Well, you know, sorry about the wait, but that FDNY test was kind of important.
Anyway, I finally got around to the next installment. Who knows where we'll go after this one? At any rate, special dedication type thing for two people. Firstly, to Lady Valtaya, who not only keeps asking me to continue this, but also actually went over to the D&D section to check out my story Hounds of Winter(this is the not so subtle hint that you should all go check out that story, and see my two characters get beaten up in the snow). And also, to Jada Flame, who made puppy eyes at me when asking for me to continue. If you're over twenty and have brown eyes, we need to meet...
Ahem. Yeah. Anyway, the next to chapters...
XIII
If not for her new armor, she doubted she would still be alive.
Stasya stabbed and cut her way through the hordes of Sand Maggots in a panicked frenzy, trying frantically to find some kind of relief from the press of the demonic monsters in the utter blackness of the maggots' tunnels. The assassin was practically climbing the smooth, sandy tunnel walls as her enemies pushed forward, trying to drag her back down into the mass of predators with their long mandibles or spitting venom at her with unerring accuracy. While her ring mail certainly provided her with adequate protection from the sharp mandibles of the beasts, the armor also seemed to actually absorb much of the venom before it could penetrate her skin. Even with the added protection of the ring mail, Stasya could still feel the poison making is way into her bloodstream, sending fiery streaks of pain through her arms and legs as she continued to fight her way free of her attackers. If she could only see, she might be able to find a weak point in the Sand Maggots' charge…
Without wasting another second, Stasya hurled a pair of charged bolt traps to the ground at her feet. Brilliant flashes suddenly illuminated the pitch black tunnels as the traps released their electrical discharges, lighting up a long, narrow tunnel practically filled with the disgusting maggots. Barely visible to her right on the edge of the traps' illumination, Snowhammer was stumbling to one knee as the maggots' poison worked its way through his blood. The barbarian had seemingly won the initial battle, as only a handful of Sand Maggot young tried to pick their way through his feeble defenses, but it was likely only a matter of a short time before the north man died of the venom seeping into his skin. Still, if he survived, Snowhammer was Stasya's best chance at escaping the maggots' lair.
Stasya feinted left quickly, slashing through the slimy skin of one maggot, then turned right quickly as the charged bolt traps loosed a final burst of electricity. The tunnel plunged back into darkness as the assassin leapt over a final pair of Sand Maggots, but Stasya had committed the tunnel to memory in the few seconds of light that the traps had afforded her. Only an instant before she figured that she would reach Snowhammer, Stasya lunged forward, her kris leading the way as she slid along the floor on her knees. Her memory proved correct as her blade slashed through one Sand Maggot larva, then sank to the hilt into the body of a second. Stasya turned quickly back to the maggots she left behind, and threw another pair of charged bolt traps behind her to ward off the disgusting creatures. In the wildly dancing light of the electrical discharges, Snowhammer gazed up at the assassin, his eyes barely able to focus on her.
"Snowhammer!" Stasya shouted, slapping the barbarian's face. "Come on, Snowhammer! Snap out of it!"
"I don't think I'm gonna make it," Snowhammer said wearily. "You get going. I've got enough left for a few more swings."
"You're not dying here," Stasya ordered, trying to drag the north man to his feet. Snowhammer feebly tried to rise, but barely made it to one knee before he collapsed again. "Come on!"
"Too much poison," Snowhammer explained, rapidly beginning to lose his coherence. "My whole body is on fire. You got a little bit of water?"
"God damnit!" Stasya exclaimed, standing up for a moment and stomping her foot into the sand. The charged bolt traps were rapidly fizzling out, but the assassin hurled another pair into the Sand Maggots as they tried once again to close in on the two humans. Finally, cursing in frustration, Stasya pulled her small pack off of her shoulders and dug into it, pulling out a healing potion and another vial filled with a thick black liquid. Hurriedly the assassin knelt down over Snowhammer, and forced the barbarian's mouth open.
"Get offa me," Snowhammer demanded, trying weakly to push the assassin away.
"Shut up and drink!" Stasya retorted, practically jamming the vial of antidote into the barbarian's throat. Snowhammer nearly spit the foul tasting liquid back into Stasya's face, but the assassin clamped the barbarian's mouth shut and pinched his nose closed before he could spit out the potion. Snowhammer bucked as he swallowed the horrible tasting liquid, but Stasya held on until he had forced down the entire antidote potion. "I know, they taste horrible," the assassin said, uncorking the healing potion in her hands. "Now drink this, stupid. You're not dying on me until you get me out of here!"
Snowhammer choked down the healing potion, but Stasya was already turning back to the oncoming maggots as they bypassed the charged bolt traps in the tunnel. The first Sand Maggot caught Stasya's kris in its eye, but a second suddenly exploded out of the wall on her side and slammed into her before she could move. The assassin fell to the ground under the weight of the beast even as the Sand Maggot's mandibles searched for her throat, unable to raise her kris or put her buckler in line to parry the monster's attack.
The Sand Maggot suddenly folded backwards on top of her as Snowhammer's maul crushed the creature's back. The north man dragged Stasya to her feet as he kicked away a last larva, then hurled the assassin behind him before any more of the demons could reach her. Once again healthy, Snowhammer slammed his maul down on another pair of the Sand Maggots, buying Stasya enough time to find and drink a healing potion before her own wounds could slow her down.
"We have to get out of here!" Snowhammer shouted, disappearing again as the charged bolt traps let out a final crackle and died.
"Just turn and run!" Stasya shouted, wasting no more time in the narrow corridor. The assassin was already sprinting away from the battle as she heard Snowhammer turn and flee from the Sand Maggots, praying that she would be able to find a way to elude the Sand Maggots long enough to locate a way out of the subterranean chambers.
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"You realize our chances of finding them are exceedingly slim."
"If you want to wait out here, that's fine by me," Xaviar said, turning a cold glare on Wyszemir. The four remaining travelers had quickly uncovered the apparent entrance to the Sand Maggot lair beneath the oasis; a hole just large enough for Xaviar to crawl through was partially hidden under a large boulder, its sides smoothed by the maggots' passage when they came to the surface. Considering their initial attack, Xaviar was surprised to find any kind of noticeable opening to the lair, but fortune had been on his side so far. "As for me, I'm not going to leave two friends to die under this god forsaken desert."
"Neither am I," Tara said, quickly siding with the paladin against the gaunt necromancer. Wyszemir chuckled as his cold blue eyes swept over the pair, but then he turned to Io.
"And what say you, war captain?" the death mage inquired of the Amazon. Io hesitated for a moment, but then nodded to the hole.
"We can't leave two of our party behind," the Amazon stated simply. "I know we take a terrible risk going down there, but they are our friends."
"Such noble, courageous hearts," Wyszemir said with a laugh, turning a helpless smile to the rapidly darkening skies above the desert. He looked back to his remaining companions, and his grin widened even further. "I shall recommend you all for sainthood once we reach a temple of Zakarum. Perhaps we shall even go to Travincal, where they can to honor your pure hearts and sacred deeds in a great ceremony."
"Are you coming with us, or are you going to wait out here?" Xaviar asked impatiently, not at all amused by the necromancer's comments.
"How indeed could I leave myself out of such a noble cause?" Wyszemir asked, feigning shock that the paladin even needed to ask such a question.
"Then shut up and let's go," Xaviar ordered, turning back to the sandy hole in the ground. With a final, cold glance over his shoulder, Xaviar carefully slid down into the dark tunnels beneath the oasis. Tara moved quickly to follow the paladin, disappearing into the darkness without another glance at the necromancer. Io dropped down into the hole a moment later, leaving the death mage alone in the gathering darkness. Finally, Wyszemir followed his companions into the lair, sliding down the tunnel to the alcove below.
The faint bit of illumination from above lit only a tiny circle around the necromancer, but the flames that Io had conjured around the blade of her spear revealed the rest of the close chamber to the four companions. The sand composing the walls and ceiling of the tunnel were smooth and firm to the touch, likely held in place by some kind of bonding agent that the maggots secreted. Tracks created by the maggots marred the soft floor, leading from a sort of alcove just beneath the entrance to a network of tunnels that stretched beneath the oasis. A stale, hot breeze wafted out of the recesses of the tunnel complex, carrying a faint odor of acid and bile to the entrance.
"Spellcasters in the middle," Io ordered, not waiting to see if Xaviar would reclaim his position as group leader. "I have the light, so I'll go first. Xaviar, bring up the rear. And keep an eye out for Stasya, Snowhammer, or any of the maggots that live down here."
"By all means, lead the way," Wyszemir offered, stepping to the side and allowing Io to move past. The Amazon shot the smug necromancer a withering glare as she took the lead, but said nothing as she concentrated on the dark passages. Wyszemir fell into step behind her, seemingly more concerned with the condition of his bone shield than the tunnels around him. Tara glanced back to Xaviar, but the paladin simply gestured for her to take her place behind the death mage. Finally, Xaviar followed the others down into the tunnels, continually glancing over his shoulder as he listened for their lost companions or any Sand Maggots that might have heard their entrance.
It took Io only a few dozen yards to find herself at a four way intersection in the tunnels. With no more than a second's hesitation the Amazon turned to follow the tunnel to her right, only to find herself at another crossroads minutes later.
"This is impossible," Io grumbled, looking in each direction as she considered her options. "These tunnels are set up like a maze."
"As I mentioned earlier," Wyszemir said smugly.
"Maybe we can mark the passages somehow," Tara suggested. Wyszemir burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" the sorceress demanded.
"What would you have us mark these passages with?" the necromancer inquired. "I seem to have forgotten my sign posts in my other backpack."
"We… could leave some kind of mark on the wall," Tara countered indignantly. "We could carve the sand with a dagger, or maybe Io can singe the wall a little."
"Oh, of course," Wyszemir said, an amused smile on his face. The necromancer opened his mouth to speak, but Io held up a hand for silence. For a moment the group remained silent and still, listening to the dark passages.
"What is it?" Xaviar asked quietly, moving up past the spellcasters to Io's side.
"I don't know," the Amazon whispered back. "It sounds like a… buzzing. Like flies."
"Which way?" Xaviar asked. Io pointed to her left. "Then we'll go right. Good enough?"
"Good enough," Io agreed. The Amazon turned right, but stopped again as a low buzzing began to fill the tunnels.
"What is that?" Tara asked nervously, taking a step back toward Xaviar. The paladin raised Order Bar, tensing for an attack, but the buzzing simply continued to grow louder as it echoed through the narrow tunnels. Standing in the center of the intersection, Io remained still as she waited for an attack, glancing quickly from one corridor to the next in search of an enemy. Even Wyszemir, so often nonplused by the horrors that the demonspawn were unleashing upon the world, took a step away from the Amazon and set his back against a wall, readying his bone shield to defend himself. Slowly Io turned as the buzz rose to a near deafening roar, seeing a dark cloud moving toward her from her left.
The cloud suddenly surged over the group, revealing itself as thousands of black, biting insects that instantly sought out the party. Io staggered back as the full swarm surged over her, lost in the cloud of Black Locusts before she could attempt to defend herself. Wyszemir dropped back behind his shield, trying to swat the locusts away as they bit and stung the necromancer, while Xaviar tried to concentrate through the assault and bring up an aura of holy fire around him. Just a step behind him, Tara shrieked in terror as the swarm hit her, flailing away with her staff for a moment, but then throwing off a flurry of ice bolts in every direction. Turning just in time to see her, Xaviar ducked only a second before a blast of ice and frost nearly slammed into his face. Behind him, Wyszemir was barely able to deflect the blast off of his shield, somehow managing to redirect it into a thick mass of the locusts.
"Control her, paladin!" Wyszemir demanded, shouting through the deafening drone. Xaviar leapt back to his feet, hit fiery aura burning locusts away even as more fought through the heat to sting his exposed flesh, in time to see the hysterical sorceress racing away into the dark tunnels. Wyszemir and Io were still nearly lost in the swarm, but if the paladin hesitated for even another second Tara could vanish without another trace in the tunnels.
"Stay with Io!" Xaviar shouted to Wyszemir. Without waiting for any reply from the necromancer, the paladin sprinted off into the dark passages, trying to catch up to the sorceress before she could become irretrievably lost in the darkness.
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With the terrible buzzing in his ears and the stings of hundreds of insects finding their way under his chain mail and robes, Wyszemir barely heard the paladin's final order before he disappeared into the tunnels again. By the time the necromancer realized that two of his allies had abandoned him, Wyszemir had somehow forced his way into the center of the intersection, nearly back to back with Io as the Amazon unleashed wave after wave of charged bolts in increasingly random directions. With lightning arcing across the passage and his senses overwhelmed by the stinging mass converging on him, Wyszemir started into a spell that would hopefully decimate the flying swarm. Even as he began to cast, however, Io whirled around in her frantic attempts to ward off the insects, the haft of her spear thumping solidly across the necromancer's temple and knocking him to the ground. Stunned and reeling from the unexpected assault, Wyszemir somehow managed to start his spell over, completing it as he staggered back to one knee.
The corridors suddenly filled with hundreds of miniature explosions as every dead insect burst apart. The necromancer was jarred by the assault as dozens of crushed locusts exploded beneath his chain mail, ripping dozens of small wounds across his chest, back, and arms, the injuries were a small price to pay as the explosions ripped through what remained of the living insects. Behind him, Io fell flat on her back as the explosions beneath her own armor knocked her over, but in an instant the death mage had managed to destroy his disgusting attackers. For a long moment both Wyszemir and Io lay still on the ground, resting on a carpet of squashed bugs, until the Amazon finally forced herself up to one knee.
"What was that?" she asked wearily, wiping the remains of the insects from her face and arms.
"A corpse explosion," Wyszemir groaned, pushing himself up against a wall and searching his belt for a healing potion. "I would prefer to blow myself up than be eaten by locusts."
"I can't blame you," Io said, removing a healing potion from her own belt. The Amazon tilted the vial back, drinking the potion down, then looked around the intersection again. "Where are Xaviar and Tara?"
"Tara broke and ran, after nearly killing me with a stray ice blast," Wyszemir answered, not bothering to hide the disgust in his voice. "Our noble crusader went after her, I guess trying to bring her back."
"Which way did they go?" Io asked, retrieving her spear and holding it up as a torch once more. Wyszemir started to turn to point behind him, but suddenly stopped as he considered the nearly identical corridors around him.
"They went back the way we came," the necromancer said uncertainly. Io glanced around the crossroads as well, realizing the same problem that Wyszemir was having.
"And, which way was that?" Io pressed, hoping that the necromancer would be able to recognize something along the corridor they had taken to the ambush site. Wyszemir took another second to try and find anything familiar, but then turned back to the Amazon with a faint smirk.
"Well, it has to be one of these four corridors," the death mage observed. "Which one would you like it to be?"
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Her screams made it far easier to track her, but Xaviar could barely keep track of landmarks and turns as he raced after Tara. The sorceress somehow managed to dart past a pair of Sand Maggots that Xaviar had been forced to waste time killing, but now Tara seemed to be wearing out as she stumbled into a large, empty corridor and frantically clawed at the straps holding her breastplate closed. As she finally stopped in the center of the dark chamber, Xaviar caught up to her, grabbing her arm before she could take off again.
"They're in my armor!" Tara screamed hysterically. "They're in my armor! Get it off they're in my armor!"
"Hold still!" Xaviar ordered, shoving the sorceress into the nearest wall and pinning her with one arm. With his free hand the paladin unbuckled the straps on the left side of the sorceress' breastplate, pulling the armor open and dragging the young woman out through the side. Tara collapsed to the ground as she desperately tore at her robes, spilling a last few crushed locusts onto the sand at her knees. Finally, free of the insects, Tara's screams died down to gasps as she tried to regain her breath. Breathing a sigh of relief, Xaviar glanced around the dark chamber that they had entered, making certain that they had not come upon some kind of breeding pit inside the hive.
Tara suddenly screamed again, leaping off of the ground and nearly tripping over her discarded breastplate as she tried to backpedal away from something on the ground. Xaviar caught the sorceress as she nearly lost her footing, and Tara immediately buried her face in the paladin's surcoat as she threw herself into his arms.
"Easy now," Xaviar said, reluctantly pulling the sorceress closer to him as he peered over her shoulder. Only a few feet from where Tara had dropped to the ground, a long dead caravan guard lay pinned to the ground under a partial cocoon of silk. The guard's face and one visible arm had been eaten away by both the Sand Maggots and simple decay, turning the unfortunate man into a disgusting, half digested pile of flesh and bone. "Come on," Xaviar said gently, leading Tara away from the corpse. "Come on. Let's just sit down over here, and try to regain our composure."
Xaviar helped Tara to the far end of the room, finally letting her sink down against the sandy wall until she could get control of her emotions. Out of sight of the body, the sorceress once again managed to calm herself, dropping her head into her hands as her breathing finally slowed to a more normal level. With Tara finally taken care of, the paladin tried to recall the course they had taken to the chamber, but Xaviar found himself unable to remember how many turns they had taken, much less the directions of the turns. As he retrieved Tara's breastplate and helped the sorceress back into her armor, the paladin made one silent prayer that he would recognize something in the tunnels to lead him back to the others.
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"Do you have any idea where you're going?"
"Do I look like a Sand Maggot to you?" Stasya asked irritably, turning back to Snowhammer in the middle of a particularly low, narrow tunnel. While she had little trouble navigating the stony corridor, Snowhammer was scraping and cursing his way through the passage as his height kept him hunched over. Fortunately, the jewel that Stasya had found so long ago on the body of a Saber Cat glowed with a dim, crimson light, allowing the two lost travelers to at least see where they were going.
"Do you want me to answer that?" the barbarian inquired in reply, trying to edge his way through a particularly narrow section of the tunnel. Stasya hesitated for a moment, practically infuriated by the offhand remark, but finally turned back to the tunnels ahead.
"Look, I said I would get us out of here, so I'll get us out of here," the assassin stated, ignoring the comment for the time being.
"Yeah, well, you've been leading us through these tunnels for hours now," Snowhammer said, fighting to keep up with his comrade. "I think we've been through here before."
"You can't even see five feet in front of your face, bonehead," Stasya said, picking her way carefully across the uneven floor. "At least I can see where I'm going. And, for your information, we haven't been through here before. There's nothing dead here."
"Oh, well that lifts my spirits," Snowhammer grumbled. "I wouldn't have picked such a small passage. You're going to get me stuck in here."
"I didn't save your worthless life just to get you stuck in a tunnel," Stasya retorted. "And you could at least show a little bit of respect to me for that."
"Well, you'll certainly never let me forget about it," Snowhammer grumbled.
"That's right," Stasya agreed, pushing her way through a partially collapsed section of the tunnel around a blind bend. The assassin pulled herself over a last boulder that had fallen in the way, but stopped as she found herself face to face with a wall of sand. Snowhammer pushed himself past the collapse with a final grunt, and stopped as he too saw the newest obstacle.
"Nice job," the north man said simply. "I think I'll lead now. Give me that jewel."
"Shut up and give me a second to think," Stasya said, examining the wall for a moment. She was about to turn away, conceding the point to the barbarian, when a faint, almost imperceptible breeze tickled the back of her neck.
"Look, just give me the light," Snowhammer prompted. "It's a dead end. We can't go any further this way."
Stasya tossed the jewel to Snowhammer, but as the barbarian started to turn back up the passage, the assassin lashed out with a powerful kick at the wall. The sand exploded outward under the force of the blow, revealing a small chamber lit by a dim shaft of moonlight shining down through a hole in the ceiling.
"You can head back that way, if you want," Stasya said. "I'm going to leave now."
XIV
"They wouldn't have."
"They must have," Snowhammer said, standing over entrance to the maggot lair. By the cool, pale light of the full moon, the barbarian had searched for any signs of their missing comrades, but the only thing he had found in the relative darkness was a half obscured trail that led to the inky hole in the ground in front of them. "They must have gone down there to look for us," Snowhammer reasoned, kneeling at the edge of the hole.
"Wyszemir would never be so stupid," Stasya argued, her arms folded across her chest as she kicked a bit of sand into the dark hole. "That place is a maze! They'd be lost in a minute!"
"Well then where are they?" Snowhammer asked, standing up and facing his far smaller companion.
"How should I know?" the assassin answered, throwing up her hands in confusion. "Maybe they continued on to Lut Gholein!"
"Come on, you know Xaviar wouldn't leave us behind unless he knew we were dead," Snowhammer pointed out. "And I'd like to think that the others aren't completely heartless."
"It would be suicide to go down there!" Stasya exclaimed, shaking her head in disbelief. "No. Xaviar, sure, Tara, maybe, but not Io or Wyszemir."
"They went in there," Snowhammer said evenly. The barbarian slung his maul across his back, and studied the hole for a moment. "Well, I guess we have to go back in there after them."
"Are you absolutely insane?" Stasya asked, stunned. Snowhammer said nothing, but glared at the assassin. "Bad question," Stasya reasoned. "You're a barbarian. Of course you're insane."
"I'm going back down there," Snowhammer stated, his eyes still locked on the young woman. "Now you can wait out here if you're that scared of going back in there, but I'm going to see if I can find the others."
"And what happens if they give up and come back out, thinking that we must have been killed and eaten?" Stasya asked. "What if they've already left for Lut Gholein? What if we go back down there and get killed, you idiot?"
"I said you could wait out here," Snowhammer pointed out. Without another word, the barbarian jumped down into the hole. For a moment Stasya simply stared, open mouthed, at where the north man had disappeared, but finally let out a sigh of resignation.
"I'm stuck with a band full of morons," the assassin complained to the night sky. Then she stepped forward and dropped down through the hole, landing softly on the sand below. Leaning against the far wall, Snowhammer grinned as she stood up and drew her kris.
"I thought you'd come around," the barbarian said simply.
"I stand a better chance down here with allies than up there alone," Stasya muttered. "But we only check around a little bit, and then we're gone," the assassin continued. "We can't waste too much time down here."
"Just get that jewel out and light the way," Snowhammer said, still smirking as he started into the only tunnel leading out of the entry chamber.
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"I don't think this is the right direction."
"And I don't care," Io muttered, still leading the way through the Sand Maggot lair. Behind her, Wyszemir ambled along casually, acting as though he was on a simple stroll through the streets of some town above ground.
"Well, we have not found our four lost companions, nor have we returned to the entrance to this complex," the death mage observed, running one hand idly along the sandy wall. "Also, if I recall correctly, the surface was above us, yet we seem to have descended even farther below ground."
"Wyszemir," Io said, turning around. The necromancer stopped, raising one eyebrow in casual inquiry. "If you don't stop talking, I swear to God I'll cut your tongue out."
"You've become rather less amiable since assuming command of our little company," Wyszemir remarked, undeterred by the Amazon's threat. Sighing in disgust, the Amazon turned back to the tunnels ahead of her, praying that the necromancer would run out of comments, or maybe get eaten by a Sand Maggot. "Does the weight of leadership rest uncomfortably on your mailed shoulders?"
"Does the sound of your voice ever irritate you?" Io asked in reply, finding herself in yet another downward sloping corridor as she rounded a corner. Once more the Amazon stopped, searching for signs of tracks in the sandy floor, but again only the pointed imprints of Sand Maggot legs dotted the ground.
"Still farther downward we tread," Wyszemir commented, seeing the passage's decline.
"It's possible that Snowhammer and Stasya were brought this way," Io said, looking up from the ground. "Or maybe you don't care about your companion enough to try looking for her?"
"While I would like to find Stasya, I also realize the fact that, if she has been captured, she and the northerner would both have ended up like that unfortunate, half decomposed guardsman we passed not long ago," Wyszemir explained. "While I would like to find the girl alive, I prefer not to risk my life simply to find her remains."
"Xaviar and Tara might have come this way," Io continued. "If they have, we may be able to rejoin them."
"Or they may have returned to the surface," Wyszemir countered.
"Do you really think Xaviar of all people would return to the surface without finding us or the others?" Io inquired, glancing over her shoulder at the necromancer.
"Xaviar is driven by his need to be some shining example to the huddled masses," Wyszemir said. "Of course he would remain in thee tunnels, for the rest of his life if need be. But I would think that you would realize that they could all be on the surface right now, waiting for us. And yet, you persist in our downward journey."
"Well if you see a passage that we haven't already tried that goes up, we'll head back for the surface," Io snapped, pushing her way stubbornly through the passage. It was finally beginning to level off, giving the Amazon some hope that she might soon be back on the surface. "Otherwise, just shut your mouth."
"As you wish, war captain," Wyszemir said smugly. Io closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and willed herself not to impale the arrogant death mage.
The Amazon's eyes popped open again as a faint, unmistakable drone filtered down through the passage. Slowly Io turned around, looking past Wyszemir, searching out the origin of the buzz, but for the moment the two humans were the corridor's only occupants. Wyszemir's arrogant smile faded away as soon as he heard the distant buzz, and the necromancer raised his bone shield in preparation for renewed combat. For a long time the two reluctant allies remained still and silent, trying to judge the distance and the direction of the unseen swarms of insects.
"They are coming closer," Wyszemir said, unwilling to raise his voice above a whisper. "We should continue."
Io nodded silently, and began again to following the downward sloping path. Wyszemir took a few steps after her, but then stopped and summoned up a barrier of solid bone to keep the locusts from following them. With only a second of hesitation, Io kept moving, wondering if the bone wall would block their retreat from something more fearsome than a horde of biting insects.
The wall of bone suddenly shook violently. The buzz of the insects became a dull, grinding cacophony as the locusts began to chew their way through Wyszemir's barrier. The necromancer dropped back quickly, erecting another wall of bone just behind the first.
"I would think that this is not a time for delay!" the death mage exclaimed, raising yet another wall in the narrow corridor. Without another second of hesitation Io rushed forward, sprinting away from the insect swarms with all the speed she could muster. Fighting demons was one thing, but a swarm of insects was near impossible to kill with a spear or a bow. Quickly the Amazon turned a blind bend in the passage, but suddenly skidded to a stop at the entrance to a large chamber, dimly illuminated by the flames emanating from her spear. Wyszemir nearly slammed into her from behind a moment later, but the necromancer managed to stop himself before he threw Io into the chamber.
"Maybe we should have fought the locusts," Wyszemir suggested, his characteristically smug tone long gone. Io could only nod in mute agreement as she scanned the dozens of inhabitants of the chamber. Sand Maggots and Rock Worms busied themselves tending to pulsing egg masses half buried in the sand or feeding the scores of young maggots scraps of flesh and bone. The entire floor seemed to be crawling with young and mature demons, but these more mundane foes were little more than an afterthought as the Amazon gawked at the room's central inhabitant. The thing was huge by any standard, more than five times larger than even the biggest Sand Maggot, with mandibles at least as long as the Amazon's spear. As the two humans hesitated on the threshold of the maggots' birthing chamber, Wyszemir let out a humorless chuckle. "Just our luck to find the oldest, strongest maggot in all of Sanctuary," the necromancer said. "We have found the lair of Coldworm the Burrower."
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"I… I'm so sorry."
"Tara, I told you, it's all right," Xaviar said, stopping and turning back to the sorceress. Tara kept her eyes on the ground, unwilling to meet the paladin's gaze.
"I… if I hadn't run, we would at least be with Io and Wyszemir," she said quietly. "Now we're lost and alone. I'm so sorry."
"Tara, look at me," Xaviar said, gently lifting the young woman's chin. For a moment she tried to look away, but finally met the paladin's hazel eyes. "Fear can take hold of anyone, especially one so unused to the horrors of combat. In my opinion, you've stood up to the trials of this ordeal as well as any of us. You do not need to blame yourself for anything."
Tara remained silent for a long moment, gazing up into the paladin's eyes as she tried to measure his sincerity. Finally, the sorceress forced out a weak smile.
"Thank you," Tara said quietly. "I… you've been very kind to me."
"What kind of a paladin would I be if I were not?" Xaviar asked with a touch of humor. Tara let out a more genuine laugh, finally beginning to relax. "Now, we have to find the others, and find a way out of here as well. Now as we travel, keep a look out for anything that might lead us to our friends."
"Do… do you have any idea which way to go?" Tara asked as the two began walking again.
"Not really," Xaviar answered, sounding almost unconcerned. "But with a little luck, we'll stumble across our friends soon enough."
With Tara reassured, Xaviar started forward through the passages, relying on the dim, bluish light radiating from Tara's staff to light the way for him. As he walked, the paladin tried to find any signs of human life in the sandy corridors, but the only humans the pair found were long dead guardsmen or caravan teamsters.
The passages seemed to lead deeper into the earth, but Xaviar could see no alternative to his course. Heading back the way they came would bring them back to the dead end chamber where he had caught Tara, but he did not remember so many twists and turns in the passages during his chase. Tara, if she realized that the two were heading down instead of up, remained silent about the matter, trusting in the paladin to find their way out of the nest. As the pair continued, however, Xaviar recognized nothing from his surroundings, and began to wonder if he would ever find his way out of the labyrinth. It felt like the pair had been walking aimlessly for almost an hour when Xaviar finally stopped, shaking his head as he scanned the dark tunnels.
"Maybe we should try heading back the way we came," Tara offered quietly. Xaviar looked back up the faintly sloping corridor, and shrugged.
"We had to have missed a turn somewhere," the paladin decided, casting one last glance down the passage. "We can try retracing our steps, and…"
The paladin left his sentence unfinished, suddenly straining to hear something in the lair. Tara opened her mouth, ready to ask what had caught his attention, but Xaviar held a hand up for silence before she could speak. For a long moment the two waited in the tunnel, listening for whatever Xaviar had heard.
The dull, faint echo of an explosion carried through the passage, barely audible even in the still air.
"What is that?" Tara asked nervously.
"Come on," Xaviar directed, already racing down the corridor.
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Their first option had been to turn and flee. They had even made it three steps before the Black Locusts swarmed over them, hurling them back into the nesting chamber and the swarms of waiting Sand Maggots.
Io whirled and lashed out blindly, unable to see through the stinging clouds of insects surrounding her as she stumbled back through the waiting throngs of Sand Maggots. Wyszemir had disappeared somewhere to her left, but the Amazon could not spare a thought for the necromancer as she tried to regain her bearings and push back to the chamber's entrance in a desperate attempt to break free of her enemies. Within moments, however, Io found herself being inexorably forced backward by the stinging locusts and the powerful mandibles of the Sand Maggots. Only a few feet behind her, Io could already hear the monstrous brood mother, Coldworm the Burrower, turning its huge pincers in her direction. The Amazon fought desperately to keep away from the huge maggot, but for every Sand Maggot she killed another two swarmed forward to take its place, and each maggot's bite set her blood to burning with poison.
Pale white streaks suddenly tore through the maggots around her, and several of the smaller corpses exploded in the clouds of locusts. Io hazarded a glance to Wyszemir, catching a glimpse of the necromancer and a huge, disgusting construct that looked for all the world like some skinless giant fighting by his side. Wyszemir's blood golem lumbered forward, ripping through maggots and larvae in its ponderous push to Io's side. The necromancer had managed to erect a series of bone walls around him, forcing the maggots to attack him down a single, narrow corridor through which he loosed a volley of teeth and powerful, ghostly bone spears. Even with the death mage's lethal magical assaults, the maggots stubbornly scrambled over their dead comrades or doggedly ripped pieces of the bone walls apart in their attempt to reach their prey.
"It's time to end this," Io snarled through gritted teeth. Instead of trying to fight her way back to the only way out of the chamber, she turned and charged forward, her fiery spear aimed directly at Coldworm's huge, exposed flank. A last Sand Maggot managed to catch hold of the Amazon's ankle, crushing her greaves and nearly breaking her ankle, but Io ignored the assault and threw herself forward at the monster ahead of her. The giant maggot let out a piercing screech as it turned on her, catching Io in its mandibles only a second before she could fall to the ground. The Amazon's chain mail twisted and tore, but Io kicked away the maggot on her leg and jammed her spear into Coldworm's open maw. Again Coldworm shrieked in agony as the fiery blade loosed a burst of lightning inside of it, but Io continued to stab at the huge maggot, unleashing charged bolts down the creature's gullet with each hit. Behind her, Wyszemir's blood golem pounded mindlessly on the maggot's flanks, but Coldworm barely even noticed the construct in its desperate attempts to throw the Amazon clear. Even with her grievous wounds and her blood boiling with poison, Io hurled herself into the beast's maw one last time, driving her spear into the maggot until the tip exploded out of Coldworm's back.
The maggot let out a final, ear splitting shriek, nearly deafening Io as the mauled Amazon tried to stagger free of the collapsing giant. Coldworm the Burrower slammed back into the ground with a mighty, ripping explosion, tossing Io back into the wall in a blast of poisonous ichor and ice. The Amazon slammed into the wall and collapsed to the ground as the numbing cold robbed her of the last of her strength, unable to stand and unwilling to try. Her blood roared in her ears, drowning out any last sounds of battle from Wyszemir or the necromancer's blood golem. What little of her vision remained was focused on the gigantic corpse in front of her, but even Coldworm's mangled remains were beginning to fade into darkness.
"Io?"
The voice was somewhere near, and somehow familiar, but she was fairly certain that it was not Wyszemir.
"Io! Wake up! Please!"
A woman's voice. Frantic. All she wanted was to sleep. Nothing to panic about…
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"Io, please! Come on, don't die!"
"I'm just tired," Io mumbled, her voice barely coherent. Frantically Tara shook the Amazon by her bloodstained shoulders, but Io barely noticed.
"Xaviar!" Tara practically screamed, turning back to the last of the battle. She and the paladin had managed to stumble upon the chamber by sheer luck, finding Wyszemir half buried in a pile of broken bones and maggot corpses, but the necromancer had managed to stagger to his feet and aid in killing the last of the maggot larvae. Xaviar rushed to the sorceress' side within a heartbeat, quickly taking stock of the badly wounded Amazon. For a moment Io's eyes flickered open, and she regarded the paladin as he placed his hands over the worst of her wounds. Behind him, Wyszemir stumbled to the group, casting a wary glance over his shoulder at the slain maggots.
"You have an antidote?" Xaviar asked, turning to Tara. The sorceress fumbled with her pack for a moment.
"No," the sorceress answered helplessly. She turned back to the necromancer as he tried to uncork a healing potion with his bloodstained hands. "Wyszemir! Do you have an antidote?"
"I do not," the necromancer replied, a touch of regret in his voice.
"Xaviar," Io said weakly.
"I'm here," the paladin said. "Just rest, and let the cleansing prayer work. Tara, give her a healing potion from my pack."
"Don't bother," Io said. "I'm sorry, Xaviar. I won't be able to go to Kurast with you."
"You're not getting out of your promise that easily," Xaviar countered, putting all of his concentration into his prayer of cleansing. Tara hastily uncorked a healing potion, but as she turned to Io the Amazon's head slumped back against the sandy wall.
"Io?" Tara prompted, gently lifting the Amazon's head. Io's dark eyes remained open, but the spark of life had vanished. Xaviar looked up from her injuries for a moment, then hung his head. "Can't… can't you do something?" Tara asked desperately, turning to the paladin.
"She… is beyond our help," Xaviar answered quietly, shaking his head sadly. Reverently the paladin folded Io's hands across her chest. "May the Light shine on you in your next life. May it guide you to the fields of Heaven, where you will join the angels in everlasting happiness. Never again shall you know pain and suffering, only the purity of the Light."
