Jess Lebow - Obsidian Ridge

"Oh, you're at an even bigger disadvantage than that. If you haven't noticed, I've got you at knife point. And even better, I know my way around, and I'll bet both my blades that you don't have a single solitary notion about where you are right now."

He nodded. "You got me there," he said. "So now what?"

"Now you take off your mask, so I can see your face. Or we go back to where we were, and I kill you." She cocked her arm even farther, getting ready to throw her blade.

"Wait. Wait." The Claw dropped into a crouch, ready to defend himself. "I've caused you no harm. You don't want to kill me."

She took a step closer. "A girl can tell a lot about a man by looking at his face. So I want to see it now, if I'm going to parley with you. If not, you can die."

"You're making a mistake-"

His words were cut short by a tremendous hiss. Then the room erupted in sound as a pair of nearby pillars were torn from the floor and ceiling and hurled across the chamber. Three greenish tentacles appeared from behind the pile of spider muck. Each was capped with the head of a serpent or drake-long slithery tongues and mouths full of teeth. They sniffed at the air, focusing in on Evelyne with their white eyes.

Beside the heads, three more tentacles appeared. Thick and round, they had the suction cups of an octopus on one side, and the scales of a snake on the other. They tapered to a point, and one of them held in its grasp a shattered piece of stone, wielding it like a club. The other two stretched out, reaching over twenty feet, to grab hold of another pillar with their soft suction cups. They contracted, pulling into view the creature's rubbery sphere of a body.

The beast's round, gray-brown mass must have been at least twice the height of a man. A dozen smallish stalks protruded from the creature's surface-clear white eyes attached to the ends. It held itself suspended over the floor with just the two large tentacles wrapped around the pillars. The other tentacle and the three heads converged on Evelyne, surrounding her from all sides.

"Get back!" she shouted, waving her daggers at the snapping, hissing heads. "You know I don't taste good."

The tentacles came at her, all at the same time. She managed to bat one away, and slice another, but the other two were too strong, and Evelyne became quickly overwhelmed. A hissing serpent head clamped onto each arm, biting down and immobilizing her.

The Claw sprang into action, tumbling into the center of the fight and raking his blades down the entire length of one tentacle. A single long slice of flesh fell from the creature's body, the suction cups making a slight squish as they hit the floor.

The head attached to that tentacle hissed and reeled back, releasing Evelyne from its grip.

The Claw ran to the other side. Jabbing out with his fists, he pierced the snakelike hide and jammed his blades deep into the tentacle. The creature let out another hiss and pulled back, letting go of the half-elf's other arm, but yanking the Claw off his feet-his gauntlet jammed deep inside the beast's body.

The Claw was dragged across the filth-strewn floor, reddish-brown guts flying everywhere, as he tried to pull himself free. The creature flailed, its hissing turning into more of an angry screech as it flung him side to side, trying in vain to dislodge the bladed human. It smashed him into the ruined half bodies of the giant spiders, sending them rolling and wobbling across the uneven paving stones, leaving a trail of gore behind.

The creature slammed the Claw against the wall-upside down. Pulling himself over, he kicked his feet into the air, bracing them against the solid stone. With all of his might, he yanked down on his blades, using the wall as leverage. His razor-sharp gauntlets slipped through the flesh and came out the other side, and the Claw fell to the floor, finally free.

The round, rubbery abomination pulled back. Its tentacle was almost completely severed in two. Wrapping it against its body, the head hissed in the Claw's direction. Then the entire beast convulsed, its round core expanding and contracting in an undulating motion. Its eyes, protruding from its body on narrow stalks, darted this way and that, scanning the entire room.

Lowering its body close to the floor, it seemed to strain its muscles, as if laboring with something difficult. The pillars it held between two powerful tentacles cracked under the pressure, sending stone and dust tinkling to the floor. With one final push, the creature opened its backside and deposited a huge, silvery-white sack on the ground. Then the beast retreated, gripping the pillars with its tentacles and pulling itself through the room.

Ooze dripped from the side of the sack, and it began to move. Something inside poked at its edges, making strange shapes in the stretchy, elastic sides of its cocoon. Then a hole appeared, and a pair of long thin tendrils slipped out, forcing the opening to widen. Two more tendrils, then four more after that, groped their way out as the sack was turned inside out and a large spider appeared.

Maybe half as big as the smashed vermin whose guts were now caked on the flagstones of the chamber, this new spider had silvery legs that ended in bladed tips-natural swords attached to each of its eight spindly legs.

Evelyne dashed past him, grabbing his shoulder. "This way!"

Rolling back to his feet, the Claw followed. He didn't need to be told twice.

Evelyne led him deeper into the room, hugging the wall. The tentacled creature was on the other side of the chamber. The Claw could see it through the pillars as they ran. Its body opened to deposit a second silvery sack on the ground.

Behind them, the spider's legs tapped out a rhythm of sharp clicking sounds as they scampered across the floor. Evelyne dashed ahead at full bore, her arms pumping. She was quick, so was the Claw, but the spider with its eight legs was faster, and it gained ground.

They reached the corner of the room, the spider bearing down on them. It was dark here, darker than the rest of the room. Even the purple glow from the ceiling didn't reach into the recesses of this chamber. Evelyne gave a quick look over her shoulder, then dived head first into the darkness.

The Claw was startled. What sort of magic was this? She'd led him into the farthest corner and disappeared, trapping him behind a spider and a spider-making monster. Slowing his pace, he steeled himself for a tough fight.

If he ever found this Evelyne again, she was going to be very sorry she-

"Don't stop! Just jump." Evelyne's voice came out of the darkness, coaxing him on. It sounded hollow, almost echoed, as if she were inside a well. "Hurry!"

The spider was nearly on him. It ran with six legs, swiping its front two out trying to corral him. Not having much choice, the Claw leaped into the dark corner, the spider's limbs nearly on his back.

Flying through the air, he braced for impact, half expecting that he'd knock himself cold running full speed into a brick wall. But instead, he slipped right through. A large chunk of the wall was missing here in the corner. The absent piece was broken in such a way that it was covered perfectly by the shadows.

Jumping from the solid stone into dark nothingness was tremendously disorienting, and the Claw opened his palm, trying to see where he was before he impaled himself on a piece of stone-or worse, another spider.

He fell for a moment longer, then his magical light revealed the dirt floor. It came up fast, and he crashed to the ground with a tremendous thud.

"Not very sturdy there, are you?" said Evelyne, helping him to his feet.

"You might not think that," he replied.

"That wasn't bad fighting back there," she said, with a wink. "Maybe I won't kill you just yet."

"Thanks," said the Claw. "I appreciate that."