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studying the basics of those to show him my progress.”
    “Did he now?” the old man replied raising an eyebrow questioningly at the young mage. “I have never heard of a beginning apprentice being shown such magic, since there are no true basics in such dark spells. Your master knows as much and, if he did approve of your progress, you would know as much as well.”
    Giving an air of superiority as he returned the man’s look with a smirk of his own, Palose replied, “True that an apprentice, who was an actual novice, would hardly have the aptitude to do so; but I am a trained battle mage and you know the rest of my history. As I am a little closer to the magic than most, wouldn’t you say that I have a little more insight than most apprentices? Master Atrouseon believes that I do. Would you like me to go interrupt his important research for the emperor to come here to tell you as much? I am sure he would appreciate such an interruption so that he would have to waste his time to show me the most basic of tomes.
    “Like you said, someone with such knowledge knows that there is a definition of basic within each study. As a wizard yourself, you know there are easier spells than others within each field. Now would you like to point me in the direction of my needs or should I go bring Master Atrouseon here?”
    The old man paled slightly with the threats. Atrouseon was a big asset for Palose. The man was known for dealing with wastes to his time and other stupidity harshly. He was also much higher up in the hierarchy of Ensolus’ warlocks as he worked directly under the emperor himself as he worked to perfect the substitute body needed by their leader as his health continued to fail. Even knowledge of that made Palose more closely tied to the emperor than Geerloc.
    Not appreciating being bullied by a mere apprentice, the wizard gritted his teeth a moment being stubborn. Fear of Atrouseon if he was wrong overcame any stubbornness as the old man acquiesced and said, “Third floor, the two northernmost set of shelves have what you are looking for. Necromancy has a fair amount of research, but only a few truly break down the spells for a walk through for an apprentice. Though I know that much, I can’t say that I can point you to the exact tomes to help.”
    Waving a hand nonchalantly before him, Palose stated, “No worries, Atrouseon told me three that should work for now.”
    Turning away from the desk, Palose started away confidently. He was glad when he could put the closest bookshelves between him and the wizard, however, as he let out a nervous breath. His bluff and subsequent posturing had been lies. Atrouseon had never specified a change in the curriculum given him a month ago, but the warlock had pretty much left most of his learning to the mage’s devising. Whether the man believed Palose competent to train himself or if he simply didn’t care what the unwanted apprentice did on his own time, had never been clarified, but that left him with the ability to learn what he felt that he needed as well.
      Before Palose could make it to the stairs, the mage felt other eyes following him. In fact, a trio of apprentices about his age had risen as he moved deeper into the library to shadow his movements. When he stopped, the three closed instead of giving him room however.
    “Resurrection man,” a brown haired fellow with pointed ears said as he cut off the path towards the door. His two friends proceeded to hem him in from the opposite side cutting off any easy escape from between the two bookcases flanking him.
    Starting with a smile in the hopes that such a look might disarm the men to avoid conflict, Palose tilted his head to the side and questioned, “I’m sorry, do I know you, apprentice?”
    A frown followed in reply to his smile and the young man retorted, “I am Selvor and these are my friends Malfaes and Turless. We were wondering why a resurrection man would bother coming to the library. I mean aren’t