Finish her opponent

Teysa turned away grimly. She could not risk breaking off with the naga brute snapping at her heels. El'keth would just have to take care of herself. Her moment's inattention had cost her--the naga charged forward with his trident held outward. Teysa ducked sideways, but the move had been a feint. The naga's tail whipcracked around and scythed her legs out from under her. Teysa toppled forward with her arms thrust out to break her fall. She landed hard with a jarring impact that knocked her mace out of her hand. She immediately had to roll away as the trident's tines speared towards her neck. Sparks shot up where the old iron impacted the stone, and the naga hissed in frustration. Teysa's roll had taken her away from her weapon, and as she scrambled to her feet the naga moved to interpose himself between her and it.

He grinned at her as he advanced. A cloud of carrion breath rolled over her, a fetid stink that made her gag. He was burbling something in the naga dialect, but Teysa remained focused. She tried to remember the battle meditations she had been taught. At the height of her powers, a foe like this would have been no trouble; his blade would have broken against her skin, and his eyes would be seared by Agamor's holy radiance if he dared to face her. Some paladins could manifest spiritual warriors that fought alongside them; others could call down fire from the heavens to burn their enemies. Teysa's abilities had always been more modest than that, but she still felt their absence keenly.

She stayed low and tried to keep circling. Her opponent was old and wary; he knew he had the advantage, but he hesitated to close in and make the kill. His belly was knotted with scar tissue, and she could see that half of the horns on his bony crest had been sheared off. This one was a survivor, and he hadn't lived this long by underestimating his opponents. He boxed her away from her fallen mace and closed in, shield before him, trident held high. He would be in striking distance in a second or two. Teysa eyed her mace, tensed her muscles and leapt sideways. The naga hissed in rage and frustration as his killing thrust went wide. One of the tines of the trident scraped Teysa's bicep, tearing open her sleeve and carving a long cut through the meat of her arm. The wound was shallow, but the **** of the impact knocked Teysa out of the air and she hit the floor for the second time. Her fingers groped blindly for her mace. It was just inches out of reach. Agamor, please, she thought, please, deliver me from this evil. Somewhere above her, she knew, the naga was readying his second strike into her unprotected back. She had seconds at most.

The naga's tail scraped against a stalagmite as he closed on her. There was a brittle crack, and a cluster of calcite crystals tumbled free. A chunk of flowstone rolled into Teysa's hand, a hard ball that fit her palm so perfectly it might have been carved. Projecting out between her middle and index fingers was a jagged spar of calcite nearly a foot long. Teysa spun around with the rock held before her just as the trident plunged downward. The center blade hit the stone dead center and snapped off with a metallic _ting. _Teysa arose, swatting the trident aside, and looked into the astonished face of the naga. She punched her arm forward and with a grisly crack drove the crystal spar into his eye with such **** that it emerged from the back of his head. Black ichor spattered over her hand as the creature shrieked and went into **** throes.

Across the cave, El'keth was still held at bay. Her face was a rictus of terror, her arms held up protectively. As Teysa watched, one of the naga assaulting her slashed with its cleaver. The blade bit into one of El'keth's segmented legs and she screamed, a shrill note that seemed to start in the middle of Teysa's head and work its way out through the ears. The other naga jabbed with its spear, and El'keth reared up to avoid the blow. She lunged forward like a panicked steed and flailed madly with her arms. Despite her size, her human half was young and petite, and her arms looked delicate. The naga croaked laughter as they watched her wind up a punch.

Then it connected, and threw one of the naga across the room.

Teysa's eyes grew wide. It was easy to forget how strong the driders were, especially one with El'keth's shy disposition. The girl herself looked shocked. She stared at her hand like a musket that had unexpectedly gone off. The naga with the cleaver was trying to back up, but El'keth grabbed him with one hand and lifted him off the ground. The other hand grabbed the cleaver by the flat of the blade and ripped it out of his hands. She dropped it to the floor with a clatter and picked up the naga two-handed, then threw him against the wall. He impacted with a heavy crack and fell to the floor.

Aliara was standing on top of a felled naga and bracing herself against him with one foot while she pulled a dagger out of his back. Her other dagger was speared upward through another assailant's chin and out through the roof of his mouth. Aside from her grunting, the cave was silent. Teysa could hear blood thundering in her ears. She stumbled over to her mace and picked it up. As she closed her fingers around it, a sharp pain flared in her upper arm. Cursing, she tried to pick it up with her other hand, and clumsily managed to drop it back into her belt loop. She could feel a bruise developing on her left hip, where she had landed heavily; each step caused pain to bloom there as well. She limped her way across the cave to El'keth, who was still staring at her hands as though they were on fire.

"Teysa, did you see that?" the drider asked. She sounded dreamy and shocked. "I hit them. I think I killed them!" Teysa looked across the cave, to where the naga El'keth had thrown still lay on the ground. "I think you did, El'keth. Good job."

"I've never killed anyone before! I didn't mean to, I just wanted them to leave me alone!"

"Yeah, well, you got your wish, all right," said Aliara. She was wiping the blood off her blades with a silk handkerchief. "Nice work, kid. It was them or you. Don't lose sleep over it. That's how things go down here: kill or be killed."

El'keth still looked troubled. "It feels odd. I know they would have killed me, but I still feel strange. Those were naga, correct? Mother has told me about them."

Teysa nodded and rested a hand against one of El'keth's legs. The chitin felt warm underneath her fingers, and tiny bristles in between the segments tickled the flesh of her palm. "El'keth, Agamor teaches us that to bring justice can be difficult and harsh, but it is righteous nonetheless. Those things hurt countless people in their lives, and the Underneath is a little safer with them gone."

Aliara shrugged. "I dunno about that, but I can tell you, face to face... it's hard. If you're just a soldier in a uniform next a lot of other soldiers, maybe it's different, or if you're pulling a trigger and you don't even see their face, but a fair fight-- where it's just you and them-- it always takes a lot out of you. They make you feel it." She smiled. "Buck up! You're alive, which is more than I can say for some. We should move on. They'll be back here soon, with reinforcements."

There was no question of Teysa shouldering the heavy pack again, but Aliara volunteered to take it. On her tiny frame it looked ridiculously huge, but she was stronger than she looked, and managed to keep up easily. They walked for another half hour or so before reaching a small cave with only one tunnel in and out. It was snug and mostly dry, with plenty of room for the tent. To Teysa's astonishment, El'keth spun herself a hammock and anchored it to four of the largest stalactites dangling from the ceiling. She had half-expected the young drider's weaving to be clumsy and ****, but it was as beautiful and elegant as anything she had seen in the warren. The three of them ate travel bread, and afterward Aliara uncorked a bottle of tarlike lotion she had acquired in the City. "Ok, Tey," she declared. "Pop your top. I need to look at that wound."

Teysa's nose wrinkled at the acrid smell of the lotion. "It's nothing. I'm fine. Really."

"Oh, brave girl. Come on, off with it. You can keep your tunic on... for now." Aliara tipped her an exaggerated wink. "Come on, those naga blades are filthy. If you lose that arm it'll be your own stupid fault." Grumbling, Teysa allowed her spaulders and breastplate to be unlaced, then pulled her gambeson off over her head. Each movement hurt her wounded bicep, though she tried not to show it. Revealed, the wound was uglier than she had thought: a slash like a smiling mouth with ragged edges, dried blood crusting on its lips. The ointment stung every bit as much as she'd expected, and she stifled a cry as Aliara smeared it on with her fingers and wrapped the wound in a silk bandage. "Hush, there," the half-elf said as she worked. "Come on, you've had bigger. Remember when that dire boar almost unzipped your guts?" She pinned the bandage closed and planted a kiss on Teysa's cheek. "There you go, love. All better." Aliara yawned and stretched her arms. "I am beat! You coming to bed, Tey? Or do you wanna take the watch? What about you, El'keth?"

The drider had been staring into her lantern, but perked up at the sound of her name. "I can take a watch, Aliara. I do not mind. I should just wake you up if I hear anything unusual?"

Aliara grimaced. "Unusual? Down here? I'd like to get more than five minutes of sleep at a time. Just wake me up if we're about to die, please." She crawled into the tent and let the flap fall back behind her. El'keth looked nonplussed, and Teysa took pity on her. "I'll take the first watch, El'keth. I'll wake you when it's your turn. Just keep your eyes open and if you think there's something coming, wake us up." El'keth nodded, her face all seriousness, and clambered up into her hammock.

The wound was tingling a little, but it did feel slightly better, Teysa had to admit. Her thoughts kept turning back to the fight. What about the calcite crystal? Was that Agamor at work? Or was it coincidence? Was Agamor still watching her at all? The adrenaline from the fight had completely worn off; she was exhausted, but she felt that there was something she had to do before she could go to bed.