Crypt of the Moaning Diamond

"Traitor," screamed Fottergrim, waving the Ankh in impotent fury at Archlis. The orc commander obviously did not know how to use it, or there would have been nothing but black ash in front of the walls of Tsurlagol. "Kill the traitor!"

Archlis appeared to have completely forgotten the Siegebreakers. A tall disheveled figure, the narrow features of his face hard with concentration, his blue eyes blazing, his whole attention was focused now on Fottergrim. He raised the Moaning Diamond in his hand as though it were an offering to a god and began screaming out the activation spell.

Ivy commanded her group: "Run!"

They all stared at her for a moment, then she saw understanding widen their eyes as they remembered the disappearing wall in the tu

Ivy grabbed Sanval's hand and pulled him after her. Mumchance dropped Wiggles out of his pocket. "Run, run!" he cried, stretching his own short legs as he followed her. Cracks opened up in the ground, but the little dog swerved and swerved again, each time avoiding places where the ground was collapsing.

Ivy cursed when she saw Kid dart away toward Archlis, but she could not turn back to grab him. If she stopped, all of the Siegebreakers would stop. She opened her mouth to shout his name, then thought better of it. Either he knew what he was doing, or he didn't, but she had to trust that he did not want to be noticed by Archlis, and screaming at him wouldn't help.

Sanval started to go after Kid. She tightened her grip on his hand and tugged. He could have twisted loose but didn't. "You know what you're doing," Sanval said.

"He's the fastest," she yelled and kept ru

Archlis shook the Moaning Diamond at Fottergrim. His shouts were even louder than the weird cries of the gem. At the base of the wall, great fissures appeared in the stone. They widened as they spread upward, like some vine twisting up a tree trunk. Rock and dirt and fill and small pebbles popped out of the wall at increasing speed.

Ivy yelled, "The ground is breaking up!" Everyone picked up their feet and ran faster. Only Kid ignored her, ru

"I can't believe this," Ivy muttered. She was still ru

"I think Kid wants to be a hero," Sanval explained as she pulled him upright.

"But now? When the world is falling on us?" Ivy panted.

"Keep moving!" Mumchance shouted over the rumbling of the earth beneath their feet. "Come on, Kid. Run, you little goat, run!"

Kid sprinted toward them.

"Told you," said Ivy. "He's fast."

Dust was spilling out of cracks in the wall, ru

Kid raced back toward the Siegebreakers, leaping lightly on his small hooves over the widening fissures in the ground, zipping around holes, holding the magelord's purse over his head and waving it.

As he neared them, he dug into the purse, pulled out a thick object, and held it overhead, laughing and waving his arms. When he reached Ivy's side, Kid waved the object at. It was Toram's spellbook.

"Don't stop," shouted the dwarf again. "Keep moving!"

Kid raced along at Ivy's side, his upturned face one wide grin.

"A book? You went back for a book?" Zuzzara thundered. The half-orc reached out, grabbed her sister's wrist, and rushed away. Gunderal's feet barely touched the ground. Her hair whipped around her head and across her face, enamel pins dropping like rain behind her.

"Let me go," she shrieked, "I want to see what Archlis is doing."

Zuzzara shouted, "He's bringing down that wall. Want to watch while it falls on you?"

The group was almost halfway across the field when Mumchance called a halt.

They stopped, bumping into each other, then turned around. The two bugbears were racing away in the opposite direction, Norimgic obviously limping from the recent landing in the field. The sun glittered on Sanval's former breastplate as Osteroric followed his brother away from the magelord.

"Look at that!" exclaimed Mumchance.

The wall was twisting now, and the goblins, orcs, hobgoblins, and barbarian archers were falling forward-a rain of timbers and screaming soldiers. A deep note sounded, the voice of stone twisted out of the earth, smothering even the ululations of the Moaning Diamond.

The ground completely crumbled beneath Archlis as the wall tilted out and rained stones and a shrieking Fottergrim down upon the screaming magelord. Archlis tried to roll out of the way, throwing one arm over his head. His other hand, extended and clinging to the Moaning Diamond, held the gem up as though he thought it would protect him.

Archlis dropped down through the widening hole in the ground, down to the twisting tu

A great roar shook the watchers as the ground in front of the wall caved in. The entire fortifications collapsed on the magelord. An enormous cloud of dust belched out of the fissure, a spiral of smoke twisted up to the sky, and then silence. Then there was another distinct popping sound, and a huge jet of water plumed into the sky and fell back to earth.

For a moment the Siegebreakers stood speechless, staring in shock. The water cascaded in high arches, like jets in a splendid castle fountain, then ran in spreading circles and grew from a pond into a lake.

"Not quite how I'd pla

"Shh," said Sanval, holding a finger to his lips. "I would not tell anyone that. It might make it harder to collect your fee." Then he smiled at her.

"Good plan," said Ivy with an answering smile.

"Told you that we would get a small lake on that side," said Mumchance with satisfaction. Gunderal smiled and nodded. Then she turned to look at her sister, lifting one delicate eyebrow in inquiry.

With a belly-deep orc laugh, Zuzzara shouted, "You're the best magic show in town, little sister!"

A shout sounded from the line of Procampur's army on the wooded hillside. Now the rumble of hooves shook the ground as Enguerrand's cavalry swept past them. More men went ru

Ivy shaded her eyes from the midday sun and looked toward Enguerrand's troops. She could see rubble and cavalry and foot soldiers, and in the swirl of dust she glimpsed goblins and the surviving barbarian archers disappearing between the ruins beyond the wall. They were ru

The Siegebreakers looked at each other, very pleased. They had accomplished their mission.