21st Day of Goodmonth, 565 CY
Underneath Drachen Keep, The Aerie, The Pomarj
"Look out!"
Elrohir's shout was as instinctive as it was unnecessary. Argo Bigfellow Junior was already twisting out of the way of their primary foe's grasp. Displaying that remarkable agility that he possessed even while encumbered by his plate mail, the big ranger stepped out of harm's way for the moment even as he slashed out with Harve. The longsword's crimson glow was momentarily dimmed at the blade sank deep into the body of its target.
With a grunt, Bigfellow yanked his sword out. Only a little mud seeped out of the wound, along with a few sections of severed vines and roots. There was no other visible effect.
Argo scowled. There's something deeply unsatisfying, the ranger thought, about fighting a plant.Elrohir, standing next to his fellow ranger, risked a momentary glance behind him while awaiting the best moment to strike with Gokasillion.
About seven feet behind him and to the right, Sir Menn was just rising back to his feet. Covered with mud and now sporting a large dent in the breastplate, the knight's plate armor had lost its virgin luster, courtesy of a huge blow from the shambling mound. His blue cloak was now merely a brown rug that trailed off his shoulders. Growling in frustration, Sir Menn looked around for his shield, which he had dropped during his brief flight. It had landed however, at Talass' feet, and the cleric had already picked it up and was holding it out to the knight. As he took it with a brief nod of thanks, Talass turned around behind her.
What she saw wasn't encouraging. One of the two giant constrictor snakes had now wrapped itself firmly around Tojo. Talass wondered if the samurai was now regretting his decision to shove Zantac out of the way when the serpents had suddenly emerged from holes in the spongy, swampy earth beneath them and attacked, apparently in cooperation with the shambler.
Knowing Tojo, not likely, she mused. The continual light around Cygnus' neck was swinging wildly as the wizard, bereft of his staff since the battle with the storoper eight days prior, was trying to wedge his dagger between the samurai's body and the snake and cut his friend free from the inside. Talass couldn't determine if he was having any luck or not. Sitdale and Unru were already sawing and bashing away at the serpent respectively, and Zantac was just now rejoining the fray, his own dagger glinting in the party's artificial light.
Talass looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. About ten feet further back, Nesco, Thorimund and Hengist were attacking the other serpent, which had wrapped it self securely around Arwald. She could see the warrior's head jerk around furiously, trying to avoid the snake trying to clamp its unhinged jaws on him.
The priestess cried out in frustration. In these cramped quarters, there was no room for her to come to the aid of those battling the serpents, and the shambling mound was blocking the path in front of them.
To flank it, she'd have to step into the waters of the underground lake.
The water was black and clammy-looking, with numerous patches of scummy green algae. Talass saw some kind of white fish dart by close to the surface, with what looked like two large leeches or lampreys attached to it.
It'll only take a few seconds, she thought. I don't think the water's more than waist-high here, and I can't just stand here doing nothing. We've got to flank that plant-thing!
Talass was just starting to lower herself over the side of the path into the lake when a voice squeaked out from above her.
"No, Talass- don't! We don't know what's in there!"
Despite themselves, Argo and Unru guffawed, exactly as they had every time they had heard that voice. In fact, Unru's swing with his tonfa went wide and smacked Tojo on his cheek. The samurai glared viciously at the illusionist and seemed to be trying to burst the snake encircling him with the power of sheer rage.
Talass looked up. "Then we need spellpower!" she roared. "We're not winning this fight like we did the other ones! We'll need to expend it all on healing anyway at this rate! I'm going to-"
"Please, Talass!" the voice squealed. "Just give them a few more seconds first! And dammit, Argo- stop laughing and fight!"
"Yes, my liege!" Bigfellow squeaked back in a falsetto voice.
Flying above the scene, Aslan surveyed the battle with a mixture of rage, anxiety and disappointment.
The paladin was furious at Bigfellow and Unru for their merriment every single time he opened his mouth in his current form. He supposed it might have been amusing at first, but he thought the novelty had long since worn off. And now, in combat? There was no excuse for it!
He couldn't control his anxiety either. Although all his well-honed battle instincts were telling the paladin that his compatriots would triumph in this battle, there was no doubt that relaxing his and Elrohir's earlier forbiddance on anyone using magic until they entered Drachen Keep would end this fight a lot quicker.
They had to keep looking at the big picture, however. Conserving their resources was the only way their plan- a long shot at best, anyway- would have a chance at succeeding.
It didn't help either that Aslan was unable to directly participate in the fray at present. To be sure, he could fire off a psionic blast at that creature that Argo and Wainold's men had called a shambling mound, but that would also be a use of precious resources that they couldn't afford right now.
But most of all, the paladin was disappointed. Everything had been going so well until this point; despite those tense moments at The Rose, all their plans had been executed nearly perfectly. Aslan couldn't believe that a giant plant and a couple of big snakes were going to ruin everything.
He also couldn't believe that he had let Sitdale talk him into polymorphing into a pixie.
"All right, people. Everyone knows what to do. Drink up!"
Elrohir had watched as a dozen people raised small glass vials to their lips, and with expressions ranging from enthusiasm to apprehension, drain them and vanish from sight.
Unru and Zantac's expedition to The Rose had borne the fruit they had hoped. The former regaled everyone within earshot of his short but bawdy encounter with a prostitute named Patrice, who had told him the story that led to their discovery of the secret entrance to the sewer system underneath Suderham.
Zantac, on the other hand, had barely said two words since their return. He merely verified Unru's story and suggested a series of spells that would give them the greatest chance of getting into the sewers undetected.
Elrohir nodded. "Sounds good, Zantac. But aside from those, no one is to use spells of any kind until we're into the fortress of the Slave Lords. Healing if we have to, of course, but that's it!" He turned to Aslan. "That goes for your Talent as well, my friend."
The paladin nodded. "I understand Elrohir and agree completely."
Elrohir watched as the door to the warehouse seemed to open of its own accord- Cygnus, no doubt- and was about to swallow his own potion of invisibility when a brief tingle ran through his left hand. Looking down at it and finding nothing, the ranger saw his wife out of the corner of his eye.
Talass had not yet drunk her own potion. Instead she was planting a small kiss on the golden ring still on her finger, and then uttering a short incantation.
Elrohir's eyes were already upon her when she looked up, but before the question could leave his lips, the priestess of Forseti had drained her vial and disappeared. He could hear her footsteps as she stepped quickly past him and out the door.
Her husband sighed, drank and followed.Elrohir and Argo struck home simultaneously.
The shambler shuddered but didn't move back an inch. No noise came from it, but it had no mouth to utter a sound with anyway.
In fact, it didn't even have any visible head. The monster wasn't any taller than Argo, but it had a girth of at least eight feet.
That thing's got to weigh over a ton, thought Bigfellow right before he saw the thick vines that passed for the creature's arms whip towards him.
The ranger batted aside the massive blow with his shield, but the vine tips on both the shambling mound's "hands" suddenly split apart into several thinner vines, all prehensile. An instant later, they had grabbed Argo around his waist and yanked him forward. The suffocating smell of a thousand dead forest floors enveloped the ranger as he was pressed against the shambler's body, unable to move.
Then he felt the vines beginning to tighten.
"No!" yelled Talass and leapt into the lake.
There wasn't much point in Aslan trying to stop her. The paladin knew Talass wouldn't listen and truth be told, this was a development he hadn't counted on. True, the creature might be slain more easily now that its attacks were all being concentrated on one individual.
Aslan just didn't know if that individual could survive until then.
With a flutter of tiny wings, the pixie began to fly towards the shambling mound.
Twilight was just surrendering to night as fourteen invisible individuals ran down the streets of Suderham. This time, they all gave thanks for the unbelievably wide boulevards this town offered, as they were easily available to avoid contact with any pedestrians. A few turned their heads and frowned at the noise of a running crowd that had no visible source, but no one made any move to intercept them.
About halfway there, Aslan directed them all into an alleyway. "Just wait now," the paladin instructed.
Almost all at once, they became visible again as their potions wore off.
"Number two," ordered Elrohir, already flicking off the wax stopper on his second vial with his finger. "Dearest, your silence, please. Tojo, Unru- keep ahead of us about twenty feet. You both know what to do."
And then they were all off and running ahead, although this time no heads turned towards them. Twelve of their group were silenced, and the two who weren't wore no armor.Just outside the door of The Rose, Tojo and Unru halted. When the samurai heard the illusionist beginning to incant, he lashed out with his foot.Madam Fujori jerked her head around as the front door of her brothel flew open.
An instant later came the sound of gusting wind.
The Madam reclined back on her divan. She nodded to her eunuch; a bare-chested Baklunish man with rippling muscles who moved towards the door to close it.
Just as he reached the door, she noticed her servant stop and look around the room with an expression of concern. Then he blinked twice, shut the door and to Fujori's disgust, began cleaning out the wax from his ears with his fingers.
"Do that elsewhere," she snapped at him. "What was that all about, anyway?"
The eunuch shrugged, embarrassed. "Just for a moment, mistress, I couldn't hear anything. I'm all right now," he added, smiling.
Madam Fujori did not return the smile. "Tell me," she said just before placing the hookah pipe back between her lips, "what makes you think I care?"
Zantac watched as Talass lowered herself into the dark water and began wading forward.
The mage looked down at his own dagger, now covered in serpent's blood.
Not long ago, it had been covered in her blood.
Zantac winced and clambered down over the ledge into the water.
"What are you doing?" yelled Unru.
"I'm going to lightning bolt that damn plant, that's what I'm doing!" the magic-user shouted back. "I don't care what Aslan says! I can do it without hitting Argo, but I need a clear line of fire!"
"No! Don't!"
Those exclamations had come from behind him; from Thorimund, Hengist and even the still-entangled Arwald.
Zantac looked back at them.
"It feeds on lightning!" Thorimund yelled to his fellow mage. "You'll only make it stronger!"
"He's right!" Hengist confirmed. "I've seen it happen!"
"Well, I'm not making any headway on this snake! I'll use magic missiles then, but I'm not going to just stand here and-"
Zantac broke off as he felt something grab his leg.
There was unavoidable jostling as the invisible party of fourteen hurried down the brothel corridor. Fortunately, they still made no sound-
Until they did.
Sheer surprise brought everyone to a crashing halt, about three quarters of the way through the hallway.
"The silence- it's worn off!" hissed Nesco redundantly.
"You said we'd have at least another minute!" The voice was Sir Menn's.
There was one more moment of silence, and then Talass' voice could be clearly heard.
"You ran too slow."
At that moment, nearly every single door in the hallway was flung open.
The adventurers tensed up. Unconsciously or not, they all held their breath.
There were overlapping exclamations from the prostitutes and their clients; naked men peering with obvious irritation over the shoulders of the women in front of them.
"Quiet! All a' yeh!"
Oh, no, thought Nesco. Davis.The aristocrat, seemingly unconcerned about his nudity, shoved aside the blonde girl next to him and peered out into the corridor.
"Sounded like a whole damn patrol came through here."
"But there's no one here!" offered the blonde.
"Shaddup, yeh whore!" Davis snarled at her. The noble leaned his face forward, his still-puffy eyes straining to catch movement. His face crinkled in thought.
"There might be magic a'play here. I know I heard voices."
And then his voice went softer.
"Familiar voices."
Neither Hengist nor Thorimund were making headway against the serpent holding Arwald hostage. Sundancer found its mark again, but between the snake's shifting coils and Arwald's struggles, Nesco was unable to find the same spot serpent continued to constrict. Arwald could no longer speak, and his face was turning blue.
There was a scream.
One of the whores; a chestnut haired woman with pink eyes, was either flung backwards into her room-
- or, as it seemed to Elrohir, flung herself back.
"Help me!" the prostitute shrieked. "Someone's grabbed me! Someone invisible!"
Ironically, it was the other whores who immediately bolted towards the room. The men remained behind, shouting unheeded commands for their girls to return. The party members in the rear had just enough time to jump out of the way. This started a slow chain-reaction shuffle towards the door. Thorimund, at the front, began casting his knock spell as quietly as he could.
"What's going on?" demanded Elrohir, trying to be loud and quiet at the same time. "Who grabbed-"
Unexpectedly, Zantac's voice hissed in his ear.
"No one grabbed her, Elrohir. She's giving us the diversion we need, that's what's going on. Let's not waste it- get going!"
As Elrohir moved up towards Thorimund, muttered complaints and jostling behind him led the ranger to realize that Zantac was no longer by him.
The Willip wizard was moving back towards the rear.
The hallway was now clear, although numerous female shouts were coming from the pink-eyed woman's room. The eunuch suddenly came charging down the hallway and plunged into the room as well.
"I've got it!" exclaimed Thorimund and yanked the door open.
The group surged forward- and immediately piled up at the door.
"Careful!" Argo said. "If you shove too hard, you'll become visible! We've got to do this in an orderly fashion!"
"I never thought I'd hear those words from you, Argo."
"Treasure the moment, Aslan. One at a time, now!"
"What are you doing? You're not supposed to bring that-"
Those group members not currently passing through the doorway turned back to see the blonde prostitute and Davis standing in the middle of the hallway. With his left hand, Davis interrupted the girl by shoving her back against the wall.
In his other hand he held a dagger.
The young noble glanced up the hallway- and his eyes went large as he saw the open door at the end.
"Hey!" he yelled and charged towards them.
To those in the rear of the party, there was no doubt.
They weren't going to get through in time.
"Wouldn't mind… some assistance." Bigfellow managed to grind out.
Elrohir struggled to provide that assistance as once again, the ranger buried Gokasillion into the mass of vegetation that served as the creature's flesh.
An instant later, Sir Menn's longsword had joined it as the knight uttered a cry of triumph.
The shambling mound still did not move, but large chunks had been carved out of the creature now, and it seemed to sway momentarily on its short, bulky legs. However, the short but prehensile vines that served as the thing's toes dug into the swampy ground beneath them and apparently found purchase, for the shambler stayed upright.
Cygnus jabbed his dagger once again into the snake's rubbery hide. The weapon was nearly torn out of the wizard's grasp as the serpent's body continued to slither around the imprisoned samurai, but he managed to yank it out at the last moment.
It seemed to have little effect. Tojo's struggles were beginning to weaken.
"Get back!" Zantac shouted, although to who was unclear.
"Yeh!" shrieked Davis as he ran up to their voices." I knew it was yeh! I knew-"
The aristocrat's boast abruptly turned into a scream as once again Zantac jabbed his fingers into the onrushing Davis' eyes.
A second later and the noble doubled over, dropping his dagger and clutching at his testicles. He would have screamed again, but he no longer had the wind.
Zantac, now visible, looked to the only other person he could see. She was standing to his immediate left.
Nesco Cynewine was not looking at Zantac, however. She was glaring at Davis.
"A present from Angel Eyes, my lord."
Davis toppled to the floor, unconscious.
Nesco and Zantac glanced at each other, gave one another a smiling nod of satisfaction, and then followed the others through the door, closing it behind them.
Despite it being immersed in cold water, it felt like Zantac's leg was burning.
The magic-user looked down. Something white and eel-like had attached itself to his flesh, apparently burrowing right through his trousers.
Zantac stabbed downwards with his dagger, but the water's refraction distorted his view, and he missed.
"Hang on, Zantac!"
Warhammer in hand, Talass was wading back towards him.
By the time that the party had assembled again at the bottom of the sewer entrance, they were all visible again.
"Well," Thorimund huffed, "by the time they think to come after us, the wizard lock will have resumed, and we put the crossbar back up. That should hold them back for a bit."
"From that way only," Cygnus reminded him. "We don't know how many other secret passageways The Nine may have that we don't know about. Thellent implied there were quite a few."
Thorimund glared up at Cygnus,but said nothing.
"It's time for me to start scouting ahead," Aslan announced.
Thorimund crossed his arms across his chest and gave a smug smile. "Well, well, well- so now it's Thorimund to the rescue, is it? Poor, first-tier Thorimund, who just happens to be the only mage here who has the one spell you so desperately need! Not such a novice now, am I, Cygnus?" the wizard turned back to his peer with a sneer. "What's the matter- didn't my father think you worthy enough to let you have the darksight spell?"
Cygnus crossed his arms in return. "He was too busy teaching me spells like ice storm, Thorimund," the Aardian mage replied quietly. "I know you're a long way from being able to master that one- would it help if I showed you how it worked?"
The silence that followed was so complete that despite himself, Elrohir glanced over at his wife.
Thorimund dropped his eyes, turned to Aslan and cast the spell.
The paladin frowned. "I don't see any difference."
"You won't, as long as you're still within a light source," Thorimund replied with a sigh. "Once outside of it, you'll be able to see as well as any orc or dwarf can."
"Good." Aslan nodded, and then frowned. "Now it only remains to decide what form to take."
"Pixie."
Everyone looked over to Sitdale.
The half-elf shrugged. "You can fly, your small size will help hide you better, and you'll still be able to speak, so you won't have to use more of your Talent to report back to us. What could be better?"
The paladin grimaced. "The only problem, Sitdale, is that I've never seen one."
To his other side came a soft incantation. Aslan's head whipped around, just in time to see Unru mumbling and waving around that damnable piece of fleece again.
What looked like a miniature elf, perhaps thirty inches tall, was hovering in front of him silently on gossamer wings.
"You have now," the illusionist said, his eyes still fixated on his image.
"Damn it, Unru!" Elrohir fought to keep himself from shouting. "I ordered no magic until we reach The Nine!"
"You gain more than we lose by this," Unru replied simply, still concentrating on his image as he made it turn around to give Aslan the full view.
"You shouldn't have done that, Unru," the paladin stated, shaking his head. "But now that you have, it'd be a further waste not to utilize it, so…"
And suddenly there were two pixies hovering before them.
Sort of.
Aslan hadn't given himself the long elven ears the pixie possessed and had apparently decided to clad himself in miniature plate mail rather than the spidersilk robes of the sprite.
"All right then," he said. "I'm off."
Nearly the entire party burst into laughter.
Aslan's voice was now a high-pitched squeak. The lone pixie- Unru's image had vanished with his laughter- glared at Sitdale. "Do they all talk like this?"
"Sort of." The half-elf was trying hard to talk and not laugh at the same time. "You do seem to have taken it to-"
"- a higher degree?" put in Argo, setting off another round of laughter.
"Just wait here," snarled Aslan, which set more still more guffaws because- as it turned out- pixies didn't snarl very well.
Aslan flew off into the darkness in a flutter of wings.
Behind him, Unru was the first to speak, but it was in an unfamiliar tongue.
Elrohir turned to the illusionist, puzzled. "What was that?"
"Gnomish. A rough translation would be- Comic relief; where would we all be without it?"
"Everybody, stand back!" Nesco yelled as loudly as she could.
Nesco dropped her shield, grabbed Sundancer's hilt with both hands, took one long step back herself, and swung.
Unlike her other swings, this one brought the longsword parallel to the serpent's body instead of across it. The blade penetrated; not all the way through, but it didn't have to.
Nesco sliced open a three foot-long section of the giant snake
And somewhere in that section must have been something vital, because the giant serpent suddenly went limp.
Hengist and Thorimund helped free their friend. Arwald was wheezing, unsteady on his feet, and very probably sporting several cracked ribs, but he was out of danger. The fighter's blue eyes darted forward.
"Tojo," he gasped.
The paladin smiled to himself. Things were going very well now, indeed.
Fortunately, the party's time spent in the actual sewers was quite brief. Tojo had spotted the concealed passageway that led off of the tunnel they had started out in.
Aslan flew on ahead again.
Darksight, or darkvision, or whatever the innate ability of subterranean creatures to see without external light was called, had initially been a very confusing experience. Some objects seemed white, others dark, and still others shades of grey. Aslan had even- although he would never tell anyone else- flown into a wall before getting the hang of it, but he had acclimated quickly.
The first garrison he had spotted was a minotaur; similar to Markessa's bodyguard. This one was even more imposing, for it wore a type of armor consisting of black lacquered plates. It paced the confines of its guardroom, carrying a crossbow only slightly smaller than a ballista.
The creature never had a chance. Pre-alerted by Aslan, the party had crept as close as they could, and then charged, bows firing. The minotaur's own shot had went wide, and the man-bull had ran further off to another room; its quarters, judging by the furnishings, and had heading towards a large gong standing at the far end. More arrows and a blinding strike from Tojo's katana had brought the beast down before it reached the signaling device.
Further on, two guards awaited in another outpost room, each with a leashed wardog. Unlike other Suderham guards they had seen, these two wore chainmail emblazoned with a red "9" instead of a slave inside the Suderham city symbol.
They'd fared no better than the minotaur. Afterwards, some party members debated donning the slain guards' armor and attempting to infiltrate the Slave Lords' cohorts from within, but the idea was eventually scuttled.
Now Aslan flew into a large cavern. This was a natural formation, unlike the tunneled-out corridors they'd been traveling through. Most of this cavern was taken up with an underground lake. On the side where Aslan had flown through, a small grove of faintly luminous toadstools almost seven foot high seemed to guard the near shore, a rocky beach. A small path, about eight or nine feet wide, ran along one side of the cavern, but the side of the path opposite the wall was no beach. It dropped straight down about a foot into the water.
Aslan frowned. There was no way to estimate the depth of the water. He thought he spied an exit in the cavern on the far side of the lake, about two hundred feet distant, and began to fly towards it.
A loud squeal caught his attention. A large rat, perhaps only a foot smaller than his own current form, eyed the paladin from the beach. Its bedraggled appearance indicated that the rodent had swum across the lake rather than taking the path.
Apparently startled by the pixie, the creature turned around and began swimming back across the lake.
Aslan easily outdistanced the rat. The paladin uneasily eyed the ceiling overhead, which was absolutely filled with stalactites. Could any of them be piercers? None fell as he passed.
Unfortunately, just as Aslan was approaching the far exit, his darksight gave out.
"Damn," he whispered to himself. The paladin turned around and flew back to where the others were waiting.
It was all Nesco and Arwald could do to keep from hurling their fellow party members over the side as they ran past them to the rear to give the duo room to move ahead.
Once they had the room, the duo ran up to where Tojo was still squirming. They were horrified to see that the snake had now latched its jaws over the top of the samurai's head.
Flexing its muscles, the snake began to work its way downwards. Tojo's forehead disappeared and then his eyes-
And then the two warriors attacked. Nesco's strike- a perfect copy of her first- sliced open the snake while Arwald's cut crosswise, but at the just the correct distance. The fighter's blade sliced across several coils of the serpent until it met the wound created by Sundancer.
The snake fell to the ground in two pieces. Cygnus helped Tojo pull off the dead reptile's head.
Aslan continued to fly ahead as they party started down the path, but now had to stay at least at the fringe of Cygnus' continual light pendant. All was going well until they were almost at the far end-
And then what looked like a rotting heap of vegetation before them had suddenly risen up on two legs and attacked.
Behind the party, two constrictors at least nine feet long slithered abruptly out of concealed holes in the ground. Tojo shoved Zantac out of the way just as one attacked while Arwald did the same to Thorimund.
"Not again!" Sitdale had cried out.
Talass abruptly hurled herself forward and dove under the surface. Zantac watched with a horrified fascination as the cleric swam the last few yards to his position, grabbed the giant leech with one hand and smashed down with her hammer with the other.
Zantac yelped with pain as the creature was torn loose. Zantac's blood made the dark water even darker.
Then Talass erupted from the water beside him in a shower of spray. The cleric was holding the white leech with one hand. It twisted wildly, Zantac's blood still dropping from its circular, tooth-lined mouth.
With a roar of rage, Zantac disemboweled the parasite with his dagger.
At nearly the same time, the shambler dropped Argo, apparently intending to flee. It never got the chance, though. Elrohir and Sir Menn plunged their swords into what their best approximation was of the creature's chest.
The shambling mound sank back to the ground, looking once again just like a heap of rotting vegetation. Only this time, that's what it truly was.
After some discussion and debate, Aslan had healed everybody.
"I know this leaves me low," the paladin admitted, "but I think we're close to our immediate goal, and we still have nearly our full spell and prayer capability."
Arwald stepped forward.
"I do thank you for healing me, Aslan," the fighter said. "You do realize however, that if we had taken the time to find Wainold first, he could have taken care of the shambler without working up a sweat."
Argo Bigfellow stepped forward.
"You do realize," the big ranger stated without even a hint of a smile, "that Wayne is just as much a decaying corpse now as this shambler is."
Arwald had launched himself at Argo at that, but Bigfellow, evidently expecting that reaction, had dodged him and landed a right hook to Arwald's cheek. Everyone else piled in at that point and quickly pulled the two apart.
"Are you two insane?" Elrohir yelled at them. "Keep this up and I'll have Aslan teleport you both back home! You're to keep a lid on this until after our mission is completed! Arwald, I already told you we will determine what's happened to Wainold. And as for you, Argo-"
His longtime friend innocently raised an eyebrow at him. The gesture irritated the party leader even further.
"Keep your mouth closed unless something constructive comes out of it."
The group moved on. Argo looked up to see the pixie flying directly above him.
"I was under the impression," Bigfellow said quietly, "that we all valued truth over convenience. Forgive my error."
He said no more on the matter.
About five minutes later, the party was spread out in a long corridor. This one was lit by oil lamps at regular intervals and ended in a wooden door bound with iron strips. There was no lock upon it, but unfamiliar symbols were etched into the wood.
"It's draconic," Unru announced.
"What does it say?" Elrohir asked.
The illusionist urned to him and grinned.
"Drachen Keep."
There was a collective sigh from over a dozen throats.
"All right then," Elrohir said, gathering his energy together again and gripping his sword tightly," this is it, people. Now, once we get aside-"
He was interrupted by a resounding boom behind him and a cloud of dust.
Only five feet past the rear guard Nesco and Tojo, a vertical stone slab had fallen from the ceiling.
Their retreat was cut off.
Before anyone could speak, a new voice suddenly spoke in their midst, without any visible source.
Ventriloquism, thought Cygnus.
"This is Ajakstu of The Nine," the voice announced. "Furyondans, you will sheath your weapons and advance into the next chamber, where you will surrender yourselves to us."
Fourteen people stared at one another.
"This is not a request," Ajakstu's voice continued. "It is a command. Surrender now- or die where you stand."