by Tracey Alley
and I have no wish to see further harm come to him.”
“I find it hard to believe you care what happens to a Knight of Belenus,” Tares snorted.
“And I don’t care what you believe as long as you do as you’re told. My actions will speak for me. I came for him, risking my life every step of the way, and my reasons are my own. For now you will simply accept my orders on this subject and keep silent, until I discover…”
“We discover, Nikolai, I may not like having to accept your authority but I will work to find whoever is responsible for this,” Tares interrupted.
“Good. Now as I was saying my suspicions were confirmed with,” Nikolai paused briefly and decided against needling the minotaur priest any more than strictly necessary, “Lara’s input. However, I still do not know exactly who the Hand have sent. I assume you are absolutely certain of the halfling’s loyalty?”
“Lord Michael himself has vouched for her. That is sufficient for me.”
“Surprisingly it is sufficient for me also. This means that we cannot trust anyone until we are certain.”
“I dislike being less than candid with a Prince of the Realm,” Tares growled, and paused before continuing, “Wait. You said that the Hand had been hired to assassinate the royal family of Saxenburg.”
“No I didn’t say that, your ‘prince of the realm’ jumped to that conclusion. I didn’t disabuse him of the notion.”
“But if you know it’s a lie, if his family is not in danger how can you not set his mind at ease?”
“Honestly, how naïve can you be?” Nikolai asked incredulously. “I don’t know if I can trust him. I trust you because you were sent for him, but beyond you and our mutual friend I trust no one. Didn’t your boss tell you why the two of us had been working together?”
“That information was not deemed necessary for me to complete my mission,” Tares answered stiffly.
At Tares’ answer Nikolai laughed again, shaking his handsome head in disbelief.
“You people are unbelievable,” Nikolai began when he finally finished laughing; “He and I had been working together for nearly two years. We were on the trail of gossip, rumor, and innuendo and judging by what happened, I’d say we were getting pretty close to the truth. This thing is bigger than Saxenburg, bigger than some petty takeover scheme of The Dark One or anyone else for that matter.”
“I’m not sure I know what you mean Nikolai,” Tares stumbled over the name but forced himself to use it; he would not be seen to be inferior in any way to the necromancer.
“Please stop, for both our sakes, go back to calling me necromancer, or Bhaal spawn or whatever in the nine hells takes your fancy. I can’t bear to see you choking on my name one second longer. As for what I mean, I don’t know everything either but something big is being planned, a war certainly.”
“In Saxenburg?”
“Oh forget about Saxenburg. Didn’t I just tell you this is bigger than just Saxenburg? I don’t have all the information yet, but I will get it. I will finish my assignment or I will die in the attempt and you my righteous friend will help me. But understand this, I decide who knows what and when and until I have more information we trust no one.”
“Surely Slade can be trusted…” Tares began.
“No, absolutely not,” Nikolai cut in, “I have no proof that he can be trusted. In fact some of my information points in exactly the opposite direction. The Hand is definitely trying to get to Slade, and I don’t know why, yet. That alone is pause for thought. Think about it honestly Tares, have you ever heard of someone escaping the Hand? The very fact that Slade is still breathing when the Hand are obviously tracking him makes me doubt that he is, or ever was a target. Right now all I see is a pampered prince of the realm who’s decided to play nature’s friend for a while. Apart from that look who he brings with him; a so-called royal bodyguard who was so good at his job he managed to lose the High King and yet somehow, still has his life? Or what about the skinny wizard who can barely remember his own name let alone remember any magic. He has supposedly been a prisoner of Diablis and yet doesn’t have one single lash mark? And even you Tares, who did you bring to our little band? A halfling who admits to being a member of the Hand, but is totally reformed now,” Nikolai held up one pale hand when he saw Tares about to interrupt, “I believe she probably has, your boss happens to be a very good judge of people. Just remember Tares that anyone, even Lord Michael, can be fooled some of the time. And leaving aside Lara, you come in here with Darzan, not just a known pirate but one of the best is Ixlan? Doesn’t look terribly good now does it?”
Although it galled the big minotaur to make the admission he was forced to see the truth in Nikolai’s assessment of the situation.
“If you suspect everyone why not just leave?” Tares asked curiously.
“If it was up to me,” Nikolai answered his voice low yet bitter, “I would, believe me. Unfortunately my orders are clear. I don’t understand why, and it does not mean that Slade is automatically trustworthy, but for now I must stick with him. As you are well aware, my boss has a particular talent for knowing things unknowable to ordinary people. For whatever reason, the answers I seek will be found by travelling with Slade. That means you and I will follow his pointless quest until I receive instructions otherwise.”
Tares leaned back against the rough stone wall, thinking over all the necromancer had just revealed. Although Tares sincerely doubted the necromancer’s motives he could not deny that the mage appeared to have been unusually candid with him. Furthermore the mage’s possession of the ring was a testament to the essential truthfulness of Nikolai’s claims. There remained, however, the matter of the document that Tares had seen Nikolai remove so furtively when they were still in the prison. As the necromancer himself had said, anyone could be fooled; even Lord Michael. Was it possible that Nikolai had somehow tricked Lord Michael into giving him the ring, which the mage fully intended to use for his own perverted ends?
The difficulty facing Tares was the question of how to determine the true from the false. A priest of greater power than he possessed would be able to call upon Belenus to aid them in determining the truth. Tares however, although greatly gifted by the god in the art of healing, knew himself to be little more than a warrior in Belenus’s service. If the necromancer had lied successfully to Lord Michael, a Knight of tremendous power, then the big minotaur had no hope of determining through divine means if Nikolai was lying to him. Tares would have to rely on his own wits, and hope and pray that if the necromancer was lying then he would somehow discover it, before it was too late.
“You should get back there Tares, in case our companions are as distrusting as you and come looking for you as well. I need to meditate before we leave this place, but I want that to be soon.”
Tares could not hide the deep shudder that engulfed his entire body. Although he had only the vaguest idea of what the necromancer’s meditations might be Tares knew enough to feel a deep revulsion at the black rites performed by those dedicated to the blood god Bhaal.
“Before you go,” Nikolai continued, reaching once again into one of his many deep pockets, “take a look at this. I found it in Luca's office,” he finished handing Tares the very piece of parchment that the minotaur had observed him take earlier.
Tares wordlessly accepted the small roll of parchment and unrolled it across his large knees. Although written in the Common tongue the document made no sense to Tares. The scroll was divided into three columns. A long list of apparently random numbers ran down the left hand side of the scroll, the column on the right had a list of place names. The provinces, cities and towns were scattered throughout The Kingdoms; although on closer examination Tares noted that the majority of the place names were either in Laxdale or Agios.
The centre column made the least sense of all; a series of geometric shapes in a rainbow of different colors with no discernable pattern. Tares continued studying the document. It
must mean something, it had been found in the prison governor’s office and Nikolai had taken the trouble to hide its existence from the others. There had to be something here that the big minotaur could not see. Finally Tares looked up to find Nikolai leaning back against the wall, his eyes closed, apparently uninterested in the minotaur’s thoughts about the document.
“I do not understand,” Tares said finally, “What does this mean?”
“Good question Tares,” Nikolai said opening his eyes and smiling; his smile, as always utterly repellent and cold despite the sensuousness’ of his full lips.
“I have suspicions but I hope by every god in all the realms that I’m wrong,” the necromancer continued.
“Why?” Tares asked, then winced, embarrassed by the harshness of his voice even as he realized that it stemmed from a growing sense of fear.
Nikolai leaned forward, his eyes glittering; the clear blue reminding Tares horribly of the deep, pure waters of the Southern Sea off the coast of his homeland.
“I’ll tell you something Tares, war is coming, our investigations had proven that conclusively before,” Nikolai paused briefly, “well before what happened. But what we didn’t know then, what we were trying to find out is the numbers and the people involved. This isn’t going to be an ordinary