Thorne Mire's Arc

Chapter 5 of 10

Thorne stood at the edge of the clearing and surveyed her work from the past weeks. The skeletal alligator guarded the entrance with glowing eyes. Bone sentinels marked the safe paths through deep water. Her undead horse carried supplies without complaint. But she needed to know if her guardians could actually fight. She had raised them and bound them, but she had never tested their strength against each other. The clearing was wide enough. The ground was solid. She could make them battle here and see what worked. She positioned two groups at opposite ends of the clearing. On one side stood three skeleton warriors, their bones bleached white and held together with dark magic. On the other side waited three plant zombies, their bodies made from vines and rotting wood wrapped around old skulls. She raised both hands and spoke the command. The two groups charged forward. Bones clashed against twisted roots. A skeleton swung its arm and knocked a plant zombie backward. The zombie rose and grabbed the skeleton's ribcage, pulling it down into the mud. They fought without fear or hesitation, exactly as she needed them to. She watched their movements and saw which ones stayed balanced and which ones fell. After several minutes, she called them to stop. They froze mid-strike, waiting for her next order. She smiled. Her guardians were ready. When strangers came to threaten her swamp, these protectors would stand and fight. Bramblemire was becoming safer with each day. That night, she sat on the cottage steps and thought about her next move. The guardians could fight, but she needed proof that she had truly mastered necromancy. She pulled out her oldest book and opened it to the resurrection chapter. The words described a perfect raising, where the undead formed completely on the first try. She had managed pieces before, but never a flawless guardian from start to finish. She stood and walked to the water's edge where she had buried a crow weeks ago. The body would be ready now. She knelt and began digging through the wet mud. Her fingers found feathers and bones. She laid them out on the ground and spoke the binding words carefully. Green light appeared above the remains, growing brighter. Leaf-shaped sparkles drifted around the glowing orb as the crow's body pulled itself together beneath it. Wings spread. The skull lifted. The creature stood whole and waiting. She had done it perfectly. She raised her hand and the orb floated upward, hovering above the cottage roof where anyone approaching would see it. Her first flawless resurrection, displayed for all of Bramblemire. The next morning, she decided her cottage entrance needed something more. Visitors should know what kind of power protected this place before they even knocked. She gathered bones from her collection and selected the longest curved ribs. She lashed them together with leather strips, forming an archway tall enough to walk through. Moss hung from the nearby trees, and she draped it across the bones until it swayed in the breeze. She positioned the archway at the cottage entrance and stepped back. The structure looked like it had grown from the swamp itself, both natural and wrong at the same time. Anyone who saw it would understand that a necromancer lived here. Her swamp had its protector now, and the evidence stood right at her door.