And Jus was blind.
His eyesight simply disappeared, leaving him in total darkness. Jus reeled back, slinging the tentacle staff far away and sweeping the sword Benelux up on guard.
“Cinders! Can you see?”
Jus whipped his sword high left in a parry, and the weapon rang. Jus stepped back, sensed movement at his side, and smashed his sword down. The blade bit into something that screamed, and then Cinders barked a warning from above.
Jus fought purely by instinct. He felt motions beside him and whirled the sword up to meet each strike as Cinders yapped out commands. The stoneskin spell wore away under the assault of a dozen swords. He almost stumbled over a corpse then lashed out wildly to catch a sword that stabbed for his heart. He crashed his blade past the incoming weapon, ramming home with huge force. A dark elf screamed as Jus twisted the weapon and ripped it free.
He parried madly as a fresh rush of blows crashed home. A mace hammered against his sword hilt and almost struck the sword out of Jus’hands.
“SHUT UP!” Jus roared at his two companions. Fighting purelyby instinct and skill, Jus barely managed to put his weapon in the way of an attack. “Cinders, you help!”
All around him, he heard shrieking and dying. The drow still held a line protecting Lolth as the titanic spider drank. The battle would be lost in seconds. The moment the demon queen decided to lift her head out of the bowl, the captives and their rescuers would have no hope. Why she had drunk so long in the middle of a battle was anybody’s guess.
Jus spun, crashed his sword down on something-felt a presencebehind him and to the left-and smashed his elbow into a drow face. As a swordclanged off his dragon scales, the Justicar shouted, “Cinders! Where’s the highpriestess?”
Jus leaped forward, his sword smashing down and meeting nothing. Jus sensed something slashing at his face, ducked to his knees, and swung. His sword rang against a metal buckler, the huge force of his blow making his enemy crash to the ground.
The screams and howls of dying humans, half-orcs, elves, and halflings sounded in a mad chorus. Drow war cries screeched and echoed in the hellish light. Through it all, a strangely beautiful female voice managed to shout at the Justicar.
“You cannot see, human! You are doomed!”
Jus closed in upon the voice, deliberately keeping himself turned slightly away as though unable to find his enemy. He moved his sword point uncertainly.
“I know enough. You have been
“You are the Justicar-the hand of justice!” Sneering, thedrow high priestess shifted, moving to one side.
Jus flicked his head and turned, again slightly out of line.
“You cannot see!” she screamed in triumph as she attacked.
Jus threw himself flat, spinning with his sword scything across the ground. The blade sheared through ankles, and the ranger heard a scream of agony. He rolled, rose, and slammed his sword through the stunned priestess, killing her instantly.
“Justice
23
Shooting out of the temple, Escalla saw the other faerieplunge straight through the bone gateway. In flicker of light, her quarry was gone. Furious but unwilling to leave her friends, Escalla stared aghast at the carnage before her.
The temple steps were awash with blood. A hundred drow were dead, and easily twice as many humans. The damselflies had torn apart the black widows and the spider centaurs. A knot of drow priests and warriors were gathering around Lolth. The drow took heart as hunting horns sounded from the entrance to the distant caves. Escalla hoped Henry and Polk had the sense to get out of there.
Seeking the ranger, Escalla saw Jus staggering near the altar, his stoneskin spell long spent and blood running down both arms. The huge man suddenly staggered as a hand crossbow bolt struck him from behind, piercing Cinders’ fur but failing to penetrate the dragon scale coat below. Jus whirledblindly, his sword up and circling as drow closed in.
Escalla began to throw a spell, but the gem in her mouth stopped her from uttering the incantation. Her hands were full and drow surged below. With a painful gulp, Escalla swallowed the slowglass gem, turned a little green, then sped to the rescue of her friend.
“Jus!”
Escalla flamed destruction from above, making a circle of fire about the Justicar. She landed amidst the flames, clinging to the battered ranger. “Jus, are you hit? What’s wrong?”
“Blind! Spell.” Jus staggered as he nearly tripped over thehigh priestess-one of the most extravagantly bisected corpses Escalla had everseen. More crossbows fired from the drow toward the mob of former captives, and Escalla interposed a shield that made the darts leap and bound away. More horns and war cries sounded as a horde of drow warriors rampaged down the tunnel toward Polk and Henry.
And Lolth finally moved.
Wrapped in clouds of shimmering black power, the demon queen raised her head from the bowl and gave a long, slow roar. Escalla stared, Cinders gaped, and the mob all froze in fear. The demon goddess was greeted by a wild cheer from her surviving guards, who all shook their weapons in salute toward their queen.
Lolth looked across the carnage, stared blearily at the dead and dying, and then collapsed on the ground with one almighty drunken wail.
Drunk as the proverbial skunk on about a thousand bottles of the dreaded vintage sixty-three, Lolth groaned and flopped about, then screamed in agony as convulsions seized her. Drow beside her shrieked and died as she lashed out at them with her mind, blasting skulls apart and sending dark elves streaming into the temple to hide. Escalla saw the drow turn and run, and she canceled her firewall. She seized a human who knelt strangling a long- dead drow. The man looked up as Escalla dragged him by the hair.
“Take the Justicar and go through the bone gate!” Escalla putJus’ arm over the pimple man and yelled, “Get out through the bone gate! Run!Run!”
For a moment, Jus resisted, shouting, “No! Polk and Henry!”
“I’ll get ’em!” Escalla replied. “You hold the exit!”
Jus nodded grimly, and the mob turned like a living tide toward the gateway. Escalla heard screams and horn blasts from the distant tunnels and sped back to assist Polk and Henry’s last stand.
At the tunnel mouth, Henry swerved his crossbow from left toright, the dwindling ammunition pouring into the magazine as fast as it could move. Crossbow bolts hammered into drow as they churned in confusion. Return fire rang and howled as it careened from rocks and rebounded from Henry’sstoneskin. The magic was fading, and
