Lady of Poison_ The Priests - Bruce R. Cordell [57]
The fleeing creature managed to avoid dashing itself against the newly created wall. It squealed in rage, but instead of turning to face its foes, it winged off into the darkness, snarling threats all the while.
Ususi sheathed her wand in satisfaction. She said, "The Wand of Citrine Force is nearly spent. I like to conserve it… but I did not want that beast warning its master that we were so close."
Marrec had privately speculated about that wand pouch. He said, "You may have saved us a nasty greeting on the other side. Good thinking."
Ususi smiled, and Marrec found himself smiling back. She had a good smile, when she chose to flash it.
Justlance sparkled out of emptiness, falling into Marrec's grasp. "Finally," he murmured.
"Everyone ok?" wondered Gunggari.
When no one spoke up immediately, Marrec said, "Good. Surprise is hopefully our friend still. Ususi, dismiss your blockade. Fallon can't be far, and poor Ash with him."
As Elowen finished stringing her bow, Ususi walked across the oozing surface to the blocked portal. She touched the tip of her wand to it and looked at Marrec. "Ready?" she asked.
Marrec took up a position directly in front of the door. Gunggari was right behind him, and Elowen was off to the side, an arrow strung. He nodded.
Ususi pulled the wand away from the crystal surface. The wall wavered and was gone, as if it had never truly existed. Beyond, Marrec saw the edges of a great forest.
Behind, Elowen said, "It's the Rawlinswood. Looks like Fallon couldn't penetrate to its heart in Dun Tharos. We're lucky."
Marrec studied the scene carefully. Nothing moved, save branches idly swaying in a breeze. No sound penetrated the portal's mouth. A great arch of weathered and vine-encrusted stone was visible at the forest's edge, standing like a great gate. Further in, he thought he spied another. Marrec estimated that the mouth of the portal was not more than twenty feet from the first arch.
"What're those?" he asked Elowen.
"'Those' are the reason I know where we are; I recognize them. They are called the Arches of Xenosi. Sounds scary, but they're just another ruin claimed by the Rawlinswood."
"Fallon's gone that way," said Gunggari. "By the look of it, he's moving quickly."
He pointed to the ground immediately in front of the portal. The unmistakable prints of small hooves angled toward the first arch.
"He'll never know what hit him," promised Marrec. "Let's go."
They stepped through the portal mouth directly into the mouth of a savage ambush.
CHAPTER 15
Tashing branches behind the portal, poised out of sight, fell on them as they exited the Nadir. Marrec was knocked over and rolled through the dirt. Pain lanced his side. His vision was filled with violently swaying tree limbs, leafless and gnarled, like a forest seen too close in a thunderstorm. He couldn't see his friends. The cleric tried to stand, but a large branch smashed him face down onto the ground.
He heard Elowen calling to her blade Dymondheart and the sound of Ususi chanting, closer, behind him, maybe. Another effort saw him to his feet.
Constructions of leafless, interlocking branches, each forming a sinister humanoid shape, surrounded them. Faceless, their empty visages inspired terror all the more. The sound of their combined movement was horrible to hear: a rush of creaks, the dry saw of wood on wood, and a low roar like wind in the trees. Some were only three feet high, but others topped ten. One of these large ones again menaced Marrec, but he dodged the massive arm as it again tried to smash him flat.
An eruption of flame to his left and behind caused many of the creatures to flinch. He heard Ususi's voice
"You twigblights don't like that, do you? Just wait, I have more."
Amidst the rushing, thrashing branches, he saw the mage.
Ususi stood in a self-created circular clearing littered with burning twigs and