The Justicar paced like a vast, angry bear, side to side, his sword now just out of engagement range. Recca matched him step for step. The Justicar spun Benelux, watching the cadaver of his old master, his old friend-his old enemy.
'You're no zombie. You're in there! Aren't you, Recca?' The big man watched Recca carefully. 'So this is all for revenge. You abandoned them to their deaths, and now you think they owe you for all that lost glory.' Benelux snapped up into attack position. 'You never,
He attacked in a blinding arc. Recca spun and caught the blow-leaped, dived, twirled, and cut. The Justicar ploughed forward, blade smashing, lunging, crashing into bright red steel. He fought to win and win fast. Roaring, he smashed and hammered at his enemy, ripping fountains of green blood out of the monster's withered hide.
Hiding beneath blinding clouds of steam, Escalla hugged the floor. She found Enid and Henry side by side, lying flat to look for the feet and shins of incoming enemies. Polk had disappeared, as had Jus. The din of steam, the clamor of machinery, and the screaming of enraged manes made speech almost impossible. Escalla scuttled over to Enid and Henry, bellowing into their ears.
'Find a spot to ambush Lolth. Over near the broken pipe!' The faerie slapped Enid on one haunch. 'I'll find Jus and bring him back!'
Enid yelled something that might have been an answer.
A mane lunged at her, and Henry killed it with one blow of his sword. He rose to a crouch and waved Enid into the din. Escalla paid them no more attention. She sped through the choking clouds, invisible and moving fast, looking for a pair of conspicuously booted feet. She finally saw a spatter of sparks in the steam-sparks flashing fast in a pattern she knew all too well.
Swords crashed together-one white, one red. Escalla pulled out her lich staff and pounded it in her fist like a cudgel. She charged straight toward the fight, happily determined to blow both of Recca's kneecaps off.
A blade flicked at her, almost too fast to see. Escalla made a tumbling leap-a second and third blade missing her by the width of a gnat's arse. An instant later, the blades were back, and the faerie hopped aside, saving herself through the brilliant luck that always attends pure genius. She flung herself backward in a handspring, leaped a random course through the steam, and heard blades clashing on the floor behind her.
Escalla landed on an intact pipe and climbed it in panic, looking frantically through the steam.
Morag coiled, wielding three curved swords in her hands, her tail lashing behind her. She cut at Escalla again, and the faerie dodged by, leaping onto Morag's head. She clung to the tanar'ri's hair in panic, unwilling to club the woman to death with her magic staff.
'Morag! What the frot are you doing?'
'Lolth must be obeyed!' The tanar'ri hovered between panic and fury. 'She has my secret name! She must be obeyed!'
Morag's tail grabbed Escalla.
The faerie turned into a slimy worm, wriggled away, and sprang like a javelin into the pipes above. She flashed back to her true form and shot her best web spell at the tanar'ri, plastering her to the floor. Morag instantly teleported away, leaving a blank spot sagging in the middle of the web.
Escalla ran like a weasel, fearing a reappearance of Morag from behind. She ran hard through the fog, running straight into Recca and smashing her lich staff into his shin. The leg exploded and the monster collapsed. The Justicar took off his foe's arm as it fell. Recca planted his remaining foot against a piece of wreckage and shoved hard, shooting himself back into the steam. Escalla made to fire a spell, but Jus grabbed her and sped into the fog.
'Lolth's here! She's after the others!'
They ran.
Steam billowed all about them. Manes lurched and blundered with outstretched claws, but Jus never stopped. He charged toward faint sounds of combat. Exploding through the steam, his sword was already swinging as he reached Lolth. She ducked by bowing forward and pivoting on one leg. The other foot caught Jus in a savage kick that clanged against his stone-skin spell with enough force to shatter steel. Jus spun away from the impact, Benelux rebounding from a silver buckler on Lolth's forearm. Lolth let the kick spin her around in a turn, then blocked a blow from Enid and hammered a vicious punch into the sphinx's hide.
Enid was thrown back by the goddess's titanic strength. Lolth gleefully blew on her fist and looked about the fog.
'Next!'
Escalla launched a spell at the floor beneath Lolth's feet, turning solid metal to quicksand. Lolth turned a backflip and flew away from the danger zone, smiling quietly in amusement.
A rain of crossbow darts from Henry was blocked by one quick gesture of her hand. The darts clattered away in a splash and shower of sparks-and then the Justicar came at her from a cloud of steam. He bellowed his silence spell, snapping open a sphere of total quiet. Lolth was inside the sphere, unable to cast spells. She clapped her hands together in silence. Teleporting away and landing behind the Justicar, she raked him with a poisoned sword. The blow flashed against the stoneskin spell-and there was a blast of light as Escalla leaped onto Lolth and cracked the lich staff against the demon's neck.
Jewelry flew in all directions-spiderweb cloth shattered, flesh tore. Lolth staggered aside, her scream of pain silent in the spell field. One furious sweep of her hand knocked Escalla aside, but the faerie broke her fall like a warrior monk and came up snarling, her lich staff already pulsing with power.
Wounded, Lolth sped free of her shattered necklace and teleported away. Enid rolled to her feet. Henry drew his sword and looked wildly through the murk-then the flash of a healing spell in the boiling clouds betrayed the goddess's position.
Jus charged, Enid springing to her feet to follow. Henry and Escalla made to follow, and Escalla dived into the fallen mass of Lolth's jewelry and began picking up the biggest, shiniest bits. Henry hesitated beside her and gave a panicked little cry.
'Wait!' The girl found what she wanted. 'Ha! Here!'
Escalla grabbed jewels in one of her hands, then went dashing off to the fight.
Jus's charge ended in a crash. The huge man ran at Lolth, and the spider queen threw back her long hair and laughed. She braced herself and punched empty air. Five yards away, Jus felt Benelux twist out of his hands.
The Justicar never faltered. He aimed a punch at Lolth, missed, then spun into a vicious kick. Her flesh was like teak, but still she fell sprawling. Snarling in rage, she punched empty air. Yards away, the Justicar staggered as savage blows hammered into his arms. He kept his guard up, wading forward like a boxer as the demon used her telekinesis to pound him to the ground. The stoneskin spell flashed, flared, and finally died. Lolth punched with vicious fury, and still the Justicar fended the blows. She gave a savage flurry of punches, then one huge upward shove. Jus deflected it with a boxer's dip and roll. He spun, kicked, twirled, and punched, smashing a steam pipe in two. The steam shot at Lolth's eyes.
The spider queen leaped away, landed beside Benelux, and ducked as Henry and Enid both attacked. Henry cut with his sword, the blow slicing empty air as Lolth swayed, turned, and kicked. Henry flew backward, and Enid struck with her claws. Lolth snarled-still in the field of Jus's silence spell-whirled, and broke Enid's forepaw with one blow of her hand. The sphinx reared in pain. Lolth drew a short sword, aimed a blow-and then an enraged badger suddenly had her backside in its jaws. The spider queen screamed in outrage, trying to dislodge Polk from her rear.
Enid limped back, shook her head clear, then lumbered back into the fray. Polk was thrown clear and smashed to the ground-dazed, injured, and coughing blood.
Arriving at the melee, Escalla hesitated, looked for her chance to attack, then saw Morag emerging from the steam. The tanar'ri was about to slaughter Henry from behind. Escalla gave a piercing whistle and waved Lolth's gems over her head.
