[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

cat rolled to his feet and bounded toward the trapped fiend.
Taking a position opposite Miltiades, he dug his back claws into the ground,
prepared to pounce.
Evaine also readied herself. Holding a handful of soot and a black gem, she
prepared to blast the horrid fiend.
"This is it!" the wizard announced. "The field is dis-persing. Get ready to do
your worst!"
The faint green field of force shivered slightly, then disappeared. "Now!"
Evaine shouted.
Ren's daggers whizzed through the air. Two loud thumps announced they had
found their marks in the abishai's chest. The handles quivered as the beast
howled in pain.
An emerald streak erupted from Evaine's hand, encir-cling the monster. The
energy sizzled, but then dissi-pated in a shower of green sparks. The abishai
was wounded, but resisted the full effect of the spell.
Andoralson released a blue surge of energy. It divided into thousands of
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pinpoints of light, like a swarm of tur-quoise fireflies. The lights swirled
around the beast, blinding it and disorienting it. Again, the abishai
scream-ed in pain as each spark burned into leathery flesh. The fiend's own
talons ripped into its muscle as it tried to pull out the scorching magic. An
acrid, bitter smoke curled around the horrid beast as it teetered and stumbled
about the clearing in a bizarre dance.
Gamaliel leaped for the creature's back, claws extend-ed. He landed solidly on
the smoking abishai and wasted no time raking and shredding the monster's
flesh. Mil-tiades and Ren faced the green beast, swinging carefully calculated
blows at its writhing form. Four hard sword strikes finally brought the
wounded creature to its leath-ery knees, and Gamaliel dealt the final blow by
pouncing full-force on the abishai's head, snapping its neck.
Each of the companions dropped into the trampled grass in the clearing,
gasping for air. Even Miltiades creaked his body onto the ground. No one spoke
for sev-eral minutes.
It was Miltiades who broke the silence. "I'm proud to call you my comrades! I
had my doubts about this group, but you are an excellent team." The paladin
stood and bowed deeply to the group.
"We couldn't have done it without you, warrior. I think I speak for all of us
when I say we're proud to have you on this quest." Ren nodded respectfully to
Miltiades. The others voiced their agreement.
Evaine rose and grasped the paladin's hand. "If it hadn't been for your
magical ring, I might have lost
Gam. I can't thank you enough for your generosity."
Andoralson sighed loudly. "I just hope this isn't an indi-cation of what the
rest of the day will be like. We haven't even had breakfast yet, and we've
battled three abishai! I don't know about anyone else, but I'm starving." The
druid arose and loaded wood onto the embers of the campfire. "Gamaliel, if you
feel up to hunting us some breakfast, I'll cook anything you bring us."
The cat was on his feet in a flash. Evaine laughed. "I hope no one minds fish
for breakfast. I know what
he's in the mood for. Gamaliel, if you can sniff out a stream, come back for
the rest of us. We're all a mess after that battle. Just look at your fur!"
The feline glanced down at his coat to find that he looked like a bedraggled
panther. His tawny fur was all but dyed by abishai blood. Gamaliel raised his
pink nose high in the air, made a prideful comment to his mistress, then
turned toward the woods. Evaine laughed as she translated for the others. "He
says he doesn't look like a mess he looks like a hero!"
17
The White Bard
Marcus's red tower shook to its very core. If not for the magic holding the
blood-colored stones together, the building would have crumbled.
"My abishai have been killed!
Latenat!"
the pit fiend hissed at Marcus. The creature circled the inner cham-ber at the
top of the tower, half-flying, half-hopping. Its great wings pounded the walls
as it paced.
"Killed? How in the world did you allow my guardians to be killed?" Marcus
shrieked.
"Arrrgh! Do you think I let them die? I don't know what killed them! Their
life essences were snuffed out, and since you ordered them to guard your
domain, their deaths are on your hands.
Latenat!"
The wizard's face flushed deep red, beads of sweat erupting on his forehead.
"Are you somehow blaming me for this? It was your duty to guard this tower and
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build armies so I could lead them to victory, conquering Phlan! You have now
failed me. We both know what hap-pens to my servants when they fail."
The fiend still bashed about in the black chamber. If not for Marcus's control
of the creature's life essence and his knowledge of its true name, the fiend
could have squashed the wizard in an instant. Instead, he was forced to obey
the human weakling. But he had already tolerated far more than any pit fiend
should.
The fiend kept circling and thrashing as Marcus con-tinued his diatribe. The
beast was only half-listening to the wizard. He had heard all these rantings
too many times before. Then the Red Wizard spoke the pit fiend's name,
summoning the creature's heart from the magical dimension where he kept the
beating organ.
"On your knees, beast," he said. "I will speak to you, and it will be eye to
eye."
In defiance, the winged horror flapped halfway around the chamber one last
time, halting in front of
Marcus. The Red Wizard raised the fiend's heart and slowly squeezed until a
half-dozen drops of black ichor leaked out, splashing onto the granite floor
with a sizzle.
The fiend groaned as his knees dropped to the scarred floor. He glared at his
tormentor. "What would you have of me . . . master?
Latenat!"
"For a time, you and I will change roles. I will guard the tower and you will
use your puny powers to force Phlan to submit to me. I will summon more
clerics and wizards to help in your struggle."
"That won't be necessary," the fiend growled. It strug-gled to its leathery
feet and stalked out of the chamber. "I'll destroy Phlan myself within two
days."
Marcus snorted an arrogant laugh as the creature dis-appeared. "We'll see
about that, braggart. Phlan may break you on its walls and teach you a good
lesson in the process. Now, I have a little searching to do.
I plan to have several unpleasant surprises ready for the dogs who dared to
kill my abishai. And those beauties were mine, Tanetal! I don't care what you
think!" Marcus shouted at the empty chamber and the closed door.
In another tower, an angry voice was also heard. But this time, it was the
wizard Shal who was being scolded.
"Shal, you should never have attacked that mage in your condition. That shadow
attack nearly killed you.
If Cerulean hadn't had the sense to retreat and bring you back to the tower,
you would have died horribly." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]