The Lost Library of Cormanthy - Mel Odom [124]
"Baylee!" Cordyan screamed the young ranger's name as she watched him plummet. The Shandaularan coin glowed brightly in her sword's hilt. At the same moment that she spotted the drow warriors on the opposite side of the open chasm, she heard men behind her yelling.
"Hook horrors! Hook horrors!"
Cordyan glanced back, watching the shambling figures closing rapidly from behind. The creatures stood nine feet tall. A thick, mottled gray exoskeleton covered them, tough enough to turn most sword blows and glancing arrow shots. Their front limbs ended in foot-long hooks capable of slicing through leather armor easily. Their back legs held huge feet with three splayed and clawed toes. A vulture's wedged-shaped head sat atop the shoulders, possessing a hideously curved beak and multifaceted eyes.
Cordyan tapped two men closest to her. "Hold the trail."
They nodded and settled into place with their swords.
"Calebaan, can you do something about those beasts?" Cordyan asked. She peered through the gloom and watched the wizard as he stepped forward to confront the first of the insect-like creatures. The chittering and clacking of the hook horrors punctuated the anxious conversation between the men. Cthulad took up a stance slightly in front of the wizard and bared his sword.
A moment later, a shimmer left Calebaan's fingertips. Then a solid wall of stone formed, cutting off the trail from that direction, running straight into the walls surrounding the cavern. In the next heartbeat, the first heavy blows of the hook horrors started pounding against the wall.
Cordyan turned back to look for Baylee, but did not see him in the darkness. A crossbow quarrel slammed into the rock near her. She fell into hiding beside the rock.
"The wall's not going to hold," Calebaan called up. "The hook horrors are starting to break through!" *****
Krystarn Fellhammer pulled her piwafwi about her and tugged up the hood. With the cloak's magic, she disappeared from the rear guard of the drow warriors.
Shallowsoul had sent her to intercept the humans and kill them, but she doubted he would be watching her. Without warning, the caverns quaked again. Huge chunks of the ceiling fell, bouncing all around her. She had to dive forward to avoid being flattened by a boulder the size of a firbolg.
No doubts remained in her mind that Shallowsoul was at the root of the earth shudders. She couldn't imagine what the lich was doing, but she thought she had a way to find out.
Standing beside a wall after the earthquake subsided, she took the crystal ball from her cloak. Activating it, she peered into the library.
The lich stood in front of a maze of whirling gems that floated in the air before him. She listened to him chant, not recognizing any of the words. The gems-sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds-all swirled faster, gaining speed. Then they smacked together. Instantly the earth shook around Krystarn.
And for a moment, the library shivered and disappeared.
Fear seized Krystarn's greed in its cold, greasy grip, shrinking it as the certainty filled her. Shallowsoul had discovered a way to take the library from the prime material plane where Faerun was located to another plane of existence. Either that, or he'd had a way all along, but didn't want to use it till after he recovered the shipwreck-or until humans had found the location of the library.
She waved a hand over the crystal ball, changing the focus and filling her head with thoughts of Chomack.
A moment later, the image cleared, showing the hobgoblin chieftain and his tribe. They numbered almost a hundred now. Chomack had continued to win converts or beat joiners into submission. He'd also managed to kill three human and elf adventuring parties and seize some of the weapons they had, further adding to his power.
At the moment, Chomack and his tribe hid in a cavern not far from the hallway where Krystarn kept her quarters. "Chomack, Taker of Dragon's Teeth," she said softly.
The hobgoblin chieftain looked up, not quite