A Soldier's Life - 282 - Skeletons In The Closet (final edit 6-20-25 - big changes that ripple to book 7)

Chapter 282: Skeletons In The Closet

Getting to higher ground made sense, and the burned-out farm was on top of a hill. We didn’t need the glowstones with the rapid flashing lightning, but had them out anyway. Only Mateo’s horse was giving us trouble as the constant waves of thunder spooked him. He even dragged Mateo through the mud for fifty feet on one particularly close strike when he bolted.

As we returned to the farm, we were caked up to our knees in mud. We all huddled into the open shelter made from split logs. It was used for farming tools and keeping the harvest dry, but the tools looked to have been scavenged, as there were only broken and rusty ones remaining. The pounding rain only seemed to increase as we settled in. It was cramped but manageable with the six horses.

“Is this natural?” Blaze yelled over the rain as he stripped to wring out his underclothes. We had been in magical weather before, and it had never turned out well.

Raelia answered him, “Usually, there are flash storms in the plains closer to Khoura, but I don’t think it is the season. Maybe it is magically induced.” She hesitated, “It does fell that way.” Raelia was completely dry under her Ranger’s cloak, to my surprise. Was it the cloak or a spell? With rain as heavy as it was, not even legion cloaks could keep you completely dry. Raelia was averting her eyes as Mateo and Benito also began to remove their armor and wring their underclothes.

Maveith bellowed over the loud rain, “That bridge is going to be underwater in the morning. We will have to stay on this side of the river all the way back to Dewmire.” I nodded, recalling some challenging terrain for the horses on that side.

I spoke loudly so everyone could hear. “Rub down the horses and find a dry spot to get some sleep. Actually, maybe we should leave the horses here and sleep in the firewood shelter. There should be enough room for all of us. I will stand watch the half the night and Maveith the other.” By now, the others knew we both had rings that allowed us to get less sleep and food. No one objected to getting a full night’s rest. We hastily unsaddled the mounts and hung everything we could to drip dry. Heavy, wet gear was always a miserable experience the next day. The others quickly leveled the piles of wood to create beds off the ground.

The rain continued to fall for the next hour as we once again got ready for the night. I didn’t remove my armor or make an attempt to dry off as I stood watch. The others were hanging up everything they could to dry. The lightning and thunder had abated some, but the flashes played tricks on the eyes with the shadows in the trees. Fortunately, my aether sight seemed unaffected by the lightning flashes.

My earth speak was muted with the water-logged ground, but I still got fuzzy feedback. A large number of mice, snakes, and other small critters had been drowned in their burrows. The rain had just come on too fast for them to flee. I gave the group my thermal stone to set their bedrolls around while I kept watch. The heavy rain acted like white noise, and soon, my exhausted companions were asleep.

The rain didn’t abate for nearly four hours, and then it stopped instantly like someone had shut it off. The only sounds I heard were water dripping from trees, pattering on the ground, and our roof. Even that settled after thirty minutes to give way to an eerie quiet.

Raelia stirred, rolling closer to the thermal stone. With the air stilled, someone in our enclosure had fumigated it, but it had been a silent flatulence, and I didn’t know who the perpetrator was.

I saw Maveith’s eyes open, and he stared at the ceiling. Four hours was more than enough rest for him with his ring. He rose silently and crossed his legs underneath him. He nodded to me, indicating he was ready to take the watch.

For me, the woods surrounding the farm seemed too eerie, and I was going to remain awake. Maveith stood and quietly put his armor back on. He wasn’t successful as a grumpy Mateo ducked deeper inside his bedroll. Maveith moved to stand where I was.

I whispered, “I will stay up with you as long as I can see in the dark.” Suddenly, Neptune’s Tear revealed itself, casting a blue glow over our surroundings, but I remained with my friend. We sat silently, not wanting to disturb the others. Maveith’s arm extended, pointing into the woods, and I focused. My aether sight didn’t reach very far, but I did see the strange shadow he was pointing at.

“A deer or large wolf,” Maveith guessed in a flat whisper. “Probably got active after the rain finished and is hungry.”

I tried to follow the creature in the low light, but it was over a hundred yards in the woods, and I kept losing it. The spyglass appeared in my hands, and I adjusted it. Finding the creature in the distance took me a while, as it was flitting between the trees for cover. It was definitely aware of our camp. “Rouse the others quietly. It is bipedal and circling the camp.”

Maveith grunted softly and woke Raelia first. I was impressed, as she was out of her bedroll in a breath and on alert, her Ranger training taking hold. Baldo, on the other hand, was still curled into a ball and sleeping. Worried there might be more, I scanned across the fields and around the farmhouse with the spyglass. I didn’t see any other movement, and Blaze, with his amazing eyesight, helped me locate the interloper.

“I might be able to hit it,” Blaze stated, his bow ready.

“No, we should know what we are attacking and if it is a threat. It could have been out there in the storm the entire night watching us.” I kept a focus on it as everyone prepared. “Mateo and Benito stay with the horses. Blaze and Raelia trail Maveith and me.”

Moving silently in wet clothes was much harder than you would think as I headed into the woods. Even more frustrating was our feet sinking into the mud with each step. I heard Raelia tell Baldo to stay, and he let out a long, whining chirp—the one he often makes when he's hungry. He didn’t want Raelia to leave him without feeding him breakfast first. The creature in the woods was spooked and disappeared from our line of sight among the trunks.

“Do we follow it?” Maveith grumbled to keep his voice low.

Raelia was hissing at a repentant Baldo, who curled up on himself. He knew that when he was bad, he wouldn't get any food. I weighed the pros and cons before responding. “I don’t like something out there watching us. We still go investigate.”

I had Maveith stay five paces behind me and Raelia and Blaze with their bows twenty paces further back. “Don’t enter the tree line,” I told Raelia and Blaze. I don’t want you to lose sight of Mateo and Benito in case there is another threat or this one circles around. Ginger neighed as I entered the tree line, but quieted quickly at Mateo’s urging.

Entering the woods was actually a relief. The forest carpet was thick with leaves and pine needles covering dense roots. It was not muddy, even with all the rain. Either the ground had absorbed the rainfall, or the runoff was enough to make movement easier and quieter.

I kept checking with earth pulses and looking back at my companions as I ventured into the woods. I finally found something: two haphazard, recently buried skeletons. Mostly, water logged leaves and churned earth covered them. This must be where the baker’s parents had been put to rest.

I caught movement to my right, but didn’t see what caused it. Maveith couldn’t see under the denser canopy, so I hissed at him. “Retreat to Raelia’s position in case it runs.”

I walked past the buried skeletons and approached the area where I had seen the movement. It was only with the grace of earth speak that I detected the two skeletons rising behind me. My blood chilled as I alerted the others, “Undead!” I whirled to face the rising from the earth, while continuing to search for the humanoid with earth speak.

The grinding of bone on bone echoed as the two skeletons rose, wet clumps of leaves sliding off them. Faint blue light illuminated their joints, apparently welding the bones together. Some bits of charred flesh and desiccated organs hung on the frame in a macabre sight.

During Hound training, Hearne had said the only places we were likely to encounter undead skeletons were if we were foolish enough to venture into a dungeon that created them or if we were in pursuit of a necromancer. The blue aether binding them needed to be sustained by someone or something. Destroying the spine was how we were taught to fight them.

I switched Boris’ dungeon blade for the black spear. The skeletons had no weapons and were charred black from the fire as they advanced clumsily toward me. I swung the spear in an arc, trying to catch both of them. I was surprised when the ribs and spines shattered under the blow. Both skeletons collapsed to the ground in a pile of bones. The upper torsos still had some fight, both pulling themselves free and starting to crawl toward me.

I shattered one skull and then the other with quick stabs of the spear. The remaining aether holding them together evaporated into the ground. The bones must have been brittle from the fire, due to how easily they fractured, or maybe it was the spear’s magic. One of these days, I will have to get a revelation scroll on the artifact. My worry was that whoever performed the reading would know how powerful the artifact was and it would make me a target.

Maveith came rushing to help, a glowstone in one hand and his hammer in the other, ready to smash, but ending up skidding past me on muddy leaves and tripping over tree roots. As he tumbled to the ground, the figure broke and ran. I chased after what I assumed was a necromancer. Maveith got to his feet behind me as I ran and skidded to catch the fleeing person.

I surged ahead, boots pounding against the damp forest floor, and closed the distance between us. With a swift, downward thrust, my blade sank into the back of his thigh, damaging his hamstring. The orc let out a strangled cry as his leg gave out beneath him. He stumbled blindly through the darkness, crashing shoulder-first into a tree with a sickening thud before collapsing into the underbrush.

He lay there, whimpering, clutching the back of his leg with trembling fingers. Maveith arrived moments later, holding the glowstone aloft. Its pale blue light spilled over the scene, casting long shadows and illuminating the fallen figure. The orc was caked in mud from head to toe, the muck clinging to his skin like a second layer. Beneath the grime, his features looked unexpectedly youthful—smooth cheeks and wide eyes—fear, pain, and innocence highlighted his appearance.

“Were those your skeletons?” I asked in Elvish. He was too distracted from his pain to answer me, or maybe he didn’t understand Elvish. “Go get Raelia,” I told Maveith, and waited for them to return. After sending out an earth pulse, I returned my spear to my dimensional space and replaced it with Boris’ blade. Even through the pain, he noticed my weapon swap. His eyes were wide as I tossed him a bandage for his leg out of thin air.

Maveith returned with Raelia at a jog, and I stood back and let her interrogate the young orc. Raelia had boasted she was fluent in the orc language, but she struggled to keep the injured orc’s attention and stumbled through the conversation. After a time, she turned to us, “He said he was the son of the farmers.”

I was immediately confused. “Did the baker have a brother? We were not asked to check in on a brother.” My question took some back-and-forth before Raelia turned to me again.

“He was adopted a year ago,” Raelia informed me, though she sounded uncertain. “He says the old farmers never told either of their sons. One is a baker and the other a pig farmer.” We all looked at each but eventually they turned to me to decide.

“Ask him if he created those skeletons,” I said seriously. I already knew he had to be the necromancer. When I approached his hiding position, the skeletons clearly rose to defend him. Instead of answering Raelia’s inquiry, he just started sobbing uncontrollably.

I grimaced, seeing where this was going. “How does the Boutan Caliphate deal with necromancers?” I asked Raelia.

Her tone was heavy, and maybe she felt pity for the young orc, “I believe outside of talking to the deceased, it is outlawed.” Raelia looked back at the bones in the distance. “We would be doing him a favor to kill him now. Bringing undead into existence is punishable by death in most kingdoms.”

I winced. We had three choices before us. Leave him, turn him in, or kill him. Even with his orcish features, I guessed him to be no older than 14. “Ask him how the farmers died.” Maybe his answer would make my decision easier. I waited while Raelia worked to get it out of him. The pain was still distracting him. She also got more comfortable with the orc tongue as the conversation progressed.

When she finished, she looked grim. “They died in their sleep. Probably from something they ate. He got really sick as well, but lived. He didn’t know he had magic and, while mourning them, raised them as ghouls. When neighbors came to check on them, he got scared and ordered them to remain in bed and not move. The neighbors burned the house after looting it.”

“He then raised them again, but this time as skeletons,” I finished. I believe he had the necromancy spell form for raising the dead. “What do you think we should do?” I asked Maveith and Raelia while the orc simpered.

Maveith leaned on his hammer in thought while Raelia answered with some fervor. “Death. If he created zombies, his necromancy must be very powerful. The dead and living cannot coexist. In Bartiradia, he would be publicly executed for creating ghouls.”

“We are not in Bartiradia,” I reminded her.

Maveith clearly pitied the orc boy. With a sigh, he agreed with Raelia, “Powerful necromancers have caused more wars and death across the world than any single nation. If he can raise the dead at such a young age, I am afraid what he might become.” Raelia nodded in agreement. “But there are always the Death Hunters?” Maveith added.

I looked quizzically at Maveith, but it was Raelia who answered with an uncertain nod. “The Death Hunters might be a possibility. They accept necromancers into their ranks and teach them to hunt and destroy the undead. But their Citadel is all the way in Nausis.”

Maveith shook his head. “They have a stronghold in Esenhem.”

“A stronghold, yes, but they train their members in Nausis. Are we going to turn around and escort him four thousand miles there?” Raelia said a little heatedly, and Maveith winced. I could see the goliath realizing that it would delay us by many months to do so.

“I can try something…” I said, turning to the boy and he winced as I focused on him. He couldn’t run, and was at our mercy.

I made to place him in my space and sort it out later. I got immediate backlash as my aether bottomed out. An instant migraine formed and I was unsteady for a moment. His aether resistance was too strong for me as he instinctively resisted my attempt to send him to dimensional space. He didn’t even realize he had done it by the confusion on his face. Only Traeliorn had been able to resist me, and since then, I had increased my affinity. How strong was this child?

I briefly considered adding the orc to our group as a guide, but if he was found to be a necromancer, it could cause us problems in our quest. He was obviously alone, and no one knew he was out here. What would be the harm in letting him go?

“Are you all right, Eryk?” Maveith asked worriedly. He had hefted his hammer and was ready to strike the young orc. Raelia had stepped back from the orc as well, not understanding what was happening.

“He is strong,” I explained, and Maveith understood what I had tried to do.

“I will do it,” Raelia said, drawing a blade.

“No!” I stopped her with a gesture. “He cannot come with us, but he can decide his own fate. Tell him about the Stronghold in Esenhem and how to get to it.”

“You cannot let him go!” Raelia said heatedly. “Necromancers must be…”

“Tell him, Raelia!” I said angrily.

It took some time for Raelia to explain to the boy. We found out his name was Tovin. He didn’t know who his real parents were and professed he worked hard before they had been poisoned. His filthy, calloused hands made me believe his story. I gave him one of the Pathfinder potions to heal his thigh, and he drank it happily. I guessed orcs had different tastes.

When he was able to walk, I gave him some food in an old legion pack. As he shuffled off into the trees, he looked back a few times thinking it was all a trick. Raelia looked disappointed in my decision and Maveith looked indifferent.

I tried to explain myself to her. “Choices, Raelia. Everyone is capable of evil—or good. He deserves the chance to make that choice.”

Her eyes bore into me and it reminded me of when I had released her in the dungeon. “You just didn’t want to kill a boy. If he does join the Death Hunters, then you did good. If he raises an army of undead, then you contributed to his evil,” Raelia said tersely, turning her back on me and walking back to the others..

I explained what had happened in the woods. Benito, Blaze, and Mateo had no particular opinion on necromancers, viewing them the same as any other mage. Raelia just huffed, saying they had never seen an undead horde tear through a village, but she admitted on questioning that neither had she. As we mounted to leave, Blaze leaned into me. “Next time I want to take on an extra job, just remind me what a clusterfuck this was.”

I huffed in agreement, and we headed out on the muddy four-mile trek back to Adorechi.