Wiggles danced on her back paws, her fluffy white tail beating back and forth in an eager wag. As neither the dog nor the woman carried any type of edged blade, the dread ignored them. Ivy lunged for the bones and grabbed the nearest forearm. She punched down on the slender bones with her mailed gloves. As with most dreads, the thing was too tough to break, but she forced it near to the ground. Wiggles immediately leaped forward and clamped her sharp little teeth around the nearest wrist bone. She growled, backing away and dragging the dread after her. With no command laid upon it regarding small dogs with sharp teeth, the dread just went bumping after Wiggles, its sword still scraping behind it.
Ignoring the tough old bones, Ivy jumped directly on the rusted blade, landing hard on her boot heels. Unlike the bones, the blade was not magically immune to breakage. It cracked and crumbled under her feet. She stomped a few more times. The bony hand now held only the remnants of a rusted handle, a weapon that posed no danger to anyone. Wiggles still growled and tugged at the bones. She had hooked one paw over the hand bones in an attempt to hold them down for better chewing. With her sharp little teeth, she finally worried free a thumb bone. As soon as it snapped off, the entire dread broke into a shattered pile of bones. Ivy shuffled through the pile, scraping her soles along the floor, and quickly scattered the pieces as far apart as possible. She glared at the bones for a moment, but they remained only broken bits on the floor with no flicker of magic trying to paste them together.
With the dread no longer attacking him, the largest bugbear, Osteroric, whipped around and tried to brain Sanval with his glaive. Ivy shouted for her knife. Zuzzara grabbed it and flipped it blade over handle to her. Ivy caught it with one mailed hand. She took a running jump and flung herself at the bugbear, kicking with both feet at the creature’s knee.
The impact sent a shock of pain through her injured toe, and Ivy screamed in a mix of anger and aggravation. More startled by the scream than injured by her kick, the bugbear tripped and rolled with Ivy on top of him. She dropped her knife and wrestled the glaive out of his hands. She used the long pole to swing herself upright, turning it again to swing the iron ball hard against Osteroric’s chest. The ball rang against the shiny breastplate that Osteroric wore and knocked him flat. The bugbear waved his furry hands in a gesture of surrender.
“Peace and parley, peace and parley. Don’t dent my new breastplate,” he wheezed. “Pull your friend off Norimgic before he harms him.”
“Sanval!” Ivy shouted. He ignored her, matching dueling sword against glaive with the snarling Norimgic. “Hey, Sanval, stop!”
When Sanval ignored her commands and continued to battle Norimgic, Ivy realized the spell of the dread was still upon them, terror driving them to fight with mindless fury. She thrust the glaive between Sanval’s legs, tripping him and sending him rolling off to one side. Norimgic tried to follow, but she shoved the glaive’s blade against his throat. “Back off,” she said, pricking the bugbear’s skin enough to draw blood. “He’s mine to kill, if I want to.”
Norimgic turned his head and looked at the blood pooling in the hair on his shoulder, blinked his tiny eyes, flattened his ears against his skull, and whined in the same tone that Wiggles used when she knew that she had been a bad dog. Ivy eased off on the pressure of the blade balanced against his throat.
“Fighting females,” said Osteroric, scrambling upright and dusting off his breastplate with gentle, concerned strokes. “You should never argue with them.”
Ivy reached past the bugbear, grabbed Sanval by the back of his neck, pulled him upright, and shook him until his feet were firmly planted under him. Then she glared at him. She noticed his dark hair was amazingly mussed—the black curls were dusty, streaked with rust, and sticking up in all directions. She looked him over more carefully and frowned. “Aren’t you missing something? Shiny stuff?”
Sanval managed a growl.
Ivy felt like she could stand there all day hanging on to Sanval, but she really had other things to do. She settled on a way to keep him out of trouble until she could get them above ground. She shoved him into the arms of a bugbear.
“Hang onto him. Tight,” Ivy instructed Osteroric. “Now, where’s Archlis? I want to get out of here.”
A little cowed by her tone, Osteroric gestured to the archway in front of them. “He went into the crypt. He took the other one with him.”
Turning to Sanval, the bugbear held the Procampur captain at arm’s length, stared at him, and said, “You have nothing much left to trade, you know that?”
Sanval’s growl deepened.
“Good thing I got that breastplate when I did. Did you lose your other stuff? I would not have thought of you as careless.”
Sanval pulled his lips back from his clenched teeth and hissed. The bugbear gave him a wary look and stopped talking.
Ivy strode through the archway formerly guarded by the dread and entered the crypt. Its walls shone with the reflected glitter of countless gems, and patterns of light danced across the arched ceiling. Ivy stopped, turned slowly, and stared at her surroundings. It was like being inside a treasure chest. But that wasn’t why she was here, she remembered, and she forced her attention back to her job.
“Never hesitate when going to confront a magelord with a lethal command over fire” was going to be her new motto. Just stroll on in like you expect to be paid, and see if you can bluff your way out of this mess, she told herself.
Of course, she was a little startled to find herself wading through gems that rolled underfoot like pebbles on a beach.
“Oooh,” moaned Mumchance when he spotted the piles of gems that rose higher than his head in some corners of the room. “Rubies, emeralds, diamonds. Oh, look, puppy, look. It is all our favorite friends.” Wiggles trotted proudly beside him, tail still wagging and the dread’s thumb bone clenched in her jaws.
Norimgic went down on his furry knees, grabbing gems and stuffing them into his pockets. He might have been a bugbear poet, but he was bright enough to recognize portable wealth when he saw it. Osteroric kept one hand clamped tightly around Sanval’s wrists and used the other big hand to scoop up jewels and stuff them behind his breastplate. “I can buy many beautiful new chains with these. Maybe even some fine black leather vests for my brother and I. Females always like that look. You should try that. It is better than that rust you wear in your hair,” the bugbear said in friendly tones to his prisoner.
The prisoner’s eyes gleamed darkly, and the sound of grinding teeth could be heard, but Sanval remained silent.
Kid was on his knees, kneeling on what looked like a pile of black sapphires. The carved chest before him was remarkable for its very plainness after the golden doors and the crystal corridor. It was a sarcophagus carved from gray stone, with a number of strange symbols etched into its side. From the stone box an ululation rose, a moaning cry rather like a wailing kitten trapped in a box. Kid’s face was wrinkled in concentration, and he apparently did not notice the tip of the magelord’s Ankh pressed into the back of his neck. Ivy, however, was very conscious of the grim and greedy expression on the face of Archlis. His eyes had narrowed to yellow slits; frown lines creased down the sides of his long nose and past his scowl to his jaws. His hand tightened around the shaft of the Ankh. If he leaned forward over Kid or stumbled at all, the Ankh would crack the little thief’s neck bones.
Ivy hand-signaled for quiet. She did not want to startle Archlis into a sudden attack. Behind her, she could hear the clicking noise of gems being trickled into pockets. She hoped it was just the bugbears and the rest of her friends were paying attention.
Kneeling in front of the gray stone box, Kid pointed a finger at the etched markings on its surface. He did not turn his head to look up at the magelord and seemed completely unaware of the threat looming over him. But Kid was clever, and for now she would have to trust his instincts to save himself. He wasn’t one to make some rash move, unlike a certain captain from Procampur who was ready to risk his life for a chance t
o kill Archlis. At least she did not have to worry about that sort of foolishness from Kid. He who saves himself first lives to save the rest of us, she thought, and decided to add it to her growing list of mottos. The list that started with “The only good day is one where we all walk away” and Mumchance’s old favorite: “If the wall is falling down, don’t stand under it.”
“So, my lord, so,” said Kid to Archlis. “We press in the pattern of the name. Three times and then three times more. A little tricky, but no great barrier.”
As he had with the silver buckle that made the belt float, Kid’s quick fingers danced in the perfect rhythm needed to trace the secret code and unlock the chest. He kept his head down, his fingers moving, and played the lock as though it were a musical instrument. Once, twice, tap tap tap. The lid popped open.
“Mine! Mine at last!” cried Archlis. He threw his arms up toward the ceiling, the force pulling his tall body to its full height. His sleeves flapped, his stringy blond hair bobbed on his shoulders, and the Ankh lifted off of Kid’s neck.
The shouts of the magelord were drowned beneath a sobbing wave of noise that reminded Ivy of funeral mourners. It crested into a terrible moaning sound, and it issued from the stone sarcophagus.
Behind her, Ivy heard Gunderal cry out, her genasi nature sensitive to any spells or curses near her. Even Ivy could feel the chill prickle of the magic that issued from the granite coffin.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Archlis lowered his Ankh to his side as he knelt to peer into the stone chest. “I have my treasure now,” he said. He paused, his long fingers suspended, as though he feared that what he reached for would burn him. Ivy took a step forward, to see for herself what he coveted. Before she could lean over his shoulder to see, Archlis drew out a large diamond from the chest. He held it up in an outstretched hand, and the gem shot out beams of light that glittered off of every bright surface. It was as close to being a living thing as a crystal could be, pulsing with brilliance. From the diamond issued the weird moaning sound that had been evident even when the sarcophagus was closed.
Kid backed away from Archlis. Paying no attention at all to Ivy, who was hissing at him to move behind her, Kid stooped and picked up a very large ruby. Rather than dropping it into his pouch, as Ivy expected, Kid drew out a leather slingshot from a hidden pocket. He stared intently at the back of the magelord’s head.
Just as Kid dropped the ruby into the slingshot, a cry echoed through the room, a shriek that went higher and became more shrill as the cry went on. “Thief, thief! There you are! Thief!”
Ivy spun around to confront a flameskull rocketing through the door. “Oh blast, I thought we’d broken that thing!”
“Thief! Give me back my tooth!” The flameskull darted at a startled Kid, who tumbled out of the way, dropping his slingshot as he dodged. The flameskull’s eyes shot sparks; its mane of green flame swirled and flashed with its fury. Ivy grabbed for her sword and then realized her scabbard was still empty. She snatched at her belt. Her dagger was gone too, dropped when she was fighting with Osteroric. But she still had the glaive. She swung at the flameskull, which made a jeering noise and whizzed out of reach.
Mumchance gave a shout behind her, and Ivy ducked at the dwarf’s warning. He had scooped up a handful of rubies and flung the jewels at the flameskull to distract it from Kid. The gems ricocheted off the flying skull, rattling away into the corners. The flameskull spat a ball of fizzing green sparks at them, but it was turning toward Kid even as the spell left its mouth. Both Ivy and the dwarf rolled out of the way of the spell, which fizzled harmlessly in a pile of loose diamonds.
“You have my tooth!” screamed the flameskull. “You stole my tooth!” Kid looked around the room.
“Get rid of that tooth!” shouted Ivy to Kid. “Give it to me.” She was wearing the most armor, and if all the thing could do was spit sparks, she stood the best chance of surviving its attack.
Kid shook his head and jumped sideways, clutching at the pouch where he had stashed the flameskull’s molar, and drawing the flameskull away from Ivy. The flameskull let out a howl and dived toward him, scorching past Mumchance and almost setting the dwarf’s beard alight. Mumchance hopped from foot to foot, cursing undead creatures that wouldn’t stay dead. He stooped and gathered another handful of gems, throwing emeralds, sapphires, and one enormous blood red garnet at the flameskull. Each stone hit the bony pate and bounced away. The flameskull barely even glanced at the dwarf before it began to follow Kid around the room again.
“Give me back my tooth!” it screamed as it dived after the little thief. Kid wisely decided to shelter behind the stone sarcophagus, curling his body into a small target—head down, hands and hooves tucked neatly beneath himself. The flameskull zipped after him, almost striking Archlis. The astounded magelord, clutching the diamond to his chest with one hand, swiped at the flameskull with his Ankh. The metal staff rang with a clang against the skull but had no other effect.
“Get it away from me!” Archlis shouted at Kid.
“Give me my tooth!” sobbed the skull and hovered above Kid.
Kid whipped out from behind the sarcophagus, the flameskull in hot pursuit behind him.
“That’s it! I’ve had it with you!” Ivy was still wearing her armored gloves. When the flameskull went whizzing by her, she reached out both hands and snagged it through the empty eye sockets and jawbone. The green flame licked harmlessly at her heavy gauntlets. The skull was a simple catch for anyone who had grabbed a dread or the head of a floating corpse and felt the nose rot off into her hand. Some things just got easier with practice.
“Wwwarghts!” The skull let out a muffled shriek, unable to speak any words with Ivy’s left hand wrapped tightly around its jawbone. It tried to tug out of her hands, continuing to make strange gargling noises.
“Careful, Ivy,” Gunderal warned. “It’s trying to cast a spell.”
“Shut up!” Ivy yelled at the flameskull. She held it in front of her and stared into its flickering eye sockets, confronting it with her jutting chin almost touching its naked jawbone. The flameskull gave an involuntary tremble. Ivy smiled—and it was not a nice smile—and slung the flameskull into the stone box in front of her. Before the magical creature could recover, she slammed the lid of the sarcophagus down. “And stay there!”
Muffled bumps and bangs echoed from inside the box. A puff of smoke came out of the crack between the lid and box. Ivy ignored it. She swaggered up to Archlis, grabbing a stunned Kid by the shoulder and pulled him behind her. The little guy was obviously feeling murderous, but attacking Archlis at this moment might not be the best plan. She thought that she had a better idea.
“Admirable style, my dear,” Kid whispered.
“Thank you,” Ivy whispered back. “Now stop trying to play hero. If I tell you to throw me a moldering molar, throw it.”
“Yes, Captain.” Kid sketched a quick bow in her direction. She ignored it, swiveling toward the magelord.
“You!” Ivy said, jabbing a finger at Archlis.
The magelord blinked.
“All right, we have saved you. Destrachans drowned. Flameskull boxed up. Can’t ask for more than that from any mercenary,” Ivy announced loudly. “So pay up and lead us out of the ruins.”
Archlis blinked and slowly turned his head toward her. When he did not reply, she snapped her fingers to be sure she had his attention. Not a flicker. His gaze dropped back to the Moaning Diamond. It was as if the gem were speaking to him, distracting him from more normal concerns and cares.
“Hurry up,” Ivy said, pressing Archlis to make his decision—there was a creaking sound coming from the corridor behind them. “Those golden doors behind us won’t hold the water out forever. We need to get out of here before the river breaks into this room.”
“The river is no problem.” Archlis sneered. “Not while I hold this treasure.” He fondled the Moaning Diamond in his hands.
“It’s pretty,” said Ivy. What was the matter with t
he man? He was like a child with a new toy, aware of nothing else. She wanted to wave both of her hands in front of his eyes to determine if he could see anything besides that stupid diamond. Fighting to keep control, she said, “But there are bigger ones lying all around here.”
“Those are just gems. This artifact toppled the walls of Tsurlagol. Even muffled in that stone box, it called the other gems out of the depths of the earth.”
“Knew this stuff didn’t come here naturally,” muttered the dwarf behind Ivy.
“Now I can use its power to unearth all the hidden treasures of the world!” Archlis started forward, hurrying, paying little attention to where he stepped. His feet caused a small avalanche of gems, and he stumbled and shot out an arm. To Ivy’s regret, he managed to stay upright. She started to reach a hand toward his Ankh, but Mumchance whispered a warning behind her. Archlis had recovered his balance and was glaring at them, the fingers of one hand white around the Ankh’s handle. Ivy did not dare to set him off; they had nothing to protect them from his fire spells. With an oath, Archlis strode past her, kicking at the rolling gems.
“Watch what the Moaning Diamond can do!” Archlis raised the Moaning Diamond in one hand, holding it high above his head. The magelord began to cry out the words of some spell, using the same grating language that he had used with his charms earlier. The ululations from the gem grew louder with each of his shouts.
On the edge of her vision, Ivy saw the wall changing. Without turning her head away from Archlis, she slid her eyes to the side to better see what was happening. A part of the wall at one end of the room began to melt away. It did not crumble with roaring dust clouds, as had the stone chamber walls when the destrachans had attacked them. Instead, the material of the wall seemed to evaporate, as though it were no firmer than mist. Within the widening opening she saw a hidden staircase spiraling upwards.
The smell of clean air was immediately evident to the keener noses in the group.
Crypt of the Moaning Diamond Page 24
