Stardeep_ The Dungeons - Bruce R. Cordell [80]
The monster slithered straight toward Gage.
The thief drew a dagger and hurled it. The blade plunged into the cteature's flesh right between the stalked eyeballs. It screamed and reversed direction.
Gage drew another dagger, holding it teady. The hovering monster's tentacles writhed, and a searing blast of lightning leaped from its stubby fingers to ground itself in the space where the thief had stood a heartbeat earlier. How many more daggers did he have ready? Only three, he realized.
As Gage ducked out of his instinctual evasive leap, his btain realized what his body already knew; the damned things could wield sorcery! He raced around the wide bole of the closest silvery tree, eluding another blast of electricity that scattered wood chips in a dozen trajectories, followed by smoking trails.
He stood, his back to the trunk, breathing hard. He yelled, "Any chance you've made a mistake? I'm no threat. What say you go your way, I go mine. No harm-"
A blast of electricity shuddered into the tree, this time penetrating all the way through. Agony seared his upper back and shoulders.
Gage darted away from the thing, to duck behind the next tree he reached. He placed a dagger in his mouth and rummaged through the pockets on his belt. Lucky his maneuvers hadn't broken any of the vials. With practiced fingets he undid a clasp and pulled forth a glass vial labeled Inhalant. Dark yellow liquid sloshed within. He whispered a prayer to Akadi, crouched, and tossed the vial onto the path he'd taken.
He heatd the vial smash and the hiss of the contents as they volatilized in the air. He waited a moment then leaned to peer back.
A yellow haze hung in the forest, and at its edge lay one of the creatures. As monstrously odd as it was, it still required breath. Its inert bulk showed it was as susceptible to alchemical poisons as he was. But where was the flying one?
Perhaps it fled when its companion succumbed to the gas. Or did it merely hide, lying in wait to ambush him should he reveal himself? No way to predict the psychology of a creature so alien; it only barely possessed something resembling a body.
He had to risk it. The longer he huddled unmoving, the colder the trail of his quarry. He glanced around the tree.
He looked again at the body of the fallen creature and shuddered. The elf hadn't mentioned such dangerous predators roamed her homeland-the creature was unlike anything he'd ever seen. He sniffed. At least it didn't have the stench of the Abyss.
Nothing swooped from the canopy; nothing rose from the forest floor.
He continued on, setting a comfortable pace-not so quick as to miss the trail, nor so slow that his quarry eluded him.
Nor did Gage forget about the monster that had peppered him with sorcerous bolts. As he advanced, a conviction grew that the creature hadn't fled. No, it had merely hidden, perhaps by magic. Perhaps it followed him, waiting for him to grow tired or drop his guard.
Something creaked above him and he rolled to the left as if evading another bolt of lightning. As he pulled out of his roll he drew daggers and glared upward. Nothing but a break in the canopy, through which a scattering of stars gleamed and winked.
His gauntlet chuckled.
He resisted the urge to smash it against a nearby tree. Instead, he sheathed his dagger and curled his hand into a fist, squeezing the foul-breathed mouth as tightly as he could. "Quiet, while I try to find all my blades," he told his gauntlet.
The demonic titter was muffled, but the unholy mirth could not be stilled.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Stardeep, Cynosure Prime's Chamber
Delphe rested, her back against