“Something in the tunnel up ahead,” Shamus whispered. “Magic?”
Malus paused for an instant and then shook his head. A quick gesture from their commander sent the guardsmen shuffling into a new formation, shields to the front and spears and halberds behind. Malus stepped into the second rank, squeezed between two tall pikemen, and flipped back the sleeves of his robe to leave his arms bare for action.
One instant the tunnel before them was dark and empty and the next it was filled with nightmare creatures backlit by a weird blue glow. Instinctively the humans started and pulled tighter together at the sight of the insect-like horrors bearing down upon them.
A swipe of a halberd and an ant-thing was standing headless, arms and legs waving blindly. A man in the front rank screamed and fell as a stream of acid washed over him, leaving smoking holes in his clothing and skin.
Malus and the other wizards began throwing lightning bolts, death spells and everything else they could think of. The ant-things died in droves before the magic, and more died beneath the guardsmen’s steel.
Step by step the humans were forced back by the oncoming waves of insectoid monsters. They left a trail of insect corpses behind them, but the pressure of the close-packed creatures was simply too great to withstand.
Thundering down the side tunnel came a column of dwarves, mailed, helmed and battle axes at the ready.
The dwarves hit the insect warriors about halfway down their column with an impact that shoved the bugs back against the wall. Streams of acid spattered off the dwarves. But dwarves are tough enough to handle molten metal and the steel of dwarfish armor is at least the quality of high-tech stainless. Save for an occasional lucky shot, the dwarves ignored the liquid.
They could not ignore the scything jaws and crushing pincers of their insectoid foes, but they did not succumb to them easily either. Steel and leather protected the dwarves and a dwarf which could be reached with a pincer meant an insect which could be reached by an axe. Work-hardened muscles drove axes through the insects’ chitinous exoskeletons and into the soft flesh beyond. The dwarves hewed legs, lopped pincers and chopped off heads with grim abandon, all the while forcing further into the main tunnel.
The charge split the enemy column in two and now instead of attacking, the front section was trying to defend on two fronts as the humans took renewed strength from the reinforcements. The tunnel grew slippery with blood and ichor as the distance between the humans and dwarves lessened. Finally there were only a couple of insect warriors left and the humans and dwarves were putting as much effort into avoiding each others weapons as they were into killing bugs. Meanwhile, the back part of the insect warriors’ column was being forced further and further down the tunnel. They were not retreating, but the dwarves were chopping through layer after layer of them.
Finally, at some unseen signal the remaining insects turned as one and ran down the tunnel, leaving the shorter-legged dwarves panting behind them.
Thank you, Your Majesty,” Malus panted.
Tosig Longbeard inclined his head in response. “We are allies.” One of the dwarves pushed his way through the ranks and whispered in the king’s ear. “Now if you will excuse us, there is—ah—a matter which we must investigate.” With that he turned and signaled to his followers. As they fell back and the long strode to the front Malus caught a scrap of the messenger’s words.
“… piled clear to the ceiling… just everywhere.”
“Well,” said Malus. “If those creatures return they shall have to fight past the dwarves. Those will not give up treasure merely because of a horde of giant ants.”
“Fine with me,” said Shamus. “If they keep those bugs away from us they’re welcome to all the treasure they can carry.”
“Light up ahead,” Malkin whispered to Wiz.
What now? Giant ants or lava? He tightened his grip on his staff and motioned the others to make ready.
The light was blue, but brighter blue than the fungus in the ant tunnels. It bobbed about as it came on, casting moving shadows on the floor and walls. Wiz scanned the shadows anxiously, looking for something hiding there.