White Plume Mountain (greyhawk) Page 22

  Escalla helped push the first heavy bag of gold onto the ledge and began to frenziedly untie the rope. She ignored the warning rumble from the geyser down below and triumphantly pulled the rope free.

  “Right! Next bag!”

  “Escalla?” Jus crouched as the ground began to shudder.“Escalla, get back!”

  “What? No way!” The faerie blinked. She began edging backtoward the ledge. “I have time! Just a few more bags!”

  A sudden roar came from the mud pits as the geyser exploded into life. Already running for cover, Jus tackled the girl and dived with her back into the passageway. An instant later, a vast roaring column of boiling water shot into the air. Amidst the steam, gold and silver coins could be seen showering through the cavern.

  “No! My treasure!”

  Flapping and fighting, Escalla desperately tried to reach the gold. Jus grimly held her fast, and the girl slumped as she watched the coins go dancing down into the boiling mud. Finally, the girl simply ceased struggling. When the geyser finally halted, she clung miserably in the Justicar’s arms witha tear welling in her eye.

  “My gold! My beautiful gold!”

  The ranger’s face brimmed with sympathy.

  “Hey, cheer up. I’ll get you more treasure.”

  “But it was my gold!” Escalla made a miserable littlenoise, looking wanly off into the boiling mud. “I won it on my very own.”

  Shooting a glance toward Polk, who was no damned help at all, Jus patted Escalla on the back.

  “You did well. You took out a vampire all on your own. We’llmake a Justicar out of you yet.”

  “You’d have to eradicate my fashion sense first.” The girlgave a sigh for lost glories then seemed to cheer up. “Easy come, easy go, Iguess.”

  “Hey, you’ve still got one bag and the hammer. And the piecedown your front can be your lucky piece, hey?” Jus tried his to cheer her up.“Come on, let’s get back to the sphinx.”

  The man sat Escalla up on his shoulder where she could talk to Cinders, and the hell hound did his best to wag his tail and nuzzle at her hand. Jus picked up the little sack of gold and stuffed the money into Polk’sbackpack.

  “Polk, give Escalla your magic light.”

  “But I need it for my chronicle!” The teamster bridled inalarm. “How can I see to write?”

  “I don’t care. She needs it more than you do.” The Justicarrapped his knuckles against the man’s bulging pack-load of gear. “Use alantern.”

  Polk muttered, tucked his parchment under his arm and fussed with flint and tinder. Creeping out of her sulk, Escalla leaned over and plucked one of the parchments from Polk’s grasp.

  “So what are you writing there, anyway?”

  “It is a chronicle of our adventure.” Polk shot a meaningfulglance at Jus. “Assuming the two of you both end up doing things worthchronicling.”

  Escalla read a few lines of Polk’s horrible scrawl andblinked in surprise.

  “Hey! This is all about me and the vampire!”

  “Of course.” Scorching his fingers, the teamster adjusted thelens of his bullseye lantern. “A heroic act! One slip of a girl fighting atriumphant battle against a creature of darkness.”

  “Hoopy!” Always happy to have her ego stroked, Escalla puffedherself up with pride, lost treasures instantly forgotten. “Hey Jus! This isactually pretty good! Check it out!” The girl read a line from the top of thescroll. “Ooh! ‘Escalla, siren of the sylvan forest, slayer of the shadow-fiend!’I like that!”

  “Thank you.” Polk bowed.

  “Yeah!” The girl read more. “And what’s this? ‘Sensuous,sinful silky-thighed seductress of the…’” Suddenly unamused, Escalla beganflipping back through pages of the scrolls.

  “What’s this? ‘Love hungry’, ‘perfect peach’, ‘pinched,lissome bounty of her tightly curved…’” The girl put the scrolls asideand flicked a hard sidewise glance to Polk.

  “You don’t get out much, do you?”

  “This is the recognized heroic literary style.” Polk swelledhimself up with an enormous, fragile dignity.

  “Really?” Escalla tossed the man his scroll. “Well if I catchyou staring at my silken thighs again, I’m gonna turn into a giant bedbug andvisit you in the dark!”

  It was time to retrace their tracks. Wearily trying to keep the peace, Jus lead the march into the dark. “Polk, stop writing purple proseabout Escalla’s thighs. Escalla, stop hassling the sidekick. Now come on,there’s still two more weapons and a wizard to find.”

  Ducking a cobweb, Escalla frowned.

  “Isn’t there only one weapon left?”

  “The city wants Wave and Whelm, and the erinyes must still beafter Blackrazor. It’s a good guess that our old allies are hoping to collectall three.” Jus led the way down steps and back into the waterlogged corridorsof the main dungeon. “Let’s get back to that first junction and see your friendthe sphinx.”

  Back at the intersection, Enid the sphinx rose from her soggyvigil and waved one big paw as the party approached. Tramping squishily through the muck, Jus, Cinders, Escalla, and Polk all waved in return.

  The green slime in the corridor had been bypassed in the brusquest possible style. Thick overshoes of rope for Polk and Jus had used up the bulk of Polk’s climbing gear. Polk muttered and grumbled, unhappy at theslow attrition of his dungeoneering equipment. He wrote his chronicles while glaring at the Justicar’s back, the harsh sweeps of his wax marker showing thecolor of his mood.

  Sitting upon Cinders and Jus, Escalla gave the sphinx a merry little salute and said, “Hey, Enid!”

  “Hello.” Enid looked up from teasing knots out of her tail.“Did you beat the vampire?”

  “Yeah.” Escalla made a twiddling little motion of her hand,unsure quite how to broach an uncomfortable topic. “Hey, about that… so youdid know he was down there?”

  “Oh, yes.” Enid nodded as bright as can be. “I heard themagicians talking about him.”

  “Um, for future reference, a vampire is a pretty major encounter.” The faerie gave a sigh. “Is there anything else you mightwant to fill us in on before we go down any more of these tunnels?”

  It seemed to be a brand new thought to poor Enid. The sphinx turned to look down the northern tunnel and gave a little frown.

  “Well, no one tells me much, but seafood or something is downthis tunnel. When the breeze blows from that direction, my allergies break out.” The cat woman gave a puzzled shrug. “They deliver about a ton of fishheads down there every day or two.”

  “Fish heads.” Escalla nodded, storing the information dulyaway. “Uh-huh. And the other way?”

  Enid shrugged.

  “Umm, every day at about nightfall, someone deliverslivestock down the western tunnel. Goats, cows, sheep, a few peasants on occasion. It gets pretty noisy down there for about five minutes or so.” Thesphinx frowned. “Then it all just stops.”

  “Oh, good.” Overjoyed at the thought of all the toothymonsters just waiting for faerie snacks, Escalla sighed. “Gentlemen, thoughtsplease?”

  Jus looked from one tunnel to another.

  “Big hungry things in the west tunnel, maybe lots of tinyhungry things in the north where the fish heads go.” The Justicar approachedEnid the sphinx. “Thank you for the stun symbol.”

  “You liked it? Oh, good!” Immensely pleased, Enid preened hermuddy hair. “So few people appreciate quality spells.”

  “It helped.” Jus stood with one hand on his sword, lookingdark and powerful. Above his head, Cinders grinned and let his eyes gleam bright red. “You said you sometimes see the wizards?”

  “Every day!” The sphinx settled proudly in her place. “Thelibrarian and his two acolytes, the keepers of Keraptis.”

  “Keepers of Keraptis?” Escalla raised her eyebrows andskimmed a meaningful glance at Jus. “Oh, really?”

  “Those’re the chaps! They’re making a new Keraptis.” Enidscratched at her slightly flea-bitten hide. “Dedicated to their job, they’vework
ed ever so hard to restore this place just the way it was! My older sister was the sphinx in this dungeon ten years ago.”

  The Justicar scowled and carefully weighed this little gem of knowledge in his mind. Settling his sword, he reached up to pat the sphinx’sflank and thoughtfully passed the creature by.

  “Thank you, Enid. We’ll see you again soon.”

  “All right.” Enid settled into the mud. “Have a nice time!”

  It was time to pick a new route. Jus swiveled Cinders so thatthe hound could take a good sniff at the dungeon airs.

  “Cinders, what do you think, old friend?”

  Cinders smelled the western tunnel. That way is beasts-cats, bugs.

  “Yup.” The Justicar opened his badger-skin purse and took outa piece of snack-coal for the hell hound. “And the other way?”

  Fish this way. The hell hound sniffed at the northtunnel. Evil this way. Fresh blood, dead things, slimy water.

  “Evil again?” The Justicar narrowed his eyes. “Interesting…”

  Escalla rose up from the rangers shoulders and hovered in the air.

  “Hey! I vote north! I vote for the fish heads! One vampire isenough. This time, I say we face something small.” The faerie whirrednorthward and turned invisible. “Now, come on! Let’s go find some cash and getthose weapons back!”

  With the invisible faerie in the lead, a slow, careful advance began. Like the other tunnels, this passage seemed to have been burned and gouged out of the mountains heart. Algae caked the walls and spread horrid color across the surface of the mire. The knee-deep waters were unpleasantly warm and made the tunnel echo with the splash of walking feet. Ripples in the surface sent refracted light dancing madly back and forth across the walls.

  Cinders tracked Escalla with his sharp eyes. The girl flew up to a dark alcove leading off the passageway, inspected the darkness within, and even unveiled her borrowed magic light to take a closer look. She seemed satisfied. The light waved her companions down the main route, and the little faerie light swiftly disappeared.

  The Justicar moved forward slowly. As he drew near the alcove, Cinders began to growl, the fur rising up all along his shoulders. Jus cleared his sword out of its scabbard in a single flawless blur, his weapon suddenly hovering in midair.

  “Out.”

  Cinders’ flames seethed, and a sinister little tongue offlame lit the alcove. A shadow against one wall stirred and moved as the Justicar’s sword point whipped toward its throat and stopped a hair’s breadthaway.

  Sir Olthwaite the paladin-pale, filth-spattered and much theworse for wear-edged into the light.

  “Greetings, fellows! Well met, well met.” The man raised ahand in wary greeting. “If you will forgive me, I thought you might be some ofthem.”

  Polk made a sound of joy and stamped his foot, splashing his inside leg with dungeon soup.

  “Sir Olthwaite! It’s Sir Olthwaite!” The teamster slapped Jushard on the back. “Now we’ll go places! We’ve got a real hero for thisdungeon!”

  “Polk, sir! My dear chap what a pleasure to see you well!”The paladin made to advance and embrace, only to be halted by the Justicar’ssword at his throat. “Yes, quite well…”

  His face shadowed by the hell hound’s twisting flames, theJusticar did not sheathe his sword. He held the point directly under the paladin’s jaw and asked, “Where is the rest of your party, Sir Paladin?”

  Clearing his throat, Sir Olthwaite gave a little shrug.

  “There were only three of us: myself, the magician, and thepriestess of Geshtai.” The man gave a genteel nod of his chin back toward thesphinx. “That way. The western tunnel. We met wights, two of them. They took afair amount of defeating.”

  The Justicar’s sword remained poised for an instant kill, hisstance low and spread.

  “Yet you managed to survive.”

  “Not unscathed, I fear.” The paladin managed to look a littlepale. “They seem to have left me a tad drained of life. I’m not my old selfquite yet.” The knight swallowed and tried to move the rangers sword point asidewith his fingertips. “Look, well met on the trail and all that! Forgive andforget-what?”

  Cinders’ growl became almost audible, his fur rising likeporcupine bristles as his barred teeth ran with flames. Escalla popped into visibility between Cinders and the paladin, resting one hand upon the dog’s wetnose.

  “Cinders, down boy! Enough!”

  Burn!

  “Not now!” The faerie coiled close to the hell hound andwhispered in his ear. “Let him take hits from a few dozen monsters first, thentoast him from behind!”

  Unhappy, Cinders drooped and muttered canine curses in the air. Escalla fluttered brightly over to the paladin, inspecting the man by the glow of her magic light. Her tilted eyes shone with innocent surprise.

  “So here you are! We were sooo worried!” The girl used onefinger to lower Jus’ sword.

  “Jus, ease it back a bit just for now…” The faerie keptherself carefully out of reach of their newfound friend. “So you went down thewest tunnel, huh? What was there?”

  “Wights, my dear, as I said.” Sir Olthwaite took his chanceand moved closer to Polk, patting the pleased teamster on the shoulder. “Myfriend Polk here can tell you that underground exploration has its dangers.”

  “Really?” Having just polished off a vampire single-handedly,Escalla clasped her hands in mock concern. “Do tell: What else was down there?”

  “A pit trap and a corridor that heated metal as you enteredit.” The paladin scornfully adjusted the coil of rope that dangled from hisbelt. “It’s of no consequence! Come. I can lead you back there. We can pass thetraps and find the missing weapons!”

  Posing like a confused little girl, the faerie put her finger against her chin. “Oh, but since we’re already partway down this tunnel, whydon’t we keep going?”

  “There are no weapons down this tunnel!” The paladin’svoice snapped like a whip. “We have a job to do!”

  “Yeah?” Escalla pivoted slowly in midair. “But my good friendEnid tells me that each of these three tunnels has a weapon at the end of it!”

  Bristling in indignation, Polk tottered forward beneath his huge backpack full of gear.

  “You listen to Sir Olthwaite! Veteran adventurers get a nosefor treasure!”

  “But I’m a girl, and girls are just sooo curious!”Ever suspicious, Escalla’s sly eyes gleamed as she flew circles about the party.“I wanna go up this tunnel!”

  Sir Olthwaite flexed his fingers.

  “There is more profit to the west. We used a spell to tell usso.”

  “Oh?” Escalla flew down to pluck at the burnt end of thepaladin’s rope. “But your gear seems to have gotten all scorched and scratched!North seems so much safer.”

  The Justicar had heard enough. With his sword still out, he jerked his head toward the end of the northern tunnel.

  “Move out. We’re going north.” The ranger shifted his grip onhis sword. “And the great adventurer can show us how it’s done. Polk, give him atorch.”

  “A torch?” The paladin bridled. “Why must I carry a torch?”

  “Because you’re leading.” His sword held deceptively light inhis hand, Jus nodded down the corridor. “Be my guest.”

  Sir Olthwaite took a light from Polk’s lantern, spared anunfathomable glance for the Justicar, and then moved down the passageway. Escalla flicked Jus a glance, smiled, and popped swiftly out of view.

  Polk was left glaring at Jus in bitter disappointment. The teamster shook his head slowly from side to side like a judge passing sentence.

  Jus ignored the man and walked on.

  “Keep that hammer safe.”

  “It’s safe.” Polk sniffed in disdain. “Son, I’m disappointed.Disappointed! A knight of the Silver Dragon walks among us, and do you pay him the slightest mind?” The little man swelled up like a puffer fish inindignation. “I suppose you don’t care to hear what I think?”

  “No.”

  Sir Olthw
aite had reached the end of the corridor, where his torchlight showed an open room. The paladin lifted high his light, and Escalla came whirring beneath his arm, her passage shown by the scent of magic in her wake. Coming steadily forward, Jus paused in the doorway and looked out over a great waterlogged room.

  A wide expanse of water glittered in the light. Polk’slantern beam searched out the limits of a large, echoing chamber. At the far side of the room, a stairway led upward into a new corridor. The whole place echoed to the lap and swirl of water, and algae-stink made the air as thick as rotting blood.

  Jus lifted his own light to carefully inspect the ceiling, then took a careful, responsive grip upon his blade. Cinders’ voice suddenlyflickered in his mind.

  Deep water. The hell hound went suddenly stiff.Motion!

  Jus whipped his sword up to cover the dark water, and the paladin followed suit. Algae all across the water’s surface rippled into life.Escalla a squeaked as she flew hastily aside.

  The center of the room was far deeper than the verge. Water-weeds surged up out of the depths and boiled with life. Moving fast as thought, the dank strands wrapped themselves into a weird parody of human limbs.

  The weeds shimmered with magic, the weedy textures disappeared, and quite suddenly two bodies swam happily in the water. Two stunningly beautiful maidens waved eagerly to the men. The girl on the left had long dark pigtails, and the costume of a minstrel girl clung wet and transparent against her curves. To the right, a voluptuous, bright-eyed elfmaid swam stark naked except for a little necklace of flowers.

  “You’ve come!” The minstrel girl yearned upward with big darkpuppy eyes. “We’ve been so lonely!”

  “Yes!” The elf girl reached up dripping arms. “Lonely! Stuckhere pining away for companionship!”

  The minstrel girl swam imploring little circles. As she pleaded, the elf girl echoed her every phrase.

  “Come to us!”

  “Yes! Come to us!”

  “Pleasure us!”

  “Yes, in every possible way!”

  Pleading hands reached up toward the human men. “Pleaserescue us! Come into the water and we’ll give you anything you like!”