Vlandar sighed and nodded. “I know. I had hoped to get in,grab that map, and get out unnoticed, but if it isn’t possible…”
“I’m ready for a fight,” Khlened said, “and I’ve battled direwolves before. They’re not immortal.”
“If your concern is for Lhors and Agya-” the paladin began.
“No,” Vlandar cut him off. “I would not have brought them ifthey were a hindrance, Mal. But we know these giants take orders from elsewhere. You and I assumed that before we got here. If we attack and are all killed, we’ve accomplished nothing.” Vlandar was still for a moment, his gaze distant.“All right. We’ll take the other passage, kill whatever gets in our way, getinto that room, and get the map. Then we leave as quickly as we can.”
Nemis dissolved the spell as Vlandar got to his feet and waved Lhors to join him. Maera was already listening by the door. As Vlandar caught up to her, she indicated the chamber beyond with her eyes and shook her head. Lhors hoped she meant that no one was in there.
It was still quiet in the entry, though they could hear someone bellowing beyond the double doors. As Malowan and Khlened hauled the west door closed behind them, the east one opened. Three whining wolves on chains lunged into the chamber, half-dragging a gray-haired giant clad only in filthy breeches and boots. He hauled the beasts back on their haunches and snarled, “Gezhk!”
But the wolves had seen them, and now the giant did too. He hefted a spiked club. His mouth twisted into an evil grin, and he let go the chains.
Vlandar thrust Lhors behind him. “Guard Nemis while he spellsfor us!” He and Malowan set themselves shoulder to shoulder, swords raised.
Stepping to the side, Rowan shot three arrows into the lead wolf. The creature snarled in pain and fury but stopped its advance to nip at the arrows biting into its side.
Maera took down the second with a spear through the throat. The third, its fur hackled, ran around Vlandar and the paladin and leaped straight for Lhors. The youth went to one knee and gripped his spear with two hands, thrusting sharply up and out as the brute slammed into him. The spearpoint plunged deep, but the sheer force of the impact ripped the shaft from the youth’s hands. The wounded creature’s massive paws pinned his shoulders asLhors fought to get his arms across his throat. The beast lunged, jaws wide, but in that instant Rowan knocked the wolf off him, and Maera jammed a spear into its eye. Lhors rolled away as the wolf scratched and beat the floor in its death throes.
Khlened and Vlandar were fighting the wolves’ keeper, who wasalready bleeding from a deep gash above his left knee. The giant brought his club around in a blur toward the barbarian, but Khlened ducked, the spikes missing his scalp by a space no larger than his knuckle. Before the giant could swing it the other way, Khlened darted forward and slammed his sword into the giant’s belly, angling up for the heart. The blade was ripped from his hands asthe giant dropped his own weapon, fell to his knees, and gripped the blade in a futile attempt to limp away. Vlandar hauled Khlened back.
In the instant that the two humans were out of the way, Malowan threw a long dagger. The blade buried itself to the hilt in the giant’sthroat. The guard fell, still alive but unable to cry out and too wounded to fight. He beat the floor with his fists, desperately fighting for air. Lhors winced at the sound of bones shattering. After a few seconds, the giant stopped.
“Fast and quiet-how I like ’em,” Khlened said. His face wassmeared with blood, but he was grinning.
“Not quiet enough, I’m afraid,” Nemis said. “We should leavehere immediately.”
Rowan handed Lhors his spear that she had retrieved from the wolf’s corpse. “Bravely done,” she told him quietly.
“I didn’t kill it,” he said. He clutched the spear and hopedshe couldn’t see how his hands trembled.
“You distracted it. That was just as valuable. It gave me a clean shot.” Shepatted his arm and went to help her sister.
Malowan looked at the mess and shook his head. “There’s toomuch blood here. Anyone who comes in here will know there’s been a fight, evenif we hide them.”
“Leave them,” Vlandar panted. “There’s no time. Someone wassure to have heard the fight. Nemis, search for others nearby. Rowan, you and Maera make sure we left nothing-not even a broken arrow. Khlened, stay close tothose main doors in case someone comes from outside.”
Nemis came over from the east door. “The wrestlers are stillat it, but there’s no one in that corridor.”
“Good,” Vlandar said. “Let’s go.”
They could clearly hear drunken laughter beyond the north door, but there was less of it. Lhors thought the voices were more slurred-as ifthe revelers were half asleep or passed out. If anyone in there had heard the fight, there was no indication of it.
Nemis eased into the open, then nodded and moved aside so the rangers could move across the corridor. Maera went on into near darkness while Rowan turned and beckoned. Lhors looked to his left. The passage was very dark-barely enough light for them to see. That might be good, he decided. Giantswould have trouble seeing them.
Moving as quickly and quietly as they could, the partymanaged to make their way to the giants’ council chamber. Luckily, no one was inthe room. There was no fire in the hearth, only two torches burning steadily near the head of a long table.
Nemis crossed to the map, ran his hands over it as if he was checking for spells, then yanked it from the wall, rolled it tightly, and stuffed it into his pack. Malowan was back at the woodpile beyond the leather curtain while the rest of the party waited just outside.
Nemis approached them and shook his head. He drew aside the curtain and whispered, “Nothing there. I can tell. Below, however-” He grippedthe paladins arm and dragged him back into the council room. “Someone is downthere-at least ten-and they are coming this way.” His lips moved silently andhis eyes glazed over as he worked some spell. After a moment, he continued, “Seven giants-I think a cloud giant or something else truly huge, and there arehobgoblin guards.”
“This is no fight for us, then,” Vlandar said. “We have themap. Let’s go back the way we came. Quickly and quietly!”
He sent the rangers out first, put Lhors ahead of him, and set Khlened and the paladin to bring up the rear. Their luck was not holding well. Even Lhors could see into the south corridor from the end of this one. The wrestlers had moved out into the hallway and were battering each other before a crowd of other young giants. They might be drunk, the youth thought, but they seemed alert for all that.
“No good,” Vlandar said. “There are too many of them, and allthat noise may rouse others. Nemis, we’ll have to go through the feasting halland out the main doors. Can you put a sleep spell on anyone still in there?”
The mage eyed the distant drinkers and shook his head. “Notfrom here. Get me closer to the entrance, and I can.”
Lhors held his breath as he followed the mage, Vlandar right on his heels. Rowan had gone ahead, arrow ready to fire, while Maera brought up the rear so she could keep an eye on their backs.
Once they reached the entry, Vlandar drew Lhors with him against the wall where it was fairly dark, but Nemis went on. There were three giants awake that they could see, two waiting while the third shook a keg, threw it aside with an oath, and caught up another. The mage’s sleep spell caught himjust then, and he slumped to the floor. The empty keg rolled away from him, and the other two giants fell across the table an instant later.
Nemis stood very still for a long moment, then beckoned urgently as he strode across the vast chamber toward another broad corridor that went south. Near the entrance, he froze, then slowly backed away.