Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2016 14:07:16 -0600
From: Michael Offutt <kavrik@hotmail.com>
Subject: Chapter 22-The Orb of Winter-Gay Science Fiction

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				   *****

			    Chapter Twenty-Two

   "What's going on?" Alexi asked Daphne.
   His young necromancer friend stood at the granite balustrade gawking
(with the rest of the school) at the academy's courtyard one level below
them. Off to his right a broad staircase packed with girls looked on at the
two Timeron knights stationed at the hallway that led to the Headmaster's
office. One was easily seven feet tall. Huge might have been a better
description, and although he looked in shape, Alexi thought at some point
"big" simply meant ugly in a "hulk" kind of way. He much preferred the
shorter, slender one with brown eyes who looked in the neighborhood of six
feet tall. Someone that was between six-feet and six-feet four sounded just
about perfect, because that would make the man only six to ten inches
taller than Alexi. After all, he didn't want to be intimidated, just turned
on.
   "The Dreaded Irtemara Kahket is here talking to Headmaster Boritsi. With
her came General Calisto Blackmoor."
   "The death knight?" Alexi asked, placing his hands on the balustrade. He
looked to his right, his gaze interrupted by the fine lace dangling from
his red bonnet. "What's brought them here?"
   "I'm not sure," Daphne said. "But they did have a body bag with them."
   "A body bag?" Alexi asked. "Why would they bring a body here, unless it
was to be buried?"
   "I'm not sure," Daphne said, turning around. "I'm going to have a closer
look. A real life death knight is too hard to resist." Then Daphne ran
toward the stairs to push her way through the gathering crowd.
   Alexi thought about joining her, but then he heard the click of heels
indicating that multiple feet approached from behind. He took a quick
glance and saw Rowena, his friend Paulina, and two other girls from the
"Fab Five": Rachael Sparkles and Gabriella Finch. Rowena, "Sparks," and
"Gabby" were dressed to the nines of course, with full length dresses made
of expensive heavy velvet. Gabby wore powder blue, Sparks wore one that was
green, and Rowena had a red dress on similar in color to Alexi's
bonnet. All three dresses had lacings in front and back and golden
ornamental strips flowing from shoulder to hem line. Alexi just clenched
his jaw and thought strongly of walking away but didn't see a clear route
of escape that would make things less awkward.
   "My boyfriend Dudley said the body belongs to a Timeron knight killed
beyond the Bone Wall by some assassin. He was beheaded," Rowena said,
fanning herself. When she said that, she arched one eyebrow, and Alexi
couldn't help but admire the smoky eye makeup job Rowena displayed this
morning.
   Why does he have to look so gorgeous? Rowena's beautiful cleavage was
amply displayed, skin looked powdered and perfect, and hands looked so
dainty and small in lace gloves that somehow managed to be whiter, more
delicate, and finer than the ones he'd grabbed off the dresser. "You
shouldn't eavesdrop. It's not lady-like behavior," Alexi said, voice
flat. "And no one can just behead a Timeron knight. They're incredible
warriors."
   "Oh Dudley would know," Sparks said, stretching her hands out in front
of her to show the elbow length emerald green gloves and her finger that
now bore a gold promise ring. Rachael was a changeling, part of the aquatic
elves of Wynwrayth, and her skin (no matter what form she took on land) had
a kind of iridescence to it that resembled fish scales in sunlight. Alexi
always thought it striking. "He's so strong and handsome, just like my own
cavalier Kasey who gave me this ring. The ball's in a week, Alexi. Are you
even going to have a date?"
   Paul who was dressed in cotton twill with a bodice open down the front
to reveal a contrasting colored chemise, let out a despondent sigh. His
lips looked way too red today and his makeup a bit thick. Alexi wanted
desperately to pluck Paul's eyebrows and darken them with liner. "Why do
you always put Alexi down?" he asked in that nice effeminate voice that
Alexi had grown to like. "She has her struggles like the rest of us."
   "They put down what they're afraid of," Alexi said. "Isn't that right,
Rowena?"
   The tall, beautiful transvestite leaned forward and said, "You should
watch your tone, or I'll make sure no one asks you out. Dudley's quite well
connected you know. I got four of his friends to ask out my posse. You do
want to be deflowered on ball night, don't you? It'd be embarrassing to be
a wallflower, because all your fears come true: no one wants you. Then
again, I suppose it could be worse. For example, the headmaster could have
sold you out to a real troll that just wants a boy to fuck so he can remain
indiscrete. Remember Alexi, if you don't have a date by then anyone can
take you to the Scarlet Chamber. It's a man's right in Zanda to do so."
   "It's a man's right if he's paid the Headmaster. Get that right,
Rowena. Most girls have no idea how the Scarlet Chamber actually works,"
Paul said.
   Alexi's cheeks grew hot with rising anger. "Have you come out to Dudley
yet? If he's the man you say he is, he'll want a real girl I'd imagine."
   Rowena's eyes narrowed but there was a smugness there to it as
well. "For your information you little shit, I did and he got even more
excited. He hates kids and declared it was perfect, and that he'd keep my
secret if I blew his best friend, which I did. So fuck you."
   "You're such a whore," Alexi said.
   Rowena retaliated with a stinging slap across his face.
   "As if you could do better," Sparks replied. "Dudley is so handsome. He
says he'll have a washboard stomach by the time the ball arrives because
he's on some fish-only diet. You're so lucky Rowena, and thanks for hooking
me up with his friend Kasey. Once I get my surgery, he says he'll marry me
if I consent to keeping our relationship `open.' It honestly sounds
wonderful."
   Rowena smiled while Alexi rubbed his cheek. He didn't dare retaliate
because Rowena was bigger and stronger and would probably push him off the
balcony.
   "That's what real gratitude looks like," Rowena said to Alexi. "You
should probably get used to it. You've only got five days before the Ball
of Moon's Blood and graduation. You won't be able to live here anymore, and
I doubt your parents will want you back. Going back to a family isn't a
choice for girls like us...at least not in Zanda."
   "I'll make my way on my own," Alexi said. "There are other kingdoms out
there, ones filled with good people."
   "Doing what? You're a fucking necromancer. Do you even understand how
vile that is to people beyond our border? As hard as this truth is to
swallow, most cultures find what we do here to be evil. They've been fed
bullshit all their lives by pundits who insist that you should appreciate
what you were born with and not strive for perfection through flesh
modification. Your only chance is that you'll be able to afford surgeries
like me, which I might add is also the key to staying young and fit. A
little skin tightening here, a little tuck there...transitioning...that's
the future. For example, you could use someone to take a look at that
turkey neck you've got going on. Admit it or not, it doesn't change the
fact that you're one of us...fucked from the very beginning. Once you're
discovered, once people know who you are, they'll lynch you unless you can
prove you're a powerful necromancer. In that case, they'll fear you all the
same. But if you were powerful, we'd know about it by now," Rowena
said. "My bet's on a good lynching. I won't shed a tear when you're
dangling from some tree limb someday."
   "I'm not like you," Alexi said. "I'm not going to transition to a
woman. I'm going to find a man that loves me for who I am, and who can help
me find a way out of Zanda. I won't have to share him either in some fucked
up open relationship which is just code for `I'm going to sleep around and
make you have group sex because I'm a selfish narcissist but am too
cowardly to not put on a good façade for society.' Your planned life
after the academy sounds like a hell of its own making."
   "What have you been smoking?" Gabby asked. "I think I might want some."
Her judgmental eyes wandered up and down Alexi's figure, which made him
exceedingly uncomfortable but it did make him notice how long her fake
eyelashes were. "I guess if you think pear-shape is in, you might find a
man. But he won't have all his teeth. Shit girl, you don't even have real
tits."
   "Or he'll be fat and have swamp ass," Sparks said, laughing.
   Rowena bit her lip and just stared at Alexi with those piercing yet
gorgeous eyes of hers. "You're pathetic. Dudley's an excellent lover and to
see him naked is...by Zandine's brood...the most incredible thing. He's got
a seven-inch dick, and it's going to touch all the right places. He's going
to compete in the Arena of the Flayed Man in a few months. My bet is that
he wins and is knighted. You know how rare that is? No one's been knighted
in four years. I don't care if he insists on an open relationship. He can
have it, as long as I'm first wife. And once he's a knight, we'll be high
society. I'll be able to have my own workshop where I can practice the
necromantic arts and further his goals. My posse knows I'm headed for
greatness. That's why we're among the most popular girls in school."
   "I hate you," Alexi said.
   "You should, because I'm better than you in every way," Rowena replied.
   "Girls, girls," a voice said. "Let's not fight, shall we?" Coming toward
them was Felicity, a popular "real" girl with metallic blue tresses. At her
side was her best friend Bethany. Both wore full length cotton dresses
complete with red lacing at the sides and at the sleeves. Fine trim on the
neck, sleeves, belt, and bottom completed the perfect view. "No one hates
anyone," she said. "What's this all about?"
   Rowena looked sharply at Alexi and said, "Nothing. Just talking about
boys."
   Felicity wrapped her arm around Rowena's elbow. "Roh, your boyfriend is
adorable. Is he bringing Harold to the ball?"
   "I think so, but do you want me to make sure?" Rowena asked.
   "I do," Felicity beamed. "No one's asked me yet, and I'm starting to get
nervous." Felicity adjusted her spectacles and looked into the
courtyard. "Damn...would you look at him?"
   "The Timeron knight?" Bethany asked.
   "Yeah...the tall one," she replied. "I could mop him up with a biscuit."
   "I prefer the one that's about six feet tall with the large nose. He
looks handsome," Bethany said. "Too bad they're here on business. They have
platinum spurs. That's the second-highest in the order next to Darkglory."
   "I heard Ser Skellhaundar Romax killed an Abaddon demon down by the
wharf a day or so ago. He did it single-handed," Gabriella said.
   "Single-handed?" Sparks asked. "That's ridiculous. No one can kill a
demon like that single-handed. Dudley said so the other day."
   "Well Dudley doesn't know everything," Paul said. This made the girls
all look at the diminutive young transvestite with arched eyebrows and
furrowed brows.
   "Did anyone ask your opinion, bitch?" Sparks asked.
   Alexi had just about enough and was about to grab Paul's hand and go
somewhere else when a horrid odor brushed past his nostrils.
   "Ugh, what is that smell?" Gabriella said. Her dainty nose wrinkled and
she took a step back from the balustrade and almost tripped on the hem of
her dress. It would have been a shame because Alexi loved how perfect Gabby
looked, with amazing locks of the deepest black curled and tossed over one
shoulder. All of that was held in place with a blue ribbon adorned with
small white flowers. "It smells like death. You should say `excuse me' when
you let one rip like that," Gabby accused, looking directly at
Alexi. "You're such a hideous cunt."
   "I-I didn't—" Alexi started to say but was cut off.
   "It's not you," Felicity said, tugging on his velvet sleeve. "It's the
general." She pointed down into the courtyard as Calisto Blackmoor
appeared. A crowd of girls scattered before him, and the imposing death
knight stomped through a door, red eyes glowing in the dark space of his
visor, and maggots falling from the creases of his ancient and battered
armor. His threadbare and tattered cloak swirled in a ghostly wind, and the
creak and groan of those enormous metal-shod feet filled the courtyard with
frightening echoes. "I wouldn't have been surprised if it was," Felicity
added, bumping Alexi to the left to get a better look, "but the truth is
the truth. How that awful thing can be a Timeron knight is beyond me. He's
fucking dead. Isn't there a rule about dead men? Like...don't they have to
stay dead unless controlled by a necromancer? No one seems to be in charge
of Calisto."
   "I hear he's a rapist," Bethany said.
   "Well with looks like that," Gabby replied, "I wouldn't be surprised. He
probably still likes to fuck, but nothing likes to fuck him."
   "Professor Hepsibah says that Calisto Blackmoor can handle abyssal stone
in his bare hands and that he can kill someone with a single touch. He can
also burn things with blue fire, and it's rumored he rides a great undead
dragon," Rowena said.
   "Where did he come from?" Alexi asked.
   "Some say he was created by a god," Paulina said. "But I don't think he
was. I think he was created by a powerful necromancer that knew exactly
what he was doing and then Calisto killed him. I'd give anyone here ten
gold shillings if they'd walk up to him and ask him though. Wouldn't that
be a sight?"
   "And be slain on the spot?" Alexi asked. "That's a fool's bet."
   "Don't you girls have school?" the death knight general bellowed at the
crowd. By the hundreds the girls stampeded up to the second floor, but
Alexi stood transfixed for a second feeling the powerful necromancy
literally pour from this monster.
   So cold was the aura directly around Calisto that the open air started
to produce snow, and a thin ice sheet started to spread outward from the
soles of his putrid boots. He stomped angrily with his foot to scare some
last holdouts, and the girls ran screaming into the halls containing the
lecture rooms for the study of Vitalum Vitalis. Alexi also noted that the
granite flagstone directly underneath Calisto burst into a hundred shards
with that foot stomp, a testament to the undead general's tremendous
strength.
   Gods is he ugly, Alexi thought to himself. Imagining that awful thing
even approaching him was difficult, much less with sexual intent.
   Then the headmaster appeared, flanked by Kahket and Professor
Hepsibah. Kahket's distended belly showed through her dress, cut in such a
way as to reveal the skin of her protruding stomach. It left nothing to the
imagination and Alexi stared uncomprehendingly at the vastness of the bulge
and the woman's belly button that he likened to the size of a grapefruit.
   "Calisto!" Kahket said. "You've broken the floor of this fine
academy. We've asked them for a favor. We are guests, not conquerors."
   Calisto turned to face Ivan, who was a short man in full beard and skin
as black as night. Long gray hairs sprouted from every corner of his face
and even from his ears, the hair on his head was bound into a pony tail and
almost touched the ground.
   "Reattach the head for burial," Calisto said. "Dispose of the body in
your own graveyard. I'll notify his family."
   "Don't you want to send the body back to Noremost? Doesn't he deserve a
knight's burial?" Headmaster Boritsi asked.
   "A knight's burial? When he failed me so profoundly? He's lucky that
I'll return his spurs to his mother and father. This goes for him and his
companion, Zakkith Marr. You're lucky too, headmaster, that I don't kill
you right here where you stand. We brought him here because you claimed to
have the power to read the thoughts of the dead. Well you fucking failed at
that, I have to say," Calisto said, with vile contempt thick on his voice.
   "I made no such claim. Am I responsible for my reputation? I'm a
powerful necromancer, but only Lianon Pard himself could retrieve thoughts
from the heads of the living and the dead. There hasn't been another talent
like that in recent memory. And as for my failures, I would remind you that
we got a hold of the shadow demon that was his pet and convinced it to bear
the body here to us before returning to hell. The shadow demon was deathly
afraid of that sword called Bloodbane. He saw it destroy Zakkith Marr's own
shadow demon and fled. Only because it made that decision do we know
anything of the events that transpired that day. Based on what it saw, it
told us that you could do nothing to guarantee its safety, and because of
that, it wasn't going to stick around. This is as much on you as it is on
me. You could have dealt with the assassin personally, but you failed to do
so and sent minions unprepared for such talent to do your bidding."
   "Talent! Give me a fucking break! There's no follower of the god of
thieves that could even hold a candle to a true follower of the queen of
demons. I didn't know where the assassin was," Calisto replied. "I sent
knights all up and down the border to patrol the outskirts of our country
on the far side of the Bone Wall. It just so happens that one of them
stumbled across him. How is that my fault? What we needed you to do was
simple: read the knight's mind. We needed to know numbers: how many men did
the assassin have with him? What powers did this assassin manifest? What
did he look like? You can tell a lot by looking in a man's eyes, and if the
assassin was close enough, I bet Ser Grimholdt saw something. But we'll
never know because you failed! And what about the hydra's teeth, eh? The
ones you gave to us? That information is now lost to us forever."
   "Both of you are not at fault with regard to this," Kahket said. As she
spoke she looked up at Alexi and his friends gathered at the edge of the
balustrade. "You have such lovely girls attending school here."
   "Thank you, your highness," Headmaster Boritsi said. "It is a pleasure
to receive the Dreaded Irtemara having so soon returned from a trip
abroad."
   "Headmaster Boritsi, I want you to contact me later about the request I
made of you in your office. I am very interested in using this corpse to
bring back Constantine. You believe that is within your power? Yes?
Constantine was killed by the assassin in question. You said it would be
important to recall his soul from Hell into a vessel also killed by the
same man, correct? We at least have furnished you with this."
   It looked like Headmaster Boritsi might speak up, but instead Professor
Hepsibah answered Kahket's question. "Reincarnation of this kind is
extremely difficult, Dreaded Irtemara. It requires tremendous
necromancy. As well, I will need to bring together a coven of the most
powerful and that will take time." Professor Hepsibah said. "There are two
ingredients that we cannot manufacture. The first is called `royal jelly'
and it's impossible to obtain, and the second is golden galactorrhea, and
it comes from the same source."
   "Nothing is impossible, professor. Get some and stop telling us what is
not possible and begin to make things happen."
   "There might be some left over from a century or so ago, preserved
magically to this day and hoarded by alchemists because either ingredient
is incredibly useful in magical potions and powerful necromantic
spells. I've no idea for sure until I scour the known world for it. Can you
help us authorize a reward of some kind for it?"
   Kahket thought about this for a moment. "Offer five-hundred thousand
gold for the amount you need. I'll make sure the funds are made available
to you for anyone that says they have the authentic stuff."
   "That may seem like a fortune to you," Professor Hepsibah said, "but
it's probably only the beginning of what we'll need to get these
ingredients. Dreaded Irtemara, the Atlanteans are extinct, and these
elements were only common in their royalty."
   "Let's hope it's enough to attract the attention of someone willing to
sell us some," Headmaster Boritsi said. Then their party moved down the
hall, following an angry Calisto to the front gate of the school.
   "What the hell is golden galactorrhea?" Alexi asked, but all the girls
around him just shrugged their shoulders.
   I'll be checking the restricted section in the library tonight, Alexi
thought to himself, but first I've a few things to attend to.
   "I need to be going," Alexi said. As he was walking away, Daphne caught
up with him.
   "I can't believe I just saw that," Daphne said. "A real death
knight. Alexi, I could feel the necromantic power pouring off of him.
   "That's nice, Daphne," Alexi said, "but I'm a little busy."
   "Studying for exams?" she asked.
   Alexi thought about telling her his plan: to start furnishing a place
for him to live beyond graduation. He'd decided, what with his success in
controlling an undead ogre and all, to furnish one of the dilapidated rooms
in the ruins of the sprawling complex that housed the academy. So few
people went there that he was fairly sure he could keep undead in certain
"key" passages to discourage those that did.
   "Yeah, something like that," he said.
   "All right then," Daphne replied. "Let's rendezvous for dinner. I want
to compare notes with you on the huge Timeron knight. I think I saw an
impression of his cock in his codpiece but I could barely see it with his
tabard hanging in front. But gods, wasn't he gorgeous? I think his name was
Leifr."
   "Yeah, I'd love to do that. Have I told you, you're a size queen?" Alexi
asked rather offhandedly.
   "You have, and I own up to that. What's wrong with a girl wanting a
little length and girth in her man? Nothing, I say," Daphne said
proudly. Then she gave Alexi a parting hug.
   Alexi looked around for Paul but he'd disappeared along with the rest of
the Fab Five. He pulled out his shopping list which consisted of pots,
beakers, books, spare garments, a wash tub, and a bed roll, not to mention
implements by which to read when it got dark and some matches to start a
fire in the stove. He also wanted to set up a proper laboratory for his
experiments, and that would require stealing a whole surgery kit so that he
could begin practicing with real dead flesh he'd rob from the school's
graveyard. At first, Alexi worried that fire and smoke might attract
attention from the dormitories. But then he found a necromancy spell in one
book that would produce a smokeless fire as long as you used bones instead
of wood as the fuel. With all the undead in the halls, bones would be easy
to find. As far as the light goes, he could drape black cloth in front of
windows. In his explorations, he'd also come across a well with a big
bucket for drawing fresh water from an underground spring. Dudley, his
undead ogre, made short work of that. The monstrosity could carry a
thousand pounds like Alexi could carry a bag of marbles.
   He crossed the first item off the list: the wash tub. Tonight, and with
his ogre's help, he would steal one from the lavatory, load it with candles
and a lantern, some books stolen from the reference section of the school's
library, some ink and parchment from one of the labs, hygiene implements
and a spare bedroll. He planned to do all of this after setting fire to the
library trashcan as a distraction.
   Now to just find out how to get my ogre into the school without anyone
finding out, he thought to himself.
   "I think I can help you with that," a small voice said in his mind.
   Startled that someone had eavesdropped on his mind, Alexi turned his
head and saw a small dragon with furled wings peeking back at him from atop
a large curio cabinet. The thing had eyes that burned like coals and
appeared to be made entirely of either black smoke or shadow. Alexi
couldn't be sure. The thing was barely as large as a house cat.
   "You're a shadow drake," Alexi said, keeping his voice low.
   "I am, and I've been watching you for a few days now, young
necromancer. I'm going to help you because you are powerful. More so than
you know. For example you can read minds, but you just don't know it
yet. That's how I can communicate with you. Once we steal the things you
require, then I have a task for you, young necromancer," the thing said to
him. "However, my task can only be completed at midnight."
   "I need to know more, or I won't agree to anything," Alexi said. He
looked to his left and right to make sure his voice didn't carry.
   All right, young necromancer. Tonight I need you to fish a vial of water
from the Well of Zanda. Now, here is my plan to steal the things that you
require to set up shop..."


				   *****

Chapter Forty-Two is now available to read at
http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/discussion-board-for.html under the label
"The Orb of Winter" if you care to read ahead.

Are there any artists out there willing to draw some pics for my story? If
so, please email me.  There is an "Orb of Winter" map now in both the NEWS
section of my website and in the FORUMS of my website.

If you go to my website directly from this posting, you will want to begin
with "CHAPTER Sixteen."