Jeremiah summoned his undead horses the next morning. They were miles away and still harnessed to the carriage. It would take them most of the day to arrive. The party spent the wait finishing their organization of the treasure vault and preparing one of the bandits` own horse-drawn carts to help haul the plunder.

　　Dark thoughts began incubating in Jeremiah`s mind as he helped his friends organize. He fiddled with the onyx ring as the day progressed. Listening to the others` joviality only soured his mood further. They were celebrating their discovery, newfound wealth, a hard-fought victory—all of which they owed to him. And what was awaiting him back in the city, his reward for ridding Dramir of its problem, uncovering a threat, defeating a great enemy? As Bruno and Allison loaded chests onto a hand wagon, Jeremiah made his decision. Jeremiah left the vault and headed up the ramp to the courtyard without saying a word.

　　Outside, standing in the bloodstained dirt, he breathed in the smells of dust and death. He called to his undead.

　　Come to me.

　　Patrols halted their rounds, guards abandoned their posts. From every corner of the fortress, they came. Jeremiah observed them as they formed ranks before him, awaiting his next order. Some could pass for human, some were barely mobile, but they all kept coming, lining up in neat rows to fill nearly the entire area of the courtyard.

　　"Jay!" Delilah`s voice from behind him, breathless. "Is everything okay?" She stopped short at the top of the ramp, her eyes falling on the hoard of undead arrayed before her.

　　"I`ve been thinking," said Jeremiah. "I won`t be returning to Dramir with you."

　　"What?" Delilah asked. "Of course you will."

　　"No, I won`t." Jeremiah gestured towards his minions. "How many do you see here? 150? 200? All men that were alive just yesterday. Most died gruesome deaths. Most died because of me. If I return to Dramir, they`ll force me to participate in whatever military skirmish is brewing. They`ll make me kill more people, and I`ll be good at it. Delilah, they`re never going to let me go."

　　"Jeremiah," said Delilah, with an edge of threat to her voice, "I know we`ve had a stressful couple of days. But think for a second. You`ll be breaking the law if you stay. The court handed down a decision, and this is the way you`re meant to prove your innocence. If you just hide, you`ll be proving them right."

　　"I know who I am. They`re the ones that don`t know. You said it yourself—they`ve already decided. It`s time to free myself. This is a fortress in an isolated location. Here, I have food, water, and an undead army. You guys are free to take all the treasures of course, but I`m staying here."

　　He turned towards Delilah for the first time and felt his skin crawl. She wore the same expression of steely determination she`d had in court. "You ungrateful child!" she spat. Jeremiah was stunned. "All the work I did to save your ass, pulling every string I have to get you a fair trial, putting everything I`ve worked for on the line to perform the miracle of saving your life, and you`re just going to yank the rug out from under me?"

　　Jeremiah`s own anger helped him recover. "Forgive me if I`m not grateful to be a slave of the state! To spend every day performing tricks like a trained rat, and all the while whether I live or die is decided by some bureaucrats who are just looking to advance their own careers! Just go back and tell them I was killed in the raid and I`ll be left alone. Your precious reputation will be safe then."

　　"Ha!" Delilah barked. "Of course, a necromancer in his fortress that left dozens of witnesses isn`t going to raise any suspicion at all. We were doing well, Jeremiah. This whole thing was to prove your potential, and get you that much closer to freedom, but I guess you`d rather follow in Flusoh`s footsteps. Isolated with your undead, is that just the natural order of necromancers? I give it two months before some band of adventurers comes to plunder the evil wizard`s fortress."

　　"I can take care of myself." Narooka`s last request rang in his ears, but Jeremiah gestured toward the hulking form that still polluted the center of the courtyard. The dead want for nothing, he reminded himself.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

　　Rise.

　　The body of Narooka clambered to its feet, towering over the other zombies. His blood-matted fur was a dusty red, his throat and face a ruin, but these details only added to the savagery of the colossal zombie. A huge bubble appeared in Jeremiah`s mind, but there was more than enough room for it.

　　Delilah took a step backwards, a glimmer of fear in her eyes. "What exactly do you plan to do here all by yourself?"

　　"Practice. I can improve my magic. I`ve already come farther than I ever thought I could."

　　"Mm-hm. You`re going to practice necromancy. See, the problem I have with that is, what does necromancy require to function?"

　　"Usually it—"

　　"Death! Things need to die. And there`s not much in the way of life out here, so you`ll need to find your share of death somewhere else."

　　"You know I`m not going to just start killing people, but—" Jeremiah clenched his fists in frustration. "I`ll be able to do whatever I want! That`s what I`m getting at. I won`t have to be under house arrest, I won`t have a set execution date. I could go anywhere in the world if I wanted to. I could have my life back!"

　　"You`re not the only one—"

　　"I swear to every god, don`t you dare compare what`s at stake for you with what`s at stake for me." Jeremiah`s voice was a dangerous growl. The nearest zombies shuffled. "Tell me I`m wrong, Delilah, tell me my life is not a piece on some game board."

　　"I&" Delilah sighed. "I can`t tell you that. It is. They gave themselves a year to figure out how best to use you. But they will not kill you. I won`t let that happen. I`d use everything I have and everything I`m owed to prevent it."

　　"Can you tell me that I`m not going to continue living in bondage? That there`d be no legal argument for me to become some sort of property of the state?"

　　Jeremiah watched Delilah wrestle with the question, referencing years of legal education and practice in a moment. She rubbed the heels of her hands into her eyes. "Okay, fine! Yes, there`s a case to be made for keeping you under legal jurisdiction. I can`t promise you`ll ever actually be legally free. I can`t promise you anything! I can just&I can promise I`m never going to stop!"

　　"I appreciate that Delilah, I really do. But you can`t fight the system, not really." The zombies nearest him knelt and reached out with dozens of hands. Jeremiah stepped into them and the hands raised him up, lifting him until he stood atop a sea of undead. He began to walk away across the hoard, the zombies` hands automatically creating platforms for his feet.

　　Delilah spluttered behind him. "There`s nothing for you out here! The zombies don`t care about you. You`ll be alone, with no one to hold you to a higher standard, or worry about what happens to you, or give a damn if you had a bad day!"

　　Jeremiah continued to stride across the courtyard, leaving behind the futile argument.

　　"Jeremiah Thorn! If you receive anything less than a full pardon, I swear, I-I`ll smuggle you out of the city myself! I`ll find you a place in a caravan, or put you in an empty cask of wine, or bribe a guard and give you a fake identity!"

　　Jeremiah stopped. "Delilah, that`s illegal."

　　"You`re godsdamned right it is."

　　Jeremiah felt a heat creeping up the back of his neck. Something drew him back toward her, the zombies handing him from one to the next, then lowering him to solid ground in front of her. "Delilah, I can`t bear being a slave anymore."

　　"I know. I`m doing everything I can to put an end to it. But&you live in my home. I will not leave you all alone out in the desert."

　　Jeremiah wished he could summon the energy to yell at her, to make her comprehend the enormity of what she demanded of him, but the heat of his anger had dissipated. Something told him she already understood, anyway. "You can`t protect me."

　　"Not from everything, no. I`m sorry." Delilah looked at her feet as she said it. Jeremiah had never seen this version of her before. "I can`t imagine the pressure you`ve been under and how scary every day must be. The ticking of the clock like a headsman`s axe swinging closer and closer. Toiling to serve silent, capricious gods that you don`t understand in the hopes that they spare your life."

　　"Um, yeah. That was&well put? Very well put."

　　"Jay, can you trust that I`ll do everything to keep you safe? That I won`t allow you to be harmed or held in perpetual bondage?"

　　"I can do that. I`m&I`m sorry."

　　Delilah nodded. "I`m only one woman, trying to guide you through a labyrinthine machine and promising you it somehow doesn`t end in your death. I get why you`d be afraid and why you`d want to run away."

　　"Thanks." Jeremiah studied the dust on his own shoes for a moment. Then Delilah embraced him, squeezing him tightly. After a second`s hesitation, he returned the hug. She felt surprisingly small in his arms.

　　Delilah rubbed her eyes when she pulled away. Jeremiah felt the urge to do the same. "Don`t give up," she said. "We`re going to get through this together."

　　Jeremiah nodded. He felt the onyx ring on his finger again and pulled it off. It slipped free easily. He hefted it once in his hand, then hurled it among the sea of undead. With a few commands, he ordered the zombies back to their patrols. They began shuffling around at once, their activity soon burying the ring in the dirt.

　　Delilah and Jeremiah started back down the ramp. "You`re so much better at apologizing than me," Jeremiah said.

　　"I`ve had a lot of practice."