03 Screams of Stone by Forgotten Realms

Author:Forgotten Realms [Realms, Forgotten]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-04-10T16:06:00.839000+00:00

In the center of the room, ringed by an ornamental railing of polished brass, was a hole down which a spiral stairway sank into the room below. Even as Pristoleph assured himself that there was no one on the stair, a scuffle of booted feet sounded from below, and the head of one of his black firedrake guards appeared, scanning the room with a furrowed brow over his coal-black eyes. He saw Pristoleph and came up to the top of the stairs. "Ransar?" the firedrake said. "All is well?" "I believe so, Sergeant Nevor," Pristoleph said, "but I have the strangest" Pristoleph was silenced by the black firedrake's shuddering, strangled cry of shock and pain. The dark-skinned, black-clad man's knees buckled and he dropped to the floornot dead, but nearly so. His longaxe clattered onto the wood floor next to him. Pristoleph stood as the huge, terrifying form of a water naga shimmered into existence. It stood just at the top of the stairs, behind Nevor, and by the way it held its right hand, Pristoleph could tell that it was the naga's touch that had felled his guard. But not his only guard. "Firedrakes!" Pristoleph called. The naga, slithering on its blue-green scales, charged him, its clawed hands out in front of it, its fangs bared and its forked tongue flicking in and out of its mouth. "Firedrakes, to me!" Pristoleph drew the dagger from his belt and tried to jump to the side to avoid the charging naga, but his shin clipped the marble bench. He fell to his right and the naga slithered past him, raking along the left side of his chest and digging ragged furrows in his skin that flared with burning pain. He let loose a hissing curse as the dagger fell from his hand. He clambered away from the naga, literally crawling across the floor. The naga surged forward at him, and he grabbed for the . dagger. The weapon looked small, hopelessly insufficient when compared to the bulk of the massive creature, but it was enchanted to bite a little deeper, hurt a little more, and slice a little faster than any ordinary dagger. Pristoleph didn't usually come to his statue gallery armed at all, so he had to be thankful that he'd thought to carry the dagger with him that day. Surging above him, the naga opened its eyes wide and hissed at him, the humanlike, feminine face and arms the only thing about it that wasn't a hellish serpent. Pristoleph felt a tingling wash over his body and he rolled away. A burst of panic welled up within him. "Guards!" he screamed, and only then heard them coming up the stairs. The naga heard it too and backed off enough to look at the stairs without giving Pristoleph too easy an opening with his dagger. The ransar picked up the knife with a shaking hand and paused long enough to fight back the fear. He could feel it fall away

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