Cathexis: Necromancer's Dagger (74 page)

“Stop!” Elizabeth cried out, still enhancing
her voice in everyone’s minds.

All attention shifted from the squared off
lieutenants to the black clad warrior on top the wagon.

“Who are the best fighters in the entire
camp?” she asked.

“Steel and Kanth, now that Razor and Wernok
are dead,” Quarrel answered.

The two named men were still facing each
other with white knuckled hands on dagger hilts, though they had
not drawn.

“They are your best. Would you decide which
hand is best to use by cutting off the other?” she posed to the
crowd, watching the glow of their aura’s with her sorceress power
and gauging their mood. “The Usurper has many men; shall we help
him by killing half our best? We need Steel and Kanth to help us
against our enemies.”

“But this is how we choose our leader,” a
voice in the middle of the crowd called out.

There were a few calls of agreement.

“Who was the first leader to ascend by
killing his predecessor?” she called out in response, knowing the
answer, “Wernok, the traitor. Do you wish to continue following an
insane policy, designed by a traitorous puppet of the Usurper?”

“No!” came a few angry calls.

“Of course not, instead we need a leader
that is chosen by all of you for their ability to help the people
of this valley, what we don’t need is to kill one of our most
needed men just to appease a few people’s blood lust,” she
thundered. The crowd’s auras showed Elizabeth that she had most of
their support.

People from the refugee camp had come over
and were standing at the back of the crowd, a woman’s voice called
out, “You lead us, Poison, with Steel and Kanth as your
lieutenants.”

“She’s a woman, we need to be led by a man!”
an unidentified male voice yelled.

“So what if she’s a woman? She has proven
herself worthy!” another male voice called.

“We’ve only known her two days, how can we
trust her?” Lieutenant Steel called out.

“She’s brought us more round than any other
bandit, and she’s exposed a traitor who would’ve destroyed us all,
I trust her!” Kanth yelled, countering Steel’s argument.

Elizabeth’s voice overpowered everyone,
“Stop this argument! Poison cannot lead this group of common
bandits!” she thundered with her enhanced voice.

That shocked the debating people; everyone
who looked up at the proud form of Elizabeth standing above the
crowd had already begun thinking of her as the leader, even if they
were arguing against it. There was complete silence
at
her denial.

“Either Steel or Kanth would be far more
suited as a bandit leader, but I’m not here to lead a group of
bandits; I’m here to lead an army of retribution against the
atrocities of the Usurper, and his masters the necromancers! Anyone
can be a bandit; all it takes is the desire to take that which is
not yours. I need soldiers,
men,
and women ready to fight for their children and their land. A
bandit would take these gold and silver crowns for themselves, this
round metal
which was taken
from
the mouths of Autrany’s children. It was paid for with the blood of
honest people and marked by the scars of their battles against the
tyranny of the puppet Usurper and the evil necromancers. If all you
ever wish to be are bandits grubbing for
round
, join the Usurper, he pays in the same blood.

“However, if you want to strike back at the
necromancers who ravaged your country, you’ll need to take Autrany
back from their evil grasp. We will chase them back to their foul
lairs
and crush them, so they can
never hurt our people again!

“If that is what you want, then you’ll have
to become more than you are, more than a little thorn in their side
just waiting to be removed. You’ll have to be a storm, a gathering
of force that begins with a light breeze across the land and builds
to gale force.”

Elizabeth’s voice now rose in volume until
it thundered in their heads, “Those are the people that I will lead
to victory!”

After a moment of shocked
silence,
a voice called out of the crowd. “We
can’t fight the Usurper’s armies, they are too strong! And now we
know they are backed by the support of necromancer’s evil
magic.”

Elizabeth raised her arm and pointed slowly
across the entire assembly as she said, “A bandit force, larger
than this, that stood up to the Usurper would be crushed, but you
will not be bandits any longer, not just a group of fighters; you
will have far more power. I will forge you into an ideal, a symbol
of resistance, a flag to help the hopeless find hope.

“Your power is not measured in the number of
arrows Quarrel can shoot, or the power in Bushwhacker’s arm, your
power is the light of the candle you hold up amidst the darkness.
That point of light will show the people of your countryside and of
your towns and cities. They will learn that someone still believes.
Show them that we hold the light and they will come. Just as I
believe in the strength of the good people of this land, so will
they believe in you.

“They can join us one candle at a time until
the light burns so bright that all the evil darkness lying over
this land has been exposed and driven back to the Dark Plane from
which it issued. And not only from this
land
but from the surrounding countries, who are also
cloaked by the evil night. Let the spark begin here to light the
rest of the world on fire!”

A woman answered from the crowd, “But the
necromancers have powers and creatures of evil. They will send them
to kill us.”

“Who is afraid of the necromancers?”
Elizabeth posed, “You think their armies, their evil creatures, and
their dark powers can defeat you? If Santhra stands defiantly
before them, protecting a child, and dies in her effort, was she
defeated? If Gertha stands alone against the Usurper’s army, taking
three soldiers with her before she falls, was she defeated?

“This woman,” Elizabeth said gesturing down
at Poison’s unconscious body below, “who you don’t even know, stood
against the attack of a necromancer without any protection from
their dark magic and in the face of death she protected her friend.
Was she defeated?

“As long as one person stands for what is
right, ready to block evil’s path, the necromancers cannot win;
this I believe with all my heart. Others will believe if, but one
person still stands for what they know is right, no matter how
futile it looks.

“I will proudly stand, seconding this
woman’s courage,” she said, pointing down at Poison, “I will stand
with her against the necromancers, alone if need be, but I will
defy them. Who will stand with me?” Elizabeth called out, raising a
dagger into the air.

“I will, they killed my family and forced me
into this life without a home or country. I’ll not hesitate to do
my duty,” Gertha called out, drawing her sword.

“Good! You and I will stand together against
the necromancers, Gertha. We’ll thrust them back into the darkness
that bore them,” Elizabeth replied, smiling at the short woman.

“We’re with you,” Hetark called out,
speaking for the Knight Protectors, and they pulled their
swords.

“Now we are six!” Elizabeth called out in a
clear voice, saluting her knights.

“I will stand beside you!” Santhra called
out from the back.

And other voices of the women Elizabeth had
helped called out their support.

“I like yer style, you can count me in,”
Bushwhacker added with a swaggering grin.

The other men of her squad pledged their
support.

Soon many voices were calling and everyone
with a weapon held them up in salute like a growing garden of
steel.

“Now I ask you, who leads this army?”
Elizabeth called out.

“Poison!”

“Poison will make a great commander, one the
common soldiers will follow and trust. Poison can lead an attack,
but she cannot be the symbol we need. Without the support of the
aristocracy,
you cannot win. We
need the support of all our people; from the common folk to the
nobility. There is a way you can get the support of all classes and
join the downtrodden people of two countries against the
necromancers. The people will fear the evil powers of the
necromancers, so we must have a symbol that can stand up to those
powers. We need a leader everyone will accept; we need a leader OF
ROYAL BLOOD!” Elizabeth called, emphasizing the last three
words.

“But they’ve murdered the entire royal
family!” someone answered.

"No, there is at least one left alive,"
Elizabeth countered.

“Who?” several voices called out.

“Lady Elizabeth Ember Ardellen, Kirnath
sorceress, cousin to your late ruler, the Lady of Lindankar. They
are your
long-time
allies, AND she
has the Hevarnan blood in her veins!” Elizabeth thundered out.

“One of the royal blood lives!” she heard a
surprised voice say.

Another called out, “But rumor has it she
was killed by assassins!”

“She lives!” Elizabeth answered with simple
conviction.

“But we don’t know her, you should lead us,
not some pampered court woman,” Gertha said, voicing her
opinion.

“You will not find Lady Ardellen soft or
pampered. She has passed through the fire, hardening the steel,”
Elizabeth answered.

“Is that who lies before you?” Bushwhacker
asked.

“No, this is a courageous woman, who many of
you know in a strange way.” Laying her hand between the rise of
Poison’s bosom, Elizabeth concentrated and finished healing her
friend.

“Arise, Poison and thank you for the loan of
your identity. I knew you would find the way and choose to join us
against the evil that possesses this land. Welcome!” Elizabeth
said, hugging her and in her ear she whispered, “And thank you for
standing in my place against the necromancers.”

Turning to the crowd, Elizabeth raised her
voice, so all could hear again. “My friends, I have hidden
something from you so that I could meet you on your terms. I wanted
you to choose me on merit, not by royal decree. I am Elizabeth
Ember Ardellen, ruler of Lindankar, and the royal blood of the
Hevarnan line runs in my veins! And I swear on this day to rid my
country of the evil presence of the necromancers, will you join
me?” She said, holding up the very aurora stone that she had once
lain on Michael’s chest. It burst into light at the call of her
powerful aura.

Cheers rocked the valley.

After a
moment,
Elizabeth replaced the stone in its pouch.

“My friends, we have much to do.”

G’Taklar sat by a fire holding his head in
his hands, he could not believe he had lost the Ardellen cathexis
ring. Jatar had trusted him and now he had failed that trust.

He decided he had to get it back before he
could face Elizabeth. Three knights had given their lives to
ensure
his escape with the ring,
he had to find it or die trying.

“I swear by my family’s honor I will not
return until I bear the ring,” he said to himself, giving an oath
that could not be broken.

Then he spoke to Rachael, “I’m going back
after the signet ring. I’ll take you to Myrnvale before I start my
search.”

“There’s nothing for me in Myrnvale, I have
no other family and you are my only friend. I want to come with
you,” she stated softly.

G’Taklar didn’t actually want to search
alone and he had decided to accept her help, but only if she really
wanted to join him in his quest.

“It will be dangerous, we might not
survive.”

“I have no home. I will stay with you,
G’Taklar, if you would have me... for I love you,” she finished
quietly.

RIveK entered a hotel and she was furious at
her inability to locate Lady Ardellen. She wanted to confirm her
death before taking credit for it with the other necromancers. She
took a room upstairs and sealed it with her powers so that no one
would disturb her body while she traveled by projection.

Before she continued her search for the body
of the sorceress and her child, RIveK needed to check in with
Wernok to give him his final instructions on how to deploy his
bandits during the upcoming ambush. She had her troops positioned
perfectly to destroy the bandit army and now it was time to bring
in the sacrificial animal.

Stepping from her sleeping form the
necromancer slipped into the Dark Plane and headed for the bandit
camp. She found her point of exit and stepped into the valley just
behind Traitor's Tree. Two things greeted her sight, the first was
Wernok’s dead body strung up by the neck and hanging right before
her eyes. The second was a large gathering of people around a wagon
holding two women, one of which RIveK thought to be dead. She had
found Lady Ardellen, and she seemed to be quite alive.

Elizabeth was concentrating on addressing
the crowd, so she didn’t pick up the weak smell of RIveK’s
projection standing behind Traitor’s Tree.

“Before tomorrow we must pack up and move
our camp, this one served
well
but
is now compromised. Wernok has given its location directly to our
enemies, the necromancers, and when they discover their agent us
dead they’ll know we are on to them. They’ll waste no time in
sending the Usurper and his army to destroy us. They can’t afford
to have their anonymity ruined; the necromancers like to stay
hidden, like a spinner in its web.”

RIveK stepped out from behind Traitor’s Tree
and began walking toward Elizabeth. The crowd parted before the
beautifully gowned woman.

Poison spoke quietly to Elizabeth, “This is
the female necromancer who destroyed the other one who attacked me,
and then planned on killing you later.”

RIveK’s glance of hatred was aimed at
Poison, who RIveK still thought was Elizabeth. She spoke as she
drew near, “So, Kirnath, you have some power, at least enough to
heal yourself, but you are a disappointment; I’d heard you Kirnath
had talent. Now I see your only talent is disrupting my carefully
constructed plans. I’m rather upset with you for killing my
servant, Wernok. He still had some use left. For
that,
I’ll finish you off, painfully.”