Darkvision - Bruce R. Cordell [78]
Shaddon chuckled. "Time enough for full explanations later. Let's see…" Shaddon gazed intently at Warian's prosthesis. Shaddon's crystal eye glowed, hinting at some sort of magical analysis beyond Warian's ken.
"What's the verdict?" asked Warian.
"Impossible to say for sure," said Shaddon, releasing Warian's arm. "One thing is certain. Your arm is not part of the new crystalworks. That may be why you're losing control over it, as you say-though I suspect there's more to it than that."
Warian shrugged.
"In any event, if I'm to reach a definite conclusion, I'll have to remove it."
Warian's jaw dropped. "Remove… no. Out of the question."
Shaddon laughed. "Your error is your belief that you have any option other than what I want. The arm will come off. By Pandorym's voice, you will…"
The porter brained Shaddon with an iron bar he'd apparently pilfered from a workbench in the neighboring chamber.
The light in Shaddon's crystal eye winked out, and he dropped heavily to the floor.
"Let's get out of here, kid," the porter said, his voice returning to the timber and Vaelanic accent of his Uncle Zel.
"You'll go nowhere," said Sevaera. She stood in the doorway, blocking their exit. Her voice was oddly deep and throaty-but familiar. All too horribly familiar. Shaddon's voice issued from Sevaera's mouth.
Warian and Zel blinked, stunned. Sevaera yelled, "Aid me, my pets!"
Zel looked around nervously, then advanced toward the exit, the iron bar gripped solidly in his pale hands. He said, his voice slightly shaky, "You saw me strike down dear old Dad. I'll do the same to you, Sis. Get out of my way."
Sevaera said, "Your father is more resilient than you think. Open your ears, fool-who do you think is talking to you?" The voice was unquestionably Shaddon's scratchy tone. Zel merely shook his head, refusing to consider the truth.
A spider the size of a dog dropped onto Zel's back. Zeltaebar uttered an oath and began to beat at his back ineffectually with his pry bar. Sevaera tittered in Shaddon's heavy tones.
Warian turned and knocked the spider away with his prosthesis. The arm was still slow, slower than flesh, but he caught the creature squarely on the torso. As it fell, it snapped overlarge mandibles at Warian. Its mandibles were crystalline, through and through, and glowing with violet malevolence.
"Watch it, Zel. These things are enhanced with crystal!"
Zel whirled and struck at the spider. It caught the iron bar in its mandibles. Zel cursed and tried to pull the tool free. The spider flexed its fangs, and the iron bar began to bend. While the spider was occupied, Warian moved forward and delivered a terrific kick directly to the spider's head. Something crunched, and sticky fluid spurted. A moment later, the spider's legs curled up beneath it and it ceased moving.
Three more spiders dropped from the ceiling. One had crystalline mandibles as large as the first spider's, another had legs of slender violet stalks, and the last spider's spinnerets, protruding obscenely from its posterior, were composed of humming purple crystal.
The three arachnids dropped so they were roughly equidistant from each other, with Warian and Zel penned in at the center of the triangle they formed. Warian couldn't decide-should he trigger his arm, or wait? The weakness that would follow would make him worthless.
"We've got trouble, Nephew," Zel breathed, sizing up the spiders.
"Indeed," said Shaddon's voice.
Warian's grandfather stood up from where he lay, apparently no worse for wear. His voice again emanated from his own throat. Sevaera blinked and shook her head.
"What happened?" she asked.
The spiders held their distance, taut with expectation. Warian supposed they waited for a signal from Shaddon-perhaps a signal as ethereal as desire. His grandfather was demonstrating the danger of taking a prosthesis. He could send more than a signal-he could send his entire