Paul Kidd - Queen of the Demonweb Pits

"Henry! Charge!"

Benelux crashed into black marble, showering chunks of stone across the floor. Henry carefully set down his sealed brass jar. He was just in time to hear the thud and see Jus knocked off his feet by a blow of the monster's foot. Jus flew one way-Cinders fluttered in another. They both hit the ground rolling, the Justicar coming up with his sword flashing in a parry and a massive stroke that severed the statue's paw. Roaring, the titan reared-still with Escalla battering its backside into rubble. As Henry charged, he heard her voice jabbering away in a frenzy of hate.

"I wear a thong! Do you know what this is going to look like in a thong? Do you have any respect for art? Do you? No! Well, respect that! And that! And that! And that!" The power charge of the lich staff had run out again, and now Escalla was just hitting a huge stone statue with a stick. "Oh, you're gonna play dumb? Well, take this!"

The top of the monsters head was wreathed in a fireball-not the most effective spell against blank stone. The Justicar cursed, shook his head, and surged back into action again. He dived, rolled to end up between the monster's hind feet, and hewed at the creature's legs, his sword ringing like a bell.

Jus tossed his magic rope to Henry. Henry whip-cracked the rope and swung up onto the statue's head, smashing his own sword down onto the monsters eye, making it shake its head and rear in anger. Henry was thrown clear, crashing through a bookshelf to land beside Cinders, who lay grinning atop a pile of magical scrolls.

Hello!

"Hey, Cinders." Henry blinked. His brass jar was a dozen yards away, still miraculously intact. "Having fun?"

Fun!

Escalla finally jumped free and whirred down to ground level. Jus pointed at the monster's flank, meeting Cinders's eye, and the hell hound enjoyed his friends clever idea. As the monster came close, Cinders wriggled forward, reared, and blasted his flames. Hot enough to melt steel, Cinders's fire sent ripples chasing all through the marble along the monster's side, and the dozens of cracks from Escalla's lich staff glowed white-hot.

The Justicar disengaged, and his huge voice bellowed at Escalla through the smoke. "Escalla! Frost! Go!"

The faerie unshipped her frost wand and opened fire. Extreme heat followed by ice cold did the trick. The cracked stone burst, and the statue splintered like glass.

The Justicar parried falling rubble with his sword, too angry and too dangerous to dodge. As the dust settled, he strode through the ruins, collected Escalla, then signaled Henry and Cinders to regroup. The hell hound rippled over the wreckage, moving like a huge furry caterpillar, and behind him, hundreds of Thoth's followers came charging down the paths between the shelves. Some of the larger creatures forsook the paths altogether and scrambled over the mounds of scrolls, books, broken shelves, and stone.

Escalla watched Cinders pass her by and waved an astonished hand.

"Does anyone else find that amazingly disturbing?"

"You had to teach him to fetch." The Justicar parried an arrow shot from somewhere amongst the shelves. "Polk, which way?"

"Left, son! Go left!"

"Henry, Cinders, move!"

Galloping along to rejoin the Justicar, Cinders stopped, looked down a row of shelves, then humped out of sight and disappeared. An instant later, he came charging madly back, row after row of bookshelves exploding into flames behind him. The hell hound sniggered, and Escalla wagged her finger angrily at him as he passed.

"Cinders! Bad dog!"

F-U-N-N-Y! Funny!

"Damn it, Cinders! Steal that stuff! Don't just burn it!"

Henry snatched a glimpse over his shoulder at the fires and said, "I feel a bit guilty about this."

"Hey!" Escalla scoffed. "We asked them to let Enid go, and they said to go take a hike! So they can look on this as a lesson in not pissing off faeries by using my best pals as slave labor!" The girl had retrieved some wisps of clothing from Jus's belt and was pulling on new gloves of fine black elven mail. "Henry? Still got the jug?"

"Yes."

"Hoopy!"

Jus snatched up the hell hound and tossed him over his shoulder. Behind them, the fires spread. Winged guardians could be heard screeching as the soldiers of Horus were called upon to destroy the interlopers.

The group charged out from between the shelves and into a great quiet hall where hundreds of figures lifted scrolls, books, and tablets from great untidy piles and sorted them at tables made from ebony. The workers never once looked up as the adventurers pelted past them, until suddenly a screech came from the portable hole.

"Back! Back, boy! You're runnin' too fast!" Polk blustered down in the depths of the hole. "Turn right, son! Right! Stop! Now go straight! Straight! Back!" There was a scrabble, and Polk's head emerged from the hole as Morag lifted him on high. "That's it! She must be right here!"

At a nearby table sat a silent figure dusting off a manuscript. Ibis-headed, androgynous, dressed in a kilt, and wearing a sad expression, the creature sighed as it worked. Escalla and Henry both stared at the creature for a long, quiet moment. The faerie slapped Jus on the shoulder and sent him on his way.

"Here we go! Jus, hold the fort! We'll be with you in a minute."

Enemies were thundering down the corridor that led into the room. The Justicar tied Cinders tight about his helm then strode forward, swinging Benelux in his hand. The sword was definitely not happy.

Sir Justicar, I must protest! Can we not try reasoning with these creatures? These are worshipers of truth and knowledge!

"If they're so knowledgeable, they should know when to shut up and run."

Sir, I really must ask you to consider limiting the scale of this conflict!

The Justicar planted his back against a huge shelf and heaved. His muscles bunched as his enormous bulk slowly pushed the shelf with its great load of books over, and the whole mass came crashing down to block the corridor. The first enemies tried jamming their way through the gaps, and Jus shoved them backward using a huge shelf board as a battering ram.

Over at the work tables, Henry and Escalla softly approached the ibis creature that was cleaning its book. Escalla took the polymorph spell off Henry and returned him to his usual self. They both edged up to the table, watching the sad creature at its work.

"Enid?"

The ibis-headed being blinked and looked up at them. It had Enid's eyes-honest and always a little shy, but no spark of recognition came until her gaze lingered on Henry. She hesitated, then nervously turned away.

"I'm not allowed to help you. You have to see a supervisor. We're not allowed to help people."

"No. We're here to help you." Escalla spoke with infinite kindness. "Do you know us at all? Have you seen us before?"

"No." The creature shrugged then looked down unhappily at the table. "I… perhaps. We're not allowed to remember."

"I know." Escalla uncorked the big brass jar. "Here. We brought you something."

"Oh! Oh, no." The ibis head looked away. "I am not allowed to drink now. No food or drink until I make my quota."

"No-no-no! It's hoopy! This time you're allowed." The faerie gently turned the ibis's beak toward her. "Listen. Thoth said his afterlife arrangements suck and that we should come here and deal with it. So we have a drink for you."

The creature looked anxiously at the brass jar. Henry's hands shook, and his face was sick with love. The ibis head looked from Henry to the faerie to the jar of water.

"I could get into trouble. How do I know I'm really supposed to drink this?"

"Trust me!" Escalla opened her hands, the very image of pure innocence. "I'm a faerie!"