Lady of Poison

CHAPTER 14

He’d reached the last flight of stairs. Marrec screamed again, “Make way! Fallon has kidnapped Ash. Get out of my way, damn your eyes.”

He was winded, but running full speed down stairs was far easier than running up. His shoulders were bruised from a few occasions where he’d miscalculated the distance to the landing, only to be brought up short by the wall. He could hear Gunggari still pounding down behind him

Finally he reached the main level. Yeshelmaar functionaries tried to get out of his way, and one had the presence of mind to work the gate mechanism, heeding his call from higher up, so that it gaped open by the time he and Gunggari reached it.

He saw the portal, a square of night intruding on the bright day. Only a hundred yards, he could make that easy.

As he raced closer, he saw that something lay half within the portal. Closer still, and he saw that it was Ususithe mage was stretched out across the hard ground, her lower half lit by the sun, her upper half thrust into the darkness. She was slowly being dragged forward.

Reaching her side, he saw that she was sprawled through the portal, lying half across that stone path he had come to dread on his last trip through the Nadir. Elowen dangled in Ususi’s grip, her face white with strain, hanging over the void.

“Help me, you idiot,” barked the mage, as Elowen’s weight dragged her forward another inch.

He reached down, grabbed Elowen’s free hand and pulled. The elf was as light as a feather. No, it was the gloves given him by the Nentyarchhis muscles were magnified to nearly twice their normal strength. Despite everything, he smiled as he set Elowen down safely in the center of the stone path.

Gunggari appeared in the door of the portal, the expression of concern on his face fading when his eyes found Elowen. He bent and helped up the mage, who was muttering and complaining under her breath.

Marrec looked down the path, into darkness. He sought any telltale sign of light. Fallon and Ash couldn’t be that far ahead… but all was dark, without any light to betray that the path was occupied by his quarry.

“Where are they, Ususi?” he asked.

“They’re out there, don’t worry,” replied Ususi, “but time may pass differently at the Celestial Nadir’s edges than it does in the Nadir’s deep. Though we saw them pass here but minutes ago, they may already be several hours ahead of us…”

“Then we must go now.”

Gunggari said in a quiet voice, “I’m ready. I have my gear.”

Still slightly out of breath from her near fall, Elowen said, “Fallon must be a spy for the Rotting Man or one of the blightlords. He is probably taking Ash directly to his paymaster. If we follow this path, we will find him. There are no side passages on the path, right Ususi?”

“Correct” said wizard, “but I am not ready to gothere are supplies I must get…”

“Then you can follow later. I must go after Ash,” interrupted Marrec.

So saying, Marrec strode down the path. Gunggari followed.

Elowen gave Ususi a small shrug and said, “The matter is decided. I’ll see you later, when we return.”

“Smoke and Fire!” screamed Ususi, frustrated. “That traitor has the Keystone. I won’t let him keep it. I’m coming.”

Still in earshot, Marrec paused until Elowen and Ususi joined him Behind them, the daylight grayed out and became black. Utter night encompassed them all. Points of light from distant motes of matter dotting the Celestial Nadir twinkled into visibility.

Ususi’s voice pierced the black, “We forgot to block the gate open.”

Marrec heard her utter a few arcane syllables. A light dazzled his eyes. Ususi had called magical illumination. Before Lurue’s silence, he had been able to do the same.

“Just like last time we braved the Nadir,” said Ususi, “the only way out is through. Let us hope the exit is not contested by the Rotting Man.”

“If he squats at the end of this path,” said Elowen, “our task will prove all the easier. We won’t have to track him down.”

Gunggari chuckled.

“Follow me,” urged Marrec, turning to continue down the path.

They hurried along the stone lane, suspended without strut or structure over the void. On their last trip through that path behind the world, Marrec had led several mounts. That meant moving cautiously down the stone path. He wasn’t so constrained any longer. None of them had mounts. The weight of his armor kept him from a run, even with the extra strength he felt trickling into his blood from the Nentyarch’s gloves, but they moved nearly twice as fast as they had before.

He tried to keep his eyes on the course ahead, scanning for any evidence of Ash’s passage and that of her kidnapper, Fallon. It wasn’t too long before such evidence appeared along the path, illuminated by Ususi’s light. Henri was a horse, after all, and his spoor was enough to raise Marrec’s spirits immediately.

“Watch your step,” he called to his friends behind.

After glancing at the droppings, Gunggari stated, “They are no more than thirty minutes ahead of us, if that.”

Marrec nodded and they were off again. When he got his hands on Fallon… Well, he hoped that he would have the luxury of just tossing the elf into the surrounding void. Of course, running the traitor through with Justlance wouldn’t be out of the question, just so long as Ash was safe. Lurue’s legacy had been entrusted him, and he’d squandered that trust. He tried not to think about it. He’d get her back. Failing was not an option.

“What’s that smell?” inquired Elowen from behind.

He paused and sniffed. He caught the barest tang of salt, like the sea, but the briny smell was not alone. Mixed with it was a smell of corruption, like spoiled fish.

“More relics come to haunt us?” asked Marrec, looking back to catch Ususi’s eye.

“Perhaps,” she answered, uncertain.

The advancing light brought into view a branch in the path. The main stone lane they had followed for so long appeared to continue on straight into the darkness, but a narrower way gave off to the left. Rather than stone, it appeared to be organic, not unlike a huge exposed root.

The tips of the root were entangled with the stone lane, piercing and growing through it, while the thicker portion of the root angled out and slightly up, leading toward to some unseen larger stem. The stone bridge was stained a dirty green, as the root itself seemed to ooze flaccid sap. It was also the source of the smell, which had become strong enough to wrinkle Marrec’s nose.

Gunggari moved to the edge of the root, kneeled, and ran his fingers lightly over the surface of the stone and root. Bringing his fingers up, slightly stained with dark green, he sniffed.

He said, “They took this side way.”

They walked on that thing?” asked Marrec.

“It may have been grown expressly for that purpose,” said Ususi. “Having held the Keystone, even for short a time, I have gained a slight sensitivity to the paths that pierce this place. This ‘root’ is not part of the system, yet Fallon, with the help of the Keystone, has allowed an outside influence into the Nadir, a powerful influence. This ‘root path’ may only be temporary. If we want to find Fallon, we should take it before it disengages.”

Marrec steeled himself, then carefully set a foot out on the root. He expected it to be slippery but was surprised when the green ooze caught and held his foot in place. However, when he removed his foot, the ooze gave up its grasp without complaint.

He said, “The path seems to be ensorcelled to prevent slipping.”

He stepped back out and moved a little way along the root, avoiding looking down; it really was noticeably narrower than the stone path had been. The root path had a slight but noticeable slope upward. The others tentatively moved out onto the root after him. Because the root was more round than flat, there was only room for them to travel single file.

Before he commenced walking along the sticky conduit, he pulled Justlance out. He felt better immediately.

And so they continued along the strange green path. The smell worsened.

After less than a minute, the stone lane bridging the void was no longer visible behind them. Marrec hoped they weren’t making a stupid error. What if the root was pulled away? He tried to quicken his pace.

“The smell… it’s familiar. I just placed it,” said Elowen. “I smelled the same thing when we faced Gameliel in the glade of the Mucklestones.”

Marrec nodded, but he realized Elowen might not be able to see him. He said, “I thought the same. My hope is that we are gaining, and that whoever is aiding Fallon’s passage doesn’t know we are following behind.”

A mumbling voice spoke from ahead of him, “We know now.”

Earthy giggling broke out. A concentration of ooze at the edge of the light shifted, and Marrec saw that it was actually a creature; a loathsome, miniature human composed of muck and filth. The smell worsened, as slime oozed from the creature’s form and it giggled and chortled.

Marrec hefted his spear into throwing position and said, “Name yourself, creature.”

The giggling eased, and the muck man eyed Marrec with muddy orbs. He seemed about to speak, but instead of answer, he spewed a gob of muddy liquid. With uncanny accuracy, the filth spattered across Marrec’s face. It burned.

He could still see enough to cast his readied weapon. Justlance buried itself in the creature’s stomach. The creature squealed and burbled, like a man yelling up from underwater. The spear had pinned it to the root. But in a feat that must have proved extremely painful, it pulled itself free, losing a significant portion of its oozing body. It screamed, and if possible, the stench worsened, but it wasn’t dead.

Translucent wings of ooze unfurled from its back as it flowed like bead of water across the top of the root, then dripped off into the darkness. Gone… but Marrec could hear heavy wings flapping down in the darkness and a final giggle.

Justlance slapped back into his hand magically clean of all defilement. Marrec used his other hand to wipe away the stinging mud from his eyes.

He said, “Surprise is no longer our ally.”

Gunggari, who was bringing up the rear, said, “A winged foe in this open space is trouble.”

“Let’s hope my spear in its belly will make it think twice about returning.”

As they hurried up the root, the diameter of the path gradually widened. The glimmer of a greenish illumination grew steadily closer as they walked. “Be ready,” warned Marrec. “Our path is leading us to that light.”

The light’s intensity grew as they approached. Their path revealed itself to be the long, slender shoot of an earthy mass of mud and ooze which hung in the void. Like a pustule, the mass had forced itself through a self-made breach in the dark voidbrilliant light streamed through a small gap in space; it was the reflection off the mass itself that gave the light a greenish cast.

Ususi said, “It’s another portalbut it is a breach, aided by the Keystone’s power. I’ll see Fallon’s head in a pot for this defilement.”

The mass was not staticit slowly heaved and bulged as if its surface were boiling in slow motion, and creatures inhabited the island. The muck man Marrec had earlier stabbed stood waist deep in a pool of ooze. The portion of his flesh lost in breaking loose from Marrec’s spear was healed with seepage from the island mass. Two more muck men slouched near the light-limned portal. The stench had returned, with a vengeance. Marrec thought they looked like vicious dwarfs dipped in oil and sewage, with wings.

“What’s all the gook those things are standing on?” wondered Marrec.

“A manifestation of the Talontyr’s power over rot and decay,” said Elowen.

“It doesn’t take Talona’s Consort for such a trifle,” slobbered the creature lounging in the slime pool, refuting Elowen’s statement. “It was Anammelech who plucked the Child of Light from this forgotten demiplane easily enough My siblings and I are but extensions of Anammelech’s will. He wants you dead, so our task remains undone.”

The three creatures took to the dark air, swooping toward Marrec.

“That’s just great,” muttered Marrec. He called behind him, “Anammelech, I recognize that name for a reason, right?”

The first creature was upon him before he got an answer. Two claws raked at his stomach, but his armor saved him. The force of the creature’s attack might have pushed him over the side of the root, but the root’s sticky nature held Marrec fast. He felt a tiny surge of satisfaction in realizing that “Anammelech” had miscalculated the utility of his root. Despite his excellent footing, he was still spattered in slime in the wake of the creature’s passage, and the stink assailed his nostrils.

The second creature flew wide past him; he wasn’t its target. The third, the one he had struck before, bore down on him with vengeance in its muddy heart.

” “Ware my reach, creature of dust, or I’ll do more than stick you this time. Flee or perish,” promised Marrec.

“Stick this,” said the slime man, as it cocked back its hand as if holding something.

A green glow emanated from its palm. Its arm came around and it released. A glowing green viscous glob sailed at Marrec. The cleric tried to sidestep, but the throw caught him on the left leg.

He knew pain then. He’d expected the glob to be something akin to the spittle it’d caught him with earlier, but the glowing glob was acid. It was eating away at his clothing and his skin. It was pain.

But pain was something a warrior expected and could overcome. He charged his tormenter, running up the slender root and onto the slowly-roiling surface of the island. The creature could not evade him. With all the power of his enhanced strength and Justlance’s enchanted fervor, he struck at his tormentor and pierced its head. It tried to scream around the shaft of his spear, but only for a moment. A second later it decomposed into slumping ooze, completely devoid of life.

He whirled, trying to see his friends who were still strung out along the length of the root. At the same time, he grabbed up a double handful of the island’s muck and begin to scrub at the burning spot on his leg. He had to neutralize the acid.

One of the creatures hovered just beyond Elowen, who had drawn Dymondheart. It threw an acid glob at the elf similar to the one Marrec was attempting to scrub away, but in a feat of amazing swiftness, Elowen deflected the glob away from her and into the void with the flat of her blade. Dymondheart was a potent weapon indeed. Marrec understood why she hadn’t pulled out her longbow to strike the creature at a distance.

Behind Elowen, Ususi stood incanting, while Gunggari beat away the advances of the last ooze creature who was attempting to dart in and claw Ususi’s face. Gunggari clipped the creature once with his dizheri, sending it into a shallow spiral, but it recovered.

Ususi finished incanting and commanded, “Slumber take you.”

The command had no effect on either of the remaining creatures. They didn’t even flinch.

“They’re not really alive, only animate,” yelled the mage.

The creatures tittered but redoubled their efforts. One gurgled, “We will have more claim to life than you, when we’ve completed the task Anammelech set for us.”

Marrec cursed, ceased scrubbing at the acid on his leg, and cast Justlance. He winged his target, which squealed and dropped away. Moments later, the damage to its wing oozed closed, and it flapped back up, still too afraid of Dymondheart to close with Elowen. Justlance fell out of sight.

Gunggari reached into the haversack and pulled out one of the vials, glinting with red highlights. He hurled it at the creature bedeviling Ususi. The creature evaded, but as the vial flew past, it exploded in flame. The wave front of fire expanded, encompassing the frantically flapping mud creature in an instant, before burning itself out. All that remained of the flame was smoke, and all that remained of the animate ooze was a crumbling form of flash-dried earth, which fell quickly into the unlit silence of the Nadir.

Gunggari said, “I wondered what the ‘Bead of Flame’ might accomplish. Good thing that I did not drink it!” The Oslander grinned at his witticism.

The remaining visible creature, which continued to evade Elowen’s reach, reconsidered its chances. Breaking off, it made a beeline for the glowing exit.

“Don’t let it get away,” yelled Marrec. He wondered what had become of his spear, it wasn’t like the enchanted shaft to take so long to come back “Return, Justlance!” he yelled in frustration.

Elowen drove Dymondheart point first into the root-path with one hand while her other hand simultaneously pulled out her longbow. Problem was, she didn’t have it strung, though she made a valiant effort to quickly pull it

Ususi flipped the latch on the bright yellow wand pouch she wore on her belt, quick-drawing a slender glass rod, also yellow, but translucent.

A sizzle of magic leaped from the wand’s tip, closing the gap between Ususi and the creature in an instant, but the bolt continued past the creaturewho had not been its true targetand impacted the portal. A slab of crystal force sprang up, completely blocking the doorway. The daylight beyond continued to stream through but filtered by the translucent wall to a brilliant gold.

The fleeing creature managed to avoid dashing itself against the newly created wall. It squealed in rage, but instead of turning to face its foes, it winged off into the darkness, snarling threats all the while.

Ususi sheathed her wand in satisfaction. She said, “The Wand of Citrine Force is nearly spent. I like to conserve it… but I did not want that beast warning its master that we were so close.”

Marrec had privately speculated about that wand pouch. He said, “You may have saved us a nasty greeting on the other side. Good thinking.”

Ususi smiled, and Marrec found himself smiling back. She had a good smile, when she chose to flash it.

Justlance sparkled out of emptiness, falling into Marrec’s grasp. “Finally,” he murmured.

“Everyone ok?” wondered Gunggari.

When no one spoke up immediately, Marrec said, “Good. Surprise is hopefully our friend still. Ususi, dismiss your blockade. Fallon can’t be far, and poor Ash with him.”

As Elowen finished stringing her bow, Ususi walked across the oozing surface to the blocked portal. She touched the tip of her wand to it and looked at Marrec. “Ready?” she asked.

Marrec took up a position directly in front of the door. Gunggari was right behind him, and Elowen was off to the side, an arrow strung. He nodded.

Ususi pulled the wand away from the crystal surface. The wall wavered and was gone, as if it had never truly existed. Beyond, Marrec saw the edges of a great forest.

Behind, Elowen said, “It’s the Rawlinswood. Looks like Fallon couldn’t penetrate to its heart in Dun Tharos. We’re lucky.”

Marrec studied the scene carefully. Nothing moved, save branches idly swaying in a breeze. No sound penetrated the portal’s mouth. A great arch of weathered and vine-encrusted stone was visible at the forest’s edge, standing like a great gate. Further in, he thought he spied another. Marrec estimated that the mouth of the portal was not more than twenty feet from the first arch.

“What’re those?” he asked Elowen.

“‘Those’ are the reason I know where we are; I recognize them. They are called the Arches of Xenosi. Sounds scary, but they’re just another ruin claimed by the Rawlinswood.”

“Fallon’s gone that way,” said Gunggari. “By the look of it, he’s moving quickly.”

He pointed to the ground immediately in front of the portal. The unmistakable prints of small hooves angled toward the first arch.

“He’ll never know what hit him,” promised Marrec. “Let’s go.”

They stepped through the portal mouth directly into the mouth of a savage ambush.