Necrosiac 37 (960 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: Necro
Rating: 2 on 22 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Snark << snarkk.at.gmail.com (View user info) at 2005-03-10 23:36:40 EST
The first story in the series can be found here.
http://www.ubersite.com/m/40647
NECROSIAC 37
Trevor used one hand to wipe the fog from the inside of the small square window so he could watch the hunched figure in the distance slowly trudge towards the cabin.
The man was still a good quarter of a mile away but, even from that distance, he could see the effort put into each step as the heavy pack he carried pushed his snow shoes deep into the soft white blanket beneath him.
A good part of him hoped the old man's hot packs would give out so he would freeze solid before he made it back to the cabin. The time spent with his father had been trying at best, the old man had never been one to keep his views to himself and Trevor had spent countless hours controlling his rage, as one blasphemous philosophy after another issued from his father's weathered lips.
"We were meant to serve the living"
"Our kind lost their way a long time ago"
"The measure of a man is in his intentions, not his power"
"We lose part of our souls when we undertake the deadening"
"True knowledge of life can redeem us"
Over and over again, almost daily, the old man had inundated him with his bullshit views of the state of the Necromancer and he found his trademark control of his emotions slipping.
Part of him wanted the old man to shatter where he stood, but another part of him, a small part, looked forward to his return. As much as he hated to admit it, he had begun to find the grizzled drone of his father's voice comforting in a way. Like the crackle of the fire in the woodstove late at night.
The old man might be an aberration, but at least he stood by his convictions. He'd stood by them even though it had cost him everything and hadn't looked back once. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Trevor found himself developing a grudging respect for him.
He thought he might even begin to like the old man if not for the fact that he had gone through great pains to ingratiate himself to the local farmers. The one time in their visit together that he'd lost control was when he found out his father was leaving to help a friend who's wife was dying.
"You used to be Pentate! You used to be the most powerful Necromancer in the Pact! You were a King among the undead and now look at you! Slinking off in the night so some hairless ape can say an extra long goodbye to his rotting corpse of a mate! You should be making them your pets!"
He remembered standing in front of the door, shaking with rage, his hand on the hilt of his blade as he screamed the words. He'd expected his father to yell back, raise his hand to him, be a man and put him in his place in some way but he'd simply stood there and smiled sadly. He hadn't expected his father to look at him warmly, put on his hotpack laden coat, and say "I wish I could love you but I can't so please stop trying so hard. The best I can do is understand you", then brush gently past him and out the door.
He'd stood dumfounded, staring at the spot his father had just been standing and trying to make sense of the old mans words. He hadn't been expecting the old man to do what he did but, what really floored him was the unfamiliar feeling of guilt that washed over him, as the door swung shut with a wooden creak.
Now as he watched the figure in the snow trod slowly closer to the cabin he found himself wondering how his father's supply trip to town had been. He found himself imagining opening the door with a smile and saying "Hey Pops, did ya bring me some Rock Candy? You know... the kind I like, the licorice kind?"
He felt one half intended murderer and one half giddy child and it was driving him insane.
On top of that he felt trapped, off balance and without purpose. He had lived more years of his life than he could remember in duty and servitude to the Pentate. He'd become a creature of routine and the complete lack of it in this place of musty log walls and suffocating whiteness was making him feel useless in a way he'd never thought possible.
He watched the old man awhile longer and tried to decide what to do next. Part of him wanted to take Lillith and return to the city but he knew that was impossible. The snow was at least 4 feet deep and his SUV wasn't going anywhere until spring. The distance to whatever town was out there was much too far for him to carry her and he doubted he could haul enough hot packs to keep both of their undead bodies from freezing solid on the journey.
As much as he hated the thought, he knew he'd have to wait.
Trevor turned from the window, retrieved a log from the woodpile, then opened the stove and threw it in. A quick adjustment of the stove vent later and he smiled at the realization that he was actually getting pretty good at getting the temperature in the cabin just right - Not too hot to hasten the decomposition of flesh and not so cold that his heatless body began to shut down.
Not knowing what else to do, he crossed to the back room for the tenth time that evening and peered in on the Goddess he'd told his father was his wife.
Despite his father's skills, her condition hadn't changed. Her dangerous emanations of magic had stopped just prior to him arriving at the cabin and had only come once or twice since. His father had questioned him about them immediately. His grey stubble covered face had been a mask of alarm, but Trevor had explained the bursts of magic away as an after affect of a new kind of Seer attack the Agency had come up with, the same attack that had supposedly put his new love in her present condition.
Trevor crossed to the bed then knelt beside it and verified that the tome he had taped to the underside of it was still there. The urge to open it and read its secrets had been strong at first, but in the end he'd heeded the Pentate's warning and left it for when Lillith awoke.
If she ever did.
"Longest months of my life" he muttered.
The soft crunch of approaching snowshoes drew him from his morose thoughts and he rushed to open the door for the old man despite himself.
His father entered unceremoniously and dropped the full backpack from his shoulders before the door was half way closed behind him.
"Get the fire up boy. I'm ready to seize"
Trevor did as he was asked while his father pulled the toque from his head and shook out the long mane of thick white hair on his broad head.
A moment later he was out of the brown woolen winter jacket and standing beside Trevor near the freshly stoked stove, removing spent hot packs from the pockets of his clothing and throwing them into an old laundry hamper in the corner of the dusty main room.
The two stood together in silence for a short while, neither one acknowledging the others presence before the old man broke the silence with a grunt and a question.
"You say you came to me because the Agency is after you?"
"We've been over this a thousand times"
"You want to tell me what's going on in the city?"
Trevor resisted the urge to reply too quickly as alarm bells went off in his head.
"I told you, the Agencies cracking down on us worse than they ever have"
He could feel his father's icy stare on him without looking but once again resisted the urge to turn. A panicked voice in his head told him the gambit was up, that his father had learned about everything in town and would send them packing - or worse- had alerted the authorities.
"Something else is going on boy. I heard Mary at the store talking about some big manhunt. People were looking at me suspiciously. Some of the ones who know me wouldn't even meet my eye"
"What are you trying to say old man?"
"I'm saying that there's been some strange things happening since shortly after you arrived. Bernie Phillips over on the ranch by South Bend told me he saw a deer a few months ago before the snow hit. He said it looked like it had had its guts eaten out by a bear or something and it was running through his field. He said it looked rotten."
"So?"
"So he's one of the ones who knows what I am boy. I get the feeling some of the folks around are thinking I'm up to no good"
"Necromancy doesn't work on animals. Everyone knows that"
"These people have their superstitions. It took me a long time to gain their trust and what little I have is fragile. If there's something I should know you better come out with it"
Trevor turned and steadfastly returned his fathers grizzled gaze.
"I've told you everything I know"
"I can see in your eyes you haven't"
"You can't read the eyes of a dead man"
"I'm reading the eyes of my son"
The words hit Trevor like a slap and he turned his gaze back to the fire dancing hungrily in the stove. Once again, the unfamiliar feeling of guilt began to gnaw at him but he pushed it aside in favor of anger.
"My father is Hadrian Pasteur. A title rightfully won under the laws of the Pact"
"Don't hide behind laws with me boy" his father replied angrily "I know more about them than you'll ever understand. There's something you're not telling me and I want to hear it. This is my home and my land. I would never deny you this place but I can always go back to town and start asking questions"
Trevor did his best to appear calm while his mind raced to find some shred of half truth to appease his father, some bit of plausible misguidance to throw the old man off the scent.
"You're looking for a lie"
"No... I'm not"
"Then out with it!"
The yell caused Trevor to jump and he found himself wondering at the old mans strange ability to shake him from his control so easily.
"We stole something! The agency wants us because we stole something from it!"
Trevor felt his heart sink as the words shot traitorously out. He'd needed a lie and his mind had given him one but he'd had to give some part of the truth up with it.
"Just what did you steal?" asked his father, an air of caution in his voice.
Trevor turned towards him then abruptly spun and walked into the back room. A minute later he returned, tome in hand.
"This"
His father reached out tentatively with pale wrinkled hands and took the book from Trevor. He turned it over for a moment then glared back at his son and raised the book over his head like a southern Baptist at Armageddon time.
"Do you know what this is? Do you understand what you've brought into my house?"
"Yes"
"Oh you do? I don't think so. You may know the Necrosiad by name but you do NOT know the Necrosiad. There is enough evil bound into these pages to swallow a thousand souls!"
"That word is a lie"
"Have you heard nothing I've said since you arrived? Why must you cower under your doctrine? Evil isn't a lie. It exists, it's real and hungry and you've brought it into my home!...Why?... Why would you steal this?"
"I was ordered too..."
"Hadrian!" His father spit the word out as if it was poison on his tongue "He would be conceited enough to believe this held some power for him"
Trevor found himself filled with an overwhelming need to protect the Pentate and weaved another lie despite himself.
"He wanted it because it holds the secrets of our origins. He wanted it because he felt he could decipher the traps within and bring enlightenment to our kind. He said there was not telling how much damage our enemies could do to us if they decoded it first"
The old man let his arm drop and kicked the door to the stove open with one heavy boot "I've heard that lie before to. This isn't a history book. It's the Beast"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to put it out of my misery. I'm going to burn it"
"COWARD!"
Trevor had shouted the word in a panic, expecting it to bounce off his father like every insult he'd tried since their reunion, but to his surprise and relief, the old man turned and looked at him wide eyed.
"Pardon?"
Trevor lowered his voice and let his hand drop nonchalantly from the handle of the blade in its sheath at the small of his back.
"You heard me! That book proves all your theories wrong. It's the single biggest piece of evidence that you threw everything away for the sake of your pathetic self delusions. You can't stand it being in your house because it makes you a liar and a traitor to what you are"
"Lies can't prove me wrong boy"
"No? Tell me oh wise one, have you read it?"
The old man's brow creased.
"I don't have to meet a demon to know its evil"
"You're pathetic" Trevor spat "You sit in your filthy little hovel and pine about the way thing should be then turn your back on the possibility of what they might have been. You turned your back on the Pact and me and everything that held power in your life for a lie and now you're afraid to face it"
To Trevor's surprise, his father winced as if stung and looked glance back down at the tome in his hand doubtfully.
"I didn't turn my back on it all because of my beliefs" he replied softly.
"Then why?"
"It was the day I took you through the Deadening. It was the day I took your life and bound your soul to your body. The day you opened your eyes in un-life and I realized that some part of you had died with your flesh... the part of you that used to smile at me"
The two men stood facing each other, neither one knowing what to say. Finally, Trevor placed a hand on the old mans slumped shoulder and spoke softly.
"Father... please" he said "Take the book. Unlock its secrets. If you still think it's a lie I'll believe you, I'll do my best to put the past behind us. Your words during my time here haven't fallen on entirely deaf ears but I refuse to give them acknowledgement if you won't meet me half way"
He watched his father's emotionless face for what seemed like an eternity until the old man looked up at him tiredly.
"Very well" he replied "I'll do as you ask"
Trevor removed his hand and nodded once then turned and walked slowly to the spare room and the still Goddess within.
"Night boy"
"Night father"
A moment later he sat on his cot and prepared for the evening meditations designed to rejuvenate the magic keeping him together.
The book was thick and the language ancient. He knew it would take a man, even as learned as his father, weeks if not months to translate.
He had bought himself valuable time. He'd given Lillith a better chance of coming back from wherever she'd gone.
He'd used a portion of truth to carry out the Pentate's wishes and probably killed his father in the process.
He'd done well.
User Reviews
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2005-06-23 12:20:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Damage Control
Submitted by ProgramGeek (user info) at 2005-06-22 17:37:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-06-16 20:43:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
problem: in the road trip episode you said that Trevor looked forward to his deadening day so he would be free from his coke addiction. and now you say he has been undead since before his fathers crisis of faith.
that aside, this was an excellent emotional episode.
Submitted by Revolutionman (user info) at 2005-05-06 22:54:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Charred (user info) at 2005-03-31 16:49:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Seriously?
Find a publisher.
Submitted by Malificent (user info) at 2005-03-28 05:36:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Don't let it end!
Submitted by engine13 (user info) at 2005-03-23 17:02:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Playing catch up with this series. . .
Off to read 38.
Submitted by Wazza (user info) at 2005-03-12 16:48:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
great to read.
Submitted by GodLovesALittleLovin (user info) at 2005-03-12 16:33:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
God, your stories make me want to become a director so I can show everybody what i'm seeing in my head. I love this series!
Submitted by Xena (user info) at 2005-03-11 14:54:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Your discription of the sons feeling towards his father was awesome. I really liked this post.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2005-03-11 14:23:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Dannie,
You just put a HUGE smile on my face.
Submitted by Dannie (user info) at 2005-03-11 14:15:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
adoration, adoration, love, desire, lust, flowers.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2005-03-11 11:37:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Shitfuck,
Don't ever change.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2005-03-11 11:30:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Adam,
Sorry for the delays dude.
Benny,
Thanks man, its good to get down to some ole fashioned story telling sometimes. I didn't like the way the Uber version of this turned out so I posted one of the rough drafts from the full version.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-03-11 10:30:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Oooooh. Clever. Sneaky bastard. Etc.
Submitted by Adamdidit2u (user info) at 2005-03-11 08:51:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Thanks for taking so long between installments
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2005-03-11 08:29:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm running out of compliments.
Submitted by Benny (user info) at 2005-03-11 06:47:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Some good plot development, very well written I might add. I do like the action but its very important to have these types of instalments as well.
Submitted by Falconer (user info) at 2005-03-11 02:25:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice.
Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2005-03-11 01:55:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm too fucking drink to read but there is mass rulage going on with you so +2.
ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY COCKJ!!!!!!!!!!
Submitted by Saxon (user info) at 2005-03-11 00:45:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
A good read.
Submitted by CoreaPeekay (user info) at 2005-03-11 00:30:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
That threw an interesting twist into things, if I do say so.
a well earned +2