30 Days Of Undead Summer

Horror in Heidelburg

#FridayFreeForAll

Grand Sorceress Clarissa sipped her tea with casual nonchalance. A flickering flame lit the wooden abode with enough light to illuminate the bookshelf ahead of her. With a flick of a finger, a volume slid itself free from its kin and drifted towards her.

That was when the first scream erupted.

The book fell with a soft thud. Her chair scraped across the floor and she swayed towards the single glass window. From beyond, the village of Heidelburg had fallen into a quiet lull. Most of the wooden abodes were cast into darkness save for the pallid moonlight.

She spotted a figure running down the smooth bricked road. A woman it seemed – and she was bleeding. The cerulean flock she wore had tattered about her form, and darks stains spotted her shoulder and waist line. From the powder on her face, and the smeared ruby lips, she was no doubt one of the maidens working Dane's Damsels.

Clarissa sighed as she moved to the door. It swung itself open, letting in a soft breeze. And the coppery stench of blood. Concerned, she moved towards the woman.

"Grand Sorceress!" The woman cried, falling to her knees before the mage. The clips in her hair had fallen off, causing the dark tresses to cascade over her face. The woman drew in lungfulls of air between sobs.

"What has happened?" Clarissa asked.

"Lord Gareth. He..." the woman shook her head, releasing more of the locks,

"What of him?"

The woman raised her head. Clarissa noted how one eye had turned murky while the other lost its emerald sheen.

"He rode. Into the establishment. Looking sickly." She breathed, "We. Thought little. Of it." The woman drew in another gasp of air. Her body thrummed once.

"We provided him his usual room. On the top floor. When Jasmine sought him out, he... he attacked. We heard her screams but thought Lord Gareth's temper had flared. It was only when she tumbled down. With less fingers, and chunks missing from her shoulder that we... oh it was horrible."

"Lord Gareth... bit the woman?"

"He tore pieces of her, Grand Sorceress. He tore pieces from any who tried to stop him."

Clarissa sighed heavily. What magic had that damned necromancer released now.

"Where is Lord Gareth now?" Clarissa asked, helping the woman to her feet.

"We locked him in the room." Clarissa had already begun walking away, "But..."

She whirled,

"But what? Speak quickly."

"The others that were bit... they too attacked. They too..." The woman's eyes widened, a finger pointing beyond Clarissa. The sorceress turned to see silhouettes pouring from the doors in the distance. Many ran off while others shuffled out, groaning.

The gruff sound of the undead.

The woman behind retched and Clarissa saw the murky pool trailing towards her. The woman, both her eyes had dimmed and a feverish hunger bared itself as teeth.

Clarissa's arms waved about with the rustle of cloth as she weaved signs.

"Holy magic ought to undo this." She pushed her hands out with a swirl of white light. It struck the woman and phased through with no effect.

"What?"

She attempted the spell again when the woman lunged. Her spell changed mid-way from Holy to Empyrean. A gale formed around the other woman and flung her across the street. Clarissa rushed back to her temporary abode.

Had Perceval the Necromancer created a spell for his undead that was no longer affected by Holy Magic?

She had little time to wonder as fists banged at her door,

"Save us Grand Sorceress!" Their pleas pierced her heart. Yet she feared they too would turn. She would have to return to Raekinn's and warn the others. She turned to the bookshelf and waved her arms across, sliding the wooden shelving aside.

She plunged into the dark tunnel below and ran.