Red Magic - Jean Rabe [134]
*****
Deep in the bowels of the mine, Maligor screamed. How had Szass Tam found out about the mine? How had the lich managed to bring an accursed Harper under his control?
Maligor's mind whirled. He wouldn't be able to covertly control the mines now; the lich would see to that. Nor could he confront the lich, as Szass Tam avoided direct involvement.
"I will not be undone by a dead man!" Maligor bellowed, his voice bouncing off the walls of the deep chamber. "If I cannot have the mines, no one will!" The Red Wizard's staccato voice repeated a simple enchantment, and before the words could echo back from the chamber's shadow-cloaked walls, the wizard was gone. His form, replaced by a small cloud of white, swirling vapors, floated up a narrow shaft.
I will turn your forces to ashes, the cloud thought as it moved along the shaft's rocky ceiling. "I will destroy your army, Szass Tam. I will make you regret your treachery."
*****
Brenna reached the druid's side and knelt beside him. His palms were pushed against the sides of his head, and his teeth were clenched in pain. She tugged his hands away from his face, and their eyes met.
"What-what happened?" she asked, glancing behind her at Wynter. The centaur waved the undead to a stop.
"I-I don't know," the druid gasped. "But there's something ahead. Something…"
Then Brenna and Wynter heard the rush of wings, too, and smelled an overpowering stench. The tunnel ahead gave way to blackness as the flying creatures buffeted the torches out and filled the shaft with their misshapen bodies. The creatures' horrid shrieks filled the shaft, echoing off the walls.
"Darkenbeasts!" Brenna cried, as she saw a myriad of burning red eyes rapidly closing on them. She jumped to her feet, pulling the druid along with her.
In one fluid motion, Galvin drew his longsword and strode forward. Swinging fiercely at the air in front of him, he connected with the lead darkenbeast, slicing halfway through its grotesque neck. Its dead body thudded at his feet, but another creature flew forward to take its place.
The beast's talons stretched toward Galvin's eyes, and the Harper bent his arm across his face to shield them. The gesture allowed a pair of darkenbeasts to fly past him toward the sorceress and Wynter.
The enchantress flattened herself against a tunnel wall, narrowly avoiding a sharp beak. Fumbling through the small bag at her side, she drew out a pinch of coarse powder. Hoping she had found the correct components in the darkness, she began mumbling a series of incoherent-sounding words.
At the same time, Wynter charged forward. Using his bardiche, he skewered one of the darkenbeasts against the ceiling. A second creature closed on him, its beak sinking into his left shoulder. Dropping his weapon, Wynter reached out with his bare hands to capture his arcane attacker, bashing the beast's head against the mine wall. The centaur continued beating the creature until it ceased to move.
Finished with her incantation, Brenna stirred the powder in her hand, then held her palm toward the ceiling. A gout of flame whooshed from her hand and danced along a portion of the ceiling beyond Galvin, catching several darkenbeasts hovering there and lighting up the tunnel. The macabre creatures' wings caught fire, and they cried out in agony.
The Harpers and Brenna ducked, and the burning darkenbeasts flew beyond them, into the waiting grasp of the skeletons and zombies. The rotting flesh and tattered clothes of the zombies burst into flame on contact with the darkenbeasts. Impervious to pain, the zombies struggled with the winged creatures, tearing them apart and dashing their misshapen heads against the tunnel walls.
The darkenbeasts' beaks and claws were wasted on the skeletons, who latched onto the creatures and began pulling at their leathery limbs until no life remained in Maligor's constructs.
At the forefront of the struggle, Galvin continued to slice through the darkenbeasts, suffering numerous