21 Snake vs Lich

At this point, I was starting to feel like I really should know what to say to people who were trying to kill me. It was starting to become a distressingly common occurrence.

"Who is this green man?" Cordelia asked me.

"Serpentfolk assassin who wants to kill me," I told her.

Cordelia nodded. "My brother also had a lot of people who wanted to kill him."

Sissarha began walking toward me. With the crossbow in his left hand, he drew a sword in his right. "Skeleton," he said, "you have nothing to do with this. I suggest you leave and return to whatever master you have."

"I don't have a master," Cordelia pointed out. "I'm a lich."

The assassin stopped mid-stride. "You're a what?"

"I'm a lich," Cordelia repeated.

Sissarha frowned. "No you're not," he said.

"Yes I am," Cordelia told him.

I rolled my eyes.

"No, you're a skeletal minion or something."

"What would I be a minion to?"

Sissarha was silent, and then he said: "you're a Skull Lord."

"Those have three heads."

"A flameskull!"

"I have a body and also my head's not on fire."

"Then it must be an illusion or something!" Sissarha insisted. "There's no way there's a lich down here."

"There absolutely is a way there's a lich down here," Cordelia told him. She waved her hand and the bolt that was suspended in mid-air clattered to the floor. "Here, watch this."

"Watch what?" Sissarha asked. And then he said "AAAAAAAAH!" because he was suddenly flying across the chamber, past the stone coffin, before both he and his scream of terror faded into the darkness beyond.

"You threw him out," I said.

"Yes."

"You didn't kill him?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I saw your reaction to the images I showed you," Cordelia explained. "It did not seem like you would handle seeing a man's death very well."

I opened my mouth, then I closed it again. As much as I wanted to argue that point, I knew she had the right of it. I contented myself with not saying anything.

"I wonder how he found you?"

I blinked. That was a good question, actually. Were they following me? Probably, but even if they were, they would have had to evade all the rats behind me, and I wasn't sure Sissarha had entered this chamber the same way I had. Come to think of it, how had he known I wasn't at my home last night too?

My hand went up to my chest, and my fingers closed around the amulet beneath my shirt; the trinket that "Sarissa" had given me yesterday.

"Motherfucker," I muttered. I quickly pulled the amulet off my neck. "I think there's a tracking enchantment on this."

"Yes, I'd noticed there was some magic around your neck but I thought it would be rude to ask about it."

"Any ideas on what to do about it?"

"Give it here."

I tossed the amulet to Cordelia, and she caught it. "Does this jewelry hold any sentimental value?" she asked.

"I guess not."

"Very well, then." Her hand flashed with red light, and then she dropped the dust that was formerly the amulet to the floor.

"Thanks," I said. "For everything."

Cordelia nodded. "Go do what you need to do, Corvus," she said. "And remember what I've told you."

"I will," I assured her, and then I turned and walked back the way I came, pausing a second to bend down and pick up my fallen light crystal.