The bull headed construct tossed back its head and bellowed once more. It lowered its horns and charged forward with a great crash of metal on stone, each mighty step causing the ground to shudder beneath Yasha's feet.
"You'd think it would have learned the first time around," Enserric sneered. Yasha grinned slightly as she raised the blade and gripped her shield. It mattered little how quickly the golems learned if she could take down the one that was reanimating the others. Even now, the spindly golem stayed well behind its charging counterpart, apparently content to let the that one take the lead in the fighting. The other golem, however, was the source of the problems.
That one must be her target.
Yasha charged forward, startling Valen out of her way and gaining speed as quickly as her armor would allow. The golem's horns passed inches before her as she spun and side stepped, pulling her shield close and ricocheting off of the wall before taking a swing as the metallic creature pounded past. Her arms and shoulders tingled with a sudden surge of power as the enchantment of her gauntlets took hold. The screech of metal on metal filled the air, and the golem staggered past, driven by its momentum right past her. It turned its head with an almost incredulous look on its face at it looked from her to the great, jagged rent down its side and through one leg. Of course, it was so busy looking back at her, it didn't notice Valen until it was quite too late.
Yasha was already turning, her shield pulled back up defensively, when a deafening clang of Valen's weapon striking home filled the air. Her ears rang, but she shrugged it off, intent on defending herself against her true opponent. She braced, ready for anything. Well, anything except what she found.
The second golem still stood where it had raised the bull-headed one. Its massive hands twitched restlessly at its side, but it made no move, either to attack her, or to heal its still fighting companion. She blinked at it over her shield for a moment, even as the sound of another one of Valen's strikes made the teeth rattle in her head. Hesitantly, she stepped forward, Enserric raised at the ready.
Still, it made no move.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Enserric complained loudly. "Hit it!"
Yasha pulled Enserric back, and closed well within striking range. Then she froze. She bit her lip, considering the golem before her thoughtfully.
Behind her, the sound of fighting abruptly ended with the bone jarring noise of another impact, then the clattering of the metallic thing crashing to the ground once more.
Finally, her enemy moved. As she suspected, it attempted to go past her to the newly fallen golem. She hopped sideways to block its progress, standing defiantly in its path and daring it to attack her.
It did not, much to her frustration.
"Attack it!" Enserric cried again, nearly leaping from her hand towards the creature. She gripped his hilt tightly, but stopped the swing he meant to start.
"I cannot," she snapped. The spindly golem tried to walk past her, and she sidestepped once more to keep herself in its path.
"What? Why not?" His voice was both petulant and surprised.
"Because," she replied from between gritted teeth, "It is neither armed nor attacking me."
Valen's words were short and clipped. "My lady, if you do not, it will continue to resurrect the golems that DO attack us. We cannot wait forever for you to decide to put aside your odd reservations."
Frustration. Anger. Hurt. "Well, why don't you just add that little reservation to the long list of things you hate about paladins in general and me in particular?" she snapped, sparing him only a single angry glance.
She missed the reaction on his face, but not the action that followed it. With a nearly bestial growl, he leapt past her and to the attack, his weapon crashing into the abdomen of the golem, forcing it to stagger backward. Valen stopped his rush in a crouch just beyond his target, and his tail swung wide to help counterbalance his sudden change in direction. He redirected his momentum into another swing and hit the thing powerfully from behind, catching it as it fell into the arc of his attack. It fell forward then and crashed to the ground on its face.
Yasha glared at Valen over the creature's fallen form, her mouth pressed into a thin line. Valen straightened and raised his chin at her, his eyes smoldering. He opened his mouth to speak.
Whatever was on his mind went unsaid, however, as the form between them, glowing and shuddering, drew their attention. The golem pushed itself off of the floor with surprising agility. Its crushed side expanded quickly, like a bellows filling with air, mending at a tremendous rate.
Valen snarled something harsh as the creature turned towards him, swearing in some language Yasha had never heard before. He pulled his weapon back, preparing to strike as the construct raised its arms towards him.
The thing threatened one of her allies. Yasha was now free to strike.
She did, with all of her strength. Enserric's blade bit deeply into the creature's side, and it threw its hands up, abandoning whatever attacks it had planned to bring against the tiefling. Yasha readied for its counter-attack only half-heartedly, for she could not drag her eyes way from the injury she had just caused: an injury that was closing before her eyes. By the time the golem finished turning and faced her once more, the great gash was completely gone.
"Sinth Thesti," it said hollowly, as it lifted its arms in her direction.
"Did you see that?" Enserric gasped.
Yasha wished she hadn't. "Are you sure about that power increase you got Enserric?" she asked, backing away from the golem slowly. "Doesn't look like you're quite as effective as you were bragging."
Enserric grumbled incoherently in reply as he ducked under the golem's limbs, attacking again and again. The results never changed. The golem endured injury after injury with apparent indifference, and the wounds closed almost before she could land another. Valen continued to try to hammer the golem down, but though it staggered frequently it never seemed to react otherwise. A bolt from Deekin's crossbow hit true, only to be promptly pushed back out by the creature's healing body. Yasha was watching another great gash close along the golem's legs, wondering where the monster's weakness might be, when Valen raised his voice to her once more.
"My lady," he growled, pulling himself out of the creature's reach as it staggered from another of his blows. "This battle gains us nothing. We must retreat."
Yasha felt a frustrated snarl twitch on her lips and clenched her teeth against it. The creature must be defeated, else they would face a never-ending wave of the other constructs. Yet, she had to admit, Valen was right. They weren't accomplishing anything against the construct as they were.
"Torm's Blade!" she swore. Staggering back, she struggled to regain her breath and looked for an opening to flee.
Flee? Never again! I am a paladin of Torm.
Yasha paused, indecisive, as her common sense wrestled with her pride. The decision was taken from he as golem's hand shot out and caught her while she hesitated. Its long fingers curled tightly around her like iron bands, pinning her sword arm to her body. Yasha struggled vainly to free herself as, with strength that belied its spindly form, it lifted her bodily off of the ground. She closed her eyes as her feet left the floor and braced herself to be either crushed or thrown.
Neither happened. Instead, the whole world seemed to sway. Yasha snapped her eyes back open. The golem was walking forward, holding her before it like a doll.
Or a shield.
Yasha grimaced to herself. She made a very effective shield indeed. Deekin immediately pulled up his crossbow, unwilling to risk another shot. Valen edged around the golem warily, eyeing them both with frustration. He also stayed his hand, however.
The golem didn't take many steps before it suddenly dropped her. Yasha's knees buckled at the unexpected collision with the ground, and she scrambled to return to her feet. She shook the blood back into her sword arm, groaning to herself as she realized what had happened. The thing had forced her back several yards. It could now reach its fallen comrade and heal it.
That was, of course, exactly what the thing was starting to do.
"Yasha," Valen said, plainly exasperated. "We must retreat. Now."
She scowled at him, but didn't hesitate this time. The three fled together before the minotaur-like golem could recover again. Yasha kept her head down as she ran, repeating over and over to herself the connection between discretion and valor.
Deekin, lightly armored, quick on his feet, and with a head start, was first to round the corner of the broad, main hall. Yasha rounded it herself only just in time to see the kobold dash down a smaller side hall. She had no time to question or stop him, and still had the presence of mind to keep from yelling after his retreating back. So, she did the only thing she could do; she lowered her head and tried to pick up her pace.
Thus, she nearly flattened Deekin as she turned the last corner in the narrower, L shaped hall. She skidded to a stop, confused by a momentary impression of the end of the hall lumbering towards her. She had only a moment to react when the metallic arm separated itself from the shadowed form, striking at Deekin with a speed that belied its size. She did the first thing that came to mind when she saw the bard in danger. She pushed him out of the way and threw herself between him and the incoming strike.
When the thing hit her with the strength of a dragon's kick, she had a split second to wish something else had come to mind. Then she made rather abrupt contact with the wall and had several moments when nothing really came to mind at all. Something screeched metallic protest, and pain crushed the breath from her chest. She thought she heard someone yelling, but couldn't make out their words over the sudden incessant ringing in her ears. The metallic fist appeared again out of the red haze that filled her vision, and she allowed her knees to finally buckle and dropped to the floor. The wall behind her shuddered from the impact and loose stones pelted the top of her head. She got the impression of something huge moving to her left, as the great arm pulled away from above her. She sucked in a dust filled breath and threw herself to the right.
Yasha rolled, trying to get her feet under her. A hand gripped her upper arm, helping her stand. She blinked away more of the red haze, and saw the huge, silvery construct that hunched before her, filling the hall. There was a voice saying something again, but the ringing drowned it out. She felt herself being pulled away, and followed. The pace picked up. They were running.
They were fleeing. Again.
She started swearing; whispered curses on every shallow, painful breath she took. A door was slammed shut, and she was left to prop herself up on a wall. She slid down it as her head continued to pound and her chest ached. At some point she stopped cursing, and wrapped her hands around her head. Her hands brushed the hilt of something strapped to her back. A pulse ran through her at the contact. A sweet, pure power tingled through her skin. Her mind cleared from some of the fog, and she grasped at the fleeting feeling and clung to it. The pain in her head fled before the power as it trickled from her hands. Like cool water, it ran through her neck and throat and poured into her chest, quieting her desperate breathing and dulling the pain. She began to think again.
"Deekin?" Her voice sounded shaky, but at least the ringing and stopped so she could hear it.
"Yes, Boss?" a querulous voice answered.
"You alright?"
"The kobold is fine," another, deeper voice interrupted. "You, however, I'm not so certain of."
Yasha let her hands slide slowly from the back of her head as she looked up. She blinked wearily until her eyes focused.
"Valen?" The tiefling knelt before her. He tilted his head when she said his name, and a few strands hair pulled free of his warrior tie to fall around his face.
"Yes." His eyes narrowed briefly as he examined her face. "How do you feel?"
"I've felt better," she said, letting her hands slip down and settle over the dent in her chest plate. "But I've felt worse too. Just give the room a moment to stop spinning, and I should be fine."
He frowned at her a moment before nodding briefly. He stood so fast it made her head spin again, so she closed her eyes and held very still until the floor beneath her felt stable again. She listened to both Deekin and Valen's footsteps as they wandered the room. Once she heard the heavier steps of a golem outside the door, but its steady pace didn't hesitate for a moment as it passed their hiding place.
"If we're just going to sit here anyway, might I have a look at the book?" Yasha winced. Why did Enserric always seem to speak so loudly?
"What book?" she grumbled.
"Oh," came Deekin's voice from across the room, "I think he means this book, Boss. The one Deekin gots from the library, remember?"
"Of course that's the book I meant. How hard did you hit your head anyway?"
Yasha grunted, and felt around for Enserric's hilt. "I don't recall, which is either good or bad. And why do you feel the sudden desire for some light reading?"
"Well, I happen to think it will give us a clue about controlling the golem problem we seem to have," he replied arrogantly.
"You think he's going to leave his 'Handy Instructions For Controlling My Golem Army' book just laying around in the library?" she responded, a tad more testily than she meant.
"Of course not," he snapped back. "However, mages DO tend to choose their magical command words from phrases of obscure languages, and this just happens to be a book on an obscure language written by the mage in question. Hence, it is logical that it might be a language he studied a great deal and may use for controlling his creations. Must I explain everything?"
Yasha sighed and leaned her head back, taking several deep breaths. "Alright. That does make sense," she finally admitted.
"Of course it does."
She gritted her teeth and opened her eyes. Her eyesight was not nearly as blurry, and the act of looking around the room no longer made her stomach quiver in protest. Her eyes found Deekin just across the room. He had the book Enserric spoke of in his claws, and was flipping through it with sudden interest.
She smiled to herself wanly, and levered herself up against the wall until she was standing. Her head was definitely improving, though her ribs still hurt. Holding Enserric up against her side, she walked slowly across the floor and handed the sword down to the kobold. "Why don't you two look through the book together, eh Deekin?"
"Sure thing, Boss."
She was just turning to look for Valen when she heard a loud, electrical snapping sound, and a grunt of pain from the tiefling. She walked as quickly as she was able to his side. He turned to her as she approached, rubbing his hand with a slightly embarrassed look on his face.
"I'm fine," he assured her before she could ask. "I should know better than to press random buttons on magical panels," he added, waving his hand towards a large bank of dials and buttons.
The panel itself only held her attention for a moment, however. Her eyes were quickly drawn to two huge, glowing numbers floating over the floor a few yards away.
"Were those here the whole time?" she asked, puzzled.
"No," Valen replied. He motioned to two dials on the panel. "They appeared after I turned these."
"Is that when you got shocked?"
"No. I got shocked when I pushed this button," he said, almost sheepishly.
She tried to smile at him. "Well, let's not push that one again, then, shall we?"
He raised an eyebrow at her archly, but couldn't quite keep a tentative smile from his face.
She looked at the giant glowing numbers, listening to Deekin and Enserric quietly bicker over how quickly the kobold was or was not turning the pages. Then she opened her eyes wider, and grinned to herself.
"Gentlemen," she said, turning towards the others, "Why don't you try to find the section in that book concerning numbers. I'm thinking that might give us just the clue we need."