Cathexis: Necromancer's Dagger (56 page)

“What are ye gonna do?” she asked
Elizabeth.

“It won’t hurt, I assure you.
First,
just let me take a look at
it, and
stop worrying, this won’t be difficult
at all.”

“I ain’t scared,” Poison told her defiantly
and pulled off the patch.

There was a short scar from a deep cut in
her brow that went through the socket where her eye had been, it
had not healed well.

Elizabeth placed her hand on the side of
Poison’s face near the old wound. “Close your other eye for a
moment while I check this out,” she advised.

Poison was scared, Elizabeth could see that
in her aura, but the tough girl wasn’t about to admit it to anyone,
so she closed her good eye and waited for the worst.

Elizabeth smiled to herself and extended her
aura power into the wounded area and started healing the destroyed
tissues by restoring the aura to the original shapes and hues.

“Did you get this scar along your jaw at the
same time?” Elizabeth asked Poison, whose eyes were still tightly
held shut.

“Yes, I had a bad day,” she said
lightly.

Elizabeth shifted her power to the scar and
removed that mark as well.

“How bad is it? Is there any chance you can
fix the eye?” Poison finally asked, ready for the bad news.

“No, Poison, I can’t fix it... ”

“It’s all right,” Poison said with an
attempt to hide her utter disappointment.

“...because there’s nothing wrong with it
anymore,” Elizabeth finished. “Open your eyes, Poison.”

Poison’s identical steel gray eyes snapped
open and she reached up as if to touch her new eye to see if it was
real.

Elizabeth took out a small mirror and let
Poison look at her face, there was no sign of the old wounds and
her face was back to its original beauty.

“You healed my scar too, how can I ever
repay you?” the girl asked, her voice choking up from contained
emotion.

“You don’t have to pay me anything; it is
payment enough just to witness your happiness, but as we discussed
earlier
if you feel an obligation
let this healing be in exchange for the instruction you have given
me; we’re even,” Elizabeth explained.

Tears welled up in Poison’s eyes and she
quickly wiped them away with the backs of her hands. “I never
thought... ” she muttered, trailing off.

“When you’re ready I’d like to get working
on another speech lesson,” Elizabeth mentioned.

“Of course, we
kin
start right now!” Poison exclaimed.

Hetark looked over and did a double take
when he saw Poison’s unmarred and beautiful face, with the patch
gone Hetark finally saw what Elizabeth had noticed from the
beginning, Poison’s face had an amazing resemblance to
Elizabeth’s.

“What do you think, Hetark?” Elizabeth asked
with a smile.

“You never cease to amaze me, milady,” he
answered with a shake of his head.

Hetark went back to work and the two women
started the lesson. Elizabeth continued to learn from Poison by
watching her mind, even when it was Poison being taught.

“What would you do if a man asked to see
you?” Elizabeth asked Poison.

“I’d smile and poke out his eyes! I don’t
strip
fer
pay,” she responded,
indignantly.

“No Poison, he wouldn’t be asking you to
take off your clothes, he would be asking permission to take you
out on a regular basis,” Elizabeth corrected.

“Then why didn’t he say that? If
e’s
ask’in me then he can
already
see me, right?” the confused girl
responded.

“It’s just a term used for courting. If the
man asking is someone you like then you could say, “I would enjoy
that very much. What would you say if he was a man you were not
interested in seeing?”

Poison thought hard about the kind of answer
Elizabeth had been teaching her to say and answered, “I’d say,
`It’s kind ‘o you te ask, but I’m busy right now.’... ”

“Good!” Elizabeth
exclaimed
before Poison was quite finished.

“...and I’d throw a dagger in the wall next
te
his ear te make sure he got the
point,” the bodyguard finished haughtily.

“No dagger, Poison, he would understand that
you didn’t want to go out with him,” Elizabeth corrected.

“Then why don’t I just say, ‘I don’t want
te
go out with the likes of
you!’?” Poison asked.

“It isn’t polite. By not actually saying
that you don’t want to go out with him you save his ego and he
saves face. Now if he doesn’t take the hint and becomes impolite,
then you can be more blunt and impolite yourself,” she
explained.

“Then I can throw him out?” Poison
asked.

“No, you don’t throw a gentleman out the
door! If he didn’t take your hint you just tell him to leave and
that you are not interested in ever going somewhere with him in the
future.”

“What if he grabs me?” Poison asked.

“A gentleman won’t,” Elizabeth
responded.

“What if he doesn’t act like a gentleman and
grabs me? Do I have te let him?” Poison asked, ready to give up the
whole idea of learning the ways of a lady if she had to accede to a
man’s demands.

“Then you have my permission to rip his nose
off and toss him out the door on his head,” Elizabeth answered.

“Good, I
was
get
’in worried there
fer
a
moment,” Poison said with relief.

“Poison, men of the upper classes don’t
normally try to force women to do anything. Some expect their
wealth and manners to impress a lady into doing what they want, and
others are true gentlemen who only want a woman to give what she
wants to give. I’m not saying that they are all as honorable as
Hetark, but give them the benefit of the doubt. If they prove
themselves a bore, then take appropriate action. And I do mean
appropriate action, which means you don’t kill them if they get a
little friendly, just push them away. If they bother you, respond
according to the severity of the infraction. If he kisses you and
you don’t want to be kissed, slap him, don’t stab him with a poison
dagger. Unless he had bad breath, then it’s all right to stab...
I’m just kidding Poison,” Elizabeth said suddenly, seeing the
intent look on Poison’s face and the slight nod of agreement.

Poison grinned at Elizabeth’s reaction. “Had
you go’in there, I knew you were just
jok’in
.”

Elizabeth smiled back, she had been watching
in Poison’s mind, learning things from her the whole time they
talked, so she had known Poison was trying to fool her, but
Elizabeth pretended to believe Poison’s act, allowing her to play
the joke was important in developing Poison’s confidence in her
social skills.

“What am I te do about my talk’in? I want
te
speak handsomely like you,”
Poison asked, becoming serious again.

Elizabeth considered the options silently
for a moment.
I could teach her, but it might take months for us
to completely get rid of that accent, but if I could place some
blocks and bridges, she’d learn it in a few days. I wonder if she
trusts me enough to let me in her mind?

Elizabeth gauged Poison a moment before
asking her a question, and then said, “You know how I quickly
learned to throw knives?”

“I know you learned, but I don’t know ‘ow,
exactly,” Poison answered.

“You know it has something to do with my
Kirnath abilities, right?”

“Yes, I suppose I do,” Poison answered, a
little puzzled by the turn in the
conversation
.

“Well, what would you say if I told you I
could help you learn to change your speech very quickly using my
abilities?” Elizabeth asked, watching Poison carefully for signs of
fear.

“That would be great!” Poison responded. The
healing of her eye had brought a level of trust that the street
girl had seldom given to anyone.

“You would have to lie down, relax and let
me put my hands on your forehead, and then you’ll go to sleep for a
short time. When you wake up you’ll find you can speak without your
accent.
Though
remember about the
types of memory, you’ll have to practice and concentrate for a few
days or you’ll revert to the old accent,” Elizabeth told her,
looking into her eyes to show she was being honest.

Poison looked a little apprehensive, trust
only went so far.

“
Ye’re
go
’in te go in my head?”

“I wouldn’t do anything else besides help
you lose your accent, I promise,” Elizabeth reassured her.

Hetark walked by the two of them carrying a
water skin toward the horses. He stopped by Elizabeth’s blankets,
set down the buckets and fixed the lower corner of her bedroll. It
was folded under, so he pulled it out straight and smoothed out the
wrinkles. When he was finished he picked up the buckets and
continued on his way. He had not noticed them watching.

“All right, if you promise I’ll be the same
as I was before. You won’t make me have too many manners, will
you?”

“No, you’ll have to decide that type of
thing for yourself. Using manners or not is up to you. I wouldn’t
ever take a person’s choice away. Being able to choose is your
greatest gift in life, like choosing to fight for a just cause
versus personal gain. What you choose to believe in, or ignore, are
fences each person must cross on their own. Right now you sit on a
fence, you are not a bandit or a thief, but you associate with
those types
. One day soon you’ll
be forced to make up your mind; are you going to stand against the
wrongs of this world or join them? If you don’t choose then one day
you’ll be knocked off that fence anyway. I’ve chosen to fight an
evil that must be stopped, and the only way that will happen is for
people, like you and me, to stand up for what is right, no matter
what the personal consequences.”

Poison looked troubled by Elizabeth's sudden
sermon.

“I’m sorry, I got
sidetracked
,” Elizabeth said with a smile, “we were
discussing your choice on manners. As far as this simple accent
meld
, don’t worry, I’ll just be
giving you something, you won’t be losing anything.
In fact,
you’ll be able to switch back and forth
between the accents once you have practiced the new one,” she
explained.

“What happens if we’re attack when I’m
sleep’in
?” Poison asked, concerned
that she would be in a helpless state.

“Then I will wake you, instantly. I promise
that I won’t leave your side until you wake,” Elizabeth
promised.

“I wouldn’t normally trust anyone this far,
but somehow I trust you. Is right here good enough?” Poison asked,
lying down on her bedroll.

“Yes, that’s perfect, now relax. I’m going
to rub my fingers on your forehead,
eventually,
you’re going to drift off to sleep. Don’t try
to help, just relax, and trust me,” Elizabeth finished quietly.

The sorceress reached into Poison's mind and
pushed gently, after a few moments the young rogue went to
sleep.

Once she was into a deep slumber Elizabeth
flowed completely into the girl’s thoughts and located the areas of
speech. Then she spent some time laying in words spoken without the
lower class accent. She also blocked off the old
accent
but created triggers to allow Poison to
switch back later once Elizabeth told her the word key that would
open the change of accent. As she worked Elizabeth considered the
only drawback to this procedure.
She’s going to sound a lot like
me when she speaks with this accent, but there’s no help for it,
I’m putting my memories of speech directly into her memory. Such is
the price of quick learning.

Within the Tchulian keep at Headwater
Becaris led the other two Knight Protectors down the torch lit
hall. From the directions they had coerced from Sergeant Herms they
knew they needed to reach the second building; that's where the
stairs went down into the dungeon.

Speed was their ally; the less time they
spent in the hall the less likely they would be caught, so Becaris
set a swift pace with Rasal and Lasar following about twenty paces
behind.

As Becaris passed an open doorway a Tchulian
soldier stepped out. Becaris ignored him and kept on walking. The
soldier turned to look at Becaris, and so did not see the two
brothers coming from behind.

Before he could call out Rasal struck him on
the head with the pommel of his dagger and Lasar caught him as he
fell. They quickly grabbed his feet and arms, so they could take
him back into the room. Just as they picked him up three other
soldiers stepped out of another door thirty paces away. The
soldiers were laughing and
joking
but stopped when they saw the unconscious form of the soldier being
carried by the two brothers, neither of which wore a Tchulian
uniform.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” the soldier in
the lead asked and the three soldiers started over toward the
brothers.

Becaris came walking back down the hall. “He
fell down, drunk. I told my men to put him in this room until I
could find someone in authority.”

“And, who are you?” the lieutenant who led
the three soldiers asked.

“First Lieutenant Becker, just reassigned
here, in from a special assignment. We were on our way to change
into uniform before reporting to the Captain. Why don’t you take
over here, lieutenant, the Captain is waiting for us,” Becaris
answered.

“I don’t know any First Lieutenant Becker,”
the Lieutenant replied, looking suspiciously at the fine looking
light armor Becaris wore.

“I’m new here, and I...” Becaris didn’t
finish his line, he had gotten close enough to yank his sword out
and engage the lieutenant.