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

down the club, brother.”
    Angela looked at Dashawn. “You killed my husband?”
    “ Now I will haunt you, Dashawn,” the ghost said sadly. “I will
torment you till the end of your days.”
    Dashawn’s faces turned ashen. “No…no,” he pleaded.
    “ Release me,” the ghost said.
    “ No! This is your doing! No one would have known!” Dashawn
lunged at Thomas, club raised to strike.
    However, Christina stepped between Dashawn and Thomas,
plunging her dagger into the attacker’s stomach as she twisted it
up. Shock froze Dashawn’s face.
    Angela grabbed her son and buried his face against her skirt
so he would not see Dashawn fall.
    With tears of shock and sadness wetting his face, Cedric went
and knelt beside his brother. “Dashawn.” Cedric cradled his
brother’s head in his lap. “I have always loved you.
Always.”
    The expression on his brother’s face was one of anger mixed
with pain. “No…you didn’t.” With these last words, Dashawn stopped
breathing. No one spoke for several minutes as Cedric let his tears
fall on the face he cradled in his lap.
    Raymond broke the silence first. “Cedrick, you love Angela,
don’t you?”
    Cedrick bowed his head for a moment. When he looked up, his
eyes locked with Angela’s. “You know I have always loved her,
Raymond.”
    “ Then I ask you, in front of my mother… Mother, are you
listening? Listen close.”
    Anna nodded.
    “ Take my wife as yours, friend of my youth. Raise my son. You
could give me no greater eulogy.” Raymond turned to Thomas and
laughed. “Set me free, mage.”
    Thomas kicked a hole in the circle of the glyph, and the ghost
faded to nothing.
    * * *
*
    The next morning, as Thomas and Christina walked out of town,
they heard a shrill voice.
    “ Her husband not dead a fortnight and she beds down with his
best friend,” a woman preached to another woman by the town well.
“Disgraceful, she should have waited at least a year.” She made a
clucking noise in disapproval. “And do you believe the mother’s
story of last night? Daft that one is.”
    A rock flew from the road and hit her in the head. Then
another flew up and hit her again. Rock after rock flew up until
the woman ran screaming down the road covering her face and head
with her arms.
    Thomas and Christina laughed, and she put her hand in
his.
    “ Where to now, mage?” she asked with a broad grin on her
face.
    He took a step farther down the road and tugged her hand
slightly. “To the sea, Christina. Come with me to the
sea.”
    She took a step forward. “What color do you think it will
be?”
     
     
     

About the Author
     
    James Crofoot, a recent
graduate of Gotham Writing College, has written stories all his
life. Holding two degrees, he's now starting to put his works out.
For more reading visit his website.
    www.crofootwrites.com