Darkvision - Bruce R. Cordell [63]
"Shadow eft!" said Ususi in surprise.
Iahn fired one of his poison-tipped bolts, which caught the creature squarely in the chest. It threw back its head, opened its mouth in a silent scream, and toppled off the back of the ship.
"What is a shadow eft?" asked the vengeance taker, nonchalantly cocking his crossbow with the second poisoned bolt.
After getting her breath back, she said, "Shadow efts were assassins for the ancient Imaskari. Efts were kept in suspended animation until some noble needed to eliminate a rival. Then an eft was programmed and decanted. An eft assassin, being part shadow, could find and kill most creatures before they even knew they were being stalked."
"I've never seen one before."
"Shadow efts haven't been in the world since the Imaskari Empire failed," said Ususi, a note of wonder in her voice.
"What about that crystal in its head?"
Ususi shook her head. "Nothing in my studies connects shadow efts with Celestial Nadir crystal-although now that I think of it," she said, "maybe the old Imaskari stored shadow efts in the Celestial Nadir when they were in stasis. If…"
Iahn's shadow suddenly revealed itself as a monstrosity of bone and darkness. Night-dark claws plunged into the vengeance taker's back, and he stiffened with pain and surprise.
Iahn's blood dribbled onto the deck as he struggled in the monster's grip. The shadow eft rose straight into the night, its feet dangling, as if being reeled upward by an unseen rope. The retreating eft was taking Iahn with it.
"No!" yelled Ususi.
The wizard uttered the triggering syllables for a difficult spell. Then she commanded, in the language of Imaskar, "You are dismissed; desist and return to your plane of birth!" Magic unfurled from her mind and fingers, discharged through the air, and connected with the rising shadow eft.
The eft melted into the darkness. Ususi sucked in a breath. Gone? Or merely unseen? Then Iahn dropped hard onto the deck. The impact knocked the crossbow from the vengeance taker's grip. With a single clatter and bounce, it bounded over the railing and was swallowed by the water with nary a splash.
"Effective," coughed Iahn, a hint of strain in his voice. He stood, slightly unsteady.
"I'm sorry about your crossbow, Iahn."
He shook his head and raised a hand.
"And I'm sorry I dropped you, too."
The vengeance taker nodded. Blood seeped down his right arm, but he was already reaching into his kit. He pulled out a tiny vial. Ususi recognized the vial's design-before she'd left Deep Imaskar, she'd purchased elixirs in similar containers. Its fluid was charged with a spell of minor healing.
Iahn unstoppered the vial and tossed down the contents. A flush passed across his features and his posture straightened, though the rents in his clothing remained. The vengeance taker dropped the empty vial back into his kit.
"Do you think we've seen the last of them, Iahn?"
He shrugged. "Can't say. I doubt it. You tossed three crystals overboard? We'd best assume one more eft, at least."
Ususi looked around, trying to see into every hollow and shadow, squinting hard. A bad strategy-her imagination tried to convince her that each pool of darkness hid a lurking eft. Could she banish the shadows as she had the last eft? Well, she could do better than that, now that she thought about it.
"I've got something that might work," she murmured, and fumbled with the various scrolls at her belt. She had six leather tubes affixed, and in each were three or more fine parchments on which were penned active spells encoded in magical glyphs. While she kept many spells mentally prepared, the scrolls served her for emergencies, bearing effects she might want on rare occasions. She also had a few spells of unique potency given to her by powerful friends, or looted from ancient tombs.
"This one, I think," Ususi said, and pulled out a brownish, crumbling parchment