The Chronicles of Rapina, Chapters 18-22 Judgment In Disguise Back to the, New Beginnings, page [Rapina]018 Judgement in Disguise [Rapina]019 Sudden Death [Rapina]020 Granville [Rapina]021 Death Takes a Holiday [Rapina]022 Wizardry [Rapina]018 Judgement In Disguise "Ah, what a tiring day, but I think we have accomplished much of what we needed to." Guardian Thane sighed. I've arranged with representatives of the church to meet me at Granville so that I can dispose of my bounty money before I spend it on spells or some such." "Dispose of?" Rapina asked. Thane chuckled, "They won't throw it out. They'll take a tithe, certainly, but I have decided to put nearly all of it into the Church's investment program. You see, the church of Mortaebius gives loans to finance funerals and mausoleums; it runs graveyards, throws estate auctions and does many other such things. The church allows priests to invest with the church towards their retirement or simply to augment their income. I've been watching the church investments for years. They are quite stable and lucrative. There is only one thing one can truly bank on in this life, and that is death." "You're not going to spend the money?" Rapina asked incredulously. "Heavens no, girl, you have no idea how large the bounties on those pirates had grown over the years. The amount I will gain is much too large to simply spend, but if I invest it I will be able to make a very comfortable monthly income on the interest. At last I will not have to pinch every penny just to get by. I'm going to take a nap, and I suggest you do so as well. I will see you in a few hours." Later, Thane emerged from his suite and found Rapina. "Might one of the many sea chests we rescued from the pirate camp be yours?" "Yes," Rapina frowned "Good then, let's take a look. You could use more clothing. Thane took Rapina to a storage room where she pointed out the appropriate chest. "Hmm, a shortsword, another rapier and a main gauche. Goodness you came well-armed." "Those are my spares," Rapina said. "I like my Montfort set the best though, they were fine weapons. My bow is probably around here somewhere too. There it is," Rapina pointed. "You'll have no need for these here," Thane said. "I'll lock them away with your other weapons, for now. Lets see what you have in the way of clothing." Thane held up Rapina's sail-cloth mini skirt and raised an eybrow. "This certainly wouldn't leave much to the imagination." Rapina blushed. "I think that was the idea." Thane frowned. "It would be an interesting diversion to watch you prance around in such a thing, but unfortunately, my chambers are much too cold for such garments. I've often wished I could do something about that. I spend most winters huddled in the kitchen or in my bedchamber shivering next to the stove and wearing gloves with the finger tips cut off so that I can write. Unfortunately, boring through 30 feet of granite to make chimneys, while possible, is not advisable as the smoke from the chimneys gives away the position of my abode, especially in the winter when the trees have shed their leaves. Thus I normally confine myself to small fires in the cook stove except at night." Thane pulled Rapina's red silk bustier from her sea chest. "Gracious, I haven't seen one of these since I worked for my father. Amazing what booty pirates can come up with. Does it fit? "Yes, although the cups are a little on the small side," Rapina said. Thane nodded. "Here are some more practical garments. It seems all your clothing is either much too scant, or decidedly boyish. I guess boyish will have to do for now. Thane put Rapina's clothing back into the chest. Guard, pick up and bear this chest for me. Rapina, I've had the skeletons draw a bath for you. I have a magnificent iron cauldron in my laboratory that makes a perfect bath, it's quite a luxury, and I've formulated instructions for the skeletons, including a ratio of boiling water to lake water that gives just about the right temperature. When you are finished, put your panties on and call on me. It's been a long time since I've tailored anything for a living woman, but I'll get your measure and help you to make a few changes to the ill-fitting dress I provided you with when you arrived." ---- Thane's laboratory was South of his chambers. It included several stark rooms, but the only one that seemed to be in use was furnished with a single forge, a stove and an oven, several tables and an assortment of mismatched old glassware. There was a circular alcove off to the side of the main room that had a domed roof with a large chimney at its center. In it was a huge, black caldron. There was a stone ramp about a foot wide that one could use to step into the caldron or fill it using a wheelbarrow. She imagined a fire could be built beneath it, but in this case the hot water must have been heated on the stove. The water was quite warm. Rapina soon got used to it and luxuriated for a while, scrubbing the stains of toil and terror from her young body. When she had finished, she called Thane in as he had bid her. Thane looked at Rapina's semi-nude body and shook his head in amazement. "It was apparent that you were intelligent, but I never would have guessed you had such a figure when I first saw you in the tomb. Come over to the desk, young lady. I have parchment here to write down your measurements." Rapina walked to the desk, her lush breasts bouncing slightly as she moved. She could sense lust from the necromancer, but it was much more controlled than what she had been used to from the pirates. Thane took up a cloth tape and measured the length and width of Rapina's feet, then worked his way up her body recording the measurements as he went. In spite of the lust Rapina could sense, the necromancer was all business as he meticulously measured Rapina from her feet to her head. Rapina's skin prickled whenever she felt the touch of his boney left hand. As he worked he made conversation. "I found only a strongbox with a lot of silver, some copper and a few gold pieces amongst Red Jack's things piled in the fort. Did he not have a chest of treasure like most successful pirates are supposed to?" "He never talked much about money, except to complain about his expenses. If he had a hoard, he kept it a secret from his people, at least us recruits," Rapina replied. "Ach, well, I always thought a successful pirate would have a stash of treasure like in the storybooks. It would be such a disappointment if he just managed to make ends meet. The question is, did he have treasure with him, and if so, where might he have hidden it? An intriguing question, don't you think?" Thane asked. Rapina shrugged. "I will take a look at my maps and the model of the fort while you dress. I am going on the assumption that he did have some treasure, and I am sure we can narrow it down as to where he might have hidden such a thing. If I find it, perhaps I will be able to purchase a few spells after all." When he was done, Thane looked at the paper. The necromancer chuckled, "My father and I knew a bevy of noblewomen who would have killed for measurements like these. I believe I can instruct you on the changes that need to be made to the dress, but that can wait. We must first restore the isle's defenses. Put on something boyish that you don't mind getting stained with glue." For four days, Rapina did little more than stick bones together with unholy glue made of cooked down human bones and some unholy resin that Thane produced using a clerical font and some priestly rituals. Rapina worked right along side Thane who went back and forth between adjoining storage rooms. Rapina worked in one room and the necromancer's ghouls, Kent, Edgar and a few others, worked in the other. The knowledge of the human skeleton Rapina had gained from leech Kennon and his books was strengthened as Thane had Rapina do the more difficult reconstructions. He always asked her the names of the broken bones she was sticking back together. After a while, Rapina got somewhat used to rebuilding human skeletons, but she still preferred cooking and tending the necromancer's extensive herb and vegetable garden that grew hidden on the cliff-top above his abode. For one thing, garden work allowed Rapina to bask in the light of the afternoon sun, something she missed while cooped up in the necromancer's chambers. One skeleton, a huge one that had red glass eyes, Thane insisted on reassembling using magical mending spells alone. The skeleton seemed to be something of a mascot, and the necromancer wished to fully restore it. Only about half of Thane's skeletons could be salvaged, but the necromancer felt that he might be able to do something special with the bodies of the veteran pirates, something more elaborate than turning them into zombies as he had many of the recruits. Thus Thane had his workers concentrate on his old skeletons so that he could quickly restore some of his forces while thinking about what he might do with the new bodies. While Rapina worked, Thane also had Kent and the zombies transport the pirate's bodies and all of their equipment to the storage rooms in the lower areas of his abode. Finally, after four days of spending long hours gluing bones, Thane was satisfied enough with the progress they were making to take Rapina on an evening ride to the pirate camp. Thane stood up in his saddle. Rapina and he were on top of the pirate's fortified hill looking down. Thane's mounted guards surrounded them. "If Captain Red Jack buried a treasure chest up here, I believe Kent and his ghouls would have bumped into it while tunneling. Here wouldn't be the place though, there were too many people working on this fort all day when it was constructed. Hmmm, I doubt he would have hidden it to the South or East. That was where my forces were coming from. I also doubt he would have hidden it in the cleared area between here and the cove, too many prying eyes. Now, I think it would have to be hidden to the West and North in the direction of the cove, so that Jack could take it if he wished while making an escape. The question is, where? I've been in the forest looking with Kent and we have found not the slightest sign of digging. Kent has also checked extensively under the water of the cove." "It occured to me early this morning before bed that it might have slipped by Kent because of being buried under the water rather than simply sunken. Yet I cannot imagine Jack burying a chest of any size in deep water. For one thing, it would have been a risky proposition with the ghouls out and about. That's why we're going to check the shallows on the Southwest side of the cove today." Thane had restored Red-eye, the skeleton of the half- ogre, double-animated him, added more weight to him, and given him a long, pointed wooden spear for the purpose of this mission. While Thane and Rapina watched the sun set, Thane had Red-eye plunge the spear into the rocks and sand beneath the shallow water. Whenever the skeleton hit something hard, Thane's other guards would dig it up. After seven rocks and a log, Rapina heard a hollow sound as the tireless skeleton plunged the spear deeper than any man could have driven it. Thane's lips flowered into a smile. The guards dug down deep and pulled a bronze chest from the water. The huge skeleton had barely managed to reach the chest with the point of the spear. "Set the chest over there." Thane dismounted and cast a spell on the chest's stout lock. The lock opened. "Remove the lock and open the chest when I say, now," Thane told one of his most beat-up skeletons. "Rapina, let us ride a distance down the beach in case Jack saw fit to purchase a trap to protect his hoard... "Now!" The monster complied, but when it opened the chest, four crossbow bolts shot from the chest ruining the skeleton's breast plate. "Ugh, I see more mending work in my future." Thane grimaced. "Red-eye, flip the chest's lid open with your spear." The huge skeleton gave the lid of the chest a nudge with the tip of its spear. Rapina gasped. The red glow of Red-eye's eyes was reflected a million times over by the facets of countless gems and jewels within the chest. Thane chuckled. "I'd say Jack favored gemstones." It was a long process, but Thane had two of his skeletons spoon the stones into stout leather sacks that the necromancer had brought in case he found something. When the chest was empty at last and meticulously searched with calipers for hidden compartments, of which there were three, Thane took pains to instruct a skeleton in small steps so that he could see the trap mechanism. The necromancer had the chest filled with rocks and sand from the bed of the cove and then reset the trap. After that, he carefully inscribed a magical glyph within the chest, replaced the lock and had the chest buried in its former location. "There now, if any of Jack's officers ever return to dig up this chest, I will know the moment they open it," Thane smiled. ----- That evening, Thane put Rapina and several skeletons to work cleaning Thane's hall and laboratory and sweeping the staircases. Thane appeared frequently and ordered greater speed. He seemed quite preoccupied and at about half past eleven at night Rapina noticed that he had a clean priest's robe on emblazoned with the insignia of his order. Rapina had just finished up with the staircase that led up to Thane's cliff-top herb and vegetable garden and returned to the great hall when Thane bustled into the room with six of his guards. The breastplates of each of them had been fully mended and polished brightly. "Are you finished?" Thane asked. Rapina nodded. "Good then, run put away the broom, take food from the kitchen and go to your room and read. I'll let you out as soon as I can." "Are you having visitors?" "Do not concern yourself with that, hurry and do as I say." "Yes Guardian." Rapina ran to put away the large broom in the laboratory closet. She glanced around furtively, then went to a drawer beneath the shelves full of earthen crocks of herbs and pulled out the listening tube and cup, it was one just like leech Kennon had used to listen to people's heart beats. Rapina shut the drawer then tied the tube around her leg beneath her dress and went to the kitchen to get food and thence to her bedroom. As soon as she went through the door, she heard the lock turn from the other side, she would not be coming out of her room until Thane wanted her too. Rapina smiled and pulled out the listening tube and placed the cup against the door. The sounds within Guardian Thane's chambers were muted, but if she strained her ears and used the listening tube, Rapina was able to hear most of what went on in the grand hall. At about midnight Rapina heard an assortment of footsteps, boney and otherwise coming down the staircase that led down from the clifftop gardens, and then she heard voices, one of them obviously Thane's, the other an undead voice more akin to Kent's but not as high in pitch. "Please, have a seat if you will Mortancer," Thane said. "Now that we have dispatched greetings and salutations, Guardian, let me tell you why I am here," the raspy voice said. Your work against the pirates will be earning you a commendation from the Church of Mortabius, but that is nothing more than a formality, and they might be appalled if they knew the details of how the feat was accomplished. They will give you a little plaque you can hang on your wall, but The Order of the Shroud has other ways of rewarding promising necromancers. As you may have heard, at the center of our order is a circle of wizard-high priests of which I am one, the necromancers of Mortaebius. Originally known as mortaemancers, and now shortened simply to mortancer. On the rare occasion that the deeds of a promising new priest recommends him, we add to our number. Your defeat of Captain Red Jack has earned you far more than some bounty money. You are to become one of us." The chests of books I brought contain spells and processes available only to mage-priests of Mortaebius, yet none mention his name or the name of the order. They are for your eyes only, to be both hidden and locked away. If the authorities ever find them, you did not get them from us, do you understand? "Yes Mortancer Greel," Thane agreed. "Good. You will read and study those books. In as far as advanced animations, pick a specialty and you will be given specific training in it. The rest you can pick up on your own, filling in any details through experimentation, or by trading your creations for additional knowledge within the circle of mortancers. I will provide you training in one skill to make you useful to the order and to give you something desirable to trade. We have considered your inquiry about having a basic magic apprentice not affiliated with the church. The applicant is palatable to the church based on her history, yet such practice is not encouraged. However, since you gained your current knowledge largely without our help, and since the practice is not without precedent, we will allow you to have an outside apprentice if you wish but you will not train your apprentice in necromancy beyond the novice-level spells needed to understand the basic concepts. Furthermore, you will encourage your student to join the church, at very least as a worshipper. In addition, you must train a church-sponsored apprentice without additional support from the order. How you arrange to feed and cloth him is your own concern. Do you plan to take on an outside apprentice then?" "... ... If I take an outside apprentice, the order will also send me a deserving priest to train in the arts of magic at my expense. Do I understand correctly?" Thane asked. "Yes," the voice grated. "The arrangement sounds fair enough, and I would not mind having another priest here anyway. I would like to proceed with the arrangement." "Very well, we have selected an apprentice whose skills complement your own, and we will be delivering him through normal channels. his knowledge of sorcery is elementary at best. On the other hand, he should prove useful and allow you to leave this isle on occasion. Within the books I brought, you will find spells that will aid you in becoming more mobile. You should be able to understand one or more of them. Once you do, you will be able to attend the meetings of the Mortancers and be ordained as a full member of our circle. Do you have any questions?" "No, Mortancer Greel." "Good," the dead voice continued. "You will find robes and a death mask in the chests with your books. Wear it to all meetings as soon as you are learned enough to attend. As ours is a secret order, it is best that we not know one another by sight. At this moment I am using a form of magical vision that does not show me the details of your features. My hearing is likewise modified. Even under torture I could not identify a portrait of you from what I have seen and heard here tonight. Included with your books are certain warding spells and modifications you can make to your viewing pool to become more anonymous. You must also choose an order name for yourself. It is a dire offense to attempt to gain knowledge of the identities of other mortancers on the circle. Our group has survived because this rule is meticulously enforced, do you understand, Guardian? "Indeed, the precaution seems most wise, and I will see that I do not find out who any of the other mortancers are," Thane said "Good, Welcome to the fold, Guardian." "Thank you Mortomancer Greel, I shall endeavor to serve the order well, as always," Thane said. ---------- Two weeks after Thane had bested Red Jack in the nighttime battle, Rapina was tending the hidden garden on top of the cliffs above Thane's abode. She saw a pigeon fly past the marker-plaques of the several graves of previous priests of Mortaebius that brooded from an outcropping of stone overlooking Thane's garden. The pigeon circled, then fluttered into Thane's pigeon roost. Rapina realized the bird had a message attached to its leg. Rapina rushed down to tell Thane. Things had been going well for her in the past week, they had finished most of the repairing of skeletons and the necromancer had Rapina reading several engaging books. Thane had added several new shelves to his library in order to house the volumes that once belonged to Red Jack, but Rapina, now quite involved in being an apprentice, was reading volumes from The magical section of her master's library. In truth, she was devouring them. The only thing she was having trouble with was celibacy. It was making her very uncomfortable. She absorbed herself in books as much to escape the feeling of need as to learn about magic, but both were powerful factors. "A pidgeon came in just now, Guardian Thane," Rapina said breathlessly as she found the necromancer. "Excellent. I will come up and take a look at the message straight away." Thane locked the book he had been reading in a strongbox and bounded up the stairs like a man half his age. In a few minutes he had removed the message from the bird's leg and read it." "Eleven days ago, a ship came to Granville to take Red Jack East to stand trial, and another bearing the reward money is scheduled to arrive next week. Judge Grainger has scheduled a hearing for us at the same time. We're to be there sometime Sunday, as the hearing is Monday and the ship is due at the same time. I must activate my magic pool and make arrangements with the church. I have a dress for you to try on. I have been using a mystic servant spell while I sleep to sew the seams. Its stitch is as regular as any I've ever seen. I believe this creation will be a winner. Let us go downstairs and you can try it on. You will need to bind your breasts tightly as you did when the constable was here." Rapina looked at herself in the mirror. The dress was a particularly uninspiring shade of dark green. The cut, the ruffles, everything conspired to make Rapina grimace. She saw why Thane had gone into the mortuary business rather than stay on as a clothier with his father. Had he staid, the business surely would have died. Rapina dutifully put on the clunky high-heeled shoes and came out of her room to model the new dress. Thane inclined his head this way and that. "Turn around slowly." Rapina turned. "What do you think?" Thane asked. "Uh... you're right, the spell did make some very nice seams," Rapina said. "But what do you think of the dress?" Thane asked. Thane began chuckling and couldn't stop. Rapina cocked her hips as realization struck her, "This is the dress for the hearing, isn't it? Gods, I look more attractive in pants and a tunic. I was thinking how horrible a dress designer you were when all along this dress was *supposed* to make me look plain and frumpy." Thane nodded as he chuckled. "Indeed, and the shoes make you over-tall, though we'll have to do something about your face. It's much too comely even without make-up, but I think with the *right* make-up we can make you look much worse than normal, and that will just have to do. We're going to have to work on your body language, though. It's much too vivacious. For the next week, I'll be teaching you how to stand, and to walk, and to talk, just like a regular spinster." Ironically, Rapina learned a lot about proper posture and deportment in the next week, as she had to practice to do something other than what was proper and desirable. It was unnatural for her to act as she needed to for the hearing, but she made a game of it and did fairly well at practice. [Rapina]019 Sudden Death The surviving pirates sailed across the lake in silence for what moments remained of the night. The tapestry from the tomb billowed with the wind between the makeshift halberd-masts. When someone felt strong enough to row he did. Otherwise they all just gazed at the stars and pondered their situation. Their defeat had been a jarring event. Not only did they lose almost all of their crewmates, their captain had also been killed or captured. The Norseman put all thought of rescue to the back of his mind. He had wounded men to take care of. Not only that, but he had some of his own wounds to lick. His pride had taken a severe beating on the island. He couldn't help but feel that he had let his men down. Skitch was angry! He hated the undead! He never wanted to see another walking corpse again. Now Jack was dead or captured and sure to be hanged or beheaded or something similar if he was not dead, or undead already. Skitch raised his fist in the air and shook it in what he perceived to be the direction of the island. Somehow he'd get even. This was far from over. At least they had been able to get back into the tombs and get some booty before they had left. There they had also discovered the wild elf by a floor grating. He was still alive, but Skitch was not sure he would ever regain consciousness. Skitch hoped the elf would make it. They could sure use another set of strong arms. Drake stared at the unconscious form of Doanthalas. He wondered how what he'd just been through compared to what the elf had been through back when he got the tattoos. He wished that he could talk to the elf. Doanthalas would be able to ease his mind. Walking dead were bad, but judging by the way Doanthalas had been since Drake had known him he guessed that the Demons the elf had seen were much worse. Drake pulled his knees up against him and wrapped his arms around his legs. The tears came freely as his thoughts turned to Kent and Edgar. He would miss his friends no matter how screwed up they had been. The loss he felt was great. And the fear...he had never been more afraid in his entire life. The young pirate named Rage was shaking. He couldn't stop. It was maddening. Why couldn't he hold his hands still? The danger had passed. The only problem was that no matter where he looked he saw the faces of his old comrades. They were dead bloated faces, but they were his comrades and they were coming for him. Why wouldn't they leave him alone? Brackston had been through worse...Hadn't he? He'd waded through his share of blood and gore. But never before had he fought so many foul undead creatures. They had a way of getting to a man. He was shaken. Jack was dead or in trouble. Maybe if he concentrated on Jack his mind would rest at ease. Doubtful, but it was worth a shot. If Jack wasn't dead, he needed to be rescued. And Brackston wouldn't have to fight any corpses to get to him either...just a bunch of living breathing people. He was almost looking forward to it. The master archer had regained consciousness close to dawn. He was still weak, but at least he was alive. He had been extremely lucky that the others had dared sail by the cove in case anyone besides them had escaped. Arzeal clutched his belt pouch and sighed. If he had not taken the mage light from the skull of the red-eyed skeleton, they would all be dead. He had discovered there were shadows chasing him at about the same time as he had heard the voices of the others. He had called to them, and had narrowly made it to their raft by swimming underwater where the water-walking shadows were hard pressed to reach him. Unfortunately the shadows had been able to follow him right through the darkness and the water, and there had been hell to pay every time he had needed to come up for air. Once he had made it to the raft, Arzeal had been too weak to fight effectively, but he had exposed the light so his mates could see their enemies. It had been very close, but he had survived. The others were alive, but Arzeal could tell that their souls were wounded. He understood. What they had endured would shake the most battle-hardened warrior to his core. None of the others seemed talkative, but that was understandable. He didn't feel like talking either. He just wanted to reach someplace safe and rest for a day or two. By the looks of it Doanthalas would need it. The tattooed elf hated being unconscious...not that he realized he was, but upon waking he would remember all the images he had seen. Those images were flashing through his mind at the moment. It was a horrid collage of blood and gore punctuated by other images...a crying baby being crushed by a spiked mace...a woman being raped and murdered by a demon...broken bodies screaming in agony as the flames seared the flesh from their bones...leering, laughing faces...and the feeling of helplessness...he couldn't do anything to prevent it...any of it...and they knew it...they made him watch...sometimes they even left the bodies in his cell to mock him. --- When Doanthalas awoke it was daytime. He was lying on a straw mattress and the room was dead quiet. Everything was dead quiet. He must have been screaming. His head throbbed and his body hurt. He tried to reach for Drake who had fallen asleep in a chair next to him, but did not have the strength to lift his arm. Luckily Drake was stirring. The screaming must have woken him. Doanthalas was awake! "Thank the gods! I thought we'd lost you back there. You've been out for nearly three days. Don't try to talk...here...let me get you some water." The young pirate quickly exited the room and returned with a mug moments later. "Here. Drink this Doanthalas." He lifted the mug to the elf's lips and titled it so that he could drink. After much coughing and sputtering Doanthalas was finally able to hold down some water. It seemed to do a lot to revive him. Drake went and got more water. He kept bringing it until Doanthalas could drink no more. "Where...are...the others? Are...we...the only...ones to make...it?" he asked looking around the room. "No. Pike made it and so did Brackston and Skitch and Rage...and Arzeal! We lost everyone else...Jacks been captured or killed. The others went out scouting for some info. They want to see if Jack's alive and spring him before he gets executed if he is." Drake scratched his head. They should be back soon. He stood up and gazed out the window. "Where...where...are we?" Doanthalas asked. "We're somewhere in Clairmont...I'm not sure exactly where, somewhere on the Southwest bank of the lake with Dead Man's isle in it near a town called Granville, but then again I haven't been many places other than my father's farm. We were able to rent this little shack with some of the loot we got from the crypts. There's plenty left over too! Some of the stuff we got is worth a lot of coin!" He nodded his head for emphasis. A few hours later Pike and Rage came walking into the house. They looked tired and road-worn. After a few minutes of shedding their boots and washing the dirt from their faces they were ready to talk. "Good to see you awake Doanthalas!" Pike said. "I wasn't sure you were going to make it. I'm glad you did!" He smiled broadly and turned to Drake. "Time to get serious...Red Jack is alive but he was captured. There's only a week or two until the trial. And after that maybe a few days to a few weeks until the execution depending on how soon they hold the trial. We're going to need to move fast." "Where are Skitch and Brackston...and Arzeal?" Drake asked. "We found out for sure where they took Red Jack, last night. The others are already on a ship bound East for Turnmoor. Once they get there, they'll be busy trying to infiltrate the proceedings. We'll need some men on the inside. We need to get moving and meet up with Arzeal and the others in Turnmoor. He booked a passage on another ship. It's too risky going up to Turnmoor all together. They'll be looking for a group of six. Most of us, except Drake and Doanthalas, are on circulating wanted posters." He glanced at Doanthalas. "It doesn't look like you'll be up to going anywhere for another day or two. Rage, you'll stay here with him for a few days until Doanthalas is ready to leave. Make sure he gets better...and fast! Then meet up with us at the Lazy Minx inn in Turnmoor. Think you can find your way?" "Yes sir! We will be there." "Good!" Pike said. "Because we're going to need all the men we can get. I'd hire some outside help, but we need people we can trust for this one. And right now we're all that there is. C'mon Drake. Pack your things. I want to get moving and soon." "Yes sir! He quickly gathered up his things and prepared for the trip." "Good luck...my...friend..." the elf said as he laid his hand on Drake's arm. "Thanks. You take care of yourself. Get better! We could use a demon spawn like yourself on our side. Heh." Doanthalas didn't smile, but Drake could tell that his words had meant something to the elf by the twinkle in his eye. Moments later Pike and Drake were on their way. Rage sat down to a meal and tried to get Doanthalas to eat something. Things were moving quickly now. They would all have to move fast if they wanted to keep up...if they wanted to save Jack. --------------------------------------------------- Pike and Drake made their way to the waterfront. A merchant ship was soon to be leaving for Turnmoor. Pike had already booked passage for himself and Drake. The captain had eagerly accepted seeing how intimidating and powerful the Norseman appeared. He had given Pike a reduced rate provided he helped with some of the work and helped to protect the ship in case of attack. The Norseman smiled to himself as he thought of the irony of a pirate protecting a merchant ship from pirates. He never would have guessed in a million years that he'd be doing "honest" work. It wasn't so bad. It would be a bit boring, but not all that different than what he had done for Jack. He turned to Drake. Just over a week later, Pike and Drake arrived at Turnmoor and booked a room in an obscure waterfront Inn. Pike slipped out that night to have a secret talk with Arzeal. When he returned it was time to fill Drake in on everything. "Are ya ready for the low down?" Drake looked up from the water at Pike. "Yes I am. What did you find out?" "Well, it's like this: the date of the trial is still up in the air because they're waiting on this nobleman who really wants to see Jack suffer. Li'Yeiraun is his name. Jack had trouble with him in the past, from what I understand. Seems he slept with old Li'Yeiraun's wife. Heh. Jack always was a dog. But the way it looks is that this Li'Yeiraun will be arriving in the next week or two. So the quicker we get ready the better. Once he's here the trial will start. Then they'll make a big show of finding the "Dread Red Jack" guilty as hell. After that they'll need a day or two to prepare the "festivities" for his public execution." "Wow! It sounds like they're making it into some kind of big celebration! With all those people around how are the few of us going to spring him?" Drake asked. "All those people will be one of our main advantages." Noticing the confused look on Drake's face Pike continued, "People are stupid and panicky in large groups. If we can create a big enough spectacle to throw a scare into them we should be able to pull it off. When the crowd starts stampeding we'll move in to rescue Jack. The guards will most likely have their hands full trying to prevent a riot. This should leave only a handful of guards protecting Jack and the execution party." "So we move in during the chaos and take out the guards...then we escape using the riot as our diversion..." Drake asked. "Exactly! Ye've got a good head on yer shoulders Drake. Hopefully we can keep it there. Ye do realize that if any of us are caught we WILL be executed?" --------------------------------------------------- Brackston glanced towards the door for the fifth time in as many minutes. Skitch was late. He should have been there already. Something didn't feel right. Skitch was never late unless there was trouble. They had separated in the morning and agreed to meet up at the Yellow Dragon Tavern, this tavern, around midnight. Skitch was to acquire as many barrels of flammable liquids as possible while Brackston tried to get as much info about the trial as possible. Brackston had spent all day picking a likely candidate. Most of the night had been spent getting him drunk enough to tell all without getting suspicious. He was eager to share his findings with Skitch if only the diminutive pirate would show. Moments later Skitch walked through the door and right past Brackston. It was their silent signal that he was being followed. Brackston pretended to be intent on drinking the mug of mead he had finished twenty minutes ago. Sure enough two men walked through the door not long after Skitch. They were dressed as commoners. It was a good disguise, but something was out of place... they were too well groomed. Real commoners looked a bit grittier. Still, these men must have been professionals. They pulled off their disguises with skill and ease. The casual observer wouldn't suspect a thing. Unfortunately for these two Brackston wasn't a casual observer. He waited for the men to pass before rising and following them out back. Skitch would most likely be hidden in the shadows of the alley waiting for Brackston to back him up. The two men were slowly making their way down the alley checking every hiding place along the way. They would be sure to spot Skitch if Brackston didn't do something and fast. They were too far down the alleyway for him to bum rush. They'd have too much warning and time to prepare if he did that. Brackston opted to try and sneak up on them instead. Stealth wasn't one of his strong points and the men were easily alerted to his presence as he moved nearer. Two hand crossbows quickly appeared from beneath the folds of their clothes. "Hold it right there," they said in unison as they brought their crossbows to bear on the pirate. "Step into the light! Hurry or I'll drop you where you stand!" Whoever these men were they were good. He could tell by the confident and easy way in which they moved. This was going to be harder than he had originally thought. Hopefully Skitch would make his move soon. No sooner had the thought entered his mind then one of the men turned around swiftly. "what the..." he said as he spun around to face the man he had felt sneaking up on him. "Hold it right..." was all he had time to say before the dagger Skitch had thrown embedded itself in his chest. Gregor, one of the disguised men, knew Loius was dead as soon as he heard the muffled thunk of the blade entering his partner's chest. He squeezed off a shot at the man in the shadows and turned to flee. He had to let his employer know that he had found two of Red Jack's cohorts. Gregor came face to face with the smaller man that he and Loius had been following. He was trying to extract his blade from Louis' chest. Gregor bashed him in the head with his elbow as he ran right over top of him. He did not look back as he fled down the alleyway. The man was good. The shot he had taken had forced Brackston to dive out of the way. This had given him time to attempt his escape. Then he had practically run through Skitch knocking him to the ground. Brackston would have to hurry if he wanted to catch the man. He easily cleared the distance to Skitch and his victim and snatched up the dead man's crossbow. The crossbow was light but well made. It was small enough to be fired with one hand and easily concealed. Luckily, its bolt was still in place and ready to fire. Brackston took careful aim at the fleeing man's back. Unfortunately, the man turned the corner before the pirate could get his shot off. Brackston ran as fast as he could after the remaining disguised man. If he got away, he would most likely tell his employers, whoever they might be; then Skitch and Brackston would be as good as dead. "Damn!" Gregor hissed "what an amateur mistake to make!" He had turned the corner only to come face to face with a dead end. In his defense, he had not had much time to familiarize himself with the streets and alleyways of Turnmoor. He knew his way around the Li'Yeiraun estate and the streets of the neighboring Darville, but he had only been here for a week. Gregor turned and rushed back in the direction he had come drawing his short sword as he ran. He hoped this would startle the pirate enough to give Gregor the edge. Brackston turned the corner and was startled to see the man he was pursuing bearing down on him. The man had his sword raised and was mere inches away. Without thinking Brackston threw his left leg out, tucked in his right leg, and went down into a slide. The sword passed harmlessly over his head as he squeezed the trigger of the crossbow. There was a loud thud as the man crumpled to the ground. All that Gregor could think as he lay there was that Red Jack's men definitely did live up to their reputation. He had been a soldier and spy for well over seven years and had fought in many bloody conflicts. He had escaped from his fair share of close calls as well. "Death comes to every man," he thought as he clutched his nasty belly wound. Warm blood flowed over his hands. Quickly he reached into his pouch and pulled out what looked like a small pebble. Before Brackston could grab him, Gregor had put it in his mouth and swallowed. The pirate grabbed the wounded man and shook him. "Who do you work for?!?" he demanded. The man just looked up at him and smiled. His body convulsed for a few seconds and then was still. "Damn!" Brackston cursed as he heard Skitch approaching. The diminutive parate rubbed his aching head. "I don't know who these two were, but they were good...professionals." "Yew got that right. This one almost done me in. I have no idea how I survived," Brackston said. "What do ya mean? I saw that fancy slide-thing you did. It was beautiful! You'll have to show me..." Skitch replied. "Ya know I'm not even sure what I did. It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to think." Brackston shook his head. "well it's over and we're still alive. Let's see what these two have on them. Maybe we can figure out who they were working for." The pirates relieved the dead men of their possessions. They were not carrying much besides their weapons and a few coins. Brackston found a few more of the pebble- sized chunks of poison and put them in his pouch. Then they placed the bodies out of sight and disappeared into the dark streets of Turnmoor. ______________________________ The master archer surveyed the square from his rooftop perch. Although Turnmoor was quiet at this time of evening Arzeal made sure he was out of sight. The moonlight coupled with the light from the buildings on the square gave him a good view of the area. The square was huge. Arzeal surmised that all of Turnmoor and then some could fit into the square all at once. He pulled out a piece of parchment and some charcoal sticks. He started marking things down on the rough sketch he had made the previous night. About six places were suitable for positioning archers. The city guard, if they were worth their salt, undoubtedly knew this as well. He would have to "relieve" one of their archers of his duty so that he and the other pirates could take care of theirs. The execution platform had already been set up. Arzeal shook his head and smiled to himself. "Guilty. Even before the trial got started," he whispered to himself. There was a gallows, a chopping block and a rack. "Looks like it's going to be a good show," Arzeal muttered to himself as he dropped stealthily to the ground. Moments later he had disappeared into the night. ____________________________ A few days after the departure of Pike and Drake, Doanthalas was well enough to travel. Luckily, his wounds had been little more than scratches. However, the blood loss had really hurt him. Luckily he had recovered quickly once he had been able to hold down some food." Rage entered with a handful of clothes and equipment. "Here. I got us some travelling clothes. Some of this should help us to blend in." The sylvan elf looked at the clothes Rage had selected for him. Black pants, a black shirt, black leather boots, a black belt, black gloves, a black leather backpack, and a volumnuous black cloak. "Blending? With what exactly?" Doanthalas remarked as he eyed the clothes skeptically. "They're great for stealth, but to wear these during the day is to stand out like a black sheep amongst all his white brethren." "I see yer point," he said feeling silly for even thinking the clothes would make them inconspicuous. "Maybe I should stick with what I normally wear. Huh?" Doanthalas nodded his head in agreement. "Anything else for me to wear?" he asked. "I had this stuff special made. The tailor doesn't have a lot just lying around. He makes the clothes as they're needed." Doanthalas was thinking about how he was going to hide his tattoos. He would need some long pants and a long sleeve shirt. That would not hide his facial tattoos, but he would figure something out. At least he would not stick out that much. "How long until the boat departs?" "Not long, two or three hours maybe. It leaves at noon." The sun had not quite reached its highest point yet. That gave him two hours at the most. Doanthalas decided that it would be enough time. He put on the clothes that Rage had brought him and headed out into the town. The tailor's shop was not too far away. Still everyone who saw the tattooed elf clad in black could not help but stare with a mixture of awe and fear. Doanthals looked quite the sinister figure moving deftly down the street. He hoped that the tailor had something lying around that would fit him. He could not stand the thought of drawing this much attention in Turnmoor. ______________________________ The Norseman looked around the Lazy Minx before going back to his ale. Doanthalas and Rage were in Turnmoor. Arzeal had spotted them earlier. He hoped they would be able to find the inn. The door to the inn opened and in walked Rage looking conspicuously like someone trying to look inconspicuous. Pike shook his head and motioned Rage to join him. The young pirate smiled broadly and took the seat directly opposite the Norseman. "Where's everybody else?" He shook his head again. "It's too dangerous for all of us to be seen together in public. Two men followed Brackston and Skitch and had to be killed. Somebody knows we're here and if they find us...well let's just say it's better that they don't find ALL of us together." "Gotcha. So what's the plan?" "First things first. Where's Doanthalas?" "I told him to come with me, but he didn't want to. Said something about stickin' out too much." Pike smiled. The elf was smart. "That was smart of him. I want you to tell him to meet me at this address." He slid a piece of parchment across the table to Rage. "Memorize it and then burn it or eat it or something. This is important. If we are found out we wil all die. Jack, Skitch, Brackston, Arzeal, Doanthalas, me...and you. All of us! Do you understand?" This was heavy. All Rage could do was nod in agreement. "Good. When the both of you show up I will explain the plan. I will go first. Wait a minute or two and then leave. Good luck." Pike shook Rage's hand, then rose, and left. The young pirate waited a couple of minutes and then got up and left. Drake could not help but smile. Rage was almost comical when he tried to be sneaky. Drake hoped his lack of subtlety would not get him killed. After he finished his mead Drake dropped a couple of coins on the table and headed for the door. Pike had told him to keep an eye on Rage and see if he was followed. Drake felt bad for using Rage as bait, but he knew that Doanthalas was with him. That alone was protection enough for anyone as far as Drake was concerned. ------------------------------------------------------- Beginning of The Lost Fragment of Chapter 19, by Bri, my coauthor at that time. (Recovered 3/21/4) ------------------------------------------------------- The half elf worked diligently at the long table he had procured for his room. Arrow shafts, piles of powder, fuses, twine, and pieces of cloth lay strewn across its surface. Arzeal measured small amounts of powder from the two piles and mixed them together and wrapped them in the cloth with a fuse. He held up the finished product and turned it around in his hands. No powder was leaking out of it. Arzeal nodded with satisfaction and continued his work. When he had about six packets finished he grabbed an arrow shaft and held it up. The tricky part would be attaching the packets to the shaft without throwing the balance too far off. Arzeal would have to hit his mark with them if the plan was to work. Earlier he had been out in the forest practicing with some dummy arrows he had made. They had packets attached to them that were filled with dirt. The weight was comparable to the live packets and roughly the same size as well. It had taken a few tries, but Arzeal had figured out the right way to attach them to the arrow and exactly how much he would have to compensate when shooting them. He grabbed some twine and attached a packet to the shaft he held. The weight didn't feel quite right so he removed it and reattached it. Hours later he had six workable arrows sitting on the table in front of him. A smile played across Arzeal's face. It was going to be one hell of a show! All he had to do was wait a few more days until the execution. In the meantime, he'd have to find something to keep him busy. ------- Brackston and Skitch were stumped. The men they had killed were only carrying a few items, weapons, some money, and a few miscellaneous pieces of equipment. Nothing they carried would identify them or who they worked for. Yet somebody knew that they were here or, at least, knew enough about Jack's men to be looking for them. They would get suspicious when their men didn't return. Brackston and Stitch decided to lay low until Pike came to discuss the plan. Pike hated all the sneaking around he had to do. He would rather be bashing his way through a crowd of foes than skulking through the shadows. But he knew that secrecy was of utmost importance at this point. Looking up he spotted the inn where Brackston and Skitch were holed up. Minutes later he was sitting in their room discussing the events of the past two days. "So like Brackston said someone knows we're here ye can bet!" Skitch said Pike responded, "Then I suggest ye both lay low from here on out. I'll get Drake to do some scoutin' around fer us. He's too new ta be recognized as one of us." Brackston nodded, "I agree. So what exactly IS the plan?" A wry smile crept onto the Norseman's face. He was proud of his plan. It had taken him many nights and days of thought and bouncing ideas off of Drake, but finally he had come up with a great plan. He looked from Skitch to Brackston and back again. "It's like this..." ------- The sky was clear and the sun shone brightly as Drake stepped out of the shop. He looked quite dapper in his new clothes. They were stylish and had been quite expensive. But dressing stylishly didn't come cheap. Drake had to admit that he didn't know the first thing about dressing stylishly. Luckily he had help in choosing the clothes. The beautiful young lady on his arm had proved very helpful in the shop. She looked up at him with her gorgeous emerald eyes and smiled. The young pirate practically melted and would have kissed her had two very rough looking men not accompanied her. The men were her bodyguards she had told him earlier. Apparently she was the daughter of some nobleman here for the execution. (Everyone was referring to it as the execution rather than the trial because they all knew Jack would hang.) Thus far she had refused to reveal her name. When Drake asked she would just smile in the mischievous way she had and shrug. Drake was enamored with her to say the least. She had been in the shop looking to buy a new dress when Drake entered. Although he had been dressed like a commoner the young lady had immediately taken to him. She had even believed the story Drake fed her. He had been set upon by ruffians and robbed of all his possessions(including clothes). Luckily his father was a wealthy merchant and had given him the money for a set of new clothes. The young lady had been most helpful in achieving that goal. Drake looked at her and smiled, "If you refuse to tell me your name how am I supposed to...address you?" "You can call me Milady," she said as she returned the smile. "Well then, Milady. I would like to thank you for all your help. I couldn't have done it without you." "Oh! I know Drake!" she said teasingly. "I saw some of the fabrics and styles you were looking at..." The young lady shook her head and tsked. Drake blushed. "At least I know I have good taste in women," he thought. She was beautiful and she would prove valuable in his mission. Being the daughter of a nobleman meant that she was most likely privy to a lot the common person wasn't. Pike had asked him to scout around and find out as much as he could about the execution and trial. Apparently the others were too recognizable to scout around for fear of compromising the plan. Drake had readily agreed. He had been tired of sitting around and doing nothing. He looked at the young woman and smiled again. Yes, he was really beginning to enjoy his work. "M'lady we should be getting back soon. Your father will be getting worried," the burly yet sharply dressed guard interrupted. "You mean he wants me close so he can keep an eye on me, don't you?" she retorted. "Your father doesn't want to see you socializing with any undesirables," he said as he pointedly looked in Drake's direction. "Daddy doesn't care one whit about me and you both know it! All he loves is money and power." She looked away disgustedly. "I have to go," she said as she turned back to Drake. "Will you be at the ball this evening?" Drake shook his head. He had already tried to finagle a way into it, but he just wasn't good enough at conning people yet. "Oh," she looked disappointed. "Well then. Where can I find you?" Drake shrugged, "I'll be around...my dad...uh...will be doing business..." "Great!" she said with a smile, "I'll look for you in the market then." "Uh...yeah...in the market..." Drake trailed off. The young woman offered her hand to Drake so that he might kiss it. "By the by, my name is Adriana." Drake smiled and reached out to take her hand. One of the bodyguards imposed himself roughly between Drake and Adriana while the other guided her away. Drake scowled at the guard and took a step forward menacingly. "I wouldn't advise that...BOY!" the guard spat. "Let it go Drake," she pleaded as the guards led her away. "I'll see you soon." "Not if your father has anything to say about it and you know he does," the guard chuckled. Adriana's bodyguards would have to go. Drake wished he could see her again, but by the sound of it he didn't think he would get the chance. He sighed and walked away. His first priority was to find out as much info as he could about the execution. He had to help save Jack. Maybe he could help Adriana later. ------- The elf had to admit that Pike's plan was a good one. He had been skeptical of the Norseman's ability to strategize and plan at first, but had been quickly won over. Pike's beefy frame housed a sharp mind. Pairing Rage with Doanthalas worked out great as well. Neither were known accomplices of Red Jack and neither would be able to walk around without drawing attention, Doanthalas because of his tattoos and elven heritage and Rage because he was lousy at stealth and subtlety. Sometimes the best place to hide was in plain sight. Doanthalas had given up on trying to conceal his tattoos and was wearing a loose shirt, loose pants, and moccasins. People stared wherever he passed. Some even shrank away in fear. The sylvan elf was unfazed by their behavior. He had never seen a human city before. His whole life had been lived in the forest, Abyss, and Gehenna. The smells that filled his nostrils stirred something inside him that he had thought dead. Doanthalas was almost joyful and excited. Rage had eagerly taken the job of guiding Doanthalas through his first experience of human society. Besides being necessary it was fun. The sylvan elf would have to know his way around Turnmoor especially if he got separated from the rest of the group during the rescue attempt. The humans seemed to rush from place to place without taking the time to enjoy the things around them. Doanthalas noticed that humans rushed through everything; eating, drinking, talking, writing, shopping. They probably even rushed through sex. No wonder there were so many of them around. The tattooed elf figured that he would probably rush through life too if he lived for such a short amount of time. Humans lived maybe a century if they were lucky. Elves lived a millennia or more. "Why do humans exchange small metal moons so often?" he asked turning to face Rage. "Huh?" Rage looked at a man purchasing some potatoes from a merchant. "Ooooh! Money! You mean money. That's how we pay for things." "Money?" the elf repeated with brow furled. "Ummm. It's like this: If you have something I want I give you money and you give me the thing I want." "Like trading?" Doanthalas asked. "Exactly!" Rage responded. "But what use have I for...money?" the elf asked. The young pirate considered this for a moment. "well...I guess money is pretty useless by itself, but it's...it's the method we use to do business." He shrugged and walked on. "Strange," the tattooed elf thought. Then he shrugged as well and followed Rage. The young pirate pointed out important things the elf would need to know about human society. He also explained the layout of the city. Doanthalas digested everything Rage told him and then combined what he had learned with what Pike had told him of the plan. Everyone else had a specific goal to achieve. Rage and Doanthalas had more freedom. They were to be the wildcard support. When needed they would intervene. Also they were responsible for coming up with a means of escape. Doanthalas had just the thing in mind. "Rage. Book passage for eight on a fast ship," the sylvan elf said in his stoic way. "But won't..." the young pirate began. Doanthalas held up a hand to silence him, "Go. Do this now. We will meet later at the dwelling." Rage wasn't sure what the elf had in mind, but he went along with it anyway. "okay. See you later Doanthalas." The pirate waved as he walked off. ------- A few hours later the elf was walking down the street. He had just purchased another "Wildcard". He might have smiled then if he had remembered how. But he didn't. Lost in thought he wondered why he stuck with Pike and the crew. He could just as easily have taken off to find his people again. Then it hit him. He wasn't ready yet. The reason he stuck with the pirates instead of escaping was that having a purpose distracted his mind from the horrors he had seen. Even then his mind was wandering dredging up memories of horrors he had witnessed in the lower planes. Everything went silent as a flood of images came rushing back. Leering faces of fiends mocked him. The broken bodies of men, women, and children looked up at him pleading for a quick merciful death with their eyes as they died in horrible and excruciatingly painful ways. The smell of burnt flesh, the screams of the tormented, the feel of gore beneath his feet. It was too much. It was maddening. A cool breeze washed over Doanthalas and the sounds of Turnmoor returned. The elf turned when he felt the light touch of someone's hands on his shoulders. "...you okay? You're trembling," she was saying. "Are you sick or hurt?" Looking around the sylvan elf noticed that he was on his knees. He looked up at the woman. She had large friendly hazel eyes. Doanthalas allowed her to help him up. He was still stunned by the images and a bit disoriented. His mouth moved, but no words issued forth. Her hand was still in his so he caressed it to show his appreciation. The woman blushed and quickly removed her hand. She had never seen an elf before, at least not this close. His tattoos were magnificent! They were Beautiful and disturbing at the same time. "What is your name?" she asked. "I am Elisabetta." "Doanthalas," he replied. The elf was grateful to Elisabetta for snapping him out of it. "Many thanks for your concern of my being." She bit her bottom lip and looked off to the side. "It was nothing," she said. "Everyone says I am too soft hearted and that it will get me in trouble some day. But I can't help it. If I don't help when I'm capable of helping I feel bad." Elisabetta looked at Doanthalas for a while. He was shorter than most human men and thinner, but he had a grace about himself. The elf was still taller than her, but not by much. His eyes were shaped differently too; sort of like an almond and they were the color of emeralds. There was also a hardness to him, testament to the fact that he had been through a lot. His long coppery hair cascaded over his shoulders. Elisabetta had never before seen a more handsome man. The tattoos, instead of marring his beauty, only served to enhance it; even the demonic tattoos. They made him look exotic, mysterious, and maybe even a little dangerous. "An exciting combination to say the least," she mused. "Come. You're still shaking. You can rest at...my place...for a while." Elisabetta grabbed his hand and led him down the street. Doanthalas was slowly recovering, but still in no shape to resist her. He wasn't so sure he wanted to resist her anyway. When she touched him his body tingled. It was a sensation that used to be so familiar, but was now foreign to him. Pleasure. The elf watched Elisabetta as she led the way down the street. She was bigger than an elf woman. Taller, thicker...elven women were slender and of smaller stature. Doanthalas used to think that human women were fat, but after spending so much time with Rapina and the pirates he wasn't so sure. Human women were more voluptuous, definitely. Doanthalas liked their curves; like rolling hills. He would be the wind that lightly blew over them. Doanthalas was surprised at how much he desired this woman. "It's understandable," he thought. After all, he hadn't been with a woman in years. Ever since he and his brother were captured and whisked away to the lower planes. About seven years it had been. He shook his head. Elisabetta had helped him and all he could do was think about sex. Doanthalas took a deep breath and followed her as she entered a large building resembling an inn. "Welcome to...my...home," Elisabetta said rather hesitantly. "Come now. I'll introduce you to everyone after you've had a chance to collect your wits." The room was filled with couches and feather pillows and had a large bar at the far end by the stairs. Scantily clad women sat with men each fawning over the other. Quite a few of them were kissing and petting each other quite vigorously. The few that weren't so occupied stared in awe as Elisabetta led Doanthalas upstairs. The young woman ushered Doanthalas into her room and shut the door. A queen size bed dominated the room. A dresser, mirror, wash basin, desk and chairs were the only items of furniture in the room. Everything was decorated quite fancifully. "Here. Have a seat on the bed. Relax," she said. "How do you like it?" The elf wasn't quite sure. He had never seen anything quite like it before. But he had to admit that the bed was quite comfortable. "What is this place?" he asked sincerely. Elisabetta almost laughed, "What?!?!?!?" She was genuinely surprised. "You don't know? Hmmm. I guess elves don't have brothels do they?" "Brothels?" Doanthalas was perplexed. The word was unfamiliar to him. "A brothel is a..." she began, but stopped herself. Doanthalas was the first man...elf that hadn't treated her like dirt because of how she made her money. Elisabetta liked that and decided not to spoil it by telling him any more about brothels and prostitutes. Never mind. It's not important. If you're tired you're welcome to sleep here tonight." She almost added, "for free", but caught herself in time. "Sleep is not required," he replied. "Oh? You're not tired? You've already slept then? No? You do sleep don't you?" She was shocked when Doanthalas shook his head no. "The Reverie renews vigor and sharpens the mind's eye," he replied. "The Reverie," Elisabetta had never heard of it before. "What's that?" "The Reverie is when the mind is clear as the sky and the body is calm like the gentle waves of the sea. We remember in this way," Doanthalas replied. Elisabetta still looked confused. "The human word for it is..." The elf closed his eyes and searched for it. "Meditation. Yes. Meditation." "So you are saying that you don't NEED to sleep?" she seemed astonished. Doanthalas nodded. "The Reverie heals both body and mind and helps me to remember." "Remember? Remember what?" she asked obviously confused. "Everything. When a being lives for a thousand years there are a lot of things to remember. The Reverie allows us to do this." He replied. "You're a thousand years old?!?!?!?" ELisabetta asked skeptically. The elf shook his head. "No. I am only one hundred and seventy three years of age by human reckoning." Elisabetta's jaw dropped. He was serious. "Wow! You look great for your age," she joked. The elf's expression didn't change. "You are an assassin?" it was more of a statement than a question. The young woman didn't say anything. How could he have guessed that? No one knew that except...and he wasn't...or was he? She would have to find that out on the morrow. For now she needed to learn more about Doanthalas. "Why do you ask that?" she ventured. "You have the build and bearing of one," he said matter-of-factly. "I have dealt with many of them in the past." He noticed Elisabetta stiffen up. "Worry not Elisabetta. I intend you no harm." Doanthalas reached up and caressed her cheek in the typical greeting of his people. "Your heart has opened to mine. My heart has opened to yours. That is a trust I would not betray." Against all that she had been taught Elisabetta did trust the elf. She took his hand and pressed it against her cheek. ----------------------------------------------------- End of The Lost Fragment of Chapter 19 ----------------------------------------------------- [Rapina]020 Granville When the big day came, Thane rose early and showed Rapina to a secret door with several locks hidden not far from the Southern end of the canyon that housed the cliff-side entrance to Thane's abode. The secret door led to a staircase and a cavern. Water filled the central strip of the cavern. There Thane kept his boats, two canoes, a longboat, the relatively new fishing boat that Drake and the boys had picked Rapina up in, and a black pinnace that looked distinctly like it was used for funerals. The watery part of the cavern was at lake level. If a huge stone slab door was opened, the boats could sail right out onto Grand lake. "Thankfully, the boats, save the nice fishing boat I gleaned from the pirates, were here when I took the post. I never could have afforded the large pinnnace." "How will you sail her?" Rapina asked. "I will not, you will, 'pirate wench'," Thane smiled. "This little ship is not hard to handle, though I usually only use the mainsail. With you aboard, I expect we will be able to use the jib as well. I will have a few skeletons along in the coffins below in case of pirates. I also have two large sculling oars we can feed through holes in the stern. That way two, two- skeleton teams can scull from below. Rather appropriate, don't you think? Rapina groaned. That is on of the advantages of sailing a funereal ship, skeletons in the hold are not unusual. I am simply transferring them from another location on the lake where they were found, to Graveston Isle where they belong. In an emergency, they can help us crew. I have even got them dressed as sailors. The trip should be fun; it will give us a chance to go over the books you have been reading. The trip did prove to be fun, Thane had a great deal of insight into the nature of magic. For years, he had hunted through the musty bookstores and libraries of the city of Rosehaven. It was rare that he came up with a good find concerning magic, but he had read or bought anything about magic he could find, and thus had a broad magical background. With the tireless skeletons sculling and all sails raised, the little funeral ship made the fifteen or sixteen mile trip to Granville in something under four hours. Granville was odd in that it was shaped like a barbell. There were two major neighborhoods with a road and a narrow strip dotted with buildings joining them. One neighborhood was on the shore of Grand Lake and the other, larger one, was on the shore of the River Augustana. Both sat in a huge notch-like depression in the granite cliffs that separated the two bodies of water a mile west of their confluence. To the West of Granville were many acres of farmland and a herd of sheep grazed on the rough, clifftop terrain to the East of town. Thane was still impoverished, thus he and Rapina staid on the boat rather than renting a room at the inn. Sunday passed uneventfully, For most of the day, Rapina was locked in the boat while Thane went to visit mortician Hagston and his wife. When Thane neared the little ship that evening Rapina heard a mariner, and spied out one of the portals. "A priest o' Mortaebius, hey, you wouldn't happen to be that Guardian Thane fellow, would ye?" "Yes, I am Guardian Thane of Graveston Isle." "It's the priest that saved us all from Capn' Red Jack! Let me shake yer hand, Guardian. I had a friend who was killed by that scoundrel of a pirate an' his men, and I'd like ta thank ye personal fer bringin' 'im ta justice. Rapina stifled a snicker as mariners literally mobbed Thane. They then escorted him to the patio of a waterfront cafe where a bevy of grateful captains and sailors wined and dined him. Hours later Rapina heard unsteady footfalls on deck. After several minutes of fumbling with the key, Thane opened the hatch and came down. "Rabinda, I'm, I'm..." "...Drunk?" Rapina asked. "Nonsenz, I've juzd 'ad a few allles," Thane slurred. Rapina had, had experience with drunken pirates before, and Thane was reeling like the best of them. "Guardian Thane, it's obvious that you are loaded," Rapina whispered. Thane blinked. "Well therrre were so many of themmm, and alll of themm wanded to buy me a drinnk. I turnned many downnn, bud der were sooo many." Rapina looked askance at Thane and ran to get the chamber pot. "Why don't you sit down, you're making me dizzy." Thane sat down. "Really, I'll bee fine. Juzzd make sure weere ub for da hearing in da mornning." Rapina set the chamber pot in front of Thane. "Just in case." "You have exberience with dis?" Thane asked. Rapina nodded, "Drunken pirates." "Ahhh. I'm sure they were nod very philosophical." "A few maybe, but most were rowdy, then clumsy, then sleepy, then passed out." "That's the difference between pirates and civilized men. Even tipsy I can still make insidful conversation. Let us talk about what you were reading this evening..." Although, in his current condition, Thane seemed to believe his insights were vastly more profound than they actually were, he did make some interesting commentary on Rapina's readings. After a while she worked the conversation around to necromancy... "But how do the undead feel things? What sort of sensation do you get from a dead body?" Thane pulled back his left sleeve, took off a glove and peeled off a gross-looking red and flesh-colored rubbery thing that covered his hand. "Ick, what's that?" Rapina asked. Thane chuckled. "A fake burned and disfigured hand. When in towwn I wear it just in case I should ever be forced to take my glove off, and of course I claim it was burned horribly and is a hideous sight." "Was it burned?" Rapina asked? "Nay, it waz gangreeen brought on by the wound of a grave robber's filllthy blade." "Oh, no wonder you hate grave robbers so much. Well, I mean other than being a priest of Mortaebius and all." "Thane sighed, "Yes, I do have a bone to pick with them." Thane laughed at his own joke but there was bitterness as well as mirth in his voice. Rapina groaned but giggled in spite of herself. "It waz a sad story, really. I waz protecting a graveyard in Rosehaven from a gang of thugs, and the tip of a knife sliced deep into my finger and hand. I do not know whad came over me. There were still four of them when my brother priest fell. I had already used what useful spells I had, and my brother priesd was just a mortician. He had never acquired priestly spells at all and had no interest in magic. I am not quite sure how I managed it. At first I was sure my modest training in the staff would prevail over a band of untrained street thugs, but the street provides its own training. I was lucky. I kept yelling about the wrath of Mortaebius and brained their leader. My wound may have saved me. My hand was bleeding profusely, and every time I swung my staff, blood flew everywhere. I think it scared the two that were left and they ran. The leech thad saw me was not so good, or the knife the thug stabbed me with was exceptionally filthy. Whatever the case, the wound developed gangrene and the leech said he would have to amputate. I knew something of necromancy even then. It was a hobby of mine to search the church library for references to it. Imangine this, I was a priest of the god of the dead and I did not even know if he could grant the power to animate the dead. Magicians could cast the spell of animation, as could clerics of certain gods. I was all I knew. I prayed for the power to animate just on the off chance - and Mortaebius answered my prayer and I knew I could cast the spell as a priest. I purchased the strongest spirits I could find and made a tourniquet that I could crank with a stick. I drank some spirits, and soaked my hand in the rest, then just kept cranking. It hurt. It hurt terribly. I carved the flesh away from the bone just behind the wrist. There was a crow, half tame that I sometimes threw scraps to. He... helped me remove the rest of the flesh. It was a grisly chore. I could not sleep. I was up for a night and a day and a night. I cast the animation spell before the second dawn... It worked, as you see, but," Thane's lip quivered. "It had horrible consequences. My wife to be was revolted and called off the wedding. She was just an ordinary woman, not something out of a man's fantasy." Thane looked at Rapina. "Yet I loved her, and she, she turned on me because of my hand. She told... *everyone*. The church had to hide me because of what I had 'become.'" The necromancer sobbed for several minutes, before he continued. Rapina pulled the necromancer close and he sobbed against her. "The, The Order of the Shroud heard of my heroism, and of the way I had treated the wound the leech had given up on. They hid me. They inducted me into the order shortly thereafter. For years, the church has been my only family. Every member of the order has his own story to tell. Most of us have distinguished ourselves in combat or faced bitter enemies of Mortaebius in one way or another." Rapina shook her head. "Now you're a hero in the eyes of the mariners." "An ironic turn for the, 'freak' from Rosehaven. I know it is unusual for us to be sleeping during the night, but our hearing is first thing in the morning. One of the mariners promised to knock loudly on my door at dawn. We had best get some sleep." Rapina nodded and prepared the berths for sleeping. "You had started to explain how the undead feel things," she said "Ah, yes, so I did. I was going to say that my animated hand can feel pressure, though the sense of touch is not so accurate or intense as it is for my living hand. It is something like the sense of touch you would have if you held your hand in ice water for a time. On the other hand, I can feel life force with my bone hand. It is an additional sense that none of my living parts possess." Thane said. Rapina nodded as she got into her berth. "So your undead hand has the senses of an undead creature." "Yes, I believe so. We must sleep. Goodnight Rapina." "Goodnight Guardian Thane." Thane was a perfect gentleman, but after two weeks of celibacy, Rapina had begun to wish he were not. In spite of the creepiness of his bone hand and the horrors he had committed against her former friends, the pirates, she saw that he was a good man in some ways. Rapina concentrated on the present, and in the present Thane had begun a thorough job teaching her magic. Rapina tossed in her berth. She thought several times about trying to sneak outside and find a drunken sailor. Going without a lover was driving her batty. ---- A loud knock sounded from above. "It be dawn Guardian Thane!" The voice of a mariner said. Thane woke and put his hand to his temple. "Uhhh, oh, Thank you Jimmy, I'm getting up now." Rapina looked up from her book. She had given up on sleeping after a few hours and had been reading instead. She fixed breakfast and then got ready for the hearing. The green dress was as hideous as she remembered it. --- "Serina, please approach the bench. For the crimes of unlawful trespassing, grave robbing, and aiding and abetting known criminals, how do you plead?" Rapina looked at the floor, "Guilty, your honor." The judge pounded his gavel. Serina, for the crimes of grave robbing, unlawful trespassing, and aiding and abetting known criminals you are sentenced to seven years of indentured servitude to Guardian Thane. I understand the pirates killed your family. Guardian Thane will serve as your legal guardian until your indenture expires. You understand that if you have committed any other crimes, Serina, you can be tried and sentenced, that sentence to begin at the end of your indenture." Rapina nodded. "Guardian Thane, you are to supervise this young woman's rectitude and rehabilitation. You are to make sure she works hard and makes up for her trespasses, Understood?" The judge asked. "Yes your honor." Thane said solemnly. "Good. On behalf of the royal judiciary, I thank you, Guardian Thane for ridding us of the scourge of Captain Red Jack and his men. The crown has seen fit to reward you with a large sum of bounty money. The bailif will take you to the Augustana harbor where you may collect your reward. Case closed." The judge pounded his gavel. Thane hid a smile as he and his new servant left the court. The court was not far from Granville's Augustana river harbor, across town from where Thane's ship was moored in the Grand Lake harbor. The bailiff took Thane and Rapina via wagon to the river harbor where two ships stood out. One was a sleek navy vessel, and the other was a large black ship. As Thane approached a delegation from the black ship came forward. "Guardian Thane?" A priest from the delegation asked. Guardian Thane nodded. "This is Guardian Calvin Rames, Guardian Rittle, Mortician Galveston, Mortician Wellman, and I'm Mortican Abraham." "Good to meet you all, this is bailiff Vance. I hope we can save more lengthy introductions until after the bailiff performs his duties," Thane smiled. "Of course," Morician Abraham replied. "Bailiff, I'm captain Seawall of the royal navy, is this Guardian Thane?" "The bailiff put his hand on Thane's shoulder. This is Thane, sir." "The Captain heartily shook Thane's hand. "It is an honor and a pleasure to meet you Guardian. It will be my honor to transmit the bounty money to you. I will take it from here, bailiff, thank you." "Might you take my new servant back to my ship in the Grand Lake harbor, bailiff? I will be lingering aboard the black ship with my fellow priests after we transfer the money there, so I do not wish you to stay here on my account." "I would be glad to, Guardian Thane," the bailiff said. Thane handed the key to his ship to the bailiff. I will drop by the court and pick up my key on the way back if that is okay." "Of course guardian." The bailiff nodded. I will see that a deputy is posted to prevent her escape. He will have the key for you when you return, Guardian. This way Serina." "Thank you Bailiff." The bailiff took Rapina back to Thane's ship where he posted a deputy to ensure that she did not get away. She read and waited for several hours before she spotted Thane and two other priests approaching Thane's little ship. After thanking the guard, They unloaded a wagon full of supplies onto the ship and then said their goodbyes. "Goodbye Mortician Hagston, and thank you for helping Guardian Rames and I with these supplies." "It is always a pleasure to help you Guardian Thane, especially now that you're quite a hero, and it was a pleasure to meet you Guardian Rames." "Likewise Mortician," Rames said. "Serina, you will stay below until we leave the harbor. I will call you then." Thane said. "Have you done any sailing, Calvin?" Thane asked Guardian Rames. "I'm afraid not, Guardian Thane." It took quite some time for the two priests to get the ship out of the harbor and into the open water of Grand lake. When they had, Thane called to Rapina as he unlocked the hatch. "Come on up Rapina," he said. "Didn't you call her Serina before?" Rames asked. "Yes, I did," Thane smiled. Rapina put a marker in her book and came up on deck. Unsure of how to act, she played the roll she had played for the court. "Hello Guardians," Rapina said Thane chuckled. "Rapina, be yourself. This is Guardian Calvin Rames. The church has seen fit to assign an additional priest of the order to the isle." "Good to meet you Guardian." Rapina looked at the new priest. He was a tall, rugged, blue-eyed, black-haired man in his early thirties. He held himself like a soldier, and Rapina could not help but stand up straight in his presence. She could see how he must have been able to inspire the men when he was a chaplain in Avengene's military. "Guardian Rames is a member of the Order Death's Peace as am I. We are also members of a secret order, The Order of the Shroud. You shall keep no secrets from him or me, do you understand?" Thane asked. "Yes Guardian Thane," Rapina replied. "Good then, you can start by telling us how you became a criminal. Do not lie to us, Rapina, tell us everything." Thane smiled. Rapina swallowed and froze for the longest time. She realized that now that Thane had secured the sentence of indenture. Rapina could no longer hold the threat of being uncooperative at the trial over his head. Would he now betray her if she revealed her secrets; or would he instead punish her if she did not? Thane dug Rapina's dreamstone pendant from his pocket and held it up. "Be sure to include this, as well." Rapina cringed. Thane wore the look of the chess master, and Rapina was suddenly terrified of him. What did the necromancer know? Rapina started the story with the truth, her name, her hometown, everything... "...So when daddy caught me with Raymond Thompson, he used his belt on me, but... It never did any good. Mom talked to Thelma Thompson. She was very religious, and they decided to send me to reverend Evangeline. He was a priest of the vindicator - supposedly celibate. However, I knew about the reverend from my friend Avaine whom he had raped and Auntie who sold curses against him to women he abused back before he had her killed for it. I tried to run but constable Grayton caught me. He put me in a cell under the church. I took the dreamstone out and tried to call the lust spirit. I had been looking at the statue of the vindicator at the time, and the silver work that holds the stone, it makes the symbol of the vindicator several times. The reverend was spying on me from above. He thought I was praying to the vindicator. When he came down to gloat over me and strip me of my clothes, I asked him to bless the dreamstone. I thought it was the only way he would let me keep it. He blessed it and went on with my, "purification," which consisted of whipping me everywhere it wouldn't show with a willow switch. I was striped, and bleeding, because he'd broke the skin in several areas. He made it clear while he was beating me that if I told on him I would be in much worse pain. He said if I didn't obey him I could wind up like Sarah Brailings. She had told what he did to her and she had sickened and died. The townspeople had taken it as a punishment from the vindicator for her telling wicked lies about the reverend. Later the reverend told me he had arranged an accident for Brenda Dawes too, because she was uncooperative. The reverend told me I had sullied my body and that I was to lie only with the man the vindicator joined me to in matrimony, but then he said I could be purified. He would lie with me and lend me his purity. Then he raped me the first time. It was horrible. I hurt everywhere from the beating and he took me roughly. I would have done anything to escape, anything. All during my early teens the lust spirit within the pendant I found buried in Autie's hut's dirt floor had begged me to let it into my mind. Rapina pointed at the pendant Thane held. I always refused it, but when the reverend came, what was left of the spirit in the stone stirred and I tried to escape into the stone and to take the spirit's power. I woke up later in the cell. The reverend was gone. I was unsure if the magic I had experienced when he climaxed was from the reverend or the dreamstone, but it was the stone. There was not much left of the spirit, something had happened to it in the nether world - a war. I drew what there was of the lust spirit into me. I knew something was different because when the constable came to collect the decanter and chamber pot, something made my nose tingle. It was his lust. In the past I could usually tell when a boy was interested, but not like that. I could smell it. It made me tingle. The reverend stayed away. I was feeling rebellious and curious, and I realized the constable was as much under the reverend's thumb as I was. I never wore clothes when the constable came in the morning, and I begged him for food although the reverend had me on a water-only fast to keep me weak and compliant. On Saturday the reverend was out of town doing a service for the farmers. Constable Grayton brought me a bottle of milk, and I rewarded him. There was something different within my loins. My muscles, they were stronger and I had more power and control of them. The constable really enjoyed it, and so did I, but there was something more to it than before. I came and I briefly felt my mind touch his, and I could feel the energy he was giving me as he thrust into me. I drew on it, and when he came, he had an intense orgasm. When he left, I realized that the scabs had dropped off from the worst of my willow-whip sores. The constable had... healed me. After the Sunday service, the reverend was full of himself and ready to rape me again. He shaved me, and cut my nether lips so it would hurt when he raped me. He made me dress in a harlot's clothes, and act the part. He wanted to prove he was greater than normal men were. He said he had converted the original wearer of the clothes, but the look in his eyes... He was not a sane man. I think he killed her, and I was afraid he would do the same to me." "He raped me again. My new senses made it a little easier. I hated him, but my senses liked his lust. When he took me, the cut hurt horribly. The sensations were very intense, pain, pleasure, he tortured me for as long as he could, so long that he made me come. I was desperate to escape. He terrified me. As I came, I touched his mind and tried to fill him with lust. I knew that was already what was in his mind. I thought if I could just intensify it, he would not suspect anything. Then maybe he would be less likely to leave with the keys after he used me, and more likely to continue until he fell asleep in the cell. If he fell asleep I thought I could try to find the keys he used to get in, and escape. Finally he came and that healed me. He raped me repeatedly. I tried desperately to draw his energy with everything I had. I pulled so hard when he came that it hurt and I saw lights behind my eyelids. He fell asleep a couple of times but woke up and punished me when he discovered me trying to escape. I didn't know what else to do, I just kept him lusting. As long as he was thrusting he was not beating me, and he was not looking at me with that crazed look he got when he talked about the harlot who originally wore the clothes I was wearing. He was at it for hour after hour, and when he became exhausted he made me do the work, but he never passed out for long enough for me to get away until..." "Until?" Thane asked. "He died." Rapina grimaced. Thane raised an eyebrow. "... I," Rapina began. "The skin of his erection was gray when I got off him. I had a bad feeling because I had been desperately drawing for so long and suddenly he exploded inside me; there was a rush of energy and... then there was nothing there to take. Drawing just seemed to cost me energy rather than giving it to me. I - It was confusing. I stopped and checked his breath. He was dead. I slept for a few minutes after that. I was energized but physically exhausted. I dreamed Auntie came and talked to me. She said that the lust spirit was supposed to have possessed me and killed the reverend, but that the church could have exorcised the spirit. Her plan did not come out as she'd expected. I was much more stubborn than she had realized, and had not let the spirit into my mind. In addition, the spirit's home was torn by war. Its body was killed, I think, and it tried to store its soul in the dreamstone. Auntie apologized for using me in her revenge against reverend Evangeline, and for the fact that her plan had gone awry due to unforeseen circumstances. She told me I was still a woman, and not limited to what the lust spirit had given me. She said that I was limited only by what I could learn. I took the reverend's robe and mine, his money, his holy symbol, his signet, his mage light, his razor, everything that was in the room that seemed like it might be useful, then I found the keys and ran. I made it to the river, but by then the constable was hot on my trail. I found a log in the river, freed it and rode it South. I was very lucky. The constable almost caught me before I found the log, and I knew if he had that Evangelene's family would have executed me. Later I found out from Captain Red Jack that the reverend was a son of the Marquis. His real name was Evangeline Avengene." Rames gasped. Rapina continued, "I rode the river, and eventually I fell over a big waterfall. Three young men in a stolen fishing boat fished me out of the water. I was passed out draped over a log. I was in very bad shape. I regained consciousness occasionally. One time I was half-conscious, I asked one of the boys to take me one last time before I died. I really was sure I was going to die, too. He took me, and another of them took me roughly right after. It saved my life. The boys didn't know that's what they were doing, but over the next week, they nursed me back to health. The boys were going to give me to Captain Red Jack as a gift when they asked to join his crew. For the first part of the trip I staid with them because I was too ill to leave. After that, I decided that, thanks to reverend Evangeline, I was now an outlaw whether I liked it or not. When we met Jack, I talked before the boys could gather their wits and asked if the boys and I could join his crew. I hid my powers from Jack. I was afraid the pirates would fear me as a witch. I had to learn how not to let sex magic cure my wounds. I got good at healing the deep parts of my wounds and leaving the skin still bruised. It got me through combat training with the pirates in spite of the arms master trying to wash me out. Captain Red Jack had a few books on magic. I have always been very interested in magic, and I also thought that if I could learn some, I could pretend I had also learned the sex magic that I have from the dreamstone's spirit." "The pirates, did you ever harm any of them?" Thane asked. Rapina shook her head. "I never tried to draw on anyone like I had on Evangeline. I took only a little more from the pirates I was with than a man naturally gives - just enough to enhance their pleasure. I was hiding my magic, so it would have been unwise to draw on them hard. Besides, it would not have been nice. When you sent the shadows after us, I found out what it was like to give more than you could afford. It was a horrible realization that I was doing something very like what a shadow does. I could feel the energy with my lust sense when I bumped the arm of a shadow who was draining Logan." Rapina grimaced. Thane chuckled evilly, "Your story is most interesting and meshes well with two facts I discovered magically. The dreamstone carries certain sorcerous residues, and now that I have had a chance to look at other young women with my mage-sight, I have noticed your aura is subtly different. I was considering turning you into a common kitchen drudge now that I no longer needed your cooperation to secure you in my service. However, I believe that, whether you like it or not, you are more kindred to Mortaebius than I had previously imagined. I also believe that given the lust spirit was dead at the time you took its power, you have a connection with Mortaebius. In addition, our church has been having trouble with the church of the vindicator. In our eyes Evangeline's death was the justice of the gods and you are a hero, Rapina. Thus if you are willing to learn about our god, and you do not disconfirm certain elements of your story, I am willing to continue your apprenticeship." Rapina smiled. "Hail Mortaebius, guardian of the dead. Hallow my soul with thy mighty power as thou hast hallowed the ground wherein my ancestors lie, and let me serve thee well, before you draw me nigh, to rest in honor beside those who've died." "Astonishing, where did you learn that?" Thane asked. "It's not such a great mystery. Priests always put their holy books in your room when they capture you," Rapina replied. Rames laughed. "Ah," Thane grabbed his forehead "I should have known. I had thought you never cracked that book, but I see that I have underestimated you once again. The sharpness of your wit never ceases to please me, Rapina. There was a time when I might have been tempted to believe women incapable of such a degree of intelligence. I see that I was wrong in your case. I do believe your considerable talents and unique past will make you a fine apprentice. That reminds me, while we are on the topic of unique pasts, unseen talents and dark personal secrets..." Thane removed the glove from his left hand, and then the fake burned and disfigured rubber skin. Thane flexed the boney fingers. "I lost this hand to gangrene from the blade of a grave-robbing thug. The way I 'cured' it with the blessing of Mortaebius cost me my fiancée's love and very nearly got me lynched. The Order of the Shroud working through The Order of Death's Peace, hid me and gave me the option to join. When I joined, they stationed me on Graveston isle, a nice out-of-the way assignment. Its only drawback was poverty. Currently I believe Captain Red Jack has quite soundly remedied that problem for me. Now that you realize you're sailing with a woman who may be able to kill you with your own lust and a man who is partly undead, do you have any dark secrets you wish to share, Guardian Rames?" Rames shook his head, "Nothing to compare with what I just heard. I have a fascination with death, it's like a religion." "Literally," Thane chuckled. "You are a killer then. Be certain of one thing, you will curb any blood lust you may have while on my isle. We three will be the only living people on Graveston island, and if I am to increase my study of magic, you and Rapina are both essential. Is that clear?" Rames nodded. "Unfortunately, your particular quirk is common to my undead servitors, thus you will have to share any killing chores that we are fortunate enough to acquire with my ghouls. Once I have worked on a few spells, I may be able to give you special killing assignments. Of late, the church has enemies on whom you can practice. I will have need for a supply of bodies for magical purposes, after all," Thane said. "That would be fine, Guardian Thane. In the past, there have always been foe-men, orcs, enemies of the church, creatures and people I could kill with a certain degree of pride. I prefer it that way. I am a trained soldier who found he enjoyed what others dreaded. Had it not been for the church of the vindicator, I would have gone far in the military." "Heheheh, the perfect soldier and Avengene threw you out because his son was seduced by the vindicator. You are an executioner. It is fitting that you are of the shroud," Thane observed. "Guardian Rames smiled shyly and looked at Rapina, "Uh, other than that I was a simple military chaplain until the man you killed turned his father against all gods but the vindicator. It was sad too, Avengene and his first born were fine generals and honorable men, but the worship of the vindicator infected them like a plague. Eventually it tainted their entire army and I had to leave before someone stabbed me in the back as a heretic." "After discharge from Avengene's service I went to seminary and became a full priest of Mortaebius instead of just a chaplain. The church to fight the dishonest faithful of the vindicator enlisted me. The vindicator's minions were posing as grave robbers or bandits and destroying the churches of Mortaebius and other gods within the Marquisate of Avengene. I've led combat, and fought beside the unliving soldiers of our god, but otherwise I'm a professional soldier who... enjoys his work." Rames said. "How were the conflicts with the vindicator's secret forces going when you left active service under the order of the Shroud?" "We had knocked out a major group of their "bandits" thanks to the magic of men like you, Guardian Thane. There was a lull in the combat while the church of the vindicator regrouped and after seeing the power of necromancy, I inquired after training. I take it the Order of the Shroud expects a drawn-out conflict because they tested my intellect and sent me out here to learn magic." Thane nodded. "It is usual for the order to take only those who are naturally drawn to necromancy and learn it on their own. Things change in times of war. Evidently, this conflict with the church of the vindicator is being taken quite seriously." "It is deadly serious," Rames said. "When the church of the vindicator managed to get the son of a notable war lord, an Avengine, to join it was only a matter of time before the churches of other gods felt the torch. Rapina, I never would have guessed a modest-looking girl like you could have killed the famous reverend Evangeline, but I'd like to shake your hand just the same." Rames held out his hand. Rapina shook Calvin Rames' hand and smirked. Thane chuckled. "Am I missing something?" Rames asked. "Why don't you get into one of your boyish sailor's outfits, Rapina, we're going to have to teach this land lubber to handle the ship, and you'll be of little help in that courtroom dress," Thane grimaced. Rapina nodded and left to put something else on, and to take off the ugly courtroom make-up that Thane had put on her as well. While she was at it, she would free her hair from the spinster's bun Thane had set it in. She could hear Thane talking to Rames through the portholes as she dressed. "Calvin, I will feed you and provide magical supplies for you, but that is all. If you would like to make spending money, you can assist Mortician Hagston when he comes to bury the deceased and take the burial commission he used to give me. Now that I can afford to, I intend to spend every moment I can on the study of magic. I will also be teaching you and Rapina the basics of the magical arts, of course, but that will be a good review for me as well." When she reemerged from below, Rapina smiled conspiratorially. She was wearing a v-neck sail-cloth tunic and her sail-cloth miniskirt. When he saw Rapina, Calvin Rames' jaw dropped and he stared open-mouthed. There was a moment of surprise and then Guardian Rames' lust caressed her like a million tiny fingers. As starved as she was, it didn't take much. Rapina's face flushed as her body responded. Thane watched with an amused grin on his face. Rames licked his lips as he saw Rapina's nipples grow to dent the fabric of her tunic. His eyes kept moving. He couldn't seem to decide whether to look at Rapina's long shapely legs, her curvaceous torso, her ripe breasts or her stunning face. Rames cleared his throat, "Uh, please forgive that 'modest' remark; you're magnificent, and any man would be happy to do much more than shake your hand," Gaurdian Rames grinned like a pirate. --- [Rapina]021 Death Takes a Holiday Turnmoor's square was packed with people. All eyes were trained on the execution platform. The big day had finally arrived and people from far and wide had come to see the death of the infamous Red Jack. Guards surrounded a man bound in shackles as a few of the town officials conferred with some of the local lords. Meanwhile the executioner prepared for the torture and hanging scheduled for that day. Red Jack held his head up high. He would not give these people the satisfaction of breaking him. If it were time for him to die, then he would die with dignity. A thin hawkish looking man stepped forward and unrolled a scroll. He cleared his throat and signaled for silence. "Good people of Turnmoor we are gathered here today to see that justice be done," he said in a loud strong voice. "To my right stands a man who has committed crimes and acts so foul as to be unmentionable..." Jack smiled roguishly. "Like docking me schooner in the port of Henrich's wife," he thought. Searching the crowd he found Lord Li' Yeiraun sitting with his entourage in a specially constructed booth. Both Cynid and Adriana were there. His smile faded when he saw Adriana. A sadness overcame him. He hadn't seen his daughter since she was a babe. The fool Henrich probably still believed that she was his own daughter. Jack knew better. He could see his own features in her face. "Better she grows up a spoiled brat than a pirate," he mused. Cynid would see that Adriana was well cared for. Jack closed his eyes and a tear streaked down his face. The offical droned on in the background, "...of Turnmoor find you, Red Jack, Captain of the pirate ship Dirty Minx guilty of piracy, murder, kidnapping, and treason against the crown! Therefore you are to be tortured and hanged by the neck until dead!" The official finished with a flourish and pointed an accusing finger at the pirate. "Do you have any last words or requests? If not then now would be a good time to beg for mercy," the hawkish man quipped. "As a matter of fact I would like to say a few words," Red Jack said as he shuffled forward in his manacles. "There's this lady in the crowd who's caught me eye. And I'd like the pleasure of getting ta know her better if ye knows what I mean," he winked melodramatically at the crowd. Some laughter erupted from the crowd as Jack shuffled forward and pointed at Cynid Li Y' eiraun. "Ain't she just tha sweetest thing ye ever seen?" Cynid blushed and smiled. Henrich Li'Yeiraun's scowl just deepened and his face turned red with rage. "How dare you!!!!!", Henrich shouted. "Nobody speaks to me or my wife in that manner and..." "...lives to tell the tale?" he finished. "Not to worry 'Lord' Li'Yeiraun for if I'm not mistaken the whole reason we're all here today, you especially, is to watch me die. The crowd burst into laughter and Jack smiled. That last jibe had shut Henrich up in a hurry. "Enough!" an official man shouted. "You have plagued this land for far too long. The time for your reckoning has come! Guards..." ------------------------ Arzael sat on his rooftop perch surveying the scene. He could not hear what Jack was saying, but judging by the crowd's reaction it was good. Leave it to Jack to spoil a perfectly somber execution. The half-elf glanced behind him as he nocked one of his homemade arrows. A small brazier burned next to him propped up high enough for him to just lean over and ignite the fuses on his arrows. The remaining five arrows rested within easy reach in his quiver. The archer that had been stationed there lay hidden beneath a pile of trash in a nearby alley. He wouldn't be raising an alarm anytime soon. The knife slipped through his ribs by Arzael had seen to that. Arzael waited until they began to move Jack towards the torture devices before he lit the fuse on the first arrow. The fuse crackled and hissed as the master archer took aim. His target was a small cluster of barrels thirty yards away. When the fuse had burned down just enough Arzael loosed the arrow. Only a few people caught sight of it before it slammed into the barrels... ----------------------- Brackston pushed his way as close to the platform as he dared. No use in getting spotted before the fireworks began. He and Skitch had just finished putting one of Arzael's specially made barrels in one of the shops on the square. The shop had been closed for the executions, but Skitch had made short work of the locks on the door. The diminutive pirate hoped that the fuse he had attached to the barrel was not too long. Once Rage lit it, they would probably have a minute or two before it went off. Timing was of utmost importance to the plan... ------------------------- Drake stood behind Pike near the platform. Both pirates were smiling broadly. Jack definitely knew how to work a crowd. That was probably why he was such a good captain. The young pirate was nervous, however. Soon it would be time for action. All they were waiting for was Arzael's 'signal'." Pike had secreted one of Arzael's barrels near a stack of other barrels. He had had Drake stock a few extra barrels filled with oil nearby. Doanthalas was waiting by the barrels at that very moment. He would light the fuse before moving on to...well...that part was up to the elf. He was 'wildcard' support after all. It would not be much of a 'wildcard' if Pike knew exactly what he was up to. ------------------------- Rage was one of the first to see Arzael's arrow streaking towards the barrels. In his excitement he fumbled with the tinder he was using to light the fuse. It took him four tries, but finally he got it lit. The first explosion rocked the square as Rage raced to put as much distance between him and the barrels as possible... -------------------------- The elf saw the arrow streaking through the air and moved to light the fuse. The end of the fuse sputtered and crackled to life. Doanthalas was not sure what was going to happen, but Pike had told him to put a lot of distance between him and the barrels after lighting the fuse. As Doanthalas saw it there was no reason to question Pike's assessment of the situation. He moved quickly and stealthily through the streets as he moved closer to Arzael's position. ---------------------------- Finding a tattooed elf amongst all the humans crowded into the square was harder than Elisabetta had imagined. She figured Doanthalas would stick out like a sore thumb. Unfortunately, things were not working out exactly as she had hoped. Paolo had been intrigued by her story of the sylvan elf. He had asked her to find out more about the elf. Perhaps he would want to join their little 'group'. An elf's skills would prove invaluable. Elisabetta hoped that Doanthalas would join. Partly because of his obvious skill, but mainly for purely personal reasons. A smile crept onto her face and her body tingled with the memory of that night. Suddenly an explosion thundered through the square. Elisabetta headed for cover. Flames and smoke billowed up not far from the platform. People started to panic and run about in frenzy. Elisabetta shrank back into the shadows. "No use in getting trampled to death," she thought. Two more explosions rocked the square and a moment later the female assassin caught sight of the elf disappearing down an alleyway "Now what exactly are you up to?" she mused. "I wonder..." Elisabetta slipped out of the shadows and down the alleyway behind Doanthalas. ------------------------------ Jack smiled as flaming debris fell to the ground around him. Some of his crew HAD survived AND returned to rescue him. He sensed Arzael's hand in the pyrotechnics. The half-elf had always loved to watch things burn. Another explosion rocked the platform as Jack scanned the crowd. They were out there somewhere amidst all the frightened people. A third explosion engulfed a building to the left of the platform. Flames poured from its windows and doors. "Ha! Lookit em run!" the pirate shouted in glee. The guards that had been surrounding the platform were busy trying to keep from being trampled by the panicked crowd. The few guards that did not get trampled turned tail and fled with the crowd. The only things between Jack and freedom were the dozen or so guards that had managed to make it to the relative safety of the platform. Brackston fought his way to the platform with Skitch following on his heels. When they broke through the crowd he pulled the hand crossbow he had taken from the spy and said, "The two on Jack! I've got the left..." "...and I've got the right!" Skitch finished. He had the hand crossbow from the other spy. The two pirates took aim and fired. The two guards flanking the pirate captain fell back clutching the arrows embedded in their chests. He laughed loudly and looked for the guard carrying the keys to his manacles. Jack saw Brackston turn his back to Skitch and lift his cloak. "Not now you two! Fight now! Play later!" he joked. Brackston frowned as Skitch unstrapped the short swords he had concealed on his back. He wondered how the captain could continue to joke around considering their precarious situation. "Behind ya captain! Thar's more of em comin'!" the diminutive pirate shouted as he and Brackston leapt onto the stage. The remaining ten or so guards were advancing on the pirates as the hawkish looking official cowered behind them. Suddenly an arrow struck one of the guards heads and exploded. A handful of the men managed to avoid the blast, but the others were either dead or dying. The hawkish man squealed as Pike and Drake leapt onto the platform. "Ah good! I see you've left a few for me an Drake," Pike bellowed. He raised his sword and charged. Drake took up the charge beside him. To their credit the guards fought valiantly, unfortunately for them the pirates were better warriors. Pike looked around at the dead guards in disappointment. "Ya mean ta tell me that's all the fightin' I get ta do?" "Actually...no," Drake interrupted as he pointed to about twenty guards advancing on the platform. "Brackston! Grab that axe and cut these chains," the captain ordered. "We've got to go while we've got the chance." Brackston grabbed the executioner's axe and cut the chains on Jack's manacles. "Perhaps ye should clear a path for us Pike," Skitch suggested, "but...headin' that way!" He indicated the direction opposite the twenty guards. "Aye!" the Norseman readily agreed. He couldn't help but smile when he saw another of Arzeal's explosive arrows sailing towards the guards. His smile turned to a frown when a few arrows from the Turnmoor archer's emplacements rained down around him. "It's been fun," Jack said to the cowering official, "but right now I've gotta run. Maybe we can do this again sometime..." The captain spotted Henrich rallying his personal guards as he turned to run. "Slipped through yer fingers once again. Eh Henrich?" he taunted. "Don't count on it knave!" Henrich shouted as he shook his fist in the air. "Guards! Seize them!" Drake noticed the exchange between Henrich and Jack with amusement. Then he noticed Adriana sitting in the booth with him. "Gods! She's a Li'Yeiraun! This just keeps getting better!" He still wanted to help her, but had enough to deal with for the moment. What with over twenty guards advancing on him and arrows raining down around him. Another arrow exploded, but this time it was Henrich's guards who bore the brunt of the attack. Jack and his men used the diversion to flee into the back streets and alleys of Turnmoor. Henrich and his men and the remaining city guards followed them through the streets. The panicked people and fires that had started to burn out of control hampered them. Fire brigades were slowly forming as some of the people and panicked guards managed to regain some self- control. If the fires were not dealt with swiftly Turnmoor would burn to the ground. The sheer number of the town's guard needed to battle the fires and deal with the wounded left only a few to continue the pursuit of Jack and his men. Henrich and his men cared neither for the well being of the people or the town and so continued in their pursuit of the pirates. --------------------- As the elf quickly moved down the streets, he found himself distracted by the movement of the humans. He still did not comprehend the whole concept of streets and buildings and towns. His people had never needed such things. Besides why would one want to alter the beautiful form of the world? Doanthalas took a deep breath and cleared his mind of such frivolous thoughts. At the moment he had more pressing matters to concern himself with. It stood to reason that by now the city guard knew of Arzael's position. His fears were confirmed as he rounded the corner. A group of eight guards was positioning a ladder so they could reach the master archer. The hairs on the back of Doanthalas' neck stood on end as he watched. The tattooed elf turned to look behind him, but did not see anything or anyone out of the ordinary. Although, he really was not sure what was ordinary for humans he had to admit. Somebody was following him; he was sure of it. But he had to worry about Arzael at the moment. The guards would swarm him and capture or kill the half-elf if Doanthalas did not act soon. One hand slipped beneath his vest and emerged holding two throwing knives. The first guard to climb the ladder noticed the elf out of the corner of his eye. Two of his comrades had fallen before he could even shout a warning. Four of the other guards drew their weapons and took chase. That left one other guard with him to take care of the deadly archer. Eric waited at the top while Talmon ascended the ladder. Both men were nervous, but both bravely moved onward. They could not let these assassins hurt more innocent people. They burst around to where the archer was only to find him gone. All that was left were a few arrows and a small brazier with a fire burning in it. Talmon noticed that one of the arrows was lit and pointed it out to Eric who turned pale the moment he beheld it. It was one of Arzael's explosive arrows lit and burning fast. Eric's last thoughts were of his wife and daughter. The arrow exploded seconds later sending the bodies of both men plummeting to the ground. -------------------- The half-elf smiled roguishly when he heard the last of his arrows go off. He had heard the guards coming thanks to Doanthalas. Silently he moved through the streets trying to avoid the guards and panicked people. He was not sure where Jack and the others were so he randomly chose streets to follow. If he happened upon them he would do what he could to help. Otherwise he's get out of Turnmoor and make for the meeting place. --------------------- Elisabetta was impressed. Doanthalas was good. Whoever his friends were, they were professionals. They had single handedly reduced the civilized city of Turnmoor to one big chaotic mess. She guessed that they were somehow involved with Red Jack. Maybe some of his crew had survived after all. She had heard they were all killed. With a shrug and a tilt of her head, she moved to follow Doanthalas and his pursuers. It was obvious that the tattooed elf did not know the streets too well. He had just run down a dead end alley. Elisabetta drew her dagger and followed them into the alley. The four guards advanced confidently on the elf. They had their swords drawn and figured it would be relatively easy to subdue the unarmed elf. "By the authority of the city of Turnmoor I order you to surrender!" the first guard began. "Now we can do this the easy way or..." Doanthalas whipped both arms forward and two daggers appeared in his hands. The rogue who had tried to mug the elf had graciously offered the spring-loaded wrist- sheathes in exchange for his life. The sylvan elf had accepted, but not before he had taken the rogue's vest and throwing knives first. The first guard swallowed hard. He didn't like the crazed look in the elf's eyes. Obviously, this was going to be done the hard way. He motioned his men forward. One of the guards pitched forward and fell flat on his face. A pool of blood began to spread out from his body. Turning around the leader noticed an attractive woman holding a bloody dagger. She was smiling at them. He cursed himself for having foolishly walked into such an obvious ambush. "Take the elf men! I've got the other one," he ordered. The elf was just as surprised to see Elisabetta as the guards were. He did not have time to reflect on this recent development as the two guards advanced on him. They handled their swords well, but were unpracticed in fighting in concert. Doanthalas deftly moved, weaved, and parried as the guards attacked. He had to work harder since their weapons had a longer reach, but in the end his skill won out. One of the guards overextended himself and Doanthalas stepped under his attack. The elf's dagger plunged deep into the guard's abdomen as he grabbed the man and spun him around to face the other guard. The other guard could not stop his attack in time and plunged his sword into his comrade. Doanthalas seized the opportunity and spun the dead guard away from him. The move wrenched the sword from the remaining guard's grip. The guard backpedaled and drew his dagger. The elf feinted with one dagger and struck with the other. The guard fell back and collapsed on the ground. A necklace with a locket on it fell out of his shirt. "Well if you're finished playing," Elisabetta teased, "maybe we can get out of here before more guards arrive." She tilted her head to the side and smiled flirtatiously. The elf snatched up the locket and turned to face the woman. He was not sure why he had grabbed the locket, but for some reason it seemed important to him. The sight of Elisabetta stirred something within him again. "Why have you..." he began. "I couldn't let those nasty men hurt my ma...elf," she said as she grabbed his arm and smiled. The sylvan elf felt a tug at the corner of his mouth as he beheld Elisabetta. If anything she looked more beautiful to him today than she had the other day. This was a first. Doanthalas had not smiled the whole time she had seen him before. "You should smile more often, " she teased, "it greatly improves your looks." The elf was at a loss for words as Elisabetta led him through the streets. "Come on! I know a safe place for us to go. We can hide out there for a little while...besides there's someone I want you to meet there," she said as she led the way through Turnmoor. ------------------------- Adriana was blown away. Drake was a pirate! Not only that, but he had just helped the infamous Red Jack escape, and with only a handful of other men! Her imagination ran wild with the vision of Drake swashbuckling his way through hundreds of bumbling guards. Of course he was the leader of the group; one of Jacks most trusted and skilled officers. A plan was beginning to form in her mind. Her father hated Red Jack and the pirates with a passion. He would be devastated if his beloved daughter took off and joined them. She frowned. He probably would not even notice. No. He would notice. It would be a serious blow to his pride and his pride was the only way to get through to him. Adriana had made up her mind. She would find a way to join Red Jack and Drake as soon as the opportunity presented itself. ------------------------- The young pirate watched and waited as the pirates ran towards his position. He unstoppered the small barrel at his feet and soaked a rag with some of the oil from it. As the pirates ran past he stood up holding the burning piece of tinder he had grabbed from a nearby building. There was a fairly large group of men chasing Jack and the pirates. Rage waited until they were close before he lit the rag and kicked the barrel off the roof. The barrel splintered when it hit the ground sending burning oil flying everywhere. Jack looked back just in time to see the first few of Henrich's men go up in flames. He smiled and looked to the rooftop. Rage smiled and waved to the captain. "Good boy Rage," the captain said proudly. He had bought Jack and the rest of the pirates enough time to escape. Hopefully, Rage would be able to get away from Henrich's men in time. -------------------------- Turnmoor remained in chaos for over three days as the people battled the raging fires and tended to those wounded by the fires, explosions, and riots. Eventually the fires were either put out or burned out by themselves. Most of Turnmoor had made it through unscathed. The death and destruction had been mostly confined to the square and few surrounding blocks. Those that had been present for the execution had suffered greatly. Some had died during the explosions; some had been trampled to death by the stampeding masses; and others had been burned alive by the raging fires. Henrich Li'Yeiraun was not the only person with a reason to hate the pirate Red Jack anymore. The price on the pirate captain's head nearly quadrupled during the three days it took to battle the fires and tend the wounded and dead. Every bounty hunter in Turnmoor and his brother made preparations to hunt down the infamous Red Jack. The wanted posters had previously said dead or alive. Now they just said dead. --- [Rapina]022 Wizardry After the revelation of secrets, Rapina and Thane gave Rames a lesson in sailing, one that ended with backing the ship into Thane's secret cavern and securing her within. After that, Thane sat his new apprentices in his great hall and told them what he expected. "Now, your apprenticeships will be working apprenticeships. Please forgive me if I am forced to amend your duties from time to time, for I have never had apprentices before; thus you will be teaching me even as I am teaching you. Rapina, your duties will be fairly well defined. You are to make three meals a day, keep my abode clean, do the laundry and tend the gardens. Considering the many rooms and so on, this will be no easy chore. I will provide you with as many skeletal helpers as you require, but you must learn to instruct and supervise them so as to maximize the time you have available to learn magic. The church has instructed me not to instruct you beyond the basics of necromacy, Rapina, so you will assist me in potion- making and such non-necromantic chores. In my necromantic lab work, Rames will assist me. Guardian Rames, you will take over my sporadic burial duties in order to make spending money. These priestly duties will take precedence over any other tasks I assign you. You will supervise the addition of rooms to the abode. I will also be requiring you to clear land, plant orchards and generally put polish on parts of this wild little isle. You also will be provided with undead helpers. At such time as the church sees fit, you will be given killing assignments as well. "As is my habit, we will sleep during the morning hours and remain awake all night when our undead helpers are most active. I will give you some standard magical instruction just after we break our fast weekday mornings. After that, I will comment on your duties for the day. Each of you will no doubt develop interests in certain areas of magic. I will give you access to my fairly extensive library. If you are able to read while you supervise your helpers, then all the better for you. The cleverer you are with your undead servants, the more time you shall have to learn. As long as the chores I give you get done, I do not care how creative you are in accomplishing them. If you have ideas that might make your tasks even more efficient but require more helpers or additional magic, I will entertain your ideas. If I find they have merit, we will implement them. Have you any questions?" Thane asked. "Guradian Thane, do you have any weapons skills?" Rames asked. "One difficulty I've had while in the order is priests tend not to know much sword play, and without constant practice, a warrior's skills atrophy." Thane considered Ramey's question, "What weapons do you know, Guardian?" "I'm proficient in most of the blades, from dagger to two-handed sword. There's a certain artistry in sword play. I'm familiar with some others, hand axe, battle axe, a few pole-arms and the longbow." "I am good with throwing daggers, and I am skilled with the staff, a modest but effective weapon. Do you know its use?" Thane asked. "I've seen it used, but it never really appealed to me," Rames said. "Too bloodless for you, eh?" Thane chuckled. Rames blushed. "What about the rapier, how are you with that?" Thane asked. Ramey smiled. "The rapier is a fine weapon and I have had the pleasure to know a few officers and one Mortician who were real artists with it. I often carried it as a priest as it is a good weapon for the city where heavy armors are not as likely to be encountered and speed is of the essence." "Good then, I'd like your opinion on a blade." Thane left and returned with a rapier that he handed to Rames. Rames unsheathed the blade; the look on his face was nearly orgiastic. He studied it carefully in every detail. "This blade was made at the Montfort Forge, a new weapons house already gaining an excellent reputation. Their blades are all forged from a unique steel said to be of extraterrestrial origin. Corrosion does not touch them and they retain a fine edge when sharpened. I had no idea you were a master of the rapier. Thane chuckled. "I am not. That is Rapina's blade." Rames looked at Rapina, now more warmly dressed due to the chill of Thane's abode. "Where did you come by such a blade?" "I won it by coming in first place in the hand-to-hand combat contest at the end of basic training with the pirate recruits." "I might have sold the blade, but now that Rapina is a full apprentice, I believe I will return all of her possessions except those that belonged to reverend Evangeline, and those that link her to her childhood. Those I shall dispose of and forget about. No sense keeping evidence that might link her with a deed that the Avengenes are too blind to see was the justice of Mortaebius. I will provide both of you with appropriate mage-lights so that you can see to do your nightly duties. Perhaps she would be willing to be your sparring partner, Guardian Rames," Thane said. "That would be nice," Rames said. "Rapina, you were first place, among how many recruits?" "Thirty-two, and I was the only girl," Rapina said. "Would you like to continue with your weapons training? I could sure use someone to work out with." Rames asked. "Sure, I'd be glad too," Rapina said. "I worked hard to learn weapons skills, no sense in having them fade away. Rapina glanced at Thane, "Besides, with only the three of us, Thane may have assignments where someone with a brain in her skull needs to help you." Thane chuckled. "Already you have a good grasp of how I think, Rapina. You'll do well in my service, very well indeed." The next week didn't go quite as Rapina expected. Thane gave orders, but they were rather vague and general. He expected his apprentices to, "grapple with the details and distinguish themselves." He spared only an hour or two in the mornings to teach his apprentices. He assigned a fair amount of reading and some magical exercises. Otherwise, he appeared for some meals, but just as often he had Rapina serve him food in his den. Beyond that, he spent all his time deep in study. Rapina suspected Thane was studying the mysterious books left by Mortancer Greel. By the end of the week, she was sure of it. Thane went off on skeletal horseback to the mausoleum caverns at sunset with Rames. An hour later he descended the stairs from the cliff-top gardens above the abode as Rapina and a number of skeletons swept the stairs. Rapina did a double-take as Thane descended. "Hey, how'd you get up there?" She asked. Thane grinned devilishly, "Wizardry, my dear. Did I not tell you the order would reward me for bringing the pirates to justice?" Rapina stared open-mouthed. "After a few nights of practice, I shall want you to accompany me," Thane said. Rapina nodded dumbly as Thane returned to his study, still glowing with success. A few nights later, Thane made good on his promise. He took Rapina and Rames with him to the burrial mounds near the mausoleum caverns. While Rames stood back with the horses, Thane explained what he was going to do. "Recently I was able to procure a few new spells that will be of benefit to make us more mobile. This one is the safest, and thus perhaps the best of them. With it, I can travel from one graveyard to any other graveyard that I have been to. The spell takes longer than the teleportation done by wizards in storybooks, and it can only be done at night in a cemetery, but with its safety and greater carrying capacity, I believe it is nearly ideal. I have done it several times, and I believe I am now ready to try taking a passenger. Rapina come along." Rapina walked to Thane's side, both scared and excited. "You must whisper a prayer to Mortaebius repeatedly while I cast the spell, otherwise say nothing. Stay by my side as I move. Begin now." As Rapina started muttering a prayer from the book Thane had left in her bedroom under her breath, the necromancer began to drone incantations and move his hands in arcane patterns. Rapina kept one eye on Rames and one on Thane. After several minutes of droning her prayer, Rapina began to relax a little, but then arcane mists began rising around Thane and her. Soon she could not see Rames and the sounds of the isle became muffled and then disappeared entirely. Her whispered prayer and the mystic dronings of Thane became her whole sensory world, she could not see or feel her feet, and she could only see Thane's upper body. Thane began to walk and she followed. He walked in an odd pattern and after a time offered a short prayer of thanksgiving to Mortaebius. After that the mists slowly wafted away. The moonlight revealed the cliff- top gardens above the abode and the several plaques marking the graves of previous priests of Mortaebius who now rested within holes in the granite of the cliffs. Somehow Thane had transported them across the isle and up onto the cliff-tops. "Rapina, are you well?" Thane asked. "Yes guardian Thane, but I can't believe what you just did." Rapina marveled. Thane looked into Rapina's emerald eyes as his hands caressed her sides from her hips to just under her arms, "Wizardry, Rapina, is as alluring as any woman." Rapina stood there, her mouth open, still in awe over what Thane had been able to accomplish. Thane smiled. "Now that I know I can travel, the bookstores, merchants and artisans of the city of Rosehaven are once again at my disposal. With luck, I will be able to enlist the aid of my fellow priests to expand my limited exposure to other city graveyards. In time, I may be able to find one so far away that you can accompany me and enjoy a city with no fear from the law. If I have my way, I will range far, for one never knows when the law might unjustly turn on one as it has in your case, my dear. Should Clairmont ever turn on me, I must be sure there are other places I can go." That night, Thane again disappeared into his chambers and resumed his almost inhuman study-schedule. Rapina barely saw him except in the mornings and when she served meals. At first, keeping up with her reading and her duties had been extremely taxing. With a few pointers from Thane and Rames and a great deal of her own creativity, Rapina started to become quite proficient at ordering skeletons around. She often had to break complex tasks into many smaller tasks, but Rapina soon grasped the concept and kept notes on what orders worked and what orders were too complex to give the skeletons all at one time. She was even successful at getting them to do some of the weeding of the garden as well as the hoeing. This was fortunate since Thane had ordered her to quadruple the amount of ground under cultivation. Rapina discovered that the double-animated skeletons could follow longer, more complex orders, thus she asked Thane to double-animate as many of her skeletons as possible. Surprisingly, the necromancer complied, although he did the same for an equal number of Rames' skeletons. Apparently, the necromancer wished to upgrade all of his skeletons, but as a favor to his apprentices, he started on theirs first. As she became more and more proficient with the skeletons and developed a comprehensive schedule of meals, cleaning and laundry, Rapina had more and more time to do her assigned magical readings. As she became more sure of the efficacy of her orders, she was often able to read while supervising her skeletal servitors. She began devouring every book that had anything remotely to do with sex magic. She needed to know as much about what was possible as she could. She put Rames off as far as weapons practice for the first two weeks. After that, she scheduled a time they would get together on the cliff-tops above the abode or in one of the large storage rooms on the lower level that Rames had converted into a gym. As it turned out, their first scheduled practice was in the afternoon, the afternoon after Thane made an announcement at breakfast. It had been about a week since Thane had perfected his graveyard mists spell. "The order has granted me some additional priestly training, and I will be taking advantage of that over the next two weeks. Guardian Rames, it will be your job to care for the isle while I am gone. Rapina, you are to mind Rames as you would me while I am away, do you understand?" "Yes Guardian," Rapina said. "Good. I have quite a lot of reading I want you both to do while I am away. You are to discuss it over breakfast and write down any questions. When I return, I will go over it with you both. --- That night when Thane shoed Rapina and Rames into their rooms, Rapina was ready with the listening tube from the lab, but was disappointed when Mortancer Greel did not come down into the abode. Evidently, Thane had taken his bags up to the cliff-top gardens and they had left from there. After a while, Rames came and let her out of her room. Rames grinned, "Well, the old man's gone, shall we invite the neighbors over for a party?" "Pff, oh I wish. The only neighbors we have are Kent and his ghouls, not the kind of *things* I'd want to have a party with." Rames nodded, "I never thought I'd be saying this, but even the army beat this place for social life. Now that's pretty bad. I'll tell you what, while Thane is gone, I'm going to change our schedule a little. We'll get up at the same time, but two hours after breakfast, about the time our lesson would usually end, we are going to have weapons practice. Tomorrow, I'll fetch some berries before breakfast, and I want you to bake something sweet during the time we'd normally have our lesson. After weapons practice I'll break out a bottle of wine I brought from Turnmoor and We'll have a little party, real little, but it's the best we're likely to see around here." Rames smiled. "Okay, It'll be a nice change, and I'm pretty sure I can catch up on any time we loose now that I'm finally getting the hang of ordering the skeletons around." Rapina smiled. True to his word, a couple hours after breakfast Rames appeared with some practice swords he had made and Rapina accompanied him first to the gym for a little work-out and then up to the cliffs for some sword practice. Rapina shed her sir-coat. The air was much warmer outdoors, although Rapina realized that in a couple of months the tables would turn as summer ended and autumn began to turn ugly. "Okay, lets do some sparring. I need to get an idea of how good you are. I'm going to start out easy then I'll get a little rougher until I have a good idea of what a grade "A" pirate trainee can do." While he was using only basic skills, Rapina did well against Rames, and he complemented her each time she did something well, and frowned or shook his head each time she made an error. Rapina got the idea that the man had worked with recruits in his unit. As the chaplain, she could see how he might have taken some of the new recruits, young men such as Kent had been, under his wing and tried to make soldiers of them. After a while he became quite challenging. Eventually Rapina had to fall back on techniques she had learned for fighting an overwhelming foe. When Rames finally signaled to take a break, sweat bathed both him and Rapina. Rames sat on a projection of granite that served as a bench and groaned. Rapina flopped down next to him. "You're good," Rames said. "You even know a few moves I've never seen. The Avengenes set a high standard for their basic training, and you're as good a swordsman as I've seen come out of that training program, and you've got twice the damn endurance of any of 'em. Ramey chuckled and wiped the sweat from his brow. It's a cinch Red Jack ain't famous for no reason," Rames smiled. "How'd you build up that kind of stamina?" "Rapina smiled sheepishly. "Well, basic was really hard on me. The arms master wanted to wash me out because I was a woman. I had to either keep up with the horrors of strength and endurance he sent at me or die trying. Since then I've been doing my fencing exercises when I got up in my room. I didn't want to get out of shape. I wasn't sure how Thane was going to treat me." "Yeah, it looks like that's worked out okay for you, anyway. How about some wine and whatever it was you baked this morning?" Rames asked. "It's a couple of blackberry pies," Rapina said. "What else could I possibly make when you brought me all those delicious blackberries?" Rames smiled as the two of them walked down the stairs back into the abode. "I'm sure glad I found that patch of berries. Seeing as how I've got a bunch of skeletons bringing in silt from the lake-bottom and preparing an area Northeast of here for a vinyard, I've gotten to know this little isle pretty well. Thane doesn't want to hack down his forest. He says he wants to keep the wood growing as winter fuel, so I'm converting some rougher terrain. It should be fine though, the soil from the lake bottom is very rich, and Thane has magics to deal with stone that pokes its head up in the wrong places. When he heard I knew how to make wine, he decided to set me loose building a vinyard. He shrunk the size of the orchard he was going to have me do farther towards the center of the isle where trees grow well. As the two of them reached the great hall, Rapina sniffed the air, "You need a bath". Rapina sniffed again. "We both need a bath." "But what about our party? The wine, the pie?" Rapina wrinkled her nose. "How can we enjoy ourselves if we're itchy with old smelly sweat." "But the pie, won't it be cold by the time we both get a bath?" Rames asked. "I wrapped it up in towels right out of the oven, but you do have a point, unless..." Rapina trailed off. "What?" Rames asked. "Thane's bath cauldron is huge, we could have our party in the tub," Rapina said. "Really?" Rames asked. "While the cat's away..." Rapina smirked. Rames grinned like a sea dog. "I'll fire up the stove in the lab and put the water on." "Okay, I'll go get the pies and some dishes and silver," Rapina said. Rapina had one of the skeletons fetch towels, while she got a change of clothes to heap on the skeleton's stack. She then went and got the pie and some humble, relatively unbreakable dishes suitable for the lab. By the time Rapina arrived with the food, Rames skeletons had returned with water from the lake and were heating it up in a couple of large kettles in the lab. A couple of other skeletons were pouring lake- temperature water into the cauldron. While they were waiting for the skeletons, Rapina dished up the pie while Rames opened the wine. "Tin cups?" Rames asked skeptically. Rapina shrugged, "Thane would be mad if we slipped in the tub and broke one of his crystal wine goblets." "Not very romantic, but I see your point. He'd likely make me buy him a new set since you have no income." Rapina nodded, "And since I have no income he would find some extra drudgery to make me do until I worked it off. Sometimes I think he is entirely too serious about life." Rames chuckled, "True but he gets the job done." "Very efficiently," Rapina said imitating Thane. Rames laughed, "Okay, so he's a little stuffy, he's a priest, after all." Rapina nodded, "A very learned one at that, but if you can't complain about your headmaster's mannerisms, what's the use of finally being a student." Rames pumped the bellows beneath the forge where he had the two kettles of water heating. The fire already looked angry-hot. Rames smiled. "I suppose you have a point there, but would you rather not be in school?" "I've dreamed of learning magic since I was a little girl, though I hardly thought I'd be learning it under a necromancer. Eeeuuuw!" Rapina grinned. "I guess a girl has to take training where she can get it though. Actually, I'm grateful that Thane decided to keep me as an apprentice. I respect him, for his cunning, but he's just the type who would have looked down his nose and made me a kitchen drudge. Then I really would have had nothing to look forward to but seven years of drudgery followed by an execution for killing Evangeline. I think I would have attempted to kill Thane being that he had no use for me other than house work. I would have succeeded too. He'd be dead, and then his skeletons would have cut me to ribbons sparing me from being hanged. Actually, I much prefer this arrangement." "You're a tough young woman," Rames observed. Rapina sighed, "I've lost a lot in the innocence department starting with the day Evangeline put me in his dungeon and going on from there through pirates to necromancers." Rapina licked purple blackberry juice off her fingers. Mmm, these berries are great. Could you get the skeletons to pick them without smishing them? Rames grinned, "I tried, but they don't have good vision for plants. They have trouble differentiating the berry from the cane. Also, pulling the berries off without smashing them was a little beyond them. I picked these myself, though I had the skeletons blaze some of the trails through the overgrown patch of berries." "Mmmm, well, you did good. I could get used to eating like this. Thane said I had some filling out to do." Rames ordered the skeletons to dump the now boiling water into the cauldron. I don't know how much filling out you've got to do. I thought you looked pretty good on the boat. I'll have to take another look," Rames grinned. Rapina blushed. "That sail cloth outfit doesn't leave a lot to the imagination." "Nonsense, it covers all your best parts, well sort of," Rames chuckled as he checked the water temperature in the large caldron and nodded with satisfaction. Well, now that the water's ready, me and my best parts are headed for the tub. Rapina pulled her sweaty sword-practice shirt over her head and tossed it into the whicker laundry hamper kept in the lab not far from the tub. Her drawstring pants followed. Rames clawed at his clothes, but he was really too preoccupied watching Rapina to undress very rapidly. Rapina unwrapped the cloth strip she used to bind her breasts during weapons practice, rolled it up and tossed it into the hamper, her full breasts jiggling with the movement. "Ooo," Rames said, grinning saltily. "Back in my soldier days I saw a few ladies who really wished they were built like you." Rapina smiled as she took off her panties and tossed them into the hamper. "Well, I used to think the lust spirit was doing a great thing when it tried to convince me to take it into my mind by making me bloom into a prettier flower than I probably would have." Rapina vaulted over the edge of the tub and settled down. "Ahhh, now that I've been with Thane a while, I realize that the spirit was just planning ahead. It was going to possess my mind and take me over, then my body would have been its body and It wanted to be as attractive as possible, the better to attract a hoard of men to its boudoir." "Do you ever worry that it will make a comeback?" "No, it was more than half dead when I went into the stone after it. I was desperate and after its power, and it wanted my mind, but I didn't open to it in the way it wanted; because of the circumstances I took it by storm. I'm a very stubborn girl. Since it was really already dead, I don't think it knew what hit it." Rapina grinned. "Actually, it took a great deal out of me to merge with it. Auntie said what was left of its personality blended into mine. I think I had less ability to be cold and calculating before. The lust spirit gave me the ability, and then Evangeline, Red Jack and Thane have been enthusiastically giving me lessons ever since, whether I liked it or not. I still don't much like it though." "You've had to grow up quick, like a young soldier," Rames observed. Rapina nodded, her breasts bobbing just beneath the water. "How old were you when you went to war?" "I was right about your age, not even sixteen yet. My dad was good for nothing. He was a good business man, but a lousy father. He hurt mother sometimes, and sometimes he hurt us kids too. It seemed like the older I got the worse he beat me. I was the eldest, and my sister was next. He took it easier on her, but I knew my brothers would have it bad when their time came, so I ran, I lied about my age and I joined Avengene's army. By the time I really was sixteen and could have joined, I was out of basic and on the border patrol trying to keep myself from being killed by orcs. I survived for a few months out there and when the rest of my unit and I came back from the border, they sent me to officer training school because, by then, they had figured out that I was from a gentleman's family and I could read." "I graduated and spent a couple of years as a lieutenant. I found that killing and death fascinated me, and I spent a lot of time at the local temple of Mortaebius because deaths were so regular in my unit. Eventually I got permission to spend a year training as a chaplain. By the time I got back in, the church of the vindicator was already busy even in the most obscure corners of Avengene's lands. It took another five years before it got so bad I had to leave. I was twenty-six then, and still a lieutenant. If I'd been a priest of the vindicator, I'd have been a captain by then, but they wouldn't promote me. It worked out okay though. They sent my unit of misfits and I on a lot of bloody assignments thinking we wouldn't come back. Oftentimes only a few of us did." Rapina frowned and had a drink of wine. "What happened after you got out?" "More school, this time training as a priest of Mortaebius. I got a much closer look at death, but I still preferred killing to embalming. While in seminary, I had heard rumors about the Order Of The Shroud and requested the most dangerous assignment I could think of. I think by then I was already being watched by the order, and when they saw I could really fight, I was invited to join. There were certain groups of men the church of the vindicator had put together to eradicate other churches south of Avengene. Me, my fellow priests and the living dead of Mortabius scared the socks off 'em, and shut 'em down," Rames grinned triumphantly. Well, at least for the time being. Chances are they'll regroup and make a comeback. The church of the vindicator is full of zealots." "Want more pie," Rapina asked? "Sure, I'll have another slice," Rames said. Rapina stood, bent over the edge of the cauldron and began slicing another couple of pieces of pie. Rames' lust hit her like a delicious wave. "Gods I hate celibacy," Rapina thought to herself as parts of her body flushed. Rames began eating pie. "So what was training under Red Jack like?" "Basic was a nightmare, but I told you about that. I learned archery, shortsword and shield, and an officer taught me rapier and main gauche. We also learned to sail, and those of us who could read learned to navigate. It was useful training, and I got to liking some of the pirates, but I realize it was silly to think they wouldn't get caught someday. They had such a big reputation, it was only a matter of time," Rapina frowned and took another bite of pie. "How'd the men treat you?" Rames asked. "Captain Red Jack kept the men from hurting me, but they were a pretty course lot. I spent most of my time with the young recruits, but they were pretty course too," Rapina smirked. They were less scary though, and Red Jack was something like Thane in a way. He was very intelligent, and killing people just didn't bother him that much. I think a lot of the veterans enjoyed killing, just like you. They just didn't have the sense to join the army. It wasn't a lot different, really. Maybe they made more money, but they were outlaws so they couldn't do much with it other than drink it and wear it as jewelry. Rames nodded. "That's the trouble with killing on the wrong side of the law, it's a lot riskier. When we used to kill orcs we were big heroes, but death is the same whether it's an orc or a man." Rames put down his plate as he finished his second slice of pie. "I guess we better get cleaned up." Rapina nodded, wolfed the last portion of her pie and raced for the soap just as Rames got up to get it. Rapina giggled. "I got it, but I'll let you have it first if you wash my back afterwards." "You've got yourself a deal," Rames said. Rapina handed Rames the soap, slid back down into the tub and watched the warrior soap himself down. Rames held his breath and put his head under while rubbing the soap out of his hair and off his face and neck, then he came back up. "Your turn," Rames said taking up the soap. "Okay, let me do my hair first, then you can do my back," Rapina said. After Rapina did her hair, Rames began to soap up her back. "There, you're back is fine." Want to do my legs too? Rapina put her foot on the edge of the tub next to Rames. Rames looked up Rapina's long shapely leg. "I can't refuse that." After the second leg, Rapina could feel the lust practically pouring off her companion. "Want to do my front too," Rapina smirked. "You are bad," Rames smiled. "So spank me," Rapina winked. Rames smiled and began soaping up Rapina's chest, making sure to do her underarms. "Damn what a body." Rapina blushed. After Rames had finished her breasts and belly, he did her butt, and then he did her abdomen and finished between her legs. By the time he finished, he was almost shaking with lust, and Rapina _was_ shaking with lust. Rames took Rapina in his arms and kissed her deeply. "I'd love to take you right now, but I don't know how Thane would react if he found out." Rapina touched her chin with her fingers, "Thane is a cunning man, I'll bet he expects you to sleep with me in the next two weeks. He's counting on it." "Expects me to?" Rames looked confused. Rapina smiled, "Sure, he doesn't know whether I am a queen or a pawn, and that interferes with his chess game, so he's moved his knight into my square to make the determination. It bothers him not to know all the pieces on his board. Furthermore, he is not sure if I'm the black queen or the white queen. He will know that by whether or not I take his knight out of play or leave him in." "So I'm the Guinea pig?" Rames asked. "You're the suicide squad, and I see your weapon is all ready." Rapina softly caressed Rames' shaft with her fingers, tugging at his lust with her power. I assure you, I am the white queen, and Thane will keep us both celibate for as long as it takes to find that out." "Damn it, you two think alike. You're like a couple of generals and I feel like a private." "Nice private," Rapina giggled. "Bad girl!" Rames growled as he grabbed Rapina's shoulder, turned her around and slapped her high, exquisitely rounded butt. Ou! Rapina screetched between giggles. Rames slapped Rapina's quivering cheeks red and then grasped her hips and turned her around again. You're not even afraid of me. I'm a killer, you know." Rapina grinned. "Thane told you I was essential personnel. That implies you're not to hurt me, and he specifically told you not to kill me. You're a soldier. A good soldier doesn't go against the direct orders of his superiors, and if he does, I'm sure the Order swiftly takes care of him." Rames smiled and shook his head, "I give up." He pulled Rapina's shapely hips to him, grabbed her exquisite rump and lifted her onto his manhood. Rapina threw her arms around Rames' neck and moaned with pleasure as he plunged into her. She could feel his lust start radiating into her and she nearly came on the spot. She needed him so much. Rames felt Rapina grasp and release his shaft as he pistoned in and out of her. He had never been with a woman who felt so alive inside. She was so wet and she felt so good; there was no question that she wanted him. After only a few minutes Rames' powerful thrusting threw Rapina over the edge, and she came powerfully. For an instant in her ecstasy, her mind touched Rames' and although she did not try to leave any conscious impression there, her own lust could not help but make itself known. Before her orgasm had truly ended she felt Rames' lust build to its peak and explode within her. For a moment as the power surged into her, she lost control. Rames eyes bulged as a tremendous orgasm rocked his athletic frame. He roared with intense pleasure as lights exploded behind the lids of his closed eyes. He felt as if he would pump forever, flooding Rapina with a fountain of seed. Rapina realized what was happening, the celibacy - she was so hungry that she lacked the fine control she had been able to exercise with the pirates. As quickly as she could, she got hold of herself. Somewhere in his mind Rames knew that what was happening was beyond what was natural. A man did not climax for over a minute, but he was Locked in the throws of ecstasy, all he could feel was the intense pleasure of lust. When at last his orgasm subsided he was trembling with a combination of lust and fatigue. Rapina slipped off Rames and helped steady him. His erection throbbed, showing no signs of going soft. Rames sat down, dazed yet nearly drowning in the afterglow of pleasure, yet still wanting more, more! Rapina immersed herself in the bath water, rubbing the sweat from her body. Before she lost her resolve she jumped out of the tub and began briskly toweling herself off. "What are you doing? I want you," Rames nearly hollered. Tomorrow Calvin Rames, tomorrow. "Celibacy!" Rapina snapped. I'm so sorry, Cal, I've never had a problem controlling myself, but the celibacy, I - my control slipped and I took more out of you than I meant to. You're going to be bushed tomorrow. Rapina looked back at Rames and saw he was already beginning to stand, his erection still throbbing hard. The expression on his face was lust. She grabbed her clothes and ran out of the room. --- The story continues in [Rapina]023 A Queen Revealed copyright 2002, by Rapina ------------------