Game Play by Kevin J. Anderson Read Free Book Online Page B

toward
the bank, stopped the raft just before touching, then held it in place with the
pole. He turned his neck on sluggish muscles to look at the three passengers,
but he made absolutely no sign of recognition.
    He began to turn
the raft around again.
    Delrael jumped to
the shore, clearing the hex-line and landing on the dry forest soil. Bryl
scrambled off, splashed in the mud, and joined the fighter.
    Vailret turned
again to plead with the Sentinel. "I wish you could help us, Enrod."
    His back turned to
Vailret, Enrod hesitated and then pushed the raft away from the bank. Vailret
jumped across the widening gap of water and landed beside his two companions.
    Vailret shook his
head. "He's so powerful, and the whole map is in such trouble. I wish his
magic wasn't wasted like this!"
    "Are you
forgetting he was going to blast our entire land?" Bryl said.
    "He wanted to
destroy us all. The end result would be the same as Scartaris."
    As the raft moved
away again, the island of mist curled around Enrod and swallowed him up until
Vailret could no longer see him or the raft or, after a few moments, the mist
itself.
    "We'll never
know."
    Delrael rubbed his
hands together and turned to face the forest terrain stretching away from the
river. "Let's get going. We've got plenty of hexes to travel."
    A strange voice
interrupted them from beside the River. "Hold your horses! Play it again,
Sam." The voice was deep and hollow, and did not belong to any of them. A
burble of mud from the bank made Vailret look down.
    The thick clay
opened a hole like a mouth, with lips protruding and moving to form words. But
the quality of the voice changed, becoming loud and abrasive. "Listen to
me when I'm talking to ya, boy! Now, pay attention!"
    Bryl stood to the
side, but Delrael leaned over the mouth in the mud.
    Vailret looked
around for a stick, wondering if he should poke at it.
    "Where's the
beef?" the mouth continued in a different voice again.
    "Four out of
five dentists surveyed recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew
gum."
    "This thing
isn't making any sense at all," Delrael said, glancing at Vailret.
"What is it?"
    "What's up,
doc?"
    A bulge pushed up
from the surface of the mud, then became a rounded lump straining harder until
it grew into a blockish, clumsily formed head made of clay. It drew a great gulp
of air through its mouth, then exhaled with a whistle through the caverns of
its nose.
    "Ah, how sweet
it is!"
    The head struggled,
then a neck emerged, forming out of the mud as it rose. The shoulders and torso
squeezed up as if forced out of a mold from below.
    "I want to get
out of here," Bryl said.
    The clay man
emerged from the bank until it stood as tall and as burly as Delrael. It flexed
both arms and blinked empty eye sockets. The clay man bent over the river,
splashed some water on its skin and rubbed down a few rough spots with its
hands.
    "Well
surprise, surprise, surprise !" Then he turned to face the three of them.
The clay of his lips formed a wide, misshapen smile, showing soft sculpted
teeth. "You deserve a break today!"
    He patted his clay
chest so hard that he made an indentation.
    Perplexed, he
smoothed over the mark. Clay eyelids came down over the empty sockets, then
blinked up again.
    "G'day, mate!
My name is Journeyman, your friendly neighborhood golem.
    I'm from the
government ― I'm here to help you. I was sent by the Rulewoman Melanie
to join your quest to destroy Scartaris. One for all and all for one!"

Chapter 4:
SLAVE OF THE SERPENT
    "All
character races were created by the Sorcerers to fight in their wars: humans,
Slac, khelebar, werem, ogres, ylvans. Do not forget, however, that the
Sorcerers also created individual monsters according to their imaginations.
Many of these monsters still wander the map with no other purpose than to cause
havoc. Questing characters should beware of such monsters, as their methods of
fighting will be unfamiliar, and their weaknesses will not be known."
    Preface, The