Free The Journeys of a Different Necromancer by James J. Crofoot

husband’s best
friend that is.” Angela absentmindedly brushed a strand of hair out
of her face. “For a few nights Cedric stayed the night so I could
sleep, nothing happened… nothing happened between us, I swear. But
then the whispering started. People I’ve known my whole life
started whispering about me, saying I killed Raymond to be with
Cedric. Then Nora… She called me an adulteress and murderer. She
yelled at me in front of the whole town. Then things got really
bad.”
    “ Did you…did you do it, Angela?” asked Thomas. He didn’t think
so but he wanted to see her reaction.
    “ No.” She raised her head to meet Thomas’s eyes. “I swear on
my boy’s life.”
    “ Where’s your boy now?”
    “ He’s with Cedric, I couldn’t keep him here with this” —she
looked around at the broken plates on the floor, the torn and
bloody sheets— “going on.” She sighed and brushed the same strand
of hair out of her eyes again. “Cedric will take good care of
him.”
    “ You talk about Cedric a lot. Would he do it?”
    She looked up again with the look of a trapped animal on her
face. “No, no. He and Raymond were brothers from childhood.” She
looked back into her tea. “Besides, I know where he
was…I…”
    Thomas and Christina exchanged glances. “You were with Cedric,
weren’t you?” Christina asked.
    Angela gave no response.
    “ You would rather live in torment than tell the village where
you were, who you were with?”
    Angelo took a ragged breath. “Please, you’ve got to help me. I
can’t go on much longer. I loved my husband, Cedric loved my
husband, he wanted to say something… but I… Please help. I haven’t
slept in…” Angela said. “My husband’s ghost won’t let me sleep at
all. Every time I close my eyes, he attacks me.”
    “ Do you swear to me you didn’t kill your husband?” Thomas
asked, leaning forward, elbows on knees. “Swear you had nothing to
do with it.”
    “ I swear! I had nothing to do with it.”
    “ Very well.” Thomas sat back. “We’ll need the innkeeper’s
stable. The night should be right for this. I’ll want all of your
husband’s family there at half an hour before midnight.”
    “ All right,” Angela replied. “I’ll do as you say, but may I
rest some more? It has been so long.”
    * * *
*
    “ Why are we here?” asked one of the people
gathered.
    Angela stood with a child and next to the man called Cedric,
her eyes were clearer now as she’d slept most of the day. Christina
leaned against a stable door watching Cedric and Angela talking in
a quiet argument. Cedric’s hand rested on the boy’s
head.
    “ Who are you?” asked Thomas in reply.
    “ My name is Dashawn, Cedric’s brother. We were Raymond’s best
friends.”
    With Dashawn, everyone summoned had come. Cedric introduced
everyone, including the deceased’s mother, Anna. She came only at
Cedric’s insistence and clearly showed anger at having to be this
close to Angela. Jeremy, Angela’s three-year-old son, should
probably have been in bed, but Thomas needed him there.
    “ You are all here so Raymond’s spirit will have a reason to
answer my summons,” the necromancer explained.
    “ You’re going to summon a ghost?” Dashawn laughed. “This trick
I have to see.”
    Thomas ignored Dawshawn. “Please, I want you all to join hands
and stand here at the circles edge.” He indicated a line in the
dirt floor he’d drawn as well. Once everyone took their places,
Thomas sat at the only line not complete. He took a deep breath and
started chanting. Some few minutes later, beads of sweat formed on
his face, he continued to chant.
    “ He’s good.” Dawshawn chuckled. “Does anyone see any mirrors?”
He patted the boy’s shoulder causing the boy to look up. “Wanna see
a ghost?”
    The boy smiled. “Yeah!”
    Thomas rocked back and forth while still chanting.
    Then, in the middle of the glyphs drawn in the dirt, a white
glow slowly grew brighter. It formed