Free The Paladins by James M. Ward, David Wise

raised.
    “Noph, run!” cried Trandon. The boy turned at the sound of his name and blinked uncomprehendingly at the cleric, then burst to life. He scrambled in the sticky mess splattering down from above, dropping his dagger. The screaming barlgura began to move with him, pressing toward his friends, so Noph grabbed at a furry leg and used it to catapult himself by, sliding toward his comrades and tripping the fiend in the process. It went down with a thud and ruptured, spraying flesh everywhere. Trandon leaped forward and seized the boy. Together they rolled away from the carnage and made their way behind Able.
    “Run!” ordered Able. “Run for the others!”
    “We won’t leave without you!” Noph yelled.
    “Go! For the quest!” He turned back to look at Noph for an instant, his eyes beaming with surety and light. “For justice!”
    A barlgura seized Able by the neck and lifted him in the air. “Run!” he screamed. Then the fiend swept its massive claw with a snarl, ripping his head from his shoulders. Trandon and Noph bolted down the corridor, the slap of heavy paws on the stone at their heels.
    As Trandon ran, he seized a ring upon his left forefinger and turned it; a blue glow rose on its surface.
    “What are you doing?” panted Noph. At that moment, a hairy hand caught his ankle and tripped him. Trandon ground to a sudden halt, spun about, and threw out his pointing finger in the face of the two remaining fiends. A streak of jagged, radiant blue lightning shot forth, catching them both in its electrical fork with a peal of thunder. They bellowed in pain, fell over Noph, and disappeared!
    “Noph?” cried Trandon. “Noph!” He dropped to his knees and searched the ground with his hands, refusing to believe his eyes. “Noph!”
    At the sound of approaching footsteps, he looked up. The rest of the party stormed into the corridor and skidded to a halt.
    “What’s happened?” demanded Miltiades. “Where are Able and Freeman Kastonoph?”
    “Dead,” said Trandon.
    “What happened?”
    “We came upon fiends—tanar’ri, barlgura in a room with some sort of magical mirror in it. They caught Noph, but Able—”
    Trandon’s eyes brimmed and spilled over. “Able called upon Tyr, and it was glorious! I’ve never seen such power! He saved us, but they got him, and then they got Noph. I killed the last ones, but it was too late, too late!” He bowed his head and wept. Tve never seen anything like it!” he insisted through his sobs.
    Kern and Miltiades looked at one another; the latter smiled with brimming eyes. “May Able be sitting by Tyr’s side even as we speak,” he intoned. “I knew he’d make it.”
    Somewhere in the distant complex, a fearsome cry went up. The screams of a hundred evil things filled the corridors, followed by the sound of a stampede.
    “Whatever it is, it’s coming this way!” shouted Jacob.
    “Tyr’s blessings on us all!” declared Miltiades.
    Interlude 5
    No one succeeds without a little bit of good fortune, and the luckier you are, the smarter your stupid plans look.
    Kastonoph lay on his side before the gate to the Utter East. His wrists were bound to his ankles behind him, and his body was racked with agony from arching backward so sharply. So much for his service to Khelben and Piegeiron. So much for his heroism. Shaakat and Rejik had trussed him up and tossed him upon the platform and were laboring to reestablish control over the remaining manes and barlgura around them. When the wailing of the troops finally subsided, the vrocks turned their attention to their human captive, helpless and useless.
    “How is this gate activated?” boomed Shaakat’s voice within Noph’s head.
    “Get out of my mind, fiend! I won’t tell you!” snarled the young man.
    “Then you do know,” said Rejik, aloud. “Open your mind, human. Open it to us….”
    A wave of bitter magic washed over Noph, scrambling his mind, obliterating thoughts of his predicament. Through the