Authors: Kevin J Anderson
All twelve Anteds
rushed at once. Their claws clicked on the hard floor. Tallin shot at the
foremost Anted, sinking his arrow up to the fletching in a faceted eye. The
Anted wheezed and collapsed, oozing a green blot of ichor. Bryl hurled the
blossoming ball of flames to explode in the face of one of the black creatures.
Tallin slipped another arrow into the crossbow and fired, but it struck the
hard insect armor at an angle and bounced off.
Bryl managed to
summon up a smaller fireball with the remainder of the weak spell, and drove
off another Anted.
Tallin flipped a
third arrow out of his quiver, trying to fit it into the crossbow. An Anted
lunged up behind him and opened its jaws.
"Look
out!" Bryl cried.
The ylvan whirled
as the mandibles clamped around his waist, lifting him high in the air.
"Put me
down!
Bug-Eyes!" Tallin pounded on the armored head,
slapping the curved surfaces of the eyes. The jaws tightened like scissors
around him.
Alone in the
echoing throne room, Ryx stared through the eyes of her Anteds in a
choreographed confusion of overlapping images inside her head. She shifted her
bulk against the smooth and cold texture of the dais.
The bitter taste of
Consort's death was like bile in her mind.
Everything was
lost. They had killed Consort. They had killed her chance.
She sent out a
command to all the Anteds.
Kill.
Tallin squirmed,
pulling one of his arrows free, He pointed the tip downward to plunge it into
the insect's head.
But then the jagged
mandibles closed together, shearing through flesh and bone.
Tallin's eyes
bulged as the sharp jaws crushed his abdomen. Blood spurted from his mouth.
"
Delrael!
"
he screamed. His crossbow clattered to the floor. Dark red splashed on the
Anted's black armor.
"Tallin!
No!" Delrael's muscles locked from the sick ice at the pit of his stomach.
He could do nothing. He wanted to scream and pound his fists against the walls.
He strained to see among the swarming masses of black hulks on the other side.
"
No!
"
The Anted shook
Tallin's body back and forth like an alligator would, then it released him. The
ylvan hit the curved tunnel wall, sliding down at the head of his own trail of
blood.
Another insect
sprang up to take Bryl in its jaws.
"RULE #11.
When a character fails in combat, he or she may die. Death is final in the Game
―
that character can never play again."
―
The Book of
Rules
Bryl could not
reach the Fire Stone. He had rolled his spell, but the ruby lay untouched and
gleaming on the ground. The Anted squeezed its jaws and lifted him into the
air.
In a blur, Bryl's
hand snatched out the dagger Tallin had given him.
Without pausing to
think he struck down, pushing the blade deep into the Anted's compound eye.
The insect let out
a shrill scream, gaping its mandibles Bryl dropped to the floor on limp legs,
holding both elbows against his ribs where blood from torn skin seeped into his
blue cloak. A wet stink came from the Anted's gushing wound. Bryl stumbled
backward and grabbed the Fire Stone from the floor.
With more power
than he realized he possessed, he blasted the wounded Anted into shards of
chitinous armor and dripping tissue. The noise and flash of heat rippled
through the tunnels, making him wince and back away.
"Delrael!"
he called, but he was so frightened that it made his voice only a hoarse
whisper. The other Anteds closed in. He wrung as much out of the spell as he
could, roasting another two insects. Burning chitin popped and sputtered.
But Bryl's spell
faded away, leaving him defenseless again. He pressed his back against the
curved catacomb wall.
Beside him, Tallin
lay in a pool of blood.
"Tallin!"
Delrael's scream was hoarse, but he expected no answer. And received none. He
heard only the scuffle of clawed feet, the sounds of Bryl's fire. The stench of
burning Anteds came through the wall opening.
Delrael's shock
gave way to rage. Sweat ran into his eyes from his dust-clumped brown hair.
"Journeyman
can reshape himself and squeeze through!" Vailret said. "He can help
Bryl."
"Go!"
Delrael shouted.
In a quick gesture
the golem clapped a supportive hand on Delrael's shoulder. "Here's looking
at you, kid." Then he elongated himself, stretching the clay into the
opening. His feet slithered through and he reshaped himself on the other side,
bulging and eager for battle. He balled his clay fists and scrambled into the
fray.
Delrael chipped at
the wall and listened to the sounds of the fight.
Tallin lay dying on
the other side.
He smashed the hilt
down against the cement-sand, and a thin fracture line appeared. Smaller pieces
of the wall flaked off. He could smell his sweat and the dust; his fingers
began to sting and bleed. He and Vailret both grasped the rim of the hole and
pulled, bumping into each other to get a better grip. A crumbling chunk broke
off, falling with the loose sand to the tunnel floor.
"Come
on!" Delrael crawled up through the hole. He scraped his elbows against
the rough cement-sand, but he pushed his sword in front of him. He hooked his
arms over the other side, then heaved himself through, banging his hip and
scuffing his leather armor. He dropped beside Bryl with the grace of an
acrobat.
He saw Tallin's
twisted body on the floor. The ylvan's blood looked thick and dark in the harsh
light angling through the opening overhead. He should have thought ahead,
planned better.
"Tallin,"
Delrael said once more, then set his jaw. Holding the sword like a club in
front of him, he strode forward at the Anteds. Delrael's ears pounded with a
rushing of blood. He chopped with his sword. Vaguely, he became aware of the
golem next to him hammering with his fists.
An Anted lunged at
Journeyman, and the golem met it with a tightly clenched fist, splintering the
chitin of its head in a rayed pattern like a spiderweb.
"It takes a
licking and keeps on ticking!" The Anted flowed to the floor as all six
legs went limp. "Hmmm, I guess not."
Delrael noticed the
periphery of the battle with only enough awareness to avoid any unexpected
threats. Bryl squeezed his eyes shut and rolled the eight-sided ruby again.
Vailret had elbowed his own way through the hole and jumped toward one Anted,
stretching his short sword out to lop off the insect's antennae. Reeling and
disoriented, the Anted did not know how to defend itself, leaving it open to
Vailret's stab to the brain.
An Anted lunged at
Journeyman, jaws gaping wide like a steel trap. The golem braced himself,
catching the pincers with his hands, and he spread the viselike jaws. The
insect struggled to back away, but still Journeyman applied his strength. After
a loud snapping sound, the golem released his hold to watch the ant fall among
the others on the floor.
Delrael searched
for another insect as the first ant head tumbled to the floor. The decapitated
body struggled awkwardly before crumpling. His mind saw only the red of
Tallin's blood.
Three more fell.
Another exploded in flames as Bryl succeeded with his fourth spell for the day.
One insect circled
around behind Delrael, opening its jaws. But Journeyman was there, leaping up
and straddling the Anted's back. "Oh, a wise guy, eh? Nyuk, nyuk,
nyuk!" He grasped the ebony mandibles and pulled backward. His clay
muscles rippled, stretching the Anted's neck grotesquely out of its socket
until the pale connecting fibers popped apart.
The last of the
chirping noises fell silent. Motionless hulks of the dead insects littered the
floor, making it slippery with spattered ooze. No other Anteds appeared.
Delrael pushed his
way past the fallen insect bodies.
Tallin.
Bryl was already
bent over the ylvan. Delrael kneeled, staring, then he reached forward to brush
blood away from Tallin's mouth. Delrael was shaking.
He dropped his
sword with a clang on the hard floor.
The ylvan's eyes
trembled, then flickered open. The pupils were dilated, unfocused. Blood welled
up inside them from ruptured capillaries, but still they held a glimmer of
life. Tallin's cheeks twitched.
Vailret's voice
came over Delrael's shoulder, quiet and compassionate, but also practical.
"We need to get out of here, Del, before Ryx sends more Anteds."
Delrael rose to his
feet and turned on his cousin with such a terrible expression on his face that
Vailret stepped backward, stumbling on the slippery floor. He caught himself
against the wall.
Delrael slumped
forward, shaking his chest as he contained his words, everything he wanted to
say. He'd had many adventures, but he had never faced the death of a companion.
Questing had been too much fun to worry about things like that. Rule number one
―
always have fun! It seemed like such a ridiculous thing now.
His father Drodanis
had watched an ogre murder his brother Cayon.
Vailret was beside
Paenar when the blind Scavenger sacrificed himself at the volcano. But Delrael
had never looked at death face to face before, never watched as the Outsiders
removed a character from the Game permanently.
Delrael swung his
fist in the air at some intangible foe. The Outsiders had to be watching.
"What sort of Game are you playing with us! Why? Are you having fun?"
His shoulders trembled. "Tallin..."
The ylvan's bloody
lips parted, forming words like the last wind from a dying storm. Delrael bent
his ear close to Tallin's mouth.
"Take my
crossbow and ... use it."
Delrael squeezed
Tallin's shoulder, trying to impart some energy back to the ylvan. He had been
near death once himself, when the Cyclops attacked him near Ledaygen; but
Thilane Healer of the khelebar had replaced his mangled leg with one made of
kennok
wood.
But they had no
healers here now, nothing to help Tallin.
"Delrael ...
I'm glad I knew ... you."
Something like a
sigh escaped Tallin's lips, and Delrael stared intensely into the ylvan's black
eyes. He held onto the camouflaged leather of his jerkin. The cap with the
single scarlet feather had fallen off, lying on its side against the wall.
Tallin's gaze
lifted, filled with tears of pain, and his eyes met Delrael's once before the
ylvan departed.
Delrael froze as
ice worked its way up from his gut into his veins and muscles. He stared into
the ylvan's lifeless eyes before he lifted his hand to brush Tallin's cheek. A
smear of blood dried on the back of his hand.
Silence rang in his
ears. No one said anything to him. Delrael drew a deep breath, trying to calm
himself, but it didn't work. He stood up, brandishing the old Sorcerer sword at
anything that could hear him.
"Damn you,
Ryx!" He hung his head. "You and all the Outsiders, too."
His words bounced
off the sides of the silent tunnel, vanishing into the distance. Bryl had
recovered the Fire Stone and cowered beside Journeyman.
The golem stood
motionless among the destroyed Anteds, waiting to see what would happen next.
Keeping his eyes
lowered to hide his fury from the others, Delrael snatched up Tallin's fallen
crossbow and fumbled in the torn quiver. He found one unbroken arrow.
Delrael withdrew it
and held it in his trembling hands, watching as two drops of Tallin's blood
fell to the floor. Sheathing his sword, he tightened his hand around the arrow
and took the crossbow with him. "This is all I'll need to kill Ryx."
Delrael went back
to the hole in the wall from which they had come.
Without another
word, he pulled himself up.
"What are you
doing?" Bryl said. He scrambled to his feet. Vailret looked as if he
wanted to grab Delrael and pull him back.
"I'll have to
retrace our steps so I can get back to the throne room."
He vanished into
the hole and dropped to the other side. "You can come along or not. I
don't care."
Delrael fixed his
gaze straight ahead, not even glancing at any of the side tunnels. His mouth
felt dry and raw, but he used that to increase his anger. The others followed
without doubting his skill
―
Delrael had been on enough gaming
campaigns that he knew instinctively which tunnels they had taken.
Behind him, he
heard the harsh whispers of his companions. Bryl complained about going to
certain death, Vailret vowed not to let Delrael face it alone, Journeyman
wanted to continue his own quest to Scartaris, but he also knew the way
Gamearth adventures were done. "Ask not what your country can do for you,
but what you can do for your country."
Delrael retraced
their convoluted flight through the catacombs. He did not care about escaping.
He only wanted Ryx. His revenge had a clear target.