by Philip Blood
“Perfect, we can rest in some shade and climb up to check on the pursuit,” G’Taklar explained to Rachael.
“Thank G’lan we’ll have shade when the sun comes up,” Rachael replied, the daytime desert was blistering hot.
They arrived at the pile of stones a sixth-bell later.
G’Taklar picketed the horses and they looked for a place to ascend.
He climbed a low rock and then extended a hand down to help Rachael up the incline. They kept climbing until they reached one of the highest points, only the top of the central stone was above them. Looking back toward the bare beginnings of the false dawn G’Taklar thought he could see a dust cloud along their back trail.
“Yulkcrap, they’re still following! At least it doesn’t look like they’ve closed much of the distance yet,” G’Taklar told Rachael. Then he thought to Jatar, “How far away do you think they are?”
“About four bells. They have closed the gap more than you think; they are probably riding part of the day as well. You need rest, so stay here awhile, but keep an eye on our pursuers and see when they stop. That will show you how early to start this afternoon,” Jatar suggested.
“What if they keep coming?” G’Taklar asked.
“They might, they know that they have to catch you before you reach Myrnvale or they might lose you in the city,” Jatar explained. “If they’re still riding after two bells I think you should make a run for it, but those two bells of rest for your mounts may be the difference. You can use most of your remaining water for the horses, and then they should get you into Myrnvale ahead of your pursuer’s tired mounts,” Jatar explained.
“We’re staying here to rest the horses for a couple of bells, but if the Tchulians keep coming we’re going to make a break for Myrnvale. If they stop, we’ll rest until they move and then go when they start to move again,” G’Taklar explained in turn to Rachael.
“Through the heat?” she asked.
“If we have to, but I’d rather be hot and thirsty than in the hands of Sergeant Herms,” G’Taklar responded.
Rachael gave an involuntary shrug of disgust at the sergeant’s name and added, “You’re right there, I’d rather be almost anywhere than with that filthy, sweaty, smelly, disgusting excuse for a human.”
“He’s not my favorite, either,” G’Taklar agreed with a grin.
Rachael smiled back.
Rachael pointed behind G’Taklar, toward one side of the largest rock. “What are those lines, they almost look like words.”
G’Taklar turned to look at what she had seen, really looking at the side of the stone for the first time.
“You’re right; I can make out a few words. It’s written in Serinna, an old language that I’ve learned to read from my studies of ancient history,” G’Taklar explained.
“Well?” she prompted.
“Well, what? Oh, you want me to translate. Let me see, some of it is so worn from sandstorms that I can hardly make out the letters. Well, this part says, ‘Beware, herein lies,’ I can’t make the next word out, ‘remains of,’ I’m not sure of the next four words, but then it says, ‘his terrible creatures. Do not open this tomb lest you infect’, something blurred, ‘again. Beware,’ and the next word is unreadable, ‘those who do not believe, this is the evil that never dies,’” G’Taklar finished reading.
“What does all that mean?” Rachael asked.
“It seems pretty clear; this is the tomb of some evil creature or creatures. The Serinna must have built this to hold the remains of their enemy. They seem to have believed that he was immortal or something because they’re warning unbelievers that the evil will return if it is disturbed,” G’Taklar explained.
“There is definitely something I don’t like about this place,” Jatar said to G’Taklar.
“I’m with you cousin, perhaps we should consider making that run for Myrnvale in two bells, no matter when our pursuers decide to rest,” G’Taklar thought back to Jatar.
“How long ago did the Serinna live?” Rachael asked.
“A little over a thousand years ago, then they disappeared. Most scholars believe they were wiped out in a massive war. There weren’t enough of them left to keep their civilization going,” G’Taklar explained in his scholar’s voice.
“Then whatever they put in here is over a thousand years dead?” she asked.
“That should be correct,” he answered.
“Then we don’t have anything to worry about, it’s dust by now,” she said, deciding for herself that they were safe.
“She’s probably right, and we’re probably just jumping at shadows, so don’t scare her. She has been under enough stress with these Tchulians after her; she needs to rest and ghost stories won’t help,” Jatar suggested.
“All right, but I’ve read that the souldead creatures have survived over thousands of years, this could be something along those lines,” G’Taklar replied in thought.
“I agree, but we aren’t going to mess with the place. If it has kept them contained for this long, then it will survive another two bells,” Jatar opinioned.
“You’re right, but it’s an interesting piece of history. Perhaps I’ll come back some day and do some real research. There are quite a few mysteries surrounding the Serinna and their eventual disappearance.” Then to Rachael, he said, “Come on Rachael, let’s get down from here and get some rest while we can, we have a hard ride ahead of us.” They began their climb down.
G’Taklar hopped down a four-foot drop; landing on the flat top of what he thought was a house sized boulder below. When he landed, there was a cracking sound and the surface broke below his feet. Scrambling for purchase, he slipped down and through the hole, disappearing from Rachael’s sight.
Deep in the slums of Myrnvale the necromancer RIveK clapped her hands in feigned delight when the little girl finished her story. It was the last of the five stories told by the children that RIveK had kept prisoner while she waited for the return of the other urchins with their scouting report on Elizabeth.
“That was a very good story! For a reward you may go,” RIveK told the frightened girl.
A little while after the little girl fled the building, the other members of the urchin gang began to return, sliding into the room from the various holes and openings to their lair.
When the majority of the urchins were back RIveK addressed them all. “So what have you found in exchange for my gold?”
“Bumpy thinks he found yer marks... tell her,” the leader prompted to a small boy with dark wavy hair.
“I found them stay’in at the Rose and Thorn. They were up early, gett’in ready te eat their breakfast. Both ‘ad ‘ighborn accents. I heard the one call the other, ‘etark,” he explained.
“And they fit the description I gave you?” she asked.
“I think so,” he responded.
“Now do we get our gold?” The leader asked, looking greedily at the stack of coins beside the necromancer.
“You get all the gold in this room, but I doubt you can spend it,” she said, standing and gesturing with her hand.
The door and windows all slammed shut again, and the purple sheets of energy covered the exit holes.
“What is this?” the leader exclaimed, “We did as you requested.”
“Yes you did, but I’ve had to use too much of my power waiting for you, it must be replaced,” she explained. As she spoke she walked toward the leader of the urchins.
The boy started to back away but froze when the necromancer's gaze locked on his eyes.
With a smile on her beautiful face, she walked up and reached forward until her insubstantial hand entered his head. His body shook for a moment as she absorbed his dying spirit and then he collapsed to the wood floor, dead at her feet.
A few minutes later RIveK walked out of the building with her power recharged; in her wake, she left a room littered with tiny dead bodies.
A short time after the sated necromancer departed, the one small frightened little g
irl, that RIveK had let go, went back into the urchin’s building. A moment later she stumbled out the door and fell to her hands and knees in the slimy alley. The shock might have been too much for an adult to recover from quickly, but the young street urchin got back to her feet. She wiped the slime on her hands down the side of her worn dress as she tried to wipe the image of her dead friends from her mind.
She did not know what she was going to do in the future, nor did she even think about her plans. Right now she had one thought in her mind; the Woman who had done this was pure evil. Up to now this young child's world had not included true evil. There were faceless enemies, like the hunger that often clawed at her stomach, or the cold that bit at exposed skin in winter, but these were not things of evil. Here, in this one moment, evil had come to her in the form of false beauty, but it was in truth the horror that comes from the elder darkness. In contrast, all other things the little girl had witnessed, this was true darkness incarnate.
With that thought, the little girl knew that she had to warn the two people that ‘The Woman’ had sent her friends to find. She had to find them and warn them of the darkness that stalked them. She would tell them that The Woman was coming, that evil thing that knew their names, but where were they?
Shaking with the thought of what she had to do, the little girl ran down the alley searching for the cloaked form of the evil woman on the streets ahead. If she was going to thwart the darkness the little girl would have to follow The Woman and see where she was going.
RIveK walked her projected body toward the better part of town and eventually stopped a man on the street and asked the way to the Rose and Thorn.
After receiving her instructions she continued. The little urchin ran up to the man RIveK had spoken with and found out where she was headed. Then she dashed off to try and beat the necromancer to her destination. Unfortunately, she did not realize how fast RIveK could travel in her spirit form once she knew where she was headed, so RIveK arrived at the restaurant before the young girl.
The necromancer went into the waiting room and looked in through the thick curtain to the dining area. Scanning the room quickly, she located the man and woman who fit the description of Elizabeth and her Knight Protector, but she had to be sure. Leaving the restaurant she nearly ran into the little girl emerging from the alley, but the urchin saw her and jumped back into hiding. RIveK took no notice of such a small thing as a street urchin.
The necromancer went to the side of the building and leaned her ghostly shape in through the wall so that she could listen to her suspected knight and lady.
They were discussing the quality of the food, a totally uninteresting conversation to RIveK, with one exception. Both spoke in Lindankar accents of the highborn. That alone nearly confirmed their identities, but RIveK had to be sure that this was Elizabeth and Hetark, so she continued to listen.
Then the woman clinched it in her next statement. “You’re having a hard time calling me Marinda, aren’t you, Hetark?”
RIveK moved away, afraid that the Kirnath sorceress would sense her if she stayed too long.
She went back into the hotel lobby and wrote a message and had it sent to the restaurant to be delivered to ‘Marinda’.
Once RIveK left the building and was out of sight she stepped into a rift she opened between the worlds.
A moment later she stepped out into the prearranged spot to meet SCorcH. He sat on a crate a few feet away, waiting.
“Is the Ardellen woman here?” he asked immediately.
“Yes, and you can find her at the restaurant called the Rose and Thorn, it’s on Gibbel street. A Lindankar knight accompanies her at the restaurant,” she explained, then described what Poison was wearing.
“The knight is inconsequential, but if he interferes in the destruction of the Kirnath witch I will kill the idiot. Is her child with her as well?” he asked.
“No, I haven’t located the heir yet. They were at breakfast when I found her, so perhaps she left the infant in their hotel room. I’ll try and locate him next, but he is nothing compared to her, a powerless child, a mere detail,” she finished, writing off the importance of her small error in not knowing Michael's location.
“A very important detail, find him,” SCorcH commanded.
“Don’t take that tone with me or I may forget the council’s law and release you from your pitiful existence,” she threatened.
“Try it, I welcome you,” he replied through his exposed blackened teeth.
“Kill her, iffff you can,” she replied, mocking his speech impairment as she disappeared back into the Dark Plane.
But RIveK didn’t go to find the Lindankar heir, instead, her spirit returned to her body only a few miles away.
CHAPTER NINE - WERNOK
G’Taklar fell through the suddenly exposed hole and dropped twenty feet before landing hard amidst the rubble of the broken ceiling. Fortunately, he landed on a pile of what felt like dry sticks. They cushioned his fall somewhat, snapping and breaking as he landed hard on his back.
Jatar spoke up immediately within his mind, “’Tak, quickly, you must tell Rachael to stay back or she might fall... ”
But Rachael spoke first, “G’Taklar! Are you all... ” a high pitched scream followed the start of her question and more rubble came raining down followed by the screaming body of Rachael. She landed almost entirely on G’Taklar. His body inadvertently cushioned her fall, but the impact did nothing for G’Taklar’s health.
“G’Taklar, are you all right?” she asked as she rolled off of his body.
“... ” He replied because the wind was knocked out of his lungs.
“I’ve killed him, G’lan help me!” she wailed, clawing over the stick like objects to his body. Her elbow landed back in his stomach area as she tried to see his face through the dust caused by their fall.
“Ow!” he exclaimed.
“You’re alive!”
“No thanks to you. Why didn’t you stay away from that hole? You could’ve thrown down a rope,” he complained.
“I was worried about your health! Obviously, you’d have been happier if I just left you down here for dead!”
“At least we both wouldn’t be trapped in a tomb of souldead, or worse,” he snapped back without thinking, Jatar had warned him about scaring the girl.
“Souldead!" She exclaimed. Then she clawed her way onto his lap for protection and locked her arms around his torso as she gazed fearfully around the room. When she got a clear look she let loose with another high-pitched scream, deafening G’Taklar’s right ear.
“Ow!” he said again.
Now that the dust was settling they could just make out the walls of the chamber from the dim illumination shining down through the hole in the ceiling high above. They had landed in a room filled with bones from wall to wall, about four-foot deep.
Rachael kept screaming and scrambling, trying to get completely off the bones and onto G’Taklar.
“Stop panicking!” he finally yelled, though he was close to panicking. He slapped her across the cheek lightly.
She stopped struggling immediately and spoke in a hurt voice, “You hit me.”
“Yes I did, I had to get your attention since you were in a full panic,” he explained.
“You didn’t have to hit me, I thought you were different from those soldiers,” she pouted.
“I had to because I’ll need your help if we’re going to get out of here. Believe me, I understand how you feel. It wasn’t very long ago that I was the panicking person and someone had to get my attention, the hard way,” he explained, thinking about his travels in the caverns a few days ago and Jatar’s calming measures.
“You need my help?” she asked.
“Definitely, we need to work together on this,” he reassured her.
“All right, I’m sorry I panicked, I’ll try to do better,” she promised, still holding on to him tightly.
“Let’s see if we can get to that opening over there,” he said, dise
ngaging her clutching hand from his arm.
They clawed and scrambled over the dry and dusty white and brown bones. As he moved G’Taklar looked at the bones, at first he thought them to be human, but eventually, he decided that many of them were too large.
“They must be a mixture of human bones and some other type of creature,” Jatar thought to G’Taklar.
“Can we pile up the bones high enough to climb to the ceiling hole?” Rachael asked.
Looking around the room in the dim light G’Taklar estimated how high they could pile the bones, but it looked to him like it would not come close.
“What do you think, Jatar?” he thought to his cousin.
“I seriously doubt it, there just aren’t enough bones to make a pile that will get you the twenty feet to the ceiling,” he replied, “You may have to try it anyway, but first look around and see if you have any other options.”
“We’ll need light,” G’Taklar replied, “I have the tinder box in my pocket, but I don’t see any wood”
“Make a torch from your shirt and one of the bones. Unfortunately, it won’t last long, unless you can find some type of oil,” was Jatar’s answering thought.
G’Taklar began pulling off his shirt.
“What are you doing?” Rachael inquired.
“Making a torch, do you have any oil with you?” he asked in return.
“No, I only have a comb and my perfume.”
“Great, we can look and smell good when we starve down here,” G’Taklar replied sarcastically.
“Don’t ask if you’re going to complain about my answers.”
“Wait, that perfume could be more useful than you think, see if it has an oil base, many of them do,” Jatar submitted.
“Let me see your perfume,” G’Taklar requested.
“Why?”
“We could use it if it’s flammable,” he replied.
