Chapter 5: Battle Music
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"Ow! That was really loud." Zephyra half smiled nervously. Although, her smile may have come across as being more creepy than a moment ago. 

 

"A-a necromancer? How did this happen?" Karen thought. "The church is supposed to protect us from heretics."

 

The church of purity, venerating the aspect of Skalgnos, was responsible for maintaining the plane of Terras from extraplanar threats.

 

"A necromancer!" Ted blanched and thought. "Huh, they're cuter than I thought they'd be."

 

"I have to protect them!" Phil thought and inconspicuously raised his shield. He placed a hand on his sword and almost doubled over as a wave of nausea hit him. 

 

"H-how are you here?" Karen stuttered. 

 

Zephyra frowned into a pout. "What do you mean? I walked all the way here with all of you."

 

"No, I mean…" she took a deep breath. "Th-the church is supposed to-"

 

“The church?” Zephyra's eyes glowed with a pale sickly green and a thick miasma rose from her skin. "What does the church have to do with it?!"

 

The three unconsciously backed away from her. A cold sweat overtook them. It felt as though the heat was being sucked away into her dense aura.

 

"Ah, sorry!" Zephyra quickly apologized. Her eyes turned back to their regular brilliant blue color. The heavy pressure of her necrotic energy dissipated and the heat returned to the area. 

 

"The church is wevil. And, I just get really mad with them. I mean, the necrotic aspect isn't evil. I mean, it can be, a lot of really terrible things have happened with it. It is undoubtedly dangerous and…" Zephyra sighed and muttered. "I'm not making my point very well."

 

"What do you want?" Phil asked accusingly. He could only grimace through the nauseating feeling that ate at him. 

 

"Hm? I want to finish the dungeon. What do you mean?" Zephyra tilted her head to the side. 

 

"No, I mean…” He took a deep breath. “Are you going to kill us?" 

 

Ted and Karen both snapped their heads toward Phil as he asked.

"Er, I don't think I'd make a very good undead. Almost all of my magic comes from what I can do with my tongue." Ted nervously ventured.

 

Karen blushed and buried her head in her hands. "Don't phrase it like that idiot!"

 

"Oh! That's not what I meant!" Ted quickly added on. "I just haven't ever seen an undead that can speak very well. Or sing."

 

He stopped and thought for a moment. "Well, actually these are the first undead I've ever seen."

 

"Why do you think I would kill you?" Zephyra asked puzzled. Her eyes held a glint of concern within them.

 

The three didn't answer. Yet, they felt a small sprig of hope blossom in their hearts.

 

"You're much more useful alive. I mean, undead aren't very good company, even if they are cute. They take a lot of mana to upkeep. Also, they smell. Also, I couldn't really just walk around with a bunch of undead." She crossed her arms in front of her and poured again. "I already tried. People freak out."

 

The sprig of hope died. It was a short lived sprig. May it rest in peace.

 

"Oh well, that's comforting." Ted muttered.

 

"What? No it isn't!" Karen was almost on the verge of hyperventilating. 

 

"You lied to us. You said you were a healer." Phil frowned and crossed his arms. 

 

Zephyra quickly waved her arms frantically in denial. "No, I can still heal you! I didn't lie about that! I wouldn't lie about that! It’s just-”

 

A distinctive shuffling creak echoed through the chamber. A  collection of red glowing eyes shone through the darkness. A dozen, or so, skeletons slowly came into view, far more than the two that had shown up earlier.

 

A small horde of undead approached them.

 

"Oh, we're so dead." Karen blanched and started to cry and sniffle. "By necromancer, or necromancer minions. I don't want to die. I still haven't finished my book"

 

"You're worried about your book? Right now?" Ted turned in disbelief.

 

“I haven’t found out if the two princesses love each other yet.

 

 "It's a lesbo-smut book. Of course they're in love! I mean, it’s even in the title!"

 

"”The Princess’s Love” is a lot more sophisticated than that Ted!" Karen nearly screamed.

 

Phil ignored their petty argument and made his stand between the skeletons and the group. "Run! I'll hold them off!"

 

“We can’t just leave you here!” Ted and Karen were on the verge of hysteria.

 

"Stop!" Zephyra commanded exasperated and shook her head.

 

[Contract Command Activated]

 

"Gods, you're all panicking! I may be a necromancer. But, we’re a party.”

 

The trio stopped dead in their tracks and turned toward the blonde commander.

 

“I know there's a lot, but they're all really weak. We can handle it.” She addressed Phil with a commanding tone that left no room to argue. “Stay where you are and try not to let any past you."

 

He nodded and held up his shield, a grim determination shining within his eyes.

 

"Karen, try to aim for the backlines. Especially if they have any ranged weapons."

 

"I'll… I’ll do my best!" Karen answered.

 

"And, Ted!"

 

Ted flinched. He really hoped she wasn't about to tell him to jump on their weapons or something. He had already proven to be an apt pin cushion after all. However, as he glanced at her, he hopelessly became lost in her eyes. She flashed a brilliant smile. 

 

"Y-yes?" He spluttered foolishly. 

 

"Sing us a song and fight!"

 

Ted couldn't stop smiling. The goddess asked him to sing! The goddess asked him to sing for her!

 

"Hell yes! I know that she's a necromancer, but she's hot! Who cares?" He thought to himself "So, turned on right now."

 

A sage colloquialism had once stated that the power of a horny bard could overcome any obstacle. Ted believed in it wholeheartedly and poured his entire being into his song, even in spite of the teeth clattering. Although, to be fair, it might have only been the enemy skeletons.

 

"Mr. Rattlebones,

Er, clatterbones.

Go away,

Tattered bones 

shattered bones.

Stay away...

Else we'll all be boned?

[Inspire: Courage]"

 

The song echoed through the chamber. Ted's magic washed over the group and lifted their spirits, urging them to action, and guiding their strikes forward. The skeletons themselves had stopped pushing forward and stared at Ted. The poor animated corpses almost looked confused. 

 

"Pft." Karen couldn't stop herself from laughing. 

 

Even Phil smirked as he smashed through another skeleton.

 

"Wonderful Ted!" Zephyra cheered, she idly picked up a stone and threw it at a skeleton. It fell apart after its head skittered away from the impact. "Now, take out any that make it past Phil!"

 

"I think it needed to rhyme a bit better." Karen scoffed. 

 

Ted huffed his cheeks a rosy colored red. It was a lot more embarrassing to sing when someone asked. Especially, someone that was scary and hot. "Well, if you think you can do better. Be my guest."

 

The skeletons didn't last very long. They were far too fragile.

Phil had swept through most of them with his tree trunk arms. They crumbled and fell underneath blow after blow. Many of them never got the chance to even raise their weapon against him. They were struck down with the extreme prejudice of a landslide made of muscle.

Karen focused on their backline. Her nerves had calmed a little. The ridiculous little song had helped distract her. The fear of their impending death had dissipated.  The spell work itself was average. But, she had managed to do her job. Barely. 

The skeletons in the back row slowly smoldered with the heat of her magic. Eventually, the roughshod material caught on fire, collapsing into ash and bone.

Zephyra picked up a few loose pebbles and chucked them at the spooky scary swarm.

 

Even Ted had managed to fend off a few himself. Kinda. He didn't die at least.

 

Overall, they had escaped with only a few scrapes, cuts and bruises.

 

They all collapsed to the floor with relief. It was over. Praise the gods.

 

"What happened?" Karen asked after the battle. She was barely out of breath. "We weren't that good yesterday."

 

"We were always awesome." Ted beamed gasping for air. "But, we're even more awesome with Zephyra."

 

 "No. Actually, we're not any better." Phil stroked his chin and thought for a few moments. "We just didn't kill each other because we followed Zephyra's directions."

 

"Eh?" Ted and Karen stared at Phil with mouths agape. "He's right! We didn't even notice! It's all thanks to her."

 

"Oh, I didn't do much." Zephyra ran a hand through her luscious hair and blushed. She rummaged through her satchel and picked up her needles and stitching. "Um, but I still need to close up a couple of your wounds."

 

"We would've died without your guidance." Phil nodded his head sagely and held out his arm. "Thank you."

 

"Ah gods, I really don't know how to respond to compliments." Zephyra smiled shyly. "Um, I need to disinfect the cut before I close it up.  I could do it with my mana but… I don't have much left."

 

"Ah, don't worry about it. Thank you." Phil replied.

 

"Your instructions really were incredible, amazing and splendid! I mean, you spoke and my body responded immediately." Ted exclaimed excitedly. 

 

"Right?! You told me to calm down and I could feel my emotions slowing down." Karen smiled. " I guess, Ted's ridiculous song helped as well."

 

"I know that I wouldn't have responded as quickly with the first group without you." Phil added and smiled down at the little necro-healer. Little compared to him anyway. 

 

Zephyra smiled a little forlornly, dabbing at his wound with an alcohol soaked cloth. "I'm glad that it helped. I'm sorry about all of this though. If I wasn't a necromancer all of this would've been easier."

 

Phil studied her for a moment and sighed. "I don't think you're a bad person. At least, you've helped us survive. But, we need to-"

 

"Hey, how did you command us like that anyway?" Ted asked curiously with a smile. He hadn't even realized that he cut off Phil. "Do you have a skill, or a spell, or something? I haven't heard of anything like that except in slave magic."

 

Zephyra's expression darkened and she focused more intently on her stitching. 

 

"It was a skill right? I didn't hear you cast anything. So I don't think it was a spell." Karen added with a bright laugh.

 

Zephyra finished sewing and her hands shook as she put her supplies away. "Y-yeah. A skill."

 

"That's incredible!" Ted sighed wistfully. "I wish I had a skill that could compel people that way."

 

"Er, somehow that seems really creepy coming from you." Karen subconsciously folded her arms over and covered herself up. 

 

"Hey! That's not what I meant!", Ted blushed and turned away from the girls. "I just meant that it would be a lot of fun to mess with people."

 

"It's a bit difficult. And, I don't really like it. So, I try not to use it much." Zephyra stated.

 

"I imagine that it would make it difficult for people to trust you." Phil replied. He flexed his stitched arm gently back and forth. "So, Why are we here Zephyra?"

 

"Um well, I might maybe need something from this dungeon. And, I thought that since I needed to come here anyway, that it might be a good opportunity to work with all of you."

 

"We're not going to be doing anything evil, right?" He squinted his eyes at her.

 

"N-no! Of course not! I'd never do anything evil. Well, objectively evil. Well, I mean it really depends on your values and…" She trailed off and thought for a moment. "No, this shouldn't be an evil mission. I just need some silver marrow that can sometimes be found in these undead."

 

"That's it?" 

 

"That's it!" 

 

A deep sigh of relief exhaled from Phil's chest. Even Ted and Karen noticed a weight lifting from their conscience. A weight that they hadn't realized was even weighing down on them.

 

"Then, I'll help for now. So long as we don't do anything evil and we stay relatively safe."

 

"So, we're going further in, right?" Ted jumped up excitedly. "If the fights all go like that last one, they'll be singing our praises back in the taverns."

 

"Oh gods, they'd better not." Karen gasped in horror.

 

"Heh, Ted the brave. No, the magnificent! The silver tongued rascal that single handedly sleep an entire battlion of undead with a song!" He grinned.

 

Zephyra smiled, her dark expression lightening at the levity of the moment. 

 

"The last one was too long for a title." Phil smirked.

 

"And, Phil the stalwart! The immovable mountain!"

 

"The stalwart isn't half bad." The immovable mountain mused. 

 

"Right? And Karen!" Ted turned toward her. "Karen the um…"

 

"Hmm." He stepped closer to inspect her.

 

"Karen the what, Ted?" The anticipatiom and excitement was getting to her. I mean, she didn't really care. But, Ted had a way of sweeping everyone up into his excitement.

 

"Karen the… smolder-er?"

 

Her face fell. "I don't think that's quite-"

 

"Karen, the well studied? No that's not right either." He began to pace back and forth. "Ah! Karen of the carnage!" 

 

"No, thank you." Her eyes dimmed. Her excitement was gone. "I just want to finish my book now. Life is disappointing."

 

"And, Zephyra!" He spun with a flourish.

 

Unfortunately, Ted wasn't paying attention to his feet and they caught on the scattered bones. He careened forward. And, crashed right into Zephyra. 

 

Their lips pressed together as they fell. 

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