in its death throes.
Khlened and Vlandar were fighting the wolves’ keeper, who wasalready bleeding from a deep gash above his left knee. The giant brought his club around in a blur toward the barbarian, but Khlened ducked, the spikes missing his scalp by a space no larger than his knuckle. Before the giant could swing it the other way, Khlened darted forward and slammed his sword into the giant’s belly, angling up for the heart. The blade was ripped from his hands asthe giant dropped his own weapon, fell to his knees, and gripped the blade in a futile attempt to limp away. Vlandar hauled Khlened back.
In the instant that the two humans were out of the way, Malowan threw a long dagger. The blade buried itself to the hilt in the giant’sthroat. The guard fell, still alive but unable to cry out and too wounded to fight. He beat the floor with his fists, desperately fighting for air. Lhors winced at the sound of bones shattering. After a few seconds, the giant stopped.
“Fast and quiet-how I like ’em,” Khlened said. His face wassmeared with blood, but he was grinning.
“Not quiet enough, I’m afraid,” Nemis said. “We should leavehere immediately.”
Rowan handed Lhors his spear that she had retrieved from the wolf’s corpse. “Bravely done,” she told him quietly.
“I didn’t kill it,” he said. He clutched the spear and hopedshe couldn’t see how his hands trembled.
“You distracted it. That was just as valuable. It gave me a clean shot.” Shepatted his arm and went to help her sister.
Malowan looked at the mess and shook his head. “There’s toomuch blood here. Anyone who comes in here will know there’s been a fight, evenif we hide them.”
“Leave them,” Vlandar panted. “There’s no time. Someone wassure to have heard the fight. Nemis, search for others nearby. Rowan, you and Maera make sure we left nothing-not even a broken arrow. Khlened, stay close tothose main doors in case someone comes from outside.”
Nemis came over from the east door. “The wrestlers are stillat it, but there’s no one in that corridor.”
“Good,” Vlandar said. “Let’s go.”
They could clearly hear drunken laughter beyond the north door, but there was less of it. Lhors thought the voices were more slurred-as ifthe revelers were half asleep or passed out. If anyone in there had heard the fight, there was no indication of it.
Nemis eased into the open, then nodded and moved aside so the rangers could move across the corridor. Maera went on into near darkness while Rowan turned and beckoned. Lhors looked to his left. The passage was very dark-barely enough light for them to see. That might be good, he decided. Giantswould have trouble seeing
Moving as quickly and quietly as they could, the partymanaged to make their way to the giants’ council chamber. Luckily, no one was inthe room. There was no fire in the hearth, only two torches burning steadily near the head of a long table.
Nemis crossed to the map, ran his hands over it as if he was checking for spells, then yanked it from the wall, rolled it tightly, and stuffed it into his pack. Malowan was back at the woodpile beyond the leather curtain while the rest of the party waited just outside.
Nemis approached them and shook his head. He drew aside the curtain and whispered, “Nothing there. I can tell. Below, however-” He grippedthe paladins arm and dragged him back into the council room. “Someone is downthere-at least ten-and they are coming this way.” His lips moved silently andhis eyes glazed over as he worked some spell. After a moment, he continued, “Seven giants-I think a cloud giant or something else truly huge, and there arehobgoblin guards.”
“This is no fight for us, then,” Vlandar said. “We have themap. Let’s go back the way we came. Quickly and quietly!”
He sent the rangers out first, put Lhors ahead of him, and set Khlened and the paladin to bring up the rear. Their luck was not holding well. Even Lhors could see into the south corridor from the end of this one. The wrestlers had moved out into the hallway and were battering each other before a crowd of other young giants. They might be drunk, the youth thought, but they seemed alert for all that.
“No good,” Vlandar said. “There are too many of them, and allthat noise may rouse others. Nemis, we’ll have to go through the feasting halland out the main doors. Can you put a sleep spell on anyone still in there?”
The mage eyed the distant drinkers and shook his head. “Notfrom here. Get me closer to the entrance, and I can.”
Lhors held his breath as he followed the mage, Vlandar right on his heels. Rowan had gone ahead, arrow ready to fire, while Maera brought up the rear so she could keep an eye on their backs.
Once they reached the entry, Vlandar drew Lhors with him against the wall where it was fairly dark, but Nemis went on. There were three giants awake that they could see, two waiting while the third shook a keg, threw it aside with an oath, and caught up another. The mage’s sleep spell caught himjust then, and he slumped to the floor. The empty keg rolled away from him, and the other two giants fell across the table an instant later.
Nemis stood very still for a long moment, then beckoned urgently as he strode across the vast chamber toward another broad corridor that went south. Near the entrance, he froze, then slowly backed away.
“What?” Vlandar demanded as he came up.
“I just used a reveal spell. There are guards on the otherside of those doors, giants and more hobgoblins-or worse, norkers.”
“Norkers,” Vlandar muttered. “Hobgoblins are dangerous enoughfighters, but norkers are vicious-worse than a pack of dire wolves.” An echoingyell brought him around, and Rowan came running.
“Let’s get out of here. Those young ones are coming thisway!”
“Too late,” Maera said as she hefted a spear. Someone wasbellowing back the way they’d come. “They’ve seen us!”
“West door!” Vlandar ordered, “There’s another way out upthere.”
Maera and her sister ran for the doors, then took up positions next to them. Khlened was right on their heels. He dragged at the door and nearly fell when it opened more easily than he’d expected. Vlandar sentMalowan in first. Agya as usual stuck close to him, and Khlened followed. There was kitchen noise, but not as much, Lhors thought. He went next, followed by Nemis, who was already working some kind of spell. Vlandar and the rangers joined them, and the warrior dragged the door shut as the rest of them moved up the hall far enough that they wouldn’t be immediately seen by anyone in thekitchen.
Lhors caught a glimpse of two of the little lizardlike creatures-kobolds, he remembered-who were facing an enormous fireplace in thewest wall, stacking greasy bowls and platters on a table. Someone else in the room was screaming at them, but Lhors didn’t take the time to investigate.
Vlandar drew them farther up the hall and whispered, “Theydidn’t see us. One of their elders was cursing them for interrupting his sleep,and they were arguing with him. Let’s go.”
Just then, a bald hill giant came out of the kitchen, yawning and stretching. His eye lit on the party, and he ducked back the way he’d come,yelling a warning. Khlened and Malowan ran after him, the rest following. Vlandar tapped Lhors on the shoulder as they ran. “Stay with me. Rowan, you andMaera keep an eye on the way we just came!”
The smells in the kitchen were dreadful. Three spits hung empty over a fading fire in the back wall. The two kobolds stared at the bald giant fearfully as he snagged one of the spits and brandished it like a sword. They backed against the near wall, obviously afraid that the giant was about to strike them. Then they saw the armed humans and fled, scurrying past the giant and around the corner. The giant ignored them. With a grin that bared rotting teeth, he bellowed in Giantish. Half a dozen tall, gangly brutes poured into the chamber from the north, bearing kitchen knives and a few long pikes for weapons.
“Ogres,” Vlandar told Lhors. “They’re stupid but dangerous,and they eat people. Stay close!”
Rowan came up beside them, arrow drawn. “Mal, stay back!”
The paladin nodded to indicate he’d heard, but there was notime. The ogres were upon them. Malowan slashed at the first that came near him, then ran past the brute, leaving him for someone else to finish.
Lhors launched one of his spears at the lead ogre. It quivered in the creature’s gut for an instant before Maera’s own spear broughthim down. Rowan killed two more while Khlened fought another.
The ogres
