The Necromancer's Apprentice by Icy Sedgwick

Author:Icy Sedgwick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Icy Sedgwick
Published: 2018-02-11T16:00:00+00:00

9

Jyx looked down at the pterosaur before him. The ritual circle faded, leaving nothing but a light dusting of green powder on the floor. Jyx thought of the ritual broom, and his heart sank. He’d used a ritual circle without cleansing it first. Still, it didn’t seem to have affected the pterosaur—it stretched its wings, and flexed its feet.

“Hello, little man. I’m Jyx. Jyximus Faire. I’m your master,” said Jyx.

The pterosaur screeched, swinging its head back and forth as if searching for the source of the sound. It scuttled backwards, its claws skittering across the floor.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to be frightened,” said Jyx. He reached out towards the pterosaur but it screeched again, a shriek full of fear and panic. He looked at its reptilian face, and a cold fist of dread punched him in the stomach.

The pterosaur’s head snapped from side to side, still hunting for the threat, its dead eyes staring but seeing nothing. It was blind. Jyx’s thoughts skipped out of the room towards the cabinet of vials and potions, particularly the Aperuit oculos salve. He slapped his hand across his mouth.

“I forgot to anoint the eyes.” Jyx forced the words between gritted teeth.

The pterosaur tore at the air with its wings and heaved itself off the floor. It flapped to one side, the joints in its left wing seizing solid. It crashed into the table, and a tall vase of glass lace toppled over. The vase exploded against the floor in a cloud of shards, spilling its fake floral bouquet. Glass blooms lurked among the velvet blossoms, adding their coloured fragments to the powder on the floor.

“No, it’s okay, you don’t have to panic!” Jyx pleaded with the pterosaur as it worked the kink out of its wing and lurched across the room. It slammed into another table, sending yet another vase flying, which cracked apart into hundreds of porcelain slices.

“No!”

Jyx dived across the room, his fingers missing the pterosaur by a hair’s breadth. It howled, a prehistoric sound never before heard by man. With a mighty flap of its wings, it launched itself through the archway. The tip of its wing caught a third vase on the plinth beside the door. Jyx threw himself to the floor and caught the vase before it made contact. He shoved it back onto the plinth before plunging through the archway in pursuit of the pterosaur.

The living fossil made a beeline for the doorway leading back to the main Vault. It let out a series of piercing screams, and Jyx made another grab for its leathery body. The Wolfkin had surely heard the noise, and they would soon be striding through the Vault. The Wolfkin would waste no time in destroying the pterosaur before destroying Jyx too. He caught himself before he could unleash a volley of contemptuous curses, aimed mostly at his own stupidity.

The pterosaur dipped and swooped across the Vault, its claws catching at the mummies on the slabs. Its blind gaze raked across the blank walls, its tongue trying to taste freedom in the cold air.

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