Azure bonds - Kate Novak [179]
Akabar made a movement toward the halfling, but he was blocked by the headless, shining black body It caught the mage firmly in its viselike pincers and squeezed. Akabar screamed.
Dragonbait had started toward the beholder, but now spun about to rescue Akabar. Using the sword he had borrowed from one of the Aliases, he hacked at the beast. Chips of dark crystal flew from the monstrous torso, and it stopped squeezing Akabar and began using him as a shield. The beholder used the pointy stump of its right arm to spear at the saurial, driving him back.
"One," the head announced with its largest mouth, the rest of them hissing as it spoke, "enter the portal now or die."
"Make me."
The beholder launched itself at her.
Alias put a foot on the well's rim and brought Dragonbait's sword up with a sweeping cut, shearing off the mouth-tipped worms along one side. The head turned and charged her again.
Alias dodged to the right, twisting and turning as she did so. Moander had taught her that the best way to fight tendrils was to avoid them. She shifted the sword to her right hand and drew a dagger from her left boot.
Phalse began his third charge at Alias's head. At the last moment he swooped down and slammed into her knees The swordswoman crashed to the floor, losing her grip on Dragonbait's sword and her dagger. Three of the lamprey jaws clamped tightly on her thigh, while the oozing stumps of two others wrapped around her leg. The beast began drawing her into its huge, central maw.
Alias grabbed at the stonework surrounding the portal and kicked at the beholder with her free leg.
*****
Far above the fray, the figure behind the banner shook his head and reached for the crossbow he'd retrieved from the citadel's depths. The tower's new owner had not found the cache of magical items, scavenged during his exile.
Nameless drew a single quarrel from a slim case of dark wood. The bolt shone in the dimness of the secret passage, illuminating his careworn face. With his foot in the crossbow's stirrup, he wound back the weapon's spring until the crosswire clicked into position. He loaded the shining bolt into the groove, tight against the wire. Sighting along the top of the weapon, Nameless chose the blue-in-blue-in-blue major eye as his target.
He hesitated as Alias pulled against the strength of Phalse's mouth-stalks. Had he believed the gods still favored him, he would have prayed.
A hand jostled his shoulder, and Nameless accidentally set off the trigger. The bolt sizzled as it left the crossbow but it flew wide of its mark, smashing deep into the far wall, unnoticed by the combatants below.
Nameless turned in rage, expecting some dire beast. Instead, his blue eyes met those of an old man dressed in dirty brown robes, and sporting a voluminous beard which spilled out over his cloak.
"Elminster," Nameless growled.
"She must finish this battle alone, Nameless."
"So Phalse can kill her and do your dirty work for you?"
"So she can prove to herself, and to thee. that she is her own master."
"She could die!"
A smile played across Elminster's lips. "I thought she was thy immortal vessel, who could not be killed. Ye made her a powerful fighter. Will ye follow her around until the end of thy days, rescuing her from every danger? What good is she to ye as an eternal monument if she cannot defend herself from the forces of the world?"
"But she's human. I…"
"Care for her?"
"Of course."
"That's a first," Elminster said. "Now show it. Let her go free."
*****
The deadly tug of war between Alias and Phalse continued. Alias felt as if the monster was tearing her arms from her sockets. Her fingers were white from gripping the rock, and her hold was slipping. The time had come to risk a new-strategy. She pushed hard against the wall, toward the mouth-beholder.
Phalse tumbled backward with Alias on top of him. She kicked at the head, but it was not like kicking a balloon, as she had expected. The head