Tindel looked from face to stubbornly set face, and shrugged. 'Well, what do we do with him?'
'Huh. Hadn't thought that far -- ' Tarma began.
'I had,' Kethry said, firmly.
There was still a vast reservoir of anger-energy for her to draw on, and while the coercion of innocent spirits was strictly forbidden a White Winds sorceress, the opening of the gates of the other-world to a ghost that had a debt to collect was not.
And Idra most certainly had a long, bitter debt owed to her.
'We called Oathbreaking on him -- that's a spell, partner. I do believe we ought to see that spell completed.'
Tarma looked at her askance; so did the rest of the Hawks. Char, gagged, made choking sounds. 'How do you propose to do that? And just what does it mean to see it completed?'
Kethry shifted in her saddle, keeping Char under the tail of her eye. 'It only takes the priestess and the mage to complete the spell, and I know how. Jadrek found the rest of it in some of the old histories. As for what it does -- it brings all the broken oaths home to roost.'
'Does that mean what I think it does?'
Kethry nodded, and Tarma smiled, a bloodthirsty grin that sent a chill even up her partner's backbone.
'All right -- where?'
'The temple back there will do, I think; all we need is a bit of sanctified ground.'
With Char's horse between them, they led the mystified mercenaries toward the white shape of the temple on their backtrail. It was, fortunately, deserted. Kethry did not especially want any witnesses to this besides the principals.
The temple was in a state of extreme disrepair; walls half fallen and crumbling, the pavement beneath their horse's hooves cracked and uneven. Tarma began to look dubious as they penetrated deeper into the complex.
'Are we far enough in, do you think? I don't want to chance one of the horses falling, and maybe breaking a leg if there's any help for it.'
'This will do,' Kethry judged, reining in her mount, and swinging a little stiffly out of the saddle.
The rest dismounted as well, with several of them swarming the King's mount to pull him roughly to the ground. The horses, eased of their burdens, sighed and stamped a little, pawing at the weathered stone.
'Now what?' Tarma asked.
'Tindel -- you and Beaker and Jodi stand here; you three hold Char.' She indicated a spot on the pavement in the center of a roughly circular area that was relatively free from debris. 'Tarma, you stand South, I'll stand North. The rest of you form a circle with us as the ends.'
The Hawks obeyed, still mystified, but willing to trust the judgment of the mage they'd worked so closely with for three years.
'All right -- Tarma, just -- be Kal'enedral. That's all you need to do. And hold in mind what this bastard has done to our sister and Captain.'
'That won't be hard,' came the icy voice from across the circle.
Kethry took a deep breath and brought stillness within herself, for everything depended now on creating a channel from herself for the anger of the others. If she let it affect her -- it would consume her.
When she thought she was ready, she took a second deep breath, raised her arms, and began.
'Oathbreaker, he stands judged; Oathbreaker to priestess, Oathbreaker to mage, Oathbreaker to true man of his people. Oathbreaker, we found him; Oathbreaker in soul, Oathbreaker in power. Oathbreaker in duty. Oathbreaker, we brought him; Oathbreaker in thought, Oathbreaker in word, Oathbreaker in deed. Oathbreaker, he stands, judged, and condemned -- '
She called upon the power she had not yet exhausted, and the rising power within the circle.
'Let the wall of Strength stand between this place and the world -- '
