Eir asked, "What other threats?"
"The floor is clear," reported Snaff. "No defenders. No wolves. No icebrood. Nothing."
"Let's march," Eir said. As she and Garm led the charge, the Bigs marched behind.
Big Snaff stiffened. "There's something approaching, dead ahead."
"Halt," Eir said.
They did, staring into the murk.
Out of the depthless dark, something emerged.
Its body was fashioned of living ice. It had a long head like a cattle skull, and its eyes glowed with eerie blue flame. The rest of it seemed skeletal as well, with an arching spine draped in white robes. A blue-gray vapor circulated among its icy ribs, forming the body of the creature. Gaunt arms lifted clawed fingers, and gaunt legs spread talons on the ice. The creature reached to its sword belt and drew out a blade that was so cold it roiled with frost.
"The Dragonspawn," Eir said.
"He's not a man at all," Zojja murmured.
"A tibia of ice. A fibula of frost." Snaff spoke in a hushed voice. "Skull of a minotaur. Tail of a drake."
"Sounds like a spell," Zojja said.
"That's what he is," Snaff said. "He's just like the Bigs-a marionette moved by a hidden mind!"
"He's just like me…," Zojja replied in a dreamy voice.
Eir looked at her. A faint blue glow pulsed in Big Zojja's eyes, matching the eyes of the Dragonspawn. "Look away!" Eir shouted, averting her gaze. "Don't look at it. Don't lock eyes with it. It's trying to freeze you."
With an effort of will, Big Zojja turned away from the glowing visage. The blue pulse faded from her eyes, and she shook herself. "How can we fight something we can't look at?"
The Dragonspawn's elongated head turned toward his foes. Eyes glowed bright blue. The beams splashed across Eir, Garm, Snaff, and Zojja. They shielded their eyes, but the monster was seeping into their minds.
"Look away!" Eir called. She turned, seeing that Big Snaff and Big Zojja already stood motionless. "No!"
MAGMA MONSTERS
Three destroyers advanced across the meadow, searing plants with every step.
"I'm not afraid to play with fire," Rytlock snarled, hoisting Sohothin. He shot a glance at Caithe. "Careful, twig. You might get yourself singed."
Each destroyer strode steadily toward one of the comrades.
Rytlock lunged at the nearest destroyer, thrusting Sohothin. The blade burned through the creature's stony skin and plunged into its heart.
The destroyer halted, arms shuddering and head falling back as Sohothin transfixed it. The creature's molten joints flared, and its chest expanded with spinning energy. Fiery light intensified in its amorphous face.
"Damn," noted Rytlock.
The destroyer brought its pincers swinging together to crush Rytlock's head. Stone knuckles crashedBut the charr rolled away beneath them. He scrambled up and stared accusingly at his sword. "What'd you do?"
"You're feeding it," Logan said while backing away from the destroyer that stalked him. "You might as well attack a Krytan with a baguette. Move back."
Rytlock growled, "Retreating is a good strategy. Very human. Use your hammer, for blood's sake! Break some stones!"
"All in good time," Logan said, leaping back over a patch of long grass. His hand painted a blue aura in the air, a slim band meant to trip up a destroyer.
His pursuer swung a stone claw that missed, then stepped in the long grass and tripped on the guardian aura. The destroyer overbalanced and crashed into the ditch.
A blue aura lit Logan's hands and spread to encompass his hammer. The glow seemed to hoist him into the air, and he brought the weapon down in a massive overhead stroke. The blow struck the destroyer's solar plexus and shattered it into five pieces.
"Let me get in on that!" Rytlock said, bounding over to land flat-footed on the creature's spine. Rocks snapped, and lava welled up between the broken parts.
"Nice footwork," Logan said, "but, of course, you've brought yours over here."
Rytlock's destroyer rushed the man, reaching for him, but Logan ducked beneath the grasping claw, spun on his heel, and hammered the beast's thigh. More rocks snapped. The destroyer roared, stumbling toward Rytlock.
"Get out of the way!"
Rytlock jumped off the fallen destroyer as the other one crashed down on its back. "Better yet!" the charr enthused. He scooped water from the spring and flung it on them. The droplets struck and sizzled, solidifying magma. "How do you like that?"
"Nice," Logan said, splashing both monsters.
"While you two mess around," Caithe said, "I've had to keep this one occupied by myself." She moved wraithlike, ducking beneath an arm, reeling back from another, and diving between its legs.
"Nice, as well," Logan said.
Behind him, the two destroyers climbed up from the ditch.
"None of us can take a single destroyer," Logan noted, "but maybe together, we can beat all three."
Puffing a sweaty lock out of her eyes, Caithe said, "What's the plan?"
"Well," Logan said as he ducked a hundred-pound fist, "I seem best at defense."
"Which means retreating," Rytlock said as he kicked a destroyer in the chest. The monster reeled back unsteadily.
"And Rytlock seems best at being offensive," Logan said.
"Hey!"
"Which leaves me," Caithe added as she high-stepped away from her destroyer. "What's my role?"
"You deliver the killing blow-like with the devourers."
Rytlock landed a haymaker on one destroyer's jaw-then shook out his claw. "These aren't scorpions. They're magma monsters. You can't stab them in the tailbone."
"Not the tailbone," Caithe replied as a destroyer grabbed her and began to squeeze. "But magic has channels just like nerves. Weak points." She thrust a dagger into the lava joint at the creature's shoulder, twisted, and cracked the arm loose. It clattered to the ground as the destroyer staggered back and Caithe stepped away.
Meanwhile, the charr dodged behind a boulder, a lava creature in pursuit. "What's the plan?"
"We take out one foe at a time," Logan responded. "This one, for instance." He was slowly backing away from a destroyer. "I draw one in"-Logan hooked his war hammer on the lowest limb of a nearby birch and yanked himself up, scrambling onto the branch. The destroyer grasped the tree, setting it alight-"then Rytlock attacks."
The charr rushed up behind the destroyer and kicked its knee sideways, shattering it. The destroyer crashed to the ground.
Amid flaming branches, Logan shouted out, "And then Caithe delivers the kill."
The sylvari bounded over to sink her stiletto into the back of the destroyer's neck. She wrenched the blade in an arc, and the destroyer's stony head rolled away. She drew out her stiletto and said, "Their necks are weak: all magma. Cuts like butter."
The lava in the destroyer's joints turned gray, and the solid bits decayed into separate stones.
"Pretty good," Logan said.
"Damn good," Rytlock said.
Caithe grinned at the other two. "Let's do another."
They turned and strode side by side toward the other two destroyers.
One roared, flecks of lava flying from its mouth. It charged.
Logan broke from the other two, charging as well.
The destroyer reached with massive hands toward him.
Logan slid beneath them and rammed his war hammer into the monster's groin. He posted the butt of the haft in the ground, and the beast's momentum carried it over the hammer. The destroyer hung in the air for a split second, then crashed face-first to the ground.
Rytlock followed on, leaping onto the monster's back and marching double time. His claws shattered the stony skin, leaving the creature a pulpy mass. Lava oozed up, and Rytlock leaped free, patting out the flames on his dewclaws.
Caithe arrived, her white stiletto spearing the neck of the monster and twisting to rip loose the head. She kicked it away. "Too bad you can't put these on a pike."
"I was thinking rock garden," Logan responded, watching the head roll down the green slope.