The Return of Kavin by David Mason Read Free Book Online Page B

it up, and came back to stand beside Hugon.
    “Now, we are three,” Hugon said, grinning sideward at her.
    “The creatures cannot be killed,” the girl said, with an icy calm. “I think they are… guards. Left here by the Old Ones.”
    Hugon glanced at her in surprise. “You seem to know more than I do,” he said. “What else do you know of all this?”
    “More than you think,” she said in a low voice. “I have read much…”
    There was a sudden tremendous thud against the tower wall, a blow that seemed to shake the whole structure. Fragments of loose stone fell, powdering and raining down.
    Hugon barked an oath, and looked incautiously around the door edge. Outside, he saw gray shapes standing massed and silent, their enormous arms raised, drawn back. A moment later, the arms swung forward, in unison, and a second thundering blow shook the tower again.
    “They’re breaking down the wall!” Hugon cried, and drew the girl away from the vibrating stone, toward the center. Zamor, too, moved back; they stood, swords out, waiting grimly back to back.
    “I think we die soon.” Zamor said, calmly.
    Fraak, uttering a wild note, shot up from the corner where he had been crouching, and sailed up toward the open roof, out into the sky.
    “One of us will survive, at any rate,” Hugon said. “Now, if only the Great Goddess had seen fit to give a man wings…”
    There was a third earthquake blow, and a section of stone fell inward, like an opening portal. Through the cloud of dust, the silent gray shapes were visible, standing in a row; and now they moved forward, inexorably, their featureless faces turned toward their prey, long arms raised and reaching.

THREE
     
    “Ha… aaah!” Zamor cried, and the long blade slashed out, matched by Hugon’s lunging steel beside him. Gwynna, between them, leaned slightly forward, knees bent, and her shorter blade thrust forward. Hugon saw her action from the corner of his eye, and felt a moment of bright wonder at the girl’s bravery… and at her skill. She held the shortsword like a skilled fighter, he saw… and then, there was no more time to think, as a snaking gray arm came at him, and he cut at it.
    His blade sank in, but the spreading fingers caught at his arm, and held. An icy cold spread from the touch, and he gasped with pain, involuntarily.
    Then a weird howling came, the voices of all of those gray Things in chorus; the icy touch relaxed, and the fingers drew back. Hugon held himself on his feet with difficulty, pain lancing through his arm, and his eyes watering with the agony of the touch. He swayed against Gwynna, who held him upright; he heard her outcry of surprise, and tried to focus his swimming eyes.
    The gray creatures were moving back, slowly, making a moaning noise as they did so, back in a line on both sides of the broken wall. Beyond, a man came, walking toward the tower, and the creatures fell back away from him.
    He was a small, fat man, in a long brown robe. He had a grizzled beard, and was bald; across one shoulder he lugged a leather sack, and in the other hand he carried a curious staff. It was nearly as long as he was, and it had a round knob at either end; it seemed to be made of dark wood, and he carried it horizontally, across his chest as he came toward those who waited in the tower.
    The gray Things whistled again, and the small man shook the staff impatiently, glancing at them. They slid soundlessly back, and then were gone.
    “Here, now,” the small fat man said, halting at the broken wall and staring. “What have we here?”
    And then Fraak came swooping down, to circle wildly about Hugon’s head, ululating with joy; he skidded to a landing, and puffed a perfect smoke ring.
    “Aaak!” he cried. “Good, good!”
    “Your small friend here saw me a moment ago,” the fat man said, and stepped over the broken stones to come inside. “Had he not called me… well, the Moroloi are dangerous without this rod to protect you.” He