The Necromancer's Reckoning: Chapter 5 and 6

Chapter 5

SMACK!

Valdor spat blood from his trembling lips. He gritted his teeth and gazed solemnly up at the Goulrath. The Goulrath’s hands were red and bloodied from where he had ferociously beaten Valdor.

Valdor’s fists were clenched with anger. He didn’t know anything. But the Goulrath weren’t going to believe him. What did he have to do to convince them that he was telling the truth?

The Goulrath drew a dagger from his scabbard. Light glinted off its shining surface as it shimmered in the air.

“Zulrich steel…” the Goulrath muttered. “No steel has a sharp edge like Zulrich steel. It’s a Utopian design as you can tell, forged in the mines of Sandpike the and one of the only one hundred ever made.”

“That’s impressive…” Valdor panted, exhausted. His stomach felt like fire.

The Goulrath gazed wondrously at the dagger. He smiled with sadistic joy as he reached over to Valdor with his blade.

Valdor winced as the Goulrath pricked the edge of the dagger into his eyebrow and slowly started to cut downwards. Valdor tried to move backwards but another Goulrath grabbed his head and kept him still.

The Goulrath scratched all the way down his face leaving a worm of blood running down his face. His face felt on fire. It wasn’t a deep gash at all, Valdor was confused on why it hurt so much. Valdor had suffered much worse wounds on his travels but this different.

“I almost forgot to say,” the Goulrath paused and lifted his dagger from Valdor’s cheek. The Goulrath grinned. “It also has a lethal poison edge which will leave you in agony for the next six hours. We can cure the poison, as long as you tell us who sent you to spy on us. ”

Valdor felt the poison flow through his veins. Sweat poured from his brow and a fever ravaged him within seconds. He was immediately disoriented and had no sense of direction. Valdor fell backwards into an abyss of impending darkness.

His heart beats were as loud as his thoughts. His vision started to blur and he looked up at the large Goulrath admiring his dagger. Suddenly a force erupted from inside him. Valdor vomited across the floor and spat blood. Valdor flopped to the floor helplessly. He was as limp as a dead fish.

Valdor tried to speak. Using all the force he could he spluttered, “What have you done…?”

“As I said,” The Goulrath purred in a grumbling voice. “There is no edge like Utopian steel.”

The Goulrath exited the tent.

Valdor was left in the tent to fend off the poison. He could feel the pollution in his blood. It felt as if a monster was eating him from the inside out. His stomach was being boiled alive. An inferno erupted through his body. He was on fire. He was certain of it.

It was just the poison. It was playing tricks on the mind. He couldn’t give in to the poison otherwise it would consume him.

His palms were itching. Valdor scratched at them in animalistic ferocity. He scratched so hard he drew blood. There was something inside of him, something monstrous. He had to scratch it out before it killed him.

No! I can’t let the madness consume me.

It was the poison meddling with his mind. They just wanted him to tell the truth. It was mind over matter. He had to trick through this. It couldn’t get any worse than this. It had to die off at some point.

Hours passed. His mind was withered with exhaustion and his body was limp. Sweat poured from his face a ghost like chill crept up his body. Valdor screamed out aloud. The pain was too much for him to bear.

The fat Goulrath walked into the tent. He knelt down towards Valdor and held a glass vile up towards Valdor’s face. “This is the antidote. Tell us who you are working for and you will be cured of your pain.”

“I don’t know anything!” Valdor blurted out.

“Wrong answer. Would you like some more poison?” he held his poison-edged knife up to Valdor’s face and Valdor whimpered. “Tell us or you will get another dose.”

“I swear on my life, I do not know!” Tears streamed down Valdor’s face. “I will do anything, just no more poison… please.”

The chief Goulrath entered the tent. He watched the interrogation carefully. He looked at valdor in disgust as he whimpered like a baby.

The Goulrath interrogator put the vile in my hands and said, “Drink this. It will cure the pain within a few minutes.”

Valdor didn’t speak, he just snatched the vile from the Goulrath’s hands, opened it, and drunk it all at once. Valdor felt the cool sensation in his throat as the soothing liquid went down. It was like the liquid washed the poison from his veins and everything felt relaxed. His vision cleared and his breathing started to steady.

Valdor felt a surge of relief as the antidote coursed through his veins. He had never felt so much pain in his life, and now it was all over. Valdor lay on his back and sighed with relief. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and closed his eyes.

Valdor sat back up and gazed at the two Goulrath talking. He struggled to hear but just about managed to hear what they were saying.

“… He had the voice of an innocent man.” The interrogator murmured.

“You didn’t have my permission. You lied to me.”

“I am sorry, Borzag. I believe the boy is innocent. No one can ever take a second dose of Scarab Poison without blurting the truth out. This has never happened in my fifteen years of interrogation.”

“So what do we do with him now if he is of no use to us?” the chief asked.

“I don’t know, sir. He’s innocent and should be released immediately.” The interrogator replied certain of his words with no hesitation.

“Release him did you say?” questioned the chief Goulrath, placing his hand upon the hilt of his sword.

The interrogator looked uneasy. He nodded and said, “Aye. I believe he should be released but it was only my opinion.”

Valdor wanted to smile.

There was an eerie silence within the tent. The chief Goulrath looked down at Valdor in disgust and smirked. He slowly looked back at the other Goulrath. He smiled sadistically. “Well, I don’t like your opinion,” and the Borzag drew his steel blade from his boiled leather scabbard and the other Goulrath stepped back in horror.

The Chief thrust his sword through the air and into the other Goulrath’s chest. The sound of steel slicing through flesh sounded within the tent. The Chief grimaced as dark purple blood spewed from the Goulrath and he collapsed to its knees. A fountain of blood flowed from his mouth and onto the floor of the tent. The Goulrath fell forwards onto its face and it died.

Purple blood coated the tent canvass. Valdor whimpered like a dying dog. Never in Valdor’s life had he seen such horrors.

The Goulrath gazed at me and spat on the floor in utter disgrace. “Mortal scum.” It knelt down towards the Goulrath’s empty armour and picked up the Utopian dagger.

It was probably still coated with Scarab Poison. The chief walked over to me quickly slashed at my arm. I flinched as soon as it made contact. The poison immediately made his blood feel hotter.

The process was starting again.

“Please, no one sent me here.” Valdor pleaded struggling to speak as poison coursed through his blood.

“When you want to tell us who sent you, just shout us, and until you start speaking the truth, we will keep refilling your veins with poison until you are nothing but rotting flesh in a pool of infected blood.”

As he said his words his organs started to boil and his skin was on fire.

That’s when the screaming started again.

Chapter 6

Prince Pincas was careful not to be seen at this time of night.

He was going to meet the assassin at midnight near the Square. Eldermere was the capital and largest city in Axion so the meeting place had to be well known.

Tonight was the night that would change everything. He had waited long enough under the reign of his father. Now times were going to change. No longer would Pincas Highcross take any more humiliation from his father. Rupus was an old fool and it was time for him step down from the throne. Or fall from it.

Pincas had been planning this from the start. Even when he was a boy of he dreamt of the throne and the crown upon his head. Pincas had originally had an older brother, Hadrian. Only two years older than him but the boy was better in every way. He was taller, stronger, more good looking and more intelligent. Hadrian had everything. He had all the women, the attention and most of all, the respect from his father. Many talked had talked about the day where Hadrian would become king and be the greatest ruler Axion had ever seen.

However the death of Hadrian had resulted in Pincas becoming the heir to the throne which had taken the whole realm by surprise. Nobody had even heard of Pincas but soon it was all going to change.

Pincas was soon rich. He inherited lands and fortunes beyond counting. Pincas began to use this to his advantage. Gold was a beautiful thing. It could turn a situation around completely. It could turn life into death, enemies into friends and very soon, it would turn kings into corpses.

In a few days, a planned assassination would kill King Rupus of Highcross and Axion would bow to their new king. King Pincas, he said in his head. I like the sound of it.

For too long Pincas had waited for the man to die, but the time had not come. Rupus was sixty nine years old now and still was healthy, he wasn’t exactly approaching the doors of the Afterlife just yet.

Pincas stood in the Square. At daytime, the Square would be swarming with crowds and merchants would be selling goods from around Axion. But at night, it was as quiet as the dead.

Pincas looked around nervously. The assassin was going to be here soon. Unless the assassin hadn’t got the letter, which was highly unlikely as the mail service in Eldermere was the best in Axion.

Pincas bit his lip. His mind pulsed with uncertainty. This was an important meeting and if it was heard by anyone, any chance of becoming king would be destroyed. Pincas turned around to see if anyone had arrived and suddenly a hooded figure emerged from the shadows.

The man silently moved towards him. His steps were silent and graceful, but his movements were still fast and agile. In the space of few quick seconds, Pincas knew he was an assassin.

The assassin was dressed in a long black hooded robe with a small breastplate, shoulder pads and silver gauntlets. A bow and quiver was around on his back. A small scabbard was belted to his hip where a deadly dagger lay sheathed, ready to be drawn at any moment. The assassin had a muscular build; he was average height and had a small, neatly trimmed black beard that poked out from under his hood.

“You seem impatient. Is it an urgent meeting?” the assassin purred.

“It’s in the middle of the night and I’m meeting with an assassin, of course it is urgent.” Pincas whispered.

The assassin smiled. “You must me Pincas, Prince of Highcross, son of King Rupus and Heir to Throne of Axion.”

“I am indeed. But not for long.” Pincas said, grinning smugly.

The assassin eyed him suspiciously. “What do you mean?” asked the assassin curiously. “What sort of assassination are you asking of me?”

“An assassination where you get over twenty thousand gold opels. That sort of assassination. Does it sound appealing enough for you?” Pincas replied smugly.

The assassin was baffled. He grinned and replied, “Understood, now I am listening. Please, explain.” He looked around the Square to see if anyone was watching.

The cold chill howled in the midnight air. “The King has ruled over Axion for over five decades. His time has passed.” Pincas began to explain. “The time has come for a new king. I am the heir to the throne and I can be a much better king than he ever was. The man is old but he is not going to die soon, and these years of waiting have made me impatient. I want you to kill the King of Axion.”

The assassin gasped and shook his head. “I cannot do this. He is my king, our king. He has been our beloved king for fifty years and now you want me to kill him? I am an assassin, but no kingslayer. No assassin can do this.”

“Ah, I knew you would say that. Do you not remember how much money I am paying you for this?” Pincas asked, smiling softly. He couldn’t let the assassin say no. He was the best in Axion, or so they said.

The assassin paused and gazed at the stone floor. “Twenty thousand opels is a lot of gold… I would lose my honour, my loyalty and dignity. I am sorry, Pincas, I will have to refuse your offer.”

Pincas was running out of ideas, he thought this would go smoother but he had to think of something else to do. “If I raise the price to twenty five thousand gold, will you accept? You are the best assassin in Axion and no one else could pull off a job like this.”

The assassin shook his head. “I cannot accept.”

Without thinking Pincas blurted out, “Thirty five thousand gold coins for the assassination of King Rupus.”

“Deal.” The assassin said without hesitation and put his hand out to close the deal.

Pincas shook his hand and the contract was sealed. He had lost thirty five thousand gold opels but it was all for the death of King Rupus, and in the end, that was all that mattered.

“I need details. This will take weeks of planning. I need inside information of the layout of the palace, I need to know what times of the day he is out in the open and the general distribution of Kingsguard. This will require a lot of planning if I am to get out of this alive with my payment. ” the assassin stated shifting his wolf skin cowl over his shoulder.

“In three days’ time. At midday. The King is usually alone with I and we have discussions in the throne room. The balcony up above will give you enough height to see everything and enough cover to fend off any attacks if they occur. I will leave the balcony door open beforehand for you to enter. When you kill the king, there will be a flurry of panic from the palace guards and I will do what I can to mislead them in the wrong direction so you have enough time to flee the city.”

“That sounds very vague. How will I enter the palace in the first place? The guards would spot me from a mile.” The assassin replied.

“Easily. From my house which is about a league away from the palace, I have a secret passageway into the palace which goes underground. It’s used for a fire escape or an evacuation of the palace if we are under attack. It hasn’t been used in fifty years since the Citadel’s Rebellion and attack on Eldermere. It leads you just outside the throne room and right in front of you will be a set of steps leading up to the balcony where you can strike King Rupus with an arrow to the heart. On the morrow, I will send a raven containing the blueprints of the palace for further planning. Have faith, everything will fall into place.”

“That is a lot clearer. It sounds as if you have been planning this for a while.” The assassin said as he fingered the hilt of his knife.

“Indeed. I have been scheming for years and now I will finally be able to rule across this great realm. Axion will bow down before me and the crowds will cheer my name.”

The assassin stepped back into the shadows. “I will leave now. I need to prepare for this assassination.” the assassin gazed at Pincas through the darkness and added, “But remember this, Prince. Gold can buy you glory, but it can never buy you honour.”

Pincas was left that thought and he watched the assassin vanish into the midnight shadows.