Chapter 40: With what you have

Evander: 

We left Sabien at the inn, and hired him a babysitter for the next month. I just hope we finish before the time is up. Amimasabu is a ruin.

 There are some survivors, who hide in their houses, but the undead are shambling in the streets, ready to lunge at just about anyone. Ren has already sent some trees and has made the vines in the town attack the zombies, but I fear this is not enough. 

A zombie lunges at Ren, and I make its body explode. Some of the gore ends up on my shoes. This is like a beacon for the rest of the nearby undead, to lunge at us. I make thirty of them explode, and then Ren pulls me behind him. 

"We need something more," I wonder, just what can he mean? It is not like I can explode more than thirty zombies at a time. "Just where is the necromancer who is raising these people from the dead?" 

"If I were a necromancer, and didn't look like a Lich, I'd be with the survivors," the thought came to me, almost as if someone told me to say these words. I blink a couple of times, trying to figure out just from where did it come from? 

"That is actually a good idea. I think I saw the local school. What are the chances that we will find survivors there?" Ren uses a spear, to get a zombie, which nearly bites me. He takes a hold of my hand, and then rushes off in the direction of the school. When we reach it, we see a group of zombies blocking the way. "Let me handle this." 

Ren lets his mana seep into the soil, and vines begin to wrap around the zombies. The vines manage to snap the spines of the undead, and they fall like sacks of potatoes. With this, he leads me even deeper. The noise from the fallen zombies brings even more to us. The door of the school opens, and we run inside. 

Much to my relief, there is a human on the other side. The man looks panicked. 

"Hey, are you bitten?" He asks us. 

"No, we are not," Ren says, and I nod. 

"I am a healer. I can help. Do you have bitten people inside? I have Goron root," at my words, the man looks ready to cry. 

"Do you think you can save them? Do you really?" He asks. I try to smile, but I, too, feel panic grip me. If we can judge by what is happening outside, then, I guess, that the people who are inside are all in need of Goron tea. 

"Does the school have a kitchen? Running water?" I ask. The man nods. 

"We even have filtering runes. Please save the children," something in my chest tighten. Did I do this? Is this a way for the Dread to get back at me, for all the dead necromancers under my name?

The man turns around, and then leads us inside the school. I can hear crying from the classrooms. 

"Are the children in the classrooms? When were they bitten?" I ask. 

"We placed them in cages. There is this conjurer in here, who made the cages. He told us the children will have a better chance, if they are not with the adults," immediately, my mind clicks. If this conjurer is the necromancer, we have to get him. Yet, I remember what the Dread told me. If we can resolve this peacefully, then the Dread won't have a cause to turn another town into a graveyard. 

It doesn't sit well with me, that I will be letting someone who murdered as many as this necromancer be, but what else can I do? The Dread is back. Until someone kills it again, we must toe the line between morals, and the need to strike back. 

"Lead us to the kitchen," I say, and the man makes a sharp turn. The crying from the classrooms unnerves me. I am glad to be rid of it, when we enter the kitchen. Soon, I am using all the pots in the room, to make Goron tea. Our guide lingers in the doorway. 

"Are there any people bitten from amongst the adults?" I ask him. He shakes his head. 

"I don't even know, if the children are bitten. When the outbreak began, they had classes," which would explain why there weren't any child zombies outside. I guess, that only those who managed to hide in time, survived. 

I glance at the steaming cups of tea, and then at the guide. 

"Take me to where the adults are," I say. I need to see this conjurer. If he is a necromancer, I will have to work something out with him. For all I know, he might be just another mage. 

He does lead us to the gym, and opens the door. I sense the necromantic mana in the corner. There is an old man, hunched, and pretending to sleep. 

"Is this the conjurer?" I ask our guide. He shakes his head. 

"No, this is old man Otto. He is sickly. Perhaps you can help him?" I go to the necromancer, and stop just before him. He looks up to me, his gray eyes feverish.

Do I out him for who he is? Do I keep his secret? What a mess. I wave my hand before his eyes, but he doesn't follow. This man has been taken over. 

Ren comes to stand behind me. From the frown on his face, I can see, that he too, knows who this man is. I turn to my mate, and then whisper in his ear. 

"We can't just kill him. He is not responsible for this," a part of me asks me, if other necromancers weren't to blame for the outbreaks. I do know, however, that if I out the man, the survivors are going to gang on him. "I will snap him out of the Dread's control, and then the zombies outside will all fall down." 

Ren doesn't seem convinced, but I don't care. Healing is what I can do best. Even if healing the brain is harder, than healing the rest of the body.