Phoebe eyed off the zombie, walked backwards and forwards, causing Gruna to do the same. Or the empty thing that wasn’t the woman she’d loved. Not anymore.
She sighed heavily, “You’re going to eat me, the moment I turn my back, aren’t you? Kill me, like Elion tried to kill you.”
The zombie groaned.
“Fine. Moment I can find handcuffs or rope or something, I’m tying you up.” She stated, and winced. “Sorry. I wish I didn’t have to. But I’m taking you prisoner. Only way to save you.”
Gruna groaned a disagreement.
Phoebe walked away awkwardly, listening to the shuffling thing following her, and wished she understood what was happening. Was Gruna’s soul bound to it? Was she trapped inside a prison of flesh and bone, kept from death? Or floating over it? Maybe she had been stolen away by her god, and was in paradise.
She didn’t know any of it, and she didn’t want to know any of it, but she had to. When she got to town, she needed to be tracking down every magical expert she could find. At some point, she would need to convince a necromancer to spill their secrets. That was going to be the only way out of this.
Unless alchemists had some instant zombie cure potion. That seemed a distant chance, but… Who knows?
It didn’t take long to leave behind the castle and dungeon. Since Viviane was gone, it had all melted away. Leaving them alone on the side of a freezing mountain top, both stark naked. Phoebe felt selfish, hugging Ghost and stealing his warmth, as Gruna shuffled and limped through knee-deep snow.
“I really hope dead things can’t get frostbite.”
The two of them walked until Phoebe’s groin was screaming in ice cold pain, and couldn’t walk anymore. She curled up in the snow, with Ghost pressed into her chest. She looked up and gave one last look at Gruna standing nearby, “If you try and eat me, I’ll fireball you. I promise by Nixie’s red hair. Got it?”
Her attitude then changed, and she whispered as she snuggled down, “I’ll save you. I promise.”
----------------------------------------
> In twilight realms where shadows dwell,
> A girl through mystic portal fell.
> With heart so brave and eyes so wide,
> She walks the land where shadow bides.
Phoebe woke in the morning to find herself a lot warmer. More than that, she seemed to have managed to conjure herself up a skirt and hoodie, both made of flames. No nice boots to go with them, but with the extra magical warmth they could probably make it to the nearest town, now.
With less threat of her own frostbite, she checked Gruna over. Squealing with the pale woman actually tried to chomp down on her head when she got too close. Phoebe turned her hoodie into a temporary facemask, and tried again. Finding a few darkened and concerning spots, but in the main Gruna seemed okay. For being a dead zombie, anyway.
> Whispers in the silence speak,
> Of the friend she came to seek.
> Turned to zombie, cold and bleak,
>
> If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
> By the witch’s curse so deep.
Ghost led the way down the mountainside, the wolf seemingly knowing where he was going. Phoebe was a little concerned though, that by the end of the day she was no longer following after a puppy. He wasn’t the size when she’d first summoned him, but he wasn’t some tiny cute thing anymore.
The messed up rules of magic and souls that she didn’t understand seemed to imply that something horrible had to have happened for Ghost to start regaining his strength. There weren’t any more dragons falling out of the skies, but it made Phoebe think that the witch wasn’t that far away. Keeping an eye on them.
> A wolf of flames by her side,
> Through heavy snow, they stride.
> Eyes like embers, fur like pyre,
> A loyal companion, born of fire.
They stopped by a tree about midday. There Phoebe used a vine to bind Gruna’s ankle, so that she and Ghost could sit down with less worries. The tree was a withered thing, bursting stubbornly up through the snow, but it did have a handful of fruit on it.
Shrivelled pears, skin more like tortured leather, that tasted sour. All the same it was food, and both Ghost and Phoebe were ravenous. The pears went crunch and vanished into the wolf’s mouth, even as Phoebe gobbled her own at a speed that she hadn’t eaten since when she was a kid.
> Whispers in the silence speak,
> Of the friend she came to seek.
> Turned to zombie, cold and bleak,
> By the witch’s curse so deep.
Gruna tried to bite her again, whilst Phoebe was violently sick. Ghost was groaning, kicking, and lying on his side. A tough lesson to learn, but fruit can still go rotten in all the worlds. You cannot safely eat anything you feel like, just because you’re feeling desperate.
At least it wasn’t mushrooms, was about the only happy thought that Phoebe could manage, as she tied her girlfriend’s hands behind her back. Something she didn’t expect would actually work. Gruna was as strong as ever, even if she was now a completely unpredictable monster.
> In the silence, she finds her might,
> Facing darkness with inner light.
> Though her friend’s lost to the night,
> She’ll fight the witch with all her might.
Gruna’s head snapped around with a hideous cracking sound, before the twisted head came down. Orcish fangs sinking into Phoebe’s shoulder with a fiery slice. She grunted through her gritted teeth, and tried to pull her shoulder free, only to turn that grunt into a choking hiss as the pain increased.
Her girlfriend tried to gnaw on her shoulder, rolling her teeth back and forth as she chewed. Phoebe wished for a dozen spells as she finished tying the knot, then put on hand to Gruna’s forehead and squealed as she ripped herself free. She fell onto her butt, bleeding and staring up with tears in her eyes.
> And in the hush of silent cries,
> She vows to break the spell that lies.
> With wolf of fire by her side,
> They’ll bring the dawn to darkened skies.
As they left the mountain behind, Phoebe and Ghost trying to stay a little ways behind Gruna, pushing the orc on in front of them, the three of them came across a road. It wasn’t just a path, but something showing signs of carriage wheels, horse hooves, and thousands of heavy footsteps.
It was about then that Phoebe considered what other people might think if they came across them. Would they treat Gruna’s capture as some kind of perversion of nature? She was a zombie. Bound, but cursed. Was it wrong not to just kill her again? Or was tying up and dragging a monster around the kind of thing that happened always in this strange world?
She didn’t have long to wait.
Even as she was lost in her thoughts, a carriage came rolling through. The driver was cackling to themselves about something. Standing, not sitting, as they held the reins for the horses. The creatures seemed utterly terrified as they pounded across the ground at a full gallop.
The driver barely dodged Phoebe, and didn’t manage to avoid the orc. Gruna knocked sideways and to the ground with a moan and groan. The cackling driver flipped backwards onto the carriage and tossing a single silver coin at blinding speed. The metal disc embedding itself into the ground in front of Phoebe.
“Sorry!”
She crouched and picked up the coin, weighing it in her hand, and figuring it might actually come in handy. She looked up, but the driver was gone. She did sort of pity whoever was in that carriage.
Phoebe helped Gruna to her feet, getting a full mouthful of skin torn from her forearm for her efforts. She gritted her teeth through the pain, and propelled the orc onwards, towards hope of something new.