They said little more, trying to rest and gather their strength for what lay ahead. All the time they felt that, at the edge of the poor light, something crouched, eager to pounce on their first movements. When something did at length slip from out of the darkness, they were alert, as one, but it was Ezrekuul.
“The Murughel leaders are close to the pyramid of Sethis. They have their own guards, but most of their forces are watching the place in the Madwood where they think you will emerge. We have not seen the Valenar girl, but there are chambers under the place where the leaders wait. Perhaps she is there.”
Fallarond nodded. He turned to Vaddi and Ardal. “It is the most likely place for them to have imprisoned her.”
“Then let’s begin there,” said Ardal. “If we take their leaders, everything else will follow.”
Like phantoms, the company moved out. Fallarond followed Ezrekuul, who squeezed his way through and over the ruins, taking the small band deeper and deeper into the city, down in its weed-choked canyons, through its broken walkways, across courtyards where flagstones leaned upward and where the ever-probing roots had taken their remorseless hold on everything. In the surrounding ruins, on either side, the other creatures moved forward, silent as clouds.
“Ahead,” said Ezrekuul, ducking under an overhanging lintel. “Up stairs another parapet. Beyond it, place where Murughel leaders wait. Guards at foot of stairs.”
Fallarond persuaded him to create a diversion with his unseen companions, a distraction that would buy precious minutes upon the parapets. When Ezrekuul had gone to carry out these instructions, Fallarond called his company on, slowly rounding the last of the columns. Beyond, they saw the stairs and the two Murughel who guarded them. One of the Deathguard took two arrows from his quiver, the points of which were tipped with light, the same energy that imbued the elf blades.
Stepping out from cover, the elf warrior released the two arrows in succession, the speed of his movement defying the eye. The two Murughel were knocked off their feet by the impact of the arrows, each of which had found an eye and driven straight through the skull. Fallarond was first to the fallen, and with rapid strokes of his blade he removed their heads. Almost at the same moment, some distance to their left, they heard a commotion, a dismal wailing, like the sound of souls in torment. The creatures had begun their diversion. In response to it, there came sounds from up on the parapets.
Motioning for the company to follow, Fallarond led them up the stairs, silent as a cat. As they climbed, a bank of cloud shifted aside to reveal three bright moons, and they realized that once they were on the flat top of the building, they would be exposed by their brilliance. They could no longer rely on the cover of the Madwood and its enclosing embrace.
On the battlements, hunched down, they spread out. As they looked up over the wall, they could see a level area, in the center of which a few columns supported the last of what had once been a massive roof. Whole sections of this had fallen in, but in the protected remains of the building, a group of figures had gathered. There were a number of Murughel, one of whom was hooded. Beside him stood another, taller figure. Even in this light, Vaddi was able to recognize his white face, his scarlet eyes.
“Caerzaal,” he breathed.
16
From the Dark Dimension
The Deathguard moved as a unit, each of them unleashing a dozen arrows in a blur of movement. Vaddi and Nyam were staggered at the speed at which they drew and fired. In a matter of seconds, scores of the energy-tipped missiles had fallen in a steady stream on the Murughel that lined the parapets of the building. Many were pierced fatally and toppled into the darkness. Others fell back inside, wounded, while some were spared death only to turn and face a second wave. Vaddi, Nyam, and Ardal leaped from cover and ran at the enemy, the Deathguard close behind them, unleashing a final hail of arrows before they, too, drew their swords.
Caerzaal and the hooded Murughel leader raced from the flat roof, crossing a narrow bridge that led up on to the higher top of the pyramid beyond it. There were other Murughel lining it, and they closed in to protect their masters. Vaddi’s sword ripped into the first of the Murughel, cleaving him from skull to breastbone as he used all the ferocity his anger could muster. Beside him, Nyam used his own blade to deadly effect, sweeping two of the Murughel off the span and down into the hungry darkness far below. The creatures fell in silence, like rag dolls torn apart by the fury of the offensive, but something unseen in the depths fed noisily on the fallen.
The Deathguard followed their initial assault so swiftly that they closed off the span to the pyramid and cut down almost all of the Murughel upon the building. They formed a semi-circle and waited for the next wave to follow. As they did, Vaddi, Nyam, and Ardal raced up to the pyramid’s vast, flat top. In its center was a gaping, circular hole, like the maw of a monstrous beast, a shaft that plumbed the deeps of the world. Beyond this huge orifice, waiting like priests caught in some act of worship, Caerzaal and the hooded Murughel stood, framed by the glow of moons that now flooded the whole area. On all sides of the pyramid, the Madwood seemed once again to close in, the vague shape of its bizarre skyline shifting, edging forward, forming a shadow audience that overhung events below.
A few last Murughel stood on either side of the abyss, barring the way around it.
“Vaddi d’Orien!” called Caerzaal. “I had no idea you were so reckless. Look around you. You cannot win. You are outnumbered ten to one.”
“I think not,” said Vaddi, gritting his teeth in an evil grin.
Beside him, Nyam was surprised by the sheer power that was almost dripping from the youth. He had become possessed by it. Nyam saw a terrible danger in this, but there was no time for deliberation.
On the steps below, the Deathguard unleashed another flight of arrows, cutting down a fresh wave of Murughel who had come up from the lower city to defend their masters. Although they killed and maimed scores of them, the Deathguard were hard pressed to hold the steps and were being forced back up them in fierce sword fighting, but they did hold, refusing to give an inch once they had reached the top of the stair. Below, the Murughel crammed together, trying to use their massed ranks as a battering ram to force their way up, but the Deathguard’s blades ripped and tore into them, scattering each successive line.
“Such a sacrifice,” Caerzaal taunted. “You should be with me, Vaddi.”
“Where is the girl?” said Ardal, his eyes blazing.
“She is not for you,” said Caerzaal.
Nyam had been looking around the pyramid’s top, beyond the huge orifice. He pointed to a small, square opening. “That must lead below.”
“She may be there. I’ll see,” said Ardal, and before anyone could stop him, he dashed across the slabs, cutting aside a Murughel who attempted to bar his way.
“I’ll go with him,” said Vaddi.
“Wait!” said Fallarond, gripping his arm. “It may be a crap. We must deal with these.”
He nodded to Caerzaal and his grim companions. Behind him, the Deathguard still held the stair, though the heaving mass of Murughel forces threatened to break through the small company at any moment.
Vaddi, desperate to find Zemella, would have ignored Fallarond, but the Murughel around the pit also moved forward, determined to overcome Fallarond and his remaining force. Swords clashed anew as the battle was joined, and this time Vaddi. Nyam, and the others found themselves fighting a more resolute enemy. These Murughel seemed empowered with demonic energy, fuelled by the sorcery of Caerzaal and his hooded companion. The night air sizzled with light, fire from the swords caught and held on the shields and blades of the Murughel. Vaddi tried to see the opening down which Ardal had disappeared but dared not let his attention waver. He needed all his power to stave off the flashing blades that sought to hamstring him. He knew that Caerzaal’s design was still to capture and not kill him, and that alone gave him an edge.