Pool of Twilight - James M. Ward [74]
"We can't keep this up forever!" Kern shouted, shattering the rib cage of a dwarven ghoul.
"Well, we can't exactly stop, either," Listle retorted. A trio of ghouls lunged toward her, only to impale themselves on a rack of ancient, rusted spears the elf had turned magically invisible.
"The Hammerwarder's dark magic has summoned every being that has ever perished in this valley," Miltiades explained. He decapitated a female ghoul clad in a rotting silk gown. "This has always been a place of evil, and of peril. I can only guess that thousands of lives have ended in this vale."
"I think there is a way to stop the ghouls from coming," Sirana said, "though I had hoped not to have to resort to it." From beneath her gown she drew out a strangely shaped amulet of polished bone and pointed a finger toward the chamber's entrance. The stone archway began to glow a dull orange, then a fiery red. Molten rock flowed down, incinerating a dozen ghouls. In moments the molten rock began to cool and solidify. Soon the entrance was sealed by a dark, shapeless blob of solid stone.
The adventurers swiftly dispatched the remaining creatures, reducing them to putrid-smelling heaps of carrion and bone. Exhausted, they slumped on the dais before the onyx throne, gasping for breath-except for Miltiades, who seemed tireless.
"Your spell did the trick, Sirana," Kern said, his chest heaving. "Why did you wait so long to use it?"
"I had hoped not to have to use the amulet," the wild mage replied. "It may have stopped the flood of ghouls, but it has also sealed off the only way out of this chamber."
They saw to their battle wounds then. Most had escaped with only a few bruises, but the gash on Daile's arm was more urgent. A wound caused by a ghoul's filthy claws invariably festered, poisoning the blood. Eventually, the victim would die-and become a ghoul.
"Fear not, Daile," Miltiades reassured the ranger. He knelt beside her, removing his gauntlets, and whispered a brief prayer to Tyr. A blue nimbus sprang to life about his skeletal hands. In moments the gouge on Daile's arm closed and scabbed over. Miltiades nodded in satisfaction, replacing his gauntlets. "It is done."
She sighed in relief. "Thanks, Miltiades."
Kern gazed at his own hands wistfully. He wondered if there would ever be a paladin's healing in their touch. He shrugged and put the thought out of his mind. They had more pressing matters to worry about
"None of these walls are illusory," Listle proclaimed in disgust after searching the throne room for the third time. "And I can't find the slightest hint of any hidden doorways."
"I thought elvenkind had particularly keen eyes in such matters," Sirana murmured. The wild mage was examining a bruise on Kern's arm where his armor had been dented.
"This is absurd!" Daile exclaimed in exasperation. "I can't believe we've journeyed all this way and been through… through so much just to end up locked in a room full of moldering old junk." She kicked a broken table out of her way. Feeling weary, she climbed the marble dais and plopped down into the massive onyx throne. It was so large that her feet swung freely in the air. Each of the throne's arms ended in gnarled, fiendish claws. Daile gripped them tightly in frustration.
The right claw moved.
She sat up with a jolt, fearing the throne was enchanted. Then she realized that the stone claw was simply attached to the arm of the throne by a small, nearly invisible hinge. Curious, she lifted the claw.
A low grating sound rumbled through the chamber. Daile gave a small cry as the throne lurched beneath her. All watched in astonishment as the entire dais slid to one side, revealing a spiral staircase leading down into darkness.
"I knew that would happen," Daile lied with a crooked grin.
* * * * *
The songlike trilling in Kern's mind was strong. They were close to the hammer. Very close.
"I recognize this place." Miltiades spoke softly as the five