The Accidental Necromancer
Flower

“This world and yours,” Valeria said. “What do you mean?”

“I told you earlier. I come from a world where we make things like that drill. And we could bring them to your world, and take you over. There is a gate between my world and yours, and I’m the only person in my world who knows about it. If others were to find out, it would be disastrous. If too many people in this world were to find out, and try to go through, it would be discovered and the same disaster would happen. That’s why I’m holding you prisoner. That, and I don’t want you to try to kill me. But I think I can make a difference for the better here, so that’s what I’m trying to do.”

She was silent for a while, and we kept going. Then she shifted to another subject.

“Do you and your partners have, you know, relations?”

“You mean sex?”

“Yes.” She blushed. It was cute.

“Yes.”

“But that’s unnatural!”

“At least you didn’t use the e-word this time.”

“It’s forbidden for a man to lie with a man, or a woman to lie with a woman.”

It didn’t seem like the time to go into the complexities of my gender, because she might very well decide my existence was forbidden, too. “It’s not forbidden to me. If it’s forbidden to you, that’s up to you.”

“The priests say that it is the will of L’Shan.”

“That’s your deity?”

“Yes. The Supreme one.”

“Well,” I said. “The priests might not know any better than anyone else. We have priests on my world who say similar things, and other priests who disagree with them, and they all think their god is the supreme one. Or the only one, depending. I don’t know why I would hold back pleasure from someone I love, or why they would hold back pleasure from me.”

“Is it?”

“Is it what?”

“Is it very pleasurable?”

I smiled at her. “Yes, it is.”

“And do you love them?”

I hadn’t said the words, as Gren pointed out. I didn’t think it was the time for nuance on the subject, though, whatever my doubts were about where exactly affection and care became love. “Yes. Yes I do.”

“Both of them?” she asked, somewhat incredulously.

“People can love many people, if they let themselves.”

She was quiet again. At one point I spotted a pretty pink flower freshly fallen from a bush and lying on the ground. I picked it up, but I don’t think she noticed me, because she was so lost in thought.

We got to the troll village, and I showed her around. I took her to see homes that had been repaired with the lumber that my zombies had brought, and homes still in need of repair. We visited stacks of old wood that had been taken from buildings and replaced, and which now would be firewood for the winter.

“Without the zombies, I couldn’t do any of this. I wouldn’t be able to move all the lumber. Not without letting lots of trolls know where I live, and I’ve told you why I don’t want to do that.”

She nodded, thoughtfully.

I stopped by the chief’s hut and gave him a complimentary bottle of vodka. “Try it,” I said. “Let me know if you like it, we can add it to the mix. And this is Valeria, by the way. Valeria, Chief Gavabar.”

“Any friend of yours is a friend of mine,” the chief said. “Well met, Valeria.”

“I’m not a friend of Abby’s,” Valeria said. “I’m a prisoner.”

Chief Gavabar raised his eyebrows at me.

“It’s complicated,” I said.

“Why doesn’t she escape?” Gavabar asked.

“Because I gave my word,” Valeria said, before I could answer.

“Um, necromancer Abby, whose wisdom and wit I would not question, you know she’s just waiting for a chance, right?”

“Maybe,” I said. “But she’s my friend, and I trust her.”

“I’m not your friend,” Valeria said.

“She just doesn’t know it yet,” I told the chief, and he looked at me like I was crazy.

Maybe he was right.

I walked back toward the forest with Valeria, and this time I showed her the places that had been burned. “The trolls needed lumber so bad, they let an evil pyromancer – and I use the word evil carefully and accurately, unlike some – to convince them to attack the forest. Rather than just getting wood, they burned it in an attempt to wage war against Xyla, the dryad you met earlier. The zombies I have now were trolls who were casualties of the fight to restore Gavabar to his proper place, and to protect the forest. Some were killed by Gren, some by Xyla, and some by me.”

“With evil magic?” Valeria asked.

Well, I had drained a couple of them. But now that I thought of it, those were the ones Talos had beaten up, so not the ones that still existed. I still needed to see if I could salvage one of them. “With a sword,” I said. “But I would use whatever magic I had to create this peace. The trolls have what they need, now, and they get it from me. They leave the forest alone. There is peace, and in time, I think, prosperity.”

She frowned. “You make it sound so good.”

“Well,” I said. “You can put the word evil in front of things, if it helps. Evil peace. Evil forest. Evil prosperity.”

“You’re poking fun of me.”

“Only when you deserve it, Val. Feel free to poke fun of me back.”

She looked at me with the oddest expression. I suppose one didn’t poke fun of evil necromancers. They weren’t joking matters. But then again, actual evil necromancers probably didn’t volunteer to be poked fun of, either.

“That’s a beautiful flower in your hair,” I told her.

She looked at me. “I don’t have flowers in my hair. That’s for frivolous people.”

“Then what’s this?” I asked, reaching behind her ear, and then taking my hand back to show her the flower I’d picked up earlier. I held it to her nose, and let her inhale its sweet, rose-like fragrance.

She blinked. “How did that get there?”

“Evil magic.” I tucked it above her ear.

She took it out, to smell it again, and then, shrugging, put it back. We passed Xyla a little while later, and she gave me a kiss, and then smiled at Valeria. “The flower is pretty,” she said.

“Hmf,” Valeria said. “Um, I mean, thank you. I don’t know how it got there for sure, but I think Abby put it there.”

“Abby is the sweetest n – woman,” Xyla said.

Valeria was still wearing it, and the chest harness, when I let her back in her cell and locked her up. “Think about what you’ve seen,” I told her.

She nodded, and sat back down, cross-legged, like she had been before. I let her think.

“Abby?” Gren asked.

I walked over, hugged her, and kissed her before answering. “Gren?”

“Since I’m moving in, do you think I could have a bed or something more comfortable than the stone floor?”

Since she was moving in. Those were momentous words, and she just tossed them off. We’d known each other for less than two months, and here we were. The joke about lesbian relationships popped into my mind, that the third date involved a u-haul. I’d never had anyone move in before. Stay for a week or two, yes. But move in?

But having her stay and guard was useful. I’d been too tired, and I’d been taking that for granted. “Yes, I can get something like that. And help yourself to the drinks in the fridge.” I paused. “Might want to lay off the beer.”

She giggled. I wasn’t sure what that meant, exactly. What I did know, now that I’d stopped, was that I was dead tired. I’d been up for thirty hours, on a day when I’d decided I needed to rest up from working hard, and I’d spent much of that time building cages and taking a very long walk in the woods.

I climbed up the ladder, and Gren, being Gren, positioned herself to watch from below. Talos was probably staring, too. At least my panties would keep me tucked in.

Up in my house, I grabbed a bathrobe, the air mattress, and the pump. It was awfully tempting just to go to sleep right then and there, but that would have been selfish.

I put on pants, too. I didn’t want them seeing Abel’s hairy legs, even for a moment, because I didn’t want to give them more weird things to think about. It would be literally not putting my best foot forward. I went back down and started pumping up the air mattress.

“It’s like a dead bed, that you bring to life,” Talos said, when I was done.

I sighed. “Yeah. Totally evil. Are you good, Gren? I really need some sleep.”

Gren grinned. “You could sleep right here, with me.”

I could, and I had an idea of how much sleep I’d get. If Gren didn’t intentionally distract me, Talos and Valeria probably would try to start a conversation at some point. “Good night, Gren.”

She shrugged. I knew it was early afternoon, but whatever. I was beat.

I went back through the gate and up the stairs, fell onto the bed, and crashed.

I woke up when someone pounded on the front door. Glancing at my phone, I saw that it was after seven, so I’d gotten several hours of sleep, at least. I put my bathrobe back on and went downstairs, already suspecting who I’d find there.

I wasn’t wrong. “Hi, Kathy,” I said.

“God, Abel, you look awful!”

“Why, thank you very much.” No one ever told Abby that. Nor could I say it back. She was nicely put together, in shorts and a snug polo shirt. Nothing fancy, but it suited her.

“I knocked on your door last night, but you didn’t answer. Your car was in the drive.”

I was getting more awake. “Ah. Yeah.” I couldn’t tell the truth, and I really didn’t have a lot of practice with lies. “Sorry.”

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I pulled an all-nighter,” I said. “Working.”

“Ah,” she said. She met my eyes and looked at me intently. “In the basement.”

It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t give it an answer.  “Thanks for checking on me,” I said. “Although it’s really not necessary. Look, Kathy, I really need to sleep.”

She smiled. “Want company?”

Well, that was straightforward. I did, and I didn’t. I wasn’t sure I’d get back to sleep, anyway. “Not tonight, thanks.”

“Sure?”

“Sure.”

“Was that just a one-off, you being nice that one evening?”

I gave her an honest answer. “I don’t know.”

“Ah. Maybe. The cruelest response. I can take a no, you know.”

I knew why I didn’t want to flat out turn her down. It would be like admitting that I would never be able to have my normal life on Earth. I wanted both Amaranth *and* Earth… or maybe I was just having trouble letting go. “It isn’t a no, Kathy. I’d give you a no if it was no.”

She hesitated for a moment. Then she nodded and walked back to her house without another word.

I probably should have told her no, and ended it.

Well, I was awake now. I ordered a pillow online, and then I went back to Amaranth in my bathrobe and jeans, and carrying a pillow for Gren. I used two, usually, so I’d be down to one until the new one arrived. I moved as quietly as possible, not wanting to draw attention to myself until I changed into Abby.

Valeria and Gren were both asleep. I should get the paladins air mattresses, too. Talos was facing the wall, doing something. He didn’t notice me.

I stopped, curious. As soon as my foot hit the steel ladder, it would make a noise, but on the rope I was pretty quiet.

I saw his right arm moving, and nothing else. He seemed to be breathing heavily, too. Unless I missed my guess, he was jerking off.

I didn’t want to ruin his personal moment, but I didn’t want to hang on the rope ladder forever, either. Still trying to stay quiet, I resumed my descent. Apparently he was pretty intent on what he was doing, because he didn’t turn around. Well, he wasn’t under the influence of my charm now, or even Special Attraction.

With my back to him, I took off the pants and put on panties and a flouncy pleated skirt. Then I took the robe off and put on a bra and a crop top. It was a shame he was so busy, because he might have enjoyed the show. I checked myself in the mirror, and decided I looked damn sexy.

Talos groaned.

I opened the fridge and pulled out a coke.

“Hello, dangerous damsel.” Gren rolled over, and I noticed that she had been sleeping topless.