Lady of Poison_ The Priests - Bruce R. Cordell [82]
If he couldn't go back, he'd have to go forward, but too straight a path would deliver him into the Rotting Man's hands. Actually, he recalled that a blightlord had been dispatched to meet him. Damanda. If he stayed on his present course, his meeting with her would occur within the day.
He'd have to strike off in a direction of his own choosing-a scary thought. The dungeons of Under-Tharos were legendary, both for their demonic contents and their extensive size, but perhaps he could scent a passage to the surface.
"You ready to get out of here, girl?" Fallon asked the child, his voice gentler than was his wont. "I'd give a lot to see the sun again."
He stood. The lantern he'd dropped had miraculously not broken nor even leaked too much; it was of Yeshelmaar make after all. It didn't take but a moment to pick it up. Taking Ash's hand, he turned down a dark side passage to the left that was not marked in his mind.
The green light from down the wide corridor flickered wildly, as if in the throes of a tantrum. After a time, the emerald light returned to its originally sickly hue, waiting, or more properly described, lurking.
Јlowen ran a finger down the length of Dymondheart. The blade still seemed sluggish. Light failed to ripple along its length as it had when she'd first unsheathed it. She worried the vigor it held before would not return.
"Should we press on or rest?" asked Marrec. The cleric stood peering down the passage which they all believed opened on the Sighing Vault.
Elowen sheathed her blade, hoping her worry was unfounded.
"We should rest," snapped Ususi. "I've depleted my energies too much today and need time to prepare myself, especially if we must face Eschar once more."
Marrec nodded at the mage.
The tattooed southlander said, "The demon is retreating. We should press our advantage and pursue it immediately."
Elowen spoke up, "We barely faced it down here. If Ususi is tapped, I doubt our ability to face it again." As she spoke, she rested her hand protectively along Dymondheart's sheath.
Marrec rubbed his forehead and said, "Time's not on our side. Fallon could be hours away from delivering Ash to his bastard of a master."
"If he hasn't already," opined Ususi.
Marrec regarded her with a sour look then said, "We've got to finish our business with the queen as quickly as possible, so we can move on to what's really important."
"Do we?" asked Gunggari. He approached their demonic chaperone, which remained immobile since Eschar's command. Gunggari nudged it with the edge of his dizheri. It failed to respond.
"Well, we did make a deal…" began Marrec.
"With a demon!" interrupted Ususi. "Don't you think this queen, whatever her true infernal name, will bend or break our bargain at the very first opportunity?"
Marrec stated, "Two wrongs do not a right make."
Ususi threw up her hands. "You can't 'wrong' a demon."
Elowen tried to deflect what seemed a mounting argument, holding up one hand. "The Rotting Man is more powerful, surely, than either Eschar or the Queen Abiding."
"So, what, we have no chance? Is that your point?" sniped Ususi. "No…"
"Her point," said Gunggari, still poking at the unmoving ice demon, "is that we may find an ally in the queen if we release her. Right?" Gunggari grinned at the elf, his teeth improbably white against his dark skin.
"Almost," responded Elowen. "Like Ususi says, we can't forget the Queen Abiding is a fiend, and fiends cannot be trusted, but this demon is desperate. Who knows how many thousands of years she's been trapped down here in these ruins? If she wasn't desperate, certainly she wouldn't have arranged for creatures not completely under her control to find and bring to her the one item, which apparently has the ability to control