the magic skull

A Story by baba37

A druid tries to bring his dead apprentice back to life using magic and his apprentices old skull. But things go horribly wrong.

The magic skull

      The druid held out the large skull over a single lit candle in a dark room on a moonless night. The druid's face was concealed by a gray hood connected to a
   cloak of the same color. Very little light eminated from the lit candle, casting long dark shadows in every direction. Not much else could be seen in the dark
   room, just a table where the candle sat and a large cushoned chair where the druid sat with his arms outstretched. There was also a thick opened book on the
   table, with mysterious writtings of an unknown language. With his free hand, the druid moved his index finger along the lines of the writtings in the book, and
   seemed to be chanting a smell under his breath. Moments later, to the druids delight, a misty green appeared fromk within the skulls eye sockets. The spell had
   worked! "Yesss..." whispered the druid, excitedly. Yet at the same time, he was trembling and his heart was beating so quickly, he feared it would beat right out
   of his chest. Beads of sweat were forming on his brow and he tried to steady himself. Then he heard the voice of his long dead master, Icabod. "You have some nerve
   waking me from my slumbers, Ebeneezer! I should raise one hundred ghouls to send you to an early grave!"
      Ebeneezer was now shaking uncontrollably like a dog how had just seen a wild zill (a zill is a bear like animal with horns). "You mean...you can do that?!
   Ebeneezer asked in astonishment. "You can raise ghouls, even from beyond the grave?" The animated skull laughed wickedly and said in a menacing voice, "That
   and much more, coward! We may have worked together in life, but I no longer have any attachments to you or you're wretched scammings. Now answer me this! Why did
   you awaken me? You know necromancy is not only punishable by death in your rotten kingdom, but you also know that anyone who plays around with it with be burned
   by it in the end. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to touch the hot kettle on the fire? I warn you Ebeneezer Longfellow, you may call yourself the mightiest of
   the hidden druids, but you are like a weak and helpless child compared with my powers. Stop these fool hardy games before they snuff out your life!"
      Ebeneezer carelessly dropped the angry skull onto the table in fear. It made a thudding sound on the oaken table as one of the sharp teeth was knocked out. The
   skull cursed in anger. "You will die this very day!" it shouted, it's eye sockets becoming two balls of red flames. It opened it's mouth and reddish orange smoke
   began pouring out, filling the dark room. Ebeneezer began to cough uncontrollably. He dropped to his knees, clutching his throat. "Mercy..." he gasped. "I beg you,
   Ica...bod..." Then he collapsed onto the wooen floor, unconcious.

      Early the next morning, soldiers ran from the castle towards the smoldering remains of a small cottage. There wasn't much left of it, just a lot of ash and some
   half burnt wooden beams. As the men went through the debris, they discovered the charred remains of a body. It was so damaged, they could not even tell if it had
   belonged to that of a man or a woman. Nothing else remained. After a time, the soldiers decided they had seen enough. But just as they were about to go and report
   their findings to the king, one of the men noticed something white and shiny in amoung the ashes. The soldier looked closer, then reached out a gloved hand to pick
   up the tiny object. As the soldier heldthe object close, re suddenly realized it was a tooth. A sharp tooth. But it did not look like it belonged to any kind of
   animal he had ever witnessed in his life. No, this sharp tooth looked almost human! "What is it?" asked another soldier, stepping closer to the first. The first
   soldier held up the sharp human tooth. "Take a look for yourself, Mick," said the first man. The second soldier studied the tooth for a long moment, then said, "An
   animals tooth? Perhaps a large cat?" The first soldier shook his head. "No," he said, unsteadily. "I've seen patcher teeth. This is no patcher tooth. It looks too..
   human." The other man stare at the first man in astonishment. "I've never seen any human teeth that looked like that!" he said, almost in a shout. THe two other
   soldiers suddenly took notice of the other men's discussion and went over to see what all the excitment was over. The first soldier showed the other two soldiers
   the sharp human tooth and said, "I think it's time we reported back to the king our finding. Let's go." So three of them men returned to the castle, while one rem-
   ained to guard the sight of the burnt cottage.
                          To be continued...