Page 32 of Becoming D'Vaire
“With no elder council, the Order of Necromancia doesn’t have anyone designated to sit in for me. Something I need to fix as soon as I can find someone I trust enough to be an advisor. I have several people on my staff who are exemplary, but none of them want the position, so I’m stuck right now,” Chander revealed. “There aren’t any votes today that directly impact my people, so I feel comfortable enough leaving Council session. What we have to discuss is important, and I have my Daemon Lords taking notes.”
“All of you have incredibly serious expressions on your faces. Well, everyone but Alaric,” Worth said. “You sentinels can write the book on giving nothing away.”
“We’re here to talk to you guys about Carvallius,” Conley stated.
Dra’Kaedan shook his head. “There’s no way you’re going to tell us he’s gotten loose or anything. I simply won’t believe it. You’re fallen knights, you don’t fuck up like that.”
“Of course we don’t,” Drystan agreed. “He’s still lying just where we left him with the Cwylld stone on his chest. That’s not the problem.”
“The problem is, he appears to be regaining his corporeal form,” Alaric confided. “Unlike the five members of the Skeleton Seven who were once nothing more than bone, he doesn’t have a body in one fell swoop.”
“It’s not even consistent. We observed hours of recorded footage this morning from the last couple of days. I don’t want you to think we’ve been keeping you out of the loop—we were just informed of the situation when we arrived at work today. The men and women tasked with guarding his section of the prison didn’t understand what was happening,” Drystan added.
“He’s gaining flesh, then it will disappear again.…But each time it returns, it covers more of him. Strangely, it moves from one section of his body to another in no discernable pattern. It’s impossible to guess when the process will be complete but at some point, he’s going to be fully corporeal again,” Conley added.
“Well, that’s good news,” Delaney said.
Worth lifted a dark brow. “You think the warlocks’ most hated enemy getting his body back is good news?”
“Absolutely,” Delaney replied. “We’ve been wracking our brains trying to figure out how to execute a skeleton, then permanently tie him to the other side of the veil so he isn’t resurrected again. We haven’t come up with a single viable way to move forward. If he’s corporeal, one half of our equation is already taken care of. All we need to do now is construct a method to make sure the world is rid of Carvallius for good.”
“That’s an excellent point, Del. Fate appears to be helping us along,” T’Eirick said.
Alaric nodded. “My theory about Fate being responsible for a skeleton returning to a real body may be correct. I suspect that my five men who were skeletons for so long stayed that way because of the magic of our former home.”
“We need to have a sorcerers’ meeting and start moving forward to get rid of Carvallius,” Chander remarked. “Right now we have to decide if we keep this quiet or go public.”
“Why would we go public?” Dra’Kaedan asked.
“It did occur to me that if Latarian found out Carvallius was regaining his body, it might draw her out of whatever hole she’s hiding in. She’s just dumb enough to think of it as an opportunity to somehow reunite herself with her grandfather,” Chander replied.
“Good idea, Chand. I do believe we should alert the press,” Saura commented.
“Consider it done,” Drystan stated.
“Let’s meet on Saturday. We’ll get started on theories to tie Carvallius, and eventually Latarian, to the correct side of the veil,” Dre’Kariston said. “I was also considering shadow walking again and wanted to discuss that with you, Chand.”
“I’d be happy to help you cross the veil anytime you want,” Chander responded.
“Mom and Dad are here. Who do you want to speak to on the other side?” Dra’Kaedan asked.
Dre’Kariston glanced at his mate sadly, then turned back to the assembled group. “I’m still in the ‘I don’t know if this is a good idea’ stage, but I think I’d like to talk to Derwin. There are so many questions in my mind around his death, and it would be nice to get his take on things. Maybe we can come to terms somehow with our lives and how it all played out. I hope he’s found the Coven of Familiars. I don’t even know if he’d want to talk to me but like I said, this doesn’t have to happen right away. I know Del has wanted to shadow walk for a while. He’s met his other half, so it’s going to be in the realm of possibilities at some point.”
“I don’t think you should wait for me,” Delaney commented. “I do want to shadow walk, but I just met Grigori. I don’t know if…I meanwhenwe’ll be mated.” Delaney heard Grigori’s voice in his head correcting him, and he was doing his best to change his mindset.
“There’s no pressure here and no timetable, Del. I’m not convinced yet it’s the right thing to do or if Derwin would just tell me to get lost, but I wanted to float the idea in case I decide to go ahead.”
“I don’t want to influence your decision, but there’s a chance the Coven of Familiars might be able to come up with ideas to help with the Carvallius problem as well,” T’Eirick pointed out.
“It certainly couldn’t hurt to speak with them or the Coven of Warlocks. There are plenty of brilliant sorcerers willing to try new methods, and they certainly all want Carvallius to pay for what he did to them,” Saura added.
“Great, so you guys get in touch with Vadimas, and we’ll have the whole gang together on Saturday,” Chander said to all of them. Then he turned his attention to Saura and T’Eirick. “Before we head out, I’d like to extend my offer once again of keeping you both on this side of the veil. I think we’re all in agreement that your family could use you, as could the entire Council.”
“We do appreciate that, Chand. Maybe it’s something we can discuss on Saturday. I assume we’re invited to your sorcerers’ club,” Saura responded.
“Of course you’re invited, Mom,” Dre’Kariston replied. “Chand’s right, we all need you here.”
“Your group really needs a name,” T’Eirick observed, which Delaney recognized as his desire to change the subject from their temporary resurrection that everyone wanted to become permanent.
