head caught Rask on the side of the skull and while from most warriors that blow would not have been enough to even bother the drakonid, from the powerful dwarf it managed to stun his much larger foe.
But Rom did not follow up, instead, racing toward the draenei. Iridi, meanwhile, had taken advantage of the dwarf's appearance to regain her footing. She kicked at one startled skardyn, then tripped another with the staff.
However, in the low, narrow tunnel, the naaru gift proved as much impediment as help. It was too long to properly maneuver with so many skardyn around. Iridi finally dismissed it, instead relying on the battle arts taught by her order to all its members.
The momentum of a skardyn enabled her to send the creature into one of its comrades. The priestess leaped over another foe, then kicked back with one leg as she landed, sending the skardyn into a wall.
Rom, meanwhile, simply cut his way through the bestial figures like a farmer scything grain. Three skardyn fell before he reached Iridi, with two more propped against the walls, clutching their wounds.
That way!' he growled, indicating the opposite direction from which he had materialized. 'Where does it go?'
'Somewhere! 'Tis all I know or care! Going back's not an option, my lady!'
He spoke truly. Rask had recovered and the black drakonid even now shoved his way past skardyn, the whip once more ready. For the first time, Iridi also paid attention to the heavy ax the senior guard had strapped to his back. Rask could not use it well enough in this tunnel, which was why he needed the whip. However, she did not think it wise for her or Rom to be near when the ax would prove more an option. The drakonid looked capable of chopping either adversary in half with but a single swing.
Rom pushed her ahead of him, although whether that was a safer position was debatable. Iridi said nothing, more than willing to defend them from any who attacked from the front.
'Gods!' the dwarf burst out. 'Wish I had my hand back! I'm itchin' all over! Figures those damned things would have fleas!'
But fleas were the least of their concerns, for although they had left many skardyn behind, more than enough pursued. Rask either urging them on or, if they were too slow, tossing them out of his path.
A spherical missile shot passed her head. Glancing back, Iridi saw that some of the skardyn were armed with the sinister crossbow devices she had seen in the great cavern. Now and then they would pause to fire, then continue their chase.
The two still had no idea where they headed, but they ran there as fast as they could. However, the way was not entirely clear, as skardyn dropped out of holes in the celling or popped out of those in the ground. Word had evidently been passed on ahead, although Iridi could make no sense of the snapping and growling the creatures made.
Behind her, Rom let out a grunt as a skardyn leaping out of a side passage snagged his leg. A second joined it, the two quickly dragging the dwarf back.
The draenei summoned the staff, thrusting the crystal into the feral faces. So near to Rom, she dared not use the staff's power to its fullest, but a sudden blaze of light called up by her was enough to make both skardyn squeal, then release their holds and slip back into the comforting dark. Even more so than dwarves, the mutated creatures were sensitive to brightness.
As she helped Rom to his feet, a hulking form loomed over both.
Grinning, Rask pulled back the whip.
Iridi thrust the staff up. Rask easily avoided it by leaning back.
But the drakonid was not her target. Rather, it was the ceiling above him. The staff broke loose some of the rock... causing more to collapse.
Releasing the staff, Iridi grabbed Rom and pulled him forward. Rask made a belated snatch at the dwarf's boots, but missed.
The draenei and the dwarf ran as the passage caved in where Iridi had struck.
'You know, ye could've brought the whole damned thing down on us!' Rom commented, his manner of speech slipping to olderhabits under pressure.
'I perceived a fault that I thought would work for us just as it did,' the priestess explained. 'I followed the same principles my teacher used when showing novices like myself how to defend against physical attack.'
'Well, any dwarf who's lived in tunnels most o' his life will tell ye that fault you hit could've just as easily burled us rather than block the drakonid's way.'
She did not respond, suspecting that he did indeed know better than she. Still, the fates had been kind to her, at least for that moment. How long that might remain the case, though, Iridi could not say.
They came to an intersection, where they paused to choose a path. Neither she nor Rom could here tell which might be the better choice.
The dwarf glanced behind them. 'The skardyn'll still be digging their way through... unless they know a better way to reach us.' He eyed the draenei. 'I know I was lost, but what were you doin' here, my lady?'
Iridi quickly told him her tale, finishing with Rhonin's spell that had enabled her to vanish in the face of Sinestra's wrath.
'So, the wizard's here, eh? I'd say good, but what you've told me makes me wonder if anythin' has a chance against that bitch and her damned creation!'
'I believe Zzeraku can help us...and will be willing to.'
'Zzeraku—that what you call that thing they got tied up?' He gave her a wide-eyed stare. 'You really think freein' that thing's a good idea?'
'Yes. Rhonin also believes that we need to free him. That was why he wanted me to be able to flee even without him. Zzeraku is key....'
The dwarven commander rubbed his bearded chin. 'Lettin' loose another terror in hopes it'll stop the other! I must be mad to believe you know what you're doin'....' He considered the two tunnels. 'Pick one.'
Frowning, the draenei hesitated, then indicated the one to their right.
'My luck's been bad for the past hours and since I'd have chosen the left. I think we go your way.'
'As simple as that? We take a guess?'
Rom snorted. 'You're a priestess of some order. I bet your teachings have something to say about luck or guesses....'
She nodded. 'One makes their own luck, good or ill... and there are no guesses, merely faulty concentration.'
'Yeah, that sounds like something a priest would say.' And, with that, Rom started down her choice.
With one quick look over her shoulder, the draenei followed.
His roar again shook Grim Batol. Heedless of the presence of their mistress's enemies, the skardyn in the great chamber scattered for the nearest holes. The dragonspawn and the one drakonid remained, but even the black behemoths looked as if they wished they were elsewhere.
The reptiles his 'mother' had called raptors cowered, fear so unknown to them that they suffered the greater for it now. Even the skardyn's cousins, the dwarves, pressed themselves against the walls as if hoping not to be seen.
Dargonax laughed. Creating fear in others was a sensation he found he enjoyed.
There were only three who did not cower. Dargonax had never seen the nether dragon before, although he had tasted much of the captive's essence. The nether dragon could not move, but rage clearly ruled him. Dargonax admired that aspect of the other dragon, if nothing else. He was far, far more than this pitiful prisoner, far, far more than anything... except those that his 'mother' had promised would come next.
She, of course, was the second of the three. Still in her mortal guise, she smiled with pride at what she had wrought. Dargonax spread his vast, leathery wings as best as the chamber allowed, the needle-sharp points at each end
'This is my child,' Sinestra informed those who could still listen, but one in particular. 'Is he not magnificent?'
But the third of those who dared be without fear curtly replied, 'He's a damned obscenity....'
Dargonax thrust his massive head at the insulter. A hundred teeth each the length of a sword filled a mouth
