One moment he was sitting in his study, the next he was standing in an unfamiliar concrete room, festooned with faded military propaganda posters. With slogans like “Join the SAS, serve your country and your Queen,” and other such items.
He looked around for a moment before spotting Gabriel. It didn’t escape his notice that he was about eye level with the man. Norman glanced down, seeing he did indeed have human hands. “I take it I’m in one of your men’s bodies?”
“Yes, Sir. We thought it might ease communications with the Brits.”
Norman just nodded. He could already feel the man’s psyche pressing against his. “We have about fifteen minutes, better make this quick.”
The Death Knight team leader nodded and motioned for him to follow. They passed through the beige hallways until they reached a metal door. On the other side of the door was a storage garage where a group of men were waiting. Norman didn’t miss the tensing of Gabriel or the fact that half these men were armed with military rifles.
“You’ll need to forgive my caution,” A man with what looked like a starburst and crossed swords spoke from the center of the group. “But when I’m told I’ll be meeting with a powerful magic user, I need to take precautions. I’m sure you understand.”
Norman simply nodded.
“You can call me Major General Roberts. How might I address you?”
“You can call me Lord Norman,” Norman replied offhandedly.
The man raised an inquisitive eyebrow and remarked, "A Lord, you say? I never expected Americans to embrace imperialism once more."
Norman just shrugged. “Wasn’t my choice. I hate to have to rush through pleasantries, but the spell I use has limited duration.”
“Well, that makes things easier I suppose. My Captain has told me that you may be able to provide arms and armor to us to help defend our territory?”
Norman looked at Gabriel with a bit of confusion. While he had received an update from the man’s sending paper, it had been brief. There had been mention of the Captain and where they were headed, but not much else.
Gabriel cleared his throat. “There was some interest there, but I did not promise anything, Sir.”
He nodded and turned back toward General Roberts. “While we do possess arms and armor. We don’t really have a surplus. We also don’t have any way to get it to you in a timely manner if we manufactured it.”
The General frowned slightly. “So this meeting was a waste of time?”
“I wouldn’t say that. We could offer to move all of your people to a safer zone.”
“What's the catch?”
Now Norman needed to decide if he wanted to reveal Normenia’s nature or not. Not revealing it would lead to issues when and if they took him up on his relocation offer. Revealing it might make them turn on his people or reject his offer outright.
He decided to trust these people. “The catch is that I am a necromancer and most of my population are undead.”
Concerned muttering spread through the room like wildfire before the General silenced them. “Enough. You are soldiers, not children, act like it.”
After chastising his men, he turned back toward Norman. “Undead? But not all of them? I have met your squad of soldiers. If they aren’t alive, my eyes truly have deceived me.”
“Correct. They are alive and well. However, that hasn’t always been the case.”
More muttering ran through the room but that stopped before the General could get involved.
“Could you explain?”
“I’ll do you one better, I’ll show you. I just need a live animal, an adult pig or larger will do.”
The general seemed to think about it for a bit before motioning one of his soldiers to retrieve something. Norman couldn’t imagine how bad it was here if the man hardly hesitated at the request.
“Gabriel, you said you retrieved a blood sample?” the man nodded and handed Norman a scrap of cloth.
He took this cloth as he began to weave a spell circle in the air. Some of the General’s guards brought their weapons up, but the man motioned for them to hold. Although, he didn’t tell them to put them down completely. Norman didn’t mind. If he was in their place, he probably would have shot by now. It would have been the smart option.
A thin stream of blood flowed from the man Norman was inhabiting. He would have preferred to quick cast this spell mentally, but the man’s mind wasn’t strong enough to support that. Pulling his blood out like this wasn’t ideal either but at least the man would live. Although he would probably need some rest and maybe a cookie and juice.
There were a few muttered curses and other comments as the stream of blood drew out the complicated magic circle on the floor between the two groups. Even the man that returned, with a horse of all things, stopped to watch in surprise.
He motioned for the horse to be placed inside one circle while he placed the bloody cloth inside the other.
With another liberal splatter of blood, the circle began to glow.
It wasn’t long before a shocked room was looking at a revived soldier. One they thought dead and lost. The confused man was taken away to get debriefed and dressed Norman assumed.
The General turned toward him. “You can do this for anyone?”
Norman shook his head. “In this form, I am limited. It is also much easier to revive someone if we have the full corpse.”
“If you can do this, certainly you don’t need us. So why?”
“I can make mindless undead, yes. But I prefer to retain their personalities from when they were alive. And I can always use more soldiers.” Normally Norman wouldn’t reveal this fact but he had a good feeling about this General and his people.
“Let’s say I agree. Can my people remain living?”
“That would be up to each individual person. Although I can tell you there are advantages to being undead just as there are to being alive.”
“And the civilians under my care?”
“They would receive the same offer. There are plenty of jobs within my kingdom. Or if they wished to leave, we have ties to other zones. Even one with humans.”
The man pondered his words until Norman cleared his throat, reminding him of the time crunch.
“How will you evacuate us without getting half the people killed on the trip?”
For the first time, Norman smiled and a man appeared next to him. The sudden appearance of the short old gron almost got them all shot. But the look of surprise on their faces had been worth it in Norman’s mind. He motioned toward Grobert. “Meet my Chief Advisor. He will provide the means to get you and all your people to safety without issu-,” mid-sentence, the spell ended and Norman found himself sitting back in his study.
The transition was a bit jarring and he hadn’t finished his sales pitch, but he was pretty sure Grobert could handle it from there.
***
Grobert stood stoically as the man, that irresponsible kid had been possessing, tipped forward and landed flat on his face with a groan.
He was already cooking up plans to pay his boss back for dumping this mess in his lap. Maybe he could talk some of the alchemists into creating an itching powder for him. He let those thoughts percolate in the back of his mind as he turned his attention to this General.
“I’m going to need some stuff to get started.”
Without waiting for permission, he stomped forward and started unloading his pack. It had only taken him two days to locate the human outpost after Norman informed him about it and a likely meeting so he had come mostly prepared.
After getting here, he was able to determine where the closest teleporter was. Turns out it was just on the other side of a mountain range that sat off to this zone's North. It meant he didn’t need to create a whole new chain from Normenia. Which was good because he didn’t have nearly enough components for that. He could also recover the teleporters once everyone was safely moved since nobody would be left here.
He teleported past one man who tried to block his path, not interested in conversing as he laid out the teleport circle.
Eventually, the grumbling subsided around him and people got to work supplying him with the remainder of the materials he needed to finish this job.
***
Roberts admired the short man’s gumption and no-nonsense attitude. He had a job and he did it, not allowing anyone to get in his way or stop him. He was also certain, that this man was one of the undead that Lord Norman had spoken of.
Nobody that looked that old should be able to move that fast or without complaint. It was an unpleasant reminder of his own advancing age. He winced internally as an old wound twinged in his leg. The wound had been what finally pushed him from being in the fight to sitting behind a desk. He couldn’t complain too much though, he had risen to Major General and was slated for a promotion until the world fell apart.
Communication back in those days had been spotty, but he had received commands to hold this position from higher up. And he had for a decade. But as the years progressed, those commands stopped coming. Even the powerful radio array, located in the base, was no longer able to receive those messages. He wanted to believe this was because of the earthquakes and the new land. But he knew that wasn’t the only reason. The messages had slowly started coming more infrequently even before then.
Nobody wanted to say it out loud but everyone knew. The United Kingdom had fallen.
As he watched this strange man work, he tried not to get his hopes up. Even if it did sound like this Kingdom of Lord Norman’s was thriving. Roberts knew you didn’t need soldiers unless you had enemies to fight.
He turned towards one of his Captains. “Keep me apprised of the work, and have our patrols doubled. I don’t want to risk anything getting by.” He left unsaid ‘Now that they had a way out of this nightmare.’
That caution served him well as a few hours later, gunshots broke the quiet. Soon after the base alarm went off. He hurried to the garage and motioned towards all of the guards. Some hesitated. “Go, dammit. If they wanted to harm me, they would have done it by now.”
“If you don’t mind, Major General, me and my men would like to join them.”
The man nodded, slightly surprised at the request. “You might find it hard to keep up.”
The man smirked before tapping a necklace. “I don’t think that will be a problem, Sir.” With a salute, the man and his team hurried off.
This left only him and the short old man, who he was pretty sure was a dwarf, inside the garage. Instead of standing there and being useless, Roberts asked if he could assist.
The man looked up at him and grunted before handing him a pile of strange metal components.
“Follow me around while I lay these out. It’ll be faster than me having to go back and grab them.”
Roberts got flashbacks to his recruit training days but did as the specialist requested. He was also pretty sure the man was just humoring him, he had seen him teleport after all.
One moment he was sitting in his study, the next he was standing in an unfamiliar concrete room, festooned with faded military propaganda posters. With slogans like “Join the SAS, serve your country and your Queen,” and other such items.
He looked around for a moment before spotting Gabriel. It didn’t escape his notice that he was about eye level with the man. Norman glanced down, seeing he did indeed have human hands. “I take it I’m in one of your men’s bodies?”
“Yes, Sir. We thought it might ease communications with the Brits.”
Norman just nodded. He could already feel the man’s psyche pressing against his. “We have about fifteen minutes, better make this quick.”
The Death Knight team leader nodded and motioned for him to follow. They passed through the beige hallways until they reached a metal door. On the other side of the door was a storage garage where a group of men were waiting. Norman didn’t miss the tensing of Gabriel or the fact that half these men were armed with military rifles.
“You’ll need to forgive my caution,” A man with what looked like a starburst and crossed swords spoke from the center of the group. “But when I’m told I’ll be meeting with a powerful magic user, I need to take precautions. I’m sure you understand.”
Norman simply nodded.
“You can call me Major General Roberts. How might I address you?”
“You can call me Lord Norman,” Norman replied offhandedly.
The man raised an inquisitive eyebrow and remarked, "A Lord, you say? I never expected Americans to embrace imperialism once more."
Norman just shrugged. “Wasn’t my choice. I hate to have to rush through pleasantries, but the spell I use has limited duration.”
“Well, that makes things easier I suppose. My Captain has told me that you may be able to provide arms and armor to us to help defend our territory?”
Norman looked at Gabriel with a bit of confusion. While he had received an update from the man’s sending paper, it had been brief. There had been mention of the Captain and where they were headed, but not much else.
Gabriel cleared his throat. “There was some interest there, but I did not promise anything, Sir.”
He nodded and turned back toward General Roberts. “While we do possess arms and armor. We don’t really have a surplus. We also don’t have any way to get it to you in a timely manner if we manufactured it.”
The General frowned slightly. “So this meeting was a waste of time?”
“I wouldn’t say that. We could offer to move all of your people to a safer zone.”
“What's the catch?”
Now Norman needed to decide if he wanted to reveal Normenia’s nature or not. Not revealing it would lead to issues when and if they took him up on his relocation offer. Revealing it might make them turn on his people or reject his offer outright.
He decided to trust these people. “The catch is that I am a necromancer and most of my population are undead.”
Concerned muttering spread through the room like wildfire before the General silenced them. “Enough. You are soldiers, not children, act like it.”
After chastising his men, he turned back toward Norman. “Undead? But not all of them? I have met your squad of soldiers. If they aren’t alive, my eyes truly have deceived me.”
“Correct. They are alive and well. However, that hasn’t always been the case.”
More muttering ran through the room but that stopped before the General could get involved.
“Could you explain?”
“I’ll do you one better, I’ll show you. I just need a live animal, an adult pig or larger will do.”
The general seemed to think about it for a bit before motioning one of his soldiers to retrieve something. Norman couldn’t imagine how bad it was here if the man hardly hesitated at the request.
“Gabriel, you said you retrieved a blood sample?” the man nodded and handed Norman a scrap of cloth.
He took this cloth as he began to weave a spell circle in the air. Some of the General’s guards brought their weapons up, but the man motioned for them to hold. Although, he didn’t tell them to put them down completely. Norman didn’t mind. If he was in their place, he probably would have shot by now. It would have been the smart option.
A thin stream of blood flowed from the man Norman was inhabiting. He would have preferred to quick cast this spell mentally, but the man’s mind wasn’t strong enough to support that. Pulling his blood out like this wasn’t ideal either but at least the man would live. Although he would probably need some rest and maybe a cookie and juice.
There were a few muttered curses and other comments as the stream of blood drew out the complicated magic circle on the floor between the two groups. Even the man that returned, with a horse of all things, stopped to watch in surprise.
He motioned for the horse to be placed inside one circle while he placed the bloody cloth inside the other.
With another liberal splatter of blood, the circle began to glow.
It wasn’t long before a shocked room was looking at a revived soldier. One they thought dead and lost. The confused man was taken away to get debriefed and dressed Norman assumed.
The General turned toward him. “You can do this for anyone?”
Norman shook his head. “In this form, I am limited. It is also much easier to revive someone if we have the full corpse.”
“If you can do this, certainly you don’t need us. So why?”
“I can make mindless undead, yes. But I prefer to retain their personalities from when they were alive. And I can always use more soldiers.” Normally Norman wouldn’t reveal this fact but he had a good feeling about this General and his people.
“Let’s say I agree. Can my people remain living?”
“That would be up to each individual person. Although I can tell you there are advantages to being undead just as there are to being alive.”
“And the civilians under my care?”
“They would receive the same offer. There are plenty of jobs within my kingdom. Or if they wished to leave, we have ties to other zones. Even one with humans.”
The man pondered his words until Norman cleared his throat, reminding him of the time crunch.
“How will you evacuate us without getting half the people killed on the trip?”
For the first time, Norman smiled and a man appeared next to him. The sudden appearance of the short old gron almost got them all shot. But the look of surprise on their faces had been worth it in Norman’s mind. He motioned toward Grobert. “Meet my Chief Advisor. He will provide the means to get you and all your people to safety without issu-,” mid-sentence, the spell ended and Norman found himself sitting back in his study.
The transition was a bit jarring and he hadn’t finished his sales pitch, but he was pretty sure Grobert could handle it from there.
***
Grobert stood stoically as the man, that irresponsible kid had been possessing, tipped forward and landed flat on his face with a groan.
He was already cooking up plans to pay his boss back for dumping this mess in his lap. Maybe he could talk some of the alchemists into creating an itching powder for him. He let those thoughts percolate in the back of his mind as he turned his attention to this General.
“I’m going to need some stuff to get started.”
Without waiting for permission, he stomped forward and started unloading his pack. It had only taken him two days to locate the human outpost after Norman informed him about it and a likely meeting so he had come mostly prepared.
After getting here, he was able to determine where the closest teleporter was. Turns out it was just on the other side of a mountain range that sat off to this zone's North. It meant he didn’t need to create a whole new chain from Normenia. Which was good because he didn’t have nearly enough components for that. He could also recover the teleporters once everyone was safely moved since nobody would be left here.
He teleported past one man who tried to block his path, not interested in conversing as he laid out the teleport circle.
Eventually, the grumbling subsided around him and people got to work supplying him with the remainder of the materials he needed to finish this job.
***
Roberts admired the short man’s gumption and no-nonsense attitude. He had a job and he did it, not allowing anyone to get in his way or stop him. He was also certain, that this man was one of the undead that Lord Norman had spoken of.
Nobody that looked that old should be able to move that fast or without complaint. It was an unpleasant reminder of his own advancing age. He winced internally as an old wound twinged in his leg. The wound had been what finally pushed him from being in the fight to sitting behind a desk. He couldn’t complain too much though, he had risen to Major General and was slated for a promotion until the world fell apart.
Communication back in those days had been spotty, but he had received commands to hold this position from higher up. And he had for a decade. But as the years progressed, those commands stopped coming. Even the powerful radio array, located in the base, was no longer able to receive those messages. He wanted to believe this was because of the earthquakes and the new land. But he knew that wasn’t the only reason. The messages had slowly started coming more infrequently even before then.
Nobody wanted to say it out loud but everyone knew. The United Kingdom had fallen.
As he watched this strange man work, he tried not to get his hopes up. Even if it did sound like this Kingdom of Lord Norman’s was thriving. Roberts knew you didn’t need soldiers unless you had enemies to fight.
He turned towards one of his Captains. “Keep me apprised of the work, and have our patrols doubled. I don’t want to risk anything getting by.” He left unsaid ‘Now that they had a way out of this nightmare.’
That caution served him well as a few hours later, gunshots broke the quiet. Soon after the base alarm went off. He hurried to the garage and motioned towards all of the guards. Some hesitated. “Go, dammit. If they wanted to harm me, they would have done it by now.”
“If you don’t mind, Major General, me and my men would like to join them.”
The man nodded, slightly surprised at the request. “You might find it hard to keep up.”
The man smirked before tapping a necklace. “I don’t think that will be a problem, Sir.” With a salute, the man and his team hurried off.
This left only him and the short old man, who he was pretty sure was a dwarf, inside the garage. Instead of standing there and being useless, Roberts asked if he could assist.
The man looked up at him and grunted before handing him a pile of strange metal components.
“Follow me around while I lay these out. It’ll be faster than me having to go back and grab them.”
Roberts got flashbacks to his recruit training days but did as the specialist requested. He was also pretty sure the man was just humoring him, he had seen him teleport after all.
