Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do was charge into a melee between some psychotic Dre Costan’s and a bunch of pissed off pythons with delusions of grandeur. Unfortunately, it was a fact that without Beren I had no chance of getting out of the city, much less of making it back to civilization with my all important hide intact. Hoping for the best, I rushed down the slope in Beren’s wake brandishing my sword, praying silently to the God of Thieves and Liars that I wouldn’t fall and that the lizards didn’t have any missile weapons. Predictably my patron obliged. Equally predictably the response was perverse. Although the lizards seemed content with spears, one of the Dre Costan’s spun and aimed his arquebus at us, its barrel a yawning black hole that looked like it was pointed directly at my head. Already committed to a headlong rush, I whipped up my sword, the only item I had to hide behind. There was a wang of metal on metal and the sword blade bucked in my hands, striking me in the face with the flat as something hot whipped past my right side. The disorienting blow stole my rhythm and suddenly I was half tumbling forward, like a child who runs down a hill only to realize they are moving faster than they can control. I flew past Beren, the furious windmilling of my feet all that was keeping me from a headlong tumble. The Dre Costan’s eyes widened and he dropped his arquebus, a mistake as he could have easily stove my skull in with it, and grabbed for his sword. Yelling a vicious oath I tucked my head down and lead with my shoulder. There was a crash as I impacted him, transferring my out of control momentum to him with an agonizing blow to my shoulder. The mercenary flew off his feet, screaming as he hit the stone floor and skidded towards the hole. He made a desperate grab for the lip and then vanished into the pit, his scream attenuated over impossibly long seconds before being lost in the clangor of battle.

 

“Run!” I yelled at the milling travelers, making a general gesture back the way I had come with the sword that, amazingly, was still in my hand.

 

“Shizen!” I exclaimed, dodging back out of the arc of an ornate halberd that would have taken my head off if I’d delayed another moment. I struck out with my sword, but the serpent man deflected the clumsy thrust with the wooden haft of his weapon. It drew back to finish me off but before it could scythe me down Beren’s axe came down in an overhead chop that took its arm off at the shoulder in a spray of dark brackish blood. All was chaos. Men screamed, lizards hissed and weapons flashed. The whole place had an awful smell that combined blood, mould and something dry and spicy that might have been from the lizards or might have emanate from the pit. Herringbone had a curved lizard sword and was all but swatting the other travelers up towards the portal by which we had entered. The Dre Costan with the symbol was waving it like a flaming brand. The serpent men recoiled from it each time before rallying and trying to press close.

 

“Beren get the symbol!” I shouted and then screamed as a serpent man shoved me aside with a scaly hand. I stumbled down towards the pit. In a moment of sickening clarity, I realized I was going to fall in. Unable to arrest my descent I took a great stride, planted my foot on the edge and leaped. I flew out over the stygian darkness, momentarily light headed from the spicy cinnamon like scent and then hit the other side. I nearly made it, the instep of my foot catching the far side with my body still at an angle. I began to tumble backwards to my doom when a serpent man spear point appeared in what would have been a perfect strike had I made the jump but was now six inches short of the mark. I grabbed it behind the point with the desperation of a cornered animal, thrust my ass out, flexed my knees and yanked for my very soul. The serpent man made a surprised hiss as he was yanked into the pit, the momentum enough to send me staggering up onto the otherside. Incredibly I still had my sword in my hand, although if Beren didn’t get the symbol in the next few seconds that wasn’t going to matter.