Celia pulled the string taut and waited for them to make the turn into the cavern she was hidden in. She cast a quick spell for swiftness and loosed an arrow. It hit its mark, and the creature crumbled into ash, the one beside it fell to another arrow from the other side of the cavern. She whispered a word and didn't see any other threats nearby. She crept silently around the room, ransacking the abandoned space for anything of value, and came out with a minor healing potion. She met with Kiis, the other archer, and saw they collected a couple of coins and another dagger. She put the potions into her enchanted pack and accepted the dagger with a nod.

These caverns made her somewhat uneasy. She disliked being so far from the Sun, the stone around her felt almost oppressive compared to the freedom the forests seemed to offer. Her nature as a woodland elf and a mage made her long to press forward to finish this quest. They entered the next passage, which narrowed and they moved forward single file. The sound of running water grew closer and she whispered the word again. It wasn't a word she understood, she felt it more than she knew it, but she knew what it did, it revealed danger. She looked to her companion and held up seven fingers. She let them know three were to the left further away, and four were to the right closer to the entrance.

She nocked an arrow onto her bow and they reached for their axes. Celia activated the talisman they wore around their neck and fired off an arrow, leaving three Kiis could easily take care of. As they sprinted towards the group, she turned her attention to the remaining three, who took notice of the commotion and started coming forwards. She took out the archer first and the skeleton crumbled back to useless bones. The other two rushed forwards and she cast an ice rune, dissipating the corpses back into ash.

She turned back to her companion as the axe cut through the last of their three, leaving a pile of ash. "Either this necromancer is not particularly powerful or they're spread thin." They said to her, and she nodded in agreement. "Considering that we've mostly run into Kaerds (I looked up synonyms for "ash" and "clinker" came up, it comes from an old Dutch word which this is part of) I'd say they might not have the power to raise anything else."

One of their ears twitched towards the stream running through and their eyes narrowed trying to see into the dark space. She collected the arrows from the skeletal archer and followed as they crept closer to the back of the cave. She could hear voices now, and couldn't risk whispering the detection spell. Her companion informed her there were two they could make out, and she readied her bow, straining her ears to see if she could approximate distance or location. They both decided they were far enough into the room to risk ducking their heads in briefly. A glance revealed two figures in robes surrounded by books.

She held back a sigh. The robes were so dramatic. Kiis removed their bow and stepped out, her following close behind. The movement alerted a skeleton sentry, and the rattle of the bones made both the figures jump up. The arrow barely missed, clipping one of their arms. The skeleton charged clumsily at them with a sword which they caught with an axe and she moved to focus on the necromancers. They had been practicing too long, she could see the toll it took in their eyes. Necromancy was a perversion of magic, and magic would retaliate at being abused in such a way. Dark lines went outwards from their eyes and began crawling down their faces. One of them had almost their entire hand covered in crisscrossing black lines, and he raised it, throwing flames in her direction. She rolled out of the way and conjured ice to throw at him, raising both arms to freeze him. The other cried out and fell to the ground. When she stopped she found him dead, frozen to the spot. The other had an arrow in his chest, gasping. She looked sadly at him as the rattling breath left his chest. It didn't return.The necromancers were dead, anything else they animated wouldn't be a threat. The magic would have left the corpses. Feeling secure with this knowledge, she turned toward her friend.

She used the light from the torches to look them over, careful to spot any blood seeping onto their clothes or fur. Finding none, she turned towards the tables and inspected the books laying about. "This is the same as the last ones we found." Her brow furrowed as she picked up a text and showed them the cover. They crept over and together they moved through the rest of the volumes.

"Fire and necromancy" Their gravelly voice said lowly to her and she nodded, finding the same. A quill caught her eye and she shuffled the books, searching for the parchment they'd written on. She found it folded and tucked into one of the destruction books. "Do you know this language?" She asked, further unfolding the page to reveal part of a map, messy scrawl surrounding the page. They shook their head. "It looks similar to writing I've seen on some Imperial documents, but I can't read this." She refolded it and tucked it into her bag to ask about when they regrouped with the others.

They gathered the necromancy books together and she burned them to ashes. They left the same way they came. It took much less time now that they weren't constantly watching for danger, and she conjured a ball of light to increase their pace. Not that her companion needed it, but it helped her move along faster without keeping an eye on the stones beneath her feet.

Eventually they emerged back into the forest and she took a deep breath in, relishing in the feeling after being underground. The crisp wind blew and she heard it rush through the leaves. Keeping the mountains behind them, they walked back to meet with the others.

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Kaerds (I looked up synonyms for "ash" and "clinker" came up, it comes from an old Dutch word which this is part of) are reanimated corpses which dissolve into ash piles if the body is stressed enough.

This little snippet above I don't have any plot ideas for really. My sister was telling me about a video game she liked and I wrote this very loosely based on the worldbuilding in that game. Bonus points if you know what the video game is. 

Golems are elementals, set into place in order to protect something. They can be made best with stone, water, and ice. Fire is more demanding, so are plants.

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"I need my sword!" He called out, rolling to avoid a golem's sweeping arm and burying the dagger in its back.

They threw an axe, the golem to their side crumbling into pebbles. "I'm a little", they blocked a blow with their remaining axe and grunted at the impact, "busy right now!" They grit their teeth and swept low, catching the creature's legs.

"We're too close to the caves, we won't win this standing still!"

The ground shook beneath them again and they righted themself as more rocks rolled out of the mouth of the cave. They sheathed their axes and ran to him, grabbing his sword on the way over. "You dropped this." They both ran through the forest, stone rumbling behind them as they went.

"What's....your plan...here?" Mur panted out as they ran.

"Shouldn't be far.....the edge of their boundary." Kiis responded, glancing back to see that the golems were slowing down. Brush scratched at the pair's legs but they paid no mind until the rumble of the ground stopped.

He slumped against a tree gulping down air, while they twisted a leather band around their arm twice. "What are you doing?" He choked out between breaths.

"Letting Celia know where we are." He chuckled.

"You finally trust me enough to tell me something."

"Information is dangerous, we can't afford to be giving it freely." Their ears pricked

-

"I thought you were a mage! Can't you hit it with anything?" Mur stared at the other man.

"That's not my specialty." He responded, rifling through his bag. He dragged a hand over his face.

"What do you do then?"

"Illusions, potions, enchantments and runes mostly."