The frozen ground crunched under the marching feet of the skeleton warriors as they formed a defensive perimeter around Catherine and the tomb. The witchfire burning in her eyes silhouetted her skull in purple as she commanded her minions to dig. At Catherine's word several of the skeletons began to claw at the frozen dirt of the tomb. Catherine could see the hulking form of the Stonehorn crashing through the forest towards her. At her necromantic command the skeletons who were not digging formed up to receive the charge of the Stonehorn. As Catherine began to chant spectral hands materialized from the fog in the path of the Stonehorn, clawing at the beast's mammoth feet, sapping its strength and causing it to slow its mighty charge.
She could feel Marek's presence through the trees to her right. She knew she would feel no loss at his death and that if he did not ascend soon she would have no use for him and end his life herself. For now he had Lord Khepri's favor, but it would not last for long if he could not deliver results. Several times she had foiled his progress, yet he suspected nothing. His desire for her would be his great undoing and she would be the one to deliver the deathblow, whether by her own hand or by engineering his many failures.
She brought her mind back to the battle at hand and bent her will to stopping the stampeding Stonehorn. The spectres in the mist had drained much of the creature's strength, but still it lumbered on. When it finally reached the skeletons much of its charge had been spent, but it was a formidable beast none the less and it shattered the bones of several warriors with each swing of its massive horns. Catherine summoned her necromantic power and called the dead from the ground. Unfortunately the ground had become frozen from the power of the Beastclaw ogors. Far fewer warriors rose from the ground than she had anticipated, but she had to use what was at hand and hope it was enough to bring down the great beast. She was glad none of the other creatures had been sent to reinforce the Huskard and his mount. The swords of the warriors were taking their toll on the creature and she was raising enough of them that she would soon turn the tide of battle in her favor. She was certain that she could excavate the tomb as well as add the Stonehorn to her collection of servants.
Then Catherine sensed another presence in the shrouding fog. This one much more dangerous than the one before her. If she were still living she would feel disgust at the voracious appetite of this new presence. The Butcher sent a deadly bolt of hungering darkness at her, but she deflected it into her skeletal minions and several of them crumbled to dust and blew away in a ghostly wind. Another bolt was hurtled at her and this she dispelled with a wave of her skeletal hand. This magic user would need to be dealt with quickly. With a quick incantation and a violent gesture she crafted a deadly spell of her own for this new rival. She could hear the ogor's howls of pain as spectral servants tore her soul from her body and carried it screaming to Catherine's outstretched hand. Reinvigorated by the soul of the Butcher she poured her power into raising more skeletons and the power was enough for them to break free of the icy earth. With the last of his strength bleeding from him through hundreds of wounds the stonehorn finally topple to the ground, crushing his Huskard master beneath his massive bulk. Catherine relished the screams of his soul as she slowly consumed it. She imagined how much sweeter it would be when it was Marek's turn.
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