leading the way. He followed, now seeing for the first time that bones also littered the path in several places. At least there were not many, but how they had come to be there, he could not guess. Perhaps people had fled whatever lurked within the pit. If so, the growing height of the ledge as it climbed toward the door offered little protection.
They proceeded slowly. They had to be careful of their footing on the narrow shelf, and yet at the same time they dared not remove, even for a second, their watchful gazes from the pit.
They reached the halfway point before anything happened. There was a flash of movement near the surface of the bones. Lanrik caught a glimpse of something black amidst the white, and then he saw the swift turning and revolving of a coiled body, sinuous and immense.
They put aside their fears of falling in the face of greater danger and ran. Yet still they kept a close watch on the pit. They had only taken a few paces before a massive head emerged from the bones.
It was black. Scales gleamed like frosted grass in the dark of the night. Two eyes stared back at them. They were large orbs, slitted and cold, filled with pitiless hatred.
The head turned slightly and more bones fell away to reveal the upper body of a huge serpent. It was a thing of corded muscle, thick as the trunk of a tree. Its back was black but its belly was the red of fresh-spilled blood.
A long tongue flickered, tasting the air for the scent of prey. It reared back suddenly. A shivering hiss rose from the bottom of the pit and echoed softly off the stone sides before whispering down again from the vaulted roof.
More of the body came into view, and yet there seemed no end to its length. Its tail must be deep down in the pit. And the creature must have thrashed it there for now bones bounced and rattled and flew into the air with a renewed cloud of dust. The whole chamber thrummed with an unsettling sound.
The serpent hissed again. Lanrik looked in horror on long fangs. They curved out from the upper jaw, dazzling white, as large as a man’s arm and slick with venom. A single drop fell among the churning bones and sudden steam and fumes wafted high into the air.
At that moment the head reared back. The body swayed higher, and the jaws opened wide exposing a vast pink throat that pulsed and gleamed.
The creature struck. Its head shot forward fast as an arrow sped from a bow. Yet it did not try to pierce or rend them with fangs: it spat venom instead.
A stream of foul-smelling liquid spurted through the air. Once again Erlissa anticipated events faster than he. With a flick of her staff she raised a blue shield of lòhren-light.
The venom sprayed into it. The light flickered. Noxious vapor filled the air and made them dizzy. Yet the shield held and protected them from the deadly fluid. Had it not, Lanrik did not doubt that it would have killed them.
Some of the venom slipped past the rim of the shield and splattered against the wall behind them. There it smoked and hissed.
“Take care!” Erlissa yelled.
Her warning was hardly necessary, but he appreciated it.
A moment later the lòhren-light wavered and disappeared. They ran again, climbing higher along the ledge and toward the door at its end. If safety lay anywhere, it was there.
They did not get far before the serpent reared once more and belched poison yet again. Erlissa was quicker this time. Her shield of lòhrengai sprang up well in time. But it was weaker.
The venom drove into it with force. It hissed and roiled against the shield. Blue light flickered and went out. Fluid splashed the stone near their feet; there it blackened all it touched while putrid smoke curled and coiled upward. But neither fluid nor even smoke touched them.
“Run!” Erlissa yelled.
They sped further up the ledge. The door was near now, a massive construction of iron, pitted by rust and age. If it was locked, or barred in any way, they were likely dead.
The serpent reared again. Lanrik stopped running. In one swift motion he unslung his bow, nocked an arrow and sent the shaft winging through the noxious air.
The arrow whistled as it flew. The serpent, jaws agape, dodged to the side quicker than the arrow’s flight. The shaft flashed past its neck