glowing lines and cryptic inscriptions. A breath of cool air washed over
him as the climate control system activated. This was one design that
could stand up to dragon fire and not even feel it.
Once he was sure everything was operational, he stood erect and stepped
away from the scaffolding, brushing it aside with a casual gesture that
sent pieces ricocheting off the workshop walls. He turned and stepped
lithely toward the door. As he passed the workbench he reached down and
scooped up the thermonuclear hand grenades lying there. Maybe they would
be good for something after all, he thought as he dropped them into a
pouch on the armor.
Stigi couldn’t use his tail, but that didn’t matter much. He very nearly
blocked the passage physically. The attackers’ only approach was through a
mass of fire and straight into the dragon’s fangs and claws.
Even if the castle guards had been equipped with dragon-slaying arrows it
would have been hard to take Stigi out. As it happened that wasn’t part of
their equipment and so the problem was very nearly impossible. Warbots
might have been able to handle Stigi, but they had all been sent to the
lower levels to confront the League forces battling their way up through
the castle.
Not that the guards stopped trying. They came on until their charred
bodies reached nearly to the ceiling and then they climbed over the
smoking corpses to keep coming. By the sheer mass of their onslaught they
managed to force Stigi back a pace or two with every attack. But it was a
long, straight corridor and Stigi had lots of room to back up.
* * *
The door at the end of the corridor was locked, but that didn’t stop Wiz.
He wasn’t fancy about it, he just used a fireball to blow the lock off.
Almost without breaking stride he kicked the door open and stepped
through. Jerry and Mick were hard on his heels.
The computer was sitting in the middle of the floor, almost exactly where
Wiz’s double had been standing when Mikey hit him with the fireball. It
was up and running quietly away with the image of the key rotating slowly
on the screen.
“Is it my imagination,” Jerry asked, “or is that thing a lot more detailed
than the last time we saw it?”
“Your imagination’s not that good. Let’s smash the computer and go get
Craig and Mikey.” Wiz raised his arms to throw another fireball, but Jerry
put his hand on his shoulder.
“You’re not thinking. Without the key how are we going to close the gate?”
Wiz turned his head and looked at him. “What’s your plan?”
“Make a copy of the file first. Binary representation should be as good as
any other for the purposes of spell casting.”
Wiz dropped his arms and nodded. From down the corridor came roars and
yells as Stigi held the entrance. “We’ve got the time. Let’s do it.”
Craig heard the fight in the corridor as soon as he stepped off the
stairs. The din echoed and re-echoed through the entire level of the
castle. His sensors reported combustion byproducts in the air, including
some that came from burning flesh. Finally he saw the carpet of bodies in
the corridor leading to the computer room. Cautiously he stuck his
massively armored head around the corner.
The smoke was so thick he had to resort to his sensors to see what was
happening. Up ahead was a packed mass of warriors, some living, some dead
and some wounded and down. Every one who could move was pressing ahead. As
he watched the scene was backlit by an enormous gout of flame that turned
the figures to black silhouettes against a fiery background.
With his battle armor he could undoubtedly charge through the mass and
handle whatever was blocking his guards. But that would take time. What he
wanted was to get his hands on Zumwalt as fast as possible.
He turned and ran back the way he came. Plenty of time to finish this
bunch later.
Several hundred yards and a number of turnings later he was in the
corridor leading to the side entrance to the computer room. He had only