Ferros was luckier-he raised an arm and took a treacherous hit on his metal wrist plate. Still, the blow knocked the Hylar backward, where he almost tumbled into Ariakas.
Snarling in fury, the human warrior whirled toward the robed king. The Zhakar monarch shrieked and darted down the passage, but Ariakas chopped savagely, propelling his sword through a vicious overhead swing. The gleaming blue blade chopped through the regal robe and into the shoulder beneath. The terrified Zhakar went down, his left arm hanging uselessly at his side. Vaguely Ariakas sensed the rest of the royal guard fleeing down the corridor, but he focused on the pathetic creature at his feet. The warrior kicked sharply and knocked the wretch over, finally hauling him free of the robe. The mold-encrusted face of a Zhakar stared at him, eyes wide in terror-but Ariakas could not suppress a shout of pure rage.
The dwarf before him was not the king!
In fury Ariakas ran the trembling creature through, casting the dead body aside as if it were an empty flagon of beer. In the seconds before the ambush, he realized, Rackas Ironcog must have arranged for this pathetic fool to take his place, allowing the king to escape with the rest of the dwarves.
Where were they? He suddenly realized that the corri shy;dor was empty of Zhakar. The guards before and behind them had vanished into the darkness. Ariakas felt certain he would hear the dwarves if they remained in the same cave. Furious, he realized they must have escaped through a secret passage.
He saw Lyrelee's body, lying facedown in a spreading pool of blood. He knelt and gently turned her over, knowing she was dead-but still, the dull vacancy in her half-opened eyes tore at him like a physical wound.
"Bastards!" he hissed, his eyes searching for a Zhakar-any Zhakar-on whom to vent his fury. He looked at the woman's corpse, thinking of the pleasures that body had given him, before his rage drove him rest shy;lessly to his feet.
He heard a groan and turned to the gasping figure of Ferros Windchisel.
"My eyes! They gouged my eyes out!" blurted the dwarf, his voice cracking in despair.
Ariakas looked at his friend, seeing that-though patches of mold already caked his cheeks-the Hylar's
eyes were fine. He leaned forward, touching the hilt of the great sword to Ferros Windchisel's chest, breaking the spell of blindness. The Hylar blinked quickly, and groaned.
"Well, okay-they didn't gouge my eyes out," he admitted, sitting up and wincing in pain.
"How bad is it?" Ariakas asked.
"Bastard broke my wrist," grunted the Hylar. "Not my axe arm, though."
"Here-I'll help," the human offered. He reached over and placed his hands on the wounded wrist. Closing his eyes, Ariakas tried to conjure up the image of Takhisis, to plead with her for a spell of healing. Instead, that great well of fury opened up. Burned by the rising flames of rage, his faith would not, could not, summon the help of his goddess. With a muffled curse, he sat back on his heels, defeated.
"I can still walk!" declared the dwarf.
"Good-we'd better do some of that."
Cursing softly in teeth-gritting pain, Ferros Wind-chisel rose to his feet. At the sight of Lyrelee's lifeless body he winced, and then looked at the human.
"Can't take her along," Ariakas said coldly. "I think we'll have to fight our way out of here."
"You got that feeling too?" Ferros grunted wryly.
"Still-I don't know who we're supposed to fight." Ariakas gestured to the empty tunnels around them.
But Ferros wasn't listening. Instead, the Hylar raised a cautionary hand and concentrated on the passage before them. The human froze, and in the silence Ariakas heard it too: a squishy kind of noise, repeated rhythmically.
Turning his glowing gem toward the approaching sound, Ariakas strained to see the source. His sword felt light, ready in his hands … but still he remained stub shy;bornly committed to saving the blue blade. Whatever now approached, they would face it with mortal muscle and keen steel.
Ferros looked questioningly at the weapon, but when Ariakas shook his head the dwarf shrugged and hefted his heavy axe. He wielded the weapon one-handed, whipping it nimbly through a series of arcs and slices.
"By Reorx-what is that thing?" demanded the Hylar after a short pause. Ariakas could see nothing beyond the fringes of his light spell.
Then, something moved-something huge. A great, bloated shape came into view, advancing by the side-to-side rolling of two massive, trunklike feet. The body swelled into a distended, oblong sphere that was cov shy;ered all over with scabby patches of mold and fungus.
"It's like some kind of huge plant!" gasped Ferros, his eyes wide with amazement.
Lumbering on the huge pads, the bloblike creature continued resolutely forward. The thing seemed to have no limbs other than those blunt, elephantine feet, though its size alone made it a formidable threat. Ariakas advanced, raising the azure blade, aiming a strike at the midpoint of the long body.
Abruptly something hammered into the side of his head, smashing him sideways into the cavern wall. His heart pounded in panic as he heard the clash of his sword clattering loose on the stone floor. Before he could stoop down, another blow struck his head, bashing a deep cut into his chin and hurling him backward, past Ferros Windchisel, to collapse flat on his back.
"What hit you?" asked the Hylar, advancing with his axe raised as Ariakas scrambled to his feet.
Frantically the man looked for the sword, seeing one of the fungus creature's monstrous feet trudge over it. Then he saw the source of the attack. Along the mon shy;ster's tough skin dangled a series of long, supple ten shy;drils. They blended so well that at first he'd thought they were just part of the body-but now he saw one snap loose with the speed of a whiplash.
The tip of the tentacle was a hardened ball, the size of a large fist. This blunt end crashed into the side of Ferros Windchisel's thigh, drawing a cry of pain from the nor shy;mally taciturn fighter. The Hylar went down, his leg jut shy;ting sideways at an unnatural angle.
Then the monster stepped past the sword and loomed overhead. Ariakas dived forward, tumbling to the floor and somersaulting around the monster's lumbering feet. He felt immeasurable relief as his hands closed around the hilt of his weapon-but then his consciousness reeled as a smashing blow took him full in the chest. Gasping for air, Ariakas stumbled away from the hulking crea shy;ture. Ferros Windchisel flailed on the ground as Ariakas lunged forward. A tentacle lashed, and the man chopped with his sword, almost severing the tough, woody limb. Charging past the monster, he whirled and struck again, halting the bloated beast before it could crush the immo shy;bilized dwarf.
"Thanks, warrior," grunted the Hylar as Ariakas's whirling slashes and feints drove the creature back a step.
But the shapeless creature held its ground. When Aria shy;kas pressed, it was the human who retreated before daz shy;zling blows-any one of which would have crushed bone, had it landed.
Then they saw another reason for the creature's relent shy;less and dauntless advance-it could be certain of help. In the dim limits of the gem light, but growing closer with each step, came another pair of the resolute plant-monsters. Beyond them, lost in the shadows, advanced the forms of many more.
Chapter 23
Ariakas desperately chopped at the monster's encrusted skin, halting the lumbering advance long enough to hoist the Hylar in his arms. Together the pair staggered down the corridor, away from the plodding horrors. The warrior cast a last look at Lyrelee's body, seeing the leading fun shy;gus creature kick the corpse aside with its huge foot. Then he ran for all he was worth, his lungs gulping air desperately, his legs pumping to carry them away from the monsters.