11. Chapter 11
Chapter eleven
“So, it’s not that I don’t know what to do…” Delia explained. “It’s that I don’t think I can do it.”
The group sat at the table eating dinner as Delia gestured to a page in her book.
“I’ve studied necromancy my entire life.” Delia continued. “And I am pretty aware of my limitations, for the most part. The tricky piece here is that I’ve never encountered undead before.”
Amelie took a bite of her food as she listened. This was the most she’d heard Delia speak in the last two days, and based on Regina and Hestia’s faces, it seemed that the same rang true for them.
“My mother used to tell me about a zombie she encountered while traveling abroad once. Well… not a zombie like the one we saw in the graveyard. This one was a fully functional humanoid being. His wife had been a necromancer, and after he passed away, she’d brought him back.
He had always experienced profound levels of guilt about his wife tilting the scales of fate in his favor, so when he got his second chance, he went back to school.
Used it to become a doctor and help as many people as he could. ”
“Did he lose his powers when he came back?” Hestia asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.
Delia shook his head. “He never had any powers to begin with. He was just an ordinary human.”
“That’s quite lucky then,” Regina commented. “Having a powerful sorceress as a wife like that.”
Delia shrugged. “It depends on who you ask, I suppose. She didn’t just bring him back; she made him immortal, and in doing that, well… she didn’t survive.”
Amelie’s hand flew up to her mouth. “Oh, my gods.”
Shrugging once again, Delia continued. “Necromancy isn’t practiced by many people and that’s partially because it’s a bloodline trait, but also because even if you are predisposed to it, it can be very dangerous.
There are people in the community who would be content to see it die out completely.
Including the necromancer’s husband who I was talking about earlier. ”
“Why would he want that?” Hestia asked. “Especially if he’s been able to help so many people since.”
“Well.” Delia continued. “When my mother asked him about it, he told her that as much of a blessing as it’s been, it was also a curse. Undeath isn’t like your run-of-the-mill standard immortality; there’s a price. One that you have to pay every single day of the rest of your… well… unlife, really.
He spoke of a gnawing hunger that took hold of him right after he was reborn. He was confused, disoriented; his wife was dead, and he didn’t know what was going on, so he stumbled out into the street and into an unsuspecting person.”
Delia shuddered, glancing paranoidly out the window. “He killed and ate her. Then once he came back to his senses and realized what he’d done…”
“That must have been horrible,” Regina whispered, reaching out for Hestia and Amelie’s hands.
With a nod, Delia took a deep breath. “Anyway, he told my mother that hunger never really went away. He was able to satiate himself on other corpses and cadavers, but it never dampened it more than when he’d fed from that poor woman.
Later, when he did studies on his own flesh, he discovered that due to his body’s inability to repair itself, it needed proteins and DNA from outside sources. The cadavers were enough to keep him going, but they didn’t repair him the way live tissue had.”
“So, what you’re saying is…” Amelie started, intertwining her fingers with the death witch’s and following her gaze to the window where now several other zombies were wandering around the grounds aimlessly.
“That those zombies out there, with no soul to anchor them to right and wrong, are effectively just indiscriminate killing machines, and with each kill, they’ll get stronger.”
“Oh good.” Hestia’s voice was high-pitched and for a moment Amelie thought that she might start to panic again, but then the redhead reached across the table and took Delia’s free hand in hers. “So we just have to deal with them before they eat any of us.”
Surprised at the touch but tightening her own grip on Hestia’s hand, Delia smiled softly. “That’s the plan.”
Amelie nodded, letting the group sit for a moment, just basking in each other’s presence and magic before breaking the silence.
“And the communication link to the Council isn’t working?” Amelie turned her attention back to Regina, who nodded solemnly.
“I’m sure they’ll send someone eventually when they can’t get ahold of us, but until then we are on our own.”
“Okay.” Amelie took a deep breath and squeezed both her hands in a way that she hoped was reassuring but could have just as easily been interpreted as nervous. “So, what do we do?”