Party at Castle Grof (7 page)

“Aye Lady t’is strangely quiet, but I shall nae count on it staying that way.” Arnhammen set out four blue quartz cubes two on either side of the party, setting them down in the centre and began to pray over his medallion of Tyr.

The cubes glowed, rose from the ground and began to spin around them, just over their heads. A translucent barrier surrounded them with a pale blue light.

“Why in the Mother’s name have you put a leash on that thing, Ariana?” Erendell frowned, examining the cube minutely, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“It’s just in case I forget that I’ve set it off.” Ariana fiddled with the Mech, opening a flap, turning a dial and pressing a button or two, seemingly randomly. “They just dig continuously and should we be interrupted and I don’t get a chance to stop it, I’d lose it.”

“Aye, Mechs o’any sort are on the expensive side o’costly. We would nae want tae lose it.” The dwarf grunted through his prayer. With a final smattering of Dwarfish, he finished and kissed the medallion. “There, that should do it.”

“I hope I’m not prying, Arnhammen, but what exactly does this barrier do? It doesn’t look very substantial,” Aranok asked.

“’Tis a Warding o’ Holy Tyr. Should any undead chance upon it, they will feel Lord Tyr’s wrath upon their unholy forms,” The dwarf said.

Aranok didn’t feel confident about the almost non-existent shield, so he put Grald and Erendell on opposite sides of the blue lit area and set himself just beside Ariana as the Mech began its work.

The small copper cube unfolded and expanded itself into what looked like a metal gremlin with clawed scoops instead of paws. The Mech leapt into the air to cling to the wall near the ceiling with its feet, then rapidly dug with its front paws, sending rock flying until it broke through the stone facing on the wall. Once through that, the Mech began to dig down until its feet were on the floor. As soon as the Mech had created a shallow niche it expanded again, becoming taller than Grald and wider than Arnhammen.

“Ye set it to the barbarian’s height? My compliments, Lady, ye hae been studying the rudiments o’tunnelling it seems.” Arnhammen said.

Ariana blushed. “It seemed like a good idea when I bought it. The Mech usually needs a second Mech behind it, shoring up the walls and ceiling, but Eliethor added a spell to its body that solidifies the dirt it leaves behind. She said it should stop any cave ins, but could still be dug through by other creatures.”

“Mother always was oddly practical for someone who lived with her head in the clouds.” Erendell sniffed.

The Mech moved forward and began to dig, shifting the loose soil behind it. As the soil left the thing’s scoops, it shrank to the size of peas.

“Another of Eliethor’s spells?” Aranok asked, scuffing his feet in the loose dirt.

Ariana nodded. “She said that she’d modified it with as many things as she could think of, so it may do a lot more than the Mechs of Arnhammen’s childhood.”

Ariana stayed with it and once they had moved into the new tunnel, Arnhammen stood and moved with them, the barrier cubes following him and still enclosing them.

The Mech moved methodically, digging in the direction Ariana had set, so it came as no surprise when they were attacked from behind by a group of skeletons.

“I knew it was too quiet,” Aranok said, slipping his sword from its sheath and positioning himself to protect Ariana.

The skeletons charged.

The barrier made several fall apart. The skeletons ignored their companion’s bones, walking straight over them.

“They’re still attacking!” Erendell called to the dwarf.

“Aye, Lassie. We’d best be crunching some bones then.” Arnhammen dropped the barrier spell, the light flaring brightly before going out and laid about him with his mace.

Grald contented himself with a thick-bladed sword breaker, the notches catching the bones and snapping them easily. Erendell had brought a holy dagger out from somewhere. The barbarian, dark elf and dwarf soon dealt with the threat.

Aranok put his sword away.
I didn’t need to worry after all.
He felt oddly self-satisfied at the thought.

Moments later, the digger hit a stone wall and Ariana stopped it untying the leash from her wrist.

“I need to use an All-Seeing Eye spell to see what is on the other side, before I use the Mech to dig through.” She sat down on the floor, away from the Mech and closed her eyes, murmuring the spell to herself.

As the others waited, Aranok’s sharp ears caught strange scratching, scuffling sounds from the other side of the wall.

* * *

“It looks as though the Hellhounds are in place, Lord. What is keeping those adventurers?” the Jar grumbled.

Aracan Katuvana moved to the window and waved a hand over Grald’s picture, then over Erendell’s picture.

On Grald’s picture, the pink ring became a deeper colour, almost the same colour as the Bougainvillea that grew wild in the tropical forests of the Southern Islands.

“Ah yes. An intriguing thought that, Lord,” the Jar cackled.

Katuvana gestured and a green glow surrounded Erendell.

“Erendell, you will activate the digger again. Grald you will assist her by doing anything she asks you to,” the Jar whispered. Both glows flickered as the instructions sank into their minds.

Katuvana went back to his throne.

* * *

“This is taking too long–we need to be in and out of the Dungeon quickly!” Aranok muttered.

Ariana said nothing, still concentrating on her spell.

“We could just dig through,” Erendell suggested brightly. Grald nodded in enthusiastic agreement, staring adoringly at her.

Aranok frowned at them.
Grald is supposed to be a renowned warrior. Why is he acting like a love struck urchin?

“Don’t be daft, Erendell. I thought you had more sense than to run into an unknown situation.”

“She is not daft!” Grald’s temper flared. “I agree with her. We ought to just dig through and deal with whatever comes when it happens.”

“Barbarians!” Arnhammen snorted. “Always rushing in swords waving before they should.”

“Because we’re brave, Underdweller! We don’t hide in holes like some people!”

Aranok groaned. “Grald, please be quiet and patient. Ariana is working as fast as she can.”

“If she’s half as powerful as my Erendell is, she’d have found out by now.” Grald moved forward, his hand on the hilt of his sword-breaker.

Aranok blinked. “
Your
Erendell?”

“Shut up,” Ariana said with her eyes closed. “I can’t hear properly.”

“Well, we’d hear it a lot better without that wall in the way. Help me, Grald!” Erendell shouted and rushed past the seated mage to the Digger Mech, followed closely by Grald. The dark elf crouched down and began to activate the Mech.

“Ye stupid Drow! Ye’re not going to do this! I willnae let ye!” Arnhammen lunged for Erendell only to run into Grald.

“You might not want her to, but you will not stop her, I’ll see to that!” the barbarian retorted and pushed the dwarf back.

A wrestling match ensued.

Aranok groaned again and tried, unsuccessfully, to push himself between Grald and Arnhammen, trying to reach his sister.

Ariana let her spell dissipate.

“What’s going on?” she asked as she opened her eyes. “No,” she gasped scrambling up onto her feet.

Erendell had activated the Digger Mech and while Aranok had been trying to break the wrestling match up, the Mech was already halfway through the wall.

“What do you think you’re doing, Erendell?” Ariana yelled.

“Aranok said it was taking too long, so I decided to speed things up a little,” the half Drow said in an unconcerned manner.

“You idiot, Erendell, there’s a guard post behind the wall! They’re…” The Mech broke through the last of the wall. Behind it stood four massive two headed dogs, drool dripping from between their six inch fangs as they growled at the party from atop a wooden platform.

“…waiting for us.” Ariana shook her head ruefully. She deactivated the Mech with a flick of a finger and a small magic pressure before it could start to dig into the platform.

Erendell backed up quickly and bumped into Grald. The barbarian dropped Arnhammen to the floor and spun to catch the elf as she fell. Aranok jumped back to avoid being knocked over. Grald set Erendell back on her feet and moved back slightly, loosening his sword in his scabbard.

“What the…?” Aranok asked, glancing between the Hell Hound and Ariana.

“No time now, Brother, we need to get out of here!” she replied, turning to run back down the tunnel.

“Going somewhere?” a voice drawled languidly from the shadows.

Arnhammen scrambled up and hurled himself between the surprised mage and the rest of the tunnel.

Ariana produced a mage globe and lit it with a gesture. It flared bright white and lit the whole tunnel revealing a figure wearing luxurious, deep red velvet, in the form of a hooded robe, its face in hidden by the shadow.

“That’s a little too bright, young human,” the voice said. “Here, let me dim it for you.” The figure made a motion with a gloved hand and the mage globe changed to a pale yellow light. “That’s much better.”

Aranok found that he couldn’t move. Neither could Ariana, Erendell or Grald.

Arnhammen pulled his mace from its sling and growled, “Get ye gone from this place, Unholy One. Get ye gone in Tyr’s name, lest ye taste His Wrath through mine Holy Mace!”

As the dwarf invoked Tyr’s name, he struck the weapon against the floor and it burst into deep blue flames. The figure shrank back from the mace as Arnhammen advanced on it and the hood on the robe fell back, revealing the figure’s face.

Aranok gasped “Liana!”

“No, Half Human. I am the Lych Mistress, Keeper of this Dungeon that you shall soon languish in,” the elven woman replied harshly. “Seize them!”

Around them ten women appeared, all dressed in skimpy tight leather outfits with high-heeled boots. They seemed to have no weapons but their long fingernails were filed into points and their long hair was plaited and tipped with blades.

“Ye shall never take us, Unholy One, for no matter who ye be, the power of Tyr be far greater!” Arnhammen roared and charged at the Lych Mistress.

Four of the women dove on the dwarf and he bashed them away like so many flies at the end of a horse’s tail. They slammed up against the walls of the tunnel, disturbing the solidifying spell so that earth crumbled around them. The women screeched, showing sharpened teeth.

Arnhammen ignored them and attacked the Lych Mistress again. This time his mace made contact and the elven woman screeched and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

The rest of the party found they could move again and, drawing their weapons, attacked the other six women. The first four attacked Arnhammen again, trying to get close enough to scratch him. He smashed two of them to the ground, caving their skulls in like melons, the pink-grey brain matter and shards of bone splashing over the dirt.

Ariana loosed fireball after fireball at the two women who attacked her. She took the first one’s stomach out with a single shot and only just managed to cremate the second one, before she had her eyes scratched out. She fell back against the wall gasping, and dragged a vial bearing the pale green fluid of a mana return potion from her belt pouch, downing it in one gulp.

The moment Erendell could move, she pulled out her long daggers and whirled on her assailants without thinking. The speed of her attack surprised them and two stabs later she was free enough to help Aranok, who was having problems keeping one woman at bay long enough to kill the other one.

“You always were faster than me in melee,” he panted as he managed to slice the hand off his attacker and ran her through smoothly.

“Yes, but you can fight for longer; I tire too easily,” Erendell snapped. “Careful!”

Her foe had slipped around her and had jumped at Aranok’s back, obviously intending to take advantage of his distraction to slit his throat from behind.

Erendell sliced through the back of one shapely knee and as the woman dropped to the floor, slammed her other dagger down through the enemy’s skull, the point of her dagger emerging from under the woman’s chin.

Ariana joined Arnhammen to take out the last two, having recovered her breath, and between her fireballs and his mace, they managed to beat the women into the ground, where their blood turned the dirt into mud and their flesh roasted as their clothing burned.

When all of the attackers were corpses on the floor of the newly dug tunnel, the party regrouped at the entrance; Ariana collecting the Digger Mech by levitating it to her.

“Why didn’t the Hell Hounds join in the fight?” Erendell asked no one in particular.

Aranok looked back up the tunnel where the Hell Hounds were still perched up on their wooden platforms, then calculated the distance between most of the corpses and the guard post. “I’d guess that they have an assigned area to guard and unless they are ordered otherwise or an enemy steps into the assigned area, they don’t leave their post.”