Escape from Undermountain - Mark Anthony [83]
"TAKE!" one thanatar commanded, and several others reached their serrated claws toward the three captives near the pit.
Artek gripped the hilt of the cursed saber at his hip, but he resisted the urge to leap into the room swinging. He wasn't certain he could kill-disassemble?-even one of the steel-shelled thanatars, let alone six of the things. Yet he couldn't let them simply drag the others off to some dark prison.
Once again Artek's dilemma was resolved as several more mechanical forms slithered into the chamber. Things are getting stranger by the second, he thought. The new creatures were sleeker than the others, as dark as polished jet, with sinuous, many-sectioned bodies and countless undulating legs. If the ferragans were crabs and the thanatars lobsters, then these new metallic monsters were giant silverfish. They had no eyes, but dozens of wiry antennae sprouted from their heads, waving before them. Clearly, the antennae were their primary sensing organs.
"SILVERSANNS!" one of the thanatars intoned. Somehow the word resonated with derision.
"Not are thessse prisssoners, yesss?" one silversann said, in a hissing voice.
"Ssspecimens are they," added another. "Ssstudy them we will. Take them not to prissson, yesss?"
The thanatars glared at the silversanns, but they hesitated, their claws hovering over the prisoners. Artek sensed a rivalry between the strong-bodied thanatars and the obviously more intelligent silversanns. And right now that rivalry was the only thing keeping the others alive.
The largest of the thanatars-and evidently their leader-advanced on the silversanns. "PRISONERS!" the creature said again. "OURS!"
"Have them when done with our ssstudies you may, yesss?" a silversann replied.
"Ssstudy, yesss?" echoed another. It stroked Beckla with its feelers. The wizard recoiled in disgust.
"SQUCH!" the lead thanatar said in protest. "PRISONERS. OURS!"
Squch. Artek had heard the ferragans utter that word earlier. It almost seemed like a name of some sort. It was as if the thanatar were saying that this Squch had granted them all prisoners.
"But to usss ssspecimens Sssquch gave, yesss?" the leader of the silversanns countered. "Oursss ssspecimens are. Yesss, yesss?"
Artek shook his head. Evidently, the silversanns thought this Squch person had given the captives to them. While he couldn't be sure, he guessed that Squch was the leader of all of the mechanical creatures. They certainly seemed to speak his name with reverence and fear.
The thanatars waved their claws menacingly at the silversanns. The slinky mechanicals cowered-clearly they were not created for battle like the lobster-creatures-but they did not give any ground. Fear rose in Artek's throat. If there was a fight, Beckla, Corin, and Guss would be caught in the middle-and likely torn apart.
"Quick!" Muragh hissed. "Do something!"
"I'm thinking!" Artek muttered back. Then an idea struck him. There was no time to decide whether it was good or bad. Taking a deep breath, he left the safety of the tunnel and ran into the cavern. "Greetings!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
As one, all the mechanicals turned in his direction.
"Great," Muragh mumbled. "You've got their attention. Now what?"
Artek swallowed hard. "It seems that you're at a bit of an impasse," he said loudly. "Perhaps your leader, this Squch of yours, could help you resolve it. Why don't you ask him what to do?"
The metallic creatures stared dumbly at Artek. His words were lost entirely upon them. Only the silversanns seemed to grasp part of what he had said, their supple antennae waving uncertainly.
"You'd better speak to them in a language they can comprehend," Muragh whispered.
Artek nodded. He tried again, choosing his words carefully and speaking in his best imitation of their tinny voices. "Prisoners?" he asked, pointing to his companions and then himself. "Specimens?" He shook his head and shrugged