Necromancer

A Royal Road Fan Fiction

By: Halosty

Chapter 17

Notes:

Oh hey guys, it looks like I'm not dead. For some reason, I had trouble writing this chapter. Then, I got distracted by some things. Then other stuff. Then, it was October. I don't know how often chapters will be coming out, but just know that I'm not planning to quit.

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Mortimer’s morning couldn't go by fast enough for him- it was just in the way of everything he wanted to do that day. One thing he had to do was return this useless folder he’d stolen borrowed. If anyone found it was missing, they’d look for people, and that way he might be caught...

The other thing he had to do at school was more stalking research. He had to figure out where Solara was going. Although the folder had been a dead end, he was confident that he would find out something... somehow. Plus, he felt better now that he had let off some stress by playing Royal Road.

He ate a wonderful breakfast prepared by the cook. He talked a bit with his parents, but he wasn’t really listening, mostly just nodding and making listening noises. He didn’t actually hurry through breakfast, because it wouldn’t actually make the morning pass more quickly, since he would have to go to school, and that passed at a set rate.

Mortimer spent the morning thinking about how to return the folder, but he couldn’t think of any good ways. Well, he’d come up with something by lunch time.

Or so he thought, but at lunch time, he was no closer to a solution. He decided to wing it. Spontaneous action hardly ever backfired on him.

Fortunately the hallway near the counselor’s office had very little traffic, so there was no one to see him. He just had to somehow get the folder back in its proper place.

The light was out under the counselor’s door... but that didn’t mean he wasn’t in there, since his office had a window. If he wasn’t there, and the door was locked... Mortimer couldn’t actually do anything. He had no idea how to pick a lock. He thought that should be something he could pick up... it could be handy.

Mortimer would have to try the door. It was unlocked. He couldn’t enter the office with the folder and risk getting seen by the counselor... so he stuck his head in the door. If the counselor was inside, he would just say he planned to meet with him later to discuss college plans... or something.

It turned out that his sneaky endeavors were for naught. No counselor. Mortimer was actually kind of disappointed. He quickly put the folder back where it belonged. Yes, that included it being alphabetical by last name. He wouldn’t mess that kind of thing up twice. He felt like he was being watched... but there had been nobody in the hallway, and nobody was outside the window. Perhaps he was just paranoid. The hallway was still empty when he left.

Now to check up on the next part of his plans, back in the classroom. It was, as usual, deserted for lunch. He began to rummage through a desk, looking for something he was very familiar with, but he couldn’t find it. Specifically, he was looking for a journal... but it wasn’t there. There weren’t many places it could be, and the desk didn’t have many other things in it- but it also didn’t have that. Mortimer would have been frustrated, but really, there was always tomorrow.

Mortimer spent the rest of the school day waiting to be able to go home, where he could actually do something. He’d figured out how to make progress in his training... probably. At the very least, he knew what he was missing.

Finally, Mortimer arrived at home. He walked into the entryway to see total disaster his cousin. Not that he disliked his favorite person cousin. He just had mixed feelings about her presence. Especially when he wasn’t prepared to see her face.

“Err… Hi, Angela. What are you doing here?”

She gave him a look that vaguely exactly resembled someone implying the person at whom they were looking knew the answer to a stupid question they had just asked. She did so by tilting her head, and thus her blonde hair, at a weird angle, and raising an eyebrow.

Mortimer thought for a second. Birthday party? No, it wasn’t anybody’s birthday. Wedding? Not enough formal attire, and he was pretty sure he would know if either his cousin or he were getting married. There was something in the back of his mind… it called to his thoughts the smell of bacon. Oh right, his parents had said she would be coming over at breakfast. Probably. He hadn’t really been paying attention.

“Riiiight, I totally remember now. Totally. Mother and father told me you were coming over.”

She smiled, as if that were an acceptable answer… if not perfect. Then, she ran at him. He could do nothing to dodge, no, he didn’t even have time to think about it, as she flew through the air and hugged him. “It’s been a long time Mortimer! How’s my favorite cousin?”

“Well, I was doing quite well until recently, when I’ve had trouble breathing.”

She loosened her grip with a dramatic sigh. “You’ll have to tell me absolutely everything that’s gone on in your life! I’m dying to know.”

This time, it was his turn to give her a look.

“Fine, but I’ll get you to talk some. Made any friends?”

“No.”

“Made any enemies?”

“...No?”

“Well, that’s good I guess. You will now inform me about something you’ve been doing.”

Mortimer thought about it for a second. He thought Angela wouldn’t be interested in video games or anything, and school was boring as normal… so he said, “Follow me.”

He took her, of course, to Master Valarao’s room. He was going to introduce them, but then something more important came to mind. “I figured it out.”

“Show me,” said Valarao.

Thus, they went to the room they used for sparring. Angela looked slightly annoyed that she was apparently being ignored.

Then, Mortimer and Valarao started sparring. They fought until master Valarao showed an opening, then Mortimer just pretended to attack it. This almost protected him from Valarao’s real attack, hidden behind the feint. Still…

“Good,” Valarao nodded. “We’ll work on that more later.”

At this point, Angel looked like she was going to kill Mortimer. “Umm… Right, this is my cousin, Angela. Angela, this is Master Valarao, who has been teaching me how to fight.”

Fortunately for both of them, Angela was trained to be polite, even when she didn’t feel like it. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Valarao nodded in return.

Angela then said, “So… you fight with… short sticks? Want to try your hand against my rapier? I’ve been learning fencing.”

“Well, I’d rather…” Mortimer started.

“He will,” said Master Valarao.

“Yeah, sure, I will.”

After they agreed on some rules, with one touch being a hit, and a certain number of hits being a match, they started sparring.

Angela’s rapier was not nearly as fast as Master Valarao’s dagger. However, she had reach to her advantage. This advantage was such that Mortimer never got close enough to touch her during the first match. He felt he could have slashed her wrist, but that wasn’t a point, so he didn’t.

During the second and third match, he fared much the same.

He was, to say the least, disappointed in his loss. He’d have to figure out what to do when fighting someone with significantly greater reach.

For a while he worked on homework, while half listening to Angela talk about what she’d been up to. Then, they ate dinner. After that, he excused himself to his room.

It was time to log back in.

End Chapter 17

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