L'Abhorsen était là, enfin. Jacel l'impure les regardait de loin, mais elle connaissait le bleu du manteau qu'il portait sur son armure. Leur conversation - sur elle - a été perdue sur elle, elle ne pouvait pas entendre la forme si loin. Elle s'est tournée et a commencé à marcher dans l'autre sens. Rushing donnerait sa position, il n'y avait aucun sens quand ils étaient distraits par la pierre. La proximité de cette Charte tant corrompue rendrait sa propre présence Magie Libre impossible à détecter.
Maintenant que l'Abhorsen était là, il pouvait faire... quelque chose. Un truc d'Abhorsen qu'elle, en tant que nécromancère commune, n'était pas savoureux. Un Abhorsen pourrait-il réparer la pierre? Ou était-ce le domaine de la famille royale. Elle ne savait pas. Il l'a irrité d'être cette ignorante, mais elle l'était.
Jacel n'était pas allé plus de vingt mètres quand une forme éclatait les arbres. C'était toute l'ombre, comme un homme vaguement en forme coupé de la scène devant elle, intouché par le soleil sous le couvert des arbres épais ici. Jacel a atteint l'instinct d'abord pour ses cloches, mais elle n'a pas osé sonner ceux qui sont si proches de l'Abhorsen. Elle changea le mouvement à son épée, se fermant pour la brûlure alors que la Charte magique en elle combattait la Magie Libre qui entassait son corps. Elle poussa l'épée, mais les seules étincelles qui volaient étaient de la nuque où sa propre main l'avait touchée, la chose de l'ombre s'était tordue comme un serpent loin de la lame. Il a apporté un bras vers le bas, enveloppant comme un tentacule autour du propre Jacel, en fermant son bras d'épée loin de son corps. Elle a coupé ses pertes et a largué l'épée, tout ce qu'il faisait maintenant était de la brûler. Il s'est posé à plat sur le sol.
Jacel a saisi ses cloches avec sa main gauche, elle a pris Kibeth et l'a sonné. L'Abhorsen serait là dans quelques instants, elle savait. Mais il était meilleur que les morts. Elle pourrait passer la Neuvième Porte s'il interfère, mais s'il ne l'a pas fait, elle n'y arrivera peut-être pas du tout.
La créature était forte, et elle n'arrivait pas à la contrôler complètement quand elle était déséquilibrée et non préparée, mais elle a réussi à la forcer à faire un pas en arrière, son pied ombreux atterrissant directement sur la lame épelée par la Charte. Maintenant, les étincelles blanches formaient la créature, elle lâchait et la lâchait, tombant en arrière. Quand il a touché le sol, il s'est éloigné d'elle, encore plus comme un serpent qu'avant. Mais elle sonna une seconde fois la cloche, et elle s'est évanouie, passant par la barrière dans la Mort.
Name: Jacel (Juh-cell), the Impure
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Appearance/Physical Description: Tall, slim, and blond. Jacel has an thin, angular face, with tired green eyes. She looks, quite rightly so, as someone who doesn't get a proper meal very often. The hair on her head is sheared extremely close to her scalp, and she covers her head with a blue headscarf, in the fashion of the Southerlings that have lived in the Old Kingdom now for nearly a century. She chose this as it allows her to cover her tainted charter mark without attracting very many questions.
She dresses in an amalgamation of clothing from both sides of the wall, and many walks of life. Her boots and trousers are those of a Crossing Point Scout. Made in the military style of Ancelstierre, but by hand so that they can withstand being in the Old Kingdom. She wears a button-up shirt that is faded and colorless. Over this is the bandolier of bells, signature to a Necromancer. Her belt is brown, and the seven handles that stick out of the pouches are of sandalwood, the bells themselves are brass. Her bells are typically covered by a wide triangular cloak, similar to a poncho. This she got from a band of Travelers, and it bears their clan markings and sigils embroidered in the fabric. Her head, over top the blue scarf, is adorned with a wide brimmed hat, the left side being pinned up in a cavalier fashion.
She has a sword belt on her waist as well, hanging with a plain shortsword that is Charter spelled. With the Free Magic flowing in her veins now, it hurts her to wield it and she only does so out of desperation.
Personality: "Curiosity killed the cat," one ought to say to her. When she was a child she would reply snarkily "Satisfaction brought him back." But, though still young, she's come to see her thirst for knowledge as a bit of a weak point for her. She's not a "watch and wait" kind of person, she has a need to do and experience. And so she isn't satisfied to explore the theoretical, hence her impatience with Wyverly's magical curriculum.
This is underlined by a compassion that has been born from seeing too many bad things happen(and causing some of them). Her time with her Master has left her less than willing to continue in the more traditional veins of Necromancy. Instead, she wishes to use her powers for good. She has a feeling like she needs to atone for past wrongs, and habitually sacrifices her own recovering Charter Mark to do so.
History/Background: Born Bethany Hooke in Ancelstierre, the Necromancer who would later be known as Jacel was a native of Bane. She came from a well off family that had long lived in the Northern part of the country, and grew up on stories of superstition and magic about the Wall and what was beyond. It was a subject she was immensely curious about, and so was always willing to hear scary stories of times that things had come across(though it never happened during her childhood).
She attended Wyverly College, and was all too happy to jump to the magic lessons that were taught this close to the wall. But she found it lacked something, she wasn't sure what. Some element of the stories and superstitions she had been told just seemed to be missing. She hungered for it, but couldn't place what it was. For two years at school she studied hard, but still found her magical education lacking. Over this time she fantasized about running away to the Old Kingdom, but it wasn't until she was fourteen that she finally did it.
Getting across was easier than it should have been. She put on a blue head scarf and hid in a group of refugees who were being forced across. Not only did the army not stop her, but they actually helped her!
The refugees were beset by all sorts of nefarious characters shortly after being shuffled across, but little Bethany Hooke was the only one among them with a Charter Mark, and so she attracted the worst of the attention.
Even these days, Jacel believes she was lucky with who got to her first. A Necromancer looking to recruit an apprentice. Anyone else might have killed her, she reflected later. Used her Charter Mage's blood for ritual, taken her soul and body for their own purposes. Instead, she learned those same dark arts that could easily have been used upon her. By age fifteen she had walked in the First Precinct, and eschewed her own true name.
By seventeen, her master had gone missing. She didn't know where, he often left to go about his own business, leaving her with tasks to complete. It was months before she realized he wasn't coming back this time. She set out on her own, but didn't have a clear plan at the time. Since then, it's become clear that her kind is wanted in very few places. Without the influence of her teacher, her own better nature was able to blossom, and she tried to use her powers for good. She would ring Kibeth to walk the dead back where they belonged, or Ranna to quiet a graveyard. Once she even used Belgaer to discover the identity of a man's murderer, and inform his family.
In some places she has gained a sort of respect. She is called Jacel the Impure, a semi-derogatory title. They dislike her powers, but these are places out of the way, where the Abhorsen doesn't come very often, and she is often their best defense against the dead.
Jacel wants to put Free Magic behind her, but she finds it hard not to use the Bells when she finds a village beset by the Dead.
Skills: Necromancy and Free Magic Adept. Novice swordfighter, she had classes at Wyverly, but had only taken one year before running away.
She knows a novice level of Charter Magic, but accessing the Charter is exceedingly difficult for her, nearly impossible.