"Why we stoppin' sir?" Sariel pressed a flat patch of dirt with her heel, holding a thick bundle of leather and blankets Maddison had dropped in her arms. She gave the bundle an audible sniff, scrunching her nose at Maddison. "What's this?"

"Just hold it... please." He knelt to grab an armful of large stones, dropping them in the middle of the space to make a ring and dig out some dirt from within it. "Do you know how to make a fire?"

"Sure do sir, just drop some wood together and get Morris to do it- uh, oh... well sir, sorry to tell you we don't got fire no mo-"

"Forget about it, I'll make a fire and then find some food, okay?" He said, motioning to his progress with the best smile his patience could afford. "You just stand there and hold that."

She immediately dropped the bundle on the ground, eyes twinkling with excitement at Maddison's words. "I can find food sir! Whatchya wanna eat?"

Maddison eyed her cautiously as he ripped some tangled dead branches out of a bush to set up the fire. "Anything edible is good."

"Anythin? Right then sir I'll go get you yer food." Sariel pulled up her tattered sleeves and tangled her loose strands of hair into the nest-like knot on her head, trudging off into the forest with so much authority Maddison half expected her to have a hidden chest of cheese and crackers nearby... somehow.

He dropped the pile of sticks into the makeshift pit, pulling some flint out of his pocket and rhythmically bashing it against a stone. He breathed in a lungful of the dewy air, quickly losing himself in the rhythm to fantasize. Maybe she'd get lost looking around, that could hardly put him at fault for leaving when she didn't show up again, and it would free him from his charitable obligation. He gave the forest a hopeful smile. She didn't know north from south and the light was fading fast. There was an excellent chance she wouldn't come back.

He finally hit a good spark, quickly nursing the cinders into a tiny dancing flame. Something had grown inside his stomach with the little flame as he stared at it, weighing him down like rocks as he looked to the forest again. She had done nothing wrong, and whether or not she was fully aware of it, had made the best of the situation she had been tossed into. Hoping she didn't come back through those trees was a terrible thing to be smiling about.

Maddison let his heavy sigh fuel the growing fire, tossing Horse a stern glare. "If she doesn't come back in ten minutes, we'll go looking for her."

Horse snorted, but whether or not the reply was a coincidence, was anyone's guess.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Quibbis Pythonicus hoisted the wooden bucket over his head, hopping along the flat rocks paving a cobbled path to the Sapasata river. He'd been dragged out of the king's court to the remote location along with Sir Inprobus and his son... and other son that was lying dead as a doorknob in the wagon. He was mostly done with his job, and was now fetching some water to jolt Corian awake. He found it was the best method in rejuvenating corpses, but had only tried it on a few undead that were extra stubborn with their wake-up calls.

Quibbis was a necromancer, for those who have not looked it up yet; and one of the finest in the king's court. But of course, his holy majesty of the Golden Arch was under the impression that he was a rather talented ventriloquist, and highly praised for his 'lifelike' puppets. He didn't mind, at least Sir Inprobus had provided him with some practice for his craft, but he didn't think he liked his son Corian very much. At least not enough to bring him back. He was, however, happy to give the angel-faced adolescent a second go as a mindless, feral, flesh-eating beast.

Quibbis was so engrossed with thinking he forgot how his legs worked and tripped on the air, breaking the fall with his face as his hands still firmly gripped the bucket above his head. He'd forgotten to move his arms for the fifth time today. "I wish I had thrrree legs." He got up, dusting off his tattered cloak and grabbing the bucket to hold over his head again. "But thrrree legs is too many Quibbis, you'll be burned at the stick Quibbis!" He muttered crossly, mocking the small handful of killjoys called heroes that knew he was a necromancer.

Sapasata's murky depths fell into his sights and he grew excited again, plunging the bucket in and removing a sloshing pile of thick pulpy water that would have had him gagging if he had a sense of smell. The state of the boggy lake should have landed it with a name that was anything but sapasata; he could've sworn parts of it were purple today. Nonetheless, he brought it back to the wagon, looking around for Inprobus' head full of wavy golden locks that always made him jealous of their lush curls. He wished he had hair, even eyebrows would be nice.

"Prrrrobus?" He walked over to a guard standing silently beside the wagon, giving them the best-stitched up smile he could. "Prrrobus?"

The guard grimaced, a compliment worthy of a blush to Quibbis who blew him a gentle kiss as he pointed at the wagon.

"Thank you lovely. Rrrring me up if you ever find yourself dead, I offer discounts for cuties."

The guard looked away, ignoring Quibbis completely as he lugged the barrel up the steps and through the wagon door, dropping his load off and clapping his hands together with a relieved sigh. As the guard had truthfully mimed, Inprobus was standing there, staring down at Corian in stern contemplation while twirling a glinting crystal necklace on his finger.

"Ah, Prrrobus." Quibus gently rubbed his shoulder, giving the pasty white corpse a fake frown of sorrow. "I know it's harrd to lose a little fleshling, you don't have to spring him up again if it's too harrd on you. Even though I'm surre you've got the coin, as an employee of the king's forrces I offerrr a twenty-five perrrcent discount on coffins and burial, and an extrrra five for Rrrrroyal herrroic knights." He stared at his silent audience, the stone-faced glare so hard on Inprobus' face it was probably chiseled out by a drunk angel. "Prrrobus?"

"Stop calling me that."

"What? Prrrobus?"

"It's Inprobus, next time I'll take your head off."

Quibbis burst into maniacal laughter. "Yes of course! I'll put it back on again though." He traced his finger along the stitches running across his neck. "Sirrr I perrsonally think Prrrobus is an excellent name."

"Yes, but Inprobus is better." He grabbed his collar, looming over him with a menacing glare. "And stop rolling your r's, it's grinding on my patience."

"But I like it, sir..."

They both stopped and shot their attention to the wagon doors as they swung open. A surprisingly big wagon now that one was to think about it. Another guest walked in, standing poised in their black armour with a large horned animal skull as a mask.

"Ah! Rikkihablehgha." Quibbis stopped choking on his tongue, staring at Inprobus' son with as much focus as he could to get their name right. "Rikkihana... no Rikki-Rikkihailnana?"

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Rikkihaylnia," Inprobus growled. He walked over to his living son and stuck his hand out for them to drop a vial of black liquid in it. "Will this do?"

Quibbis scrunched his nose up to squint at the vial, sloshing the liquid up and down appraisingly. "Almost Pr-Inprrobus." He popped the cork off and spat in it. "Should be a little more viscous. Thank you Rikki, you know I could have sworn I made a sound similar to your name when I hit my head against a book a couple of times while studying."

"Get on with it", Inprobus boomed, watching Quibbis scurry to Corian's side like a crab and look up at him with wide eyes.

"Oh! We nearly forgot his soul!" He stuck his hand out for Inprobus to drop the necklace in. "It looks a little shinier, maybe it managed to catch it."

He ripped the crystal off the chain and jammed it into the vial, giggling as it sizzled and dissolved with a trail of little bubbles. Inprobus narrowed his eyes at the reaction. "That a good thing?"

"Good as in I've successfully dissolved your son's soul? Or good as in it will work? Because I don't know sir." He flashed his yellow teeth to him in a wide grin that still failed to draw any emotions from Inprobus. He held up the vial. "Now, last chance to turn back."

"Do it."

Quibbis hovered the open vial over Corian's mouth. "You're sure?"

"Hurry up."

Quibbis shifted his gaze to Rikki who hadn't moved from the spot. They probably hadn't moved at all now that he thought about it. "I'm going to turn your little brother into a flesh-eating monster Rikki."

Rikki nodded.

He stopped, looking between the two in slight disappointment. "You know Inprrobus, I thought Rikki was the one you hated. Why else would you give him a name like tha-"

"Give me that," Inprobus moved to grab the vial but Quibbis clasped his hand over it and jumped away.

"Now now sir, you want this to work, yes?"

"If it doesn't work I'll find another fresh corpse."

Quibbis nodded. "Yes yes, you're very good at parenting." He held the vial away from him as he twitched in motion to try and grab it again. "Little Corian's got no magic, yes?"

"Yes," Inprobus growled.

"Then I gotta do it 'cause I spat in here." He pointed at the vial. "I gotta give him some magic or you'll just be pouring cherry tasting black liquid down your son's throat and his soul will flutter away like the majestic butterfly he is."

"Then hurry up."

"Of course sir." Quibbis did a little bow, going back to Corian's side and forcefully opening one of his eyes. "Good good, he's as fresh as a fish outta water this one." He opened his mouth and stuffed his finger in to squish his tongue with a satisfied nod. "Birds didn't take anything."

"Do you understand the concept of hurry up?!" Inprobus boomed, watching Quibbis jump with fright and frantically pour the liquid into Corian's mouth.

"D-don't yell when I'm focusing sir, I almost forgot how to work my fingers!" Quibbis grabbed Corian's shoulders and hoisted him up, shaking him up and down while smiling at Inprobus. "Just getting it all down there, he can't really swallow too well." He watched Corian's head bounce limply up and down. "Might have some whiplash too but I don't think he'll mind."

He dropped Corian flat on the ground and rose to his feet, making a full circle around him before cracking his knuckles a little too hard and snapping his fingers back into place.

"Now here's the fun part." He knelt over Corian and pumped his chest a couple o times, leaning towards his face to stare at him with wide eyes. "He should be good. Rikki, get the bucket dear."

He grabbed the bucket Rikki pushed forward with their foot, throwing the water over its edges with a hefty toss and forgetting to hold on as he reached his stride, sending the bucket and wave of ice-cold slop at Corian. Corian shot up as the piercing cold assaulted his face, just in time for a face full of hard wood as it cluttered to the ground after bouncing off his forehead.

Quibbis froze, staring at Inprobus with a timid smile. "Well... he moved..."

"That's a start."

Quibbis nodded, rushing to Corian's side to inspect the red gash across his forehead that quickly closed up. "Oh! Look, look! Did you see that?" He gave Inprobus a crazed smile as he nodded. "Astounding!"

Corian stirred again, slowly moving his arm to rub his forehead with a tired groan. He could've sworn he'd been hit by something, but didn't feel the scratch anywhere. As he cracked his eyes open he let out a tired yawn, leaning up to rub his eyes before realizing he was being stared at, and jumping up in fright at the proximity of Quibbis' unsettling smile.

"Dammit Quibbis! Get a mask like Rikka!"

Quibbis stared at Corian in broken silence, his yellowed eyes slowly filling with overwhelming excitement and joy. "T-t-talk! You can talk!" He grabbed Corian's head and kissed his cheeks before he could struggle. "A revolutionary advancement!" He went straight for the lips, only stopping when Corian managed to throw him off and jump away with a disgusted shudder.

Corian spat a couple times, trying to rub the Quibbis essence off his lips before noticing his silent father. "What are you doing here?" He looked around, slowly clicking in. "What am I doing here? I was-"

"Collecting signatures?" Inprobus cut in, folding his arms with a cold glare. "Don't bother."

"What do you mean? Without them I can't-"

"Don't. Bother." Inprobus hardened his scowl as Corian cringed. "Do you know your name?"

"Don't give me that crap, of course I know my name." Corian spat, shakily getting to his feet and glaring at Quibbis. "What the hell's the stitched-up sock puppet creep doing here?"

Inprobus ignored his inquiry, pulling out a small notebook. "Do you remember what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just before you blacked out, do you remember what happened?"

"Yeah, I was..." Corian froze, slowly widening his eyes as he felt his back that lacked the bump of a stab wound. "I was... knocked out?"

"The villagers heard you yelling about a witch before you succumbed to your subpar injury." Inprobus looked at him expectantly, tapping his pen on the paper. "They also said this witch conveniently escaped."

"A witch? Oh! I-I mean yeah! There was a witch with uhh black hair and green eyes..." Corian stopped, looking at the ground in hard thought. "Shoot. What was her name?" He gave his father a timid smile. "Anyways I'd know her if I saw her... wait. The-the Black Witch, she called herself the Black Witch!" He paused, "Did you just say succumbed to my injury?" He felt his back again, but there was nothing out of the norm.

"These results are truly astounding. It's almost as if he never died!" Quibbis cheered, grabbing Corian's hand to stare at it. "He's still a bit cold, and he's lacking a bit of colour." He licked his hand, allowing Corian to rip it out of his grasp and wipe it in disgust. "Tastes right sir."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Quibbis held Corian's defensive glare that had taken on a growing flame of fear. "You're dead sweetheart! But don't worry, that can only happen once!"

Corian's fear relaxed to doubt as he looked at his father's frown, bursting into laughter. "You're insane! Do I look like an undead to you? Drooling and hissing and eating people? Go creep on someone else you saggy little scumbag."

"Shut up," Inprobus growled. "I should have carved out your tongue before we did this, I suppose that's my mistake." He took a step towards Corian who took two back in response. "He's right, you had a knife wound to your spine that had you drown in your own blood. For whatever pride you had beforehand, I do hope it was a witch that tarnished my family name."

Corian kept his gaze, petrified with fear as he looked between Rikki and Quibbis. "I'm not dead..."

"Hold your breath if you wanna check." Quibbis chimed. "You don't need to breathe anymore, that's one laborious task off the list!"

"No..." Corian backed away into the corner. "I'm not dead...I'm not!"

Inprobus drew a dagger from his belt, plunging it into Corian's chest before he could react and twisting it into his heart with a cracking snap.

Corian fell back, clutching the wound in agony as he watched his father impassively wipe the stained tip. "What... the hell... i-is wrong with you?" He gasped for air, shakily staring at his bloodied hand as the searing pain went cold, and then flat.

Inprobus sheathed the blade, watching Corian as he looked for the stab wound without success. "You're dead, and as such you now answer to me. I have a mission for you."

"Excuse me? When the hell did I sign up to be your dog skathead?" Corian rose to his feet with a cocky stretch, a taunting smirk painting his face as he stared down his father. "I'm going back to getting signatures, I'm practically immortal!"

Inprobus drew his sword, stopping an inch from Corian's neck as he flinched in fear. "If you wish to disobey me, then I suppose I can donate you to the psych ward. They're always looking for bodies to practice on, and I'm sure you'll fetch a pretty sliv. Or maybe, you can join your useless mother, I'd imagine it would take you far longer to get there though."

Corian's body rose with spite at the remark, his hand clenching for a sword that wasn't at his waist. "Bite me goldilocks."

"Rikki, cuff him." Inprobus pointed to some shackles conveniently resting in the corner, waiting for them to obediently comply. He flicked his cold stare to Corian, the faintest smile touching his lips as he spoke. "Unfortunately Corian, the title of a hero is restricted to the living. The dead have no right to hold such a prestige. You work for me now. And I'm sure I don't have to remind you that I put down dogs that don't work."