Descent into the Depths of the Earth

by Paul Kidd - (ebook by Flandrel; Undead)

  Jus had already taken the arm off a huge kuo-toa, kicking backward to smash another monster’s knee as he whirled. Behind him, Polk made the brilliant move of opening his portable hole, diving inside, and reaching back out to fold up the hole.

  Two of the lesser guards hurled themselves at Private Henry. Rushing at him, the monsters hurled heavy harpoons straight at the boy. Imitating the Justicar, the boy managed to smash one huge spear out of the air. The second missile tore the whole sleeve of his mail shirt, ripping a line of blood along his arm. With a roar the boy whirled and swung his sword. To his astonishment, the sword blade bit into flesh, and the fish bellowed in agonized rage. It struck at the boy, had its blow blocked, then whirled backward as Henry cleaved his blade down into the monster’s skull.

  Overjoyed, Henry turned to the next monster and struck wildly down. His sword blade hit the kuo-toa’s shield—and suddenly stuck fast to a layer of glue. The kuo-toa roared and twisted the weapon from his grasp, raising a spear to plunge it through the boy.

  The kuo-toa’s head suddenly exploded as Escalla smacked it neatly with her pencil-slim lich staff. The corpse jerked like a mad puppet, leaving Escalla staring at the magic staff in astonishment.

  “Hot damn!” The girl reached out a hand to the dazed Private Henry. “You all right?”

  “Um…”

  “Yeah. All glory to King Um! Whatever, kid. Now’s not the time!” Escalla picked up Polk’s folded portable hole and shoved it down her cleavage. “Time to run!” A horn was blowing, summoning more kuo-toa. “Jus! Pack it up, man. Time to flee!”

  Roaring and cursing, Jus was surrounded by kuo-toa guards, all of them reeling away from the white blade. One lunged in with a pole arm, lost the business end of the weapon to Jus’ sword, then jerked as a massive blow opened its guts. Another slashed with its claws, ripping Jus’ shoulder. As Cinders sheeted fire to incinerate a ring of guards, Jus trapped his attacker’s hand, slammed one hand against the monster’s arm and snapped its elbow. It fell back, screaming as Benelux ripped through its chest. The sword twisted, whipped out, and flicked up looking for targets all in a single horrid blur.

  The kuo-toa leader had already disappeared through a secret door beside his throne. With guards thundering in from the temple outside, the secret passageway seemed like a good idea. Jus threw himself at the door even as it slid closed, shattering the panels and making the kuo-toa leader reel back in fright. The creature leaped down a set of stairs with powerful shoves of its stumpy legs. Jus loomed in the door, terrifying with his brilliant sword, blood-smeared armor, and smoking hell hound skin.

  “Move!” Jus bellowed to his companions. “We’re going this way!”

  Jus shoved in through the door, and Private Henry instantly followed at his heel. Escalla made to follow, then suddenly blinked and swerved back into the throne room.

  “Wait! The receipt!”

  The piece of parchment lay on the floor beside the scribe’s severed hands. Escalla dived toward the receipt—only to look up in shock to see thirty enraged kuo-toa charging straight for her. A massive barrage of harpoons showered toward her. She threw her hand up in a spell, her magic shield snapping up an instant before the rusty harpoons arrived. The shield staggered as spears struck like a thunderstorm, spraying sparks and snapping points. One harpoon punched through the shield, and Escalla screamed, twisted aside, and had the middle ripped out of her dress. With the kuo-toa lunging toward her, the girl hurled herself backward in panic, screeching in frustration as the monsters overran the receipt. She flew backward through the secret door, harpoons ricocheting madly from her shield.

  She bumped into Henry’s back. The boy was stuck halfway down the stairs. As a dozen kuo-toa charged for them, Escalla blasted her black tentacles spell into the passage entrance, blocking the doorway with tendrils that caught hold of screaming kuo-toa and tossed the creatures aside.

  “Jus! We’ve got company!”

  The spell would last for a few minutes, no more. Escalla blundered about in a blur of wings until she dragged out her little light-stone. The sounds of screaming, throttled kuo-toa, thrashing tentacles, and alarm horns made conversation almost impossible.

  “What’s the hold up, Hen?”

  “A door just slammed! The Justicar is on the other side of it!” Henry pressed his ear against a wooden door that blocked the passageway. “I can hear movement but can’t hear fighting. He won’t answer when I call!”

  “Great.” Harpoons clanged from the magic shield, tentacles thrashed, and kuo-toa roared. With hundreds of angry monsters at her heels, Escalla yanked her light stone out of her cleavage to look at the door, noticing the folded up portable hole between her breasts as she did so.

  “Polk! You still in there?”

  “Yep!”

  “Are you peeking?”

  “Yep!”

  “Polk, I’m gonna give you such a pinch when we get outta here!” Escalla yelled into the dark. “Jus, come on man, open the door! What’s the hold up?”

  * * *

  On the other side of the door, the Justicar’s eyes bulged. The garotte around his neck jerked tight, and his fingers bled as he tried to pry the wire from his throat. The kuo-toa snarled, heaving backward on the garotte to try and tear Jus’ head off his shoulders. High priest of an assassin cult, the kuo-toa hissed with the pleasure of the kill. Jus tried to rear and slam the monster against the walls, but the creature outweighed him, shoving him against a pillar and heaving viciously at the ranger’s neck.

  Jus tried to punch backward with his fist but struck only the harsh hide of the monster’s arms. His elbow viciously slammed backward and failed to connect. He tried to rake his boot sole down the monster’s shins, but the creature hopped and stepped away. With his air shut off, Jus staggered and heaved, while at his belt Benelux cried out excitedly with advice.

  Drop your weight! Turn into him! The sword jittered like a school marm. Look out! Don’t let him bite your head!

  From the other side of the door, a little fist began pounding at the door.

  “Jus! Jus, I mean it! This isn’t funny! There’s about a million fish out here!”

  Whipping his free hand down to his side, Jus tried to draw his sword. The weapon was too long to free from its scabbard until Jus loosed the first few inches, gripped the blade in his gauntlet and whipped the weapon clear.

  A spell exploded somewhere on Escalla’s side of the corridor.

  “Jus, open the door! Open the door!”

  The Justicar rammed the sword hilt back, crashing the pommel into the kuo-toa’s skull. The fish snarled and ducked, the next blow glancing off its angled skull. Jus reversed the blade and stabbed backward past his flank, slamming the weapon home and drawing a wild roar from the kuo-toa. Still the wounded creature held on, arching backward with renewed frenzy as it tried to tear the Justicar’s head off. Cinders thrashed to no avail, and blood poured from Jus’ upper hand. The wire garotte had cut through his leather gauntlets to slice into the flesh of his hand like a giant razor blade.

  Jus stabbed backward again—the sword skipped clear of fish scales—and then again, this time jamming into flesh. The kuo-toa screamed, released its garotte, and smashed down with its hand. Benelux clanged protesting to the floor, struck out of Jus’ bleeding grasp. Still holding the ranger from behind, the kuo-toa tried to strangle him with its bare hands. It bit at his head, getting a mouthful of Cinders’ fur and breaking teeth on Jus’ metal helm. The Justicar gave a vicious noise and grabbed the kuo-toa’s hand, snapping a finger and bringing yet another bellow of pain and rage. He broke a second finger, then a third, breathing at last through a throat that felt ragged with pain.

  Behind him, the door exploded inward, flying to pieces, revealing a furious Escalla hovering in midair with magic still boiling around her fist.

  “I said open the damned door!” Pausing in mid yell, the girl saw the kuo-toa strangling Jus from behind. “Hang on!”

  A flame bolt ploughed into the kuo-t
oa’s back, blasting open flesh and scales. With a roar of agony, the monster released Jus and whirled aside. An ice blast from Escalla’s wand hit it in the chest and sent the creature skidding across the floor. Jus dived, the sword Benelux sweeping up in his hands as he snatched it from the floor. A crossbow bolt from Private Henry stabbed into the monster’s thigh. The creature made a swift look to a box in one corner of the room. It opened its arms, screamed the syllables of a spell, and a magic gate flashed into being.

  Jus and Escalla both lunged forward, Escalla smashing her lich staff into the creature’s back. An instant later, Jus gave a hoarse roar and speared his sword through the creature’s skull. Still screaming, its body flopping with horrid vitality, the kuo-toa leader took one step forward, drawing Jus and Escalla to the threshold of the gate.

  Jus and Escalla stared for a brief moment into a watery universe of palaces and kelp. Enthroned on a couch of pearls sat a titanic being, a creature with a naked human female’s torso and the head and arms of a lobster. Surrounded by countless thousands of priests, kuo-toa, carnivorous sea beasts, and lesser gods, the entity turned to look at the intruders at her door.

  The dead priest tumbled forward into the water. Escalla gave the sea goddess a nervous little wave.

  “This one’s broken! We were just returning it!”

  The sea goddess roared.

  Jus lunged back into the secret room, snatching Escalla out of the gateway an instant before it crashed shut.

  The room was chaos. Kuo-toa raved, harpoons clanged against the walls, and the place stank like a slaughterhouse. Chained to the walls were the rotting bodies of half a dozen armored gnomes, their weapons and treasures at their feet. Rot-grubs still writhed through the corpses moving in and out of eye sockets.

  Private Henry was madly turning the windlass of his crossbow, a quarrel held between his teeth. The magic tentacles were failing, and kuo-toa struggled past. Fingers shaking, Henry slapped in the quarrel and shot the leader, making the creature tumble and fall. His crossbow was empty, and still more kuo-toa charged into the room.

  Desperately searching for an escape, the young soldier saw a crossbow lying among the weapons piled at the dead gnomes’ feet. He snatched it up and stared helplessly at the alien shape of the weapon. He made to fetch his own weapon back, but the kuo-toa surged forward with a hissing roar. Escalla pushed the boy back, opening her hands and sending a dense poisonous fog thundering out to fill the other room.

  “Jus, find a damned exit! Hurry!”

  There seemed to be no other doors. Looking swiftly at the walls, the Justicar lumbered over to the far end of the room, his bleeding fingers probing at his bruised throat as he ran. Every breath was agony. He threw a healing spell to repair the worst of the pain.

  “Cinders, look for doors! That fish came here as an escape route!”

  The hell hound wailed unhappily, fish-spittle dripping down his fur. Big fish bit me! Fur all gooey!

  “We’ll wash it later! Look for doors!” Jus whirled, slamming his sword pommel against a wall of solid stone to test for hollow spaces beyond.

  Benelux gave a squawk of panic and outrage. I say! Careful! The sword screeched as she was used as a hammer yet again. Stop! No! Wait! One of my pommel pins is shaky!

  Jus swore, striking chips from the stone as he hammered at the carved walls. With kuo-toa raving and blindly hurling spears, Escalla pushed Henry back toward the far wall, made to follow, caught sight of the kuo-toa priest’s box, and instantly swerved aside. The lid already stood open, and all sorts of glittery stuff could be seen inside. Escalla dived straight into the chest and began burrowing like a crazed little mole through coins, pearls, and knickknacks.

  “Polk?”

  “Yep?”

  “Incoming!”

  With the portable hole partly open, Escalla burrowed into the treasure trove, stuffing away anything light enough for her to shift. Pearls, loose change, a mummified thought-eater, a dead cone shell… Polk screeched as dross and rubbish showered him in his hidey hole.

  Far across the room, Jus turned and bellowed hoarsely in rage, “Get out of there! Move!”

  “But there’s still stuff here!”

  “Do it!”

  A kuo-toa staggered wheezing and reeling through the poisoned tog. The creature held a long staff tipped with pincers. It saw Escalla even as she flicked into invisibility. Lunging at her with the staff, it caught her tight. Escalla squealed, kicking her heels as she became visible once again. The girl sent an electrical shock chasing down the staff and into the fish monster’s hands, causing absolutely no effect at all.

  At the far wall, Jus bashed his sword hilt against solid rock, then suddenly heard the answering echo of a hollow space. He banged the sword on the wall again, and the pommel broke. Benelux screeched in dismay as the gaudy golden unicorn pommel, now sadly battered out of shape, fell clanging to the ground. Jus cursed, half turned, and caught sight of Escalla being shaken like a leaf on the end of a kuo-toa pincer staff.

  “Escalla!”

  The kuo-toa slammed the faerie against a wall. She fired magic golden bees at her captor, but the swarm bounced and scattered from the monsters hide. Another bash against the wall rattled Escalla’s teeth. Now cluttering mad, she gave a snarl of rage and raised her hand, preparing her most savage fireball spell.

  Jus took one look at the building storm and screamed, “Escalla, no!”

  The spell detonated, catching Escalla’s captor in the back and blasting it apart. The explosion whirled Escalla like a leaf, sending her wailing through the air.

  “Waaaaaaaaah!”

  The girl flew through the air, landing bottom-first upon a carving of an angler fish. The carving’s dorsal ridge felt indelicate enough to make Escalla’s eyes start from their sockets. She grabbed the carving to slide free, hung for a moment on a lever, and then fell as the lever shifted and a grating nose began from somewhere inside the walls.

  The wall beside Jus and Henry slid open, revealing a set of steps leading west. Jus lunged toward Escalla, grabbed the stunned faerie by the scruff of her wings, and ran toward the closing door.

  A shimmering gateway was opening in the room behind them. Apparently the sea goddess was miffed. Kuo-toa fought their way into the room through Escalla’s poisoned cloud, some dying, some wheezing, and others foaming with rage. The Justicar dived and rolled through the swiftly narrowing doorway just before the sliding door slammed shut. Coming to his feet, he tucked the faerie under his arm, Polk still giving muffled yells from down her cleavage. With the battered sword in his hand, Jus pushed past Henry and led the retreat.

  With her pommel shattered, Benelux made outraged noises, but Jus was long past caring. A doorway sealed the top of the new stairway. Jus crashed into it with his shoulder, breaking the door off its rails. He burst into the passageway that led into the underdark. A single kuo-toa was running past, heading for the temple beyond. Jus caught it with a savage flail of his unbalanced sword, sending the creature reeling into the wall where he stabbed it through the gills.

  Five more kuo-toa stood just inside an entrance that led back into the temple. They turned, roared, and snatched up their harpoons to attack Jus’ unprotected back.

  Reeling out of the stairs, Private Henry screeched a thin noise of panic as he tugged and struggled at his captured crossbow. The huge boxy mechanism fumbled in his grasp. Spell runes flashed, the boy pressed one with his thumb, and suddenly the weapon bucked like a maniac. A blurred stream of crossbow bolts ripped into the kuo-toa, the crossbow flashing as spells blurred its mechanism back and forth. Henry stared in shock as the kuo-toa spun with bolts ramming into them. Still hanging over Jus’ shoulder, Escalla looked back at the boy and gave a dazed thumbs up as she saw him fire.

  “Hoopy!”

  The entire temple had been roused. Jus began running up the northwestern tunnel, heading into the dark. Jolting up and down, Escalla fired her ice wand behind the party—the last shot from her wand, which finally sputt
ered out and died. The spell stabbed back down the tunnel and made a wall of ice, blocking the angry kuo-toa from pursuit. Escalla shook her wand and cursed, slinging it across her back upon its strap.

  “That’s it! The wand’s out until I get it recharged!”

  There were hundreds of angry foes just behind them. It might take five minutes for them to break the ice wall or five hours. Escalla could not afford to wait and see. She summoned her floating disk spell beneath Jus’ feet. The big man blinked in astonishment, then grabbed Henry as they began to whiz speedily down the tunnel.

  Escalla led the way. Her ribs were crushed; she was ripped and battered. With hundreds of baying enemies just behind her, she chose to look down at herself and make a little rant of outrage.

  “They tore my dress! Those fish tore my dress!” The girl had worked for hours to make something out of the drow fabrics. “What the hell does the underdark have against my clothes?”

  The faeries slim little middle was now bared, framed by ragged strips of silk. She flew upside down and backward, peering at herself as she flew, somehow missing a stalactite in her path.

  “Actually… I think I can work with this!”

  “Escalla!” Jus managed to get the girl’s attention back onto the road just in time to make the disk dodge wildly through a forest of stalagmites and then plunge down a limestone cascade. Jus and Henry lay flat on the disk, holding on like grim death. The disc dodged, twisted, then turned, narrowly missing rock pillars and walls. A stream of carnivorous stalactites came showering down, missing the floating disc by a hand’s breadth as it plunged down a slippery chute of stone.

  Blank with fright, Jus ducked beneath a gibbering stirge.

  “Escalla? Escalla!” The disc tilted sideways and shot through a tiny cave mouth. “Escalla, is this thing safe?”

  “Sure it’s safe! I’m totally unharmed!” Ahead, the passageway branched then branched again. “Hey! Does anyone remember that map we found?”