Stardeep_ The Dungeons - Bruce R. Cordell [79]
"What was that?" inquired the sorcerer.
Raidon replied, "A bear, perhaps?"
"No, something bigger," said Adrik, looking forward for some confirmation from the elf.
Kiril paused and frowned back to where the sorcerer pointed. She squinted and shook her head.
"It ran off, I guess," Adrik explained, peering into the gloom.
"Sildeyuir is not entirely free of threat. You can die here from a wild creature's attack as easily as you could in the sunlit world."
"I don't think it was a bear," maintained the sorcerer.
"Did I say bear? Far worse than bears hunt my homeland, especially of late." The elf began walking. The ridge was only dozens of yards ahead, clear of trees and promising a wide view beyond.
"What? What's worse?" persisted the sorcerer, running to keep up. Raidon continued to quietly stride as the rear guard.
"Before I took up my post in Stardeep, a couple of communities went dark-a glass citadel here, a tower there-and they wete found vacant. The inhabitants were gone with no explanation ot sign of violence. Later it was learned that invaders were responsible, awful creatures called nilshai."
Adrik interrupted, "Invaders from where? I haven't heard that name before."
"Nilshai invade from outside Sildeyuir-not Faerun, but from the gray misty expanse that borders all worlds."
"Does this 'gray misty expanse' have a name?"
Kiril shrugged. "Who cares? Our time in Sildeyuir is short. We go to the closest edge, and from there, we'll bridge the distance to Stardeep's underdungeon via little-used paths."
Kiril topped the rise and stopped, het head swiveling to the left, then to the right. She muttered, "What the Hells? That isn't right…"
Adrik and Raidon joined her and looked across a wide, fey plain beneath an even broader and more breathtaking swath of sky than was visible back in the valley.
Below them, a slumping glass citadel burned.
Gage moved from shadow to shadow in the gloom beneath the canopy. The great silver ttees were wider than any in his experience and offered an ideal breadth from which to hide along the whitestone path. However, he was exposed to anything that hunted the deeper forest lanes behind him. His back itched at the thought.
When he'd seen Kiril and the strangers disappear without a trace between two massive boulders, he'd dashed forward hoping to take advantage of the portal before it slammed shut. His gamble paid off. A moment of sickness, and he'd opened his eyes elsewhere.
The splendid stars! How long had he stood rapt? He shook his head. It seemed like moments, but could have been longer. It was difficult to measure time in this realm that seemed always and forever a summer night. Once his wits returned, his quarry was gone.
Gage followed, or so he hoped. At least two figures had gone by foot from where he'd appeared, through the grass and trees until they found a path of overgrown stones. He was fairly certain he'd chosen the same direction as Kiril, though doubts pestered him.
Wait. Did the branch on the tree ahead just move? He stopped dead, squinting into the gloom.
It wasn't a branch, it was…
A monster.
Its shape was like a large worm with glistening, blue-black flesh. Small tendrils or limbs branched from its body. It dropped from the tree, but stopped before striking the earth. Buzzing insectile wings beat at the dusky gloom, sickeningly small but large enough to hold the creature aloft. Three golden orbs projected from a blunt, bulbous thickening that served as the creature's body, or perhaps its head.
Another appeared, and Gage caught his breath. This one squirmed along the forest floor, with a rolling corkscrew gait reminiscent of a serpent. This one