“Big bosses. Pot full of big bosses,” Bupu said.
“Filled with draconians!” Tanis repeated in alarm.
“Not come here,” Bupu said. “Go that way-” She waved a hand vaguely.
Tanis remained uneasy. “So these are the bosses. How many draconians are there by the pot?”
“Two,” said Bupu, holding Raistlin’s sleeve securely. “Not more than two.”
“Actually, there are four,” Tas said with an apologetic glance for contradicting the gully dwarf. “They’re the little ones, not the big ones that cast spells.”
“Four.” Caramon flexed his huge arms. “We can handle four.”
“Yes, but we’ve got to time it so that fifteen more aren’t arriving,” Tanis pointed out.
The whip cracked again.
“Come!” Bupu tugged urgently on Raistlin’s sleeve. “We go. Bosses get mad.”
“I’d say this is as good a time as any,” Sturm said, shrugging. “Let the gully dwarves run as usual. We’ll follow and overwhelm the bosses in the confusion. If one pot is up here waiting to be loaded with gully dwarves, the other has to be on the ground level.”
“I suppose,” Tanis said. He turned to the gully dwarves. “When you get to the lift-er, pot-don’t jump in. Just dodge aside and keep out of the way. All right?”
The gully dwarves stared at Tanis with deep suspicion. The half-elf sighed and looked at Raistlin. Smiling slightly, the mage repeated Tanis’s instructions. Immediately the gully dwarves began to smile and nod enthusiastically.
The whip cracked again and the companions heard a harsh voice. “Quit loafing, you scum, or we’ll chop your nasty feet off and give you an excuse for being slow!”
“We’ll see whose feet get chopped off, ” Caramon said.
“This be some fun!” said one of the gully dwarves solemnly. The Aghar dashed down the corridor.
18
Fight at the lift.
Bupu’s cure for a cough.
A lot mist rose from two large holes in the floor, swirling around whatever was nearby. Between the two holes was a large wheel, around which ran a gigantic chain. A tremendous black iron pot hung suspended from the chain over one of the holes. The other end of the chain disappeared through the other hole. Four armor-clad draconians, two of them swinging leather whips and armed with curved swords, stood around the pot. They were visible only briefly, then mist hid them from view. Tanis could hear the whip crack and a guttural voice bellowing.
“You louse-ridden dwarf vermin! What’re you doing, holding back there. Get into this pot before I flay the filthy flesh from your nasty bones! I-ulp!”
The draconian stopped in midsentence, its eyes bulging out of its reptilian head as Caramon emerged from the mist, roaring his battle-cry. The draconian let out a yell that changed into a choking gurgle as Caramon grabbed the creature around its scrawny neck, lifted it off its clawed feet, and hurled it back against the wall. Gully dwarves scattered as the body hit the wall with a bone-crushing thump.
Even as Caramon attacked, Sturm-swinging his great two-handed sword-yelled out the knight’s salute to an enemy and lopped the head off a draconian who never saw what was coming. The severed head rolled on the floor with a crunching sound as it changed to stone.
Unlike goblins, who attack anything that moves without strategy or thought, draconians are intelligent and quick-thinking. The two remaining by the pot had no intention of taking on five skilled and well-armed warriors. One of them immediately jumped into the pot, yelling instructions to its companion in their guttural language. The other draconian dashed over to the wheel and freed the mechanism. The pot began to drop through the hole.
“Stop it!” Tanis yelled. “It’s going for reinforcements!”
“Wrong!” shouted Tasslehoff, peering over the edge. “The reinforcements are already on the way up in the other pot. There must be twenty of them!”
Caramon ran to stop the draconian operating the lift, but he was too late. The creature left the mechanism turning and dashed toward the pot. With a great bound, it leaped in after its companion. Caramon, on the principle of don’t let the enemy get away, jumped right into the pot after it! The gully dwarves cheered and hooted, some dashing over to the edge to get a better view.