by Paul Kidd
Trapped inside a huge transparent fist high above, the Justicar looked down at his prey through cold eyes. “I have heard enough. Youare an enemy of the people. You have chosen to prey upon the weak.” TheJusticar’s voice came low and powerful, cutting through the noise of magmasteam. “You have been judged.”
The librarian’s painted mask of a face froze. A moment later,the man snarled in fury, his magic fist crushing tight about the Justicar.
“An overman has no moral constraints! An overman shapes theworld to the needs of his own intellect!” The librarian’s voice shook in a roar.“Good and evil are labels! Small minds paint the universe shades of black andwhite to allow themselves to comprehend! An overman is the black and white!” The librarian lifted up his painted face. “I am both blurred into one!”
Squeezed breathless by the invisible fist, Escalla struggled to make herself heard. “Th-then that makes dirty gray!” The girl arched inagony. “And that’s r-real hard to color c-coordinate!”
With a snarl, the librarian clenched his hand, and the giant fist mirrored his fury. Escalla croaked, squealed, and then suddenly fell limp. With the faerie unconscious, the librarian dropped her to the floor. She landed with her wings crushed and broken and blood spilling from her mouth onto the ground.
Jus roared in anger and fright, his muscles bulging as he fought to break free. “Escalla!”
Laughing, the librarian held Jus dangling helplessly in the air. “She was weak, weak and unworthy!” The librarian flicked a sneer over atthe broken little figure on the floor. “No matter. We shall use her.”
He walked back toward the pentagram, towing the Justicar behind him through the air. Stopping beside the mound of discarded trident, sword, and hell hound skin, the man nodded to his acolytes. “We will drain him.”
“Wait!” The Justicar’s cold voice boomed out above the soundsof lava and steam. Sour and triumphant, the librarian turned to look up at him.
“A plea, Justicar?”
“A message.” The Justicar’s dark eyes gleamed. He gazed downat his enemy, then jerked his chin off to one side. “Someone wants you.”
The librarian frowned, turned, and looked at the empty space behind him. There was nothing except a backpack, a bundle of weapons, and a barbaric, mangy wolf skin. The pelt’s red eyes suddenly sparked with feral glee. Hi!
Fire blasted out to smash into the librarians face. The sheer force of it threw the man backward, his hair and robes going instantly up in flames. Still hanging up above, Jus watched the librarian stagger burning and blinded past his feet.
“Polk! Sword!”
The teamster kicked one of his captors in the crotch. Dodging free, Polk snatched up a black sword from the loose equipment and hacked clumsily at the strand that anchored the magician’s translucent magic fist tohis hands. The black blade clove, and suddenly the Justicar fell free. He crashed to the ground, stretched up a hand, and Polk threw him the sword. The Justicar held the blade and jerked with pain, almost dropping the weapon. He shook his head then surged onto his feet, bellowing in fury.
One of the librarian’s two assistants cast a spell, theenergies shearing past the Justicar to knock Polk off his feet. The teamster picked himself up, surged forward, and kicked his man again. The teamster then gave the man a shove in the chest that sent the apprentice stumbling back through the energy veil. He shrieked as he fell hundreds of feet down into the magma.
The second assistant threw himself between his injured master and the Justicar. The apprentice screamed symbols and sent a rain of darts scything through the air. The Justicar growled and waded forward through the storm, ignored the pounding, and finally punched the apprentice across the face. The apprentice fell, sprawling on the ground. Jus turned and found the librarian standing, grinning in triumph through a mutilated, blistered skull.
The librarian hissed, his breath bubbling. In one hand he held a black-bladed sword. With his back to the abyss, the man lifted his hand and readied a spell, ready to blast the Justicar to atoms.
Suddenly a clear voice pealed in from a dozen yards away.
“Hey! Brain boy!”
The librarian jerked his head to stare at the center of the pentagram. Escalla, her wounds gone and her body utterly undamaged, gave the man a wave. She tapped at the unmarked skin of her midriff and gave a smile. “Polymorph! I do a good fake death scene, huh?”
The girl stood astride the half-formed body of Keraptis in its glass trough. She had her flask of green slime lying directly above Keraptis’ chest. Sloping over her shoulder, she held the hammer Polk used forhis iron spikes and pitons. “Say bye-bye to your super clone!”
The librarian screamed as Escalla whipped the hammer down onto the slime jar. The flask shattered, spurting green slime all over Keraptis’ naked flesh. The savage infection instantly took hold, bubbling asthe skeleton melted into a formless morass of bubbling flesh.
Jus was already moving. He cast his last spell-long-hordedand long-planned for-straight at the librarian’s feet. A surge of force rippedthrough the air, spreading outward in a sphere about the librarian. The sorcerer saw his enemy charging at him and whipped up his hand to smash Jus apart with a spell. He opened his mouth to scream the spell’s syllables-and no sound camefrom his throat.
Horror lit the librarian’s eyes. The Justicar’s battle screamcut off the instant he crossed the edge of his own silence spell. Unable to cast magic, the librarian shrank back against the edge of the abyss, his own acolyte held before him as a shield.
He had no magic, but he did have Blackrazor! Suddenly inspired, the librarian whirled and rammed the black sword through his assistant’s heart. The victim bucked and died, clawing at the blade jutting fromhis chest. Grinning, the librarian awaited the surge of energy that would rush up Blackrazor’s blade, knowing he could use the power to smash the ranger to theground.
No energy surge came. The librarian looked at the sword in astonishment, staring at the wolf-skull pommel in dawning shock.
An instant later, the Justicar fell on him in fury. A savage chop of Blackrazor hacked the librarian’s hand free from its wrist. Thelibrarian’s black, skull-pommelled sword fell to the floor as Jus steppedforward with Blackrazor flicking down into a thrust. He rammed the soul-sword through the librarian’s guts and instantly released the blade.
The librarian gripped Blackrazor in shock, staggering slightly back until he stood at the brink of the abyss. Retrieving his own much-beloved sword, the Justicar simply smacked off the librarian’s head. With acontemptuous push, he then shoved sorcerer, severed head, and soul-sword over the edge into the abyss.
With a look of annoyance on his face, the big man walked out of the sphere of silence, wiping off his blade. He gathered Escalla in one arm as both of them watched the librarian splash down into the magma far below.
Jus sniffed, watching the flare of light in grim satisfaction. “No one touches the faerie.”
“Right on, J-man!” Escalla retrieved her frost wand from theloot pile and thrust it through her belt. Satisfied with a job well done, Escalla reached out to thump Polk on the skull. “Hey! Well done, big nose!”
A blast of light suddenly burst up from the lava. Blackrazor’s destruction unleashed a storm of energy that blew sideways,shearing huge cracks into the columns of crystal. The force platform began to tilt, sliding Keraptis’ slime-covered body inexorably toward the edges of theledge. Another explosion sounded deep down in the magma lake as Blackrazor blew apart with a massive blast of force. The power of countless thousands of drained souls shuddered through the earth to bring White Plume Mountain startlingly awake.
A shower of stones from above began to smash down onto the platform, rebounding and tumbling off into the empty air. The platform tilted sharply sideways as two crystal columns cracked apart. Escalla saw Cinders start sliding off toward the abyss and flew over in a rush to catch him by the tail. The hell hound hung half over the edges of the platform, staring into the surging magma. Burned by heat, the fa
erie wrestled him back from the edge and dragged the creature back up toward the Justicar.
Thank you.
“You’re welcome!” The faerie watched her bag of gold piecesfalling down into the lava. “Aww, man! That was my treasure!”
Jus and Polk seized the magic weapons, clinging onto Whelm and Wave as the whole platform lurched sideways. The only exit seemed to be through a single jagged cave. As the platform sizzled with energy, Jus caught hold of Polk, gave him Wave and Whelm, and then physically threw the teamster toward safety. Polk clawed over the lip of the rock shelf, hunching as hot rocks crashed and fell about him.
The force platform hung sloping straight down toward the lava. Jus clung onto a projecting knob of crystal pillar a dozen feet short of the ledge.
Still attached to Polk’s backpack, the erinyes’ magic ropecame slithering by. Jus frantically kicked and caught the rope loop around his boot. He snatched the rope, dragged it free, then whipped it up toward Polk’sreaching hands.
The magic rope cracked through the air. Braced in the cave mouth, Polk took the strain as Jus climbed hand over hand into the cavern.
Yards behind him, Escalla flew clumsily through the air, dragging Cinders by the tail. The whole force platform went spinning down toward the magma lake, the magic flaring and disappearing as the crystal columns broke. Raw heat came fountaining upward, catching the faerie and wrapping her in Cinders’ pelt. Shielded from the furnace, she was hurled straight into Jus’hands, blistering winds jetting into the tunnel mouth and almost bowling the adventurers from their feet.
A long corridor ran past rooms filled with laboratory equipment, books, and scrolls. Jus snatched Cinders and pushed the others ahead, hanging the hell hound skin about his neck to shield the party from the heat. Behind them, the lava bubbled like a stew, the whole mountain beginning to throb with building force.
The group pelted down a jagged corridor. As they passed a table, Jus ducked beneath a tongue of fire and snatched up a bag of gems. Escalla blinked at it in shock as Jus shielded her from a fire blast.
“Yours!” The Justicar sheltered Escalla as chunks of rockrained from the ceiling. “I promised I’d get you treasure!”
The entire mountain shook as the adventurers sped onward down the hall. Escalla snatched a ruby from a shelf as she passed. Stuffing the treasure down her meagre cleavage, she sped down the passageway, shooting up an overhead tunnel as the corridor took a turn straight into the air.
Jus shoved Polk up the steel ladder rungs then began to climb hastily behind the teamster. Keeping just ahead of Polk and his rather careless trident, Escalla discovered a hatchway and threw her tiny strength into trying to turn the wheel that opened the door. Below the tunnel entrance, flame sheeted through the air, heat blasting up the tunnel to lick in hunger at their feet.
“Polk! Press the catch!” Shielding himself unsuccessfullyfrom the heat, Jus clung onto the ladder rungs. “Get the damned thing open!”
Encumbered by his trident, Polk fought past and rammed his hand against the hatch. The trapdoor flung backward, and a cascade of filthy water began to tumble inward through the open hole.
The adventurers fought their way past the flow to find themselves in familiar algae-spattered corridors. They were in the north passage of the dungeon, and Enid the sphinx’s backside faced them only a few yards away.The Justicar tried to slam shut the trapdoor, but steam shot out to fill the corridor with a choking fog.
“Out! Kelpies! Enid! Move! Get out of the mountain!”
Enid looked about, saw the adventurers pelting pell-mell down the passageway toward her, then saw a lick of flames come shooting from the hole just behind. Hard on the Justicar’s heels came two shrieking women made ofbundled kelp, their weed-strands steaming as fire licked into the passageway. Escalla shot past Enid and grabbed the big catwoman by the ear.
“Enid, the spell’s broken! Run like hell!”
They all ran down the corridor and reached the spiral stair. Jus thrust the two kelpies ahead of him, shoving them up the stairs and bringing up the rear. Behind him, ceilings shattered and rock cracked in two, superheated steam blasting through the cracks to jet into the halls.
The fugitives blundered up the steps and out into a cave. Daylight streamed inward, making humans and non-humans alike begin to blink and stagger. Escalla led the way ahead of Enid, breaking out onto the open mountainside. Steam and smoke jetted from fissures in the rocks, the whole mountain heaving underfoot as it shuddered in fury.
A steep series of cliffs switchbacked below them. Even as Escalla watched, a rumble deep inside the mountain made the land before them split open in a crevasse. With a mighty roar, the roadway fell away for two hundred feet, turning into a maze of jagged rubble far below.
High above the cave, the lip of the volcano blasted lava through the air. Red-hot stones spattered all across the ground, and a great wave of lava tumbled slowly down toward the adventurers. Escalla stared at the lava-then at the jagged slope below, and ripped the frost wand quickly from herbelt.
“You damned flightless twits will be the death of me!” Thegirl used her wings to fight the recoil as she hosed ice across the jagged slope and made it into a toboggan run. “All right, people! Slide-slide-slide!”
The faerie dove away, plastering ice in front of her as she plunged toward the road below. The two kelpies and the sphinx hesitated in fear until Polk blundered into them from behind. All four went shooting off downslope, wailing in fright as they slid away at lightning speed.
Jus stood at the brink of the toboggan slope. He looked back at the erupting volcano behind him, gazing at the lava flow and the spurting steam. Despite a volcanic eruption behind him, the man remained unhurried and calm. The erinyes’ magic rope was coiled carefully at his belt. He tied Cinderstight about his neck, settled sword and hammer in his hand, then looked down at the rest of the party spilling out onto the road below.
“Cinders, we did good.”
Did good! Cinders eternal grin lit up. Cinders hassome holes.
“I’ll get you mended back in town.” The Justicar watched thetwo kelpies sheltering in a nearby stream. “Ready to go?”
Go now. Eat coals later. Then chase girls.
“Right.” Jus jumped down onto the toboggan slope and speddown the slide. Behind him, an entire underground fortress went up in flames, shooting great white plumes of smoke high up into an evening sky.
EPILOGUE
When not racked by riots, Trigol City could occasionally beattractive. Now that Whelm and Wave had been returned, the two temple factions had settled back into a heavily armed peace. The arrival of three regiments of the Countess’ troops had worked wonders for the truce. The temples no longerthreatened war, and order reigned on the streets. With the end of the Thieves’Guild wars, Trigol’s law enforcement officers-all three of them-effectivelyoutnumbered the local criminals.
For the ordinary citizens, life couldn’t be better.
Walking down the steps from the baron’s citadel, the Justicarseemed like a new man. For once, his clothes were neither slashed, scorched, or burned full of holes. His new leather armor was made of black dragon hide, his gloves were new, and his heavy boots were freshly brushed. The erinyes’ magicrope hung neatly coiled upon his belt. Resplendent with well-groomed fur and brightly polished fangs, Cinders gleamed as good as new from atop the ranger’shelm.
The citadel was not in flames as the Justicar left, which made a nice change from the usual routine. Dragging in a happy breath, Cinders wagged his tail as a familiar scent tickled at his nose.
Faerie!
“I see her.” Jus stood at the top of the steps, eyeing apavilion that had been pitched upon the baron’s front lawn. “Are you stillsucking on that coal?”
Coal is nice!
“Well it’s brown coal, and it gives you gas! Come on andwe’ll get you something better.”
The big tent rang with the sound of lute music. As they entered, the Justicar smelled fresh faerie cakes and mu
lled wine. On a large circular bed, Escalla the faerie lay sprawled upon a big silk sheet. Her hair had been pinned with a gem shaped like a ladybug, and she wore a little black dress that had apparently been sprayed onto her in liquid form.
Her bare feet wriggled in the air as two women massaged them. Dazed and lazy, the faerie waved her hand at Jus as he came into the tent and surveyed her little lair of debauchery.
“Check it out, J-man!” Nearly comatose with pleasure, Escallagripped the silken sheets and purred, “I’ve had relays of them providingcontinual foot massage for the last seven hours!”
The ranger raised his brow. “How did you manage that?”
“They’re on loan from a business.” Escalla yawned as shewriggled her long toes. “They’re partners of some friends of ours. I got thekelpies a job, and they’re really having a ball!”
“A job?” Jus planted his boot on the edge of the bed. “Whatkind of job?”
Escalla looked innocently at the ceiling. “Ah, aninterpersonal relations job?”
“Like secretaries?”
“Um, yeah! You know, taking things down.” Escalla innocentlyvacillated then stuffed her face with faerie cake. “They really like it.”
“Hmph.” The Justicar sat down on Escalla’s bed. “No eatingpeople?”
“Nah, I bought them a sack of fertilizer and told ’em humanflesh is fattening.” The faerie gave a yawn. “I think they’ll stick to beef ribsfrom now on.”
Relaxing on the bed, Jus spread out Cinders’ luxuriouslybrushed black pelt behind him. Escalla’s little campsite contained the finestfolding furniture, a wine rack, and the choicest of foods. It even included silk flowers and scented candles. The Justicar sniffed at a bottle on the bedside table, poured himself a glass, and discovered that Escalla had acquired a taste for expensive wine.
He cocked a suspicious eye at the faerie girl. “I thought youwere still poor?”
“It was a passing phase.” The faerie coughed, covering herblush with a flirt of her fan. “On top of that bag of gems, we got three blackpearls from the dungeon, and they sold for a ton of coin! I cashed one pearl for you and one for me. The big black one I’m keeping just so I can run around nakedwearing the thing around my neck.”