Behind Recca lay a hissing raft of vipers. Recca stared across the howling Abyss, turned his back upon the river Lethe, and walked onward, hunting for his prey…
17
They stood upon a pathway of slick, polished stone suspended in the middle of a yawning, empty gulf. The path was wide, flat, without walls or ceiling, like a bridge through an abyss of fog.
Faces distorted in pain and terror formed and vanished in the mists before being torn apart by violent winds that never seemed to stir the air. Inside the stone surface of the path, flattened figures scratched and pleaded. Escalla looked about, a little crestfallen, and pulled on her chain mail.
"Oh, this is so un-hoopy." The girl winced and shifted her feet. "Jus, I think I'm treading on someone's soul."
Only the soul of a sinner. Benelux gave a prim little shimmer of disdain. Go ahead, dear. Scuff your feet. The blighter deserved it.
"Spiky, go stick your head up a rust monster's bum." Escalla decided to solve the problem with flight, and her wings whirred into action.
Staring about the mists, Henry jerked his crossbow left to right, covering shapes that screamed and swirled.
"What is this place?" asked the young soldier.
"The Demonweb." Of them all, only the Justicar seemed undisturbed. He scanned the pathway, looking for tracks. "This is the antechamber to Lolth's home plane."
Henry looked around and slowly stood straight. "So where's the spider palace?"
"Looked like it went above us." The Justicar rested a hand upon Henry's shoulder and pointed overhead. "Somewhere up there."
"Can we fly up and see?"
Still whirring her wings but still very much on the ground, Escalla's face had gone red. She flapped with all her might, the rising whine of her wings drawing the party's attention one by one. The faerie jumped madly up into the air, and still she failed to get aloft.
Enid carefully scratched her ear with one hind paw. "Oh, dear. There may be a few technical difficulties with that plan."
Escalla leaped and jumped, rapidly losing her temper. "Fly! Come on, damn it! Fly!"
"Escalla?" Jus finally solved the problem by grabbing the angry faerie by the scruff of her clothes. "Escalla! Stop. This is Lolth's plane. Laws are different here."
"Laws!" Escalla kicked and struggled. "I hate laws! Law represses freedom, and loss of freedom is tyranny!"
"Physical laws, Escalla. Like gravity."
"You mean we have to walk while we're in here?" Escalla allowed herself to be put on Jus's shoulder. "That is so un-hoopy! People will think I'm a brownie or something."
"Not with a backside like that. Perfect lift and pinch." The Justicar studied the mists that surrounded the path. "On top of the spider palace, none of you could fly. The same laws must have applied."
Enid blinked. "Oh, meaning we're supposed to walk along these paths?"
"Meaning the paths are a guardian maze." Shrugging, the Justicar looked around. "This is the way Lolth guards her door."
The Justicar and Cinders took point, with Escalla sitting on Jus's shoulder, her frost wand cradled on her knees. Enid, Polk, and Henry came behind. They moved silently, while all around them, lost souls screamed inside a universe of fog.
Footfalls had an unnatural silence. There were no walls to throw back echoes, no stones to shift and rattle. Enid's big soft paws, the Justicar's careful tread, Henry's boots, and Escalla's feet-none made more than the slightest sound upon the horrible pavement. The floor with its images of screaming faces and clawing hands throbbed as warm as flesh.
The path turned at sharp ninety-degree angles-turning, then turning again. Escalla edged as close as she dared to the brink of the path and looked down. Below her through the mist, she could dimly see another path identical to the one she trod.
"Hey! Look!"
They all looked down and traced the shape of another path that ran at right angles to them forty feet below. It was almost invisible in the horrible, haunted mist. Escalla looked carefully about, her sharp eyes spying other shapes in the mist up above. There was a maze of paths above and below, locked together like pieces of a puzzle.
"The palace was headed for the top of the web. Should we try and climb up?"
"Don't put temptation in front of the boy." Polk sat on his haunches like a mouse, unable to see more than a few feet into the mist. "We have to do the maze. Defeat the guardians! We can't complete the adventure without killin' all the guardians."
"Polk, shut up." The Justicar looked up through the mists, judging their jerk and flow. "How do we get up there?"
Escalla rubbed her hands together in glee. "We have the tangle rope! The one Jus got from the erinyes!"
"Too short." Cinders had burned through that rope in a fight long, long ago. It was now only twelve feet long and hung from the Justicar's sword belt. "And there are ghosts in the mist."
They turned and surveyed the horrible shapes in the mist. By unanimous consent they all moved on, looking for the stairs and ladders they all felt sure must be there.
The long, quiet walk went on-turn after turn, yard after yard. Walking softly at their head, the Justicar suddenly sank to his knees in silence, and the entire group froze in response.
"Henry."
Around the next corner, dimly seen through the mist, four horrible shapes pattered along the path. They were whip scorpions the size of wolfhounds. Henry looked, knelt, and fired in one smooth action. His crossbow shuddered and threw out a stream of bolts from its magazine. Two scorpions staggered sideways, already curling as the poisoned darts struck home. The remaining two lifted their claws high like dogs locking the scent, and they raced straight at the party. Enid and Jus surged forward, but a swarm of golden darts shaped like bees streaked through the air, smashing chitin and blowing holes through the scorpions. The creatures staggered and died as a second strike blasted them off their feet.
Escalla stood, her spell finger trailing a wisp of magic. The girl blew it away and gave a little shrug.
"Henry and I will clean up the little stuff on the way." The faerie used Cinders's tail as a handhold as she scaled the Justicar. "Jus's stoneskin will only block a few hits. We want to save it for when he fights Lolth."
The scorpions all wore silver bands about their tails. They had moved in unison, like a purposeful patrol. The party gave their bodies a wide berth, mistrusting the way the monsters twitched and oozed.
The pathway led on. There were more turns, more twists, until finally the way fed into a junction. A door gleamed in the mist-a door that seemed to lead to nowhere. Jus pointed, and the party fanned out. Enid and Henry watched the other pathways while Jus, Cinders, and Escalla moved carefully to the door.
The door simply hung in space, its bottom joined to the pathway, and its rear opening onto empty fog. Escalla peered behind it, shrugged, then cracked her knuckles. A careful search for traps, the approval of Cinders, and Escalla listened at the door with one pointy ear. She crept back to the others, her voice a sly little whisper.
"There's a room behind the door. I hear big things moving and arguing."
The Justicar nodded. "Cinders?"
The hell hound's nose wrinkled as Cinders was allowed to sniff at the crack beneath the door. Big fangs gleamed, and the dog wagged his tail.
Stinky trolls!
Escalla happily wagged her wings. "Oh! Hoopy!
"Guards!" Polk was overjoyed. He opened a tiny notebook stuck through his belt and began jotting notes into his endless chronicles. "We're in luck, son! Killing guards is heroic! Blade to blade! Man to man! Pure heroism against the cunning of evil!"