stair treads lurched so hard that I tumbled into the wall. The femur railing jabbed into my waist, and a human skull tumbled from its mount and shattered next to my feet. Chunks of brick and ancient mortar fell all around me, bouncing off my head, and I wished for some old-fashioned plate armor.
The ground continued to quake, but I propelled myself upward. Red light came into view as I burst onto the last landing. The shouts and clangs of a battle floated to me, and, like the insane person I was, I rushed toward it.
With Chopper leading, I burst out of the tunnel right beside the dais.
Smoke and dust filled the red-tinged air of the great chamber. Zav stood on the railing now, conjuring fiery yellow spears and hurling them down like meteorites upon the dark elves below.
They kept shooting back at him, but the spears somehow zigzagged and incinerated crossbow quarrels before striking down to the floor—or hitting an enemy. Some of the dark elves had the power to create invisible shields and repel the magical projectiles. Others burst into flames and ran out of the chamber like ambulatory torches.
A fireball slammed into Zav, almost knocking him from the railing. Rage and pain burned in his eyes as he steadied himself. With sudden certainty, I knew he couldn’t attack and keep a magical shield around himself at the same time. He could probably only concentrate on one or the other.
I almost chucked one of my grenades toward a knot of dark elves responsible for most of the attacks heading Zav’s way, but right now, everyone’s focus was on him. Nobody knew I was there.
I peered around the bone statue and toward the dais, hoping it wasn’t too late to rescue the girl. The old dark-elf female—the priestess responsible for the ritual—had moved, and horror rushed through my veins. Was I too late?
No, there she was. On the other side of the dais and the bone statue, her back to the wall. She still held the dagger to the terrified girl’s throat, was still using her for a shield.
“Dragon! This is your last chance. Leave this place or—” The priestess’s gaze scoured the chamber and the dais, then locked on to the egg-platter artifact. Understanding lit fire in her yellow eyes. “Or I destroy what you came for.”
The priestess tossed aside the girl, who was too wrapped up to use her legs and tumbled to the floor, and charged toward the artifact. Zav spotted her and pointed his sword at her. A beam of liquid fire shot across the chamber, over the heads of the dark elves and straight toward her heart.
She halted in front of the artifact and raised her hands. An invisible barrier formed a foot in front of her, and Zav’s beam deflected into the ceiling. It started boring a hole into the stone above the chamber.
I could only sense the invisible barrier, not see it, but I could tell from the way the beam bounced off that it was flat, rather than convex. Off to the side of the priestess, I drew Fezzik, lined up the shot, and fired without remorse. If she’d been about to sacrifice one girl, I was positive she had slain countless others.
Because she looked hard to kill, I held down the trigger for automatic firing. She wasn’t looking at me, and the bullets tore into the side of her head. She toppled sideways, knocking over the vat of boiling blood. It fell on top of her, and my gorge rose as the steaming stuff flowed out all over the dais.
Zav’s hard gaze turned toward me. I thought I’d been helping him, but I had the distinct impression from the anger still marking his face that he didn’t appreciate me butting in.
Movement to my side drew my attention. The alchemist and the bastard who was wearing my necklace were charging at me.
I whipped Fezzik toward them, but I was too late. One of them hurled a wave of magical power that catapulted me over the dais.
Pain slammed into my back as I landed on the other side next to the crying girl. The male dark elf lifted a hatchet to throw at me. I would have rolled to the side, but I was afraid the weapon would hit the girl. I aimed my gun, knowing I was too late.
But as the hatchet left his hand, an orange fiery beam incinerated it. Zav.
His beam moved across and sliced through the throats of