World Of The Fallen Dragon

5

The monks could not sit idly by and follow the manipulations of the necromancer, they dispersed in different directions and began to crack branches somewhere behind the trees, apparently looking for something. Soon the good brothers returned to the path, slurping their salty slurps - Olveh decided to walk along the edge of the path so as not to leave any unnecessary traces, and Horace followed him.

“No one and nothing,” said the little monk, “unfortunately, we failed to find.

"Then let's get to my conclusion." The necromancer rose to his feet, still clutching the basket in his hands. This woman was killed by a sorcerer.

“Unexpected solidarity,” said Brother Olveh indifferently.

"And this sorcerer is not a Maren charm," Tobius put in. “She died a few hours ago, when both he and I were with you.

“It is possible that he is innocent,” the Petrian still agreed, “or perhaps he has an accomplice. Time will show. Time and knowledge.

Completely ignoring the gray mage, the monk looked at the necromancer.

“The sorcerer killed her,” he continued. “Possibly a necromancer, but not necessarily. She walked from south to north, carrying with her brushwood and some fresh mushrooms. Apparently she was returning home - the nearest settlement to the south of here is three days' journey, but in the northwest there is an almost extinct farmstead, which is less than an hour on foot. I must say that this woman, God forgive me, was a fool. She left the house alone and went into the woods. This is despite the fact that here the places are almost wild and local people are obliged to be careful. Wolves are just beginning to eat after the winter, and besides them, there are more than fifteen types of small evil spirits that are always ready to hunt a person.

How did you know it was a sorcerer?

- It's simple. Char Thobius, are there any other tracks on the path besides those of the victim and perhaps yours?

- Have not found.

“You see, brother Olvekh, before her death, the unfortunate woman was stunned by a blow to the back of her head. After that, she was gutted alive. The work of man, not beast. The cut is even, the hand that made it is stuffed, you can trust me. Then the organs were taken out and laid out in accordance with the order of their location in the body along a vertical line. Some are missing - I think the killer found them suitable for his purposes. However, he left no trace. It doesn’t matter what he did, flew in and attacked from above, or wrapped himself in the illusion of invisibility and enchanted boots so as not to leave marks, the fact is that he owns the Gift. Well, or he is a Lontil elf. These creatures in the forest are invisible and inaudible, they leave no traces, they can walk a step away from a person, and he will not recognize this until the green steel knife enters under the ribs ... Sorry, I digress. To top it off, the killer took the child.

The necromancer pointed to the basket.

Why did you decide...

“I can smell a baby.

Brother Horas pursed his lips and frowned, brother Olveh seemed to have missed such reckless words past his ears, but this was a deceptive impression.

"You really don't smell dirty diapers, brothers?" - The necromancer grinned grimly and finally threw away the ill-fated basket. “If you leave us with enchantment Tobius, we will consider how to help the cause.

The wizards bent over the body, the monks did not move for some time, watching their actions, but nevertheless soon left.

"I didn't pay attention," Tobius whispered, "the child... Are you sure he didn't die?"

- Not sure. But I can swear he didn't die here. That's for sure.

- How are you…

“Children's blood smells very different from the blood of adults. Especially the blood of babies.

Goosebumps ran down Tobius's back.

“A grimm could help us. If brother Olveh doesn't drag us to the fire even for this little thing.

“Very interesting, do you know how to summon a Grimm, Char Tobius?”

"I don't, but I thought you... You don't have any ingredients?"

The necromancer smiled without a word, continuing to carefully examine the mangled corpse.

- Ingredients can be obtained. Just think, a tuft of wool and a couple of bones of a rabid dog. It's easy to get it. But to cope with an enchanted spell [A spell that the wizard is not able to learn, or is able, but with great difficulty, no matter how simple it may be. Cursed spells drop spontaneously for every wizard.] — no.

- OU.

“Yes, char Tobius, summoning a grimm is a bit difficult for me. Once I was able to carry it out, but the damned creature almost tore me to pieces. Too bad, it could help us a lot.

Some sorcerers and necromancers could summon grimm, the spirit of a rabid dog, to the World of the Fallen Dragon, which perfectly followed the trail, and not only. Usually necromancers created these creatures and let them chase the fugitives, and finding the unfortunate, the Grimms pounced on their prey with an unbridled desire to kill them. Very dangerous and strong, they faithfully served only sorcerers with a strong will, which is strange, because humility is inherent in the undead - even a wild restless will not attack a necromancer. Many young lords of the dead have lost their lives by summoning a Grimm to their head.

“Do you think if I offer them to perform the ritual of summoning her soul, they will immediately kill me?”

“Most likely, Brother Horas will get ahead of us both and use what he hides under his cloak before we raise the wands… Tell me, are you familiar with Blood magic?”

- Never tried.

"I have," Tobius admitted. “One day I came across a tomb deep in the swamps of the forest. And when its inhabitant finally rested thanks to me, I found some writings. I don't think the ritual is particularly difficult, but I really can't do it on my own.

Thobius took out his spell book, a rather bulky tome, bound in bronze with the silhouette of a flying moth on the front.

I don't think it's so much...

The noise of leaves stirred by the wind silenced the gray mage. He felt like someone was looking at him.

- Can? the necromancer asked cautiously, bringing Tobius out of his daze.

“…Yes, look.

Marin accepted the book with great respect. His behavior was natural: after all, for a magician, a spell book is a sacred treasure, a storehouse of knowledge and a source of power. Touching someone else's book or looking into it without asking would mean provoking the owner to the most severe retaliatory measures.

- Interesting…

- I haven't tried it yet - fortunately, there was no reason. And now that we don't have much choice... we can't summon the Grimm, and there's no legal way to track down the killer. There is only this - a ritual of blood magic at the level of village witchcraft. The brothers will not praise, but this is the most convenient way out.

“You will outline the body, and I will collect her blood.

- Let's start.

The necromancer took out a silver goblet from his bag and poured the blood of the murdered woman into it. Tobius took out his ritual knife and began to outline the corpse with a magical design. Unlike the blueprints common to the school of civilized magic, those lines were unkempt, broken, wild.

- What are you doing? asked Brother Olveh, approaching inaudibly from behind.

“Creating a blood tank,” the necromancer replied.

I don't know of such a spell.

"So it's not forbidden," Maren continued cautiously. “It never even occurred to us to disturb the soul of this unfortunate woman. This is completely unacceptable, right? Therefore, we decided to create a tiny nameless spirit with a blood body. The bloodworm is driven by a single desire - to grow. But he can do this only by finding more of the blood from which he is made. Now I am his essence, and the enchantment Tobius closes the original source of blood from the future creature. He will not see the body and will not feel its blood, which means he will rush to the nearest drop of blood that exists. It doesn't matter where she is - at least on the other side of the world. If the killer has taken even a little of the victim's blood on him, the bloodlet will follow him anywhere.

- Vile sorcery.

“You have to choose the lesser of two sins.

“It’s better not to sin at all and pray more often.”

“If praying in the middle of the woods over a disemboweled body will help us find the killer, then my ears are open, and I am listening,” Tobius said sharply. “You want to find a maleficarum [an ecclesiastical term for a sorcerer, warlock, heretic, or witch who practices dark magic.] or not, brother Olvech? If you offer your solution, we will stop all this and follow you.

The monk was silent. He was a professional magician, most of his life he was taught to find tracks and follow them for adepts of the dark arts who planned evil. But this time, the witch hunter's instinct failed: no matter how carefully the monk searched for the trail of the criminal, he eluded him.

Meanwhile, the wizards continued to work. Marin copied the text from the book of Tobius, and then they both stood over the body of the unfortunate woman. Thobius held a wand in his right hand, a book in his left, and Marin held a goblet in his left and a wand in his right.

Auta ermambas, suvelash kudari kver.

Auta almidash, suvelash tazzari arn.

Auta crudovil, suvelash ireded fing.

Aut tskakivar, suvenite rabita int.