The gulf between the ledges was at least a hundred feet wide. Between the two ledges, there hung long and slimy chains, the end of each one hanging a dozen feet above the boiling mud. Rotten fragments of wood showed that the chains might have once supported strips of wood-perhaps a bridge or walkwayof some sort, but there was no longer any way to tell.
Escalla looked about herself in wonder then lay down on her stomach to peer at the pools thirty feet below. She smiled, her eyes opening wide in sheer joy of discovery.
“Hey, guys, you should see this! It’s incredible. There’s acouple of geysers down here!”
A sudden shudder of force filled the air. The Justicar snatched Escalla back from the brink, whipping her backward by the heels as a huge jet of boiling water shot up past her perch and smacked into the ceiling above. Steam thundered up into the sky, smacking into the rock ceiling to make a boiling rain. The raw power of the blast made the entire dungeon shudder and filled the cavern with a swirling sulphurous fog.
Escalla sat in the Justicar’s arms, blinking at the geyser.Jus held Escalla in the crook of one arm and brushed her hair back from her face.
“All right?”
“This had better be some damned treasure we find!” Thefaerie blew out a breath, shook her head, and took back to the air. “Thisdungeon is really getting on my hit list.”
The cave shook as multiple geyser blasts thundered lethal columns of boiling water into the air. Escalla hovered safely back, timing the geyser blasts and watching the mud pools with a frown. Fists planted on her hips, she set her willpower to work and came up with the only sensible plan.
“All right, you guys can’t climb the chains. One slip andyou’ll be broiled.” She gazed competently across the cave, measuring thedistance with her eyes. “I tell you what. I’ll fly over to the other ledge andtake a look down the new tunnel. If it looks like you guys will have to cross, we’ll try to figure something out. If not, there’s no point risking it.”
It seemed the only thing to do, but Jus didn’t like it. Hetucked the girl’s healing potion into her belt and helped her tie back herbedraggled hair.
“All right, but just look.” The Justicar ducked as yetanother titanic column of boiling water shot to the roof of the cave. “Get in,look, and get out. Don’t risk the geysers, and don’t touch anything!”
“You got it!” Escalla’s wings fluttered happily as shehovered. She waited for a second geyser blast and then darted forward. “Back infive minutes!”
Great scalding drops of water rained down from the roof as Escalla wove between the hanging chains. She looked upon the bubbling mud pools below and banked hard sideways as a big gush of hot water spurted upward from a geyser mouth. Weaving nimbly back and forth, she sailed past a geyser at the far edge of the cave just as a jet of steam shot up into the sky. The steam ripped across her rear, and Escalla squawked and flung herself madly down out of the way. She hit the ledge and ducked into a doorway just as a geyser exploded into life in the cave.
Unprotected by her leather clothes, the faerie’s left thighstung like wildfire.
Across the cave, the Justicar dodged steam and bellowed in alarm. “Are you all right?”
“Ouch! Damn! I’ve burned my butt!” The girl pulled at herbackside and glared at a livid scald mark. “This dungeon has no respect forquality!”
Fanning at her rump, Escalla rose painfully to her feet. She sighed, anointed her bottom with a few drops of healing potion, then looked into the dark tunnel mouth beyond the door.
A body lay stretched out in the doorway, lying on its back. Plate armor lay bent and buckled, and the open visor showed a pale, staring face.
Escalla kept her distance, nudging at the fallen figure as it lay lifeless on the floor.
“Um, guys? I just found the Bleredd priest!”
The man’s armor had been battered. He lay frozen in terror,his face bleached white as paper, his lips and fingernails pale blue, and blood showing at a tear upon his throat. Out of respect for the dead, Escalla refrained from searching him for gold teeth, contenting herself with going through his purse for loose coins.
“Guys? He’s really dead!” Escalla looked down the narrowcorridor just beyond and saw a door waiting invitingly ajar. “But there’s a roomhere. I’ll go take a look and see if the passage goes on!”
She flew into the passageway, peering this way and that. From behind her, Jus’ voice shook the walls. “Escalla? Escalla!” The ranger’svoice boomed out over the roar and hiss of geysers and boiling mud. “Escalla,don’t touch anything!”
“Hey, it’s just one little door! Just a peek!” The faerieturned the latch. “How much danger can there be?”
The door had been deliberately perforated by dozens of little holes. Mist seemed to swirl out past Escalla and into the corridor. The girl threw all her tiny strength into shoving at the door, her wings beating and her legs straining as she tried to swing it open. She managed to open the portal by a shoulder’s width. The mist slithered and coiled past her, leaving Escallablinking into the dark.
The space beyond the door was utterly dark. The faerie’smagical light seemed to fail at the threshold as though running into an invisible black wall. Escalla poked a finger at the darkness and found it to be made of empty air. She bit her lip as a foul, crawling sensation rippled down her spine.
Something seemed terribly, terribly wrong. Despite the geysers and volcanic mud a few yards behind, the air had taken on a distinct deathly chill.
A cold sweat ran down the faeries spine. Conceding that she might have been just a little rash, Escalla eased away from the door and turned around.
Looming above her, a black figure was coalescing from the mists. A dark cloak swirled, and claws seemed to trail off into icy wisps of fog. Tall, cadaverous, and pale, the creature gave a predatory smile, his incisors gleaming, as he filled the air above the frozen faerie.
With a leer upon his face, the vampire loomed and spread his claws. Escalla made a little move backward, her antennae falling limp and flat.
“Oooh, joy…”
Escalla’s day had definitely taken a turn for the worse.
18
Grinning a big placatory grin, Escalla backed slowly away.Quite suddenly she gave the vampire a friendly little wave.
“Um, hello! Look, I’m just having a look. Didn’t touch athing, I swear! So I’ll just be on my way now. Sorry to have bothered you.”
The vampire came toward her, and Escalla’s antennae drooped.
“Aaaw, come on! I’m just a snack for you! You keep eatinglike this between priests and you’ll get all fat and bloated!”
Lean as a strand of wire, the vampire bared his fangs. Claws shot from the ends of his fingertips as the last of his body coalesced from the swirling mists.
With a pop, Escalla instantly changed form.
“Look, I’m a skunk, a talking skunk!” Now a pink and lavenderfemale skunk, Escalla waved her tail. “One more step and I do the musk thing!Yeah! Pow!” The skunk retreated as the vampire continued his slow,deliberate advance. “You guys do have a sense of smell, don’t you? Comeon, man, I’m serious! One step closer and you’re gonna reek like the dead! Justlike the dead…” The skunk suddenly looked a little anxious. “Then again,you already are dead. Oh, damn!”
Radiating a lifeless cold, the vampire spread his claws wide and gave a feral hiss. Quavering, Escalla changed herself into a spiny sea urchin and enthusiastically waved her prongs.
“Look, I’m all spiky! You’ll pierce your lips if you try tobite! Definitely a stupid meal!” Seeing the vampire still coming toward her,Escalla changed herself into a floating rock. “Whups! Silicon life form! Look!No blood, I swear!”