Chapter XXI
"Well, you three seem to have some sense of purpose this morning," Drognan commented as they walked past his shop on the way out of Lut Gholein. "Jerryn send you on a mission?"
"Not exactly," Talina said with a sly smile. "He did tell us how you deduced that the Wanderer was Diablo."
"Don't speak of him so lightly," Drognan admonished. "Yes, that man – whoever he was – made a grievous mistake and severely underestimated the potential for Evil."
"I have the feeling," Norleche said darkly. "That this was what the Lord of Terror intended all along. Did he not possess a weaker body before this, a child?"
"You'll have to ask Cain for those sort of answers," Drognan admitted. "Though it seems from this that he was in a much weakened state when he was awakened. But I digress," he held up his hands in apology. "I hope you find whatever it is you seek out there. The sands of Aranoch can be dangerous and even as yet have not given up all of their secrets."
"Does he mean that the Tomb of Tal Rasha is really out there?" Talina asked Geldar in a low voice.
"I'm not sure," Geldar replied in the same tone. "Either way, we'd best be on our toes."
"You got that right," Norleche said, they had taken one step out of the city gate and were met by a pack of huntresses led by a green coloured cat whose javelins spouted fire.
"Trouble," Talina said shortly as they backed away. "How do you want to handle this?"
"Their main advantage is in groups and distance," Geldar reminded them. "If we get the split up and at close range we eliminate these."
"All right," Talina assented, taking a few steps to the side. "On three we move out and start fighting. When I start counting again we make a break for it in different directions. Just don't run too far, there's enough at this party as there is."
On Talina's signal they ran out, Geldar raised his sword in attack position and whirled it wildly as he went. A few swift chops and he had his first opponent reduced to a bleeding corpse. A quick dodge and sidestep to avoid an approaching javelin and he was on the offensive again.
Beside him was Talina, jabbing and twirling her javelin at close range and every now and then throwing one to take off an enemy out of reach. The leader was still unreachable, she preferred to attack from a distance.
Next to Talina was Norleche, he merely stabbed the cats when he was being directly threatened. Other than that he turned the corpses around them into debris, exploding with the slightest motion of his hand and creating more and more as the battle continued.
"All right, move!" Talina shouted, she charged straight forward uttering a war cry as she advanced towards the leader of the huntresses.
Geldar darted left, his shield in front of him and calling upon the thorns aura to aid him and the rest of the party. He ran quite close to some of the adversaries and they were knocked out, or even knocked dead, by his close encounter.
Norleche merely said an incantation that caused every enemy in the near vicinity to run away in terror. All but the leader who was in close duel with Talina.
Blood on his face and hands, Geldar raced around the rock fresh from the kill. There was no one left, no one save the leader.
"Get her to walk this way!" Norleche called from the other side of a field of corpses.
For once, Talina obliged, stepping back and giving the oversized cat room to move. One by one the bodies beneath her feet exploded and soon she was on her back hissing and spitting up at the Amazon warrior.
Without hesitating, Talina sank the tip of her javelin into the cat's throat.
"Well?" Geldar asked as he was wiping the blood of his face.
"We better get out of here before the carrion birds come in," Talina said without smiling. "They're already starting to smell."
But it proved to be something they had to get used to as they made their way across the desert wastes and north where, according to Geldar who had spoken to Griez that morning, the Dry Hills were located and were several empty tombs were according to Elzix.
Oversized panther's and lionesses were becoming commonplace along with sand leapers who wouldn't stay still long enough to score a hit until Norleche cast a curse that slowed them down, swarms of bugs that slowed you down rather than attacking outright, large beetles that cast zaps of lightning as well as vultures who were unable to be attacked while in the air.
About midmorning Geldar called a stop and he pointed out a few slimy egg-like things in the sand.
"Stay where you are," he warned. "They could be…"
Just as he was speaking something emerged out of the sand, followed by another, and another and another. Four orange bugs raced towards the party firing poison which made Geldar automatically focus his cleansing aura.
"Talina, get the eggs!" Geldar said frantically as he proceeded to hack one of the bugs to shreds.
Stabbing the eggs was disgusting, foul smelling liquid poured out of the sides and burned the sand. But as she was getting to the last one it hatched, tiny sand maggots swarmed around her legs and scratched at her repeatedly. Norleche quickly scared them off with a few well-placed curses.
When the last of the sand maggots was dead, Geldar showed them the last of the eggs. There were still alive.
"On the way over to the West we used to look for these in the desert and eat them," Geldar said as he killed them with the point of his sword. "Now they're full of poison, such is the case with many things in Sanctuary."
"I wonder if that will happen to us," Norleche said thoughtfully. "If us humans can be easily corrupted as these small-minded insects."
"Not as while I have life and breath within me to prevent it," Talina said tersely. "Could we at least get out of the sun?"
When the sun was at its highest point Geldar called to a halt and they rested in the shade of some palm trees at an oasis. Talina stood guard, senses alert while Geldar opened his canteen and Norleche closely examined one of the trees.
"Here," he said, throwing something at Geldar. "Try this."
"What is it?" Geldar asked, looking at the small green things he was holding. "Is it safe?"
"They're just dates," Norleche replied. "And yes, they're fine. Evil hasn't gotten to them."
Geldar ate a few of them while Talina was staring off into the distance, completely oblivious to what was happening behind her. She suddenly called them over, pointing to something on the horizon.
"There," she said determinedly "It's some sort of stone structure, definitely not rocks. It could be a tomb."
"We still have quite a way to go before we leave the area, Talina," Geldar reminded her. "What we're looking for is sure to be further on. It could be an abandoned village; we passed a few on the way through."
"No, it isn't," Norleche said, squinting into the distance. "But it isn't a tomb either. Impossible to tell at this distance."
When they finally left the shade of the oasis and examined it close at hand. It wasn't a structure, rather a group of stone slabs not unlike the standing stone circles they had in the west. They all bore inscriptions but most of the steles were too weathered to be read.
Geldar examined one with great interest; most of the characters were eroded but he could make out the gist of what was being said. Where they were standing was some kind of ancient meeting place over the ages for merchants and travellers. Here and there people had autographed their names, where they were from and where they were going. They were many repetitions, he noticed, and somewhere he saw the name 'Deckard Cain' scrawled in the stone. Talina looked at it disinterestedly, suggesting that it was a coincidence, or some sort of relative.
"I don't think so," Geldar said. "I think he mentioned once being in the East. I'm not surprised if he has, it looks as if it's in his blood."
"With Jered Cain being his ancestor I'm not surprised," Norleche replied.
"I'm not particularly interested in ancient history or bloodlines at this moment," Talina said rather caustically. "And I would like to find a waypoint so this whole trek was not for nothing."
It was towards late afternoon when they followed the lie of the land and emerged in the Dry Hills, but there wasn't time to appreciate the scenery as they had to fight virtually every step of the way. Now there were what were called sand raiders, many armed fiends holding swords that could give cold attack as well as a stinging slash.
"Does that map of yours tell of any tombs?" Talina asked.
"I've told you four times, no!" Geldar yelled in exasperation.
"Calm down, Paladin," Talina taunted but Geldar stormed off in a sulk. Yet there were all tired and the overpowering heat didn't help.
Norleche was resting a slender bone on two of his fingers, completely ignoring the interlude that was unfolding right in front of him. Annoyed, Talina asked him what he was doing.
"I believe you call it divination," Norleche replied in a calm, controlled voice. "Or dowsing, what ever your purpose might be."
"Isn't that what they use to track water spiels?" Talina asked.
"Yes, but you can use it to find things," Norleche. "Whatever you happen to be looking for at the time if you focus hard enough."
"Whatever you want?" Talina asked.
"Whatever you want," Norleche agreed.
Geldar was reluctant but willing to try Norleche's method, they had to keep stopping and starting again to allow for the killing of more vermin. They made progress, descending down the side of a cliff, through dried river beds and past a waypoint when night was falling and Geldar called to a halt. There were too many dangers in daylight in these parts and they merely multiplied during the night.
"About your brother," Norleche said to Geldar on the way back to the waypoint.
"Yes?" Geldar asked, this dark stranger – he still considered the Necromancer a stranger – usually didn't have much to say and usually didn't probe for answers.
"There's something I don't understand," the Necromancer said. "If your brother left the Church of Light, why did he want his son to become your squire?"
"Well, he had reasons for wanting to leave the Zakarum," Geldar replied. "Reasons that had everything to do with philosophy and nothing to do with the fact that it was the Zakarum who taught him how to fight. That was what he wanted to give to his son."
"But surely that was something he could give his son himself," Norleche suggested. "No offence meant on your skills, Geldar."
"None taken," Geldar replied. "I'm still not sure myself but that was what he told me when we met in Duncraig. I had business in Westmarch for the Zakarum so after we parted I took Sinclair with me and we went to Tristram. It was when we were on our way back north that I realised he was dead."
"How so?" Norleche asked.
"I'm not sure," Geldar admitted. "It was a feeling that I had, I always sensed that Lemnar and I had some sort of connection but at that moment something severed it. It had to be death."
"You know this is so?" Norleche asked. "Or is it merely a result of your deductions."
"A result of my deductions," "Geldar repeated. "Deckard Cain has tried to convince me that he might be still alive, but I am not convinced."
"Not quite," Norleche replied. "If I recall correctly he said that your brother was not dead, not that he was still alive."
"It's the same thing," Geldar protested.
"There are many planes of existence between life and death," Norleche told him. "Some people call it limbo, others such as yourself purgatory, but us that serve Rathma know it is merely continued existence."
"What are you talking about?" Geldar asked.
"In many ways Diablo may be dead," Norleche said. "But like your brother, he walks between Heaven and Hell in a mortal body. Think on that."
Geldar did, long after they left the waypoint and were heading to the inn to stow their gear. Lemnar was dead, wasn't he? Wasn't he?
