Azure bonds - Kate Novak [67]
"Olive!" she shouted. "You found a sword with a lion's head grip in the ruins earlier."
"I vaguely recall something of that nature," the halfling answered.
"You must have it, damn it! Give it to me!"
"Really," the halfling huffed. "I was going to give it to you later as a surprise."
"I don't want to hear any excuses, just go get it!" Alias screamed.
"But it's on the other side of the wall-on the other side of the monster!" Olive squeaked. "Why can't you get it?"
"If I move away, it's liable to eat Akabar. It can't touch me, but if it asked for dessert I'd be inclined to serve you to it. Understand?"
Ruskettle muttered something that sounded like cursing in an unknown language, but she nevertheless moved to Alias's left, swinging wide around the edges of the destroyed hostel and the kalmari.
Alias moved to her left, too, keeping the arc of her circle smaller so that she remained between the monster and the halfling. Then Dragonbait was at her left shoulder, fully awake, his sword at the ready. The sigils bathed them both in an eerie blue radiance. With Dragonbait clearing a path for her through the rubble, the swordswoman managed to back the kalmari into the corner of the hostel that still stood. Alias suspected the wall would prove no impediment to the monster's retreat, but perhaps it couldn't pass through the wooden beams without letting go of the mage.
There was a scrambling noise from the edge of the wall behind the kalmari. The kalmari's hissing grew louder and more threatening. It twisted ever so slightly, keeping one eye on the two warriors, while turning the other on the halfling pawing at the rubble not twenty feet away.
Alias's throat constricted in fear. Olive seemed to take forever pulling out the massive blade. The weapon stood taller than the halfling, and she could barely lift it. To Alias's horror, the kalmari turned both eyes on Olive. At that moment the halfling looked up and froze.
"Olive! Use the sword!" Alias shouted. "Use it to defend yourself!"
Alias moved to her right, hoping to force the monster to turn its eyes from the bard, but the leaden feeling in her arm seemed to spread over her entire body, and she tripped over a fallen roof beam and sprawled across the floor.
Her body's heaviness persisted; her attempts to rise were met with failure. She felt not just drunk, but as though she'd been drugged. It was an effort just to raise her head to watch the kalmari close in on the bard. "Set the sword like a spear!" she cried.
Olive snapped out of her shock and raised the sword. Perhaps she'd only caught the last few words of Alias's command, or maybe she had some halfling-berserker blood in her, but Olive did not remain standing still, waiting for the monster to impale itself on the weapon. Instead, she charged the creature, holding the sword like a spear. Astonishingly, it looked to Alias as if Olive might succeed in skewering the monster-until the halfling slipped on a pile of broken roof shingles. The sword flew from her hands, and the bard crashed to the floor beneath the kalmari.
The kalmari smiled so broadly that Alias could see its grin from behind. The creature made the same rattling laugh as in her dream. Alias had a clear view of Olive's terrified face as the halfling looked into the throat of the kalmari-about to become an hors d'oeuvre before Akabar's main entree.
A blur of dark green shot across Alias's vision as, with one continuous motion, Dragonbait dashed toward the barbarian's sword, lifted it, leaped toward the kalmari, and plunged the weapon in the monster's back. The sword dug into the kalmari's form with a satisfying thuck. Dragonbait had to jerk the weapon out before he could strike again.
The kalmari made a high-pitched whine Alias hoped was a scream. Turning away from the halting, the creature dropped the mage. Dragonbait swung again, this time striking the monster above its eyes, and the kalmari whined again, lashing out with its tail. With