Chapter Two

The oldest daughter of the family of necromancers sits outside of the abandoned rubble her family has called home. She can't help but ponder life when she sits out on the little stoop of what remains of a roof. She thinks about her friends, family, and school that used to be all around her. A bustling town with necromancers, not bothering anyone but themselves. Sure a few had caused trouble outside of the nation, but does that truly mean an entire population should be destroyed? She hears the sound of boots marching, so she hides. She lays flat on the roof and pulls a piece of debris over herself to make it appear as if she's already dead. Most of the bodies were never cleared out, so a dead body wasn't a strange sight to see. The guards marched right past her, probably didn't even see her. She begins to hear shouting, but she can't make out any words. Then scuffling. Then more yelling. This time she makes out what hey say.

"Just who we've been looking for! Boys were going home!" followed by a cackle.

"They're just kids!" She recognizes the voice as her father sounds scared and hurt. She wants to run to his aid but she knows that if she revealed herself she would have the same fate. So she lays, quiet and still. A tear rolls down her face. 

She gathers her belongings after the men in boots leave with her family. She puts on a black cloak and veil to cover her face. Only armed with a machete and the powers she has been equipped with her whole life, she starts a trek. A journey to start over. She plans to move into the capital city and make a living for herself. 

The walk takes her three days. She gets to the main city and sees a book store. She puts her hand on the glass window. She thinks of how much she loved to read before hand. An older man with a cane walks out of the shop and waves his hand at her.

"Come in! Please, I haven't had a customer all day." pleads the old man.

"I haven't but a dollar to my name I'm afraid."

"Well a pretty young lady like you ought to be showered by money and presents from young lads. Don't you think?"

"If only the worlds were that fair." she answers the old man with a smile and a tiny laugh.

"Well if you're looking for work, my wife just quit." offers the old man.

"Your wife quit? Why's that?" she asks.

"Well she kicked the bucket." says the old man with a chuckle.

"Sorry to hear that, but yes I could use a job. And I hate to be a bigger burden on you, but do you happen to know where I could find a place to stay for the night?" 

"Only if you have money I'm afraid. All the inns in this town are too expensive."

"I'm not picky. All I need is a roof and a few walls to keep me out of the weather."

"Well you could sleep in the shop for free, and start at opening tomorrow morning."

"Really? Thank you so much sir!" She can't help but smile and hug the old man as he opens the door for her to go inside. 

She makes herself a decent spot to sleep on the floor and lay down. She was used to sleeping on the floor while her family was on the run. Except she was used to being elbow to elbow with her brother and sister. She cries herself to sleep knowing that by now her parents have been executed, her brother and sister executed. Knowing Elder Sarah she assumes it was the most gruesome of ways.

The next morning the old man wakes her up by poking her with his cane.

"Time to wake up. We've got work to do and you've got breakfast to eat" says the old man setting a plate of food on the counter for her.

"Oh no, I couldn't."

"No I insist. I have no one to cook for anymore without my wife."

"I thank you so much sir."

"Call me Ed." says the old man with a smile, taking a seat.

"Alright Ed." she says, wishing she could tell him her name, but she chooses not to, out of fear he may turn in her for being a necromancer since her name is rather common from her home nation. 

"Did you hear about this?" asks Ed with a newspaper.

"Elder Sarah's men finally captured the last of the necromancers. their execution will be on television today. Broadcast over the whole planet." continues Ed.

"I can't believe that." she says trying to hold back the tears that would reveal her identity.

"This Sarah is a quack. Youngest ruler we've ever had. And a mistake to put such a young broad in that kind of power." says Ed as he slams the newspaper on the counter.

"I was starting to think I was the only one in this town that hated her." she says with a smile toward Ed as she sits on a stool.

"Most of the people in this town are her supporters. Think we needed to get away from the elderly leading."

"Why change tradition? We had a great system in my opinion."

"I think most of these people are just happy to have a home planet again. Earth is a scary place to live. Not everyone made it back."

Elder Sarah sits in her throne, and the guards bring in the family of necromancers that were captured. 

"Nearly two years you evaded my men. Bravo. I really do applaud that." says Elder Sarah clapping.

"But today you meet your ultimate fate." continues Elder Sarah. She then moves her fingers counting.

"One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Where is the fifth? Is she being stubborn and won't leave the cage? I know how twenty year old girls can be." says Elder Sarah with a laugh.

"We only captured four Elder." says a guard stepping forward. 

"Why did you only capture four? They have three children. Two girls and a boy. But yet you only have two of their children sitting in front of me. Please explain that to me." says Sarah getting louder with every word before reaching an all out yell. 

"Please forgive us Elder. We thought there was only four." says the guard still speaking for the group of soldiers that found the family. Elder Sarah leans back in her chair and runs her hands through her hair.

"Alright, mistakes happen. That's understandable. Maybe she slipped out the back. Maybe she's already dead."

"Or maybe" interjects the guard.

"Or maybe! Just maybe! Some idiot let her crawl out like some kind of spider! An eight legged freak. Might as well call her a black widow." continues Elder Sarah in a fit of rage.

"A black widow?" asks the guard.

"She's camouflaged by the night, and she's the last remaining necromancer.  So almost literally, a black widow." explains Elder Sarah with a cackle. 

"I want the execution started in ten minutes!" exclaims Sarah as she rises from her throne and leaves the room.

In the center of the capital city sits a large stage, in the center of that stage sits a guillotine. To the left of the guillotine stands the two children of the family. To the right, the parents. All four of them stand with their ankles chained together and their hands tied with old rusty chains that cut their wrists just being in them. People from all parts of town gather around the stage and the television's in every home of all of the nation's turn on and broadcast the stage. The television in the book store turns on and Ed turns to watch it with the last free standing member of her family. The one who will soon be known to everyone as the Black Widow. Elder Sarah trots onto the stage with swagger and cockiness from the power, which has gone straight to her head. 

"Ladies and gentlemen of this new world." starts the Elder when she gets to center stage.

"What a diva." says Ed laughing from the book store.

"Crazy to think four people are about to lose their lives just for being born a necromancer."  says the girl that has been dubbed the Black Widow, unbeknownst to Ed. 

"These people are fugitives on the war against Necromancy. These are four of the five remaining Necromancers in existence." continues Elder Sarah as most of the crowd erupts in cheer. Shelly stands in the crowd. Recently discovering she was a Pagan she joined raven and April on this journey to learn about her powers. So Raven dropped her off for a few weeks in the capital city to see if she can pick up a few tricks.  Shelly remains fixed on the Elder and her so called "fugitives."

"The punishment for their crimes is public execution. Now as we all know the only ways to kill a Pagan are to burn their spell book, or to cut their head off. And I think I know what you all want to see." says the Elder with a cackle pointing toward the guillotine. The Black Widow puts her hands in her face trying not to cry. Ed shakes his head and looks down in his stool. Shelly looks disgusted in the crowd while the people around her cheer and applaud for the public death of a family. 

"Just disgusting." says Ed.

"It's so sad." says the Black Widow, trying to give herself an excuse to cry without looking too affiliated with them.

A few moments pass and the guillotine's blade has been raised waiting to drop on someone's head.

"No who shall be the first victim? Should I make the parents watch their children die, or the children watch their parents die?" asks the Elder prompting a response from the audience as they cheer different options for her to do. 

"Please, they're just children. They shouldn't have to go through this." pleads the father.

"I guess he's first." says the Elder with a cackle. The guard nods and brings him to the board.

"On your call Elder." says the guard holding the rope that holds the blade.

"No, this is crazy." says Ed.

"I can't believe we have no choice but to watch this, every channel is this." says the Black Widow. 

"Drop." says the Elder in what appears as slow motion for the Black Widow. Like she could hear every letter of her dad's ultimate death. The guard let's go of the string dropping the blade. The blade drops, cutting the head clean from the body. The mom drops to her knees crying for her husband. 

If she's going to do that every time we might save her for last." says Elder Sarah with a sadistic smile as the crowd is still cheering from the execution.

"Oh my goodness." says Shelly cringing from what she just witnessed.

"Bring me the girl." says elder Sarah pointing to the youngest of the children, the daughter.

Those words echoed through the Black Widow's mind. "Bring me the girl." The Black Widow can't help but cry at this point. Her father is gone, her sister is next on the block. Her mother must watch her children die, and she has already lost her husband.

"Please! They're only children! They did nothing to deserve this!" screams the mother as she drops to her knees wishing to help her children.

"They are just as guilty as your shameful, good for nothing, dishonest, piece of s**t, you called a husband." says Elder Sarah with a cackle. The guards have raised the blade again and put the youngest daughter on the board.

"On your command Elder." says the guard. Elder Sarah looks straight into the eyes of the young girls mother and slowly utters the scariest words she could.

"Drop the blade!"

Just as she commanded, the blade fell. The head of the youngest Necromancer rolls off the board and onto the stage, rolling, and rolling, and rolling. Until finally, a guard stop the head with his boot. He picks it up and puts the head in the same basket as the father's. Once again the whole crowd, except Shelly cheers. Shelly pushes the hair from her face and looks at the ground. The guards bring forth the Black Widow's brother. They set him down on the board. They raise the blade again. 

"Is this what you think is right?" pleads the mother again.

"Murdering children?" she continues.

"He is a fugitive, not a child." answers Elder Sarah.

"Is that what you say to make you seem like a great leader to these people?"

"Shut your mouth."

"You tore apart families, killed innocent people, and murdered children."

"Shut up!" exclaims Sarah starting to show frustration in her face. 

"Why's that Elder? Because after I'm gone there won't be anyone left to speak up against you?"

"Give me that!" exclaims Sarah as she takes a sword from the hands of a guard.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" yells Elder Sarah as she swings the sword at the head of the mother cutting it clean from her body.

Elder Sarah drops the sword. The crowd did not cheer. They stood silently. She glances at the blade still hanging high with the young boy still sitting on the boy ready for execution. Ed and the Black Widow sit in the book store, watching what just developed on the stage. 

"I hope these people are proud of their grand Elder." says Ed shaking his head.

"She'll get hers some day." says the Black Widow.

Elder Sarah gives one final glance at the blade then back to the boy. 

"Stop!" yells Shelly from the crowd.

"The boy doesn't deserve this!"

"Someone silence her!" yells Sarah as two guards go to arrest Shelly.

"Come on lady, give it up." says a guard as he and another guard handcuff Shelly and take her away from the crowd.

Still in a fit of rage Elder Sarah walks over the rope that is holding the blade up, and she rips it from the guard hand.

"Down with Necromancy!" yells Elder Sarah as she lets go of the rope, dropping the blade, cutting the Black Widow's last remaining family member's head from his body. 

Just like that, in a matter of twenty-five minutes, the twenty-something year old girl became the last of her kind. The last Necromancer in existence, the last member of her family, and the last beacon of hope to drive Elder Sarah out of her throne. Her only ally being an old man, who has no idea who she truly is.