Mel Odom - The Lost Library of Cormanthyr

Baylee sheathed his long sword and ripped his bow loose. He grabbed a fistful of arrows from his quiver and nocked one back. He loosed it at the first hobgoblin he saw. An instant later, the fletchings quivered against the hobgoblin's chest. The creature slowed its all-out rush into the room and dropped to its knees, staring, perplexed, at the shaft buried in its chest.

The darkness hampered the Waterdhavian group, but they rallied quickly, meeting the hobgoblins near the center of the floor. They were outnumbered, but they were trained by Watch practice to work in closed quarters.

The line of hobgoblins broke against the shields of the watch guard. The watch members used the shelves as a skirmish line, striking from behind them.

Baylee leaped to the top of the nearest bookcase, crouching to keep himself as small a target as possible. He pulled another arrow back and put it through a hobgoblin's throat. Two more arrows sent hobgoblins down with arrows through thigh and arm.

Cthulad was at the epicenter of a mass of razor steel strokes. He moved among his enemies, taking advantage of their own pedestrian training with their weapons to use them against each other.

Calebaan stayed behind a shelf and used the magic he had available to him. When hobgoblins came too close, he whipped the iron-shod staff with grim and deadly efficiency. At least five members of the watch went down under the hobgoblins' swords, though. Their infravision versus the humans' normal sight couldn't help but be a telling factor in the battle.

Baylee moved along the top of the bookshelf, walking easily. A thrown hand axe bit deeply into the wood only inches from his feet. The ranger pulled another handful of arrows from the quiver and took aim at the hobgoblin who'd thrown the axe at him. The line of hobgoblins were almost upon them now, rendering the bow almost useless. Still, he loosed his shafts deliberately, making them count.

A hobgoblin charged the bookcase, aiming himself at Baylee. The ranger kicked the creature in the face, breaking its nose in a wild spatter of blood. Baylee dropped the bow and abandoned the high ground. He ripped his long sword free of its sheath.

Two hobgoblins rushed at him, screaming foul obscenities as they raised their swords. Baylee met their charge with a lightning fast display of sword play. One of the hobgoblins went down almost immediately, its throat sliced open by the long sword. The other hobgoblin fell back for a moment, long enough to draw a hand axe and bring it arcing toward Baylee's head.

Baylee reached up with his free hand and swatted the axe away. Using the movement and speed he'd already invested, he whipped around in a full turn, bringing the long sword in a short, powerful blow that cut halfway through the hobgoblin's chest. The ranger wrenched his sword free of the corpse.

He scouted the terrain, trying to find Cordyan and the baelnorn. Instead, he found Cthulad ringed by hobgoblins only a short distance away. The old ranger's skill kept his attackers respectful of his sword, but he was still presenting his back to his enemies as he turned about in their midst.

Baylee filled his free hand with throwing knives and threw them with deadly accuracy. Two hobgoblins died before they could turn around, and three others were out of the fight with grievous wounds. Another hobgoblin turned on him, a sword in each hand.

"Now you die, human!" the hobgoblin declared. It swung its swords in a double-attack, well seasoned in two-handed fighting.

Baylee gave ground, batting the blades aside as he reached for the parrying knife. He flipped the spring release loose and caught one of the hobgoblin's swords in the dagger. He twisted, but was unable to pry the sword from the hobgoblin's grip. He blocked the other sword, then stepped forward and kicked the hobgoblin in the crotch. The swords came loose then.

Reversing his long sword in his hand and grabbing it by the hilt again, Baylee drove the point through the hobgoblin's throat and twisted, leaving the creature dying behind him. He glanced over at Cthulad, who was finishing up the last hobgoblin before him.

"For a man who would rather talk than fight, lad," the old ranger said with a grin, "you're a remarkable warrior."

Baylee brushed his shirt sleeve across his face, removing the fresh blood that covered it. "I never said I couldn't fight, just that I like to figure a way around it where I can. There's no way for that here."

"Agreed." Cthulad took a glance around the large room.

Only a few feet away, a hobgoblin rushed a member of the watch, knocking them both back into the mad whirl of gemstones. They flew off their feet, twisting into the invisible vortex, still wrapped in a death embrace as each sought to kill the other with their daggers. Before the struggle could last more than a few heartbeats, they were sucked into the center of the whirlwind. The gems moved with such speed and force that they penetrated the bodies of man and hobgoblin and left only corpses twisting in the storm winds.

Nevft Scoontiphp stood near the swirl of gems. He thrust his hands out to his sides, his robes snapping and cracking with the pull of the wind. His bone-white hair fluttered around his face. Without warning, lightning jumped from his hands.

A tongue of wild lightning climbed to the top of the room and ignited into a ball of white fire that illuminated the impromptu battlefield. It stayed there, lighting the whole, cavernous room. The rest of the lightning gathered around the whirl of wind and gems that were the lich's planar spell.

"You have no time, Baylee Arnvold," the baelnorn shouted grimly. "If we are to succeed here, you have to get the phylactery and destroy it. Hurry."

"Where is it?" Baylee beat back an attack by a hobgoblin, succeeding in striking a deep wound in the creature's arm. It fell away, screaming in pain.

"At the top of the stairs," Scoontiphp answered. "A room is there with a selection of vases. Shallowsoul's phylactery is an emerald drum the size of a man's head."

Baylee stepped aside as another hobgoblin rushed at him with a ' hand axe raised. He kicked the creature's shins as it streaked past, tripping the hobgoblin. The creature had only a moment to scream, then it slipped into the spell zone. The hobgoblin's head exploded when a large diamond slammed through it.

"The draw!" Scoontiphp said. "She overheard about the phylactery!"

Baylee crossed swords with two hobgoblins in his way. Sparks flew from the steel as he blocked and riposted. One of the creatures died in a handful of seconds. He side-stepped the next, gazing up at the circular stairs.

Krystarn Fellhammer ran to the stairs. At first, Baylee thought the draw was going to climb over the railing and start running up. Then he saw her lay a hand against the railing, pause for just a moment to kick her boots off, then start scurrying up the railing levels like a giant spider. Her hands and feet stuck to the stairway railing easily, moving rhythmically from one to the next.

Xuxa! Baylee called.

I'm coming, Baylee! the azmyth bat responded.

The ranger fought his way across the room. The hobgoblins and watch members were totally mixed, separated into pockets of battles. Behind them, Baylee spotted a couple dozen undead in various stages of decomposition.

Blocked by the battles spread out across the room, Baylee vaulted to the top of the nearest bookcase, then pulled himself up and ran across, leaping the gaps.

Xuxa flapped into view beside him. What is going on? she asked.

Baylee pointed at the drow, already nearly halfway up the fifty-foot expanse to the top of the room. She knows where the phylactery is too.

It is up there?

According to Scoontiphp, yes. The bookcase in front of Baylee had been knocked out of line. He wheeled and turned to the left, barely able to make the longer leap. The bookshelf teetered uncertainly under his feet for a moment, then slid over into a slow topple. By that time, the ranger had reached the end of it and made the leap to the next. He glanced over his shoulder, groaning in dismay as the books went tumbling, spines cracking as they slid across the floor and across the corpses.