Thomas Reid - The Sapphire Crescent

The girl turned her head, straining to see behind her, but the chair's angle and high back made it impossible.

"If you don't shut your mouth right now"-it was Vambran-"I'll plant this crossbow bolt right into the middle of it."

Em closed her eyes in relief.

"Damn you!" Denrick cried as Bartimus stammered, mumbled, and backed away. "How the hells did you get past the guards?"

Vambran advanced into the room and into Emriana's view. She could see that he carried a crossbow, which he had leveled at Denrick's chest.

"Hello, Em," Vambran said, giving her a smile, though he never took his eyes off his target. "I came as soon as you called."

Emriana gave her brother a steady stream of joyous, thankful, but incomprehensible gibberish through her gag, though she knew he understood the gist of it.

He made it, she thought, and not a moment too soon.

"Well," Denrick snarled, glancing down at the girl. "You managed to do a little more than untie your hands while I was gone, I guess." He backed away from Vambran, who was slowly closing the gap between the two of them. "And you managed to show up where you weren't wanted all over again," he said to the mercenary. "Just like the other night, when you had to go dashing in to save poor, pathetic Jithelle. You messed everything up!"

"And you're a sad, spoiled little boy who never learned that the world and the people in it don't belong to you just because you're wealthy," Vambran replied. "Now, you're either going to drop down to the floor and plant your face on the tiles, or else I'm going to put this bolt right in your nose. Your choice. What's it going to be?"

In response, Denrick grabbed Bartimus, who had edged over by the merchant's son, and he thrust the wizard between himself and Vambran. Denrick gave Bartimus a good shove to send him careening in the direction of the mercenary then he took the opportunity to dart out the door.

Vambran cursed and stepped forward, apparently intending to chase the fleeing man, but the wizard hindered him just enough that it was obviously a fruitless exercise, and Vambran held up after only a couple more steps.

Instead, he turned back to the wizard and snarled, "Get over there and untie my sister, you lecherous little worm."

Bowing and holding his hands up in front of his face, as though trying to ward off Vambran's anger and the impending bolt that might be fired at him, Bartimus scurried over to where Emriana sat and went to work on the knots.

As soon as one hand was free, Emriana yanked the gag free of her mouth once more and drew in a deep, fresh breath.

"Oh, thank Waukeen you got here when you did!" she gushed, wanting to get up and hug her brother. She grew impatient with the wizard's fumbling fingers and knocked his hands away.

"Go untie her" she ordered Bartimus, pointing toward Jaleene.

The wizard nodded and ran over to comply, leaving Emriana to free herself. The girl finally managed to get the last of the bonds undone, and she leaped up and hugged her brother with every ounce of her strength. She didn't want to let him go.

That's when Jaleene screamed. Emriana released Vambran just in time to see a huge black hound materialize right in front of the chair where the handmaiden was still bound. The beast wasn't quite there, but seemed instead to be made of shadows. Even so, its huge fangs and glowing red eyes were visible enough. The hound, a mastiff, growled low in its throat and reared back to lunge at the helpless Jaleene.

At the same time, Bartimus was waving his hands through the air and murmuring in a low voice. As Vambran reacted, raising his crossbow to fire at the wizard, a blue, shimmering curtain of light formed next to the pudgy man. The curtain parted to reveal a doorway, and Bartimus leaped through it, the crossbow bolt glancing off his cloak. The doorway winked out.

Emriana stared, dumbfounded, as Vambran rushed forward, dragging his sword free of its scabbard in one smooth motion. Just as the shadow hound was about to bite Jaleene, Vambran got between them, slashing down with his blade.

The huge dog howled in pain and leaped away, landing in the corner. It turned to face Vambran, who was closing with it, his sword held defensively in front of himself. Warily, the two of them began to circle one another, the hound snapping and biting at the blade, Vambran feinting and thrusting back.

Emriana ran over to Jaleene, who was trembling. The girl began to work on the knots that still held the woman tightly. After several moments of frantic tugging, she managed to free her companion and pulled her out of the chair.

At that moment, Emriana turned to see her brother lunge at the hound again, drawing thick, black blood. In response, the dog opened its mouth wide and let out an ear-splitting bay that chilled the girl to the bone and made her want to flee right out into the night. She and Jaleene together ran to the opposite side of the room and cowered in the corner, watching Vambran combat this magical creature of shadow.

He didn't seem fazed by the unearthly howl. He slashed down again, cutting a deep furrow into the dog's shoulder, which caused the dog to turn and jump into the shadows, disappearing.

Emriana gasped.

"Gods, what is that thing?" she whispered as Vambran searched for the beast, poking and prodding at the spot where the dog last stood.

"I don't know, but when I catch that wizard again, I'm going to thrash him," her brother responded. "I shouldn't have let my-"

Vambran's words were choked off as he suddenly discovered the shadow dog again. The beast leaped out of the shadows where it had hidden and charged at him, knocking him down.

The lieutenant had to roll to the side to avoid having his throat ripped out by the shadow hound's snapping jaws. He managed to swing his sword around and slice at the creature once more, sending a spray of black blood everywhere. The dog howled in pain and backed off.

Vambran managed to climb to his knees, but before he could stand, the shadow hound charged forward again. That time, though, the mercenary was ready, and when the dog leaped forward, Vambran had his sword positioned perfectly to run it through. The creature gave one last, whimpering howl and sagged down. As it dropped to the floor of Emriana's room, the dog vanished.

"Conjured creature," Vambran explained. "The wizard brought it here with a summoning spell." Then recognition lit in his eyes. "I'll bet he was the one responsible for the leechwalker that jumped us in the warehouse."

Emriana nodded mutely as she continued to stare, wide-eyed, at where the dog had vanished. The baying had unnerved her, and she couldn't shake the sense of panic it had caused, even though she knew Vambran had dispatched it.

"Em," Vambran said, walking over to his sister and pulling her up by one arm so she could stand. "Get dressed. We have to get to the rest of the family. It's time to track down Denrick and pay him back for what he did to you."

Kovrim's voice was growing hoarse, but he dared not stop speaking. He had managed to gather perhaps fifteen or twenty guards around him, all of them except two listening in rapt attention to his speech. The two who'd managed to resist the enthralling influences of his magic had tried to get the priest to stop, first by shouting at him, then by charging forward. But to their surprise, both of the soldiers discovered that they just couldn't bring themselves to attack the man who had enraptured all of their companions. Such was the magic that Kovrim had employed to keep himself protected.

Fortunately, the whole diversion had worked about as well as the priest had hoped. He could already see that the mercenaries had taken the house, and a squad of them was marching down the path toward where he continued to orate on anything that came to mind. He was running out of energy, though. He prayed that the Sapphire Crescents would hurry.