Jhingleshod's arm flashed up, deflecting the attack almost before the elf saw it move. 'Are you mad?'
'Hardly!' Galaeron slipped his free hand into his sleeve. 'I see how you have been playing us.'
'Playing you?' A long crackle sounded from the melee behind Jhingleshod, prompting the knight to glance over his shoulder. 'I am not one to play at anything.'
Galaeron pulled his hand from his sleeve, cupping a small glass rod, but Malik's chubby arm knocked it away before the elf could cast the spell.
'Matters are bad enough without this shadow folly!' Malik pointed to the artistic trefoil passage Aris had cut into the side of the butte. 'The giant told me there are phaerimm coming!'
Galaeron realized he should have been disappointed in himself, but he was not After learning of Melegaunt's lies, the line between his shadow and himself had blurred. Suspicions that might have seemed groundless before were suddenly reasonable. He peered past Jhingleshod and saw that matters were, indeed, bad enough. Melegaunt was kneeling in the pool, beard scorched away and eyes glazed with pain. Only the constant attacks of Vala and Takari, harrying the lich from opposite sides, kept Wulgreth from finishing the wizard in a blow.
Jhingleshod let out an eerie wail and hefted his axe. Trusting more to Malik's word than his own instincts, Galaeron pointed at Wulgreth's head and summoned a spell. Vala lunged in, blocking Galaeron's lightning bolt, and Takari attacked from the opposite side.
The lich flicked a finger and sent Takari stumbling away, wailing and shaking her head, eyes red with blood and fixed blindly ahead. Vala's darksword took some small vengeance, slashing off a moldering arm, then whipping around to open Wulgreth's side from spine to navel. Hissing and spitting in anger, the lich grabbed her by the throat with its good arm.
Vala went instantly rigid, mouth gaping, eyes rolling back. Jhingleshod buried his axe deep into Wulgreth's back, driving both the lich and the woman down beneath the pool's silvery skin. The iron knight hefted his axe again, lidless eyes bulging as he tried to see beneath the surface. He began to shuffle through the basin, trying to locate his quarry with a series of savage kicks. 'Jhingleshod, you'll break her ribs!'
'Galaeron?' This from Takari, who stood with her back to the wall and her sword weaving a blind-fighting pattern before her. 'I can't see.'
'You're fine,' Galaeron said, realizing Vala was in the most danger. Even if the lich released her, its touch would leave her paralyzed and unable to return to the surface. 'Stay there.' 'But Galaeron-'
She was interrupted by a startled cry from Melegaunt. The archwizard pointed his hand into the basin and started a spell, then vanished beneath the surface. Galaeron rushed forward, sweeping his sword back and forth across the bottom, trying to think of some spell that would allow him to find Vala before she drowned. Jhingleshod opted for a more direct method and dived under the surface.
A muffled crack rumbled out of the pool, then Melegaunt's body floated to the surface, the smell of charred flesh rising from a hole in his back. 'Galaeron?' Takari called.
'Stand still,' Galaeron ordered, starting after the wizard. 'Stab anything near you.'
His sword touched a body on the bottom of the pool. When it did not attack, he ducked down and grabbed hold of an armored elbow, then pulled Vala to the surface. She began coughing, spewing liquid magic from her nostrils and mouth. Dragging her along beside him, Galaeron went to Melegaunt's side and rolled the archwizard over.
The spell had blown open Melegaunt's whole chest. Incredibly, the archwizard's heart continued to beat Galaeron could see it
'Meleg-ghaunt!' coughed Vala, more or less recovered from her near drowning. 'He needs help!' She spun her head around the room. 'Malik!'
Malik appeared in the mouth of Aris's tunnel. 'Quiet!' he hissed. 'The phaerimm are already coming out of the forest.' 'We need to get him to Aris.' Vala motioned to Melegaunt
'Waste… of… time.' It was Melegaunt who gasped this. He grabbed Galaeron and pulled him close. 'Promise me-'
A flurry of splashing near Takari interrupted the archwizard. She cried out and began to hack blindly at the pool. 'Where is it, Galaeron?' she yelled. 'Which way?' 'To your-'
'Elf!' Melegaunt boomed, jerking Galaeron to him with a strength born of his dying magic.
'Don't worry, Melegaunt,' Galaeron said, trying to rise. 'I remember: 'Hear me now, People of Shade-
'No!' Melegaunt gasped, now loosing his strength. 'You must leave it… to the princes, or you'll be… lost.'
Galaeron started to promise, but stopped when the sour clang of a breaking sword sounded from the far wall. Takari cried out-no longer calling for him, just shrieking-and he turned to find her slashing at the pool with a broken sword, Jhingleshod and Wulgreth rolling across the surface in front of her.
Vala started across the pool. 'Move left, Takari!' she yelled. 'And don't panic. I'm coming.'
'Malik!' Galaeron started toward the battle. 'Hold Melegaunt' 'Galaeron!' Melegaunt demanded. 'No more spells.' 'Yes, I promise.'
Seeing Malik approach, Galaeron started to push Melegaunt over-until the archwizard's fingers dug deep into his arm, drawing blood and pouring a dark river of anguish into him. Galaeron's knees buckled, and he slipped beneath the surface, swallowing a mouthful of silvery liquid. Swirling shadows filled his mind, then he began to feel weightless and weak, and his last conscious thought was that Melegaunt had finally betrayed him, that the archwizard had used his shadow magic to switch bodies.
Then Malik was pounding him on the back, yelling in his ear. 'Cough it out, stupid elf!'
A heavy blow landed on Galaeron's back, then he opened his eyes to find Melegaunt floating in front of him, lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling. He had no memory after his mind began to fill with swirling shadows, no idea how long he had been beneath the surface with Melegaunt-or of what had happened there. His mind felt heavy and clouded with darkness, his head ached as though it would split, and his lungs were burning for air. He had to have been under for a good long while.
Another blow landed on Galaeron's back, and he realized the little man was holding him up by the collar, trying to hide behind the Karsestone while Jhingleshod continued to wrestle with Wulgreth. Vala stood pressed against the wall, one hand ineptly flailing at the lich with her sword, the other holding Takari's broken and bloodied body above the surface.
'What happened?' Galaeron gasped. He could not help wondering just what Melegaunt had done to him-but now was hardly the time to puzzle it out, not with Takari wounded and the phaerimm on the way The last time he saw Takari, she was blind but still healthy. 'What happened to my scout?'
'What do you think happened?' Malik released him. 'Wulgreth struck her while you were doing your pool dance with Melegaunt's corpse.'
'Pool dance?' Galaeron gasped. 'Never mind! Keep a watch on the phaerimm.'
Galaeron shoved Malik toward the tunnel, then pushed off the Karsestone-and that was when he understood why they had not been able to find Wulgreth's phylactery Liches always stored their life-forces in something of great worth, something hard to destroy and harder to find.
Jhingleshod went limp and vanished beneath the surface. Wulgreth spun toward Galaeron, tiny forks of green lightning dancing on the fingertips of his one remaining arm. For an instant-for more than an instant- Galaeron thought the lich had finally destroyed its ancient servant. The elf thought he would be next.
Then Jhingleshod came up beneath Wulgreth, lifting him out of the pool. The lich twisted his one arm around behind his back, fingers spraying his life-stealing magic into Jhingleshod's iron breastplate. A loud, watery knelling echoed off the cavern walls, and Jhingleshod wailed in unearthly pain. Had the magic been powerful enough to destroy him, Galaeron knew, the lifeless knight would gladly have endured the suffering. As it was, it only melted a hole in his armor and filled the air with a forgelike stench. Galaeron sloshed forward and plunged his magic sword into the lich's fiery eye socket.
Wulgreth howled in rage, and the elven steel began to melt and sag. Galaeron started to blast the lich with his magic bolts, then remembered his promise to Melegaunt and drew his dagger, flinging it into the other eye in one smooth motion.
The blade sank deep-then vanished in a flash of blue flame. 'Galaeron!'
Galaeron glanced toward the voice and saw Vala's black sword spinning toward him. The pool swirled around his legs as Wulgreth kicked at him. He dodged sideways, caught the black hilt and winced in pain-it was still as cold as a night hag's kiss-then brought the dark blade across the lich's neck.
