The crimson witch

feet stepping from rung to rung.
        He reached the steps beside the carved walls and took them two at a time into the enormous ballroom where the stalactites and stalagmites carried the flame from the room above. Lelar as Mordoth followed, hurling bolts of lightning and fire after him. But they bounced off his back without igniting him, setting the Great Tree on fire instead. He crossed the ballroom at a dead run, the struggling corpse slithering and scraping after him.
        “STOP!” Lelar shouted. “I'LL CONDEMN YOU TO DAMNATION!”
        But that was a power even beyond Lelar.
        Jake found the mouth of the tunnel through which he had entered and started down the corridor. The dwarf appeared in the entrance behind him. Mordoth's clothes were afire, and his hands were alive with tiny flames. He took a step forward, trying to continue, but the body was hopelessly ruined. It collapsed. The only thing Lelar could use of it was its vocal cords, and those he used without mercy, calling after the disappearing figure with the long hair and the walnut shell necklace.
        “I'LL CONDEMN YOU TO DAMNATION.” “I'LL CONDEMN YOU TO DAMNATION.” “I'LL CONDEMN YOU TO DAMNATION…”

Chapter Twelve: MANBATS AT MIDNIGHT
        
        They had left the Great Tree with haste, for once the townspeople saw the smoke and realized the fantastic growth was going up in flames, his life would be worthless. When the bartender found that Mordoth was dead, when he saw the corpse or the smoke-yellowed bones of the dwarf, he would spread Jake's description through the immediate territory, and he would most likely be killed on sight or, worse, bound, gagged, and tortured until he died. They would not be easy on the man who killed their patron saint. It would be useless trying to explain that Lelar had killed the Talented. These people would want blood, and not being able to get Lelar's, they would take Jake's as a useable substitute.
        But there was also the manbats to worry about. Mordoth had said they would attack this night, which meant he and Kaliglia must find a decent place to camp, one that was defensible. They found it, several hours later, tucked in the edge of the woods. There was a high stone cliff at the end of a blind pathway with trees on the other two sides of it. Near the cliff, the trees arched and met overhead, blocking out perpendicular descent by the manbats. They could come in to the clearing only one way-straight on. They stopped here and set about building the defenses Jake had in mind…
        
        Jake had built a roaring fire after all else was done, and he stacked logs and leaves and dried vines next to it to feed it with. The manbats would find him no matter how hard he tried to conceal his whereabouts, so there was little sense in doing without a fire. Besides, the manbats could see well at night, and he could not. The fire enabled him to see clearly the area of the immediate campsite while being bright enough to worry the eyes of the manbats.
        He lay beside Kaliglia, back against the cliff, as if he were asleep, though his eyes were slightly open and his breathing was much too heavy and excited to be that of a sleeping man. They had finished the defenses long after dark, and he had been constantly worried that the flap of wings would sound before things had been finished, that he would feel the rake of sharp claws down his back and die with his miserable weapons system incomplete, a thing for the manbats to ponder over and laugh at, a thing left to rot in the woods-with his corpse. But they had finished after all and now had only to wait. His watch told him it was midnight when they heard the rustle of leathery wings and the hissed calls of the demon beasts as they circled overhead, looking for a way through the trees.
        Kaliglia pushed to his feet and tensed, ready to leap up and sideways when Jake gave the order.
        Jake tensed, put his hand on the trigger string of his device he had spent all of the afternoon and evening preparing, placed his other hand on his Thob sword.
        The manbats alighted beyond the trees and came through the opening just as he planned. There were nine of them that he could see, but they had most likely come in a detail of a dozen. The missing trio would be drifting about overhead, waiting as backup forces in the event the nine decided they needed help, or as scouts to flee if the nine decided they could not overcome their