Depths of Madness - Erik Scott De Bie [57]
"N-no," Liet said. "But he did something!"›.¦.
"Not I," the warlock said. Liet put pressure on the sword and Davoren fell silent.
Wary, Twilight walked to Taslin. A rag-wrapped bundle lay beside her, the size of a loaf of bread, perhaps. The rags were simple roughspun, and were soaked red. "Taslin?"
The sun elf shook her head violently.
Twilight prodded the bundle with Betrayal. No reaction. She knelt to examine it, moving the swaddling aside with her steel. Then she flinched back with a curse.
A pair of red buttons stared out of a rag face. The doll wore rough, tattered robes dyed with what looked like blood. It was flattened, its stuffing leaking out from a hole in its chin. It looked like a scraggly beard.
"Someone has done this," Taslin said. "I will have blood." Taslin glared at her. "Someone…" Then she trailed off, staring at Twilight's face.
Twilight looked around, moving only her eyes. All of them looked far too horrified. Trying her best not to tremble, Twilight lifted her fingers and felt sticky wetness on her cheek. She did not need a mirror to know what must be there-a mark of some kind, traced in blood. She turned and wiped it away.
"From now on," Twilight said, slowly and calmly, "no one wanders away from the others. We stay together. Understood?"
Agreeing silence answered, but the eyes she felt on her back lost no suspicion.
"Down!" Twilight hissed.
Liet fell behind a pile of rubble, landing hard. Gargan ducked with them, hiding Taslin and Davoren around the corner.
Liet rubbed his bottom. "What did-"
Fingers fell on his lips, silencing him, Twilight gestured over the rubble with her eyes. Liet's blood ran cold and he couldn't bring himself to look.
"Tsch," Davoren said from the corner, "Simple primitives, hardly worth a moment." He did' am walk into the open, though. 1 it ¦¦… i ¦
"Agreed," hissed Taslin. She scared Liet-since that morning, her eyes had shone with troubling intensity. "Let us slay the rabble-they block our path." She did not move.
Twilight gestured to Liet to look. He peeked over the stone, as low as he could.
A score of creatures covered in black and red scales ambled about the wide cavern, illuminated by the torches on the walls. Their faces were slack-jawed and they wore simple dark loincloths for clothing, but there, the resemblance to primitives ended.
Adorning the creatures' necks and wrists were necklaces and bracers of silver and gold. They hefted swords of like metal and spears of obsidian. Liet wondered if the lizards had plundered ancient crypts and tteasure rooms to secure the precious items. Beneath the finery, some of the lizards' eyes burned with unholy fire and their features twisted and curled wickedly. Small horns marred the crowns of their heads, and tiny limbs that might have been wings sprouted from shoulders.
Liet looked to Twilight for clues as to their next move, but her face was ashen. He understood intuitively, somehow, what she was thinking. Though the creatures had not detected their presence, they stood right in the path. No other tunnel through the sewer led around this central chamber-not unless they backtracked as far as their campsite, quite a distance back, and took a different direction.
Looking at Twilight's nervous face, Liet had the sinking sensation that somehow, the enemy had known exactly where to wait.
"Where's Slip?" Twilight asked.
"Here!" the halfling piped merrily at Liet's side, startling him with such proximity. He shushed her before Twilight could do so, and the elf smiled weakly.
Then one of the fiendish lizards gave a cry. Something big and invisible lifted it and smashed it against the ceiling. The rest scrambled to heft their weapons.
A hulking creature of gray appeared in the middle of the chamber, holding the crushed remains of a lizardthing. It resembled a statue of iron plate armor, twice the height of a man. Without a sound, it dashed two lizards to the ground with one mighty fist. The other dozen beasts fell on their attacker, spears and obsidian swords shattering against its iron carapace.
"What