The Alabaster Staff - Edward Bolme [115]
As they ran, he switched his swords from one hand to the other, and, as the Zhents ahead approached a corner of the ramp, he hurled his short sword at the rearmost. The blade plunged into the man's kidney as he reached the corner, felling him. Demok snatched up the blade as he ran past, giving it an extra twist to ensure the Zhent never rose again.
Kehrsyn shrieked in disgust and empathic pain.
At the next corner, another of the Zhents glanced back and noticed that their companion wasn't following. He paused and called out to him, then abruptly ceased as Demok's long sword took off his head. Too late the Zhent's hand raised to block the attack; then the body toppled.
Demok heard Kehrsyn cry out in shock.
"Will you quit that?" she yelled from behind.
"No," growled Demok.
As they approached, the level of the Chessentan encampment, one of the Zhents paused for just a moment, yelling, 'To arms! To arms!"
Demok and Kehrsyn caught up with her, and, as they did so, Demok speared his short sword up through the woman's ribs and into her heart.
He threw her body to the floor and yelled, "Fall back! Get help! Now!"
An explosion rocked the foundation of the temple, and a tremendous gout of flame licked up the ramps, spending the last of its energy trying to turn the corner below them. There followed a long, ululating howl, a hollow cry mixed of agony and triumph.
Demok looked at Kehrsyn and said, "He's coming. We need help. Lots of help."
Kehrsyn looked at him, at the body at his feet, back down the ramp, then at Demok again.
"I know where to get help," said Kehrsyn, shivering. "At least I hope I do. Come on."
She led him out of the temple at a run.
They fled outside as another tremor rocked the temple, but despite the trembling foundation Kehrsyn drew up short, staring at the sky. Demok looked up. Gone were the gusty winds that had blown their cloaks around when they'd ridden over. The air was absolutely still. Straight above them the moon and stars shone brightly in a clear sky, but farther away Demok saw the clouds thick and bunched, lightning arcing between them. It was as if a drop of oil had fallen upon the sky, clearing the air as it spread and pushing the angry clouds back. Even as he watched, he saw the clouds being pressed farther away, roiling intensely.
It reminded him of the eye of the storm in the one hurricane he'd experienced.
"The world is making room for the return of a god," Kehrsyn said, awe-struck.
"I'd just as soon it didn't," swore Demok, and he charged down the steps for the wagon, whose driver was staring at the sky, ignoring the skittish horses.
Demok leaped up into the driver's seat, his body slamming the hired help off the far side. Kehrsyn hopped into the wagon behind him.
"I hope your help is good," Demok yelled, as he whipped the horses into motion.
Demok yanked hard on the reins, pulling the horses up short and causing the wagon to slew to a stop. Kehrsyn hopped from the rear, frankly thankful that she-they-had arrived in one piece. She bounded up the steps and pounded on the door, though her slender hands and none-too-brawny arms made no more than a small noise on the thick wood.
With a growl, Demok leaped from the driver's seat and bounded up.
He slammed the door open wide, stepped in, and yelled, "Hey! High priestess! C'mere! Now!"
Three Tiamatans inside rose at the sudden disturbance and came glowering over to Demok. One brandished a cudgel, and another drew a wide dagger, serrated like a dragon's teeth.
"Mudsucker," said one as they closed in, "you just got a whole heap of-"
Before he could finish the sentence, Demok lunged into action. He drew his weapons as he kicked the leader in the groin, cracked the pommel of his long sword against the back of the man's skull as he doubled over, and charged in on the other two, jamming one against the wall of the cloakroom with his short sword held across the man's neck, while