movement in the room. “We need toknow why your murderer is taking human slaves.” The big man’s voice echoed likethe slamming of a tomb. “They have a date with Justice.”
Escalla seethed, going into a grumbling sulk. “I just
Benelux gave a self-righteous glow.
Further retort was halted as the kuo-toa held up the finished receipt and stared at it with its eerie eyes. The creature came toward Escalla, who rubbed her hands in anticipation.
“Here we go!” Posing, Escalla elegantly reached out for theslip of parchment. “And now, for your listening pleasure, ladies and gentlemen,the murderer is…!”
A huge bubbling roar came from the far side of the room. Escalla whipped about to see a mammoth kuo-toa dressed in golden chains. Standing in a secret door that opened beside the throne, the monster’s voicethundered and was echoed calmly by the disembodied voice above.
“What do you mean no mammary glands! Hey! You fish reject,what the hell do you think
Stumped for ideas, Escalla turned to face her friends. “Gotme there. Guys, anyone got anything more to say?”
Wag-wag-wagging his tail, Cinders grinned in glee.
“What?”
His first blast smashed three kuo-toa off their feet. The creatures screamed as the noxious oil on their scales caught fire. Gleefully thundering a vast column of flame into the kuo-toa, Cinders made a noise of insane enthusiasm, sweeping fire all across the enemy.
“At least he has no problem with commitment!” Escalla blasteda fireball into a knot of onrushing guards. “That’s great, pooch! That was realsubtle!”
The scribe screamed and launched himself into the air, clawed hands reaching to rip Escalla from the sky. The girl’s eyes bulged as she wassnatched and squeezed like a grape. An instant later, the scribe’s hands weresevered by Jus’ sword. Croaking, Escalla thudded to the ground, her ribs almostcrushed and the dead hands still pinning her tight.
Above her, Private Henry screamed a panicked war cry and parried a harpoon that would have pinned Escalla to the floor. Angrily fighting free, Escalla struggled out of the dead grasp and spat her hair out of her mouth. Something blurred past her, a spear smashed sparks from a pillar beside Henry, and Escalla fired another fireball in reply.
Jus had already taken the arm off a huge kuo-toa, kicking backward to smash another monster’s knee as he whirled. Behind him, Polk madethe brilliant move of opening his portable hole, diving inside, and reaching back out to fold up the hole.
Two of the lesser guards hurled themselves at Private Henry. Rushing at him, the monsters hurled heavy harpoons straight at the boy. Imitating the Justicar, the boy managed to smash one huge spear out of the air. The second missile tore the whole sleeve of his mail shirt, ripping a line of blood along his arm. With a roar the boy whirled and swung his sword. To his astonishment, the sword blade bit into flesh, and the fish bellowed in agonized rage. It struck at the boy, had its blow blocked, then whirled backward as Henry cleaved his blade down into the monster’s skull.
Overjoyed, Henry turned to the next monster and struck wildly down. His sword blade hit the kuo-toa’s shield-and suddenly stuck fast to alayer of glue. The kuo-toa roared and twisted the weapon from his grasp, raising a spear to plunge it through the boy.
The kuo-toa’s head suddenly exploded as Escalla smacked itneatly with her pencil-slim lich staff. The corpse jerked like a mad puppet, leaving Escalla staring at the magic staff in astonishment.
“Hot damn!” The girl reached out a hand to the dazed Private Henry. “You allright?”
“Um…”
“Yeah. All glory to King Um! Whatever, kid. Now’s
Roaring and cursing, Jus was surrounded by kuo-toa guards, all of them reeling away from the white blade. One lunged in with a pole arm, lost the business end of the weapon to Jus’ sword, then jerked as a massiveblow opened its guts. Another slashed with its claws, ripping Jus’ shoulder. AsCinders sheeted fire to incinerate a ring of guards, Jus trapped his attacker’shand, slammed one hand against the monster’s arm and snapped its elbow. It fellback, screaming as Benelux ripped through its chest. The sword twisted, whipped out, and flicked up looking for targets all in a single horrid blur.
The kuo-toa leader had already disappeared through a secret door beside his throne. With guards thundering in from the temple outside, the secret passageway seemed like a good idea. Jus threw himself at the door even as it slid closed, shattering the panels and making the kuo-toa leader reel back in fright. The creature leaped down a set of stairs with powerful shoves of its stumpy legs. Jus loomed in the door, terrifying with his brilliant sword, blood-smeared armor, and smoking hell hound skin.
Jus shoved in through the door, and Private Henry instantly followed at his heel. Escalla made to follow, then suddenly blinked and swerved back into the throne room.
“Wait! The receipt!”
The piece of parchment lay on the floor beside the scribe’ssevered hands. Escalla dived toward the receipt- only to look up in shock to seethirty enraged kuo-toa charging straight for her. A massive barrage of harpoons showered toward her. She threw her hand up in a spell, her magic shield snapping up an instant before the rusty harpoons arrived. The shield staggered as spears struck like a thunderstorm, spraying sparks and snapping points. One harpoon punched through the shield, and Escalla screamed, twisted aside, and had the middle ripped out of her dress. With the kuo-toa lunging toward her, the girl hurled herself backward in panic, screeching in frustration as the monsters overran the receipt. She flew backward through the secret door, harpoons ricocheting madly from her shield.
She bumped into Henry’s back. The boy was stuck halfway downthe stairs. As a dozen kuo-toa charged for them, Escalla blasted her black tentacles spell into the passage entrance, blocking the doorway with tendrils that caught hold of screaming kuo-toa and tossed the creatures aside.
“Jus! We’ve got company!”
The spell would last for a few minutes, no more. Escalla blundered about in a blur of wings until she dragged out her little light-stone. The sounds of screaming, throttled kuo-toa, thrashing tentacles, and alarm horns made conversation almost impossible.
“What’s the hold up, Hen?”
“A door just slammed! The Justicar is on the other side ofit!” Henry pressed his ear against a wooden door that blocked the passageway. “Ican hear movement but can’t hear fighting. He won’t answer when I call!”
“Great.” Harpoons clanged from the magic shield, tentaclesthrashed, and kuo-toa roared. With hundreds of angry monsters at her heels, Escalla yanked her light stone out of her cleavage to look at the door, noticing the folded up portable hole between her breasts as she did so.
“Polk! You still in there?”
“Yep!”
“Are you peeking?”
