“Enjoy yourself, little elf corpse! Sweet revenge! Sweet, sweet revenge!”
Blade to blade with Recca, the Justicar retreated back into the steam. Recca shifted, anticipating an attempt by Jus to aid his friends. Seeing the move, Jus swatted at his old master’s sword, then circled slowly through the steam.
The Justicar paced like a vast, angry bear, side to side, his sword now just out of engagement range. Recca matched him step for step. The Justicar spun Benelux, watching the cadaver of his old master, his old friend—his old enemy.
“You’re no zombie. You’re in there! Aren’t you, Recca?” The big man watched Recca carefully. “So this is all for revenge. You abandoned them to their deaths, and now you think they owe you for all that lost glory.” Benelux snapped up into attack position. “You never, ever abandon your people. Without love, there is no Justice.”
He attacked in a blinding arc. Recca spun and caught the blow—leaped, dived, twirled, and cut. The Justicar ploughed forward, blade smashing, lunging, crashing into bright red steel. He fought to win and win fast. Roaring, he smashed and hammered at his enemy, ripping fountains of green blood out of the monster’s withered hide.
* * *
Hiding beneath blinding clouds of steam, Escalla hugged the floor. She found Enid and Henry side by side, lying flat to look for the feet and shins of incoming enemies. Polk had disappeared, as had Jus. The din of steam, the clamor of machinery, and the screaming of enraged manes made speech almost impossible. Escalla scuttled over to Enid and Henry, bellowing into their ears.
“Find a spot to ambush Lolth. Over near the broken pipe!” The faerie slapped Enid on one haunch. “I’ll find Jus and bring him back!”
Enid yelled something that might have been an answer.
A mane lunged at her, and Henry killed it with one blow of his sword. He rose to a crouch and waved Enid into the din. Escalla paid them no more attention. She sped through the choking clouds, invisible and moving fast, looking for a pair of conspicuously booted feet. She finally saw a spatter of sparks in the steam—sparks flashing fast in a pattern she knew all too well.
Swords crashed together—one white, one red. Escalla pulled out her lich staff and pounded it in her fist like a cudgel. She charged straight toward the fight, happily determined to blow both of Recca’s kneecaps off.
A blade flicked at her, almost too fast to see. Escalla made a tumbling leap—a second and third blade missing her by the width of a gnat’s arse. An instant later, the blades were back, and the faerie hopped aside, saving herself through the brilliant luck that always attends pure genius. She flung herself backward in a handspring, leaped a random course through the steam, and heard blades clashing on the floor behind her.
Escalla landed on an intact pipe and climbed it in panic, looking frantically through the steam.
Morag coiled, wielding three curved swords in her hands, her tail lashing behind her. She cut at Escalla again, and the faerie dodged by, leaping onto Morag’s head. She clung to the tanar’ri’s hair in panic, unwilling to club the woman to death with her magic staff.
“Morag! What the frot are you doing?”
“Lolth must be obeyed!” The tanar’ri hovered between panic and fury. “She has my secret name! She must be obeyed!”
Morag’s tail grabbed Escalla.
The faerie turned into a slimy worm, wriggled away, and sprang like a javelin into the pipes above. She flashed back to her true form and shot her best web spell at the tanar’ri, plastering her to the floor. Morag instantly teleported away, leaving a blank spot sagging in the middle of the web.
Escalla ran like a weasel, fearing a reappearance of Morag from behind. She ran hard through the fog, running straight into Recca and smashing her lich staff into his shin. The leg exploded and the monster collapsed. The Justicar took off his foe’s arm as it fell. Recca planted his remaining foot against a piece of wreckage and shoved hard, shooting himself back into the steam. Escalla made to fire a spell, but Jus grabbed her and sped into the fog.
“Lolth’s here! She’s after the others!”
They ran.
Steam billowed all about them. Manes lurched and blundered with outstretched claws, but Jus never stopped. He charged toward faint sounds of combat. Exploding through the steam, his sword was already swinging as he reached Lolth. She ducked by bowing forward and pivoting on one leg. The other foot caught Jus in a savage kick that clanged against his stoneskin spell with enough force to shatter steel. Jus spun away from the impact, Benelux rebounding from a silver buckler on Lolth’s forearm. Lolth let the kick spin her around in a turn, then blocked a blow from Enid and hammered a vicious punch into the sphinx’s hide.
Enid was thrown back by the goddess’ titanic strength. Lolth gleefully blew on her fist and looked about the fog.
“Next!”
Escalla launched a spell at the floor beneath Lolth’s feet, turning solid metal to quicksand. Lolth turned a backflip and flew away from the danger zone, smiling quietly in amusement.
A rain of crossbow darts from Henry was blocked by one quick gesture of her hand. The darts clattered away in a splash and shower of sparks—and then the Justicar came at her from a cloud of steam. He bellowed his silence spell, snapping open a sphere of total quiet. Lolth was inside the sphere, unable to cast spells. She clapped her hands together in silence. Teleporting away and landing behind the Justicar, she raked him with a poisoned sword. The blow flashed against the stoneskin spell—and there was a blast of light as Escalla leaped onto Lolth and cracked the lich staff against the demon’s neck.
Jewelry flew in all directions—spiderweb cloth shattered, flesh tore. Lolth staggered aside, her scream of pain silent in the spell field. One furious sweep of her hand knocked Escalla aside, but the faerie broke her fall like a warrior monk and came up snarling, her lich staff already pulsing with power.
Wounded, Lolth sped free of her shattered necklace and teleported away. Enid rolled to her feet. Henry drew his sword and looked wildly through the murk—then the flash of a healing spell in the boiling clouds betrayed the goddess’ position.
Jus charged, Enid springing to her feet to follow. Henry and Escalla made to follow, and Escalla dived into the fallen mass of Lolth’s jewelry and began picking up the biggest, shiniest bits. Henry hesitated beside her and gave a panicked little cry.
“Escalla! Come on!”
“Wait!” The girl found what she wanted. “Ha! Here!”
Escalla grabbed jewels in one of her hands, then went dashing off to the fight.
* * *
Jus’ charge ended in a crash. The huge man ran at Lolth, and the spider queen threw back her long hair and laughed. She braced herself and punched empty air. Five yards away, Jus felt Benelux twist out of his hands.
Telekinesis!
The Justicar never faltered. He aimed a punch at Lolth, missed, then spun into a vicious kick. Her flesh was like teak, but still she fell sprawling. Snarling in rage, she punched empty air. Yards away, the Justicar staggered as savage blows hammered into his arms. He kept his guard up, wading forward like a boxer as the demon used her telekinesis to pound him to the ground. The stoneskin spell flashed, flared, and finally died. Lolth punched with vicious fury, and still the Justicar fended the blows. She gave a savage flurry of punches, then one huge upward shove. Jus deflected it with a boxers dip and roll. He spun, kicked, twirled, and punched, smashing a steam pipe in two. The steam shot at Lolth’s eyes.
The spider queen leaped away, landed beside Benelux, and ducked as Henry and Enid both attacked. Henry cut with his sword, the blow slicing empty air as Lolth swayed, turned, and kicked. Henry flew backward, and Enid struck with her claws. Lolth snarled—still in the field of Jus’ silence spell—whirled, and broke Enid’s forepaw with one blow of her hand. The sphinx reared in pain. Lolth drew a short sword, aimed a blow—and then an enraged badger suddenly had her backside in its jaws. The spider queen screamed in outrage, trying to dislodge Polk from her rear.
Enid limped back, shook her head clear, then lumbered back into the fray. Polk was thrown clear and smashed to the ground—dazed, injured, and coughing blood.
Arriving at the melee, Escalla hesitated, looked for her chance to attack, then saw Morag emerging from the steam. The tanar’ri was about to slaughter Henry from behind. Escalla gave a piercing whistle and waved Lolth’s gems over her head.
“Morag! It was written on her jewels! Your name was on her jewels!” The faerie threw a stone to the six-armed tanar’ri. “Here, you’re free! Now come and help!”
Morag caught the jewel, took on a look of dawning joy—and simply teleported away. Escalla stared at the empty space in absolute outrage.
“Bitch!”
Henry spared a despairing glance over his shoulder. “She’s evil! What did you expect?”
Escalla waved another pair of gems in the air and bellowed at the roof. “Yeah—but Lolth kept all her records in triplicate!”
Jus went for his fallen sword.
Lolth saw the man dive, threw up her hand, and Benelux sped off into the steam with a telekinetic shove. As the demon queen watched the sword, Enid leaped. The sphinx was caught mid-jump by a telekinetic punch on her wounded leg. She landed in a tumbling heap, crashing to the ground in an agonized daze.
Escalla fired a spell at Lolth, but the magic simply died away. The distraction let Henry swipe at Lolth with his sword. The demon queen caught his blade with her buckler, smashed it from his grip, and felled the boy with a punch from her silver shield.
Lolth laughed. Wiping her eye in malicious joy, she spread her arms wide. Her form flashed and changed, swelling as she changed shape. Legs erupted from her sides, her black body bulged obscenely, her remaining gems changing shape to cling to her new form. Lolth turned into a vast, vile spider ten feet high. Huge poisoned fangs arched above the floor. Escalla ran at her with her staff and slammed it against Lolth’s foot, only to discover that the staff had run out of magic. Swatting Escalla aside, the spider reared and turned its attentions to the Justicar.
Still radiating a spell of silence, Jus stood without a weapon in his hands, already measuring his next attack. Escalla sprinted behind Lolth, heading for her blind side. Polk coughed weakly, Henry lay unconscious, and Enid dazedly tried to stand.
The Justicar moved to drag Lolth’s attention away from the fallen. He ran at the giant spider. With a cunning squint behind her, Lolth surged backward and squirted a cloud of web out of her spinnerets just as Escalla charged into the attack. Escalla was hit dead center by the webbing and flung ten yards away, slamming hard against a steam pipe that scalded and burned. The faerie girl wrenched at the webs helplessly.
The Justicar grabbed Lolth’s monstrous fangs and heaved, his huge strength enough to start tearing the spider apart. The goddess threw herself from side to side in a rage, and Cinders flew free to slither over the floor. An instant later, Jus staggered as Lolth teleported away, leaving him holding empty air.
The titanic spider appeared on the ceiling ten feet overhead. Jus’ silence spell was shattered as Lolth dispelled it from afar, her voice finally free to cast magic of her own. Shrieking with laughter, Lolth cast another spell, and instantly a dozen spiders the size of wolves blinked into existence all about the room.
Steam slowly cleared as the pipes ran dry of water and the furnaces burned down. Lolth clung to the ceiling, rocking with mirth. Her spiders closed in from all sides.
As Escalla changed shape and escaped the webs, Recca limped forward, his severed limbs oozing green blood and regrowing right before their eyes. Only his borrowed hand and foot did not regrow. They stayed as always—pale flesh torn from another creature. Escalla returned to faerie form, her eyes flicking from Lolth to Jus to Recca as a dozen huge spiders tightened their cordon.
Lolth was clearly having the time of her life.
“Little playmates! I so love having little playmates!” The spider rubbed her forelegs together, looking at the adventurers through all eight gleeful eyes. “What’s next?”
Recca stood beside Benelux, looking down at the blade. Enid crawled away from him, dazed and shaking her head. The Justicar rose beneath Lolth and cast a proud, grim look toward his old master.
“Recca! You crave the honor that you lost? You want glory? Then fight! If you want to be remembered as a hero, kill the demon queen!” The big ranger held out one hand to the undead monster. “Stand with me! The way it should have been.”
Recca looked down at Benelux, then at the Justicar. He took a pace forward, thoughtfully tapped his chin… then Recca ran Enid through.
He did it slowly, with precision, jamming his blood red blade through her hide behind her foreleg and straight into her heart. Enid wailed. Escalla gave a despairing cry and fired a spell that smashed Recca from his feet, but his blade stayed buried in the sphinx, glowing horribly as it filled with Enid’s lifeblood.
Roaring, the Justicar flung himself at Enid, launching into a desperate attempt to rip out the deadly sword. It was the move Lolth was waiting for. She dropped from the ceiling, turning like a cat. She slammed to the ground behind the Justicar, and both her fangs blasted through his back, the points jutting through the front of his chest. Poison squirted out onto the floor, and Jus coughed, holding the fang points in his hands.
Escalla shrieked, her whole body chill. Lolth reared over the Justicar. Henry and Polk lay bleeding as a pack of spiders sprang at them in a wave of death. Enid coughed a shower of blood, and Escalla saw the life leave her eyes. Lolth pulled her fangs free of the Justicar and laughed as he fell to the ground. She whirled to face the little faerie, who stood alone, naked but for the slowglass gem hanging at her neck.
Escalla ripped the gem free. She hurled it at the goddess and fired off a spell. It was a tiny spell—one of the first she ever learned. A stream of magic missiles shaped like little golden bees. Lolth laughed to be attacked by such pathetic magic—but the bees struck, smashed, splintered—
And atomized the slowglass gem into a thousand shards.
There was a pulse of magic. A sphere of force shot outward from the gem. The sphere caught Lolth and the Justicar, flashing out fast, then expanding with a dream-like slowness. Inside the globe, all time stopped. Gem shards hung in midair—poison hovered where it dripped from spider fangs.
The sphere continued to expand. Escalla raced forward, grabbed Polk, and tore the portable hole from his belt. She worked feverishly fast. The globe enfolded Recca, Henry—Polk’s head, then his body. The spiders pouncing at Henry and Polk all simply hung frozen in midair.
Escalla wept as she ran, shaking, numb, and blank.
She backed away as the sphere slowed its rate of expansion. It ground to a halt and shimmered—freezing the death and destruction of everything the faerie loved. She cried lost, hopeless tears. The girl bit one hand, trying to make the pain focus her. She had thirty minutes—no more. The time sphere would fade, Lolth would be free, and everyone would die. Escalla backed away, her mind racing in mad panic as she tried to form a plan.
Ouch.
The hell hound’s voice rang in Escalla’s head. She whirled, and there lay Cinders, upside down and crumpled. Escalla sped over to him, her hands shaking as she untangled her friend.
“Cinders!”
Cinders fall down. Spider lady tough. Cinders seemed a little dazed. Cinders want faerie make plan now—kick spider butt! No cry.
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s right.” Escalla wiped her face. She ran a thousand thoughts through her mind at once. “I’m the faerie. The faerie always has a plan!”
Morag had led them right so far. But there was something else … something at the edge of Escalla’s memory. Words spoken in a rhyme…
“Wash away sin… wash away sin!”
Moving fast, Escalla grabbed one of Lolth’s gems and waved it above her head, bellowing into empty air.
“Morag! I’ll use it! I swear! Come here… now!”
There was a flash. Morag appeared—resentful, fearful,
and with a panicked eye at Lolth frozen in time nearby.
“What? What do you want?”
“Help.” Escalla pushed Cinders into the portable hole. “Teleport me! Now!”
The tanar’ri blinked in astonishment.
“Where?”
“You know where! Now go!”
Escalla grabbed the portable hole, leaped astride Morag’s back, and the demon teleported them both away.
The Flanaess. After the dead stench of the Abyss, the smell of grass and dirt struck the senses like a fist. Escalla knew the shadows, the light, and the grass. She hadn’t grown up here, but this was home now.
Morag had gone to Lolth’s gate in the Abyss. From the Abyss to Keggle Bend, and then to a cave deep in the earth.
Even the dank caves smelled clean and pure compared to where they’d been. Enveloped in gloom, Escalla whirred from Morag’s back. She hovered above a floor of hard limestone in a place that had the soft, slow echoes of an underground lake. Escalla levered open the portable hole. Cinders lay with his nose just peeking out into the dark. Escalla took a quick look about the cave and saw a dozen tunnels leading off into the dark.
“Morag, which way?”
“The lower tunnel.” The tanar’ri thrashed her tail, undecided. “I can’t go with you. Lolth will know I helped you.”
“Fine! I don’t frazzin’ need you!” Escalla was already on her way. “Just stay here! You move one scale, and I use that secret name of yours to blow you open like popcorn!”
The faerie moved fast. Time was racing. With Cinders to guide her, she stormed down a corridor into a darkness that clinked with hidden chains.
“Sis!” Escalla bellowed into the darkness as she flew. “Hey, sis! Expecting a call?”
The sound of her shout echoed though the tunnels. Somewhere in these caves Tielle lurked, and nearby would be the horrible pool Henry had described. Speeding through the air, Escalla swerved madly though tunnels and caves. In the Abyss, time was passing fast and hard.
Queen of the Demonweb Pits Page 25
