Indigo #128 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dragonmagitech) wrote2016-06-30 06:09 pm
dragonmagitech) wrote2016-06-30 06:09 pm
Entry tags:
Necromantic Experiment
Sparkspell’s rebuilt library was several times larger than its predecessor, twisting down through the lair’s central column and pooling underneath the ground floor, the stacks brushing up against the edge of the lab and therefore secured with a wide array of wards and physical defenses. The main entrance was at the end of a hallway about halfway up the cliff, right next to a large hole in the cliff face that let natural light and occasionally stray wildlife into the hall.
Feldspar, with great effort and an enormous wheeled cart, had been moved up to this area a few months after her unfortunate enchantment, and no longer minded so much that she wasn’t able to move independently. Small birds had begun to nest in the coils of her stone tail, and now that she was near the library again she was more able to attend to her duties.
She had also somewhat begun to doubt that the enchantment could be undone or worked around, but it would be convenient to be able to walk around again, and Nereus was dead set on finding something that worked; which was why she was chatting with the alchemist when Jawbone arrived with a large bag.
Jawbone stopped a few feet away from the two of them and flung the bag to the floor, producing an unsettlingly meaty sound. She gestured to Nereus. “Do you know what your apprentice has been doing out there in the wastes? She’s gone out and collected Imperial limbs! Said I was to use them to help you with this business!—ah, sorry, Feldspar.” She looked momentarily sheepish but rallied almost immediately. “What is the meaning of this?”
Nereus flattened her crest reflexively. “I haven’t heard a thing about it. Marya likes to blame all her strangest ideas on me. Terrible habit. I don’t think I quite understand the problem, though.” She glanced from the incensed Jawbone to Feldspar, who had begun nervously chewing her whisker, and back again. “You do call yourself a necromancer. This form of limb replacement wouldn’t have occurred to me, but it seems as valid as any other.”
Feldspar and Jawbone exchanged a look.
“It would be improper to put a dead Imperial to such a use,” Feldspar said after a pause that went on slightly too long. “The disposal of such an individual requires certain rites which should not be neglected. For Marya to have collected these at all is highly inappropriate.”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Nereus said. “And you’ve never been especially concerned about death rites before.”
Jawbone drew herself up indignantly. “Are you telling me to disrespect the dead?”
“No, I—” Nereus heaved the most irritated sigh either of them had ever heard. “Fine. Have your whatever. I don’t need to know.”
“I do have a thought,” Feldspar said. “While I don’t relish the thought of having my hind legs chiseled off and replaced with…used ones…the parts of me that are stone were once flesh, and therefore they might be termed dead, in a sense. Perhaps you could work your necromancy on them directly and return them to their original state?”
“Restore you on a technicality, you mean?”
“Just so.”
“Hmm.” Jawbone sat down and stared at the floor as if it could answer all her magic-related questions. “I don’t know if that would work. Much of the business of necromancy has historically been bound up in contracts and such, but I don’t really work in that area.”
“It couldn’t hurt,” said Nereus.
“Probably not,” Jawbone said. “I’ll have to bring some things up from my room. It’s worth a try.”
The things in question turned out to be a lot of ink, a very small amount of blood, and some meat which Jawbone assured Feldspar had not come from a dragon of any kind. She had to rotate Feldspar slightly in order to fit her into the circle she drew, startling the birds out of the window.
“I do hope they’ll be back,” Feldspar said. “Are you sure it’s all right for you to get ink all over the floor like that?”
“It’ll wash out. I’ll do it myself, if it makes you feel better.”
“I was expecting more blood,” Nereus said. In Jawbone’s absence she had borrowed a stool from the library to sit and watch, though for what reason Jawbone couldn’t fathom; however interesting she might find necromancy to do, she’d never thought it exciting for the layman to watch.
“I don’t do this kind of work very often,” Jawbone explained. “Usually it’s difficult to secure permission from the deceased. We’re lucky I had any blood at all, or this wouldn’t have a chance of working. All right, I’m done. Don’t move too much. This shouldn’t affect your mobile parts but if you start waving your arms about it will interfere with my targeting.” Setup done, she began muttering distinctly non-Draconic syllables under her breath.
Eventually she stopped. After a moment she said, “Well?” The enchanted limbs looked about the same to her, but when a shimmery grey dragon turns to stone it is somewhat difficult to tell the difference.
Feldspar twisted her head around to nudge her hindquarters. “Nothing has changed,” she said. “Are you certain you did it right?”
“If there’s anything I know, it’s necromancy. This is an unusual case, but the procedure is hard to do wrong. I’m sorry.”
Feldspar nodded. “There is always the alchemy. I don’t believe we have exhausted every possibility there.”
“We haven’t,” Nereus said.
“In the mean time, would you mind terribly turning me back that way? I don’t want the birds to be confused when they get back, and it will make the floor easier to clean.”
“True,” Jawbone said, and pushed her back into place.
Feldspar nosed some traces of ink off the part of her tail that touched the floor, and carefully rearranged some outlying twigs that had become dislodged in the process of moving her into the circle. “You know,” she said, looking out over the canyon, “there are much worse things than this. Take your time figuring it out. I can wait.”
Feldspar, with great effort and an enormous wheeled cart, had been moved up to this area a few months after her unfortunate enchantment, and no longer minded so much that she wasn’t able to move independently. Small birds had begun to nest in the coils of her stone tail, and now that she was near the library again she was more able to attend to her duties.
She had also somewhat begun to doubt that the enchantment could be undone or worked around, but it would be convenient to be able to walk around again, and Nereus was dead set on finding something that worked; which was why she was chatting with the alchemist when Jawbone arrived with a large bag.
Jawbone stopped a few feet away from the two of them and flung the bag to the floor, producing an unsettlingly meaty sound. She gestured to Nereus. “Do you know what your apprentice has been doing out there in the wastes? She’s gone out and collected Imperial limbs! Said I was to use them to help you with this business!—ah, sorry, Feldspar.” She looked momentarily sheepish but rallied almost immediately. “What is the meaning of this?”
Nereus flattened her crest reflexively. “I haven’t heard a thing about it. Marya likes to blame all her strangest ideas on me. Terrible habit. I don’t think I quite understand the problem, though.” She glanced from the incensed Jawbone to Feldspar, who had begun nervously chewing her whisker, and back again. “You do call yourself a necromancer. This form of limb replacement wouldn’t have occurred to me, but it seems as valid as any other.”
Feldspar and Jawbone exchanged a look.
“It would be improper to put a dead Imperial to such a use,” Feldspar said after a pause that went on slightly too long. “The disposal of such an individual requires certain rites which should not be neglected. For Marya to have collected these at all is highly inappropriate.”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Nereus said. “And you’ve never been especially concerned about death rites before.”
Jawbone drew herself up indignantly. “Are you telling me to disrespect the dead?”
“No, I—” Nereus heaved the most irritated sigh either of them had ever heard. “Fine. Have your whatever. I don’t need to know.”
“I do have a thought,” Feldspar said. “While I don’t relish the thought of having my hind legs chiseled off and replaced with…used ones…the parts of me that are stone were once flesh, and therefore they might be termed dead, in a sense. Perhaps you could work your necromancy on them directly and return them to their original state?”
“Restore you on a technicality, you mean?”
“Just so.”
“Hmm.” Jawbone sat down and stared at the floor as if it could answer all her magic-related questions. “I don’t know if that would work. Much of the business of necromancy has historically been bound up in contracts and such, but I don’t really work in that area.”
“It couldn’t hurt,” said Nereus.
“Probably not,” Jawbone said. “I’ll have to bring some things up from my room. It’s worth a try.”
The things in question turned out to be a lot of ink, a very small amount of blood, and some meat which Jawbone assured Feldspar had not come from a dragon of any kind. She had to rotate Feldspar slightly in order to fit her into the circle she drew, startling the birds out of the window.
“I do hope they’ll be back,” Feldspar said. “Are you sure it’s all right for you to get ink all over the floor like that?”
“It’ll wash out. I’ll do it myself, if it makes you feel better.”
“I was expecting more blood,” Nereus said. In Jawbone’s absence she had borrowed a stool from the library to sit and watch, though for what reason Jawbone couldn’t fathom; however interesting she might find necromancy to do, she’d never thought it exciting for the layman to watch.
“I don’t do this kind of work very often,” Jawbone explained. “Usually it’s difficult to secure permission from the deceased. We’re lucky I had any blood at all, or this wouldn’t have a chance of working. All right, I’m done. Don’t move too much. This shouldn’t affect your mobile parts but if you start waving your arms about it will interfere with my targeting.” Setup done, she began muttering distinctly non-Draconic syllables under her breath.
Eventually she stopped. After a moment she said, “Well?” The enchanted limbs looked about the same to her, but when a shimmery grey dragon turns to stone it is somewhat difficult to tell the difference.
Feldspar twisted her head around to nudge her hindquarters. “Nothing has changed,” she said. “Are you certain you did it right?”
“If there’s anything I know, it’s necromancy. This is an unusual case, but the procedure is hard to do wrong. I’m sorry.”
Feldspar nodded. “There is always the alchemy. I don’t believe we have exhausted every possibility there.”
“We haven’t,” Nereus said.
“In the mean time, would you mind terribly turning me back that way? I don’t want the birds to be confused when they get back, and it will make the floor easier to clean.”
“True,” Jawbone said, and pushed her back into place.
Feldspar nosed some traces of ink off the part of her tail that touched the floor, and carefully rearranged some outlying twigs that had become dislodged in the process of moving her into the circle. “You know,” she said, looking out over the canyon, “there are much worse things than this. Take your time figuring it out. I can wait.”