Cathexis: Necromancer's Dagger (16 page)

“I will try, milady, but it is difficult,”
he answered, trying to be truthful.

“Think of it less as mind reading and more
like seeing someone’s expression. A person’s expression is a clue
to what they’re thinking, as their surface thoughts are a clue to
their inner mind,” she said in an attempt to explain it in terms to
which he could relate.

“That helps a little, but about your
lessons, why do you need them when you can read a person’s
intentions? If you can take me this easily then you can defeat most
warriors,” he reasoned.

“That’s true, however, there are some people
out there with mind shields, some are trained and some are natural,
but they do exist. I ran into one just recently. Do you remember
the Tchulian commander who was at the palace, Harland Von Dracek?
He had a shield that I could not penetrate. It was the thought of
him and shields like his that convinced me to learn to fight for
real.

“You see, Hetark, I rely too heavily on my
Kirnath powers, but I refuse to be caught unprepared for any
eventuality in the upcoming confrontations. I’ll do whatever it
takes to give myself another edge to strike at our enemies. Right
now I run for the life of my son, and that doesn’t put me in a
position where I should be making threats, but I’ll tell you this,
they have awakened a predator who but slumbered in content. These
conspirators thought me a house purclaw with its claws removed, a
minor pet easily destroyed. They miscalculated. I am awake now and
I will shake the world until the vermin who attacked my family
drop
out like the hidden insects
that they are, and then I will squash them.”

Hetark was taken aback with the passion and
conviction of this great Lady of whom he realized he knew so
little. Then he said, “I understand now, milady, and I will teach
you
want I can.”

“Thank you Hetark, that means a great deal
to me. Now, get up and show me what was wrong with my weight
positioning and how
supple
should
my wrist be when fighting with a knife.” Elizabeth took a fighting
stance.

Hetark stepped behind Elizabeth to show her
the proper positions and maneuvers to improve her technique.

Gustin and Drake soon had the horses ready
to go, so the lessons had to be physically concluded, however as
they continued down the southern forest path Hetark instructed
Elizabeth verbally on the various facets of personal combat. Soon
Drake and Gustin were also joining in the conversation. As they
instructed her in the different forms of combat she watched in
their minds to actually see how it was
done
and to imprint their aura memories in her mind.

The vorghoul creatures loped along the
forest path at a league eating pace, occasionally bending to the
ground to smell the
scent
of their
quarry.

Werwoe was in the lead and the other two
followed a step behind on either side forming a rough triangle. As
he ran, the horrid beast chanted to himself and the two who
followed:

“Kill the men, kill the woman,

eat the
men,
not the woman.

Bring the boy alive and well,

take the cloth and follow the smell.

Kill the men, kill the woman,

eat the
men,
not the woman...”

It was not long past sunrise when they came
to where the trail of their quarry left the path for a short way,
after a moment of hesitation they followed it over the hill. When
they discovered the remains of the camp they became quite agitated,
their movements jerky and swift.

They sniffed the ground extensively where
Elizabeth had lain, their mouths hanging open and salivating as
they inhaled the strong aroma of their prey; they were not far
behind.

Lifting their misshapen heads the vorghouls
cried out their insatiable hunger with a high pitched warbling
screech, and then
leaped
to the
hunt again with new vigor as they swiftly closed the gap on their
prey.

Drake was a few paces behind Elizabeth and
Hetark, while Gustin rode a little ahead at the point position.
Drake turned his head and listened intently for a moment, then
called to the softly conversing Elizabeth, “Milady, did you hear
that strange call?”

Elizabeth gave him a questioning look and
answered, “No, I was speaking with Hetark, what did it sound
like?”

“It was high pitched, a lonely sound that
just trailed off at the end. I spent my youth growing up in this
forest and I’ve never heard any sound like it in these woods.”

Elizabeth called forward to Gustin, “Bide
for a moment, I need to concentrate.” Then she closed her eyes and
extended her aura perception in an ever widening circle. The
further out the circle went the slower it traveled as she taxed her
abilities to look for enemies.

Drake and Hetark watched her face and saw a
sudden tensing of her upper cheek muscles and a slight squinting of
the skin around her eyes; after another
moment,
her eyes opened.

“What did you hear?” Hetark asked.

“I wasn’t listening; I was searching for
auras around us. I located three distorted auras traveling swiftly
up our back trail.” Elizabeth cast a worried look at the bundled up
son she held in her arms.

“What do you mean by distorted auras?” asked
Drake.

“They’re souldead, probably vorghouls,”
Elizabeth answered with a tired sigh.

“Vorghouls!” exclaimed Hetark, “I thought
they were extinct.”

Elizabeth shook her head, “No, there aren't
many left, but they do exist.”

“Yes,” Gustin broke in, having trotted his
horse over from his point position, “I’ve tangled with them in the
mountains of my home province. They are hard to discourage, even
when you have a large band and there is only one. We have never
managed to kill one before, so I have no knowledge about the truth
of their invulnerability.”

“They are not immortal,” Elizabeth
explained, “they just have an extremely long
lifespan
, and they can be killed, though they
are very tough. If we tangle with them don't forget that their
claws inject poisons that can paralyze a human, so do not let them
scratch you."

"I've heard they drink human blood," Drake
noted.

"It’s true that they drink the blood of
their victims, and eat them, but not because of any supernatural
gains. Drinking blood is an instinct that Vorg gave them to
increase fear in the minds of his enemies,” Elizabeth explained to
an attentive audience. Then she added, “Vorg’s evil creations are
one of many things we are taught about at the Kirnath School.”

“Can we outrun them, milady?” asked
Hetark.

“Only for a short distance; a horse can out
sprint them, but the pace they are approaching at is greater than
our horses can maintain for any lengthy period.”

Drake spoke up with a fearless nonchalance,
“Then if they can be killed, I suggest we set a trap that will
remove them from our list of problems.”

“It won’t be simple,” cautioned
Elizabeth.

“Nothing worth doing is ever easy,” the
small knight replied with a predatory smile.

Sometime after the vorghouls had left
Elizabeth’s old camp to continue their hunt, Major Von Dracek’s
squad of twenty men arrived at the same site. Their tracker waited
until the main squad caught up and then he led them off the path to
the empty clearing where their quarry had slept.

Von Dracek spoke with his second in command,
Corporal
Bante
. The corporal’s
dark olive skin and slighter build set him apart from the other
Tchulians.
Bante
was an import
from the far southern nations. He had an obvious sword training
scar that went down the left side of his mouth, but it wasn’t his
skill with a blade that had originally caught Von Dracek’s
attention, corporal
Bante
had a
strong aura pattern.

“From the signs around their camp Mauklar
thinks we are only two bells behind,” Corporal
Bante
reported.

“We will cut that lead down today, their
horses are less rested than ours,” predicted Von Dracek.

“Mauklar also said something about some
large claw marks around the camp that were made after the party had
left,”
Bante
added. Then he
watched curiously as Von Dracek fingered a strange pendant hanging
around his neck.
Bante
had never
seen his commander wearing it before this hunt.

“Hm, well that is good news, of a sort.
Perhaps we shall find them sooner than I first predicted,” the
major decided.

“So you know what those marks represent?”
questioned Bante cautiously.

“Yes,” Von Dracek answered, playing with his
corporal. It was obvious that Bante desperately wanted to know
more, but was too afraid of his commander to press him for the
information.

Bante lowered his voice to make sure that
none of the enlisted men could hear before he asked, “Why don’t we
try locating their auras to confirm their direction and
distance?”

“Listen and learn Bante, as I’ve told you
before, a
well-trained
sorcerer
can feel another’s aura touch. Lady Ardellen is much more than
that, she is an Adept. She might pick up our probe and that would
alert her to our presence. No, I think we will continue using
normal means of tracking for the moment, there will always be time
for the other later. Keep your aura shield up in case she checks
her back trail, we don’t want her knowing who is following,”
commanded Von Dracek.

“I’ve never fought a Kirnath before; may I
have the pleasure of killing her?” Bante asked.

Von Dracek gazed at his young protégé and
shook his head sadly. “The Kirnath are far stronger than you think.
It will take every trick I have to defeat her, so when the time
comes remember that she must be killed swiftly, hopefully by a
surprise
attack. If she gets by me
then attack with everything you have, though I doubt it will do you
any good; an Adept is extremely dangerous. Prepare the men; it’s
time we got back on their trail.”

“Can you see anything?” an excited Drake
asked Gustin.

“Not yet, so calm down and stop fidgeting,”
Gustin replied in a quiet reproachful voice.

The small Drake took offense at Gustin’s
tone. “Well when we do engage the beasts just make sure you don’t
get your wide posterior in my way, that thing could block out the
sun.”

“Have no fear little man, just try and keep
up with me,” countered the huge Gustin.

“
Me,
keep
up with you? You great lumbering ox, I could run
backward
and still arrive before you!”

“Do you always fight battles running
backward
? That says much for your
prowess.”

Drake was working up to a suitable response
when Gustin quickly raised his hand in a cutting motion to indicate
someone was approaching.

Drake was instantly all business.

The three pursuing vorghouls came over the
rise at a fast pace as they followed the clear scent trail of their
quarry. They continued directly down the straight forest path.

When they reached a point where some large
green and bushy shrubs came close to the road, Gustin and Drake
fired two crossbows downhill from their concealed position; both
bolts connected with the vorghouls. Gustin’s bolt caught the leader
in the thigh and Drake hit one of the two trailing vorghouls in the
ribs.

With an instant howl of rage, the three
grotesque creatures stopped and turned with surprising swiftness to
charge the shrubs where Gustin and Drake were hidden. As their
backs came around to the shrubs on the other side of the road,
Elizabeth and Hetark let loose with their two crossbows. With the
targets now somewhat stationary the shots were easier. The vorghoul
with the bolt already projecting from its side received another in
the upper shoulder blade. The previously unwounded creature caught
a bolt in the small of its back.

Again the beasts spun and howled their rage,
they seemed hardly put out about the bolts sticking out of their
bodies or the red blood pouring from their wounds. They were
momentarily confused, but just as they were ready to charge the
shrubs toward Elizabeth and Hetark, Gustin and Drake fired the last
two crossbows that the three knights had brought.
This time,
Gustin missed, but Drake hit the
vorghoul that already had a bolt in its back. The new bolt went
through its lower calf.

At that
point,
the vorghouls split up. Two rushed up the hill
toward the bushes that had fired twice and the leader went for the
shrubs where Elizabeth and Hetark were concealed.

Gustin and Drake
leaped
forward with their weapons ready.

Gustin had an ax in one hand and an
incredibly broad, wicked looking hunting knife in the other hand.
Drake had his rapier in his right hand and a poniard of about four
hand spans in length that narrowed to a needle sharp point in his
left. They met the two wounded vorghouls simultaneously. Drake went
for a low disemboweling thrust with his
rapier
but
leaped
back
before it connected as the vorghoul came close to separating his
head from his shoulders with a sweeping horizontal blow from its
extremely long arm.

Gustin moved with a grace that belied his
size and stepped within the swing of his creature. With a blur of
steel,
Gustin buried his ax in the
junction of the creature's shoulder and neck. Blood spurted out and
splattered Gustin across the face and chest, but the creature was
still in the fight. One of the creature’s thick arms battered
Gustin from the side. The knight had to release his
ax
where it was still embedded in the creature's
shoulder as he rolled with the blow and staggered beyond the
creature’s reach.