He never finished the sentence. Nemis murmured a hasty spell that extinguished the ettins’ torches as loud footsteps echoed and the creak ofarmor suddenly filled the hall. Somewhere to the east, a door slammed.
“Remember what I said,” Nemis rasped to Vlandar. “Safestthing is to kill Snurre.”
“I agree,” Vlandar whispered. “But let’s see who and whatguards him before we attack.”
He led the company back to where the ettins lay and settled behind the nearest, sword drawn. The rest of the company found what hiding they could as four torch-carrying guards came into sight at the hall’s far end.
Lhors swallowed dryly. The shortest of them was over twice his height. All were ebony-black and looked very professional.
In their midst, walked a very odd figure indeed. He was shorter than his guards, but powerfully muscled and clad in black armor. Tusk-like teeth gleamed in the torchlight, and his moustache and beard were nearly the same unpleasant orange-moss shade as his teeth.
Agya stiffened as two enormous dogs paced along with him, sniffing the air suspiciously. Both hounds had very deep red hides, and their eyes glowed with a hellish light. Malowan laid a reassuring hand on her arm and carefully indicated Nemis-the mage was using his beneath notice spell on theparty.
The tusked giant flipped a white, leathery cloak aside so he could sit, then adjusted his black iron crown and drew a massive, thick-bladed sword. He settled the sword upright on the dais before him and rested his forearms on the crosspiece. The hounds dropped to the floor by his feet and closed their eyes, but they seemed no less alert.
“Snurre?” Vlandar whispered despite Nemis’ silence spell.
The mage nodded grimly.
One of the guards moved off to light torches placed in the back wall, throwing the throne room in a ruddy orange light. An ornately carved flaming skull decorated the wall immediately behind the throne, and the other walls were carved in various battle scenes.
Khlened tightened his grip on his morning star and began to move forward, but Nemis tugged at the barbarian’s hair. “Wait until he takes offthat cloak. It’s dragon-hide, and he’s less of a threat if it isn’t on him!”
The barbarian nodded agreement.
The mage waited for some moments, then glanced at Vlandar and nodded. Vlandar drew a hand across his throat, and Khlened grinned cheerfully. The dwarf loosed his axe, and Rowan knelt quietly to arrange arrows onto the floor by her knee. Maera pressed a listless Florimund behind her as she freed her javelins.
When everyone was ready, Nemis stepped toward the dais, and the rest of the party charged. One of the hounds growled a warning-the onlyadvance notice Snurre and his guards had of the attack. The second dog went down before it could properly get to its feet as Maera’s spear plunged into itschest.
Snurre stared down at his pet in shock, then shouted an order. Like other sounds, it sounded flat to Lhors, as if it didn’t carry veryfar. The guards could certainly see the invaders, though. They came around the throne, weapons at the ready, and the other dog surged to its feet. It whined faintly when its master snarled out an order and abruptly retreated behind the throne, dragging at a lever on the wall. Part of the wall swung into an utter blackness into which Snurre leaped. The hound spun around and loped after Snurre. The two vanished into darkness, and the wall clicked shut behind them.
There were three guards still left, but one was foolish enough to turn away-making sure his king was safe, Lhors thought. Bracinghimself for impact, Lhors shoved his spear deep into the monster’s leg, justbelow the knee and angling up. The giant went down hard as Lhors leaped away.
Vlandar ran forward and brought his sword down two-handed across the brute’s neck. The guard did not move again, but another was fast uponthem. The giant came at them, hammer held high. But it never came down. Maera’sspear and Rowan’s arrows brought the creature down, and Bleryn finished thefellow off with his own hammer.
Beyond them, Khlened was engaged in a mismatched battle of morning stars-hisown, though bugbear in size and heft, was still smaller than the fire giant’s.The Fist was using strategy, planning his own swings so the giant’s weaponwouldn’t rip his from his fingers. Before he could settle the match though, thegiant snatched up a fallen sword and lunged. Khlened howled with pain and collapsed as the blade stabbed through his shoulder.
Vlandar threw himself forward and dragged the barbarian aside as Agya stabbed both her long knives into the back of the guards knee. The guard yelped in surprise when the leg simply collapsed under him. Agya barely managed to get out of the way in time.
The fallen guard lunged after the little thief, but Lhors charged forward with his spear, stabbing the fallen brute through the eye. Lhors turned, seeking the last guard, but he lay still, his armor red-hot and his hair smoking unpleasantly. Malowan’s fire-sword pinned him to the wall.
“Easy, people,” Vlandar ordered. “Agya, you and Lhors keepwatch. Bleryn, watch back the way Snurre came and make sure no one sneaks up on us. Malowan, see to Khlened’s wound.”
The barbarian leaned against the wall. He was still standing, but blood coursed freely from his shoulder and he was obviously in agony. The paladin ran to him and began to lay hands upon the wound. Malowan’s hands glowedfor the briefest instant, and the barbarian gasped in surprise. As the paladin stepped back, Khlened smiled and waved the healed arm freely. “Thank you,paladin,” he said. “I’m in your debt.”
“Gerikh,” Vlandar continued, “if you can, find a way todisable the door Snurre went through so he can’t come after us with an army.”
“He’s won’t,” Nemis replied evenly. “He’s gone to ground.That’s both a treasure cave and hiding place with no other way out.”
Khlened looked up, his eyes bright at the mention of his favorite word.
The mage sighed. “Forget it. The whole place is guarded bysomething snakelike, huge and nearly impossible to kill.”
“No time,” Vlandar said tersely.
“We need to go, now,” the mage whispered as he came back. “My beneath noticespell won’t hold much longer.”
“No time like the present,” Vlandar said. “Which way though?”
“Back where we came and up the north hall,” the mage repliedpromptly. “Remember, we’ve little time to waste here, even with Snurre inhiding.” He looked at Gerikh.
Gerikh nodded. “I found the doorway and braced one of thoselong spears across it. It wont hold against a brute like that for long though.”
“Let’s go, then,” Vlandar urged. He let Nemis take the lead.
They headed back through the darkened hall, avoiding the dead ettins, and took the passage heading roughly north. This finally went straight north-a fairly long corridor lit at odd intervals by lanterns. The unmistakable,if distant, clatter of a kitchen came from the left, and the wall down a west-branching passage was lit brilliant red from some enormous fire.
By now, Nemis was well up the hallway, his back against the east wall and two fingers across his lips. Guards there, he signed and sent his eyes sideways to where they could just make out a break in the black stone. The mage held up two fingers and drew a meaningful hand across his throat.
Vlandar nodded grimly and brought up his sword, but Nemis pressed past him and stepped into the open, turning to face the opening as he brought his hands up, fists clenched.
“Kill,” he rasped softly. Utter silence followed, then themuted clang of swords hitting the floor and two massive bodies falling onto them. The mage nodded in satisfaction and pointed up the hall.
Lhors glanced anxiously at Malowan. The paladins lips were moving, probably in prayer for the dead guards, but he was quiet about it.
The hall was still quiet. They stepped over dead guards and went on north, following Nemis.
“The stairs down are just there,” the mage murmured. “There wereno guards between here and the stairs the last time I was here, but that was years ago.”