All Shadows Fled - Ed Greenwood [83]
Only a moment later, he added a scream.
By the time Turnold got out into the passage, wand in hand, Lareth had joined Irendue-and the master!– in a web of cold white fire that seemed to fill the privy chamber. Two women he'd never seen before-no, men wearing the faces of wenches-were standing in the passage facing him, with wide and ruthless smiles on their faces.
As he swept the wand up, Turnold felt the horrible strength of the tentacles that were falling on him from all around the door frame… tentacles that trailed back along the floor to join up with the men-women's bodies!
The wand was slapped from his hand, but a horrified Turnold scarcely noticed. He was trying desperately to scream, but discovering, as tentacles crowded into his mouth and slid coldly up his nostrils, that it was much too late…
Daggerdale, Flamerule 23
"I begin to think Lunquar's approach is the right one," Argast said as his exhausted horse collapsed under him. "Hide as much as possible. Keep to crow shape and the like, take human form only when another shape will win suspicion. Lie low and learn."
"Well have to lie low for a bit to heal fully," Amdram-nar grunted. "Kill these now and eat?"
"Why not? They're too weak to be of any other use!"
The Malaugrym had ridden across half Daggerdale without a break; Argast's mount had collapsed on a steep slope in the rolling hills of the southeastern dale, hard by the woods that stretched to Shadowdale.
"I think the most important thing is to hide ourselves from the common folk," Amdramnar said slowly. "They seem very swift to call on adventurers when they see something amiss, and this world does have crude shapeshifters,…"
"Doppelgangers, yes, I remember all the tales about how Malaug must have bedded one and thus given us the power."
"It matters little now. I just want to hunt down this Sharantyr woman and the two men who came to Shad-owhome with her."
"And kill them, slowly and painfully?" "The two men, yes. The woman's fate depends on what she agrees to…"
Argast shook his head and mouthed the words: then I'll kill her. He was careful to turn his head so that Amdramnar had no chance to see his lips.
Then he felt a tentacle brush his leg. He was about to strike it away angrily when he saw that Amdramnar was sinking down into the shape of a horse, and lying as if dead in the grass… and that his lone tentacle was pointing urgently across the valley.
Argast crouched down. He had already begun to take horse shape when he saw them: a dozen or so men and women in drab leather armor. Dirt-caked weapons hung in their hands, and they crept cautiously through the trees. A patrol.
Someone's patrol, Argast made himself as much like the real horse beside him as possible and lay still.
It seemed a very long time before a voice said, low-pitched and near, "They're still warm… this one, at least, still lives. Ridden to death."
"So their riders must be close by… hiding from us, no doubt."
"Zhent troops, for a gold lion."
"That's a wager I'll never take, Yheldon. If we find them and they have arrows, we'll end up just as dead as the mighty Elminster-and the Zhentsll be picking the gold coins out of both our purses!"
Argast twitched in excitement. The Great Foe dead!
It was dark before the two Malaugrym dared move again, coming up to clutch each other and hiss excitedly, "Elminster, dead!"
"We must confirm this," Amdramnar muttered. "I've heard tell men have thought him dead many times before."
"Of course," Argast agreed, "but if it be true, we can hunt freely!"
"Don't forget that woman back at the keep who turned our kin to mushrooms and slaughtered us like cattle! He's not the only one in Faerun we must beware of."
"Aye, but he was the one who watched and waited for us. Moreover, with magic gone wild and gods walking Faerun and everything in confusion…*
"You're right," Amdramnar acknowledged with a sigh, turning to look east.
"You sound disappointed that he's dead."
"I am, a little. I was dreading having to face him… but to strike him down myself! The honor of our