into a wide path, and the smooth floor was devoid of obstacles. She took off running.
As she retreated, Aliisza went back over Kaanyr's final conversation with her. Did he really get trapped by his own logic? she wondered. Then another idea struck, and it horrified her. Maybe he has begun to figure out a way to manipulate his own thoughts, convince himself a certain course of action is in Tauran's best interests. Can he deceive himself and thus circumvent the spell? Surely not.
But newfound doubt lingered in the back of her mind.
She neared a turn in the tunnel and could sense the bearded fiend behind her closing the distance once again. She marveled at how fast he could move.
Time for a little surprise, she decided.
As she reached the bend in the path, she planted her foot against the rocky surface. She leaped into the air and pushed herself backward. She flipped over so that she faced downward again and unfurled her wings enough to glide. The alu sailed over her pursuer, who stared up as his momentum carried him past her.
Aliisza landed behind the creature and slashed at him with her long sword. The blade bit into the fiend's moist, scaly flesh and drew black blood, but the cut did little to slow the devil. He snarled, turned around, then rushed at her again. He swung his nasty, serrated glaive with both of his clawed hands. The foul odor of his breath wafted from him, making Aliisza gag.
Another fiend arrived at the far end of the stretch of tunnel and rushed pell-mell toward Aliisza. She spied him raising a saw-toothed blade to strike at her. She kicked out with her booted foot and caught him squarely in the chest before he could land his blow. The impact drove the creature backward, but it also distracted her enough that her original opponent got inside her guard with his longer weapon and nicked her shoulder.
Aliisza grunted from the wound. It burned, and hot blood ran down her back inside her leather tunic. She tried to ignore the pain and refocus her attention on her two foes, who had her pinned between them in the narrow tunnel.
This killing things isn't as fun as it used to be, she decided. Where in the Hells is Kaanyr? Is he going to figure out he left me behind?
She knocked away a swipe aimed at her head.
She leaped a second, lower attack from the opposite side and summoned a collection of magical darts. The whistling, streaking blue missiles shot from the tip of her finger and burrowed into the devil's chest in rapid succession, leaving four scorched, smoking holes in the howling creature. He fell back, screaming in agony and clawing at his wounds.
Aliisza tried to ignore the painful twisting of her insides from the tainted magic.
The first devil slashed at Aliisza with his glaive again, and when she parried, she struck her foe's weapon hard enough that she jarred it loose from his hands. The loss of the glaive didn't seem to faze the creature one bit. He simply smiled malevolently and lunged at her with both his clawed hands extended.
'Pretty meat to tear and eat,' the devil crooned as he grappled with Aliisza and pinned her arms to her sides.
She struggled free and fought to keep him at bay, slashing at his arms to prevent them from reaching her. Each time her blade struck, it cut into the fiend, but she simply wasn't having much of an effect on the devil.
'Begone!' she screamed as she brought her foot up between herself and the devil. 'Go back to the hole from which you crawled!'
She shoved the devil away before he could get any closer. As he stumbled back and fell on his fleshy tail, she willed another set of the arcane missiles into being and flicked her fingers, flinging them from the tips so that they rushed at the thing. Three of the four blue projectiles pounded him, while the fourth fizzled out with a mild pop. Still, the magic did the trick. The devil fell, twitched, and writhed upon the stone.
Aliisza whirled back around, fighting not to hunch over in pain. The other bearded fiend was struggling to regain his feet. He staggered unsteadily but would not stop coming. She spied three more of the things scampering toward her from the far end of the tunnel, along with another devil covered in wicked-looking barbs. It reminded Aliisza of a cross between a lizard and a porcupine. The four of them crowded together, bumping and jostling one another as they tried to be the first to reach their target.
Aliisza sighed in exasperation and chose another spell. The magic came almost unbidden to her then; she no longer had to think about what she needed to do, only brace herself for the accompanying pain each casting inflicted upon her.
Whatever else may have been wrong with living under Tyr's shadow, at least I didn't have to put up with the vile stench of devils all day, she lamented, only half in jest.
She waited until the horde of devils closed to only a few paces away. Then she gestured at an area directly behind them and let fly the magic. At the same time, she opened one of her magical doorways. The moment the conjuration was completed, she fell through her doorway and let it wink out before any of the foul creatures could follow her through.
She reappeared further up the passage, back in the direction she had originally come, and crumpled to the floor in agony. Her blade slipped from her hand as she writhed. She fought to catch her breath. She managed to glance back over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of her handiwork. A thick sheet of ice filled the passage from wall to wall and floor to ceiling, sealing the devils on the other side of it.
Aliisza could hear the fiends slam against the icy barrier from the other side. She clutched her stomach and willed the pain to dissipate. The blue glow emanating from her subsided, and she felt the gnawing of her insides ease at last. As she grabbed the hilt of her weapon and rose from her hands and knees to her feet again, two or three more thumps shook the thick slab, but it did not budge.
That ought to hold them, she thought as she managed to stand upright. I'll just return to the last intersection and wait for Kaanyr. When he realizes he left me behind, he's bound to come back looking for me.
Isn't he?
Before she could turn to retrace her path, though, the devils materialized on the near side of the ice.
Aliisza groaned. Not this again, she thought, turning to sprint away. I had enough of this with the archons!
She ran back down the stretch of tunnel and slipped past the narrow gap, rushing through the winding, twisting passage. She fought against the urge to employ more magic to aid her in escaping.
Not unless absolutely necessary, she told herself.
She could hear the devils behind her as she darted around one bend and then another, racing to reach the intersection where she believed she had taken a wrong turn and lost track of Kaanyr.
Ahead, more sounds of fighting reached her ears. She feared running into a hornets nest of trouble in that direction, but she knew she was outrunning certain difficulties behind her, so she resisted slowing down. The sounds of clanging steel and screaming combatants grew louder.
Aliisza turned another corner and nearly collided with a hulking froglike demon. A hezrou demon. The stout creature towered over a dead devil, nearly filling the tunnel with its broad, slimy body. Body parts and blood from its deceased foe splattered much of the floor. It opened its wide, teeth-filled mouth and growled at the half-fiend, then drew back a claw to strike at her.
'Wait!' she gasped, cringing back from the impending strike. 'I fight for your mistress! Grekzith brought me before her! We're on the same side!'
The beast snarled again and pushed her aside.
'Then get out of my way,' it rumbled.
'Several devils coming,' she said as the behemoth demon stalked past. 'Stinking, filthy barbed things.'
The hezrou snorted and said nothing, but it sat back on its haunches and maneuvered its hands in front of itself in what Aliisza recognized as arcane gestures. She waited and watched, and as the first of the devils careened around the corner, the big frog-thing flung its spell. The barbed devil slipped and stumbled as it tried to halt, clearly surprised at the unexpected blockage in the passage.
The demon had timed its magic well, and a cascade of bouncing, multi-colored energy burst forward from it, ricocheting off the floor, walls, and ceiling like balls of madly flashing light. The globes of power pummeled the devil and the two that slid to a stop next to it, buffeting them and knocking them backward with considerable force. The devils howled and tried to swat the swarming attacks away.
Relieved that the hezrou had slowed the devils down, Aliisza turned back to her journey. I forgot how disgusting those things are, she thought. I must have grown soft while a guest at the Court.
