Queen of the Demonweb Pits

agony.

'Well, wherever she is, at least she's suffering!'

A few hours of rest had worked miracles. The castle remained quiet, the fried sausage had a hint of garlic, and the wine was a Verbobonc vintage that must have cost a hundred crowns. Escalla had to be ladled out of bed like limp, boiled noodles. She was slipped into rough new clothes made out of a soft cloth, and draped over Jus's shoulders like a collar. As the group edged into the castle courtyard under a blood-red sky, Henry coughed politely to attract her attention.

'My Lady? You seem less tense.' The boy leaned closer. 'Did you study your spells?'

'Hmm? Spells? Yeah. Hoopier than hoopy!' The faerie girl gave a dazed thumbs up. 'Recharged and rarin' to go. You have a problem, and I'm right on the job.'

With that, she curled back down to snooze again. One part of her brain registered something new, and she sleepily eyed off her brand new clothes.

'Where did these come from?'

'I made them out of a polishing cloth,' Henry replied. 'Enid and I thought it was, ah, more dignified than the others you were wearing,'

'Henry! You are just the sweetest thing!' Raising her head, Escalla made long streams of her golden hair cascade down Jus's back. 'Hey, you two guys just earned yourself a faerie boon. Straight from the faerie princess to you!' The girl rolled luxuriously, spreading her hair into watery drifts of light. 'I'll do the 'true heart's desire' thing right after we get back home.'

The doorway to the Demonweb Pits stood as it always had, but lying beside the door was a tiny, glittering snake scale. The Justicar knelt over his find and carefully pocketed the evidence before clearing the scene. He jumped through the barrier between worlds, emerging into the stench, the prickling light, and formless dread of the Demonweb. The others followed him one by one as he carefully examined the path in each direction, opened his map, then signaled the way forward.

They had shared out healing potions, water bottles, and tools. Escalla sat up, her spells firm in her head and her frost wand in her hands. They all moved to the end of the path to a great bronze door that marked the entrance to another world.

Again, there was a clear window. This time, the view revealed a bleak plain of windswept obsidian boulders and cracked rivers of volcanic glass. Electrical storms sheeted across the sky, revealing the sinister shape of Lolth's palace squatting on a hilltop a mere hundred yards away.

The palace seemed deserted, and yet light leaked from the huge windows that served as its eyes. The Justicar dug in his pouch for the remaining key and fitted it into a depression on the door. He swung the door open, and the party stood before a transparent barrier that led into Lolth's private, most secret home.

The Justicar checked the fit of his equipment, using the same quiet, careful moves that had seen him through a hundred battlefields.

'This is Lolth's inner sanctum. Touch nothing you don't have to. Look on everything as a deadly trap. Watch for magic. Watch for enemies. Your enemy can shape change, teleport, cast magic and illusion… so kill first and strike hard.'

He looked from Enid to Henry, Escalla to Polk, and then reached up to tie Cinders into place.

'I'm yours, and you are mine. You never abandon your people. If any of you get in trouble, remember: I will come for you.' The big man turned and waved the others in his wake. 'Forward.'

Escalla turned invisible to scout ahead. Polk and Enid moved forward stealthily into the black glass boulders. Henry followed, his magic crossbow hunting at shadows.

They had scarcely crossed the threshold when the folded map on Jus's belt caught fire. He scowled at it as it burned against his dragon scales, then dragged the map free before it could damage his sword belt. He stamped on the ashes then took a swift look across the plains to see if the fire had been noticed. Lightning flashed and obsidian sparkled. Hopefully, one tiny little fire had not been seen. Escalla cocked an eye at the last few wisps of crumbling map and gave a wry little smile.

'Smart girl, isn't she?'

'Smart girl.' The Justicar abandoned the map and moved on. 'Everyone move carefully.'

Vast and foreboding, Lolth's palace was watchful. The brass metal of its hull swam with images of screaming faces and clawing hands, as if it were pressed out of the souls of the dead. Vents high upon the hull leaked smoke into the sky, and steam hissed from its joints. The body rested just above the ground, stairs spilling out from the spider palace's monstrous head like a tongue feeding into its cavernous jaws. Little quasits scampered through the boulders like monstrous rats, their demonic shapes casting immense, terrifying shadows in the unclean light.

Two gargoyles sat on guard at the bottom of the stairs. Bat winged, stone skinned, and hideous, the two monsters tore the carcass of a halfling between them, squabbling over the spoils. They were still fighting as a little figure popped into view beside them and cleared its throat.

Small, blonde, and dainty, Escalla posed on the path, gave a little wave, and interrupted the guardians.

'Hey, guys? I just wanted to say that you got me! I'm caught! Damn! There's just no way past real professional guards like you, so I'm giving up! I'll come quietly. I mean, if anyone gets to reap the huge rewards for bringing me in to the boss, then I want it to go to two professionals!'

The two gargoyles stared for an instant, gore dripping from their open mouths, then pounced on Escalla. One caught her in its stony fist, while the other tried to grab her feet. The two creatures snarled and squabbled with one another, cuffing each other across the scales. Finally Escalla managed to bring peace to the fight, waving her arms to keep the gargoyles apart.

'Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Enough! All right! The guy who is holding me can keep holding me. That's fair, right? The other guy, he can go upstairs and report that you've got a prisoner. Right? Happy?' The faerie chased one of the gargoyles away. 'So go! Go on! Report upstairs! Open the front gate and go!'

A gargoyle shambled up the steps to the locked front door of the fortress. The creature disabled a guard spell and gave a password to someone on the far side of the door, snarling and gabbling in rage. Relaxing in her captor's claws, Escalla watched the whole process with approval.

'Wow! Now that's partnership. Two guys workin' as one.' The girl leaned her elbow on her captor's fist. 'It's great to have a partner, eh? Someone you can trust. I mean, you two guys, you obviously work as a team. And why? Trust, that's why! I mean, he can trust you to sit here on your arse looking after the prisoner, while he goes and makes the report. And you! You trust him to tell them all about you both catching me. Equal shares plus equal rewards equals equal promotion!' The girl gave an admiring sigh. 'Partnership. I tell you, it's beautiful to watch.'

Escalla's captor blinked, turned to watch his partner disappearing into the spider palace, and then screeched in rage. He pelted up the stairs, wrenched the other gargoyle about, and another furious argument began. Escalla was shaken about as she was used as a prop for the argument. The two gargoyles finally came to a decision. Escalla swapped from one gargoyle to the other, and her original captor now proceeded into the palace. Eating a piece of garlic sausage, Escalla watched the other gargoyle go.

'Yeah. He's right. I mean, he should go. He's the one that caught me, so he should make the report. It's only fair. I mean, the boss knows your pal is the brains of the outfit. If you go in there, it's only going to look suspicious, right? I mean, give your partner credit where credit's due. If he carries the load, then he ought to get the reward!'

With a howl, the gargoyle ran after its partner. The two creatures screamed, leaped, flapped, and squabbled. Finally, they came to another decision. Both gargoyles totally abandoned their guard post and went to make their report together, with Escalla held between them in their claws.

Locks and bolts opened from the inside. One of the gargoyles grabbed Escalla and pushed his partner towards the doors, yelling at him to open the way. Escalla joined in the general shower of abuse.

'Yeah! You open those doors! And don't even suspect that your friend might sneak in a bite now your back is turned. Because he's a great guy! Your friend through and through!'