Free of her prison, Glissa got to her feet and ran, Bosh right beside her. Behind them, Glissa could hear the walkway complain as the centipede heaved again. Metal shrieked, and the creature let out a high-pitched squeal. The elf didn’t know what it meant, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t good.
Up ahead, Slobad was waiting in the opening between the pipes, but he was distracted by something. His eyes were glued to the ceiling, and he was wringing his hands. Glissa followed his gaze.
“Oh, no.”
There, seemingly stuck in the hole Bosh had punched through the pipe on the ceiling, hung Al-Hayat. His back legs were tangled up. His front paws flailed, and his whole body swung. With each swing, the wolf lifted his head to bite at something near his tangled back feet. Back and forth he went, and Glissa watched, unable to do anything for her friend.
Al-Hayat caught whatever it was that he’d been trying to reach, and the wolf slipped free, plunging toward the underground lake.
“Bosh!” shouted Glissa over her shoulder. “We’ve got to keep the centipede busy long enough for Al-Hayat to get out of the lake.”
“How?”
She stopped running and turned to face the golem. “We keep its attention focused on us.”
Over Bosh’s shoulder, Glissa could see that the centipede had retreated a bit. It followed her and the golem with its beady eyes, but it hadn’t given immediate chase. Perhaps Bosh’s attack had been more damaging than it appeared. Glissa could clearly see the blank spot on the creature’s left side where it was now missing several of its limbs. Still, in the grand scheme, the damaged blades were only a tiny fraction of the centipede’s legs. It still had hundreds, if not thousands more.
Its attention wholly on the elf and the golem, the big bug clearly hadn’t seen the falling wolf, and this gave Glissa a small amount of confidence.
“Hey, bug face,” she shouted, waving her hands over her head. “We’re over here. A tasty meal, just the way you like it.”
Bosh stopped beside her and turned. “Do you really think it is a good idea to taunt such a creature?”
“It’s not chasing us.”
The centipede stared at her, unmoving-no, it was moving. Now that she looked at it again, Glissa realized that the creature was rising higher from the water. Its head rose farther into the air, and its body just kept coming and coming-no end in sight.
“No wonder its not chasing us. It doesn’t have to,” she said, gripping the hilt of her sword tight in her hand. “It can reach us from anywhere.”
As if the centipede heard the elf’s words, it reared its head back and flung itself at the pair.
“Jump,” shouted the elf.
Both she and the golem leaped into the lake. Glissa’s head dropped below the surface, and she could feel the dull thud of the centipede’s head impacting the walkway.
Blindly she swam back toward the edge of the lake, staying underwater the whole way. The trick was going to be surfacing without coming up underneath the bug’s scissoring arms. There was very little more she could do other than guess. When her hand reached the edge, she slid two full arm lengths to her right then poked the tip of her sword from the water. It hit nothing, and she lifted her head.
She had guessed right.
The creature had impacted the walkway just to her left. Its giant head lay in the indentation its smashing attack had made, and it struggled again to free itself.
Tossing her sword up onto the shore, Glissa took the opportunity to pull herself from the water. It was a struggle. She was tired now, and even breathing seemed like a tremendous effort. Finally, she got out and onto her feet. Picking up her sword, she scooted along the wall, keeping her back to the pipes. The centipede, so busy pulling its head out, didn’t immediately notice her, and she rested against the wall, scanning the water for Al-Hayat.
The last time she looked, he’d been falling. She hadn’t seen him land, but she knew it would be near where she saw Slobad hit. And sure enough, she spotted the wolf in the middle of the lake dog paddling toward her.
At least he was headed in the right direction she thought, as she turned her attention back to the centipede. The creature had lifted its head again and was scanning the walkway. It hadn’t spotted her yet, but it would. Both she and Bosh needed to be-where was Bosh?
Glissa scanned the walkway and the edge of the lake. He was nowhere. She’d lost him when they jumped into the lake. She was pretty sure he’d made it out from under the centipede. His flattened body wasn’t smashed to the bottom of the indentation the big bug had left with its last slam. Where could he be?
Just then bodies began to rain from the sky. Falling from the hole in the pipes, four human-shaped creatures flailed. Each of them was covered in the same oily sludge that Glissa was. They plummeted toward the lake, right in front of the centipede.
This time the big bug saw the falling creatures, and it turned to watch them fall. As it spun its head, Glissa caught a glimpse of something shiny on its back.
Her jaw dropped. “Bosh.”
The iron golem hadn’t jumped into the water. He had jumped onto the centipede’s back, and now he was climbing toward the creature’s head.
Slobad was suddenly at her side. “Crazy golem gonna get killed, huh?”
“Let’s hope not.”
Halfway to the lake, the falling figures slowed their decent and began to float in midair.
“It’s Bruenna,” shouted Slobad, jumping up and down and pointing.
Glissa looked up at where the goblin was pointing. Sure enough, though her face was covered in slime, it was clearly Bruenna. Even from here, the elf could see that the human wizard was chanting something, and she hoped it was a spell that would destroy or immobilize the centipede.
The bug watched the flying humans, its scissoring arms opening and closing in anticipation. It reared back and lunged.
Glissa cringed, and Slobad squeezed her leg.
The flying wizards all darted away, avoiding the creature’s bladed arms. But the rush of air from the centipede’s attack knocked the whole group of them sideways in twisting gulf-streams. To Glissa they looked like a swarm of flies being swatted by a giant.
The swamp creature, its head bent, its body curled over like a question mark, tried to steady itself. Bosh held onto its back for dear life, pressing his face against the centipede’s metallic hide and squeezing with all of his might.
The bug straightened itself and scanned the room. Bosh took advantage of the momentary lull, climbing higher up to reach the back of its head. Grabbing hold of the centipede’s wavering antennae with both hands, the iron golem pushed away from the bug’s body with his powerful legs. He swung out then back, gaining momentum as he came, and kicked the creature with his right foot.
A loud clang rocketed through the chamber, echoing off the walls and ringing off the pipes. The centipede whipped its head side to side, and Bosh flailed around, still holding tight to the creature’s antennae.
Next to the flailing beast, the huge iron golem looked like a child’s toy. Hanging on for dear life, his body was flung this way and that. His limbs flapped wildly, and the only evidence that he wasn’t already dead from the thrashing was the fact that he still clung to the centipede. Each time the bug twisted in a different direction, Bosh’s body struck its hide, clanging like a tolling bell.
The swamp beast continued to flop, showing no sign of slowing, and the rest of its body got into the act. The length still under the dark waters thrashed, turning the thick underground lake into a frothing mess. Swamp water flooded up onto the walkway, washing against the walls and splashing up on the already wet companions.
Bruenna and her wizards steered as far away from the angered beast as they could, coming down on the pathway beside Glissa and Slobad, not far from the tunnel leading from this room.