Cathexis: Necromancer's Dagger (15 page)

Becaris gave it to him and the colonel
turned his back and headed toward the door.

The confused young knight started to do as
ordered, but Becaris was a man who believed in destiny, and when it
called he went with his gut. In this moment of
decision,
he considered Lady Elizabeth: who she
was, her integrity, and her royal
bloodline
, everything he knew of the Kirnath sorceress.
When he’d last spoken to her he considered how she had sounded, and
the undercurrent of pain he’d seen deep in her eyes; pain that
would have come from the loss of her beloved husband. She’d looked
like a cornered pack mother protecting her cub. In his
heart,
he could not believe she lied, and if
she told the truth then she was out there protecting the heir, his
sworn
charge
and nothing could
make him break his oath as Knight Protector of Michael
Ardellen.

Once decided the knight acted swiftly. He
pulled his belt dagger and struck the colonel with the pommel
across the back of the head. He quickly caught the officer's
falling body to keep it from making noise as it landed. “I’m sorry
sir, but I’m not your soldier anymore, I am a Knight Protector of
Michael Ardellen, and somewhere out there he needs me,” he said
softly to the unconscious officer.

He tied up the colonel with some rope he
found in the closet and then put him under the desk. Taking the
man’s keys he locked the pompous officer in his room and made a
quick stop at his own chambers before heading to the stables. It
was dark when he rode out of the barracks and into the city. He
would be leaving Tarnelin soon, but
first,
he had one more errand to perform.

Becaris located the correct
street
and found the modest apartment for which
he was searching. He knocked at the thick wooden door which was
answered by a portly woman with red rosy cheeks and dark hair; she
was dressed in a simple, but clean dress and cream white apron. The
woman was
rather
short, so Becaris
had to look down as he said, “Is this where I can find the Knight
Protectors,
Lasar,
and Rasal?”

The woman looked at his clothes and her gaze
took in the polished light armor, rolled back lace cuffs and the
broad lace-decorated baldric that hung across his body from the
right shoulder, proclaiming his noble house. “Who wishes to speak
to my boys?” She inquired.

“You are the fair mother of my friends? I am
honored to meet you. Excuse my rudeness in not introducing myself,
I am Becaris, their brother Knight Protector,” and he doffed his
tall wide brimmed hat and bowed, sweeping the hat clear to the
ground.

Embarrassed at the compliment from an
obvious noble, she opened the door wider and said, “Please come in,
my boys have just finished eating.”

Stepping into the simply furnished room
Becaris noticed that the mother of his friends looked furtively
around the room, obviously embarrassed, so he turned and inspected
it and then spoke in a sincere tone. “What a beautiful house you
have, milady. I wish that I could have grown up in a house that
made you feel as welcome, comfortable and at home. I envy your
sons.”

“Thank you for your fair compliments. We do
our best for our boys; they have made us so proud,” replied the
small woman.

Lasar came in from the kitchen door and
seeing Becaris his face blossomed into a smile. “Becaris, what
brings you here on this fair evening?” he exclaimed, but his smile
slipped when he noted the stern expression that Becaris was trying
to hide from his mother. Lasar called his brother from the other
room, “Rasal, you best come in here, Becaris has some news for us,
I think.”

Becaris handed Elizabeth’s message to Lasar,
who began to read it.

“Would you like something to drink, milord?”
asked the boy’s mother.

“Yes please, a glass of water would be
wonderful,” replied Becaris with a half bow to show his
gratitude.

Rasal came into the room as his mother went
into the kitchen, and he too read the letter. Becaris waited for
him to finish before speaking, “I believe what that letter says. I
saw Lady Ardellen just after she went to see Jatar and on her
return,
all color had left her
face. I believe that is when she found out he had been killed and
his body possessed. She wrote this letter and had me show it to all
the servants and commanders. The last colonel who read the contents
of the message tried to arrest me and take me before Jatar, I had
to hit him and stuffed him under his desk.”

“Dead?” asked Lasar.

“No, he will recover, but I tied him up
before I left. I packed up my traveling gear and I am leaving the
city as instructed. I thought you would like to have the
opportunity to make your own decision about what to do.”

The two brothers looked at each other, and
without even speaking they communicated in a glance. They both
faced Becaris and Rasal spoke, “You’re not going to wait the year
to join up with Lady Ardellen and the others, are you?”

“No, I have decided to disregard that
portion of the letter. Michael may need my protection. Lady
Elizabeth stated that they will be pursued, so I will try and catch
up to Michael, or failing that I will try to stop the pursuers from
reaching their quarry.”

“Good, we’re coming with you. Give us a
moment to pack and say good-bye to mother and we’ll be right
out.”

Becaris grinned with gratitude and said, “I
had hoped to have the two of you at my side, but it was a decision
that you had to make for yourselves. Gather your gear, my brothers;
I’ll be waiting at the stables.”

Drake spoke quietly to Elizabeth to avoid
waking Michael who slept fitfully in her arms. “Milady, we must
stop to let you and Michael rest, it lacks only five bells until
dawn.”

Elizabeth looked up tiredly and replied,
“Yes Drake, you are right. Look for a good place to rest a few
bells, we all need it.”

A short time later they came to a small
stream that crossed the path. Hetark led them
upstream
a short way until he found a clearing
that was hidden from anyone traveling on the path by a gently
rising hill.

“In four bells the sun will come up, I will
take the first watch,” Hetark said to the other two knights.

Drake nodded and said, “Wake me after about
one bell and I will take the second watch, then I will attempt to
wake Gustin for the third,” Drake began to smile and added, “I’m
not sure I can shake that fat carcass of his awake, I bet he sleeps
like a hibernating bear.”

“Fat, I’ll have you know this is solid
muscle!” Gustin snapped back just a little too quickly.

Drake grinned and said, “Ah, Hetark, I think
I hit a nerve.”

Hetark smiled at this friendly exchange, but
said, “Why don’t you tend the horses, Drake? Let `solid muscle’ and
I set up camp,” Hetark suggested.

“Fat, he says,” Gustin muttered, and then
added, “we’re not done with this, little man.”

Drake smiled and said, “Oh, I’m just getting
started.”

“I can take a turn at watch,” Elizabeth
added as she came walking up to where the knights were joking. At
her
approach,
Drake and Gustin
grew quickly silent.

“You can have
the
fourth
watch, milady, after Gustin,” Hetark answered. Gustin
started to speak, but Hetark gestured for him to be quiet with a
finger held to his lips.

Elizabeth caught Hetark’s gesture and
figured out his ploy, but she decided to let him get away with his
gallant deception, she would need her rest in the coming days. She
lay down under her blanket and fed Michael before attempting to
sleep with her fatherless child held gently to her bosom. The brave
young knights ignored the sounds coming from beneath the shaking
blanket as grief for the loss of her husband caught up with the
young mother.
Finally,
the sounds
of restful breathing commenced as Elizabeth enjoyed a brief respite
from her grief and worries by the medicine of peaceful slumber.

At dawn’s first light Gustin awakened the
rest of the tired travelers. Elizabeth smiled at Hetark. “I should
be angry with you for deceiving me, but I’m really thankful, so I
find it hard to scold you.”

Hetark replied humbly, “I shouldn’t have
misled you, milady, please accept my apologies.”

“Oh, stop it, I appreciate the rest,
however, while the others are getting the horses ready I have
something I wish to ask
of
you.”

“Anything, milady,” the knight answered
sincerely.

“Remember what you just said, you see I want
you to teach me to fight,” said Elizabeth while looking intently at
the knight’s aura and facial expression for his reaction.

Elizabeth noted Hetark’s consternation as he
tried to figure out how to break his reply to her gently, he
searched for the right words. “Milady, it’s not that easy. I
practiced for years to reach this level of expertise, and excusing
my presumption, but I had the advantages of being a man during
those years.”

“Don’t worry about insulting me Hetark, I
know you aren’t used to the idea of a female warrior, but remember
that I am a Kirnath Adept. I have been trained in the most
important discipline, how to learn. I’m confident that I can learn
anything I put my mind to, and due to some of my training, it will
be at a considerably accelerated rate.”

“But still, milady, to start from the
beginning and teach...”

Elizabeth interrupted, “It won’t be from
scratch, Hetark; I had a little training at the Kirnath School a
few years ago.”

Hetark didn’t look too impressed at this
confession, in his opinion battle techniques taught by a group of
healers did not carry much weight, but Elizabeth excused his
prejudice, it was formed from the cover stories that the Kirnath
themselves fostered to keep their other skills a secret.

Hetark looked apologetic as he said, “What I
could teach you in a short time would put you in greater danger
than teaching you nothing. You might feel competent enough to fight
and if you met a real warrior you would be hurt or possibly killed;
I can’t take that responsibility. Perhaps some day when we have the
leisure to learn it correctly,” Hetark’s words trailed off as if
the subject was closed.

“Hetark, to pass the tests and become
Michael’s Knight Protector you had to be among the best fighters in
the kingdom, correct?” she asked suddenly, surprising the knight
with the change of subject.

“I can fight, milady,” replied the knight
humbly.

“Good, defend yourself, warrior!” Elizabeth
said and she
set
Michael down on
her blankets. She pulled a dagger from the sheath at her waist and
approached Hetark.

Hetark stepped back and held his hands wide
as he said, “This is
foolish
milady, what will my taking that blade away from you prove?”

Elizabeth smiled and just said, “Defend
yourself Hetark; I can heal you if I cut you, but the pain will be
real. As your
ruler,
I order you
to defend yourself against my attack.”

Realizing that she meant what she said
Hetark quickly assumed a crouch with a
purclaw
-like grace. He assessed her stance, noting that
she placed too much weight on her back foot and locked the wrist of
her knife hand too rigidly to maneuver it correctly. Seeing the
move he needed to step within her guard and remove the knife with a
quick twist, Hetark launched into action.

When he moved Elizabeth wasn’t there, in
fact,
she moved faster than a
person’s reaction time should have permitted. She stepped away from
his advance and brought the knife up toward his face.

Hetark had to throw himself sideways to
avoid the sharp edge, but then decided to turn the roll into an
attack and sprung from the somersault toward
Elizabeth's
legs.

But again she wasn’t there; she flew over
his low leap in a hurdle that began long before it was possible to
see his intent. He landed hard and she came down on his back.
Elizabeth tapped him lightly on the back of the neck with the butt
of the knife before he could move to show that she had him and
could have used the blade.

She stepped away and sheathed her blade as
she said, “Enough, now are you convinced that I will not fall to
the first trained warrior I face?”

“Truly, I thought myself one of the best
fighters in the kingdom, but if you can defeat me that easily there
is no reason I should be teaching you, perhaps it is you who should
teach me,” Hetark exclaimed with chagrin.

“Hetark, I have seen you fight; you are an
incredible warrior, one of the best I have ever seen,” she replied
honestly.

“But you, a barely trained woman, defeated
me easily,” he answered, still showing amazement in his voice.

“I cheated,” she said simply.

“You did what?” he blurted.

“I cheated, I used my Kirnath abilities to
read your surface thoughts so that I could see what you intended
just before you acted; I even picked up your criticism on the
placement of my weight and my wrist being too stiff.”

“You can read my mind?” Hetark said in an
almost choking voice, a little fear showing on his face.

“Only your surface thoughts,” she answered
quickly, “I can’t just walk through the corridors of your mind
looking
in
any door. I also want
you to know that I have never read your thoughts before and I won’t
do it again unless you give me your permission. I needed to show
you that I can learn in ways that you didn’t understand, or even
think possible. We don’t tell most people the full capabilities of
the Kirnath; it makes people fear us too much. You are my friend
Hetark; please don’t be afraid of me. I showed you this Kirnath
ability because I trust you, now won’t you trust me?” Elizabeth
asked as she looked intently into his eyes.