Chapter XXII
The three were oddly silent that night over dinner, staring at their plates. Tallia, one of Atma's workers, noticed this when she came past with the ale. What had happened out there today? She didn't let her mind ponder on this, but instead she went into the backroom and returned to the table. She placed something on there and watched their response.
"I'll be watching you," she said. "Don't try to leave here with it, some mage left it here years ago and it's supposed to ease tension. If good food, good company and drink don't make you leave here feeling better then there's something wrong with you."
Geldar stared at her as she left the examined what she had put on the table. It was a dagger, pretty sharp by the looks of it and extremely small and light. He passed it to Talina.
"It's not of a kind that I've seen before," she said, passing it to Norleche who looked at it with obvious interest. "Do you know what it is?"
"I'm not sure of its name," Norleche said, handling the dagger carefully. "But I know what this is for." He ran his finger along the blade, it came away bloody. "You try it," he said to Talina.
Talina stroked the blade of the dagger, tentatively at first and then deeper. For some reason it would not cut her.
"Strange," she said, handing it back to Geldar.
To his immense surprised he cut himself on it.
"I don't understand," Geldar said, sucking his cut finger. "Why does it cut some and not others?"
"A dagger such as this only cuts certain people," Norleche said solemnly. "Those who are marked for death."
"Death?"
Geldar said in surprise. "Are you sure?"
"So sure as I
already know this myself," Norleche replied. "My own death comes
sooner than you think, but sooner still is yours."
"That's impossible," Talina said.
"How?" Norleche replied. "We brush with death everyday out in the desert, why not the next blow be the last? But have no fear, my friend," Norleche said with a smile. "While the sun still shines in the sky, death you need not fear."
"Thanks for the warning," Geldar said, putting a few coins on the table. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll take a walk while I still can."
"Did you have to mention that to him?" Talina accused when Geldar had gone. "He's sore at the death of his brother and the loss of his squire. His own death is the last thing on his mind."
"Or perhaps it is the first," Norleche reminded her. "He knows his own death would hinder him greatly in recovering Sinclair, and finding out what really happened to his brother."
"You know something," Talina said. "You and Cain know something about Geldar's brother and you haven't told him yet. Why haven't you? He deserves answers; you know that as well as I do."
"He will come to know when the time is right for him to," Norleche said, flexing his long fingers on the tabletop. "Believe me; if he were to know what I do it would hinder him greatly in his quest for Sinclair."
"I think not," Talina challenged.
"Very soon it will be only Cain who knows this," Norleche said darkly. "My own death comes before his knowledge of these facts."
"Don't talk nonsense," Talina rebuked.
"I never do," Norleche replied.
The moon was rising over the ocean when Geldar emerged from the steamy insides of the Jewel. Geldar walked to the port, sitting on the edge of the dock and absorbing the silence of the night. Or whatever silence there was amongst the inhumane cries in the distance and the soft breaking of the waves below his feet.
He felt his eyelids get heavy; it had been a long day after all.
"Having a look at the moon, are you?" Geldar turned and noticed a young woman was standing behind him. "Do you mind if I join you?" Without waiting for an answer she sat beside him, too close for comfort but he tried to bear it.
She wore a loose, low-cut dress and her dark hair floated around her face. He could smell her perfume, a soft, exotic scent that seemed to permeate her very being.
"I'm scared," she said in a small voice, leaning up against him.
"There's nothing to be scared of," Geldar told her. "Griez has the town on a strict watch and Drognan keeps the demons at bay with his magic."
"It's Griez that I'm afraid of," she said softly, and he looked at her in surprise.
"Griez might be a bit thick, but he's not likely to hurt anyone," Geldar said.
"He killed my brother," the girl said, her large eyes imploring him to do something. "He wanted me and my brother told him he never would have me, so he sent my brother on a suicide mission," she turned away, staring at the moon. "I've been able to repel his advances a few times but I'm afraid I can no longer."
"I'll talk to him, then," Geldar promised her, putting his hand gently on her shoulder.
"That won't do any good," she said. "You'll have to be a bit more forceful."
"Forceful?" Geldar asked.
"You may have to threaten him," the girl said.
"I don't make threats," Geldar said. "It's not the way of the Zakarum, but I'll talk to him and get him to see reason."
"Please," she said, staring at him with tears in her eyes. "You've got to help me, isn't there anything you can do?"
"I…" Geldar found himself lost for words, and lost in her gaze. He could feel his desire for her emerging from within, an urge he was having a problem controlling. Sweat poured down his face and he could hear a voice in the distance calling him.
"Geldar!" He heard someone saying.
"Kiss me," the girl hissed, she opened her eyes and he could see flames in her pupils. He could feel himself drawn towards her, his lips were almost on hers…
"Geldar!"
He opened his eyes and felt his face being slapped, he was lying down on the dock and Talina and Norleche were standing over him. A pair of strong hands helped him to his feet.
"You were trying to kill yourself," Talina told him. "You were just about to step into the water."
"Where's the girl?" Geldar asked.
"What girl?" Talina looked puzzled. "I was watching you for several minutes, there was no one else there."
"You must have been dreaming," Norleche said. "You were asleep and we were discussing whether to wake you or not then you started acting strangely."
"But there was a girl," Geldar said then shook his head. "Never mind, thanks for saving me."
"You've already done it to me several times over," Talina said and she walked off without a word.
"I wonder," Geldar said thoughtfully to the Necromancer. "If she knows at all how to accept thanks."
"Probably not," Norleche replied.
Early the next morning they were on their way again, Norleche had the bone to direct him and Geldar consulted the map to check they were on the right track. After several false starts they stopped at a tomb about midmorning.
"How do you know this is the right one?" Talina asked.
"I am certain," Norleche replied. "Question me not on how I know this."
"Whatever," Talina said, squinting through the collapsing stonework. "Sure smells like a tomb," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Well," she got out a dagger. "There's only one way to find out."
It didn't take long to clear the entrance, just as rhe dust was clearing Norleche pressed the bone into the sand so it stood up. The bone sank into the sand, they waited but it didn't rise.
"About time," Talina said impatiently. "Now, Geldar could we have a little light?"
"Willing to oblige," Geldar said with a smile as he summoned his defiance aura.
"Now," Talina closed her eyes and concentrated. "There are many undead in here," she said when she opened them. And they go far below until they are living."
"So there's something alive down there amongst all that undead?" Geldar asked her.
"That's what I said, didn't I?" Talina teased.
"We enter," Norleche said, taking a step inside.
After a few more kills once inside, Norleche insisted they wait for a moment while he did something with the bodies. Talina turned away, not wanting to watch, but Geldar looked on in curiosity.
Norleche stroked on of the corpses and thrust his hand down the creature's mouth. He muttered an incantation and the body exploded. Stepping out of the flesh was a skeleton. He did this again and again until he had about ten ready to do his bidding.
Some carried axes and shields but two of them didn't, instead flashes of light emerged from where their hands should be. Flashes of blue light.
"It's a cold attack," Norleche told them. "Should slow them down, makes them harder to resurrect."
"You can do others?" Geldar asked.
"Of course," Norleche said. "Whatever is required."
There came shouts from the next room but Talina was already on it, throwing several javelins and already onto a third. Norleche and Geldar went to stand beside her, inspecting the situation.
"Do you have an aura that helps offensively?" Norleche asked.
"Yes, but I don't like to use it," Geldar replied.
"Blow your hesitations," Talina said unfeelingly. "There's a lot more out there than we can see here."
Grudgingly, Geldar focused as he drew his sword ad summoned his blessed aim aura. There were other offensive skills to use, of course, but there wasn't time for anything more difficult.
"We're going to charge straight at them," Norleche said. "Forget guerrilla tactics."
"Why the sudden change?" Geldar asked.
"Shut up and fight," Talina chided. "On my signal," she said, rubbing something onto her javelin shaft. "And…now!"
Geldar ran, his shield in front of him and his sword extended out to his side, the flat of the blade to the front. He felled skeletons which Norleche used as fuel for his explosions, then out of nowhere Norleche summoned a huge spear of bone and hurled it forward. It went throw two skeletons, three, four, their bodies reduced to nothing but piles of bones.
Talina's javelins turned to bolts of lightning the moment they left her hands, splintering the bodies and leaving an acrid smell behind. On either side of them were Norleche's skeletons, or rather the remains of them. There were about four holding axes while the two hurling cold attacks kept at a distance.
Geldar then noticed how Norleche worked with his skeletons, they froze the enemies in mid-motion and he smashed them into chunks of ice with his bone wand. Yet it only took a few seconds of Geldar's attention before he had to dodge the next blow.
"No mummies?" Geldar asked Talina.
"No, no tomb guardians here," she answered. "See if you can do something about that," she pointed to a large sarcophagus where mummy after mummy was emerging.
Geldar ran straight towards it with his shield in front stunning the mummy that was emerging which he executed with a few well placed blows with the flat of his sword. He then focused his attack on the sarcophagus itself, hacking away its inscriptions and ritual gems. But as he did so he was hindered as another mummy came out and started attacking him. Three mummies later, he had the sarcophagus destroyed.
He then turned around to see Talina and Norleche standing in a sea of bodies. There was not one enemy left standing.
"Did I miss anything?" Geldar asked.
"Not much," Talina said, she turned to Norleche. "What was that you had there? It looked like a large bone."
"It's called the Talon of Trag'Oul," Norleche replied. "Or simply a spear made of bone that I can materialise. It impales anything, not just the undead but any enemy."
"But it can just be made, out of nothing?" Geldar asked. "Out of thin air?"
"There are many things that can just be summoned if you know how," Norleche replied. "You do this yourself."
"My strength comes from within," Geldar said. "Not from what surrounds me, that can easily be tainted by Evil."
"And do you trust yourself enough to control what you summon?" Norleche replied. "I don't think you do, I think your beliefs have left you closed minded on other aspects of life."
"Tell me about it," Talina agreed. "Your way is not the only way."
"I agree," Geldar said. "But this is from what I've seen, not from what I've been taught."
"I see," Talina said icily. "Well, we better keep on."
They descended to the next level then called a halt after another fight to regroup. Geldar leaned against the wall, staring into space. Norleche and Talina were comparing histories. While the Necromancer was cagey on where he came from, he related his journey west from Kehjistan. He had arrived on one of the last ships to leave Lut Gholein and had spoken to no one, intent on searching from the Tomb of Tal Rasha.
"That must be where we crossed paths," he said. "I hate to tell you but there's no way we are near the tomb."
"What do you mean?" Talina asked. "Something of the like must be out there, somewhere."
"Yes, but this is not the way of going about it," Norleche told her. "The Horadrim would not have imprisoned Baal in a tomb so easily stumbled upon."
"Point," Talina conceded. "But how do we find it then? What do you say?"
"It's entirely possible that Jerryn might know something," Norleche said. "He is hiding something, I'll give you that. But he doesn't know where it is, neither does Drognan."
"So you are saying he know something," Talina said slowly. "He is just not aware of it."
"Precisely," Norleche agreed. "But he'll tell us what he is hiding, eventually."
"Eventually," Talina said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Either that or he'll crack," she said with a grin and walked over to Geldar. "Wake up," she said, knocking on his helmet.
"I am awake," Geldar said, he stepped away from the wall. "Well?" He asked them.
"We'll keep going," Talina said, picking up her javelins and walking off.
