'Put out the light,' one of them said, and Duffy saw why the voice was so odd
- their cheeks had retracted, leaving their mandibles projecting nakedly under
their wide nostrilled noses.
'Get out of our way, vermin,' Duffy growled, 'or we'll put out your lights.'
The thing extended a hand tipped with five long claws, and waved them in the
air like the legs of an overturned bug. I don't think you can,' it lisped.
'Dung beetles!' shouted Aurelianus angrily. 'Listen to my voice. Listen to
his. Can it be you don't know who you're confronting?'
The thing laughed softly, an odd sound like dice shaken in a cup. 'Of course'
we know, man.'
The wizard stepped back. 'Someone's bought away their loyalty,' he whispered.
'I knew there were dangers down here born of atrophy and neglect, but I didn't
expect outright treason.'
Bought with what? Duffy wondered. Before he could ask, all three of the things
hopped forward at once as if yanked by the same string. One landed on top of
Duffy and bore him to the floor, trying to claw in under his upflung arm at
his eyes while the Irishman hacked at it with his dagger.
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Aurelianus dropped the lamp, but it rolled, still burning and unbroken, into a
corner.
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Another of the things was at Duffy now, digging at his stomach but foiled for
the moment by the chainmail hauberk under the leather tunic. Though Duffy's
flailing dagger seemed to be sinking into soft abdomen as often as it skidded
off bone, the one on top of him kept dragging its claws across his forehead
and cheeks. He could feel his own hot blood running into his ears, and other
blood was sliming his dagger-gripping fingers and running down his wrist. All
he could smell was goaty fur and all he could hear were his own involuntary
screams.
Then something collided, hard, with the thing crouched on his chest. The
Irishman rolled out from under and slammed his dagger to the hilt into the
face of his other attacker, roughly where its eye would have been, and it
rolled over backward so convulsively that the dagger was wrenched out of his
hand.
Scrambling up into a crouch he turned to face the first one'- and saw only two
motionless bodies sprawled on the floor. He spun to see how Aurelianus was
faring, and saw the old wizard pushing aside a limp form to go pick up the
lantern.
Duffy straightened up and relaxed; then his knees buckled and he allowed
himself to sit down heavily. 'I thought.. .there were only.. .three of them,'
he panted.
'oh. I see.' Aurelianus had approached with the light, and Duffy now noticed
that the fourth creature, which had knocked the thing with claws off his
chest, was different. He rolled it over with his foot, and saw again the slit
pupilled eyes and wide grin, now lifeless. Its throat had been sheared right
across by the spider-thing's claws, but the hilt of its short sword stood up
from the bristly white chest of its slayer. Which was nearly my slayer too,
Duffy reflected.
'It seems he decided to pay the toll himself,' Aurelianus remarked lightly.
'Grab your dagger -
and the little' sword if you like, though I don't think we'll have any more
trouble - and let's go. This lamp won't light us all the way to the top as it
is.'
Duffy resented Aurelianus' airy tone. 'A brave thing died here,' he said
gruffy.
'Hm? Oh, the beastie with the big eyes. True the wages of courage is death,
lad, but it's the wages of everything else, too. The common penny, the coin of
the realm. Stop to mourn for every good man that's died for us and you'd never
get from bed to the chamber-pot. Come on.
The Irishman braced himself on his numb hands, got his legs under him and
shakily stood up. His vision was flickering, and he had to lean against the
wall and stare at the floor, breathing deeply, to keep from fainting.
Your bed is waiting for you up there,' said the old man. 'Onward and upward.'
The light did wink out while they were on the tightly twisting stairwell, but
they groped their way to the top with no further incidents. Duffy was nearly
unconscious, and no more aware of his situation than if he'd been dreaming.
None of his injuries actually hurt, though he felt hot and swollen and
throbbing all over. After a long period of stair-shuffling, a change in the
air-
temperature made him open his eyes and look around. They were in the dark, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]