Darkvision - Bruce R. Cordell [102]
"Great. I'm happy for you," Kiril snorted.
Xet, sensing resolution, launched itself into the air. The dragonet arrowed toward the far side of the chamber, toward a great door, slightly ajar.
A flicker of darkness flashed from the dimness behind the door and struck Xet.
Thormud's familiar rang like a chapel bell as it dropped from the air, its light quenched.
"What the…?" Kiril hunkered down and raised Sadrul. Something behind the door was shooting at them. In the light from the covered windows, she spied the fletched shaft that had brought down the dragonet. The arrowhead was carved of bone and bore the inscription "AQ" in the elven alphabet.
Two humanoids swathed in cloaks and hoods entered through the door. One had an arrow nocked in a long bow, and the other was pulling a new arrow from a quiver.
"Wait," yelled Kiril. The newcomers were Al Qaherans- she recognized their dress. Perhaps even Ghanim and Haleem, the compatriots of Feraih whose blade she bore. Kiril raised Sadrul higher and yelled, "We're friends! See? I bear the blade of your friend Feraih! I was given it by-"
Both newcomers let fly their arrows. One shaft flew wide, but the other pierced a hole in her shirt and scraped painfully on the fine silver mail she wore beneath.
"Gods blast you!" she screamed.
Lavender fire bloomed within the amulets each wore. Virulent flame limned them.
Kiril recognized that hue, and charged.
One of the corrupted Al Qaherans dropped its bow and pulled a great falchion from the sash around his waist. The edges of the falchion glittered with purple fire.
The other figure turned to face Prince Monolith. His hand reached up and, with a swift jerk, broke the cord that bound the amulet around his neck. Drawing forth a new arrow, he wound the arrowhead through a knot in the cord of the glowing amulet.
Monolith lumbered forward.
As the flames limning his body began to sputter and fail, the corrupted elf fired the arrow toward the elemental noble, rending the air with an amethyst tail. Separated from his amulet, the elf toppled forward, his animation spent.
Monolith ducked, but the arrow wasn't aimed at him.
The missile arced across the chamber and punched straight through the glass wall at the earth elemental's back. Liquid spewed from the puncture. More disturbing, the amulet, floating within the fluid, pulsed back to life. The water draining from the transparent enclosure boiled, bubbling up in a wine-dark hue.
Kiril's attention was snatched away from the wall when a falchion nearly ended her. The other Al Qaheran hacked at her with fire literally burning in his eyes. She countered with Sadrul and groaned in surprise-the elf was incredibly strong! Her new blade absorbed the blow but was nearly knocked from her grip.
Worse, the corrupted dervish was quick. She staved off a slash, a jab, and another slash, all in less than a heartbeat. Stumbling back, she sought an advantage.
She decided to gamble on Sadrul's supernatural sharpness, which Essam had asserted was the sword's claim to fame.
Instead of deflecting the dervish's next swing against the side of her own blade, she fully rotated Sadrul, so its edge was bared to the falchion. Kiril hardly noticed the tug on Sadrul's hilt when the falchion's steel was cut in half. Kiril grinned and moved in.
Without his falchion, the Al Qaheran couldn't protect himself from Kiril's salvo of razor-sharp blows. The elf dervish was dispatched. The Qaheran's amulet tumbled away from his bleeding form and lay pulsing on the floor. Remembering the danger of naked crystal, Kiril aimed Sadrul for one more blow and shattered the amulet's jewel into powder. She hoped it was enough to sever the evil influence and prevent other threats from being sent through it to contest her.
Things were not going as well for Prince Monolith.
* * * * *
The prince of elemental earth battled his nemesis, a great pillar of turbulent, chaotic water. The fury of the water elemental, held for ages since its last opportunity to drown the lower