Dan Willis - The Survivors

The other dwarves were just as dismayed when they crowded in to see the Seer, suspended in the air above Bradok’s palm.

“Oh, come on!” Chisul exploded. “What are we trying to do here?”

“We’re trying to survive,” Much said mildly.

“Survive?” he said. “Is that it?”

A nervous silence followed; then Chisul continued. “We all know we can’t stay underground forever if we want to survive,” he said. “We’ve been lucky up to now, finding just enough mushrooms to feed us for a few days here, a few days there. If we want to stop anywhere, we’re going to need a cavern this size full of mushrooms and we’re going to have to start farming them.

“I haven’t seen anything as promising as that so far,” he said, daring anyone to meet his gaze. “Have any of you?”

“Reorx has a plan for us,” Bradok said quietly. “If we follow the compass-”

“Damn the compass,” Chisul retorted, pointing up at the light far above their heads. “There’s the surface world. It’s just a short climb away. Once we’re there, our chances of survival go up dramatically.”

“You don’t have any idea what’s up there,” Kellik said, loyally supporting Bradok, though he had his doubts. “Don’t forget what happened the last time we disregarded the compass.”

Chisul opened his mouth to reply, but before he could speak, a violent tremor shook the cavern, sending several dwarves tumbling to the sandy floor. Someone screamed and dwarves scattered.

A sinkhole had opened in the floor, the sand dropping down and falling away. A second later, to everyone’s horror, a living, breathing Disir emerged from the depths. It was an awful sight that Bradok would recall in his nightmares to his dying day.

Its dark head rose up, shiny, glistening, and eyeless. Its mouth opened, revealing an expandable lower jaw and rows of curved teeth. The greenish outer shell was transparent, so Bradok could see its vitals right through its armored chest. A pale, blue light shone out from a glowing organ, right behind where the eyes would have been. It looked as if the killer insect had only one large eye in the center of its face.

The creature pulled itself out of the hole with two long, swordlike arms, bristling with serrated spines.

Bradok was frozen in fear. Much grabbed his arm and shook him, pointing over to the far side of the cavern. At least a dozen more holes were opening in the floor all over the chamber.

“To arms,” Bradok yelled. “Here they come!”

Attack before they get out of their holes,” Thurl yelled, charging the first creature that had emerged.

Bradok scooped up his sword and raced after the assassin. Thurl reached the creature first and drove his dagger right into its head, punching through its chitinous armor and plunging straight into the glowing organ. The Disir went berserk, lashing out with its blade arms and squealing in pain.

Close behind, Bradok chopped downward, slicing right at the joint of one of its legs, severing its limb, and sending the creature collapsing face-first into the sand. Before it had a chance to recover, Much and Corin were hacking it to bits.

Pain exploded in his leg, and Bradok turned to find another killer insect crawling up out of the sand toward him. It had lashed out with its arm and sliced across Bradok’s calf muscle. The cut didn’t look deep, so he decided then wasn’t the time to worry about it. He hurled himself into the fray, chopping down on the Disir’s arm. Unlike the blades from Starlight Hall, Bradok’s sword had been imbued with a certain magic by the elves who had crafted it. It sliced through the creature’s arm easily, sending bits of it and the black ichor inside the Disir flying.

The killer insect reared back, flailing with its remaining arm and screeching a shrill, high-pitched sound. Bradok stepped in and drove his sword straight through the creature’s chest. The enchanted blade pierced the armored hide easily, and Bradok jerked it free as the Disir fell back, dead.

As Bradok stumbled past the dead creature, Kellik slammed another one in the chest with his warhammer. With a sound like shattering stone, the insect’s body cracked, shattering like the other dead ones they’d found. The Disir shrieked in agony, its arms and legs lashing out in all directions as it writhed on the ground.

All around him dwarves battled the swarming Disir. Hot blood spattered Bradok’s face, and a scream, filled with pain and despair, tore the air. Bradok turned as a body fell at his feet. He recognized his fallen comrade as one of the hill dwarves but didn’t have time to stop and see if he could ease his suffering.

A blood-spattered Disir bore down on him, its double-hinged jaw gaping wide. It slashed at Bradok with both arms at once, forcing him to fall back. When the killer insect raised its arms again for another strike, Bradok dashed in, running under the blades and striking at the knee joint on the creature’s right foreleg. His sword cut cleanly through the bulbous joint, and the insect staggered.

With the Disir off balance, Bradok brought his sword down onto its back with both hands. The blade bit into the armor, and black ichor spewed out from the wound. The Disir kicked out, catching Bradok in the gut and sending him flying into a column of rock.

Bradok gasped for air as he struggled to his feet. The Disir turned, lurching under the burden of its wounds. Bradok brought his sword up just as the monster collapsed, its limbs pawing the sand. There it lay, bleeding to death from its wounds.

“No time for that,” Much said as Bradok paused to catch his breath. “There’s still more of-look out!”

Much shoved Bradok hard, causing him to stumble away. In the sand, right where he’d been, a Disir blade arm had gouged a trench in the sand. The creature whirled to focus on Much, who was backing away. The old dwarf gripped a short sword, but Bradok doubted Much or his weapon was any match for the hulking monster.

“Here,” Bradok yelled, clanging his sword down on the stone of a nearby column. “Over here, you big dumb bug!”

The Disir turned and, with a speed Bradok didn’t fully expect, lashed out with its swordlike arms. Though its arms pointed downward, they were longer than one would expect. Bradok barely had time to duck behind the column of rock before the chitinous arm slammed into it, gouging a deep cut out of the stone.

Bradok hacked at the arm, chopping off the tip. The creature retaliated, reaching around the column and slashing Bradok’s left arm, driving the tip of its remaining good arm into the dwarf’s side. Bradok cried out with pain and fell backward with the force of the blow. His sword went spinning out of his grasp as the Disir rose above him, ready to impale him.

Bradok rolled as the creature’s gleaming arm came down. Pain whipped across the side of his face as the arm slammed into the sand, grazing him. Blood ran into his eyes, blinding him.

The Disir pulled its arm back for another strike. Frantically wiping the blood from his eyes, Bradok scrambled back. A shadow swept past him; then Thurl was there, wielding Bradok’s sword. The Daergar assassin easily parried the Disir’s arm, knocking it aside and running the enchanted blade straight through the creature’s torso.

The Disir reared back, and Thurl jerked the blade out of its chest. The dying creature lunged at Thurl, its massive maw spread wide. Thurl sidestepped the creature with a grace that seemed impossible. As the Disir fell, Thurl brought Bradok’s sword around and struck off its head.

Bradok tried to rise, but a piercing pain in his side sent him crumpling to the ground. His shirt and cloak were soaked in blood. Bradok unclipped his cloak and wadded it up, pressing it against the wound in his side to contain the bleeding.