Maera merely bowed her head and said nothing.
It was the hour just after dawn when the party emerged, butthey could barely tell by the sky. There was perhaps a bit more light in the east, though that might have been another volcano. The fire giants seemed to keep the same pattern as the hill and frost giants. There were no outside guards posted and no one was in sight as they neared the pile of hardened lava and slag. Still, everyone kept under cover as best as they could, flitting from boulder to boulder and sprinting when in the open.
Nemis led the way right up to the main entrance, with Khlened and Bleryn bringing up the rear. Once they reached the heavy-looking metal door, the mage gave Malowan a small nod as if to say, “Do what we discussed.”
The mage used a spell to charm the door open. It swung in soundlessly, revealing a corridor lit by well-spaced torches. The hall was made of the same black rock as the outer walls, though here tapestries broke the surface instead of vents. No one was in sight.
Malowan fixed his eyes on the dark opening, whispering urgently. When the paladin was done, Nemis touched Khlened’s arm to get thebarbarian’s attention and sent his eyes toward the nearest tapestry. They couldsee it moving in and out slightly, as if someone sat behind it, breathing heavily.
Guard, the mage signed grimly.
Khlened’s eyes flicked from the mage to Bleryn. The dwarfnodded, and the two moved as one, running forward silently to throw themselves at the drape. They vanished behind it, and someone with a very deep voice made a startled grunt. The only other sound was the unpleasant crunch of the barbarian’s morning star crashing down on something-perhaps an unhelmed skull.
Bleryn leaned out to draw a hand across his throat. Khlened hung back long enough to rub his spiked ball on the tapestry, then stepped aside so Nemis could again lead the way.
The passage widened abruptly, turning into a vast hall that went at an angle east to west. Lhors, not far behind the dwarf, thought he could make out a broad hallway going north partway down and another going south. At the far end of the long, dimly lit chamber, Lhors thought he could see steps going up to a dais and an empty throne. The youth caught his breath as Malowan pressed past him and Agya and gestured for them to stay back.
Perhaps twenty long paces away, two odd-looking creatures stood, swinging black morning stars casually.
They have two heads each! Lhors realized.
Agya tapped his arm sharply to sign the same information a breath later.
The creatures were huge, built rather like men. Atop their massive, black-skinned shoulders, were two heads, and each head faced a different direction. There would be no sneaking past two such guards.
Malowan edged forward to join Nemis, who stood in shadow watching the guards. The two men conversed in cautious sign. As Vlandar came over to join them, Nemis signed, Wait here.
Before the warrior could find out what the mage wanted to do, Nemis strode into the dim torchlight. Vlandar gave the paladin an astonished look, and Malowan gestured, Wait.
The creatures might have been fearsome in appearance, but they didn’t seem too bright. Perhaps one brain was divided among two heads.
The creatures both saw the mage at the same moment and simply stared at him. Nemis moved out into the hall and turned partway around. Lhors could see him give the creatures a toothy smile as he said, “Well, if it isn’tmy old friends, Meghos and Zogry.”
One head each stared at him still, but the other two shifted back to keep watch over the vast chamber and its passages. Vlandar froze as one head seemed to linger on the shadow where they hid. When it moved on without raising a cry, he drew back into deeper darkness, bringing his company with him. Malowan whispered something against his ear. Vlandar nodded and gestured with his free hand for Lhors to stay where he was. A moment later, Vlandar eased along the shadows of the wall and began to move slowly but purposefully toward Nemis and the guards.
Malowan touched Lhors’ arm. “There are spears,” hewhispered. “See them?”
Lhors looked where the paladin pointed. The ettins had long weapons leaning against the wall. Lhors nodded carefully.
“Rowan and Vlandar will create a diversion while Nemis keepsthe noise contained. You get one of the spears and kill one of those creatures. Can you?”
Lhors swallowed dread and nodded again.
“How tha’ little man know us?” one creature said, divertingthe youth’s attention. It spoke Common, but with a thick accent made worsebecause it seemed to be missing most of its front teeth. Its other head came around to stare at Nemis.
“What, Meghos? You don remember the boy you used to stalkthrough the lowest caverns? The mage’s ’prentice you ’ad so much fun terrifying,down there?”
“Cannot be,” the second replied promptly. “’E’s got a beardan’ ’e’s lots bigger.”
“Much bigger,” Nemis corrected him gravely, “and you’vecome up in Snurre’s graces.”
“Uh?” both asked blankly.
“You guard Snurre,” Nemis said with another flash of teeth.“How sad,” he added incisively, the smile vanishing on the moment, “that youwill not be able to enjoy the task any longer.”
“’Ere!” The first snorted indignantly. “You insulting us?”
Nemis shrugged and smiled.
Vlandar had come up right behind the creatures in utter silence, unnoticed by either. He ran forward with two swords drawn, and before the awkwardly shaped ettin was properly aware of its danger, Vlandar was inside his reach, both blades stabbing up into the creature’s back. The creature howledin pain, but the sound was somehow flat and muffled.
Nemis is shielding sound, Lhors reminded himself as he slid along the wall. He watched as Vlandar let go his blades and leaped back just as Rowan drew her bow. The ranger ran into the open and began loosing arrows at the heads of the second creature.
Now or never! Lhors ran along the wall to snatch up one of the long spears. The first ettin fell to the floor, but the second must have seen Lhors moving, for it turned and charged with a vicious roar. So terrified that he couldn’t even scream, Lhors planted the spear’s base against the walland lowered the point. The ettin tried to stop at the last moment, but one of Rowan’s arrows plunged into its groin, causing the brute to fall. The point ofLhors’ spear went in beneath one of the ettin’s jaws, angling up into itsskull. The spearhead must have slammed into the back of the giant’s skull,because the shaft suddenly bent and broke with a massive snap!
The youth dropped the broken shaft as the creature fell. Breathing heavily, he leaned against the wall with the dead ettin only inches from his feet. Above the nasty stench that was everywhere in this land, he could smell the rough cast-iron reek of the blood pooling on the floor.
Rowan came over and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, drawing him away.
Lhors glanced back over his shoulder: Vlandar gazed expressionlessly at the dead ettins. He’d already retrieved his blades. Vlandarand Nemis joined them moments later.
“My silence spell still holds. The king’s throne is there.”Nemis pointed out the dais at the opposite end of the long hall. “Obviously, heis elsewhere. There is a hiding place he has behind the throne somewhere in that wall. The rest I do not know, except that there are guards on all the passages.”He turned north and was quiet a moment. “The stairway down is that way.”
“Where’s the king, d’you think?” Khlened asked. He’d drawnhis berserker sword.
“Uncertain,” Nemis said. “He could be anywhere. UnlikeNosnra, he does not keep regular hours, and he often prowls his halls alone or with a guard or two.”
“Fine,” Agya said angrily. “I feel mighty safe now.”
“You’ve no business feeling safe here,” Malowan reminded her.“What next, Vlandar? Do we-?”