The Necromancer wasn't anything at all what I expected. My measuring stick had the man gnarled with a crooked spine, withered by the putrid, corpse-raising arts he dabbled so strongly in. His outside matching whatever darkness which lay beneath the skin. I expected someone who would snarl when they spoke and had a temper as mean as an old badger backed into his den. I expected a dingy shack coated with dusty webs and a yellowing skull glaring from each corner. What I got was a disturbingly elegant man with a small house that was as neat as a pin. What I got.. was someone who makes me nervous, tongue-tied and all crossed up.

Warrick the Wise was impeccably hospitable although we started off a little bumpy with his first question. He asked if I brought an army along for the long ride into the Gloomy Woods. An army of two? There was Calliope and myself and no one else. For a man to ask a stranger if they brought reinforcements smacked of paranoia and so my reply was to ask if he was expecting one. That is a good piece of information to have, whether an army is due on someone's doorstep in the next little bit. He told me no, perhaps not.

The Necromancer often deflects my most blunt questions but it only afterwards when we've moved onto another topic that I realize I never got the answer I sought. He is a shadow in conversation, slipping away in a blink if too bright a light is cast upon him. Yet I am never in an obvious lurch of uncomfortable silence as we move from subject to subject, task to task. He got me to call to the witch board, to command the spirit of Taltos to come forth so I might suggest a pact.

The board's pointing device is much akin to a miniature table on tiny legs. It slid about the face of the board without any help from the Necromancer or myself and what a strange, gut-dropping sensation that was! My first inclination was to jerk my hands away but a deeper, more fundamental and secretive yearning had my fingers remain in place. I am not convinced this will be my avenue of contacting the bitter enemy of the Briar King but I have little choice but to try.

What I did not count on is the Necromancer.. Warrick, being more than a cold, detached contract involving coin and much persuasion on my part. He will want paid, yes. I am not saying that, but his first instinct is to give aid and .. even though he is a quiet, unflappable presence, I am quite aware of his humanity.

[0 petals fell]