Deep in thought, the faerie sat shadowed by the bright splay of her wings.
“I’ve been trying to narrow down my list.” The girl hissed.“My mother. My sister. My mother
“Yep.”
The Justicar sighed, shook his head, and made a tour of the alcove. He walked past Private Henry and patted the boy on the shoulder as he passed. Having been set to thread thin strips ripped from his own cloak through the bottom layers of rings of his chainmail hauberk, the young soldier looked anxiously up for approval of his work. Jus knelt down to inspect the results, shaking the armor to make sure that its noise had been reduced.
“Good job. You did it just right.”
“Th-thank you, sir.” Private Henry seemed pale, but his eyeswere awed as he looked up at the imposing figure of the Justicar. “Is thereanything else I should do? To make my gear better I mean?”
“How do you fight?”
“Um, just with a sword, sir. Kind of…” The boy lookedpale. He had been given a long sword as part of his equipment, and its weight still felt awkward on his belt. “We haven’t really done much practice with it.”
Huge and solid, the Justicar rested a hand upon the boy’sshoulder and said, “If we get into a fight, just shoot, go to ground, and leavethe battle to us. If you get caught at sword point, fight defensively and call for help. We’ll cover you.” The big man stood. “When we get the time, I’ll teachyou how it’s done.”
Jus looked over the gangly boy’s equipment. He sniffed at thesword belt, a typical botched affair-good for horsemen and useless for everybodyelse. Taking up the worn leather, Jus showed the lad how to wear his sword horizontally through his belt.
“You get a faster draw this way. You might need it.” Hehelped the boy to don the heavy equipment, then shared a last drink of beer from his canteen. “All right. Let’s go.”
Escalla took a careful look out of the alcove, ducked back, looked one more time, and then fluttered up into the air. Jus strode out into the corridor, his heavy boots strangely quiet. With his cherished friend at his side, he moved into the tunnels with Polk and the teenaged soldier traipsing behind.
Polk automatically reached for his water bottle, discovered that for once it actually did contain only water, and almost choked. From up ahead, Jus turned and glared at the little man, silently ordering him to close the line of march. Shooting seething glances at Escalla, Polk hauled out his book and wrote awkwardly as he walked. He scribbled down scathing paragraphs on the subject of teetotalism, tyranny, and the mental benefits of alcohol.
The whole process kept him occupied for at least the next two long, slow, and silent miles.
To an eye attuned to the sinister pulse of the underdark, thetunnels ebbed with life, echoing to the endless drip and flow of time. Water trickled, creatures squeaked, and deep crevices sometimes carried sounds that rang with terror.
Hidden amongst rock outcrops and stalagmites, two figures sat silent in the gloom. They were drow-the ebony skinned, silver haired elves ofthe underdark. Each wore a long cloak made to conceal them in the dark. They sat several paces apart, each facing in the opposite direction-sentries halfwaythrough a long, tedious watch. With hand crossbows at their sides, the two elves passed the time. One was chewing on some sort of meat, while the other carved patterns in a piece of knuckle bone.
Around them, the tunnel echoed, time dragged by, and water dripped like blood seeping from a dying world. Into this tedious quiet came a shockingly familiar sound. A coin fell tinkling upon stone. It echoed from the southern tunnel, ringing faint but clear.
The southern-most sentry jerked his head up, covering the passageway with his crossbow as he scanned the darkness. The weapon’s sharp boltgleamed sickly black with poison.
Heat images swam in the eerie shadows of the tunnel. The wall mold glowed sometimes hot, sometimes cool, but amongst the smallest of small shapes upon the floor, a figure appeared-a little creature moving fearlesslydown the corridor.
A coin rang yet again, and now both guards craned forward to look, the northern guard standing up to peer past his partner.
A rat-a very large, well muscled rat-was scuttling along theedge of the southern tunnel. Thirty yards away in the gloom, even drow eyes could scarcely pick out the slightest detail. The rat moved away and disappeared into the dark. Moments later the sound of busy digging came, a sound very faint against the tunnel noises. Soon the rat returned, seeming extremely pleased with itself. Gold glittered briefly in the tunnel. The rat dropped a coin that it had held in its mouth, making a pile with other flecks of gold in the corridor, then pranced off to continue with its digging far away.
The watching sentries leaned forward, staring in amazement. The gold was real. The drow looked behind them at the entrances to the guard rooms in the tunnels behind them, wary to see if they had been missed. There was no point in sharing treasure with too many other grasping hands.
Gold clinked again. The rat could be heard digging, and flecks of dirt and bat dung scattered out onto the floor.
The two drow raised their hand crossbows, the bolts glistening with venom. With short swords in their other hands, they advanced side by side up the passageway. They glared at one another with no love lost, then stalked forward, walking over the rat’s little pile of coin. Both movedfaster and faster in pursuit of the busy rat. They passed outcrops of rock, passed loose soil and gravel left over from a crumbled wall, and watched the rat as it flitted toward its treasure horde.
The elves saw the rat stop to dig at a half-buried skeleton. They gave a grin, hefted their crossbows, and strode toward the rat. Behind them, buried underneath the gravel, a pair of red eyes suddenly gleamed.
There was the softest whisper of sliding gravel, then the two sentries seemed to fall apart. One heartbeat they were half-turning as movement flickered in the dark behind them. The next instant, one elf’s body stoodwithout its head, and the other jerked as the Justicar’s sword blurred downthrough his skull and into the torso below. Without even watching his victims fall, the Justicar swept his blade free, flicked it clean, and sheathed it all in one smooth curve. The two dead drow fell to the tunnel floor, their blood pooling into a gruesome mud on the floor.
Jus shook himself free of dirt and gravel. From far down the tunnel, Polk and Private Henry peered out of hiding, looking pale.
The rat came out into the middle of the corridor and waved them closer, turning to look up and whisper to Jus, “Think they heard?”
Jus shook his head, then knelt to drag the twitching corpses out of sight.
The big rat shimmered, changing from its furry form and into a very naked Escalla. Her clothes had been stuffed out of sight in a rock crevice. She dragged on her leggings, then wriggled her bottom into her undergarments. At the sound of a little noise behind her, she looked archly across one shoulder to see the shocked eyes of Private Henry.
Already pale, Private Henry hurriedly turned to face the wall. Escalla gave a wry smile and began pulling on her long gloves.
“Whassamatter, kid? Never see a girl before?”
“Yes.” The teenager looked a tad unsteady on his feet. “Well,sort of, but you’re a
Escalla paused, brightened, and instantly radiated a glorious goodwill to all creation. She jerked on her dress and fluttered up to kiss the boy upon the cheek. “Now
The boy came forward with Escalla, his crossbow at the ready, but the two drow were most deeply and sincerely dead. The Justicar, spattered here and there with dark blood, had relieved them of small pots of venom sheathed beside their crossbow bolts. He tossed these to the young soldier. Henry stared aghast at the corpses.
Escalla looked at him, and for once without any laughter in her eyes.
“They’re drow. Don’t waste time feeling bad for them. Thesebastards are worse than orcs.” She jerked one of the drow’s clothing aside.“Check it out. Their boots are made from human skin.” Escalla let the clothingdrop. “They
