“Polk! Press the catch!” Shielding himself unsuccessfullyfrom the heat, Jus clung onto the ladder rungs. “Get the damned thing open!”
Encumbered by his trident, Polk fought past and rammed his hand against the hatch. The trapdoor flung backward, and a cascade of filthy water began to tumble inward through the open hole.
The adventurers fought their way past the flow to find themselves in familiar algae-spattered corridors. They were in the north passage of the dungeon, and Enid the sphinx’s backside faced them only a few yards away.The Justicar tried to slam shut the trapdoor, but steam shot out to fill the corridor with a choking fog.
“Out! Kelpies! Enid! Move! Get out of the mountain!”
Enid looked about, saw the adventurers pelting pell-mell down the passageway toward her, then saw a lick of flames come shooting from the hole just behind. Hard on the Justicar’s heels came two shrieking women made ofbundled kelp, their weed-strands steaming as fire licked into the passageway. Escalla shot past Enid and grabbed the big catwoman by the ear.
“Enid, the spell’s broken! Run like hell!”
They all ran down the corridor and reached the spiral stair. Jus thrust the two kelpies ahead of him, shoving them up the stairs and bringing up the rear. Behind him, ceilings shattered and rock cracked in two, superheated steam blasting through the cracks to jet into the halls.
The fugitives blundered up the steps and out into a cave. Daylight streamed inward, making humans and non-humans alike begin to blink and stagger. Escalla led the way ahead of Enid, breaking out onto the open mountainside. Steam and smoke jetted from fissures in the rocks, the whole mountain heaving underfoot as it shuddered in fury.
A steep series of cliffs switchbacked below them. Even as Escalla watched, a rumble deep inside the mountain made the land before them split open in a crevasse. With a mighty roar, the roadway fell away for two hundred feet, turning into a maze of jagged rubble far below.
High above the cave, the lip of the volcano blasted lava through the air. Red-hot stones spattered all across the ground, and a great wave of lava tumbled slowly down toward the adventurers. Escalla stared at the lava-then at the jagged slope below, and ripped the frost wand quickly from herbelt.
“You damned flightless twits will be the death of me!” Thegirl used her wings to fight the recoil as she hosed ice across the jagged slope and made it into a toboggan run. “All right, people! Slide-slide-slide!”
The faerie dove away, plastering ice in front of her as she plunged toward the road below. The two kelpies and the sphinx hesitated in fear until Polk blundered into them from behind. All four went shooting off downslope, wailing in fright as they slid away at lightning speed.
Jus stood at the brink of the toboggan slope. He looked back at the erupting volcano behind him, gazing at the lava flow and the spurting steam. Despite a volcanic eruption behind him, the man remained unhurried and calm. The erinyes’ magic rope was coiled carefully at his belt. He tied Cinderstight about his neck, settled sword and hammer in his hand, then looked down at the rest of the party spilling out onto the road below.
“Cinders, we did good.”
Did good! Cinders eternal grin lit up. Cinders hassome holes.
“I’ll get you mended back in town.” The Justicar watched thetwo kelpies sheltering in a nearby stream. “Ready to go?”
Go now. Eat coals later. Then chase girls.
“Right.” Jus jumped down onto the toboggan slope and speddown the slide. Behind him, an entire underground fortress went up in flames, shooting great white plumes of smoke high up into an evening sky.
EPILOGUE
When not racked by riots, Trigol City could occasionally beattractive. Now that Whelm and Wave had been returned, the two temple factions had settled back into a heavily armed peace. The arrival of three regiments of the Countess’ troops had worked wonders for the truce. The temples no longerthreatened war, and order reigned on the streets. With the end of the Thieves’Guild wars, Trigol’s law enforcement officers-all three of them-effectivelyoutnumbered the local criminals.
For the ordinary citizens, life couldn’t be better.
Walking down the steps from the baron’s citadel, the Justicarseemed like a new man. For once, his clothes were neither slashed, scorched, or burned full of holes. His new leather armor was made of black dragon hide, his gloves were new, and his heavy boots were freshly brushed. The erinyes’ magicrope hung neatly coiled upon his belt. Resplendent with well-groomed fur and brightly polished fangs, Cinders gleamed as good as new from atop the ranger’shelm.
The citadel was not in flames as the Justicar left, which made a nice change from the usual routine. Dragging in a happy breath, Cinders wagged his tail as a familiar scent tickled at his nose.
Faerie!
“I see her.” Jus stood at the top of the steps, eyeing apavilion that had been pitched upon the baron’s front lawn. “Are you stillsucking on that coal?”
Coal is nice!
“Well it’s brown coal, and it gives you gas! Come on andwe’ll get you something better.”
The big tent rang with the sound of lute music. As they entered, the Justicar smelled fresh faerie cakes and mulled wine. On a large circular bed, Escalla the faerie lay sprawled upon a big silk sheet. Her hair had been pinned with a gem shaped like a ladybug, and she wore a little black dress that had apparently been sprayed onto her in liquid form.
Her bare feet wriggled in the air as two women massaged them. Dazed and lazy, the faerie waved her hand at Jus as he came into the tent and surveyed her little lair of debauchery.
“Check it out, J-man!” Nearly comatose with pleasure, Escallagripped the silken sheets and purred, “I’ve had relays of them providingcontinual foot massage for the last seven hours!”
The ranger raised his brow. “How did you manage that?”
“They’re on loan from a business.” Escalla yawned as shewriggled her long toes. “They’re partners of some friends of ours. I got thekelpies a job, and they’re really having a ball!”
“A job?” Jus planted his boot on the edge of the bed. “Whatkind of job?”
Escalla looked innocently at the ceiling. “Ah, aninterpersonal relations job?”
“Like secretaries?”
“Um, yeah! You know, taking things down.” Escalla innocentlyvacillated then stuffed her face with faerie cake. “They really like it.”
“Hmph.” The Justicar sat down on Escalla’s bed. “No eatingpeople?”
“Nah, I bought them a sack of fertilizer and told ’em humanflesh is fattening.” The faerie gave a yawn. “I think they’ll stick to beef ribsfrom now on.”
Relaxing on the bed, Jus spread out Cinders’ luxuriouslybrushed black pelt behind him. Escalla’s little campsite contained the finestfolding furniture, a wine rack, and the choicest of foods. It even included silk flowers and scented candles. The Justicar sniffed at a bottle on the bedside table, poured himself a glass, and discovered that Escalla had acquired a taste for expensive wine.
He cocked a suspicious eye at the faerie girl. “I thought youwere still poor?”
“It was a passing phase.” The faerie coughed, covering herblush with a flirt of her fan. “On top of that bag of gems, we got three blackpearls from the dungeon, and they sold for a ton of coin! I cashed one pearl for you and one for me. The big black one I’m keeping just so I can run around nakedwearing the thing around my neck.”
Cinders’ red eyes gleamed.
Fair!
“You bet it’s fair! You wait until you see me wriggling on mymink bedspread!” Escalla clinked glasses in a toast with the Justicar.“Cheers!”