came to a broad cross corridor that was carpeted in a different color and
more richly finished than any they had seen so far.
“I recognize this!” Wiz said. “This is the way to the computer room.”
“Great!” said Danny as he stepped in front of Wiz and out into the center
of the corridor. “Let’s go . . .”
A bolt of green radiance lashed down the corridor and caught Danny square
in the back. He pitched forward and dropped like a sack of sand. June
screamed and rushed toward him, heedless of the bolts of energy crackling
around her.
Down the corridor came a packed mass of goblin troops, the ones in front
firing ray guns.
Gilligan stepped forward, dropped to one knee and braced the pistol in
both hands, elbow resting on knee. Three well-placed shots dropped the
leaders and the rest hesitated for a moment.
Then Wiz started throwing fireballs.
“Stigi,” Karin’s voice rose over the noise. “Forward.”
Stepping past June kneeling over Danny, the dragon shouldered Gilligan and
Wiz out of the way and advanced down the corridor. The guards reformed and
came on, energy bolts scoring the walls ahead. If any of them hit Stigi he
didn’t show it. Instead he breathed deeply and sent a gout of flame
washing down the corridor.
That was the final straw. The attacking guards broke and ran.
Wiz bent over Danny, but June bared her teeth and hissed at him. The young
programmer’s shirt was burned away and the flesh beneath was charred and
smoking. Wiz could see the white of bone from his ribs and spine. He was
still breathing, but his breath was coming in great harsh gasps.
“He’s dying,” Jerry said quietly. His eyes were big and his face pale.
“Lord, unless you have powerful healing spells I am afraid this one is
done for,” Karin said quietly to Wiz.
“No,” Wiz said without taking his eyes off Danny. “Nothing like that.”
“Then I am truly sorry, my Lord.”
“Goddamn!” Wiz breathed. If skilled healers could reach him in the next
few minutes he still had a chance. But there were no healers among them
and no way to get Danny to a healer in time. They could not walk the
Wizard’s Way from inside the castle. The opposing magic was too strong.
There just wasn’t time.
Time!
Quickly Wiz knelt again and reached for his friend’s arm. June bared her
teeth again and fumbled in her skirt for her knife.
“I’m trying to save him, dammit!” June looked hard at him, but she relaxed
slightly.
Wiz reached out and touched the ring of protection Danny still wore on his
right hand. Before June could object he twisted the stone and Danny froze
in stasis as the protection spell took hold.
“He’s all right,” Wiz said to June. “Don’t you see? The spell will keep
him safe until we can get him back to a healer.” June looked down at her
husband and bit her lip, but she made no move to touch the ring.
“Help me carry him further down the corridor.” He turned to Karin. “I
don’t think there are any more branches off this corridor until we get to
the computer room. Once we move Danny, can you back your dragon up past
the intersection and hold them off here?”
Karin nodded.
“Great. Jerry, help me move him. We don’t have to be too gentle. Stasis is
better than a backboard.”
“Then what?” asked Gilligan, looking down the corridor in the direction
their attackers had fled.
“Then,” Wiz said in a hard cold voice, “we’re gonna find that goddamn
computer and stomp a couple of people flat.”
Craig sat glued to his workstation and played as he had never played in
his life. Slowly it dawned on him that this wasn’t just a couple of early
setbacks. He was losing.
It wasn’t all one-sided. He was hurting them plenty, but it wasn’t enough.
His carefully constructed defenses were washing away like sand. His
warbots were powerful but the attackers were hitting him in ways they
weren’t programmed to handle. If he took direct command of a unit he could
do pretty well, but he couldn’t be everywhere at once and besides, his