"Your instructions are too complex, Ella," the plump necromancer said. "She will only understand the simplest commands. For fighting draugar we actually inscribe a system of battle sequences into the runes. It makes for more coordinated action, although a draug can generally fight on its own when challenged."
Ella was frustrated. "I need to know how to bring back more of who it was. Not much more, but more than this."
"Ella, that's enough for one day. There are more things I can teach you, but they are elements of detail, such as how to give a group of draugar a formation and teach them to fight cohesively. You have learned all I have to teach."
"Can I ask you one last question?" Ella asked.
"What is it?"
"How long can you wait? If a body has been in the ground a long time, how long before it can't be brought back?"
"I don't know what you intend, Enchantress, and I'm not sure that I want to know. But I will tell you one thing."
Aldrik met Ella's gaze.
"I have shown you our process. This is the only way it should be done."
~
ELLA paced around Oma Jen's house, wondering where she would be able to find the knowledge she needed. She'd read Aldrik's books cover to cover, but there was still something missing.
Oma Jen opened the front door, entering with a basket of groceries in her arms.
"Here, let me get that for you," Ella said. She took the basket from the old woman's arms and followed her into the kitchen.
"You look unhappy," Oma Jen said. "I heard you impressed the Dain today. Why the glum face?"
Ella wondered if she could open up to her generous host. "It's Aldrik. Or perhaps it's all of them. I need to know more."
"You should visit Barnabas," Oma Jen said.
Ella put down the basket of groceries. "Who?"
"Barnabas. He was Renrik's teacher. They expelled him from the order, but in his day there wasn't anyone better."
"Why did they expel him?"
"He never took much notice of their rules. You might not understand, but morality is a constant source of contention for the order. Barnabas did things they considered… questionable."
Ella's eyes lit up. "How can I find him?"
"He has a small house on the far side of the city. You can't miss it; it's the one with the bones scattered out the front. He's an odd one."
Ella remembered the house. "Do you mind if I go there now?"
"You'll do what you need to do," Oma Jen said, smiling. "I'll save your dinner."
"Thank you," Ella said, touching the old woman's shoulder.
Oma Jen turned back to her groceries, smiling and shaking her head.
~
"WHAT is it?" a voice grumbled when Ella knocked. "Don't you know it's late?"
Ella knocked again, and finally heard the stumping of footsteps. A moment later, the door opened, and a withered face peered at her.
Barnabas might have once been tall, but he was now stooped with age. Ella guessed he was blind in one eye, for it was rheumy and wept fluid.
"Well, hello there," Barnabas said. "Never mind what I said, it's never too late. Pretty young thing, aren't you?"
"I'm Ella. Do you mind if I come in?"
"Ella… Ella… Where have I heard that name? Of course you can come in." Barnabas stepped aside. In the light, Ella could now see he wore a dirty grey robe, stuck to his thin frame like a sheet caught on a tree.
"Now," Barnabas said as Ella entered the house. "How does this work? Kayan sent you for my birthday, did he? Has he paid you?"
"No," Ella said, bemused, "no one sent me."
"Then why are you here?" Barnabas said, gesturing for Ella to take a seat on a padded chair and then seating himself.
Ella looked around the small house. Bones were everywhere. A human skeleton had been erected on a frame in the corner and a dozen skulls lined the mantel above the hearth. In another corner, a huge white bear had been stuffed and manipulated into a snarling pose of attack.
"I'm an enchantress, from Altura. I'm learning…"
"Ah, now I remember. I do stay in touch, you know. You've been learning from young Aldrik." His face fell. "Which means you're not here for my birthday."
"No," Ella said, smiling. "I'm afraid I'm not."
"And how are you finding Aldrik?"
"He's been very helpful," Ella said.
Barnabas snorted. "Helpful? He's not even third order. He wouldn't know how to raise a flag."
"Oma Jen said I should talk to you," Ella said. "She said there's no one better."
"She did, did she? Will you do something for me, Ella?"
"Of course."
"Make me a hot mug of spiced wine, will you? Everything you need is over there."
Flustered, Ella went to do the old man's bidding. She filled a copper pot with wine from a bladder and added spices from jars on a rack. She wasn't sure which to add, or how much, so she put in a small amount of each. Taking the copper pot over to the fire, Ella waited until steam rose from the pot. She filled an earthenware mug and took it to Barnabas.
"Urgh," said Barnabas. "This is foul. What did you put in here? Redspice?"
"Will you teach me?" Ella asked.
Barnabas took another sip. "It depends. What do you want to know?"
"I want to know how to bring back someone who has been in the ground a long time. I also need them to have some memory, more than what Aldrik showed me."
"Only a master can do that," Barnabas said.
"You were a master, weren't you?"
"Still am!"