”I can’t believe we’re not killing her for what she did!” Duke complained. “She killed Alice! I don’t care if it was because of that damn bracelet. She’s an enemy now! We’ve killed people for far less.”

Most of the new inquisition agreed with him, but none of them would actually act against Coquelicot’s orders. The High inquisitor had placed down the massive sphere of bones she had collected and sat down to rest.

“You couldn’t kill her anymore even if you wanted to. Her mind is almost clear by now and every single one of you would get killed if you tried to attack her now.” She explained to her apprentices. “She’s playing weaker than she actually is, and to be honest, I have no idea what to do with her. I tried removing the bracelet when I restrained her but it wouldn’t open. The hand I used to lock the bracelet is gone too.”

“Can’t you open it with your feet or mouth?” A young female inquisitor called Maya suggested. “Or we could cut her hand off, or just sort of mush the bones in her hand to fit it through the bracelet…”

“I’m not going to get anywhere close to her anymore, but let’s keep the amputation option as the last resort. There’s always a chance that she’ll attack us even without the bracelet if we do that.” Coquelicot noted.

While the new inquisition was discussing the matter of getting the bracelet off Anastacia’s wrist, darker clouds moved in from the north and it began to rain. It didn’t take long for the light drizzle to turn into a full-blown downpour. The inquisitors were used to the weather and didn’t let it bother them, but Anastacia was now lying in a puddle, unable to move. There was no material that she could use to free herself and her movement was too restricted to be able to cast fire. This annoyed the necromancer and she began to scream to burn off some of the anger.

“Should we go ask help from her friends? She’d probably let them get close.” Maya asked.

“They’re her friends, we can’t trust them to believe us over her.” Duke pointed out.

After two hours of planning, they hadn’t gotten any better ideas than cutting off Anastacia’s hand. The rain wasn’t letting up either. Cyan had taken off his robe and wrapped Alice in it so they wouldn’t need to look at their burned friend. The rain made it hard to see Anastacia from so far away, so they kept track of her only by feeling her presence.

Xamiliere was out on a stroll outside the city when she spotted a lump of something in the middle of a field that looked like it had been dug full of small holes. On closer inspection she realized that the lump was Anastacia, who had been wrapped in scrap metal.

“What’s up sweet cheeks? I heard you were trying to learn some magic, is this part of the training?” The spriggan asked and leaned on Anastacia’s metal coffin.

“No, you fucking twi… Uh… No. Please help, I’ve been trapped by Amaranth and she’s out to get reinforcements!” Anastacia pleaded. “They’ll be back any minute now.”

“Wow, you’re a terrible liar. Really now, what’s up?” Xamiliere asked again, having immediately seen through the act.

“Look, just help me okay? I’ll come to your room tonight!” The trapped necromancer tried to bargain.

Xamiliere kneeled next to Anastacia’s face to take a closer look. Something didn’t seem right to her.

“Who are you and what did you do to Anna?” The spriggan suddenly got serious. “You don’t feel like her at all.”

Anastacia realized she wouldn’t be able to trick the spriggan and began insulting her loudly.

“Madam… I think there’s somebody next to the girl. I can’t see properly but that’s what it looks like.” Duke said suddenly.

The necromancers perked up and began peering into the distance to make out if that was true.

“I can’t feel them at all… So if there is someone there, it’s either the simulacrum that follows her around or the spriggan…” Coquelicot deducted. “this might be bad…”

By using one of the countless hands in her collection of bones, she picked up a rock and flung it at Anastacia, hitting the metal restraints. The shape that they had assumed to be somebody reacted to the hit and began moving closer to them.

“It’s the damn spriggan.” Coquelicot said and felt relieved, as King would have no doubt helped Anastacia free.

“Oh, I know those blue robes. I assume you people have something to do with the Not-Anastacia over there?” Xamiliere greeted them.

Coquelicot explained the situation to her, including that Anastacia had killed Alice.

“You’re an idiot. This is literally all your fault.” Xamiliere stared down Coquelicot. “If my friend’s life wasn’t in danger, I’d release her just so you could get what you deserve. And I’m not going to let you hurt her, so no amputations. Just because you don’t have arms, it doesn’t mean you can just lop them off from everyone else!”

One of the inquisitors stepped forward to confront the spriggan for insulting his superior. His name was Phthalo and he was among the more ruthless members of the new inquisition, a stereotypical necromancer even. With multiple piercings in his face and tattoos on his clean-shaven scalp, he looked almost tribal.

“Do you have any idea who you are talking to?” He asked from the spriggan.

“Do you?” Xamiliere responded.

“Enough! Phthalo, stand down.” Coquelicot interrupted them. “Spriggan, we ask for your aid in the matter. Right now, you are the only one that can get close to her even somewhat safely and…”

A loud roar interrupted her. The necromancers spread out quickly and tried looking for whatever made the noise. The heavy rain was still making it impossible to see properly and they couldn’t sense anything new in the surrounding areas. A couple of the new inquisitors had similar abilities as Alizarin, and they searched for anything big enough to make such a noise. For a couple of minutes, they just stood there, waiting.

“North! Something big coming in!” Maya yelled suddenly.

Soon enough they heard a second roar, this time from closer by, and right after that something massive approached from the sky above the forest to the north.

“Looks like Amaranth decided to kill two birds with one stone, and by stone, I mean a dragon skeleton.” Coquelicot said. “The cult knows we came here and having both me and Anastacia in the same place was too good to ignore. Our base has weapons to deal with this, but we’re standing out in the open right now.”

“Okay... So can you guys just wave your hands and take it apart then?” Xamiliere asked.

“We can’t. It’s basically pointless to try and take Amaranth’s thralls from her. That old hag’s grasp on them is beyond belief. We just have to either break some of its bones or rip them out with whatever material we have on hand. You can probably help with that.” Coquelicot explained. “She’s likely still at Mournvalley so killing her isn’t an option right now either.”

The undead dragon circled over the field a couple of times before crashing into the ground, almost hitting a few of the necromancers. It let out an ear shattering roar, spread open its wings and turned its attention to Coquelicot.

“Uhh, I’ve got a question.” Xamiliere said and backed away from the high inquisitor. “How does a skeleton roar or fly?”