"You're going to use the stone's magic?" gasped Malik. "An excellent plan!"
Galaeron shrugged. "The best I can think of, but it might be better than waiting for the phaerimm to find us here."
"And if it fails?" asked Jhingleshod. A whirling cloud of ash cloaked the hand holding Wulgreth's cinders. "The phaerimm will kill you."
Galaeron nodded grimly, then glanced out Aris's tunnel and saw one of the distant cones coming straight toward them. He arranged a circle of shadow silk on the face of the cavern wall. "Anything you can do to slow them would certainly help."
"Help you," said Jhingleshod. "If the phaerimm are as powerful as you say, perhaps they could find Wulgreth's phylactery."
The shadow silk slipped from Galaeron's fingers, then vanished into the silvery pool. He turned, slowly, and said, "It seems to me that such selfishness is how you became undead in the first place."
"I do not think promise breakers have any right to rebuke others."
Jhingleshod turned toward Aris's tunnel, but found his way blocked by Malik.
"Selfishness is not always a bad thing," said the little man. "Especially when everyone can be made to see that their own ends are best accomplished by working together. I am sure that if we all put our heads together, we will find the solution lying right in front of us."
Galaeron shook his head urgently, but found the line to Malik's sight blocked by the iron knight's huge form. Forcing himself to move calmly so he did not alarm Jhingleshod, he stepped sideways. Malik continued, "Wulgreth is certainly a trickster, and I have been in the counting rooms of enough tricksters to know that they enjoy hiding their treasures in plain sight."
Galaeron shook his head desperately, and when Malik did not see him, he called out, "Malik!"
Jhingleshod raised his hand to silence Galaeron. This one is making some sense. Perhaps we will can help each other yet"
"If I were Wulgreth, I would have hidden my life-force in the most obvious place," said Malik. "Perhaps in the pyramid itself."
"Would Melegaunt not have detected that from inside?" interrupted Jhingleshod, growing more excited.
Galaeron caught Vala's eye and nodded toward the tunnel. She turned to look, and seeing the phaerimm still approaching slowly, gave him a reassuring nod. "Maybe in the butte itself," said Malik. "That*s possible," said Jhingleshod.
Letting slip a silent sigh of relief, Galaeron turned to the wall and pressed a fresh circle of shadow silk to the stone.
"What about Jhingleshod himself?" asked Vala. "That might explain why he can't die." "What an excellent thought! Or it might even be that…"
Galaeron's stomach sank as the seraph let his sentence trail off. He turned around and found Malik staring at the Karsestone. "Be what?" demanded Jhingleshod.
Malik's mouth snapped shut, and for a moment Galaeron thought the little man might actually cover his mistake. Then Jhingleshod demanded again, "Or what?"
"Nothing," Malik said, but he seemed unable to stop there. His mouth twisted into a lopsided grimace, and more words began to spill out "Only that it occurred to me that the thing Wulgreth valued most is right here."
Jhingleshod fell quiet, then turned toward Galaeron. "You were going to take it You knew, and you were still going to take it"
"I don't know anything." Galaeron finished his circle and stepped away from the wall. "And I don't really see what difference-" "Liar!"
Jhingleshod's axe shot up so quickly Galaeron barely had time to fling himself into the pool before the rusty blade came tumbling past, spraying magic links of elven chain mail in every direction, and the weapon clanged off the wall.
Jhingleshod was already following his weapon across the chamber, hurling himself toward Galaeron. A black sword caught the iron knight from behind, slashing through his armor and cleaving his yellowed shoulder down to his armpit. Roaring in fury, he spun, slamming an iron elbow into Vala's head and bouncing her off the Karsestone. Her eyes rolled back, and she would have fallen, had Jhingleshod's hand not clamped her throat. His fingers started to close, and a wet rasp gurgled from Vala's mouth, "No!"
Galaeron leveled a hand at the knight's iron back and uttered a mystic syllable. A familiar surge of cold power rushed up through his body, then the silky, liquid fire of the Karsestone's whole magic flooded into him from the silver pool. He gasped in surprise, and Jhingleshod started toward Galaeron, dragging Vala after him. The elf's arm swelled visibly, the muscles convulsing so hard he thought his elbow would snap.
The spell erupted from his hand in a blinding flash of gold light, blasting the nails off his fingers and scorching the tips, then streaking across the cavern into the knight's stomach. There was a deafening clang and the mordant smell of molten iron. Jhingleshod's legs flew in one direction and his torso in the other, eyes bulging and locked on Galaeron's face. The upper half came down a dozen paces away and skipped across the pool's surface, then rolled to its stomach and sank beneath the surface. Galaeron started toward Vala, who was stooped over holding her throat, gasping down breath between harsh coughs.
"Galae… ron!" Takari's voice was so weak he barely heard it above Vala's wheezing. "Phae-r-rim!"
Placing a hand under Vala's elbow as he passed, he looked across the chamber to Aris's tunnel. Takari was draped across the entrance, pointing down the passage. Outside, two cone-shaped blurs were streaking toward the butte. Galaeron pushed Vala toward the crimson whirlpool in the cavern's far corner. Time for your plan, I think," Galaeron said. He turned to ask Malik to take Takari and found the seraph already wading toward her. To Galaeron's surprise, the little man reached for his treasure coffers instead. Galaeron blasted the coffers with a lightning bolt, blackening his fingertips some more and strewing the tunnel with gems-Malik whirled with fire in his eyes.
Galaeron merely pointed at Takari and said, "If she dies, so do you."
"As you wish." Malik grabbed her and started toward the whirlpool. "But I will have my fortune from you!"
Galaeron paid him no attention, for the phaerimm were so close now he could make out the sticklike arms surrounding their mouths. He considered staying to ambush them inside, but suspected that even with the power of the Karsestone, he would be little more than a gnat to a pair of wasps. He turned back into the cavern, nearly falling as he tripped over Jhingleshod's disembodied legs, then pointed at the shadow silk on the far wall and spoke an incantation.
Again, he was filled with the silky fire of the Karsestone's magic, the power of the magic turning the skin on his hand black and leathery. The rock wall drew away from the dark circle, fashioning a long tunnel that was, if not as elegant as Aris's, nearly as straight. Turning away even before it broke into the light, Galaeron touched a hand to the Karsestone and uttered a levitation spell. He was beginning to enjoy the feel of the boulder's magic, the power of it flowing through his arm, even the searing tingle it left in his hand.
In response to his summons, the Karsestone rose from the pool. He glanced out Aris's tunnel and saw the phaerimm still coming, so close now he could make out the barbs on their tails. Galaeron started toward the corner, where Vala was already vanishing down the whirlpool. Malik and Takari were close behind, swinging around the rim as the current drew them in.
Galaeron and the Karsestone were a dozen paces behind when an iron hand grasped his ankle. He cried out, then saw Takari glance in his direction before she and Malik vanished down the whirlpool. Galaeron tried to kick free, then stomped down on the unseen wrist.
A second hand snatched at the attacking leg. He jerked away and lunged toward the whirlpool, dragging Jhingleshod's top half along with him. His captured foot twisted, then Galaeron felt-almost heard-a bone snap. His ankle erupted in pain and buckled.