The Necromancer Who Lives Down the Lane

Chapter 1: Gnomes in the Garden

Arianna Nightlock nodded contently, overlooking her awful  garden of mushrooms and mosses, jars filled with things from bones and rocks and leaves and soil to faerie lights and captured winds. As she watched the many gnomes that had taken up residence among the damp soils scurry about (and even spotted a creeping goblin among the remains of the rotting logs to her right) she heard a sigh from the window sill behind her.

"How truly dreadful," a dull voice drawled.

"Isn't it just?" She replied cheerfully, looking at the cat lounging in the window as she took a seat on one of the cushions on her porch swing.

"That wasn't a compliment you know," came the annoyed response, "you should try some color, maybe yellow, or pink even."

"Oh, shush Erin, I like my garden just the way it is. And I think I'll stick with my greens and browns and blacks."

"Then at least try some color in your clothes."

"What's wrong with my clothes?!"

"Everything, long hooded black cloaks over blacks pants and black boots doesn't look good. Your only color is your shirt and even that purple is so dark it could be mistaken for black!"

"Oh hush, you're a cat, what do you know of these things."

"Well," Erin spoke as he rose slowly to his feet, "I certainly have a better fashion sense than you despite being a cat. And for that matter I wasn't always a cat, you should know this especially well."

"Yes, I'm certain you had an excellent sense of fashion when you were a human. A shining suit of armor is always the latest fashion," came the sarcastic reply.

"Shut up, and speaking of me being human are you ever going to turn me back?"

"What's wrong with being a cat?"

"Everything," Erin deadpanned and Arianna giggled.

"You know, you keep asking me to turn you back and I keep wondering why you do. Did you never read the sign Erin?"

Erin suddenly had a rather odd feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"What sign?" He asked shortly and again Arianna giggled before replying.

"The one right next to my door, ridiculous cat."

Erin hopped down from the windowsill where he had been standing and made his way over. Suddenly, all his worst fears were confirmed.

Arianna Nightlock
Mastery in Non-Corporeal Necromancy
Expert in Graveyard Soils

"Do you mean to tell me, I've wasted five years of my life trying to get you to change me back and you're not even the witch who cursed me in the first place."

"Look on the bright side, at least now you have nine lives!"

A very unamused look was all that comment earned.

"But, yes, you did. If you were looking for the witch that cursed you that was Lila, she lives in the next clearing over on the other side of the stream."

"...so I'll have to cross water to get uncursed?"

"Yes."

There's silence for a moment, "I'll do it tomorrow."

With that, Erin the cursed black cat jumps up to the cushion next to Arianna and settles down for a nice long cat-nap.

Our favorite necromancer, on the other hand, stifles her giggles as she watches before turning her attention to her other cat who had finally deigned the poor not-completely-human-but-at-least-mostly-human worth her time.

"Hello Clovis," the woman says calmly while scratching behind the cat's spiritual ears.

Clovis was, in fact, the spirit of her childhood cat and one of the first spirits she had brought back when she was first learning necromancy. She was also the only one to stick around for any length of time, though Clovis did occasionally leave for what she assured Arianna through Erin-the-cursed-cat was very important spirit business.

"Isn't the weather just terrible?"

The two watched as the rain poured down calmly, enjoying it as only creatures of darkness could.