“So the most I could do is defend them from spells used directly on their person. Since the spell lingers, even after death, the High Priest was fine with that.”
“I see. Thank you for letting me know. What are your plans now that you are free?”
Pedro looked between Grobert and Norman again. “You’re not going to kill me?”
Norman laughed. “I might be a necromancer, Pedro, but I’m not a monster. I have only ever killed people that directly harmed me. I can offer to convert you, but I somehow suspect you would reject it?”
Pedro nodded.
“Then you are free to do what you want… Just not here.”
“I think I will return to Southern California. Maybe I can find some people on the way that need help.” Pedro turned toward Norman and held out his hand. Norman offered his own and the pair shook hands. “I may not agree with your methods, Norman. But thank you for saving me from this imprisonment.”
“And thank you, Pedro. I only wish more people were as kind as you. I wish you luck on your journey home. Just don’t trust everyone you meet unconditionally this time around.”
Pedro laughed. “Don’t worry, I learned my lesson.” The man waved before walking out the front door of the temple and disappearing into the city.
Grobert walked up next to Norman. “Are you sure that was wise? The man could become a danger to us in the future.”
“Trust has to start somewhere, Grobert. Besides, I don’t harm people unless they harmed us. If I did that, I would be no better than Noorani, or some others that have come before her. That may make me seem naïve, but I prefer to think of it as being pragmatic. Our differences will generate enough enemies. My goal is to start creating some allies.”