'Jus… will fix it. He… can fix anything.'
Enid took Escalla, staff, and wand into her mouth, then slipped painfully back into the water. She turned, spared a glance for the gutter opening above, and then swam downstream.
A scream cut the air. Enid twisted sideways, and a chain smashed into the wall beside her. Clinging to the tunnel roof, a chain monk gibbered and lunged for Enid's throat. The snake dove. The monk hit the wall, landed in water a dozen feet deep, then managed to claw out of the filth and onto the little stone ledge.
The chain monk screeched, lashing fetters at its prey. Enid twisted aside, bashing the monster with her tail. The chain monk fell into the water, thrashing in panic as it disappeared, but the damage had been done. A dozen answering calls came echoing down the sewers as chain monks homed in on their prey.
Enid sobbed and swam, shoving through bobbing garbage and trying to leave the monsters behind. The tunnels echoed with their screeching laughter until it seemed they came from every side. The shape-shifted sphinx swam onward, stiff with pain, Escalla jerking and shivering in her jaws.
It was pitch black. Suddenly, a faint glow of magic sparkled on Escalla's scales, and the injured faerie stirred.
'D-detection spell. We're being scryed.' Escalla almost wept with the effort of lifting her head. 'She must… have a… crystal ball.'
Enid spoke though a mouthful of snake. 'She can find us?'
'No.' Escalla swallowed back a throat full of bile. 'One… strip of dark tunnel looks like… looks… the same.'
She coughed, and the effort tore her injuries. Escalla convulsed, then spasmed, going stiff as a board. Enid stared in fright.
'Escalla?'
Silence.
Enid swallowed, feeling her snake-blood run to ice. The faerie had fainted-or worse. The wand and staff were still gripped tight in her coils. Was that a good sign… or bad?
Jus would know.
Escalla was dying. Enid turned a frightened look up to the surface world, then painfully began to slither her way up a metal stepladder, rung by rung. Above her, flames sent red light shooting though the gutters, while the town rang with screams.
Gargoyles landed in the streets, and the terrified refugees cowered away from them. The monsters ploughed forward, lashing with claws to rip the hearts out of shrieking townsfolk. One gargoyle carried its screaming victim to the heights of the city temple. Two others waded through a multitude, bathing themselves in blood and living flesh. The two monsters fought over one choice, screaming morsel, tearing it apart, laughing as they tasted fresh, hot meat.
And they died.
Jus's sword struck in near silence-sharp, horrific strokes chopping into stony flesh. The first gargoyle fell with its head split in two. The second turned then took a sword blow through its neck and into its chest. The monster bubbled-the white blade tugged free and instantly stabbed. Driven by the huge strength of the Justicar, Benelux punched through the gargoyle's back. The monster sank to its knees, dead before it fell. Jus ripped free his sword and held out a commanding hand to the refugees.
'Follow me, if you want to live!'
The mob of refugees split and ran, some fleeing east, some west, some hiding in the houses and the alleyways. Cursing, the Justicar ducked beneath the eaves of a house as three more varrangoin flapped overhead, showering flame and acid down onto the roofs.
Henry sighted on the monsters, but they flew onward. Jus swore, then pulled Henry away as the building behind him collapsed, flames billowing into the air. In the weird darkness of the city, the flames ran thick as treacle. Henry and the Justicar ducked and ran onward, while behind them terror spread out into the alleyways as the monsters ate their fill.
There were already monsters on the battlements of the citadel. Jus could see gargoyles, bats, and other creatures landing unopposed. The soldiers must never have made it to the keep. The streets had cleared, as every living thing in the city tried to claw its way out of the gates. Jus and Henry stopped inside a burning alleyway, hiding as a dark wave of flying monsters swerved a few feet overhead.
Cinders suddenly sniffed and growled.
Jus turned. A badger shot out of a burning public building with a neat roll of black cloth stuck through its belt. Ducking a storm of sparks, Jus ran to catch the animal before it disappeared.
'Polk!'
The badger stopped and looked about, squinting. The Justicar ran over to him and picked the badger up.
'Polk! Polk, where's Escalla?'
'I'm a badger, son! Short sighted! If she's anywhere here, then I ain't seen her! She's gone! Disappeared!' Polk patted the portable hole on his little belt. 'But look here, son! I've got a job to do. I better do it while there's still time!'
'Job?' Henry winced, using his cloak as a shield as a collapsing building shot coals across the street. 'What job?'
'I've got the portable hole, son-the one we got from the underdark.' The hole weighed nothing, no matter how much was put inside. It opened into a strange, otherworldly chamber ten feet deep and ten feet across. 'I'm going to the library, son. The temple! We can save holy books and scrolls. We can preserve these people's great heritage for future generations to come!'
The Justicar pounded his fist against a wall.
'Polk, there aren't going to be any generations to come!' He handed the badger, portable hole and all to Henry. 'Where did you look for Escalla? Did you look in the merchant's quarter?'
'Everywhere! All I saw was a war!'
Jus grabbed a piece of burning timber from the wreckage and passed it up to Cinders, who chomped on it in glee. Jus looked at the city streets, trying to think like a faerie, and drew a blank.
Cinders wagged his tail. Down.
'What?'
Sewers! There were gutter openings in every street. Jus wrenched a corpse out of the way, uncovering a stone slab set into the street. He heaved it open, revealing a drain and stone-cut ladder that plunged down into the dark.
A scream came distantly from below-a feminine shriek tinged with pain and panic. The Justicar sheathed his sword and jumped feet first down the hole, plunging into total dark. Henry froze in shock, then heard a mighty splash from below. Moments later, a shout came from the dark.
'Henry! Jump!'
The boy did as he was told, keeping a tight grip upon the wailing Polk. He shot down through a dark well and crashed into warm, stinking water, sinking over his head before his feet could find the bottom.
With one hand, the Justicar heaved Henry half out of the water, crossbow, Polk, armor, and all.
'There's a ledge by the side.'
Henry's feet found support, and the boy stopped believing he was drowning. Charging through the water like a galleon, the Justicar threw up a huge bow wave of foam. Throwing stealth aside, he forced his way downstream, his sword spilling a ghostly light into the air.
The scream came again. Jus ploughed out into an open space-another ladder to the surface-and stormed forward.
A huge snake hung limp from a rung halfway up the well. Below the giant snake hung a keening, babbling monster-a being like a cadaverous monk wrapped up in chains. The creature whipped its arms, shooting lengths of chain to trap and tangle around the snake. Burned and injured, the snake sobbed in a feminine voice of panic and tried to get away.
