Jerdren nodded grimly. “Our luck’s holding,” he said quietly. “We’ve got bugbears in there. Watch for traps. They’ll have ’em all over the place. Remember—they’re big and fast but not very bright.”
There was no door on the cavern entry and no guards, though they could hear harsh laughter coming from their left. The passage ended almost at once, joining another that went off right and left. Distant torchlight faintly illuminated the right passage, and Jerdren could make out a room the other direction by the flickering light of a fire. Low voices came from that direction.
The air in this tunnel was cool and unpleasantly moist. It still smelled like wet dog, but he could also make out the savory odor of roasting meat.
“Left,” Jerdren said quietly and stepped back to let M’Baddah and Willow take the lead as he drew his sword.
The passage was quiet and empty. Just short of the room, they passed a flight of stairs going up into gloom on their right. M’Baddah stopped just short of the light, and Jerdren came up behind him. It’s a guard room, he thought. Cots, blankets… and guards.
Two cots piled with filthy looking furs and cushions had been shoved against the far wall, a massive bronze gong suspended from the ceiling between them. Three bugbears, dad in leather armor, sat around a brazier mid-room, keeping a close eye on long spits of meat. Some guards, Jerdren thought.
He beckoned Mead close and murmured against his ear, “Make sure none of ’em get to that gong.”
The mage nodded.
Eddis set an arrow to her bowstring and glanced at Jerdren, nodded once, and moved quietly into the room, back against the wall, M’Baddah right on her heels. Jerdren tapped two of the Keep archers to watch the stairs and the passage behind them. Blorys sheathed his sword and drew a pair of throwing knives.
The three bugbears turned slowly as someone’s foot scraped across the stone floor. Only just aware they’ve been invaded? Jerdren wondered. They didn’t seem too concerned about it. One bared its teeth in what might have been a smile, scooped up the nearest skewer, and bit into the meat, then slowly got to its feet, holding it out to Eddis. The other two followed his lead.
“Don’t trust that, you men,” Eddis warned and leaped aside as one lunged, trying to pin her to the wall. She let go her bowstring, but the arrow merely sliced along the bugbear’s neck. Bleeding but barely damaged, he lunged at her again.
Off to Jerdren’s right, someone yelled in pain, and one of the bugbears snarled triumphantly. Jerdren slashed at the bugbear after Eddis, fell back as the brute swiped at him with the skewer. Eddis’ second arrow clove deep into the bugbear’s arm, but didn’t slow the creature at all. One of the Keep men jammed his spear between flaps of leathers and yelped as the wood was torn from his grasp.
“Get back, Jers!” Eddis yelled, and he realized he was between her and the bugbear. The end of the spear barely missed his head as he ducked and got out of the way, coming up behind the creature and throwing himself on its back. The bugbear swung partway round to deal with this new threat, flailing wildly with the skewer. Chunks of meat went flying, and hot grease burned the back of Jerdren’s hand.
Eddis came around the brute, caught hold of the spear, and shoved with all her strength. Jerdren was slammed into the wall, the breath knocked out of him, but the bugbear slowly sagged at the knees and went over. Eddis ran her sword into its eye, to make sure of it, then came around and hauled her co-captain to his feet.
“What were you doing?” she demanded.
He grinned and forced air into battered lungs. “You said get his back, right?”
A quick glance assured him that the other two bugbears were engaged and that neither was anywhere near that gong. “Come on,” he added. “This is taking too long and making too much noise.”
The second bugbear went down moments later, but three of the Keep men were bloody, and one wasn’t moving. The third bugbear began to back away, then turned and ran for the gong. Jerdren threw himself after, but Mead grabbed his arm.
“Wait,” he said. The bugbear caught hold of the heavy dub used as a striker, but couldn’t seem to lift it. “Enfeeblement,” the mage said.
“Hah! Well done!” Jerdren pelted across the floor, sword up and out. The bugbear turned and slapped him backhand, throwing him into the wall where he sat, dazed and blinking. He watched the creature go down under the attack of four spearmen and M’Baddah, who finished it off with his sword.
“Brother?” Blorys came running.
“Thought… Mead said he used… Enfeeblement… on it,” Jerdren gasped.
“I did.” The mage laid gentle hands on the man’s head, then helped him to his feet. “That blow would have killed you otherwise. Can you stand?”
“I’ll take care of him,” Blor said. “You deal with our wounded so we can get moving.”
“Good… idea,” Jerdren said. “Don’t… need any more of ’em in here.”
“One man dead, Jers,” Blorys told him. “One of the new fellows got tangled up with someone else, and they both went down. Second man’ll live, though.”
“Which way next?” Eddis asked as Blor helped Jerdren over to join the others. “Up or down?”
“There is great evil up those steps,” Panev said. He was turning one of his short wands in his hands. “Down the passage, I sense pain, but it is too far to tell much else.”
“Masters live up, dungeons are down—usually,” Jerdren said. “If we go after the prisoners right now, we’ll be done fighting for the day, and we’d be fools to leave any bugbears alive here. Those hobgoblins might not come after us, but bugbears would.”
“There can’t be many of them,” Blorys said. “They don’t crowd together like kobolds, but a bugbear chief’ll be as hard to kill as that ogre.”
“I know,” Jerdren replied. “All right, we’re going up first. You wounded, stay back, out of the way, keep watch for us. Mage and Panev, if we find a chief’s quarters up there, we’ll need you to hit them first, hard as you can. Get ’em off balance for us. We’re not going for a fair fight here.”
The steps were very steep, but fortunately there weren’t many of them. A short corridor with a closed door branched off to the left. Jerdren led the way past that and down a right-branching passage, but it ended almost immediately with a padlocked door.
“Nothing to sneak up behind us there,” Jerdren murmured and started for the other door. Panev took up a position near the wooden panel and began to pray. Another of those silence spells, Jerdren hoped. Mead drew a slender wand and pressed past him. At the mage’s gesture, two of the Keep men caught hold of the latch, ready to pull the door open.
“The rest of you, stay back,” he murmured.
The men yanked hard, and the door slammed into the outer wall. Jerdren was aware of massive clutter and a huge bed. Two bugbears piled out of it, one female, the other a scarred brute with graying fur. The male was reaching for his battle-axe when Mead’s wand spat a gout of flame. Fire roared through the room and as suddenly vanished, but the bedding was smoldering and the female’s fur ablaze. She howled and rolled on the floor. The male caught up his axe, but now the metal handle glowed dull red, and he dropped it with a shout of surprise. Eddis, M’Baddah, and Blorys crowded the entry then fired arrows at the chief, moving into the room so others could deal with his mate. Hit several times but not badly wounded, the chief began backing slowly away. All at once, he turned and vanished. Part of the wall had turned with him, and now clicked back into place. The bugbear was on the far side.
“Don’t let him escape!” Eddis shouted. “He’ll alert the others!”
Panev crossed the chamber to lay his hands on the wall.
The female lay still, blood pooling around her singed body. Blorys was fighting to retrieve his sword from the back of her neck. One of the spearmen had found water to pour on the bedding, and black smoke was suddenly everywhere. Furs smoldered, giving off an awful smell.