The monster spun and staggered blindly against a wall, thrashing in the mud with an appalling unwillingness to die. A second monster whirled and flailed with its fist, catching Jus across the shoulder and smashing him against the wall, but the ranger rebounded and hacked through the creature’sarms. The golem shrieked in agony and rage, but the ranger wasted no time. Following through with his sword, he plunged over half the blade through his foe’s chest. The creature staggered and fell.
Burn! Burn!
Cinders sent a bolt of flame thundering into the corridor. One flesh-monster roared and screamed. Another simply put its hands over its eyes. The Justicar dodged a clumsy strike by one of the monsters, split one creature’s shoulder half from its body, then with a second chop almost rippedthe creature in two.
The last remaining abomination made a charge, blundering through the water. Jus hefted his sword and let loose a roar that shook the entire tunnel. Hurling himself into his enemy, the ranger met its punch with a swift slice of his blade. The monster’s arm fell, injured and bleeding. Itflailed the limb at him like a club, battering the Justicar’s shoulder so thatthe bone snapped with an audible crack.
Snarling as he shook away the pain, Jus staggered backward. The flesh monster clenched its fist and rose to smash him to the floor. The ranger kicked the creature in its crotch, and his boot making a sickening sound. The monster pitched forward, and the Justicar hacked his sword down one-handed with stunning force. The flesh monster’s head fell, almost severed from itsneck. Still fighting, it lurched around and punched a wall, shattering the stone. With blood spraying from its neck, the golem came around to make another devastating charge.
The water made footwork nightmarishly awkward. It was a place for blade work and not for dodging. Jus reversed his sword into a backhanded grip, holding it like a huge ice pick as the flesh golem charged. The ranger whipped the sword upward as the golem ripped at him with its remaining arm. The sword sliced, deflecting the monster’s blow and ripping its target from elbow toarmpit.
It all happened in a single fluid blur. Jus pivoted and swung, throwing his entire weight behind the sword. The blade ripped into the golem’s spine as it passed through, and the monster arched, its eyes going wide.Already dead, its momentum carried it forward. The black sword whirled back and hissed into the monsters neck on the uninjured side. Thick as a tree-trunk, the neck was finally sliced through. The golem struck the dungeon wall, and the impact shook the severed head free from its shoulders. Decapitated, the titanic torso struck the passageway, shattering stone blocks and spraying blood until it finally slid into the mire.
His sword dripping blood and his shoulder broken, the Justicar whirled on his companions in an apocalyptic rage.
“Who the hell told you to use a damned fireball?”
Escalla popped into view, hiding behind Polk.
“Sorry!” The girl took cover. “Girlish enthusiasm! The blastwas smaller last time I used it. I swear!”
“You almost killed us all!”
“Hey, don’t sweat it!” Escalla came happily out of hiding. “Iset them up for you. Four in, four down! They mess with us, and they get what’s coming!”
His head swimming, his shoulder broken, and one side of his body a livid bruise, the Justicar shot the girl a seething glance. Polk was looking at him and chewing his moustache.
The Justicar reacted with a growl. “Well?”
Retrieving the fallen slime bottle intact from the mud, the teamster shook his head in disappointment. “You should have fought them in thedoorway one at a time, son, man to monster flashing blades!” The teamster gave asigh. “Backstabbing…”
“…is just not done. Right.” The Justicar slumped againstthe wall and fought to stand. “How many of those damned healing potions do wehave?”
Escalla’s eyes opened wide, and an instant later she was atthe ranger’s side. She ran a hand across his face and asked, “Are you reallyhurt?”
“Maybe.” The man slid down the wall and ended up sitting inthe water. “Get me the healing potion, the big one.”
The barons only sliver of aid had been to provide each of his adventurers with a powerful magic medicine. Escalla pulled a potion from Polk’sload of equipment and grimaced as she heard the Justicar snap his own broken bones into place. She held the potion to his lips and tipped it up to make him drink, her wings fanning his brow delicately.
Pale, Escalla watched as the Justicar breathed hard and let the magic potion do its work.
“Hey, Jus?”
“Yeah?”
“Sorry, man. It seemed a good idea, you know?”
“I know.” The warrior gave a weary sigh. “Just be careful.”
“Sure.” The girl tossed away the empty potion bottle and saton Jus’ knee. She looked up at him for long, quiet moments, watching him inconcern.
“I didn’t know you could be hurt, man.” Escallaruefully wiped at the man’s face. “You’re like a juggernaut, big andindestructible and always there.”
“Take the pain and keep hitting.” Slowly, Jus began breathingmore easily. “First combat lesson worth learning.”
“Hey, that was some pretty sword stuff you were doing,though.” The faerie shook her head. “Great moves, J-man.”
“Thanks. I try.” The ranger opened his eyes and sat up,testing his newly healed shoulder. “Potion’s working.”
“Hoopy.”
The girl patted Cinders’ wet, soggy fur. “Hey, pooch. Youall right?”
All right.
It took few minutes of rest to get the Justicar back on his feet. He explored his shoulder slowly, shook his head, and used one of his few precious spells to heal the lingering damage.
The spell did the trick. Jus almost instantly felt as good as new. Swinging his arms in satisfaction, the big man trod on monster backs and marched into the fire-blackened room.
“Whoever came through here last, this wasn’t what they fledfrom. There’s still something nasty up ahead.”
The Justicar wrenched the exit door open. It showed signs of being scuffed and opened. Jus took a swift look up the newfound passageway and waved the others onward.
“Come on.”
Happily drawing his maps, Polk followed after the warrior.
Hovering anxiously back in the flesh-monsters’ room, Escallafluttered here and there, poking about for treasure. Finding nothing, she gave a frustrated little noise and hastened off after her colleagues.
The corridor wended onward into the darkness, but the dark now had a half-heard pulse and flow of steam. Stairs led a few steps upward out of the muck, and the rough stone walls became beaded with warm, sticky droplets of water. From far down the tunnel, a sudden blast and shudder shook the air. A prolonged hiss of steam echoed down the hall, followed by a ripple of heat washing through the air.
Above the stairs, a broken pile of metal junk half-filled the corridor. The Justicar shook his head and simply bent iron bars aside then picked his way forward along the hall. A growing stink of sulphur and the roar of steam made the going slower as they crept cautiously into the gloom.
A broken door opened upon a rough stone ledge. Beyond the ledge, great swirls of steam eddied inside a huge natural cave. Water dripped and spattered from a ceiling hundreds of feet above, while the floor seemed to be a seething sea of bubbling mud.
The reeking steam made the air almost unbreathable. Cinders wagged his bedraggled tail quite happily, but the remainder of the group shied back and shielded their faces from the heat as they crept forward onto the ledge to stare into the cave.
The walls glowed with sickly phosphorescent light, showing a hellish space of boiling water and bubbling mud. Far across the cave there lay another ledge, beyond which a new tunnel gaped in sinister black welcome.