Role

Chapter 7

As Tamazin stared down into the churning water where he knew he was going
to have to jump, it would be reasonable to assume he was dreading the
plunge. He was. Water and arials did not mix, and he was no exception.

On the other hand, that dread was currently pushed aside in mortified
dismay as he watched his legion of the undead flail helplessly as they
plunged over the waterfall and down into the churning rapids below. For a
moment he thought the golem was going to somehow cling on, but then
something tore and it joined the grizzly descent.

That was a pity. He'd liked Golem the 19th. Nothing had exploded, so maybe
they could be salvaged later.

Clicking his beak, Tamazin had the morbid thought that if he was wrong
about this particular leap of faith, perhaps he'd be joining his array of
unfortunate animations in a rather more direct manner than he'd been hoping
for.

Folding his wings, he dropped: and did not end up splattered on the rocks,
just drenched in freezing water. Small mercies.

Tamazin had only experienced a thin Veil once or twice in his life, but
that was the closest experience he could equate to the Lodge where he found
himself. The air was heavy with mana, a tangible sense that if he cast, it
would come easily to him here. That was nothing beside being in the
presence of the leader of the Cadre, though.

It wasn't her uncanny ability to wield the arcane. That had been expected,
even if he'd been mildly concerned at one point that she was going to set
his feathers on fire. It hadn't been the casual acknowledgement that she
knew of magic so old that it was lost to history.

It'd been that when he'd stated his goal, and made his bold claims that had
only ever given him ridicule in the past: she'd just acted like striving
for what others thought unattainable was to be expected.

Patience. Cunning. Strength. Commitment. Four things to turn a wish into
reality.

When she'd asked what he hoped to bring to her Cadre, he had braced himself.
Most people did not really appreciate the beauty in an exploding corpse.
They did not comprehend what a perfect adaptation to the animation spell
that it was. Yet she had, and as Tamazin left the Lodge to try to fish
Golem the 19th out of the plunge basin, he swore to himself that he would
not be a Demolitions Apprentice for long.

He'd be a... hmm.

Something amazing, for certain.

Once he'd found his zombies, at least.