The Necromancer (1/4)

Far away in the royal palace, Prince Kanus slams his fist on the table and glares at the letter he was sent by his spies.

One of his men happened to be Haalfrin's ranger guide. The man was supposed to lead Haalfrin onto the road where Lornal's men would have been likely to ambush him; however, the mage came back safe and sound anyway! Did his hired ranger do his job properly?

Of course, Kanus had assumed his ranger pulled Haalfrin up to the wrong place since the archmage's apprentice is still alive. In reality, Haalfrin was exactly where Kanus wanted him, yet he still defeated the bandit lord and his ambush.

Tallus is standing with his arms crossed in front of Kanus's desk, and he has a soft smile on his face. "I think," the younger prince suggests smugly, "that you've been underestimating the Kareen man. It's been 5 decades. Do you really think he's the same primitive barbarian that he used to be? I can't believe you thought it was so easy to get rid of him."

These days, Tallus is looking much more wealthy; he looks so fat and shiny compared to his scrawny and starved-looking self before that Haalfrin would never recognize him.

Kanus calms himself and retorts, "I don't know what you're talking about. Sir Haalfrin is a future archmage, and as the future king, he's my asset. Why would I want to get rid of him?"

Crown Prince Kanus then finds an excuse to wave his half-brother out. Once Tallus is gone, he thinks to himself, 'I'll need to find another, more reliable way to get rid of the archmage's pest...'

He sits and ponders for a bit, 'I can't have any of this tied to me, as the archmage himself has a VERY firm position in the court. So, it's best if I find an even more dangerous mission for the man....'

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Only a month after his return with Lornal's head, Haalfrin's already off on his next mission – trekking his way through yet another forest.

…It IS sheer coincidence, but Haalfrin passes by the hole that Dakka dug for himself and is currently sleeping in, though Haalfrin doesn't know it. To him, it just looks like a very large pothole in the ground. Perhaps there's an underground cave that collapsed?

Anyway, Haalfrin is looking at a map while he's walking through the forest... alone. He pulls out his written orders, and he reads it over again.

"There is a powerful mage hiding in this Aurella forest practicing black magic. You are to return with his left index FINGER as proof of the kill," the letter says.

…For some reason, a lot of emphases was put on the word "Finger". The dainty nobles probably didn't appreciate Haalfrin carelessly dumping a bloody head on the ground in front of the king while he was holding court…

… And it definitely wasn't his fault that the head rolled out of the bag with its tongue hanging out and its eyes staring blankly at the crowd of nobles.

"The black mage," the order keeps reading, "is suspected of practicing necromancy, as well as the disappearance and depopulation of several villages around the Aurella forest. Be cautious, as this man is a rogue 3rd gate mage, and his Name is Querry."

The rest of Haalfrin's deployment scroll just gives a brief description of the black mage's abilities, as well as his physical description.

'All right!' Haalfrin rolls the scroll back up and stuffs it into his bag. 'A 3rd gate mage, just like master…' He frowns. 'I don't know how to feel about that. Is this man really strong?'

It's not like he has any choice, so he heads off to Aurella forest as instructed.

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As Haalfrin journeys deeper into the forest, he finds himself wandering in circles and wasting several days trying to find his way to the black mage's hideout.

He really does try everything he can; he leaves markers, he searches for spells, and he triple-checks his map multiple times. No matter what he does, he can't seem to make sense of his directions.

…What Haalfrin doesn't know is that Black Mage Querry has placed subtle enchantments throughout the forest which were set up to confuse wanderers and hopefully turn them away from his lair.

Naturally, Haalfrin isn't nearly as adept in advanced enchantments as Querry himself, so he can't even tell they're there.

As Haalfrin spirals further into the forest in random directions, he starts to feel a presence stir in the forest. The leaves and branches all start shaking and rattling, despite there being no wind. The tree trunks groan as if they're trying to breathe.

Haalfrin looks at his feet in alarm as he feels a hot power gather in the ground.

His face snaps to his left when he feels a tree creak and groan louder than the others as he feels a powerful spirit move into it.

The mysterious spirit speaks into Haalfrin's mind, "I SENSE A GOD ON YOUR SOUL. WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS HERE?" This entity must be talking about Das's blessing.

Haalfrin is momentarily confused, but then he remembers his lectures with his master. "You're a land god?"

The trees sway their branches in affirmation.

Haalfrin puts a hand on his chest and introduces himself, "My name is Haalfrin, and I was sent to slay the dark magician living in these woods."

"HMM...," the voice groans in his mind, "YOU HAVE A FATE WITH THAT PESKY DRAGON, DON'T YOU?"

Haalfrin figures there's no point in lying to the land god. Perhaps, if he's cooperative, it'll show him the right direction. "Yes, that dragon is in these lands because he wants to kill me and sacrifice me to his goddess."

"I SEE. I CAN SENSE A POWERFUL YIIR INSIDE YOU. PERHAPS THE SERPENT WILL FALL BY YOUR HAND ONE DAY, OR MAYBE YOU WILL FALL BY HIS HAND. EITHER WAY, THERE IS ONLY DEATH BETWEEN YOU TWO."

There is a pause before the voice speaks again, "I HOPE YOU SUCCEED IN YOUR BATTLE WITH THE DRAGON. AFTER THE DRAGON AWAKENS AGAIN, HE'LL BE A 3 HORNED DRAGON. I WON'T BE A MATCH FOR HIM THEN..."

Haalfrin bows politely, "I can't guarantee anything, but I promise I'll try my best."

"VERY WELL. I CAN TELL THAT YOU'RE LOST. JUST FOLLOW THE ANIMALS. THEY OBEY ME, AND THEY'LL LEAD YOU TO WHERE YOU WANT TO GO."

After that, an entire flock of birds swoops down and circles Haalfrin for a bit before flying off in a certain direction.

Haalfrin follows straight after them at high speed with his body-strengthening magic – eager to finally smell blood again.

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After arriving at his destination, Haalfrin sees the entrance to a cave. According to the reports, Querry has access to dozens of mages, and there may or may not be a few hundred bandits inside.

'Well,' Haalfrin thinks, 'I know there's at least a few dozen minions.' A few dozen is all that's immediately visible as he watches bandits escorting scores of common villagers in large, caged carts.

Haalfrin notices that most of the captive villagers are women, children, and old people; this is probably because most of the men died defending their homes… as usual.

Plus, adult men are more physically equipped to put up a fight than anyone else. Plus, the generally have more aggressive temperaments on average than women, so they're also more WILLING to put up a fight too. With these two factors involved, it only makes sense that they're less likely to be captured alive.

Standing at the entrance of the wide-mouthed cave are a few brown-robed mages giving the bandits a few heavy sacks of coin. The bandits then follow the mages merrily deeper into the cave – presumably to rest.

Haalfrin may not know HOW to use dark magic, but he knows how to recognize it. 'Master taught me that "black magic" is just a term for outlawed magic, and some of the most prominent outlawed magic requires sacrifices…'

Of course, Haalfrin has no idea what these rituals are for or what the sacrifices achieve. 'Are they feeding a dark god or just using their spirits as energy?' Haalfrin guesses. 'Who knows? Master would never talk about it.'

Haalfrin briefly thinks about waiting for dark, when the people go to sleep and let their guards down. However, he shakes his head again. 'No. They have captives. Waiting any longer means more of them will probably die.'

And so, Haalfrin unsheathes his sword and unstraps his shield. He's sure to put his shield on his right hand - the very hand that was basically crippled during his fight with Kaalhyme's bodyguards so long ago.

'Well, now that I'm not actively trying to get killed, I suppose I can start using a shield again,' he thinks to himself.

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After he's ready, Haalfrin lets out a battle cry and charges at the group of mages and bandits.