Death of the Dragon - Ed Greenwood [109]
Melineth turned toward Tanalasta's hiding place. He was a powerful-looking figure with hulking shoulders, gangling arms, and a blocky, almost handsome face.
"Too clever, my dear," he said, spewing more of his rancid breath into the air. Dragoneers began to cough and retch, filling the chamber with a vortex of loathsome sounds and smells. Melineth kicked a body off the table, then started toward Tanalasta. "Too clever by far."
A handful of dragoneers raised their crossbows and fired, but they were coughing too violently to fire accurately. The bolts ricocheted off the walls, thumped into the shutters, and tinkled through the remains of the chandelier. Three trembling soldiers moved to block Melineth's path. They were sweating profusely and so weak they could barely lift their halberds, much less use them.
"Time to go!" Owden hissed, starting to pull the coffin door shut.
Tanalasta stopped him. "No-we can do this." She pointed to the three soldiers who had moved to defend her. "Give them strength."
The ghazneth grabbed two of the men by their arms and, staring in Tanalasta's direction, squeezed. The pair screamed in agony, and their arms withered into black, rotten sticks.
The third soldier drove the tip of his halberd through the bottom of the phantom's jaw, pinning it closed.
Tanalasta did not even see Melineth's leg move. The man simply flew across the room, a foot-shaped dent in the center of his breastplate and blood pouring from his mouth. The ghazneth released his other two victims and stumbled back to the edge of the banquet table, struggling to pull the halberd from his jaw.
"Now!" Tanalasta shoved the coffin open and pushed Owden into the room. "Use your magic."
The priest raised his arms and stepped forward, calling upon Chauntea to dispel the ghazneth's evil and strengthen Cormyr's brave soldiers. Tanalasta followed him and snatched a halberd from the hands of a retching soldier. She was doing something she had promised her mother she would not do-risking her own life and that of her child-but the time had come to win the war or lose it. If she fled now, every soldier in southern Cormyr woul doubt her ability to stop the ghazneths. If she destroyed Melineth, no one in the kingdom would question her eventual victory.
Giving up on the halberd in his jaw, Melineth snapped the weapon off below the head and launched himself at Owden. Tanalasta stepped past the priest and tipped the weapon forward to catch the ghazneth's charge. She did not get the butt braced before the phantom's powerful chest struck the blade.
The impact drove her back toward her coffin, but the iron blade opened the ghazneth's chest and sank deep into the yellow bone of his sternum. She wrapped her arms around the shaft and braced her feet on the floor. Roaring in anger, Melineth leaned forward and lashed out with his gangling arms. The princess ducked and was driven another step backward. The butt of the weapon struck her coffin and stopped.
Melineth tried to strike again, still driving forward in his fury. Tanalasta's face erupted into stinging pain as two long claws slashed across her cheek. A tremendous crack reverberated through the dining room. The ghazneth's chest opened before her eyes, spilling all manner of black, stinking offal onto the floor.
Melineth's eyes widened. He tried to open his mouth to scream, but found it still pinned shut and could not. He stumbled back, dragging Tanalasta's halberd from her hands and snorting black fume from his nostrils. He tried to pull the weapon from his chest, failed, and dropped to his knees.
The dragoneers were on him, hacking and slashing with their iron blades until the ghazneth was little more than a bloody pulp. Exhausted and trembling, Tanalasta fell back against the wall. She felt feverish and achy and queasy from her wound, but she managed to remain conscious.
A dozen war wizards rushed up with the ghazneth's iron box, and Owden yelled, "Get him in! Bring the coins!"
Half a dozen dragoneers grabbed the ghazneth and instantly