"You traveled with him from then on?" The war mentioned by Tryst had apparently taken place in the Western Kingdoms some nine years before. For men such as these to stick together for so very long showed a powerful bond of some sort.

"Aye… save during… Norrec's sickness… he left us… for three months… and caught up after…" The rotting figure looked to the Vizjerei. "Remember… Fauztin?"

The sorcerer nodded his head ever so slightly. Kara had expected him to somehow forbid Sadun from going on with such stories, but Fauztin, too, seemed caught up in them. In life, both men had clearly respected Norrec highly and, from what she had heard so far, so now did the necromancer.

Yet this same Norrec Vizharan had brutally murdered the pair and revenants did not exist if not fueled by a sense of revenge and justice that went beyond mortal comprehension. These two should have harbored only thoughts of retribution, of the rending of Vizharan's flesh and the sending of his damned soul to the underworld. That they still felt anything at all other than that struck her quite strange. Sadun Tryst and Fauztin did not act at all like the revenants of which legends had spoken.

"What will you do when you find him?" She had asked this question but once before and received no clear answer.

"We'll do… what must be… done."

Again, a response that did not satisfy her. Why shield Kara from the truth? "After what he did, even your past friendship must mean little. How could Norrec commit so terrible a crime?"

"He did… what had to be… done." With that equally enigmatic reply, Tryst's smile stretched, revealing more of the yellowed teeth and the gums already receding. Each day, despite their all-consuming quest, the revenants grew less and less human in appearance. They would never completely decay, but their link to their former humanity would continue to shrivel. "You're very beautiful…"

"What?" Kara Nightshadow blinked, not certain that she had heard correctly.

"Very beautiful… and fresh… alive." The ghoul suddenly reached forward, caught a lock of her long, ravencolored hair. "Life's beautiful… more so than… ever…"

She hid a shudder. Sadun Tryst had made his intent quite clear. He still recalled too well the pleasures of life. One of those, food, had sorely disappointed him already. Now, hidden in this tiny cabin for the past couple of days in the constant company of a living woman, he seemed ready to try to relive a different pleasure-and Kara did not know how she could prevent him from trying.

Without warning, Sadun Tryst suddenly turned and glared at his friend. Although Kara had noticed nothing, clearly some communication had passed between the two, communication that did not please the wiry ghoul in the least.

"Leave me… at least… the illusion…"

Fauztin said nothing, his only reaction being to blink once. However, that alone seemed to quell his comrade some.

"I wouldn't have… touched her… much…" Tryst looked her over once before meeting her eyes. "I just—"

A heavy knocking on the door sent him hurrying to the far corner. Kara could not believe her eyes each time the ghoul moved so. She had always read that swiftness could not be termed one of the skills of the undead. In its place, they had persistence, an unholy patience.

Ensconced next to the Vizjerei, he muttered, "Answer."

She did, already suspecting that she knew who it would be. Only two men dared come to her door, one Captain Jeronnan, whom she had just spoken with but a short time before, the other-

"Yes, Mister Drayko?" the sorceress asked, keeping the door open only a crack.

He looked uncomfortable. "My Lady Kara, I realize that you've requested absolute privacy, but… but I wondered whether you might join me on the deck for a few minutes."

"Thank you, Mister Drayko, but, as I have said before to the captain, I have much to do before we make landfall." She started to close the door. "Thank you for asking—"

"Not even for a little fresh air?"

Something in his tone puzzled her, but the necromancer had no time to think about it. Tryst had made it very clear that she should spend no more time outside than needed to retrieve her food from the mess. The revenants wanted their living puppet where they could see her. "I am sorry, no."

"I thought as much." He turned to leave-then threw his shoulder to the door with such force that the door knocked Kara back onto the bed. The blow did not stun her, but she lay there for a moment, completely bewildered by his actions.

Drayko fell to a kneeling position just inside. He looked up, saw the ghouls, and blanched. "By the King of the Depths!"

A dagger suddenly materialized in Tryst's hand.

The mariner reached for his own knife, which Kara saw lay by his side. Drayko had clearly been holding it all along, concealing its presence while he had spoken inanities with the dark mage. All along he had acted with the knowledge that something seemed amiss in the cabin- although likely even Drayko had never imagined the sight before him.

As Sadun Tryst raised his arm, a second figure charged into the tiny room. Ceremonial blade held ready, Captain Hanos Jeronnan shielded his officer from harm. Unlike Drayko, he seemed only mildly surprised at the horrendous figures but a short distance from him. In fact, Jeronnan almost looked pleased to see the two ghouls.

"I won't let it happen again…" he murmured. "You'll not take this one…"

Kara immediately understood the captain's words. In his mind, the undead represented that invisible monster that had not only taken his daughter from him, but had turned her into a vile creature he had been forced to destroy. Now he thought to wreak his vengeance on them.

And with the silver-plated sword, he had the potential to do just that.

Tryst threw his dagger, again moving with a speed his decrepit form belied. The smaller blade sank into Jeronnan's sword arm, sending the captain staggering. However, the former naval commander did not retreat. Blood dripping down, the ghoul's weapon still halfburied in his flesh, Captain Jeronnan attacked, slicing at his unliving adversary.

His macabre smile seeming to mock, Sadun Tryst reached for the blade, clearly intending to grab it in his hand. As one beyond death, no normal blade could touch him.

The edge of the captain's weapon severed off the lower two fingers.

Pure agony abruptly coursed through Kara, the pain so great that she doubled over, nearly collapsing.

With a hiss, Tryst pulled his maimed hand back. Glaring at Jeronnan, he gasped to his partner, "Do something… while I still have… a head on my… shoulders…"

Her eyes blurry from tears, the necromancer nonetheless saw Fauztin blink once.

"Look out!" she managed to cry.

A wall of force erupted from her ceremonial dagger, sending both Jeronnan and Drayko flying against the opposite wall. At the same time, the Vizjerei put his other hand on the wall behind him.

A blue haze spread behind the ghouls, a blue haze that grew rapidly in both height and width.

The two mariners struggled to their feet. Mister Drayko started forward, but Jeronnan pushed him back. "Nay! The only weapon that's good for them is this one! I swear I'll slice them both into fish bait-that is, if even the fish'll take something so rotten! You see to the girl!"

The officer obeyed instantly, hurrying to the Kara's side. "Can you stand?"

With help, Kara found that she could. Although the pain did not leave her, at least it subsided enough for the enchantress to think-and realize what had happened.

Through the dagger, Fauztin had tied her life to the revenants' continued existence. The blow that Jeronnan had landed had not been felt by Sadun Tryst, who had been long past such mortal weaknesses. However, each successful strike against them would, so it appeared, be suffered by her.