Semper Fidelis

Chapter 12

If I needed any further proof beyond an archangel telling me important issues were in play then consider the following. Now that Elaine and I had crossed paths with Hisha and Lord Kline then next time I looked at my detection crystal it now pointed back the same way we had entered from. It was like a silent subtle message explaining that once we had found each other our group was ready to proceed to the next stage like some silly role playing game scenario.

Yeah I know that there were a series of other potential answers for what could have caused this deviation in my magical seeker just as there are natural things that can screw up a regular magnetic compass. For example if someone or something within a mile or so had gathered a large quantity of magic to cast a major spell it might have disrupted the flows around me and caused this temporary change until things settle back out. By the same token if someone nearby had wards against detection they might have inadvertently screwed with my own spell like two radio stations on the same frequency. Hell even a surge of power through any ley line that ran nearby could have done this also, and Chicago was known as a nexus for such things so this was a highly likely answer. Personally though I'm sticking with the whole subtle guided hand thing; to me it makes for more satisfying story and gives me a comforting feeling that I'm not alone in this nightmare.

Of course there is always something to be said for empirical proof. "Hisha how did you know we were going to be here?" I asked as our seemingly new partners prepared themselves to leave their quiet chess game and join us on our quest.

The troll was carefully putting away the chess pieces in a velvet lined box and stowing that container and the hinged board in a well worn leather pouch connected to a looping strap that he hung over his shoulder. Hisha meanwhile had put away the tea set and cleaned out the copper kettle and was now smiling at me as we waited. "I would think the daughter of a Knight of the Cross would immediately understand that HE provides Molly." He said with a smile and a tone of voice that sounded exactly like my father. I guess if your species' natural talent is illusions to appear as a loved one then you have to get the voice right as well.

I smiled at him in response to this polite trick wondering if this talent came from his ability to read my mind or if, like my clothes, the recipient merely heard the words in the voice that would be most appropriate at the time. I was going to ask him this but a looked flashed across his face telling me he had just recalled something else important. "Oh I cannot believe that I almost forgot the most important reason for your being here!" He said shaking his head.

"Like I said the mind is the second thing to go." The troll laughed at Hisha's expense.

"Hush!" Hisha scolded. "Beside you obviously have issues of your own in that area for you said it was the first thing a few moments ago."

"I was trying to be respectful of your private issues because we were in mixed company." Lord Kline replied with a laugh. I have to say I never really thought of trolls sitting around telling off-colored jokes but here I was in the middle of such things.

Hisha ignored this barb entirely as if it had not been uttered and was above it though I saw Elaine blush slightly and turn away as if having decided like I did that anything she might add would certainly be wrong in this case. The old man kept to his remembered task and went to the wall beside the gas stove and pulled a rather regular looking brick free from the wall, obviously knowing a secret space existed beyond it and then drew out a cloth wrapped bundle while Lord Kline flipped his hands like a broom telling us to go over and join the old monk.

Hisha pulled the cloth off the bundle exposing two gleaming objects that he was now holding out to Elaine and I to take. One was a sword that looked much like the wooden blade I carried but the other was much more medieval and even a bit sinister in form.

"Months ago during my meditations I received a vision of these two weapons and was told that I would need to keep them close." Hisha explained looking at Elaine and I as if this was supposed to be something we instinctively understood. If he was hoping that we had shared the vision it was disappointed for I had not had any such dream nor did Elaine's form seem to give such an indication.

He continued though without showing any sign of disappointment about this. "Since I have no use for such things myself I took this to mean that I was to recover them for someone else's greater purpose in the future. It was only after doing so and having met you outside the hospital that I understood I was to have them here for the Emissaries of Summer and Winter when you came to call." He smiled at us and motioned for each of us to pick up the weapon that was most comfortable for us.

As he expected I took hold of the oriental sword that was only slightly longer than the wooden one on my back and found it perfectly balanced and its added weight a comfort in my hands. Elaine was a little more reluctant to follow my lead but with a further encouragement of nearly dropping the bundle in her hands and she finally accepted the inevitable and picked up the odd looking implement though her look showed she had no clue what she was holding or why.

"That is the flail or Richard de Bures, the seventeenth Grand Master of the Temple of Knights." Hisha said looking at the weapon Elaine held; what appeared to me to be a three foot chain of fine steel links that ended in a wicked looking black iron spiked ball. While it looked far too heavy for her to use properly Elaine grasped the small wooded handle and lifted it as if the weapon weighed almost nothing.

She took a few cautious practice swings and I could see by the smile on her face that the movements with the spiked ball on the chain were very similar in form to the simple links of chain she normally carried as a weapon. Add to that the fact that the material the weapon was crafted from just happened to be uniquely suited to Elaine's magical preference for electricity-based spells and was a bane to most creatures from Faerie and you certainly had the perfect gift for an emissary to protect herself.

"It's pronounced the Order of the Knights Templar you pagan." The troll said shaking his head with a smile. "And to be historically accurate de Bures elevation to Grand Master is disputed to this day due to the fact that he was not only a lower ranking knight of the order but also their ambassador to the White Council. According to their bylaws established at the time at the time the White Council ambassador's association with magic made him a member of the inner circle when council was required but also made him ineligible for the position of Grand Master of the order even if he did lead them after the death of his predecessor."

"It is sad that the men of authority in the Church at that time saw his gifts as a curse rather than a blessing from God." Hisha replied.

"Yes the Suffer Not a Witch to Live sects of Christian faith were relatively prominent in infecting the people of that time." Lord Kline said as Hisha shook his head. "But one must wonder if perhaps if de Bures had relied more upon his alliance to his faith and less to those related to his magic then perhaps he would have led more than just forty survivors from the field of battle. Of course his service in destroying the Set worshipping wizards among the Egyptian Malmuk forces served the White Council's purposes quite effectively but it cost the Church a sizable defeat."

Hisha seemed ready to respond but Elaine interrupted him with a question first. "What are all these glowing magical runes on the spiked ball?" She stopped swinging the weapon and sure enough I saw the same runes she spoke of glowing faintly bluish white and then slowly fading over the next few seconds until the iron ball was solid black and unmarked once more.

"Ah yes." Hisha said with a smile. "As I said Grand Master De Bures was a wizard as well so of course his chosen weapon was suited to his unique abilities." He said purposely injecting the title knightly just to annoy the troll who seemed to pride himself on historical accuracy.

Having now heard both comments though I put this together in my own mind to ensure myself of what was being offered. "So you are suggesting that a White Council wizard led the Knights Templar and that this weapon was one he devised to use his magic in conjunction with his weapon skills." I had to admit stranger things were possible. "And none of this is recorded in our histories?" I asked.

"See I told you her mind was quick." Hisha smiled at the troll who merely nodded in agreement.

"Wait then are you saying this is a White Council weapon?" Elaine interrupted the coming response asked and looked like she was prepared to drop the flail.

"De Bures has been dead for seven centuries." Lord Kline replied. "I am certain he does not mind your use of the flail if the times require it."

"It's not as simple as that." Elaine said with obvious concern. "The White Council does not leave artifacts like these weapons just lying around for anyone to find or use. Normally they are recovered and given to the Wardens who secure them for safety sake and in case they are ever needed in the future. They even raid museums and tombs for these types of things when they learn of them as a means of ensuring they do not fall into the wrong hands. I have even heard of situations where that they have killed people who had such items in their personal possession if the situation requires it and if there is no other means to ensure their safe recovery."

The two looked at each other with shared looks of discomfort as if they were unsure how to respond until the raksasha finally broke the silence. "You must look at this as an issue of first claim." Hisha replied. "De Bures was a Temple Knight and therefore sworn to God so God therefore has claim on his possessions first. And I feel that my vision was a statement that God believed they are now needed once again."

"Yeah I wish the Wardens had come to similar conclusions about the flail. It would have made for less unnecessary conflicts and injuries on their part." Lord Kline said out of the side of his mouth. "It certainly would have made things easier for us at all those look-a-like monasteries in India when we went to recover the flail."

"Hush now." Hisha spat. "We did not kill anyone so they should be pleased. And I am sure that when this event is all over the White Council will understand that our need was just and then their hunting parties will be recalled from chasing us."

"Yeah and if their healers showed up in time I'm certain many of those Warden guards may even regain the ability to walk again one day." The troll said shaking his head.

"Wait you stole these weapons from the Wardens and injured some of their number in the process of doing so?" I asked seeing this whole situation we were not embroiled in suddenly go from bad to much much worse.

"Oh yes, the fact that she is very quick witted is just a boon for us is it not?" Lord Kline said with a laugh to Hisha then turned to me. "And it was not only Wardens we were forced to engage; they had a fairly high ranking wizard with them as well if we want to be totally accurate about these events."

"Hush." The old monk seemed to just be beginning to actually get angry. "As I said I was directed to recover these weapons and I did so. It is not my fault that the Warden records I had were incomplete and therefore I had to search a dozen of their storage monasteries before we found the one that held the flail. It is their fault for using the same design for each building. How was my vision supposed to distinguish such things?" Yes he was obviously irritated with the path this conversation was taking. It became so much so that I thought it was not wise for me to say the reason the buildings likely looked the same was to make anyone planning just such a raid uncertain of their actual target as they had obviously done. "And for your accuracy we never instigated any of the fights. Had it not been for that annoying Warden Morgan and Wizard Cristos seeing through our illusions each time we would have gotten in and out without any incidents." He had a look of indignation on his face.

The idea that Hisha and Lord Kline had crossed paths with Morgan and one of the ranking wizards of the White Council merely to recover the flail for us nearly set me tumbling to the ground for it would not bode well for us to be seen with it. Elaine was showing concern about this as well and I knew I had to change the subject before her fear totally overwhelmed her. Any more talk about that weapon was likely to be bad so I figured it would not hurt to move the subject to something a little closer to home for me.

"Wait you said you raided the Warden monasteries only to recover the flail right?" I asked to which stopped the two from their private argument and made them turn to regard me and the question I posed. Hisha looked at me and then nodded slowly that I was correct. "Okay so where did you get this sword from then?" I asked aloud and the two paused to look at each other again in the same way that made me realized I was not going to like the answer that I was about to hear any better that the previous one.

"Yep, her quick wits are certainly a boon." The troll laughed once more and turned to look to Hisha.

"Hush." He spoke again, and I noticed this now thrice or more repeated word was really was starting to take on a tiger-like growl to it. "You may rest easy if you share a similar concern to that of your companion about enraged Wardens. We did not acquire that weapon from the White Council and they shall have no interest in its recovery or that it is in your possession." He seemed to want to stop there and a greater proportion of me seemed to think that was a good idea too. Unfortunately there was a troll who had other thoughts and was not about to let it drop.

"Tell her all of it." He said with the same wicked smile as he crossed his long, English suit clad arms.

Hisha looked at the troll in annoyance and finally sighed. "We acquired the sword…"

"Stole…" The troll injected with a steadfast attitude.

"…from a dragon's horde." Hisha finished and shot a glare at the troll who only smiled.

"…while the dragon was fighting the very Wardens and wizard that had doggedly followed our trail." Lord Kline added.

As I have mentioned before my knowledge on dragons is severely limited to basically knowing only two things about them. First I know they are extremely rare but that they really do exist. Second I understood from my unanswered questions to my master that they were so powerful a force that Harry did not want to even discuss them with me. I looked at the sword in my hands and then at Hisha who merely gave me a helpless shrug. Lord Kaine only shook his head. I turned quickly to Elaine.

She pulled the flail she held close to her chest. "No trades!" She said obviously knowing more about dragons than I did and fearing them more that the Wardens and the White Council put together.

Oh yeah…this whole situation of being an emissary was just getting better and better.

Heading back into the tunnel, and following the beam of light given off by my glow stick flashlight our crystal guided path backtracked us only to the last four way intersection and this time we took the path nearly directly across from the one we had originally entered from the university. Hisha, who I found out had no trouble seeing in the dark, something about having the natural night vision of a cat, took the lead at this point thirty feet or so ahead of us and only paused to await us when he came to intersections requiring decisions.

He was followed this little distance behind by Elaine and I who used my flashlight to make sure we did not inadvertently crack our skulls on anything. With the Wardens looking for the weapons we were holding I figured it would be unfair to rob them of their fun if they happened to catch up to us.

Lord Kaine in turn followed an equal distance behind us still; proclaiming that his purpose was to ensure nothing snuck up on us. Like the raksasha, the troll had effective night vision and supposedly did not want our light to limit this ability for him. I understood that he was politely lying and that he, like I, had noticed that anytime he got too close to Elaine's back that she tensed up in fear. I guess when you add a nine foot troll to a claustrophobic in a dark tunnel you end up with a recipe for potential problems. For my part I kept soothing thoughts aimed in Elaine's directions while we held quiet conversations about nothing particularly important.

After a short time we found Hisha standing in the middle of a section of tunnel obviously waiting on us. Something about his stance made me concerned. "I smell death." He said calmly and answering the very question of why he had stopped before I even was able to think to ask it. I realized he was a scary individual in some ways now that I knew he was not actually a gentle old human man. But I took a deep breath and tried to tell myself that this was all for a purpose that I did not yet understand and kept to my tasks at hand.

Elaine had stopped a step before I did and she paused to look around at the nearest walls when she heard these words. Death is one of those smells you never forget once you have encountered it and now that Hisha had mentioned it I could smell it as well but could not locate the source. We were still in brick lined tunnels and while they were almost ten feet high, I knew this because the troll did not have to stoop while walking, they showed no signs of any place to hide something dead larger than a mouse. Like back in Hisha room, I had to assume that there was a loose brick or two like the one that had hidden the weapons but none seemed out of place.

When Lord Kline reached us he immediately located the bodies; there were two by the way, as they were packed into an unseen ledge above us. The way the tunnel had been designed at the eight foot level, above the normal line of sight for humans but not trolls, ran a small one foot ledge that likely had held some sort of illumination source at one time or another. From down low it was completely invisible unless you know what you were looking for.

"Wow is that some sort of optical illusion?" I asked looking at Hisha who seemed the expert on all things illusion.

"No I would say it is more than likely the work of master craftsmen." He countered.

"The bearded folk." The troll said.

"You mean dwarves?" I asked remembering the term 'bearded ones' from my games of Arcanos with Harry. "I thought their kind was merely a myth." I said, which in present company of a raksasha and a troll seemed to be a rather ridiculous statement to make.

"That is because they are allies of the Wyldfae and are very reclusive even my Fae standards." Elaine informed us without looking from the stone work to prevent shaking because the troll was so close by.

"Quite true." Lord Kline said. "They are not Fae though." He explained. "They are one of the evolutionary offshoot races of human kind that was originally centered mostly in Asia. I believe your archeologists have recently found evidence of their ancestral homeland on some of the Malaysian islands and now mistakenly refer to them as 'hobbits' after that rather successful series of books and movies."

"Asia?" I asked. "I thought the mythology I have all heard about them originated in the west. That would tend to make dwarves a Northern European or Scandinavian race. But I do not remember them making any hobbit discoveries in those areas."

"That is also true Molly." He said. "Originally the dwarves kept pretty much to themselves and away from human settlements. In fact they had only one real racial enemy with who they competed for land and resources. It is this one who eventually made the dwarves flee their homes in Asia and immigrate west which is where humans finally crossed paths and took note of them before recording stories of their kind. To the dwarves, since humans lived above ground they were not much of a competitive threat to their underground lifestyles so the races could live in harmony without intruding upon each other."

"If it was not humans then who made the dwarves flee?" I asked finding the notion interesting since it was obviously not recorded in any of the human histories that I had read.

"Dragons." Lord Kline said without a hint of emotion. "If dragons claim an area then all creatures who live under their dominance either submit to their god-like authority, as most of the human races of Asia did in times long past, or they choose to fight and are exterminated like the dwarves were. Dragons take challenges to their authority quite seriously." His matter of fact tone was more than a little disturbing when taken into the context that I was carrying a sword 'appropriated' from a dragon's horde.

"So how did the dwarves become allies of the Wyldfae?" I asked wanting to understand this whole situation.

"Unlike the movies seem to indicate, dwarves were not a warrior race." Lord Kline replied. "They were craftsman and workers and very peace loving, much like the fictitious hobbits from those stories. But as the dragons pushed the dwarves further and further west killing the majority of their race in the process a warrior caste began to develop among their kind. Instead of accepting subjugation or banishment this small group began to strike back and even successfully took down a fair number of dragons in the process though they still suffered heavy losses in each of these battles."

"Dragons do not accept the death of one of their kind by what they consider the 'inferior races.' This created an issue of racial hatred between the dwarves and the dragons swore to accept nothing less than the total extermination of the bearded race." The troll explained further reminding me of my old teach Mr. Goldman and his history lessons. I had a feeling the troll and he would get along great if the old man could like through the shock of first meeting the nine foot flesh eating creature of myth.

"So then they fled to the Nevernever?" I asked assuming the dwarves realized this as their only possible escape.

"No. Dwarves, like many other creatures, are not magical in nature so have no means to open gateways to the Nevernever like human wizards do." The troll replied. "In fact they are highly resistant to magic and spells tend to not affect them or worse are sometimes reflected back at the caster. As a wizard type you might wish to remember this." Of course I did try to store that fact away and hoped I never needed it.

"Then how did they get to the Nevernever?"

"My lord the Erlking found the way these non-warriors learned to hunt dragons to be worthy of his protection so he offered them a place among the Wlydfae in exchange for their oath of alliance and access to their craftsmanship when he required it." Lord Kline replied. "Of course they accepted this as they had no better options."

"Then how did dwarves build this tunnel if they now live in the Nevernever and have no magic at their disposal to open portals?" I asked.

Lord Kline flipped aside the suit's lapel and exposed a small antlered pin that I knew to be the Erlking's token much like the icicle I wore was Queen Mab's. "The magic contained in my pin of office confers me the means to cross over and back at designated points. I assume that the dwarf who assisted on these tunnels had something similar at his or her disposal. Unfortunately such magic is not as rare as it should be."

"If you are done with the history less Professor Kline perhaps you could see if the dead bodies reveal what killed them." Hisha asked with a little less patience than I expected from him. "I would like to know if we are in the hunting grounds of something or merely happened to cross some road kill as the locals refer to it."

"How can you tell the difference?" Elaine asked more than a little nervously as she looked around.

"Creatures that hide a kill do so for two reasons." Hisha explained. "First because this is their larder and they plan to return for a second meal in the future; which for us would be bad. Or secondly they hide such things because they do not want anything tracking them and hide the remains as a means to cover their trail." He finished.

Lord Kline carefully removed the remains from the shelf above us and rolled them out like a pair of red carpets. They were merely sacks of skin and bones, and from the general size and shape, but mostly from my single observed comparison, I knew them to likely have been human. This meant that I needed to tell Butters that there would be more of those corpses he had found in the future. I also needed to get word to both Harry and Murphy that something new and dangerous had staked a claim and made a home here in Chicago and they needed to look into it.

"Any idea what creature kills in this manner?" I asked my new companions hoping one or the other could shine some light on this that I could pass along as well. Both the raksasha and the troll had lived for many years so they had a chance to have seen things not contained in Harry's books.

"I have never even heard of such a thing." Hisha replied shaking his head with a sense of wonder. "Though I must admit my own experiences are mostly limited to those of eastern origin." The troll merely shook his own head slowly as if pondering what he saw as well.

"Do you think the killer is still around here?" Elaine asked looking around and grasping her medieval flail just a little tighter.

"There is no scent of rot about these, just a whiff of death." Hisha replied. "I take from that fact that whatever killed and deposited these did so a while ago and has therefore moved on since there are no newer examples in this room to worry about." I accepted that answer but I was still left wondering if a kill left only skin and bones just what was left to rot?

"We should be careful all the same." Hisha said and motioned for the troll to return the skins to where they had lain. I was not sure that was the best idea since these were remains of two people who likely were considered missing by the police now and their families would want to know what happened to them. On the other hand I was not about to roll them up and carry them along in my backpack until we got out of here so I really did not see another alternative. I did however take one of my handy pieces of chalk and make some small marks at the base of the wall where the troll stashed the bodies. I also broke off a small piece of one of the bricks in the wall so I could make a tracking spell back to this place in the future, hopefully with Harry and Murphy at my side when the time came.

We followed the winding corridor for another quarter mile and I could not help but wonder just how Daniel could navigate down here. He had no magic to draw upon and as the human remains testified to, there were things down here in Undertown even higher on the food chain that looked upon humans as a source of food.

The next time we caught up to Hisha was at the doorway to another of the underground chambers though this one was obviously much larger than the one he and Lord Kline had been playing chess within. I shined my light inside and the glow sticks could just make out odd shaped objects at the edge of the light's radiance. These items were to indistinctive in the pale light to make out what they were but the fact that none showed any sign of movement when the flashlight aimed in their direction made me suspect they were not living creatures I had to worry about.

"What do you think?" I asked Hisha who stood staring into the room. I noted that he looked at the crystal in my hand that pointed through the chamber but to what destination I could not tell. I assumed there was another doorway on the far side of the room that I could not see because the other alternative was to think Daniel was lying dead somewhere in this room and that was not something I cared to contemplate at this time.

"I sense a waiting tension." He said in response. "But it seems neither to grow nor to dissipate over the moments we spend standing here. And in truth I think we have little choice on what we can do but proceed. I recommend we enter and you two keep your backs to the wall and go around the left while I will do the same to the right. That way if help is required it can approach from another direction and allow us to not all get caught up at once."

I nodded and with a smile for the plan made as much sense at that moment as any that I myself might have come up with. I looked at Elaine who was still keeping control over her own fears and merely nodded at me to proceed after Hisha entered the room and we gave him a minute or two lead to explore. "Are you doing okay?" I asked Elaine after a minute or so of silence while trying not to sound as concerned for her mental state as I was actually feeling.

"I will be fine." She lied and then nodded again for me to stop wasting time and get on with this so we could get back above ground as quick as possible.

I went in and turned to the left side of the room allowing the flashlight to illuminate the wall beside me that I could not see from outside the door. And of course there was a light switch a mere four feet further in at the five foot from the ground level waiting patiently with just a few cobwebs clinging to it to show it had not been used in many years. When I say light switch I am being a little generous to explain the function not really what it looked like. As far as looks went it was a dead on perfect example of those evil electric switches that Doctor Frankenstein always seemed to have lying around in his lab and that Igor was required to throw in order to bring the monster to life.

I put my hand on this and wondered just as I started to flip it to the up position if maybe there was some sort of monster I was going to create with a flip of this switch but I figured that was merely my mind playing off my fears. With a surge of determination I moved it to the up position it and decided to hope for the best.

There was a sudden growl but that did not come from a reanimated corpse but instead from a forties era blower that also came to life to pump fresh air into the room at the same time as the string of wired lights around the chamber came to life as well. And with this light that ended up nearly turning the room as bright as daylight, or at least that is what it seemed to my now light sensitive eyes, I saw that we were standing in one of the key laboratories of the Manhattan Project's time in Chicago.

Banks of machinery and working desks, the odd shaped non-moving objects my flashlight had tried to reveal stood around the circular hundred foot room that also had a stairway leading up to another metal doorway probably to another building at the university. For the most part I could not identify the purpose of any of these machines except for the one in the very center of the room that was obviously a centrifuge based upon is round track design. Black thick power cables also ran to reach of these machines as well and provided a series of tripping hazards had we been foolish enough to try and wander straight across the chamber without first turning on this light would have left us falling flat on our faces.

Now able to see through the whole room Elaine and I moved away from the walls and more toward the center keeping each other in sight even though Hisha was hidden by the interconnected banks of what might have been an early computer for all I know on the right hand side of the room.

"Hisha is everything alright?" I called out stepping over one of the cables and moving toward the central centrifuge in order to hopefully catch a glimpse of the old monk. Elaine was doing so as well keeping me in sight as much as possible.

"No." He answered though not in a worrisome panic that might normally accompany such an answer in this kind of situation. "The feeling of tension has increased by the addition of this light rather than retreated. We should make our way out of this room quickly and find your brother. I sense that we are not wanted here."

"I see the hallway over here." Elaine said walking to an open portal again that the crystal in my hand pointed directly to. "There is a white cable running about three feet up from the ground that we will have to step over but it should be easy enough." I saw her make her way to the door and reach out for the cable to step over it.

You know how you sometime get that alarming feeling when something bad is about to happen and you can't stop it. Yeah, my sense like that was running just a split second too late in this case. "Elaine wait!" I called raising my hand just as her own reached for the white cable. "Don't touch it!" I said just an instant too late."

"Oh it's sticky." She said as I saw her trying to open her hand back up and pull away from the cable but now found herself unable to do so. She struggled for a second not realizing what she was holding and therefore not understanding that what she was doing by trying to free herself was the equivalent of ringing the dinner bell.

"Spider!" I yelled watching the eight foot creature scuttle emerge from the shadows in the domed roof and begin to climb down the side of the wall toward her. I ran forward to help and at the same time sensed at least two more like it doing so in my peripheral vision.

Elaine was trapped as effectively by the line of webbing as a mere fly in a regular spider web would be. The good news was that my warning had been enough to alert her to the danger. Add to that her additional good fortune that she had not gotten her weapon hand caught on the web so the flail was still available for defense. Of course when faced with an eight foot spider, a two and a half foot flail seems just a little lacking for the task at hand. Except of course this one had been made for a wizard and not merely a knight so it had additional capabilities.

Looking like she had carried it for years Elaine spun the flail three times in a quick circle as I felt her draw magic to herself and then flicked the weapon's head like a whip so that the spiked ball shot toward the approaching arachnid even though it was still a dozen feet or more from her. She spat out a word that was not like any Latin I had ever heard at the same moment and a bold of lightning flew from the spiked head of the mace to strike the spider in its right front two legs before flashing on toward the wall behind it and then reflecting toward the ceiling.

The blow was enough to injure, but certainly not enough to kill the creature but the combination of its now injured appendages and the likely respect the attack had garnered by someone's ability to hurt it drew the eight foot creature's rush up short as it seemed to reevaluate the prey it was coming for. This delay was perfect as it allowed me the opportunity to draw my new sword, I was happy that in my rush I picked the steel rather than the wooded one, and with a flowing slash worthy of a Kurosawa movie I brought the blade against the strand of webbing less than four inches from Elaine's hand.

Yeah, you know that old unproven statement they give in biology class that a one inch think strand of silk or webbing would be stronger than a one inch thick steel cable? Yeah I forgot all about that until the blade touched home and made my hands vibrate as bad as a cracked wooden bat with a fastball. Once again I said 'OW!"

I heard a battle roar of the troll from the other side of the room as he obviously engaged spiders approaching him. Of course instead of a standard cry of berserk combat and rage he went for the more upscale response of "If you ruin this suit I will make sure you are placed under glass and displayed at an out of the way interstate tourist attraction in New Mexico." Yeah not really as scary written in print so you just have to take my word for it that the delivery was everything. I'm not sure the spiders he engaged were all that impressed with it either.

I saw neither sight nor sound coming from the area of the room Hisha had been moving toward but as at least one of the creatures had been descending in that space so I took that as a sign he was just as engaged at the moment as the rest of us were. As he carried no weapons though I wondered just what he did in combat. I had the image of his flowing orange robes and striking karate blows, but could not recall if India had its own form of martial arts or not.

Elaine yanked even harder on the webbing but it appeared to me that she was more likely to remove her hand at the wrist than pull it free which of course was the whole purpose of webbing anyway. The problem was that the more she jerked the more she signaled the spiders that she was a trapped and ready prize waiting to be eaten. "Stop shaking the web!" I ordered her as the wounded spider began a tentative approach again and a second even larger creature came around a bank of science machines behind us as well to check out what was caught in the web.

I looked where my sword had struck the web and could not even find a scratch that marred its surface. Cutting was obviously out I realized as Elaine fired another electrical bolt at the second spider this time striking it on the side of the head before the lightning flew into the bank of machines and momentarily causing their little colored bulbs to illuminate for a moment.

"I cannot keep this up for long." Elaine said with more exhaustion now than fear in her voice. I knew she did not have the raw strength that Harry had and so a few strong blasts were about all she could manage. That meant she would need to fight defensively and I would have to help her. I looked quickly around the room and the barest strings of a plan began to weave together for me. Harry calls it inspiration; I'm pretty sure it's more accurately described as desperation.

"Can you cast a veil on yourself?" I asked her quickly as the spiders seemed to be ready to start moving toward us again. "You will have to stand perfectly still and not move the web after you cast it." I cautioned without describing things further.

"Yes I think so." She said.

"Alright when I cast my spell you do the same." I said pulling magic into me and hoping this was going to work as I slid the useless sword back into its sheath.

I looked first around the room to ensure I planned my course as I simultaneously tried to picture exactly what I wanted the magic to do. I understood that this was going to take a significant amount of concentration on my part and it was not something I had ever tried before so it was going to be even harder but hey, that is what magic is all about.

When I felt I had stored the necessary quantity of magic I spoke the command word. "Noctus ex illuminus." I called out loud while forming the illusion that I wanted in my mind. Being a sensitive mage I sensed more than heard Elaine cast her veil right afterwards since my own concentration was focused on my situation. And we accomplished this dual spells none too soon for by some unspoken signal the two spiders decided to charge at us at that moment as well.

Unfortunately for them what they saw was instead of one or two trapped prey awaiting their dining convenience the two of us suddenly scuttled away from the web line and headed directly toward the center of the room where the Manhattan Project's remaining equipment served to slow down their ability to pursue as rapidly as they were capable of. I glanced and noted thankfully that both spiders were surging toward us, that being just me and the illusionary Elaine, which meant they left the real veiled Elaine still stuck to the web all alone for the moment.

Thankfully a lot of equipment had been placed in a relatively confined space which for us smaller creatures provided a little advantage as far as movement was considered. That benefit only lasted long enough for the spiders to climb over or push desks and the like out of the way but it bought me the few necessary and precious seconds I required once I reached the center of the room to identify which control panel seemed to be connected to the centrifuge and make my way to it.

Like the lights this was also controlled by one of those Frankenstein switches which I flipped without hesitation hoping it was still as operational as the old lamps had been. I could not spare the time to look around but a more bestial roar of warning of attack from the troll told me that Lord Kline was still engaged in battle and was working with Hisha in partnership against at least one or more of the giant arachnids as well.

As the sixty year old machine began to spin I glanced down at the panel which had lots of gauges that probably meant something important if they could be read under the fine layer of dust that covered them. I did not need these for what I intended and focused instead on a large palm sized dial that I first hoped and then confirmed by brushing the dust away, was the speed control knob for the device. I cranked it all the way over to full speed as the first spider with the wounded legs came up to the last line of desks that separated it from its intended meal. Elaine second shot seemed to have partially blinded the larger creature so it was having trouble maneuvering through or over the equipment as fast as its wounded compatriot.

I give my respect to the engineers of the forties; they built things to last. The dozen arms on the centrifuge that made it look like that octopus carnival ride began to spin up faster and faster showing no signs that the years had in anyway degraded the machine from performing its intended purpose. I scuttled back behind the outer row of desks as the first spider came down into the open space by the spinning machine seeing my image of Elaine standing there and charged only to receive a strike from one of the passing arms that crushed a third leg on the same wounded side of its body and actually flipped the creature over on its back. The blow was just as I had hoped for as part of my Wiley E. Coyote escape plan. I now let the illusion of Elaine disappear as it was getting too hard to maintain and concentrated instead on keeping myself alive.

Centrifuges I found at that instant are not meant to strike things and the vibration from that single blow seemed to cause the entire machine to shudder for a few revolutions as it picked up more speed and eventually stabilized as it rotated even faster. By now the speed was so great that it was hard to distinguish individual arms as they passed by and still it appeared to just be getting warmed up. Perhaps I could use this and prove myself to be every bit the 'super genius' Wiley was.

I jumped up to the top of a desk and looked toward the way we had entered the room and found Hisha and Lord Kline, the former dancing between two spiders like a whirling dervish and the latter missing the left sleeve of his suit coat and a fine rivulet of greenish blood running down his arm using a detached spider leg to beat upon its former owner. "Get back in the hallway I have a plan." I shouted as the partially blinded arachnid made a surging bite toward me with its rather large mandibles. With the loss of its eyes its depth perception was off and it grabbed the desk instead just as I leapt to the ground hearing it crushing the battleship grey metal station as easily as a beer can. Note to self – avoid the mandibles.

I jumped through another line of unidentifiable machines taking a bit of a circular route back toward Elaine in order to hopefully keep more distance between me and my pursuers as I tried to figure out how to get Elaine off the web and us out of here before implementing the next part of my super genius anti-spider plan. This would have worked perfectly had it not been for the next spider, only a four feet or so tall runt of the litter, who happened to be in my direct path and looking right at me as I charged into its line of attack.

"Fuego!" I called tossing a small fireball at the creature's face at the same moment it spun in place and shot a line of webbing toward me. Thankfully the two projectiles met in midair and while the spider's was the larger it was also highly combustible I found and the string it shot acted like a fireworks fuse drawing the flame right back to the spider's body and setting it on fire. That was really convenient for me as it allowed me to not only get around the creature while it was distracted by this pain but to figure out how to hopefully free Elaine as well.

I turned back and looked toward my half-blind pursuer and found it was almost through bulldozing the last line of obstacles and headed in my way once more. A second quick glance found the arms of the centrifuge spinning so rapidly now as to create the same distorted effect of looking through the spokes of a wheel or a propeller at high speed. I hoped that would be enough for what I planned.

"Elaine drop your veil and get ready to fire another bolt of lightning." I screamed as I headed toward the spot I had left her. Twenty steps away I saw her appear as I drew more magic to me realizing that I was tiring quickly even with the adrenaline I was relying upon.

By ten steps I was happy to see her appear out of nothingness still grasping the web but twirling her flail with her other hand so that the runes on its spiked ball were beginning to glow once more. It was a little disconcerting to see her generally spinning it in my direction but it's not like I had the time to have explained all the details of my plan while on the run. Instead I cast my own spell, which thankfully my body explained to me in near protest required even less magic than my previous ones.

"Flickum bicus" I called ahead and focused on two points of the webbing a foot to each side of her trapped hand and watched my sparks fly true and strike the white webbing cable and instantly set it aflame even more effectively than the web that the little spider had shot in my direction. The sparks turned instantly to flames, which suddenly was as hot as a blowtorch and I could see this heat was already distracting Elaine from her spell.

"Fire everything you have at the centrifuge." I called to Elaine at five steps away and without thinking she did all I asked flicking the flail head toward the center of the room and releasing a bolt of lightning as strong as or even stronger than the first one she cast. It flew between the same two banks of machines I had first fled through, overturned a desk beyond that, and then struck right near the base of the centrifuge in a massive display of sparks and strobe lights than made the whole room sparkle.

I did not stop to admire her handiwork any further but instead bent down and dove into Elaine carrying her with me into the hallway; thankfully the burning webbing parted for us and allowed her to bring her left hand along for this part of the journey. We did not land well, or at least Elaine did not since I had the advantage of landing on her body for cushioning, as we rolled out into the hall and came to a stop. She groaned in pain but I figure all things considered it was not as bad as if I had not done so.

Back inside the room all mechanical hell was literally breaking loose. I know somewhere in school my physics teacher had explained something about how without gravity to hold the planets in orbit around the sun we would go shooting off into space. I figured the arms of the centrifuge worked in the same way as gravity and spinning as fast as they were would send projectiles firing and ricocheting in all directions if the arms broke off like I had planned, which of course made the hallways the best, if not perfect, place to avoid this effect. Yeah maybe I should have studied a little more in that class.

What happened instead is that the entire centrifuge broke free from its mooring so instead of a bunch of shots being fired around the room what actually happened was more akin to dropping a spinning toy top into a group of those green army men my brother had liked to play with. Actually that isn't quite accurate considering that toy tops were smoothed down to prevent injuries and the arms of the centrifuge had not had this protection applied because no one had ever thought to make it into a weapon. Therefore what it became was more like a spinning saw blade flying free.

It also happened incredibly fast. I was still trying to shake myself to full consciousness when my mind registered the terrible sounds of tortured metal breaking and smashing against unyielding walls. Had the room not been circular in design then the freed centrifuge would like had struck head on a flat wall and used up all its force. Because the room was circular though every time the metal came into contact with the wall it merely careened off and kept bouncing around the room expending its pent up energy by crushing the banks of machines and spiders around the room.

It seemed like the crashing sounds continued forever but in truth probably lasted only a few seconds at most. By the time I was able to turn my head the doorway we had just leapt through was filled with piles of rubble as the items tossed about by the centrifuge that hit these corners came to a stop and created a dam of sorts. There appeared to be no going back in that direction and my flashlight, still glowing thanks to the chemical sticks, left me with no desire to try moving the blood and hair covered rubble to go back the way we had came. Elaine and I were on our own for the moment.

I also noted that my landing had broken my crystal and left a sliver of it embedded in her arm. I pulled it free with an apology as she groggily opened her eyes.

"Molly what happened?" She asked.

"Uuuummm you blew up that room." I said. "But not to worry I got you out of there."

"You realize this is the second night in a row you have knocked me unconscious right?" She asked.

"Wow...I didn't know you planned to keep count." I said with a hint of a smile. Elaine did not return it. Some people have no sense of humor I guess.