by Philip Blood
Drake and Hetark watched her face and saw a sudden tensing of her upper cheek muscles and a slight squinting of the skin around her eyes; after another moment, her eyes opened.
“What did you hear?” Hetark asked.
“I wasn’t listening; I was searching for auras around us. I located three distorted auras traveling swiftly up our back trail.” Elizabeth cast a worried look at the bundled up son she held in her arms.
“What do you mean by distorted auras?” asked Drake.
“They’re souldead, probably vorghouls,” Elizabeth answered with a tired sigh.
“Vorghouls!” exclaimed Hetark, “I thought they were extinct.”
Elizabeth shook her head, “No, there aren't many left, but they do exist.”
“Yes,” Gustin broke in, having trotted his horse over from his point position, “I’ve tangled with them in the mountains of my home province. They are hard to discourage, even when you have a large band and there is only one. We have never managed to kill one before, so I have no knowledge about the truth of their invulnerability.”
“They are not immortal,” Elizabeth explained, “they just have an extremely long lifespan, and they can be killed, though they are very tough. If we tangle with them don't forget that their claws inject poisons that can paralyze a human, so do not let them scratch you."
"I've heard they drink human blood," Drake noted.
"It’s true that they drink the blood of their victims, and eat them, but not because of any supernatural gains. Drinking blood is an instinct that Vorg gave them to increase fear in the minds of his enemies,” Elizabeth explained to an attentive audience. Then she added, “Vorg’s evil creations are one of many things we are taught about at the Kirnath School.”
“Can we outrun them, milady?” asked Hetark.
“Only for a short distance; a horse can out sprint them, but the pace they are approaching at is greater than our horses can maintain for any lengthy period.”
Drake spoke up with a fearless nonchalance, “Then if they can be killed, I suggest we set a trap that will remove them from our list of problems.”
“It won’t be simple,” cautioned Elizabeth.
“Nothing worth doing is ever easy,” the small knight replied with a predatory smile.
Sometime after the vorghouls had left Elizabeth’s old camp to continue their hunt, Major Von Dracek’s squad of twenty men arrived at the same site. Their tracker waited until the main squad caught up and then he led them off the path to the empty clearing where their quarry had slept.
Von Dracek spoke with his second in command, Corporal Bante. The corporal’s dark olive skin and slighter build set him apart from the other Tchulians. Bante was an import from the far southern nations. He had an obvious sword training scar that went down the left side of his mouth, but it wasn’t his skill with a blade that had originally caught Von Dracek’s attention, corporal Bante had a strong aura pattern.
“From the signs around their camp Mauklar thinks we are only two bells behind,” Corporal Bante reported.
“We will cut that lead down today, their horses are less rested than ours,” predicted Von Dracek.
“Mauklar also said something about some large claw marks around the camp that were made after the party had left,” Bante added. Then he watched curiously as Von Dracek fingered a strange pendant hanging around his neck. Bante had never seen his commander wearing it before this hunt.
“Hm, well that is good news, of a sort. Perhaps we shall find them sooner than I first predicted,” the major decided.
“So you know what those marks represent?” questioned Bante cautiously.
“Yes,” Von Dracek answered, playing with his corporal. It was obvious that Bante desperately wanted to know more, but was too afraid of his commander to press him for the information.
Bante lowered his voice to make sure that none of the enlisted men could hear before he asked, “Why don’t we try locating their auras to confirm their direction and distance?”
“Listen and learn Bante, as I’ve told you before, a well-trained sorcerer can feel another’s aura touch. Lady Ardellen is much more than that, she is an Adept. She might pick up our probe and that would alert her to our presence. No, I think we will continue using normal means of tracking for the moment, there will always be time for the other later. Keep your aura shield up in case she checks her back trail, we don’t want her knowing who is following,” commanded Von Dracek.
“I’ve never fought a Kirnath before; may I have the pleasure of killing her?” Bante asked.
Von Dracek gazed at his young protégé and shook his head sadly. “The Kirnath are far stronger than you think. It will take every trick I have to defeat her, so when the time comes remember that she must be killed swiftly, hopefully by a surprise attack. If she gets by me then attack with everything you have, though I doubt it will do you any good; an Adept is extremely dangerous. Prepare the men; it’s time we got back on their trail.”
“Can you see anything?” an excited Drake asked Gustin.
“Not yet, so calm down and stop fidgeting,” Gustin replied in a quiet reproachful voice.
The small Drake took offense at Gustin’s tone. “Well when we do engage the beasts just make sure you don’t get your wide posterior in my way, that thing could block out the sun.”
“Have no fear little man, just try and keep up with me,” countered the huge Gustin.
“Me, keep up with you? You great lumbering ox, I could run backward and still arrive before you!”
“Do you always fight battles running backward? That says much for your prowess.”
Drake was working up to a suitable response when Gustin quickly raised his hand in a cutting motion to indicate someone was approaching.
Drake was instantly all business.
The three pursuing vorghouls came over the rise at a fast pace as they followed the clear scent trail of their quarry. They continued directly down the straight forest path.
When they reached a point where some large green and bushy shrubs came close to the road, Gustin and Drake fired two crossbows downhill from their concealed position; both bolts connected with the vorghouls. Gustin’s bolt caught the leader in the thigh and Drake hit one of the two trailing vorghouls in the ribs.
With an instant howl of rage, the three grotesque creatures stopped and turned with surprising swiftness to charge the shrubs where Gustin and Drake were hidden. As their backs came around to the shrubs on the other side of the road, Elizabeth and Hetark let loose with their two crossbows. With the targets now somewhat stationary the shots were easier. The vorghoul with the bolt already projecting from its side received another in the upper shoulder blade. The previously unwounded creature caught a bolt in the small of its back.
Again the beasts spun and howled their rage, they seemed hardly put out about the bolts sticking out of their bodies or the red blood pouring from their wounds. They were momentarily confused, but just as they were ready to charge the shrubs toward Elizabeth and Hetark, Gustin and Drake fired the last two crossbows that the three knights had brought. This time, Gustin missed, but Drake hit the vorghoul that already had a bolt in its back. The new bolt went through its lower calf.
At that point, the vorghouls split up. Two rushed up the hill toward the bushes that had fired twice and the leader went for the shrubs where Elizabeth and Hetark were concealed.
Gustin and Drake leaped forward with their weapons ready.
Gustin had an ax in one hand and an incredibly broad, wicked looking hunting knife in the other hand. Drake had his rapier in his right hand and a poniard of about four hand spans in length that narrowed to a needle sharp point in his left. They met the two wounded vorghouls simultaneously. Drake went for a low disemboweling thrust with his rapier but leaped back before it connected as the vorghoul came close to separating his head from his shoulders with a sweeping horizontal blow from its extremely long arm.
Gustin moved with a grace that belied his size and st
epped within the swing of his creature. With a blur of steel, Gustin buried his ax in the junction of the creature's shoulder and neck. Blood spurted out and splattered Gustin across the face and chest, but the creature was still in the fight. One of the creature’s thick arms battered Gustin from the side. The knight had to release his ax where it was still embedded in the creature's shoulder as he rolled with the blow and staggered beyond the creature’s reach.
A few feet away Drake regained his balance from his hasty retreat, but he had to dodge furiously to avoid the long reach of the charging vorghoul. The creature was only slightly hampered by the bolts that stuck out from its side and upper back. The towering beast leaped at the small knight who continued to retreat in front of its awesome onslaught, but that is when Drake's foot caught on a root and he went down backward.
Before the creature could pounce on the fallen knight Gustin made a flying tackle onto the creature’s back and locked his right arm under its thick biceps and up behind the creature’s neck. Using the hunting knife clutched in his other hand he repeatedly plunged the broad blade into the creature’s side. Gustin used his massive muscles to sink the blade into the hilt as he searched for its pumping heart.
Just as his knife found its target the creature’s clawed hand tore through the tough leather protecting Gustin’s thigh and its venomous claws injected poison into his body.
As the big man fell he looked up to see the other vorghoul standing above him and reaching for his head to rip it from his shoulders. Gustin's ax was still embedded in its shoulder. The poison locked Gustin's muscles and kept him from avoiding the creature's reaching claws. Fatefully, Gustin watched the claws as they reached down and grasped his head, but that is when the hilt from Drake’s poniard appeared in the creature’s left eye. Gustin continued to fall and he found himself looking at Drake, who was just regaining his feet.
The vorghoul clawed at the hilt of the knife projecting from its eye socket, but it was still on its feet.
Drake rammed the point of his sword through the creature's heart and used his entire body weight to drive it home. The vorghoul howled and clubbed Drake to the ground with one of its meaty fists, but finally, it staggered and fell as it died.
Gustin felt his muscles continue to lock up as he succumbed to the paralyzing poison that coursed through his veins, but with an incredible effort of will, he began to pull himself toward the empty crossbows. Drake looked across the clearing to see what had transpired with the third vorghoul.
Hetark met the leader of the vorghouls with his sword and dagger.
Werwoe was the least wounded of the monstrous creatures, with only one bolt in the thigh. It limped swiftly up to the waiting knight and attacked with a sweep of its left claw.
Hetark let the blow meet his dagger’s point and let the creature’s own power sink the blade into the hilt, but he lost the knife when the creature yanked his hand back. Then the massive vorghoul leaped forward and closed the distance to Hetark in an instant.
Hetark was unable to avoid the attack, he had not anticipated a creature of that size moving so fast, or leaping so far on a wounded leg. The knight desperately tried to bring his sword into play, but only managed to pierce the shoulder of the creature as it hit him with the massive weight of its body. The impact knocked Hetark to the ground. Before he could move the beast leaped onto him and leaned down with gaping mouth. Its two projecting fangs ripped open the right portion of the fallen knight’s neck and blood gushed out of the mortal wound.
The creature raised its gory visage up to howl in triumph while Hetark’s blood streamed down the outside of its throat. Then its gaze shifted to Elizabeth and her son.
Drake was desperately racing toward the creature, but he was too far away to stop its advance on Elizabeth. The sorceress stood with Michael supported by her left hand and arm. Her right hand lifted to point at the creature, palm out.
A crossbow bolt from across the path punctured the vorghoul squarely in the back while simultaneously Drake launched a dagger in a lethal arc from his hand to the creature’s neck. At the same time, Hetark focused his remaining energy and stabbed the monster in the belly with his sword. All of this happened just as a beam of blue light from Elizabeth’s hand lanced out to strike the creature in the chest. The aura energy from Elizabeth raced around the exact contours of the vorghoul’s body, battling its distorted aura, which finally succumbed to the overpowering energy of the Kirnath sorceress. Any remaining unused aura power pulled back down the beam, returning to Elizabeth’s body.
With an audible thump, the vorghoul toppled to the ground, totally lifeless.
Elizabeth quickly knelt by Hetark, who looked up into her eyes and tried to smile. He managed to speak in a rough whisper through the blood coming from his mouth, “I tried my best, milady, I’m happy to die knowing that you and Michael are safe.”
Elizabeth placed her hand against his wounded neck and said, “Save your pretty speech for another time, I will not let you die.” Summoning the full aura remaining at her control she concentrated and poured her power through her hands into Hetark's aura in the area around the ragged neck wound. The ragged hole was rapidly pumping out Hetark’s blood onto the ground, so the sorceress had to work swiftly. Soothing the ragged colors of his wounded aura to match the original hues, Elizabeth caused the neck tissues to re-knit. The flow of blood slowed and then stopped as Hetark healed swiftly. Concentrating completely on the rapid healing, Elizabeth didn’t see Drake kneeling with a look of awe displayed on his incredulous face as he watched her perform the magic art of aura healing.
Soon Hetark was whole again and although blood still stained his clothing and armor his body was repaired completely.
“Milady, I don’t believe it. I should be dead, but you saved me, it just isn’t possible!” exclaimed the incredulous Hetark as he reached to feel his repaired throat.
Elizabeth answered Hetark as they hurried across the path to check on Gustin. “Many things people think of as impossible, are possible, Hetark. We have a saying in the Kirnath, ‘you can do it unless you have convinced yourself that it can’t be done’.” Elizabeth suddenly had the feeling that she was forgetting something extremely important concerning possibilities, but she could not quite put her aura on it; she hoped it would come to her later.
They found Gustin twenty feet from where he had been poisoned by the vorghoul, he had managed to load and shoot a crossbow into the last vorghoul while he was almost completely paralyzed. The weapon was still clenched in his immobile right hand.
“Is he dead, milady?” Drake asked quietly as he knelt by Gustin’s big motionless body and picked up the fallen knight’s large hand in his two small ones.
Elizabeth checked Gustin’s aura with a quick glance before she replied, “No, the vorghoul’s poison only paralyzes their victims, that way they can drink the blood from the flowing veins.”
“Please help him, milady, I owe him my life. If he had not leaped onto the back of that monster I would be dead now,” pleaded the young knight with uncharacteristic seriousness painted on his round face.
“Do not fear Drake, he is well within my powers to heal,” Lady Ardellen assured the concerned knight.
Bringing her remaining aura powers to play she placed her hand over the heart of the brave knight and altered his damaged spirit to match its original colors, thereby changing the composition of the poison to the natural blood that ran in his veins, the paralysis ended.
The big man slowly began to stir, but Elizabeth said, “Hold still for a moment longer, Gustin, while I heal your thigh.” She concentrated on the aura around his leg wound and healed it swiftly.
Gustin regained his feet then tested his leg gingerly. He grinned broadly when he found that it worked normally. “Thank you, milady, I think it works better now than originally.”
“No thanks are necessary; in fact, I must thank you on behalf of Michael for your brave acts in protecting him with both life and limb.”
They muttered
their responses in embarrassment at the praise from their Lady.
Drake straightened up before the big knight. “Gustin, I find myself in your debt, thank you for saving my life. I will try and repay you as best I can, though it may take a long time as it must stand second to my pledge to Michael’s safety.”
“It’s all right Drake, you owe me nothing. You saved me from the vorghoul that was about to remove my head from its proper place on my body with that amazing throw with your poniard. Perhaps you could try to teach me to throw a knife like that someday?” the towering Gustin asked, looking down with a shy grin.
Drake’s shock at his friend’s close call was subsiding; it was obvious that Gustin was completely back to normal, so Drake's natural mischievousness immediately returned to take up its normal residence behind his eyes. “Well I could try, but large fingers are somewhat clumsy for knife throwing.”
Gustin looked startled for a moment, but recovered quickly, he knew the game was afoot again. “Well that’s all right, knife throwing is for little men anyway, their arms have too short a reach to properly fight with a sword,” Gustin told him with a grin.
“Reach isn’t everything, you big bruisers just bash your way through an opponent with brute strength, it takes the brain to defeat an opponent with pure skill and finesse,” Drake retorted.
The danger was over and the two of them continued to warm up their good-natured argument as they walked off toward the picketed horses.
Hetark and Elizabeth looked at the two unlikely friends, Gustin towered over Drake, yet the smaller man made up for it by gesturing wildly to emphasize each point. The bantering of the friends and the release of tension from the recent fight was just too humorous to ignore, the two spectators had to smile.
By the time they walked the short distance to the horses, Elizabeth and Hetark were back to business. Hetark helped Elizabeth onto her horse and handed Michael up where she could put him into the makeshift sling that she used to carry him while they rode.