Mythica, book 1, Chapter 19+20.

Chapter 19.

While in the goblin cave, Sabine tried to use her Call of the Grave to summon Hamish. Her latest upgrade to the ability stated that it could be used at unmarked graves and given the number of bodies strewn about the cavern, she felt this place qualified. As she tried to activate the ability, Sabine noticed it wasn’t functioning correctly. She was getting no indication of the direction of the nearest graveyard and the ability was ignoring all the corpses around her, any of which should have been suitable for Hamish’s needs.

The only thing different about this place from the others was the fact that a necromancer had plied his wares here. Strange corruption seemed to seep into whatever Giramore had focused his magic on. The dark mana in the cavern was harder for Sabine to latch onto and use, much of it carried a whiff of the necromancer’s tainted mana. Once she left his area, Sabine would try again. There had to be something on her way to the village that would work, and if not, the graveyard there would be sufficient to summon Hamish.

Sabine did find where the mercenaries had stashed all the gear they had taken from their victims. There were several damaged pieces of armor that the militia had worn, and some of their weapons weren’t bad. Now that she had Reckoning, Sabine didn’t feel that she needed much else in the way of melee weapons other than a backup blade.

The two mercenary crossbows weren’t bad weapons and seemed well cared for. She slung one over her shoulder along with a quiver of bolts for the weapon and placed the other in her pack. She could use the other crossbow for trade along with the short swords both mercenaries had. Her old weapons were found among the others, but she didn’t see a need to use the unbalanced flail she had purchased from the village. She also didn’t feel right pilfering the weapons that had been gathered from the militia. The village would need them back if they were to have any chance of defending themselves in the future.

Both mercenaries had worn hardened leather vests, but sadly, neither was anywhere close to fitting Sabine and the nearest match was cumbersome and loose on her. Her smaller stature would make finding armor a bit more difficult, and she would likely have to pay a smith or leatherworker to alter whatever she ended up using. One of the mercenaries did have a larger field pack to help carry all the items she wanted to keep. She could haul the weight but knew she would have to slow her pace a bit to keep from running out of energy.

On a whim, Sabine tried to store some items in her coin pouch. Sadly, the mouth of the pouch refused to open any wider than normal. It looked like her experience with drawing Reckoning from the bag was a one-time occurrence. What it could hold rather nicely were crossbow bolts. A decent supply of just over two hundred had been on hand for the half-dozen mercenaries that had originally followed Giramore.

She also was able to store a short spear with a simple steel tip that managed to barely fit into the pouch. It was a tossup whether the spear was from a mercenary or the militia, but Sabine figured the village wouldn’t begrudge her one weapon after what she had done for them. She also left behind the armor from the mercenaries, which was too bulky to haul back. That should more than offset the cost of one spear.

Other than the items she choose to keep, Sabine left everything else inside the two caverns. The village would want to collect the remains of their fallen, and hopefully, their burial in the consecrated graveyard would remove any taint of the necromancer’s magic. Strapping down her new field pack, Sabine began the journey back to Golden Harvest Village.

She had left to deal with the goblins at dusk, and her battles, and the time spent inside the trial was long enough that dawn was breaking when she arrived at the village. From Sabine’s experience, farmers and farmers were usually up at the crack of dawn to begin their busy days. It was no different here, and Sabine could see a steady stream of people leaving the village and heading back to their farms.

Her arrival didn’t cause much of a stir, most people didn’t even notice her among the bustle of early morning activity. Sabine’s first stop was Gilroy’s house. She didn’t need to knock; Gilroy was already awake and in his small front yard watching the people leave for their farms. He seemed shocked to see her, and Sabine could hear him calling into the house to summon his wife, Beatrice, as well as Orren.

“Sabine, it’s good to see you back safely. I take it you didn’t find the goblins since you’re back so soon,” Orren said.

“Oh no, I found them all right, as well as the true threat that has been stalking this place. Maybe we should go inside, and I can fill you in,” Sabine said. Gilroy led them to the small kitchen table where breakfast had already been prepared for the home. Sabine declined the offer for breakfast, telling the others that she had already eaten on the trail.

“Now that we’re settled, tell me what you found,” Gilroy said eagerly.

“There was a substantial tribe of goblins out there, but it turns out they weren’t the only threat. A necromancer had set up shop in a cavern near the goblins, and he was the one responsible for the missing persons. He fought the goblins and was raising them, along with the victims from here, to build an army of undead,” Sabine told them.

“If what you say is true, between those that have gone missing, the militia, and the goblins, we could be overrun at any time,” Gilroy said. Sabine felt anger flare with Gilroy’s comment questioning whether her story was true, but she realized he was just stressed and fearful over the news she had just given him. It was human nature to disbelieve anything that didn’t fit into the expected narrative.

“I can assure you it’s true, and here is the necromancer’s journal to prove it, though I suggest you don’t spend too much time with that book, it holds a taint you might want to stay away from,” Sabine advised, pulling the log from her pack, and sliding it over to Gilroy who flipped through a few pages before closing the book and pushing it back to Sabine. He looked ill from the brief glance into the book which Sabine took as a good sign that Gilroy wasn’t going to be lured into necromancy by the information inside.

“We’ll have to arrange an evacuation, there’s no way the people here can stand against a necromancer and his undead. I’d almost prefer more goblins than the news that you’ve just brought me,” Gilroy said.

“No evacuation will be necessary; I’ve dealt with the necromancer and his minions. They won’t trouble this village any longer,” Sabine said.

“You, by yourself? How did you face a necromancer and survive?” Beatrice said, speaking out loud what the others at the table were thinking.

“I may not look like much, but I can assure you that I’m very good at what I do. I’ll give you directions to the caves that both the goblins and the necromancer were set up in” Gilroy looked a bit shocked and she waited for him to gather his wits before she continued.

“You’ll find all the evidence of my claims inside the caves. You’ll also find the lost members of your village; you might want to have them interred as soon as possible. With the death of the necromancer, they were no longer undead, but there is a taint in that place, and I wouldn’t want the remains of my loved ones to stay there any longer than necessary,” Sabine advised.

“Thank you, Sabine, you’ve done this community a great service. We’re just simple folk, and I wish I could reward you better, but all we have was sent to Hammerhead to create the bounty,” Gilroy said.

“Nothing else is necessary, I’ll be heading back to Hammerhead’s tavern to collect the bounty when we’re done here,” Sabine advised.

“Give me a minute and I’ll give you a letter to take with you. Hammerhead can be stubborn as a mule at times, and I don’t want him giving you any trouble about the bounty,” Gilroy said before rushing to a small desk where he scratched out a note for Hammerhead and sealed it with his personal seal.

“Here, give this to Hammerhead, and he’ll pay the bounty. I didn’t mention the trouble with the necromancer, no reason to let folks know there was one nearby. I’m sure word will get out, but it won’t be from me. Such dark things can color a village’s reputation and make it harder to attract new residents,” Gilroy said.

“Thank you, Gilroy. I’ll try to keep the necromancer a secret, and if I am forced to tell about it, I’ll make sure not to mention that it was anywhere near your village. Orren, if you want to join me for the trip back to Hammerhead’s, gather up your things,” Sabine told the group.

“You’ll always be welcome here, dear, the village owes you a debt and if we can help you in any way, just ask and we’ll be there for you,” Beatrice said as they made their goodbyes.

Sabine didn’t stick around longer than necessary, but even so, news spread quickly in the village and several of the townfolk came by to offer their thanks. Orren had lots of questions, but she told him to wait until they were back on the road. Before she left, Sabine remembered to tell Gilroy that there were two wagons in one of the caverns, and if they brought some animals to pull them, it might make their lives easier as they recovered their fallen.

Finally able to extricate themselves from the village well-wishers, the pair began their journey back to Hammerhead's place. Orren pelted Sabine with questions, and she answered as best she could. She, of course, didn’t get into dying and coming back again. Sabine made a plausible recount of the fight where she defeated the necromancer early, which negated the threat of the undead.

Orren was very interested in that tidbit of information, and even asked her to escort him to the caverns so he could see the results of her work. That wasn’t going to happen, and she told Orren that he would just have to be satisfied with her explanation. The young man was disappointed but didn’t push Sabine any further.

While they traveled, Sabine kept checking her Call of the Grave for any indication of an area she could summon Hamish from. Given the preparations for interring the lost villagers, there was no way she could contact him at the village graveyard. Nothing close by was found, and only a faint pull was felt in the direction they were traveling. It wouldn’t be too long before she got a better read on it, so for now, she kept answering Orren’s questions until she finally reached her limit.

“Orren, can’t we just travel in peace for a bit? I’ll answer more questions when we stop for the night,” Sabine assured him.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry, I understand this has likely been a traumatic event for you. We’ll talk later, and for now, we’ll just enjoy the journey,” Orren replied. He looked a bit sad, but Sabine remembered something that might brighten his mood.

“Oh, I almost forgot. I have a couple of things for you. We can begin your training a bit later,” Sabine said, rummaging in her pack for a moment, and using it as a distraction to pull the short spear from her coin pouch. She handed the spear and the second mercenary crossbow to Orren, along with a quiver of bolts to the young man.

“Thank you, Sabine, I didn’t expect you to buy equipment for me, I could have waited to purchase something once we got back to Hammerheads,” Orren said, looking a bit shocked at receiving the weapons. From the way he handled them, Sabine was reasonably confident he had the basics down and wouldn’t accidentally hurt himself as they traveled.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s just a couple of things I found lying around,” Sabine said. She wouldn’t refuse payment if he wanted to reimburse her later, but she considered it a gift, as well as an investment in case they ran into trouble. He might not be well trained, but he could occupy a foe and allow Sabine more time to work if they ran into trouble.

“Who would leave weapons just lying around? Don’t misinterpret, I’m more than happy to accept your gift,” Orren said. He had an inquisitive mind, which might get him into trouble one day.

“The previous owners don’t need them anymore,”

“Why? Oh, I see, never mind,” Orren said, taking a moment to realize what Sabine had meant when she said the previous owners wouldn’t need them anymore.

As the afternoon wore on, Sabine began to feel that she was getting close to an area where she could summon Hamish. It didn’t take much effort to get Orren to stop for a breather. He was struggling a bit with the pace she was setting. Once stopped, Sabine took her leave to scout the area, using that excuse as cover to find the area she was looking for. It didn’t take long, only about a quarter mile from the road, she found a rocky area near a frozen stream.

“Hamish, can you hear me?” Sabine called. She could feel movement under her feet and a scratching sound. About a minute later, Hamish finally emerged from the ground, this time, the skeleton he was using was able to walk out of the grave completely and stood facing Sabine.

“It’s about time, and while we’re speaking, why did you summon me in the place with the most difficult remains to animate? You do realize that this one was buried over eight feet under. It’s quite a burden to dig yourself out of that,” Hamish complained.

“We’ll call it good exercise for you. The reason I called you here is this is the closest place I could do so without anyone seeing us. I took care of the problem at the village, and the graveyard there was under observation,” Sabine said.

“I see that our rank has improved, there were only a pair of unfortunate individuals buried here, but that was enough for me to link up. Nicely done, Sabine. I take it you have enough goblin ears for the bounty?” Hamish asked.

“Yep, in fact, I have thirty of them. I tried to summon you back in the cavern where the goblins lived, but the mana from the necromancer seemed to have corrupted the place and blocked my Call of the Grave ability,” Sabine explained.

“Wait, a necromancer? That’s unexpected, give me the details,” Hamish demanded. Sabine gave him the rundown and showed him the journal that she had taken from Giramore. Hamish flipped through it for some time, apparently, the remaining vestiges of the necromantic magic didn’t do anything to hamper his study of the text.

“Interesting, this Giramore split off from a more powerful necromancer named Szorlok. Well, this Szorlok and the necromancers here in Deira are a problem for someone else, we need to stay focused on reaching Golgotia and dealing with the threat to our master that is lurking there,” Hamish said.

“Let’s not go with the whole master thing. Gnessos and I have a deal, he is not my master, he’s someone that is helping me attain my goals while I help him attain his,” Sabine growled. She didn’t want to be controlled by anyone, and while Gnessos’ favor was crucial to her survival and to finding her sister, Sabine would never call Gnessos, or anyone, her master.

“I think we should change the subject. You have done well, and we have reached the second rank in Gnessos’ favor. Have you tried your new Stagger ability yet?” Hamish asked.

“No, the only fight I had after I unlocked it was over too quickly. It seems better suited to fighting large numbers of foes, which should help me escape a bad situation, or control the fight a bit better. Have you unlocked anything interesting?” Sabine asked.

“I did indeed. As you can see, I am now a bit more mobile than before.” Hamish said, giving a little dance that look woefully uncoordinated. Not only that, but I may also now accompany you on your journey in a bit more direct fashion,”

“How’s that supposed to work, I can’t go strolling into Hammerheads with a skeleton walking next to me,” Sabine said, not exactly relishing the idea of having Hamish follow her around all the time.

“No, I’ve not reached that level of power, but you can store me inside your coin pouch. When you unlocked the weapon from your trial, the pouch was linked with me a bit more. It’s not just useful for coins and small trinkets now. I wager that you’ll find it perfect for, say, storing a skeleton or two for when you need to summon your benevolent advisor,” Hamish said.

“I tried to put larger items inside already, but it didn’t work. Give me the details, how do I somehow shove a skeleton inside here?” Sabine asked.

“When my time here is over, the skeleton will collapse, then you may simply scoop up the remains and deposit them inside your storage pouch. It will now expand enough to the bones inside. If you need me, just pull the bones from the pouch, dump them on the ground, and you have an instant unmarked grave!” Hamish said, gloating a bit over his newfound ability.

“Summoning me is still something you can only do once per day, but I get the feeling that it will become more useful as we grow in favor. Attaining higher ranks will also increase the amount of space in the realm of the dead that is set aside for our personal storage use, and will likely increase the pouch opening so you can store a wider variety of items,” Hamish advised.

It was rather good to see that Hamish was improving, and his cunning way of getting around the grave requirement to summon him was inspired. She wasn’t sure how he was able to manipulate the coin pouch when she couldn’t, but hopefully, it would make things a bit easier for her when she had smaller items to lug around. He was supposedly siphoning off some of her power with each rank gained, but it looked like he was going to improve enough to pull his own weight.

“Once per day is about all I can take of you, Hamish, but this will be a bit more convenient than trying to find some reason to skulk off after a graveyard every time we need to speak. My scouting the area excuse is going to wear thin if I keep traveling with companions,” Sabine said.

“Sorry to point this out, but it appears that your scouting the area excuse for leaving has already proven insufficient. I believe that fellow over there is your companion, isn’t he? While that’s an impressive display of his abilities, I don’t think we can keep him around after this. Do finish that fellow off for us, Sabine,” Hamish said while pointing behind Sabine.

Looking over her shoulder, Sabine saw that Orren was just about twenty yards away. The blue glow surrounded Orren, and he was scrawling at a frantic pace inside his book, documenting both Sabine and Hamish’s existence. This was a problem, and one she wasn’t quite sure how she wanted to handle.

Chapter 20.

“Damn it, Orren, why couldn’t you just stay where I told you to,” Sabine growled as she drew Reckoning and stomped toward the frantically scribbling man. The familiar blue glow still encompassed him, and Sabine wasn’t sure he even knew she was there. He was no threat while in this state so she wouldn’t need to infuse any mana into her weapon to deal with him.

Sabine started to swing her flail but stopped at the last minute. It was strange, Orren could prove a grave threat if he documented her weaknesses and told the world about her. Eliminating him was the easiest response. Still, that wasn’t something Sabine would do, it was something her undead nature was urging. She stood there, torn, not sure what the right response to this situation was.

Orren wasn’t some old friend, just a young man she had traveled with for a short time. He was nice enough, and seemed like a good person, but did that mean she shouldn’t eliminate a potential threat? Was one innocent life worth accepting a grave risk to her survival?

“No, what are you? Don’t hurt me, Sabine,” Orren muttered as the spell controlling him faded. Dropping his book and quill, Orren tried to turn and run but tripped over his own feet. Sabine moved closer, still torn over what to do with him.

“You know my secret, why should I let you live?” Sabine asked.

“I can pay, and I’ll tear up the page you’re on. Yes, that should work, shouldn’t it? Nobody needs to know what you are,” Orren pleaded.

“Tearing up that page is all well and good, but you’d still know what I am, and I can’t really risk my existence on a promise that you’ll never tell,” Sabine said. Orren sat there in the snow, a terrified look on his face as he tried to come up with something that would change Sabine’s mind. As she closed in on him, Orren seemed to lose hope as tears streamed down his face. He cast his gaze down, awaiting the inevitable.

Sabine stood over him but couldn’t bring herself to strike. Here was a young man with his whole life ahead of him, and she was going to end it to eliminate a potential threat. It made logical sense to Sabine, nobody would ever know what had happened and if he said something about her nature, she would be hunted down like an animal. Logic warred with Sabine’s reluctance to strike.

He reminded her a bit of Kaban, the young mercenary she had taken under her wing. The young man had been a pushover for the bullies in the company, but when it counted, Kaban had found his courage and stood with Sabine at the time of her first death. He died trying to save her, which is what she would have done for any of the warriors under her command. If she truly were the same Sabine that fell beside Kaban that day, she couldn’t kill Orren.

“I can see that you’ve given up and accepted your fate, never do that, Orren, fight to the last,” Sabine said, tying Reckoning to her belt.

“You’re not going to kill me?” Orren asked.

“I don’t think so, but it’s complicated,” Sabine admitted.

“What do we do now?” Orren asked, drying the tears on the sleeve of his coat.

“Give me a minute to figure this out and pass me your book. I need to see what you’re writing about me,” Sabine said. Orren scampered over to where the book had fallen, putting away the quill and handing the book to Sabine. She could see it in his eyes, the young man was trying to work up the courage to run.

“Let me read for a minute, and don’t try to run, I’ll catch you and kill you if you do,” Sabine promised. She didn’t want to kill Orren, but if he fled, revealing her existence was inevitable, and that was something she wasn’t going to allow to happen. She brushed some snow off the page and looked at what Orren had written.

During his magic-induced trance, Orren had written a couple of paragraphs and drawn her likeness. In the picture, she looked like a monster. Orren’s magic had seen through her disguise, and drawn a hideous, walking corpse with glowing red eyes that was wielding a flail. The image was hard for her to accept, it was honest, and the magic that created it didn’t lie. It might not lie, but reading the text, Sabine realized it wasn’t omniscient either.

Revenant. A very rare form of undead that come back from the grave to fulfill a purpose that they couldn’t accomplish in life. Killing everything in its way, a revenant will stop at nothing to accomplish its goal. None are innocent in its eye, and all who seek to stop the revenant must be destroyed. Once the target of their ire has been eliminated, the revenant will lose its link to the land of the living and return to the afterlife.

The revenant has enhanced strength and durability, which makes it a tough foe to fight one on one. It is recommended to have a balanced team to take out an active revenant. If disabled, the revenant must be completely destroyed by fire or acid lest it regenerate. Only able to exist for a short time, the revenant will typically only be bound to our world for a maximum of sixty days.

Being simply a reanimated and enhanced corpse, the revenant does not possess any weak points. Damage to limbs will disable it, though it will simply reattach the limb if given time. Decapitation will render the revenant immobile and allow you to complete its destruction by using the previously explained methods. Be warned, a revenant will recover from a detached head if given enough time.

“All this trouble, and what you wrote isn’t even correct,” Sabine said. She may resemble what was in the compendium, but it didn’t describe her. Gnessos had never mentioned a sixty-day expiration date on her body and had even encouraged her to take the time needed here in Deira to grow stronger.

“What? The magic is always correct, I can’t recall any of our compendiums having a faulty entry,” Orren replied, his curiosity over his work overriding his anxiety.

“I’m not sure how to explain this. I admit that I am a revenant, and I was sent here for a task, but you can see that I’m not some mindless killing machine. If I was like your entry, you’d already be dead and I would have never gone out of my way to help the village,” Sabine said.

“But you do admit you have a task to complete, don’t you feel an overwhelming compulsion to do so?” Orren asked, taking the compendium back from Sabine and preparing to take notes.

“Sure, I have a task to complete, but completing it is merely a means to an end. I’d like to make sure that my surviving family is cared for, and after that, I’m off on a bit of a journey,” Sabine said.

“I admit, you don’t exactly seem like the creature I documented, you look normal,” Orren said, looking at drawing in his notes and then back at Sabine with confusion. Sabine knew the reason she appeared different from the entry. She was a product of several gods’ work, and they didn’t necessarily follow the rules. Sabine decided to trust Orren, but did she trust him enough to reveal the reason for her creation?

“Orren, if I tell you something in confidence, will you keep it secret?” Sabine asked. It was a stupid question, he would be inclined to agree to anything if it might save his life. She wanted to see his reaction. Sabine had dealt with enough people over the years to tell if someone was sincere or not. Orren was a talented young man, but he didn’t strike Sabine as some great actor who could mask his true intent when under stress.

“I can, you’ve done right by me Sabine, and I will not reveal what you tell me, or any of your other secrets to the best of my ability,” Orren said.

She believed him, but even if he was sincere now, it was no guarantee that he would remain so. The logical thing was still to eliminate him, but Sabine had noticed something over their short journey together. She found that she liked the companionship. Sabine missed working with the other mercenaries, training them, and watching them grow as a team.

“Orren, I’m not a revenant like the one you documented in your compendium. My body is that of a revenant, I admit, but my mind is my own. I’m the same person I was back when I was living. You likely won’t believe this, but I was created directly by the gods, and their task is the one that I have to fulfill. What happens to me after that task is done, I have no idea, but I do know that I will remain true to the person that I was when I was alive,” Sabine said, watching Orren as he processed what she had just told him.

“And the skeleton, did you summon him like a necromancer?” Orren said. He seemed to be losing his fear as his curiosity grew.

“No, I called him, but Hamish is my advisor, not some undead minion,”

“Advisor? What exactly does he do, wait, he has a name? Is Hamish just what you call him, or is he something like you are?” Orren said, knocking out questions in rapid-fire mode.

“Slow down. Before we get into more details about who and what I am, why don’t we decide what happens to you,” Sabine said. Curiosity lost to fear again in Orren’s expression as Sabine spoke about what to do with him.

“You said you’d let me live. If you’re honest, and I think you are, you’ll keep that promise, won’t you?” Orren said, slowly backing away from Sabine.

“I promised to let you live, and I can still take you back to Hammerheads. I suppose after that, I’ll have to leave the area. You may have good intentions, but I can’t risk staying if there’s even a slight chance you might reveal my secrets,” Sabine said.

Hammerhead’s tavern was an ideal spot for Sabine to grow in power and gather the funds that she would need for her journey, but there would be other opportunities that wouldn’t require her to face the possibility of having her nature exposed. She would collect the bounty that was due her, and move on. Sabine hadn’t been in this part of the country for many years, but she believed that her sister’s farm was somewhere west of here.

Too much could have happened during the years that she had been gone, not to mention a war had been fought over these lands. Sabine couldn’t even be certain that her sister, Adrienne, and her family still lived. Whatever had befallen her sister, Sabine would find out. If someone had harmed them, well, then she would show the world what a revenant was truly capable of. None of that mattered now, she had to deal with Orren before she could plan further.

“May I make a suggestion?” Hamish said, walking over to join them and causing Orren to give a quiet squeak of fear at the skeletal advisor’s approach.

“Haimish, I thought you had already left,” Sabine said, more than a little annoyed at herself for having forgotten about Hamish completely as she dealt with Orren.

“Obviously, I stuck around, if only to witness your flagrant disregard for our safety. I can’t believe you will let this sniveling human survive,” Hamish said, pointing a bony finger at Orren.

“Cool it, Hamish. Do you have a real suggestion, or did you just walk over here to voice your support for murder? Come to think of it, how did you walk over here? This is a bit far from the grave I summoned you from,” Sabine asked.

“That’s not really a problem with our new rank, my only limitation when you summon me is my mana pool, which I use to keep these remains animated,” Hamish said. Sabine looked closely at her advisor and could see the small, pea-sized ball of mana inside him slowly dissolving. It wouldn’t be long before he collapsed into a heap of bones once more.

“Can’t I just join you on your journey? It’s the best of both worlds. I can’t imagine the things you’ll run across, and it will make great entries for the compendium. It also has the benefit of you not having to worry about me running off to warn the town guard or do something stupid,” Orren suggested.

“This isn’t a nature tour that I’m on. If you join me, we’ll be hunting bounties at Hammerhead’s until I have the funds to locate my sister’s family. Do you really want to take the risk? I’m incredibly difficult to stop, but you’re one sword thrust away from death,” Sabine said.

“He’ll slow you down, better to just destroy the young man and carry on by yourself. If you’d like, I can take care of it for you. I’m no warrior, but I know how to stab someone with a blade,” Hamish said, reaching out his hand as if he expected Sabine to plop a dagger into it.

“So, Hamish, you can fight now? That might come in handy, but we’re not going to kill Orren. No stabbing the scribe, got it?” Sabine growled. She hadn’t thought of using Hamish in a combat capacity. He might not be good in a fight, but he could distract a foe, and he wouldn’t be harmed if the skeleton he was wearing was destroyed. If that happened, she could just find him a replacement when the time came.

“Killing the scribe is the wise course of action, but I’ll accede to your demands, foolish as they are. As I mentioned earlier, I was never trained as a warrior, but I will do the best I can if helps us further our goals. Of course, you wouldn’t want to waste the daily summoning of your indispensable advisor just to deal with some ruffians,” Hamish said.

“I know the dangers involved, Sabine, and I’m willing to face them,” Orren interjected as he pled his case. “Traveling with a revenant and her skeletal advisor is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I can’t imagine what the family will say when they find out. Not that I’m going to reveal your secret or anything, at least not until you let me,”

“Don’t make me regret my decision Orren, welcome aboard,” Sabine said reluctantly. Maybe having someone along to document new threats would prove useful. Sabine had no idea what types of challenges she would face, but with Orren doing his magic book thing, whatever she fought would have its weaknesses revealed. With a little work, she could shape him up into a competent fighter. They would make a rather odd traveling group, it wasn’t every day that a revenant, a scribe, and a skeletal advisor fought together.