Lady of Poison_ The Priests - Bruce R. Cordell [114]
Marrec whispered, "Thieving Ash?" He looked around at the girl behind him. The child's eyes focused then on the cyst, as if she expected something wonderful to emerge-or something terrible.
The Talontyr, nearly giggling in sudden glee, continued, "Yes, the child there with you is the portion of the Green Powers' gift that slipped through my fingers. Thank you for delivering it to me. Finally! The entire gift is now mine."
"Behold, then," continued the Talontyr, "what has become of the Aspect of Light. Behold Talona's Step-Daughter!"
The fleshy flaps obscuring the partially burst cavity heaved and ripped. A fantastically large bubble of blood swelled darkly from the fissure, and immediately burst, releasing a wave of liquid in every direction. Shrieking, the blighted creatures surrounding the throne scattered before the scarlet flood, though the Rotting Man laughed as the stinking bile poured over him.
Something still fought to free itself from the cyst-something too large for Marrec to immediately comprehend. It heaved itself free of the cavity, showing first a vast expanse of festering flesh twenty or thirty feet on a side, like the side of a hill come to life. The heaving, pulsing body was supported by four wide legs, elephantine in their simplicity and shape but larger, yet the struggling monstrosity, when it finally extricated itself from its woody chrysalis, was headless. It was a vast mass of gross flesh supported by four massive legs with no front or rear, only body. Except… something protruded from the creature.
A slender horn, convoluted and fluted, but straight and spear-sharp at the end, jutted from the infeeted flesh. The horn was over fifteen feet in length if it was an inch, yet Marrec recognized its likeness from the first. The horn was like a unicorn's.
"Abomination!" The words tore themselves from Marrec's throat. The wrongness of the creature, the warped nature of its existence, the plight of the Gift-it was all too much for the cleric to bear. He ran forward, past the throne on which the Rotting Man sat. A look of intense concentration suffused the Talontyr's face, but Marrec barely noted it as he moved closer to the vast bulk.
Gunggari ran forward with Marrec. The Oslander was more nimble than Marrec remembered, jumping and leaping ahead with new-found vigor. Perhaps it was the influence of the Nentyarch's final vial? Gunggari moved so quickly that he passed the cleric, running up so he was nearly beneath the Daughter. Utilizing his forward charge, Gunggari swung his dizheri around, two-handed, delivering a mighty blow upon the creature's lower flank. The Daughter's flesh rippled, and from somewhere, though no orifice was visible, a basso scream erupted.
The Daughter's single horn slashed through the air with uncanny speed, nearly decapitating Gunggari-it would have, were it not for the Oslander's newfound quickness.
Marrec began incanting a spell, a spell he'd been unable to cast for months, a defensive spell. As soon as he felt its protective embrace enfold him like an old friend long missed, Marrec continued forward. He would try first his newfound connection with Lurue-he would try to turn the creature from its present course, perhaps break it from the control of the Rotting Man.
Bringing his spear up, Marrec bellowed, "Lurue commands that you give way, abomination. Turn your face and be destroyed."
His spear head, its shape that of a stylized unicorn horn, blazed with golden light. Unlike when he had tried this same ability against the vampires, his power did not break. He radiated a surge of holy power, which washed upon and over the Daughter.
The creature's entire bulk shook, and a deep cry issued again from some unseen