Depths of Madness - Erik Scott De Bie [102]
"Come along," Twilight said. "We've a demon priest to slay."
"Aye, that," Slip said. She hurried to catch up with the shadowdancer-no mean feat with her short legs, and hugged Twilight about the waist, stopping her.
By reflex, Twilight put an arm up to drape it around the halfling's shoulders, as one might show affection to a child, but she stopped herself.
"Just…" Slip said, shifting awkwardly.
"Yes?"
The halfling's voice wavered and her eyes were very round as they fell upon the pouch of food that hung from Twilight's belt. Her stomach growled as though she hadn't eaten for days-which, of course, was the case. "Can… can I have something to eat?"
Smiling, Twilight extended the sack to Slip, who fell to it like a ravenous beast.
Gargan watched, doubtless thinking himself hidden in the darkness, but if Twilight had learned one thing in half a century in service to a god of deception, it was to watch the shadows carefully. She had never seen Gargan's face so dark and grim.
The air became even heavier and warmer as the tunnel led the three upward, and the smell from above grew in intensity. It was salty and sickly sweet, a combination of rotting vegetation and the acrid scent of blood. In this new, unknown place, Twilight forbade torches. She could lead the others with her darksight. From where she crept along, Slip made a face that was barely visible, reflecting her own feelings on the matter. Gargan hardly seemed to notice.
The tunnel was largely natural, but for a few spots along walls and floor that had been crudely carved as though by stone axes and picks. Their path rose to the edge of a rough, circular chamber from which led yet more passages. In the chamber, they found light-luminescence from green and blue fungi that grew from the walls, ceiling, and floor. Stalagmites jabbed out of the ground to loom above even the seven-foot Gargan's head. They twisted and curled in a way that reminded Twilight of Negarath.
They saw none of the lizards, but they could smell them. Husky and gangrenous, their odor lurked over hollows in which foulness lay pooled.
"Two sewers." Twilight wrinkled her nose. " 'Tis Westgate all over again."
"Westgate?" Slip asked, and Twilight smiled ruefully.
"A long story," she said. "One day, perhaps."
"You have lots of stories," Slip said excitedly. "I enjoy collecting stories-'tis like collecting lives, aye?"
A trifle unsettled by that comment, Twilight looked at Gargan, whose disapproving expression gave her all the excuse she needed. "We should be silent," she said. "One never knows what may be awaiting."
Slip, suitably chastened but undiminished, grinned innocently.
The next chamber they entered, following Twilight's direction, was not as vacant as the first. Nearly a dozen of the man-lizards occupied the cavern, milling about as if waiting for something. Eight devoured something rather bloody, while the other four stood apart, spears clenched in distorted claws, and scanned the shadows with bloodshot eyes.
"Oh, very well," Slip whispered. "I told you we should've taken the other path."
Twilight frowned. "We follow my lead," she said. Until she figured out who to trust, she would trust no one but herself-and that only so far. Even with the goliath s superior tracking abilities, and Slip's magic. Neither objected verbally to her words, so Twilight left it at that.
That still left the problem of the lizards blocking their way.
"You have spells that will assist us? Invisibility?"
The halfling shook her head. "I can hide us only to the walking dead," she said. "The best I can do is darkness." She grinned. "I fight better without my eyes, a'times!"
Twilight hardly wondered why Slip might know such a spell-likely, it had something to do with her larcenous tendencies. Slow tendays at the house of Yondalla, she imagined with a smile, when the tithes were not meeting expectations.
"Do we circle back, or sneak 'round?" Slip asked. "Either would take time."
The goliath slowly shook his head. "Attack," he said. Then