“Ha! A fish head!” Forgetting to remain invisible, Escalladarted back and forth over the floor finding clues. “And another one! We’re onthe right track!”
It took a nose less sensitive than Cinders’ to sense thetrail ahead. The first huge metallic doors had swung open upon a short passageway that led to a duplicate portal of the first. Fish heads had been dropped here and there, and the tracks of some kind of handcart trailed mud across the floors.
Escalla fluttered about impatiently as Sir Olthwaite and Jus put their shoulders to the next doors and swung them slowly outward, revealing yet another chamber blocked by metal doors. The fish reek came more strongly as the doors opened wide. An old fish head had clearly fallen free as it was carried over stone flanges in the floor, and the stench was enough to bring water to the eyes.
Escalla fluttered about the last pair of doors. Halting to the rear, Jus knelt and examined the previous portal, inspecting the perfect fit of the doors against heavy stone flanges built into the corridor. The doors were absurdly easy to open from the south but seemed to be built to stop an assault of some kind from the north.
“These doors seal perfectly against the stone. The seal iseven lined with leather.” The Justicar touched the well-oiled hinges with hisfingers. “Of all doors in the dungeon, these are the only ones anybody caresfor.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Escalla had finished her inspection of thelatest set of metal doors. “No runes, no tripwires, no traps. Pooch says there’sno smell of spells. You will observe, the faerie now listens with one graceful ear.” The girl pressed her head against the door and listened carefully. “Clear!See, I’m getting this adventure thing down after all!” Posing in midair, Escallastretched indulgently as the humans opened the way.
Swinging slowly outward, the heavy metal doors flooded a baleful red light into the corridor. The air swirled stifling hot with steam, and the fish smell hovered thicker than flies. Escalla snorted in disgust and drifted onward down the passageway, looking at walls that now dripped with condensation.
She emerged into a great, transparent tube. The floor was stone, yet the clear, curved walls and ceiling roiled violently with bubbles. Escalla looked nervously about and shrank away from the dripping surface of the tube. The impression of savage heat looming in on every side made the little faerie quail.
The passage apparently went beneath the waters of a boiling lake. From somewhere far below, the light of the volcano ebbed and pulsed, lighting the lake with all the colors of clotting blood. The faerie stared at it all, then hesitantly approached the ceiling to reach upward with one delicate little finger.
From behind her, the Justicar called out a warning. The faerie waved him down and softly prodded the hot, transparent surface of the passageway. It stretched slightly away from her touch.
The walls felt red hot, rubbery, and dangerously thin. Hot as they were, the waters beyond boiled with all the force of a superheated kettle, sending vast bubbles wobbling upward through the baleful glare. Escalla carefully touched a water droplet on the walls, then tasted it with her tongue and made a face.
“Ewwww! Sulphur! Must be an underground lake that touchesthe lava.” The girl prodded her finger against the ceiling. “Dunno what thisstuff is. It feels kinda flimsy. Let’s see if we can poke a hole right through!”
“Let’s not.” Jus grabbed the girl by an ankle andhauled her down. “Leave it alone.”
“Hey!” Escalla snatched her foot back. “No one touches thefaerie!”
Ignoring her protests, Jus made a careful inspection of the walls, making sure Sir Olthwaite was well in front of him. “Those doors behindus are waterproof-all three sets of them. They’re there to stop boiling waterfrom flooding the dungeon if this tunnel gives out. The outrush of water would automatically slam the doors closed.”
Everyone stopped and stared at the boiling lake. Even Polk’spen-scratching halted.
Escalla took a sudden retreat to the rear.
“So it’s a trap? They slam the doors on us then boil us likecrayfish to kill us all?”
“No, I don’t think that’s what this place is for.” Jus lookedcarefully down the tunnel. “Everything has been a careful test of one kind oranother, like an obstacle course. If they simply wanted to kill us, they’d justhave filled all the tunnels with poison gas.”
Escalla blinked. “Really?”
“Yup. Don’t worry. We won’t get to that stage until we beatall the tests and try to leave.”
With a patronizing smile, Escalla patted the Justicar upon his head. “Well, that’s very reassuring, Jus! I feel sooo muchbetter now.”
“Good.” The ranger jerked his chin toward the far end of thetunnel. “Keep going.”
A fish head here and a fish head there marked the pathway down the boiling tunnel. The passageway stretched into the center of the volcanic lake, slowly opening outward until it formed a vast hemisphere. The chamber echoed to the sound of boiling bubbles in the lake beyond. Even with a ceiling arching ten feet overhead, the transparent cavern had a horrid, claustrophobic feel. One stab into the walls could rip it open like a curtain, bringing the whole lake thundering inward through the hole.
Garbage all across the chamber reeked in the heat. A wide pile of stinking refuse lay upon the floor. There were festering fish heads, mounds of weed, and broken human bones. The stench of it all made Escalla gag, and even Cinders set up a mournful whine.
Escalla landed near the garbage, trying to cover her nose and mouth as she pointed at a huge chest just beyond.
“Dead end, but there’s a treasure chest!” The girl shied awayfrom rotting chunks of dead fish. “So what’s supposed to be down here: hordes ofrats, killer cockroaches? The fish patrol?”
A sudden flash of movement flickered through the room. Cinders whipped his face to the right, and the Justicar instantly ducked. A vast crab claw blasted out of the pile of decaying trash, almost shearing Jus’ headoff his shoulders. The Justicar’s sword shot upward to deflect the blow, but hehad to duck aside as another claw erupted into the gloom.
With a ponderous rumble, the entire trash pile lumbered upward. Shedding a rain of fish heads and bones, a gargantuan crab rose from the refuse and lurched toward the intruders with frightening speed. Two huge pincers snapped and clashed. The adventurers stared for one brief instant at the monster that had lain hidden underneath the trash, then they scattered wildly back as the thing lashed at them with its claws.
The crab towered overhead, arcing its claws wide. The beast had a shell at least thirty feet wide, with claws large enough to shear through a horse. Festooned with garbage and sheathed in its own natural armor, the giant crab gave a bubbling roar then surged forward straight toward Escalla.
The faerie’s smile simply froze on her face.
“Mother!”
A crab claw scythed toward her. Escalla turned invisible, tumbled sideways, and fired a spell. A thick green cloud of vapor wrapped itself about the crab. Unperturbed, the creature surged out of the gas and waded straight toward Sir Olthwaite and the Justicar as the two men backed away with drawn swords. Beating a hasty retreat, Escalla backpedaled through the air.
“Oooh, that is the second largest crustacean I ever clappedmy eyes on!”
Staring in terror at the crab, Polk cleared his throat.
“Wh-what was the largest?”
“Do you know Farewell Island?”
“I’ve heard of it.”
“The bad news is, it’s not an island.” Jerking well away fromthe clashing claws, Escalla bellowed toward the Justicar. “Jus, you’re a ranger!Don’t you have some kind of affinity for wildlife?”
Both men charged forward, the paladin leaping fully armored over a blow from the crab’s gigantic claw, while Jus simply smashed a pinceraside with a massive blow of his sword The ranger stepped in to hack at the crab’s arm, his blade moving almost too fast to see. His weapon rebounded offthe crab’s hard shell, ringing as though it had just been smashed into an anvil.A claw bashed backward into him, lifting Jus from his feet. He clung to the vast pincers and hammered his blade down at the creatures limb, unable to crack a fracture through its thick shell. Cinders leaked sulphur through his barred teeth and let flames spill out into the air.
Cinders burn crab!
“It’s covered in wet weeds!” Jus felt his blade rebound offthe crab’s armor. “Wait till we find a soft spot!”
Beside him, Sir Olthwaite fought in utter silence, tumbling aside like an acrobat as a claw almost cut him in two. The paladin came up against the walls, made the transparent substance stretch, and sped away as a little spurt of boiling water fountained into the air.
Fluttering in panic, the invisible faerie hung at the Justicar’s side.
“Jus, what do we do?”
“Fight!” The Justicar battered aside a crab claw then choppeddown into the creatures shell. He finally felt the black sword bite, but it was a mere scratch that the titanic creature ignored. “Throw a spell at the damnedthing! And don’t bust the walls!”
Escalla’s spell repertoire had come down to a singlespell-her web spell-and the crab was certainly too powerful to be slowed by thatfor more than an instant. The faerie panted, backed through the air, and tried to come up with a plan.
“Jus, have you got any spells left?”
“A silence spell!” The man smashed a sweeping claw aside.“I’m saving it!”
“Why?”
“Because I have to!”
Slipping on a fish head, Jus went down on one knee. A pincer nearly ripped off his arm but caught instead on the black sword. Cursing the rotten slimy floor, Jus ripped his sword free and stabbed it into the crab, the point punching through the creature’s chitin and driving back the claw.
Escalla suddenly went stiff with excitement and whirled backward through the air. “Jus, hold the fort! Hold it off!”
“What?” The Justicar ducked another blow. “How?”
“Just fight defensively!”
Narrowly missing having his head sheared off, Jus gave a snarl.
“Defensively! What in the name of Nerull’s backside doyou think we’re doing?”
As the faerie flew away, Jus cursed and returned to the job of killing the crustacean. The crab had switched its attention to Sir Olthwaite, and the paladin ducked and dodged with an inhuman turn of speed. Claws clashed beneath his feet, but the paladin nimbly danced aside.
Suddenly the crab saw Jus and pivoted its huge body in a lightning-fast turn. Jus swerved into the beast, spun, and threw his whole weight into a vicious blow at the creatures elbow joint. The blade sheared through the monsters flesh and sent a claw bouncing on the ground. The crab whirled and smashed the Justicar aside with its stump, hurling the man to the ground and then stabbing down at him with its other claw. Jus abandoned his blade as both halves of the claw clamped about his waist. He seized hold of the chitin, his muscles bulging as he fought to keep the beast from slicing him in two.
“Paladin! Hit the joints! Cut the claw!”
In the corridor leading back to the dungeon, Escalla shotswiftly through the air. She found Polk cowering behind the last set of metal doors, his knees knocking like dice shaking in a cup. The faerie landed on his backpack and began frantically tearing at buckles, straps, and ties.
“Quick! Where’s my oil flask?”
“What?” Polk had eyes only for the giant crab. “Flaming oilwon’t hurt that, woman! Have you any idea of that thing’s size?”
“No, the other oil flask!” Burrowing through the pack,Escalla showered the dungeon floor with useless gear. For some reason, Polk was carrying at least three sets of clean underwear. “Where did you put my godsdamned slime?”
His eyes going wide, Polk flapped his lower lip like a landed fish.
“What? You can’t use it! It’s not done!”
“I’ll use it on you in a moment!” The faerie burrowed downamidst a cornucopia of wax candles, tallow candles, hourglasses, bells, and beads. “Where in the name of Orcus’ sagging gut did you put it?”
Wrapped inside a blanket and sealed inside a cooking pot lay the oil flask. Escalla grabbed the thing with two hands and hauled it up into the air, flinging wrappings aside as she whirred back into the battle.
“Jus, hold on! I’m coming!”
The ranger lay trapped by the crab’s claw, his armor cut andbuckling as he slowly lost headway against the giant beast. As Escalla whirred past him, Sir Olthwaite jerked into action and smacked at the crab with his sword.
Jus gathered himself, took a hard grip on the crab’s claws,and roared like a maddened bear as he slowly forced the pincer blades apart. He flung his head sideways as the crab loomed above him with its open maw.
“Cinders!”
The hell hound blasted flame into the crab’s gaping mouth andthe giant crustacean gave a piercing scream. The Justicar heaved, wrenching the crab’s claw open and tossing the limb aside. The crab backed away, shieldingitself in panic from Cinders’ flames.
Hovering above the monster, Escalla gave a shriek of triumph and cast the oil pot down. The ceramic jug instantly rebounded from the creature’s algae-padded shell and landed safe and sound amongst the fish headson the floor.
Holding his side, the Justicar lurched backward as the crab came at him again.
“Escalla, whatever you’re doing, do it fast!”
The girl picked up the oil flask, sensed a sudden wind, and looked across her shoulder to see the giant crab’s claws blurring straighttoward her throat. She changed herself into a fish head and fell bouncing to the floor, the oil flask thudding into the trash.
The crab flailed its claw down like a club, flattening trash and smashing at the refuse. The oil jar broke with a crash, and green slime spattered up onto the monster’s arm.
A fish head rolled one big yellow eye, screamed like a frightened child, and suddenly sprouted spider’s legs. Yelping in fright, thefaerie grabbed her fallen clothes and ran between the crab’s feet, leaping ontothe Justicar as the monster slowly turned around.
The beast saw all its prey together in once place and lumbered down the corridor. Jus, Sir Olthwaite, and Escalla scrabbled frantically back as green slime spread like wildfire up the crustacean’s arm.
The slime attack finally registered somewhere in the crab’sdull brain. The creature screamed and battered its claw against the ground, slime spattering all across the stone. Jus peeled the spider-legged fish head from his back and held the faerie dangling in the air.
“Escalla! The chest! Hurry!”
Naked, the faerie popped back into her usual form, took a look at the rampaging crab, then sped like an arrow straight past the creature’sthrashing limbs. The crab had smeared slime on its face, covering its eyes with the predatory sludge. It swiped blindly at the faerie as she passed then turned to lumber after her to protect its treasure horde.
The faerie flung herself down beside the heavy treasure chest and wrenched open the lid. Inside lay a long silver trident, a beautiful magic wand inlaid with ice-worm’s shell, and a dazzling carpet of pearls.
“Pearls!” The girl jammed her fingers in among the heaps ofgems, then stared in hunger at the magic wand. “Wand!”
“The trident!” Jus bellowed as the crab bore down uponthe girl. “Hurry!”
“Pearls!” The faerie held three priceless black pearls in herhand.
The trident lay gleaming at her feet-as much as a faeriecould possibly hope to haul. Escalla rammed the big black pearls into her mouth and swallowed the things whole. She jammed the wand between her teeth, used a wad of algae to shield her hands, and took a grip upon the trident’s head. Shedragged the thing out of the chest, gave a great heave of relief, then threw herself wildly aside as a crab claw smashed the chest to flinders.
Entirely covered in pustulous green slime, the crab gave a bubbling cry of fury and pain. It smacked its claw down to try and crush the faerie. Escalla ducked as green slime spattered through the room. Sizzling gobbets missing her skull to land among the fish heads and the algae.
Lurching in a blind frenzy, the crab began slashing at the empty air with its claw. Her teeth clamped on her magic wand, Escalla ran. The trident bounced and clattered as she dragged it across the stone floors. Hearing the noise, the crab turned and whipped its dissolving claw to smash the little creature to the ground.
The claw rose high in the air, ripping a hole in the transparent membrane of the roof, and a column of boiling water thundered down onto the crab. Escalla risked one brief look across her shoulder, saw the entire ceiling rip apart behind her, and then fled before a foaming tidal wave of boiling water and steam.
Jus hung in the metal doorway, blocking it as Sir Olthwaite made to slam the huge doors shut. Escalla ran as she had never run before, her wings blurring to push her into greater speed as she clung grimly to the trident. The boiling water wall foamed and roared behind her, consuming crab, algae, fish heads, and green slime. The girl flung herself the last few yards toward the doors. She felt Jus catch her by the neck and physically fling her on into the corridor. The big man turned and shielded her from the first blast of boiling water as he lunged inward through the doors. A sizzling wall of water crashed into him from behind, splashing deadly foam across Cinders’ fur. Theforce of the water smashed the metal doors shut behind him with a thunderous clang. Water surged about the floor, steaming evilly as Jus thrashed forward into the next chamber and hauled shut the second set of doors.
The Justicar was badly burned about the legs yet never stopped moving until his companions were safe. The boiling water slammed into the outer doors, but their strong metal frames held. The ranger stared at the doors for one moment, then his knees gave way and he fell to the floor. He skin was red and already beginning to blister in several places.
Landing upon Polk’s backpack, Escalla dug out the lasthealing potion and raced it over to her friend.
“This is the last one! Do you have a healing spell?”
“I’m out!” Jus hissed, the pain of the burns making himsqueeze shut his eyes. “Give me the potion!”
She fed it to him herself, then stripped away his trousers to inspect the damage. The backs of his legs were blistered and red. Wincing, Escalla poured cool water from a canteen across the burns. The potion slowly eased the damage, making it fade before the faerie’s eyes.
With all damage gone, the girl heaved out a long-held sigh, then patted the man upon one hairy thigh.
“Well, that one must have hurt like hell.” The girltook a great deal of reassurance from the touch. “Hey Cinders, you all right?”
Fine.
“Well, at least you got a bath.”
Escalla looked down, discovered she was naked, and retrieved her clothes from a silent Polk. She picked up her new magic wand, read the runes along its side, and looked up in hostility as the paladin came near.
Sir Olthwaite cleared his throat. “Do you know how to workthe wand?”
Escalla turned away, holding her new treasure against her chest. The wand was covered with ice runes. “I might.”
A thunderous boom echoed from the boiling lake beyond as the last of the air-filled chamber collapsed under the water. “What the hell wereyou doing while Jus was fighting the crab?”
“I fought the crab!” The armored man drew himself proudlyerect. “I have already told you, the wights have diminished my fighting powers!”
“Really?”
The paladin gave a distasteful sniff.
“I hardly think this is the place for a mere faerie tocomment upon the fighting prowess of a knight of the realm.”
For once, Escalla did not deign to answer. Instead, she looked down the barrel of her wand, patted it twice, and then cradled it in her arms. Backing away in midair, she swirled over toward the gear left lying in the water on the floor.
“Well, here’s Wave. That’s two magic weapons down and one togo.” Escalla kicked at the trident with her booted foot. “Polk, you carry it.Use rags to protect your hands.” The girl lifted her chin. “Touching thesethings can cause you power burns, you know.”
Sir Olthwaite looked from the trident to the girl in puzzlement.
“Why did you take the trident? You could have had the gems!”
“Jus wants the trident.”
“But you didn’t get any treasure! You’re still poor!”
The faerie shrugged and smiled wickedly. “That too shallpass.” The girl rested a hand upon the Justicar’s shoulders. “Hey J-man, you allright?”
“I’m fine.” The man rose slowly, testing his legs for burns.Battered and wet with the hell hound pelt upon his head, he looked like a wolverine that had been brushed the wrong way. “Let’s go.”
They moved down the corridor, heading for the kelpie pool. Hanging back to walk at the Justicar’s side, Sir Olthwaite tapped thoughtfullyat his own chin.
“So you have the city’s two weapons? Will you be leavingnow?”
Jus kept his head down, thinking as he walked.
“No.”
“No?”
“Blackrazor.” The Justicar settled his grip upon his blacksword. “We’ll fetch it.”
Escalla looked back at her friend and gave an enigmatic smile. Sir Olthwaite drew in a proud breath and nodded.
“Yes. Why settle for two weapons? We shall overawe the baronby retrieving all three.”
“I’m not working for the baron.” The Justicar breathed easieras the healing potion finished its work. “I like to make sure nothing ends up inthe wrong hands.”
“Wrong hands?”
“Ones I have judged and found wanting-”
The paladin heard the words, frowned, and looked at the ranger.
“I regret that I have already used up my own healing giftupon my slain companions.” The man tugged at his chin. “You still seem injured.What is this spell you are reserving? Surely it cannot be more important than your health?”
“A silence spell.” The Justicar pushed his way into thekelpie’s room and watched the two weed-women dive away in fright. “And it ismore important than my health.”