“He didn’t know how bad Rodrick was, and he didn’t know he was an accomplice to murder, let alone multiple murderers. He’s a limp-wristed milksop and a vain idiot, but he’s not malicious. And I gave him more than enough punishment with his months in jail and in the stocks. Killing him on top of all that seems a little extreme.”
Isu shrugged. “Sometimes, to win a war, innocents must die. There’s no way around that unpleasant fact. If the fool actor must be sacrificed, then so be it. His worthless life can actually end up meaning something … by dying.”
“Are you two talking about the actor back in Brakith, the one who looks like Vance’s slightly wimpier twin brother?”
We turned around and saw Anna-Lucielle approaching us.
“Yes, we are,” I said. “I need to control him like a puppet, the way I can with my zombies. The only thing is, I’ll have to kill him first. That does present another problem, though, in addition to the whole ethical thing about killing a relatively innocent man: he won’t be able to speak.”
“How does this pose a problem?” Isu asked.
“In order for him to convincingly fool the Church of Light troops and Elandriel’s spies, he needs to be able to talk. Which he can do as a living actor—he imitates me perfectly—but then he can’t fight. No amount of faking it will disguise his embarrassing lack of coordination.”
Anna-Lucielle smiled. “He doesn’t need to die in order for you to do what you’re hoping to do with him. You’ve forgotten about this, haven’t you?” She took out the Beauty Mirror.
I had to grin; I had indeed forgotten about the Beauty Mirror. “I think I know where you’re going with this,” I said.
“I just need to give this to the actor, and he’ll be completely indistinguishable from you. And to control him…”
“I’ll use the Dragon Sword,” I said, “blending your Charm magic with the Death powers I use to control my undead minions. So when he’s got the Beauty Mirror on him, he’ll essentially be a living zombie I can control like a puppet. That little milksop will suddenly be able to fight as furiously and savagely as a Northern barbarian berserker, because it’ll be me who’s actually doing the fighting.”
“There’s only one problem with this plan of yours, Vance,” Isu said. “Everything would be perfect about it, except that you don’t currently have a connection to the actor. Not in the way you do to your undead creatures, who you can sense and communicate with over hundreds of miles. Nor do you have such a connection with Anna-Lucielle.” She flashed a somewhat catty smile at Anna-Lucielle as she delivered this thinly-veiled—but relevant—insult. “How will you take control of him when you cannot link your power directly to the Charm Goddess over such a vast distance.”
Isu had taken to wearing her hair up in recent days, and her dark, silky tresses were held in place with a pair of sharp bones in place of hairpins. I stepped over to her and yanked one of the bones out, causing her hair to tumble down over her slim, pale shoulders.
“What is the meaning of this, Vance?” she asked.
“This will solve that little problem.” I twirled the sharp bone around my fingers and made it spin and dance as if it had a mind of its own. It was a cheap street magician’s trick I’d learned as a teenager to impress girls.
“An old bone?” Anna-Lucielle asked.
“Not just any bone,” I said, drawing the Dragon Sword. “Activate your Charm magic.”
Anna-Lucielle called up her Charm magic, which appeared before me in the form of a glowing pink heart. Fitting, I supposed, but not exactly what I would choose for my own form of magic.
I conjured up the gray skull of Death magic. It was about the most unlikely pairing of powers I could think of, but it would work perfectly for my intentions. Like a master alchemist, I combined both powers, visualizing in my mind exactly what I needed them to do. Then, I took the new, mixed magic, and imbued the bone with it. The bone turned from a dull yellowish hue of cream to glossy black, with a curious pink iridescence when held up to the light. I admired my handiwork for a few seconds, then handed the enchanted bone to Anna-Lucielle.
“What do I do with it?” she asked.
“Stab the actor with it,” I said. “Somewhere non-lethal of course, and it doesn’t have to be a deep wound; just enough to draw blood. With this bone—I’ll call it the Zombie Bone—I’ll be able to control whoever you stab as if they were one of my zombies. They’ll still have some will of their own, of course, being a living person instead of one of my undead minions, but I’ll give you a message to pass on to the actor. This message will ensure his cooperation.”
“I assume it will have something to do with being killed if he doesn’t cooperate?” Anna-Lucielle asked.
I smiled. “Something to that effect, yes. I’ll get nice and creative about the very slow, very painful manner in which he’ll meet his end if he refuses. He’ll cooperate.”
Even Isu had to smile now. “A most cunning plan, Vance,” she said. “You are using the many advantages the Dragon Sword brings with great ingenuity, I must say.”
“I’ll make sure that whiny little coward agrees to this,” Anna-Lucielle said, a wicked gleam sparkling in her eye. “And if he gives me any attitude about it, I’ll jab this bone straight into his eyeball.”
“You’ll have to give him your plate armor and one
