nerves like a sword striking bone.
Mika's hands grew sweaty and his sword drooped. A terrible roar cut through the darkness, and Mika stiffened, his sword springing to attention, quivering upright!
A darker shadow hovered in the shadows at the edge of the torchlight. Mika's spirit wilted. He could see that it was immense, over eight feet tall and more than five feet wide.
TamTur and RedTail were barking at the unseen enemy-short, harsh, staccato yaps-and their dewlaps were drawn back over their white slavering teeth.
'What is it, Hornsbuck?' asked Mika again, attempting to conceal the fear in his voice.
'I don't know!' growled Hornsbuck and, reaching over, wrenched a skull loose from the base of the pillar nearest him and threw it at the shadowy creature. There was an immediate roar of anger, and the thing lumbered into the circle of torchlight.
Mika wished with all his heart that it had stayed hidden in the dark. For now he could see the whole of the horrible thing. Never in his entire life had he faced anything more frightening. It was like the worst of nightmares come true.
Its head, if it could be called that, was merely a rounded extension of the whole. It had no neck. Its eyes were like four opaque stones, showing no glint of intelligence, clustered together and buried deep in the rolls of flesh in the center of its forehead. Its mouth was nearly as wide as its body and was lined with rows of gleaming, jagged teeth. Two great long teeth sprouted from the corners of the gaping maw and pointed toward the center. Curving out from the base of the two fangs for a distance of some two feet were two sharp-tipped, razor-edged, mandible-like devices that probed the air in front of the monster's face as though searching for prey.
Two massive arms were attached to the huge, ponderous, bulbous grey body and ended in four clawed fingers each. Its massive legs were similarly powerful yet primitive, resting on three-toed, clawed feet that advanced slowly, yet all too surely.
Its body reminded Mika of that of a giant tick, the grey skin stretched swollen and taut over the immense bulbous body.
'What is it!' shrilled Mika, backing up until he felt the warm bulk of the roan quivering fearfully behind him.
'Umber hulk,' said Hornsbuck, backing up quickly and covering his eyes with his hand. 'Don't look into its eyes, it'll stun you. Confuse you till you don't know your own name.'
'What's it want?' asked Mika, wondering if the thing liked jewels or treasure or even horse meat!
'You, you dummy!' roared Hornsbuck. 'What else? It eats anything and everything it can catch, but it likes folks best! We've got to make a run for it. There's no fighting it!'
This was the best news Mika had heard since before the cursed messenger had stumbled into camp with word of the kobold attack. He did not stop to argue but put his foot in the stirrup and swung himself into the saddle behind the princess. He was leaning forward to jerk the reins loose from the pillar when he heard a noise behind him. A chill ran down his spine.
He ripped the reins free and kicked the roan in the ribs. It shot forward, then dashed to the right, away from the awful umber hulk, which was still advancing slowly but steadily.
'RedTail! Tam! To me, wolves, to me!' screamed Hornsbuck, as the wolves barked and danced nimbly at the feet of the monster.
'Mika, call Tam. They don't know! They've never met one before! They think they can kill it!' yelled Hornsbuck, fear apparent in his voice for the first time, fear not for himself, but for his wolf.
'TAM! To me!' hollered Mika, equally terrified that Tam might be caught up in that horrible clawed hand and shoveled into the gaping mouth. But neither wolf obeyed the command.
The hulk was within three feet of the wolves now, swinging its arms before it like trees swaying in the wind, its teeth clacking audibly as the awful mouth opened and shut, opened and shut.
Mika was torn, afraid for his own safety, yet panic-stricken over Tam, who did not seem to realize his own danger. The barking, yapping, and slavering of the wolves was causing so much noise that Mika almost failed to hear the heavy, stentorian breathing of a second umber hulk! But the roan did not mistake it and reared, nearly tossing Mika from his back, and bleated in abject terror. Mika looked behind him and saw the other umber hulk, even larger than the first, ponderously making its way toward the wolves.
'Hornsbuck!' cried Mika just as the grizzled nomad darted forward and scooped a snarling RedTail up in his arms, wrestling him away from the approaching monster.
Hornsbuck turned and looked at the spot where Mika had stood only seconds before, but Mika had already mounted the roan and moved away. Horns-buck found himself staring directly in the face of the second umber hulk, catching the full impact of its hypnotic gaze.
Hornsbuck stood there like a statue, holding a torch in one hand and his wolf and his sword in the other, mouth open, eyes wide, sensibilities gone, as the umber hulks moved toward him on their stumpy, clawed feet.
Mika cursed, knowing that he had to do something or the man was as good as dead, and there was no way that he would ever find his way out of the tunnels by himself. It was this thought more than any other that decided his course of action.
Kicking the roan hard, he drove him forward between the two hulks, now separated by no more than ten feet. As he came up to the stunned nomad, Mika threw his torch into the mouth of the nearest hulk and grabbed Hornsbuck by the hair, turning him about roughly and propelling him forward as fast as his feet could carry him. Mika prayed that Hornsbuck would not drop the torch or the wolf and would keep his footing.
'Tam! To me, Tam. Follow!' he screamed without looking back, praying that for once in his life, Tam would obey.
He heard the scamper of wolf claws on the floor behind him and, praying to deities long ignored, he raced into the gloom of the ancient amphitheater with the agonized screams of the hulk echoing around them.
The deities must have been amused and taken pity on him, for when he finally brought the roan to a halt and loosened his desperate hold on Hornsbuck's hair, there was no sound of pursuit.
'Hornsbuck?' said Mika, dismounting and staring up into the older man's eyes. But there was no answer. Hornsbuck's eyes, always so quick to spot danger or foolery, were open wide and gazing straight ahead, all signs of intelligence gone. A thin line of spittle drooled from the corner of his open mouth.
RedTail squirmed in Hornsbuck's arms, struggling to free himself from the tight embrace that pinned him to the nomad's chest.
Mika crouched at Hornsbuck's feet and took Red-Tail's chunky head between his hands, staring into the wolfs gold eyes in the light of the torch.
'RedTail, have I ever told you what a wonderful beast you are?' said Mika. RedTail looked at him with the same kind of derisive gaze that Mika was accustomed to seeing on Hornsbuck's face.
'And a wonderful wolf like you could help us out of this mess. I'd be willing to bet that you know the way out of here just as well as Hornsbuck, if not better. In fact, I'd be willing to bet a nice, fat, juicy… NO! Make that TWO nice, fat, juicy bucks, which I personally will kill, that you can show us the way out.
'All of us are counting on you, RedTail: me, Hornsbuck, the princess, and your old pal, Tam. You wouldn't want us to die down here, would you?'
RedTail's tongue lolled out of his mouth and Mika stifled an impulse to boot the beast. Calming himself, he continued.
'Look, RedTail, old pal, this is all your fault in a way. Yours and Tam's. If you'd come when we called you, Hornsbuck would be all right now and we'd be on our way. But you two wanted to stay and fight. So why don't you just cut out this nonsense and get us the hell out of here, 'cause if you don't I'm going to kick you from here to Sunsebb!'
Red Tail gazed up at Mika as though calculating, then, twisting his head free, stood next to Hornsbuck and sniffed him thoroughly. Rising up on his hind legs, he poked his muzzle into Hornsbuck's chin and nudged the man hard several times. Hornsbuck rocked on his feet and Mika took the torch from his hand and steadied him so that he didn't fall over.
Red Tail whined plaintively and dropped to the ground. He looked up at Mika, all humor gone from his eyes, then turned and set off at a steady lope.
