The Necromancer

There it was. The mountain that held what he sought. Finally months of traveling would come to an end for better or worse. The spell book he sought was so close he could feel the power resonating from the mountain. And the spell book was the only treasure in there he was sure of but he knew there would be more artifacts and knowledge than he could imagine in that mountain trove. Finding the mountain was not the hard part. It was defeating the guardian of the mountain. A fearsome dragon.

Surveying the landscape before the mountain he saw scorched parts of the plains. He was not the first to try but he knew he would be the last. Not many had tried to fight this dragon. It was well away from civilization and did not try to antagonize people. It's treasure trove was one of knowledge rather than gold. And it lived in a desolate land that even if they could people would not wish to inhabit. But he was no ordinary person. He was the necromancer Froxiv. He would be the greatest there ever was and this dragon was in his way. Things were rarely in this way for long.

He called to his legions of skeletons, zombies, and ghosts to prepare for battle. They began to move from a marching to a battle formation. The open plains left his troops completely exposed with no chance of cover. That was fine. Froxiv did not like hiding and no fear of troop losses. While they prepared Froxiv used his mind to send a message to the dragon.

"I come for the spell books you guard. Let me have them and I will leave you in peace." Froxiv said using his magic powers to send the message directly to the mind of the dragon. Froxiv could sense the dragon was near but not where he was exactly.

"These books are not for you and if you leave now I will not tear you to pieces," the dragons response thundered in Froxiv's head like an avalanche. Froxiv severed the connection, that was all he needed to hear. He commanded his army to advance and had those that were able bang their weapons on their shields to bring the dragon out.

When his army had made it halfway over the desolate plain to the mountain the dragon came out to fight. He left from a cave entrance near the middle of the mountain and flew to meet his challengers. The dragon was a huge beast. It's scales were a pure black. This would have made it hard to see in the night if it wasn't for the clear white of its claws and teeth. The dragon shot a fireball towards the army of undead. Froxiv made no attempt to stop it. He had to see the dragon's power. The fireball hit just behind his third row of skeleton soldiers. The explosion engulfed thirty of them. The dragon let out a triumphant cry. The fire would have harmed more if his soldiers knew pain. And the roar might have been frightening if his soldiers could feel fear. They had long ago lost all way of feeling. His troops marched on to the mountain as the dragon circled overhead.

The dragon began to dive at the undead army preparing a breathe of fire from his mighty lungs. As he picked up speed Froxiv smiled. He ordered those skeletons who were hiding their bows or crossbows to fire and aim at the wings. The dragon was moving too fast when he realized his mistake and could not pull up in time. A volley of arrows was launched at the dragon.  A pitiful few pierced the scales but many more tore through the softer tissue of the wings.

The dragon howled in pain. Now, unable to fly, the dragon turned the dive into a hard landing. As he was coming down his claws came out and raked through the legions. No matter to Froxiv, there were always more he commanded. As soon as the dragon landed his troops rushed at it. Running as best they could but it was not fast enough the dragon had recovered from the landing and was ready to fight. He swung his tail in a wide arc, shattering all of the skeletons who were caught in its path.

His minions would need to get closer to be effective. Froxiv closed his eyes and began chanting in the language of magic. When the spell was complete he looked up and saw it was effective. The dragon was attacking at empty air now. Froxiv's spell had made the dragon see enemies that weren't there allowing his zombies and skeletons to get closer to the confused beast. The dragon still struck the undead but the attacks were not as focused or damaging as they could have been.

Now to take control of the fight, thought Froxiv as he began casting another spell. He saw the effects of this one instantly. The dragon was now moving slower. The dragon seemed to be moving with heavy weights slowing it down. Movements that used to be lightning quick now were barely made in time.

His troops began to swarm the dragon. Now it was too late. The dragon would be buried  beneath his the bodies of his undead legions. The battle lasted several more hours, longer than Froxiv anticipated. The dragon was fierce and clever. He weakened the dragon further with his spells until finally it collapsed and breathed its last.

Others would have looted the corpse or rested for the night but Froxiv had one goal in mind, the spell books. Froxiv entered the mountain and after a little searching in the caverns he found what he sought. The room of knowledge. Three huge bookcases full of tomes of knowledge lined three of the walls. Froxiv stopped for a moment to appreciate the knowledge kept hidden and protected in this room. Then he proceeded to the bookshelf on his left and removed a book with a blue cover and silver runes on it. This book was the first of many that Froxiv read while staying at the mountain. His soldiers stood guard as he studied, perfectly still and silent as the grave. Then on the fifth day Froxiv left the mountain and returned to the body of the dragon.

"You will be magnificent." He whispered as he traced a hand around its about. He began casting a new spell. It was a spell of his own design and one that took several hours to complete. While studying he had learned several knew spells and by combining portions of these he had created a new spell. A spell to raise the corpse of a dragon to serve. When he finished Froxiv was silent and looked upon the body of the beast.

The whole body of the creature shook. Then a great tear appeared running along its spine. Emerging from its body came the skeleton and Froxiv knew his spell had worked. He looked upon his creation with pride.

    The skeleton dragon was all bone except for a thin bit of skin on the wings that allowed it to fly. The bones were held together with Froxiv’s magic. They were white and clean. The claws were still sharp and where the eyes had been now were just two black orbs. Endlessly black.

"You fought bravely and now you fight fearlessly. None shall stand before the world's first skeleton dragon!" The dragon roared its agreement and turned its head toward Froxiv. The creature bowed its head to him, it's new master.

"Come my army needs to be replenished," Froxiv said as he marched with his dragon and army to the nearest town.