Three things happened at once.
The door to the big cage unlocked with a clang.
I noticed a tall figure step out of the shadows behind me.
The figure saw me see it, and attacked.
The thing that came at me was a dog-headed human. It was tall, a lot taller than me, and it ran with a limp but was very fast. I dropped Gunther on the floor and had my sword out before I could really figure out what was happening.
Whatever it was, it showed all the same signs as the cannibal rats. It was covered with wounds, most bearing the stench and pus of infection. It had a rabid, insane look in its eye and it was emaciated and hungry. Clearly it had eaten the other dogheads, and maybe it was even raising the rats for food. I don't know. But it must have been trapped here a long time, and it had waited for me to open the jail door (however I did that) before it struck. And strike it did.
The thing could hit! It wielded a stained, pitted and rusting sword that barely missed me as I dodged to one side. I bellowed with an anger that was not my own: "What do you mean I don't have my shield? THAT'S BULLSHIT!"
Whoever my alter-ego was speaking to, it didn't do us any good. I had lost my shield in the fall, and in the scramble that ensued I had never taken the time to find it again. No amount of yelling in the world was going to bring it back now. I knew what I had to do, and I drew back my sword-arm to thrust...
...and ran away! I leapt right over Gunther's poor, beaten body in my attempt to flee. Why? There was no way I could outrun this thing, and there was nowhere to hide. It could probably see in the dark better than I could. And as I showed it my back it got another swing at me, tracing an agonising line down my back with a flick of its sword. I felt a shiver go through my body at how close I'd come to being bisected.
I dove behind a barrel and looked around. The creature loomed above me and I swung at its legs. I hit one knee and it snarled in anger, missing me and splitting the barrel with a downward cleave. It (actually he, as I could tell from that angle) staggered back and I saw a light - not the asslight, but a second lamp farther in the distance. It came into the cavern from somewhere past the cages. I shoved the remains of the barrel toward the dog-man and made a run for the cage door. I want to say I left Gunther because the beast wasn't going after him, but it's hard to say, looking back.
As I reached the iron bars I knew I couldn't outrun the thing. I turned in time to meet his heavy sword-arm with my own feeble parry. We traded a few more blows as I backed slowly toward the jail door. The light grew stronger beyond the bars.
"Captain!" I never thought I'd be so happy to hear from the little pipsqueak.
"Thank the gods!" I yelled hoarsely. "Get yer ass over here!"
Tallow complied. As I fended off the beast's attacks I could hear his light footsteps and then thuds and clangs as he followed the bars towards me.
I'd been lucky so far. This thing, whatever it was, was powerful and fast. And psychotic. With no shield and whatever the mushrooms had done to me, I wasn't in shape for even a regular duel, let alone this murder machine. I was lucky to stay alive long enough to get to the door of the cage, and as Tallow came through I felt like I was saved. I moved away from the door and, just as I had hoped, the creature got in between us. We locked our swords together and it barked in my face as I leveraged my blade over his, trying to get a slice out of him at least. That gave Tallow his chance, and next thing you know he plunged his little blade into the thing's side. It looked like a good, deep hit. The beast howled and thrashed about, but it didn't go down.
"Wizard! Do something!" There was genuine fear in Tallow's voice.
I tried to stop the thing, tried to drive it back, but even my heavy blow to its shoulder didn't stop it. It may have been weakened by its months or years down here, but it sure was tough. It raised its sword and drove it down into Tallow for all it was worth. The gurgle, the scream cut short, it was sickening. Tallow fell like a stack of firewood. He was just gone.
At the same time, the lantern across the room fell to the ground. Beyond the beast and Tallow's body, I could see the silhouette of a man in robes running for his life. Fleeing the opposite way.
"Grens! Grens, get your ass back here! Grens!" My voice broke, and my shouts fell on deaf ears. The coward do-nothing wizard abandoned us. His footsteps retreated into the distance and there I was, now with the monster that killed my friend between me and the only door out. I cursed as I edged backwards, leveling my sword at the enemy in a high guard, tempting him and hoping he would take the bait.
He did. He closed in and tried to go low, giving me another shot at his shoulder. I tried to get his neck and end it but he was too quick. He saw what I was doing and moved to block so I took what I could get. He was pressing me backwards now and I couldn't see where I was going. I just had to pray I wouldn't trip over a corpse or a crate.
Our next few lunges at each other were fruitless. Whiff, or clang. Never that thud and yelp of success. I was worn out, I was really beat. Sweat dripped into my eyes and the asslight started to gutter low as I tried to score some kind of hit, anything to slow down this monster. I was getting desperate and sloppy, and I knew it, but the force that held me there wanted me to keep fighting. I stopped backing up and held my ground, my blade and his whirling around us like a storm.
A moan rose up. A piercing, hollow moan. It seemed to come from the darkness itself, from everywhere at once. Clattering noises, clicking in the dark. Clicking and moaning, howling and the patter-patter of something-on-stone. A figure with a spear rushed into the little pool of light where we fought and pierced the thigh of the dog-headed beast. Then I saw the spear-wielder: a skeleton, a completely fleshless skeleton! Its jaw was missing, and I can't say how it held together. But it just came out of nowhere and joined the fight against the doghead. Good thing, because I was so shocked I froze up for a second. In the distance I saw the lantern lifted back up from the floor, and Grens' silhouette with arm extended, moving his hand as if conducting a symphony. The skelton responded.
So there were were, me and some poor sod who wasn't buried properly, prodding and poking away at this monster. The monster was more afraid of the skeleton than it was of me, and it kept hitting it over and over with its sword. The skeleton didn't mind. It's as if the sword blows didn't even affect it. Sure, bits of rib and clavicle chipped off, but it just kept fighting. Between the two of us the beast didn't stand a chance. Within ten seconds of our hacking and hewing it fell to its knees, roaring piteously. I stood back to let it die but the skeleton just kept stabbing with its spear. The doghead fell to the ground, the skeleton kept stabbing. Blood pooled on the floor. The skeleton kept stabbing.
Breathing heavily and more than a little disturbed, I walked around the skeleton, giving it wide berth and not turning my back on it. It ignored me, continuing to riddle the dead doghead with spear wounds. Grens and his lantern came toward me, and he met me at the door of the jail. He hung his lantern on the bars and waved at the skeleton. At last the thing stopped its onslaught, pulling its spear out of the minced corpse with intestines still tangled on the head.
The skeleton dropped its weapon and walked over toward Gunther and the dying asslight. I stepped to intervene, but Grens chided me. "Wait," he said.
Without a word the skeleton lifted up my unconscious friend, slinging him asslight-and-all over his bony shoulder. It boggled my mind. How could this thing even stand up, let alone lift a burden I could barely manage?
Grens had other thoughts. He knelt down and put his hand against Tallow's neck, feeling for a pulse. I looked down at him. He looked up at me. He had a weird grin on his pale face, showing through his dark cowl.
"I'm not a wizard," he said.
I nodded. "I know," I said. "I know."
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