Suggested Listening

Aunt Layli brushed Elruin's clothes some as they moved to the side of the gate, where they could be out of the way of the men who'd soon close it again. "By Ecross, girl, what happened to you?"

"Our farm was attacked by a monster, Father died," Elruin answered. She considered mentioning the others who were killed, but decided against it. "Now Cali's taking me to the city to teach me magic."

The older woman looked at the young men, who were now far more interested in the conversation than their jobs. No doubt, this would be all anyone was going to talk about for the rest of the day, if not for the other problems going on right now.

"That sounds like a story for later, after dinner," she said more to them than to Elruin, not that the girl realized this. "When we can get the whole story from Elruin and the priestess together. For now, it's been a rough day for all of us. Let's get you cleaned up and out of these clothes, I think I've got something that'll fit."

She ushered the child off to the baths where, if nothing else, she wasn't going to tell people more evil news on a day which had so much of it already. "One good thing about the storm, if you can say such a thing: our cistern won't be running dry any time soon. Take your time, get yourself clean while I scrounge up something for you to wear."

Elruin looked down at her dress, reduced to little more than rags, then set about cleaning herself of the caked mud, blood, and mork spittle. By the time she was done, there was a new dress waiting for her by the doorway. It was a little large for her, and worn out from long periods of use, but it was nicer than most of the clothes Elruin possessed over the years.

Once she was done with her bath, she got a look at Aunt Leyli's house, and the tree which had landed on it and caved in part of the roof near the side door closest to the bathing room. Cali was there, as well as some of the men and women of the farm, including Aunt Leyli. One of the younger children, a boy perhaps half Elruin's age, walked up to her.

"The nice lady is going to fix everything!" He was either too young to have learned the social norms, or he didn't realize Elruin was a girl.

Elruin wasn't sure what Cali would do to fix a tree, but it sounded interesting, so she stopped to watch.

First the more experienced mage tapped the tree, which created a soft, deep echo that Elruin wasn't sure anyone but her and Cali could hear. Another tap in another part of the tree, while Calenda stepped to a rhythm that made sense to nobody but herself. Elruin had never seen such controlled use of magic before, as the energies began to build up, held together by a dance.

The tree shifted, twisted, and moved as if it was the stringy branches of a willow instead of a maple. It folded away from the house, swaying to the undetectable currents created with Calenda's magic. There was nothing Elruin could compare it to; it was far beyond her abilities, but she watched and remembered in the hope that some day she could do something so beautiful.

Now that the tree had rolled itself away from the house, it stretched out and parts of it began to fall off. Long, thin strips of wood shed from the tree in the shape of wooden boards. As she worked, some of the farmhands rushed in to pick up the boards and pull them away. No doubt, they'd be put to use rebuilding the house and any number of other projects.

Knowing Cali would be a while, Elruin left the spectacle behind in order to try what she had learned. She began to sing her song, reaching out to hear her magic. She heard Calenda's power at work, and kept her own 'voice' down so she didn't disrupt the harmony that Cali had created. Elsewhere, in the farmhouse, she felt echoes of death wrapped in life in a way she had never heard before, and could not puzzle out.

Elsewhere, however, was a more familiar song; the song of a death fulfilling, a life which felt itself wronged, unable to surrender to the night and strong enough to resist the clawing power of death. It was the same will that powered her last dolly, the part of the recipe that she failed to create when playing with the rodents.

She walked in a straight line toward the source of the song, finding herself near a pit where a number of animals were dumped including a couple dogs, one cat, and a pair of sheep that had been butchered before being dumped; a mass grave for beasts lost to the storm, with a stench of offal and blood that had not quite given way to that of decay. The stink and corpses were of little consequence, save for a single dark chestnut horse who had a clean cut where its throat was slit.

She noted her brother-in-law, Laor, approaching her. "Elruin, you should go back to the farmhouse. This isn't a place for children." He had the most leeway, as far as social taboos went, in ordering Elruin around. Especially out here; the bloody work of disposing of dead animals was not meant for women.

"What happened to the horsey?" She couldn't tear her eyes away, nor could she ignore the song and echoes from it. A song of pain, of anger, and of betrayal directed toward the man speaking to her. "Why did you kill him?"

"How did you?" He stopped himself from finishing his outburst; had nothing to be ashamed of or hide, but he felt the need to justify himself. "He was my prized horse, cost almost my whole savings, but worth every penny. Then the storm hit, and his back was broken." A tear ran down the man's cheek. "A quick death was better than letting him suffer."

"Oh." One didn't grow up on a farm without learning the fragility of life. However, that did not stop the echoes of the animal before her, twisted in pain and frustration, and a hatred of his former owner. She began to sing anew, adapting her notes to the corpse before her, using the lessons she learned from Calenda's soft, omnipresent touch rather than the clumsy, brute-force method she had been using before. One note in ten changed, then one in five, then one in three. Soon, its song became her song, and her song became its song.

"What are you doing?" Her in-law sounded terrified just as Father had, but he didn't try to kill her so Elruin ignored him. In the pit, bodies began to move. Not just the horse, but the other corpses in the pit. They soon stopped, while the horse forced itself standing, the bones of its spine breaching through its skin and flesh sloughing away like that of a cicada shell. A large, wet, horrifying cicada shell that would give the other witnesses nightmares for years to come. "Seven below!"

"He doesn't want to stay here, anymore," the girl said as if that was an explanation. "He wants to come with me." Not quite true; what the creature wanted was to stomp the man beside her until his brains were spread across the farm, then do the same to everyone else, but Elruin told him that he had to be a good horsey, and that meant he wasn't allowed to murder her family.

Elruin heard Cali's magical power moments before the girl landed in front of her, putting herself between the skeletal beast and the humans, including Elruin.

"He's safe," Elruin said. With all the logic she learned in her decade or so of language skills, she presented her case. "He's mine. I'm going to call him Mister Clackybones."

"What?" Calenda didn't look away from the monster, but she could tell it wasn't attacking or moving. "You're controlling it?" Her brain filed the name away under things to address some other time. Instead, she did her best to listen to Elruin's song, and the echoes between it and what she was feeling off the horror standing before her.

"Yes," Elruin said. Now that she established her power over Mister Clackybones, she began to draw away from her magical abilities. "He's mine, now."

"Uh, we'll talk about that later." Calenda had more questions than she cared to voice about this situation, especially with superstitious farm folk listening to them and coming to whatever weird conclusions they would come to. She slipped some, and Elruin realized that Cali must have burned herself out with her work, then the power needed to make the jump over here. "Let's just go, Lady Leyli says it's almost time for dinner."

"And, the, uh," Leor glanced at the skeleton. "That? What do we do about that?"

Calenda took another hard look at Elruin. "She seems to have it under control. You do have it controlled, right?"

"As long as nobody attacks it," Elruin said. She remembered her lesson from before. "Mister Clackybones will be the most obedient horsey ever."

"Then we put it somewhere far away from people, and we'll take it with us when we leave." Cali forced herself to stand tall, despite her exhaustion. "I'm sure your parents will ask these questions when we get back."

"Right." Leor accepted that answer, not because he liked it, but because he had no idea what to do about it and it wasn't his place to make these decisions anyway. "The corner east of the gate is empty. It's fallow this season."

A handful of notes from Elruin sent Clackybones trotting toward the corner, earning terrified stares from everyone as it earned its name, but otherwise caused no problems as it stood in the corner of the farm. It paid no mind to the people of the farm, and they did their best to stay as far from it as they could.

A dinner of roast lamb and chicken that would otherwise have only been had during a celebratory feast was waiting for them at the table, though there was no sign of joy or cheer at this table. They ate in silence, as was tradition with guests who were expected to stay after dinner for conversation. Despite the circumstances, everyone ate well; farmers and soldiers alike learned to take their food when they could, regardless of other concerns.

After the meals were over, it was time for the necessary conversations, ones which would ruin meals. The young children were ushered from the main room, off to their rooms or what chores they had to do before bed.

Aunt Leyli picked her subject of choice as the young women of the house, Elruin's sister included, began clearing the table. The exception was a young, heavily pregnant woman, who Leyli chose as the first topic to discuss. "Thank you, for helping Lena." It was a safe start to a dangerous conversation.

"Yes, thank you so much," Lena said. She kept her hands over her stomach. "Will... will they be okay?"

It was Leyli's place to ask that question, but nobody rebuked her for the lapse in of protocol.

"I don't know." Perhaps the worst part of any priestess' job was delivering terrible news. "One's strong, and I did the best I could with healing, but I'm worried about the other two. I'll send a midwife the moment I get back."

"One's dead," Elruin said, breaking protocol just as Lena did, though the gasps and cry of dismay were more from the nature of her news than the method of delivery. "The other two are alive, though one's hurt." This was the strange thing she had seen before, a woman carrying a dead fetus, in addition to two living ones.

Lena began to sob, while her husband held her. Aunt Leyli decided now was time to take control back of the conversation. "And you can be certain?" The question was directed at Calenda.

"She is a death mage," Cali admitted. "On this subject, I trust her abilities more than my own, but Elruin's inexperienced and could be mistaken." She wasn't, Calenda knew she wasn't, but she also knew the value of a comforting lie. "The midwife will have the right magic and skills to help. Please, try not to focus too much on what you may have lost until then. It could put your healthy babies at risk."

Uncle Sanel reached over, squeezing Aunt Leyli's hand under the table. Now was the time for the other elephant in the room. "And this death magic, that horse-monster she created?"

"She didn't create it," Calenda said. "She doesn't have the skill, nor was there enough time for her to try. This one was natural, they sometimes happen when a lot of things die at once." Cali hesitated for a moment, then decided there was no need to tell them it required sapient death to spawn undead taint, natural or otherwise; it would upset the soon-to-be-mother carrying a dead fetus.

"You should be glad Elruin recognized it so soon," she continued. This was a truth that would help rather than harm. "Sometimes they take years before the taint allows them to move, but they fester and corrupt the land from the moment it takes hold, and exorcists can only do so much for tainted ground. She may have saved your farm, today. Maybe lives as well."

"Right, thank you," Leyli said. She didn't sound grateful, but she had a lot on her mind. "You're taking her for training?"

"Of course. She's got great potential in her." Tact demanded she leave out the utter nightmare a Wild Talent with Elruin's strength and affinity might unleash if allowed to develop without careful supervision. The little necromancer was controlling the undead at the age of twelve, while many an adult had been ripped apart by the very things they sought to command. "With the right training, she'll be able to help many people. She proved that, today."

Elruin smiled in her seat; praise was a rare treat in her life, and now she was receiving a great deal of it.

Leyli wanted to ask more, like about what happened at Othsa's farm, but they had settled on the closest thing to happy news. Once things were settled here, perhaps they'd send someone to see about their neighbors and cousins.

"We should get some rest, it's been a hard day for all of us." It was phrased as a request for the sake of the priestess, but her children would accept it as the command it was in truth. "I'm sorry we don't have anywhere for you to stay, but the tree..." Custom demanded Calenda be given a comfortable place to sleep alone as a guest, a priestess, and as someone who saved some of their lives. If a spare bed wasn't available, then some of the family would be sleeping in the same bed for a night.

"No, you need not apologize." She felt bad enough for the family after having to deliver the news that they'd lost a baby. But she wasn't about to share a bed with a stranger, either. "A sheet and a place in the hay loft is enough for me."

"Can I come with you?" Elruin said. She wasn't keen on trying to find a place to sleep in the house. As family, they'd probably stick her with her sister and Laor, and Mister Clackybones didn't like him. "I like hay, too."

"I see no reason why not," Calenda said. Nobody objected, nor did she expect them to, and it would let her talk to the little girl who seemed to think a walking supernatural plague was some sort of pet.

Later they sat down on their makeshift beds, and Calenda watched with amusement as the last rodent fled from the building. Elruin's magical aura felt like an unpleasant stickiness on her skin, but at least she wouldn't wake up with a rats or bugs on her in the morning. "About that horse."

"Mister Clackybones? He's my favorite dolly"

"It has to be destroyed."

"But... I just named him..."

This is going to be harder than I thought. "It is a walking plague," Calenda put on her command voice. "Even if you can control it, you can't control the infection it carries. It will spread, others will rise, and people will die. The church, every church, will mobilize. They'll destroy all of the dollies, and then you, if you try to keep them."

"But you said controlling him was good."

"I said it saved lives, and it did." Calenda fell back on her cot. "Lots of necromancers don't have the power to kill the undead, so they'll chain them long enough to find someone else to do the cleansing. But you have to destroy it at earliest opportunity. And there's something weird about these outbreaks. This makes the third undead creature I've heard of in the wake of this storm. Maybe it's best to take it back with us, get a royal mage or two to take it apart to see if there's anything special."

"But I'll miss him," Elruin's attempt at a whine was weak at best.

"We'll talk about it in the morning." Calenda had pushed her magic to its limit, and now a headache was creeping in. "The world is clearer after sunrise."

As it turns out, the world was not clearer after sunrise. Both were awakened by Aunt Leyli. "My apologies, priestess, but there is a man who insists he must speak to you. We haven't opened the gate, and we don't plan to, but he is making threats."

Both Aunt Leyli and Uncle Sanel were waiting for them, along with a few of the other men.

Calenda and Elruin both had no trouble seeing the person outside of the gate using their respective senses, and others hiding further back. He was exchanging shouts with a farmhand on the other side of the wall, but that was too far away for Elruin to determine what was being discussed. It didn't sound nice, whatever it was.

"I see the three of them," Cali said. "I'm going to bet there's three other weird ones I can't see."

"Yes," Elruin said after a moment. She pointed them out one after another.

"Good spots to rush the wall," Uncle Sanel said with careful-chosen neutral language. "If the gate opens, they'll be in before we can close it again."

"I take it you know them?" Aunt Leyli phrased it as a question, or perhaps as a request for Cali to share what she knew. "How dangerous will they be?"

Cali shook her head, then began to check her equipment. "We thought they were bandits at first, but now I'm not sure what to think. It seems obvious they're interested in coming after me, whatever their story. But they can't be too strong, or we wouldn't be having this conversation. They can't get through your wall, I'm sure of that much."

"What do we do?" Leyli asked.

Translation: what are you going to do. Calenda slid her knife from its sheath. "Normally, a situation like this means I should run and take shelter, then wait for the Guard to come for me. I've got that shelter. But if I do that, then I won't be able to get to town in time to alert a midwife, and we could be here a week before the Guard arrives. I doubt Lena or her babies can afford to wait that long."

Leyli and Sanel nodded; the topic would have been brought up by one of them if Cali hadn't done it first.

"Second choice? I run, hope they follow me," Cali continued. "But they might think the farm's a bigger target than I am. Or maybe they'll try for hostages thinking I'll come back.

"Or, and this is the one I'm inclined to go for," Cali added. "We take the fight to them."