Cathexis: Necromancer's Dagger (14 page)

“Good idea, why don’t you polish the story
tonight and you can implement it tomorrow. Meanwhile, I will begin
my attempt to track down the missing heir and his Kirnath mother.
I'll use my personal Tchulian troop, they can be trusted to do as I
say,” said the major.

“I can help you track her down. I have
control of a few
vorghouls
; it’s
time we put them to use. I’ll send them into the forests and fields
to help flush out the quarry for you. Once they have something that
Lady Ardellen wore recently they’ll follow her trail better than a
blood weff.
Vorghouls
can follow a
scent anywhere."

Von Dracek raised an eyebrow at the mention
of using souldead. “And how will my men and I avoid being
eaten?”

“Take this pendant with you,” CAracusS said
as he removed a gold chain with a thick circle attached. Within the
gold circle was a silver equilateral triangle. “If you ever get
into trouble with the
vorghoul
,
just show them this pendant and they will leave you and your party
alone. Don’t lose it,” finished the necromancer sternly.

“Don’t worry, I value my life. Now before I
go is there anything else we need to discuss?”

“Yes, I can’t seem to locate the Ardellen
signet ring, and I can’t just ask someone where it is, I’m the one
who’s supposed to know!”

“Have you looked for it thoroughly?” asked
Dracek
with a puzzled frown.

“Of course, but it’s not with any of their
other valuables; besides, I thought he wore it at all times.”

“It’s possible that he may have sent it to
validate an ambassador’s credentials, but that would be very odd.
I’ll have to give this some thought. Why don’t you ask for an
update on all foreign embassies that have been sent out in the last
six months? At least then we can find out about possible carriers.
Oh, and have you seen our co-conspirator around? I have some
questions for him about Lady Ardellen's escape.”

“No, and you're right, that fool caused all
this. He assured me that his assassins had loosened the wall stones
above the front entrance to the church and that they were going to
push them over onto Elizabeth and the child as they departed from
the ceremony. That pompous little shit hasn't dared to show his
face since he bungled his end of the deal. Forget the fool, for the
time being we don’t need him anyway, everything is under our
control, but don't worry, like the proverbial bad coin, he’ll turn
up eventually.”

Elizabeth and the Knight Protectors finally
slowed their horses to a walk. The horses were sweating profusely
and were nearly done in from the long fast gallop out of the city.
The four riders dismounted and walked their mounts along the forest
path. They had switched to the spare horses and back again twice,
prolonging the distance that they traveled at a gallop before
giving the horses this
much-needed
rest.

Their initial ride got them clear of the
city and surrounding farm lands and a few minutes ago they had
entered the northern edge of the vast Gellern Forest.

Now that the long gallop was over Elizabeth
decided it was time to explain everything she knew about what had
happened. When her story concluded the knights were silent for a
moment in thought, finally Drake said, “Then Becaris will leave
once he reads your message and try to rejoin us within the forest,
correct?”

Elizabeth nodded and replied, “Yes,
eventually I hope to meet up with the other knights as well as our
loyal leaders, retainers and servants. I’ll have the Kirnath
secretly gather them as they make their way deeper into the wood.”
Elizabeth stopped speaking for a moment and the concern about the
danger to those loyal to the Ardellens was obvious in the faraway
look in her eyes. “I will ask the Kirnath to help us gather any
refugees who come into the wood and send them on to wherever we end
up.”

Hetark glanced back toward the
capital
, though it was long since out of sight.
“What about Lasar and Rasal, they were in the city at the time we
left.”

“Becaris will show or explain the letter to
them,” Elizabeth replied.

“It’s hard to believe that just this morning
we were knighted and now we are fugitives,” mused Drake as they
continued to walk.

Elizabeth gave him a sidelong glance and
said, “Do you regret taking your oath?”

Drake looked shocked as he replied, “No,
milady!” He abruptly stopped and released his horse's bridle and
with a swift pull he drew his sword and knelt before Elizabeth, “I
am Michael Ardellen’s man, his Knight Protector, and I hereby
reconfirm my oath to him as Protector and to you, milady, as my
ruler and the mother of my charge.”

The other Knight Protectors also knelt and
reconfirmed their oaths. The party had come to a halt in a small
glade beneath the canopy of tall trees; the open forest floor was
coated with brown twigs and leaves from countless winters which
acted to dampen sounds to a minimum. Lady Ardellen stood in the
center of her three knights as they knelt to offer their pledge.
The knight’s gauntlets were clenched around their sword hilts, the
tip of their sword pressed into the soft leaves.

The utter trust,
honesty,
and love that these young men displayed to
Elizabeth’s penetrating aura gaze made her emotions well up and
tears came to her eyes. A moment later she found her voice, “Rise,
my knights, you will never know just how much your loyalty means to
me in this dark time. From all the Ardellens, including Jatar’s
spirit wherever it may be, we thank you. Now let us continue for we
have far to go and I fear that danger will overtake us anon.”

“Where do we travel to, milady?” asked
Drake.

“To the end of the world; the northern end,
but to be precise, Bralter. I would have liked to take Michael
south to the Kirnath School, but I think that our pursuers will
look for us along that path.
For
now,
let us continue toward Mordan’s border where we will
petition Lord
Stalt
for leave to
cross through to Bralter. That is a country where we will be
welcomed and protected, it is the place where Jatar's foster
brother, Lord Trask, rules in the north.”

“If they expect us to go south, then why are
we traveling in that direction now, milady?” asked Gustin.

“I don’t want to attempt a crossing of the
mountains into Mordan with such a small party with few provisions,
so we must skirt the lower portions of the western range until we
can make it around the end. We can re-provision in Mordan and then
travel north along the other side of the range toward Bralter. This
way we leave a false trail toward the Kirnath School. It should
take our enemies a little time to get organized enough to mount
their pursuit, so I think we are safe enough to continue along this
path for a short time.”

Just two bells behind Elizabeth’s fleeing
party, Major Von Dracek and a squad of twenty Tchulian Mercs
galloped out of the city gates; each man trailed two extra mounts
to help close the distance on their quarry.

Within the
capital
city,
Lord Jatar
Ardellen’s coach pulled up to a shabby little tavern. Two brutish
buildings leaned in on the tavern from either side, squashing the
smaller building into submission. The tavern's upstairs windows
were like two rectangular eyes looking down forlornly on the
street. A faded sign hung at an odd angle from the one surviving
hinge. The sign had once proclaimed this the Saucy Wench and
pictured a buxom girl clenching six mugs of ale in her meaty hands,
but now the old sign was almost completely faded back to the
original wood grain.

CAracusS slipped out of the coach and pulled
up the hood of his cloak to conceal Jatar's fine clothes and
well-known features. The necromancer spoke to his driver in a low
voice that wouldn't carry far, “Move the coach down a block and
wait.”

His drivers and guard looked at each other
in puzzlement; this was odd behavior for their ruler. CAracusS
ignored them and stalked toward the tavern entrance.

With his dark cloak wrapped around his finer
clothes,
the necromancer slipped
into the tavern’s smoke filled
common
room without attracting much notice. He moved
toward the back of the room purposefully as he headed toward the
dimly lit corridor. The corridor led to a rear exit door that
opened onto a small dead end alley.

CAracusS went out into the alley and closed
the door. The cobblestone alley sloped inwards from either side
toward
the center drainage trough
where dark water sat stagnate showing green bubbly patches floating
here and there. To the right of the
door,
the alley ended into a tall refuse heap made of
garbage, slime, old junk and other unspeakable muck.

CAracusS approached the pile and stopped a
few paces away before glancing back over his shoulder to make sure
no one was watching. It wouldn't do for someone to witness the body
of Lord Jatar trafficking with evil creatures of the night. When he
was satisfied that he was alone he turned back to face the refuse
heap and spoke in a quiet, but commanding voice, “Step forth; it is
your master CAracusS who calls you!”

A vorghoul creature emerged from behind the
refuse. Even though it was stooped over in a crouch that nearly
brought its hands to the ground the beast still stood over six feet
tall. The creature's misshapen body had corded muscles that bunched
and rippled with the promise of incredible strength. When standing
erect the vorghouls long arms hung down to its knees. The long arms
made the legs look too short for the length of the body. Two
incisor teeth projected down well below the lower lip of its wide
mouth. Its hands were hairy with long, dark, pointed fingernails
that could almost be called claws. It was all the more horrible
because hints of the original human features were hidden among the
abominable additions to its grotesque physique.

CAracusS raised his right hand and purple
energy from the Dark Plane crackled and ran down the length of his
arm. “Do you know me?” he demanded sternly.

The vorghoul spoke and its speech was
impaired by the huge teeth extending from its mouth, “I know you,
Mafter
.”

“Good, and what is your worthless name?”
asked CAracusS as he lowered his hand and let the energy from the
Dark Plane cease.

“
Werwoe
.”

“How many of your brethren wait outside the
city?”

Werwoe
struggled with the concept of numbers for a
moment
and then held up two clawed fingers.

“Take this piece of cloth to your brethren
and smell the scent. The woman who wore this last night is outside
the city. She travels with a child and three men. Find and kill all
the adults, you may eat the men, but under no circumstances are any
of you allowed to consume the woman’s body. Do I make myself
perfectly clear?”

“Kill, and then eat them.”

“Kill the adults, but don’t eat the woman,
do you understand?”

“Don’t eat them,” the vorghoul agreed.

“Eat the men, not the woman!” stormed
CAracusS as he quickly extended his hand to let loose a small bolt
of purple energy that struck the creature. “Darkness, why didn’t
Vorg design these creatures to have half a brain?”

Flinching from the pain, the monstrous
creature nodded and said, “Yes,
Mafter
.”

“Good, now one more very important thing,
the small boy she carries is not to be harmed in any way. If he is
damaged I will send you, Werwoe, and those who harmed him to the
Dark Plane to be consumed by the Darknulls, even if you lacked a
part in the mistake, understand?”

“Not the Darknullf,
pleafe
Mafter
,
Pleafe
!”

“Bring the boy safely to me and you shall
dine on the warm blood of mortals nightly for a full moon,”
CAracusS promised.

“I leave to eat them now!” the monster
exclaimed and
leaped
up and
backward
launching itself off the
refuse heap toward the eaves where it caught and swung itself up
and over the edge of the roof and out of sight.

“But don’t eat the woman,” CAracusS said
quietly to the empty alley as he shook his head in sad
resignation.

A man happened to see the misshapen form of
the vorghoul as it slithered over the outer wall of the city. He
dropped the bottle of wine he had been drinking and hurried away,
swearing off liquor and hoping that it had been the drink that
brought on this vision of horror within the fair city of
Tarnelin.

The Knight Protector Becaris was standing in
the barracks near the palace with a colonel in the Lindankar army;
they were alone in the officer’s room. When the officer finished
reading the message Elizabeth had written he frowned and then
refolded and slapped the note against his palm. He spoke to Becaris
in a short clipped pattern of speech, “Have you read this?”

“No sir, I have not. I have been instructed
to wait until I have delivered it to all the ranking commanders and
personal
servants of the rulers,”
Becaris responded formally and stayed rigidly at attention.

“And have you done that?” the officer
demanded.

“Nearly sir, you are the last officer; I
showed it to the servants first.”

“Then read it now,” the officer commanded as
he held the message out to Becaris.

Becaris opened the message and quickly
scanned its contents, he swallowed and then read it again more
carefully.

“This letter is counseling treason, and you
may be an accessory. Consider yourself under arrest and follow me,
we are going to see Lord Ardellen and expose this treasonous letter
to him, as it should have been done many bells ago,” and the
officer held out his hand for the letter.