Thanquol and Boneripper by C L Werner

Author:C L Werner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-08T12:32:14+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THE SERPENT AND THE RAT

As the great serpent started to move, everything within the Temple of Sotek descended into chaos. The ratmen, so menacing only an instant before, began a madcap scramble back down the stairs. Adalwolf watched them overwhelm even the huge rat ogre in their terror-ridden flight.

Adalwolf ran for the nearest column, thinking to hide himself from the snake the way van Sommerhaus had. He shouted for Hiltrude to do the same and risked a glance in her direction, fearing that she would be frozen with horror again. He breathed easier when he saw the woman scrambling for cover. Instead it was Grey Seer Than­quol who stood transfixed before the serpent’s approach. The mercenary shouted joyfully when he saw the snake slither unharmed through the villain’s spells and swallow the sorcerer with a single bite.

Thinking of Than­quol’s magic made Adalwolf remember Diethelm. Cursing the fear that had made him hide from the snake, he looked across the floor of the temple to the priest’s prone figure. He couldn’t think what had happened to Diethelm, he only knew he had to try and help the man. Honour would demand nothing less. For the moment the snake was occupied trying to swallow its latest meal. If he was fast, Adalwolf knew he would be able to pass it in safety. Steeling his heart for the effort, and with one watchful eye on the snake, the warrior made a frantic dash to the fallen priest.

When he turned Diethelm onto his back, Adalwolf knew the priest was dead. He also discovered the reason for the man’s collapse. It had not been the strain of keeping the great serpent mesmerised, as the mercenary had thought. There was an inch-long dart sticking from Diethelm’s neck, and the veins surrounding the ugly sliver were black with the poison that had coated it. Adalwolf clenched his fists in impotent fury at such a cowardly way of dealing death. One of the ratmen, no doubt, trying to remove the one man who could threaten them.

Adalwolf glared at the bulge in the serpent’s neck. Than­quol had paid for the murderous treachery of his minions. Whatever he had thought to accomplish by killing Diethelm, the mercenary was certain that ending up as a meal for the snake had been the last thing Than­quol had planned on.

A sharp scream pierced Adalwolf’s ears. He turned away from the great serpent, looking again across the floor of the temple. He could see Schachter, the gold sword clenched in his fist, pulling Hiltrude from her hiding place. The sea captain was trying to take her with him down one of the many tunnels opening into the temple. With one of his hands closed about her throat, the courtesan had little choice but to go with him.

‘Sommerhaus!’ Adalwolf cried out, gesturing madly to the patroon. Van Sommerhaus peered out from behind his column and Adalwolf could see that he understood the meaning of the mercenary’s wild gestures. He glanced at Schachter, took a few tenuous steps in the man’s direction, then retreated when the captain waved his sword at him.

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