What happened? What is that sound? Why can’t I see? I try to lift my arms to rub my eyes but they refuse to move. My whole body feels stiff. I try to move my hands again and this time they do obey but hit something immovable. I let them crawl over my chest towards my blind eyes but somehow they get stuck in my chest. So now all I can do is listen. Listen to something that sounds like digging. Digging that turns into scraping. As if a shovel is hitting something hard…
Wait, am I buried? Did I fell asleep and was I buried? What kind of prank is that? Why don’t I know who I am? I start wiggling my hands free and slamming on the wood above me till it gives a little. With all my strength I push it open and suddenly I see the stars above me. Thousands of little lights that have never seen prettier than now.
“Hello.”
The voice startles me and I look in its direction. I see a hand sticking out towards me and grab it. It pulls me up and I step out of the casket. I look at the person attached to the hand. The nearly full moon behind me lights up his face. He has a big nose, is missing a tooth under his swollen, bleeding upper lip and has a black eye. He has darkish hair and is dressed in a dark robe.
“Who put me in that grave?” I ask him.
My voice sounds hollow instead of angry. It scares me a little, but not him. He looks at me with a blend expression on his beaten face and points behind me. I turn around and see a gravestone.
“That is some sick practical joke! Who did that to me?!”
“I presume your family…”
I quickly turn back to him with my rattling body.
“Did they try to murder me?”
He clicks with his tongue and bites his underlip.
“Why don’t you take a good look at yourself…”
I don’t know what he means and look at my hands. My jaw falls open and I feel my face going pale. If I still have a face, because I don’t really have proper hands anymore. It’s just a bunch of bones with some leftover tendons and a few scraps of gray leatherlike skin. I look at the rest of my body: bones, filled with some remains of dried organs and flesh, covered with some pieces of skin and rags of clothing. I start screaming.
“Shhh! keep quiet! Otherwise they’ll come back!”
I stop and look at his scared face.
“Who will come back? My family?”
“No, not your family! Look at that stone, you’ve been dead for decades. The guys that beat me up here!”
“Why would someone beat you up at a graveyard?”
“Because I… I’m not going to tell you!”
“Why not? What else did you resurrect me for?”
“I didn’t resurrect you to confide my secrets to!”
He touches his upper lip with a pained faced and sighs.
“They took me here so no one could hear me scream when they beat me up...”
“Why did you resurrect me?”
“Are you kidding me?! You can’t remember?”
He points at my gravestone again. I turn around and read it:
Sir Miles Eduard Drumble
1650-1692
‘Dear necromancer, please resurrect me. I hid some treasure to pay in plenty for your service.’
“Oh… why would I do that?” I ask him, still facing the gravestone.
“I don’t know and I don’t care. I just want my reward!”
I turn around again.
“In case you didn’t notice: you are a bit late. My brains are rotten away. I can’t remember a thing!”
As a statement I push my thumbs deep into my eye sockets. It feels weird.
“Well, you can see and you can talk. So why can’t you remember?”
“I don’t know! You’re the necromancer! You tell me!”
He looks up at the stars and lets out a dissatisfied groan while pulling his hair.
“Let’s just go into town. Maybe you’ll recognize your old home which may jog your memory.”
He weakly waves with his hand in the apparent direction of the town.
We sneak through the fields on the outskirts of town. We can’t draw any attention to us, because I’m a walking skeleton and he’s just scared to get beaten up again.
“Wait a second…” I try to whisper with my raw voice.
It startles him.
“Keep your voice down! What?”
“Why did you resurrect me before digging me out?”
He looks at me irritated, probably regretting bringing me back to life.
“I didn’t know if it was still going to work and wanted to spare my back in case it didn’t.”
We continue sneaking past the town.
“I don’t think I can recognize my place from a distance in the dark…”
“We’re going to that castle-like mansion just outside the town. If you were truly rich than you would’ve probably lived there.”
“I think I was rich. That gravestone looked rather expensive.”
“And you’d better not be lying about that reward! I can kill you as quickly as I brought you to life.”
“I think I was smart. Smart enough not to fool the necromancer that had just brought me to life.”
We climb over a stone wall and in the distance I can see the mansion. Some of the rooms are still lit and turn their windows into rectangular beacons of yellow light.
We carefully make our way over there, making sure not to get caught by a guard or watchdog.
“Why did you get beaten up?” I ask him.
“Will you ever stop asking that?”
“No... probably not.”
“I have some gambling debts that require urgent payback.”
“You got money issues? You’re a necromancer! You could charge heaps of money for bringing back loved ones from the dead!”
I trip over a stone and crumple to the ground. He pulls me back up and stares at my face while I check if I still have all my bones.
“Most people aren’t very keen on seeing their loved ones returned to them as decaying corpses.”
We continue towards the mansion and as we get closer I suddenly recognize it! There is still some light on in the study and I climb on the windowsill to take a quick peek inside. There I see a painting that I instantly recognize: it’s me! Damn, what was I an ugly guy…
I sit there for a bit while some memories start coming back to me. Then I jump out of the windowsill and sneak back to the necromancer. I look at him with a big smile on my face, which he obviously can’t see. So I tell him the good news: I remember where I hid the treasure!
“I knew I was a genius!”
“That is the fifth time you are telling me that!” the necromancer grunts while he continues digging.
“Hiding the treasure under my own grave! That’s is brilliant! Gravediggers won’t look further than the grave itself and no one can accidentally discover it!”
The shovel hits something and I jump into the hole to help him. Together we dig the remaining dirt away. It reveals a leather bag with something rectangular and heavy inside. We manage to wiggle it loose and lift it out of the hole. Inside we can hear the jingling of coins, probably golden coins!
“What is inside?” I ask excitedly.
The necromancer laughs.
“It is your treasure! You should know!”
I laugh too and open the leather bag to reveal a wooden chest, painted red and reinforced with iron corners.
“Can I take a quick look inside before I hand it over to you? I am rather curious myself too!”
He lets out a cheer and gives me permission. I grab the lid, excited like a little kid. Something inside me is screaming that I shouldn’t, but why not? I earned this treasure so I at least deserve a look! My hands seem unwilling to cooperate at first, but then the lid gives and shoots open. I can’t take more than a quick glance at the golden coins before an aggressive explosion emerges from the chest and catapults me away. As I spin trough the sky I suddenly recall my devious plan…
I hit a tree trunk and roll onto the ground. There I see the feet of the necromancer stomping my way. I try to get up but I can’t move. Than I look past his feet and see a headless skeleton lifelessly laying next to the chest. The two feet stop in front of my skull and he picks me up.
“You booby-trapped my reward? Seriously?!”
“Yes, I did... and then I forgot about it… are you going to kill me?”
He lets out a shrill laugh.
“No, I am taking you with me. You are my pet now.”
“I am not going to like that, am I?”
“Absolutely not!”
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5 comments
That’s a great title. “I didn’t know if it was still going to work and wanted to spare my back in case it didn’t.” You have to be smart to be a Necromancer. He had a good plan… shame he forgot the plan. I guess in this the resurrection isn’t tied to the life of the Necromancer. Great story Cosmas.
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Thank you very much!
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You’re welcome.
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Loved the dialogue! Made me smile! Funny enough, one moment in my story is quite similar. Nice to read someone like-minded! Following you!
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That's nice to hear! I read your story and like how it has this similar vibe and setting while at the same time having a completely different storyline! I'm going to follow you too! Looking forward to your next story!
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