by Philip Blood
“I’ve never forgotten that promise and I think of my brother often. If fate had not stepped in that day perhaps Dern, son of Yul the blacksmith, would have become a Knight Protector instead of me. My brother has been my inspiration and when Jatar knighted me he knighted Dern as well. He is always with me, in here,” Gustin said tapping the center of his chest with the large forefinger of his right hand.
“I think that’s wonderful Gustin, and I’m sure Dern is proud of his younger brother. In these last two days you have shown yourself to be a knight in more than just name,” Elizabeth said and moved her small hand to his huge shoulder.
She got to her feet and picked up Michael as she said, “Where is Hetark, he promised to continue my lessons this morning. He’s probably off trying to shirk his duty by working real hard on the horses or something; the nerve of the man,” she said with a grin that showed she only jested.
“Actually, I did see him over by the horses, milady. May I escort you there?” Gustin offered.
“Why thank you gallant knight, that would be appreciated,” she answered with a nod of her head.
They walked off toward the horses with Elizabeth’s hand placed gently on Gustin’s forearm and Michael held safely against his mother’s hip.
CHAPTER THREE QYRMSWAV
Major Harland Von Dracek rode his tired horse into the palace courtyard in Tarnelin. Leaping down from the saddle he cast the reins into a waiting lackey’s hands and headed for the main entrance. The door guards recognized him and let him pass without hail. He took the Grand Stairs three at a time, practically knocking a servant over as he crested the top. “Where’s Jatar?” he demanded grabbing the startled servant by the upper arms and giving him a shake.
The scared man stammered as he tried to answer, “H-H-H-He and the rest of the st-st-staff are in a meeting with the emissaries from Pruta, Sir.”
“Where?” Von Dracek barked, giving the man another shake.
“The conference room in the east hall, downstairs; look for the red door on the right, sir,” he finally choked out.
Von Dracek released the servant, turned and went down the stairs at the same pace he had ascended. Making a left turn he traveled down the wide east hall and the heels of his boots echoed in rhythm with his fast pace. He found the door and without knocking he turned the handle and entered.
A person’s voice stopped speaking as Von Dracek opened the door and all eyes in the room turned to see who had dared to interrupt the meeting.
“What is HE doing here?” a Prutian officer burst out.
From the center of the table, CAracusS, in the body of Lord Ardellen, turned to address the Prutian officer. “This is Harland Von Dracek, a Tchulian major and more importantly the man who saved me from the recent assassination attempt. He is now acting as a military advisor. You are all familiar with the expertise of the Tchulian mercenaries, they are arguably the best fighters in the world and Von Dracek is a battle proven Tchulian officer.”
There were a few scowls, but most of the men in the room gave Von Dracek an appraising look with grudging respect on their faces.
Von Dracek took a seat next to CAracusS.
The Prutian officer was standing at the podium in front of the long table where everyone was seated. He cleared his throat and then continued from where he had broken off, “As you all know our Ruler was without an heir, so it will take some time to sort out the various claims to the throne. Lord Armal obviously knew this when he decided to murder Lord Rinholt. He probably thought that Pruta would be an easy conquest once our leader was dead and our political situation in transition, but our military is ready, and we commit ourselves to the protection of Pruta and the destruction of Olsk!”
After he finished his speech the officer took his seat. A Prutian emissary directed a question to CAracusS, who he saw as Lord Ardellen. “Milord, I’m not yet clear on exactly what was found. You are an impartial witness and you were nearly first on the scene, could you explain what you found and your conclusions?”
During the officer’s speech, Von Dracek gave CAracusS some extremely puzzled looks, particularly when he heard that Lord Rinholt was murdered by Lord Armal. CAracusS signaled back for him to wait by shaking his head almost imperceptibly. The necromancer stood up and walked up to the podium to face the assembled men. He put a grave look on Jatar’s face and said, “I was in my library when a servant told me that Lord Armal and Lord Brik Rinholt were dead. I immediately followed the servant down to the room where they had been discovered by another one of my servants and Lady Rinholt.”
“Could Lady Rinholt have changed any evidence before you got there, milord?” asked a Prutian.
“No, the servant was right there with her and she fainted to the floor immediately. In fact, she was still out when I arrived and I had her removed from the room. I found the two rulers seated at a table and both were dead from dagger wounds. Lord Armal had a dagger with the Rinholt family emblem on it stuck through his left eye. Lord Rinholt had a dagger wound in his stomach, which I assume is how he was killed due to the amount of blood. Lord Armal’s personnel dagger was still clenched in his dead hand and both the dagger and his hand were covered with blood.
“From the evidence I can only conclude that Lord Armal stabbed Lord Rinholt in the gut first, and then he must have pulled his dagger and stabbed Lord Armal in the eye. Lord Rinholt then died of the stomach wound soon after dispatching his attacker, Lord Armal,” CAracusS said, lying effortlessly and convincingly, he had practiced this speech several times.
“So you believe there was no chance that Lord Rinholt stabbed Lord Armal first?” asked the Prutian emissary.
“Absolutely not, it’s rather difficult to do much of anything when you have a dagger stuck in your brain.”
“Then Lord Rinholt was only defending himself against a murderous attack by Lord Armal of Olsk,” the emissary concluded.
“That’s the way I read it as well, and I’d like to add that based on these facts Lindankar must side with Pruta. It is clear that the ruler of Olsk committed the first act of war. Lindankar is prepared to back Pruta against Olsk should this come to battle. I would like to offer my personal help in organizing things until the political leadership question can be resolved in your fine country. Now, gentlemen, we have much to prepare, so I suggest that we reconvene tomorrow at this time to plan our next action, thank you,” CAracusS finished and walked to the door and Von Dracek got up and followed.
A few minutes later CAracusS was in the Ardellen private library again, this time with Major Von Dracek. He had just finished explaining that their fellow conspirator had killed the rulers of two countries in one day, without consulting either one of them on such a drastic action.
As the necromancer stopped his narrative Von Dracek looked up at him from where he had been staring at a shelf of books and said, “If anyone discovers that Armal and Rinholt did not murder each other the blame will immediately fall on Jatar because they were killed in your palace. Not to mention that you were one of the first people on the scene and confirmed that they killed each other. Both Pruta and Olsk would then attack Lindankar, likely defeating us and ruining all our plans.”
“You see,” CAracusS fumed, “he has sabotaged us! I think it is about time we kill that pompous idiot!” The necromancer’s tone showed he would really enjoy killing the nobleman.
But Von Dracek shook his head, “No, as a ruling Lord himself he can still be of too much use to us with all the political power he controls, and killing a third Lord would probably make suspicion for your involvement in all three murders escalate. No, we’ll just have to keep this ruler on a shorter leash. Besides, he hasn’t ruined anything yet, in fact as bold and rash as his move was it looks as though it might work out like he planned. That would put us in control of two more countries years before I expected we would get that far."
"Assuming everything falls our way," the necromancer noted with gloom.
Von Dracek nodded and said, "The trick is to win t
his war against Olsk. They are a larger country with correspondingly larger manpower for their army; however with both Pruta and Lindankar combined we should be able to win. I'm not saying that it will be easy, but if I take command of the war strategy and you put me in charge acting as your liaison to the Prutian commanders, it could work.”
CAracusS could see the wheels of thought turning by the look in Von Dracek’s eyes; his pupils had contracted to mere pinpoints. After a moment, the necromancer asked, “How soon do you think we can wrap this up and get back onto our original plan?”
“Oh, I’d say we can probably win the war with Olsk in about five years,” replied Von Dracek.
“Five YEARS, I thought it would be over within the year!” the necromancer exclaimed.
“Completely subjugating a country isn’t something that happens overnight, it will take hard work to do it within the five years I estimated, and I may have been too optimistic,” he explained.
“Well I suppose I shouldn’t complain; Jatar’s body is young, so time is not my chief concern. Besides, when the time comes I will just transfer myself into another young body,” he said and patted the cathexis dagger stuck through his belt.
Von Dracek was behind CAracusS, so the necromancer didn’t see the hungry look the major gave the dagger. After a moment, Von Dracek pulled his thoughts away from the cathexis blade and his plans for taking it from the necromancer one day. He decided it was time to deliver his bad news and said, “We have another problem; Lady Ardellen and the heir are still on the loose.”
CAracusS turned around in surprise and exclaimed, “Then why have you returned? She must be killed! We can’t afford to let her stir up trouble while we’re trying to win a war; it will undermine us.”
“She slipped through the trap I set for her, and our horses were lost in the confusion, but I did manage to wound her severely,” Von Dracek admitted reluctantly.
“How severely, is it possible she’ll die?” the necromancer asked hopefully.
“No, it was an attack on her spirit and though it was supposed to kill her somehow she defeated it. Eventually, the wound she took to her spirit will heal, but it will take time. Meanwhile, her aura powers will be severely limited. If our horses had not been lost we would have followed and finished her swiftly,” he explained.
“Then there’s no need to worry, my vorghoul will find and kill them,” said CAracusS with confidence.
“How many did you send?” Von Dracek asked.
“I had three of them near enough when she fled, I sent them all,” replied CAracusS.
“Only three, well that’s too bad,” the Tchulian merc replied, shaking his head in mock sadness.
“Don’t worry, they’ll kill her, I guarantee it. They’re much more reliable than soldiers who can’t even keep their horses,” CAracusS answered in a mocking tone.
“Don’t be so ready to guarantee your beasties; at least half my men came back alive. I found all three of your creatures slaughtered on the road,” countered Von Dracek.
“What… you’re sure they were vorghoul?” asked CAracusS incredulously.
“They’re hard to mistake, you know. Even dead they have a certain look to them,” Von Dracek said sarcastically.
“This is inconceivable, a woman with a child and three green knights defeat three of Vorg’s ancient creatures, and twenty Tchulian soldiers!” exclaimed the necromancer as he paced back and forth in the room in total disbelief.
“One Knight Protector isn’t green, his name is Hetark and he has the reputation of being a good commander. And although the other two don’t have much experience, they were two of the most skilled fighters in this whole country, don’t count them too lightly,” cautioned Von Dracek, and then added, “And then there is Lady Ardellen, she is a full Kirnath Adept.”
“Warriors, they are just bodies needing disposal, however, I'm growing tired of this woman; she has been a problem from the start. At the beginning, I didn’t take her too seriously, but I think it’s time she got my full attention,” the necromancer intoned with narrowed eyes. CAracusS opened the door of the room and stuck his head out into the hall before calling loudly to a servant, “You there, have one of the officers I arrested brought to the questioning room; I’ll be down momentarily to handle the interrogation.”
The servant left to do as his ruler commanded.
CAracusS closed the door and turned back to Von Dracek and said, “I’m going to recall the Darknull Baron. I’m sure he would relish the chance to consume a Kirnath sorceress. With the Lady Ardellen suffering from your attack the beast should make short work of her soul,” CAracusS exclaimed, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
“How did the arrests of the Lindankar commanders go?” Von Dracek inquired.
“Not as well as we hoped, only about a third of the military commanders and a few of the servants were around when I started the arrests. That sorceress bitch got a message passed around the very night she escaped! She explained what she believed happened to her husband and her guesses were fairly accurate. The bitch figured out our whole plot and warned many of her retainers and commanders. She instructed them to leave here and join her in a year’s time. A stupid colonel told me about the note before I had him imprisoned. That’s another thing we owe that damn woman,” fumed the necromancer.
The Tchulian’s brow furrowed in thought as he said, “This is bad, that means the rumors of Jatar’s possession will spread even faster. We’ll need to squash every whisper of these theories or this will be all over the country in days and you’ll be under deep scrutiny.”
CAracusS’ face was turning red in anger at Lady Ardellen and the trouble she was causing his plan. After a moment, he finally said, “Can’t this troublesome woman just have the decency to die? I’ve killed her husband, taken his body and throne, it is clear that she has lost and is now just clawing at us as she bleeds out.”
Von Dracek shrugged and said, “It is not the way of the Kirnath Sorcerers to give up easily. We will speak more about this later, but for now, I must get some rest. I’ve been on the road for the last twenty bells.”
With a sarcastic snarl, CAracusS said, “What, you’re going to forego meeting the Darknull Baron for the second time? He doesn’t scare you, does he? Never mind, you would only soil yourself again anyway.”
“I can handle your gruesome friend,” replied the major, but his thoughts were of a different nature. “I hope you remember your remarks when I pry that cathexis dagger from your dead grasp.”
When evening hung its dark coat across the sky, the weary travelers finally made camp in the forest. Elizabeth did another check of their back trail and found nothing in pursuit. After Hetark had prepared a hot meal over the campfire they sat around to discuss plans. Drake played peek-a-boo with Michael, making funny faces between his hands; it was one of his newest duties as a Knight Protector.
Hetark was lying on his stomach over his bedroll and drawing designs in the dirt by firelight when he said, “How soon are we planning on turning west for Mordan? We’re just about past the mountains, so if we turn now we could cross the foothills.”
Elizabeth lay curled on top of her unrolled blankets facing the other three knights across the fire. The flames illuminated her face in the yellow flickering light. For a moment, she contemplated Hetark’s question while staring into the red coals of the fire.
“I’m thinking about changing our plans and continuing to the Kirnath School, it’s only another two days travel south. The Kirnath can protect us from anything short of an army, and we would have plenty of warning if one attempted to approach the school. Staying there a few days would give us protection and time to recuperate. It would also give me a chance to heal my spirit; in fact, the Adepts could accelerate the healing process by transferring some aura energy.
“From there we could strike out for Mordan, fresh. Besides, I’ve had a bad premonition about our current lack of pursuit. They haven’t forgotten me, and their next attempt will be more s
erious now that we have defeated their Tchulian mercs and the necromancer’s souldead. I’m more than a nuisance now, more than a loose end, they are probably starting to think of me as an actual threat. They’ll commit more of their resources to try and stop me before I can cause them real trouble. The necromancer may attempt some type of attack with his dark powers and unfortunately don’t know all the abilities that a Darknull grants a necromancer."
Hetark spoke up at that comment and asked, "But you know some things, what can you tell us of these bastards?"
"Only what I was taught by my Kirnath instructors, I know that they don’t use the power of their aura; instead, they somehow manipulate energy they’ve gained from the Dark Plane. I’ll have to stay vigilant for an attack of the unknown as well as keep an eye out for a Darknull. The Necromancer who stole my husband’s body brought one of those fell beasts into the world, and he may do so again. Right now my spirit is wounded and I’m weak, so I don't know if I can protect Michael adequately. The fastest way to get him the protection he needs right now is at the Kirnath School, even if our enemies do anticipate my goal.”
“I see, milady; then the only problem with the plan comes when we try to leave the school, they will undoubtedly be waiting for us in ambush, however, at this time I see no better alternative,” agreed Hetark.
“Then we have decided, we’ll make a break for the school and hope that they don’t get there before we’re ready to leave. If they do we will just have to come up with a new plan to make our escape, but at least we’ll be at full strength to attempt whatever we decide to try, and the other Adepts can help,” Elizabeth finished.
CAracusS had been disappointed when he discovered that the Lindankar palace didn't come equipped with a torture chamber, How uncivilized, he had thought. He could not imagine how a ruler could build a palace and not have all the essential tools of leadership nearby. He immediately corrected the oversight by converting a storeroom into a passable information gathering and fear inducing chamber of pain.
