Chapter 29
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
Wraith stared at Konrad, body tense and waiting to see what he would do or say next. He was so hard to predict.
One moment, he was barking at Wraith, calling him disgusting, and pulling out a dagger on Umbra. Now he’d welcomed Wraith into his room, ordered food for him, called him a bath, and asked to meet Umbra. Wraith’s head was spinning.
He turned his attention to Umbra. At least she was not perplexing. She was Umbra. His companion, who’d been by his side for almost his entire existence. “Well, Umbra was my dog in life.”
He rubbed his hands over her, feeling the cool fog licking at his fingers. She opened her mouth, tongue lolling out.
Wraith smiled. “She was just a puppy when I found her. I think I was around seven years old. I had been wandering around the Temple of the Veil, as I often did as a child.”
Wraith’s family had no need for him. The shadow king clearly did not want him around, so Wraith had often found himself in strange places, just trying to keep out of the way.
“I was walking around the stables, looking at the horses. And there was a litter of four puppies. They ran around, stumbling over their own feet. They were so cute.” He paused.
“But there was one puppy. Unlike the others, she was gaunt and significantly smaller. She struggled to move like the others did. Often, she just lay down whilst the others played.”
Wraith swallowed. “I overheard the stable master saying the runt would probably die. She said it was a sickly little thing and it would be best if it just hurried up and got on with it.”
No one had cared for the sick little runt, just like no one had cared for Wraith. Then they had found each other.
Wraith leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Umbra’s head. “I would sit and hold her whilst the other puppies ran around. She seemed content just to be with me and be patted. She’d always perk up and bark when I came to the stables. She’d whine when I left. She liked me to be around.”
And no one else had ever wanted Wraith around, before or since.
“Sometimes I’d stay and sleep in the stables with her. The other puppies grew bigger and stronger. But Umbra struggled, especially when her mother stopped caring for her. She seemed to just get sicker and weaker.
“I was so scared of losing her. So I took her to my room. She slept in my bed.” Wraith had finally found a companion, someone who actually liked him and wanted him around. But he fretted for her constantly.
“She kept growing. But she was never well. She was sickly and spent a lot of time sleeping. She got bigger, but she was so weak. She rarely had the energy to run around or bark. I would spend days just cuddled up with her, wishing she would be well. I fed her by hand. But she just wouldn’t get better.
No matter how I tried.” Wraith’s voice shook.
“I even visited the healer and asked for help.” And Wraith had been terrified of the healer. “But he just clipped my ear and told me not to bother him with such trivialities. She got weaker and weaker. I … I couldn’t save her.” He took a deep breath.
“I woke one morning, and she lay dead beside me.” Wraith’s eyes prickled. He blinked rapidly. He could still remember waking to her cold, stiff body beside him. His beautiful dog … gone. And for that moment, Wraith had been completely and utterly alone in the world once more.
Wraith wiped at his eyes. “But I couldn’t accept it. I couldn’t just let her go. I wouldn’t! Not when she was the only one who’d ever loved me. And I knew …”
He looked up at Konrad, who stared at Wraith, green eyes intent.
“I knew that there were ways to bring her back. I was a necromancer. I was untrained and young with no idea what I was doing. I did not know how to bring her back, but I knew it was possible. I had to try.” Wraith looked down at Umbra, who gazed back up at him.
“I couldn’t just let her go without a fight.
“And I could still feel her spirit. It wasn’t there with her body. Nor was she wandering around like a ghost. She had passed through the Bone Door, which leads to the afterlife, but she had not gone too far. Not yet.”
Although, Wraith had not fully understood the Bone Door back then. He’d just known it appeared at times and that ghosts sometimes walked through it. Back then, Wraith had not dared step through the door. He’d only stood in the doorway, looking through.
“Most animals pass on quickly. But sometimes a pet, a dog, bird, or cat, lingers.”
Wraith placed his hands on both sides of Umbra’s face.
“I went completely on instinct, on what I felt would work. I touched her face, like I’m doing now, and I called her spirit.
The Bone Door appeared and opened. She bounded back through as a ghost. She barked and jumped around me, with more energy than she ever had in life. ”
Wraith laughed. He’d been so happy to see Umbra carefree. Even if she was a ghost.
“But I didn’t know how to get her to go back into her body.
I willed it, but—” Wraith shook his head.
“And I was struggling to keep her with me. I felt the tug of her slipping away. It was like I couldn’t hold her.
” A tear slipped down his cheek. “I was losing her. I could feel it. But I wouldn’t allow her to leave me! ”
He wiped at his cheeks. “I remembered hearing that there was power in blood. I knew sacrifices had to be made. And I’d heard and seen enough to know some of the things you should do to bring back the dead.
So I cut my palm and placed it on her corpse.
It did nothing. I could still feel her spirit slipping away. ”
Wraith’s heart pounded as he remembered the fear that had clawed at his throat as he thought he was about to lose Umbra forever.
“I made a cut on her body and placed my bleeding palm onto it. I called her. I told her to stay. My palm warmed. Her ghost seemed to grow stronger. But it didn’t return to her body. Umbra’s ghost just stood by me, staring at me and barking.”
Wraith exhaled. “I lifted my hand from her corpse, and I touched her ghost. I’d never touched a ghost before that moment. My bleeding hand burned. And in that spot where I touched her, I could feel the energy moving between us, flowing from me into her.”
Wraith wrapped his arms around Umbra, pulling her close.
“I felt my energy sapping, the strength leaving me to create her and give her a form. And she was getting stronger, her presence becoming fixed. So I just kept pouring more and more of my energy. Until I was pouring everything, all my life force into her. She got stronger and stronger. Then I collapsed and passed out.”
He released Umbra and patted her. “I woke sometime later. Umbra’s corpse was still cold and unmoving beside me. But Umbra had been reborn as a hellhound. And she was licking my face.”
Wraith cleared his throat and looked at Konrad once more. Konrad had not moved. He still just sat, listening to Wraith.
“It almost killed me. I was bedridden for almost a year. Only the servants visited me, bringing me food so I did not perish. But I don’t think I ever fully recovered.”
“Why did it almost kill you?” Konrad asked.
Wraith took a moment before responding. “Did you know that many necromancers die young, especially between the ages of five and fourteen?”
Konrad shook his head.
“If you are born with the ability and try to use it before you have been trained, it can be extremely dangerous. You can draw on your own life energy and easily overextend. That’s what kills us. If I hadn’t collapsed when I did, I probably would have died.”
“Are there not measures in place to stop such a thing from occurring?”
Wraith nodded. “There are bracers that can be worn around the wrists, or pendants, or brooches, or other bits of jewellery that will protect against overextending. Most children who are thought to have necromantic skills are often made to wear them from a very young age so they don’t die accidently. ”
“Why were you not wearing something like that?” Konrad asked.
Wraith dropped his gaze. Because no one cared if I lived or if I died.