Gerzog turned his attention back toward us. “That death’s your last warning. You’ve got until the count of ten to give up before I kill the fat one. Then another ten before the gnome dies. Then you get one final count before I cut this pretty deadlander’s head off. If you’re so heartless I run out of hostages, then I’ll risk hurting the treasure, even if it gets broke, so long as I get to pry it from your dead fingers.”
Dathka butted in again, only this time, instead of being commanding, she sounded desperate. “You kill me, you’ll be missing out on more coin than you can imagine. Carcalla will pay a big ransom for my return. I’m worth far more to him than some old enchantment.”
“Why would the Latrocinium’s master give a special shit about the likes of you?”
“I’m his daughter.”
Now, surely, she was the one doing the bluffing, as her snow-colored skin and pitch-black eyes marked her as being from the Plane of Death, and Carcalla was an elf, or half-elf, if what Gerzog said was true.
Except Gerzog didn’t immediately scoff at her claim. “There’s rumors Carcalla sired a herd of bastards ’cross all the realms.”
“Check my ears if you don’t believe me.”
The orc used his knife to sweep her black hair out of the way, and sure enough, her ears were a little pointy. Not nearly as pronounced as on the elves I’d met, but more so than was natural for any human. I guess that made her a quarter-elf?
Gerzog let out a low growl. “If you speak true, then you’re too valuable to waste. We’ll keep you as insurance until the treasureis sold, then sell you to your supposed father. If it turns out you lie to me, I’ll make you beg for death.”
“Have mercy on me too,” Morton cried. “I never wanted to be an adventurer!” Then he could no longer hold back the sobs of fear and began to rant hysterically, “My family has little to pay a ransom, but you can have it all. The Smorps run the animal auction yard in the great market. Do you want an exotic pet? We offer the finest from every realm. My mother wanted me to be a zookeeper same as my father and grandfather and great grandfather before had been, unto ten generations of Smorps, but I have allergies! I tested well, so I foolishly wanted to be a wizard, but I only wanted to learn some peaceful sort of magic to get a nice job someplace civilized. I never wished for this life of danger.Please don’t kill me!”
Gerzog the Marauder clearly wasn’t in the mood to hear Morton’s life story. “I have reconsidered. Rather than the fat human, I’ll kill this small noisy one first.” He paused long enough to lift a pistol and dramatically cock the hammer, the sound of which caused our gnome to cringe. “One… Two… Three…”
There was still daylight coming from above, but the stairwell had suddenly gotten a lot darker. I glanced back to see that Sifuso and the lamp were gone. He must have retreated back into the flooding chamber.Dammit, Sifuso.I couldn’t give up the treasure now even if I wanted to.
Gerzog continued his count, slow and methodical, like he was weighing every single word as he gradually moved the muzzle of his gun downward toward Morton’s head. “Four… Five… Six…”
With my left hand, I swept one of the clayObscuraballs off my belt, and keeping that hand hidden behind my body, held it in such a way that Rade could see it, and hopefully understand my desperate plan.
“Seven… Eight…”
I concentrated on the clay long enough to activate the Black within, then dropped the ball. It erupted into a cloud of thick smoke. Something flew by my ear as Rade threw anotherObscuraup and out of the hole. It hit the sand behind Gerzog and popped.
Now everyone was blind.
Krachma released hisImpervious,but I was already shoving past him, throwing a handful of Red-activated screws. I couldn’t see a thing, but tried my best to get them over and past our captive friends, to scatter among the unseen Tooth and Claw crew.
A pistol barked. Sparks were visible briefly through the smoke. Morton yelped. Bognar let out a wail that suggested he’d been the one struck by the bullet. Then Gerzog roared as Dathka did something mean to him. From the little I knew about her, she’d likely bitten him or something. My rush up the stairs was interrupted by tripping over something small and fleshy. Morton squealed in protest as I stepped on him.
Then I was out of the hole. The big soft thing I ran into first had to be Bognar, who’d flopped over into the sand. I went over him and scrambled, blind, trying to get away from the entrance before theObscurasmoke cleared. I only knew Rade was right behind me because of the sound of a steel sword clearing a leather sheath.
Suddenly, I was out of the smoke, and face-to-face with a large fellow with an eye patch. I think we were both surprised. He saw me. I saw him. He raised a hatchet. I shot him through his good eye.
The mercenary’s head snapped back and he toppled into two of his comrades I’d not even known were there, but from the surprise on their faces, they’d not been expecting us to come charging out of the hole like madmen either. They went for theirweapons too late. I was already flinging some Red their way, and in my desperation, I’d grabbed alotmore than a pinch.
TheShroud of Fireignited and fell across their faces, thick as a blanket. Clothes and hair ablaze, eyes melting, they went flailing away. I didn’t even see the other mercenary who shot me.
The bullet struck me in the hip, and even though the Frunza charm activated to stop it, the impact still felt like someone had hit me with a hammer. It spun me around, and combined with my momentum, I crashed into the sand and went rolling.
I looked up to see a dwarf with a grin and a smoking rifle. Then Rade came out of the smoke and smoothly ran his blade straight through that dwarf’s chest. The dwarf let out a wide-eyedoof, before Rade put one boot against his belly and kicked him off the sword. When the dwarf landed, flat and awkward on his back, a fountain of blood erupted from the hole in his heart.
TheObscuradied off, leaving the two of us in plain sight of a whole bunch of armed and dangerous men, who were just now seeing two of their comrades fallen in spreading puddles of blood and two more screaming and burning. There were more mercenaries standing around the ruins of the lighthouse, and many more farther down the beach. Some had gotten stung by theScrews of Chaos, but most were unharmed. Before I could pop anotherObscura, barrels and wands swung our way.
The big man named Hans was about to blast me with some spell, except his arm got punctured by aDagger of Air.The knocked aside wand fired a purple bolt that melted a circle of sand into glass.
Rade and I had taken the slow way out of the hole. Azarin must have used anAscend, because now she was falling slowly out of the sky, wand extended, as she sent invisible knives zipping through flesh.
Even with that, we were all about to get shot or cursed, but thankfully, Rade had been faster than me, and the smokefrom his secondObscurablinded everyone once more. They still fired anyway. I felt a bullet whiz past my head. Then a glowing spectral hand grabbed hold of my collar, yanked me violently upright, and hurled my body against the unyielding stones of the lighthouse foundation.
Fuck, that hurt.
