spiderlings that had been released earlier had scattered, the barghest was half-wrapped in webbing, and Nathifa was nowhere to be seen. The lich had evidently escaped, and Makala and the wereshark were running for the crypt entrance, obviously intending to follow their mistress's lead. Diran, Tresslar, and Solus were moving toward Makala and Haaken, but the two monsters ran with inhuman speed, and it was obvious the priest and the others wouldn't reach them in time. Diran held a silver dagger, and he hurled it at the wereshark, but Makala-no doubt anticipating Diran's move-knocked the blade out of the air before it could strike the lycanthrope. Solus's psionic crystals glowed as the construct marshaled his mental abilities, but as the wereshark ran he grabbed an object from Paganus's hoard, a golden shield, off the ground and flung it at the psiforged with all his might. The shield whirled through the air and struck Solus a ringing blow in the face. The psiforged staggered backward, his concentration broken.
Tresslar rummaged in his backpack for a mystic device he might be able to use to prevent Makala and the wereshark from fleeing, but he was too late. The two passed through the opening in the crypt wall and disappeared into the tunnel beyond.
'We must not let them escape!' Diran shouted as he ran toward the tunnel.
Ghaji called out to his friend. The half-orc was unable to keep a note of concern out of his voice, and that, more likely than anything else, is what caused Diran to stop and spin around. When the priest saw Asenka lying on the floor near Ghaji, her body bent and broken, he forgot about the lich and ran over to kneel at the woman's side. Diran saw Leontis then, lying on the floor close by, his lupine skull rent in two by Ghaji's axe. The priest seemed to hesitate a moment, as if unsure who needed his help more. But then he turned away from Leontis and focused the entirety of his attention on Asenka.
Ghaji knew that Diran's order forbade raising the dead, and as much as his friend might love Asenka, if she died, the priest would not bring her back.
'Is she…?' Ghaji couldn't finish his sentence.
Diran placed two fingers against the vein in Asenka's neck. 'Her heart still beats, but weakly.'
Ghaji let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. As long as there was a spark of life remaining in Asenka, then there was hope.
The others gathered around as Diran clasped Asenka's hand, closed his eyes, and called upon the power of the Silver Flame to work its healing magic through him. Ghaji had seen Diran heal people who looked as if they'd been chewed up by a tarrasque and spit out, but he couldn't help thinking how awful Asenka looked. Her skin was almost white, and blood ran from her mouth, nostrils, and ears. Her head lolled at an odd angle, indicating her neck was broken, and both her arms and her right leg had snapped when Leontis had collided with her. The leg was especially bad, with a jagged end of bone protruding from the flesh. And though Ghaji was no healer, he'd seen enough battlefield injuries in his time to know that there was a strong likelihood that Asenka had suffered internal damage as well. Ghaji had never known his friend to fail in an attempt to heal, but the half-orc feared that even the power of the Silver Flame might not be enough this time.
A moment passed without any sign that Diran's efforts were having any effect. And then Asenka's eyes flew open wide and she drew in a gasping breath of air. Diran opened his own eyes and gazed down upon her face with tender concern.
'Asenka?' he said gently. 'Can you hear me?'
Blood bubbled past her lips as she struggled to speak. 'Diran? I… I…'
And then a gout of dark blood sprayed from Asenka's mouth as she screamed. Her body stiffened as if her skeleton were trying to tear free from the flesh that trapped it, and then she fell still. Her eyes remained open, but they were glassy and empty, and Ghaji knew she was dead.
Diran, still holding Asenka's hand, gazed down upon his lover's slack features and staring eyes without comprehension at first. And then he turned her hand over to reveal a purple-black welt the size of a bird's egg.
Tears flowed down Diran's face, and when he spoke his tone was detached and devoid of emotion.
'The tomb spider and its progeny are creatures of negative energy. Once injected into a victim, their venom causes healing magic to have the opposite effect. Instead of repairing injury and restoring health it…' He took in a shuddering breath before going on. 'Asenka must have been bitten by a spiderling, and though the amount of venom injected into her body was slight, the rest of her injures were so severe that when my healing magic interacted with the venom…' He trailed off, but there was no need to complete the thought. It was clear enough. Asenka had been on the edge of death, and Diran's attempt to heal her had, thanks to the poison of the tomb spider, killed her.
Asenka was gone.
Ghaji wanted to say something, anything, to comfort his friend, but no words came to him. All he could do was step forward and lay a hand on the priest's shoulder. Diran didn't seem to notice. He just continued staring at Asenka's face.
No one spoke for several moments, and then a scuttling sound broke the silence. The companions turned to see that Skarm was using a single clawed hand to pull himself toward the crypt entrance. But the wounded barghest was too weak to do more than scratch his nails against the stone floor.
Diran's tears stopped as if a switch had been thrown somewhere inside him. He gently lay Asenka's hand down and rose to his feet. He walked over and briefly knelt by Leontis' side, then after a quick examination, he stood once more.
'Leontis should make a full recovery,' Diran said, his voice more toneless than that of a warforged. 'Even now his curse is working to repair his wounds.'
Ghaji had to repress a shudder upon seeing the cold, dispassionate look in his friend's ice-blue eyes.
'The barghest knows where Nathifa and the others are bound next,' Diran said. 'I'll go talk to him and find out. Alone.'
The priest turned and started walking toward the web-covered creature. He paused at the spot where Nathifa had been standing to gather up the daggers that had fallen when Solus stopped levitating them. Most of the blades he slipped back into their cloak sheaths. But a couple-the sharpest ones-he held onto with tight, white- knuckled fists.
Diran reached the barghest, crouched down next to him, and began speaking softly. So softly that even Ghaji's excellent hearing couldn't make out what the priest said.
Ghaji turned toward the others. 'Now that the web mummies are no longer aggressive, it should be simple enough for us to destroy them. All we need to do is make a few torches and set them on fire, keeping watch for any escaping spiderlings as their hosts burn.'
'I have little psionic energy remaining to me, but I believe I have enough left to start a fire,' Solus said. 'Unfortunately, it takes more energy to maintain control of such an ability than it does to merely wield it. If I attempt to create a flame right now, I might very well create a conflagration that will fill the entire crypt.'
'Don't worry about it,' Tresslar said, glancing sideways at Diran and the barghest. 'We can manage by making torches the old-fashioned way.'
'You can help by guarding Asenka's'-Ghaji had been about to say body-'guarding Asenka. If any spiderlings get past us, you can levitate them away from her.'
The psiforged inclined his head somberly. 'It will be my honor to take care of our friend.'
Ghaji was about to tell the others to begin looking for material to make torches when the barghest's first scream tore through the air. It was far from the creature's last.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The first rays of dawn were just beginning to tint the eastern sky when they laid Asenka to rest. The companions stood before a funeral pyre fashioned from rocks and tree limbs, watching as flames tinted with silverburn wreathed the woman's body. Though they had burned out the infestation of spider spawn in the ancient underground crypt, Diran had insisted on cremating Asenka, just in case any more of the giant arachnids might be laired elsewhere in the vicinity. The followers of the Silver Flame usually buried their dead, but Ghaji knew Diran couldn't bear the thought of Asenka becoming a web mummy, and the half-orc didn't blame him.
As Diran prayed for the Silver Flame to accept Asenka's soul, Ghaji kept close watch for any sign of threat. They'd already lost two members of their party on this expedition, and he was determined that no one else would
