The creature hissed in agony, then its head erupted in mystic flame; a brief flash, and the head was gone. The decapitated body slumped to the ground.
Calis pulled himself upright by force of will to kill the fifth priest before Erik could reach him. Even injured, Calis was powerful enough to drive his sword completely through the priest.
Erik spun to face the door as de Loungville cried out, “Saaur! They’re coming!”
Erik turned to face the seated priest. Miranda also came forward, first to grip Calis and help him to keep standing, and second to protect him. She spared the smoking corpses of Praji and Vaja only a momentary glance, as it was obvious they were far beyond mortal help. Then she joined Calis in turning to confront the last Pantathian, preparing to defend Calis should the High Priest launch an attack.
But the seated Pantathian only blinked as he regarded the carnage before him.
Erik slowly approached and saw that the five priests had been protecting something, an object that sat in a stone well in front of and a few feet below the base of the throne. Erik moved slowly toward it, shifting his gaze back and forth between the object and the figure on the throne.
The object looked like a large green emerald, but one aglow with a fey light. “Gods!” said Miranda in a voice hoarse with fear.
“Your gods have nothing to do with this, human,” said the figure upon the throne, what Erik took to be a High Priest. Its speech was sibilant but otherwise understandable. “They are newcomers to this world, trespassers, and pretenders.”
Erik glanced up and saw a faint shimmer of green energy pouring from a metal rod, falling in a faint cascade upon the stone. He followed the rod back to the wall above the door and surmised it was the same one he had struck. The sounds of battle rang out in the hallway.
Erik glanced at Calis, who weakly said, “Get that door closed and block it off somehow.”
Erik ran to where de Loungville stood. “Captain says to get this door closed and blocked off,” said Erik.
De Loungville shouted out, “Fall back!” He turned to Erik and said, “We’ve got one advantage. They’re so damn big they can’t come through the tunnel but one at a time, and we’re hacking them down as they show their ugly faces.”
The men fell back and Erik saw that most were covered in blood. He imagined it must have been grim work at the end of the line. The last man through was Alfred, who thrust and parried at an unseen opponent. Then Erik saw a huge green head as a Saaur warrior, attempting to fight while half hunched over, pushed forward. Erik didn’t wait but took out his dagger and threw it with all his strength at the creature over the shoulder of the retreating Alfred. The blade took the Saaur in the neck, and it clawed with one hand at the blade as it fell forward, half blocking the door. A shout from behind the creature told Erik the creature’s allies had seen him fall.
De Loungville didn’t hesitate but shouted, “Drag him inside!” Three men on each side grabbed the creature, nearly twelve feet tall, and pulled it through the portal, while another soldier duplicated Erik’s action and threw his dagger at the next Saaur. It had the desired result, causing the creature to retreat long enough for them to get the door closed. There was a large wooden bar, and Erik motioned for other soldiers to set it across the door, into two huge iron supports. A moment later came the sound of a large body hitting the door followed by an angry exclamation Erik assumed to be a Saaur oath.
“Block the door!” shouted Erik.
Four of the men dragged the dying Saaur away from the door, while others took some idols of stone, lizard figures crouching as if guarding something, and pushed them before the door. Erik turned to see Miranda and Calis slowly approaching the green gem.
“What is this thing?” Miranda asked.
The seated figure said, “Your lowly intellect is incapable of understanding, human.”
Calis hobbled with Miranda’s help to stand next to the object, letting the green light bathe him. The burns he had received from the magician’s blast must have been causing him incredible pain, but he showed no sign of it. He said, “It is a key.”
The serpent said, “You are more intelligent than you look, elf.”
Calis shook off Miranda’s support and reached over the edge of the pool in which the emerald rested and the Pantathian stood up slowly, as if infirmity or age were weighing heavily upon him. “No!” he commanded. “Do not touch this! It is nearly finished!”
“It is finished,” said Calis as he put his hand upon the gem and closed his eyes. Green pulsing light seemed to crawl slowly up his arm. Calis’s wounds were still terrible, raw flesh and singed hair, but the green light seemed to strengthen him. He removed his hand from the gem’s surface and walked toward the creature, who now stood upright, looking at Calis with amazement upon its face.