Storm of the Dead - Lisa Smedman [63]
Cavatina nodded. "Use it."
Another sending came from Halav. Seven hundred and fifty paces in. Still clear.
Q'arlynd motioned the others back. He reached into a pocket of his piwafwi, pulled out a pinch of something, and tossed it onto the stones beside the body. As he chanted, the rocks beneath the corpse slumped and became as soft as mud. Q'arlynd gently pushed the body into them, submerging it. That done, he washed the mud from his hands and spoke a second arcane word. The mud solidified, stone once more.
As they climbed back to the tunnel mouth, Cavatina leaned close to Q'arlynd. "Well done. Your friend would have been proud."
"My ally," Q'arlynd corrected.
"As you wish."
Those who had followed Cavatina down to the water returned to the tunnel's mouth. Once again they stood about. Waiting. Cavatina wondered if the svirfneblin would show. Perhaps the corpse Q'arlynd had just buried had been their guide.
The human diviner was leaning against his staff, watching. Suddenly he tensed. "Something's coming."
"What is it?" Cavatina asked, instantly alert.
"Something… big." Daffir turned and stared out across the underground sea.
"A boat?" one of the Protectors guessed.
"As big as a boat, but… not a boat. A… creature. Whatever it is, it means us ill."
Cavatina scanned the Moondeep, but the surface of the water was unbroken. Nothing moved on it-not even a rat. She glanced at Daffir but couldn't see his eyes behind those dark lenses.
The others drew weapons or readied spell components. The Nightshadows faded back into the tunnel.
"Where is it now, Daffir?" Cavatina demanded.
Daffir shook his head. "That, Lady, I cannot tell. Only where it… will be."
"We should move away from the water," the wizard in the gold skullcap said. "Up the tunnel."
"Agreed," Kвras said. "Before whatever killed the svirfneblin realizes we're here."
"No," Cavatina countered. "We stay here. Conceal ourselves and watch the lake." She did, however, call back the Protector and the Nightshadow who were down at the lake's edge. No sense taking chances.
Another sending came: One thousand paces in. With a chuckle in her voice, Halav added. Still nothing-except for a pair of boots, this time.
Cavatina frowned. Boots? She glanced down at where the svirfneblin's body lay. How large are they?
Small. Child-sized.
The Nightshadow whom Kвras had sent down the tunnel reappeared and signaled that the way was clear.
"That's it," Kвras said. "We're going." His forefinger flicked a signal to the other Nightshadows. Move out.
"Hold it right there," Cavatina barked.
The Nightshadows hesitated. They glanced between Kвras and Cavatina.
She rounded on Kвras. "We're having this out, here and now," she said in a low voice. "Qiluй put me in charge of this expedition, not you. Eilistraee deemed it should be so. Do you dare risk displeasing her by disobeying me?"
Without waiting for his answer, she turned to the others. "My priestess just found a pair of boots in the tunnel." She pointed down at the dead svirfneblin. "Gnome-sized boots. If they're his, maybe he was forced to run before he could put them on. Whatever killed him might still be lurking in the tunnel."
"You heard Daffir's prophecy," Kвras countered. "Whatever's going to attack us is out there. Submerged in the Moondeep."
"'Attack us?'" Cavatina echoed. She shook her head at Kвras. She was fed up with this. "Tell you what. I'll call my priestess back. You, personally, can take her place. That way, if something does rise out of the Moondeep, you'll be in a nice, safe place where nothing's going to-"
A faint wail came from deep in the tunnel: the sound of a singing sword in combat. The Protector's sending came a heartbeat later: Undead! Huge! Its head alone blocks the-
The sending cut off abruptly.
Fall back, Cavatina sent back at Halav. We're coming. She pointed briskly at the Protectors. "You, you, and you, follow me. The rest of you wait here. Whatever Daffir sensed isn't in the lake-it's in