The Life and Adventures Of A Necromancer

by MidnightMadness

χάθηκε η αθωότητα

I wonder the halls of Lord Sunfeather's mansion, as I am waiting for the two children to leave their tutor for their final examination.
After pacing the hallways for a few moments, my eyes are attracted to a shield that had been mounted onto the wall.

This shield, bearing the coat of arms of the Sunfeather household, was polished down to a blinding sheen but it also seemed to paradoxically have its fair share of scars marking its surface.
As I attempted to have a closer look at the shield, I heard a deep noble voice echoing down the hall speak "I'm afraid, Ms Bones, that those injuries are some that even you cannot cure."
Without turning around, I respond "I hope so, I'm not exactly a Smith, am I?"

Hearing clawsteps approaching and a chuckle as well.

Lord Sunfeather continues "Do you know that shield belonged to my great grandfather? One of the few Griffin' nobles that ever served in the Equestrian army, it was not an optional affair though, poor Griffin was caught with a girl from the town in the lord's bed and practically thrown into the hooves of the soldiers by her father. The damage to the shield was committed by a particularly vicious wyvern that he managed to strike down in the end"

I visibly wince at the end of the sentence.

"Ahh, I do apologise, of course, you wouldn't want to hear war stories considering the profession… But there is a reason I bring this story up."

Turning away from the shield and towards Lord Sunfeather, curious as to what secrets he might be hiding.

"During my great-grandfather's stint in the army, he had risen to the rank of lieutenant and coincidentally managed to start to make some connections with the right circles. He went to war as a disgraced noble's son and clawed his way up the social ladder, using both brains and skills."

Lord Sunfeather pauses for a moment and returns back to his monologue afterwards.

"After the war ended, he returned to find the estate in a state of disarray and the name of Sunfeather had been dragged through the mud to the stage that our title was about to be lost.
My great-grandfather reversed that, he used every tool in his repertoire from underhanded deals to blackmail to somehow manage to bring the Sunfeather name to the highest households in the land. I am betting you are wondering why I am bringing all this up."

I feel a pit start to develop in my stomach but I wait for him to finish.

"He had a remarkable ability to gauge a character by the end of his life, all of his travelling and meeting different types of people help, I suppose, and one of the things he demanded from the family was to be able to do the same. We are exposed to the masses early and attend public education as well as being privately tutored.
I am not a fool, Ms Bones, I have always been aware of your false alias but I have always had respect for your mission so I never asked. An issue has risen though, it appears some ponies are looking for you."

BUCK

Seriously, buck, who on Equestria is looking for me? And not looking for Ms Bones either? Who knows I'm alive? I haven't even said my name since I left Canterlot and I have been so careful.

I watched Sunfeather carefully, if he gave the order then I could be dragged to Celestia herself and the last time I checked there was still a death sentence linked to necromancy. I weave and hold a spell in my horn, I am not a combat specialist and practically failed every self-defence course in the academy but I learned a pretty good way of sedating a patient a few years back by squeezing the carotid artery in their neck but due to preparation time and my lack of aim using it in a fight is just not possible.

The Griffin smirked and said "Don't worry Miss Bones, I have only heard this from a discrete source in Canterlot and all they knew was that some ponies were tasked with the task of finding a pony called Blue Syringe, and even then they have some loose sources. I only managed to work out the link due to knowing you. I only say this as a word of warning, as somepony who has saved this household on several occasions, I would rather see you safe and continue your mission."

Relaxing my muscles, I give a slight grin to the Griffin and say shakily
"Thank you, my lord, it's somewhat strange hearing my name again I'll be honest. Blue Syringe is something I abandoned after I set out into the world, I assumed that it died when the search was completed. I am curious who is looking for me though, I really didn't interact with many in the academy, I spent most of my time in the hospital unless I was actively studying."

"Trust me Ms Bones, you are still quite young in the perspective of things. Someone will always notice you no matter what you are doing, especially if you are capable of reversing death. Now I believe that you have some patients to inspect and I will have a nice tea brewing if my butler is doing his job correctly." Lord Sunfeather wisely says before striding off.

I chuckle as Lord Sunfeather leaves and I start to head to the bedrooms

---

I knock my hoof on the children's door and notice squabbling through the door.
With a sigh, I reach for the door handle and push my way in and see that the children seem to be fighting.

"You broke it, you clod!" I watch the brother yell at his sister with tears in his eyes.

"No, I didn't, it's fine!" The sister replies dismissively.

"Look! The wing is chipped, it was a collector's item! "

"We can glue it back on and nobody will not-..."

I watch the sister notice me at the door and very slowly try to hide her talon behind her back.

I roll my eyes, children of every race manage to always find something to fight about… Well I suppose adults do as well.

I say with an authoritative tone "look, I need you to stop arguing. Your final checks are today, and I'm guessing that you want my out of your feathers."

Hearing something clatter to the ground behind the sister but I watch both griffins come towards me.

Taking out a pad with some notes, I had been collecting since I'd got here, and said "Okay, Icaothius, stand here and raise your right wing."

I watched the boy gingerly come towards me while starting to raise his left wing but suddenly changing to his right.

Moving in closer to check along the scar lines and activate a scanning spell to assist.

"Why do you keep checking his wing? It looks fine to me." I hear the sister say to my left.

Not looking away from the wing, I respond "And when did you get your medical licence? But, I do need to keep checking it. The amount of damage your brother's wing was extensive. And if I made any mistakes in its repairs then your brother will suffer one day. Could you imagine his wing seizing while flying?"

The sister went quiet after my response but I didn't really have the time to deal with her.
Continuing my check of the boy I noticed that he still had some slight fractures and the scar tissue had yet to heal but given it month he should be fully functioning.

Now for the hard part.

I send the boy away and call "Lantern, please come here"

Watching Lantern sulk her way across the room reminds me of my brother, he used to always try to delay the inevitable.

After Lantern stands in front of me, my eyes drift to the collarbone and the scar that runs down her chest.
"Feeling any chest issues? Any tightness or itching?" I try to say with a calm tone

She appears to ponder for a while and responds "it feels sore and when i lie down, it feels like someone is squeezing me."

I'm not too surprised by this, the twelve hours of surgery I did on her chest would leave anyone sore, I've done some intensive surgeries in the past but never had to re-construct a heart to the level I did.

Griffins can be terrifying sometimes.

"It's to be expected to be honest, I'm going to prescribe some muscle relaxants which should relieve some pain but it will hurt for a short while still, your body has to adapt. Now, any other issues that have arisen?" I say while looking down at my notepad.

Lantern goes to speak but withdraws for a while, after a few minutes she opens her mouth to speak again "I… I have been having nightmares."

Right, a shame she hadn't mentioned this before but I imagined this to be the case, she's been looking more tired recently and this whole scenario wasn't good for a child.

"Icaothius, would you mind leaving the room for a moment? Thank you. Lantern, would you mind describing your dream?" I try to say sympathetically.

Lantern seems to check that the door is closed and starts "my brother and I are leaving home in the beginning, we have school, I think, It's hard to remember where we were going but we start walking up the path into the woods. I felt like we are walking for a few hours and I watched Icao mess around with a stick when I hear shouting up the path coming towards us. After a while, the shouting stops and the world goes quiet. I watched and saw lots of shadows come down the path and I saw Icao try to fight them off with his stick but they knock it away and… stab him I think? Like multiple knives attacked him on his wing, and I tried to be the big sister, daddy always tells me to try and help Icao, and one of the shadow swing his knife thingy at me and my chest feels cold. I saw Icao get knocked over and he didn't stand up and then the shadow sat on me and started scratching my chest. I felt so cold and just wanted to sleep and I felt myself drift away.
After that I landed in this… pool, I think? It felt weird, like everything was wavy, and then I started hearing all these voices asking me to relax and sleep but after a while i started feeling something tugging me and then I woke up."

I mentally sigh, no wonder she hadn't mentioned anything, it sounded horrible being able to remember your own murder. But luckily she didn't seem to be aware of the reality, might be able to get a psychiatrist to live in and watch her condition.

After a moment of deliberation, I say "that sounds like a pretty nasty nightmare, but I have something that can help."

That had just about rounded up the final checkup and I decided to go and talk to the butler and discussed the medication prescribed.

After that, I said my goodbyes to the lord and started heading back to my apartment. I needed to reach out to some contacts and figure out who is after me.

Author's Note:

Well i finally wrote another chapter
Hi everyone, it has been sooo long since i last wrote a chapter and hopefully i can start writing constantly again but for now enjoy a chapter of misery

Comments

[-Brutus]

Welcome back and also it's nice to see this back! I'm going to give this a another read because I forget what happened in previous chapters.

[Golden_Map]

Welcome back

[MidnightMadness]

10465086

10464099
Thanks for the welcome back!
I am sorry for the delay on this one, its always in the back of the mind and I usually have about 5 drafts on my drive.

[asdtroi8895]

I mentally sigh, no wonder she hadn't mentioned anything, it sounded horrible being able to remember your own murder. But luckily she didn't seem to be aware of the reality, might be able to get a psychiatrist to live in and watch her condition.

I do love details like this that further fleshes out necromancy.