The sword remained indignantly silent.
Unperturbed, Escalla shrugged and flew ahead to scout for danger. As the party moved on, Benelux snorted then muttered in ill temper.
“Yup.” The big man never once took his eyes away fromscanning the gloom. “Tarnished in some ways and surprisingly pure in others.”
Polk snickered, and from the corridor ahead, Escalla’s angryvoice drifted back. “I heard that!”
Cinders gave a brilliant grin.
Half a mile beyond the ants, the tunnel opened out into agreat echoing cavern filled with ghastly phosphorescent light. A fortified wall ran across the cave, pierced by a gate studded with bronze spikes. Guards patrolled the wall above, and more guards stood at the gate. They were drow-ebony skinned, silver haired, and sinister.
Jus lay flat in cover with Henry at his side, both carefully scanning the distant scene. Behind them, Escalla watched master and student at their work.
“A guard post has at least four times as many soldiers as youcan see.” Jus carefully pointed out the hidden spy holes in the distant wall.“There’s probably thirty drow soldiers with commanders, a priest, and a powerfulsorcerer as back-up.”
Trying to count the drow, Henry bit his lip. “How do we killthem all?”
“No point.” Jus shrugged. “Escalla, what have we got spellwise? You had some scrolls?”
“Yeah. All earth ones. Stone to flesh, flesh to stone, dig,pass wall. That kind of thing.” The faerie patted the scroll case slung acrossher back. “I can make a hole through the wall, but we’d still be seen.”
Behind Jus, Benelux made an irritated little noise and spoke to Polk.
“They’d never consider it! No, it’ll be a frontal attack,blades swinging-courage against all odds!” Polk gave a self important puff ofhis chest. “These people are adventurers. They’re the slayers of Keraptis,conquerors of White Plume Mountain, masters of the underdark!”
Escalla appeared, peeking over Polk’s shoulder as he spoke.“Polk, have you got those gee-gaws we found on the drow guard post back beforethe trogs? You know, those spider amulets?”
“Yes! Yes I do!” Polk had proudly organized the portablehole’s storage space and had inventoried every single item. “Six medallions,black, spider images on the reverse!”
“Hoopy!” Escalla held out her hand. “Pass ’em over! I’m gonnatalk our way past these guards.”
Polk and Benelux gave an almost identical squawk-
The faerie led the way into the middle of the cavern. Polk hung at the rear, kicking toadstools. Escalla flew straight up to the drow, tipped them a salute, and presented them with one of the black medallions. Her other hand was behind her back, readying a spell.
A drow passed a detection spell over the girl, seeking to discern whether she was a secret agent of purity and goodness. The spell inevitably came up blank. The drow consulted one another, made a note in a record book, then opened up the gates to let the party through.
Walking past the guards, Polk shot a sidewise look at the dark elves and then glared at the other adventurers.
“That’s it?” the teamster whispered hoarsely. “We’re justwalkin’ though?”
“Yep!” Escalla tied the spider medallion about her neck. Hersuspicions were growing richer. “And the drow were amazingly unsurprised to seea faerie pass them by. How about that?”
“We’re just leaving then?”
“Polk, there are waaay more drow in the world that we havetime to bump off! Now if you want to get to the drow city, just shut up and march.”
The long tunnels were joined now by other paths. A reekingdrow merchant caravan plodded past, guarded by warriors and trailing a swarm of flies. Cinders growled as he passed the drow, and Jus firmly kept the hell hound’s snout pointing toward the walls.
Dark elves glared as the party passed. Escalla nodded and waved in response, her grin staying even as she sweated in fright.
“Oooh, we are going to get so killed!” The drow caravan hadan armed escort of a dozen trolls-massive green creatures that dragged theirknuckles as they walked. Escalla gave them a tinkling little wave. “I’m gonnakick the arse of that Seelie Court when we get home.”
Jus kept a quiet eye on the disappearing drow. He walked slowly and carefully, one hand resting upon Benelux, his eyes spearing every shadow. Above his head, Cinders’ red eyes gleamed as they searched into thedark.
The tunnels were now a well traveled road with the marks of thousands of marching, hopping, or dragging feet. Walls grew farther apart, the glowing fungi seemed deliberately tended, and nightmarish streaks of phosphorescent minerals added their pulsing light. The miles went slowly past, and then quite suddenly the tunnel walls simply disappeared.
Standing in a great, gloomy silence, Escalla, the Justicar, Polk, Cinders, and Private Henry gazed upon the vault of the drow.
It was a vast, empty space in which echoes simply died. A cliff wall soared into unknown distances above, dwarfing the adventurers below. A roof arched upward, disappearing into the distance a thousand yards above, the ceiling’s arc shown by nebulous sprays and swirls of colors stolen from amadman’s dreams.
The caverns stretched for untold miles. Overhead, a great bloated node of minerals stole a lurid glow across the scene. Light the color of blood seeped across the rocks, making each formation shimmer with sickly colors all its own. There were pale blues and acid yellows. Clouds of blue spores drifted from titanic mushrooms that loomed into the sky.
Half hidden in the eerie hush, noises drifted in the gloom: distant night creatures gave screams and cries or wept like children and sighed awful promises. There was no wind. The air never stirred, and the false stars upon the ceiling were dead and cold.
The light made all shapes flat and lifeless and turned familiar colors into startling new hues. Escalla hovered, staring at the hideous kingdom, and her bared skin shone a cadaverous lavender-blue. The Justicar turned to look at her and slowly raised a smile.
“Lavender?” Jus seemed amused. “Heh.”
“Lavender!” Recoiling in panic, Escalla almost expired inshame. She was utterly appalled as she looked at her own usually milk-white flesh. “Lavender! Aww man! What sort of style credibility is lavender?” Escallawhirled, trying to see her rear.
The cave gave an impression of vast, terrifying space, yet the light was dim enough to make vision fail to see more than a few hundred yards. A path of crushed crystal ran out of the tunnel. Overhung with stinking toadstools in which gibbering little creatures lurked, the path shone a horrible violet-blue. Jus stepped cautiously onto the crystals, felt them crunch like bird skulls underfoot, then led the way forward into the emptiness.
The huge, dark figure of the Justicar seemed utterly indestructible. Having hesitated at the threshold, Escalla and Private Henry moved instantly onward in the Justicar’s wake. Simply being near him seemedprotection against the horrors of the unseen. Standing and writing in his book of chronicles, Polk finished a paragraph with satisfaction, looked up to find that he was standing alone, and ran after the other explorers as fast as he could.
A tower loomed above the path-a savage shape framed byimpaled corpses that were gnawed and worried by jabbering creatures of the dark. Lit by stars that were not stars, the carnivorous beasts tore strips of flesh from corpses and cackled as they ate.
The magic sword at Jus’ side stirred softly in its scabbard.
“I see them.” Jus kept his voice low. “We’re too near thetower to risk killing them.”
