“Because I have to!”
Slipping on a fish head, Jus went down on one knee. A pincer nearly ripped off his arm but caught instead on the black sword. Cursing the rotten slimy floor, Jus ripped his sword free and stabbed it into the crab, the point punching through the creature’s chitin and driving back the claw.
Escalla suddenly went stiff with excitement and whirled backward through the air. “Jus, hold the fort! Hold it off!”
“What?” The Justicar ducked another blow. “How?”
“Just fight defensively!”
Narrowly missing having his head sheared off, Jus gave a snarl.
As the faerie flew away, Jus cursed and returned to the job of killing the crustacean. The crab had switched its attention to Sir Olthwaite, and the paladin ducked and dodged with an inhuman turn of speed. Claws clashed beneath his feet, but the paladin nimbly danced aside.
Suddenly the crab saw Jus and pivoted its huge body in a lightning-fast turn. Jus swerved into the beast, spun, and threw his whole weight into a vicious blow at the creatures elbow joint. The blade sheared through the monsters flesh and sent a claw bouncing on the ground. The crab whirled and smashed the Justicar aside with its stump, hurling the man to the ground and then stabbing down at him with its other claw. Jus abandoned his blade as both halves of the claw clamped about his waist. He seized hold of the chitin, his muscles bulging as he fought to keep the beast from slicing him in two.
“Paladin! Hit the joints! Cut the claw!”
In the corridor leading back to the dungeon, Escalla shotswiftly through the air. She found Polk cowering behind the last set of metal doors, his knees knocking like dice shaking in a cup. The faerie landed on his backpack and began frantically tearing at buckles, straps, and ties.
“Quick! Where’s my oil flask?”
“What?” Polk had eyes only for the giant crab. “Flaming oilwon’t hurt
“No, the
His eyes going wide, Polk flapped his lower lip like a landed fish.
“What? You can’t use it! It’s not done!”
“I’ll use it on you in a moment!” The faerie burrowed downamidst a cornucopia of wax candles, tallow candles, hourglasses, bells, and beads. “Where in the name of Orcus’ sagging gut did you put it?”
Wrapped inside a blanket and sealed inside a cooking pot lay the oil flask. Escalla grabbed the thing with two hands and hauled it up into the air, flinging wrappings aside as she whirred back into the battle.
The ranger lay trapped by the crab’s claw, his armor cut andbuckling as he slowly lost headway against the giant beast. As Escalla whirred past him, Sir Olthwaite jerked into action and smacked at the crab with his sword.
Jus gathered himself, took a hard grip on the crab’s claws,and roared like a maddened bear as he slowly forced the pincer blades apart. He flung his head sideways as the crab loomed above him with its open maw.
The hell hound blasted flame into the crab’s gaping mouth andthe giant crustacean gave a piercing scream. The Justicar heaved, wrenching the crab’s claw open and tossing the limb aside. The crab backed away, shieldingitself in panic from Cinders’ flames.
Hovering above the monster, Escalla gave a shriek of triumph and cast the oil pot down. The ceramic jug instantly rebounded from the creature’s algae-padded shell and landed safe and sound amongst the fish headson the floor.
Holding his side, the Justicar lurched backward as the crab came at him again.
“Escalla, whatever you’re doing, do it fast!”
The girl picked up the oil flask, sensed a sudden wind, and looked across her shoulder to see the giant crab’s claws blurring straighttoward her throat. She changed herself into a fish head and fell bouncing to the floor, the oil flask thudding into the trash.
The crab flailed its claw down like a club, flattening trash and smashing at the refuse. The oil jar broke with a crash, and green slime spattered up onto the monster’s arm.
A fish head rolled one big yellow eye, screamed like a frightened child, and suddenly sprouted spider’s legs. Yelping in fright, thefaerie grabbed her fallen clothes and ran between the crab’s feet, leaping ontothe Justicar as the monster slowly turned around.
The beast saw all its prey together in once place and lumbered down the corridor. Jus, Sir Olthwaite, and Escalla scrabbled frantically back as green slime spread like wildfire up the crustacean’s arm.
The slime attack finally registered somewhere in the crab’sdull brain. The creature screamed and battered its claw against the ground, slime spattering all across the stone. Jus peeled the spider-legged fish head from his back and held the faerie dangling in the air.
“Escalla! The chest! Hurry!”
Naked, the faerie popped back into her usual form, took a look at the rampaging crab, then sped like an arrow straight past the creature’sthrashing limbs. The crab had smeared slime on its face, covering its eyes with the predatory sludge. It swiped blindly at the faerie as she passed then turned to lumber after her to protect its treasure horde.
The faerie flung herself down beside the heavy treasure chest and wrenched open the lid. Inside lay a long silver trident, a beautiful magic wand inlaid with ice-worm’s shell, and a dazzling carpet of pearls.
“Pearls!” The girl jammed her fingers in among the heaps ofgems, then stared in hunger at the magic wand. “Wand!”
“Pearls!” The faerie held three priceless black pearls in herhand.
The trident lay gleaming at her feet-as much as a faeriecould possibly hope to haul. Escalla rammed the big black pearls into her mouth and swallowed the things whole. She jammed the wand between her teeth, used a wad of algae to shield her hands, and took a grip upon the trident’s head. Shedragged the thing out of the chest, gave a great heave of relief, then threw herself wildly aside as a crab claw smashed the chest to flinders.
Entirely covered in pustulous green slime, the crab gave a bubbling cry of fury and pain. It smacked its claw down to try and crush the faerie. Escalla ducked as green slime spattered through the room. Sizzling gobbets missing her skull to land among the fish heads and the algae.
Lurching in a blind frenzy, the crab began slashing at the empty air with its claw. Her teeth clamped on her magic wand, Escalla ran. The trident bounced and clattered as she dragged it across the stone floors. Hearing the noise, the crab turned and whipped its dissolving claw to smash the little creature to the ground.
The claw rose high in the air, ripping a hole in the transparent membrane of the roof, and a column of boiling water thundered down onto the crab. Escalla risked one brief look across her shoulder, saw the entire ceiling rip apart behind her, and then fled before a foaming tidal wave of boiling water and steam.
Jus hung in the metal doorway, blocking it as Sir Olthwaite made to slam the huge doors shut. Escalla ran as she had never run before, her wings blurring to push her into greater speed as she clung grimly to the trident. The boiling water wall foamed and roared behind her, consuming crab, algae, fish heads, and green slime. The girl flung herself the last few yards toward the doors. She felt Jus catch her by the neck and physically fling her on into the corridor. The big man turned and shielded her from the first blast of boiling water as he lunged inward through the doors. A sizzling wall of water crashed into him from behind, splashing deadly foam across Cinders’ fur. Theforce of the water smashed the metal doors shut behind him with a thunderous clang. Water surged about the floor, steaming evilly as Jus thrashed forward into the next chamber and hauled shut the second set of doors.
The Justicar was badly burned about the legs yet never stopped moving until his companions were safe. The boiling water slammed into the outer doors, but their strong metal frames held. The ranger stared at the doors for
