As he studied the towerlike shape, the water stirred. Before he could draw breath to shout a warning, a figure rose suddenly from the water, and of the water.
Shaped more like a giant bear than a human, its form was dark and brackish, and small fierce fish schooled frantically within the watery body.
Matteo shouted an alert and pointed to the magical creature. "Water elemental!"
For a moment the fighters paused. Such creatures were fought with spells and weapons of magic, and they had none.
Andris pulled a small bottle from his bag and shouted a command. Matteo quickly lit a torch and waited until Andris and several others had tossed the contents of their bottles into the fetid water.
He dropped the torch, and the swamp gas exploded into a ring of bright flame, which quickly engulfed the water elemental. With a roar like that of an angry sea, the creature fought to beat through the flames. Its body began to dissolve with a searing hiss. Clouds of steam billowed upward. Finally the creature could take no more and disappeared back into the pool.
Matteo and Andris regarded each other somberly. "A powerful wizard could summon an elemental, but no such person could survive here for long. Yet there is much magic here," Matteo observed.
"The water elemental was a creature of the plane of water," Andris responded, seeing Matteo's reasoning. "The gate must be near."
"And likely the laraken as well. Without Tzigone to draw it away, we will have to destroy it here," Matteo reasoned. "Then Kiva can close the gate-if that is indeed her intention."
Andris gave him an odd look. "We should split the men into two ranks. If we spread out, we may be able to flank the laraken with an all-out attack. You take the second troop."
They scattered into the swamp, creeping through the shallows and slipping through openings in the vines. The water became less fetid as they went, until it was as pure and clear as a mountain stream. One of the men bent to dip up some water in his cupped hands. Matteo gave him a quick jab with the blunt end of his pick, then shook his head sternly.
It was a moment's distraction, no more. Matteo didn't see the enormous green-black hands that slid through the curtain of vines several paces before him. But his attention snapped back when a loud ripping sound shook the swamp and echoed through him like lightning and thunder combined.
And then the laraken appeared, darting through the opening in the thick jungle vegetation.
"Mother of Mystra!" whispered Matteo.
The monster was more than twice the size of a man and hideous beyond description. Eels writhed about its huge skull like snakes on a medusa's head. Ears more pointed than an elf's rose on either side of a demonic face. Long, needle-sharp fangs dripped with luminous green. The laraken's massive back was hunched, giving it a furtive appearance. But there was nothing tentative about its movements. It came on with swift, darting jolts, zigzagging like a startled lizard.
Not startled, Matteo realized. Hunting. But what the laraken needed, none of them had.
Andris gestured for the first attack. Ten of his men nocked arrows and let fly, sending them whistling about the creature's head. The laraken swatted them aside as it might dismiss a mildly annoying swarm of gnats. The archers kept the arrows coming to distract the laraken's attention. Ten more men darted in, their long pikes jabbing at the creature's body. Again and again they struck, but none of the blades could pierce the thick greenish hide.
The laraken lifted an enormous clawed foot and stamped at one of the annoying spears. The weapon shattered and the laraken's foot bore the spear wielder to the ground. The creature shifted its weight onto that foot, crushing the man with a terrible wet, popping sound. Its other foot, dexterous as a monkey's hand, darted out and snatched up another fighter. The monster kicked out, sending the man flying toward a deep pool. Immediately the water began to roil as the jungle fish swarmed and fed. Andris called the surviving pikesmen into retreat as the laraken threw back its head and sniffed the air with a loud, grating snuffle. Its head snapped toward Andris, and it let out a shriek of triumph.
It came steadily on, swatting aside the pikesmen and archers as it advanced on Andris. Its gaunt form began to fill as it moved.
Matteo motioned to the men with him flank the creature. As he ran toward the laraken, he realized that his friend was turning pale. No, not pale-translucent! He could see the outlines of the trees behind Andris taking shape through his friend's form.
Understanding jolted him. Kiva had spoken truth the day she took Andris from the Jordaini College. He did possess a certain innate magic, if only that sleeping in his elf blood. But that was dangerous enough, and Kiva knew it well. She sacrificed Andris to the laraken, using his battle skills for as long as they lasted.
Frantically Matteo nocked an arrow and let fly, shouting for his men to do likewise. The laraken ignored the tiny missiles. They threw their spears and pikes, but the weapons bounced off the tough hide.
Matteo redoubled his pace and sprinted over the crushed foliage that lay in the laraken's wake. He leaped onto the creature's prehensile tail and ran up its back, using the bumps of its spine as footholds. He hooked the fingers of his right hand over the protruding shoulder blade. With his left hand, he pulled a dagger and stabbed again and again.
He might as well have been a stirge attaching a stone tower. Not even this attack drew the laraken's attention away from his friend.
The monster was closing fast. Andris pulled out his sword and lofted it, prepared to face the monster. He jolted as his eyes fell upon his translucent fist.
Matteo hoisted himself up to peer over the laraken's shoulder. "Flee, Andris! Kiva has betrayed you," he shouted desperately.
Andris met his eyes and shook his head, but he didn't deny the truth of Matteo's words. How could he, when he was all but transparent?
Not far away, in the tallest tree she could find, a grim-faced Tzigone watched the battle.
"Fools," muttered Tzigone, using the old term that was strangely close to the word jordain. "Damned if those idiots weren't well named."
Wrath strengthened her resolve. She began to sing, calling to the laraken in a voice that echoed through the swamp and set the crystalline ghosts around her vibrating in sympathy. An eery keening filled the swamp, as if the voices of the dead joined the song in harmony. Tzigone kept on, singing in a voice that was full and rich and sure.
The laraken turned, uncertain. It began to move toward the compelling song, paying no more attention to the human on its back and the humans that pelted it with weapons than if they'd been mildly irritating flies.
Matteo let go of his hold and slid down the creature's back. He rolled and leaped to his feet. Breaking into a run, he outpaced the laraken and spun to face it, standing directly in its path as he drew the unfamiliar long sword Andris had lent him.
The creature plunged right over him, unimpressed. Matteo fell and then leaped up, stabbing upward with all his strength.
The sword plunged into the soft hide where the leg joined the laraken's body. With a scream like that of a titanic eagle, the laraken swiveled quickly away from the attack.
It was the worst thing it could have done, and the one thing Matteo hoped it would do. He braced the sword, holding it firm as the creature's startled reaction tore the flesh within.
The force of the laraken's movement ripped the sword from Matteo's hand, but not before the damage was done.
Matteo rolled clear and came up with his daggers in hand, determined to keep the creature away from both of his friends.
Tzigone saw her own determination mirrored in Matteo's dark eyes. She pounded the tree limb with frustration, but she kept singing. If she had her way, she would summon two dark and terrible creatures this day.
* * * * *
In a tower room in a village on the edge of the swamp, Kiva leaned over her scrying bowl and watched as the battle played out. When Matteo struck a near-fatal blow, she gasped as if her own flesh had been pierced.