“Tielle! It’s family reunion time!”
They entered a long, low cavern, and Cinders’ voice hissed inside Escalla’s mind.
Left!
Two chain monks had been hidden by a strip of illusory wall. Escalla detonated a fireball amongst them, blasting the monsters apart. The chain monks flailed forward in a mass of chains, dying as Escalla shot past.
Six more chain monks erupted from the nearest tunnel. They threw chains ahead of them, screeching in eagerness to drink Escalla’s blood. She blasted a lightning bolt through the dense-packed tunnel, knocking chain monks into a shattered mass of bone and steel.
Escalla caught the glint of light from behind them, and she flew over the molten wreckage in a red haze of panic, grief, and pain.
“Tielle!”
She burst out into a huge cavern filled with silvery light. A narrow shore of limestone ran about a lake that shimmered an unwholesome quicksilver hue. Sluggish waves moved toward the faerie, as if the lake were a gigantic amoeba yearning after the scent of living flesh. Escalla sped above the lake to the distant shore and an archway of stone that stood conspicuously alone in the cave. It was a teleportation gateway, like a thousand others Escalla had used all her days.
“Keep an eye open!”
Escalla dropped the portable hole, propped Cinders’ head on the floor where he could keep watch, and dived past him into the hole. She rummaged in the boxes stored deep in the hole, found Enid’s stun parchment, and felt sick as she crushed it against her breast. The parchment still smelled of Enid’s spicy, feline scent. She saw the regeneration potion—the tiniest of vials—and weighed it in her hand.
“There’s a plan! The faerie always has a plan.” Escalla shot up out of the hole and planted the stun parchment beneath the arch. “Trust me, I’m a faerie!”
Cinders suddenly scowled, his eyes burning bright red.
Duck!
The hell hound blasted a huge gout of flames into a rock crevice. Chain monks leaped out of the hollows where they had been hiding, recoiling away from the flames. Escalla flew back to the lake, leaving Cinders and the portable hole where they lay.
“I’m bored, Tielle! One more minute, and I’m gone!”
Motion stirred at the far end of the lake. Emerging from her own luxurious apartments, Tielle posed in midair, attired in leather, gauze, and jewels. She held her magical drinking horn in her hands.
“Escalla! Come to taunt?”
The lightning spell almost caught Tielle square in the stomach, but she hurtled aside with only a hair’s breadth to spare, slamming hard against a wall. The girl’s magic horn flew off into the gloom. Still thoroughly alive, Tielle wiped blood from her mouth. Over the center of the vampire lake, Escalla hovered inside her anti-magic shield. Naked and coldly savage, the little blonde faerie waited for her sister. She had no lich staff, no sword or dagger, just bare hands, skin, and eyes that glinted murderous green.
“Come on, you fat git! Come over here and drop dead! Make my day!”
Chain monks capered on the banks of the lake, hurling chains into the air to fall well short of Escalla. Tielle looked left to right—saw none of Escalla’s friends lurking in the darkness, and came flying low over the lake. Quicksilver fluid surged up at her, hungry for blood, and the whole lake trembled in need.
Tielle closed carefully with her sister then paused. She hovered just short of Escalla, tilting her head carefully, looking for hidden dangers and traps.
“No staves, no poisoned rings, no daggers…” Tielle flexed her fingers, suddenly intent—her skin tingling with building pleasure as she thought of her sister’s life being choked out between her hands. “And just how were you planning on hurting me, Escalla? Have you been off training with the monks?”
Escalla bunched a fist. “Nope. But I’m shacked up with someone who has!”
She flew at Tielle and punched her with a savage left hook. Tielle tumbled in midair, then caught herself and attacked in a wild fury of fists and nails. Tielle screeched, howling in bloodlust as she attacked, and Escalla whirred about, punching fast and drawing blood with her hands.
Tielle grappled Escalla and choked her. The two faeries smashed into the roof, then Escalla had her teeth locked in Tielle’s arm. Tielle screeched and changed shape into a flying serpent, crushing Escalla in her coils. Escalla flashed, changed into a spiny urchin, and pierced Tielle in a hundred places with her spines. The snake dropped the urchin, which turned into a flying squid and grappled the snake in a mass of tentacles. Turning into acid slime, the snake wrenched itself free.
The two faeries battled in a raging fury, shifting shapes almost faster than the eye could see. They hacked and battered at each other with tentacles, stingers, arms and tails, gored with horns, and ripped with claws. Escalla turned into a flying puffer fish and fired a stream of poisoned spines. Tielle switched into an armored ribbon-snake and whip-cracked Escalla, spinning the puffer fish away. Both faeries tangled again in a welter of blood and screams, shifting shape into lizards, wasps, and crayfish high up in the air. They surged and fought even after Escalla’s anti-magical shield finally faded away. The smacked into stalactites, crashed into walls, then crashed into the shoreline in a tumbling mad fury of hate.
The monks gathered in shock around the battle. A stonefish lurched out of the fight, and changed into Tielle. She pointed at her opponent in a foaming rage as she screamed orders to the monks.
“Kill her! Do it! Kill her!”
Chain monks lashed at the other faerie, who wailed and turned back into Tielle. Shaking herself, Escalla dropped her last, most repellent form, no longer pretending to be her own sister. She watched the chain monks flailing madly at Tielle. They were tightly packed, like jackals ripping at a kill. Torn and hurting, Escalla rose into the air.
“Hey!”
The chain monks whirled, saw Escalla hovering in midair—and then disintegrated as she detonated her last fireball spell. The chain monks flew apart. Tielle jerked up out of the wreckage, having formed into a stone tortoise to save herself from her own monsters’ chains. Bleeding and exhausted, she took one look at Escalla and fled toward the faerie gate at the back of the cave. Tielle hit the portal—Enid’s stun scroll flashed—and the faerie crashed down, beaten unconscious by the magical blow.
Escalla scarcely bothered to give the fallen girl a glance. She sped into the dark, searching the cavern floor, and found Tielle’s magic horn. She dragged horn, portable hole, and Cinders over to the lake. She dived into the hole and found their paltry few grooming goods—Cinders’ fur brush, her own hairbrush, soap, and the straight razor Jus used to shave. The razor was absurdly sharp. Escalla tried not to think about it. She laid bandages, razor, regeneration potion and Tielle’s magic horn out by the edge of the lake. Cinders lay watching her, beating at the cave floor with his tail.
Faerie have plan?
“Yeah. Faerie has plan.”
Safe plan?
“Maybe. A bit.” Escalla stopped, retrieved Lolth’s gems from the portable hole, and popped them into Cinders’ mouth. “Cinders, if this doesn’t work, then call for Morag. Tell her that her true name is on the gem. Make her take you and Tielle to my father. He’ll look after you, all right? Good dog.” Escalla shook, mortally afraid. She put her arms around Cinders’ head and hugged his beloved furry skull. “Love you.”
Faerie? Faerie what do? Faerie? Cinders panicked as he saw Escalla flip open the razor. Faerie, no!
Escalla slit her wrist with one long slash of the razor. She tried to keep quiet, but one awful sob escaped her as she sliced open her artery. Faerie blood squirted out over the shore, and Escalla held her arm over the silver lake and let herself bleed into the horrible liquid.
Her blood ran fast, driven by a pounding little heart. There was so very little faerie to go around. Already drained white, with her blood spattering fast out of her arm, Escalla flipped open the potion of regeneration. She hoped Morag had played straight. She quaffed it down.
&nb
sp; It tasted like spring water.
Escalla swayed, then felt herself fall. She caught herself at the last moment before pitching into the lake. Slumped sideways, she lay on the shore, her arm stretched toward the lake and her blood running in a shocking stream down into the fluid. Yawning, she felt her legs go numb and knew she was bleeding to death.
Beside her, Cinders mewed and thrashed in place, tail pushing at the ground and his chin smashing at the stone.
Faerie! Faerie! The dog sobbed, helplessly trying to reach her. Faerie no die! No die!
“…’s all right, Cinders.” Escalla wanted to blink but couldn’t move her eyes. She felt like a rag, all washed out and worn. “Don’ cry. Don cry….”
Faerie, no!
The room faded, and Escalla wasn’t frightened anymore.
* * *
Escalla felt something nuzzling her face—Cinders’ nose, cold and firm. Blinking, she stared at her arm. Blood flowed out of the gash she had cut from wrist to elbow—far more blood that any faerie body could hold. Her heart beat slowly, weakly—but steadily. The girl watched herself bleed for a while, then felt an image of Recca’s regenerating flesh settle in her mind.
“Blood. He does it with green blood. That’s how he heals.”
Cinders nuzzled more insistently, and Escalla sat up. Giddy, she reached for a length of cloth and carefully bound her arm. The bandages were stained red, but she kept winding the cloth tight until the bleeding stopped. The severed muscles hurt. Her arm was useless. She tied a knot awkwardly with one hand and her teeth. She found herself sitting, staring at the lake, and patting Cinders’ warm, furry head.
“It’s all right, Cinders. It’s all right now. See? No one touches the faerie.”
The lake glowed a pleasing, restful blue—like liquid sapphire or a perfect morning sky. Escalla looked down at her arm as it tingled. She could feel her feet again, and her heartbeat grew stronger. Beside her, the empty potion bottle rolled twinkling in the light.
Morag had given them a real potion of regeneration. Escalla prodded the empty bottle with her foot and felt her little body beginning to heal.
“Hey, Cinders.”
Hello, faerie.
Morag had told Escalla the secret. The lake was blue. Blue for healing, blue for good—a blue that would burn evil just as the red water burned good. Escalla picked up the magic horn and filled it, then dipped the edge of the portable hole into the lake and topped it to the brim. She folded the hole, took Cinders and planted him over her head, then marched back to where Morag waited in the caves.
The tanar’ri stood, trying to appear serene. Her thin, beautiful face betrayed her nervousness. She looked anxiously at Escalla as the faerie appeared.
“What happened?”
“I got it. The vampire pool’s water, charged with the lifeblood of a good creature.” Escalla nodded. “Lolth’s vulnerable to holy water.”
“Shockingly vulnerable!” Morag shrugged her tail. “In the Abyss, it is hardly a disadvantage. Nothing stays holy there for more than a few minutes.”
“I have the tools to win. I can go.”
Escalla thought for a moment, heaved a sigh, then handed Morag Lolth’s jewel.
“Morag, take me back there, and then go do what you please. If you take my sister to my father’s court, he’ll give you refuge and help you make a home. There are places quieter than the Abyss for you and your friend.”
“You’re giving me back my name?” Morag stared at the jewel. “You’re trusting me?”
“There was no name on the jewels. I lied.” Escalla shrugged. “Sorry. Hey! I’m a faerie.”
Morag looked extremely annoyed. She grabbed Escalla, planted her on her shoulders, and growled.
“Meaning Lolth still has my secret name. So now I have to help you.”
“Yep.”
“I am annoyed.”
“Hey!” Escalla looked acidly at the tanar’ri girl. “Remember when you nicked off and left us in the middle of that fight?”
“All right, all right!” Morag seethed. She had been outmaneuvered. “Let’s go.”
“Hoopy.”
Morag summoned one of her followers to collect Tielle.
“So this place your father knows… it’s much quieter than the Abyss?”
Still numb with shock and grief, the faerie gave a nod. “Much.”
Morag teleported out of the caves, first to Keggle Bend, then the Abyss, the Demonweb—and finally through the brass door to Lolth’s home plane. They returned to the spider palace.
The battle against Lolth was about to be rejoined.
* * *
Morag teleported them into the engine room. The boilers lay dead and hissing. All powers of flight lost as the physical laws of Lolth’s home plane took hold, Escalla leaped down. She ran to the edge of the time-stop field and stared at the weird changes that had taken place.
Manes had come blundering to the rescue. There were perhaps six of them now, all frozen where they had walked into the time field. Escalla ran frantically around the rim of the field, staring in at the scene and trying to plan what she should do.
Enid was dead. Henry and Polk were unconscious and about to be deluged in giant spiders—all of whom hung in mid-leap. Recca had risen halfway from the ground and was reaching for his sword. Jus was on his knees, hanging forward, one hand crammed against the wound in his chest and a look of apocalyptic fury on his face as he turned toward the spider queen.
Working fast, Escalla flung Cinders down on the floor.
“Time!”
Morag had a time-keeping device. She retrieved it from her pocket and opened the cover.
“Time’s up.”
“Right! Quickly!” Escalla ran fingers through hair made limp with grief and worry. “Put a rag over your hand, grab Benelux, and shove it hilt first at the Justicar. Move!”
The tanar’ri went one way, Escalla went another. She gave a roar of rage and began firing her last few spells into the time field. Magic golden bees froze as she aimed at the giant spiders. Her black tentacles spell hung half formed, frozen in time, ready to choke Recca to death. She swung Tielle’s magic horn into her hands, braced herself, and opened fire. Bolts of blue liquid shot into the field and stopped. She aimed to hit Jus right in the chest, then Henry, Polk—and finally Lolth. The girl refilled the horn, fired at Lolth again from another angle, and then she saw the figures in the time field twitch.
“Morag! Show time!”
Cinders lay beside the open portable hole. Escalla turned to refill the magic horn, and Morag threw Benelux in a glittering arc at the Justicar.
The engine room erupted into noise.
Spellfire flashed. A swarm of Escalla’s magic bees blasted into leaping spiders, hammering them apart mid flight. Tentacles blasted up from the floor and seized hold of Recca. Water splashed and spellfire came from a dozen directions all at once.
Caught mid-run, Escalla looked wildly at Lolth as great bolts of blue liquid gouted through the air toward her. Escalla screamed in victory, her cry turned to a howl of despair as Lolth teleported away an instant before the blue waters crashed home. Escalla slid to the portable hole, plunged her horn into the blue liquid and felt it sucking in a titanic draft.
She whirled, ready to fight, and saw a vast shape looming over her. Lolth lashed out with one leg and smashed into Escalla. The faerie went cartwheeling away, the magic horn flying from her gasp.
Lolth pursued Escalla as the little faerie crashed against a wall.
“You pathetic little gnat! I’ll make you scream for all eternity!”
Morag tried to attack but was smashed aside. Escalla looked wildly about for the magic horn. It lay ten yards away. She sprinted for it, but a wall of flames shot up in her path. Escalla skidded away in panic, backpedaling across the floor as the vast spider, fangs bared, towered over her.
“Morag! Die!” The spider queen hissed in hate. She began to speak the snake-girl’s secret name but had only managed the first syllab
le when she staggered sideways, blood flying from her side. The spider screamed, her titanic body rocking as something smashed with the force of a meteor.
A huge bellow shook the hall. The Justicar, his wounds healed by the magical blue waters, stood sheathed in blood, massive and wild with anger, as he ripped Benelux from the demon queen’s shell. The titanic spider turned, and Jus chopped into one of her legs, hacking through the carapace to tear the limb free. Lolth screamed out a charm spell, but it spattered harmlessly from the counter spell of Jus’ magic ring. Lolth recoiled backward and opened fire with a magic missile storm.
Red fire darts blasted at the Justicar. The big man roared and moved his sword in a blur. Glowing darts hit, spun, and ricocheted. Others stabbed home, ripping his armor of dragon hide and spraying blood across the floor, but the ranger stood his ground. Morag attacked from behind Lolth, cutting in a frenzy with her swords. She drew blood, and Lolth stabbed out another spell. A huge shockwave hit Morag and flung her against the ceiling. The snake-woman crashed to the deck, stunned and immobile.
Escalla flung herself at one of Lolth’s feet and tried to climb up the demon. She planned to turn into a lamprey and gnaw through the demon’s guts. Lolth stamped, kicking out her leg and throwing the faerie off. The Justicar ran at her. She turned, fired web from her spinnerets, and almost drowned the human in an avalanche of strands. Escalla flew free, rolling as she fell, the breath driven out of her as she tumbled like a ball across the floor. Bleeding, she managed to lift her head as Lolth reared over her prey.
With a flash, Lolth shapeshifted back to her dark-elven form. Mad wild with the ecstasy of victory, the demon queen paced past Morag, Henry, and Polk—past dead Enid and the trapped Justicar. She advanced on the faerie, panting with a lust for blood.
“No fast talk, Escalla? No clever little plans?” Magic crackled about Lolth’s hands as she prepared to inflict an eternity of agony. “Nothing to stop me killing you?” The goddess lifted her hands and gave a hiss of victory. “Has anyone got anything cute they’d like to say?”
Queen of the Demonweb Pits Page 26
