Dragonquest - Donita K. Paul [17]
Halfway up, she heard breaking glass and Toopka’s scream.
7
POISON
Around the next turn of the staircase, Toopka’s tiny body hung from the wall. Her open mouth no longer emitted a scream. Beads of sweat and tears rolled down her furry cheeks. Her eyes scrunched so tightly that Kale knew she was alive.
Behind Toopka, a Creemoor spider hissed, only its four-part mouth visible in the narrow window. A snakelike tentacle held the little girl captive.
Hanging on to the outside of the tower, the Creemoor had reached through and nabbed the small doneel. With its tentacle wrapped around her, it could not draw back through the tight opening.
Bardon pushed past Kale and slipped the point of his sword between the window casing and the tentacle. When Kale realized what he was doing, she also jumped to help with her short sword. The Creemoor’s grip loosened. Toopka gasped for breath. Kale dropped her sword and caught the doneel just as Bardon severed the tentacle.
Toopka threw her arms around Kale’s neck and squeezed, howling in her ear. “Run, Kale, run!”
Kale patted Toopka’s back and crooned. “We’ll be all right. There’s no place to go right now, Toopka. And Bardon is here to take care of us.” Kale focused on the child rather than the appendage squirming among shattered bits of glass on the steps.
The stench of Creemoor spider filled her nostrils. Something brushed against her shoulder. Her cape sizzled. With a start, she clambered up the staircase, away from more tentacles worming through the small window.
Bardon hacked at the threatening spider with his blade, methodically lopping off one snaking tentacle after another. With the tip of his sword, he pushed the stinking spider arms over the edge of the staircase toward the center of the tower.
Clawed legs critched against the outside of the tower as the spider shifted its body. A pincer thrust into the building and snapped viciously. With two hands on the hilt of his sword, Bardon raised his weapon and brought it down.
With each slice of the blade, the stink from the beast grew in the close quarters. Kale ducked her nose down against Toopka’s furry head. The child now sobbed, her face hidden against Kale’s shoulder. She’d let go of Kale’s neck and covered her ears with her hands.
The spider hissed. Its hard legs snapped with each movement. Against the outside of the tower, it critched against the stone. Bardon dispatched a second leg, and then the creature fell away. One moment the Creemoor menaced them through the window. The next it was gone.
The stench hung in the air. Kale thought she would faint. Toopka had never felt heavy before. Now her weight made Kale’s arm and shoulder sore.
“Go on to the top of the tower,” ordered Bardon. “I’ll go back down and help Librettowit climb these stairs.”
“I’m coming. I’m coming.” The tumanhofer’s wheezing voice drifted up the metal staircase. His footsteps echoed in a slow cadence. He huffed between phrases as he trudged up the steps. “I’m not as young as I used to be. I never was suited to fights, adventures, quests. I’m a librarian, after all.”
Bardon wiped his blade against the sole of his boot. He then pointed the tip toward Kale’s dropped weapon. “Pick up your sword, Leecent. Clean the blade. We must hurry.”
Holding Toopka in one arm, she bent and stretched out her injured hand to follow his orders. She swallowed hard at the sight of her skin, red and blistered and already oozing pus.
“You’ve been poisoned!” Bardon came to her side and took Toopka.
“I don’t feel anything anymore,” she tried to reassure him. “It burned at first, but now it doesn’t hurt at all.”
“That’s bad, not good. Get that green dragon to work quickly before the infection travels up your arm.”
Librettowit appeared from around the corner and sat down a few steps below them. He pulled out a large handkerchief and wiped sweat from his reddened face. He frowned up at them.