The Queen of Stone_ Thorn of Breland - Keith Baker [101]
For a moment she considered fleeing. Using her magic, she could easily vault over the piled statues and disappear into the darkness. The thought struggled to take hold, and then it was gone. Thorn had been sent to claim the Stormblade. She was too close to victory to surrender, and if something had happened to Beren, she intended to salvage her mission. She leaped at the troll, landing a solid blow where its kidneys should be, but once again she was unable to pierce its hide. The best she could do was scratch it, and scratches healed instantly.
Stormblade was holding his own, but it couldn’t last. The sorceress laughed as the troll’s claws tore Harryn’s tabard from his chest and left deep gouges in his armor. The blows that missed sent scattered fragments of stone goblin flying across the hall and seemed to shake the floor. The trollbear dug its claws into Harryn’s armor, grabbing the knight and pulling him close. Stormblade had no room to bring his sword to bear, and the troll set its jaws against either side of Harryn’s skull.
Thorn didn’t try to fight the troll any more—she couldn’t hurt it. Instead, she studied the sorceress and listened to the vibrations in the rock and the sounds in the hall. The Aundairian smiled at her.
“You’ve seen reason,” she said. “You have a choice. Tell me where to find Queen Sheshka, or watch Kurlun crack your friend’s head between his teeth.”
“It’s not Sheshka you need to worry about,” Thorn said. She smiled, and it was all she could do to keep from laughing.
“Then what should I be concerned about?” The sorceress flexed her fingers again, tracing patterns of fire in the air. “You can’t beat Kurlun.”
“That’s what the hydra is for.” Sheshka’s voice rang out from behind the sorceress. She stood on the back of the great beast, which was stone no longer. Eight heads snapped forward, and gouts of steaming acid burst from the hydra’s many mouths, engulfing the trollbear. The creature howled in agony, releasing Harryn from its jaws, and the knight slammed both feet into the troll’s chest, rolling free from its grip.
The sorceress was stunned. The hydra was huge, and it had left a trail of shattered stone in its wake, but distracted by the battle with the troll, no one had seen or heard the black-scaled hydra approaching in the shadows. As she watched the troll collapsing, whimpering in agony as its flesh melted away, the Aundairian was even more surprised when Thorn’s spear passed through her throat. Thorn hadn’t been idle—she had turned her attention to the wizard, recognizing the tell-tale signs of shielding magic and anticipating the sorceress’s next move. The Aundairian never had a chance to release a spell; she crumpled to the ground as Thorn pulled the spear free.
The rest was chaos. The healing powers of the troll were no match for the acidic bile of the hydra, and soon bones were all that remained of Kurlun. Rat and wolf howled and snarled, and Thorn carved a path through the storm of claw and tooth. A clap of thunder echoed as Harryn’s blade struck the dire wolf. Then the hydra was upon the unfortunate creature, two separate heads tearing it apart and swallowing the pieces.
It was over within moments. The corpses were still shifting as the hungry hydra devoured them. Sheshka slid down from the creature’s back, keeping her eyes closed. She ran a hand along the hydra’s nearest neck, murmuring in a language Thorn didn’t speak.
“Now I’m embarrassed,” Thorn said. “I leave you alone for a few minutes and you come back with a hydra. The best we could do was a wretched