We are battling, my mate, came Zav’s telepathic voice as I hacked at the second hinge. The lich has flown to a cave in the mountainside and is throwing her power at us. My kin and I must kill her and avenge Braytokinor. They are frenzied and not worried about poisonous air. Can you look for that artifact? I fear she will activate it.
Working on it. And I think she already has, so have everyone hold their breath. Pale red light came out of the firebox, the open door revealing a dragon-shaped artifact that looked like a giant tea kettle. It rested on the bottom, pulsing with intense energy and probably poisoning the air and my lungs right now. A faint red mist trickled from its spout and wafted up the vent pipe in the back.
I fumbled for the leather thong around my neck and rubbed the charm that Zoltan had made for me that summer. It had protected me before against toxic stuff in the air. Whether it would do so here, I had no idea, but just in case…
After activating the charm, I tapped the artifact with my borrowed sword. Images of breaking it filled my mind, but raw power jolted me backward again. Cursing, I stumbled away. That time, the sword hadn’t insulated me.
“Can’t touch it, so how do I turn it off?” That urge to break the artifact came over me again, but all that would do was release all the poison at once. Li and I would be dead. “Gotta cut it off.”
Using the sword, I shut the firebox door again, then eyed the pipe. If I could tie it in a knot… Or melt it closed.
I almost ran back to Li to grab Chopper, since one of its commands was krundark—heat. But the elf who’d told me about those commands had said they were commonly used when enchanting dwarven swords. Maybe my borrowed blade had the ability too.
Careful not to touch the stove again, I leaned the flat of the sword against the pipe. “Krundark!”
The blade turned cherry red. Palpable heat radiated from it, but nothing happened to the pipe. The stove was magical too. Maybe heat wouldn’t melt the metal.
Li grunted as she continued to fight, Chopper slamming into skeletons and breaking bones. Several foes had fallen to the floor around her, but she’d been injured before she started, and I doubted she could hold out much longer. I was about to try something else—maybe I could cut the pipe in half and shove a sock in it—but then the metal gave way, sagging inward.
“Yes,” I breathed and shifted to another spot, hoping to melt the sides together and seal the pipe without letting any poison out into our air. “C’mon, sword.”
More metal melted. Then a gap appeared.
“Hold your breath!” I yelled.
I swung the sword hard, hoping to slice through the pipe above the melt spot. It cleaved through, the blade clanging off the wall behind it. I forced the crumpling sides of the pipe inward, then laid the hot blade on top, shaping the sagging metal to form a cap. Just in case my own magic helped, I willed the warped pipe to create a hard seal.
The hissing disappeared. I hoped that meant I’d done enough, especially since the artifact was still pulsing inside.
As I drew back, my elbow brushed the stove. White light flashed, and it blasted me with angry energy far stronger than before. It was as if it knew I’d destroyed its pipe, and it was pissed.
The power knocked me back twenty feet, the sword flying from my hand. I struck the ground hard, painful energy buzzing my nerves like a chainsaw.
On my hands and knees, I scrambled farther away, terrified the magic of the stove would allow it to destroy my seal, that the toxic air would spew into the chamber, and that I’d condemned Li and myself to death. But when I glanced back, the pipe was still melted closed.
A scream came from across the chamber. The skeletons rushed in, trampling Li, who had fallen to the ground.
“No!” I yelled, lunging to my feet.
A dozen skeletal warriors rushed at me, running over Li. She wasn’t moving and didn’t react.
I’d lost the dwarven sword, but I yanked out Fezzik and fired. The bullets broke through skulls and ribs, shattering bone on the warriors, but they pressed on toward me. Even more of them flowed in from the tunnel. I backed away, but there was nowhere for me to run.
Fezzik clicked, empty. And I had no more ammo.
I scrambled back, glancing left and right. Where had that sword gone?
My back struck the wall, and the skeletons advanced, far too many to fight. I lifted my arm to throw Fezzik, but that would be pointless. I gripped it like a club to defend myself as they hefted their axes.
And then they froze.
I stared at them, my back to the wall, my heart pounding in my chest.
Val! Zav’s voice rang in my mind, startling me.
I’d been too afraid for my life to pay attention to what the dragons were doing outside of the mountain.
I hope you’re on the way to help, I replied.
We have slain the lich. His telepathic voice turned smug. I got in the killing blow.
Good for you. I could still use—
One of the skeletons toppled over backward. The magic of their auras faded, and the others pitched to the floor, one by one, axes clattering atop their lifeless bones.
Never mind. I dropped to my hands and knees and pressed my forehead to the cool floor.
Hopefully, I’d destroyed the pipe in time. Hopefully, Zav would come find me and take me home. I’d had far more of this place than I’d ever wanted.
30
After I found the strength to pick myself up off the floor and navigate around the inactivated—hopefully permanently inactivated—skeletal warriors, I checked to see if Li had survived and might yet be helped. But she was dead, her sightless eyes staring up at the black ceiling.
A tangle of emotions twisted inside of me. She’d lied to me, tricked me, and stolen my sword, but she hadn’t killed me when she’d had the opportunity, and in the end, she’d bought me the time I needed to find the artifact. Maybe she had come here to steal ancient dwarven goodies, but nobody deserved to cross paths with a lich. And I believed what she’d said—that she hadn’t had any choice but to do the lich's bidding. Having been the victim of magical compulsions before, I had no trouble imagining the scenario.
Gently, I pried Chopper’s hilt out of Li’s dead fingers and saluted her with the blade, a silent thank-you for the help. I tried not to feel like I’d failed her, but it was hard.
Worried for Sindari, I pulled his charm out from under my shirt. I wasn’t positive that he had made it back to his realm, and I needed to know. The thought of his mangled body lying dead in a tunnel made me sick.
My trepidation increased after I rubbed the charm and called for him and nothing happened. A long minute passed before the silver mist formed.
Sindari formed even more slowly, his silver fur matted with blood, huge gashes in his flanks and back.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted, falling to my knees beside him. “I shouldn’t have called you until Zav got here. I just had to make sure you weren’t dead.”
You may be assured that I will always return to my realm before my enemies deliver a death blow. As you know, I am wise as well as regal.
I snorted, glad he could muster the energy for humor, and wrapped my arms around his neck, being careful to avoid his wounds. “What I know is that you like to battle things, and you’re noble enough to sacrifice yourself for someone else’s sake.”