“How can they be dead, but still alive?” Delgart asked.
“They kill themselves in a ritual that uses a powerful teka-enhanced object,” Grelsor went on, “that is both the means of their death and a receptacle for their life essence. In the slaying of their physical bodies, their life essence is drawn off and stored in the object, so the only way to destroy them utterly is to destroy the teka-enhanced receptacle of their life essence. The best we can hope for here on the battlefield is to disrupt their bodies, and when we disrupt the bodies of the purgle, then the nekerpum they raised will fall back into their graves.”
“So we focus on the purgle,” Delgart stated.
Grelsor nodded. “As you soon will see, the purgle surround themselves with the corpses they have reanimated, so we will have to hack our way through the nekerpum to the purgle controlling them, which is very dangerous.”
“Why?” Delgart asked as their company captain signaled them forward.
“Although we cut the corpses to pieces,” Grelsor said, “and scatter the pieces, the pieces will draw themselves back together, rising and fighting again, almost as quickly as they are cut apart.” They started to jog forward, moving up the low hills to the right of the pass, back the way they had come. The Third and Fourth Legions were taking up positions on either side of the pass; the First and Second were moving into the pass, then they would retreat, drawing the army of nekerpum out of the pass to be crushed between the Third and Fourth Legions. “We will have time,” Grelsor went on, “to watch the First and Second Legions as they encounter and draw out the corpses and their purgle masters.”
“How did the megatri,” Marilee asked from Grelsor’s other side, “perform the orthek to lift us into the air? We had always thought they did not have the ability.”
“She does not remember what happened after we were lifted,” Delgart whispered to Grelsor, seeing the kailu’s look of confusion.
“Oh, it was Xythrax,” Grelsor replied. “He possessed the body of the megatri, so performed the orthek that lifted you both and brought your faces together.”
Marilee’s hand went to her marked cheek. “And did everyone see . . . ,” she began and stopped when Grelsor nodded once. Her face turned white. She lowered her voice to a whisper; the two kailum, and the two maghem just behind her, moved closer. “The Council of Shigmar wanted to execute us for the marks we all bear,” she admitted softly. “All of the chosen have the mark inscribed somewhere on them, even the kortexi, who is Sir Karble reborn, he who healed us, was marked.”
“And what did Headmaster Myron do?” Grelsor asked.
“It was his apprentice, Delgart’s other brother,” Marilee went on, “who the Council put on trial for supposedly desecrating their holy altar. Headmaster Myron tried to defend him, but in the process of the trial, the marks on each of us were revealed, and we all were condemned and imprisoned. We were released from the dungeon by the awemi Rokwolf trained, Tevvy, who snuck into the dungeon from the sewers, with the help of the Headmaster, released us, and then led us back into the sewers. We found there a secret area beneath the sewers, prepared by the founders of the elder orders, just for us. The sword of Karble opened the doorway into the heretofore unknown space.”
“What did my father do?” Grelsor asked, his face blank.
Marilee shot a quick glance at Delgart, who was puzzled. “He tried Klaybear, led the Council, and gave the deciding vote for conviction. But you should know that he was working under the influence of a kwalu, we discovered later. His apprentice was a traitor, and he allowed the kwalu into the school to possess your father’s body. I’m so sorry, but he was killed by the kortexi when we were escaping, the kwalu killing your father’s apprentice as it fled before the kortexi’s wrath.”
Grelsor’s face drained of all color, but then he snorted. “It’s no more than he deserved, the pompous, self-absorbed . . . ,” he would have gone on, but Lidelle interrupted him.
“Grelsor!” Lidelle exclaimed. “Do not speak ill of the dead!”
“I wasn’t speaking ill of the dead,” Grelsor retorted, “I was speaking ill of the wethi who raised me.”
“This is terrible news,” Hrelga said, trying to change subject, “that, after long years of waiting, the chosen have appeared, but all have been marked by Gar. The reaction of the kailu council shows how the common people will react. You were both wise to cover your marked faces.”
“How did the seklesem react?” Marilee asked.
Glances passed among the kailum and maghem. “There were whispers,” Lidelle noted after a moment, “but Delgart’s performance today overshadowed the shock and surprise of seeing what we saw. Many thought that Delgart should become the new potikoro.”
“No!” Marilee exclaimed, looking shocked.
“I just joined,” Delgart protested. “How could they think that?”
Lidelle shrugged and went on. “There is precedent for such a move; it is not unusual for a seklesi to be promoted on the battlefield for heroic actions, and Delgart’s actions were definitely heroic.” Lidelle smiled and nodded to Delgart.
Delgart could not help but smile. “I just did what needed to be done at the time,” he laughed, “surely someone else would have done it if I had not.”
“Not likely,” Lidelle said. “The entire course of the battle would have changed, and your ‘doing what needed to be done at the time’ is one definition of a hero.”
“It is very likely,” Hrelga added, “that the Third Legion would have been decimated by the aperum. Like it or not, Delgart, you are the hero today, and the rest of the seklesem will look to you for leadership, whether you are named their leader, or you remain fourth shield of the eighth squad of the Eighth Company of the Third Legion.”
The company and squad were now turning to watch the First and Second Legion enter the pass below, waiting for their turn to attack. The First and Second Legion jogged into the pass and crashed into the front ranks of the nekerpum. Delgart noticed immediately that the formation of each squad had altered to a tighter wedge, and each company also tightened. Each squad drove into the nekerpum, using both sword and shield to push the corpses sideways, opening the ranks in order to reach the purgle. The first four squads of each company pushed forward first, squads one and two pushing left, three and four right. Squads five through eight followed, pushing into the gap, then pushing left and right, moving both forward and widening the gap. The first and fourth would then roll back and join the ninth and tenth, pushing forward and again widening the gap. Each company continued forward this way, step by step, until a squad reached the purgle. As each squad rolled to the back of the wedge, it would face out, hacking at the corpses now pushing at them from behind. The company following would then focus on keeping the way back from being completely overrun by nekerpum. The squad reaching the purgle would surround him, or her, it was difficult to tell since the purgle had no flesh, only bones, and the maghem would counter ortheks cast by the purgle while the kailum, using their maces enhanced with ortheks of disruption, bashed the purgle until the bones flew apart, and the ortheks controlling the nekerpum ended. The corpses controlled by that purgle sighed and slumped into the ground, many of them turning to dust. From the robes of the disrupted purgle a glittering dust rose slowly into the air and moved toward the southeast, quickly disappearing from view.
The casualties for this approach were much higher than they had been when fighting the purem and ghelem. As the squads rolled back, seklesem were grabbed and dragged away from the squads, overwhelmed by the nekerpum. Shouts and screams of pain issued from beneath the swarming corpses as the nekerpum tore apart and ate any of the seklesem who were overwhelmed. The cries of pain grew more frequent as the First and Second Legion pushed forward, and the taste of living flesh and blood put the nekerpum into a frenzy that made them even more dangerous. The charges of the First and Second Legion ground to a halt; a horn blew, first from the Third Legion, then from the Fourth. Below, a horn blew in answer, and the First an
d Second Legion began to withdraw, creating a momentary gap between them and the nekerpum. The army of corpses started after them, and the nekerpum who had tasted blood caught up quickly, forcing the rearguard to turn and fight them off.
Delgart watched this, his brow wrinkling.
“What is troubling you?” Grelsor asked, seeing his concerned look.
Delgart shook his head. “At this rate,” he noted, “there will not be many of us left to aid Shigmar.”
Grelsor nodded. “What else can we do?” he asked. “We cannot leave this army unfought.”
“I know,” Delgart said, “but what I meant was that there must be some quicker way to disrupt the purgle? Can’t you shoot them with a disruptive bolt?”
“We don’t have that ability,” Grelsor said.
“But they do,” Delgart protested, pointing back to the maghem.
“We do not have disruptive teka,” Luthina said.
“Why can’t you combine ortheks?” Delgart asked. “Isn’t that the way the red kailum and black maghem operate?”
“They do,” Grelsor admitted, a frown wrinkling his brow, “but they do not use power the way we do.”
“What is the difference?” Delgart asked. “I mean, since I have never seen them in action, what do they do differently that allows them to combine powers that you could imitate?”
“They chant,” Marilee put in, picking up on Delgart’s thinking, “but it is a chant that is almost like a song.”
Grelsor was at a momentary loss for words, looking from Delgart to Marilee. Luthina touched his shoulder in almost a caress.
“We are trained,” Luthina said, “and we practice our arts, separately, because our teka is highly specialized, but we are working with the same powers and forces, so it must be possible to combine them.”
Grelsor shrugged. “You may be right, but how would we do it?”
“There have been experiments among the maghem,” Hrelga put in, “chaining more than one maghi together, and they found that the powers had to be channeled through a single rod, which meant that only a trio of maghem could work together through the same rod, as we have lost the art of creating a more powerful rod or staff. They also learned that the ortheks were very difficult to control, although the strength of the ortheks was exponentially greater.”
“They only tried single, known ortheks,” Luthina said, “so I am not sure how we would combine two different ortheks into one.”
“It must have something to do with the chanting,” Lidelle said, thoughtfully.
“Why couldn’t you,” Delgart interrupted, “do something like that exploding ice ball you used on the heavy archers: you created it, then sent it toward the archers. Couldn’t you create it, let Grelsor put the disruptive orthek on it, then send it to the target?”
Grelsor’s mouth fell open at the simplicity of Delgart’s suggestion. Lidelle, Hrelga, and Luthina’s faces lit up, as they considered the possibilities opened by it.
“That’s brilliant!” Grelsor exclaimed. “Why has no one thought of it before?”
“Our orders developed in isolation,” Hrelga said. “It was not until the end of the first millennium that we joined the seklesi squads to lend our expertise to them. By that time, the ortheks of both orders were well-established and did not lend themselves to combination.”
Grelsor looked to Marilee. “We’ll need to get closer,” he said.
Marilee nodded. “Captain!” she shouted.
Their company captain turned and rode toward them. “What is it?” she asked, one hand holding the reins, the other held in a sling of white cloth.
“Request permission to move my squad forward,” Marilee stated, “my kailum and maghem wish to try an experiment of combining kailu and maghi ortheks to disrupt the purgle from a distance.”
“How?” the captain asked.
“We believe, captain,” Grelsor put in, “that if the maghi first creates the exploding ice ball, then we kailum cast an orthek of disruption upon the ball, then it is sent to the target, we think it might work. But we need to be closer to one of them to try.”
The captain nodded. “I think the tide is about to turn below,” she noted, “so you may not have much time. I’ll pass the word around, so the others will be watching you.”
“Let’s go,” Marilee said, as the captain turned and rode off. “How close?”
“The closer the better,” Grelsor said, “at least until we figure out how to do this.”
“Let’s go halfway down,” Hrelga added, “and try it.”
They jogged off down the hill; they could hear queries moving through the companies of the Third Legion, wondering what they were doing, and they knew the word was passing through the legion, and that all eyes were upon them. They stopped halfway down the hill.
“I think you should take turns,” Marilee noted, “Grelsor, you and Luthina try first.”
Grelsor nodded, and he and Luthina raised staff and rod. “Don’t make it too big,” Grelsor said.
Luthina smiled and spoke the words. “Wedro-pleugikel,” she said, and a blue ball of ice about a foot across grew out of the tip of her rod. She held her rod up, holding the ball in place.
Grelsor reached out to touch the ball with his staff, incanting the orthek used on their maces. “Reu-komhilum-gleubespi,” he chanted, and the ball of ice changed from blue to green. Grelsor nodded once, and Luthina pointed her rod at the nearest purgle, but before the ball traveled half the distance, it turned blue again. Luthina raised her rod to point high in the air, the ball soaring upward and vanishing from sight.
“It is not only a thing,” Hrelga noted, “but a thing of power.”
Grelsor nodded, and Luthina created a second ball of ice. Grelsor changed his chant to “reu-komhilum-demaghu-gleubespi,” changing the bright blue ball into emerald green.
“Keep chanting the orthek,” Hrelga said, and Grelsor continued to repeat the incantation while Luthina pointed toward their target. Grelsor followed the ball with his staff, still chanting, and it continued to glow green. When it was very close to the purgle, Luthina jerked her rod up suddenly; the globe exploded into a thousand shards of ice, ripping through the robes of the purgle and the nekerpum near him. The purgle jerked once, surrounded by green light, then the now tattered black robe fluttered to the ground; golden dust gathered and flew up; the nekerpum around him fell to dust.
The horn below blew a double blast, and the horns of the Third and Fourth Legion replied.
“Quickly,” Grelsor said, “try it again before we are called back.”
Hrelga raised her rod and created a ball of blue ice; Lidelle began the chant, touching the blue ball and turning it green. Hrelga sent it toward a purgle; Lidelle followed it with his staff, still chanting. When Hrelga jerked her rod suddenly up, the horn signal came from above, calling them back to their position in the Eighth Company of the Third Legion, but the results were the same: the purgle turned green, crumpled, and became golden dust; the nekerpum fell apart.
“Let’s go,” Marilee said, starting them back up the hill.
Lidelle wiped sweat off his brow. “That is very difficult,” he noted.
Grelsor nodded. “We cannot do that very many times before dropping from exhaustion.”
Delgart was not smiling, but he kept looking back over his shoulder.
“What?” Marilee asked him.
Delgart frowned. “I did not count on it being so draining,” he said.
Marilee shook her head. “You just gave us another way to fight the nekerpum and their purgle masters,” she laughed, “don’t be so hard on yourself.” She turned to Grelsor. “Can you write directions for doing that?” she asked. The rest of the legion was moving downhill toward them.
“I can,” Grelsor nodded, “but not while we are moving.”
“Squad, halt,” she said, stopping them. “Quickly, now,” she said to the kailum and maghem, “write down instructions for what you did, and we’ll pass them on.”
They nodded, pulling bits of parchment from their pouches along with fine, sharpened sticks of charcoal. When they finished, Hrelga and Luthina tapped each one with their rods, mumbling and creating several copies of each original. Their company commander rode up at this point, followed by what looked like all the messengers of the Third Legion, and they handed the small, duplicate squares of parchment over to the messengers. Hrelga and Luthina continued to mumble and tap the originals; messengers ran off as each received several copies of the instructions.
“Good thinking,” their captain said to the kailum and maghem of Marilee’s squad.
“It was not us,” Grelsor admitted, “but Delgart who gave us the idea.”
“I merely suggested . . . ,” Delgart started to protest, but their captain interrupted him.
“Do you intend to remake us in a single day?” she asked, smiling.
“I’m sorry, captain,” Delgart said, feeling contrite.
“You saw a need,” she replied, “and you filled it. We will honor you, when we have the leisure.” She looked around and saw the faces of the kailum and maghem in the other squads of her company lighting up as they read and understood what the eighth squad had discovered.
“Captain,” Delgart said, still looking flushed.
“What is it, Delgart?” she asked, still smiling.
“Our kailum learned that the orthek is quite draining,” Delgart began, feeling all eyes upon him, “that they would not be able to cast it very many times before losing all their power. Wouldn’t it be wise to focus on the purgle who is leading this army? If we could take him out, the others might lose heart and flee the field.”
“That is what they tried to do to us,” she replied, “but getting at Xythrax will be difficult.” She pointed to where Xythrax stood at the back of the nekerpum. She thought for a moment. “I will get permission from the legion commander to move the Eighth Company toward Xythrax.” She turned and rode toward the front and center of the Third Legion.
The Redemption, Volume 1 Page 59