The thing was almost upon them when James threw his dagger with his left hand, a short, deft cast, catching the creature in the chest. The monster barely hesitated, but it let out a roar of pain.
The light coming from the fire behind them revealed gaping wounds upon the creature’s body. The fights with other groups in the tunnels had left the thing weakened, James hoped, and now he knew it was mortal, as blood seeped from several of the gashes.
William’s sword snaked point first over James’s head, and he braced to let the creature run up onto the blade. The creature slowed, and rather than impale itself, it lifted what James thought of as arms rather than forelegs. With a sudden backhand slash, the flipper-like hand sliced through the air, and James barely avoided decapitation. The flipper struck the stones with a solid crack; James knew there must be a hard callus or bone ridge along the flipper’s edge that would likely cut through flesh.
Jazhara chanted a spell and held up her hand. A point of searing red light appeared upon the creature’s head and suddenly it howled in pain. Both flippers came up as if to shield its head, giving William an opening.
The long hand-and-a-half sword shot forward. A short man, William was nevertheless powerful of arm and shoulder and he drove his sword home with all his weight. The blade struck deep. The creature wailed.
James shot past his companion and struck for its throat with his rapier and in seconds the thing lay upon the stones, dead.
“What is it?” asked William, panting heavily.
“Nothing natural,” said Jazhara.
“Someone made it?” asked James, moving cautiously around the still corpse.
Jazhara knelt and touched a flipper, then ran her hand across the brow above the blankly staring eyes. Finally she rose, wiping away a tear. “It was a baby.”
William almost gagged. “That was a baby?”
Jazhara turned and started walking down the tunnel. “I need to be away from here,” she said, her voice choked with emotion.
James and William hurried to overtake her. “Wait!” James cried.
Reaching the intersection, Jazhara halted. Before either William or James could speak, she turned and said, “Some magic is evil beyond imagining. There is a branch of the Lesser Path, called by some ‘Arcane Vitrus’ in the old language. It means ‘the hidden knowledge of life.’ When used for good, it seeks to unravel the reason people sicken and die, or to find cures for deformity or illness. When used for evil, it can fashion creatures such as these.”
“Babies?” William asked.
Jazhara nodded. “Children stolen or bought hours after birth, placed within those ‘egg sacs’ to be refashioned and twisted against any reasonable nature by malignant arts.”
“So this monster was the first to hatch?” James asked, shaking his head.
“That poor child was no monster,” said Jazhara. “Whoever created it is the monster.” She looked to James. “Somewhere in Krondor is a magician who makes black mischief. Someone who wishes great turmoil in the Prince’s city.”
James closed his eyes. “As if Bear wasn’t enough.” He sighed and said, “One problem at a time. Let’s find Rat-Tail Jack and Mace and then Lucas.”
They turned and began retracing their steps, back the way they had come.
As they walked Jazhara said, “That creature can’t have been down here long.”
James looked thoughtful. “Mace said the trouble first started a week or so ago.”
William said, “Maybe whoever created it wanted to see if the magic worked, then when it did, planned to make more.”
“I think you’re right,” Jazhara said, “Which means the magic is very powerful, for not only does it twist the human design, it works quickly, perhaps in a few days or a week.”
“So the creature really was a baby,” said James. “In both senses.”
“Yes, and in pain.” Jazhara’s voice was bitter. “This is the sort of horror that turns people against those of us who practice the mystic arts. It is why magicians are shunned and hated. I must send word to Master Pug and let him know a rogue magician of powerful arts is in Krondor.”
James said, “Ah, I’d leave that to the Prince. Arutha tends to prefer a more direct approach. If he feels the need to inform Stardock, he will.”
Jazhara said, “Of course. I will merely advise His Highness to send word to Master Pug.”
They continued on in silence, occasionally pausing when the sound of others in the sewers reached them. Eventually they returned to the spot Mace and his gang had halted them. William said, “Are they gone?”
James kept walking. “They’re nearby, trust me.”
They moved to the large canal and found Rat-Tail Jack still picking over the sewage floating by. As they approached, he looked up. “You’re alive? Guess that means we need to be rewarding you, Squire.”
James said nothing, but looked quizzical.
“How about we don’t kill you for breaking oath with the Mockers and entering the sewer without our leave? That reward enough for you, Squire?”
All James said was: “Lucas.”
“Monster’s really dead?”