25th Day of Goodmonth, 565 CY
The Dungeons of the Slave Lords
The Aerie, The Pomarj
"Fall back! Anyone without a weapon, fall back!"
Heads snapped around. Unru was wading towards them, splashing noisily. It had indeed been the illusionist that shouted, but before Elrohir could say anything, Unru stopped in chest-high water and began to cast a spell.
Elrohir only had seconds to decide. The party leader had been about to order everyone to flank and surround the giant crawfish, to at least try and keep it from swimming away with Aslan. He remembered the paladin telling him about his conversation with Sir Dorbin back at the Brass Dragon. How the knight had mentioned that Unru, for all his exasperating personality, was a brilliant battle tactician.
Yet this was hardly a normal battle situation; even as far as any combat could be called "normal." The ranger had no clue what kind of useful spells Unru might have left. The illusionist didn't have any of the two remaining scrolls from the tube with him, so it wasn't either of those two incantations. If his plan didn't work-
Elrohir decided.
"Do as he says!"
The monster had surfaced almost vertically, but now the giant crawfish came splashing down, sending a giant spray of water everywhere.
As Elrohir hurriedly wiped the water from his eyes, he saw that Argo and Tojo had already arrived.
Even as the samurai's fist punched right through one of the creature's scales, Bigfellow's bone club landed a solid blow on the thing's side. The crawfish made a horrible squealing sound and its free claw came at Argo, but the big ranger ducked underwater and the appendage swept harmlessly past overhead.
"What the-" Elrohir heard someone gasp from the rear.
The ranger spun around to see Unru directly behind him.
And to his left.
And diagonally behind him and to his left..
And so on.
Five identical Unrus were now moving slowly forward towards the crawfish. All were shouting and splashing, trying to attract the monster's attention as much as possible. Elrohir was reminded of how the cloak-thing in Markessa's stockade had created shadow duplicates of itself.
That should be a good distraction, the ranger thought. But it won't be worth anything if we can't capitalize on it; we need to free Aslan!
"Arwald!"
Lady Cynewine could see Wainold's friend, clutching a shellfish dagger in his hand, wading towards them.
"Arwald!" she shouted again, holding out her hand. "Throw it to me!"
The warrior stopped, clearly not pleased at being ordered out of the action. "Nesco, I-"
"Arwald, please!" Nesco allowed the desperation in her heart to color her plea.
The fighter hesitated a moment and then tossed the makeshift weapon. He turned around and bellowed for someone to throw him one of the remaining two daggers.
Nesco caught it, wincing as the sharp edge cut into her hand. She ignored the dripping blood however and caught Elrohir's eye again.
"Elrohir," Lady Cynewine gulped. "I've got an idea."
Several seconds later, both of them were underwater, swimming in a wide arc designed to bring them around to the creature's rear.
The monster's right claw snapped shut again with a bony clack as it shot towards Tojo but the samurai, dodging for all he was worth, managed to avoid being speared. With an unspoken glance between them, he and Bigfellow paused momentarily in their attacks, concentrating only on evasion now.
It was an odd feeling as the pack of Unrus came up behind them and to their right. The illusions weren't perfect; Tojo's keen eyes could see that the real Unru's splashes were being partially superimposed on his mirror images, but the samurai hoped that their opponent wouldn't have the intelligence to realize that.
Apparently, it didn't. The free claw plunged down right where one of the Unrus was standing and the image vanished in a geyser of water.
And at just that moment, when the creature's claw was out of position, Tojo and Bigfellow struck again. Argo's club caved the thing's exoskeleton in where it hit, and Tojo punched another gaping hole in the crawfish's armor. A dark, thick liquid poured out and fouled the water.
The crawfish began to turn around. Its head lowered, and Argo knew it was getting ready to retreat. There was no way they could stop it.
And it still had Aslan.
But then Elrohir erupted from the water, the ranger's muscular arms straining upwards. Both of his hands grasped the lower half of the crawfish's pincher that was still holding the paladin.
The creature squealed again and raised its left claw high, bringing Elrohir with it and lifting the ranger out of the water completely.
The other claw came sweeping around in a fast arc- it passed right through another of Unru's mirror images, dispelling it, and continued on towards Elrohir, who was struggling in vain to pry the monster's other claw off of Aslan.
But then the crawfish suddenly went into a great spasm and lifted its body again in a great spray of water. It was hard for Elrohir to see what was going on. His body was being jerked to and fro, splashing water was everywhere, and the green glow-fungi light was still too dim to make out great details, although a white light was growing closer, indicating Cygnus must be moving up. The shouting of the ranger's friends and the creature's squeals interspaced with water slamming into his ears, so Elrohir couldn't hear anything clearly, either.
Then he caught a glimpse of Nesco.
She was climbing up the crawfish's back.
The next instant, Lady Cynewine was lost to sight as the crawfish came smashing down, submerging its body underwater. A miniature tsunami washed over everyone. Elrohir had a brief vision of Argo, Tojo and all three Unrus being lifted by the swell and carried backwards before the wall of water hit him. The ranger closed his eyes tight and hung on until his arms felt like they would shred to pieces from the strain. The claw carrying both him and Aslan dragged across the pool's surface.
The crawfish raised its body out of the water yet again.
Amazingly, Nesco was still attached.
Elrohir couldn't believe his eyes. How could Lady Cynewine manage to stay on that thrashing and rearing monster? It was worse than trying to ride a bucking stallion.
Then he saw Nesco swing her right arm ahead of her. The green/white light mixture glinted for a moment off the shellfish dagger for a moment before Nesco rammed it between two of the crawfish's plates.
And then Elrohir understood.
She's not using it as a weapon. She's using it as a piton!
Any second, Nesco expected to die.
Her senses were all but useless in this aquatic maelstrom. She was rising and falling. Water crashed against her, and she could hear little but the monster's squeals and hisses.
She moved up a little further, but that was it. This was as far as she could go. The crawfish's scales became too smooth and small at this point.
The creature's body narrowed towards its neckless head, which was twisting around, trying to somehow avoid this thing climbing up its back and still keep it in sight. Nesco wasn't interested in the crawfish's head, however.
The ranger saw what she wanted and held out her left hand.
The crawfish's two largest antennae swung back and forth non-stop, sensing, tasting, hearing.
One of them slid right into Lady Cynewine's grip, and she grasped it tight, pulling back with her left hand while readying her right.
The monster stopped thrashing. Its head reversed course and came directly at Nesco.
The ranger stared straight into the thing's black, unthinking eyes.
The cilia surrounding the creature's mouth reached out for Nesco.
"Tell me if this hurts," she snarled.
With one swift motion, Nesco yanked the dagger out of the creature's body and cut across the taut antenna, slicing it cleanly in half.
Apparently, it hurt.
The crawfish let out a deafening squeal and then spun around, rising up as high as possible.
Nesco was thrown off and hurled through the air.
Her flight seemed to take an unnaturally long time to her.
As the ranger fell, she saw Arwald and Sir Menn, both armed with shellfish daggers, cutting into the beast. Then she caught a brief glimpse of Elrohir, Argo and Tojo. Their team leader was still trying to pry open the thing's left claw and free Aslan. Argo had wedged his bone club inside and was trying to lever it open and Tojo had grabbed the joint behind the pincher and seemed to be applying pressure.
There was a tremendous crack and a yell,but Nesco didn't know if Tojo had broken the crawfish's claw, or if Argo's bone club had broken under the strain.
Or maybe, Nesco thought as she suddenly realized pain was exploding through her skull, I just cracked my head open on a rock.
The water, the noise and the pain all quickly faded away to nothing.
Only an instant seemed to pass, for when Nesco opened her eyes again, her head was hurting again.
The smiling face of a half-elf loomed over her.
"Glad to have you back, Lady Cynewine," Sitdale said.
Nesco tried to take in her situation. She was lying on cold, wet stone, so she must be in one of the passageways. Probably the central one, for Hengist's body was lying a few yards up the tunnel. Sitdale made no move to interfere as the ranger moved to sit up and then shook his head sadly as she sank down again, groaning from the increased pounding in her skull.
"What happened?" she asked, trying hard not to let the pain overwhelm her. "Did I hit my head on a rock?"
"No," came the voice of Cygnus from nearby. "You hit your head on my head."
The tall, thin frame of the Aardian mage came into view. Someone's loincloth was wrapped around his head. It was dark with both water and blood.
"I tried to catch you," the magic-user explained. "I didn't want to take the chance you might hit the water wrong and break your back or your neck." He shrugged helplessly. "I'm not sure if I didn't do more harm than good."
"You acted very nobly. Thank you, Cygnus," Nesco replied, managing a thin smile. It was only then that she realized another loincloth had been wrapped and tied around her own head. In a momentary panic, she glanced downwards, then sighed with relief. Someone else had donated theirs.
A quick glance revealed the donor to be Sitdale. The half-elf smiled as his eyes followed hers.
"The crawfish?" Nesco asked, her eyes quickly moving back to his face.
Sitdale nodded. "Dead," he replied, tilting his head towards the pool. Nesco slowly turned her head to follow. One glow-fungus still floated serenely in the calm water, illuminating a large, unmoving shape beside it.
And then everything else was abruptly hurled out of Lady Cynewine's mind.
"Aslan!"
This time, both Sitdale and Cygnus put out restraining hands on Nesco's shoulders as the ranger attempted to rise again. Neither of them were smiling now.
"They're working on him," Cygnus said quietly.
"Zantac," ordered Talass, "bring the light closer."
The Willip wizard, currently holding Cygnus' glowing piece of flint, obeyed. The light illuminated the paladin's limp form, which Talass was currently straddling. The puncture wounds encircling his torso were now little more than severe-looking bruises, thanks to one of the cleric's two remaining healing prayers.
Aslan still wasn't moving at all, however.
"He's not breathing!" Elrohir cried out.
His wife gritted her teeth, pausing in her current activity of lifting Aslan's arms up and over his chest and then returning them to the supine position.
"I know that, Elrohir, but Aslan is still clinging to life. My prayer could not have healed his wounds otherwise."
"Then why isn't he breathing?" asked Arwald.
Talass literally had to bite her lip to stop her yelling for everyone to just back off and giver her room to work. Fortunately, Zantac answered for her.
"Water has filled his lungs."
Talass grunted. "Happens often to sailors who are washed overboard. Sometimes you can save them."
The unspoken conclusion to her sentence hung in the air. It might as well have been written in magical, glowing letters.
And sometimes you can't.
Talass put an ear next to Aslan's mouth.
Nothing.
The priestess growled deep in her throat, and then placed her right hand flat on the paladin's hairy chest, just below his breastbone. She placed her left hand on top of her right one, and began short, rhythmic pushes, apparently trying to push the water out.
There was a brief commotion as Nesco Cynewine literally crawled through the shallow end of the pool over to Aslan's side, despite Sitdale and Cygnus' attempts to dissuade her. Argo Bigfellow, who had yet to utter a word but still had not taken his eyes off his friend's face, silently moved aside to let the soaking-wet ranger in. Talass spared no more than a brief scowl for this before returning to her work.
Nesco clasped one of Aslan's hands. She hoped that the water streaming down her face might hide her tears.
"Aslan," she whispered. "Please…"
The rest of her words were mouthed silently, but when she saw Elrohir staring at her from the corner of her eye, she looked away.
"Would your final healing prayer make a difference, Talass?"
Elrohir's voice broke the silence which had lasted over a minute now. All eyes turned to the cleric.
"Maybe. Maybe not," she replied, not pausing in her work or even looking up. "It's your call, Elrohir. I'll try it if you ask."
The ranger took a deep breath and was about to reply when he heard three sounds in rapid succession.
A gasp, a choke, and then retching.
The sweetest music he'd ever heard.
Talass rolled Aslan over on his side as Zantac moved away to avoid the water and vomit that issued from the paladin's open mouth. Everyone was talking and yelling at once, but Talass angrily swatted away every hand that moved to touch Aslan now.
"Give him room, dammit! His lungs won't work if you're sucking up all the air around him!"
Everyone obeyed; Nesco reluctantly, and fell silent, intently watching the paladin now. The pallor of Aslan's face, or at least what was visible of it beside his unruly beard, was decidedly less blue now. Talass was leaning close over him now, whispering instructions for him to just breathe slowly and not to talk; everything was all right now.
There were jealous looks when Talass sneaked in a quick hug, and then groans when she demanded of them all that they give Aslan at least two or three minutes of peace before anyone spoke to him.
They were very long minutes.
"As the leader…" Elrohir mumbled and scooted over to him before anyone else could object.
Aslan was sitting up now, supported by Talass, who had filled the paladin in on the basics of what had happened. The paladin's light blue eyes met Elrohir's briefly as the ranger squatted down beside him, but then they drifted off.
"First, I thank Lord Odin, Forseti, Zeus and every deity I can think of you're all right, Aslan," Elrohir spoke, squeezing his friend's shoulder.
Aslan laid his hand on top of Elrohir's and smiled weakly.
"And second," Elrohir continued, "what exactly do you think you were doing out there?"
The paladin met his gaze again.
"There's an egress to this pool somewhere, Elrohir, and I was looking for it. I had just gotten behind that wall when the tremor hit. Then I felt something grab me and-" he shrugged. "That's all I remember."
"A dangerous maneuver to attempt alone."
Talass frowned. Her husband's voice was growing colder and more solemn with every syllable.
"Trying to prove your worth to us?"
The dropping of Aslan's eyes was all the answer Elrohir needed. The ranger's own eyes narrowed. "Now you listen to me, Aslan, and you listen good."
Talass opened her mouth to protest, but Elrohir silenced her with a gesture and a savage look.
"Do you remember what you told Nesco in the Hall of Pillars? That if she wasn't capable of pulling her own weight, we wouldn't have her with us? And what about what Tojo said to all of us right before we encountered the Slave Lords? That he wouldn't associate with us if he didn't consider us honorable and capable companions on the same level as himself? Shall I cite other examples? If you think you're that worthless without your Talent, Aslan, then you're also saying that all of our estimates of your abilities are dead wrong, and I frankly find that supposition insulting."
The paladin stared at him.
"The day I think you're as useless as you seem to think you are," Elrohir continued," I'll personally remove your hairy butt from my marching order, but until then you will continue to fight, struggle and triumph like the hero that we all know you are. You understand me, Aslan?"
After what seemed like a very long moment, a grimace came over the paladin's face.
"Loud and clear, Elrohir," he said softly. His face alternated between cheer and sadness, or perhaps it held both at once.
"Thank you for saving me," the paladin said softly, and then looked over Elrohir's shoulder at the mass of people eavesdropping. "Thank all of you."
There was a massive outbreak of smiles.
"Good," finished Elrohir, rising to his feet. "I'm no good at these restoring-hope speeches. That's your job, and I've got enough to do as it is."
"How are you feeling, Aslan?" three voices spoke up simultaneously.
Aslan spun his head around to his left- and gasped.
Three identical Unrus walked over and smiled down at the paladin. Three cocky grins and three pairs of mischievous brown eyes regarded him.
"By the Aesir," Aslan managed, his eyes as wide as saucers. "I've died and gone tae Hel's Realm!"
The smiles turned into laughter, which turned into a sea of hugs.