“What’s wrong?” the commander asked. “You are all acting like uwonti on your first field assignment,” he went on, “one would not be able to tell, from your behavior alone, that you are the command squad of the Feragwen’s Seventh Legion!” He looked at each one of them in turn, noticing that his breath steamed more than before as he spoke, and that it was darker than it had been. The darkness was most apparent as he turned full circle back to the forward point of the squad and noticed that Blakstar looked like a golden magluku shining in a room without windows. He had to shield his eyes to look at the kortexi. “And why are you glowing so brightly, Sir Blakstar?” he asked.
Blakstar was surprised by the question, so did not answer; Thal spoke from his position behind Delgart.
“One of the unique gifts of the One to the kortexem,” he said, “is their aura against evil, the more skilled he becomes, the stronger the aura, and the more intense the evil, the more brightly it will . . . ,” he broke off.
“Shine?” Delgart supplied, “which means that we are surrounded by evil, which is what all of you are responding to, becoming more and more like hunted, frightened deer?”
All eyes and heads turned, hearing the sound of Reena and Kreega returning to report; both scouts came running toward them, faces drained of all color.
“What is it?” Delgart asked, moving forward to meet them. “Have you found the swamp wedaterem?”
“No,” Reena gasped, out of breath, “we’ve seen . . . no signs . . . anywhere.”
Kreega was shaking and panting, trying to catch her breath.
Delgart frowned. “Then what has you so frightened?”
“Something that we have never before seen,” Kreega said.
“We think they must be nekerpum,” Reena added, “because they crawled up out of the swamp they way nekerpum crawl up out of graves, but they are all green, bloated, and rotten.”
“The stench makes one ill,” Kreega went on, her face pasty, “and their very presence exudes fear.”
With these words, the aura around Sir Blakstar dimmed and crackled, and Delgart felt as if a giant hand had covered him and his squad, trying to crush them into the ground. The sensation was not, however, physical; rather, it was emotional, as if all his feelings were suddenly oppressed, and his very heart ached within him. Delgart saw others of his squad actually clutch at their chests, even as the temperature around them plummeted; breathing hurt, and one by one, each slumped onto the ground. Delgart saw through a haze that only the kortexi still managed to stay on his feet, although he had been driven to one knee, clutching his chest with his left hand. By superhuman effort, Blakstar managed to pull will-giver from its sheath with his right hand; the sword glowed with an unearthly, golden light in the darkness, crackling and sparking just as his aura continued to do. Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned the sword so it pointed up, and, allowing his left hand to release his chest, he gripped the handle of will-giver with both hands. Sweat poured from his brow at the effort, and Delgart watched helplessly as the kortexi continued to fight against the darkness that was snuffing out their very lives. With a strangled growl, Blakstar hurled himself to his feet, jabbing the sword into the air above him. As he did so, he shouted words in an alien tongue: “Ni vorga daluna. Corova dar el!” Light, brighter than the sun, exploded from his sword shaking the ground and sending a shockwave in all directions. The darkness surrounding them shattered into a thousand fragments that quickly faded; a shaft of brilliant sunlight shone down through the canopy of cypress and cedar trees, bathing them in its warm, summer glow, and for the moment, blinding them. When Delgart’s eyes adjusted to the new brightness, he saw Blakstar lying motionless on his back, still holding will-giver tightly in both hands; the commander saw in the faces of his squad that the oppressive emotional weight had been lifted from their hearts and minds, and their breath no longer steamed. Delgart, followed closely by Klaybear, crawled over to where the stunned kortexi lay.
“Is he hurt?” Delgart asked.
Klaybear shook his head. “Just stunned, I think, but no other injuries.”
“See to the others, and quickly,” Delgart said, looking around, “before these nekerpum get here.”
Klaybear moved to where Grelsor and Lidelle had fallen, singing the words of healing and touching each of their foreheads with his green-glowing hands; he paused, noticing that his right hand was tainted by red light pulsing angrily from his palm. He pulled his hand back into his robes and touched Lidelle with his left hand, having already healed Grelsor. Delgart’s Chief Kailu, however, had seen Klaybear’s movement, so Grelsor reached out and grabbed Klaybear’s wrist, pulling his arm forward and turning his hand palm up. Grelsor stared at the angry red symbol for a moment only before looking at Klaybear.
“Just like our commanders,” Grelsor said softly to himself.
“Except that he has the entire symbol,” Lidelle added, sitting up.
Klaybear jerked his arm out of Grelsor’s grasp. “We need to see to the others before the nekerpum arrive,” he said, trying to cover his embarrassment with an urgent tone.
Grelsor ignored him. “And also on your forehead: twice marked, why would you be twice marked, whereas our commanders were only half marked?”
Lidelle nodded once, gently touching Klaybear’s cloth wrapped forehead. “Are any of the others double-marked?” he asked.
Klaybear sighed and thought for a moment. “I know Blakstar is,” he replied, “besides Delgart and Marilee, he and I are the only others with physical, visible marks; the rest have it woven into the patterns of their minds.” He looked around and saw that the rest of the squad was stirring, groaning, and beginning to get up. “Shouldn’t we?” he asked, looking meaningfully around.
Grelsor nodded. “Yes, and we should give everyone protections against fear and disease,” he said, “maybe more, depending on what we actually encounter.” He looked back at Klaybear. “I’m guessing that Headmaster Myron and Master Avril both tried healing these marks?”
Klaybear smiled. “Yes, and all either of them did was cause me excruciating pain.”
“Too bad,” Grelsor noted, “they were the most powerful of our order.”
Lidelle was shaking his head. “Not the most powerful,” he stated, “there are others who refused to become involved in the politics of the school, scattered across the land, but the most powerful healer I’ve heard of is Salamera.”
“Oh, but surely she is only a myth!” Grelsor exclaimed.
“She is no myth,” Lidelle replied. “I spoke with a wethi several years ago in Rykelle who showed me scars that could have only come from poisonous serpents that inhabit the Wolpoti Swamp; he claimed to have stumbled into the swamp while prospecting deep in the hills of the Reuthowen Forest. He said he was healed by an old kailu who named herself Salamera.”
Grelsor laughed. “And you trust the word of a gold-digger?” he asked derisively
“His story was only one of many,” Lidelle went on, “and if those tales are not enough, then the methaghem of Metarb regularly send injured people into the Reuthowen for healing.”
Grelsor shook his head. “But that would mean she’s over five centuries old! Few of us have ever lived over a century, let alone five!”
Lidelle shrugged. “I’m just sharing what I have heard with our junior, here, who no one else has been able to heal: perhaps Salamera can, if the rumors are true.”
Grelsor did not respond to this, but pointed around them. “Klaybear, you go around and heal and energize everyone,” Klaybear nodded and got to his feet, “I’ll give them all fear protection, leaving you with the more difficult, the disease protection.”
Lidelle nodded and smiled. “Gives us another chance to try out the orthek-singing,” he noted, moving in a different direction around the squad.
As the three kailum moved through the squad, Thal, Hrelga, and Luthina moved closer to where Delgart stood with Reena and Kreega; Blakstar still lay on the ground holding his sword.
“I
f there are nekerpum here,” Thal began, and quickly added, “I mean, of course, if what you have seen are, in truth, nekerpum, then that implies a purgle controlling them, quite likely a powerful purgle to raise nekerpum heretofore unknown. Add two other facts to this one: first, that we have not seen a single wedateri, or signs of any others, and second, the morgle who holds Melbarth’s rod has not shown any inclination to raise any nekerpum. We know that the morgle has been using his altered swamp wedaterem to attack and raid merchant caravans, carrying victims captive back to Morokolu; we also know that the morgle has been using inns to capture more victims, who are also brought back to Morokolu using the power of Melbarth’s rod. Now we find the inns bearing his likeness boarded up from the inside and empty of people, and all his swamp creatures have stopped attacking caravans and apparently vanished. It seems to me that the logical conclusion is that the morgle is no longer in control of Morokolu, or at the very least, he has withdrawn all his forces and given the outer defenses, so to speak, to the care of someone else: a powerful purgle, which I doubt he would do willingly.”
“Or,” Delgart said, “they could be working together, as they did when attacking Shigmar: the morgle attacked the city directly, while the purgle, Xythrax, led another army against us, keeping us from coming to aid Shigmar until it was too late.”
Thal shrugged. “The whole purpose of that ploy was to get Klaybear to unleash the power of breath-giver that Gar somehow knew would destroy friend as well as foe,” he paused for a moment, then he put one hand on Delgart’s shoulder. “You don’t suppose they know we are coming?”
Thal saw Klaybear stooping next to the fallen kortexi, placing one green-glowing hand upon the fallen wethi’s forehead; Blakstar stirred and sat up.
“What happened?” Blakstar asked.
At the same time, Delgart answered Thal. “Depends on which we you mean: if you mean the chosen, I would say, yes, they are expecting us to come, but I doubt they expect us to show up with the fabled Seventh Legion in tow.”
“You shouted strange words,” Klaybear replied to Blakstar, “and there followed an explosion of light that dispersed the darkness and fear.”
Grelsor came and knelt next to Blakstar, touching both Blakstar and Klaybear briefly before moving to Delgart, the scouts, and then the maghem; Lidelle followed soon after.
“In all our dealing with the enemy,” Hrelga noted, “the wisest course has always been to assume the worst, then we are never surprised.”
“Spoken like a true kailu of Shigmar,” Grelsor quipped, “and thus, quite correct.”
Hrelga smiled at him; Delgart looked back to Thal.
“So to assume the worst,” Thal said, “they know we are coming with a seklesi legion, but it would be tactically foolish to let us get close to the fortress without trying to repel us.”
Reena shook her head. “Unless the intent were to catch us in a trap . . . ,” she began, but Delgart cut her off.
“At this moment,” Delgart said, “this is all pointless speculation: we do not have enough information, which is why we came here in the first place: to gather more information, and we cannot gather information standing here debating.”
Thal flushed; he opened his mouth to apologize, but Delgart held up his hand.
“No need,” Delgart said in a softer voice. “You were expressing your thoughts while we were waiting to be healed and protected; now that both of those things are completed, we will move forward.” He nodded once to his scouts, who set off immediately, disappearing into the gloom that surrounded the island of light created by Blakstar. Delgart signaled, and his squad moved in the same direction.
Thal jogged closer to Blakstar. “Any idea what you said?” he asked hopefully.
Blakstar shrugged. “None,” he replied, “I don’t even remember what I said.”
Thal was stricken by this response, which caused the entire squad to chuckle softly.
They traveled approximately west for another three miles until the trail they followed began to turn more toward the south. At this point, the trail divided, one branch going south and the other going west-northwest; the darkness of the swamp around them was now eerily lit by a greenish glow emanating from many of the pools. They soon discovered that the light came from some kind of algae or slime that infested the edges of the pools in this section of the swamp, giving off both the sickly glow and a stench of death and decay. Reena and Kreega were waiting at the branching of the trail.
“Here is where we first saw the bloated nekerpum,” Reena noted as the rest of the squad approached and halted, “but where they are now,” she shrugged, “there are trails of slime leading out of the pools, but the trails disappear suddenly, as if each one were lifted into the air and carried away.”
Delgart frowned as the others looked around warily. “Any difference in the two trails?”
Reena shook her head. “Just like the other branching,” she replied.
“Then we go south from here,” Delgart said decisively, “that should get us there faster.”
“And spring the trap quicker,” Thal noted under his breath.
Delgart smiled. “Precisely,” he added, “we will spring the trap more quickly.” He nodded once to Reena and Kreega, and the two scouts jogged off to the south, disappearing into the green-tinged half-light; Delgart and the rest of the squad followed.
Within two miles they came upon the first significant evidence that wethem had once lived in Mariskal: the ruins of what had been a large hall. The roof had long since been destroyed; some of the walls still stood, although they were only partially visible among the trees and shrubs that were growing, and many of the trees had split and lifted the paving stones in and around the former hall. There was still a large, clear space at the center, with only a few scattered trees growing and no shrubs. They were just approaching the northwest corner of this ruin when the sickly green light flashed suddenly, followed by a rumbling sound, then the ground shook violently beneath their feet. The trees swayed drunkenly all around them, and the walls of the ancient hall still standing crumbled. The members of Delgart’s command squad reeled to and fro, clinging to each other to keep from being thrown to the ground while watching for falling debris. The shaking slowed, then stopped as quickly as it had started; Delgart could hear rumbles receding behind them, and then all fell silent. He noticed that each member of his squad put a hand on his or her weapons, loosening them and looking around; the green glow surrounding them had intensified. A bubbling, gurgling sound broke the silence, coming from all around where they stood near the ancient ruins, and the light flickered and flashed in sync with the sounds.
“Form up!” Delgart hissed. “Keep moving south!” he added. “Let’s not wait for whatever is coming!”
The squad instantly obeyed his commands, reforming the diamond, drawing weapons, and beginning to jog south; Reena and Kreega rushed back to join them, and the diamond shifted as they returned to their positions, nocking arrows and looking all around as they moved. As they rounded the southwest corner of the ancient hall, the commander saw the source of both the flashing lights and the gurgling sounds: wethi figures, surrounded by sickly green light, shambled toward them, but these figures were bloated like people who had drowned, and the gurgling sounds were coming from their open mouths.
“Loose!” Delgart commanded, and a volley of arrows shot toward the nearest bloated figures. Every shaft found its mark, but had no apparent effect on the shambling figures, simply passing through after gouging holes in the bloated figures. However, the figures did not slow or turn aside: they continued to stumble toward the squad, bloated arms and hands reaching for them, mouths open wide as they continued to gurgle.
“Ortheks?” Delgart asked, and the maghem and kailum responded by attempting different ortheks.
“Any kind of fire or lightning would only make things worse,” Grelsor noted.
“That puts both of us out,” Klaybear said, indicating himself and Thal.
“We could
try cold ortheks,” Hrelga said, “since they look to be filled with water, so ice should be very effective.”
“We should repeat what we did in the battle near Reema,” Luthina suggested, “combining ortheks.”
Grelsor nodded once. “You and me, Luthina, and Hrelga and Lidelle,” he said, and then he looked at Klaybear. “Watch, even though the ortheks might be beyond the two of you, you still might be able to try them, since you are both quite powerful,” he finished with a grin.
“Try and clear out a section in front of us,” Delgart said, “we need to get behind them and find the purgle who raised them and eliminate him or her.”
Luthina sang the word to create the ball of ice, holding her rod before her: “wedro-pleugikel.” Hrelga imitated her action, creating a second ball of ice.
Grelsor and Lidelle reached out with their staves and touched the floating balls, both beginning to sing, “reu-komhilu-demaghu-gleubespi,” and both balls turned from brilliant blue to bright emerald. The two maghem then pointed their rods toward the bloated nekerpum, sending the emerald balls of ice flying; the two kailum continued to sing the words of their orthek.
Thal was watching them carefully. “You might want to have the front rank use their shields,” he suggested to Delgart, “as we are very close to them. You also might want to have the archers ready.”
“Shields, forward!” Delgart commanded. “Archers, ready to loose!”
Delgart noticed the sweat beading on Grelsor and Lidelle’s foreheads as they continued to sing; when the green glowing balls passed behind the bloated figures, Hrelga and Luthina jerked their rods up and the ice balls exploded, sending green-glowing shards ripping through the bloated figures. For an instant, the bloated nekerpum froze; the green swamp water swelling their corpses crystallized; in the next moment, the kailu disruptive orthek took effect, shattering their frozen corpses and showering the command squad with fragments of icy, rotting flesh. Shields raised blocked most of this sickly rain, but the protective ortheks surrounding each of them glowed brighter whenever a piece of this icy rain slipped past their shields. This contact with their teka protections caused these bits of icy flesh to hiss and steam, vanishing in puffs of sickly green smoke. Blakstar’s aura, and the light surrounding his sword, grew more intense the closer the bloated nekerpum pressed to the command squad. The combined ortheks opened a huge gap in the ring of nekerpum surrounding them, and Delgart shouted for the command squad to double their speed through the gap; this took them straight into a stunned purgle who did not have time to block will-giver, surrounded by golden flames; the purgle exploded in a manner similar to the bloated nekerpum she had been controlling. As the purgle flew apart, and the wailing sigh flew away from them, the gurgling voices of the bloated nekerpum also slipped into silence. Delgart slowed them to a walk.
The Redemption, Volume 1 Page 96
