Daughter of the Drow - Elaine Cunningham [28]
Soon only two of the dog-men remained, easily outclassed by the five surviving drow. The fight would soon be over, the human's usefulness ended. Nisstyre began to mentally browse through his repertoire of human-killing spells.
Then, as if it sensed its defenders would soon be overcome, the hut itself entered the battle.
Running wildly about the clearing, the magical hut began to stalk the drow. The dark elves were fast and agile, and could easily have escaped into the forest. Yet Nisstyre warned them back. His outstretched hands crackled with lethal magic as he shouted at his drow band to stand and fight, on pain of death.
Like a crazed chicken, the hut chased the dark elves around the clearing, kicking and scratching. Finally it trapped one beneath a huge foot. Its claws raked at the fallen drow again and again, leaving long bloody furrows with each pass.
The human charged in. Before Nisstyre could react, the crazed warrior began to hack at the hut's birdlike leg as if he were a woodsman felling a tree. Two blows, and the hut began to stagger. Three, and the leg gave way. The hut wobbled, then toppled to the ground. It rolled several times and came to rest on its thatched roof, lying feet-upward and looking very much like a dead, one-legged bird. Then, to Nisstyre's horror, the hut simply faded away.
Hissing his rage, the drow wizard stooped and picked up a fragment of the ice golem. He spat the words of a spell and flung the shard at the human warrior. Instantly the man was encased from neck down in a thick, immobilizing crust of ice.
Nisstyre stalked over to face his unwanted ally. "Whoever you are, whatever you are, you cost me a fortune in spellbooks and treasure," he snarled. "Do you know how long IVe been stalking that thrice-damned Red Wizard?"
Although he spoke in perfect Common, the widely used trade language of these lands, there was no spark of understanding in the trapped man's face. The human's faint smile never faltered, and his blue eyes promised death. Nisstyre realized that the magical attack had added his name to this strange warrior's list of enemies.
"How do you fight like that?" the drow demanded. "What magic.do you possess?" The human did not speak, but Nisstyre did not really expect or need an answer. He would get his own.
The wizard tossed a pinch of yellow powder at the human. Immediately a faint, blue glow emanated from a point just below the man's collarbone. The other drow had crowded around to watch, and in a corner of his mind Nisstyre noted that the magic-finding spell caused all of them to glow in a dozen places as magical weapons concealed until now were revealed. He noted the measuring, wary glances they exchanged as the balance of power
Elaine Cunьingham among them shifted swiftly and subtly. Later, he would address such matters himself.
Nisstyre pointed to the glowing dagger tucked in the belt of his strongest fighter. "Use that, and cut through the ice. I want that amulet unharmed, but break the chain if you must."
The tall drow drew his enspelled dagger and began to chip through the ice that covered the human's chest. Once the blade slipped and drew blood; the man's faint smile never faltered. Finally the drow freed the dagger pendant and broke the chain with a yank. He handed the device to Nisstyre, but the wizard shook his head.
"No. You take it and return to the Underdark. We'll study it later. I'll follow you in a day or so; at the moment I want to see if I can ascertain just where in the Nine Hells that hut went."
"And the human?"
"Leave him," Nisstyre snarled. "Let him suffer from the cold and exposure. He will die far too soon