Kuznetsov and Vastly came pushing through the crush to stand next to Gilligan. From somewhere the Russians had come up with powder blue berets, striped jerseys and fatigues in a pattern of camouflage that Mick found just a little disconcerting.
“Brings back old memories, eh?” Kuznetsov said as they positioned themselves.
Around them the wizards raised their staffs and began to chant.
The Colt had sunk quickly, leaving only a small oil slick behind. Charlie had managed to launch the life raft before the plane disappeared, but with the zombie air force overhead Charlie had hidden under it rather than riding in it. The undead riders had made pass after pass on the bright yellow raft, tearing it to waterlogged shreds with their arrows. Then, as one, they had wheeled and headed south, leaving Charlie alone in the water.
As the last of the enemy dragons disappeared into the clouds, Charlie inflated his life jacket and surveyed his situation. He was hundreds of miles from land and already the chill of the water was starting to creep through his exposure suit. He had no food, no radio and nothing with which to call for help.
“Son,” he said to the empty ocean. “It don’t get any more sporty than this.”
Then he saw dorsal fins slicing toward him.
TWENTY-SEVEN – SNEAK ATTACK
The whole purpose of the operation was simply to distract the Enemy for just this instant. Distraction enough so it wouldn’t notice that Moira was arriving with company. Or what that company was carrying.
Although the Enemy was naturally multi-tasking, each new assault had spread it thinner and thinner. From the very beginning Watchers had been scrutinizing parts of it, judging its reactions, looking for signs of slowdown and confusion. When they came, when Bal-Simba judged the time was right, a dozen wizards struck against the Enemy’s defenses to push the attackers through.
They were in an enormous echoing room in total darkness. Glow lights floated up from a dozen wizards simultaneously and the group realized they were standing in a gigantic limestone cavern. Even with a dozen lights the illumination barely reached to the edges of the room and threw eerie shadows into the parts it didn’t quite penetrate.
According to plan the group divided up. Following separate magic detectors, Moira, Bal-Simba and half the guardsmen went one way, Jerry, Taj, the Russians and the rest of the guards went another. The dwarves formed into a column and marched off in their own direction.
“How do you think they will do?” Jerry asked the guardsman nearest him as they looked after the dwarves.
The man rubbed his chin where his chain mail coif met his jawline. “Either turn and run at the first opportunity or break off and start looting.”
“Well then?”
The guardsman shrugged “So we send them off independent. Can’t hurt, should draw some of the Enemy off us.” He paused, considering. They may even do some damage.”
“I still don’t like this,” Taj said to Jerry as the other parties moved off.
“Neither do we, but we don’t have much time to search. This way we have a better chance of finding either Moira’s body or Wiz and his group before the Enemy can seriously oppose us.”
“Besides,” Kuznetsov said, “this will confuse Dushmann. If we move quickly,” he added significantly.
Terry took the hint, checked his homing crystal and ordered his group to move out down a side passage.
“Sharp lookout now,” Tosig Longbeard commanded. “And mind those side rooms. They might have something in them.”
As the humans scattered in response to their magic detectors, the dwarves worked through the dungeons more methodically, checking each room and nook for j valuables. Thus they moved more slowly and were closer to the arrival point when the Enemy’s first counter-attack struck.
“Something’s coming,” Durgrim told his King.
“Sound the recall,” Tosig ordered and looked around him.
It wasn’t an ideal situation. Rather than being in a snug tunnel, the dwarves were in another large room where the enemy could come at them from all sides.
“Light,” the dwarf long commanded, and the blackness of the cavern gave way to the twilight gloom dwarves prefer to daylight.