raising a cry, he drew back into deeper darkness, bringing his company with him. Malowan whispered something against his ear. Vlandar nodded and gestured with his free hand for Lhors to stay where he was. A moment later, Vlandar eased along the shadows of the wall and began to move slowly but purposefully toward Nemis and the guards.
Malowan touched Lhors’ arm. “There are spears,” hewhispered. “See them?”
Lhors looked where the paladin pointed. The ettins had long weapons leaning against the wall. Lhors nodded carefully.
“Rowan and Vlandar will create a diversion while Nemis keepsthe noise contained. You get one of the spears and kill one of those creatures. Can you?”
Lhors swallowed dread and nodded again.
“How tha’ little man know us?” one creature said, divertingthe youth’s attention. It spoke Common, but with a thick accent made worsebecause it seemed to be missing most of its front teeth. Its other head came around to stare at Nemis.
“What, Meghos? You don remember the boy you used to stalkthrough the lowest caverns? The mage’s ’prentice you ’ad so much fun terrifying,down there?”
“Cannot be,” the second replied promptly. “’E’s got a beardan’ ’e’s lots bigger.”
“
“Uh?” both asked blankly.
“You guard Snurre,” Nemis said with another flash of teeth.“How sad,” he added incisively, the smile vanishing on the moment, “that youwill not be able to enjoy the task any longer.”
“’Ere!” The first snorted indignantly. “You insulting us?”
Nemis shrugged and smiled.
Vlandar had come up right behind the creatures in utter silence, unnoticed by either. He ran forward with two swords drawn, and before the awkwardly shaped ettin was properly aware of its danger, Vlandar was inside his reach, both blades stabbing up into the creature’s back. The creature howledin pain, but the sound was somehow flat and muffled.
Nemis is shielding sound, Lhors reminded himself as he slid along the wall. He watched as Vlandar let go his blades and leaped back just as Rowan drew her bow. The ranger ran into the open and began loosing arrows at the heads of the second creature.
Now or never! Lhors ran along the wall to snatch up one of the long spears. The first ettin fell to the floor, but the second must have seen Lhors moving, for it turned and charged with a vicious roar. So terrified that he couldn’t even scream, Lhors planted the spear’s base against the walland lowered the point. The ettin tried to stop at the last moment, but one of Rowan’s arrows plunged into its groin, causing the brute to fall. The point ofLhors’ spear went in beneath one of the ettin’s jaws, angling up into itsskull. The spearhead must have slammed into the back of the giant’s skull,because the shaft suddenly bent and broke with a massive
The youth dropped the broken shaft as the creature fell. Breathing heavily, he leaned against the wall with the dead ettin only inches from his feet. Above the nasty stench that was everywhere in this land, he could smell the rough cast-iron reek of the blood pooling on the floor.
Rowan came over and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, drawing him away.
Lhors glanced back over his shoulder: Vlandar gazed expressionlessly at the dead ettins. He’d already retrieved his blades. Vlandarand Nemis joined them moments later.
“My silence spell still holds. The king’s throne is there.”Nemis pointed out the dais at the opposite end of the long hall. “Obviously, heis elsewhere. There is a hiding place he has behind the throne somewhere in that wall. The rest I do not know, except that there are guards on all the passages.”He turned north and was quiet a moment. “The stairway down is that way.”
“Where’s the king, d’you think?” Khlened asked. He’d drawnhis berserker sword.
“Uncertain,” Nemis said. “He could be anywhere. UnlikeNosnra, he does not keep regular hours, and he often prowls his halls alone or with a guard or two.”
“Fine,” Agya said angrily. “I feel mighty safe
“You’ve no business feeling safe here,” Malowan reminded her.“What next, Vlandar? Do we-?”
He never finished the sentence. Nemis murmured a hasty spell that extinguished the ettins’ torches as loud footsteps echoed and the creak ofarmor suddenly filled the hall. Somewhere to the east, a door slammed.
“Remember what I said,” Nemis rasped to Vlandar. “Safestthing is to kill Snurre.”
“I agree,” Vlandar whispered. “But let’s see who and whatguards him before we attack.”
He led the company back to where the ettins lay and settled behind the nearest, sword drawn. The rest of the company found what hiding they could as four torch-carrying guards came into sight at the hall’s far end.
Lhors swallowed dryly. The shortest of them was over twice his height. All were ebony-black and looked very professional.
In their midst, walked a very odd figure indeed. He was shorter than his guards, but powerfully muscled and clad in black armor. Tusk-like teeth gleamed in the torchlight, and his moustache and beard were nearly the same unpleasant orange-moss shade as his teeth.
Agya stiffened as two enormous dogs paced along with him, sniffing the air suspiciously. Both hounds had very deep red hides, and their eyes glowed with a hellish light. Malowan laid a reassuring hand on her arm and carefully indicated Nemis-the mage was using his beneath notice spell on theparty.
The tusked giant flipped a white, leathery cloak aside so he could sit, then adjusted his black iron crown and drew a massive, thick-bladed sword. He settled the sword upright on the dais before him and rested his forearms on the crosspiece. The hounds dropped to the floor by his feet and closed their eyes, but they seemed no less alert.
“Snurre?” Vlandar whispered despite Nemis’ silence spell.
The mage nodded grimly.
One of the guards moved off to light torches placed in the back wall, throwing the throne room in a ruddy orange light. An ornately carved flaming skull decorated the wall immediately behind the throne, and the other walls were carved in various battle scenes.
Khlened tightened his grip on his morning star and began to move forward, but Nemis tugged at the barbarian’s hair. “Wait until he takes offthat cloak. It’s dragon-hide, and he’s less of a threat if it isn’t on him!”
The barbarian nodded agreement.
The mage waited for some moments, then glanced at Vlandar and nodded. Vlandar drew a hand across his throat, and Khlened grinned cheerfully. The dwarf loosed his axe, and Rowan knelt quietly to arrange arrows onto the floor by her knee. Maera pressed a listless Florimund behind her as she freed her javelins.
When everyone was ready, Nemis stepped toward the dais, and the rest of the party charged. One of the hounds growled a warning-the onlyadvance notice Snurre and his guards had of the attack. The second dog went down before it could properly get to its feet as Maera’s spear plunged into itschest.
Snurre stared down at his pet in shock, then shouted an order. Like other sounds, it sounded flat to Lhors, as if it didn’t carry veryfar. The guards could certainly see the invaders, though. They came around the throne, weapons at the ready, and the other dog surged to its feet. It whined faintly when its master snarled out an order and abruptly retreated behind the throne, dragging at a lever on the wall. Part of the wall swung into an utter blackness into which Snurre leaped. The hound spun around and loped after Snurre. The two vanished into darkness, and the wall clicked shut behind them.
There were three guards still left, but one was foolish enough to turn away-making sure his king was safe, Lhors thought. Bracinghimself for impact, Lhors shoved his spear deep into the monster’s leg, justbelow the knee and angling up. The giant went down hard as Lhors leaped away.
Vlandar ran forward and brought his sword down two-handed across the brute’s neck. The guard did not move again, but another was fast uponthem. The giant came at them, hammer held high. But it never came down. Maera’sspear and Rowan’s arrows brought the creature down, and Bleryn finished thefellow off with his own hammer.
Beyond them, Khlened was engaged in a mismatched battle of morning stars-hisown, though bugbear in size and heft, was still smaller than the fire giant’s.The Fist was using strategy, planning his own swings so the giant’s weaponwouldn’t rip his from his fingers. Before he could settle the match though, thegiant snatched up a fallen
