Calista went first as she dove toward the front of the spider with her sword ready. Eight crystal eyes and a pair of steel mandibles met her there. Here goes nothing … Her first swing was a success as it struck the spider-golem’s largest eye and shattered the crystal. Shining red shards fell to the floor as the monster recoiled. Calista took the opportunity to strike at the monster’s other eyes, shattering two more of the smaller ones. This time, the monster struck back, snapping at her with its mandibles, but Calista dodged, flying backward just out of reach of the hooked metal jaws.
Then a flash of blue and green whipped past her as she heard Lefty cry, “Quick! Get to the ceiling.”
However, just as she turned to fly away, something struck her in the back and she felt the wind leave her lungs. Gasping, she felt her hand up her abdomen until she found the point of an arrow sticking out of her shoulder, just below the clavicle. Pain coursed through her body, but she managed to float upward all the same. A second arrow flew past her head and a third narrowly missed her hip. Then something grabbed her thigh and she felt her femur snap like a twig as a crushing force grasped her and pulled her downward.
She hit the ground with a crack as something terrible happened to her ribs. This is it. I’m going to die. She tried to tell herself that this was all going to end at a log in screen, but her body was in the middle of making a very solid argument against that. Not only had she landed on a broken and burning desk that had shattered something inside her, she had also landed on the backside of the arrow which was now sticking out of her chest like a bloody sapling. She tried to get up, but only managed to roll over. She could hear the boot steps of trolls rushing toward her. She was about to be surrounded. Looking up, she could see the five remaining eyes of the spider’s head looking down on her as its mandibles closed in. This was it.
Then a blast of lightning ripped through the air and struck the spider-golem in the head. More bolts followed and felled the trolls as they ran through the fire. A rumble of thunder followed as the storm elemental emerged from the mist, drew back its fist and punched the spider-golem in the face.
Thunder, lightning, and shrieking metal filled the room as Calista sat up against the desk. Reaching behind her back, she snapped off the haft of the arrow, then grabbed it just below its head and pulled it out. Her shoulder screamed at her, but she managed to fumble through her belt pouches for a healing potion. As the liquid poured into her body, a crackling sound came from near her ribs and her leg as the bones patched themselves back together. The potion wouldn’t be enough to fully heal her, but with any luck she would at least be able to walk.
The trolls were almost on top of her now. The flames reflected off her blade as she held it before her. Maybe I can take at least one more troll with me.
The first troll howled as he came at her, axe upraised. Just in time, the feeling returned to her wounded leg and she turned and rolled as the axe came down, missing her by inches. Calista rolled on to her hands and pushed herself to her feet as she tried a backhanded swing at her assailant, but her sword bounced harmlessly off his armor. A gauntlet hit her in the mouth and knocked her back. A second and a third troll then arrived as she found herself surrounded. She backed up, stepping around the desk to put her back against the wall. Through the fire and smoke, the trolls began to inch forward, their weapons ready.
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She side stepped and parried a spear point, then blocked a halberd. Before she could recover, the troll with the axe aimed a cross swing at her head. Without thinking, she dropped and fell to the floor as the axe hit the wall above her with a ‘thud.’
Her leg was still unsteady, but she managed to roll to her left, over a small burning pile of books, and push herself up to one knee in time to parry another blow by the halberd. The smoke was too thick for her to pick out exactly how many trolls there were, but she could see at least three more shadows circling her through the smoke.
Then as the troll pulled his axe head free, a chunk of the burning wall came with it. With a crack and a groan, the wall shuddered, bent, and then collapsed.
Smoke, flame, and burning embers filled the air. Calista coughed as she stumbled through the black cloud. An ugly face in a dented helmet appeared before her and she stabbed it through the eyes. Then she stepped over a pile of burning books and tinder as the smoke began to clear.
Above, an explosion of thunder and lightning dropped a shower of blue sparks into the smoke as a gasp of air flew through the room. The storm elemental had finally died.
Calista then watched in horror as the spider-golem and whined and groaned, sparks flying off it’s wounded form, as it turned. Giant metal legs stabbed the wooden floor of the library as the monster’s five remaining eyes searched this way and that. It was searching for her.
A shining leg the size of a lance shot down at her and tumbled out of the way as it impaled the wall behind her. As she dragged herself to her feet, the spider-golem drew its leg away and another chunk of the burning wall with it. More smoke and more fire as the wall collapsed again. She coughed as she waved away the smoke and soot and then there before her was an opening. Charred and burning at its edges, she could see a room on the other side. Walls and floor of stone and a railing. Are those stairs?
“Lefty! This way!” she shouted, but then another leg came smashing down and she had to dodge again. She tumbled onto the floor and then rolled and kept rolling as one leg and then another smashed into the wooden floor.
Finally, she dragged herself to her feet and staggered into a hobbling run. When a troll emerged from the smoke, she opened its neck with her Emberblade and kept running. I have to find the others. It’s the only way out.
She looked back just in time to see another lance-sized leg aimed straight at her back and so she threw herself into the wall just as the leg impaled a troll beside her. Stumbling her way over a burning bookshelf, she jumped over a fire, saw another flash of metal behind her and leapt to the side again as another of the giant legs smashed through a burning desk.
Enough of this. She spun around and ran between the spider’s legs. Leaping over dead bodies and burning piles of rubble, she took aim for the opening. Fire, smoke, and cries of battle were all around, but she kept loping along at a wounded jog. I just have to find the other two.
Then a flutter of blue passed over her head as Lefty floated down from the ceiling with Narene on his back.
The mage landed beside her as Narene climbed down to the floor, “Calista, you have to get away from …”
Before he could finish, she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him toward the opening. “There’s a hole in the wall over here. Come on!”
Above, the spider-golem was searching for them through the smoke, but just then an arrow struck it in one of it’s eyes and it let out a mechanical screech that shook the room. More arrows ricocheted off the giant machine as the three of them raced across the room, jumped over fires, and ran around piles of burning books. Calista was the first to reach the wall, but stopped to let Narene and then Lefty through. Then, with one final nod toward the spider, she ducked through the hole and ran for the stairs.