“What about th’ others?” Khlened asked softly.
Nemis touched a finger to the barbarian’s lips. “They’renear. Shhh.”
Silence. Lhors could hear nothing but the beating of his own heart.
“Do you sense something?” Vlandar asked the mage quietly.
Nemis replied, “I cannot be certain it was the same twoguards we just saw, but someone came from down south and went toward the feast hall.”
“Well then,” Vlandar said, “the feast hall seems to bebecoming too popular for our purpose. We’ll head down the hall and into thearmory. They’ve searched that, and it’s open at both ends, if I read the mapright.”
“Let’s be at it then,” Malowan said as he pulled the doortoward him. He stepped out first, sword at the ready, but the room was deathly quiet.
“Fast and quiet, lad,” Vlandar said as Lhors edged throughthe opening. “We’ll get out safe.”
The youth merely nodded. He wasn’t certain he could trust hisvoice, and he really disliked that musty little chamber with the steps leading down into utter darkness.
The kitchen was deserted except for the bodies. Lhors wondered why no one had removed them, then realized they hadn’t been dead thatlong-and the only ones who knew about the bodies were the guards who were busysearching for the killers. He swallowed.
It was quiet across the way as well. The doors into the feast hall were closed. Vlandar nodded then drew Lhors into the hall. They stayed hard against the right-hand wall as the others came out, and Vlandar began to edge south away from the light.
Lhors fought a sudden urge to run. Vlandar would keep him safe, he reminded himself, if Vlandar wasn’t killed. Most of thecreatures in this place were at least half again the warrior’s height, and thesmaller ones-those norkers-must make up for lack of size in fierceness.
Nemis edged past them. “No one down there,” he whispered.
Vlandar nodded.
Suddenly Rowan, who brought up the rear, hissed a warning. The latch on the feast hall door moved, and the door slammed open. Two obviously drunken giants staggered into the corridor and fetched up hard against the opposite wall. One swung a massive fist at the other. The blow connected, but only slightly. The second giant fell back a pace and grabbed for his blade. The first drew himself up straight with a sottish arrogance and slapped the second open-handed, sending him reeling to the floor. The brute shook his head to clear it and fought his way onto hands and knees. Halfway up, he flailed for balance, sat hard, and his massive, red-rimmed eyes glared straight at Lhors.
Lhors froze.
The giant froze for an instant as comprehension slowly dawned in his eyes, then he bellowed a warning in Giantish. His companion turned, drawing a long-bladed dagger from his belt. The other staggered to his feet and reeled back across the hall as he fumbled for his weapon. He hauled a club from his belt, but the heavy weapon cost him his balance and he fell again. The dagger-wielding brute snarled at him, then squared his shoulders and lurched at Lhors, blade raised to skewer him.
Vlandar grabbed Lhors and pulled him back against the wall. “Take them down! Quick!”
The mage was already working. He fell back next to Vlandar and said, “Quiet-it’s my last, though!”
Rowan fired an arrow at the dagger-wielder, but it skipped off his scalp, leaving only a slight gash. She swore and tried again. The second went into his shoulder, but not deeply enough. The brute snarled a curse, then yanked it loose and threw it aside. Blood ran down his face, but he ignored it.
Maera and Malowan dealt with the other brute, who managed a drunken swing at the paladin. His own momentum threw him off-balance, and Maera drove her spear into his ear. He yanked his head around, bellowing in pain, and the ranger was thrown hard against the wall. Malowan came up behind him and thrust his sword into the brutes eye, killing him instantly.
Khlened and Vlandar were trying to finish off the other giant. Vlandar got behind him finally and slashed at the exposed backs of the monster’s knees. The giant fell, screaming.
Lhors yelped as both doors to the feast hall were thrust open. Two of the young giants and a very aged one stood there-none armed orarmored, though they looked deadly enough to him. They could break me in half, he thought.
“Back, Lhors!” Vlandar yelled. “Ready your spears! Khlened,finish him! Rest of you, behind me and down the hall, now!”
But Rowan ignored him and ran to help her dazed sister to her feet. Khlened fell back, his sword ripped out of his hands, as the giant rolled away with the barbarians blade still planted firmly in his leg.
“Damn all!” the barbarian snarled. He scooped up the club andswung it two-handed, bringing it down on the drunks head. The giant collapsed.
“Leave the blade!” Vlandar ordered. “We’ve company, youfool!”
Khlened spun around just as the old male drew back, urgently tugging at the giant-youths.
“They’re afraid!” the barbarian laughed harshly.
But as he made another grab for his sword, someone beyond the feast hall roared out an order. Four heavily armed giants came charging across the chamber, clubs out. The floor shook with their advance. Lhors could hear another voice-female and very angry, shouting in Giantish at someone inside thechamber.
“Hells!” Nemis said flatly. “That’s Nosnra himself I put tosleep, and she’s waking him!”
“Back!” Vlandar ordered. “The south passage is narrow enoughthey’ll have to come at us one at a time. Move!”
Vlandar, Malowan and Khlened covered their backs as the company sprinted for the passageway. Maera turned just before leaving the room and launched a spear. It sailed into the foremost giant, impaling him just below the sternum. Roaring in pain and fury, the giant fell.
The paladin shook his head as he entered the hallway with his sword raised. “Too many, Vlandar,” he said.
Rowan edged past him to draw her bow. One of her arrows buried itself to the fletchings in a giant’s throat, and he fell, bleedingheavily. The younger giants looked down at him, at each other, then turned and ran.
“Nemis,” Vlandar ordered, “do what you can! We can’t fightthem all!”
“Kenesthris!” the mage shouted and waved his hands in acomplex gesture. As he spoke, one of the doors swung around on its own and slammed shut. “I can’t control both, and even that may not hold long!”
Before any of the guards could attack, someone inside the chamber shouted an order and shoved his way into the hall. He was enormous, taller than his guards by a head, and hugely fat. His eyes were bleary, but if he was drunk he didn’t move like it. The brute ducked back into the chamber andshouted another order. One of the club-wielders came out, followed by two more. The fourth was apparently beating on the other door to get it open.
Rowan shot several arrows in quick order. One of the giants fell, a shaft through his mouth and another in his eye. Another two sidestepped him and came on, clubs upraised.
Nemis sent a crackling fireball at them. The lead giant could not evade in time and took it head-on. He began screaming and beating his clothes as the deadly flames engulfed him. His own comrades cut him down, probably not so much out of mercy as to get him out of the way. The other giants hesitated at such resistance and backed into the feast hall, brushing sparks from their clothing.
“Back!” Vlandar shouted and pointed his blade toward thekitchen.
Nemis turned and ran, stopping just inside to ready another spell. Agya and Lhors went next, followed by Rowan, who was still supporting Maera. The warriors came next, and Vlandar grabbed Nemis’ arm as the mage begananother spell.