At last, Sandrine scurried away from him and perched against the wall, sitting on her heels which clung to the stone. There she paused and cradled Lidda like a child, smoothing her hair before tasting the skin of her neck with a long, dark tongue. She bared her fangs and looked down at Tordek.
"Give us the hammer."
Tordek hesitated. At a roar from Gulo, he glanced back to glimpse Vadania running from Zagreb as the beast fell toward her with his long spear braced to impale the druid. She twisted away at the last instant, but the wicked tip of the weapon caught her on the hip and spun her to the ground. Gulo charged after him, stopping only to place his big body over Vadania's writhing form. She did not cry out, but her agony was plain to see.
"Give it to us!" hissed Sandrine. To emphasize her point, she bit hard on Lidda's throat. The halfling did not scream but gasped a sigh as much of unexpected pleasure as pain.
Tordek dropped his axe and took the hammer into his hand. The thrill of its war-fervor once more ran up his arm and into his heart, where its pulsing beat spoke urgently.
"I'll kill you," he murmured in an unfamiliar voice. He raised his arm to hurl the weapon, heedless of Lidda's peril.
"Don't!" shouted Devis. He threw himself from the wall, but not toward Sandrine. Instead he leaped at the chains dangling from the huge pipes on the ceiling. He caught one as he fell, and his weight pulled open the louvers with a tooth-thrilling shriek. Dust poured down along with glittering glass fragments, and a beam of pure, white light shot down to fall upon the plaza floor.
"Spite!" screamed Sandrine, recoiling from the light.
Devis swung his legs and aimed for the next chain. He grabbed it and opened another of what he had named "light vents," sending a second brilliant sunbeam into the hall.
Sandrine dropped Lidda and scrambled away on all fours.
Tordek rushed forward, dropping his weapon and shield as he threw out his arms to catch her. He was an instant too slow, but he dived forward and put his body beneath her before she struck. Even her miniscule weight felt like a boulder falling from such a height, but he spared her unprotected skull from a rap on the unyielding floor. Lidda moaned and shook her head dazedly.
Above them, Devis whooped and swung from chain to chain, calling forth another shaft of sunlight with every tug. The fifth beam fell directly on Sandrine. Flame burst over her in a brief corona. She shrieked and threw herself to the floor to escape it. Smoking, she rose to her feet and fled toward the bridge. The monstrous wolverine barred her way, so she turned instead to plunge silently over the precipice and away.
Vadania shouted another warning, and Tordek saw Zagreb swooping down toward the hammer he had left behind. In an instant, the monster would have it in his grasp.
Tordek roared and reached for the hammer. "You have never held it. It is mine!"
At Tordek's call, the hammer flew out from under the half-dragon's grasp and into Tordek's outstretched hand. Triumph swelled in his chest, his hungry eyes searched for a foe to murder. High above the plaza, Zagreb soared back up to wheel amid the dusty shafts of white light.
Tordek calculated the dragon-ogre's course with a cruel leer upon his lips. As his foe approached the right spot, he threw every ounce of his body into hurling Andaron's hammer. The weapon left his gauntleted hand with a hellish shriek. Its red corona blurred and turned violet, then indigo as it flew straight at its target. The weapon smashed the long spear clutched in Zagreb's claws. That terrific impact sent the half-dragon tumbling in mid-air before the hammer arced around and raced back to its master's hand.
Zagreb fell like a meteor, the cruel hands steaming and bruised to blackness. No sooner had he hit the ground than a long ton of furious wolverine smothered him. Gulo raked and bit, then tore at the foe again as he trumpeted his warrior's glee. Beneath him, already wounded by the fall, Zagreb drew his legs up to protect his belly and covered his face with his massive arms. Within seconds his limbs sagged with ribbons of torn flesh. Still, he kicked back with such hell-borne might that Gulo lurched away, briefly stunned.
Vadania ran to aid her gigantic friend as the maimed Zagreb staggered to his feet, a trail of dark blood steaming in his wake. Tordek hastened to join them in dragging their wounded foe to his death, but the half-dragon was too close to his escape. Like his sinister ally before him, he threw himself off the edge of the plaza, into the yawning chasm.
They all heard the snap of leathery wings as the half-dragon took to the air once more, this time far below them.
"Hurry!" Devis called from the wall. He climbed down to join Lidda at the door she had opened. Even as she finished beguiling the tumblers, she slumped against the bard, exhausted from her ordeal. Devis held her up, and together they waited impatiently for the others to catch up. When Tordek arrived, Devis nodded toward the hammer. It was radiating enough light to rival the natural sunlight that fell from the mirrored pipes above.
"Impressive," said the bard.
"Magnificent," agreed Tordek, admiring the hammer in his grip. "A weapon worthy of the greatest heroes."
"I thought you didn't like that word," said Lidda. She was obviously trying to put on a brave face, but her head wobbled slightly, and her voice was wan. Her eyes were sunken, and the skin of her face was almost translucently pale.
Tordek looked at her with an expression of deep vexation tempered by concern. Rather than forgo his ire, he frowned at her and turned away.
"Don't forget your axe," said the bard.
Momentarily confused, Tordek looked back at the trusty blade he had carried for so many years, abandoned on the plaza behind him. For an instant, he felt a vague regret, as though he had performed some heinous transgression on a long-forgotten vow. The pang of guilt quickly evaporated in a hot gush of pride for his new weapon, the hammer of Andaron. Tordek shrugged. He was no longer interested in carrying the inferior war axe.
He realized everyone was staring at him.
"You aren't thinking of keeping it, are you?" asked Lidda. "You're the one who made us swear."
"We're here to destroy it," said Devis, "aren't we?"
Tordek looked to the elf for support, but Vadania just looked back at him, her eyes full of trust.
Tordek stomped back to retrieve his old axe, resenting it more and more with every step. By the time he returned, the others were trying hard not to look at him. The effect was even worse than if they had stared at him.
"Shut up," he said to no one in particular, but no one had said a word.
THE ARMS OF ANDARON
They raced through the halls, heedless of further traps and sentries. Their only nod to stealth was to put their lights away, using the sparse torches and braziers the goblins left burning as their guides.
While many of the goblins must be searching for them below, Tordek had no doubt that at least one of their recent foes had survived to warn Hargrimm of their imminent arrival. Rather than listen at doors and skulk through corridors, they rushed through portals and barred them from the opposite side in a slim hope of slowing the inevitable pursuit from search parties they had bypassed.
At last they encountered a small group of goblins guarding a passage. For an instant, the savage humanoids snarled and raised their weapons, but their courage quickly dissolved as the foes rushed toward them. Those few that stood to fight did not stand long. Those that ran fell with arrows in their backs. One that survived the initial assault made the mortal mistake of moaning as Gulo lumbered by. The wolverine paused only long enough to crush the goblin's head between his jaws with a perfunctory crack.
Past that light screen of defenders, they found few more impediments to their journey to the upper level. They approached the highest bridge warily, scanning the ceilings and walls as carefully as the floor ahead of them.