The Coral Kingdom - Douglas Niles [123]
The pair had battled their way through a savage cordon of sea troll guards, finding that the enchantment of the spell gave them great freedom of movement. They could slash and parry as if only air blocked their blades. Thus their superior skill outclassed the scrags, who, though they fought in their natural environment, employed little in the way of tactical finesse. Some of the monsters didn't even carry weapons, and those who did used them primarily for thrusting-easy attacks to parry for a skilled swordsman or swordswoman.
Also, the two knights found that they could run at very nearly full speed, thanks to the effects of the spell of free action-their feet found solid purchase on the sea floor, and the water did not obstruct their forward progress.
"I think we diverted a hundred, at least-maybe more," Brigit guessed. "Enough, I hope, to let the others get into the palace." How they would get away again, with the full wrath of the Coral Kingdom aroused against them, remained an unaddressed problem.
"They're still out there," said Hanrald, leaning his ear to the stone. Sounds of prying and scraping came clearly through the water, though as yet the barrier showed no willingness to budge.
"Let's hope they don't break it down for a few minutes," groaned Hanrald, exhausted from the long minutes of battle and flight. They had raced along the circular wall around the undersea palace until they reached this labyrinth of towers and tunnels. Now, in one of those tunnels, they saw the rock that separated them from their enemies start to wobble.
"How long before we should get back to the ship?" Hanrald mused.
Brigit looked at him and shrugged. "Maybe we ought to move on," she suggested. Keane had told them that the spells had a very finite time limit, and neither of them had to stretch his imagination to come up with a picture of what would happen when the magical protection wore off.
Hanrald started down the corridor at an easy lope. Brigit easily kept pace as the passageway curved through a long descent. Abruptly it ended, opening onto a balcony carved into the side of a deep undersea chasm. The far side of the chasm stretched as a sheer cliff no more than a hundred feet away.
"They're coming after us," reported Brigit, spotting the swimming forms of several scrags following them down the winding tunnel.
"Let's go!" shouted Hanrald, raising his sword in one fist and taking Brigit's hand in the other. The pair leaped from the balcony, kicking their feet and swimming with their hands. The force of their jump carried them far from their start, floating through the water like birds soaring through the air. Far below, the base of the chasm darkened to a midnight black-and then they were past, landing on a balcony across the canyon much like the one they had jumped from. Without hesitating, they darted through a doorway into another submarine passage, still racing forward.
Abruptly they came into a large room, domed like many others they had seen. A dozen tunnels opened in the walls of the chamber, and an equal number of diamond-shaped crystal panels spiraled around the ceiling.
"Which way?" wondered Hanrald, at a loss.
"We can't go back," Brigit informed him after a quick look behind. "We'd better move on, quick!"
Hanrald turned to the right and charged down one of the passageways. Immediately a large scrag loomed before him. The creature jabbed with a trident from a darkened niche in the side of the corridor. Surprised, the knight grunted as the weapon pierced his rib cage. Hanrald staggered back in mute astonishment, watching the water around him begin to redden.
Brigit whirled past him, disemboweling the scrag in one vicious slash. The creature floated to the side, but a quick look back showed her that their swimming pursuers were closing in rapidly.
Beside her, Hanrald's eyelids drooped, and his motionless body drifted toward the floor. As gently as possible, the elfwoman nudged the knight into the alcove that had concealed the scrag. Then she turned