Troy Denning - The Titan of Twilight

Marwick’s eyes flickered from the ground to the chieftain’s face, then back again.

Avner prayed the man to remain quiet. When the firbolgs captured Brianna and found only one infant, there was still a chance they would think their seer had made a mistake. But if Marwick told them about the child’s transformation, Raeyadfourne would realize, as Avner did, that the twins had entered the world in a single body.

When Marwick did not answer, the second verbeeg’s hand shot out and covered the captive’s face. Avner grimaced, for the huge arm blocked his shot at both the front rider’s heart and throat. A quick kill was no longer possible.

“Since you have no use for this jaw, you won’t mind if I crush it,” growled the verbeeg. He was much younger than Horatio and, save for his harelip, too handsome for his race. “Speak!”

Raeyadfourne grabbed the verbeeg’s arm, but could not pull it away. “You’re perilously close to a breach of the law, Jerome,” the firbolg warned. “And harming the prisoner will not guarantee his honesty.”

“There are ways to learn the truth even from liars.” Jerome started to the pull the front rider toward him. “And I promise not to break any of your darling laws.”

Avner considered throwing his dagger into Marwick’s stomach, but that would not silence the front rider for long. The shaman Munairoe would simply heal the prisoner, as he had already healed the wounds of both Raeyadfourne and Galgadayle.

Raeyadfourne grabbed Jerome’s arm with both hands, refusing to let the verbeeg drag Marwick any farther. “You do not know the law, Jerome,” the chieftain said. “How can you promise not to breach it?”

Avner saw that a narrow angle was opening to Marwick’s throat. The throw would be difficult, through the crook of Jerome’s elbow and perhaps under Raeyadfourne’s forearms, but it was his only chance. The young scout raised his arm and waited.

A series of muffled steps sounded from the drift behind Raeyadfourne. “We’ve found them!” yelled a booming voice. “Tavis Burdun is with them!”

Raeyadfourne and the verbeeg both released Marwick. Avner lowered his dagger, biting his cheeks to keep from crying out in joy. He had never truly believed Tavis was dead-it would take more than a fire giant’s boot to keep the lord high scout from fulfilling his oath to Brianna-and now Avner knew everything would be fine. Tavis had found his way back to the queen, and as long as he was with her, no harm would come to either her or Kaedlaw.

Raeyadfourne crawled out of his drift and turned around to face the messenger, nearly crushing Marwick against the wall. “Found them?” the chieftain demanded. “Where?”

“Down low in the mine. Quillorn and Romney heard a fomorian screaming and followed the sound into a flooded tunnel.” The messenger did not come forward far enough for Avner to see. “They glimpsed a light shining from a side tunnel, and heard a woman’s voice.”

As the messenger reported, Avner saw Horatio’s finger drop to one corner of his sketch-map.

The messenger continued, “They waded down to the passage, but they weren’t fast enough to stop the humans.”

“Stop them?” demanded Raeyadfourne.

“When they looked into the passage, they saw blue light shining up from a big hole in the floor, and there were some of Tavis Burdun’s exploding arrows in the ceiling,” the messenger reported. “They heard his voice call out a magic word, then ducked around the corner. The whole tunnel collapsed on the pit.”

“Karontor’s wolves! They’ve dropped into the fire giant tunnel!” Horatio’s fingers flew back and forth over his map for a moment longer, then he looked up at Raeyadfourne. “We may as well go home and prepare for war! They’re going out the other end!”

Raeyadfourne frowned. “The other end?”

“The fire giants tried to trap the humans between two groups,” Horatio explained. “Their tunnel had two portals.”

“Then let’s go!” Raeyadfourne started into a drift. “We’ll cut them off.”

“Where?” Horatio demanded. “The only thing we know about the second portal is that it’s someplace down the canyon. The fire giant tunnel will run straight to it, while we must wind our way out of this mine and up the gorge-”

“Enough!” Raeyadfourne’s eyes had grown angry as a blizzard. “We can’t give up now. For all we know, the fire giant tunnel could be blocked. I’ll gather my warriors and the fomorians, then start digging. You take the verbeegs and try to find that exit.”

“We’ll never reach it before the humans,” Horatio warned.

“But you will try.” Raeyadfourne motioned to Galgadayle and Munairoe, then started into the drift with the messenger.

“Wait!” barked Jerome, starting after the firbolgs. “Do you take us for fools? If the tunnel is blocked, you’ll capture the queen and we’ll be left outside. I’m going with you.”

Horatio caught the younger verbeeg by the arm. “Jerome, what difference does it make who captures the queen?” His voice was strangely calm. “The important thing is to kill the child, and we can trust the firbolgs to do that.”

Jerome scowled at his fellow. “You want me to go with you?”

“Exactly.” Horatio smiled at Raeyadfourne, then placed a hand on Marwick’s trembling shoulder. “And since we are going outside anyway, we’ll put the captive with the others your tribe is holding.”

Raeyadfourne frowned. “There’s no use torturing him,” the firbolg warned. “He knows nothing that will help us capture the queen.”

Horatio nodded. “On my word, we will not harm him.”

“My thanks, then,” the chieftain replied. “And I shall look in on his condition later.”

Raeyadfourne turned and led his two fellows into the tunnel. Marwick’s fear showed so brightly that his eyes were almost glowing. The front rider stared after the firbolg torches until they had faded into darkness, then darted for the drift next to Avner’s.

Jerome was expecting the maneuver. The verbeeg’s arm shot out quick as lightning and plucked the front rider off his feet. “Now, midget, you will tell us what you know.”

“Of course,” Marwick gasped. “You don’t have to hurt me. I won’t hide anything.”

Avner raised his dagger, but had to hold his throw when Horatio snatched Marwick from the younger verbeeg.

“Jerome, we have no time for that.”

Horatio snapped the front rider’s spine as casually as a man would wring a chicken’s neck, then threw the lifeless body down the black maw of narrow shaft. The corpse bounced down the passage with a series of slowly fading thuds.

Jerome peered down the hole. “Why did you do that?”

Horatio planted a finger on his map. “Because of this pit,” he explained. “Unless I miss my guess, the fire giants cut through it with their tunnel. If we hurry, we’ll be waiting when Queen Brianna goes by.”

Jerome’s harelip twisted into an greedy smile. “And then she’ll be our prisoner,” he said. “We can demand all the ransom we want.”

The tunnel was as smooth and straight as the halls of Castle Hartwick, and so dark that the soot-covered walls swallowed light as a river swallows snowflakes. The queen’s party was moving along at a trot, with Gryffitt running thirty paces ahead, holding the queen’s dagger to illuminate his path. Brianna was holding Mountain Crusher to light the way for Tavis and his fellow litter bearers.

Despite the pain in his ribs, Tavis easily kept pace with the others. There was nothing to see in this passage and little to worry about, other than a few boulders hanging loose in the ceiling and the slick footing of the wet floor. With any luck at all, they would be out of the mountain shortly.