City of Towers_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [104]
“And the water is served in mugs of scented clay,” Daine said.
“Hush,” Rhazala said. “Almost there, but very dangerous.”
“Are all goblins such worriers?” Daine said. “There’s no one anywhere to be seen.”
A gray ooze exploded out of the water in front of him.
Wastewater dripped off of the creature as it dove for Daine. It was long and narrow, a strip of dull gray protoplasm almost ten feet in length. It slammed into Daine, and he staggered back against the wall. He threw himself to the side just in time to avoid being caught in the coils of the monster.
The creature snapped at him again, but this time he was ready. Darting beneath the tendril, he thrust his sword into the slimy mass. It felt like stabbing a bag filled with mud, but the creature pulled back.
“Doraashka!” the goblin called out.” Gray eater! Look to your blade! It burns!”
Daine’s eyes dropped to his sword, and he cursed. The blade was pitted and scarred, as if it had been exposed to powerful acid. A lesser blade might have been destroyed with a single stroke. The odds were poor that his sword would survive another attack.
Daine saw Lei about to strike the ooze with her staff. “Lei, stop!”
She paused, puzzled, and the creature struck, throwing him across the hallway. His left shoulder ached, and the acid began to eat away at cloak and armor.
“It’s covered with acid! We can’t hit it!” Daine rolled forward, dodging the next blow and rising to his feet in one fluid motion. He tried not to think about the sewage soaking his clothes.
“So what do we do?” Lei shrieked.
He remembered the wand he’d taken from Dasei d’Cannith. He still had it, tucked in his belt. The Cannith heir must have forgotten about it in the chaos.
“Lei, catch!” he cried, tossing the shard-encrusted wooden wand to Lei.
She caught the wand, but even as she did, the ooze caught Daine. The gray tentacle wrapped around his torso, constricting with terrible strength. He cried out in pain as a few drops of acid seeped below his armor.
Daine didn’t see what Lei did, but there was a brilliant flash of light. The creature spasmed, tightening its grip, and now the acid was burning his arms and chest.
“Lei …” he gasped.
There was another flash of light, and the pressure was gone. The ooze collapsed, dissolving and flowing away into the water. Daine collapsed, gasping, on the floor. His chainmail byrnie was ruined, and his cloak had been eaten away. I guess I’ll be buying a new cloak after all, he thought, wincing from the acid burns.
“Just sit still,” Lei said. She drew a bloodstone shard out of her pouch and whispered to it, weaving an enchantment to neutralize the acid and heal the burns. It wasn’t as quick or efficient as Jode’s healing touch, but Daine breathed a sigh of relief as a relaxing numbness spread across his chest.
“You destroyed a gray eater!” Rhazala said, and for an instant she was a child again. “I’ve only seen it done once before.”
“What was it?” Daine said, slowly getting to his feat and examining his sword.
“Part of the sewer system, I think,” Lei said. “I told you it was fascinating. A living system for dissolving and disposing of the garbage that gets sent down here.”
“It’s always a race to find the true treasures before the doraashka arrives,” Rhazala said. “I hope we’re not too late. Come, quickly!”
She raced down the tunnel, and they followed as quickly as they could.
A few minutes later they came to the midden heap.
It was a cavernous chamber. The walls and arched ceiling stretched far beyond the dim light of Lei’s armor. Filthy water flowed around their feet, carrying waste down the passage they’d come from. Ahead of them was the heap.
Daine had never seen so much garbage in one place. It was a mountain of filth and rotting material mixed with various scraps and damaged goods. As they walked forward, a cascade of rotten vegetables fell from the ceiling. Daine couldn’t see the roof, but it seemed that there were a series of chutes