The Necromancer (Sellswords & Spellweavers Book 2) by Rachel Ford

Author:Rachel Ford [Ford, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-05-09T16:00:00+00:00

Aage surveyed the map with a critical eye, and a plethora of hmm’s and humm’s. At the end of his examination, he declared, “Well now, this does rather change things.”

“Well,” I said, “the good news is, we know who we’re looking for. The bad news is, she’s got at least a week’s head start on us. She could be anywhere.”

Aage hmm’ed for a moment longer, then said, “I don’t know about that. This find certainly casts her in a new light. But it doesn’t change what we learned earlier. I think our reasoning on that front at least was sound. I do not think she intended to be away for long. And I think, once we make a search of Elsa’s house, we will find where the missing charms have gone.”

I frowned. “Then where do you think she was going?”

He tapped the surface of the map. “To one of these cemeteries. You see these question marks? The ones she’d already hit she’d marked with a check. The ones she ruled out, she marked with an ‘x’. But the others, the ones with the question marks? I think she was evaluating them for her next hit.”

Idun’s face lit up. I suppose my own expression mirrored hers. “So, you think she was going to one of these?”

“Yes, either to scope it out, and evaluate it for her next target, or to raid one of the graves. But the question is, which one? There’s half a dozen at least that it could be. Maybe more.”

I grinned. “That, Master Wizard, is where old fashioned investigative skill comes into play.”

“Oh?”

“We know when she was last seen, by us. We know she expected Elsa within a week. So we know she had to leave sometime after we left, with the intention of being back from wherever she was going within a week.”

He smiled, and Idun clapped me on the back. “Well now, that does change things. That leaves one…no, two, possible sites.” He tapped the map at two points. “Here, and here. This one is an old cemetery where once there was a farming village. But the bones of a long-dead witch are supposed to be interred there. At least, according to her scribble.

“And here. Now this one is very interesting. ‘Goblin catacombs. Rumored to be the resting place of a powerful goblin shaman, deep in the caves. By the black water, according to runes.’” Aage read and reread the line. “Fascinating. I have never heard of goblin catacombs in these parts, much less a goblin shaman. She must have some source she’s working from, something she was translating.”

“Goblin catacombs?” Idun said, shivering visibly. “Where are they?”

“In Loki’s Carucate.”

I grimaced. That was a bad stretch of land, full of deep ravines and endless caverns. The river flowed through the center, and in springtime would sometimes flood the caves and channels. In wilder times, it had been the haunt of outlaws and robber barons. I didn’t doubt that, in years beyond that, it might have been a stronghold of goblins too.

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