'You hired us to kill a woman. That's all. Not to fight fiends, not to battle paladins, and not to break Aetheric the squid king out of a fish tank. But so far we've done all those things, and we've never even caught a glimpse of this woman.' She looked at Noph. 'Eidola. You told us that was her name, Entreri. Now, what's the lad talking about?'
Artemis looked at Kern, who cleared his throat.
'Noph found Lady Eidola in this cell. Apparently she was chained. When he released her, however, he must have broken some sort of restraint, because she showed her true form as a greater doppleganger. The shapeshifter turned into a crocodile and attacked Noph. I suppose it must have thought he was dead, because it swam out of the cell just as we were coming in.'
He turned to Trandon for confirmation. The fighter nodded. 'Obviously there's a lot more to this affair than any of us suspected. We probably won't know exactly what's going on until Miltiades and the others catch Eidola- that is, catch the doppleganger who looks like Eidola.'
Sharessa grunted. 'So now what?'
Artemis stepped nearer to the beautiful mercenary. It seemed to her that his voice took on a peculiar intensity, as if he wished her, and her alone, to understand some hidden meaning in his words. 'This city is infested with an army of fiends bent on killing everything human in it. We're caught between them and the mad king Aetheric, who has ruled this city from a fish tank and whose armies are in total disarray. If we're to survive, we need his source of power. We need the bloodforge.'
He stopped. Sharessa felt a shiver run down her spine. Artemis had some plan for the bloodforge beyond saving Eldrinpar, of that she was sure. But she'd learned enough of this secretive man to know that he would keep his plans to himself.
The diminutive master assassin broke the silence himself, stepping nearer Noph and assessing the youth's condition with the practiced glance of one who has seen many wounded men. 'He'll not last long. We'd best leave while we can.' He drew a dagger from his belt and moved closer.
Kern stepped in front of him. 'What d'you think you're doing, Entreri?'
The slender man shrugged slim shoulders. 'As I said. He's dead already. It's kinder to let his body know now.'
Kern's eyes blazed. 'You'll not murder him-not while I'm in charge of this party.'
Entreri looked calmly at the golden paladin, whose armor sparkled in the flaring torchlight. 'Be reasonable. I've seen what the fiends that inhabit this place can do. Ask them'-he waved at the mercenaries-'what happened to Brindra at the bridge. I'd rather spare the lad that agony.' His eyes glittered suddenly, hard and dry. 'And by the way, who says it's you who's in charge? I led my employees here through the jungle. I pulled them out of a scrape in Tharkaar. And I understand exactly what we're after.'
'We're after…' Kern started to reply, then clamped down on the words. Gaining control of his temper, he spoke slowly and distinctly. 'We have to care for this lad, even if you've abandoned him. And while I'm here, I'll not let you harm him.'
Trandon moved next to Kern, their bodies shielding Noph from Entreri. 'Nor I, assassin.'
Entreri glanced at them contemptuously. 'Shar, let's get this over with quickly.' His sword was in his hand, the point toward the paladin. Shar also drew her sword, but its blade dipped to the floor. She stared hard at the little assassin, then shook her head and stepped away from him.
'No, Artemis.' She sheathed her blade. 'The lad might live if we can find a way out of these damned cellars. Until then I won't give him up.' She gazed at the assassin steadily. 'And I won't let you hurt him.'
Entreri's usually impassive face showed no emotion, but his knuckles whitened on his sword. He looked at the golden paladin. 'Ready?'
'More than ready,' snapped Kern, raising his blade.
Behind the little man, the door suddenly rattled. Through the barred window in the cell door shot an elongated three-jointed arm ending in a rounded claw. Quick as death, it seized Entreri round the neck, dragging him backward against the door, choking him. From the corridor came a maniacal shriek of laughter.
The little man tried to twist around, slashing at the arm with his sword, but before the blow could fall, a second jointed arm thrust through the window, effortlessly slapping his stroke and sword aside. He tugged in vain at the choking arm, his face now bright scarlet and shining with sweat. Kern started forward. His paladin's blade rose and swept down in a mighty arc, shearing off the arm that clutched Entreri. A spray of ichor befouled the paladin's armor. From beyond the door came a scream that ended in sobs, rising into another crescendo of insane merriment. The other arm was withdrawn, but the door began to creak open. Trandon hurled himself against it. Sharessa added her strength to that of the fighter. Between them, they forced the door shut and wedged several flat stones beneath it. Entreri rose from where he'd fallen, breathing hard.
'That won't hold long. If there's another way out of here, we'd better find it.' He glanced at Kern. 'Any ideas, paladin?'
'Right now, no,' snapped the knight. 'I did think we might go out that door, but you've managed to take care of that.'
The little assassin gestured eloquently to the door, which was beginning to bulge ominously inward. 'As a matter of fact, your friend here'-he waved at Trandon-'sealed it off. But if you'd like to go that way, unblock it and be my guest. You shouldn't have to fight more than twenty or thirty of those fiends. Perhaps if you pray hard enough to Тут, they'll part before you.'
'Blasphemy!' Kern started forward, furious.
A voice from the corner interrupted the disagreement. 'Say,' said the blind youth, 'has anyone tried the passageway over here?'
The effect of Ingrar's query was similar to dropping a ten-foot stack of dishes in the middle of a quiet library. Shar gave a loud whoop, while Trandon lunged toward the blind pirate and Kern gasped in amazement. Only Entreri remained silent and watchful.
Ingrar stood in the darkest corner of the cell, his blind face to the wall, his hands outstretched, as if molding the air with his fingers. To Kern, it seemed almost as if he watched the delicate quivering of the antennae attached to some exotic insect.
'There's a draft coming from around this stone,' said Ingrar, gesturing. 'And the air here smells different from the air in the rest of the cell. Besides, I can hear wind coming down a tunnel on the other side of the stone.'
Entreri recovered his aplomb. 'All right. Kern, let's get the stone loose. Shar, guard the door. Ingrar, keep your ears peeled for anything waiting for us at the other end of that passageway.' He glanced at Trandon, still leaning on his staff before the recumbent Kastonoph. 'Get the boy ready to be moved.' He turned to help the paladin in the corner. 'What are you staring at?' he snarled at Shar, who chose wisely not to reply.
Kern already had the point of his dagger wedged between two of the heavy stone blocks from which the dungeon was constructed. He chipped away at the mortar, which fell in a steady white stream into the mud around his ankles. Entreri was similarly occupied on the other side of the stone. In a few minutes, Kern reached his fingers into the gap he'd created and pulled. The stone wobbled slightly. Now Entreri joined him, and between the two of them, they managed, with agonizing slowness, to pull back the stone, revealing a dark cavity behind it. The hole was about three feet high and equally broad. Ingrar immediately crouched and moved into it, holding a torch to illuminate the way for the others. Once in the hole, he straightened up.
'It's tall enough to stand, but narrow,' he cautioned.
'Now the lad,' ordered Entreri.
Together Kern and Trandon lifted Noph from his bed and laid him on the muddy floor. Then, with a sudden, startling show of strength, Trandon wrenched the broad plank bed from its fastenings. He and Kern moved Noph onto the temporary stretcher, aided by Shar. The female pirate had been standing by the door, sword drawn, listening with some trepidation to a continuous battering, accompanied by grunts, growls, and unsavory slithering from the corridor. In the cell window, not far from her, she could see a variety of vaguely moving shadows, and with a shudder, she knew she did not want to see the unnatural forms that cast them. At Entreri's summons, she seized one end of the plank bed. Trandon took the other and crawled awkwardly into the hole, supporting Noph's head while Shar followed at the lad's feet.
Left in the dungeon, Kern and Entreri stared at one another with naked distrust. Kern was the first to speak.
'Very well, assassin,' he observed coldly. I will accept your leadership only because I must-since you and your
