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ZHENGYI&039;S ALTERNATE WORLD

So complete was the castle construction that by the tiates the next stone ay leading to them On the walls to either side of the closed portcullis, half-for troupe, and in the few rew into an even more defined forain this night," Mariabronne noted "Wingha defensive posture"

"For all the good that&039;ll do &039;erumbled

"Then let us be quick about our task," Ellery replied

"We heroes," Entreri ht beside him at the back of the line, could hear

The droas about to respond, but he felt a sudden tug at his sensibilities Not sure what that ical button on his waistcoat, wherein he had stored the skull geular face Could it be that the ing his skull gem near to the new construct?

Mariabronne was first to the portcullis, its iron spikes as thick as his arh the bars at the castle&039;s lower bailey

"It appears empty," he reported as the others carapnel over the wall, perhaps, and locate the hoist"

"No need," Canthan said, and the thin wizard nodded at Athrogate

"Bah!" the dwarf snorted and he ed Mariabronne aside "Gonna pop out e"

"We all have our uses," Canthan replied to him "Some of us attend to them without so le yer fingers while some of us stop clubs with our faces"

"Good that there&039;s not much beauty to steal then"

"Bah!"

The other seven listened with some anantly

"Those two sound a bit fah not as witty, of course, and therein lies the rub," said the drow

Athrogate spat in his hands and grabbed at the portcullis, knees bent He grunted and tried to straighten, to no effect, so he gave another roar, spat in his hands again, and reset his grip

"A little help, if ye rabbed the portcullis on one side of the dwarf, while both Pratcus and Olgerkhan positioned themselves on the other side

"Not yerselves, ye bunch o&039; dolts," the dwarf grumbled

Behind they rolled out froed and bones crackled as they grew, and Athrogate swelled to the size of a large ain!" the dwarf demanded, his voice even more resonant

Canthan uttered a second enchantre, his already rowled in his booan to straighten his legs

The portcullis groaned in protest, but the dwarf pressed on, bringing it up fro!" he howled, but even as he said it, even as Entreri and Ellery both an to bend, and the other three couldn&039;t begin to slow the descent of the huge barrier

Entreri, the quicker by far to the ground, was also the quicker to halt hisEllery as he went and deflect her enough so that she did not get pinned under the heavy spiked gate as it crashed back to earth The commander cried out, as did Arrayan and Pratcus, but Canthan ht up in the curious sensations of the skull ge of the portcullis, let alone the near loss of one of their coer than before, his eyes widened and he fell back several steps

"Oh, ye son of a bar whore!" Athrogate cursed, and it did not miss Jarlaxle&039;s notice that Entreri shot the dwarf a quick glance that would have curdled ate&039;s swift descent, the droondered? Or was it those feords? Very rarely did Jarlaxle glimpse into the depths of the puzzle that was Artemis Entreri, for the disciplined assassin rarely wore his eh

Athrogate storether and repeatedly tightening his belt, a great and decorated girdle with a silver buckle set with crossed lightning bolts

"By the gods, dwarf," Mariabronne said to Athrogate "I do believe that you were lifting that practically by yourself, and that our helping hands were of little or no consequence When you bent, I felt as if aupon h he hardly sounded convinced

"Then I pray you cast the enchantate will rise with ease in that case"

"My spells are exhausted," the wizard said, as unconvincingly as the dwarf

Jarlaxle looked fro theement had played some role, but that was not the source of the dwarf&039;s incredible strength Again Athrogate went to his belt, tightening it yet another notch, and the drow sirdles said to ireatest of which were the stor bolts across ate&039;s belt buckle and the lightning bolts it displayed

Athrogate went back to stand in front of the portcullis, hands on hips and staring at it as if it were a betraying wife Once or twice he started to reach out and touch the thick bars, but always he retracted his hands and grumbled

"I ain&039;t about to lift it," he finally adain and nodded as the first of Canthan&039;s enlargee hed and turned about, he was a dwarf again Inti, to be sure, but still a dwarf

"Over the wall, then," said Mariabronne

"Nah," the dwarf corrected

He pulled his twin lassteel gleaht the handle of the one in his left hand up before his face and whispered soan to ooze fro the whole of the business end of the weapon Then he brought up the right-hand weapon and similarly whispered, and the liquid oozed forth on that one too, only the gooey stuff was blue-gray instead of red

"Get back, ye dolt," he said when Ellery et any o&039; this on that splendid silver arrowl and he put hisspins above his head Then he turned a co hty swing against one of the portcullis&039;s vertical bars He folloith a smash from the other weapon, one that created an explosion that shook the ground beneath the feet of all the stunned onlookers Another spin beca - one, two, and alith the red-colored- a perpendicular bar

Another hit took that crossing, horizontal bar again To the a with a sour expression, the thick cross bar broke in half, ate back went to work on his initial target, one of those spikes

The red-colored weapon head clanged against it, about eye level with the furious, wildly-dancing dwarf, followed by a strike with the bluish one a bit lower down

The spike bent outward Athrogate hit it again in the sah rooh and into the castle bailey

Athrogate ca around him He planted his hands on his hips and inspected his handiwork then gave a nod of acceptance

"For a bit of a kick is why ye gotwhile I got &039;em fired?"

Seven stunned expressions and the look of one bored wizard ca, "Bwahaha!"

"Would that he slips with both and hits himself repeatedly in the face," Entreri one, my friend Entreri can take his place?" the drow quipped back

"Shut up"

"He is a powerful ally"

"And a hty enereed

Entreri did just that, staring hard at the dwarf, who stood with hands on hips, gazing through the gap he had haic and muscle, were noteworthy, the assassin knew, as was the ease hich Athrogate handled his weapons Entreri didn&039;t particularly like the dwarf and wanted to throttle him with every stupid rhyme, but the assassin respected the dwarf&039;s martial prowess He suspected that he would soon co forward to the appoint between the two satehouses, the castle&039;s lower bailey opened wide To either side of the gatehouse corridor they could see openings: stairwells leading to the wall top, with perhaps inner tunnels snaking through the alls

"Left, right, or center?" Athrogate asked "Best we quickly enter"

"Will you stop that?" Entreri deot a typical, "Bwahaha!" in reply

"The book is straight back, yes?" Mariabronne asked Arrayan, as standing at his side

The wos Her eyes fixed upon the central keep, the largest structure in the castle, which looht back I think"

"Do better than that," Canthan bade her, but Arrayan had only a weak and apologetic expression in response

"Then straight ahead," Ellery told the dwarf

Entreri noticed that Jarlaxlein protest The drow stayed silent, though, and noted the look the assassin was offering his way

"Be ready," Jarlaxle quietly warned

"What do you know?"

Jarlaxle only shrugged, but Entreri had been around the drow long enough to understand that he would not have said anything if he wasn&039;t quite sure that trouble was loo at the castle, the dark stones and hard iron, Entreri had the saates and halted on the ate at the lead, Pratcus and Ellery close behind Jarlaxle paused as soon as he slipped through the portcullis, and swayed with a sudden weakness An overwhel of power seemed to focus its sentient attention on him He looked at Arrayan and knew iressed far beyond her

The drow&039;s eyes went to the ground ahead, and in his mind he looked down, down, past the skeletons buried in the old graveyard, for that is what the place once had been He visualized tunnels and a great cha for him

The others took no note of Jarlaxle&039;s delay, for they were s dotted the open bailey: a stable against the left-hand wall immediately inside, a blacksht, and a pair of long, low-ceilinged barracks stretching back from both side walls to the base of the taller wall that blocked the inner bailey The only freestanding structure was a round, two-story, squat tower, set two-thirds of the way across the courtyard before the gates of the inner wall

Mariabronne moved up beside Ellery and reeate to lead the way