Cathexis: Necromancer's Dagger (73 page)

Soon Hetark and Becaris arrived coming more
slowly up their back trail.

Hetark quickly explained his plan to save
Poison, and now Becaris as well. Becaris’ face was pale, but he
smiled wanly at Hetark, at least this gave him a chance.

They continued up the valley with Lasar
holding a rope attached to Whistler’s neck. They were fighting a
race against time, so they picked up the pace along the trail
leading up the long valley as they climbed out of the desert and
into the mountains.

Coming in from the upper mountain trail that
led down into the bandit camp,
Elizabeth,
and her squad brought the captured Tax Marshal
to Wernok’s cabin.

Members of the camp began to gather to hear
the story of their raid.

The bandit leader stepped out of his door
and the jubilant expressions on Elizabeth’s squad faded as he
glowered at the new arrivals.

“Where’s Razor?” he asked Bushwhacker, but
it was Lady Ardellen that replied.

“Dead, I had to kill him when he tried to
murder me,” Elizabeth stated boldly.

Wernok was shocked; the very idea of this
girl taking that killer was almost ludicrous. His eyes narrowed to
mere slits as he said, “Did he give any reasons for his attack?”
Wernok asked turning his gaze and question to the whole squad.

“He said she disobeyed an order,” a bandit
answered.

“Did you?” he asked, turning back to
Elizabeth.

“I exceeded my orders,” she replied.

“Then he was correct, under our rules when a
warrior is taking part in a raid they are to obey all orders on
threat
of death for disobedience.
As leader of these
bandits,
I now
order that you be executed for disobedience while in combat.
Officers, strip her of her weapons,” he commanded.

“You’re afraid to let me speak!” she
exclaimed, enhancing her voice by projecting it into the minds of
the gathering crowd. To
them,
it
just sounded like they could hear her well.

“What you have to say is inconsequential.
You disobeyed and then killed your commander; by our law you will
now pay the price,” he said, trying to put a stop to her speaking,
he could see what he assumed was the bound Tax Marshal and there
were questions he didn’t
want to be
aired
.

Four of Wernok’s officers started closing in
with drawn weapons, but Elizabeth saw them and pulled open the lid
of the chest behind her in the wagon. She had the chest lying
sideways, so the gold and silver coins poured out onto the ground
like a metal
waterfall
of bright
money. The sight and sound of all that treasure falling brought a
gasp from the crowd and even stopped the progress of the officers
for a moment.

Elizabeth exploited the momentary pause.
“What was the Usurper’s Tax Marshal doing crossing our territory
with the entire past two months worth of taxes? This round was
tortured from your countryman, taxed by the Usurper’s minions. Why
did he travel without enough protection to stop even one of our
smallest squads?” she called out for all to hear.

“Take her!” Wernok yelled at his frozen
officers.

Elizabeth
leaped
to the top of the wagon, turning to face the large
gathering mob. “Razor refused to attack the Marshal even after I
found him while scouting our target. Why don’t you ask the Marshal
why?” she called, pointing to the Usurper’s man where he was bound
to the side of the wagon.

While Elizabeth was saying this Wernok
stepped into his cabin and reappeared a moment later with a
crossbow. Elizabeth spotted him raising the weapon, so she dropped
behind the wagon before he was ready to fire. He shifted his target
from her to the Tax Marshal. “Wernok, NO!” the Marshal screamed,
but Wernok fired. The bolt from his crossbow pinned the man’s head
to the wagon through his open mouth.

“Now, enough of this charade, I want her
hanging from Traitor’s Tree immediately!” Wernok bellowed, throwing
his crossbow to the ground.

Elizabeth
leaped
back onto the wagon top. “Razor didn’t want to
attack the Marshal because he was following Wernok’s orders!”

“Lies, he was just following his orders to
attack the merchant, I knew nothing of the Tax Marshal!” Wernok
exclaimed.

“Then why did you kill him, and why did he
call out your name?” she asked. “How did the Tax Marshall know the
name of the Riond Mountain bandit leader?”

The crowd began to mutter at her latest
argument.

“I don’t know, but I AM leader here! This…
woman,
this…
stranger
is trying to cloud the issue and turn
you against me. I’ve led you well, with plenty of food and round
for all,” he said, realizing that she had gained some support, and
now trying to turn it back around. “If I were the traitor she
professes I could have betrayed you a hundred times over!”

“Unless you were preparing to unite as many
bandit groups as possible, before leading them into a giant trap,”
Elizabeth accused.

“That’s absurd!” he answered.

“Is it?” she countered.

“Hang her!” he commanded his officers.

They began to close again when Elizabeth
spoke to his officers directly, “I can prove my claim. Wernok
recently explained his biggest strike plan yet, correct? There’s no
way I could know of that plan, but the Tax Marshal knew, I
questioned him,” Elizabeth glossed over the fact that she had
gotten the answers out of his mind, not his mouth. “He knew that
the Usurper was secretly transporting large units of his army to
Derner’s Crest, getting ready to close the jaws of their trap, a
trap that would destroy their entire opposition in one sweep. He is
so sure you will be there that he has stripped the garrisons of
Versaim and Trozendale to the point where they’re not defended.
Who’s secret plan was it to commit every
able-bodied
bandit to attack at Derner’s Crest? Wernok’s!
He takes his pay from the Usurper, and he’s trying to betray you
all!”

“This is insane and her accusations are
ridiculous. Yes, I planned an attack at Derner’s Crest, but the
Usurper’s troops have not been moved, we would’ve heard. Her claims
are totally unsubstantiated, they’re just the ravings of a traitor
trying to save herself from the Tree, hang her!” he yelled for the
third time, he was beginning to lose his temper.

“Unsubstantiated? Hardly, the Tax Marshal
will prove my claims when you question him, he wants his life so he
will bare his worthless
soul
as he
did for me. Let him be the proof!” Elizabeth called out.

“You see she’s insane, the Marshal is dead!”
Wernok yelled, spittle flying from his lips, he had lost his temper
completely.

“No, this isn’t the Marshal, I thought
something might happen to my star witness if I put him in your
hands, this is one of his
bodyguards
,” Elizabeth told him, smiling in triumph.

Wernok could not stand to lose and it pushed
his insane mind over the edge.

His face went dark red from the
blood
rushing up under pressure, he shook in
fury. “Noooooo! I killed
him
like
I’ll kill you. Kill, kill, kill!” he screamed and ran for
Elizabeth, holding a knife over his head.

“Stop him,” Elizabeth said calmly.

Bushwhacker and one of Wernok’s Lieutenants
grabbed the insane man as he tried to rush by; they wrestled him to
the ground and disarmed the howling man.

Elizabeth now enhanced Wernok’s voice, so
all could hear him ranting.

“Kill you all, kill you all. “She will save
me, ‘she’ll kill you all, eat your souls,” he began to laugh
hysterically.

“Who is ‘she’, Wernok?” Elizabeth asked.

“RIveK, the necromancer, she will eat your
soul and I will be ‘her’ favorite. I’ll command her armies, and
I’ll hang all of you!” he continued to rant, totally lost in his
insanity.

“What does this mean? I thought you said he
worked for the Usurper?” Bushwhacker said to Elizabeth.

“Yes, but your question should be ‘who is
the Usurper’s master’? I now believe it is the one he calls, RIveK,
a necromancer. She is the real destroyer of your country. She is
the spinner at the center of this web. She is your real enemy,”
Elizabeth told them, knowing she had found the piece of the puzzle
that had eluded her. This necromancer was the one who had planted
the mind shields in Razor and Wernok.

The entire bandit community now knew that
Wernok had betrayed them, and their country, to the Usurper and a
necromancer. Within moments of their
realization,
they had torn his clothes from his body and
beat him nearly senseless.
Next,
they strung him up by the neck from Traitor’s Tree where he swung
slowly, a sign for all traitors to beware.

Bushwhacker stood by Elizabeth as the two of
them watched the angry mob hang their recent leader. “What was that
about him,” he pointed at the dead Tax Marshal, still pinned to the
wagon through his mouth, “be’in a guard and the real Marshal be’in
somewhere else?”

“A friend once taught me a trick using
tarslin sap, it doesn’t exist. Sometimes a threat that doesn’t
exist is as good as a real one,” she told him with a wink.

As they rounded the last turn toward the
bandit camp Whistler could not understand why they had not been
accosted by the guards. They should have been all over his captors
once they came around this corner. He looked down into the valley
and saw the reason for the missing guards, there was some type of
action going on. Everyone was gathered in the center
glade
by Wernok’s cabin.

Lasar stepped off his horse and untied
Whistlers
cinch
from the horse. He
and his saddle fell off, landing hard on the ground.

“Thanks, you’re free to go,” the knight
said, remounting. He gave Whistler’s now unfettered mount a smack
on the hind quarters, sending it galloping away. Then he headed
after the galloping horses of the other knights. Whistler was still
tied to the saddle on the ground, where he was cursing as he tried
to untie his feet from the stirrups.

Hetark
rode
at
breakneck
speed down the
mountain trail.

Poison had slipped further into
unconsciousness and to
Hetark,
it
looked as though she would go at any time. He didn’t know the exact
hour, but it was over a day since she had been wounded.

Following Hetark down the path, Rasal rode
along side of Becaris and kept a hand on his shoulder to steady him
in his saddle.

They came out of the trees onto the flat
ground and kicked their horses into a gallop toward the bandit
crowd.

At the sound of the galloping
horses,
many people looked up to see four
strangers bearing down on them and a few bandits began grabbing for
weapons, thinking these were the advance warriors of an attack by
the Usurper’s men.

“Wait, hold your weapons, these are
friends!” Elizabeth called out.

At the sound of Elizabeth’s
voice,
Hetark said a prayer of thanks and
changed the direction of his path. He slowed his horse and brought
his leg over the neck of his mount sliding to the ground with
Poison still held securely in his arms.

The crowd split for the tired looking knight
who carried a wounded girl clothed in a fine dress and wrapped in a
cape.

Elizabeth met him in the middle, and he
gently lay Poison down.

“Milady, a necromancer struck her down
thinking she was you, please save her if it is within your powers,”
Hetark pleaded.

“I will try, Hetark,” she said, squeezing
his wrist.

The Kirnath sorceress looked at Poison’s
aura, it was nearly gone. Overlaid was the remnant of a black
shroud that was now dissipating. Elizabeth realized that it was a
holding of some sort, but it had the foul taste of necromantic
power. With a gesture and application of her aura Elizabeth removed
the black holding, and Poison’s condition worsened. Elizabeth
concentrated and quickly repaired the ruined side of Poison’s body.
She found a small portion of the wounded girl’s aura that was
undamaged and spread the healthy colors, supplying aura power
directly from her own. She changed the discolored aura back and the
tissues began to re-knit and heal.

When Poison was out of danger, Elizabeth
stopped short of fully healing the girl, she left Poison
unconscious, but out of pain.

“She is out of danger, Hetark, but bide a
moment before I complete her healing.”

Elizabeth now saw to Becaris, who the twins
were supporting by putting his arms over their shoulders to bring
him to Elizabeth.

“Milady,” Becaris began shakily, his face a
gray pallor.

“Shhhhh,” she said with a small smile. Then
she placed her hands over the sword puncture and reached into his
aura and healed the wound.

Becaris stood completely on his own with his
fellow knights.

“Follow me,” she said softly to the knights,
“I have another step that must be taken, and you can help. Hetark,
bring
Poison.”

They moved over to the wagon and Elizabeth
climbed on top, so all could see. She gestured for Hetark to lay
Poison on the wagon.

“Justice has been done, the traitor is
dead!” She called out, pointing toward Traitor’s Tree to gain the
crowd’s attention, and she added, “But what of the Riond Mountain
bandits? Who shall lead you now?”

“I am the rightful leader, I planned on
taking Wernok in the challenge circle,” a lieutenant named Steel
called out.

Immediately another surviving lieutenant
countered with, “No, I will command!” He went by the name of
Kanth.

“I challenge for leadership!” Steel replied
in return.