The silent scream stopped, and the pain was gone. Where it had gone was apparent. The kraken thrashed wildly in an agony I understood all too well. Somehow Khelben had gathered the force of that foul mind spell and turned it back upon the creature.
The kraken seemed confused by its great pain. It began to drag itself along the sand in a hasty retreat to the sea, yet one of its flailing tentacles probed about as if seeking something important. The tentacle suddenly reared up high, then slammed straight toward the gate. I caught a glimpse of thousands of suction cups, most at least the size of a dinner plate and soim larger than a northman's battle targe, and then a greal length of the sinuous arm slammed against the wooden door and held firm. The kraken did not seem to notice this impediment to its own escape. It sank into the sea, still holding its grip on the door. Wood shriekec as the gate bulged outward.
I took this as happenstance, but my master was more versed in the ways of battle. His brow knit in con sternation as he divined the invaders' strategy.
"Brilliant," muttered Lord Arunsun. "The gate thick and well barred-no ram or fuselage could shatter it. But perhaps it can be pulled outward."
He gestured toward the Walking Statue. The golen vaulted over the city wall, and its feet sank deep into pile of sea devil corpses. Lady Mystra grant that some day the sound of that landing will fade from my ears!
With a noise distressingly like a thousand boot! pulling free of mud, the golem extricated itself an‹ strode to the shore. Huge stone fingers dug into the kraken's stretched and straining tentacle. The golen set its feet wide and began to pull, trying to rip the tentacle free of the gate-or the kraken. Terrible popping sounds filled the air as one by one the suction cups ton free of the wooden door. Then the flesh of the tentacle itself began to tear, and enormous bubbles churned thi water in explosive bursts as the submerged and possibly dying kraken struggled to complete its task. The gate bulged and pulsed in time with the creature' frantic efforts. I did not know which would yield first the gate or the kraken.
A splintering crash thrummed out, blanketing thi sounds of battle much as a dragon's roar might diminis birdsong. Great, jagged fissures snaked up the massive wooden planks of the gate. The statue redoubled its efforts. Stone arms corded as the golem strove to either break the creature's hold or rend it in twain.
Finally the kraken could bear no more. The tentacle came loose suddenly, abandoning the gate to wrap snake-like around the golem's stone face. The Walking Statue struggled mightily and dug in its heels, but it was slowly drawn out into the water, leaving deep furrows behind in the sand. The water roiled and heaved as their battle raged. Great stone arms tangled with thrashing kraken limbs for many long moments before both sank beneath the silent waves.
Lord Arunsun did not look pleased by this victory. "We are winning," I ventured.
"When there is so much death no one wins," he muttered. Too much corruption in the harbor… this sort of victory could destroy the city."
A terrible scream sliced through the air. Somehow I knew the voice, though I had never heard it raised in such fear and pain. I spun toward the sound. Finella Chandler, a lovely wench who was nearly my equal in the art of creating fire, had apparently grown too tired to control her own magic. A fireball had exploded in her hand, and she flamed like a candle. She rolled wildly down the slope of the inner wall and ran shrieking through the streets, too maddened by pain to realize that her best hope was among her fellow wizards.
A second shriek, equally impassioned, rang out from a young fellow I knew only as Tomas. He was a shy lad, and I had not known that he loved Finella. There was no doubting it now. The youth spent his magic hurling quenching spells after his dying love, but her frantic haste and his made a poor match. I shuddered as I watched Finella's last light fade from sight.
Khelben gave me an ungentle push. To the north the sahuagin have nearly broken through."
For a moment I stood amazed. This possibility ha not once occurred to me. I had no idea how I woul fight sea devils in the streets of Waterdeep. The god had gifted me with a nimble mind and a talent for th Art, but I was not a large man and I was unskilled i weapons. My fire spells would not serve in the city. All timbers and thatched roofs blazed like seasoned kirdling, and as Finella had learned to her sorrow, fire were far easier to start than to quench.
New urgency quickened my steps, and with new striousness I reviewed the spells remaining to me, prayed they would suffice. The sea devils had to be stopped now, here.
I ran past Hughmont and seized his arm. "Com with me," I said. "Frighten them with your sparkle and purchase me time."
He came along, but his hand went to his sword be! rather than his spell bag. I was alone in the possession of magic, and I spent my spells freely as we pushed northward. I tried not to contemplate what I might d when my purse was emptied.
When we reached my assigned post two dire thing occurred in one breath. Just as exhaustion dwindlei my last fireball into harmless smoke, two enormous webbed, green-black hands slapped onto the rim of th guard wall directly before me.
Six fingers, I thought numbly. The sea devils hav six fingers. The malformed hands flexed, and the crea ture hoisted itself up to eye level.
I forgot everything else as I stared into the black ness of those hideous eyes. They were empty, endless merciless, and darker than a moonless night.
So this is what death looks like, I mused, then all thought melted as mindless screams tore from my throat.
The hairless wizard began the undulating chant of a spell. It was a fearsome noise-more ringingly powerful than I would have thought possible without water to carry it. For a moment fear froze me.
A moment of weakness, no more, but the wizards were quick to exploit it. A second wizard, this one pale as a fish's underbelly, ran forward with upraised sword. This was a battle I could understand.
My first impulse was to spring onto the parapet, but I remembered that none of the humans seemed to carry my particular mutation. They all had but a single pair of arms. I held my place until the fighting wizard was almost upon me, but with my unseen hands I reached for two small weapons hooked to my harness.
He came in hard, confident. I lifted a knife to catch his descending blade. The appearance of a third arm startled him and stole some of the force from his attack. It was an easy thing to throw his sword arm high, so simple to slash in with a small, curved sickle and open his belly.
The sweet, heavy, enticing scent of blood washed over me in waves. I heaved myself up and lunged for the proffered meal. Strictly speaking, this was still an enemy and not food, but that was easily resolved. I thrust one hand deep into the human's body and tore loose a handful of entrails. Life left him instantly, and I tossed the food into my mouth.
"Meat is meat," I grunted between gulps.
Blessed silence fell as the hairless wizard ceased hi keening chant. He began to back slowly away. His eyei bulged and ripples undulated through his chest am throat. A moment passed before I recognized this strange spellcasting for what it was: sickness, horror fear. In that moment, my personal battle was as gooc as won.
Nor was I alone. Other sahuagin had breached the walls and were fighting hand-to-hand with th‹ humans on the wall. Some wizards still hurled weap ons of magic and flame, but most of them seemed tc have emptied their quivers.
Triumph turned my fear into a shameful memory. 1 gulped air and forced it into my air bladder to fuel speech. "Where is your magic fire, little wizard? It is gone, and soon you will be meat."
The wizard-now nothing but a human-turned and fled like a startled minnow. For a moment I hesitated, frozen with surprise that any warrior would turn tail in so craven a fashion. This was what their magic-wielders came down to in the end. They were as weak and as soft as any other human. This pathetic coward was the monster I had feared?