Read Condemnation for Free Online Page B

encounter with the monsters, it had been an hours-long running battle through the streets and empty buildings of the ruins. First, a large pride of lamias had tried to overwhelm the party with their beguiling powers, but drow on guard for such magical tricks were no easy prey. Halisstra and the others steeled themselves for a fight against the lion-bodied monsters, but the lamias—deceitful and cowardly things that they were—withdrew from the battle and instead hurled wave after wave of beguiled thralls at the drow party. Lamias might have lacked for physical courage, but the manticores, asabis, gargoyles, and other assorted creatures under their control certainly did not.
    “Neither option appeals to me,” Quenthel growled. She turned slowly, studying the walls and structures around them, seeking escape. “There. I can see the open desert just beyond those buildings. Maybe they’ll abandon the chase if we leave the city.”
    “Unwise, Mistress,” said Valas. He crouched by an archway leading into their temporary refuge, watching for the next assault. “Once we leave the shelter of the walls, they’ll know exactly where we are. We’d be visible for miles out in the open, even with our piwafwis—they weren’t made to hide us in bright daylight on an open plain. Concealment is our best defense.”
    Ryld nodded wearily. He stood by another doorway, his greatsword resting on his shoulder.
    “They would surround us and drag us down out there,” the Master of Melee-Magthere said. “Best to try to keep moving within the ruins, and hope the lamias—ah, damn. We’ve got more company.”
    Rubble shifted somewhere in the maze of crumbling walls beyond their refuge as something large padded closer.
    “Watch out for illusions,” Halisstra said.
    She balanced her mace in her hand and tugged at her shield, making sure it was strapped securely to her arm. Behind her, Danifae crouched, a long dagger in her hand. Halisstra wasn’t happy about arming her battle captive, but at the moment they needed all the help they could get, and it was plainly in Danifae’s best interests to make sure they didn’t all fall prey to the denizens of Hlaungadath.
    The lamias tried something new. Against the gap in the wall that Jeggred guarded, the monsters hurled a wave of lizardlike asabis, savage creatures that hissed in anger as they threw themselves against the draegloth with scimitars and falchions clutched in their scaly hands. Three more challenged Valas while a pair of gargoyles streaked over the walls and dropped into the midst of the ruined building behind Ryld, their great black wings raising huge clouds of dust with every beat. The weapons master whirled to face the threat behind him, cursing.
    Jeggred howled in rage and leaped to meet the rush of the asabis, batting aside flashing blades and snapping jaws while he tore at the lizard warriors with his great talons. The white-haired demon used his four arms to wreak terrible carnage, but even Jeggred was tiring. Blows he would have eluded with his freakish speed landed awkwardly. He blocked one slashing scimitar badly with his left outer arm, and suffered a long bloody cut halfway from elbow to wrist. Another blade scored his torso, starting a stream of red across his white-pelted chest. The draegloth roared in rage and redoubled his efforts.
    Ryld slashed at the gargoyles while Halisstra and Quenthel ran to his side. Quenthel lashed at one with her whip. The snake heads wound around the creature’s taloned legs and sank fangs into stony flesh, but the gargoyle beat furiously for height and dragged the priestess off her feet and across the dusty structure. Pharaun raised his wand to blast the monsters with deadly lightning, but spun in a half-circle and fell, a crossbow bolt transfixing his right forearm. The wand flew from his hands.
    “The rooftops!” the wizard called.
    Halisstra backed away from the gargoyles and squinted at the bright sky, searching for more attackers.