The sailor spat something in another tongue, then pulled away from Norrec as if just touched by a leper. Norrec watched the man run off, then shifted his own attention to the rail. A notion filled his head that he found entirely ludicrous, but still it made him risk fate by actually stepping to the edge and peering over the side.
Waves shattered unceasingly against the timeworn hull of the Hawksfire, doing their best, it seemed, to pound through the wood and send the vessel and its occupants to their watery dooms. The sea beyond churned wildly, sometimes rising so high that Norrec had trouble seeing the heavens.
But of his supposed visitor, he saw no sign. No vengeful ghoul clung to the side of the hull. The unforgiving shades of Sadun Tryst and Fauztin had not, after all, been standing outside his cabin door. He had imagined them, just as he had first believed.
"You! What you do out? Inside! Inside!" The hobbling form of Captain Casco closed in on Norrec from the bow. Casco seemed completely outraged that his sole passenger had dared the elements. Norrec doubted it had to do with concern for the veteran's well-being. As with the rest of the crew, a hint of fright tinged Casco's angry words.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"Wrong?" the cadaverous mariner barked back. "Wrong? Nothing wrong! Back to cabin! Storm outside! You fool?"
Half-tempted to respond «yes» to Casco's question, Norrec did not bother to argue with the man. With the crippled mariner watching, he returned to the cabin, closing the door on Casco's scowling visage. After a moment, Norrec heard him stump away.
The thought of trying to fall asleep again did not at all appeal to Norrec, but he nonetheless tried. At first, questions raced through his thoughts, all but one of which the veteran could answer. That lone question concerned the crimson gauntlet and why it had begun to glow just prior to his going outside to search. If no danger had lurked beyond the door, what reason would the armor have for such a protective measure? True, it had not seized control of him, but still its actions had appeared to have purpose…
Norrec fell asleep still pondering the suit's reaction. He did not stir again until a crack of thunder that shook the cabin nearly caused him to tumble out of the makeshift bunk. Disoriented, the soldier tried and failed to calculate just how long he had been asleep. The storm still blew strong, which to Norrec meant that it could not have been more than a few scant hours. Rarely had a storm that he had suffered through lasted more than a day, although he supposed that on the high sea it could be different.
Arms and legs stiff, Norrec stretched, then tried to go back to his slumber.
A long, cracking sound far different from thunder again brought him to his feet. He recognized that sound, even if he had not heard it often. It had been the sound of wood breaking.
And on a ship in the midst of a wild storm, that could spell doom for everyone.
Norrec burst out of the cabin, heading toward the bow.Shouts informed him that the crew already struggled to deal with whatever danger threatened, but he knew how difficult their task would be if what he suspected had truly occurred. Bad enough for the ship to suffer damage, but to try to repair it during such chaos…
Amoment later, his worst fears had been realized. Just ahead, several sailors fought to keep one of the masts from entirely cracking in two. They pulled on ropes, trying to force the upper portion in place while other men attempted to strengthen the ruined area with planks, nails, and more rope. Norrec, however, could already tell that theirs had become a struggle in futility. More and more the mast leaned dangerously, and when it went the others would surely soon follow.
He wanted to do something, but none of the skills he had learned would have been of aid to the more experienced mariners. Norrec stared at the gauntleted hands, the crimson coloring making them look so mighty, so full of strength. Yet all the vaunted power of Bartuc's legacy would avail him nothing now.
The thought faded as an unsettling blue aura formed without warning around each glove.
Norrec suddenly found himself rushing forward, the suit again in command of his actions. For once, though, the veteran fought little against it, certain of its intentions if not its methods. The armor desired to reach its distant destination, and it could not if it and Norrec sank to the bottom of the sea. For Norrec's life alone, it needed to act.
"Away! Away!" shouted Captain Casco, no doubt certain that his clumsy passenger would just make a terrible situation worse. Norrec, though, barged past him, nearly bowling the crippled mariner over.
The mast creaked ominously, a sure sign that only seconds remained before it toppled into the next. Norrec took a deep breath, anxiously waiting for the suit to act.
"Kesra! Qezal irakus!"
Lightning punctuated each word thrust from the soldier's mouth, but Norrec paid it little mind. What he did notice, what all those around him also surely noticed, was that several shimmering green forms suddenly surrounded, even clung to, the ruined mast. They had strong, sleek arms that ended in suckered fingers, but where there should have been legs, the monstrosities had bodies reminiscent of gigantic slugs. The creatures hissed and crawled, their half-seen faces akin to some demented artist's idea of a bat made up like a clown, face paint and all.
The sailors fled in panic, releasing their grip on the ropes and wood. The mast started to fall…
The shimmering horde pushed it back in place. While some held it there, others started to crawl around and around the ruined area. As they moved, they left trails of slime over the cracks. At first Norrec had no idea what they intended, but then he noticed that the slime almost immediately hardened, strengthening and stabilizing the mast. Over and over the creatures crawled, a madcap race with no finish line. Their brethren, no longer needed to support the mast, watched and waited, hissing in what seemed encouragement to the ones circling around the pole.
"Kesra! Qezal ranakka!"
The demons quickly crawled from the mast, grouping together. Norrec pulled his gaze from the horrific band, looking over their completed handiwork. Despite the storm, the mast now swayed as if only in a gentle breeze. Not only had they repaired it, but they had reinforced it in such a manner that the odds were it would better survive this voyage than the other two.
As if also satisfied, the suit waved a negligent hand at the demons. A burst of light so bright that Norrec had to shield his eyes covered the foul pack. The creatures' hissing grew stronger, harsher, until, with what seemed a sigh, the light faded out-leaving no trace of the sluglike beasts, not even a single trail of slime.
Seemingly unimpressed, the storm battled on, tossing the Hawksfire about. Yet, despite the continued threat of it, the crew hesitated to return to their posts, only doing so when the captain finally shouted at them. The sailors who passed Norrec gave the fighter a wide berth, their fear of him quite clear in their expressions. True, their lives had probably been spared because of the demons summoned, but to know that one who could call forth such horrific apparitions journeyed with them surely shook the men to the very core of their souls.
Norrec, however, did not care, so weary his legs threatened to collapse underneath him. Even though it had been the suit that had cast the spell, he suddenly felt as if he had just rebuilt the entire mast singlehandedly. Norrec waited for the armor to guide him back to the cabin, but now that the danger had been dealt with, apparently it had left matters to him.
The metal plate felt like a thousand pounds as he turned and walked from the deck. Around him, Norrec continued to feel the uneasy stares of the crew of the Hawksfire. No doubt they would soon even forget that they owed their lives to his presence and begin to consider what it meant to have a master of demons aboard. Fear had a way of turning to violence…
Yet, despite that knowledge, Norrec sought only his bed. He very desperately needed sleep. Even the storm would not be able to keep him awake now. Come the morrow, he would do what he could to explain what had happened.
Norrec only hoped that, in the meantime, none of the crew would attempt anything fo
olish… and fatal.
Darkness. Warm, enveloping darkness.
Kara nestled in it, dwelled in it, found it so comforting that for the longest time she had no desire to leave it. Yet, there camea point when something-an uneasy feeling, a sense of foreboding-made her turn, shift… and try to wake.
She also heard a voice.
"Kara! Lass! Where are you?"
The voice had a familiarity to it, one that slowly drew her up from oblivion. As she tried to awaken, Kara Nightshadow's own will aided in the task. This darkness, this nothingness, held her prisoner. The comfort it offered was a smothering one, an eternal sleep.
"Kara!"
It no longer even comforted. Now it scratched, crushed, felt more akin to a casket than a soft bed…
"Kara!"
The necromancer's eyes flew open.
She stood imprisoned in a tomb of wood, her limbs seemingly frozen.
Somewhere a hound barked. The necromancer blinked, trying to focus better. A few cracks of dim light shone through, just enough to enable her to better understand what had become of her. Wood tightly surrounded her on all sides, a hollow tree without major openings. Somehow, she had been placed here, sealed in here-to die?
A sense of claustrophobia nearly overwhelmed her. Kara struggled to move her arms, but could not. They had been pinned to her sides and wrapped by vegetation growing in the hollow tree. Worse, moss also covered her mouth, sealing her lips together. She tried to make a sound, but, muffled by both the moss and the thick trunk, Kara knew that no one outside would hear her.
More hounds barked, this time nearer. She fixed on a voice, Captain Jeronnan's voice, calling her name.
"Kara! Lass! Can you hear me?"
Her legs also could not move, likely for the same reasons as her arms. Physically, Kara had been left completely helpless.
The sense of claustrophobia grew. Although the necromancer had lived much of her short life in seclusion, she had always had freedom of movement, freedom of choice. Her ghoulish attackers had left her without either. Why they had not slain her outright, the desperate dark mage could not say, but if she did not soon escape, her demise would be just as certain… and in a far slower, grislier fashion.
And that thought, accompanied by her growing feeling that the tree trunk closed in on her from all sides, pushed Kara as none of her teachers had ever. She wanted to escape, to be free, to not suffer the slow tortures of starvation…
Bound as she was, with even her mouth sealed, no sophisticated spell could save her. Yet, raw emotion, so generally kept under control by the followers of Rathma, now bubbled up, demanded to overflow. Kara stared at the wood before her, seeing it as her nemesis, her own tomb.
She would not die this way, not through the dark magic of an undead sorcerer…
Not die this way…
The interior of the trunk grew hot, stifling. Sweat dripped over the necromancer. The vegetation seemed to tighten around her limbs.
Not die…
Her silver eyes flashed bright… brighter …
The tree exploded.
Fragments of wood flew in all directions, bombarding the nearby landscape. Somewhere, Kara heard men swear and dogs whine. She could do nothing for them, though, and, in truth, could do no more for herself. The necromancer fell forward, her arms and legs no longer hindered. The instinctive reaction to put her hands out to save herself kept Kara from striking the ground head first, but did not prevent the jolt whenher body hit from causing her to momentarily black out.
Vaguely she heard voices that seemed to draw near. A beast sniffed the ground near her head, its cold nose briefly rubbing against her ear. She heard a command, then felt strong but gentle hands touch her shoulders.
"Kara! What in the name of the Sea Witch happened to you, lass?"
"Jeron—" she managed to utter, the effort nearly doing her in again.
"Easy, lass! Here, you fool! Take the dogs' leashes! I'll see to her!"
"Aye, captain!"
Kara barely noticed the journey back to Gea Kul, save for one moment when the innkeeper, who carried her in his arms, swore at one of his companions for nearly letting the dogs trip him. She drifted into and out of consciousness, now and then recalling her short glimpses of the two undead. Something about them had greatly disturbed her, more than she would have imagined possible.
Even in her present state, it went through Kara's mind that they had been invisible to her senses, that they had played her, not the other way around. Necromancers manipulated the forces of life and death, not the other way around. Yet, the Vizjerei and his grinning companion had toyed with Kara as if she had been less than a firstyear novice. How? More to the point, why did they walk the world at all?
The answer had to deal with her earlier error in the tomb. Somehow, although her training had never covered such astounding occurrences, when she had left the phantasm alone, it had been able to seize full control of the body. Then, it must have summoned the companion it had known in life, the pair vanishing by magic before she returned.
A simple explanation, and yet not at all satisfactory. Kara missed something; she felt sure of it.
"Enchantress?"
The word echoed in her skull, drowning out her thoughts. She forced her eyelids open-which Kara had not even realized until now had been closed-and stared up at the concerned visage of Captain Hanos Jeronnan. "What…?"
"Easy, lass! You've gone two days without food and water! Not enough to do you any real harm, but still too much for your own good!"
Two days? She had been trapped in the tree for two days?
"When you vanished that night, I started a search right away, but not until morn came did I find this pouch near the side of the inn." He held up a small, leather pouch in which Kara stored some of the herbs necessary for her calling. Necromancer spells required other ingredients besides blood, although most outsiders never knew that.
Odd, though, that she should lose that pouch. It would have almost required her captors to spend precious time to tear it off, so securely had the young spellcaster generally kept it fastened. Of course, that made even less sense, since the only reason that they would bother to do that might be to actually leave a clue to her kidnapping, hardly something either ghoul would have done.
But, then, they had left her alive, if buried in the heart of a dead tree.
She felt so confused. Her irritation must have shown, for the innkeeper immediately sought to aid her. "What is it? Need more water? Blankets?"
"I'm…" Her words sounded more akin to the croaking of a frog-or too much like her more vocal assailant. Kara gratefully accepted water, then tried again. "I am allright, captain… and I thank you for your care. I will, of course, pay you—"
"I don't like foul language in my establishment, milady! There'll be no more talk of that!"
He truly was a curiosity to her. "Captain Jeronnan, most folk, especially westerners, would rather have left one of my kind to rot in that tree, much less put together a search party. Why do this?"
The huge man looked uncomfortable. "Always watch over my guests, lass."
Despite the aches throughout her body, she pushed herself up to a sitting position. Jeronnan had given her a room such as she could not have imagined in Gea Kul. Clean and comfortable, with no odor of fish, either. Truly a marvel. Yet, Kara did not let her pleasant surroundings deter her from her question. "Why do it, captain?"
"I had me a daughter once," he began with much reluctance. "And before you think it, she looked not a bit like you save in also being pretty." Jeronnan cleared his throat. "Her mother was higher born than me, but my naval successes let me rise to where we could wed. Terania was born to us, but her mother never lived much beyond carrying her." A daring tear emerged from the gruff man's eye, one the innkeeper quickly brushed out of existence. "For the next decade and more, I couldn't stand my life because it tore me away from the only one left to me. Finally, I resigned my commission when she was just beginning to blossom into
a fair maiden and took her across the sea to a place I remembered being so beautiful. Bless her, Terania never complained, even seemed to thrive here."
"Gea Kul?"
"Don't sound so surprised, lass. Was a much nicer, cleaner place a decade ago. Something foul's touched it since, just as it's touched every other place I hear of these days."
Kara carefully kept her expression neutral. As one of the faithful of Rathma, she knew well that dark powers had begun to spread over the world. The ransacking of Bartuc's tomb only exemplified that fact. The necromancers feared that soon the world would slip out of the delicate balance it needed to maintain, that the tide would shift toward the Lords of Hell.
That demons already walked the world again.
Captain Jeronnan had been talking while she had considered all of this and so Kara had missed his past few words. However, something at the end caught her attention, so much so that she had to blurt, "What?"
By now his face had turned grim, so very grim. "Aye, that's what happened, all right! Two years we lived here, happy as could be possible; then one night I hear her scream from her room, a place no man could get without passing me first! Smashed through her door, I did-and found no trace of her. Her window remained locked, her closet I searched well, but she'd somehow vanished from a room with no other good exit."
Jeronnan had searched high and low for his daughter, several of the locals more than willing to join the hunt. For three days, he had looked and for three days he had failed… until one night, as he tried to sleep, the captain had heard his daughter calling to him.
A cautious man despite his desperate hopes, he had taken with him the ceremonial blade awarded to him by his admiral. With it, the innkeeper had gone out into the wilds, following the call of his child. For more than an hour he had trekked through the woods and hills, seeking, searching…
Finally, near a crooked tree, he had caught sight of his beloved Terania. The girl, her skin so oddly pale-even more so than Kara's-had stood waiting for her father with arms outstretched.
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