by Philip Blood
Fearing for her husband’s life and soul Elizabeth spoke to the Knight Protector seated next to her, “Becaris, bring the coach around to the side of the building, immediately.”
He left to do her bidding without question.
Lady Ardellen quickly went to the altar.
“Follower, I must return to the palace immediately,” she said.
He could see the urgency in her eyes and hear it in her voice, “What is the matter, milady?” he asked, his brow furrowed in concern.
“I can’t explain it, but I must return now. Tell the people that I am not feeling well and must take my rest.” Elizabeth then gathered up Michael’s wraps and picked up her son. She hurried to the side door exit and the other three Knight Protectors followed her out, their eyes scanning for threats.
A loud murmur started up as the ceremony was abruptly interrupted.
Seated in the front row of the congregation the third conspirator’s eyes narrowed in surprise, something was wrong, but unfortunately, for him, he was in no position to interfere. He just had to hope the Sorceress would arrive too late to make a difference. He stood and worked his way toward the exit. Things had changed and he needed to get in contact with his hired assassins so that they could be redeployed.
In the alley outside the church, Gustin opened the door of the newly arrived coach and Lady Ardellen quickly entered. She spoke hurriedly to the knights: “To the palace as quickly as you can, a Darknull has entered our world and I sense its foulness coming from the Palace.”
The knights got the carriage underway as quickly as possible. Elizabeth appeared calm as she gently rocked Michael. He began to cry, either from the jouncing of the carriage as it hurled down the road or because he had sensed his mother’s troubled feelings. She crooned softly to her son, but her worried thoughts were with her husband, Oh Jatar, why am I away from you? With both duty and love, I am sworn to protect you from the Foul Realm. Jatar, my love, hold on, I’m coming. I can’t live without you! Please, G'lan let me be wrong!
To the knights, she called out calmly, “Faster, please.”
Jatar left his officers in the meeting room; they would soon be leaving the palace on their various missions and destinations. The Lord of Lindankar headed for his private rooms to quickly freshen up before leaving to find his wife at the church celebration.
Coming to the Grand Staircase Jatar saw a Tchulian major. Jatar was puzzled by the merc’s presence for a moment, but then he remembered the man's face from the state dinner the night before. He was here to represent the Tchulian battle school at Michael’s investment. Jatar noted that the major’s face was very pale and something stained the front of his uniform.
Acting as if he was in a hurry, Von Dracek approached the bottom of the staircase. “Lord Jatar, one of your household servants has fallen down and is injured. I can’t locate any of your other servants to help. Do you know where I can find them?”
“They’ve all left, which servant is it?”
“He’s an older gentleman, I don’t know his name.”
“It must be Gavin, that stubborn idiot was supposed to go with the rest of them. All right, where is he?” Jatar asked with worry for his old friend showing in his face.
“He’s down the eastern hall, near the visitor's apartments. We moved him into the third room on the left. Is there anyone else around that could help us with him, a physician perhaps?”
“You might catch some of my officers if you hurry; they’re just leaving from the main courtyard. Tell them we need medical supplies and a healer, and have someone go bring Lady Elizabeth and my son back from church, she can help,” Jatar ordered. The ruler’s face showed lines of worry for the stubborn old servant. He quickly turned and headed toward the visitor’s apartments.
Von Dracek waited a moment and then followed after Jatar, but the merc kept a short distance behind, so he wouldn't be seen. When they were near the room where CAracusS waited with the Darknull Baron the Tchulian stopped and waited to make sure that no one came this way to interfere with the proceedings.
Jatar quickly moved along the rooms and passageways of his palace until he reached the correct chamber. He opened the door without knocking and stepped inside. On the table, he saw a bloody body with someone standing in front of it blocking most of his view.
How did Gavin get so severely wounded falling down? Was Jatar’s first thought and then he felt the sudden sickness as the Darknull attacked.
The foul creature descended over his body and immediately began to consume his living soul. A Darknull is horrible for your mind to see and hear, but nothing compares to the agony of actual contact and the feeling of your soul being consumed by its malefic touch.
Jatar cried out in pain and fear as the Darknull engulfed him and burned into his aura, like acid on metal. Lord Jatar staggered back to the wall as he writhed in pain. Upon striking the wall he rolled along until his body blindly ran into a small table that held the lit oil lamp for the room. His hands groped for a weapon as his warrior spirit came forth responding to an attack. His searching hand found the oil lamp, which he dashed onto the floor where the bulk of the Darknull stood. The lamp burst into flames and the Darknull jumped back from the burning heat. Jatar remembered Elizabeth telling him that the Darknulls could be hurt by fire. The flames were alien to the Dark Plane and the dark essence of the creature could be hurt by flames, but the fire would not kill the creature.
As the Darknull pulled back from the hot licking flames Jatar used his brief respite to dash out the side door through the adjoining chamber into the main corridor. Jatar ran toward the front of the palace, but he felt and heard the Darknull enter the passage in swift pursuit. He entered the large east hall a moment ahead of the pursuing alien monster and slammed the door. With a swift thought, he grabbed the lit oil lamp and smashed it over the closed door to put a wall of flames between himself and the Darknull. The door caught fire quickly and so did the old dry tapestries that covered the entire wall. Within his mind Jatar heard the sounds of a thousand people being ripped in half, it was the voice of the Darknull crying its frustration from the other side of the burning door.
Jatar turned to continue his flight but was confronted by Major Von Dracek coming in from the other side of the hall. The merc officer held his sword unsheathed.
“What is this, more treachery?” Jatar called out.
“You cannot pass this way, Lord Jatar. Your fate is calling and it is my duty to see that you meet it,” Von Dracek said, coolly.
Jatar dashed to the right side of the hall, which held many weapons on display. He pulled a rapier down just in time to parry a thrust from the Tchulian Major.
“Very good, milord, your reputation with the sword precedes you. I’ve often wondered how good you actually were,” Von Dracek said, flippantly.
“It seems that you’re about to find out, major,” replied Jatar. He started a flurry of cuts that caused the major to back into the middle of the room before he fought Jatar to a standstill.
The tapestries and door where Jatar had entered the large hall were completely engulfed in yellow flames from floor to high ceiling, causing extreme heat and silhouetting the two swordsmen against the burning backdrop.
“You are very good milord, perhaps I underestimated your skills a bit when I trained Lord Tysol to fight you!” Von Dracek exclaimed when he had caught his breath. He tried a thrust in low toward Jatar’s right thigh.
“So, you are the reason behind his sudden skill and limited bravery. You didn’t think he could actually take me, did you?” Jatar replied as he sidestepped the major's attack and countered with a riposte that made the major parry furiously to avoid a cut to his head.
“Of course not, our puppet performed just as expected,” Von Dracek explained as he countered Jatar’s cut with the forte of his sword.
Quickly manipulating his sword with thumb and forefinger Jatar grazed Von Dracek’s blade subtly to induce his opponent to respond in the same line. That created a su
dden opening that allowed Jatar’s blade to slide in and pierce the major in the left biceps.
Von Dracek grimaced and stepped back as he beat Jatar’s blade aside.
Jatar gave the merc a grim smile and said, “I’ll bet that hurt, didn’t it?”
Losing his concentration slightly, the young major attacked furiously.
Jatar knew he had the Tchulian rattled, so he spared a quick glance toward possible escape. He noted a door across the hall from the burning tapestries, but then two men entered and took up guard positions by the door with drawn swords. Since they didn’t come to his aid, Jatar reasoned that they must be part of the plot.
The frustrated Darknull screamed from beyond the flames and Jatar knew that the ravenous fire would soon consume the door, he had to win this duel before that happened and the Darknull gained entrance.
Jatar trapped the Colonel’s sword with his in a bind and they came chest to chest, but Jatar suddenly stepped back out and his blade rode high off the top of Von Dracek’s sword. The sharp tip sliced into the major’s forehead.
Blood began to run down the Tchulian’s face into his eyes and he cursed Jatar, showing a little fear in his voice for the first time. Von Dracek suddenly knew that, incredibly, he was going to lose this duel if he relied solely on his skill with the blade. He leaped back with his blade extended to keep Lord Jatar at bay for the moment he needed to concentrate. The Tchulian focused his secret aura powers and extended his palm forward. He sent an aura attack from his palm that struck Jatar in the chest with a blast of pure of aura energy. Blue visible light from his left hand flashed across the space between them and struck the surprised ruler of Lindankar in the chest.
Lord Jatar flew back from the impact and slid to a heap on the floor; the clothing on his chest was torn and smoking from the searing power of the blast.
“Vorg take that bastard, he nearly had me!” exclaimed the Tchulian as he wiped the blood from his eyes.
The burning door burst inward in a blast of purple energy and a cloud of sparks. CAracusS lowered his bony hands and stepped to the side.
The dreaded Darknull oozed its foulness into the room and the scowling visage of the necromancer followed close behind.
“What happened here?” CAracusS demanded when he saw Jatar’s lifeless body piled on the floor.
“I could ask the same of you! Jatar wasn’t supposed to get away from your beast,” countered the wounded Major.
“Baron Qyrmswav is Lord Jatar still alive?” the necromancer asked the Darknull.
Von Dracek backed away from the approach of the malefic beast.
Sliding its putrid mass over the body the Darknull replied in its foul voice, “He is no more, there is no spirit left to consume. Who shall you supply for me in his place to complete our bargain?”
CAracusS was stricken by the news that Jatar was dead, but he gestured toward his men guarding the exit. “Take those two, and then go.”
The two men by the door tried to flee, but the Darknull got between them and escape. They tried to back away, but the Baron descended on one of them. His victim started to scream horribly as his soul was torn from his body and consumed.
The second of the two underlings tried to appeal to CAracusS. “Please, master, call it off. You promised to make me a rich man. Don’t let it eat me, I beg you!”
Qyrmswav finished with the first man whose dead body fell limply to the floor like a body devoid of bones. The dread Darknull Baron slowly approached the second man. To heighten his fear Qyrmswav came for him slowly and spoke to him and the beast's voice sounded in the man’s mind like oozing putrid flesh sliding off bones.
“I’ll tell you something the Darknulls learned a long time ago from Vorg the Desecrator, never trust a necromancer.”
Then with the swift speed of a striking slither’s head, Baron Qyrmswav leaped on top of the screaming man and consumed his soul. Once finished with his meal the Darknull left the hall to depart back through the bridge between the worlds. CAracusS closed it as soon as the Darknull was through.
CAracusS and Von Dracek turned Jatar’s body onto its back before they spoke.
“You may have ruined all our plans,” the necromancer accused, “the imprint from my cathexis dagger can’t enter a dead body. Only a living vessel can attract the imprint! Jatar was supposed to have his aura eaten and his body left functional, or did you forget our plan?”
“I remember, but it's not my fault that he escaped from your grisly friend. Jatar was the greatest swordsman I have ever faced; I had to kill him to keep him from escaping. He would have gone through your two men without breaking stride, but come, he is dead and we should start our flight. The guards will have seen the smoke and be here soon. I don’t want to be found with the body of their dead ruler!”
“There is one chance,” the necromancer answered and his eyes narrowed in thought. “You remember how I revived my torture victim? Jatar’s body is whole, his heart has just stopped; let’s see if we can get it beating again.”
Placing his ancient shaking hand over Jatar’s still chest, the necromancer drew energy through his connection with the Dark Plane.
Von Dracek saw the lines of purple lightning strike from CAracusS’ hand to Jatar’s chest, and the body jumped. CAracusS listened to his chest briefly before applying a second jolt, but that did it, Jatar’s chest began to rise and fall as his body began to breathe again.
“Your magic seems to have worked; will Jatar wake up now?” asked the Major.
“No, remember the Darknull said his spirit was no more, it must have been destroyed. Only his body is functioning now, as if in a coma. Under normal circumstances, he would never reawaken, however, my cathexis dagger will allow us to change all that. Now we must be quick, you guard the door while I finish the transfer.”
CAracusS pulled the dagger from his waist and placed it in Jatar's hand. Then he took a small green bottle from his pocket and removed the stopper. With a quick toss of his head, he drank down the thick contents in one gulp. He grimaced at the foul taste momentarily, and then his body convulsed as the quick acting poison started to take effect. Spasms shook the necromancer’s cadaverous body and moments later he keeled over dead.
A few seconds later Jatar’s eyes fluttered open and he groaned as he slowly sat up. His fingers tightened around the cathexis dagger in his hand and he suddenly used it to stab the necromancer’s wrinkled body in the chest.
Von Dracek went for his sword, but Jatar looked up with a frown that was hauntingly familiar; the necromancer had often used the same expression.
“Oh stop it you fool, it is me, CAracusS. I just wanted to make it obvious to Jatar’s guards that I killed this body with my dagger. Assassins don’t normally take poison unless they are going to be captured.”
Von Dracek’s eyes widened, “Incredible, it actually worked! I mean I know how cathexis metal stores the imprint of the one who carries it for a time, but knowing and seeing it are two different things.” As he said this Von Dracek thought, I want that dagger; a man with one of the nineteen cathexis artifacts could be immortal.
They heard the sounds of guard’s voices calling Jatar’s name from a nearby room.
CAracusS swiftly gave the merc some instructions, “When the guards get here I’ll tell them that three assassins tried to kill me. I dispatched this one with my knife and you slew the other two. Now quickly stab my two dead servants with your sword, so it looks like you killed them.”
The Tchulian major had just finished stabbing the second corpse when a group of six guards poured into the room with drawn weapons. The first of Jatar’s guard to enter saw Von Dracek with his sword out. The guard raised his crossbow and yelled, “Drop that weapon!” He aimed the loaded bow at Von Dracek’s heart.
Von Dracek quickly dropped his sword and said, “I defended your ruler, ask him yourself.”
The man the guard thought was Jatar said, “Yes, put down your bow. This man helped me defeat these three assassins, without his aid I
would now be dead.” CAracusS got Jatar’s body to his feet and added, “Now help me to my rooms, though I am not wounded I do need rest. Have someone dispose of these bodies. This Tchulian major is to be let into my rooms anytime he wishes; he is a hero in Lindankar.”
The leader of the guards looked puzzled by this, he knew how Jatar disliked the Tchulians, but he bowed to his Lord’s command and the orders were given.
It was one year since the birth of Michael Ardellen and the first part of the conspirator’s plan had succeeded; the soul of the necromancer CAracusS was in control of Jatar’s body.
CHAPTER TWO - ELIZABETH
The careening carriage clamored to a halt in the courtyard of the Lindankar palace. The six horses were gulping for air and hot sweat ran down their steaming flanks. The right side door burst open as Elizabeth swiftly exited with her son held in her right arm. Behind her, the four Knight Protectors followed like thunder behind lightning.
As Elizabeth approached the twin doors of the main entranceway she thought about her small son cradled against her side. How do I protect Michael? If I leave him with his knights I won’t be there to protect him from the evils of the Darknull. If I take him with me I will be hampered by having to hold him and will be unable to give him my full protection.
She paused for a moment to make up her mind before she turned and handed Michael to Hetark. “Follow me close, but wait where I tell you; and for Michael’s safety do not, under any circumstance, go anywhere else.”
In the main hall various wings split off in different directions, to the right the Grand Staircase led to the second floor. Elizabeth stopped for a moment and concentrated on the foulness of the Darknull; the taint of it wasn’t very strong anymore, which probably meant the Darknull creature was gone. She felt the rank signature of the Darknull most strongly from the direction of her apartments upstairs.
