fashioned pain, stretched out for our enjoyment.' His eyes revealed his elation. 'A little payback for the marks you gave me.'
Jallal ran his fingers over his neck and the smooth purple scars that had been left by the Claw's blades.
'And the king? You can't bribe him. Your coin and your favors are no good to a man of principles.'
'Maybe so,' replied Jallal. 'But we have his daughter.' He pointed to Quinn's left.
On the ground, beside and behind him, sat Princess Mariko, bound and gagged. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and alert.
'Are you hurt?' He tested the two men holding him, but they were both very strong, and they held him fast.
Mariko shook her head. She shot a nasty glare at Jallal, which told Quinn the whole story.
'The king's not the only one who wants her,' replied Quinn.
Jallal chuckled. 'That's very sweet. Showing your devotion as you go to your death.'
Quinn gritted his teeth. 'Perhaps you were dead when it arrived, but there is a huge black citadel floating over Llorbauth, and the arch magus inside is demanding that we turn over the princess, or he'll lay waste to the entire kingdom.'
'Yes, yes, I'd heard. How unfortunate.'
'Do you really think the king is going to give you anything in exchange for his daughter? She's safer down here than she would be with him.'
Jallal scrubbed his chin. 'You see, that's the beauty of all this. The Matron has already brokered a deal. We help him fight off this Xeries fellow, and he gets his daughter back.'
'And you get to run your Elixir operations unfettered, is that it?'
'After we dispose of you, yes.'
'Well, I guess you've thought of everything then.'
'Indeed, we have.'
Like every other place in the Cellar, there was more than one way to get inside the carved stone mansion. Lucky for Evelyne, she had noticed this one-just before those guards had arrived.
Evelyne pressed herself tight up against the cracked stone and looked out onto the courtyard. She could hear voices just off to her left.
'… how unfortunate.'
Directly in front of her, a fire raged underneath a strange glass contraption that looked like a giant, see- through centipede. A short, fat man moved back and forth, in and out of her view, magically tending to the fire and casting ice spells on other parts of the centipede.
Feeling around inside her pouch, Evelyne found the two globes she had taken from Quinn when they had first met.
'Alchemist's fire,' she whispered, a smile spreading across her face.
Slipping out of the cracked stone, she stayed close to the wall and out of sight. Quinn was being held by the two burly men who had knocked him out. The horned man he'd fought in the water cavern was taunting him. The princess was on the ground by his feet, and everyone else was busy working the giant centipedes.
'Well, I guess you've thought of everything then,' said Quinn.
'Not everything,' whispered Evelyne. She hurled both orbs of alchemist's fire at the base of the nearest vat.
The courtyard erupted as the glass broke and the substance inside caught flame. It bubbled and popped, spitting bits of sizzling fire in every direction like an angry adolescent hydra.
'Whoa,' said Evelyne. 'This should be fun.'
+++++
'I'm on fire! I'm on fire!' Pello Tasca ran backward from the ruined Elixir still, his clothes engulfed in flames. His arms flailed, trying to scrape the sticky, burning substance from his exposed flesh.
'Brother!' Jallal bolted across the courtyard to Pello's side. Knocking him to the ground, he rolled him in the dirt and beat at the flames with his hands.
Shouts and confusion filled the courtyard as the other guards came running to help. The Elixir had ignited and was slowly seeping toward the second still, a running river of flame.
Taking advantage of the moment, Quinn kicked his legs in the air and flipped over backward, breaking the grip of the two men. They went for their swords, but Quinn was quicker.
'That's for the club in the face,' he said, punching the first guard square in the jaw.
The man reeled back from the blow. Quinn followed with a second shot to the gut, which knocked the wind from the guard's lungs and forced him to double over. Spinning, Quinn shifted his weight and kicked the second guard in the groin, dropping him to his knees.
'I'll take that.' Quinn pulled the first guard's long sword from its sheath.
With two quick motions, he finished off both men.
In the center of the carved-stone mansion, the second Elixir distillery exploded, sending another rain of sticky fire out over the underworld guards. Pello, covered in a shroud of orange and yellow light, still screamed and kicked the ground.
One of the guards noticed Quinn through the confusion and shouted, 'They’re escaping!'
Dropping to his knees, Quinn lodged the tip of his sword in the bonds on Mariko's wrists and ankles. He yanked, and the ropes fell away. Her hands free, Mariko pulled the gag off of her mouth.
'I guess this isn't the time for a warm reunion,' she said, lifting herself off the ground.
Quinn tossed her his sword, retrieving another from the second fallen guard. 'Not quite.'
That was all they had time for as the rush of the mob came on.
Quinn and Mariko worked back to back, circling around and beating back advances. They moved as one, never having fought together before but somehow reading each other's movements. They swirled, swords clanging, metal clashing, the flesh of their enemies cut to ribbons.
They made quick work of the first half-dozen guards before the third and final Elixir still erupted. Only four guards remained on their feet. Jallal bent over the now-motionless frame of his brother. Their entire operation was up in smoke.
Standing, Jallal pulled his sword and came right at Quinn. 'You killed me once, and now you've killed my brother.' He swung wildly as he came on, his words an unearthly growl. 'It's your turn to die.'
Jallal's guards scattered, disappearing into the open doorways-of the mansion as he pressed the attack. Gone was his calculating, controlled demeanor, replaced by the chaotic machinations of a desperate man, bent on revenge.
'Watch you bleed! Cut you to pieces! Get my brother back!' shouted Jallal, his eyes shifting madly, burning with hatred.
Quinn, still in his smallclothes, dodged each swing, giving ground and working his way into the courtyard. Flames burned at his back and he circled, giving the wild man in front of him plenty of room.
Princess Mariko slipped in behind Jallal, flanking him.
'Kill you… both!' muttered Jallal, his face turning red. He swung his blade in huge, careless arcs, turning first toward Quinn then back toward Mariko. He grunted and growled, putting everything he had into each swing.
His blade closed on Mariko, and she had to stutter step to get back in time. Quinn dived into the gap, but the demon-man was quick, and he turned, swinging back. His exotic blade rang as it sliced the tip from Quinn's long sword.
'I'm going to take you apart, little by little, and I'm going to enjoy every single slice.' Jallal lunged at Quinn.
A loud crack and thud echoed off the stone walls, sounding like a pumpkin being cleaved in two. Jallal stopped his attack. His hairy, muscular arms dropped to his side, and he stood up rail straight. A heartbeat later, he fell to the ground, a dagger buried to the hilt in the center of his forehead-right between his horns.
'Both brothers dead,' said Evelyne, appearing from the shadows. 'That'll teach you to not pay your debts.' She crossed the courtyard to retrieve her dagger from Jallal Tasca's skull, a smug look on her face. 'All that's left is to get out of here.'
Mariko spun on the newcomer, raising her sword. 'Drop it!' she warned. Her eyes scanned the courtyard,
