Guild Wars_ Edge of Destiny - J. Robert King [70]
They lit up a ceiling crowded with giant icicles. Among them lurked dragon minions in the form of ice bats.
“Whoa!” Rytlock said.
Another explosion came from each arrow. Shock waves cracked the icicles loose, and blue flames melted the wings of the bats. Giant icicles and watery bats plunged, crashing side by side on the icy floor of the cavern.
“Awesome,” Logan said.
“Phase Two complete,” Eir noted, then shouted, “Charge!”
Logan and Rytlock broke into a run, leading the rest into the ice cave. Ahead lay shattered icicles and bats flailing in their death throes. The flaming sword and the war hammer ended their torments.
As they ran on, Rytlock called over his shoulder, “What’s ahead?”
Eir replied. “More dragon minions. They might be transformed norn, or more ice bats. I expect something much bigger, though. Stay sharp.”
The team passed beyond the killing fields, rushing down a smooth throat of ice into a deeper, darker chamber. Eir fitted another shaft to her bow and let fly. The flaming comet soared through a deep, broad ice cavern with a smooth ceiling. There were no icicles, no lurking bats—only a colonnade of frozen pillars lining either wall.
“It doesn’t feel right,” Logan said.
Rytlock barked a laugh. “Course not. It’s a monster’s lair.”
Together, they ran down the center of the chamber, between the pillars of ice.
A groan echoed up the cavern, as if the glacier itself moaned in pain. The floor shook beneath their feet.
A splintering sound came from a pillar to one side of Rytlock. He swung his flaming sword toward it, seeing the shaft pull free from the wall.
It wasn’t ice, but an icy giant.
It lunged toward Rytlock, hurling a mace at him. He ducked, but the icy spikes bashed one shoulder. “Damn!” he growled. “It would have been nice to know about these!”
Eir nocked another shaft and loosed it, point-blank.
The arrow cracked into the ice giant’s chest and exploded in its transparent heart. Red flame evolved to orange and yellow, melting ribs. The fire turned white and beamed from the giant’s astonished eyes. Then the wretched figure toppled.
Eir scrambled back as the massive warrior struck ground. It burst open, its melted heart gushing across the ice.
“Help!” shouted Logan from across the chamber.
Eir and Rytlock looked, seeing that he had been snatched up by another frozen giant. The thing had lost an arm, which lay in shattered ruins on the floor, but its other arm hoisted Logan toward a mouth that bristled with fangs.
Zojja rushed up to the creature and set her hands on its leg. An orange curtain of flame blazed from her fingertips and ripped through the leg. The flame split the icy limb and sent steam blasting from it. Falling back, Zojja slapped hands on the other leg and blasted it, too. The thighs of the giant slid outward over the calves and cracked, dropping the torso. It struck ground and shattered. Cracks raced up it, and blocks of ice dropped loose. The fangs that were just then biting down on Logan disintegrated, and the thing came apart around him.
Buried to his chest in chunks, Logan said, “Nice job, little one.”
“Little one!” Zojja seethed.
“You’d rather be big? Like Eir?”
“No,” Zojja grumped. “Little is fine.”
They turned to see that their teammates had the other giants well in hand. Sandy was pummeling the next two, and Caithe had scrambled up the back of a third. As it thrashed, she plunged her dagger into the seam at its neck and twisted. The neck cracked. The head slid off its massive shoulders and plunged face-first to crash on the floor. Bits of giant skull skittered out all around.
Eir, meanwhile, loosed shaft after shaft at the remaining giants.
Boom! Boom! Boom! They fell.
Suddenly, there was only silence in that deep, dark place.
“Onward!” Eir called.
Leaping over melted monsters, the companions formed up again and charged deeper.
“Ahead is the inner sanctum,” Eir called out to them. “The Dragonspawn will be there.”
They ran onward