"Out of the way, you idiot!" Anders yelled. He reached up and started to haul at the great stone slab that covered the hidden stairway.
The priest gaped in indecision, and then something outside made a kind of long, wheezing grunt and slithered close. Jack couldn't see it, not with Tharzon and Anders and the priest tangled up at the head of the stairway, but Thieron could.
"Tyr's hammer! A dragon of the deep! Durevin, flee!"
From outside Jack heard hissing and the soft scrape of scales on stone. Suddenly a great roar sounded, and a man screamed high and horribly. A sword dropped down the staircase, ringing as it clattered from step to step to land at Jack's feet. Half the length of the blade was gone, leaving a charred, corroded fragment that smoked and sizzled. He looked up again, just in time to see Anders, Tharzon, and Thieron the priest come down the stairs in a bouncing, swearing knot of limbs and weapons. He tried to scramble out of the way but was caught and knocked flat by Tharzon as the dwarf rolled down the steps. A hard-driven elbow knocked the wind out of him, and the collision spoiled his spell of invisibility. Jack saw stars.
When his vision cleared, he found himself looking up the now-empty staircase at a great crocodile-like snout and gleaming yellow fangs. The dragon was a small one, as these things go, probably not much bigger than four or five draft horses lined up nose to tail, but its head was as big as a sixty-gallon tun and its eyes gleamed with intelligence and malice.
"More rats in the hidey-hole," the creature hissed. "Don't worry. I'll be down in just a moment."
Jack scrambled backward on his hams about ten feet, staggered to his feet, and ran for his life. He risked one quick look over his shoulder and saw the monster gliding down the staircase. It was very snakelike in build, with no limbs to interfere with its passage and a pair of great black gleaming wings that folded back along its length. He picked up the pace and passed Tharzon and then the priest Thieron, joining Anders as he raced up the stair at the other end of the passageway that led up to the vault.
The three thieves and the Red Falcon piled into the treasure room in an explosion of armor and oaths. Brunn and Maressa drew weapons and leaped forward to defend their find against the invasion of strangers, but Anders and Tharzon ignored them, instantly turning to the wheellike door and kicking out the spike in order to roll it closed. The great valve boomed shut just as the slithering dragon-snake appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
"Come out, come out!" the creature laughed. "I think you have locked yourselves in, little mice. I shall be most cross if I have to come in after you!"
Jack, Anders, and Tharzon turned away from the door only to find the Red Falcons lined up against them. Zandria stepped forward, her face livid.
"What in the hell is going on here?" she demanded.
Jack started to answer, but Thieron spoke first. "Durevin and I were standing watch, when all of the sudden the dwarf and the big one came running up the outer passage, screaming 'Dragon! dragon!' At first I thought it some kind of ruse or ambush, but they ran right by us into the hidden staircase. When I looked up again, I saw what they were running from-a deep dragon, as fast as a racehorse and as big as a coach." The priest's voice faltered. "Durevin tried to check its advance. He had time for two, maybe three swings, and then the creature dissolved him with its breath. He's dead."
The door boomed with a great hollow sound. "That would be the creature just outside the door?" Zandria asked.
"Yes," said Thieron. "I am sorry, Zandria. We didn't have time to do anything but flee."
The mage absorbed the information with an expression of irritation, as if the priest had told her that a dress she liked had been ruined in the wash. "Understood. Everyone, get ready for a fight. The dragon's breath may be powerful enough to eat through the door." Then she turned to Jack and said in a cold voice, "Now what are you doing here? And who are these two?"
"Why, we were engaged in a routine exploration of the upper halls of Sarbreen," said Jack, "when we had the great misfortune of encountering the monster who now batters at our door. Deeming discretion the better part of valor, we chose to search for a more advantageous position to stand our ground. Unfortunately, we fled into the very dead end where your two companions stood guard. We advised them of the situation and took the liberty of using the passage you've found."
" 'Advised us of the situation'?" said Thieron. "You ran past screaming 'dragon'! Or those two did, anyway. I didn't see you until we came down the stair."
"Well, you were advised that there was a dragon in the vicinity, and that we had elected to execute a minor tactical withdrawal," Jack replied. He looked around at the great golden hoard that surrounded them, as if noticing it for the first time. "Dear me! Zandria, by any chance are we standing in the Guilder's Vault?"
"Why yes, Jack, so we are," the mage replied. "I don't doubt that you followed us here quite intentionally."
"Really? Why, I should hope that you were here on some other business altogether, dear Zandria. If you came to the vault without me, well, that would seem to imply that you had decided not to live up to our agreed-upon bargain of two-elevenths of the treasure." Jack allowed himself a smug smile. "Now who was going to steal from whom, I wonder?"
"Choose your words carefully," grated Brunn. He stepped forward. "There are five of us and only three of you, and we're better armed."
Anders met the swordsman's gaze levelly. "I guess we'll find out about that, now, won't we?"
"Silence!" Zandria's voice cracked like a whip. "We all share a much bigger problem. There is a dragon at the door, in case you've forgotten."
"Oh, don't mind me," hissed the dragon, its voice distant and muted through the door. "I am enjoying this tremendously. It's quite uncommon for my prospective meals to argue with each other in this fashion. I'd like to see how it turns out. Do continue."
"If there is anyone on the face of this world that I would rather not be caught in this predicament with," Zandria said, "I think it might be you, Jack Ravenwild. But I cannot change that now, so I suggest that we consider how we might cooperate to get out of this."
"Very well." Jack looked around. "First things first. There are eight of us now here. I suggest eight equal shares, should we survive, and Zandria, you and I as the leaders of our respective parties shall dice for the Orb of Kundugar."
"That's the Orb of Khundrukar, you idiot, and that is completely unacceptable," snapped Zandria.
"On what grounds do you reject my proposal?" Jack said with hurt in his voice. "It's actually quite fair. In fact-"
He was interrupted by a sudden blast outside, muted by the thick door and the dense stone. A faint whiff of something sulfurous tainted the air; the great silver door began to blacken and sizzle ominously.
Zandria snarled in anger, "Damn, I don't think that door will hold. Jack, you and your accomplices have two choices. You can stand and fight alongside us, or you can stand and die like sheep. There's no exit from this chamber, so you're out of places to run."
A small hole appeared in the door; a great black dragon snout rammed into it, buckling the portal and breaking free great, slagged slabs of the door. The dragon drew in its breath, preparing to fill the small room with its horrible corrosive vapors again.
"Wait!" called Jack. "Don't do that. This chamber is filled with treasure."