Apparently suspicious of why the party was loitering, the twohuge kuo-toa had come to escort them off the altar. Still, they ignored all of the travelers save Escalla. To the faerie, they spoke in their snapping, vicious tongue, crouching like mad carnivorous nightmares over the dainty faerie. The kuo-toa bid Escalla a farewell, then turned and left their guests standing alone and unguarded in the room.
The northern side of the huge temple had been carefully sculpted into palatial apartments. The rooms were perfectly squared with high ceilings rippled by an eerie underwater light. Walking slowly up sand-scattered steps, the Justicar and his companions might have been in a palace under the sea. Jus walked over shells and dried seaweed, past the gnawed remains of grizzly cannibalistic meals, and halted at the edges of the hall.
Escape lay only thirty yards away. The northwest tunnel opened into the underdark but was guarded by a team of kuo-toan warriors. On the sands just outside the palatial apartments, a group of them sparred carefully with weapons while a gnarled instructor taught the arts of the backstab and the garotte. The creatures paid no attention to the visitors behind them. Escalla looked about uncertainly, shrugged, then pointed to an entrance just beyond.
The new room had definite possibilities. At the far wall, two tall statues of the lobster-headed goddess flanked an ugly throne that had been studded with pearls. The throne depicted fish skulls and drowning humans being torn apart by crabs. The walls were carved into horrible bas-reliefs, the rippling lighting had taken on a darker, more sinister hue.
Sitting on a platform smothered with blood, the throne faced the massive temple cave. It clearly gave a wonderful view of sacrifices, executions, and the occasional leech attack. Escalla edged forward to the threshold. There were kuo-toa soldiers crouching in the corners of the room. One thin, misshapen creature crouching at the foot of the throne held a conch shell trumpet. Pillars carved to look like columns of fish-infested skulls held aloft the ceiling. Six taller, grimmer guards lurked by the columns-all watchingEscalla and her companions in silence as the girl crept timidly into the room.
Escalla rapped her knuckles against the doorframe, clearing her throat and giving a smile as she caught the attention of the guards.
“Um, hello.” Escalla advanced a little farther into the room.The fish simply stared, their fangs gleaming and their faces devoid of emotion.
At the foot of the throne, a huge clamshell pool glinted in the light. Within it, tiny fishes swam, and brilliant sea shells gleamed. The shells caught Escalla’s eye. The girl edged a tad closer, gave a nervous,placatory wave to the guards, and peered into the pool.
“Jus, what do cone shells look like?”
“They’re sea shells, and they’re conical.”
“That’s great, Jus.” Unamused, Escalla put her fistson her hips as she hovered, glaring back at her friend. “Can you tell when ashell is venomous, or can’t you?”
“Just hold it to your ear.” The Justicar walked forward,apparently ignoring the guards. “If you hear the ocean, it’s harmless. If itkills you, it was a cone shell.”
“Funny.”
Funny! Cinders’ grin twinkled like jagged mountainpeaks.
The pool held quite a few interesting life forms-tiny blueringed octopi and sea snails with conical shells. Giving the pool a cautious glance, the Justicar kept carefully clear.
“Don’t fall in.”
“Well dub!” The faerie made a droll little face. “Anyother good advice?”
“Yes. Go talk to the chamberlain.”
Stealing silently in from a side entrance way, a hunched, thin kuo-toa came onto the dais. The creature’s eyes swiveled independently,taking in Polk and Henry, Escalla and the Justicar. The black presence of Cinders and the faerie’s golden hair seemed to impress the creature, and it madea simple little spell pass with its hand.
The creature spoke, its cruel fangs clacking. A disembodied voice, eerily suave, feminine, and calm, drifted out from somewhere in midair. “Greetings, air child. We had not looked for your return so soon.”
Biting her lip, Escalla decided that the creature was talking to her. “Well, I just can’t keep away! You know how I love this temple.”
The fish creature bobbed, its savage voice gargling. It made motions with its hands, and the female voice echoed from above. “Your gift ofsacrifices has gained you great credit with us. May we assist you?”
Escalla took on a sly look, hid it with a false blonde innocence, and clasped her hands together. “Well yes. Just a little thing fornow.” Escalla blinked brightly. “Do you remember me borrowing a deadly coneshell from you a while ago?”
“Yes.” The fish creature bobbed. “In return, you paidus with the hearts of many upworld slaves.”
“Oh, how very… outgoing of me.” Escalla looked a littlesick. “Anyway, silly me-must have slipped my mind-but can I just trouble you fora receipt?” The girl gave a polite little clasp of her hands. “It’s for myrecords, you know?”
Not quite comprehending, the kuo-toa simply stared. Escalla signaled Polk for a piece of parchment and a pen, then flew over to present them to the fish creature. “It’s an upworld thing! Sorry. Don’t mean to be a bother.”
“It is necessary?”
“I’m a faerie. Would I lie to you?” Escalla put the pen intothe creature’s clawed hands. “So if you could just write out my name and theexchange deal… you know, ‘We, the temple of the sea goddess, acknowledgethat we gave a venomous cone shell to so-and-so for the purposes of an assassination…’ That kind of thing.”
“So-and-so?”
“You know… my name.” A true mistress of fast talk, Escallawas beside the kuo-toa, helping it write out the receipt. “Just scribble it inthere. My full name. Nice and legal.”
The kuo-toa scribbled its foul script, then paused. “Please write in your name.”
“No, you do it. Just put it in here.”
“I do not recall your alien name. Phase refresh my memory.”
Frustrated, Escalla tried fishing for ideas. “Well, it’s justI forget what name I left with you guys. I have so many! Let’s see what jogsyour memory.” Escalla tried her mother’s name. “Let’s try Ifurela, LadyNightshade. No? How about Tielle?” The girl watched carefully, but the kuo-toanever twitched. “Lord Faen? Lord Ushan?”
With a sinking feeling, Jus made ready to strike with his sword. Above him, Cinders was stoking his flames. Escalla waved her hands, making less and less as she went on.
“Otiluke? Tensor? Bigby?” The girl threw up her hands. “Comeon. Gimme something to work with here!”
The kuo-toa turned and began to write. Relieved, Escalla fell back toward her friends and whispered avidly in their ears, “He’s doing it! Imean, she’s doing it! We’re getting a receipt!” The girl gave a hugegesture of relief. “So that’s it! We get the receipt, and we run for home. Nodrow city!”
With his eyes nervously fixed on the kuo-toa, Henry cleared his throat. “What about the captives from Sour Patch?”
“Yeah, too bad about that reward.” Escalla shot a guiltyglance at Jus and Henry. “Ah, I mean too bad about all those poor souls, butthey’re in the clutches of the drow, man. Nothing we can do about it. Can’t behelped!”
“We’re going after them.” The Justicar stood with his feetplanted and his eyes seeing every tiny little movement in the room. “We need toknow why your murderer is taking human slaves.” The big man’s voice echoed likethe slamming of a tomb. “They have a date with Justice.”
Escalla seethed, going into a grumbling sulk. “I just knewhe was going to say that!”
Benelux gave a self-righteous glow. I knew it also. He is made of purer stuff than you.
Further retort was halted as the kuo-toa held up the finished receipt and stared at it with its eerie eyes. The creature came toward Escalla, who rubbed her hands in anticipation.
“Here we go!” Posing, Escalla elegantly reached out for theslip of parchment. “And now, for your listening pleasure, ladies and gentlemen,the murderer is…!”
A huge bubbling roar came from the far side of the room. Escalla whipped about to see a mammoth kuo-toa dressed in golden chains. Standing in a secret door that opened beside the throne, the monster’s voicethundered and was echoed calmly by the disembodied voice above.
“This is not the faerie that we have trained! This one ismale. It has no mammary glands!” The kuo-toa scribe whirled, staring atEscalla, the receipt crushed hard in its hand. Outraged, Escalla lost her temper.
“What do you mean no mammary glands! Hey! You fish reject,what the hell do you think these are?”
“You are a different faerie.” The newcomer angrily waved aclaw. “Why are you here?”
Stumped for ideas, Escalla turned to face her friends. “Gotme there. Guys, anyone got anything more to say?”
Wag-wag-wagging his tail, Cinders grinned in glee. Yes.
“What?”
BURN!
His first blast smashed three kuo-toa off their feet. The creatures screamed as the noxious oil on their scales caught fire. Gleefully thundering a vast column of flame into the kuo-toa, Cinders made a noise of insane enthusiasm, sweeping fire all across the enemy.
“At least he has no problem with commitment!” Escalla blasteda fireball into a knot of onrushing guards. “That’s great, pooch! That was realsubtle!”
Burn! Burn fish! Burn palace! Burn idol! Burn cave!Cinders fur stood on end, flame streaming from happy teeth. Burn!
The scribe screamed and launched himself into the air, clawed hands reaching to rip Escalla from the sky. The girl’s eyes bulged as she wassnatched and squeezed like a grape. An instant later, the scribe’s hands weresevered by Jus’ sword. Croaking, Escalla thudded to the ground, her ribs almostcrushed and the dead hands still pinning her tight.
Above her, Private Henry screamed a panicked war cry and parried a harpoon that would have pinned Escalla to the floor. Angrily fighting free, Escalla struggled out of the dead grasp and spat her hair out of her mouth. Something blurred past her, a spear smashed sparks from a pillar beside Henry, and Escalla fired another fireball in reply.
Jus had already taken the arm off a huge kuo-toa, kicking backward to smash another monster’s knee as he whirled. Behind him, Polk madethe brilliant move of opening his portable hole, diving inside, and reaching back out to fold up the hole.
Two of the lesser guards hurled themselves at Private Henry. Rushing at him, the monsters hurled heavy harpoons straight at the boy. Imitating the Justicar, the boy managed to smash one huge spear out of the air. The second missile tore the whole sleeve of his mail shirt, ripping a line of blood along his arm. With a roar the boy whirled and swung his sword. To his astonishment, the sword blade bit into flesh, and the fish bellowed in agonized rage. It struck at the boy, had its blow blocked, then whirled backward as Henry cleaved his blade down into the monster’s skull.
Overjoyed, Henry turned to the next monster and struck wildly down. His sword blade hit the kuo-toa’s shield-and suddenly stuck fast to alayer of glue. The kuo-toa roared and twisted the weapon from his grasp, raising a spear to plunge it through the boy.
The kuo-toa’s head suddenly exploded as Escalla smacked itneatly with her pencil-slim lich staff. The corpse jerked like a mad puppet, leaving Escalla staring at the magic staff in astonishment.
“Hot damn!” The girl reached out a hand to the dazed Private Henry. “You allright?”
“Um…”
“Yeah. All glory to King Um! Whatever, kid. Now’s notthe time!” Escalla picked up Polk’s folded portable hole and shoved it down hercleavage. “Time to run!” A horn was blowing, summoning more kuo-toa. “Jus! Packit up, man. Time to flee!”
Roaring and cursing, Jus was surrounded by kuo-toa guards, all of them reeling away from the white blade. One lunged in with a pole arm, lost the business end of the weapon to Jus’ sword, then jerked as a massiveblow opened its guts. Another slashed with its claws, ripping Jus’ shoulder. AsCinders sheeted fire to incinerate a ring of guards, Jus trapped his attacker’shand, slammed one hand against the monster’s arm and snapped its elbow. It fellback, screaming as Benelux ripped through its chest. The sword twisted, whipped out, and flicked up looking for targets all in a single horrid blur.
The kuo-toa leader had already disappeared through a secret door beside his throne. With guards thundering in from the temple outside, the secret passageway seemed like a good idea. Jus threw himself at the door even as it slid closed, shattering the panels and making the kuo-toa leader reel back in fright. The creature leaped down a set of stairs with powerful shoves of its stumpy legs. Jus loomed in the door, terrifying with his brilliant sword, blood-smeared armor, and smoking hell hound skin.
“Move!” Jus bellowed to his companions. “We’re going thisway!”
Jus shoved in through the door, and Private Henry instantly followed at his heel. Escalla made to follow, then suddenly blinked and swerved back into the throne room.
“Wait! The receipt!”
The piece of parchment lay on the floor beside the scribe’ssevered hands. Escalla dived toward the receipt-only to look up in shock to seethirty enraged kuo-toa charging straight for her. A massive barrage of harpoons showered toward her. She threw her hand up in a spell, her magic shield snapping up an instant before the rusty harpoons arrived. The shield staggered as spears struck like a thunderstorm, spraying sparks and snapping points. One harpoon punched through the shield, and Escalla screamed, twisted aside, and had the middle ripped out of her dress. With the kuo-toa lunging toward her, the girl hurled herself backward in panic, screeching in frustration as the monsters overran the receipt. She flew backward through the secret door, harpoons ricocheting madly from her shield.
She bumped into Henry’s back. The boy was stuck halfway downthe stairs. As a dozen kuo-toa charged for them, Escalla blasted her black tentacles spell into the passage entrance, blocking the doorway with tendrils that caught hold of screaming kuo-toa and tossed the creatures aside.
“Jus! We’ve got company!”
The spell would last for a few minutes, no more. Escalla blundered about in a blur of wings until she dragged out her little light-stone. The sounds of screaming, throttled kuo-toa, thrashing tentacles, and alarm horns made conversation almost impossible.
“What’s the hold up, Hen?”
“A door just slammed! The Justicar is on the other side ofit!” Henry pressed his ear against a wooden door that blocked the passageway. “Ican hear movement but can’t hear fighting. He won’t answer when I call!”
“Great.” Harpoons clanged from the magic shield, tentaclesthrashed, and kuo-toa roared. With hundreds of angry monsters at her heels, Escalla yanked her light stone out of her cleavage to look at the door, noticing the folded up portable hole between her breasts as she did so.
“Polk! You still in there?”
“Yep!”
“Are you peeking?”
“Yep!”
“Polk, I’m gonna give you such a pinch when we get outtahere!” Escalla yelled into the dark. “Jus, come on man, open the door! What’sthe hold up?”
On the other side of the door, the Justicar’s eyes bulged.The garotte around his neck jerked tight, and his fingers bled as he tried to pry the wire from his throat. The kuo-toa snarled, heaving backward on the garotte to try and tear Jus’ head off his shoulders. High priest of an assassincult, the kuo-toa hissed with the pleasure of the kill. Jus tried to rear and slam the monster against the walls, but the creature outweighed him, shoving him against a pillar and heaving viciously at the ranger’s neck.
Jus tried to punch backward with his fist but struck only the harsh hide of the monster’s arms. His elbow viciously slammed backward andfailed to connect. He tried to rake his boot sole down the monster’s shins, butthe creature hopped and stepped away. With his air shut off, Jus staggered and heaved, while at his belt Benelux cried out excitedly with advice.
Drop your weight! Turn into him! The sword jittered likea school marm. Look out! Don’t let him bite your head!
From the other side of the door, a little fist began pounding at the door.
“Jus! Jus, I mean it! This isn’t funny! There’s about amillion fish out here!”
Whipping his free hand down to his side, Jus tried to draw his sword. The weapon was too long to free from its scabbard until Jus loosed the first few inches, gripped the blade in his gauntlet and whipped the weapon clear.
A spell exploded somewhere on Escalla’s side of the corridor.
“Jus, open the door! Open the door!”
The Justicar rammed the sword hilt back, crashing the pommel into the kuo-toa’s skull. The fish snarled and ducked, the next blow glancingoff its angled skull. Jus reversed the blade and stabbed backward past his flank, slamming the weapon home and drawing a wild roar from the kuo-toa. Still the wounded creature held on, arching backward with renewed frenzy as it tried to tear the Justicar’s head off. Cinders thrashed to no avail, and blood pouredfrom Jus’ upper hand. The wire garotte had cut through his leather gauntlets toslice into the flesh of his hand like a giant razor blade.
Jus stabbed backward again-the sword skipped clear of fishscales-and then again, this time jamming into flesh. The kuo-toa screamed,released its garotte, and smashed down with its hand. Benelux clanged protesting to the floor, struck out of Jus’ bleeding grasp. Still holding the ranger frombehind, the kuo-toa tried to strangle him with its bare hands. It bit at his head, getting a mouthful of Cinders’ fur and breaking teeth on Jus’ metalhelm. The Justicar gave a vicious noise and grabbed the kuo-toa’s hand, snappinga finger and bringing yet another bellow of pain and rage. He broke a second finger, then a third, breathing at last through a throat that felt ragged with pain.
Behind him, the door exploded inward, flying to pieces, revealing a furious Escalla hovering in midair with magic still boiling around her fist.
“I said open the damned door!” Pausing in mid yell, thegirl saw the kuo-toa strangling Jus from behind. “Hang on!”
A flame bolt ploughed into the kuo-toa’s back, blasting openflesh and scales. With a roar of agony, the monster released Jus and whirled aside. An ice blast from Escalla’s wand hit it in the chest and sent thecreature skidding across the floor. Jus dived, the sword Benelux sweeping up in his hands as he snatched it from the floor. A crossbow bolt from Private Henry stabbed into the monster’s thigh. The creature made a swift look to a box in onecorner of the room. It opened its arms, screamed the syllables of a spell, and a magic gate flashed into being.
Jus and Escalla both lunged forward, Escalla smashing her lich staff into the creature’s back. An instant later, Jus gave a hoarse roarand speared his sword through the creature’s skull. Still screaming, its bodyflopping with horrid vitality, the kuo-toa leader took one step forward, drawing Jus and Escalla to the threshold of the gate.
Jus and Escalla stared for a brief moment into a watery universe of palaces and kelp. Enthroned on a couch of pearls sat a titanic being, a creature with a naked human female’s torso and the head and arms of alobster. Surrounded by countless thousands of priests, kuo-toa, carnivorous sea beasts, and lesser gods, the entity turned to look at the intruders at her door.
The dead priest tumbled forward into the water. Escalla gave the sea goddess a nervous little wave.
“This one’s broken! We were just returning it!”
The sea goddess roared.
Jus lunged back into the secret room, snatching Escalla out of the gateway an instant before it crashed shut.
The room was chaos. Kuo-toa raved, harpoons clanged against the walls, and the place stank like a slaughterhouse. Chained to the walls were the rotting bodies of half a dozen armored gnomes, their weapons and treasures at their feet. Rot-grubs still writhed through the corpses moving in and out of eye sockets.
Private Henry was madly turning the windlass of his crossbow, a quarrel held between his teeth. The magic tentacles were failing, and kuo-toa struggled past. Fingers shaking, Henry slapped in the quarrel and shot the leader, making the creature tumble and fall. His crossbow was empty, and still more kuo-toa charged into the room.
Desperately searching for an escape, the young soldier saw a crossbow lying among the weapons piled at the dead gnomes’ feet. He snatched itup and stared helplessly at the alien shape of the weapon. He made to fetch his own weapon back, but the kuo-toa surged forward with a hissing roar. Escalla pushed the boy back, opening her hands and sending a dense poisonous fog thundering out to fill the other room.
“Jus, find a damned exit! Hurry!”
There seemed to be no other doors. Looking swiftly at the walls, the Justicar lumbered over to the far end of the room, his bleeding fingers probing at his bruised throat as he ran. Every breath was agony. He threw a healing spell to repair the worst of the pain.
“Cinders, look for doors! That fish came here as an escaperoute!”
The hell hound wailed unhappily, fish-spittle dripping down his fur. Big fish bit me! Fur all gooey!
“We’ll wash it later! Look for doors!” Jus whirled, slamminghis sword pommel against a wall of solid stone to test for hollow spaces beyond.
Benelux gave a squawk of panic and outrage. I say! Careful! The sword screeched as she was used as a hammer yet again. Stop! No! Wait! One of my pommel pins is shaky!
Jus swore, striking chips from the stone as he hammered at the carved walls. With kuo-toa raving and blindly hurling spears, Escalla pushed Henry back toward the far wall, made to follow, caught sight of the kuo-toa priest’s box, and instantly swerved aside. The lid already stood open, and allsorts of glittery stuff could be seen inside. Escalla dived straight into the chest and began burrowing like a crazed little mole through coins, pearls, and knickknacks.
“Polk?”
“Yep?”
“Incoming!”
With the portable hole partly open, Escalla burrowed into the treasure trove, stuffing away anything light enough for her to shift. Pearls, loose change, a mummified thought-eater, a dead cone shell… Polk screechedas dross and rubbish showered him in his hidey hole.
Far across the room, Jus turned and bellowed hoarsely in rage, “Get out of there! Move!”
“But there’s still stuff here!”
“Do it!”
A kuo-toa staggered wheezing and reeling through the poisoned tog. The creature held a long staff tipped with pincers. It saw Escalla even as she flicked into invisibility. Lunging at her with the staff, it caught her tight. Escalla squealed, kicking her heels as she became visible once again. The girl sent an electrical shock chasing down the staff and into the fish monster’shands, causing absolutely no effect at all.
At the far wall, Jus bashed his sword hilt against solid rock, then suddenly heard the answering echo of a hollow space. He banged the sword on the wall again, and the pommel broke. Benelux screeched in dismay as the gaudy golden unicorn pommel, now sadly battered out of shape, fell clanging to the ground. Jus cursed, half turned, and caught sight of Escalla being shaken like a leaf on the end of a kuo-toa pincer staff.
“Escalla!”
The kuo-toa slammed the faerie against a wall. She fired magic golden bees at her captor, but the swarm bounced and scattered from the monsters hide. Another bash against the wall rattled Escalla’s teeth. Nowcluttering mad, she gave a snarl of rage and raised her hand, preparing her most savage fireball spell.
Jus took one look at the building storm and screamed, “Escalla, no!”
The spell detonated, catching Escalla’s captor in the backand blasting it apart. The explosion whirled Escalla like a leaf, sending her wailing through the air.
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
The girl flew through the air, landing bottom-first upon a carving of an angler fish. The carving’s dorsal ridge felt indelicate enough tomake Escalla’s eyes start from their sockets. She grabbed the carving to slidefree, hung for a moment on a lever, and then fell as the lever shifted and a grating nose began from somewhere inside the walls.
The wall beside Jus and Henry slid open, revealing a set of steps leading west. Jus lunged toward Escalla, grabbed the stunned faerie by the scruff of her wings, and ran toward the closing door.
A shimmering gateway was opening in the room behind them. Apparently the sea goddess was miffed. Kuo-toa fought their way into the room through Escalla’s poisoned cloud, some dying, some wheezing, and others foamingwith rage. The Justicar dived and rolled through the swiftly narrowing doorway just before the sliding door slammed shut. Coming to his feet, he tucked the faerie under his arm, Polk still giving muffled yells from down her cleavage. With the battered sword in his hand, Jus pushed past Henry and led the retreat.
With her pommel shattered, Benelux made outraged noises, but Jus was long past caring. A doorway sealed the top of the new stairway. Jus crashed into it with his shoulder, breaking the door off its rails. He burst into the passageway that led into the underdark. A single kuo-toa was running past, heading for the temple beyond. Jus caught it with a savage flail of his unbalanced sword, sending the creature reeling into the wall where he stabbed it through the gills.
Five more kuo-toa stood just inside an entrance that led back into the temple. They turned, roared, and snatched up their harpoons to attack Jus’ unprotected back.
Reeling out of the stairs, Private Henry screeched a thin noise of panic as he tugged and struggled at his captured crossbow. The huge boxy mechanism fumbled in his grasp. Spell runes flashed, the boy pressed one with his thumb, and suddenly the weapon bucked like a maniac. A blurred stream of crossbow bolts ripped into the kuo-toa, the crossbow flashing as spells blurred its mechanism back and forth. Henry stared in shock as the kuo-toa spun with bolts ramming into them. Still hanging over Jus’ shoulder, Escalla lookedback at the boy and gave a dazed thumbs up as she saw him fire.
“Hoopy!”
The entire temple had been roused. Jus began running up the northwestern tunnel, heading into the dark. Jolting up and down, Escalla fired her ice wand behind the party-the last shot from her wand, which finallysputtered out and died. The spell stabbed back down the tunnel and made a wall of ice, blocking the angry kuo-toa from pursuit. Escalla shook her wand and cursed, slinging it across her back upon its strap.
“That’s it! The wand’s out until I get it recharged!”
There were hundreds of angry foes just behind them. It might take five minutes for them to break the ice wall or five hours. Escalla could not afford to wait and see. She summoned her floating disk spell beneath Jus’feet. The big man blinked in astonishment, then grabbed Henry as they began to whiz speedily down the tunnel.
Escalla led the way. Her ribs were crushed; she was ripped and battered. With hundreds of baying enemies just behind her, she chose to look down at herself and make a little rant of outrage.
“They tore my dress! Those fish tore my dress!” The girl hadworked for hours to make something out of the drow fabrics. “What the hell doesthe underdark have against my clothes?”
The faeries slim little middle was now bared, framed by ragged strips of silk. She flew upside down and backward, peering at herself as she flew, somehow missing a stalactite in her path.
“Actually… I think I can work with this!”
“Escalla!” Jus managed to get the girl’s attention backonto the road just in time to make the disk dodge wildly through a forest of stalagmites and then plunge down a limestone cascade. Jus and Henry lay flat on the disk, holding on like grim death. The disc dodged, twisted, then turned, narrowly missing rock pillars and walls. A stream of carnivorous stalactites came showering down, missing the floating disc by a hand’s breadth as it plungeddown a slippery chute of stone.
Blank with fright, Jus ducked beneath a gibbering stirge.
“Escalla? Escalla!” The disc tilted sideways and shotthrough a tiny cave mouth. “Escalla, is this thing safe?”
“Sure it’s safe! I’m totally unharmed!” Ahead, the passagewaybranched then branched again. “Hey! Does anyone remember that map we found?”
She chose the narrowest passage, a tiny thing only a few feet wide. The floating disk blurred over a forest of shrieker fungi, the huge toadstools wailing like banshees as the party passed, awakening monstrous shapes burrowing in the muck nearby. The companions left the cacophony far behind as they wound through twists and turns, ducking beneath low ceilings that almost skinned Cinders off the Justicar’s back. They dodged right and left through amaze of caves, muddling their trail.
Quite suddenly, the disk spell dissipated. Hanging in midair and still shooting forward, Jus and Henry blinked then went crashing to the ground. Escalla heard the noise and doubled back, hovering above the two men and managing to look immensely pleased.
“Hoopy! I never had one last that long before! We must havecome four miles!”
Motion sick, slashed, half choked and dangerously annoyed, Jus arose, straightened Cinders on his head, and dusted himself off.
“Polk?”
From inside the portable hole, a muffled voice replied, “Yes,son! What is it?”
“Get out of there!”
“I’m just sorting a few things!” The hole unfolded. Escallathrew it away in alarm, and Polk’s head emerged. “I’m writing us a schedule! Weneed organization and planning. That’s the backbone of any good adventure!”
“Right.” Jus fetched Escalla, inspected her, then sank ahealing spell into her ribs to clear up her bruises and scrapes. “Have you gotthe map?”
“Lich took it,” Polk replied.
He shrugged, then clambered out of the unfolded hole. Inside the pit, a scatter of pearls, gems, bent copper coins, and old keys glittered in the gloomy light. The teamster heaved out his chronicles, slung them safely over his back, then took a sharp look at Escalla’s face.
“You all right, girl?”
“I’m fine.”
“Did you know you’ve got some freckles down your front?”
Escalla hovered, regarding Polk through lofty eyes. “Polk, awoman without freckles is like a night without stars!” The tiny faerie posedsweetly, them smacked the human up the side of his head. “Show’s over! We needto hole up for a while. Let’s find a stream, get some water, then get moving!”
A side cavern gave access to a freezing cold, clear little river, a stream haunted by eerie eyeless fish and transparent shrimp. Helping herself to a cup of water, Escalla shook her head and dabbed at her countless bruises, cuts, and scrapes.
“Damn! Why didn’t my stoneskin work? That was a perfectlygood spell!”
Sitting beside her and carefully filling his water bottle, Jus shot the girl a droll glance. “Did the beholder ever look at you?”
“Oh. Oh yeah.” Crestfallen, Escalla helped herself to a mugof water. “I can’t be expected to remember everything.” She sipped her water,made a face, then held out her little cup for Polk to sweeten from his magic whiskey bottle. “Well, we can’t go to the drow without all of us havingstoneskin put on us. We’ll get creamed!”
“How long would it take to conjure the spells?”
“Ah, well, I’ll have to rest overnight.” The girlthoughtfully ticked off each stage upon her fingers. “Probably enchant you andme tomorrow, rest another night, then do Polk and Henry the next day.”
The Justicar corked his water bottle and shrugged. “Thekuo-toa will be following us right now.”
“Point taken.” The girl stood and tossed her empty frost wandinside. She settled her scroll tube across her back and polished off the little lich staff. “I guess we’d better go.”
The party gathered themselves. Henry stood peering into his new crossbow, which seemed to fit about a dozen crossbow bolts into a magazine at the top-a problem, since he now only had twelve quarrels left in his quiver.The boy examined the whole mechanism in puzzlement.
Escalla perched on his shoulder and said, “Guess it’s a typeof haste spell on the thing. Hoopy.” The faerie patted Henry on the head. “Don’tlose it!”
Polk bumbled past, his book open as he began scribbling his own version of the fight. He licked the nib of his pen and looked thoughtful, failing to see the glowing caterpillar that had taken up residence on his hat.
“Come on. We’re behind schedule.” The man shot a look atEscalla, then scribbled on his page. “How do you spell ‘svelte hellion’?”
Escalla gave a warning snarl. “Polk, if you’re planning onwriting about my cleavage, you can forget it.”