Page 128 of Wanted: Rogues and Bards

“Wh-what? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“The treasure box belonging to the saintess!” Fenric roared right in his face. “You knew it belonged to a saintess, and you bought it anyway! I want it back. It was stolen straight from my mother’s dead hands.”

Any remaining color slipped from Lord Mire’s face, but he tipped his chin up, determined to look down his nose at Fenric despite being nearly a foot shorter. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. And-and even if I did, I’ll die before I tell you a single thing!”

“Well,” Hapi drawled, his dull voice tinged with amusement, “he told you his terms.”

The timing of the necromancer was perfect.

With a smirk, Fenric pulled the nobleman out from behind the desk and shoved him into the center of the room. As Lord Mire stumbled to catch his balance, Fenric boldly slashed his sword through the air, slicing the man’s head clear off his body. Blood splashed, and the headless body collapsed on the beautifully woven rug, while the head bounced across the room to land against a bookcase.

Hapi sighed heavily. “I thought you’d just stab him through the heart.”

“Yes, and then you’d need to raise the entire body. We need only what’s in the head,” Fenric pointed out. He walked over to where the lord’s head had settled and lifted his sword, intending to stab it and pick it up like a rotting piece of fruit.

“Stop!” Hapi barked before he could slam the blade down. “If you puncture the brain, you could damage the memories. Not what you want, right?”

“Ah. Good point.” Fenric bent down and picked up the head by Mire’s greasy hair. “How’s it going with the others?” he inquired as he walked over to where Hapi waited for him in the center of the room. “Lirion? Puppy?”

It was only now that he stood with the head of Lord Mire in the middle of the study that he realized he couldn’t hear Lirion’s drumming. Even the sounds of fighting had fallen off, and silence dominated the giant manor, other than the occasional joyous shout from Rain or Bel.

“Fine. Guards are dead or have escaped. Lirion and Malfas are keeping Puppy distracted while Rain and Belstrom hunt down the last of Mire’s family. The guards said there’s just the lord’s brother and his illegitimate son. A real bastard by all definitions of the word.”

“Which one?”

“Both, if what the surrendering guards are saying is to be believed.”

Fenric grunted. It was for the best. Maxie needed to learn more about the world, but he didn’t need to see all the messy parts at once.

He handed off the head to Hapi, who worked his dark magic. The sharp, clear eyes slowly blinked, and the mouth moved even as blood dripped out of the neck.

“What…what happened? Everything went black for a second,” Lord Mire mumbled.

“You died,” Hapi said sharply. He turned the head so Lord Mire could see his cooling corpse on the floor, blood soaking into the carpet. “Look. There’s your body. Now tell us what you know about the treasure he’s looking for.”

A horrific wail erupted from Lord Mire’s mouth, piercing their ears and leaving Fenric cringing. He’d never heard a man make such a high-pitched noise.

“No! My body! You can’t leave me like this. How will I live without a body? Please, you must fix me. Don’t let me die! I need my body. I’ll be good. I’ll give you anything you want!” He continued to bargain and whine.

“Where’s the treasure box of the saintess?” Fenric roared, losing the temporary hold he’d had on his temper.

“I-if I tell you, you’ll fix me?”

Hapi made another irritated noise. “Yes, yes. We’ll fix you. Now spill what you know before I take away your consciousness and leave you as a zombie.”

“Up-upstairs. End of the hall on the left. M-master bedroom. Behind my portrait, there’s a wall safe. Com-combination is sixteen, twenty-five, three.”

“Any booby traps?” Fenric snapped.

“No. You’ll fix me now, right?”

Fenric lifted his eyes and nodded. “Fix him.”

The necromancer shrugged and pulled back the magic that had briefly animated Lord Mire, returning him to death. “Just remember, I can only raise him one or two more times before he becomes too stupid to be useful.”

He gave Hapi a brief salute as he raced out of the room and back toward the main staircase in the manor’s foyer, adrenaline singing in his veins at being so close, so close, so close. With any luck, Lord Mire had told the truth and Hapi wouldn’t need to wake the dead a second time. Lirion ran to him as Fenric reached the stairs.

“Did you find it?” Lirion demanded, grabbing his arm.