Bodvar came last with Idona at his side, holding anarmful of quivers over one arm and a shield over the other, alternately feedingarrows to her husband and stepping forward to intercept the wicked barbs flyingtheir way from somewhere deeper in the camp. Melegaunt allowed them to retreatto the first sharp bend in that fashion, then, speaking a magic command word,he pointed at a crooked crevice bisecting the boulder closest to shore.
A wall of faintly writhing shadows shot up from thefissure, sealing the boulder walk from the Vaasans' camp. Bodvar and Idonaturned and raced for the island, moving so fast that they nearly overran thenext turn. Only Idona's quick feet-and quicker hands-kept Bodvar from goingover the edge and plunging into the cold bog. They took the next corner morecautiously, then reached the island and started up the trail behind the others.
By then, the first wave of dragonmen were flying overand around the shadow wall at the other end of the boulder walk, staying lowand close to avoid making themselves targets. It was a bad mistake. As theypassed by, the writhing shadows struck out like snakes, entwining anything elsethey could reach. Whatever they touched vanished, and soon arms, legs, wings,even heads were raining down on the shore and into the bog.
The dragonmen's pursuit stopped cold, and the MoorEagles' women and children began to pour onto the work site. Melegaunt directedthem into the shallow shelters he had hollowed out behind the sword rack. Whenhe turned back to the battle, the tentacles in his shadow wall were swirlingoutward in three separate cones, each spiraling toward a small cluster ofdragonmen hovering over the village. The spinning cones tore through thewarrior screen as easily as they had the pursuit fliers a moment earlier, thendiced the spell casters they had been trying to shield.
"Try to dispel my magic, will you?" Melegaunt called in ancient Draconic. "Come hither. I have more of thesame waiting here!"
The last few dragonmen sank behind the shadow andvanished. For a time, Melegaunt feared he truly had defeated the attack thateasily. The warriors began to reach his work site and check on their families.There were a handful of anguished cries and panicked calls for missingchildren, but with Melegaunt's help, the Vaasans had managed their retreatwithout losing many of their number. Three warriors who were too badly injuredto fight were given over to the clan's healing witch, then Bodvar and Idonaarrived, breathing hard and supporting each other, but both whole and sound.
"Well, Devil, it seems you have saved usagain," Bodvar said. "Whether we like it or not."
Melegaunt spread his hands and said, "I live toserve."
Bodvar scowled and started to make a retort, thensomeone called, "Whitescales from the east!" and someone else yelled,"And from the west! Thirty at least, coming in low over the bog!"
Melegaunt rushed to the western edge of his work siteand saw a long rank of dragonmen approaching the island, their white scalesshining like ivory against the dark peat. Their line curved behind the islandand, from the cries behind him, continued all the way around to the other side.The clan of the Moor Eagle was surrounded. Struggling to bite back his smile,Melegaunt turned to find Bodvar and Idona standing behind him.
"It seems your faith in me was misplaced,"Melegaunt said. "My apologies, Bodvar."
"None necessary. I'm the one who brought this onus," Bodvar said. He fluttered his fingers in the direction of theapproaching dragonmen. "Just do what you can."
"I am afraid that will not be much, myfriend." Melegaunt spoke loudly enough to be sure that nearby warriors,already gathering to eavesdrop, would be certain to overhear. "Even I havemy limits."
"Limits?" Bodvar growled.
"I did not expect this. My magic is all butexhausted."
Bowstrings began to thrum around the perimeter of thework site, but they were too few-and their arrow points too soft-to turn backthe dragonmen.
Melegaunt drew his black sword, stepped away from theedge, and said, "But I can still give a good accounting of myself."
As he had hoped, the sight of his darksword proved an inspiration.
"The black swords!" Idona cried, turningtoward the rack. "Those will balance the-"
"No." Calm though it was, Bodvar's voice wassurprisingly masterful and imposing. "Of all the women in the tribe,Idona, you should know better. A devil's gift is no gift at all."
Idona looked as though she wanted to argue, but herrespect for her husband-and for her chieftain-was too strong. She bit hertongue and pointed at the hidden shelter.
"Then we had better fall back," she said,"before there is nothing left to defend."
Bodvar gave the order, and the dragonmen were on them,streaming onto the work site from all sides. They flew headlong into battle,thrusting at their overwhelmed enemies with iron-tipped spears and relying ontheir size and speed to carry the attacks home. Half a dozen human voiceswailed in pain in the first three heartbeats alone, then the second wave camecrashing down from the island summit, and it grew clear that the Vaasans hadn'ta chance. When they were lucky enough to land a strike, their brittleweapons either bounced off or broke like icicles against the dragonmen's thickscales.
Still, the Vaasans fought bravely and well, fallingback toward the shelter behind the sword racks in good order, defending eachother and striking at eyes and armpits and other vulnerable areas whenever thechance came. Within moments, there were as many dragonmen lying on the stonyground as there were humans.
And Melegaunt quickly added to the toll. Protected ashe was by an aura of impenetrable shadow and holding a sword that would cutthrough any armor known in Faerûn, he turned and whirled through the dragonmanranks, slashing legs off here and behorned heads there, dancing past spearthrusts and shrugging off claw strikes like a drow blademaster.
One of the huge saurians managed to clasp him frombehind in a bear hug, lifting him off the ground and trapping his arms so thatit was impossible to wield his sword. Perhaps thinking to take him out over thebog and drop him to his death, the creature spread his wings and leaped intothe air. Melegaunt slammed the back of his head into his attacker's snout,smashing it flat and driving one of the bony horns back into the thing's brain.When the wizard dropped back to his work site, the other dragonmen fell overeach other to find someone else to attack.
Then it happened.
A trio of dragonmen spotted the hidden shelter and,battering a pair of human defenders aside with their powerful wings, chargedfor the children. The first warrior scrambled to his feet and rushed afterthem, shattering his brittle sword against the back of a thick reptilian skull.
The other Vaasan grabbed one of Melegaunt's glassswords. He sliced one dragonman's legs out from beneath him, then cleaved asecond's spine on the backstroke and ran the blade through the third one'sheart from behind. As the last saurian crashed to his knees, the warrior letout an anguished gasp. He stumbled back clutching at his heart, and one of thewomen in the shelter wailed in despair, and cried out his name. But he did notfall. Instead, his hair and beard went as white as snow. Theswarthiness drained from his face and his skin turned as pallid as ivory, andwhen he turned back to the battle, his eyes were as dead and black as those ofthe bog people, and the sword in his hand had lost its crystal translucence. Itwas as dark and glossy as Melegaunt's, with no hint at all of the shadowfibers embedded in its heart.
A dragon man stepped out of the mad whirl, thrustingat the warrior's heart with an oaken spear. The Vaasan brought his sword up toblock and slashed through the shaft as though it was a twig, then he smileddarkly, opened his attacker across the chest, and waded after more victims.
His success inspired another warrior to snatch one ofthe weapons, and a woman in the shelter grabbed one to defend her children froman approaching dragonman. They killed their first enemies and underwenttransformations similar to the first sword-taker, then they, too, began to cuta swath through the attacking saurians. A dozen dragonmen leaped into the air,angling for the rack of deadly swords. They were met by a like number ofVaasans, all pulling weapons off the hangers and putting them to good use.