by Mel Odom
Crawling out of his bedroll, Juhg noticed the chill in the air at once. “No. Sleeping was not time well spent. You save me from a lot worse than a couple hours’ turn at sentry duty.” He stepped out of the tent and stomped his feet to wake them, not knowing how they had fallen asleep while he had not been able to.
“I’ve made some persimmon tea,” Jassamyn said, pointing to the pot that hung from a tree branch only a few feet away. “It’s not the best I’ve ever made, but maybe it will help you sleep. It’s soothing by nature.”
“I’ll try it.” Anything would be preferable to returning to his tent for a few more hours spent with nightmares.
“Wake Craugh when you’re finished. And remember, when you wake Craugh out in the wilderness—”
“You want to grab his foot to do it,” Juhg said. “I remember.”
Craugh woke up irritable anyway when he slept in a bed. After sleeping on the ground, he sometimes came up flailing, bound by nightmares of his own. Now Juhg understood what some of them were.
He walked down to the edge of the water-filled marsh and stared out across the open expanse. His mind painted images of the Ruhrmash dwarves who had followed the Smokesmith dwarves in living in the area after the Molten Forge Mountains had crumbled. He’d never seen any of their great iron ships actually sailing, only bits and pieces of them that he and the Grandmagister had uncovered while hiding from the goblinkin slavers. Later, in the Vault of All Known Knowledge, Juhg had found paintings of the large, fierce ships, all bristling with weapons and spikes and bedecked with moveable shields to protect the crews from enemy attack and the dragon that had lived in the area.
He wished he could have seen that.
Hunkering down, Juhg peered along the shoreline across the great expanse of muddy water. He searched for campfires, as Cobner and Jassamyn had done before him, anything to let them know if the mysterious riders were still in the same area.
To his right, a raccoon climbed down from a tree and crept over to the water carrying a cherry in one paw. Sitting on its haunches, the raccoon washed its prize, then began eating greedily.
A wood mouse exited the treeline and ran over to the raccoon to see if there were any tidbits the raccoon had dropped. Then a heavy chuff of air sounded overhead.
Juhg looked up, knowing from experience what he would find.
The great horned owl dove from the steaming, moonskissed silvery fog that hung thick at the treetops. It descended in a rush, trailing its deadly claws behind it as it prepared to strike. The wood mouse froze, and Juhg knew the tiny creature’s heart was pounding so hard it was probably ready to explode.
Before the owl could seize its prey, though, Jassamyn’s draca zipped through the air with snapping leather wings. The miniature dragon’s jaws opened and it took the mouse only inches ahead of the owl. Distracted by the draca’s intervention, the owl collided with the ground and rolled, scaring the raccoon back to the trees. After a moment spent wobbly-legged, the owl gathered itself and leapt into the air.
High above in the shifting silvery fog, the draca shrilled in triumph. Then it ate the mouse in one long swallow.
Turning his gaze back to the expanse of trees on the other side of the marsh, Juhg noticed the shadow come up on him from behind. As big as the shadow was, Juhg first thought that Raisho had come up to talk to him because he was having trouble sleeping as well.
Juhg turned, started to speak to Raisho, then caught movement from the corner of his eye as the shadow raised a club high over his head and brought it down.
17
Slither
Kicking out, Juhg hurled himself backward, landing on his rump just as the club slammed into the mud where he’d been standing. The meaty splat of the club meeting the ground echoed over the marsh.
The creature—and Juhg immediately thought of it as a creature even though it was bipedal and intelligence gleamed in its feral yellow eyes—jerked its head around and lifted its club from the mud.
It was at least six and a half feet tall, built gaunt as a wolf, wide across the shoulders and narrow at the hips, and had the protruding muzzle of a wolf. Dark scales covered it, though, instead of fur. The scales looked oily, like gleaming onyx or ebony polished with beeswax. Delicate, shell-like ears framed its head, and they darted and flattened like a cat’s. The jaws opened, revealing a double row of teeth. The hands and feet were a combination of human and animal, possessing long digits and curved talons.
“Give me the gemstones,” the creature said in a voice that sounded like growling from a deep well. “You are not supposed to have them. They are not for you.”
“What?”
“The gemstones.” The creature pointed to where the leather pouch containing the blue gemstones hung against Juhg’s chest. “I was summoned to protect them from weak things like you.”
“By who?” Juhg’s instinctive response was a question, and that was his Librarian training taking over when his dweller nature was screaming at him to run. And the second question came with the same speed as the first. “Summoned from where?”
The creature was inhumanly quick, almost quicker than a fear-filled dweller’s survival reflexes. It swung the club again, aiming once more at Juhg’s head.
Rolling in the mud, Juhg avoided the blow, then avoided two more in quick succession before he was able to get to his feet. From head to toe, a thick layer of mud covered him and his clothing. He found his way clear for the moment, and he found his voice.
“Help! Raisho!” Juhg dodged away, then ran back toward the tents. “Cobner! Craugh! Jassamyn! Help!” As quick as he was, though, he couldn’t outrun the creature. Its legs were far longer than his. He delayed the inevitable by dodging around trees and rocks, barely avoiding the massive club twice more.
The creature’s splayed feet pounded behind him, growing closer. Taking a look behind, Juhg saw that it was closing on him rapidly. And he was still thirty feet from the tents. He screamed for help again, saw the creature swing the club in a side-to-side strike that was designed to knock his head from his shoulders, and fell to the ground on his hands and knees, locking his hands over his head with his face in the mud to protect himself as best as he could.
The creature’s strike took it off balance, dragging it forward. Its momentum pulled it along and its legs struck Juhg’s rump and it tripped, falling forward. Landing on the ground, the creature slipped through the mud, twisting and shoving itself up immediately, bracing itself on one hand as it dug its feet in. It stood again, almost twenty feet from where it had fallen.
Before the creature could launch itself at Juhg again, Cobner stepped from his tent with his battle-axe in his hands. Giving vent to a battle cry, the dwarven warrior attacked at once. He swung the axe up and over, clearly intending to split the creature’s head open.
The creature blocked the axe blow with its club, then aimed an incredibly quick strike at Cobner’s head. Juhg was surprised when the dwarf pulled his head back and down—almost like a turtle—and managed to avoid the blow. Stepping in, Cobner blocked the club to the side with his axe haft, then stomped the creature’s foot with his hobnailed boot. When the creature yowled in pain, Cobner bent forward and struck its face with his forehead. Both creature and dwarf fell to the ground.
The creature pushed itself up first, reaching for its club with that amazing speed and drawing the weapon up. Before it could swing, an arrow thudded into its chest, penetrating the black scales where a man’s heart would have been.
As if only angered, the creature snapped the arrow off and glared at Jassamyn. Standing in front of her tent only a short distance away, the elven maid was already putting another shaft to string.
“I am Slither!” the creature roared. “Fear me!”
The Slither! Juhg remembered the name from the Grandmagister’s journals.
I’m not quite clear on the nature of the Slither, the inhuman being that is supposed to guard the sections of The Book of Time, the Grandmagister had written. Haldin insists
that the Slither is a discorporate being, a thing wrought totally of fear. That’s why it appears in so many shapes. On the other hand, Kannal asserts that the Slither was once a large lizard that was malformed and given a much more intelligent mind. Even more puzzling, the Slither is supposed to be able to travel from each section of The Book of Time faster than thought.
Juhg stared at the creature in disbelief. How was it still alive? That had taken place thousands of years ago.
The Slither went on the attack at once, slamming its club into Cobner’s axe and knocking the dwarf to one side. The guardian leapt at Jassamyn, who coolly released her arrow. Speeding true, the arrow slammed into the Slither’s head, piercing it through, but the wound didn’t seem to deflect the creature at all.
Jassamyn dived to one side. Coming to a sudden stop where the elven maid had been, the Slither turned toward her again. That was when Raisho crashed into the guardian from behind, knocking them both to the mud. Used to grappling and wrestling in tavern brawls and contests, Raisho claimed the advantage, grabbing one of the Slither’s arms and trapping it behind its back, shouldering the creature’s face into the mud as he lay on top of it.
“Hold that thing,” Cobner said, getting to his feet again. “I’ll put a knot on its knob that it won’t be getting over so quicklike.” He hefted his battle-axe and ran to Raisho’s aid.
Suddenly, the Slither went still, not fighting against Raisho’s hold. A black glow spread out from the creature, then it turned to liquid in Raisho’s grasp, oozing through the young sailor’s arms and legs and escaping his wrestling hold.
Raisho jerked away as if scalded, brushing at his chest to dislodge any remnant of the creature. “That thing burned me! I felt it! Hot as coals, it was!”
“You must have killed it,” Cobner said, looking down at the black pool of ooze that was all that was left of the creature.
Incredulous, Juhg stood and watched as the black liquid pool suddenly jerked into motion. It shot across the uneven muddy ground, and though Juhg felt that some part of the pool had to become dislodged or be left behind, it all flowed together, changing shapes as it needed to in order to get around, over, under, or through debris that littered the marshy shore. The black pool gained speed and purpose, twisting and turning—slithering, Juhg realized—like a snake.
A few feet away, the black pool flowed upward, forming a column that changed back into the beast-man shape. It stretched its arm out and another club formed there.
“I am Slither!” it shouted, throwing its hands out to its sides in triumph. “You can’t kill me!”
Stumbling over to the others, standing between Jassamyn and Craugh, Juhg studied the creature. No sign of the wounds it had suffered remained. Whatever power it had used to escape Raisho had also healed it.
“I am indestructible!” the Slither roared. “I am made by the guardian of The Book of Time by the powerful right hand of Lord Kharrion! Raised up from death and made whole once more!” It stretched out its empty hand. “Give me the gemstones that you have and I will ask Lord Kharrion to allow me to let you pass without taking your lives!”
“If you’re the protector of The Book of Time, why weren’t you in Skull Canal?” Juhg couldn’t believe he was drawing attention to himself, but the question wouldn’t leave him alone.
“Give me the gemstones!” The Slither came closer, its malevolent yellow eyes fixed solely on Juhg.
“Lord Kharrion is dead,” Juhg said. “How can you still serve him if he’s dead?”
“I will ask Lord Kharrion if I may spare your life,” the Slither bellowed, “if you give me the gemstones now.”
“No,” Juhg said. Something was wrong. Something didn’t ring true. The creature was talking like Lord Kharrion still existed.
“Then you will die!” The Slither raised his club and started forward. “I am Slither, guardian to The Book of Time!”
“And I am Craugh!” the wizard roared at Juhg’s side. Green embers circled his staff. “This camp is under my protection!” He drew a glowing ward in the air and spoke a single word.
The insignia, looking like a very complicated letter K, spun toward the creature, struck it, and wrapped around it immediately. Once the letter had stretched out to its full size, it bound the Slither’s arms and legs together, trapping the creature.
The Slither went rigid again, then he oozed between the magical binding. With nothing left to hold, the glowing trap vanished. Almost immediately, the Slither reformed and ran straight for Juhg.
Craugh threw a hand out toward the creature. Waves of shimmering force hit the Slither and threw it backward thirty feet, sending it sprawling in the mud.
Like a machine, the guardian got to its feet and ran to attack once more.
His face a mask of surprise and anger, Craugh moved forward and threw his hand out again. The shimmering force knocked the Slither from its feet again, propelling it high into the air. Before it had a chance to land, Craugh hit it again with the magical force, knocking it into the air even higher and farther. Then again.
After the fourth blow, the Slither was a shapeless blob that arced out high over the marsh waters. It dropped, still slithering and twisting and twitching, and disappeared into the water.
“Get a lantern,” Craugh directed gruffly as he strode to the water’s edge.
“What about the other people that might be in the area?” Raisho asked.
“If they didn’t hear all that bellowing and roaring,” the wizard said, “they’re not going to notice a lantern.”
Juhg dashed back inside his tent, took a small oil lantern from his kit, and ran back outside. Craugh and the others stood at the water’s edge and peered out at the marsh. Kneeling with the lantern on the ground in front of him, Juhg took out his tinderbox, raised the glass on the lantern, and lit the wick. When the flame was going nicely, he lowered the glass and went to the water’s edge with the others.
Raising the lantern high, Juhg peered out into the marsh water. The lantern’s golden light barely dented the darkness and cast an elongated oval.
“Over there.” Jassamyn pointed out to the left.
Craugh took the lantern from Juhg and held it as high as he could reach. Juhg spotted the black mass twisting and squirming through the water and heading for shore at least a hundred yards from their position.
“He’s had enough,” Raisho crowed. He started jogging around the edge of the marsh with his cutlass in hand.
“He’s the guardian,” Juhg said. “He’s the guardian that the Grandmagister mentioned in his journal. The one who is supposed to protect The Book of Time. He was talking like Lord Kharrion is still around.”
“I heard him, apprentice,” Craugh responded. “I have ears, and it was hard not to hear him yelling.” He took a fresh grip on his staff. “But he came after you.”
“To get the gemstones that I’m carrying.” Juhg watched the dark mass slither up onto the shore. It sat there for a moment, like a fox run to ground and breathing hard. “Craugh, if that is the Slither that the Grandmagister researched and found out about, it may know where the second piece of The Book of Time is.”
“Haring about in the middle of the night in unfamiliar territory is not something I’m wishful of.”
On the shore, the dark mass slowly rose up and became something akin to human again. Unsteadily at first, but gaining its balance, the Slither started picking up speed.
“If we’re gonna go after it,” Cobner said, “now is the time.”
Craugh reached up and pulled his pointy hat on more tightly. “Let’s go. Leave the horses. They will only slow us down. That thing won’t make this chase easy across open ground.”
The Slither ran cross-country and took advantage of every bit of cover the land provided. Trees with gnarled roots that stuck up from muddy pools of marshland became hazards. They splashed through other pools, and twice Raisho—who was the fleetest of them—plunged beneath deep water only to come up and pull himself out to take up the chase
again while the others avoided the areas. Swamp rats, bobcats, and night boomers—carnivorous lizards that grew up to three feet long—all occupied areas around the marshlands.
Juhg kept up with the others, but just barely. If he hadn’t been so fleet afoot and in good shape, they would have left him far behind with their longer legs. His small size helped when they plunged through brush that tore at their exposed flesh and clothing. He went through more than a few barriers that the creature oozed through but his companions had to circumnavigate.
And if the creature had possessed the incredible speed it had shown earlier, he knew that they would never have been able to keep up with it.
More than once, Juhg saw the creature dart around a tree or boulder, or even a few hills, and disappear. He felt certain that it would lose them then, but Jassamyn trailed it without a false step even in the dim moonslight. Her keen elven eyes and knowledge of woodcraft aided her in keeping them apace of their quarry.
Several long, bone-jarring minutes later, Juhg was starting to flag, exhausted by the past few days and the frantic run across broken terrain. Just when he knew he couldn’t go any farther, they topped a ridge that looked down over a small valley. Below, not far from the water’s edge, the creature vanished into a cave. The hillside contained several other caves as well. If they had not spotted the creature choosing the one it entered, it would have gotten away because they would have spent hours exploring them and Jassamyn would never have found tracks on the hard stone surface of the hill.
Juhg found the strength to stay with the others as they loped down the steep incline. Craugh raised a hand and stopped them at the entrance to the cave.
Breathing harshly, almost done in himself, Craugh grinned mirthlessly. He had always enjoyed the excitement of a hunt. “It occurs to me that this would be a most excellent place for an ambush.”
“I’ll go first,” Cobner offered.
“I’ll watch yer back,” Raisho said, clapping the dwarven warrior on the shoulder.
