Necromancer

A Royal Road Fan Fiction

By: Halosty

Chapter 53

In the morning Mortimer woke up and stretched. His side still hurt. It reminded him of what had happened the day before…

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The morning of his birthday, Mortimer had attended school like normal. At school, everything had happened normally.

“Let’s go to the bookstore,” Mortimer said to Alex. He had some books he wanted, and even though his funds had been greatly reduced, he still had enough money to get a few books without cutting into his savings. “If we go now, as long as we don’t take too long, we’ll still have a couple hours to get ready for the party. Well, I’ll have a bit less since I have to be around early…”

Since their schedule for the rest of the day was just waiting around for the party to start, along with an ample amount of time to get ready, there was no reason not to spend a bit of the time at the bookstore.

Mortimer had James drive them there, and told him to park at a lot a few blocks away. It wouldn’t do to keep the car running and James driving around.

The visit to the bookstore was enjoyable as usual, although Mortimer was the only one who bought anything.

“Aren’t those textbooks?” Alex asked, looking at the books with titles such as “advanced muscular structure”.

“Hmm? I guess, basically. The other ones I had weren’t good enough. Well, I’m only looking for a few details in these, but I’d rather have them for when I need to look up more.”

After they were done shopping, they headed back towards the car. It was still good to get back with plenty of time to get ready.

The quickest way to the parking lot was through a couple of alleys. Not that walking through alleys was a problem in the middle of the afternoon.

As they entered the alley, Mortimer heard some talking behind him.

“I’m telling you, that’s the guy!”

“What a coincidence to see him here…”

Mortimer just kept walking, until someone shouted “Hey, you!” down the alley, obviously towards them.

He turned to look, and saw three people he would have described as “thugs”.

The middle one stepped forward. “Fancy seeing you here. You’re… Mortimer, right?”

Mortimer didn’t recognize them. “I am.”

“Good, good. I have a message for you from my little brother. He was on the football team at your school.”

Mortimer wasn’t good at reading people. However, he’d recently learned to read certain aspects of the atmosphere. Plus, this guy wasn’t exactly subtle.

“Alex, I need you to do something.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Run. Now!”

Alex wasn’t used to Mortimer giving any kind of orders, but the tone of voice was serious. Alex started running.

“Just keep going!” Mortimer said. “I’ll catch up in a bit.”

Pretty soon, Alex had gone around a corner.

“Hmm, you’re not gonna run away too?”

“That’s no good, I run faster,” said Mortimer.

The three moved a bit further into the alleyway, and made their intentions abundantly clear as they pulled knives.

“Time for a bit of payback for my little brother. I’m sure you’ll understand.”

The leader charged forward at Mortimer, and stabbed at him inexpertly. He looked to have used a knife before, certainly, but he left himself open. Mortimer’s knife, which hadn’t been drawn, flashed up, while Mortimer just barely got out of the way of the thrust. Then his arm snapped back the other way, and the leader fell behind him.

The other two weren’t far behind, but they momentarily slowed. This allowed Mortimer the moment he needed. From the perspective of the thugs, he disappeared. From Mortimer’s perspective, it was just two quick steps to their left side. His knife flashed once. One more step to the back, and his arm reached around the neck of the second thug, then was pulled back around with a swift motion and a spray of blood.

The third thug was quicker, or better, or luckier. He was already slashing down at Mortimer. Mortimer was unable to dodge entirely, and his counterattack barely grazed the thug’s cheek. Mortimer took a quick half step back and threw a kick to his opponent’s most vulnerable location. They had very bad footwork. As they bent down, the last thing they saw was the tip of a knife.

Mortimer looked around. It was very quiet. He looked at his side. There was a slash going down it, and it would definitely need stitches. Then, he carefully looked at the downed thugs while avoiding touching them. Satisfied, he pulled out his cell phone. He just hoped he was calling the right number.

“Hello?”

“Master Valarao? It’s Mortimer.”

“Oh, you’ve never called before. What is it?”

“I could use some advice, and I think you might possibly be the best person to ask.”

“Hmm, I’m not great at relationships, if that’s what you want to ask about.”

“No, nothing like that. I just want to ask a hypothetical question.”

“Okay, I will certainly attempt to answer.”

“So, if, hypothetically, you found a dead body in an alley, what would you do?”

“In this theoretical situation, do you know the deceased?”

“No.”

“Have you touched them with your hands in this scenario?”

“No.”

“Was anyone with you in this scenario when you found them?”

“No.”

“What kind of persons are the deceased in this story?”

“Well, something like thugs.”

“Well, it would probably be best to the person in that hypothetical situation to leave the area. The police can clean up after any gang wars.”

“Really? Okay, thanks. That really makes me feel better… If I ever come across such a situation, I’ll do just that. I have to go now… I need to call a friend.”

“Of course. Good luck.”

Mortimer started walking towards the car, and quickly called Alex. “Hey, it’s Mortimer.”

Through the phone came an incomprehensible combination of words, but Mortimer though the idea was asking if he was alright.

“Are you back at the car yet?”

“N-not yet.”

“I could use the first aid kit from the trunk. Tell James I skinned my knee.”

“W-what? A-are you okay? What happened?”

“Just tell James what I said and bring it, okay? Don’t worry, my knee is fine.”

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“I-I thought you said you were fine! This isn’t fine!” Alex exclaimed upon meeting Mortimer with the first aid kit.

“I said my knee was fine. Don’t worry, I’ve dealt with worse than this before.”

“Really? When?”

“In Royal Road.” Mortimer started stitching himself up, although not without forgetting to numb the wound.

“H-ha. That’s a game. This is real life!”

“It’s fine.” Mortimer was spending almost as much energy trying to keep Alex calm as he was stitching. “Listen, can you not tell James about this? I don’t want him to worry.”

“You should be going to the hospital! How can I not tell him?!”

“Relax. This isn’t as bad as Solara being attacked by the mountain lion. You were there, right?”

Alex nodded.

“See? No problem,” Mortimer said as he finished stitching and put an absorbent tissue over his injury. He looked at his shirt. Then, he took of his light jacket and put it on backwards around his waist. James might question his fashion sense, but that wasn’t an entirely new experience.

Alex just stared. “S-so, what happened?”

“I ran away,” Mortimer said, and gave a thumbs up. “I’m in way better shape than you, so I can outrun dudes like that easily.” Mortimer was glad Angela wasn’t around. She could always tell when he lied. “Anyway, I’ll be fine, so no need to worry anyone on my birthday, okay?”

“Alright.” Alex didn’t look happy about that idea.

When they stopped at Alex’s house, Alex said, “Sorry, Mortimer. I’m not feeling good. I don’t think I can make it to the party.”

Alex was much paler than normal, which was saying something, and certainly didn’t look well. “I understand,” said Mortimer. He did, too. Not personally, of course, but he understood that some people felt physically sick when frightening events happened. “It will be a pretty boring party anyway. I hope you feel better, okay?”

Alex nodded, and almost smiled, but it was more of a grimace. Mortimer though Alex looked slightly green.

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Mortimer got dressed for the party. He didn’t let anyone in the room to fuss with his hair or the exact arrangement of his tie or to get lint off of his jacket until his wound was thoroughly covered with his the bandage, his shirt, and the suit jacket. Then, he put on his best smile and hoped the painkillers lasted.

End Chapter 53

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