Against the Giants

sword and lunged. Khlened howled with pain and collapsed as the blade stabbed through his shoulder.

Vlandar threw himself forward and dragged the barbarian aside as Agya stabbed both her long knives into the back of the guards knee. The guard yelped in surprise when the leg simply collapsed under him. Agya barely managed to get out of the way in time.

The fallen guard lunged after the little thief, but Lhors charged forward with his spear, stabbing the fallen brute through the eye. Lhors turned, seeking the last guard, but he lay still, his armor red-hot and his hair smoking unpleasantly. Malowan’s fire-sword pinned him to the wall.

“Easy, people,” Vlandar ordered. “Agya, you and Lhors keepwatch. Bleryn, watch back the way Snurre came and make sure no one sneaks up on us. Malowan, see to Khlened’s wound.”

The barbarian leaned against the wall. He was still standing, but blood coursed freely from his shoulder and he was obviously in agony. The paladin ran to him and began to lay hands upon the wound. Malowan’s hands glowedfor the briefest instant, and the barbarian gasped in surprise. As the paladin stepped back, Khlened smiled and waved the healed arm freely. “Thank you,paladin,” he said. “I’m in your debt.”

“Gerikh,” Vlandar continued, “if you can, find a way todisable the door Snurre went through so he can’t come after us with an army.”

“He’s won’t,” Nemis replied evenly. “He’s gone to ground.That’s both a treasure cave and hiding place with no other way out.”

Khlened looked up, his eyes bright at the mention of his favorite word.

The mage sighed. “Forget it. The whole place is guarded bysomething snakelike, huge and nearly impossible to kill.”

“No time,” Vlandar said tersely.

“We need to go, now,” the mage whispered as he came back. “My beneath noticespell won’t hold much longer.”

“No time like the present,” Vlandar said. “Which way though?”

“Back where we came and up the north hall,” the mage repliedpromptly. “Remember, we’ve little time to waste here, even with Snurre inhiding.” He looked at Gerikh.

Gerikh nodded. “I found the doorway and braced one of thoselong spears across it. It wont hold against a brute like that for long though.”

“Let’s go, then,” Vlandar urged. He let Nemis take the lead.

They headed back through the darkened hall, avoiding the dead ettins, and took the passage heading roughly north. This finally went straight north-a fairly long corridor lit at odd intervals by lanterns. The unmistakable,if distant, clatter of a kitchen came from the left, and the wall down a west-branching passage was lit brilliant red from some enormous fire.

By now, Nemis was well up the hallway, his back against the east wall and two fingers across his lips. Guards there, he signed and sent his eyes sideways to where they could just make out a break in the black stone. The mage held up two fingers and drew a meaningful hand across his throat.

Vlandar nodded grimly and brought up his sword, but Nemis pressed past him and stepped into the open, turning to face the opening as he brought his hands up, fists clenched.

“Kill,” he rasped softly. Utter silence followed, then themuted clang of swords hitting the floor and two massive bodies falling onto them. The mage nodded in satisfaction and pointed up the hall.

Lhors glanced anxiously at Malowan. The paladins lips were moving, probably in prayer for the dead guards, but he was quiet about it.

The hall was still quiet. They stepped over dead guards and went on north, following Nemis.

“The stairs down are just there,” the mage murmured. “There wereno guards between here and the stairs the last time I was here, but that was years ago.”

They made it down the long flight without incident. At the base of the stairs, they paused to rest. Lhors took a long drink from his bottle, and let the warm water sit on his tongue for some time before swallowing. He felt dry all the way through, and his lips were cracked.

“This level I know,” Nemis said finally. “The passageeast”-he pointed-“is a dead end. There’s a temple, guest quarters, and trollsthat way-or were. I doubt anything’s changed. It had not in all the yearsEclavdra had come here, and they were many more than all of my years. Still, unexpected guards do patrol at intervals in case someone is mad enough to break into this place. Walk warily.”

“Trolls or somethin’ comin’ this way right now!” Khlenedwhispered tensely. “And we’re in the open. Back up the stairs?”

“No,” Vlandar said as he scrambled to his feet. “Straightacross into the passage.”

They ran for it. Moments later a party of a dozen or more armed creatures clomped by and vanished around the bend, heading east.

“The prison cells are nearby,” Nemis said after the din ofheavy footsteps had faded. “Mal, I hope you will not-”

“I have Agya to protect here, before anyone else,” thepaladin broke in.

“Good,” the mage said gravely. “Remember that.” His lipsmoved silently. “I’ve just set a silence and reveal enemy spell both. We shouldrest here a little. The drow guest chamber is not far away, and we need all our strength against them.”

20

It was very dark in the lower level of the palace-dark, dryand hot. The place they hid was so dark that Lhors couldn’t tell whether it wasa chamber, a passage, or a niche cut in the wall. There seemed to be dead air behind them, and a faint but unpleasant odor like things long dead. Lhors shuddered and forced his attentions elsewhere.

Test your spears. You can do that by feel. Make certain thewood is not cracked or the points loose. He’d learned the trick from hisfather years earlier, how to do that in full dark and not lose a finger. The spears-he had only two left-were still in good shape. So were the expensivedaggers that he’d nearly forgotten about. It took him a moment to rememberPlowys’ name. After all that had happened since the fellow had died on theirfirst foray into the Steading, Lhors was surprised he could remember that much at all. He was astonished when he counted up the long daytime rests that counted as their nights. Plowys had died only six days earlier, but it seemed like a distant memory. Lhors’ life had become little more than running, hiding,killing, and more hiding. In between were times of restless sleep that brought only bad dreams.

He thought Rowan and Maera were also checking their weaponry. Malowan and Nemis sat close together, talking very quietly. The two men were probably going over some magic they would use together. Whatever grievance the paladin might still have toward Nemis, he had set it aside for now.

Lhors sighed and took another sip of tepid water. Drink small amounts, but often when you’ve little to see you through, his fatherhad always told him. The bottle might get him through one full day, but not two. Water in this place…

I’d never trust it, Lhors told himself. Malowan or Nemiscould find water and possibly even cleanse it if there was time. If we dared to go looking for water. Nemis was right, the voice in the back of his mind whispered. This is no place for any of us. We’re all going to die here in thedark.

Lhors pushed the gloomy voice away and wondered how much longer before they would move on and how much longer before they would battle these drow. They sound very dangerous. Perhaps, he thought, we really will all die in here-or all of us except Nemis. Suddenly, Lhors could understand whyKhlened and some of the others didn’t fully trust the mage, especially sinceNemis didn’t often explain himself unless Vlandar insisted.

He gazed into the dimly lit hallway that ran south to north and across it to the stairway they’d come down. It was blessedly quiet up there.He couldn’t imagine that would last for long. Even if that horrid fat giant kingcan’t free himself from the place he hid, he mused. Some guard will come lookingfor him. They’ll see Gerikh’s bar across the