The Sundering: The Sentinel Part 25

Behind the orbs came the shades, a half-dozen warriors dropping down from the gloomy corners of the room. Joelle felled one instantly, hitting him with a trio of magic darts that lodged themselves in a neat line from the pit of his throat to the center of his brow. The wallbound killed a second warrior, catching him in a tangle of stone arms and pulling him back to die a screaming death beneath their gnas.h.i.+ng teeth.

The other four landed intact, scattering bones and skulls in every direction as they drew their glossy swords and charged toward the center of the room.

Kleef was already on his feet, dodging ghouls and shouldering zombies aside as he rushed to meet Yder. Arietta rolled to a knee, drawing her own sword-and using the flat of the blade to slap aside the las.h.i.+ng claw of a nearby ghoul.

"Malik, not us!" she cried. "Turn them on the shades!"

Joelle came up beside her, simultaneously kicking a zombie back and sending a fresh trio of darts flying toward a charging shade. This time, the warrior was prepared to counter, raising a s.h.i.+eld of shadowstuff to absorb the first two darts, then simply twisting away from the third ... straight into the claws of a hungry ghoul.

The shade went rigid as the first claw raked across his neck, then stood wide-eyed and helpless as the ghoul's poison did its work. The thing opened its mouth and twisted its head around to bite at the warrior's throat, and Arietta turned her attention to more immediate threats.

Buoyed by his resurrected faith-and the spark of divine magic he now carried as one of Helm's Chosen-Kleef had Yder well in hand. He whirled Watcher through a dizzying blur of attacks, driving the prince toward a tangle of wallbound at the far end of the barracks. The shade was counterattacking with everything he had, dodging in close to slash at Kleef's legs, flinging shadow tentacles high and low, spinning into head-high power chops, hurling disks of shadowstuff left and right.

Each time, Kleef was ready. When Yder slashed low, Kleef pivoted and opened a slash across the Shadovar's shoulder. When Yder hurled his shadow magic, Kleef leaped in to attack, dodging and deflecting as he drove the prince back. When Yder tried to spin away, Kleef lashed out with a snap kick and cut off his escape.

Finding no immediate threats on that side of the group, Arietta turned to find a trio of ghouls watching her from a bone pile two paces away, their yellow eyes locked on her throat. Unsure of their intentions, she put the point of her sword between her and the middle one's eyes.

"Malik," she said, glancing over. "About those undead ..."

It was Gingrid who called them off. "Not her," she said. "The dark ones."

The ghouls lingered long enough for the middle one to bare its fangs at her, then all three bounded off to join the ma.s.s of undead swarming the last of the shades. Arietta breathed a sigh of relief, then joined Joelle next to Malik and Gingrid.

"Where are the rest of Yder's warriors?" she asked.

"I don't know," Joelle said. "Maybe we killed-"

She was interrupted by the wet crunch of bodies coming apart, and Arietta saw the tip of a shadow scythe slicing through the ma.s.s of undead. One after the other, zombie and ghoul torsos fell away from the legs beneath. In the blink of an eye, she had a clear view into the heart of the swarm, where both shades remained on their feet.

One was swinging the scythe. The other brought his arm forward, about to fling a shadow spell in their direction.

"Down!"

Joelle was already pulling Malik down, so Arietta grabbed Gingrid and sprang in the other direction. Or tried to. The young woman had gone limp, perhaps from the shock of seeing-or feeling-the destruction of so many of her undead at once. Arietta had no choice but to release her and dive into a neatly stacked row of femurs.

The shade's spell sizzled by a few feet behind her. Arietta spun to a knee and saw the dark band of a shadow disk streak past-straight toward the fight at the far end of the barracks.

Arietta turned to shout a warning, but Kleef was already spinning around, bringing Watcher down to defend himself. He caught the disk on the blade's edge and sent it spinning off in three hissing pieces.

By then, Yder was on him, bringing his gla.s.sy blade around in a vicious overhand strike that looked as if it would split Kleef from collar to navel-until the watchman landed an equally vicious back kick in the middle of the shade's chest.

Yder doubled over-and still managed to drag his blade down the length of Kleef's back, opening a wound so deep that Arietta saw the blood spray from twenty feet away.

Kleef roared in pain and whipped Watcher around one-handed-catching Yder on the elbow and dropping a murky forearm onto the floor. Then the battle continued as before, with Kleef pressing the fight and Yder giving ground, retreating inexorably toward the waiting arms of the wallbound.

Closer by, Gingrid lay on the floor, unconscious but not obviously injured. Malik and Joelle were just gathering themselves up, Malik tucking the Eye back inside his robe while Joelle drew her sword. The two Shadow warriors quickly advanced, hacking and blasting their way through a steady stream of undead.

Arietta rose and started across the bone-strewn floor to help defend the Eye-and quickly found her path blocked by the withered forms of two snarling ghouls.

"Out of my way." She waved them aside, then pointed her sword at Malik. "I'm with him."

The ghouls hissed, but reluctantly took a single step apart-then seemed to catch themselves and leaped forward to attack.

Arietta was so surprised that she barely managed to duck away as the nearest one's claws raked through the air above her. She pushed her sword up through its chin, deep into its brain. Then, dragging the blade free as she moved, she spun around behind it and drove the tip through the back of the second ghoul's skull.

When she turned back toward her friends, it was to find a trio of zombies shuffling away from the Shadovar toward her. The two shades quickly took advantage of the s.h.i.+ft to break free of the other undead and rush Malik and Joelle.

Arietta charged straight at the zombies, then changed course at the last second and launched herself into a flying dropkick that caught the nearest zombie square in the chest. The zombie went over backward, clawing and clutching at her legs. She landed atop him with bent knees, then quickly freed herself with a couple of quick slashes to the wrists.

By then, the Shadovar were on Malik and Joelle, the larger one hammering at Joelle's guard, driving her away from Malik and forcing her sword farther down with every strike. The smaller shade had Malik pinned to the floor, his foot in the middle of the little man's chest and his sword tip pressed to Malik's throat.

"No need to die," the shade was saying. "Give me the Eye and-"

Arietta slashed her sword across the back of his neck as she raced past, then reversed her stroke and buried her blade deep into the side of the larger shade's throat. Joelle finished the job by lopping off the head completely.

Arietta turned to find Malik withdrawing his little black dagger from the other attacker's chest. It was hardly a beheading, but with the shade's body withering into a shriveled black husk, the shadow warrior was clearly just as dead as the one Joelle had killed.

Before Arietta could ask after the Eye, the three zombies she had eluded a moment before came shuffling toward her. She backed away, then looked to Malik.

"Aren't you supposed to be protecting us?"

Malik rose. "As I have been." He took Arietta's arm, and the zombies instantly turned to shamble after Joelle. "But I warned you, Myrkul's magic will only protect you when we are touching."

"What?" Arietta glanced toward the far end of the barracks, where Kleef and Yder were battling a handful of undead as well as each other. "You can't even command the undead?"

Malik straightened his shoulders. "I have commanded them not to see us so, have I not?"

"That's not very strong magic for one of Myrkul's Chosen," Joelle said. She slipped behind Arietta and grabbed the hem of Malik's robe, and the zombies turned toward Kleef and Yder. "Especially when Gingrid can control them with a thought."

"Gingrid has lived with them all her life," Malik said. "I have only just-"

"No more excuses." Arietta grabbed Malik's arm and started toward Kleef. "We do what we can."

They quickly caught up to the three zombies and cut them down from behind, then Arietta and Joelle grabbed Malik beneath the arms and practically carried him into the battle.

Yder saw them coming and twice attempted to retreat into the shadows. Kleef made him pay in shadow and blood, slas.h.i.+ng him behind the knee the first time and slamming him in the head with the end of Watcher's crossguard the second. The Shadovar finally countered by smas.h.i.+ng an elbow into Kleef's nose and driving him back into the arms of a lunging ghoul.

The ghoul raked open one side of Kleef's face, and the watchman staggered a single step forward, blinded by his own blood. For a heartbeat, his legs seemed to go rigid, and it appeared he had been immobilized by the creature's poison.

Yder turned to flee.

Then Watcher's tip came shooting out through the ghoul's back, and Kleef whipped his sword around, slamming the thing into Yder and sending him sprawling.

Arietta and Joelle arrived in the next breath, leaving Malik's side and tearing into the nearest undead. Kleef shook the blood from his eyes and sprang after Yder, bringing his sword down in an overhand strike that the prince escaped by a mere inch.

Yder rolled onto his back and swung at a knee-only to have Watcher's tip come up beneath his blade and send it spinning away. Kleef's boot caught the shade beneath the ribs, lifting him completely off the floor.

Yder planted a foot on the ground and twisted into a standing position, his remaining hand already dipping into a pouch on his belt. Kleef feinted a sword strike, then skipped forward and planted a stomp kick in the Shadovar's chest and that sent him flying backward.

Into the stony arms of the wallbound.

The arms pulled him tight against the wall, and then a pair of heads emerged from the stone and bit into his murky flesh. Yder screamed and pulled his hand from the pouch on his belt. Kleef quickly stepped forward and brought his sword down across the prince's neck.

Yder's head fell free and bounced off Kleef's boot-but the hand opened anyway. A tiny ball of shadowstuff slipped from between the dead fingers and sank into the wall. A dark stain slowly blossomed around the spot, and the pop-crack of crumbling stone shook the room.

Gingrid stumbled to her feet, looking dazed and alarmed, but otherwise none the worse for her recent collapse. She stopped in front of the wall and watched the dark circle expand for a few moments. Then, when a steady cascade of dust and pebbles began to spill out onto the floor, she turned to Malik.

"Grandfather won't be happy about this," she said. "He won't be happy at all."

CHAPTER 20.

THE DARKNESS HAD ALREADY DEVOURED THE BARRACKS WHERE Yder had died. Now it was blossoming inside the curtain walls, slowly eating its way around the bailey to the little gatehouse where Kleef and his companions stood debating their next move. Across a small drawbridge in front of them, Sadrach Keep shuddered with wallbound fury, its stones grinding and clacking as though it might collapse any moment.

A stony face glared out from each side of the keep, its appearance exactly the same on all four walls: an immense, gaunt visage with a hooked nose and a long beard hanging from the narrow chin of an old man. Beneath each face, a pair of thin, stony hands gestured furiously, hurling spell after spell across the bailey, blasting orcs and undead and even other wallbound with wave after wave of fire, force, and lightning.

Kleef pointed at the nearest face. "I take it that is your grandfather," he said, glancing at Gingrid. "Sadrach?"

Gingrid nodded. "I've never seen him this bad," she said. "I don't think we can make it inside."

"And that's where Grumbar's Temple is?" Arietta asked. "Beneath the keep?"

Again, Gingrid nodded. "Beneath the dungeon catacombs," she said. "The temple is easy enough to find-but not when he's like this."

The companions were atop the curtain wall, studying the keep from the upper level of the little gatehouse. The drawbridge that led to the keep was lowered, and the portcullis that protected the doors was raised. The fire-hail had finally stopped falling, and the wounds that Kleef had suffered against Yder were already closed, healed by the spark of Helm's divine essence that Kleef now carried. But it was growing clearer by the moment that entering the keep would be far more challenging than simply crossing the bridge and booting open the doors.

Sooner or later, they would have to risk Sadrach's ire.

After a moment, Joelle asked, "How did Sadrach come to be like this?" She waved her hand around the bailey. "How did they all come to be like this?"

"It was during the Spellplague," Gingrid answered. "When the Underchasm opened, Grandfather believed his magic was powerful enough to protect Castle Sadrach. And it was-but you can see what became of us. Those who were not wallbound became spellscarred or plaguechanged."

"Us?" Arietta asked. "Then you were here? A hundred years ago?"

Gingrid nodded. "That is my curse," she said. "To live among the dead and never age."

"I know a woman in Westgate who would pay her entire fortune for the second part of your curse," Malik said. "But we lack the time to wait out your grandfather's temper. Surely, there is another way into the dungeon?"

Gingrid shook her head. "No."

Malik studied the drawbridge for a time, then turned to Arietta. "We have only one choice," he said. "You must command Sadrach to let us inside."

Arietta frowned. "Me?" she asked. "How?"

"Just as you commanded Gingrid." Malik looked up at the wizard's wallbound face. "I cannot be certain your blessing will work on him, but even if you fail, your death will be no worse than ours."

Arietta looked confused. "Blessing?" she asked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I am talking about Siamorphe," Malik replied. "Surely, you have felt her presence since we entered the castle?"

Arietta thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Most of the time, I've just been scared."

"That means nothing," Malik said, too quickly. "I have always found being Chosen a most frightening thing."

Kleef saw Arietta's eyes light with pride-and he immediately grew suspicious of Malik's motives.

"Whatever you're trying to do, stop it," he ordered the little man. "We'll find another way inside."

"No, you won't," Gingrid said, watching Arietta. "And the doomlord is right. I felt Arietta's power when she summoned me to obedience. She's certainly someone's Chosen."

"It must have happened when you agreed to offer your life for Toril," Malik said, continuing to speak to Arietta. "Surely, that is the kind of self-sacrifice any G.o.d values."

"Enough," Kleef said, stepping toward Malik. "One more word from you and I'll tear out your tongue."

"No, Kleef." Arietta raised a palm to stop him. "I think Malik may be right."

"What?" Kleef saw the hurt flash across her face and instantly regretted his reaction. "What I mean is, Malik could be playing on your emotions. You know how tricky he is."

"I'm aware of that." Arietta's voice was reserved without being hostile, but even Kleef knew she resented his doubts. "I'm also aware of what happened in the barracks-and no one is in a better position to reflect on those events than I am."

"Maybe," Kleef said. "But even if Malik is right-"

"If Arietta thinks Malik is right, then I'm sure he is," Joelle said.

She took Kleef by the elbow. "Unless you know of some easier way into the keep, there's nothing to be gained by questioning her judgment."

As Joelle spoke those last few words, she squeezed Kleef's elbow hard, and he realized he was only undermining Arietta's confidence in a decision she had already made.

And that was one of the things Kleef loved most about Arietta, her determination to be worthy. He nodded reluctantly and stepped back.

"Forgive my rudeness." He shot a warning glance in Malik's direction, then added, "When it comes to our doomlord, I find it hard not to be suspicious."

"As do I," Arietta said, giving him a warm smile. "But I saw the same reaction Malik did."

Keeping a watchful eye on the orcs' progress across the bailey, the companions spent the next few minutes developing a plan, asking Gingrid about her grandfather's personality and discussing how Arietta should phrase her commands. Kleef was careful to avoid casting any doubt on her chances of success, though inside he was aching to take her place and simply charge the keep. He tried to remind himself that Malik would not risk Arietta's life lightly, since the little man still believed that only she could trigger Sune's binding magic. But the thought wasn't much comfort. Malik was just too unpredictable.

All too soon, Arietta gave Joelle a long, lingering kiss and stepped out onto the drawbridge. As they had discussed, she made no effort to hurry or attract attention, but simply walked purposefully toward the keep until she saw Sadrach's eyes drop in her direction.

The wizard's stony fingers immediately began to weave a spell.

Arietta raised an arm and wagged her finger at him. "I'll have none of that, Sadrach," she called, continuing across the bridge. "You are not to harm me or my friends in any way."