Cathexis: Necromancer's Dagger (23 page)

“But what good is staying? If it takes
massive aura power to take over a person’s body, then most couldn’t
do it anyway,” figured Gustin.

“Yes, but that brings us to the part that
deals with Jatar. If the aura of a body is destroyed, yet the body
is intact, then an imprint within a cathexis artifact can take over
the empty shell. All it needs is to touch the empty body.”

“How can an aura be destroyed, but the body
left intact?” was Hetark’s next question.

“
Generally,
it cannot, but there is time between the destruction of an aura and
the decay of the body. During that
time,
the body can be saved if a healthy aura takes up
residence."

After a moment to digest her words Hetark
asked, "And what can destroy an aura without hurting the body?"

"There are a few ways; a sorcerer could use
their aura to destroy
yours
like
Von Dracek tried to do to me in the ambush. Or a Darknull beast
could do it; they consume auras like food.” Here her voice grew
soft as she said, “I believe that is what was done to my Jatar. At
the
church,
I felt a Darknull
enter the world in the direction of the palace. I believe it
consumed Jatar’s soul and then a cathexis artifact was used to
implant a new aura and personality into his vacant body.” Elizabeth
shuddered as she remembered the alien aura in her husband’s
body.

“It’s too bad that Lord Jatar didn’t have
one of those cathexis things, we could get rid of that evil thing’s
aura that has his body and put the real Lord Jatar’s back!,” Hetark
exclaimed forlornly.

“But he did have one Hetark, the Ardellen
family signet ring is made of cathexis,” Elizabeth said
quietly.

“Then what are we doing, we need to find
that ring and restore Jatar to his rightful body! Drake cried
out
and jumped up from the log
like he was going to charge right out and find the ring.

“
Believe
me,
when I say that I wish we could, but there is one thing
about a Darknull’s attack that you aren’t considering. When a
Darknull beast attacks a body they don’t kill it physically, they
consume the aura. His aura can’t be in his ring because the
Darknull consumed his soul.”

A single tear left a glistening trail down
Elizabeth’s right cheek as a small crack in her walled up emotions
opened for a moment, then she regained control and continued
speaking, “But you are right about one thing, I plan to find that
ring so that I can at least speak with the imprint of my husband.
It won’t be the living person, but it’s the only thing I have
left.” She looked down at her tense interlaced fingers and then
made a conscious effort and relaxed them before continuing, “Now
you know that our enemies did far worse than just kill my husband,
they destroyed his immortal soul.”

“Where is the ring now?” Hetark asked
gently.

“Jatar's cousin G’Taklar has it in
Zinterdalin. I haven’t yet had time to make a plan on how to
contact or meet up to get the ring. Still, as far as I know, we are
the only living people who know that he has it, so it should be
safe, however, we must stop him from going back to the false
Jatar.” At the thought of the murderous necromancer in her
husband’s beautiful
body,
Elizabeth felt a flash of rage, but she quelled it, for the
moment.

“I have another question about cathexis
imprints
if the minds of more than
one person are in the same object can the imprints communicate
among
themselves?” Hetark
asked.

“No, imprints aren’t alive like a person; if
the physical owner wills them to be silent they cannot speak, think
or even dream. When the wearer again allows the imprint to speak
it’s as if no time has passed for the minds in the object. On the
other hand, if the imprint is given leave to speak it experiences
everything that the owner of the cathexis object experiences,” she
explained.

“How does this metal do all this?” Drake
asked shaking his head in disbelief of the whole thing.

“Answer that question and you will be a rich
man indeed, the nineteen cathexis artifacts are the most precious
and
sought-after
treasures in the
world. The few people who own one generally keep that fact a secret
lest thieves and murderers besiege their lives, but to try and
answer your question, as far as we can surmise the metal picks up
and stores energy patterns, very similar to the patterns that form
in your brain. A person’s aura carries those patterns and if the
metal spends enough time within the aura it will absorb that
pattern.

“In a very limited way the Kirnath sorcerers
have learned to do a similar thing; we can learn from another
person by absorbing information that they are thinking or talking
about and store that information in our own brains. It’s really the
same thing as normal learning without the in-between step of
translating the teacher’s memory into a language, which they speak
to you and then you translate that back into memory in your brain.
Speaking of which, unless you have any further questions right now
I’m ready to continue learning about combat. Now that we aren’t
under immediate pursuit I’d like another lesson.”

“But you’re wounded, milady,” Gustin
remarked like a mother hen.

“Only my spirit, my body is in need of
something to undo the kinks from so much riding,” she insisted.

“Let’s try the knife again, if you think
you’re ready?” Hetark said and then called out, “Drake, stop prying
bark off that poor tree and come here, I want you to mock fight at
half speed with Lady Ard...”

Elizabeth interrupted Hetark, “If I am your
companion in arms and friend, I think it's time we dropped some of
the formality, call me ‘Elizabeth’.”

Hetark nodded and continued, “Drake, I want
you to fight at half speed, we’re going to work on the strategy of
the knife fight. Like any form of one-on-one combat, there are many
levels of
action
taking place.
Have you ever played the board game Battle Square, Elizabeth?”

“Yes, Jatar and I played often,” she
responded.

“Good, real fighting is very similar to
Battle Square, think about how you plan on what your opponent is
going to do many moves ahead. Often a good player will plan his
moves and his opponents moves eight or ten in advance. Not only
that, but a good player's moves, and
plan,
will force their opponent to make certain moves
that he has foreseen and is counting on for his strategy to work,
follow me?” Hetark asked.

“Like a duckling after its mother,”
Elizabeth replied with a grin.

“Good, now in a knife fight you play your
opponent just like you would in Battle Square, except for one
thing, if he takes one of your players in Battle Square you curse,
but if he out moves you in the knife fight, you bleed; so try not
to make any mistakes.

“Now, I hate to complicate things, but it’s
important to learn how good your opponent is, and vary your
strategy accordingly. For example, I’ve found that it’s easier to
fight a good knife fighter than a poor one and both
require
different methods. Of course, it’s even
worse to fight a great one than a poor one, but that goes without
saying.

“Anyway, back to the good one fighting the
poor one. A good knife fighter will react to your feints, thereby
making the move you maneuvered him to make, and after a series of
these quick maneuvers, called a compound attack, he will eventually
be at the position that you planned six moves ahead, and that’s it
for your opponent.

“On the other hand, a poor knife fighter
will not react as you would expect him to, even if you fake an
opening to which he could take advantage, so I find them a little
harder to fight due to their unpredictability.”

“I understand,” Elizabeth said.

“When facing an opponent, take the first few
moments to study them, don’t try for the quick win or you may pick
the wrong strategy. If you decide that they are of the poor variety
then just play safe, eventually they will defeat themselves by
making a rash mistake that you can safely exploit. Patience beats
the bad knife fighter. If they are good, then plan a compound
attack that will step by step take them out of their game plan and
into yours. Finally, if you find yourself fighting a very skilled
knife fighter, one that is
better
than you are, run. Or if you can’t do that, try and settle your
differences some other way or with some other weapon; maybe they
aren’t as good with a sword, always look for an advantage.”

Elizabeth nodded curtly.

“All right Drake, I want you to simulate a
good knife fighter’s strategy, take her out of her game plan, but
slowly, let her see how you maneuvered her into exposing her body
to your blade.”

A servant knocked at the door of Lord
Rinholt’s
temporary apartments in
the Lindankar palace and delivered a message.

Lady Margret Rinholt was sitting in a large
stuffed chair reading a book. When her husband opened the note she
looked up over her reading glasses and asked, “What is it
Brik?”

“Lord Armal has written me an invitation, it
says, and I quote, `Please follow this servant down to the sitting
room, I am battling with a bottle of wine that is getting the
better of me and I need reinforcements, help!’ and it is signed
Lord Armal, P.S. `Hurry.’”

“Are you men going to get drunk again
already? Haven’t you gotten tired of headaches with all the
celebrating that’s gone on these last couple of days?” she
exclaimed in exasperation.

“Don’t worry, I won’t get drunk, but I will
go down and see how bad Armal looks; perhaps I can get him to agree
to a few trade concessions while he’s
corked
like a wine barrel,” Lord Brik said, rubbing his
hands together.

“He’ll just forget what he promised after he
sobers up anyway, but go on, I think I’ll go and look for Lady
Elizabeth. You know, I haven’t seen her around for the longest time
now. I wonder if she’s a little under the weather or something?”
she pondered.

“I don’t know; Jatar seems preoccupied
himself though I only spoke briefly with him after that
assassination attempt. What a strange affair that was, there’s
something unusual about the whole thing. Oh well, I won’t figure it
out while standing
around, so I
think I’ll be off to see the sloshed Lord of Olsk,” he said turning
to leave with the servant who still stood by the door.

The servant left Lord Brik at the door to
the sitting room and headed back to his other duties. As he left he
thought he heard a crackling noise, but it wasn’t repeated, so he
just shrugged and continued on his way.

A few bells later Lady Margret went looking
for her husband and after asking around, she found a servant that
knew where Lord Armal had been drinking.

She followed him there and after knocking
and getting no response she opened the door. The shades had been
pulled, so the room was fairly dark, but she could see that two men
were seated with their upper bodies lying on the table. She turned
to the servant and said, “Dead drunk again, can you believe it?” ,
but as she drew nearer she saw the blood on the
table
and screamed.

CAracusS was preoccupied when he came in
from the courtyard and started to climb the grand staircase, he
didn’t look up until a voice rang out echoing in the open entry
hall.

“Jatar, old friend, how goes the ruling Lord
business? I hear you locked up your military staff yesterday; what
happened, did they march crooked or did you think a quick trip to
the dungeons would be good for their morale?”

It took CAracusS a moment to recognize the
noble
who
had spoken from the top
of the stairs, and then the necromancer’s face became angry as he
exclaimed, “So, the lost sheep finally returns; where have you
been? This was no time for a holiday, and quit screaming our
business out loud for the whole palace to hear!”

The noble smiled with true gusto and
exclaimed, “I’ve been busy, and unless you would like to continue
this conversation on the grand staircase I suggest we retire to one
of your private rooms where all questions will be answered, or at
least a few; you may be real busy in just a bit,” the grinning
nobleman prophesied.

“Fine, follow me,” CAracusS replied
angrily.

They entered the Ardellen private library
and closed the door before CAracusS spun around and demanded,
“Well?”

“Well what?” the third conspirator replied
innocently.

“Where have you been?” CAracusS asked in
exasperation.

“I’ve been checking out a few things, none
of which are your business really, but along the way I managed to
do you a big favor,” he noted with excitement.

CAracusS considered using his powers to
subjugate the exasperating man just to force a straight answer out
of him, but then reluctantly discarded the idea since he knew they
still needed the noble to play his role. The necromancer answered
him with, “Oh, a favor from you, well that really reassures me. If
I recall correctly, and I do, you fouled up your part of the plan
and Lady Ardellen escaped with the
heir
! Now she’s out there somewhere and she knows that we
murdered her husband and stole his throne. Von Dracek and my
vorghoul are trying to find them and fix your blunder! Vorg
help
us if they fail.”

“It’s too bad he CAN’T help us! I would have
loved to meet Vorg, that old bastard sure knew how to stir up the
pot! Three thousand years after his corpse has crumbled to dust and
people still remember what he did; now that’s a talent for causing
trouble! Ah well, we’ll have to settle for my meager attempts,
nobody else seems to be carrying on the legacy,” he lamented,
whimsically.