(Continued from Ch 33, A Deed of No Importance)

The Chronicles of Rapina
Chapter 34, An Oven's Abode


Rapina looked up from her book and peered over the edge of the couch to glance into Nordula's magic kettle where it sat on the floor beside her. As she did, she absently pushed one of the delicate violet straps of the silk lace bustier she was wearing back onto her shoulder. At last, the skeletons had reached the foot of the small mountain. For weeks they had been traversing a nearly featureless, flat plane, like a giant cookie sheet that had been filled to the edges with a slurry of clay and then left in an oven for a very long time. Rapina capped her reading light so she could see the image in the kettle better and spoke into the waters. "Stop, look at your left wrist," she said checking the compass on the skeleton's wrist. "Look straight ahead, now turn slowly." The mountain rose from a sea of flatness, like an upside down cup on a tabletop. 

"Sorry I was late for lunch, my dear," Thane said. "I was working at the font on a new batch of resin for reaving skeletons. My divinations have revealed that several of the corpses of the mercenaries we dug out of the group grave Li'Yieraun created at the old pirate camp were viable for that particular advanced animation."

"It's no problem Guardian Thane, I left lunch in the oven over a very low flame. I think it won't have suffered too badly. Rapina got up from the couch where she had been reading and left the cozy lounge that served as a nexus between several rooms within the secret laboratory wing where she now lived. The Lounge had an attached kitchen that included a dining nook with a blackboard mounted on the wall. The wing had heating that flowed through ducts beneath the stone floor, and plumbing for both hot and cold water. Thane had canceled his plans to install heating and plumbing for the entire abode. Instead he had opted for the less expensive option of concentrating all of the amenities in the new secret laboratory wing that had been designed to have them in the first place. He had simply added a bedroom for Rapina, a secret library, and an expanded dining area to the existing layout for a very satisfying outcome. Rapina bent and took the food out of the oven. She smiled to herself as Thane's controlled lust tickled her nose.

She talked as she put lunch on the table for him, "What are Reaving Skeletons like?"

"Reavers are made from the corpses of fighting men who, in life, killed without scruple for money, or who served evil or an evil cause. They are warrior skeletons similar to my double-animated guards, but with more exceptional skill at arms and greater intelligence. The better ones can talk like Roger or Elizabetta. The lesser ones serve silently as soldiers of Mortaebius. The relative quality depends somewhat on the animator's skill, but more so on the quality of the deceased soul.

"Our normal skeletons just reached the foot of the mountain," Rapina said.

"Excellent, how many are left," Thane asked.

"We still have nine," Rapina said.

"Good, no further problems with jackals, natives, insects or snakes?" Than asked.

"None, Since you watched for the first week, I never saw any natives and I stopped seeing any jackals before midweek of the second week." Rapina said. The insects have died down now. I think they ate the marrow out of the bones of the skeletons and then flew away. We lost about four skeletons from heavy burrowing in the joint areas, but the ones remaining seem fine now. After the bugs left, the snakes did not seem to have any interest in the skeletons anymore. All I see now are whirlwinds and blowing dust."

"Excellent, nine of twenty skeletons is well within acceptable limits. The natives and the insects took the biggest toll. What of the weapons?" Thane asked.

"Swords and javelins are fine, bows are brittle or broken, so I had them discarded. I had any usable weapons removed from the broken down skeletons so ammunition is at one hundred percent," Rapina said.

"We should try to attain the desert through magic. I am not sure human flesh is up to that crossing. We could send Elizabetta, but I believe she might dry out and become brittle and worthless. Roger would be a better candidate, but Red Jack needs him."

"Have you had any luck getting Nordula's teleport magic to work for you?" Rapina asked.

Thane's shoulders sagged, "Alas, I have not. The sad thing is that I have seen similar spells before, and I have never gotten them to work. My colleagues in the order praise my talents for advanced animations. It is highly unusual for a new mortancer to learn three different advanced animations in one season. Yet I am now confidently producing flaming skeletons and competent with the rubbery skeletal assassins. The reaving skeletons I am currently working on seem easier than the others I have done so far. After making a few of them, I am going to attempt to arrive at a double-animated reaver recipe. I believe it should be possible to improve the reaving skeletons slightly through double-animation," Thane said. Unfortunately, my talents seem to center around necromancy. I do not have the same alacrity with teleportation magic.

Rapina nodded, "Would you like to try to create a graveyard for the mists spell by speaking through Nordula's amulet and sword while having the skeletons go through the consecration ritual?"

"Indeed I would," Thane agreed. 

A few minutes later Rapina brought Nordula's magic kettle into the dining area. In the desert, she had four skeletons lie down in the corners of a rectangular pattern. When Thane finished lunch, they began speaking the words of the ritual through the kettle to Nordula's sword and amulet carried by two different skeletons.

"Hail Mortaebius guardian of the dead, we the dead who lie here..." Thane began.

"...and thus we close the circle, life and death, the cycle is complete," both Thane and Rapina spoke completing the ritual

"I will attempt graveyard mists from the storage room in this wing a few times if necessary before I return to working on the skeletons. Your suggestion of entombing four skeletons in that room and consecrating it as a graveyard was excellent. There is no need to be traipsing through the upper areas of the abode with sensitive materials or bleeding corpses," Thane said.

Rapina nodded and smiled,"Good luck"

"Thank you, I hope it will be a simple matter, but I fear not." Thane hesitated, then smiled. Soon I hope to have a way to the mountain, and at that time you will no longer have to watch the skeletons. Instead I will have you copying certain books. If what I have done to Nordula ever happens to me, I wish to be prepared. Do not fear, however, I will make sure you have plenty of time for reading as well. Scribing books is tedious work. You may read for an hour for every hour you scribe. As your skills grow, I may have you copy some spells from Nordula's cache as well. For now I will transcribe a few spells and trade them to associates for necromantic spells I desire," Thane said.

Three days later, Thane had still not accomplished transfer to the desert mountain.

"I fear we will have to get some camels and try to make the journey in steps. We can cover a number of miles, consecrate a graveyard, return here to replenish our water supplies and then go back to the desert."

Rapina pursed her lips.

"What's the matter, have you gotten too used to lounging around here in lingerie to want to ride through that abominable oven?

"It just seems like there ought to be a way we can consecrate that ground. Want to try a wild plan?"

"Indeed, if it has even the slightest chance of working, it will save us ages of time..."

---

The mists parted and the difference between the relative chill of the winter at Graveston isle and the outrageous heat of the desert was soon apparent.

"At last! Goodness I thought I'd never make it, but Rapina said she had done the ritual no less than one hundred times through the skeletons, so I thought it worth another few tries to get out here."

"It's a great success. You want to build up there somewhere?" Rames asked.

"Yes, within the mountain. I have some navigational measurements to make. Please consecrate this graveyard once again. I mistrust the strength of Rapina's remote work," Thane said.

"Of course," Rames said.

Rames started the prayers in the Northeast corner of the makeshift graveyard. After saying the prayer of the dead he crossed to the southwest and did the prayer of the living, then moved to Southeast for another prayer of the dead and finally back to the Northwest to complete the ritual.

From the amulet around the neck of a skeleton came Rapina's voice. 

"The Southern gong just rang here in the abode. Someone must be coming to the isle."

We will be right with you, Rapina, Rames has just finished the consecration and I will begin with the mists now. Thane began the droning incantations. After a time Thane and Rames appeared in the cliff-top gardens."

"Let us see what is out there. Thane went up to the telescope room and peered into the eyepiece. Ah, there, it is nothing more than a dog, and it appears to be sinking through that hole in the ice out there. Nothing we can do about it."

Rames took a turn at the eyepiece, "It's gone now."

The next day Thane sat in the storage room of the secret laboratory wing. Rapina sat near his feet dressed in a shear peach silk teddy reading a large wood-bound book. "I really don't know why I let you talk me into trying that ruse with Rames, your theory is obviously flawed. I have tried this four times already.

"Guardian Thane, how do you expect graveyard mists to succeed if you believe you will fail?" Rapina asked.

"It's no use. I just don't think using illusion to fool Rames into believing we were in the desert with those skeletons has had the effect of mentally transporting him there as you thought."

Rapina sighed, "Mental projection is a fact of magic. If Rames really believed he was there, then in some sense, he was. You have always told me that attitude is all-important for the practice of magic. I don't think we should even count the first four times you attempted the mists spell. You couldn't transport yourself to the cliff tops with the attitude you've had."

Thane sighed, "Perhaps you are right. I have failed too many times at this and now I expect failure. I will try again, this time I will attempt to revive my ailing confidence."

"I know you can do it," Rapina said, giving Thane's lust a tug.

"Uh! Bad girl, you are the most dangerous vixen. Now, let me concentrate," Thane said.

Rapina stood and set the book just outside of the room, then closed the door as she came back in, "Hail Mortaebius, shepherd of the dead, May I fortify thy servants by giving them good head. Ouww!" Rapina squealed as Thane swatted the seat of her peach silk panties, in the midst of his casting. 

"Praise Mortaebius, keeper of the dead, may thy servants vanquish the false ones by wielding thy dread..." Rapina intoned.

Sometime later Thane pronounced the last syllable of the spell and then wiped his brow. The mists slowly began to clear. "Though I did not admire that 'prayer' you made up at first, now that I think on it, the truly astonishing fact is that I have almost never heard you repeat a prayer twice. You have quite a repertoire."

"It's not too bad at night," Rapina said.

"It?" Thane's head cocked. As more of the mists cleared he realized he was standing on a desert pave. Suddenly he ran forward and snatched Rapina off her feet. "Success!"

After using his stone-bending spell to entomb four skeletons under the desert pave, Thane and Rapina performed a true consecration ceremony to create a proper cemetery of Mortaebius and then Thane returned to the abode with Rapina. He had been so sure he would meet with failure that he had not even bothered to bring his hiking gear, and Rapina was barefoot and wearing lingerie.

---

At the breakfast table the next day, Thane spoke of coming events, "Soon we will begin construction on the new abode, and there will be much work setting it up. Rames or I must stay on the isle, to fulfill my mundane position as a member of the Order of Death's Peace, but Rapina, you can spend much more time in the desert.

Elizabetta and I have already drawn up preliminary plans for the new abode based on drawings I made from viewing the layout of the mountain and the foothills and dunes behind it through my magic pool. I shall create the first secret door with magic, and get her and Kent started supervising our skeletons to begin the tunneling operations. It is a waste of her talents as an assassin, but she is the only undead servitor I have who has enough brainpower for the job. Her suggestions concerning security for the new facility have been invaluable."

One thing is certain, however, we must begin to make our lab work pay. The new abode will be a costly undertaking. I would like to secure a troll so that I can use its blood for the manufacture of healing potions for our use and enrichment. If we want to do that, we must do it before the mountains Northwest of Avengene thaw. Tomorrow we will go to Argos and have Rapina fitted for a custom leather breastplate as a token of my esteem for the work she did that allowed us to transport to the desert. After that we shall go on our expedition."

"We have to go while it's still cold?" Rapina asked.

"Indeed. Trolls regenerate unless one cauterizes their wounds. Our flaming skeletons should be invaluable in that regard, but I have no wish to start any forest fires. I will see if I can hire a strong warrior or two from Red Jack, and then we shall venture into those mountains and attempt to take a troll. There are several types of trolls. I would prefer a small one, if that seems possible." Thane said. 

"The Baron of Daelath is a warlord, and he worships Virtusar, a god of heroes, manliness and battle. Like most Northern baronies, Daelrath's is sparsely populated. My sources within the church, however tell me that there are new settlements springing up in the barony that are nothing more than outposts to spread the tainted words of the vindicator. In the southerly areas of the barony are two temples of Mortaebius. The warlord is rumored to be a rough and ready sort, a former adventurer. He hates trolls and humanoids with a passion, and he pays a bounty for the heads of trolls and has quite a collection of them hanging on the posts of his various Northerly keeps.
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This ends, An Oven's Abode, chapter 34 of The Chronicles of Rapina.
The story continues in chapter 35, Trolling.

Copyright 2001 by Rapina