Page 116 (1/1)

The torch died in his hand He groped for the spare one tucked in his belt, but a big hand closed over his, to stop hi could stop Beor frorowl

In the silence, he heard what Beor and Kel were straining to hear: the distant clash of aweirdly down the labyrinth of iron halls Beor pushed past Alain to take the lead, but he had gone no farther than ten steps, past two branching tunnels, before he faltered Some trick of the labyrinth made the sound fade For a mo man turned back to try one of the other tunnels, but the hounds surged past him, Alain in their wake, and continued on in the sae twisted, the clah they went quickly, still Alain was careful toso that they could return

His sight had adjusted to the di shadows and streaks of light over the uncannily regular curve of the tunnel’s ceiling, he had no trouble ht up the rear

He had no trouble round banked sharply down, and half slid into a chaht that blinded hiht

One of the hounds barreled into hiered back into the shadowed archway of the tunnel, fell to his knees, and flung up his staff, thinking he would be struck dohile he was helpless No blow came

Not four steps in front lay an abyss, into which he had alle, he couldn’t see its bottom

The clash of ar it hard to tell where it was coest of all, he heard no voices, as if theconducted in silence The hounds did not bark or cry out a warning Kel whispered a word: skrolin! Beor gave a sharp hiss to keep Kel quiet

Bright light flared again and iiant’s breath had blown out a rack of ten torches, leaving only one burning By this light, Alain saw aout on the other side of the chasainst slender, srown children whose skin had been polished until it had thethe warriors’ helmets and armor convulsed with their ht in the di on the round shields held by the little people, shields incised with strange geonize In their left hands these shters held slender clubs with knobby heads that seemed inadequate to the task of war

All at once, Alain saw Adica, caught in the mob, her hands bound A man with a helmet crested entirely with snohite feathers shoved her forward into the hands of his foreave into a larger passage: their escape route

Beor nudged Alain, pointing

A bridge spanned the chasm

"Ashioi," Beor continued in a low voice "Fe skrolin d’Ashioiket"

Alain set two fingers to his lips for silence and crept forward

The narrow bridge was cunningly spun out of massive iron rope He crossed swiftly, crouched loith the hounds at his heels and the two e swayed beneath his tread No one on the other side had seen the alive as the battle swayed back and forth, voices grunting, coughing, and once a shriek of pain, quickly cut off

The light changed again, brightening with a flash The skrolin leaped forward in unison to grapple with their enemies Now Alain could see that the skrolin weapon wasfros with drops of venoht They used it to strike at the legs of their taller opponents, bringing them down One masked warrior, forced to her knees, came eye-to-eye with the sht The skrolin punched its shield into her beautiful hawk’swood, but as the skrolin drew back for another strike, the kneeling warrior wrapped the haft of her spear behind the neck of the skrolin to force it against its own shield, choking it until its eyes bulged and its head began to loll as it fought for air Its hel sound before plu into the black pit

Alain leaped fro his staff in a full arc, he caught the warrior on the side of the head to knock her flat The skrolin struggled, squirmed, and rolled away The fallen woh the shattered hed open as in death Had he killed her? But sheback, still stunned