Black wizards - Douglas Niles [98]
"Let's get him!" cried Newt, darting after her.
"W-wait!" stammered Yazilliclick, before he too sprang after her.
"No!" Robyn heard Genna's voice, but the words did not register, so intent was she on pursuing the hated intruder.
She darted across the wide block and leaped to the ground on the other side. But before she landed, she bumped into a solid thing – an object she could not see, but that blocked her path like a stone wall.
Her head snapped back from an unseen blow, and the staff flew from her fingers. She slumped toward the ground, but a mighty limb picked her up.
"What's the mat -" Newt's question was interrupted as an unseen attack clubbed him from the air with one blow.
"Ouch! Hey!" cried Newt. He flapped his wings and sprang from the ground, but buzzed erratically to the side before flopping down again. "Come back!" he squeaked, bounding like a squirrel after an invisible stalker.
"Newt!" cried Robyn, twisting desperately. She was powerless in the grasp of… what? The thing made no noise, but grasped her around the chest and waist so firmly she could barely breathe. It felt as though she was ensnared in the coils of some massive snake.
But no snake could move as fast as she was now borne across the ground. Her captor moved smoothly and swiftly, as if it were flying just inches above the land. She was borne away from the Moonwell at a breathtaking pace. Her hands were free, and she pounded and punched her attacker.
She felt a tough and leathery skin beneath her fists – but the thing was unnaturally smooth. It seemed to have no hair, or scales, or appendages. It gave off no smell, nor did it make any sound. As she pushed at the limb imprisoning her, she felt it bend away, but then another snaked around her waist, nearly crushing her abdomen. Wherever she attacked, her invisible captor melted away, only to instantaneously reconstruct in a new shape that held her like an iron clamp.
The alienness of the thing terrified her, and drove her to a frenzy of effort – but to no avail. And still it moved over the ground without any jolting or jerking, as if it had no feet. She kicked against the body with the tips of her toes, and, reaching upward, pounded its skin as high as she could reach. It seemed to have no end – it was certainly much larger than she was.
She struggled ferociously, scratching, kicking, even biting the thing, but nothing seemed to affect it. She twisted and pulled, groaning in desperation and anger. But the thing only squeezed tighter, until it felt as if her body was trapped in a vice.
* * * * *
"It's not fair!" protested Pawldo for the twentieth time. Daryth and Tristan ignored him, slipping into the bright red cloaks that Devin had brought them only a few minutes before. "You two can't do this without me. You're doomed for sure!"
"Sorry, but I don't imagine the Scarlet Guard has many officers' uniforms in halfling size," explained the prince. In truth, Devin had told them that all of the officers of the Guard, even those commanding the ogre brigade, were humans – despicable bullies, most of them, but human. "Besides, someone has to stay with Canthus, and help us escape!"
"Hurry!" urged Devin. "We must get to the gate by dawn! We'll just have time to get you to the east gate. That's where the officers congregate after a long night out on the town. They're allowed to enter when the guard changes, just before dawn."
"And we're to act as though we've been drinking all night?" checked Daryth.
"Yes. Security is very lax when it comes to the officers of the guard, at least at this hour."
"And you have the diagram?" Devin asked Tristan.
"Yes. I'm certain we'll get through the garrison area without running into those guardposts."
"Once you reach the royal quarters, you'll be on your own," said Devin. "None of my people have been able to get in there – I should say, get out of there – with a description. Two of my men risked their lives to gain these uniforms."