Condemnation by Richard Baker Page B

focused effort of will did she drive herself into motion again.
    They set off into the unending night, and had gone on for some distance from the vicinity of the old bridge when Halisstra became aware of the fact that they were being followed. She was not sure of it, at first. Whatever trailed them was stealthy, and the deadening effects of the Shadow made her unsure if she had really heard something or not. It seemed to whisper and titter in the darkness, a presence that announced itself in a stirring of the motionless air, the faint rush of wind behind them. She turned and studied the path, searching for their pursuer, but she saw nothing save the weary faces of her companions.
    Valas brought up the rear of the march, and he looked up at her as he drew close.
    You sense it too? he signed.
    “What is it?” Halisstra wondered aloud. “What manner of things live in a place like this?”
    The scout shrugged wearily and said, “Something that Pharaun has reason to fear, which alarms me.” He reached out and turned her back toward the rest of the party. Halisstra was shocked to see how far they’d moved away in the few short moments she had stood watching. “Come, we do not want to be left behind. Perhaps what hunts us will be content to follow.”
    They hurried to catch up to the others—and at that moment, their pursuer attacked. Striding up out of the shadows behind them loomed a tremendous figure composed of pure darkness, a black, faceless giant towering more than twenty feet in height. Despite its great size, the thing moved swiftly and silently toward them, strangely graceful. Two shining ovals of silver marked its eyes, and long, spidery talons reached for Halisstra and Valas. Its sibilant whispers filled their minds with awful things, like fat pale worms crawling through rotten meat.
    “Pharaun, wait!” Halisstra cried.
    She fumbled for her mace as the dark giant approached. Beside her, Valas swore and swept out his curved blades, crouching in a fighting stance. A nauseating, tangible chill radiated from the creature, like the cold that seeped through the entire plane but far more concentrated and malevolent in the presence of the monster. The dark giant shimmered, acquiring an almost oily appearance, and it sprang forward in a sudden burst of motion.
    Before Halisstra could cry out another warning, one blow of its massive taloned fist knocked her sprawling to the ground. It turned to fix its pale and terrible gaze upon Valas. The Bregan D’aerthe scout screamed in terror and averted his eyes, dropping one kukri and allowing the second to droop limply from his hand.
    Jeggred roared a challenge and bounded toward the monster, talons extended. The dark giant slammed the half-demon to the ground with one blow of its long black hand. The draegloth scrambled back to his feet and leaped up to rake deep, black furrows across the giant’s thighs and abdomen, seeking to eviscerate the creature, but the wounds closed after the draegloth’s claws passed through the thing’s flesh. Jeggred howled in frustration and redoubled his futile assault.
    “Stand back, you fool!” Pharaun cried from nearby. “It is a nightwalker. You need powerful magic to harm it.”
    The wizard chanted a dire spell, and a bright bolt of green lightning shot out to smite the creature high in its torso—but the pernicious energy just flowed away from the monster’s featureless black hide, leaving it unharmed.
    Your spells are useless, whispered a dark and terrible voice in Halisstra’s mind. Your weapons are useless. You are mine, foolish drow.
    “We will see about that,” Halisstra snarled.
    She picked herself up and dashed forward, raising her mace. The weapon was enchanted, and she hoped it would prove powerful enough to harm the creature. A long arm with deadly talons raked at her, but Halisstra tumbled beneath the monster’s grasp and hammered at the nightwalker’s knee. With a sharp crack of sound and a flash of actinic light, the