Sentinelspire - Mark Sehestedt [93]
The weight of the guard's corpse slowed Berun, but there was no helping it. He needed the man's key to pass through the Gallery of Stone Faces, and the key might have been anything-a ring, a medallion, a coin, a pin, or even an arcane symbol etched into the man's skin. Berun had no way to know and no time to bargain with the man for his life. So he dragged the guard's corpse behind him through the twisting tunnels. It had been years since he'd last walked this path, and it disturbed him how familiar it all seemed. His starstone lit the way before him, but he thought he might have been able to walk the way with his eyes closed. It was not a comforting thought.
In his heart, he prayed that there would be no more guards before he reached the Gallery of Stone Faces. The weight of the dead man was nothing compared to the weight on his soul. He tried to remember how many men he had killed since Sauk had come back into his life. It frightened him that he couldn't remember. In that moment, only the thought of Lewan and Chereth, both ahead of him on the far side of these dark tunnels, kept him going.
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"What is that?" Galban whispered.
"Where? " said Bennig. "What is what?"
The two assassins had been assigned to watch the main passageway just outside the Gallery of Stone Faces. Bored and more than a little bothered by the oppressive dark, Galban hadn't taken his eyes off the main passage. Not too long ago, he'd thought he'd heard something skittering down the corridor, like a large insect or small lizard. That had raised his hackles, since the only things that moved in these tunnels were in the Gallery of Stone Faces-and you didn't want to see them moving. He'd never seen the source of the noise, but he'd been watching the main passage since. Bennig had been either lightly dozing or deeply snoring since they first settled in.
"Keep your voice down!" Galban rasped. "I just saw a green light down the main passageway. Damn me if I didn't."
"Then damn you," said Bennig. "But I see nothing. You must've dozed off and dreamed it."
"I wasn't the one sleeping. A faint glow. Greenish. It crossed our path. We need to have a look."
"You have a look," said Bennig. "Don't wake me when you get back."
"If Sauk finds out you were sleeping, he'll have your ears for a necklace."
"He won't find out unless someone tells him. Will he?" "There!"
This time, Bennig saw it too. A faint green glow crossing their tunnel, only this time it was headed back toward the Gallery of Stone Faces. He thought he might have caught a glimpse of a large form near the light, then it was gone.
Galban heard Bennig push himself to his feet and the whisper of his dagger coming out of his scabbard. Galban drew his own blade.
"Let's have that look," said Bennig. "Nice and quiet."
"Light?" said Galban. He had a sunrod tucked under his belt.
"It'll give us away," said Bennig. "Just stay close."
The two assassins made their way back to the main passageway, the soft soles of their shoes silent on the smooth stone of what had probably once been a lava rube. Just as they were coming to where the tunnels crossed, Galban saw light glowing on the stone walls. But it was coming from their left. They had seen the green glow going down and right, toward the Gallery. Both men stopped and waited, their steel held ready.
But it was only three of their own men coming up the tunnel. Jerumillis, a cutthroat from the Sword Coast, led them. He held a saber in one hand and a glowing sunrod in the other.
"Douse that light, you fool!" said Galban.
Jerumillis scowled. "You care to choose your words again?"
Galban looked at the saber in Jerumillis's hand, then glanced at the two men behind him. Neither seemed particularly interested in the conflict. One was eyeing Jerumillis and looked as if he were preparing to leap aside. The other was looking past them where the light from the sunrod failed and the passage continued into the dark.
Galban sighed and said, "You care