Part 3 (1/2)

Sunbright huffed in the clear ht blinding sun reflected froray, naked rocks Far in the distance, beyond lesser peaks, lay soreen land to the south

Knucklebones sipped chilly air and waited for the barbarian to begin the trek down, but he stood stock-still His lover realized he seethed inside, furious, the insult of being thrown out finally fanned to a white-hot rage Yet he breathed deep, sed his anger, and finally summed up, ”A hard life makes a hard people But still, they could haveBut nevertoo fast on the icy slope

That was a contrast between theer flared quickly, and quickly died, Sunbright took a long ti low but hot, perhaps for days, then exploding

Meekly, Knucklebones picked after hiht too was hard, for the tundra hadon his own, had hardened hih as tempered steel But even steel could shatter under tension, and the constant disappoint Green, being dragged to the future against his will to be chased and abused, failing to find his tribe, being refused hospitality by dwarves he'd pledged to visit

”Hard lands and hard people, yes,” she ht

Don't harden your heart”

The casura hung in the air, dozens of ; spidery hands threatening, pitching rocks, sticks, bones, and shafts and blades of broken weapons The ghost argued with itself, for it was coether by violent death, and they hated one another

Yet the sound of scratching feet stilled it The casura turned to the noise, for that host hated anything that lived

Onto the littered floor of the cavern trod the flint ranite, crunched underfoot a hundred bones, hooves, horns, jawbones full of fangs, rib cages, segments of tails without flesh That hundreds had died hereto the oal

” This way out Must be the way out Must be Need to get free, and kill lanced around, sniffed through nostrils that were host caraveyard reek, dead flesh and turned earth Too, the dark air of the cavern resounded with sinister rattling, knocking, scratchings, and skittery, uneven footsteps Yet none of these warnings deterred the flintcaves

Suddenly, in the darkness, loomed a host of eyes, all sizes and shapes and colors, all flalare was so intense the cavern was bathed in yellohite light that flickered along the broken walls like firefly glow The casura was nothing but eyes and ether like chopped grasshoppers caught in a threshi+ng basket The gathered ghost stretched thin in spots, held together as if by fish glue, while other parts were clumps of eyes and hands and ing to the walls, touching the floor in spots An awful and ilare sparkled on theeyes showed no fear The flint host, for it hated all souls: living, dead, or in between Without eyelids, the exposed eyeballs were a shocking blue in its dark carapace

Yet there was recognition here Ages ago, it seemed, the casura's hasts, blind giants, barbed fiends, things without naether they'd battled the enemies of Prinquis, arch-fiend of these pits Until treachery brought down the balor of the Abyss, ancient, deadly ene whips to slay everythingin this vast throne room

And the flint monster had been one of those enemies And still was

A howl echoed fro hands snatched rocks, skulls, and broken blades, and flung the lethal lot at the flinthar noise, nor the rolling waves of hatred The flintoutside could hurt it

Raising two long, lass, the monster retaliated From one hand exploded bolts of pure darkness, shafts blacker than host Eyes popped into jots of gore, twisted hands were splintered to fragments, mouths had teeth smashed out and knocked to the four winds From the monster's other hand spun a ind of blades sharper than steel Propellers of dweoh ectoplasm like water, ricocheted fro Phanto spirits of fiends and iiants, who screeched in protest as they were killed yet again They howled too because they knew they would heal again, slowly, in agony, never dying, never cured, again hanging in this chamber to die anew For such was the nature of this pocket hell, that all the denizens suffered, died, and were resurrected to suffer forever

Before long, darkbolts and inds of steel ripped the casura into shreds like a sundered cobweb Ichor and blood and snot and ectoplashastly rain onto the antique bones and weapons of the dead below Ghostly beings shriveled, died, retreated, shouted, hated one another and the the flint monster in theirtunnel it scuffled, searching Its dark-bred senses were attuned to the air, the rock, the dust and decay, constantly seeking any sign of outside life

And far dohere rocks had collapsed the tunnel to a hand's height, the monster sniffed a trace

Rusty water, far off The n, for nowhere in this corner of hell was there any standing water, for thirst was another for, and the arch-fiend who ruled here liked his subjects to suffer

Any water, no matter how foul, came from outside

”My enemy, she sealed us in But not all Sloppy work, sloppy I shall be free, outside, at last Free to wreak vengeance To kill”

Scrabbling with hands hard as dia at crumbled rock

Chapter 4

”That's it! Put up your fists!” bawled Delht shot back

Bothwhile everyone else hollered

Delht but broad as an ox across the shoulders He had dark skin, dark, curly hair and a beard to his chest, a tight blue shi+rt hacked off at the shoulders, and woolen breeches above rawhide boots His arms and fists were hard as oak stu horses, and he kne to brahich was ht could boast

But the barbarian was furious, having fumed for weeks at the jeers Delmar pitched his way It was inevitable that tempers would explode into flame

Dark Delht's toes to distract hiiven the chance The barbarian danced niht's ribs Sunbright was rocked half off his feet by the treuards, cooks, and others-including Knucklebones-circled to watch and cheer and slap down bets The caravan caht livening up an overcast summer afternoon The only one not thrilled was Knucklebones, who held one hand over her ht

Crooked to one side by aching ribs, Sunbright guarded his left and whirled to present his right He learned fast, and as Delht beat hilanced off, dinging a swatch off the barbarian's knuckle

Del an to swell i off vision in that eye ”Lucky!” he sneered, and ed tactics, so his off hand strove for his foe's brisket The wooden fist slaht's belly, but that was hard as iron plate itself and did little dae Rather, the barbarian hammered both fists onto Delmar's neck and knocked the man into the dust

Delmar crashed, but he didn't stay down, vulnerable to kicks, for long Flailing his hands blindly, he caught one of Sunbright's s, and yanked

Upset, the warrior crashed on his ru his fists Huht between the legs The barbarian barely flicked his knee sideways, kicked and flopped like a fish ashore, and rolled over his shoulder backward to get away By the ti dust froler's shoulder sla hiht rahtened beast whinnied and hopped, alht's toes with iron-shod hooves Delhter into Sunbright's breastbone, crowding andhis foe while he pounded haht could barely keep his feet as the horse danced sideways, unpropping him If he fell, Delhtening his gut, Sunbright felt berserker rage flooding hisso froet in solee, he bashed Del his own knuckles on both hands

Then soed the beast to safety Sunbright reeled backith Del his breadbasket Both ed to shove Delmar to one side while he fell to the other He landed hard on one cheek, rattling his teeth and jolting his spine, but curled and spun and whirled to face his attacker iht al his head, and felt a thunderous fist scrape his cheek Since Delht arm to bowl the ht's neck, latched onto his long horsetail, and yanked viciously Neck creaking, Sunbright's nose wasthe chance, Sunbright bit on ropy muscle with keen, white teeth

Delain, but had to let go for pain Losing his teler drove the heel of his free hand at Sunbright's face to break his nose

But the barbarian ducked, relying on ni out with both hands pointed, he struck Delover into more blows; instead he snapped his head back That suited Sunbright, who raround

Catching Delhtful clack of bruised teeth

Stunned, the wrangler took three aard steps backward, and crashed on his back