Rise of the Supreme Necromancer-Chapter 76: Curse of Death
Aleric spent two more days in Frinstoun, raising undead and letting his army resupply after the recent battle. Some soldiers were sent to the nearby villages and towns to bring back more corpses and prisoners for Aleric, and to establish his rule.
He had also raised the commandant of the city’s castle and the city’s burghomeister as his new undead servants and gave them five hundred fresh undead recruits as a garrison.
These forces had to keep Aleric’s control over the county, or at least this town. He wanted his influence, and the resources it brought, to spread.
When Aleric’s army marched from the city, it was the same size as it was when Aleric came there, and about the same quality. The lost skeletons were replaced with zombie slaves, and the destroyed zombie servants were replaced with new ones. And, although the count’s knights, to Aleric’s disappointment, all went to reinforce the king’s army, there were a lot of horses in the city. This allowed Aleric to make more Black Riders.
Aleric was still unhappy with this.
If not for the inquisitors, he could have had all these undead, and also thousands of skeletons from the graveyard. Even if they were pathetic as fighters, they could still tire the enemy out.
The king’s army was getting closer every day, which meant Aleric had little time to prepare for it. He had sent a few zombie servants to scout ahead and possibly even pretend to be alive to get information out of people, but he knew they were unlikely to return.
The inquisitors and templars of the king would sniff them out easily. All Aleric knew for sure was that the king’s army was somewhere ahead.
Now, the army was marching toward the next county Aleric planned to conquer and use to grow his forces. In the meantime, Aleric was using the time to study.
His current teacher was Krenn. Together, they sat in Aleric’s personal wagon, which was slowly carried forward by undead horses.
The wagon, where Aleric often spent days and nights, was a comfortable traveling home. It was the size of a room in an inn and had the same furnishings, including a simple bed. Instead of chairs, there were a couple of sacks with straw.
The wagon shook terribly on each pothole in the road, but the sacks cushioned the blows, allowing Aleric and Krenn to sit almost comfortably.
Although initially Aleric invited Krenn here to only learn from him, now Aleric was also curious about his origins.
"You’ve done well in the past couple of days, raising all the undead. I’ve never seen a Dark mage as powerful as you before, besides myself. Samuel told me that you are usually caught much earlier than that. Were you a mage of a different element before?"
"No, although I could have been... But I didn’t pass the entry exams to the Academy of Elements, and I never liked religion enough to become a cleric or a paladin. So I studied history instead, and during these studies, I found bits and pieces that let me learn Dark magic. Despite all efforts of the Church, there are still some curious books that could be found here and there..."
This piqued Aleric’s interest.
"In Erstain?"
"There and in other places. Sometimes in libraries of private collectors or even in a random bookshop. Of course, if you want to search for yourself, you will need to conquer these places first, Master Fenn. Anyway... I also found that there was a market for people with certain skills, such as mine. And these people could give me some protection from the Church. Less of it than I’d like, though... I had to run away recently, and I feared badly that the inquisition was already on my trail."
Aleric frowned, then nodded at realization.
"You did magic for criminals, yes? They are the only kind of people who might have any dealings with people like you or even me... Sometimes."
If Aleric closed his eyes for a moment, he could remember the few times he tried to approach shady groups of people that looked barely better than himself. This was before he knew better than to approach people at all.
But Aleric kept his eyes open, not wanting to recall these grim days. His future was better shaped.
"Yes, Master Fenn," Krenn continued. "I found that Dark magic opens possibilities that are simply impossible for other elements of magic, and these things are very sought after. If you don’t care much about silly things like the morality of your actions."
"Things like raising the dead?"
"No... Well, not quite. Light magic can also trap a soul and give it a body—I’ve never seen this magic, but I know for sure that high-ranked clerics can do it. Things similar to your chained ghost, Master Fenn. There are even tall tales that the High Magister can bring dead people back to life—to true life, not making zombies out of them! But I meant curses. Only Dark magic can inflict harm on a person you don’t even know simply through blood or a strand of hair."
Aleric leaned forward.
"So simple?"
"Yes, Master Fenn. Since you wanted my best magic, and you are powerful enough to use it... Then I will teach you the second rank spell, Curse of Death. As long as the hair’s owner is within a few miles and isn’t helped by a cleric, he will die within an hour, and it will look almost like a poison. Only clerics will know better."
Aleric smiled.
He could already imagine the potential for something like this. Finding hair or blood of an important target wasn’t simple, but if there were people buying curses from Dark mages, would there be people willing to sell someone’s hair?
"I will order my servants to catch some small animals I can practice on," Aleric said. "Tell me what else I need to cast this spell... And every other spell you know."
