James Ward - Pools of Darkness

Evaine was already unloading a backpack. "I need five uninterrupted minutes to weave my spell and destroy the pool. Make sure I'm not disturbed." She set out the magical brazier Miltiades had provided and held her breath as she lifted the cap. If the flame lit, it might hasten the spell and buy some time. For a few seconds, the brazier was still. Then a poof sounded, and the flame sprang forth. The sorceress arranged a half-dozen vials of strange liquids in front of her.

Before Ren could warn her that he might not be able to protect her during a lengthy spell, she was lost in concentration, kneeling before the viscous waters of the pool.

With little else to do, the ranger scanned the walls for possible hidden entrances. Gamaliel sniffed out the perimeter of the chamber, but neither found any hint of secret passages. Eventually Ren took up a post out of sight of the entry, clutching five of his throwing daggers. Gamaliel stood guard on the opposite side of the archway.

Evaine had been deep in concentration for nearly two minutes when the echo of running steps was heard on the stairs. Weapons and claws ready, Ren and Gamaliel were relieved to see Miltiades and Andoralson burst into the room. They were quickly cautioned against making noise.

"You weren't planning on having this party without us, were you?" the druid whispered. Miltiades used the moments of quiet to activate his scroll of fire protection.

"There'll be plenty of party favors to go around soon enough. Evaine is casting the spell to destroy this pool, but she needs a few more minutes. We have to buy her that time." Ren glanced around the chamber nervously.

"Too late," echoed a scraping voice. The red-robed Marcus appeared on the opposite side of the pool in a swirling crimson mist. "She won't be destroying anything today except herself." He lifted a hand and sent a spray of deep red motes of light at the three men. The energy sizzled in the chamber and bathed the room in an eerie light as it raced toward them with deadly speed.

Ren and Gamaliel sprang toward Evaine to block the blast, but Andoralson waved his hand and diverted the energy into the dark pool. The mystical waters gurgled and absorbed the awesome power of the tiny meteors without apparent effect.

Miltiades stalked toward Marcus, humming a chant of praise to Tyr.

The Red Wizard cackled, underestimating the power of the group that challenged him. He lobbed a searing fireball and a scarlet tangle of sticky webs at the undead paladin. The warrior walked easily through the flames and slashed through the webs with his sword. Then the wizard conjured a sixteen-foot snake that slithered toward Miltiades. Before the warrior could dodge, the serpent wrapped its red coils around the paladin from head to foot.

Andoralson conjured a jet of ice pellets that streaked over the pool toward Marcus, but as the sleet approached the wizard, it was diverted toward the ceiling where it froze solid into a fringe of icicles.

One by one, Ren hurled his daggers at the evil wizard. Each of the blades hurtled directly toward Marcus's heart, but then bounced off an invisible barrier and clattered to the floor. The Red Wizard cackled. "Put away your playthings, boys. You'll be mine before long." Ren swore at the crazed mage.

Andoralson and Marcus continued lobbing spells at one another. Fire, lightning, ice, mud, rocks, insects, and steam were all exchanged over the fetid pool, but all were rendered harmless by spells of defense. Rocks and mud splattered against the far walls. Lightning bolts tore chunks out of the stone. Debris began stacking up on both sides of the pool.

Gamaliel held his ground in front of Evaine, his eyes wide, claws extended. She needed less than two minutes to finish the spell. Already, the edges of the inky pool were beginning to boil in a white froth.

Ren suspected the rest of his ordinary daggers would be repelled by Marcus's magic. It was time to change tactics. From his boot he drew Right, one of his two specially enchanted daggers. As the silver blade streaked toward the Red Wizard, Marcus tossed five miniature hands carved of stone over the pool toward Ren's feet.

The evil wizard ignored Ren's dagger, expecting it to bounce off his magical shields. But the weapon pierced the barriers to bury itself in the wizard's lung.

Marcus crumpled to the floor with a howl. Blood oozed from his chest. Struggling to breathe, he summoned something black into his hand, gripping it tightly.

Gamaliel pounced on the stone hands, swatting two of them into the pool, but the three that remained melded with the floor and grew into hands of black marble, each larger than a bear. Ren and Gamaliel were suddenly grasped by their throats and pulled to the floor by the giant hands. The life was being choked out of them. No amount of scratching, clawing, or wrestling could loosen the stony grips.

The monstrous red snake still surrounded Miltiades. The paladin was no longer visible.

A black marble hand was wrapped around Evaine's throat, pinning her to the floor and choking her. The pool of darkness boiled and frothed, emitting the foul odor of sulfur, but it was unclear whether the sorceress had finished her spell.

Andoralson stood helplessly staring at his friends. Then a tremendous thud echoed behind him. He whirled around to face the archway leading to the stairs.

"Latenat!" a gravelly voice bellowed. Before the druid's eyes, an enormous black-winged creature was beginning to materialize.

Andoralson choked as the enormous pit fiend materialized in front of him. Leathery flesh, huge batlike wings, and talons longer than the druid's hand stood between him and the stairway. The creature's eyes blazed a deathly red. The stench of old blood quickly filled the chamber, but the beast surprised the druid by ignoring him. Instead the fiend strode around him to the opposite side of the pool where Marcus lay bleeding. The snarl that arose from the fiend shook the walls and sloshed the foul waters of the pool.

"I had them, you idiot! The people of Phlan were ready to follow me out of the city straight to this pool! How could you be so foolish as to summon me? Latenat!" the fiend roared.

A trickle of blood escaped from one corner of the wizard's mouth as he wheezed and struggled for enough air to argue. "I'm dying! Quit your ranting and save me!"

"You have a punctured lung. You're not dying, fool. Latenat! Argh!" The fiend hissed as he grasped the dagger to pull it from Marcus's chest. Its touch seared the fiend's tough hide. Tanetal wrapped the wizard's cloak around the hilt and pulled.

Ignored by Marcus and the fiend, Andoralson seized the opportunity and ran to Evaine's side. She was still pinned by the hand, her throat bruised and swollen. Not knowing whether his spell would work, the druid took a chance and directed a swirl of blue energy around the stone fist. In seconds, the rock dissolved into a puddle of mud. The sorceress rolled over, coughing and choking, trying to clear the mud from her face.

SMASH! An ear-splitting shatter erupted next to the druid and wizard. They saw Miltiades, white bones dripping in blood, bashing away at the hand that gripped Ren.

"We thought you were a goner!" Andoralson gasped.

"Not a chance!" the paladin answered without ceasing his swings. "I don't breathe, so I cannot suffocate. These bones are sharp. It was just a matter of time before I sliced my way out of the snake." Another blow shattered the giant hand and released Ren. Miltiades immediately set to work to free Gamaliel.

But the bashing had also caught the attention of the pit fiend. He looked up to see a strange skeletal warrior smashing the black marble hands with the hilt of his sword. His work had released a human and an enormous cat from the marble traps. "What has been happening here? Latenat!" he bellowed at Marcus. The wizard could only gurgle in pain.