The Chronicles of Rapina, Chapters 32-38 Daelrath Back to, The Touch of Darkness, page [Rapina]032 Yieraun Castle [Rapina]033 A Deed of No Importance [Rapina]034 An Oven's Abode [Rapina]035 Trolling [Rapina]036 Daelrath [Rapina]037 The Dungeon of Daelrath [Rapina]038 Rampage of the Trolls [Rapina]032 Yieraun Castle The expression on Heinrich Li'Yieraun's ruddy face made it clear he was not happy. He had recently returned from the pirate camp where Red Jack had slipped through his fingers a moment before Heinrich's trap had closed on him, and that had been only the beginning. The last battle had been very costly in terms of lives. By the time Nordula was brought up to start dispelling the darkness, the skeletons and ghouls had killed many men and terrified even the Li'Yieraun stalwarts. When at last the camp was cleared of darkness and some order had been restored to the Li'Yieraun ranks it was discovered that the pirates had somehow escaped in the darkness. Search parties had been sent out to find them, but to no avail. A few of the search parties failed to return at all. To make matters even worse, while Nordula was dispelling darkness and helping to rally the troops, someone had ransacked his tent and had stolen everything he had that was not currently on his person. Dawn brought relief from the attacks of the stealthy ghouls, and the illusive shadow that had been blamed for killing several men. Nordula had tried to send a few of the wounded back to Castle Yeiraun to now avail. It had become evident then that something had happened to the magic kettle in Nordula's laboratory. The mage had only a few scrolls and a book of emergency spells on his person to study. After taking a period during the day to rest and study, Nordula had been able to teleport again, but he had needed to go with each small group that he teleported. The first group back had included Heinrich and a few of the best swordsmen among his men. What they had come back to was an embarrassment. Heinrich did not yet know the details, but he knew there had been a break-in while he and most of his men were out attempting to defeat the pirates. A group of stewards and guards were assembled before him for questioning. "First of all, where is sergeant Deinzen? I left him in charge of the remaining men of the garrison." "M'Lord, " Gatekeeper Danzig said. "He and three others were let out of a cell in the castle jail by members of the town garrison fetched by Steward Kriegs at Lady Li'Yieraun's request. Unfortunately, the town garrison's assault on the intruders went awry. They had a mage, and he had filled the castle with magical darkness. The same stealthy carrion creatures that had immobilized the guards walking the outer wall earlier stalked the darkness. Soon the creatures had paralyzed all but a few of the town guards. Deinzen and the men from the wall, including myself, had snapped out of our paralysis by this time but did not attempt to defeat the mage within the darkness of the castle. When the shadows started growing in the courtyard and around the gate we fired arrows, but we were firing blind. Deinzen organized several mounted groups to pursue the thieves. Deinzen and the other three men from the barracks formed one of the groups, but they never returned. Everyone else is accounted for, M'lord. No one was killed, we were all just paralyzed and injured slightly by the scratches of the creatures, and one of gate guards suffered a nasty rap to the back of his head. "What you are telling me, is this mage and his servitors simply walked into my castle and you were powerless to stop him!" Heinrich Li'Yieraun fumed. "Steward what items were stolen?" "M'Lord, the thefts seem to have been limited to those items missing from Nordula's chambers and laboratory." "No thefts? No deaths? How kindly of this necromancer only to prey upon my mage!" Li'Yieraun's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Did anyone even see him?" "M'Lord, I saw him," Private Duntz said. "How did you accomplish this feat, private?" Count Li'Yieraun asked. "M'Lord as you see, I am a town guardsman. During the assult we attempted to wend our way through the magic darkness to find the mage. My sergeant thought, being a mage, the intruder would go to Nordula's quarters so we went there. We encountered skeletons at the entrance but I slipped by them. I saw the mage and some of his human skeletons and huge draft horse skeletons in the library stealing books. I could not defeat him so I ran when he started casting a spell. I was paralyzed by the scratch of a creature shortly after seeing the mage." "What did the mage look like, private?" Li'Yieraun asked. "M'Lord he looked like a skeleton wearing rich black robes. His voice was like I would imagine a dead man's would be, parched and hoarse," Private Duntz said. "The man responsible for letting that creature into my castle will hang! Perhaps that is why sergeant Deinzen did not return. As of now, the sergeant and his group are wanted men. Someone will answer for this travesty!" --- [Rapina]033 A Deed of No Importance "Congratulations Rapina," Mortician Ranal beamed. "I have never seen a perfect score on this exam. Some of the knowledge is rather obscure. Then again no one has ever wandered into my temple just after lunch and spent twenty minutes begging me to administer the eligibility test for a deacon. Now if I perform the rituals of sanctification, you will officially be able to serve as a deaconess at any temple that might request one and your name will be registered at the central hall of records of the Church. Are you sure this is what you want? Rapina nodded, and the priest began. Thane looked at his ring. A tiny bolt of lightning flickered within the circular gem pointing towards his index finger. "Her choker indicates she is that way." Thane pointed at the temple ahead of him and looked at Rames. A leather mask looked back at him. "A temple of Mortaebius?" Rames asked. "We are supposed to be in Mysthaven outfitting for next month's mountain adventure, now what is that girl up to getting up so early in the day and slinking out of the Inn?" Rames shrugged, "I don't know Guardian. I'll let you two play the chess. I'm still enjoying checkers." Thane chuckled, "Well it is the one place we should especially not be seen with her." "Who's going to see us behind these masks we wear whenever we are out with her?" Rames asked. "Heard or recognized then," Thane said. "Disguise your voice if you need to speak. Let us duck into the temple. I will find a closet and put my death mask on under the leather one. That should take care of my voice." "...And by the authority vested in me as a living vicar of Mortaebius, I pronounce thee the life of death, Rapina a deaconess of Mortaebius." The priest finished the ritual with a last flourish of his hand. "Congratulations deconess Rapina!" "Yay! Thank you Mortician Ranal," Rapina hugged the mortician. "Now, that you're a deaconess, Rapina, why don't you tell me a little about yourself." Mortician Ranal turned to the sound of approaching footsteps. "The less you know, the more likely you will not be struck down by enemies of the church," Thane rasped. Mortican Ranal looked up, his mouth dropped. Thane straightened his left arm so that it was pointing at the floor. He then brought his left hand up in a sweeping circular motion from his left side up over the right side of his chest and then up across his jawbone. His fingers fanned as they swept in front of his face. Mortician Ranal gasped, he remembered that gesture from seminary, and from the books he had read on church history. It was a seriously punishable offense and considered very bad form for a priest even to demonstrate it. The order it belonged to existed only in the holy wars of history. Ranal was about to protest its use, when the man clad in dark robes pulled the leather mask he was wearing away from his face. The mask of death stared back at him. Ranal gasped, "The Shroud." "Nonsense Mortician, The Order Of the Shroud does not exist. It is just a footnote in history, an extinct order for which there are mysteriously no records, and an order that germinated and grew only when the blood of Mortaebius' priests was spilled on a grand scale. Mortician Ranal inhaled, "As now in Avengene." "What has this young lady been doing here, Mortician Ranal?" "I have just sanctified Rapina as a Deaconess," Mortician Ranal said. Thane looked at Rapina. Even through the mask she could tell he was glaring. "Rapina, how could you do this? I did not authorize it." "Well, actually you did, when I asked last night." "I did?" Thane asked. You have explained to me that some things are simply not important to you, such as if I want to reorganize a cupboard while cleaning or buy a snack from a vendor. I should simply go ahead and not bother you with the details. Last night I asked you if I could become a deaconess in the Church of Mortaebius, and... Death slapped a black glove over his face, "...And I replied, 'It is not important.'" Rapina grinned. Thane chuckled in spite of himself, "You really are too smart for your own good, my dear. Mortician Ranal, for your own safety, you shall record this deaconess as the wandering adventurer, Rapina, and make a note in your church journal that she came in off the streets as a complete stranger who soon left town. Do not attempt to find out who she is, or what acts of heroism she may have performed for the church. The less you know, the safer you are from our enemies. "Oh, and one more thing," Thane said replacing the leather mask over his face. "You never saw me or my associate. We do not exist. Do you understand?" "Yes sir," Mortician Ranal said. "Good day Mortician," Thane rasped. "Good day, sir -- Guardian. Please give them hell for us." "I assure you Mortician, they will not know what hit them." Thane and Rames turned and walked out of the temple. Rapina grabbed Mortician Ranal and hugged him once again, then ran after her guardians. --- [Rapina]034 An Oven's Abode Rapina looked up from her book and peered over the edge of the couch to glance into Nordula's magic kettle where it sat on the floor beside her. As she did, she absently pushed one of the delicate violet straps of the silk lace bustier she was wearing back onto her shoulder. At last, the skeletons had reached the foot of the small mountain. For weeks they had been traversing a nearly featureless, flat plane, like a giant cookie sheet that had been filled to the edges with a slurry of clay and then left in an oven for a very long time. Rapina capped her reading light so she could see the image in the kettle better and spoke into the waters. "Stop, look at your left wrist," she said checking the compass on the skeleton's wrist. "Look straight ahead, now turn slowly." The mountain rose from a sea of flatness, like an upside down cup on a tabletop. "Sorry I was late for lunch, my dear," Thane said. "I was working at the font on a new batch of resin for reaving skeletons. My divinations have revealed that several of the corpses of the mercenaries we dug out of the group grave Li'Yieraun created at the old pirate camp were viable for that particular advanced animation." "It's no problem Guardian Thane, I left lunch in the oven over a very low flame. I think it won't have suffered too badly. Rapina got up from the couch where she had been reading and left the cozy lounge that served as a nexus between several rooms within the secret laboratory wing where she now lived. The Lounge had an attached kitchen that included a dining nook with a blackboard mounted on the wall. The wing had heating that flowed through ducts beneath the stone floor, and plumbing for both hot and cold water. Thane had canceled his plans to install heating and plumbing for the entire abode. Instead he had opted for the less expensive option of concentrating all of the amenities in the new secret laboratory wing that had been designed to have them in the first place. He had simply added a bedroom for Rapina, a secret library, and an expanded dining area to the existing layout for a very satisfying outcome. Rapina bent and took the food out of the oven. She smiled to herself as Thane's controlled lust tickled her nose. She talked as she put lunch on the table for him, "What are Reaving Skeletons like?" "Reavers are made from the corpses of fighting men who, in life, killed without scruple for money, or who served evil or an evil cause. They are warrior skeletons similar to my double-animated guards, but with more exceptional skill at arms and greater intelligence. The better ones can talk like Roger or Elizabetta. The lesser ones serve silently as soldiers of Mortaebius. The relative quality depends somewhat on the animator's skill, but more so on the quality of the deceased soul. "Our normal skeletons just reached the foot of the mountain," Rapina said. "Excellent, how many are left," Thane asked. "We still have nine," Rapina said. "Good, no further problems with jackals, natives, insects or snakes?" Than asked. "None, Since you watched for the first week, I never saw any natives and I stopped seeing any jackals before midweek of the second week." Rapina said. The insects have died down now. I think they ate the marrow out of the bones of the skeletons and then flew away. We lost about four skeletons from heavy burrowing in the joint areas, but the ones remaining seem fine now. After the bugs left, the snakes did not seem to have any interest in the skeletons anymore. All I see now are whirlwinds and blowing dust." "Excellent, nine of twenty skeletons is well within acceptable limits. The natives and the insects took the biggest toll. What of the weapons?" Thane asked. "Swords and javelins are fine, bows are brittle or broken, so I had them discarded. I had any usable weapons removed from the broken down skeletons so ammunition is at one hundred percent," Rapina said. "We should try to attain the desert through magic. I am not sure human flesh is up to that crossing. We could send Elizabetta, but I believe she might dry out and become brittle and worthless. Roger would be a better candidate, but Red Jack needs him." "Have you had any luck getting Nordula's teleport magic to work for you?" Rapina asked. Thane's shoulders sagged, "Alas, I have not. The sad thing is that I have seen similar spells before, and I have never gotten them to work. My colleagues in the order praise my talents for advanced animations. It is highly unusual for a new mortancer to learn three different advanced animations in one season. Yet I am now confidently producing flaming skeletons and competent with the rubbery skeletal assassins. The reaving skeletons I am currently working on seem easier than the others I have done so far. After making a few of them, I am going to attempt to arrive at a double- animated reaver recipe. I believe it should be possible to improve the reaving skeletons slightly through double-animation," Thane said. Unfortunately, my talents seem to center around necromancy. I do not have the same alacrity with teleportation magic. Rapina nodded, "Would you like to try to create a graveyard for the mists spell by speaking through Nordula's amulet and sword while having the skeletons go through the consecration ritual?" "Indeed I would," Thane agreed. A few minutes later Rapina brought Nordula's magic kettle into the dining area. In the desert, she had four skeletons lie down in the corners of a rectangular pattern. When Thane finished lunch, they began speaking the words of the ritual through the kettle to Nordula's sword and amulet carried by two different skeletons. "Hail Mortaebius guardian of the dead, we the dead who lie here..." Thane began. "...and thus we close the circle, life and death, the cycle is complete," both Thane and Rapina spoke completing the ritual "I will attempt graveyard mists from the storage room in this wing a few times if necessary before I return to working on the skeletons. Your suggestion of entombing four skeletons in that room and consecrating it as a graveyard was excellent. There is no need to be traipsing through the upper areas of the abode with sensitive materials or bleeding corpses," Thane said. Rapina nodded and smiled,"Good luck" "Thank you, I hope it will be a simple matter, but I fear not." Thane hesitated, then smiled. Soon I hope to have a way to the mountain, and at that time you will no longer have to watch the skeletons. Instead I will have you copying certain books. If what I have done to Nordula ever happens to me, I wish to be prepared. Do not fear, however, I will make sure you have plenty of time for reading as well. Scribing books is tedious work. You may read for an hour for every hour you scribe. As your skills grow, I may have you copy some spells from Nordula's cache as well. For now I will transcribe a few spells and trade them to associates for necromantic spells I desire," Thane said. Three days later, Thane had still not accomplished transfer to the desert mountain. "I fear we will have to get some camels and try to make the journey in steps. We can cover a number of miles, consecrate a graveyard, return here to replenish our water supplies and then go back to the desert." Rapina pursed her lips. "What's the matter, have you gotten too used to lounging around here in lingerie to want to ride through that abominable oven? "It just seems like there ought to be a way we can consecrate that ground. Want to try a wild plan?" "Indeed, if it has even the slightest chance of working, it will save us ages of time..." --- The mists parted and the difference between the relative chill of the winter at Graveston isle and the outrageous heat of the desert was soon apparent. "At last! Goodness I thought I'd never make it, but Rapina said she had done the ritual no less than one hundred times through the skeletons, so I thought it worth another few tries to get out here." "It's a great success. You want to build up there somewhere?" Rames asked. "Yes, within the mountain. I have some navigational measurements to make. Please consecrate this graveyard once again. I mistrust the strength of Rapina's remote work," Thane said. "Of course," Rames said. Rames started the prayers in the Northeast corner of the makeshift graveyard. After saying the prayer of the dead he crossed to the southwest and did the prayer of the living, then moved to Southeast for another prayer of the dead and finally back to the Northwest to complete the ritual. From the amulet around the neck of a skeleton came Rapina's voice. "The Southern gong just rang here in the abode. Someone must be coming to the isle." We will be right with you, Rapina, Rames has just finished the consecration and I will begin with the mists now. Thane began the droning incantations. After a time Thane and Rames appeared in the cliff-top gardens." "Let us see what is out there. Thane went up to the telescope room and peered into the eyepiece. Ah, there, it is nothing more than a dog, and it appears to be sinking through that hole in the ice out there. Nothing we can do about it." Rames took a turn at the eyepiece, "It's gone now." The next day Thane sat in the storage room of the secret laboratory wing. Rapina sat near his feet dressed in a shear peach silk teddy reading a large wood-bound book. "I really don't know why I let you talk me into trying that ruse with Rames, your theory is obviously flawed. I have tried this four times already. "Guardian Thane, how do you expect graveyard mists to succeed if you believe you will fail?" Rapina asked. "It's no use. I just don't think using illusion to fool Rames into believing we were in the desert with those skeletons has had the effect of mentally transporting him there as you thought." Rapina sighed, "Mental projection is a fact of magic. If Rames really believed he was there, then in some sense, he was. You have always told me that attitude is all-important for the practice of magic. I don't think we should even count the first four times you attempted the mists spell. You couldn't transport yourself to the cliff tops with the attitude you've had." Thane sighed, "Perhaps you are right. I have failed too many times at this and now I expect failure. I will try again, this time I will attempt to revive my ailing confidence." "I know you can do it," Rapina said, giving Thane's lust a tug. "Uh! Bad girl, you are the most dangerous vixen. Now, let me concentrate," Thane said. Rapina stood and set the book just outside of the room, then closed the door as she came back in, "Hail Mortaebius, shepherd of the dead, May I fortify thy servants by giving them good head. Ouww!" Rapina squealed as Thane swatted the seat of her peach silk panties, in the midst of his casting. "Praise Mortaebius, keeper of the dead, may thy servants vanquish the false ones by wielding thy dread..." Rapina intoned. Sometime later Thane pronounced the last syllable of the spell and then wiped his brow. The mists slowly began to clear. "Though I did not admire that 'prayer' you made up at first, now that I think on it, the truly astonishing fact is that I have almost never heard you repeat a prayer twice. You have quite a repertoire." "It's not too bad at night," Rapina said. "It?" Thane's head cocked. As more of the mists cleared he realized he was standing on a desert pave. Suddenly he ran forward and snatched Rapina off her feet. "Success!" After using his stone-bending spell to entomb four skeletons under the desert pave, Thane and Rapina performed a true consecration ceremony to create a proper cemetery of Mortaebius and then Thane returned to the abode with Rapina. He had been so sure he would meet with failure that he had not even bothered to bring his hiking gear, and Rapina was barefoot and wearing lingerie. --- At the breakfast table the next day, Thane spoke of coming events, "Soon we will begin construction on the new abode, and there will be much work setting it up. Rames or I must stay on the isle, to fulfill my mundane position as a member of the Order of Death's Peace, but Rapina, you can spend much more time in the desert. Elizabetta and I have already drawn up preliminary plans for the new abode based on drawings I made from viewing the layout of the mountain and the foothills and dunes behind it through my magic pool. I shall create the first secret door with magic, and get her and Kent started supervising our skeletons to begin the tunneling operations. It is a waste of her talents as an assassin, but she is the only undead servitor I have who has enough brainpower for the job. Her suggestions concerning security for the new facility have been invaluable." One thing is certain, however, we must begin to make our lab work pay. The new abode will be a costly undertaking. I would like to secure a troll so that I can use its blood for the manufacture of healing potions for our use and enrichment. If we want to do that, we must do it before the mountains Northwest of Avengene thaw. Tomorrow we will go to Argos and have Rapina fitted for a custom leather breastplate as a token of my esteem for the work she did that allowed us to transport to the desert. After that we shall go on our expedition." "We have to go while it's still cold?" Rapina asked. "Indeed. Trolls regenerate unless one cauterizes their wounds. Our flaming skeletons should be invaluable in that regard, but I have no wish to start any forest fires. I will see if I can hire a strong warrior or two from Red Jack, and then we shall venture into those mountains and attempt to take a troll. There are several types of trolls. I would prefer a small one, if that seems possible." Thane said. "The Baron of Daelath is a warlord, and he worships Virtusar, a god of heroes, manliness and battle. Like most Northern baronies, Daelrath's is sparsely populated. My sources within the church, however tell me that there are new settlements springing up in the barony that are nothing more than outposts to spread the tainted words of the vindicator. In the southerly areas of the barony are two temples of Mortaebius. The warlord is rumored to be a rough and ready sort, a former adventurer. He hates trolls and humanoids with a passion, and he pays a bounty for the heads of trolls and has quite a collection of them hanging on the posts of his various Northerly keeps. [Rapina]035 Trolling Thane first transported the group to a cemetery North of Rosehaven that was serving as the Order's jump point for travel into areas in and around Avengene. It had a special force of guards and powerful wardings to prevent mages from tracing travelers back from their destinations, a feat that was difficult to begin with, but possible for a few mages with exceptional skill at divination. After the brief stop North of Rosehaven Thane again called forth the mists and transported the group to a graveyard outside Rath Keep. Snowflakes drifted to the ground around the darkness- shrouded party. To the Northwest, Rapina could see a tiny walled settlement with a keep near its center. The town walls were mostly stone with some parts unfinished and shored up with wooden stockades. "A pity trolls are nearly immune to the scratches of ghouls, otherwise I might have brought Kent along," Thane said. "For that, I'll consider meself lucky. It's bad enough I have ta ride a dead horse," Pike growled from atop his undead mount. The Norseman had disguised himself for the trip by growing a full beard and dying his strawberry blonde hair a deep auburn. He wore a grizzly bearskin cloak over chainmail, and carried a Halberd in one hand, a double bladed battle-axe on his back and a heavy hand axe with a broad blade on his belt. "These horses are excellent for night travel. We will make good time as they can maintain a gallop all night. We will be limited only by the running speed of the flaming skeletons. I had the largest horse outfitted with a stout metal cage within its ribcage. It is there we will house our troll." Thane was dressed in his usual black mortancer robes with a leather mask over the death mask he wore. He carried a dark staff and an arsenal of singing bone daggers in the bandoleers he wore crisscrossing his chest. With him he brought mounted skeletons including two brand new reaving skeletons, and four of his largest double- animated skeletons including red-eye the half-ogre skeleton. All of the armed skeletons were equipped with halberds and two-handed swords. Four flaming skeletons rounded out his entourage. "I'd hate to ride these horses bareback though." Rapina smirked. To help disguise her identity in an area so close to the barony she grew up in, Thane had treated her hair with a chemical that removed the color. He had insisted her body hair be treated as well, since she had a habit of loosing her clothes. Unfortunately, the chemical seemed to remove the life from her hair as well. Thane had remedied this problem by draining life force from Rapina's reserves and bestowing it on her hair. Her blonde mane now looked quite rich and natural. She was dressed in a hooded black bear cloak and a breastplate of form-fitting beeswax-boiled black leather with formed triangular leather plates that hung down to cover much of her abdomen and butt. A leather strap that went between her legs held the plates tight to her body. Under the leather she wore a thick black silk blouse and breeches. She was insulated from the cold by a full suit of angora rabbit wool long underwear over her normal silken under things. Rapina was armed with her Montfort rapier and main gauch, her darkwood bow and two quivers of arrows with pine-tarred tips. Five of her arrows were scribed with incendiary glyphs. Instead of a halberd, she had the hose to a tank of turpentine installed within her steal breast-plated skeletal horse. She could use her feet to work a pump that would send a stream of turps out the end of the hose. Her mount wore a lit lantern affixed to it's neck that she could use for lighting the arrows that she carried. For longer-range work, she carried saddlebags with delicate blown glass orbs filled with turpentine. They had short fuses, and tar stoppers. Rames as Karmoz wore a black bear skin cloak and a suit of blackened steel plate armor. He carried two two- handed swords on his back, a broad-bladed falchion on his belt, and a halberd in his hand. The group traveled rapidly Northeast all night, and then set up camp in some sheltered crags to bed down until late afternoon. The skeletons, cowled in thick black hooded robes and cloaks, stood around the camp guarding. They were not at their strongest during the day, but they would still give an enemy pause. The horses were lying around the edge of camp making it look like the site of an ancient cavalry battle, except that the leather barding the horses wore was in much too good shape. The flaming skeletons were collapsed into heaps within stone rings outside each of the tents. Rames and Pike had dumped ashes on them from a sack full that Thane had brought for that purpose. Now the flaming skeletons were nestled in a bed of ash looking to the entire world like burnt out campfires. The horses could carry a good deal of gear, and the skeletons did not need any, so each living person had a small tent to her or himself. "I hope no trolls come while we are sleeping," Rapina said. "It's giants you should worry about by day, my dear," Thane said. "Trolls are nocturnal. This area is a war zone between the giants and trolls so I imagine most of the action occurs at dawn and dusk. We will hide out by day, and hunt by night." "Can trolls see in the dark?" Rapina asked. "Yes, exceedingly well, but their night vision is heat- based just as is the vision of elves. My magical darkness is proof against such vision," Thane said. "That's comforting," Rapina said. "I'll be in my tent reading for a bit if anyone needs me." Rapina smiled. "I need ya wench, why don't ye come ta my tent." Pike winked. Rapina smiled and disappeared into her tent. She took off her breastplate and boots, and then read for just a bit. As soon as the others had retired she sneaked out, scratched at Pike's tent flap, and then let herself in. "Need some help getting to sleep?" Rapina whispered. "Aye, I was tired all night and now I'm starting to wake up." As Rapina crawled in, Pike took hold of her tunic and pulled it over her head, then did the same with the top to her long underwear. Rapina unbuttoned her breeches and pulled them down along with the bottoms of her long underwear. Pike lifted the covers of his bedroll. Rapina smiled, "You're already naked." "I know ye better than ye think, red-hot wench," Pike chuckled softly. Rapina smiled, slid into the bedroll and snuggled her back against Pike's heavily muscled chest. Pike reached down and caressed the smoothness of Rapina's thighs then brought his hands up over the silk of her green silk bustier. This one keeps you caged up tight," Pike said. "It makes putting my breastplate on easy. It was something like this and a couple layers of soaked cotton cloth I had on when they slapped the hot leather on me right out of the vat of boiling beeswax," Rapina said. "I wondered why that breastplate fit so good," Pike unbuttoned the back of Rapina's bustier. Kroz must be wealthy ta get ye fitted fer custom armor." "I guess necromancy is a good living," Rapina grinned. "If we can get a troll it certainly shouldn't hurt his finances either." "Aye and with a troll ye can deal healing potions ta Jack, and I get one free just fer comin' along." Rapina nodded as Pike pulled her bustier off and tossed it atop Rapina's tunic beside the bedroll. She pushed her panties down nearly to her knees and nestled her high, generous cheeks against his belly. Pikes hand pushed her panties down a bit more, and then his foot pushed them right down off her toes. She could feel his engorged manhood between her legs, she grabbed it and slid down into the bed a little deeper. She massaged the top half of Pike's erection, while rubbing the base half against her moistening folds. She snuggled her rump against Pike's powerful loins. "I've got as much as some men right now," Rapina said, looking down to admire her borrowed cock. "Ye want ta try beddin' a wench with that?" Pike said as he toyed with Rapina's breasts from behind her. Rapina giggled softly, "I don't think I would fool her if you were standing behind me." Pike grabbed hold of Rapina's hips and pulled her farther up his body. Rapina squealed as she was moved up. Her caressing hands pulled back his foreskin and dipped Pike's pink head into her well of honey. Pike moved Rapina's hips back down his body and plunged into her wetness. Rapina moaned as Pike entered her and began thrusting. She took his finger and placed it on her clit... In the late afternoon Rapina wriggled out of Pike's bedroll and got her clothes. He was sleeping soundly while she went outside, heated some snow and busied herself cleaning up. As she began to wash, her nose tickled with lust. She finished with the chilly chore of washing her back and chest and then realized that the lust was not coming from any of the tents as she had first assumed. Furthermore, it did not seem to be the controlled lust of Thane, the intimately familiar lust of Rames or the robust lust of Pike. Without seeming to notice, she glanced past the source of the lust as she washed her bottom half. The man watching her wore a white cloak. He was sitting in the snow about forty yards away. After finishing her bottom half, she pretended to duck into her tent, but instead she ducked into Thane's. "Kroz, wake up," She whispered. She reached out and squeezed the lump she figured must be his foot. "Kroz there is a man watching the camp from about forty yards distant." Not waiting for him to respond, Rapina snuck to Rames' tent, grabbed his foot and whispered, we have a watcher. Unfortunately, she could not get to Pike's tent without being seen, so she ducked into her tent own tent and began getting dressed. As she finished dressing she heard riders approaching and hastened to get out and see who they were. "Hail, travelers," The watcher said. "Hail, riders what brings you to our humble camp?" "We tracked you up from yonder valley. What be your business in these crags?" The man asked. "We're troll hunters," Rapina said. "Well met, in all Ifreanne there be not enough troll hunters. It's a dangerous sport. Were it not for their war with the giants we'd all be dead men. What would be all these bones I'm seeing?" "Um, well, my boss collects them," Rapina said. "He's a bone collector, is he?" The man asked. "Yes, it's a macabre hobby, but it works for him," Rapina replied. "You know bone collecting is a punishable offense in a lot of places, like Avengene for instance," The man said. "That's true, but Avengene is very strict. I have heard everyone sneers at you or worse if you worship a god other than the vindicator." "Yah, I've heard that's true now," The man said. "Do you have a god you worship?" Rapina asked. The man puffed out his chest, "Sure do, can't you tell who it is?" He asked. Rapina stepped forward a few paces. "Hmm, I don't see any holy symbols." "Oh I am a holy symbol," the man said. "It can't be the vindicator, otherwise you wouldn't be looking at me like a real man does." The riders laughed. Rapina spotted some heraldry on the surcoat beneath the man's white fur cloak, but she could not see enough to tell what it might be. "You look like you know how use your sword." "My sword and axe are my best friends," the man affirmed. "I have no use for axes, but I can understand a man's sword being his best friend." Rapina grinned. The riders chuckled. "Well it's hard to tell how courageous or manly you are under that cloak, but if I had to guess, I'd say maybe you worshipped... Virtusar?" Rapina asked. "And you'd be right. You've a keen wit there, can you handle a sword?" The man asked. "I've handled quite a few of them. There's nothing quite as nice as the feel of a good sword in your sheath," Rapina said. The riders grinned. The watcher smiled, "Where's your boss?" Oh, he's rather nocturnal, so are the rest of the slugabed men. They'll be up shortly. Rapina put her hand to her forehead. The suns starting to sink. I just got up myself, maybe you saw." The watcher grinned. "You know, for a bone collector's mistress, you seem a lively woman." "He has little interest in mistresses. I have to find real men where I can get them," Rapina said. The watcher grinned saltily, "It's a shame a man with an assistant who looks like you hasn't got the interest." "I used to think so, but it works to my advantage really, being his assistant I don't have to worry about one man trying to keep me for himself. A swordswoman like me could never be content with just one blade. It would be horribly stifling." "But how can you swing more than a single heavy blade at once?" The watcher asked. Rapina shook her head, "Even the finest blades wear out. It's best to swing one after another rather than trying to use them all at once. Even if I could find a way to swing them all at once, they would all go dull at once as well, and that would be such a pity." Pike's tent flap flipped aside and the Norseman emerged fully dressed and ready for battle. "Men, I'd like you to meet Eric; the boss hired him on to assist in his troll shopping." Rapina smiled as she sensed a small fraction of the lust was now directed at Pike who was playing Eric. He likes axes, but I like his sword better." The riders grinned. Since she had turned towards Pike or Eric for a moment, Rapina caught just a glimps of Rames' shadowed and bearded face. He peaked out of his tent, then put on his masked leather helmet before moving forward and standing up. He too was fully armed and armored. "This warrior here is Karmoz, another of my master's assistants." Rames bowed slightly and then crossed his arms across his chest as Pike was doing. "And what would your name be?" The watcher asked. "You can call me Valkura, but don't call me 'Val' unless your life depends on a few quick words. And what name do you go by, Sir?" "You can call me Cosh, but if you're feeling extra stuffy you can call me, Sir Neil Coshus." "Well met Sir Cosh, you're a knight then, one of baron Daelarth's?" Rapina asked. Cosh nodded. Suddenly the shadows deepened around the entire camp. Cosh blinked, his had flew to his sword. "Please forgive the shadows, I am sensitive to the light, Kroz rasped. Once a man has died a few times, he's never quite the same." "A few times?" "Every young warrior who sees an animated skeleton jumps to a hoard of conclusions. Those conclusions usually amount to him feeling obliged to interrupt my reading with a sword. These bone-heads are often of little help either, sometimes they just stand there, and I have to try to get them moving. I say, 'jump bones! Jump now!' and Valkura is often the only one who listens." The riders snickered. "That's why I keep a few living servitors now. These old bones just aren't what they used to be. Unfortunately living servitors require sacrifices on my part. I have to keep food around for one thing and Not everyone bounces back from death as easily as a necromancer; that's the reason I have to fetch a troll so I can make healing potions for my helpers. Now I hope you men don't feel like hacking my people up, because I'd really rather waste my humble magic on trolls. Besides, I gather you are rather important heroes for the folks in these parts, and from what I understand, they can use all the help they can get." "Healing is priceless in these parts. Why we even put up with that priest from Avengene don't we men?" "We sure do. He can heal a bit, but there is a price ta be paid," one of the riders said. "I'll say, an earful of garbage," another man scoffed. "You put up with him?" Rapina asked. "Well we want to bust his face, but Daelrath has us on strict orders not to because the man was some kind of gift from Lord Avengene. "Yah, a gift spy," anoher man said. "Hehehe," the men laughed. "Does he ever make eyes at the women," Rapina asked. "Bah, he's always buggin' us about it. We've precious few women at the keep, but Bruhnie Daelrath says he bugs 'is peepers at her." "What if you were to catch Mr. celebate in the act?" Rapina asked. "Not with the baron's daughter, we're not," Sir Cosh said. "I see what you mean. Does she like him?" Rapina asked. Cosh chuckled, "Bruhnie told me she'd sooner rut a cur." "I guess you're stuck with him then," Rapina said. "Damn vindicator spies. If it weren't for that priest's healing power, I'd break his face," Cosh said. "The irony of it is that one of the best types of energy for use in healing magic is sexual energy. The vindicator bars his priests from sex altogether, and they in turn bar his followers from practicing magic, or any form of sex beyond efficient reproduction with a single mate. It is thusly that the vindicator corners the market on healing and sets himself up as the only source of holiness." "Clever," Cosh agreed. "It is easy to laugh at the practices of the church of the vindicator, but there is a ruthless cunning behind every move they make. The rest is simply window- dressing that placates the rank and file followers of the church." "You seem to know a thing or two about the vindicator," Cosh said. "I am an old, dead man. I have seen churches like this before. They are perhaps the greatest tool a conqueror can have. They posses the ability to bend the minds and wills of the common people to the point that they will do heinous acts in the name of their god without the slightest pang of guilt. Such churches should never be underestimated." "My people are about to have breakfast, would you like to join us for your evening meal?" Thane asked. "Uh, you're not going to, like, poison us or anything are you?" the knight asked. Kroz chuckled, "I really can't escape the stereotypes, can I? You have nothing to fear from me save fear itself. I will tell you your exact dangers. All depend on your actions. I am only dangerous if you attack me or seem to do so. You see my bone collection is none too bright. A friendly embrace becomes an attack in the minds of a brainless servitor. It is best simply to stay at least four feet away from me at all times. From the stalwart warrior, Eric, you are only in danger should you attack someone for real, or challenge him to a drinking contest." Cosh and his riders chuckled. "From my warrior apprentice Karmoz, you are only in trouble if you attack someone for real or attempt to explain some very obscure magical principle to him, thus confusing him and possibly causing him to strike out." The riders grinned. "From my apprentice Valkura, your greatest danger is that she has been in the abode with these boneheads too long and her pants have grown uncomfortably hot in the interim for lack of sufficient male companionship." The riders laughed. "If she is interested in you and you think you can satisfy her, then have at it; she is her own woman. The second greatest danger presented by Valkura is that after you have camped in her bed you will fall in love with her. Love her all you want, but do not fool yourselves, She cannot be satisfied by one man, she is not a one man woman, and you will not be marrying her. The best you can hope for is that you will be one of her friends." Valkura blushed. "Courage in the face of danger men!" the knight said. A few battle cries rose from the group. "I caution you, if you dally with Valkura, expect to be worthless the next day. She could tire the lot of you out if she had the mind to, and she often does." "As for our food, I think you will find that hollow horses can carry better rations than solid ones can. My living servitors must put up with a large dose of the macabre, and I try to make up for that with certain perks. Feel free to have some of your men eat only your food, or whatever you wish. I understand there are plenty of unscrupulous corpses in my business. I will not think any less of you for taking prudent precautions, or from turning down my offer altogether." "Well, it's a tempting offer," Cosh winked at Valkura; "but Daelrath would have my hide if anything were to happen to us. I'll tell you what. How about if I invite your living servitors down to our camp. It's not far off and we'd feel safer there. Your men could bring some extra food for any who dares try it." "I am content with your proposition, however, in order to protect me, my servitors must be in sight of my position. Perhaps we could strike our camp, and pass by yours for a little meal on our way out to search for trolls. The cooking and packing would take us time, but we could come by in perhaps an hour," Kroz suggested. "That is a good compromise. We will receive your people in an hour then." An hour later Rapina and the men walked out of a patch of shadow down the hill from the knight's camp. When they walked in, the camp appeared to be in full readiness for an attack. "Sorry to disappoint you men, but there will be no battle tonight other than with any trolls that come by," Rapina said. "Come by they do, but we are prepared for 'em. Daelrath is favorably inclined to any who rid this land of trolls. Bring him their heads and he'll pay you a bounty. Bring him a lot of heads and you'll be heroes in spite of your bone-collecting habits." The meal went rapidly by. Rapina enjoyed flirting with the men and tugging at their lust, but she thought there would be no time for dalliance. As she sat by the fireside laughing and talking with the men, Cosh whispered in Rapina's ear, "I happened on you washing earlier and couldn't tear my eyes away, and now my oak is giving me no end of trouble. You're quite a sight in the buff." Rapina tingled with the knight's lust. She went to whisper something back to him but instead wound up nuzzling his earlobe. Soon afterwards she squealed as he picked her up and carried her into his tent. He sat her down inside but She rolled forward onto her hands and knees. He reached between her legs and unbuckled the strap that held the formed leather plates over abdomen and butt; after that he pulled her pants down and right off her legs, long underwear panties and all Cosh looked at the young woman's perfect butt and hastened to get his own pants down. After getting them only half way to the floor he laid down and flipped over on his back, then pulled her blonde pubes onto his face. His urgent tongue teased her nub, and plunged into her depths on occasion to taste her more fully. Valkura gasped and writhed as the sensations overtook her. Her vulva drooled and clutched at his tongue until the sensations became so intense she exploded into orgasm nearly breaking the poor knight's nose as she bucked her wetness firmly into his face and pressed. She felt the touch of his mind and left there a strong sense of esteem. It grew out of her own esteem for him. He had seen to her pleasure in a situation where lesser men might have ignored it. Before she had quite finished her orgasm, Cosh lifted her hips, got to his knees, slammed his erection into her and started thrusting like a crazed stallion. One of his hands strayed from her hips and massaged her mound as he thrust. Cosh roared as a torrent of pleasure nearly flattened him. Valkura smiled back at the man who seemed amazed he could have come with such power. Actually she had taken little more than he would have given her naturally, but he was so aroused his orgasm had been naturally intense to start with. "Do you have something to, um?" Cosh handed the lady a handkerchief. "Thank you," she smiled as she mopped herself clean. She kissed him and nuzzled his ear once again, "You were magnificent. Now I have an appetite to bed an army, but I had better not, I've trolls to help slay." "Cosh chuckled, I don't quite know what to make of you, Valkura." Valkura put on her silk panties, her long underwear and her breeches, and then began buckling her armor. "It's not important as long as you can accept me the way I am," she said. "A real fireball?" Cosh asked. Rapina grinned and nodded as she left the tent. When she emerged the others were waiting for her. She bid the knight's men goodbye and disappeared into the gathered shadows protecting her master and his entourage. "Ah, that was a sticky situation, Valkura. You must remember you are all too close to your hometown. If someone were to recognize you, there would be hell to pay. On the other hand, this barony is on the border of Avengene. An ally here would be invaluable. We shall have to tread lightly. Did any of you learn anything?" "Trolls seem the currency of this realm. Cosh said Daelrath would pay us a bounty on troll heads, and if we brought him many, we would be heroes in spite of our bone collecting," Rames said. Trolls must truly be a problem here, then," Thane said. "I noticed the remaining wooden walls of the keep had claw marks in them. I also realize that Avengene has been able to put settlements here and to install a priest in the baron's keep. He is ingratiating himself by becoming a desperately needed ally against the trolls. My guess is that Daelrath has little choice but to accept the alliance. Somehow we must give him another choice. The first encounter with trolls came when Kroz spotted seven in a broad valley. He renewed the vision in darkness spells of his compatriots and they galloped forward. "Charge them head on, then veer around them at the last minute, Eric go left. Reaver one, guard one and three you will follow Eric and attempt to relieve the trolls of their heads with your halberds. Karmoz, go right, reaver two, guards two and four, you will follow Karmoz and attempt to relieve the trolls of their heads with your halberds. Flaming skeletons, approach any headless troll from the rear and wipe the whole of his neck with your forearm three times. Valkura, hang back slightly ahead of me. Torch anything that approaches and lure it away from me. If the encounter turns ugly we will run." Kroz and Valkura pursued the others for a time, then stopped while Kroz stood in his saddle and began casting a spell. Just before the combat began the area around the trolls was engulfed in impenetrable darkness. "Blood!" Pike swung his halberd but only managed to mangle the hastily thrown up arm of a troll. The reaver behind him took the head off clean. Rames' blade nearly severed a troll's head, and the Reaver behind him, finished the job smoothly. The last guard cleanly removed a second troll's head as he rode by. Bwaaaaaaaad! The trolls shrieked in unison as they ran towards the sounds of the passing horses. The flaming skeletons moved in and around the flailing bodies of the trolls. One bumped into its head and began to pick it up, but a skeleton's arm passed between the two halves of the severed neck, cauterizing both parts. The second charge seemed as though it would go much like the first. Pike turned his horse and galloped back towards the approaching trolls. Not long before they met darkness engulfed the area. Frack! Pike snapped as he lost his halberd in the chest of a toll. Pike slowed and wheeled his horse. The skeletal servitors of the necromancer severed the troll's head before he could bring his horse around to fetch the halbard. Rames missed his stroke by an embarrassing margin but the reaver and one guard each took a troll's head clean off. There were only two of the monsters left. "Shit" Pike roared as both trolls dove for him. One bashed clean through his horse's left foreleg while the other jumped slamming him off his horse's back. He could hear rings popping as it's claws scored his chainmail. Pike managed to right himself on the other side of his horse and drew his battle axe. He was about to swing when the reaver who had been following him got around his horse and took the troll's head off with its halberd. Pike advanced on the troll who had toppled his horse while the horses of the skeletal guards maneuvered to attempt to behead his assailant. Rames wheeled and brought his troops back. "Reaver, guards, be careful not to hit Eric by mistake." Gaaaa! Pike roared in pain as the troll grabbed his shoulders and rended. His face was bathed in troll's blood as a reaver swept the creature's head from it's neck, but it kept on rending as if following the last order it's missing brain gave it. Karmos ordered, "Reavers, remove the troll's arms near its shoulders." The reaver nearest Pike cleanly removed one of the troll's arms with its halberd, ruining the creature's leverage. Raah! Pike's axe came up and removed the other arm from the body. He staggered back as the hands continued gripping his shoulders. He dropped his axe and attempted to lever the arm off his right shouder. Rames drew a dirk from his boot and jumped to the ground. He grabbed the troll arm on Pike's shoulder and gritted his teeth as he worked to sever the thumb. "Ahh! There! Pike wounded himself more grievously in the process, but managed to tear the other troll arm from his shoulder. Kroz trotted up. The flaming skeletons were just finishing up with the necks of the last of the trolls. "All skeletons, guide your horses away from the flailing limbs of those headless trolls. Flamers, wipe your forearms across the stumps of the troll with the missing arms. Good, now stand back." Kroz dismounted. "Valkura, Karmoz, Eric, we need to get Eric's shoulders back in their sockets and to set any broken ribs. This will hurt." Pike nodded and tried to help guide the bones as Rapina and Rames pulled Pike's arms around and messed with his shoulders. Kroz touched Pike's shoulder and shook with pain as he transferred a portion of his own life force to Pike. The necromancer bent down and drained from the armless twitching troll body at his feet then repeated the process with Pike's other side. "The trolls have abundant life force even in this condition, but it will not last. I will need help lifting this horse so we can reattach its foreleg and apply a bone-mending spell." Pike moved his shoulders around as if trying to determine whether he was all right. "Blood! Those creatures are strong. Once ye've lost yer halberd, it's a defensive battle ye have ta fight. If they get too close and get their gloms on ye, ye'll get yerself torn up like I did." Rames chuckled, "I'm glad you were the one to discover that and not me. My bones are not ready for that treatment." "Bah! It was just bad luck. I'm a good man with an axe, but I'm not used to the mile long haft of a halberd." "Good job, now lets sever the arms of these trolls and then the flaming skeletons can lie down on the trolls' bodies and incinerate them. I believe these are all a bit on the large side. I am hoping for a smaller one. I am also still mulling over what to do about the barony of Daelrath. We shall save the heads in case we wish to collect the bounties." Several more groups of trolls fell to Thane's party over the next two days. The heads of the trolls accumulated in the rib cages of some of the guard's horses, but on the third day things turned ugly. I have spotted a group of ten trolls in a ravine to the south. Rames pointed and led the way. "I mislike the terrain. Without room to maneuver, our cavalry could be overwhelmed and there would be no escape save at the ends of the ravine. No, I will not be caught in that trap. We must lure them out into the open. I will send the smallest of the guards. Guard, ride within bowshot of those trolls, fire arrows until they begin to pursue, then come back here." Thane said. A few minutes later the guard came galloping up. "Good, let us ride some distance. We cannot let them escape into the ravine. Guard hang back forty yards but follow." The group rode off a ways then reformed. "There now we shall see what we can do. Form up. Eric go left as usual, Reaver one, guard one and three you will follow Eric and attempt to relieve the trolls of their heads with your halberds. Karmoz, go right, reaver two, guards two and four, you will follow Karmoz and attempt to relieve the trolls of their heads with your halbards. Flaming skeletons, approach any headless troll from the rear and wipe the whole of the stump of his neck with your forearm three times. The rest of you are well acquainted with our technique. If the battle goes against us we must run. Our mounts are faster than the trolls." The first pass went much as it always did but with more unintelligible babbling on the parts of the trolls. Instead of flailing around in the dark, one of the trolls jumped for the sounds of Pike's horse. It crashed into his mount and shattered a hind leg. The shear momentum toppled the horse and Pike was left with a draft horse skeleton pinning his leg to the ground. The reaver behind him took the head off a troll none the less as did one of the guards. It looked like Karmoz's group scored about the same number of kills. "Skeletons following Eric, defend him!" The skeletons followed their orders, one guard was borne off his horse by a frenzied troll, but a second troll was beheaded by the second guard. On the return pass, Rames' group harvested heads like the scythe of death; three fell leaving only two trolls. One troll managed to tear a guard from its mount after the skeleton carved its compatriot's head off. Pike slapped his horse and shook the reigns, "Go!" As the horse attempted to rise, the Norseman rolled out from under it. Suddenly Rapina heard a croaking from behind her and there was Kroz looking like he was about to fall off his horse. "Enemy caster...Poison spell," Kroz croaked. "Heads up! Enemy caster, Kroz is down!" Rapina hollered. "You must hit him before he can cast again." Kroz laid forward on his horse as if to ride towards Pike and Rames, but instead he nearly slipped off. Rapina looked around. Ten trolls were heading towards her, and behind them behind the partial cover of a tree, was an eleventh. She caught Kroz and pushed him back over his mount, but the trolls were coming. She needed to hit the eleventh troll, she drew an arrow but realized she could never hit the troll shaman before the new pack pulled her to pieces and they were almost on top of her. She grabbed the nozzle and began to pump furiously with her legs, turpentine sprayed from the nozzle, but there was no way she could fire a flame arrow to light it. She dipped the tar just behind an arrow's head into the flame of the lantern affixed to her horse's neck, then whipped it out under the stream of turps. Just when they were within a few feet of rending the woman and mage limb from limb, a cone of fire erupted from the woman's hands. EEEEEIIIIIII! The trolls screamed as four of them became living torches. The others skirted the flames and ran away towards Pike's position. Two doubled back, hoping to get at the mage from the other side. Pike roared with pain as he stood up. Shit! Rames swung and missed as one of the two remaining trolls smashed into his horse. Rames threw himself in the opposite direction as the horse was falling and came up standing. The troll was too close to make it possible for Rames to get back on his mount, though thankfully none of the horse's legs were broken. The troll that had attacked his mount soon lost its head as the halberd of a reaver sent it spinning. Rames blinked as a dazzling ball of light exploded above the skeletons. The magical darkness disappeared and the skeletons steamed. Had it not been for Thane's policy of cowling his skeletons in black clothing or robes, the light would have done even more damage than it had. The flaming skeletons that had been dutifully cauterizing necks paused a moment as they too steamed as though water had been thrown over them. Rames saw four trolls headed straight for him. "Skeletons, attack these trolls!" The skeletons rode on their foes, but with the magical darkness neutralized, the trolls leapt savagely onto the skeletons, knocking them from their mounts. Rames swung his halberd at the last of the oncoming trolls. It was apparent that this troll had not been expecting the blast of light and his sensitive vision had been dazzled even worse than Rames.' The human warrior's vision in darkness was unaffected by the burst of light, for it worked on the basis of seeing gradations of life force like an undead. Pike drew his battle-axe and found a stout tree to lean against. The necromancer held on and rode for cover behind a huge fir tree. He could hear Valkura following him and a flash of light seemed to have come from the location of Rames and Pike. When he made it behind cover, the necromancer's control lapsed and he slipped off his horse and fell heavily to the ground. Valkura glanced back, the four trolls she had torched were blinded and flailing wildly at their flaming bodies, but two were advancing on her. She grimaced and pulled out a glyphed arrow. She pulled back and aimed carefully. The trolls were close but her shot must be true. The first arrow sunk through the trolls eye socket. For a split second, the troll's eyes glowed like those of a halloween jack-o-lantern. Smoke and steam gushed from its ears, nose and mouth. Rapina drew back a second arrow. The troll began to leap but not soon enough as the arrow sped into the monster's open mouth and cooked the base of its brain. Rapina got behind cover and jumped from her mount. She took Kroz's head in her hands and looked into his eyes. "Kroz, you have to concentrate, use your life drain on me. Cast the spell! Kroz's vision wavered like that of a drunkard but he seemed to understand and began droning incantations. Rames could see the skeletal warriors would not last long under the rending assaults of the trolls, but he also knew that the skeletons would keep twitching even after their limbs were severed. He did not know where Kroz was, but Pike was wounded and they were outnumbered. He jumped onto his mount, kicked it and commanded it to rise. "Eric, get up with me, if they want us, let 'em give chase." Kroz's first attempt at casting while poisoned did not go well. He blinked and started the spell over again while his apprentice glanced about for the troll shaman. Only one troll came near Rames as his horse was making its escape. Blood! Pike roared as his axe sent the troll's head sailing. "Come on, mess with me!" he roared as he jumped up on the horse with Rames. Rames galloped off with three trolls in hot pursuit. Rapina gasped as she felt Kroz drain energy right through her breastplate. Her reserves were more than half-exhausted by the single touch, but Kroz began wavering much less right away. Rapina saw the life force of a troll in the distance. She pushed Kroz closer to the ground and pointed when they were under cover once again. Thane pulled two daggers from his bandoliers. "Pierce the troll shaman's eyes," he commanded, peeked up and then threw the blades. Rapina waited ten seconds then scrambled onto the back of her horse. She rode back towards the site of the original battle. The trolls were no longer on fire and were clawing at their eyes, no doubt they were trying to clear the burnt parts of their eyes away so that they could regenerate. She lit another arrow and smiled. Rapina made three troll torches before her supply of turpentine ran out, and then she expended two fire bombs on the fourth. She wheeled her horse to and fro avoiding the screaming trolls while she rode to the battle site. There she took a halberd from one of the downed skeletons. The flaming skeletons seemed to be perpetually cauterizing the necks of the many beheaded trolls. They were following their last instruction, no doubt. Her first attempt at using a halberd on a flaming troll was a flop. It took her three hacks before she sent a head flying. The second troll's head was off in two. Unfortunately, as the flames began dieing down, the trolls became increasingly sensible. She nearly cut the head off the third troll before she noticed the fourth clawing at his eyes. As she finished the third head, the fourth troll came after her. Three more fire bombs returned it to the status of a living torch. This time Rapina beheaded it while it was burning fiercely. Rames was doing well keeping a bit ahead of the trolls in spite of trees and other obstacles when he beheld a wizened troll smashing two bone handled daggers on a rock littered with the wrecks of numerous similar blades. The troll pointed and gibbered at them. Suddenly their horse began thrashing as undergrowth beneath the snow grabbed its hooves. The abrupt stop unhorsed Rames as Pike slammed into him. Suddenly the troll shaman was enveloped in darkness. He screeched at Thane and began gibbering again. Rames had no time to deal with the shaman. The three trolls that had been pursuing him were ready to do battle. He swung his halberd but merely nicked the arm of one of the trolls. Pike could see one of the trolls crouching to jump. It sprang and Pike swung. "Haaa! That's more like it!" Pike grinned as the troll's headless body fell to the ground. The darkness around the Troll Shaman sputtered out. He peered into the distance then looked at the battle nearby and started gibbering utterances and shaking a skull-headed rattle. He pointed at Pike and gibbered and then he pointed at Rames and gibbered some more. Pike brandished his axe, as a troll lunged for him, opening a rent in his chainmail. The Norseman wheeled the horse and took the creature's shoulder right off. Rames sidestepped the jump of the incoming troll and opened its spine with his halberd. Pike grinned as the troll's other arm joined the first on the ground. "Ththth," Pike attempted to speak but he had begun shaking in time to the rattle. He shakily swung his axe. Instead of severing the head as he had meant to, he cut down into the chest of the troll. Rames began to Vibrate like a fool; he barely managed to lift his halberd but another swing proved impossible. The shaman's rattle was making him quake. He saw the wound on the back of the troll he was fighting begin to close. The regeneration of the creatures was maddening. The other troll opened its mouth and bit down on Pike's twitching right shoulder. A roiling dark cloud formed around the shaman's chest and he weezed as he gibbered and shook the rattle. Pike dropped his axe. Rames watched as the troll that he had hit earlier stood. The weezing of the shaman seemed to diminish the power of his spell. Rames weakly tried to fend the attacking troll off. The tip of the halberd bit into the troll's chest as its clawed hand bashed the side of Rames' head. The warrior-priest saw colored lights and then everything went dark. Rapina rode through the trees following the sound of the rattle until she saw the shaman at last. She broke a lit fire bomb over his gibbering head as she rode past him. Rapina had disrupted the shaman's spell. Pike could move again, but the armless troll was trying to sup on his right shoulder right through his mail. With his left hand he drew his hand axe and swung. The head still refused to come off as his angle was all wrong. Groaning he raised the axe for another swing. Rapina wheeled her horse and sent a flaming bodkin- tipped arrow through the skull of the troll that was bending over Rames. It twitched and stood. She sent a second arrow at the troll shaman's head but missed and hit his thick neck. When the arrow hit the glyph on it triggered and the creature burst into flame. Rapina wheeled her horse as the troll that had been about to kill Rames came after her. Rapina felt her horse stumble as the troll scratched the bones of its hind quarters. It bounded ahead and Rapina began to circle. She could see Pike hacking at the mangled troll still on him. He was bleeding profusely from his shoulder. Thane was sneaking towards the troll shaman who seemed to be staggering in circles as its clothing burned. Rapina glanced behind her, to make sure the pursuing troll was not too close. She stood in the stirrups and fired a flaming arrow at the troll shaman's head but missed and hit a tree next to him. The troll shaman was drunkenly patting at his flames. She started her horse again as the troll behind her nearly caught up. Flaming skeletons, come here! Thane yelled. Rapina stopped again, took aim and missed. "Damn! I better get closer," she said. She urged her mount forward just as it lurched. The pursuing troll had leapt and its claws had pierced the rear of the horse's breastplate just behind her. Now the troll was pulling itself up onto her mount. She jumped off the horse and ran. The troll followed. Rapina heard a familar tune in her mind. It was Arzeal humming. The forest was the elven warrrior's friend. Rapina drew her rapier and main gauche. The troll growled towards her and she jumped aside putting a tree between her and the troll. The troll lunged but she jumped aside again and swung her light, swift blade. The troll screamed as three fingers disappeared from its hand. Rapina jumped and danced her rapier through the air. The trees were her friends. The troll was big but she was small and agile, and the trees were always in front of her pursuer. As she sprang from tree-shield to tree-shield her blade spoke, and the troll steadily lost claws, and then an eye, and still she danced, her breath coming quicker with the exertion. The second eye was a bit more difficult as the troll was growing shy. Rapina dodged between two closely placed trees, the troll lunged. The stump of its wrist slammed into Rapina's chest and sent her into a roll. She came up and straight-armed her rapier into the troll's good eye, for the foolish thing was temporarily stuck between the two trees. Thane was sorely winded. He had used all but two of his singing bone daggers on the blasted troll shaman. He had used darkness several times, and seeping death. He was tired. The shaman was clawing drunkenly at its eyes as it burned. Thane smiled chanted the syllables and pushed the shaman's back in a place it was not burning, draining its life force into himself. "Ahh, I feel stronger." The creature turned and Thane hopped backwards. Thane crouched over Rames and bestowed life force on him, then darted back towards the shaman to replace what he had bestowed. The burning turpentine had fowled the troll shaman's sense of smell, and fire had destroyed its vision, but that would not last long. At last Pike hacked the head off the troll he had been working on for so long and let it roll to the ground while he hobbled away from the flailing body. His right shoulder was a ruin, and his right leg was likely broken. He used his hand axe as a cane and hobbled towards the burning shaman. The troll's fingers were slowly growing back, but Rapina had some time before the troll would again be fully armed. The blinded troll bumped into a tree that Rapina had already started around. She sheathed her rapier and drove her main gauche in between two vertebrae in the troll's upper back. Its legs buckled as its spinal chord was severed. Since she left the knife in, the troll could not regenerate its spinal chord, and since the knife was in the troll's upper back, he could not reach the knife to pull it out. Pike leaned on his axe and regarded the necromancer. He seemed to be dancing and singing and grabbing the troll here and there. Actually, he recognized the life drain spell, but it did not seem to be doing a lot to the troll shaman, whose eyes would soon be regenerated enough to make the necromancer's dance much more risky. Pike swung his axe. There was a satisfying crunch, but the thing's head did not quite roll and the Norseman fell headlong. Thane had heard the troll's spine break. He stuck his hand into the wound and drained. Instantly the area of the troll's spine beneath his hand turned gray and hardened. It's spine severed, the troll soon fell as its legs were no longer receiving orders from its brain. Thane collapsed onto the ground, grabbed Pike's right leg and gave it a jerk. "Yiii!" Pike bellowed. Thane heard a satisfying pop and then bestowed life force to the area of Pike's leg that had made the sound. Pike's mouth opened as the shooting pain from his leg became a warm tingle and the break became a memory. Thane had hoped the draining would recharge him for casting, but it did not seem to be entirely true. He took another dose of life force from the twitching body of the shaman then sat down to rest. Rames was stirring however, and that was a good sign. Thane smiled as the flaming skeletons arrived, "Flame one and two, lay on the body of the second troll Pike had killed here, and flame three, cauterize the troll shaman's neck. "Aren't you going to cremate the shaman and the other one?" Rames asked blearily. "Nay, I must contemplate on a way to extract the shaman's knowledge. Let us cut his arms just below the elbows for now and bind him tight." Thane took Rames' cloak and used it to pat the fires out that had started on the trees surrounding the troll shaman as the result of the glyphed arrow. Then he and one of the flaming skeletons attended to the troll shaman's arms. By the time the laid upon troll's body was little more than ash, Thane was finished and sitting down for a rest near the shaman's body, its head beside him. Rapina walked into sight with a rapier in one hand, and a troll head in the other. "You killed a troll with your rapier?" Rapina nodded as she came back from putting out the fire one of her arrows had started. "It chased me, and I played tree dodgems and sliced its fingers and claws off. Then I took its eyes out. Then I came around behind it. I put my main gauche through its spine in the upper back and left it there. Its spine was severed so its legs gave out and I just kept hacking until I got the head off." "My dear, you have nerves of steel," Thane observed. "I'd have to living around you and all those undeads," Rapina grinned. "I got a few gashes, and bruises but I'm okay. The light armor helped. Did we find a small enough troll?" Thane looked over at Rames who was now sitting upright. I have an idea how we can cut one down to size and spare ourselves any further trouble. We will simply return the head to the body of that first one Eric killed in this location, I have had the flaming skeletons leave it. We will cut off the legs and arms, cauterize the wounds, and there we will have a troll of the perfect size and lack of mobility. I suppose we shall have to leave one arm to the elbow for a good place to draw blood from, but other than that I believe the solution is poetic. Rapina picked Pike's hand axe off the ground and swung it against the troll's limbs with both hands. Later we can get some metal end caps for its limbs and I suspect we shall keep it very well," Thane grinned evilly beneath his mask. "Now I must rouse myself and bestow healing on Eric's shoulder. Then we can free that horse, move to, rest at the main battle site, and use my mend bone spell on the various lame horses. Then we must find a camp, for dawn approaches." As Rapina finished cutting the troll's arms off, Rames ordered a flaming skeleton to cauterize the stumps and then hug the arms until they were ash. He did the same for the legs, and then Rapina carefully washed off the troll's neck wounds and pushed the head against the neck. It was almost gruesome the way the troll healed back together. Its eyes blinked and it tried to move, but it had no limbs. They removed the limbs from the body of the troll shaman as well, for Thane wanted to restore the shaman in a safer location where he might be able to think of a way to extract its knowledge. Rapina and Rames loaded it onto the horse and returned to the site of the main battle. In spite of Thane's fatigue, Rapina noticed he carried the troll shaman's head. Once the troll heads, skeletal horses and skeleton parts were gathered at the site of the initial battle, Rapina packed up the troll heads as Thane mended the bones of the skeletal horses. From there the group rode to find a secluded camp. --- It was late afternoon after the big troll battle, and Rapina was serving food around the skeleton campfire. I have been thinking about Daelrath. Avengene is insinuating his way into this Barony, and he must be stopped, however I do not believe Lord Daelrath sees himself as having any viable allies to help him with the trolls. Until now, he was right. After fighting the trolls, I believe we can develop better weapons against them. When you fired the glyphed arrows directly into the skulls of those trolls, Rapina, your brilliance showed its true colors. Moreover, when you left your main gauche in the spine of the troll you killed, you demonstrated another very important principle. A projectile that cannot be removed disallows the rejoining of the flesh that was on either side of it. If Red Jack would allow me to borrow Arzeal, I believe we could run some tests. Towards that end, I suggest we consecrate a graveyard here in the midst of troll country. We shall return to the abode, lick our wounds and make ready some prototype arrows. After they are tested on a few trolls by Jack's master archer, we may see that Daelrath gets some of the more effective ones, but first we must ascertain how much power Avengene wields over Dealrath. Rapina, I have an optional mission for you. If you choose to turn it down, none will think the worst of you. It is highly risky because someone in Keep Rath may recognize you in spite of your blonde hair. However necromancers are seldom well received anywhere and someone must attempt to recover you should things go awry, so I shall not be going. The fewer we send, the better in this case. You are simply the most congenial servitor I have, and your talents lend themselves to gaining the confidence of fighting men. I would suggest you stay away from any of Avengene's spies if possible, however. "I'll do it," Rapina said. Very well, later you will journey back to Keep Rath. I have seen native people use a frame of two timbers dragging off the backs of their horses as sort of a makeshift wagon. Can you construct one for Rapina's horse, Karmoz? "I sure can, they are useful for hauling the dead or wounded when there are few horses. I have used them before." Good, this one must be large, as it must hold our entire collection of troll heads. --- [Rapina]036 Daelrath At dusk four days later, Rapina rode towards the gate of Keep Rath while the others snuck to its graveyard under cover of magical darkness. She opened her mage- light pendant, took a deep breath and walked her horse forward. The wheel-less wagon dragged behind her, opening furrows in the muddy road. "Ho! Who goes there, man or spirit!?" Valkura, servitor of the deceased necromancer, Kroz! There was a pause. "State your business!" The gatekeeper called. "I wish to reap the baron's bounty on the heads of his enemies!" Rapina called back. "Approach the gate," the keeper answered. Rapina approached the gate. It was barely wide enough to admit a single wagon. It was made of stout timbers and the heads of many trolls decorated its upper edge. As she drew closer, she could see it was scarred in many places as if trolls had scaled it. The men on the cat walk pointed lanterns at her and squinted, but they needn't have. Rapina's mage light illuminated her much better than their feeble lanterns. She could hear the gate guards talking to one another as soon as she came close enough for them to realize that her horse was not a living creature. "Your horse is undead, how do we know you are not here to slay us all?" The gatekeeper said. "My master was a necromancer, I have little to say about his choice of mounts. He preferred these skeletal draft horses. They are large yet need neither eat nor drink. I could not slay you nor would I try. Kroz had no quarrel with you, nor do I. Sir Coshus allowed my master to take a troll from the mountains for his laboratory. I am here to collect some bounty and to show you that we struck at your enemy as promised. Kroz understood that even one as despised as a necromancer could receive some small degree of tolerance if he were to assist Lord Daelrath against the trolls. Kroz has not yet returned from the land of the dead, but we had planned to come for the bounty before we left, and I may need the money if he does not return," Rapina shouted up to the ramparts. "One moment!" The gatekeeper said. After a few minutes, the gate opened. It looked as if the entire garrison was there to check her and her skeletal horse out. Lust tickled her nose as she dismounted and led her horse into the keep. The keep was actually a very small walled town; there were shops on either side of the narrow streets. The soldiers led her to a shop near the actual keep, a large stone tower-like structure. A breezeway led from the keep to a long building just across the street. The sign on it read, "Mead Hall of Rath." Rapina realized that the town had probably been added on in stages around the keep. "I am Sir Mongrail, Valkura. Sir Coshus is out on patrol. We hope he is along shortly to explain." "It is a pleasure to meet you Sir Mongrail, Rapina bowed." "You may bring your sack of heads into the counting house here and receive the bounty." Rapina looked into the counting house. "May a lady have your assistance, Sir Mongrail?" Mongrail blinked. He was unused to courtly manners at Keep Daelrath, and although he had been obliged to learn them, it had not been so many years ago that he was a simple adventurer, and a member of Daelrath's group of cronies. "What does the lady wish me to do?" "My sack is too large for the door. I wish you to catch the heads I toss and set them on the counter to be tallied." Rapina pulled back the tarp from the makeshift wagon and tossed the first head to Mongrail. Mongrail caught the head and examined it. It had been severed cleanly and the flesh was firm indicating the woman had not simply tried to get a troll body to regenerate several new heads. On occasion a bounty hunter would attempt to pass off such heads and receive more than his due, but the knights of Daelrath knew how to spot a cheater. The head was a large appendage, and the troll's body lacked for the substance to make one as good as the first. Given time and nourishment, a weak, spongy head would no doubt firm up, but Mongrail had never seen a bounty hunter with patience or resources enough to farm trolls. It was probably easier just to kill new ones. "A valid number one," Mongrail said. Head after head passed through Sir Mongrail's hands. The dark lady rose many notches in his estimation. She went from dangerous vampire, to despicable rogue, to citizen, to warrior, to martial artist, to hero of the realm. Many of the heads were cut cleanly, some had obviously taken several hacks. Some were badly burned, a couple looked to have been cooked from the inside, and the necks of all had been cauterized by an exceptionally hot brand. Rapina fetched the last head from her saddlebags and walked into the counting house. She noticed a few of the heads were still on the countertop. "Pray tell what happened to these trolls?" Mongrail asked. "These I sprayed turpentine on and torched. Kroz had a special horse I rode at first. In it was a tank of turps and a foot pump. Trolls flail around aimlessly when torched and it's not too hard to cut their heads off when thusly occupied, even if a halberd is a little too heavy for me to wield effectively." "What of this one?" Mongrail asked. "That one was done with a magic arrow. Rapina reached into her quiver and handed the knight one of her two remaining glyphed arrows. I have only two of those left. The glyph bursts into flame, normally in a five foot radius. In order to accomplish that, I had to fire the arrow through the troll's eye or mouth. A stronger archer using armor-piercing arrows could probably hit the skull anywhere and get the same effect. The glyph must be inside the brain case when it goes off. If it is, the troll dies instantly. "A fine weapon, may I show this to the baron?" Sir Derek Mongrail asked. "Surely. They can be made by some priests, and most mages," Rapina said. The knight nodded. This last one is special. Rapina set the head on the counter. One night we had a very bad battle, and that was the last to fall. I was out of turps, and was trying to save a couple magic arrows in case I encountered trolls on the way back here. Mongrail inspected the neck. "It took you many hacks to remove this one." Rapina nodded, "I killed it with my rapier." The knight's eyebrows raised. "How old are you, m'lady?" the knight asked. "Sixteen and a half," Rapina said. "Astonishing! How was it you wound up serving a necromancer?" Mongrail asked. "A mutual friend introduced us. I desperately wanted to learn magic but had no funds. Kroz has a horrible time recruiting living servitors, so we struck up a deal." "No funds, but what of your manners?" The knight asked. "Kroz felt I should learn deportment," Rapina said. "You learned deportment from a necromancer?" Mongrail asked. Rapina smiled and nodded, "Dead or not, he's very well educated." Rapina smirked. "How do you stand working with corpses?" the knight asked. "It takes some getting used to. Once you're used to it, it's not so bad, but it can get lonely," Rapina said. "Then this Kroz lives in an isolated location?" Sir Mongrail asked. "Very isolated. Necromancers are not popular men," Rapina said. "How did he get here?" the knight asked. "He brought us here with magic," Rapina said. "I see. Are those all the heads your group took?" Mongrail asked. "There was one more, but I left it, since Kroz may want it as a trophy. It was the head of the troll shaman that sent my master on his latest journey to the land of the dead," Rapina said. "Well I'll be damned!" Mongrail grabbed Rapina's hand and nearly pulled her off her feet. "Come, we must tell the baron! We have been trying to kill that bastard shaman for years!" Mongrail said. Rapina was hussled into the keep. "Baron Daelrath! Valkura and her master have killed the troll shaman!" A tall, dark, battle-hardened, middle-aged man rushed down a staircase. "No!? Really?" Baron Daelrath asked. "Yes, if this young lady is to be believed, the fifty- fourth troll her party killed was the shaman, but her people kept his head for he was the one who killed her master. Take a look at this one. She killed it with her rapier. Mongrail tossed the head to baron Daelrath." "That bastard shaman was responsible for the deaths of more of my friends than any troll in the realm." Dealrath looked at Rapina as if stunned. She was the vision of a Valkyrie; her blonde hair brought out the mettle in her emerald green eyes, and her shape was something men only dreamed of. "How old are you girl?" "Sixteen and a half," Rapina said. "Great Virtusar's ghost! Bruhnhilda come look at this!" Daelrath said. A girl Rapina's age wearing a cumbersome long dress came rushing down the stairs. Brunhilda stared down in wonder at the Valkyrie who stood at the foot of the stair. Her hair was blonde, and she wore a black bearskin cloak that was held open by the Valkyrie's capable hands resting on her hips. She wore a black tailored breastplate and black silk clothing. Around her neck was a jeweled silver choker and a fine silver chain that held a rod of crystal that glowed with strong light, and on her wide black belt she wore weapons just like a man! "This is a story for the mead hall! Gather up the knights!" Dealrath ordered. "But daddy!" Bruhnhilda protested. "Just this once you can come along, Bruhnhilda, but only until your bedtime. Tell Bruhny's governess she is over at Sir Coshus' with me. I don't want to have to argue over this for the next three days with that nag," Dealrath said. Food and drink were passed among the knights and fighting men of Daelrath. The baron had called for a hero's feast and most of the warriors in town attended. Rapina told the story of the adventures she had with Kroz and his servitors, including the battle with the troll shaman. She changed the details slightly to have Kroz struck down by the troll shaman's flailing claws as he drained the life out of the troll's neck wound. Thus he paralyzed it permanently as sure as a firebrand in the same place might have done. "What happened to the Norseman?" Coshus asked as he strolled into the mead hall and took a long, deep pull on a flagon. Rapina smiled at him. "I'm really not sure. Karmoz paid him. He might have left, or he might have staid with Karmoz waiting for his leg to heal and for Kroz to come back from the land of the dead and give him a lift South. Kroz claims to have died several times, so he should be back," Rapina shrugged. If not I'll have to make a fresh start," she grinned and felt the weight Sir Mongrail had added to her purse shortly after she had been escorted to the mead hall. "Fifty three fucking confirmed trolls and the shaman! We need ourselves a mage!" Sir Coshus blurted. Rapina smirked at Cosh; he was slightly gassed on mead already. The Baron glared at Coshus, "Bruhnhilda, time for bed." "But daaady! I'm older than she is!" Bruhnhilda protested. "She is not a baron's daughter. She is an adventurer who has had to grow up fast. She might as well be twenty-five. Come on now." "Goodnight Bruhnhilda, it was nice meeting you." Rapina waved "Goodnight Valkura." Bruhnhilda grumbled as her father escorted her out. Baron Daelrath returned a few minutes later. "All right men, I know you've been holding back, and I appreciate it, now relax and lets celebrate the death of the rattler!" "Rapina, I know you're only sixteen. Can you tolerate drunken warriors, and how late are you used to being up? Rapina grinned, "Kroz was nocturnal, so I usually cooked dinner for Karmoz and I just before dawn. "As for drunken warriors," she grinned, "I am always glad to be around other living people, although it's a shame when a living man is so drunk it is as though he were dead." "Don't worry about the lady, Rathy, she's a fireball. Her dead master even warned us about her. He said if ya dally with her, expect to be worthless the next day." The warriors raised their cups, "I'll drink ta that!" Rapina blushed. "The old corpse said she could tire the lot of us out if she had a mind to. If you ask me, she's hotter than a troll brand. I know she works for a necromancer, but she makes every women I've ever slept with seem dead by comparison. She's a natural, a real man's woman, a hero's girl, none of this chaste vindicator bullshit! She's like a concubine of Virtusar, so wanton and tireless, it takes a god or a hoard of heroes to satisfy her! The warriors all looked at her and cheered. Rapina smiled brightly as the men bathed her body in lust. Rapina fanned her nose, "I'd say the temperature just went up a few degrees in here." She stood up and reached between her legs. The warriors gaped. "Settle down, that's where the strap for my breastplate is." she grinned as she unbuckled herself and then craned her neck to the side and began unbuttoning her armor beneath her left arm. There, that's much better. This armor fits nice, but it's still armor. "Are there rooms in town I can rent?" "The Mead Hall has three guest rooms, milady. The things you had stowed in the undead steed's chest are in the room in the back to your left, and you've got your own door to the outside as well as one that opens into the hall. The men didn't trust that undead horse, so it's parked just outside the gate." "My thanks for your hospitality, Baron Daelrath; those arrangements sound just fine. I'll be right back, I just want to put my armor in my room." Rapina tossed her armor into her room next to the pack and saddlebags from the horse. As an afterthought she loosened her belt and hung her rapier and main gauche on the bedpost, and then walked back into the mead hall. "Hold up, lady. Me name's Knar Gutsplatter. I been wantin' ta ask you about yer blades and now ye left 'em in your room. Rapina took Knar's hand and led him to her room. He looked over his shoulder grinned and shrugged at the other men. Rapina closed the door behind them. She sat on the bed and drew her rapier. "They're made in Montfort." "Wow, now that's a beautiful blade, the kind a real pro carries. I see it's new, but not totally, Knar said looking at the sheath. You really know how to swordfight for real?" Rapina tossed her cloak on the bed, took the blade and demonstrated a few standard moves and positions, naming each one as she did so. "I've only been at it not quite a year, but I have a good teacher, and he drills me everyday for two hours." "He does?" Knar looked surprised. Rapina giggled, "Yes." She sheathed her sword and showed him her main gauche. "Nice, matching blade," Gnar said. "The armor's pretty too. Is that breastplate, ah I mean some of the guys were saying its stuffed with padding." Rapina picked her breastplate up and showed him it was just leather with a cloth backing. "Well I thought maybe ya had the padding on you or something, like layers." Rapina smirked and pulled her tunic over her head, "I do wear a layer of wool underwear." "Is there padding under that? You don't uh move natural," Knar said. "Oh, I see what you mean. Rapina pulled her long undershirt off down to her green silk bustier. It was a severe garment, not very sexy, really; it was form fitting with laces in the back. She couldn't even put it on herself. "Padding in there?" Knar asked. Rapina giggled, only what nature provided. She put her cloak back on but left it open like a cape, then took her blades and put them back on her belt, and lead Knar back out into the mead hall. "Looks like you got half way there, Knar." Bledsoe grinned. The warriors laughed. "Bledsoe Trolltripper, I just wanted to see her blades, an' this thing she's got on was under her black tunic and long underwear, an' that's why she doesn't move; it's not because she's all padding." "A green silk bustier? May I? I have not seen one in years." Rapina tossed her cloak onto a chair. The baron examined her undergarment. "The stitching is magnificent, where was this made? Baron Daelrath asked. "Argos," Rapina said. Daelrath shook his head. "That master of yours spares no expense equipping his servitors. I have seen only a few garments like this, and that was during my days as an adventurer. Are your swords as fine?" "Clear." Rapina drew her blades and handed them to the baron. "Montfort forge? I am not familar with the smith, but I know of a town called Montfort," Daelrath said. "It's a new weapons house located in Montfort," Rapina said. "Their workmanship is very impressive. Do you really know how to use these, a woman of your tender age?" Daelrath asked. "Do you fence?" Rapina asked. "Of course," Baron Daelrath affirmed. "Then let's spar. I'm sure you are more experienced, but I enjoy exposure to the styles of different people. It helps my defense," Rapina said. "I have a pair of practice swords; no need to spar with live steel. One moment, I will have them fetched." "Men, move some of these tables back, I'm going to find out whether or not the lady could really slay a troll." The warrior's cheered. Soon a servant arrived with a pair of blunt rapiers and two masks. Rapina limbered up and took a mask and sword. "The trees help a lot for trolls, but I'll show you what I can do toe to toe," Rapina said. "Good enough. You are not the only one who uses the trees against those beasts, we understand the technique," Baron Daelrath said. The two contestants crossed blades. Rapina could tell that the Baron had a great deal of experience with blades, but she doubted that he specialized in the Rapier. She suspected he used a heavier blade. His technique was good; the first few minutes went buy as her noble sparring partner and she took each other's measure, strike, parry, parry, lunge, parry, strike and score, Rapina won the first point. The men cheered respectfully In the second round the baron tried much harder, but Rapina just managed to best him and score a second point. Rapina smiled, she was still going strong but the older warrior was a little winded from the sheer speed of the exchange. He had tried to overwhelm her, but he had failed. The next round she scored easily. Finally on the forth round he scored a hit. The warriors clapped loudly. "That's it! You said it yourself, what could a woman do with a sword? Wipe the floor with you I think! Hahahaha!" Cosh hollered drunkenly. The baron scowled at the half drunken knight but he was not about to give up the bout in order to discipline his unruly old friend. Round followed round, but Rapina was obviously in her element. The baron was an experienced warrior, but the rapier was not his weapon of choice. She scored four out of every five hits, until the baron was drenched in sweat. "The lady scores again," Daelrath thought to himself. He was receiving a drubbing and the best he seemed to be able to do was win about one in five rounds. "The lady wins, damn it!" He threw down his sword and stormed out of the hall. Rapina grimaced. After the baron left she sat quietly and listened to stories of troll hunts, attacks on the fort, and the glory days of adventuring before Daelrath decided to build a keep and fight the trolls. His dedication had won him a title, but Rapina could not help but wonder what he had given up to stay and fight for his besieged chunk of land. An hour passed, and then another. After three hours a servant bent to Rapina's ear. "The baron would like to talk with you. Please slip out when you can." Rapina bid the men goodnight, then slipped out of her room and around back of the mead hall. A single knock and the servant who had whispered to her opened the door to the keep. She was led up the stairs and let into the baron's chambers. "I am sorry I... made such a fool of myself," Daelrath said. "Rapina looked into the Baron's eyes. She saw pain there, not the pain of a single night, but years and years of pain." "It's okay, it wasn't me was it? It was something deeper," Rapina asked. The baron nodded, "There was a woman, an adventurer, headstrong, vivacious, she was magnificent. You remind me of her, although she had darker hair; your free spirit runs with hers. We were lovers but not for long. The baron pointed to the sword and helmet that rested on his mantle piece, "The troll shaman killed her. What you see on the mantle is all I have left to remember her by." She was the reason I staid here. Now I like to think I stay for the sake of the people, but I could never be certain until you brought me this news, and granted me the revenge that I prayed to every god and demon for. What fell god sent you anyway?" "Mortaebius," Rapina said. The baron took a breath, "The god of the dead? Are you a real living woman?" Rapina nodded. "I am the servitor of a necromancer with plenty of flaws and skeletons in my closet. The troll shaman attacked us; otherwise we would never have known there were troll spell-casters. It was purely coincidence, or providence if you like," Rapina shrugged. "Then why are you here?" Baron Daelrath asked. "I am a spy, of course," Rapina said. The baron laughed. "Of course, but for whom?" "Mortaebius," Rapina said. "But why?" Baron Daelrath asked. "He wishes to know if you intend on helping Avengene burn his temples in the south of your territory, and if you intend on turning your daughter into a nag as unnatural and guilt-ridden as her governess," Rapina said. Daelrath scowled, then looked at the helmet on the mantelpiece, "Mortaebius? Is the church of the god of the dead full of necromancers?" Rapina giggled, "oh sure." She turned to look at the woman's helmet as well. "Actually most of them would scream and run if they could see what Kroz can do. Most are simply high quality morticians with some catchy prayers; a few others can cast some useful spells and consecrations. Very few could make the dead rise, and those who could probably don't know it is possible. Kroz's art is not accepted within the church but there are plenty of rumors of its existence. Morticians are not soldiers, and they are helpless against the depredations of certain gods whose 'honest', 'natural' and 'forthright' servitors dress as bandits to burn and sack and desecrate the house of the dead without so much as a pang of the guilt they seem to be constantly serving up to others," Rapina said. Rapina felt the laces of her bustier being undone. When she heard the laces drop to the floor she turned. The baron looked at her face and then his eyes dropped to her mouth, his expression was a combination of lust and trepidation. Rapina opened her mouth. She took the baron's arm and bit on it softly, over and over. "Oh please, do you think I'm a vampire?" She said looking up. She bit some more, and then she bit his neck and his cheek, soon he started laughing uncontrollably. "I did," Baron Daelrath admitted. Rapina rolled her eyes, "I get that all the time. I do not suck blood. I suck other things. I'm just on loan to Mortaebius from the goddess of lust." "Oh you are, are you?" Daelrath asked. "I think so, but neither of them consulted with me. I guess it's on a need to know basis," Rapina said. The baron pulled Rapina's bustier forward off her chest and set it aside. Her nipples rose in unison. Daelrath inhaled deeply as he saw her breasts. He lifted her off her feet and carried her to his bedchamber, kissing her nipples as he went. He set her on the bed and began to undo her belt. Rapina breathed heavily, she quickly undid the baron's belt and deftly buttoned down his breeches. "You've done this before, haven't you, milady?" Rapina grinned lustfully, "Once or twice." Rapina stood and wriggled out of her pants and long underwear. The baron bent and pulled her silk panties down. He felt her belly and then reached around and squeezed her full rump. His breath caressed her nether lips, and then his tongue licked them. "You are so wet." The baron stood, took hold of Rapina's butt, and lifted her wetness onto his erection. He laid her on the bed and pumped rhythmically, gasping as clutching waves caressed up his shaft finishing when the base of his cock kissed her vulva and then starting all over again with each and every thrust. Daelrath knew he would never hold up to this, he was going to come; he was going to come hard. He withdrew and kissed his way down her body. He grasped her butt squeezing and massaging as he began to eat her. Rapina moaned and spread her long legs wide. He teased her with his tongue and played in her well with slippery fingers until she was practically screaming, and then with his fingers still playing he entered her once again with a powerful thrust. Rapina squealed in ecstasy as orgasm blasted through her brain. As she began to come down from her peak, she touched his mind with lusty affection. He continued thrusting and thrusting as Rapina's inner muscles pulled at his seed. Baron Daelrath's moan stuck in his throat as his eyes opened and he poured his seed into the goddess beneath him. "You don't know how long it has been since I've done that," Daelrath panted. Rapina smiled. "Was there anyone after the adventurer?" Rapina asked. Daelrath rolled under Rapina without pulling out. She sat atop his softening erection and smiled down at him." "My wife, of course. It was not the same though. The fire was not there. She was a good woman, an impoverished noblewoman. I was a baron by then, but only by title and not by blood, so the pedigree of my children became important. She was not suited for life in a battle zone. She made trips south, and about two years ago the... trolls got her. "You sound unsure," Rapina said. "It was probably nothing, but I have been a troll hunter many years. There were some tracks I was unsure of." Baron Daelrath said. "Then it could have been a political killing?" Rapina asked. "It is possible, one made to look like a troll attack," Daelrath said. "Did a woman from Avengene come courting shortly after?" Rapina asked. "Avengene came to the funeral with three of his granddaughters. One staid for a time, but I could not stomach it. Something just didn't feel right," Daelrath said. "Then it probably wasn't. From what I can tell, the Avengenes are lions in sheep's clothing who hide behind a just and pious god who nevertheless lacks the common decency to leave the churches of other deities alone." Rapina clutched the baron's half-softened erection inside her. She smiled down at him as he reached up to play with her breasts." "You are such a sexy young woman," the Baron said. Rapina giggled, her breasts bobbing slightly. "Men do seem to appreciate my body, and I certainly appreciate men. My master always warns them, 'Don't fall in love with Valkura; the best you can hope for is to be her friend.'" "Why is that? Because you're a spy for Mortaebius?" Rapina smiled, "No, it's because I can't resist a good man. If you want a faithful woman, you'd better look elsewhere. Sometimes when I get started, I just can't stop, and it doesn't matter how many men I go through, I just want more. It would break the heart of a man who wanted me for himself," Rapina sighed; "but I am the way I am." "A real fireball." Daelrath grinned. "Hey, that's what Cosh said." "Sir Coshus is a spy for me." Daelrath said. Rapina giggled. "He is quite thorough in his reports." "Only because you are so unusual. Necromancers are a rarity. Cosh may not have let his bravado slip, but he saw the armed skeletons, the dead horses and the four mysteriously smoldering fire pits and he became nervous as he should have. He also spent a great deal of time watching you wash yourself. You had been sleeping with the Norseman," Daelrath said. Rapina smiled and looked at the ceiling, "Eric is so big." "I hope that is not all you see in a man, the size of his cock?" Baron Daelrath asked. Rapina looked at the baron's hands playing with her breasts and smirked, "Actually, Rapina clutched the baron's softened erection, size can be impressive, but any man is snug when I squeeze him." "Yes, I could not help but noticing. Coshus was not lying about your interior," Baron Daelrath observed. "Didn't he leave anything to the imagination?" Rapina smiled lustfully as she felt the baron's erection growing inside her. She moved her hips slightly forward and back, adding fuel to his fire. "No, he was quite fascinated by your brief encounter, and I'm sure he will be knocking at your door again. Quite sure," The baron panted. Soon Rapina was going full stroke moaning as she rode him. --- It was well after midnight when Rapina let herself out of the baron's chambers. She had not pulled an appreciable amount of energy from the nobleman. He had simply fallen asleep after his third orgasm. She had taken her clothes and dressed in the sitting room. There she loosely re-laced her bustier and put it on like a pullover shirt. Then she opened the door. A guard there looked at Rapina inquiringly as she came out. "Where did you come from, miss?" the guard asked. Rapina looked confused, "The baron's chambers. Does that door go somewhere else too?" The guard cleared his throat, "Ah, no. That'd be the only place that door leads. What were you doing in there?" "I was, um, the baron was entertaining me," Rapina said. "Or was it you who were entertaining the baron?" the guard asked. "Um, yes, could be. Do you want to check on him or something to make sure he's just tired from entertaining? I am used to sleeping during the day. Otherwise I'd stay with him," Rapina said. "Oh, okay, c'mon in the sitting room. I'll take a peek. The guard went in and bent over the baron, then came back out. He seems okay. He's breathin' good anyway. C'mon I'll get you back to the mead hall. There might be a few drunkards still up. Most of the men take their day off tomorrow," the guard said. As she entered the mead hall, she saw that there were still six men remaining. Rapina recognized Sir Coshus and two of his men sitting around watching three other men play knucklebones. "Welll ha-hellow therrre Valllkura," Coshus slurred. "Good eve, Sir Coshus. It sounds like you've been drinking," Rapina said. "Dammmn right. Ids my day offf tomorrrow. The knight seemed to waver even though sitting. Hey, I waadded up fer ya, wanna goo," Coshus pointed towards Rapina's room. Rapina sat in the knight's lap. He clumsily cupped one of her breasts through her bustier with one hand hand. He held a mug of mead in his other hand. "Who's winning?" Rapina asked the other men "Balard is cleaning up right now, but I was ahead earlier," Sir Markus Stallart said. "Hey, wanna goo in da uddeerrooom?" Coshus ineffectually nibbled at Rapina's earlobe. "Why?" Rapina asked. "Ta Fuck!" Coshus said. Rapina wrinkled her nose as the other men looked. Rapina turned her head and spoke to the drunken knight in a low voice, "Coshus, how long have I been sitting in your lap moving my rump back and forth to get comfortable?" Coshus blinked, "A few minuds, why?" "Cosh!" Rapina whispered, "You've already been fucked tonight. Her name was Almeada, and she must have rode you hard because nothing's happening down there." "Ohh Shhhit," Coshus said. Stallart and the other men laughed. They had obviously been listening. "What's the matter, Almeada put the kibosh on the Cosh?" Balard refilled Cosh's cup, "If you got no signs of life with Valkura movin' her ass in your lap, Cosh, you're as good as passed out now. Here, finish the job." "Oooooo," Coshus moaned. "Ids dead." Rapina giggled, "Sorry Cosh, I may be a fireball, but I'm not a miracle-worker." Stallart chuckled, "can't you cast a rez-erection spell on the poor drunken knight? "He's beyond my help. Only Mortaebius can help him now," Rapina said. "Hahaha, Mortaebius, god of the dead! I think you need Valkura's boss to come back and cast animate bone on you!" Stallart laughed. Everyone at the table laughed. "Common over here, lass, sit on a real man's lap. Leave that pickled pickle out to dry," Stallart said. Rapina got up, smiled seductively and snuggled her rump into the knight's lap. Oooo, I'mmm useless. I gonnna go ta bed. Ssee you tomorrow, Cushus half bowed, half staggered before the men, and then tippled his way out of the room. Two other men said their good-byes shortly after the drunken knight left. They too were too deep in their cups to be able to stay awake much longer. "Hey Stall-heart, for the next throw, I'll wager a silver against havin' th' wench in my lap," Balard said. "You're on, Ball-hard," Stallart said. "I'm in," Melden said. "Only one problem with that," Rapina said. "What?" Balard asked. "I own my rump, not Stallart. If you want me in your lap you'll not get me by betting him," Rapina said. "Oh." Balard looked crestfallen. "Hold on." He dug in his pocket and came out with a small smooth white stone. I'll tell ya what. Lets say the holder of this here stone holds the rights of you sitting in his lap fer a quarter hour." He handed the stone to Rapina. "Okay," Rapina said. "Now I'll bet you a silver against the stone for the next toss," Balard said. "I'm in," Stallart said tossing a coin next to Balard's. "I'll see that silver," Melden said. "Oh all right," Rapina smiled and placed the stone down next to the coins, then she picked up the dice and rolled a five and a one for a total of six. Everyone else rolled but Melden beat the pack with a ten. Rapina grinned and sat down in Melden's lap. His lust tingled pleasantly up her spine, as she got comfortable. She could feel his erection growing beneath her and could not help tugging on his lust each time she moved her rump to get more comfortable. She switched laps several times in the midst of furious betting, and raging hard-ons. "Could we bet for a token that would get us into your bed?" Stallart asked. "No, that wouldn't be right. I'm a warrior, not a harlot," Rapina said. The men looked crestfallen. "...But I am going to my room, so when I'm gone there is nothing preventing you from dicing with each other to see who's gets to come to my door first, and who has to wait till he leaves." The three men's mouths dropped open and then blossomed with smiles. --- Rapina opened her eyes. She could see daylight streaming in through both of the high, narrow windows of her room. There was a light knock on the door to the outside. "Who is it?" Rapina called. "It's Bruhnhilda." Rapina grabbed her bearskin cloak from the chair, put it around her, then padded to the door, and unbolted it. Bruhnhilda stepped in and the Valkyrie she had met last night closed and re-bolted the door behind her. Rapina went back to the bed, swung her legs up and sat with her back against the headboard, "Hi, Bruhnhilda, I thought you would be Cosh or someone, Rapina blinked. Aren't they keeping you away from me?" "Well not exactly, but they would if they knew. My governess makes me go to the vindicator's service. It starts early, but if I can't get out of it, there is Sunday school after. The service to Virtusar starts later so the hung-over knights can get to it. Daddy sometimes goes to both services, but today he got up late and only went to hear the chaplain of Virtusar speak. I told reverend Vindictine that I had homework to finish to get out of Sunday school, but my governess thinks I am in Sunday school. Rapina grinned, "The shell game. Pull the chair up if you want." Bruhnhilda smiled and pulled the chair from under a small table in the corner of the room and brought it near the bed. She sniffed the air, "What's that smell?" "What smell?" Rapina asked. "It's hard to describe," Bruhnhilda said. Rapina stretched a long bare leg out of the bed and picked a crumpled handkerchief off the floor with her toes. "Is that it?" Bruhnhilda took the handkerchief and practically jumped when she put it near her nose, "Yes, that's the smell." Rapina giggled, "That's the smell of men." Bruhnhilda un-crumpled the handkerchief and looked at the white slime inside it, "This is men? What were you doing?" Something very fun and natural that your governess has been working very hard to make seem bad and unnatural to you from the day you were born. Someone already worked very hard on her and the priest when they were kids, and now they honestly believe it, hook, line and sinker," Rapina said. "What is it?" Bruhnhilda asked. "Sex, of course. It's what men and women do for fun," Rapina said. "Is it hard?" Bruhnhilda asked. Rapina giggled, "No but it's like anything. You don't enjoy it as much until you get the hang of it." "But doesn't it make you pregnant?" Bruhnhilda asked. Rapina got up from the bed; her cloak hung open as she dug around in her pack. She tossed a small sealed paper bag to Bruhnhilda, "Only if you're stupid and ignorant, but that's how they like their women, dumb and helpless. They can't swing a blade, they can't hold a job of any importance, and all they can take pride in is having child after child to swell the ranks of the church. Either that or they can work for the church to create more people just like them through instruction." Bruhnhilda looked confused, and a little angry, but not at Rapina. "I'm sorry, I really shouldn't be telling you any of this. If you even mention one thing I just told you, they'll lecture you until they're red in the face and then cook up all kinds of merciless little punishments to make you wish you had never gotten out of line. Does that sound familar?" Bruhnhilda looked crestfallen, "Yes, it does. I know just what you mean." "According to the vindicator's church, girls mustn't think. There's no sense arguing with them anyway. You know exactly what they'll do and say already." "I know, It's terrible." Bruhnhilda held up the packet, "what is this stuff?" Rapina went back to her pack and got another packet, this one had already been opened. She took a half- generous pinch of the herb it contained and dropped it in her mouth. Everyday when I get up, I take that much. You can't count on it for the first two or three weeks, but once you have taken it that long and you don't miss more than a day, you can count on it. You won't get pregnant no matter how much fun you have." Bruhnhilda put the sealed packet in her belt purse and then dipped her fingers into the packet Rapina held and took a good pinch. Is that right?" Rapina nodded. "Nothing to it really. It's a common herb. If you know the taste and smell, you can harvest it yourself if you can find where it grows. Some apothecaries stock it too." Bruhnhilda smelled the herb then dropped it into her mouth and chewed it. "It tastes funny." Rapina giggled, "Well it's not supposed to be food, it's an herb." "You're naked," Bruhnhilda said. Rapina looked down at the fullness of her breasts. She shrugged. "I don't have anything you haven't seen before." Rapina opened her cloak wider and looked at herself, "All women come with the same basic equipment; there are just variations of shape." Rapina felt a slight tickle of lust on her nose. It wasn't strong, but it was noticeable, something like she might expect from Brackston or Slice whose reactions to handsome men were much more palpable. "Do you have a boyfriend?" "Not really," Bruhnhilda said. "Do any of the men look at you like, you know, like they're interested?" Rapina asked. "Sometimes, but the one who looks the most I can't stand," Bruhnhilda said. "Oh you mean the reverend?" Rapina asked. "Yes, he's so disgusting," Bruhnhilda said. "Lots of vindicator people have their lust all twisted in knots; It's not clean like a real man's." Rapina said. "I've noticed almost the same thing from other men who, for one reason or another, have never gotten enough attention or feel bad about themselves or their bodies. If you have anything sexy to wear, or if you can just move right, most men will take notice, and you can usually get the gist of their lust." "Reverend Vindictine's is so disgusting it's easy to sense. Sometimes he touches me and I nearly gag," Bruhnhilda said. Rapina smirked, "If he is really icky you could give him enough rope to hang himself with, but it might be dangerous. It's certainly not the ideal first encounter with a man. I'm so glad I had some nice boyfriends before I met my first case of twisted lust." Bruhnhilda giggled, "Reverend twisted lust, that's who he is. How do you mean hang himself?" Bruhnhilda asked. "It's a little tricky because you can't be wanton or ask him or even be too much the perfect vindicator girl, but if he's pushy, you just get into a situation where he knows you're going to be alone with no one nearby to see him, and maybe you swallow some of his excuses if he bothers to make any, but if he forces you, and you have someone you trust standing by to get someone who is big, tough and mean who's word is his bond... Well if reverend Yuck gets caught forcing the baron's daughter he will get thrown out of this keep so fast it will make his head spin. Not to mention what your father might do to him on the way out. It's a poor excuse for having power, but it could work," Rapina said. Bruhnhilda sighed, "Being a commoner would be so much simpler, and I would have more freedom." Rapina shrugged, her breasts bounced resiliently. Yes, I could just beat him up if he tried anything, but your situation is a little more complex. Someone would have to catch him doing the deed while you pleaded for him to stop. Then he would be cooked, and his lechery would come to a quick finish. "Being a commoner can get quickly difficult too though, especially if you're a little too pretty." "You must have to pry the men off you." Bruhnhilda giggled. Rapina grinned, "It's the really icky ones, no, the really icky ones with lots of power. Those are the biggest horrors of my life. I don't have a problem with the nice ones; spreading for them is so much fun." "How do you do it?" Bruhnhilda asked. Rapina grimaced, "You really don't know?" Bruhnhilda shook her head. "Haven't you played with yourself?" Rapina asked. "A little, but they said it was bad," Bruhnhilda said. "Gods I hate what they do to girls! You probably don't have a live muscle in your tunnel either. It's like your legs would be if you had not been allowed to walk for the first seventeen years of your life," Rapina sighed. "They'd probably cut my head off for showing you. Have you ever even seen a man naked?" "Once, but not for very long. I walked into a privy I thought would be empty," Bruhnhilda said. "Have you even seen a stallion?" Rapina asked. Bruhnhilda nodded. Men are a lot like stallions only their pipe has no sheath like a stallion's. It just hangs. Women are sort of like mares too, only mares get interested once a month, and a natural woman can be interested just about all the time. Men get hard when they are excited and it goes up. Rapina made a fist by her crotch then slowly extended her index finger. Bruhnhilda giggled and did the same. Rapina smiled and took Bruhnhilda's finger and pulled her towards the bed. "I'll show you kind of how it works if you want. You can pretend to be the man for the moment." Bruhnhilda came over to the bed with Rapina, who laid down and pulled her on top. I'll hold your left shoulder up so you can be a man with your left finger. Hold your left hand down where your crotch is. And hold yourself up with your right arm. Rapina held Bruhnhilda's left shoulder up. While the other woman kept her right arm straight and braced on the bed beside Rapina. With her left hand, Rapina guided Bruhnhilda's finger to her entrance. "Okay, that's about right, now if you were a man you would just thrust your hips forward. Of course you would be naked too, but this'll do for a demonstration. Bruhnhilda thrust her hips forward and her finger went right into Rapina. She was warm and wet inside. "Okay now thrust your hips back then forward and back and forward with some kind of rhythm. Not too fast. If you're not a dead woman like your governess probably is, you might thrust your hips in counterpoint to the man, like so and you would squeeze him with your interior muscles if you have got any strength in them after what they've done to you," Rapina said. "Oh goodness," Bruhnhilda said as a wave of muscular pressure squeezed up the length of her finger. "Do that for a while and the man will squirt white slimy seed up inside you just like is on the the handkerchief, and when he shoots, it feels so good he can hardly believe it. Women build up to the same kind of release, but we don't shoot anything, at least not so obviously. It still feels really great. Most men have to rest after they shoot. A well-practiced woman can come to a peak and then build right back up for another, so if you're good at it and you have a good partner, you can have more fun even then your man does." Rapina grinned. If he shoots it up inside, how did it get on the handkerchief? Bruhnhilda asked. "just lay down beside me if your arm's getting tired," Rapina said. "Bruhnhilda laid down on the bed beside her semi-naked new friend, "But why is it on the handkerchief?" Rapina giggled, "It's a thick liquid, so it will slowly run out of you, especially if you've got a lot in you and you stand up. A little always stays in, plenty enough to get you pregnant if you are stupid and have not been taking the herb. If you have the herb but haven't been taking it, take five doses the day after you have a man. It will make you a little sick, but you won't get pregnant. I'm what Sir Coshus refers to as, 'a real fireball,' which means I like sex a lot, and I have a big appetite for it." "How many men did you have in here?" Bruhnhilda asked. "Three, but one at a time. It's less confusing that way. Most women are content with one man. I'm a very greedy girl, more so than most other natural women, and far more so than a woman who's lust is all tied in knots like your governess'." "My governess said she was sure you were not a natural woman, but some sort of an undead, a ghoul or a vampire," Bruhnhilda said. Rapina groaned, "I get that all the time from working for Kroz. He's an unsavory character; I will freely admit that, and I'm not exactly unstained myself, but I'm trying to make something out of myself, and free magic apprenticeships are just about impossible to get. Rapina got up and put some socks on, then pulled her boots on but did not tie the laces. Time to show you I'm not undead, not that you shouldn't have figured that out with where you had your finger. Undeads are cold corpses." "Peek out the door." Rapina stepped out the door; the noonday sun was bright on the small stoop outside. Rapina turned and faced the door then opened up her cloak. The sun beat down on her naked skin. She stood there for quite a while then came back in and re-bolted the door. There, I'm not a vampire, or I would just have been cooked. I could get a suntan if I staid out long enough, but Kroz is nocturnal so in winter I get little sun. We all go to bed around dawn and get up in the late afternoon. Bruhnhilda smiled, "I didn't think you were one, but its good to know. I thought maybe you would suck my blood." "Rapina giggled, "I'll suck your clit if you like, but not your blood." "My what?" Bruhnhilda asked. Rapina rolled her eyes. You honestly don't know? Bruhnhilda slowly shook her head. "Okay, I'll show you, it's the main female pleasure center." Rapina sat on the bed with her legs spread and showed Bruhnhilda the nub she was referring to, and several ways to play with it. "Just don't bother trying it when there's any chance of the guilt patrol showing up. You know you'll never hear the end of it. It's probably better if you figure out how it works yourself, anyway. They'd crack my skull if they knew I tongued you to a climax. The only reason I even offered is because you probably have never even had a climax, and that is really sad," Rapina said. Bruhnhilda shook her head. "Unless you can get rid of those vindicator types, it's best just to act like they want you to act, but like an actor in a theatre company playing a part," Rapina grinned as she put on some panties and a chemise. "The funny thing is that if you really overdo it, some of them won't even notice," Rapina giggled. "I might as well do my exercises while we talk." Rapina began to do stretches. "You exercise like the men?" Bruhnhilda asked. "All good warriors exercise. It makes you strong, and it gives you confidence and stamina," Rapina said. Bruhnhilda gaped as she saw Rapina doing pushups on the floor and then pull-ups to the lintel above the door. She could not do one pull-up, and could only do a pushup with her knees on the floor. Rapina made them all look so easy. After she did a bunch of exercises, Bruhnhilda held out her sheaths and Rapina drew her weapons and did some moves with Bruhnhilda out of the way on the bed. Footsteps sounded outside then there was a heavy knock at the door. Rapina motioned Bruhnhilda to open the door, and then went into a handstand on her knuckles, blades in hand. Bruhnhilda, kicked the slimy handkerchief under the bed and then opened the door wide standing near the open edge of it so that the person on the other side would get an unobstructed view of Rapina, standing on her hands with her chemise riding up nearly to her navel . Rapina lowered her head to the floor and then pushed slowly back up to a handstand. For a moment the baron was too surprised to say anything. He grimaced as he saw Rapina doing a push-up to a handstand. He obviously knew how difficult that was. Rapina felt a surge of lust when the baron first looked through the doorway, but he was obviously surprised as well. "Hi Baron, Rapina said almost casually in spite of the exertion of her exercise. The baron looked at Rapina, and then at Bruhnhilda. "Bruhnhilda?" Rapina lowered the top of her head to the floor slowly, "She came by to say hello on her way back from church and we got to talking. It was really very sweet of her." "Daddy, I am the daughter of a war lord and I can't do one pull-up or even one push-up. I feel like such a waif." "Nonsense, you are a noble lady," Daelrath said. "I am an ignorant girl who knows how to read poetry, and prayers to the vindicator, and dress in courtly clothes and act with manners. I live in an oft embattled keep in the middle of troll country with my warlord father and I cannot even lift a sword. Please don't start in on Valkura because she's just been exercising and listening to my woes, not telling me what my woes are," Bruhnhilda said. "I have felt so worthless for so long, and now I meet a girl my age and she is some of the things I should be. Strong, self assured, able to defend herself at least long enough for assistance to arrive. Daddy I am a dead piece of skin. I can't even step one foot outside this keep. I cannot do a single pushup, I cannot shoot a bow, I do not know how to use a spear from the wall, or dump boiling oil from the cauldrons, or fire a ballistae. I cannot ride a horse nor can I cannot drive a wagon. If I traveled south and trolls attacked me, I couldn't even ride away. I am a helpless, worthless sitting duck! My mother is dead. I am your daughter, why can't I be a Daelrath!?" For a brief, shining moment the baron hesitated. It appeared almost as though some of his daughter's outburst had struck a chord. "Enough of this insolence! Go to your room, child!" The baron ordered. Bruhnhilda looked at Rapina. "It was so nice of you to stop in, farewell Bruhnhilda," Rapina dipped and pushed up a bit as if to curtsy upside down. Bruhnhilda curtseyed and ran off. Daelrath looked a little dangerous as he closed the door. "Just what do you think you are you doing practicing with live steel in the presence of my daughter?" "She was perfectly safe sitting over on the bed. The poor girl just wanted to talk to someone her own age." Rapina could almost hear Daelrath's anger battling with his lust for supremacy. She started doing a leg exercise that was basically the splits upside down. Her legs and body became a "T" and then she straightened her legs again and repeated. "Damn it you're distracting," the baron snapped. Rapina smiled and gave the baron's lust a subtle tug. "What's this I hear about you and a few of the men late last night," Daelrath asked. "Hmm? Did I forget to tell you I was insatiable?" Rapina asked. "Well, you did mention it but..." Daelrath said. "You are a very fine lover, baron, but for me it was in the middle of the day when we made love, and you know what Sir Coshus said last night was true. I am the way I am. If it helps you to think of me as a cheap tavern wench then go right ahead, but I'm really very much like your warriors of Virtusar in matters of affection, I just happen also to be female. I love men and I get what I can get when I can get it," Rapina said matter- of-factly. The baron nodded. "Unfortunately, I normally live with a bunch of walking corpses." Rapina wrinkled her nose. "Clear," Rapina fliped up onto her feet with her blades tucked. Her nipples traced ephemeral designs in the fabric of her chemise as they bobbed. Rapina sheathed her weapons and stood before the baron. "I am still not sure what to make of you, other than that you are gifted between the sheets, and a real fireball. I suppose if you were here to charm me you would not have bedded those three last night, especially since one was a knight, and sure to report directly to me," Baron Daelrath observed. "Charm is overrated. I am here to find out what is going on, and to see if there might something we can do for each other," Rapina said. "Well there is one thing you can do for me," Daelrath grinned. Rapina smiled, it was obvious that this time lust had prevailed over anger. Daelrath lifted her chemise off over her head and tossed it on the floor. Her panties found the floor at his hands only a split second later. Daelrath shook his head, "Your body is positively unreal. He touched his palm to her vulva and came away with a spot of moisture, and you're willing and able to settle any man's desires." "Well, not any man's," Rapina said. "Then how do you decide who is left out in the cold?" Daelrath asked. "I take exception to men who maliciously try to torture and rape me, and to men whose lust is so twisted and tinged with guilt and insanity that it is dangerous or revolting. Plus I don't always have time," Rapina said. "Have you got time now?" Daelrath asked. Rapina nodded lustily as she made quick work of the baron's belt and his trouser buttons. Soon she was wetly moaning over his throbbing erection. When they were finished, Rapina took some fresh clothes from her pack and began to walk to the keep with the baron who had promised to have a bath drawn for her there. As they headed down the street, a man dressed in the black robes of a priest turned a corner in front of them. "Good day, Baron Daelrath," the reverend said. "Good day reverend Vindictine. This is our visiting hero, Valkura," Daelrath said. The reverend looked up at the sun and then back at Rapina, "Good day Valkura," the reverend said. Rapina rolled her eyes, "Good day, Reverend Vindictine." She looked up at the sun for nearly half a minute and then looked back at the Reverend. Daelrath chuckled. She lacks the light sensitivity of a vampire or the scent of a ghoul, and in any case her body temperature is quite normal. Daelrath grinned salily. Vindictine nearly scowled but caught himself. "It is well you are not undead then, Valkura. Such creatures are beyond hope." Rapina nodded. "Carry on, reverend. I shall see you later," Daelrath said. "Goodbye reverend," Rapina curtseyed slightly. "Sometimes I wonder why that man bothers to stay here. He can only count on the governess and a few others to come to his services. The men are constantly joking about his lack of masculinity, and yet they expect him to heal their hurts, a task which he is easily exhausted at," Daelrath observed. "As long as he can remake Bruhnhilda in his image, he has mission," Rapina said. Daelrath scowled. "It is easy to see there is no love lost between the servants of Mortaebius and those of the vindicator." "None at all," Rapina grinned. Rapina's bath was long and luxurious, and when she got out of the tub, she found her blades and mage light missing. She dressed and stepped into the next room. Six armed knights with swords bared awaited her. With them were the baron and the Reverend. The baron held her mage light with the clear crystal bared. "Valkura, we must examine your hair," Baron Daelrath said. "Ah, you see, the roots are black, and look at the likeness of the face," Reverend Vindictine observed. The baron compared a poster held up by the reverend to Rapina's face and sighed. "Yes, and the description of her body fits her as well. Valkura, or Brianna, as the case may be, you are under a rest for the murder of Reverend Evangeline Avengene. You will be held in my dungeon until an armed party from Avengene can come to fetch you. I would deliver you myself, but I cannot spare the men." [Rapina]037 The Dungeon of Daelrath Before she could think of what to say, Rapina was escorted to the dungeon. They went through a barracks, and then a guardroom. One of the two guards unbolted a door and let them pass into a room that ringed a stone- lined pit under the keep. Around the bottom of the pit there were three cell doors. The floor of the pit could only be reached using a long ladder, or by being lowered down via a rope and pulley. When she saw how much it looked like Evaneline's dungeon she froze and became frantic. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Noooooo." The guards carried her to the edge of the pit and used a rope to lower her. On the floor of the pit she assumed the fetal position, shaking and crying as the guards picked her up, carried her past two upright posts with manacles attached, and threw her into a cell. The door slammed shut as the guards left her. --- Baron Daelrath turned over for the hundredth time that night. He couldn't sleep. Why was this bothering him so much? Hadn't the girl killed Evangeline Avengene? She had been so confident. She had worked with spooks, but as soon as she was dragged into that dungeon she had come unhinged. Daelrath could still see her shaking on the floor, and it was tearing him apart. The baron got out of bed. He slid the silver slider of Rapina's magelight down the rod and the room filled with red light. Another push and the light would be white, but he had found the red light much easier on the eyes in the middle of the night. He picked up the poster. "Wanted for the murder of Reverend Evangeline Avengene: Brianna Barter, reward: Five hundred gold pieces," It said. It did not even say how or where she had killed the man. The baron got some clothes on and went down to the dungeon with the poster in his hand. "Good eve milord," the guards said. Good evening men, "If you heard a fifteen-year-old girl killed a man, what do you suppose her motive would be?" "Hard to say milord. How was he killed?" Guard Gowen asked. "The poster doesn't say. Um, say it was with a dagger," Daelrath said. "She could have been robbing him, but it isn't a likely profession for a young girl. More likely she'd be a harlot. Maybe he caught her pickin' his pocket and they had a scuffle. Could be lots of things. Could be he wanted to sink his meat in her and she wasn't havin' any of it. She's got one hell of a body, milord," Guard Gowen observed. "Yes, yes, she does. Lower the ladder for me guard. I would feel remiss if I didn't at least ask her how it happened," Baron Daelrath said. "Yes milord," Gowen said. It was dark in the dungeon. The only light came through the barred window in the cell door from a torch on the wall above the pit. There was a cot with one blanket, a chamber pot and some old corn cobs to wipe with. At mealtime there was a candle stub on her tray so she could see to eat. Rapina had counted six meals since she had been interred in the cell. Once during the first night in the cell she had seen a strange light flicker on the wall of the cell, but it had gone out after about ten minutes. Rapina heard the guards unbolting the door to the room that ringed the pit to let someone pass into it. She saw red light and heard footsteps. The ladder was lowered and someone climbed down before it was again raised. The Baron opened the door to Rapina's cell, walked in and sat down on the cot next to her. "I would like to know how it was you killed Evangeline." Daelrath said. "Penance," Rapina answered. Daelrath raised an eyebrow. Rapina began to explain, "Evangeline ran my hometown. Most people hung on his every word. He was a nobleman and a reverend, but for as long as I can remember there were also rumors that he was a lecher of the first degree. My Aunt used to sell petty curses against him to the young women who he had wronged. She taught me about the herbs, including the ones that could control a woman's fertility. After a while the reverend had her hung for her curses. Sarah Brailings told on him. She sickened and died. Brenda Dawes fell from a cliff. Later when I fell into his clutches, I learned that all these events and more were things he had done to young women who had refused to hold their tongues. He was above the law and he knew it. The constable was a man who was under Evangeline's command in the past when he was in Avengene's army. He said that Evangeline was both one of the smartest and one of the most vindictive people he had ever known. When my aunt was still alive, my mother would not even let me see her because the reverend's sermonizing had turned her against her sister. I used to like to sneak out and visit my aunt. When I was twelve, Evangeline raped my friend Avaine. She didn't tell many people. She was afraid. I knew about Evangeline even as a child and I was so glad he never tried to rape me, probably thanks to my Auntie, but then when I was fifteen my aunt was dead, and daddy caught me with Raymond Thompson. He was one of my boyfriends. He helped teach me to read while his daddy was teaching him, but we were not reading at the time," Rapina smiled. It had not been the first time I had been caught, even though I was very careful. My mother felt that I was out of hand and beyond her ability to discipline anymore, so she sent me to Evangeline for penance. He had a one-room dungeon under the church. It was there from before the constable's office had been built. That's where he always kept his latest victim..." The baron put his head in his hands. "His dungeon was similar to your dungeon. He had to climb out on a ladder, but he did not have any guards up top watching him rape and torture, so it was possible to escape if he could be knocked out, but he had very carefully selected the furnishings. There was nothing you could hit him over the head with, and I did not know self-defense at the time. He was a wily twisted man who tried to convince me that what he was doing to me was all part of my penance. The more he raped me, the purer I was supposed to become, and the pain of the beatings was supposed to be purifying as well. I was very like Bruhnhilda only I didn't even have her education. I could read a little bit is all. If it were not for the prayer book he gave me to read, I think I would have lost my mind, but instead I was too busy trying to learn all the words so I could read the prayers. He taught me to read a few, and that helped on the rest. He raped and tortured me, he fed me only on Sundays, and he twisted my mind around in knots whenever he could spare the time. Before that I had always enjoyed sex, and I was good at it, but what he was, and what he was doing was all wrong. Maybe his horrors activated some talent that I never knew I had. I was trying to tire him out so I could try to escape, and he was especially crazed that night. He always got that way after Sunday services. No matter how tired I got him, he kept waking up and pulling me down from the ladder, beating me and raping me until Mortaebius took his rotten soul to hell where it belonged," Rapina said stonily. The baron shook his head, "No weapon, no marks?" Baron Daelrath asked. "Either he just had a heart attack or I somehow drained the life out of him," Rapina continued. "I was not even trying to kill him; I just wanted him to go to sleep so I could try to get away. Either way he deserved what he got, but I was not so stupid as to believe his family would see it that way, so when he did die, I escaped. I became an outlaw; what choice did I have? After a while I found out that I was a hero to Kroz and the protectors of the church of Mortaebius because I had killed Evangeline, and the reverend had been very instrumental in convincing his father that the vindicator was the one true god and all the others should be disposed of one way or another." "Unfortunately, it was too little too late, and the church of the vindicator continues to destroy the temples of Mortaebius with their secret gangs of thugs. They have largely cleared Avengene of other faiths and now they seem to be trying to destroy the church of Mortaebius outside Avengene. Up here I think they have a different strategy. The population is so low all they have to do is put up some settlements and convert your heir through her governess, and Virtusar dies with you. They can clean up the temples to other gods in the south of your barony with bandits from the north. After all, that's where everyone's used to trouble coming from anyways." "Why do I have to deal with all this subterfuge? I am a war lord. I kill trolls!" Daelrath said. "Evangeline's legacy is that you are stuck in a battle zone next to a conquering faith. Doing nothing, or believing in their false decency and trying to humor them is the same as letting them take over, and they would like to make you believe you have no choice. You do have a desperate choice. You can make it." Rapina said. "I don't know what I will do. I don't even want to give you to them anymore, but as you say, I believe I have little choice." Baron Daelrath sighed and stood up, "I will mull over it further," Daelrath said. Two days later Rapina was startled as she heard the raging voice of Daelrath. "Predator! Charlatan! Pretender!" Rapina could hear the sound of someone being punched or slapped after each expletive, and then she heard the doors being opened above, and someone being lowered down and affixed to the posts outside. "Your manhood is as twisted as your religion!" Daelrath raged. Rapina heard the scourge bite hard ten times. Then she heard the shackles being removed. The bolt on her cell was shot back, the door opened and reverend Vindictine was shoved in. Daelrath peered in through the doorway. The expression on his face was deranged with vindictive, seething anger. "Here REVEREND, there's another girl for you to RAPE. Sorry she's not a virgin, but you'll be happy to know she was raped repeatedly by your very own reverend Evangeline Avengene. Thus purified by his foul seed, she should be even more palatable to you than any virgin. Why hello, Brianna, do you know what this slime just did?" Rapina shook her head; she noticed one of the veins in Daelrath's redened forehead was sticking out, he was so angry." "A boy heard something and got two of my knights. They snuck into the church and there was Vindictine, RAPING my DAUGHTER!" the Baron shouted. She was begging him to stop the whole time the knights were stealing up on them." The baron sounded almost frantic. "And because you had swallowed his wise council against teaching her how to defend herself, she was helpless to stop him, or even delay him. Fool!" Rapina snapped. The baron glared at her, "He's a full grown man, she didn't have a chance!" Daelrath bellowed. Rapina kicked the reverend between the legs. Her knee collided with his forehead as he bent in reaction to the pain. His head came up, recoiling from her knee. As it did, Rapina slammed a snap-kick into the reverend's solar plexus. The preacher's back hit the wall and before he could come to his senses, Rapina's spinning kick caught him in the side of the head and sent him to the cell floor. The reverend tried to get up but he couldn't. He was so dizzy and all he could do was cough blood and whimper softly from the floor. "She could have taken this man apart!" Rapina said. Baron Daelrath stood in the doorway to the cell, muttering, sobbing and slamming his forehead against the edge of the open door as he slowly sunk to the floor. "Fool! Fool! Ignorant Fool! A warlord's daughter, and she cannot even defend herself from a weakling priest!" Daelrath howled. "She said herself, she cannot do a single push-up, she does not know how to kick, she cannot lift a sword, she cannot shoot a bow, and she cannot use a spear from the wall or dump boiling oil from the cauldrons or fire a bullistae. She cannot ride a horse or drive a wagon, she cannot escape, she cannot defend, and she feels worthless. She carries your blood but cannot even be counted a Daelrath!" The baron shielded his eyes with his hands as he sobbed his way to the floor. "Don't blame yourself, your ignorance was carefully coached by that paragon of virtue lying next to you, just like a thousand other fathers have been coached by similar men," Rapina said coldly. The baron dragged himself back to his feet and wiped his eyes with his forearm, "How I would love to lock him in here with you, lovely black widow, but I mustn't. You might do to him what I would like to do; after all, they can only kill you once. Guards, lock him up in the cell across the pit. Give him water to drink, but feed him only on Sundays." --- It was just past dusk when the guard heard the horses. "M'Lord, four riders on two horses approach the gate wearing the colors of Avengene." Daelrath had his head in his hands. How could he do it? How could he just turn Brianna over to those swine when one of their priests had just raped his daughter only two days before? Power was a cruel master. How could a simple warlord hope to survive if his neighbor, Lord Avengene became angered at him? Daelrath stood and rushed outside, "Pardon me guard, did you say four on two horses?" "Yes sir," the guard said. Daelrath raised an eyebrow and hastened towards the gate. The gate was just closing behind a horse with two riders when a troll burst through it. Simultaneously the alarm was raised. "Trolls sighted and incoming milord! We lost the other horse and riders, it bolted as they came towards the gate," a gate guard said. Call out the garrison! Man the walls! Every able- bodied man... and WOMAN grab a pike, damnit! The visitors have brought us company!" Daelrath bellowed. Guards boiled out of the barracks, tradesmen snatched up their swords and hastily donned armor. The baron drew steel and joined the men hacking at the troll who'd just taken a chunk out of the Avengene's horse and was eating as he attempted to claw at his new attackers. The number of attackers mounted and the troll was soon cut down. --- The battle died down as the trolls realized they could not get into the keep to get their prey without being killed in the process. The more intelligent trolls withdrew while their less brainy brothers got themselves killed. "Now that the battle is won, let me state my business, Captain Tarsus of Avengene said. "I am part of a fifty-man force sent here to convey the prisoner Brianna Barter to Avengene for trial." "Where are the other forty-eight?" Daelrath asked. The captain sighed, "I will tell you the tale..." "Let us go up and have a brandy in my sitting room, shall we? You can tell me how it was you were wearing a tail of trolls when you got to my keep," the baron said. [Rapina]038 Rampage of the Trolls Once in the baron's sitting room, the captain drank deeply and told a harrowing tale. "That's a sad story, Tarsus. I am so sorry about the Northern vindicator settlement, and this shows the trolls are getting more adventurous. Perhaps their campaign against the giants is going well this season. Their use of tunneling disturbs me, but it is not unprecedented. That is why Keep Daelrath sits atop an outcrop of stone. It also disturbs me that your sentries were taken out by stealth or spells, and only then did a hoard of hunger-crazed trolls come pouring into your sleeping encampment. What with the rattling, and the fact some of your men and horses seem to have been poisoned out of the blue, the exploding light and the fear that caused your horses to go out of control, I would say you faced a troll shaman," I had a bounty hunter kill a shaman lately, and I had hoped he was the only one, but I guess that was wishful thinking," the baron said. "What is a troll shaman?" Captain Tarsus asked. "They are primitive mage-priests. They have magic and brains, two things most groups of trolls lack. When you get one of them, you might as well double or triple the strength of trolls you are facing. You were lucky to have made it out of there with your lives. This is godforsaken, dangerous country," the baron said. "I am charged with the conveyance of Brianna Barter back to Avengene, can I count on your assistance?" the Captain asked. "In view of my new understanding of the priests of the vindicator compliments of reverend Vindictine, I will turn her over to you, but only under protest, and because in the missive to Avengene that fetched you hither, I said I would. I will never again extradite a young woman accused of a crime against one of these celibate priests, even if he was the Marquis' son. I do not believe she is guilty of anything but self- defense, and I cannot see how she can get a fair trial in Avengene when the man she killed was not only noble born, but a son of the lord of the land." "Reverend Vindictine? how has he instructed you?" The captain looked confused. The baron stood, walked over to the captain and drew his face within inches of the captain's, "Your filthy, celibate priest raped my daughter!" Daelrath growled. Captain Tarsus gaped. "He was still wet with her when I arrived on the scene. The two knights that had discovered him were holding their blades on him. He had been moved only enough to get his filthy meat out of my little girl," the baron said. Captain Tarsus cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I will no longer tolerate the clergy of the vindicator in my keep. This celibacy nonsense is against nature, and it warps a man, as Vindictine proved. Furthermore, you can take my daughter's governess with you when you leave. She is every bit as unnatural as that fiendish priest. She nags, she is insolent and if she were any stiffer she'd be a corpse. I will thank the Marquis of Avengene to kindly refrain from helping me in the future. The help he has sent has proven to be a disaster, and I do not wish him to try to make it up to me. A simple apology and a promise to keep out of my affairs will be sufficient. When you leave, I will give you a letter to Avengene about VinDICKtine. Do not expect a large escort from me. The trolls have been brisk of late and I cannot spare the men. We will give you an escort to the more Southerly vindicator settlement. You can camp there and recruit a few men to help you on your way back to Avengene. Make sure you tell those priests to stay away from my keep. They are no longer welcome here." --- The group of riders left the cover of the forest and trotted through the frozen fields surrounding the second settlement of the vindicator. The stockade wall looked freshly built and impressive. Rapina's hands were shackled together behind her back, and a chain stretched beneath the girth of her horse from one manacled ankle to the other. Reverend Vindictine was similarly secured. Sergeant Titus of Avengene led the mounted party. Sir Coshus and Sir Stallart followed the sergeant. Governess Rhona rode behind the knights, and behind her rode captain Tarsus who led Rapina's horse. Behind Rapina rode Balard who led Vindictine's horse. Taking up the rear was Melden. "The gate, sir, it's open," the sergeant observed. "Can you see anyone?" Captain Tarsus asked. "No sir, and I don't see a soul on the walls," the sergeant replied. "Ready blades. Titus, ride in and take a look. Be careful," the captain ordered. Titus rode into the walled settlement, and then returned to the group outside the gate a few minutes later. "They're all dead sir, and mostly eaten, but there are gnawed bones, entrails, clothing and that sort of thing strewn around. It looks like the trolls that got us a few nights ago were still hungry, sir." "Any sign of trolls?" the captain asked. "I didn't see anything living sir," Sergeant Titus said. "We had better check for survivors. Balard, the prisoners, Rhona and I will stay here by the gate," the captain said. About twenty minutes later, the warriors returned. "Nothing but pieces of people, sir," Sergeant Titus said. "The trolls are on the move," Sir Coshus observed. I've seen some bad years, and this one's warming up to be one of the worst. The giants must be doing poorly this year or serving as mercenaries for the orcs North of Avengene. Usually they keep the troll population down a bit. In any case Captain, my orders were to take you this far. If you ride hard, you should be able to get to a city in Avengene before nightfall when the trolls are active, or at least a settlement by afternoon." "Thank you Sir Coshus. I will take it from here," the captain said. It had been half an hour since the knights had left them, and the group was riding along a path through a forest of large fir trees. Sergeant Titus was still riding point. Rapina's horse was still being led by the captain, while governess Rhona, who seemed to enjoy scowling at her, led reverend Vindictine's horse. "Damned trolls! The captain handed the governess the reigns to Rapina's mare. Reverend, we have too many prisoners and not enough blades for a fight. I am going to release you on your own recognizance. If you bolt, I'll shoot you in the back with an arrow, understand?" "Yes sir," Vindictine said. "Good." The captain released the reverend and handed him a shortsword. "Keep an eye peeled for trolls." About a half hour later, the group was riding through a thick area of forest. As they were going around a fallen tree, Vindictine cried out. A green cloud briefly blossomed around the reverend. "Cough! Cough! Sir, I feel ill, horribly ill," Vindictine gasped. The captain heard the sound of a rattle off in the distance. Damn it! Hurry, there are not enough of us to fight, we must ride! Captain Tarsus said. From the other side of the fallen tree came the sergeant's voice, "Troll on me!" Rapina could hear the troll's claws ripping the man's armor and rending his bones. Captain Tarsus tossed the lead rope of Rapina's horse to governess Rhona and rode to help Titus with the troll. "Yah!" The chopping of the captain's sword through troll flesh could be heard over the fallen tree. "Damn that was close. Titus is down, and I'm hit, but not bad. Reverend, can you heal?" "Cough! I can try sir," the reverend sputtered. As the reverend rode around the tree a roiling dark cloud erupted around his body. Rapina dared not even smile, but she has seen that cloud once before when Thane had been having his battle of sorcery with the troll shaman, only this spell was one Thane had cast. By the time he got around the tree and could see the warriors, Vindictine was so ill he fell off his horse. Rapina screamed and nearly fell off her horse as it bolted in a sudden surge of unnatural fear. Thankfully, the chain underneath the animal's barrel helped stabilize her. The beast was running as if the very hounds of hell were chasing it, and it was pulling the governess and her horse along with it. "Shit!" Tarsus dragged Titus away from the flailing body of the troll and looked over at Vindictine writhing on the ground. "Help each other! The prisoner is escaping! Tarsus remounted and turned his horse, and then suddenly it started galloping wildly. He couldn't control it! "Hellfire! My mount's been ensorceled with fear!" When the captain and his fear-crazed mount were out of sight, dirt fell aside and a cloud of blackness separated itself from beneath the fallen tree. Kent, the darkness-shrouded ghoul made quick work of the wounded sergeant and the writhing priest. Once they were paralyzed he cut their throats with the claws of a severed troll hand, then he picked up the decapitated troll's head and stuck it back on its body. That finished, he cracked a willow switch across the rump of the reverend's horse. The horse ran off. Kent dragged the reverend's corpse into the tunnel under the tree. There he began feasting. Rapina heard rather than saw the arrow. One moment the governess was valiantly keeping up with Rapina's fear- crazed mount, the next moment she had fallen off her horse. Rapina lost sight of her shortly thereafter. Arzeal crept up in his camouflage clothing and troll- foot boots. He cut the woman's throat with the claws of the severed hand of a troll, and then collected the small game blunt arrow he had used to crack her skull. At last the fear spell wore off his mount and the captain turned the creature back in the direction from whence they had come. As he neared the fallen tree he saw sergeant Titus, or rather pieces of Sergeant Titus. The troll must have found its head, for it was devouring the sergeant. Captain Tarsus did not see reverend Vindictine at all. "Treacherous priest!" He snarled. The troll looked up from its meal and ran after the captain. The mare Rapina was riding eventually snapped out of her fear. Not wishing to be anywhere near the trolls, Rapina was at a bit of a loss. Thane might be out there, or there might be a troll shaman with a spell similar to Thane's taint of death. She decided the only safe thing to do would be to ride for the keep and try to catch up with the knights before the trolls caught up with her. Two hours later Rapina rode up behind the knights. "Valkura, er Brianna? What in Virtusar's name are you doing here?" Sir Coshus asked. "We found the trolls," Rapina said. "Anyone else make it out?" Sir Coshus asked. "I'm not sure," Rapina said. "The shaman cast a fear spell on my horse, I think. Last I saw Vindictine, who they freed a half hour after we left you, had been the victim of a disease spell and a troll had seriously wounded Sergeant Titus. Rhona had my reins for a while after my horse bolted, but she fell off her horse. That was two hours ago. If the trolls decide their meal wasn't big enough and track my mount, we could be in trouble. "We could go back and check for survivors," Sir Coshus said. "Yes, we could do that. How many trolls did you see?" Sir Stallart asked. "Just one, but there had to have been another one, because the one that was fighting was not casting the spells," Rapina observed. "At least two trolls, and if there were any survivors, either they are headed this way, or they are trying to make it to the nearest settlement in Avengene which from where you were was probably the better bet," Coshus said. "Bah! Good riddance to the lot of them. With a troll shaman on the loose, we'd be lucky to find one of them alive, and we'd be lucky to keep our skins on our backs in the bargain," Sir Stallart said. "I'm with you Stall-heart! Look at the bright side," Coshus said, patting Rapina's horse. "You got your little mare back, so you can stop grousing that the baron loaned her to the damned Avengenes." "Stallart beamed. Right you are Cosh. You know I seem to recall that the baron told Captain Tarsus he would no longer be sending any young wenches accused of killing vindicator priests to Avengene. It appears his quarry has been lost." "Gods know we could use more women at the keep. There sure are precious few of 'em. Cosh opened the shackles on Rapina's wrists. Unless Daelrath says otherwise, Valkura, you are a free woman." Rapina hugged Coshus. --- It was just past dusk by the time the riders saw the lights of Keep Rath perched on its spar of rock and followed the winding road through the cemetery, up the hill and around to the gate. For days, Rapina had wondered what had happened to Thane and Rames, but the troll attack earlier in the day suggested that they had been far from idle. "Riders approaching flying the standard of Daelrath," hollered a gate guard. "It's Sir Coshus, Sir Stallart, Balard and Melden, milord." Baron Daelrath held his daughter, "I am truly sorry Bruhnhilda, you are right, of course. The man she killed was no doubt a lecher of the first degree." "And Lady Valkura on Stallart's mare milord," The gate guard added. "Open the gate!" The Daelrath's ran down the stairs to meet the new arrivals. "By the gods my heart was weighted with a mountain of guilt, and now it is lifted! Well met, Valkura, by what miracle are you with us again?" Rapina finished hugging the baron and held Bruhnhilda in her arms. She whispered softly into the girl's ear. "Thank you so much for saving me from your father's ill graces, and for ridding your barony of that cad Vindictine. Thank the gods he was twisted enough to reveal the true nature of such priests in a way even a warlord could understand." As they embraced, Bruhnhilda whispered in return, "It was a poor excuse for having power, but I think it will serve as a foundation for something real. Daddy has new clothes in the making for me, and I am already learning the arts of war." "Brianna, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Baron Daelrath asked. "Please call me Valkura, Baron Daelrath. I have no wish to be associated with a name the Avengenes have so blackened that every two-bit bounty hunter would like to cart me off to the mockery of a trial," Rapina said. "I see your point, Valkura. Henceforth let it be known that I and my knights and loyal subjects shall strike that other name from our minds. No man or woman in this barony shall hold you responsible for self-defense called a murder because of a veteran lecher's august title. Listen well people, titles of nobility can be earned, but the true tragedy is that they cannot be lost when an ignoble nobleman abuses his august position. Let us go to the mead hall! Mayhap there is a tail that you can tell?" "It's a grisly one but one I'm sure milord needs to hear," Coshus said as the baron and knights went to the mead hall. Coshus sat on a table and spoke as the others listened, "Picked clean milord with only a bit of gore and gnawed bones left to mark the settlement's demise." "Valkura, what of the escort that was taking you to that mockery of a trial for killing the noble lecher? I so regret having sent that missive to Avengene. Had it not been for Vindictine doing me the favor of showing his true colors, I would have been his fool until I had quite ruined my own daughter to rule Daelrath. Imagine it, a pampered noblewoman trying to rule a border barony like this one! She would have been forced to depend on some man to keep her like a caged bird, and I have a feeling that man would have come a-wooing from Avengene," the baron said. "No doubt milord is correct," Rapina said. "After the knights left us at the destroyed settlement, we rode East towards Avengene. Vindictine was freed scarcely a half hour after we parted from the knights. As we detoured around an old downed tree that blocked the path, a troll attacked Sergeant Titus and wounded him. Simultaneously a poison cloud enveloped Vindictine. Daelrath scowled as Rapina told of the reverend's release from his bonds, then grinned as she told of the spell that had been cast on him. "Captain Tarsus rode around to help the sergeant and I think he was successful," Rapina continued. He called on the priest to come around and try to heal in spite of his condition. It was then that another spell hit the priest and he was in bad shape. Governess Rhona had inherited the charge of leading my horse, but it was struck by a fear spell and we bolted away from the others. I nearly fell off but the chain and my reflexes saved me. At some point I lost Rhona. I think she fell off her mount. After the mare I was riding calmed down, I tried to find the way back to the path. The mare seemed to know the way, and I was soon trotting by the destroyed settlement on my way to catch the knights. Thank the gods for that mare's powers of endurance." "Stallart has quite an eye for horseflesh. It is well that you were not mounted on some lesser animal. I have much to think about, but you are weary from travel and drowning in road dust, milady. I will have a bath drawn for you, and this time I promise your possessions will multiply rather than diminish when you emerge from its waters," Daelrath said. --- The following night just after dusk Rapina smiled as Bruhnhilda Daelrath demonstrated the simple moves and exercises Rapina had taught her in her first ever lesson in the rapier. "Excellent, It is very good to see you have made a fine start Bruhnhilda. Virtusar has blessed us with another warrior. I will see that your training at arms continues, and perhaps even more importantly, you will learn the art of managing warriors and keeps under siege by trolls and other undesirables." "A red light blinks at us from the graveyard milord," a guard announced. Rapina smiled, "I think my master has caught up with me at last. Mayhap you wish to have a word with him milord Daelrath." "Yes, I believe I should speak with him. Sir Coshus, have Valkura's things loaded in that skeleton horse beside the gate and meet me with a delegation of five trusted knights," Baron Daelrath said. In the graveyard, the baron, Rapina and his six knights found three riders sitting skeletal horses. Rapina recognized Rames in his masked helmet and Roger with his scythe. Between them, Thane sat with his leather mask covering his mortancer's death mask. Rapina rode forth and fell in beside Rames. Thane urged his skeletal horse ahead a length, as did the baron. "Good eve, Lord Daelrath," Thane rasped. "I do hope the heads of the trolls Valkura provided brought you satisfaction. I regret not having sent you the head of the shaman, but there are still some things within it that I would like to dig out." "Yes, I did appreciate the troll kills you made. It seems there has been a great deal of death in Daelrath since you arrived. I am surprised you have only the four servitors to protect your person." "Indeed, I believe this is turning into a very active season for the trolls, but I do not fear for my safety in this place. Where could a servant of Mortaebius be more comfortable than among these fallen heroes?" "Hail Mortaebius, champion of the dead, we the living entreat thee, bless these valiant, fallen heroes entombed within thy clay, and embrace them where they lay. Lest their lion hearts sense our direst fray; then call them forth to save the day," Rapina intoned. Daelrath grimaced. "You could do that, couldn't you?" "Like the dead, Mortaebius is content to slumber unless someone disturbs his rest. His church is benign and has coexisted on the best of terms with other faiths for centuries. Because death is creepy, Avengene and his vindicator hoard think they can single Mortabius' church out for the slaughter without turning other faiths against the vindicator. Were they to succeed, the forces of the vindicator would select another faith to murder, and another and so on until none were left to appose them. They have already cleaned their home territory of any serious competition," Kroz rasped. "They are simply taking a slightly different tack outside Avengene. The mortuary business is a good and steady income, one the priests of the vindicator would love to have to enrich themselves. In addition, the church of Mortaebius is well known to make generous contributions to the war efforts of those allied faiths that are having trouble with conquering bullies like the vindicator. That is another reason we are dangerous to the vindicator. The church also keeps excellent records, and a friend within the church was able to compile this list." Thane handed Daelrath a scroll of parchment. Baron Daelrath squinted. Thane chuckled raspingly and handed the Baron two mage lights currently glowing red, one on a heavy silver chain and the other on a delicate golden chain. "For you and your daughter." "Oh, thank you sir. I see the scroll holds a list of addresses for what must be every temple of Virtusar in Clairmont," Baron Daelrath said. "Your chaplain is a fine warrior, but I believe with your troll problem you will need a real priest. With those addresses you can keep writing temples until you locate one," Kroz rasped. "I worry that my troll problem strikes at Avengene with uncanny accuracy," Baron Daelrath said. "It is well the trolls have weeded your garden for you. A man of your integrity would never stoop to killing that many innocent people. Unfortunately, your neighbor to the East has replaced any integrity he might have had with the backstabbing blade of a rogue. He has not hesitated to use your integrity and sense of decency against you. With his marvelous faith, he can play both sides of the fence. The mask of goodness hides the face of evil. You will not strike the mask of goodness, but the face of evil will stab you in the back nonetheless." "Damn him!" Daelrath snapped. "I assure you Mortaebius knows where the dead lie, and if Evangeline is any indication, you have no need to worry that he will be damned. The Avengenes will carve an empire in the deepest pits of hell while living men believe they have risen to the highest clouds in heaven. This will be a dirty battle, and one to stain the soul. Yet if it is not fought, the lord of lies will rule the minds of all from behind the mask of goodness, and none will be the wiser," Thane rasped. Now that is enough gravity for one night. I have reason to believe that your troll problem will not abate this season, and I would like to provide certain knowledge and assistance to help you to handle it. If you should fail to do so, I am sure Avengene would be happy to annex your holdings. Unfortunately, the King would probably let him since all he sees is whether or not there is strength enough to hold the border. I shall instruct Valkura in what you need to know and send her back here from time to time if that is satisfactory." "Yes, if it's a heavy season, we will take any help we can get, and my men appreciate you apprentice," Baron Daelrath said. "Good, she gets too little living company in my abode, and certainly there is no one her own age with whom she can talk. With Evangeline the gods placed a great burden on her shoulders. The minions of Mortaebius can do little to lighten her spirit. It is well she is a strong woman," Kroz rasped. "I and my daughter admire her strength. We of Daelrath will welcome her and her aid," the baron said. "Good then, I shall send her back as soon as we have accumulated a supply of the items you will need to better defend against the trolls. For the present we shall pay our respects to the dead and then take our leave. Farewell, noble baron," Kroz rasped. "Farewell servant of Mortaebius," the baron said. --- When they had arrived in the large storeroom of the secret laboratory wing within the abode, Rapina wrinkled her nose at the great heaps of recently dead bodies stacked up on the floor. "Oh my goodness, where did these come from?" Rapina asked. Thane took off the death mask and returned it to a pocket within his robes as his party exited the storeroom and headed to the lounge. The mortancer chuckled, "I'll bet you thought we were idle the whole time you were working in Daelrath." "At first I did," Rapina admitted. Then I realized one of the spells that hit Vindictine looked suspiciously like your taint of death spell. I thought the tint of the cloud of poison was a bit different from when the troll shaman cast it too." Thane chuckled, "As usual your powers of observation have not failed you, my dear. I noticed that my disease cloud spell looked similar to the shaman's poison spell, and the effects are really not so different." "What were you doing while I was inside Daelrath?" Rapina asked. "At first we were refining and testing my ideas for anti-troll weapons for Daelrath. I felt we needed something to offer them in order to cement any alliance you were able to strike up. We also listened to what was going on with you through Nordula's stone in your purse. Thankfully, I had the foresight to get a skeleton to wake me when you woke up. For that reason, I caught your conversation with Bruhnhilda. Once you were in the dungeon we considered trying to break you out, but it would have been very difficult and might have inflicted casualties on a potential ally. Instead we became quick studies at the art of troll handling. Did you know, if you cut a troll's leg off and let it grow back, that he will become voraciously hungry thereafter?" Thane chuckled. "Trolls in such a state will largely ignore undeads because they simply do not smell like good food. Heavy chains and shackles can hold a troll, and an arrow with an electric glyph shot into the troll's brain will stun it for a few minutes. A lightning glyph in the head will kill it however, so it is best to use lesser spells. While the courier took Daelrath's letter to Avengene, and the chosen of the vindicator prepared a party to collect you, we collected some trolls. We actually had occasion to save a party of giants, which was an ironic twist of fate, but more on that later. Thanks to Lord Li'Yieraun we have a much larger pack of ghouls than we did formerly. We did the closer settlement first because that was where we felt the party from Avengene would camp. Kent and the ghouls dug the tunnels into the settlements. During the day Rames located the priests using a spy glass from the trees, and sent Edgar and Elizabetta to assassinate them just before the main attack at night. I played the troll shaman with the help of a skeleton to rattle the troll's rattle. With their priests out of the way, ghouls were sent to neutralize their warriors, and finally our trolls were released on the sleeping commoners and warriors from Avengene to go into their feeding frenzy where it would most benefit us. Because of the extra troops that had been sent to collect you, that battle was much closer. Luckily, we had more trolls for that first battle. For the second settlement, we only got the ones the Avengenes had beheaded in the first battle that we restored for the next battle. Since I shrouded the ghouls in darkness and instructed them to use stealth, the loud voracious trolls got all the publicity from any witnesses. We took the bodies of the warriors and priests. Nevertheless, we spread some of their garments and entrails around for good measure. We put boots on the ghouls so that their footprints would be indistinguishable from the footprints of the human inhabitants of the settlements. Trolls are hard on skeletons, but since there really were not all that many trolls, and they were eating rather sloppily, we had more than enough gore to spread around in order to cover the fact of the missing bones. Kent and the ghouls got plenty to eat, and Kent's belly is now truly outstanding." Rapina wrinkled her nose. Thane chuckled. "I am so glad I caught that conversation between you and Bruhnhilda. Some of the things you said about the priest and the governess were quite thought provoking." "To you?" Rapina asked as she entered the lounge and immediately flopped down on the couch. Rames sat at her feet and Thane Sat down in a comfortable chair across from Rapina's end of the couch. "Indeed, you talked about the way they would lecture repetitiously, and about the guilt they would heap on others, in effect perpetually complaining that others were not living up to the unnatural standards of the vindicator. As you may remember, evil complainers are needed for a certain type of advanced animation I have yet to try. I am so excited!" Rapina grinned, "You mean there is actually some use for their endless lecturing?" Rapina asked. "Yes! The animation is called the moaning skeleton and it is quite a fine addition to any group of undeads," Thane beamed. "Why, are they really tough?" Rapina asked. "No, actually the reaving skeletons are much better warriors, but the moaning skeletons are superb when combined with reavers and more mundane skeletons and zombies. They are ideal for the second or third rank back," Thane said. "Why is that?" Rapina asked. Thane grinned like a child who had just received the best toy on the block. "Quite simply, the moaning skeletons moan. Their incessant ghostly moaning and complaining is immanently frightening. Those who oppose the moaning skeletons are oft driven to fall to their knees shaking with fear. As you can imagine, this puts them at a grave disadvantage in regards to attack and defense, thus the moaning skeletons and their undead allies can cut the quaking enemies down much more easily. They are excellent interspersed with other sorts of undead for general combat and breaking the charges of enemy troops, and I have several priests and the governess who should make perfect subjects!" "Rapina giggled and shook her head. You and Rames have the strangest slant on dead bodies. I'm just glad I didn't have to kill any of them." "Each of us has a special talent. The killing we can leave to Rames, the ghouls and the skeletons. The spells and animations I can do, and the initial diplomacy and wanton rutting we will leave to you." Thane smiled. Rapina grinned and rolled her eyes. The story continues in [Rapina]039 An Intellectual Giant copyright 2001, by Rapina