by Paul Kidd
Cinders grinned at the very flammable elves, his teeth promising a later meeting, and then Escalla grabbed Jus and dragged him away. As they moved down the road, Escalla let the man’s bulk hide her from the elves.
“I thought they were going to go for you, man. That gold pinsaved the day.”
A dozen armed elves stood by the roadside, crowding close enough to be threatening, their weapons only just pointed aside. Escalla led the way ahead of her retainers, giving a cold, disdainful sniff toward the watching elves. She whispered to her friends as they passed slowly through the gauntlet toward the open mushroom fields.
“It’s all right. Just be natural.” Escalla glared coldly at adrow who stood watching her pass beside a huge alarm gong. “We’re evil. We eatbroken glass and wire for breakfast. We do bad things to woodland wildlife.”
Bum elves now! Funny!
“Pooch, be good, or I’ll smack your nose!”
Walking past the drow, Jus came level with the faerie. “Theyhave a ceremony planned. The traitor faerie is probably involved somehow.”
Escalla kept her face neutral in case the elves were watching. “I know that, Jus. Great! So we’re heading for their maintemple?”
“Looks like it.” The Justicar settled his armor across hisshoulders. “We can’t get back out the same tunnel we used to get here. Any ideahow we find a route to the surface once we’re done?”
“No idea in the world.” Escalla seemed amazingly unconcerned.“Let’s just wing it. We’ll figure something out!”
The Justicar shot a look at the girl, who replied with an open little shrug, “Trust me. I’m a faerie!”
The road took a bend around an outcrop of rock. Safely out of sight of the guards at last, Escalla breathed a sigh of relief and whirred down to stand encircled by her friends. She pulled out the locator needle, which now bucked like a beetle dancing a country jig. The needle pointed northeast, toward the farthest reaches of the drow cavern. Henry, Polk, Jus, and Cinders joined the girl in bending over the needle in thought.
“All right, so the slowglass is here. Maybe the murderer iseven here.” Escalla sat down on the gravel with a frown. “Now we ask why. Jus,you’re the investigator guy.”
The Justicar turned to look over the vast reaches of the drow homeland. The venous light made distances impossible to judge. To either side of the roadway, forests of titanic toadstools loomed, the dark spaces alive with horrible, cautious movements.
The drow city was to the north, miles away and unseen, yet spreading a dark presence and a spreading scent of blood. The Justicar, apparently unafraid, rested his hand upon his sword and gazed toward the drow citadel.
“Tell me: Lolth was an ally of a faerie goddess, the Queen ofWind and Woe?”
“Oh, it’s not a happy story.” Escalla flew up to perch uponthe ranger’s shoulders, resting her elbow upon Cinders’ furry skull. “Ancienthistory. A faerie sorceress slew a god and stole his power, then began to carve an empire through half a dozen planes. The fallout split the faerie races-mostof them for the worse. Pixies and other species are all our degenerate cousins.”Escalla made a disapproving face. “Anyway, Clan Nightshade trapped her, and it’snothing to be all that proud of. We were on her side, then turned coat and betrayed her. I mean, she was out of her mind. Guess the ancestors figured she had to go before it went too far.” The girl wasted little time apologizing forfaerie kind; she rarely met a faerie that she liked. “Anyway, she was too toughto take out in combat, so they tricked her. Turns out there’s a Clan Nightshadetrait for being tricksters or something.”
Jus pulled at his nose. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“Yeah, well, it got the faerie goddess sealed in Pandemonium,and only Clan Nightshade knows where to find the key.” The faerie shrugged.“It’s been about, aaah, twenty thousand years since she went in the box. Iimagine the old wench is a tad pissed at us by now.”
Nodding slowly, the Justicar absently stroked his friend’sfeet with one hand. “By killing your fiance, someone’s trying to delay yourclan’s acceptance back into faerie society.”
Listening intently, Private Henry blinked from one partner to the other. “Because they have their own plans to release the Faerie Queen ofWind and Woe?”
Escalla looked at Jus. Jus looked at Escalla, and Polk looked at no one in particular. The faerie girl blankly nodded in agreement as she ran the thought through her head. “Sounds like you got it, Hen!”
“What would happen?” Henry shrugged in confusion at hisfriends. “If she got out, I mean, would it be bad?”
Escalla looked at Jus then turned around, looking a wee bit pained. “Um, in her time, this bitch took on whole pantheons-and that was beforeshe had twenty thousand years to spend getting really vindictive.”
“Oh.” Henry blinked, unsure whether he had actually beengiven an answer. “Not good?”
“Oh, definitely not good!”
Everyone looked northward toward the city of the drow. Thin, distant screams carried in the air, a moaning sob that made everyone’s hairstand on end. Escalla wilted, looking north, and was dead certain that she was not about to enjoy her day.
“All right, so someone is looking to unleash the Faerie Queenof Wind and Woe. The only way to do that is to seize the Nightshade key.”
Watching the darkness, Jus loosened his sword. “How would anenemy seize the key?”
“It’s hidden in an energy pocket. Take a real planet busterof a spell to retrieve it! Even then, the key’s useless until you activate it.You need Nightshade’s ruling family to do it. The key has two eyes. Each eyefaces a different way. Each eye has to simultaneously see one of us-atrue member of the ruling family beckoning it to open. And an illusion spell instantly sets off an alarm.” The girl shrugged. “Even if one of us was loonyenough to try it, you’d never get a second member of the family to go along.”
“Yes.”The Justicar nodded. “But if you used slowglass, couldyou record a visual image and play it back into the eye?”
Escalla froze. Suddenly she looked quite sick and tired.
“Oh great.” Her antennae dropped as the thought struck homelike a soiled knife. “Oh, that’s just frazzin’ great!” Escalla kicked atoadstool over, sending the fungus cap flying off into the dark. “Slowglass! Ithought they were giving it to me just because it was expensive.” The girl sworelike a teamster.
As a teamster himself, Polk could only blink in surprise at her technical knowledge and take a pull from his magic whiskey flask. “Girl, nowhold on! Don’t stand there jawin’! It’s fate! Destiny! You were meant tobe here!”
The Justicar glowered down at Polk through lowered brows. “Don’t get startedon predestination, Polk!”
“But it has to be destiny!” The teamster opened his hands,appalled that his chosen heroes could fight against tradition so constantly. “And what’s predestination got to do with it? Did you make that up of your ownfree will?”
“Polk!” Escalla snapped as she paced angrily up and down. “Nophilosophy with the Justicar. You’ll burn out your brain!” Escalla paced,angered, agitated, and seething with energy. She’d been had, and the thought ofbeing duped had set her aflame. “Let’s say we’ve got a murder plot that’s partof an attempt to free the faerie goddess. They haven’t won yet. We can stillbust up the works.” Escalla shook her head bitterly. “Breaking into the key’shiding place… a spell that size requires a ton of energy. I mean a hugeamount of energy.” The girl never once took her eyes from the north. “I’mgetting a real bad feeling about what all those captured Keolanders are for.”
21
After several hours of walking, the darkness ahead finallybegan to resolve into a single, massive wall.
A city nearly filled the northern sector of the cavern, a city of pus-white walls encrusted with strange minerals. The walls glowed like a corpse glimpsed sinking in the murky depths-a pale shape, cold and unwholesome,that sent a shudder through the soul.
The city towers rose hundreds of feet into the a
ir. There were sky bridges and spires, tall spines capped with impaled corpses, and buildings fashioned into leering demon masks. The walls of the city seemed to shift and move, as though pulsing with living, corrupted blood.
A city. There would be thousands of drow, any number of them capable of casting spells to root out an intruder. Escalla stared uneasily. Beside her, Jus stood and gazed upon the city in cold appraisal.
After a moment, the Justicar looked at the locator needle. It pointed northeast past the eastern edge of the city and toward the rear cavern wall. Collecting his friends, he moved off to the east, skirting the city walls and keeping carefully to the cover of toadstool groves.
Agog, Polk hurried forward and pointed toward the city. “We’re not goin’ in?” The man seemed disappointed. “I thought we were going in.”
Jus looked down at the irritating little man and scowled. “Polk, we are not tourists.”
“But it would look good in the chronicle! How can I tellpeople we almost reached the city of the drow?”
Escalla glowered at Polk then removed the man’s hat and peered inside. “Polk,I think this thing is restricting the blood supply to your brain.”
“Eh?”
“Nothing.” Escalla replaced the hat and pulled it down tight. “If you’re thatkeen on entering the place, be my guest.”
“You’re not going to come?”
“Polk, I’ll kiss a duck before I put my silken little faerie butt insidethose city walls.”
Jus kept the walls in sight, following them for almost a mile until they finally curved away toward a great pale cliff. Flowing between the city and the cliff face, there was a black river, its water gleaming like liquid metal in the hideous light.
Jus ducked into cover and looked carefully at the cliff and the plateaus above the city. Escalla joined her friend’s side, checked thelocator needle, and pointed up the cliff.
“There. Real close. The needle’s going mad.”
“Then that’s it.” Jus looked at the cliff face on the far side of the river.“We’ll head to the cliff face, climb it, and bypass the city.”
Listening in, Polk tugged at his collar then stuttered forward in fright.
“So son, ah, did the river just happen to escape you? The black river? Theevil, black, sinister, underground river?”
Shooting a sidewise look at Polk, Jus raised his brows. “Don’t like gettingwet?”
“Son! Big things with teeth live in rivers-especially in underground rivers!”
“I thought fighting toothy things was heroic, Polk?”
“Not when it’s in the water!” Polk stamped his foot. “As senior tacticaladvisor, I’m putting my foot down.”
Jus looked at the man, feeling tired, then pointed at the forest of toadstools all around them.
“We’re going to float over on a mushroom cap, Polk. Only an idiot swimsrivers in the underdark.”
“Oh.” Polk sniffed, then decided to take a look at a gianttoadstool. “Well all right them. Good to see my advice is always followed.”
“Right.” Jus wearily waved his party onward. “Come on. We’llget out of sight of the city walls.”
This was Jus in his element. He led his companions stealthily down toward the shore, selected a giant toadstool as a boat, and unsheathed his sword. Benelux made a glad battle cry and flashed brilliantly with light, only to see the entire party scowling at her in annoyance.
The sword hurriedly shut off its light and said, Sorry.
Jus grunted in reply and tipped the toadstool over, severing the stalk where it joined the cap and making a paddle by carving the stalk with two long swipes of the hideously sharp sword. He pushed everyone in and paddled the makeshift raft into the water. The river wasn’t wide and was soon crossed.
Jus left his companions standing and staring in amazement as he attacked the cliff face with astonishing speed. The man moved like a mountain goat, lunging upward from crag to crag. When a spider the size of a cat lunged out of a crevice at him, the ranger pulped it with one single massive blow of his fist. Watching admiringly from below, Escalla could only shake her head in love and pride.
“Oh man, he is so harsh!”
Finally, a rope came spilling from above. Jus’ magicrope-taken from another enemy in a far distant place-lengthened and spilled tothe ground. Henry and Escalla looked at one another in agreement, then chased Polk up the rope. It was no easy task.
At the top of the cliff, Polk fumed and glared, looking at Escalla in hurt betrayal.
“No need to push! I was going!”
“Yep, and now you’re here.” Escalla hovered where she couldkeep an eye on Henry as he climbed. “Hey, Cinders! See anything?”
Cave. Lots drow. The black hell hound skin gleamedbeneath the dim, hellish lights. Smell spiders.
“Spiders. Great.” Escalla needlessly gave help to Henry asthe boy crossed the cliff’s edge. “That sounds real fun.”
Puzzled, the Justicar scowled. “I thought you liked bugs?”
“I’m starting to get an overdose.” The faerie made a face indisgust. “Face it, man, this arachnid diet you’ve had me on just isn’t good foranybody.”
Cinders’ nose pointed north. Across the flat plateaus, dimshapes of towers could be seen, each one swimming with eerie lights. Keeping low, the party sped northward, hugging ripples in the cave floor and moving in silence.
Beyond the towers, the cavern wall was pierced by a horrible tunnel mouth-a vast carving of a spider that seemed to suck the cavern roadsinto its maw. Escalla looked up at the spider’s mouth, spared a swift glanceacross the plateaus, then shuddered as a shiver crossed her spine.
“I guess this must lead to the temple?”
“I guess.”
Jus was lying flat just ahead of Henry and Polk, carefully scanning the tunnel mouth for the faintest sign of guardians. Escalla sat beside Jus, ludicrously tiny next to his armored bulk. With her long hair stirring in a strange breeze from the tunnel, Escalla stared wide eyed into the dark and swallowed.
“I think Lolth’s in there.”
“I know.”
The faerie wilted, suddenly feeling sick. She leaned her head against Jus’ shoulder and held onto his arm.
“Jus? I am just so sorry I had to drag you here.”
“Sorry?” Jus turned, a strangely puzzled look crossing hisface before he softened with a strange, sad little smile. “Someone has to lookafter you.”
“Yeah.” Escalla ruefully gave the man a smile. “Hey, Jus?”
“What?”
“Present for my man.” The girl threw dust over Jus’shoulders, a stoneskin spell shimmering as it took effect. “Stay safe.”
“Thanks.” Jus loosened his sword in its sheath. “I love you.”
“Yeah, I know.”
The big ranger and tiny faerie clasped hands, squeezed, then released each other. They rose up and began to move toward the tunnel mouth.
Behind them, a grinning Private Henry nudged Polk as he watched Escalla and the Justicar. Hefting his crossbow, the boy rose to his feet, followed his friends, and then idly glanced over to one side.
Sitting in a shadowy crevasse, a drow looked at him. Henry’sjaw dropped, and the elf’s eyes widened in shock. The drow took one look at theparty and gave a sudden panicked cry. Something big erupted from the shadows in the cave behind her. Emerging into the meager light, a troll reared from the darkness and slashed at Escalla with its claws, the creature’s talons strikingsparks as they crashed against her stoneskin spell.
Henry dived, already streaking sideways to cover the faerie. He screamed and pulled the trigger of his crossbow. The machine kicked like a mad thing, blasting a dozen crossbow bolts straight into the monster’s flesh.The beast reeled but remained very much alive and angry. Henry dragged out his sword and flailed at its hide, driving the staggering monster back toward the tunnel mouth.
Seeing her pet guardian on the retreat, the drow flung up a hand and total darkness descended-a darkness oblitera
ted a second later by Jus’magic light stone. The drow had already turned to run. Jus whip-cracked his enchanted rope, bringing the drow down in a screaming heap. The creature fumbled for its hand crossbow and fired a shot that was parried aside by a lightning-fast flicker of the Justicar’s sword. An instant later, the elf’s headfell to the ground.
The troll roared, its wounds already healing closed. The creature bashed at Henry, who blocked the monster’s claws with his sword even asthe barrage sent him to the ground. Jus reared up behind the troll, his sword held high and his face terrifying. The magic sword screamed in strange joy as it cleaved down through the troll’s shoulder and into the chest, sending itcrashing to the ground.
“Cinders!”
The monster had already begun to rise. Grinning gleefully, the hell hound blasted flame into the troll. Fire ripped the flesh off its bones, making the troll bubble like a torch as it finally died.
“Jus!” Escalla screamed.
Two hundred yards away, a female drow sat upon a huge lizard. The dark elf stared blankly at the adventurers, then turned and fled toward the towers. Escalla shot off in pursuit, only to see the drow spring into the air and turn into a flying manta. The sorceress flew hard and fast toward safety. Unable to catch the drow, Escalla sped back and helped Henry back to his feet.
“Boys, we’re gonna have company!”
The Justicar looked back toward the disappearing manta. With his hell hound over his back and his white blade gleaming, the big man turned, leaped over the burning troll, and sped down the spider tunnel. Escalla blinked then slapped Polk and Henry, shoving them in Jus’ wake.
A long tunnel sheathed in horrific bas relief wound through solid rock like a monstrous black gullet. With his magic sword sheeting light into the darkness, the Justicar ran fast and hard, Cinders streaming flames and smoke behind. Jus sped through tunnels and over a stream. The tunnel walls spread out to become a vile promenade a hundred yards wide. Scenes of slaughter and perversion were carved into the walls, blurring past like a nightmare as the ranger charged through, but so far, the tunnels remained strangely empty of drow.